Slowly We Rot #11 / 2018

Issue 11 / 2018

Finally I've reached this point where I'm writing the Editorial of this issue, what a long run...

After plenty a setbacks and problems I won't bore you with, issue 11 of Slowly We Rot unveils to you in its full and final shape. I was listening to the compilation CD tracks before writing this, and I'm glad it turned out the way it did, varied and open to all sorts of tastes, and this includes the zine contents, as diversified as the compilation, I hope you'll enjoy them both, I certainly do.

Again I want to thank my fellow writers who contributed to this issue, and hope they'll stick with me for as long as possible so we can deliver such an old-school printed zine. We have already started working on the next issue and already have a few killer interviews done, so things are looking good. Thanks also go to Wolfy for the new killer compilation cover artwork, and of course to all bands and labels supporting SWR in a way or another.

It's good to see there are many new fanzines popping out everywhere, and it's even better to see old-running zines still keeping the flame alive, but I'm quite sad to see there are less and less fanzine editors, especially the new ones, that won't do trades with other zines. I get it, shipping costs a lot, and trading with CDs would be a financial suicide for anyone (beside the fact that printing the zines costs more than printing CDs nowadays, the shipping is way more expensive), but if you're not interested in trading with other zines either, from my point of view it's a shame. I'm not blaming anyone, I'm just sad of the outcome... Anyway, I hope you, the one holding SWR#11 in your hands and reading this now, will keep supporting this dying breed, fanzines!

Enjoy this new Slowly We Rot issue and see you next time, hopefully sometime in Autumn 2018!

Slowly We Rot #11 contents:

03 - Editorial 04 - Grave 08 - Cien 10 - Black Altar 12 - Acedia 12 - Mausoleum 13 - Omicida 13 - Dyerwulf 14 - Infinitas 16 - Mangler 16 - Fractured Spine 17 - Daemonos 19 - Asgrauw 20 - Totengefluster 21 - Deus ex Machina 21 - Distillator 22 - Tyrant Wrath 23 - Sombre Croisade 24 - Fell 25 - Nightfall 26 - Creatures 27 - Monolithe 30 - Teloch 32 - Legacy of Darkness 32 - Altar of Flesh 33 - Superbeast 34 - Xakol 36 - Godless Truth 38 - Mentally Defiled 38 - Furtherial 39 - HarmDaud 40 - Inquisitor 42 - Reviews 56 - Underground Press 57 - Last Minute Reviews 58 - Voices of Wonder

Front cover: Shadow (Black Altar) Compilation cover artwork by Wolven Claws (facebook.com/wolvenclaws666) All reviews and unsigned interviews by Adrian All reviews also published in Pest Webzine at www.pestwebzine.com Slowly We Rot Contact: www.facebook.com/swrzine swrzine@yahoo.com Slowly We Rot Team: Adrian (Romania) – editor – layout/interviews/reviews Leslie David (Hungary) – interviews Sonia Fonseca (Portugal) – interviews Chris Forbes (USA) – interviews Heather Williams (USA) - interviews Don Mariano (Poland) - interviews Slowly We Rot Compilation CD #11 01. Acedia Mundi - From Sodom To Magog 02. Altar of Flesh - Beyond Death 03. Daemonos - Descend Into The Unknown 04. Deus Ex Machina - Human Savior 05. Distillator - Bloody Assault 06. Fell - Hel or Valhalla 07. Fractured Spine - Pale Face from the Past 08. Furtherial - Voyager 09. Harmdaud - Vemodet 10. Infinitas - Samael 11. Legacy Of Emptiness - Despair 12. Mangler - Thine Axe Cleaves 13. Mausoleum - Pride 14. Mentally Defiled - Radioactive Mutation 15. Omicida - Protect And Serve 16. Superbeast - Killer Shower 17. Tommy Stewart's Dyerwulf - Lilith Crimson Deep 18. Xakol - Rise of a New Sun pt.2

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A vintage interview by Leslie David answered during no less than 6 months of 2009 and 2010 by Grave founding member (and part of the legendary Swedish Death Metal band between 1988 and 1995) Jörgen Sandström, a piece of history told by one of its main "actors".

the band seriously right from the start?

When we started the band we all knew each other since we had spent maybe half a year or so in the same class. And our school had a rehearsal room which we could use in the afternoons. And in the rehearsal room there was a guy who was there to teach us how to play so he helped us out with the basic stuff and we actually wrote a song on our own even back then.

But mostly we destroyed other bands songs, haha.. But sure we took it seriously, we rehearsed frequently and we had our vision.

So Jörgen, tell us please about at which point did you discover music and metal in particular? What made you turning into the realm of metal?

I have an older brother and he was listening to Motorhead, Deep Purple, Judas Priest etc so it was pretty early. My first tape was, as for most metalheads in my generation, a Kiss album and I was only 5 years old. But I guess when you are 5 it is hard to say that I was a complete metalhead, haha.. I was listening to all kinds of music, but mostly what my older brother played since he was and still are my hero. It wasn't until I was around 12-13 years old that I developed my own taste of music, which was metal, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, AC/DC, Motorhead, Judas Priest, Saxon etc etc..

What type of direction of the band had you opted for?

Do you agree with, that Corpse was the very first Swedish death metal band and everything started with your appearance considering the great Swedish death metal boom at the late ’80s/early ’90s?

At the time when we had started Corpse we had already been through a bunch of line up changes as well as started to discover more extreme metal than the regular heavy metal that we were used to. We were really creative back then, actually we had nothing better to do than to hang out in the rehearsal room at least 3 times a week. As soon as we discovered Destruction, Kreator etc we started to write more aggressive stuff. But as we were really young and not so good at our instruments at the time, Corpse turned out to be more death metal than thrash, and it was not deliberate. We just couldn't play as fast or write songs with the same intensity as the thrash bands. The vocals are not very death metal though I think. But as I said, we had just discovered the music, and the Corpse demo people have heard is probably 3 out of 5-6 songs that we made as Corpse, and they were all made in a couple of weeks if I remember it correct. I don't see Corpse as a pioneer death metal band in the Swedish death metal scene as it wasn't really death metal we aimed for. I don't think Corpse was the first band in Sweden either, but the only band we knew at the point was Bathory. But there was other bands in Sweden that we didn't knew about at that time, such as Mefisto, Merciless, Obscurity...

Were you into brutal/extreme stuffs right away or did you get at death metal step by step?

I think that death metal just got invented when I was around that age when I started to like music. And where I lived, on a small island in the Baltic sea called Gotland, it was hard to find other metal albums than the regular heavy metal scene. So to answer your question.. I started out listening to heavy metal then discovered thrash metal with Metallica, Anthrax and later Slayer and then from there me and my friends found out about death metal, maybe around 1986 or so.. With one exception and that was Venom.

We heard and listened to Venom earlier than we listened to Metallica, but we thought of them as a heavy metal band more or less...

Would you say that the birth of the extreme metal was around 1983/1984 with the likes of Slayer, Exodus, Metallica, Sodom, Kreator, Destruction, Bathory, Hellhammer, Death Strike/Master, Genocide/Repulsion, Slaughter (Canada) and the whole Florida death metal movement etc.?

Sure, and a few other bands of course but yeah, I guess many of those bands were really extreme for their time.

Is it correct, that you changed your name to various other words such as „Destroyer” or „Anguish” before finally become Corpse in 1986?

Yes, we went through a bunch of names. Why I don't know, I think we just got fed up with them or found an other cool word in the dictionary, haha..

Have you taken part in the tapetrading scene? Were you into that fanzine/tapetrading network?

Yes, but I was not like the biggest trader in the world. I traded most with other bands, you know trade our demo for one of theirs.. But I had a few tape trading friends around the world that kept me updated on the scene.

What about your rehearsals? Did you start writing originals right from the start or were you mainly jamming on covers?

We always tried to write our own stuff, even in the very beginning. But we also totally slaughtered other bands songs.

When did you decide playing an instrument? How did your choice fall on guitar?

I started taking organ lessons when I was 10 or so but I just didn't like the instrument at all so I quit after a year or so.. Then when I met Ola Lindgren (Grave) back in 83-84 and we used to hang out at the local youth center we borrowed their acoustic guitars and just started to play other bands riffs and so on. So that is why I started to play guitar.

Although, our first band together I only did vocals. It wasn't until maybe around 86 I started to play guitar in the band.

What were your influences to become guitarist? Were you self taught or…?

Anyone that could play guitar was an influence back in the day, haha.. Me and Ola would sit and play for hours together and it probably sounded anything but good. But we loved it, and the girls were impressed so... None of us took any lessons so we took the hard road and learned it all by ourselves.

You came from Visby, was it a good place to be metal fan? Did the town have a strong background considering the metal scene?

Well, it was a two camp thing. You were either into metal or you were into pop. And it was war, not with everyone of course but with the ones who liked Depeche Mode, Limahl and crap like that. It was like that all over Sweden I think, cant remember the years but probably around 83-84. Visby was no exception. It was not a bad thing being a metal fan at that point because a lot of people had records and tapes that we played for each other and discovered new bands and so on. But while most of the metal fans so called “grown up” and left the thing behind them we just continued. And when we discovered the more extreme metal bands like Kreator, Sodom, Death, Slaughter etc other metal heads either continued to listen to their old stuff or abandoned the scene. So, at that time it sucked being a thrash/death metal fan in Visby. We were maybe 6 or 7 of us that liked the extreme stuff.

What were your views on the Stockholm and Gothenburg scene at this point?

Were you familiar with bands, such as Obscurity, Mefisto, Nihilist, Morbid, Carnage, Treblinka, Therion etc. that started their career at the same time as you?

We had no idea that those bands existed, which is really fun looking back at it. I don't remember who in the band it was but someone came home with a few demo tapes that he bought at Heavy Sound. I think it was Merciless, Morbid and Nihilist tapes. We had just changed our name to Grave and had recorded 3 songs, or maybe we were about to record them, can't remember.. Anyway, when we saw that they sold their demo tapes at that store we saw the opportunity of spreading our name and next time one of us went to Stockholm we brought tapes with us. And the word was out, other bands got in contact and we traded tapes and whenever we came to a gig or visit to Stockholm we hanged out with members of all these bands and it was so much more fun than to sit and get drunk on a fucking island.

Do you play other instruments by the way?

Well, nowadays I play bass for the most part, at least when I play in bands, at home I always play guitar.

Let’s cover your musical career, was Corpse the very first band that you were involved in or did you play in some outfits prior to Corpse?

Our very first band was called Rising Power. It was me, Ola, Jensa, Jörgen Olofsson and Fredrik. Fredrik dropped out after a year or so and we continued as a four piece and went through a few band names, Destroyer and Torture for example. Later we would recruit an guitar player and called ourselves Anguish, then we kicked him out and started Corpse.

Corpse started as Rising Power, as a classic student band, named after the AC/DC song „Flick Of The Switch” in 1984, how did you hook up with Ola Lindgren and Jensa Paulsson? What about their musical background?

Me and Jensa used to play in the same Ice Hockey team when we were around 10 maybe. And Jensa and Ola went to school together. So when we started in 7th grade I had to switch to their school and I ended up in the same class as Ola, Jörgen Olofsson and Fredrik. Jensa was in the same school but a different class. So we all hanged out since we were all into heavy metal such as AC/DC.

Do you agree with, that unlike American death metal groups, the first Swedish bands were rooted in punk rock?

As far as I know, Slayer was very influenced by punk rock as well. The early days of any death metal, let it be American, English or Swedish, it has roots in punk rock. Maybe some bands didn't of course, but many many did.

As for Corpse., not a chance. We did not like punk rock. BUT.. the truth is that punk influenced Iron Maiden and Motorhead who influenced Metallica and also Slayer is rooted in punk, so in the end, Corpse was influenced by punk either we wanted it or not, haha..

Did you know each other by sight or were you good friends? Did you take

In 1986 you released your first demo titled „Black Dawn” featuring

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the title track, „Life In Disgrace” and „Rise Again”, were they the very first tunes that you had written?

Pretty far from the very first songs we ever wrote together, buy yes as the band Corpse they were among the first ones we did. We had maybe 5-6 songs in total with Corpse, maybe more when I think of it but a few of them were written with our previous band names Torture for example. Those three songs were most likely the three newest songs we had at the time.

No, that promo was made later. Hell, I don't know why tapes were separated back then into rehearsals, demos and promos, haha, at the end of the day they were all demos. We recorded a whole bunch of new songs but decided to call it a promo as we didn't “officially” released it as a demo I guess. The material included different versions of „Eroded”, „Hating Life” as well as an unreleased track „Autopsied”...

If you say so, I can't remember. I remember that we included a bass guitar solo with tremolo bar and a wah-wah pedal, haha.

Who was responsible for the lyrics and for the music? What about the songwriting as a whole?

We used to compose all our material at the rehearsal room. At that time we were a little bit too old to hang out in the youth center and a little bit too young to hang out in the pubs so we spent most of our time in the rehearsal room. It was located in the town center so we would sit there and get drunk before we got out in town and rumble. It was good times. At the same time we were really creative and all of us wrote music as well as lyrics. That rehearsal room was the best hangout ever.. The Yellow House.

Were there labels at all, that started showing an interest in Grave at this point?

There were a few underground labels interested. Mangled Beyond Recognition for example, they released the Anatomia demo on vinyl. Prophecy records released a split LP with Devolution, I think, and also I think Century Media was interested at this point but I might be wrong...

In 1989 you formed Putrefaction, which was a side project of Grave, what can you tell us about this outfit?

It was basically Jensa, Ola and Jonas Edvardsson that made 3 songs while getting drunk at the rehearsal room so the day after we decided to record them..

Can you give us details regarding that demo?

Not really, it was too long ago. I haven't heard it in over 15 years or so. We recorded it on a 4 track at our rehearsal space. The thing was, The Yellow House had two rooms and an attic. At this point we had split with our Anguish guitarist, who was rehearsing with his new band in one of the rooms, so we decided to move up to the attic. It sucked, but at least we could stay in the house. It was all for free and we could be there at any time of night as long as we didn't make noise after 22.00 or something like that. That was violated more than 200 times I promise, and we got the police there a few times to shut us down...temporarily, haha.. Anyway, in the second room there was a band called Challenger, they played heavy metal and had all the gear a band could dream of, big size PA, light rig, and their bass player had build a wall and put a window in it and used it as a control room so they could record their rehearsals etc.. They were so professional I have never come across anything like it, and they had their visions and all. But they just never made it anywhere.. We borrowed some microphones etc from them and we recorded the songs on a 4 track that we also borrowed.

I can't remember who helped us out or how long it took or nothing..

How did Jonas Edwardsson end up becoming the bassist?

Well, he was originally a drummer but was slowly getting into Death Metal and as I said they were getting drunk and wrote 3 songs that night. He just happened to pick up the bass that night, haha.. Actually, he was the bass player on the first Grave gig ever!

You released the „Painful Death” demo featuring „Severing Flesh”, „Putrefaction Remains” and „Painful Death”, what kind of purposes did this demo serve?

Back then we had a two different bands on the side, Putrefaction and Grinding Death.

Why? I don't know. We were just very creative at that point.

The songs were shortly after integrated in the Grave set and so the project was ended, what has done Jonas Edwardsson after the demise of Putrefaction?

Well, not much musically I think. He went on a US tour as a roadie for Grave, but that was after I had left the band.

How do you view, that the production is extremely good and the fury is incredible with fast guitars, raw sounds and up tempo?

Hahaha, I don't have a fucking clue how we could get a decent sound out of the gear we used, haha..

In 1991 Prophecy Records released a Grave/Deviated Instinct/Devolution split album, but the LP-version was released without the Deviated Instinct part, only the Grave/Devolution parts were on vinyl, correct?

Correct.

The guitars are tuned down and the drums is total impact, the vocals are very guttural for the period but not too extreme, what would you say about it?

As I said earlier we had just started to write such material, but we did our best because we just loved it.

It was our lifestyle. Maybe that is why it sounds good to you, cause it is honest.

It was the very first official Grave material, wasn’t it?

Depends on how you look at it. It was a recording we did for that release yes, but I consider the demos just as official as any album release.

Do you still remember when and how did you get in touch with Century Media, that signed the band at the end? Did you have also other labels interests besides them?

Can't really remember when it was but Robert from CM called us up and said that they were interested and invited us to Germany to meet up and to record a few songs in a professional studio..

Was it your first studio experience by the way or did you record the material at your rehearsal room?

It was made in the rehearsal room. We couldn't afford a real studio. We had to afford Tuborg Grön.

Did you feel the material enough strong and good to spread around? How did it find its way to the tapetrading scene?

Well, yeah, we were pretty ok with it. Although we never really spread it around until we did our first demo with Grave. It was just to show people what we were doing half a year ago.

In early 1991 you released a six tracks promo featuring „Tremendous Pain”, „Putrefaction Remains”, „Haunted”, „Day Of Mourning”, „Eroded” and „Inhuman”, was it the tape, that helped the band to be signed with Century Media? Was it done exclusively to attract label interests?

That was the songs that we recorded in Germany. It was Century Media who wanted us to do it, I guess to see if we could work in a studio at all, haha.. I thought the whole experience was a good thing for us. I also thought that the recording was terrible when we left, and did so for many years. But as I said, it made us realize that we did not wanna go to Germany to record something again. It was mainly the language barrier I think, and maybe also it had to do with the guys that recorded it, they were just not so familiar with the brutal sound that we looked for.

Did the demo help you to build up a fanbase?

Not really.

Have you ever gigged with Corpse?

We did a few local shows just to piss people off. Nobody liked us so we did it only to annoy them.

Until when did Corpse exist? Why did you change your name to Grave?

Can't really remember but I guess it was late summer 1987. We changed our name because we got rid of our bassplayer.

Two of the songs appeared on the „Tremendous Pain” 7”, correct? Was it a limited material by the way?

Correct, Tremendous Pain and Eroded I think. Then Haunted, Day of Mourning and Inhuman were re-recorded for the Into the Grave album later.

Was Grave the logical continuation of Corpse?

Yes, 100 %.

As for Grave you have released a lot of demos before signing the deal with Century Media, can you sum up us the demos? Could you say some words about each of them?

I don't have them in front of me but I try the best I can to remember, haha.. The first one “Sick, disgust, eternal” demo was recorded sometime in 1987. It had three songs.

We recorded that one on a 4 track portable Tascam I think. The second “Sexual Mutilation” shows a more death metal side of Grave than ever before. We recorded that one in a studio actually. Our first time in a somewhat decent studio. It had 4 songs, one of them, Morbid Way to die made it to our second album years later..

As for the label, they seemed to be a cool death metal label with bands, such as Grave, Asphyx, Tiamat, Unleashed etc., did they cope with Earache, Roadrunner or Nuclear Blast, that were focusing on signing talented death metal bands at this point?

I think CM did a great job for Grave. I mean, they released the albums world wide and got us out on several tours as an opening act for bands like Massacre, Bolt Thrower, Morbid Angel, Malevolent Creation etc etc.. They spent shitloads on money on a small death metal band like Grave. I salute them!

How and when did bassist Jonas Torndal get in the picture exactly? Did you perhaps audition other bassists besides him?

He got in somewhere in between the Anatomia demo and the Promo 89 tape. He is a few years older than us and had been in other metal bands. I cant remember how he

Is it correct that „Promo 1989” was recorded at the Yellowhouse Studio during the „Anatomia Corporis Humani” sessions and released separately as compilation tracks and for label interest?

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ended up in the band but we used to get drunk together so I guess that was maybe the case..

Into the Grave album.” I think that is the best compliment I have got in my whole life.

Can it be easily considered your most brutal album during the band’s career?

For sure.

How much role did he have in the song composing? Was the material ready and written when he joined the band?

Can't remember really, I am sure he had some ideas and contributed some stuff. I have a terrible memory when it comes to who did what riff and so on, we were a band and all of us contributed by just being in the band.

The guitar sound is so rotten, low tuned and underground while the drum is always pounding, „Into The Grave” contains some of the most savage, and bloodthirsty Death Metal of all time, correct?

Correct.

What about his musical background?

We used to watch him play with his band Special Forces.

Did Grave create a sound and style which has been an inspiration on a number of the genre’s more promising younger outfits?

I don't know about that but I like to think that we put our mark in the death metal books.

During June 1991 you entered the famous Sunlight Studios to record your first opus called „Into The Grave”, do you think, that a very long road led to the first record? I mean, „Into The Grave” must have been released earlier…

Well, we could have recorded that album earlier for sure. But when CM offered us the record contract we decided to move to Stockholm and that took awhile before all of us actually got our asses to the capitol. I think it took us over a year in fact, and then when we were all here we had to find rehearsal space etc etc etc.. So it took us far to long before we entered the studio.

In 1991 Century Media released the „In The Eyes Of Death” compilation, but all tracks are demo-versions that the bands recorded 1989-91, before their first release on Century Media, so these versions are different from the album-versions, did this compilation help to draw more fans attention to the band and to expand the band’s popularity in the underground?

These are songs from that recording session in Germany we talked about earlier.

Was it unambiguous for you to go to Sunlight recording the material?

It was the only studio we knew that could record death metal properly, that's why we chose it.

The songs, that appeared on that compilation were recorded October 1990 at Nobel Studios, Bielefeld/Germany, weren’t they?

Yes.

Do you agree with, that Sunlight Studio (and Entombed) opened the doors for the Swedish bands? Why has it been a popular choice for Swedish death metal bands?

Agree 100%. I think it was popular for a few reasons, first of all the brutal fucking guitar sound, hahah.. then Tomas is a great guy and very down to earth and fun to work with and then also it had reasonably prices.

Did „Into the Grave” establish Grave as one of death metal’s most brutal new hopefuls?

It established the band as one of the top bands in the world if you ask me, haha..

Was Sunlight for the Swedish groups the same studio that Morrisound for the US ones?

I would guess so yes.

What about tour-wise? What were the shows and tours in support of the record?

First tour we did was with Malevolent Creation, a month long tour through Europe.

Then we got to support Massacre and Demolition Hammer in Europe, and after that we joined Massacre on a US tour for almost 2 months. After that I think we started to write songs for the new album..

Did the „Sunlight bands” have the same sound in your opinion or were they easily perceptible from each other?

Well, many bands came to the studio with the attitude that, give us the Entombed sound!!! Grave didn't, we brought our own gear and ideas and I think we differed a whole lot from Entombed. Of course you could hear the Sunlight Studio sound but in all honesty I think Grave sounded more raw than Entombed and other “Sunlight bands”

June 1992 you entered the Sunlight Studios again, but this time as three piece since Jonas Torndal left the band several months earlier as a result of his increasing dislike for the touring lifestyle, correct? Were there also personal and musical differences among you?

No, he got fed up with the extensive touring and the result of having no money from it, haha..

What about the recording sessions as a whole? Were you prepared to record the material?

Yes. We recorded and mixed the whole thing in 10 days I think.

Did you part ways with him on a friendly term at the end?

Yes. After unsuccessfully trying to fill the slot, the group made a collective decision to revert to their original three-man line-up, with you switching to bass, does it mean, that it was really hard to find a good bass player? Were there bassists in the picture becoming the new bassist by the way?

We had a few bass players in mind but ended up thinking it was better just to stay as a three piece for several reasons. It was easier for me to play bass and sing as well.

„In Love”, „For Your God”, „Obscure Infinity” and „Banished To Live” were the new songs, were they written during the recording sessions or…?

Fuck no, haha, we could never afford that kind of shit, haha.. We wrote those and rehearsed them way before we entered the studio.

How was to work Tomas Skogsberg with? Did you get on well with him?

As I said, a very down to earth and funny guy. Great guy to record with.

How did the recording sessions go with the album?

Smooth I think, but I can't really remember any of it, haha..

„Into the Grave” is a 100% all-natural Swedish Death Metal album, right?

To the core!!

Do you agree with, that Grave followed their classic debut, „Into the Grave” with an equally fearsome „You’ll Never See...”?

No. Into the Grave is a lot better. But I still like You’ll never see a lot as well.

Do you agree with, that the classic Swedish Death Metal tradition of brutality through simplicity is typified in the instrumentals and structure of „Into The Grave”?

Many have said it doesn't get more brutal than that album and I am close to agree, hahaha..

What do you think about, that Grave play Swedish death metal in the vein of Entombed and Dismember, but with a heavier and more malevolent feel?

No, we didn't play in the vein of Entombed and Dismember. Sure, all three bands had similar influences and that might show but I don't think we sound like each other.

Did this method allow violent and dismaying moods to seep through the musical attack unimpeded by instrumental excess or composition detours, and accents the dense tenacity of carnal rot?

That sentence is far more complicated than any Grave song ever recorded, haha..

Are the songs on „You’ll Never See...” constructed of simple riffs and relatively straightforward compositions?

That is what Grave is about, haha..

Every song is in fused with an all-consuming, yet organic heft and seething brutality, the tracks are a mix of mid-paced chugging, slow grooves and occasional bursts of speed, how do you explain this?

We always liked changes in the tempo, even back when we were called Torture or Anguish or Corpse etc etc.. We like the heavy stuff in metal like Black Sabbath, Trouble, Candlemass just as much as the fast stuff in metal like Sadus, Slayer or Death just to name a few.

As for myself, „Morbid Way To Die” is my favorite tune and I

„Into The Grave” is expert death metal in the prototypical intention of conveying the horror of death in its manifold forms, entertaining morbid fantasies in a nihilistic denouncement of life as a way to emphasize death’s superiority, what do you think about it?

Thank you. The album stinks of death for sure. IT is death metal, no doubt about it. Joakim Sterner from Necrophobic said once: “If aliens came to earth and asked what does death metal sound like? I would put on the

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consider it as the best Grave one… It is a great song indeed.

I believe you followed Grave’s career, what do you think about their other efforts including the newer ones as well?

I didn't like Hating Life that much but their later stuff I like a lot. And watching them live is awesome. We did a few shows together here in Stockholm where Vicious Art opened up for Grave. They are awesome live!

The vocals are a fairly deep, guttural growl, the drumming is simple but effective, the guitar solos are short, uncluttered affairs, competent and well placed, correct?

If you say so, hahaha..

Would you vote Grave in the Hall Of Fame of death metal? Are you still in touch with Jensa and Ola these days?

Of course I would, haha.. and I am not the only one. I still have contact with Ola, but not Jensa, haven't seen him in many years now.

How do you view, that what makes this album great is that Grave’s reach never exceeds their grasp and set out to create a brutally heavy, evil death metal record, and you succeed in spades?

It is maybe not as dirty and raw as the first record, and it has some slower parts and all to mix it up just as you say. But I still hold this album as the least best of the three I recorded with the band.

What about you after the Grave period? Can you tell us everything about your musical involvements?

When I decided to quit Grave I had just joined Leukemia. But also pretty much at the same time Entombed asked me to stand in for Lars on a festival show in Sweden. That ended up with me staying in Entombed for about 9 years. Then I got bored with it and left the band in 2004. In 1998 me and K from Leukemia started The Project Hate. Well, he started it and forced me to join in on vocals since he never found anyone that else that he liked. He runs the band full time still and I still do vocals. Another band we started while playing in Entombed is Krux. It is a doom metal band full of professional musicians. In that band I play guitar. We still have that band and plan to record something this year. In 2004 I joined forces on bass guitar with Vicious Art, a death metal band that includes ex members of Dark Funeral and Obscurity. And a few years ago K from TPH and Tobben from Vomitory asked me to join in on a new band, Torture Division. In that band I play bass and do vocals.

The album flows seamlessly from one thick slab of death to the next with unrelenting power, „You’ll Never See...” is a crushing classic…

Ok, thanks..

Didn’t you think about to rejoin Grave in 2002? How deeply were yo involved into the making of the re-released Grave materials, such as “Into The Grave” and “You’ll Never See”?

I think of them as cool releases, I had nothing to do with them. They asked me to do some liner notes for the sleeves and I gladly did some.

Does this album combine brutally heavy guitar riffs, kick ass drumming, awesomely demonic sounding vocals, and a top notch production to form one of the best death metal albums ever recorded?

No. Well, yes it contains all that but it not one of the best death metal albums ever recorded, at least I don't think so.

In your opinion, how much support did you get from Century Media? Did they help the band getting bigger? Did they hark to the band’s promotion, to the demands of the band members and stuff?

Now when I think back on the time I was with and have been through other bands I must say that Century Media did a killer job. Better than most labels I have been through. They spent shitloads of money on putting us on good tours like for example opening up for Massacre, Bolt Thrower, Morbid Angel and festival tours with Death etc.

They arranged shitloads of interviews and got the album out worldwide. BUT when I was in the band I always thought they could do better. We were young and had nothing else to compare with. Almost every band we toured with or knew had issues with their label so we were not alone not appreciating what they actually did for us.

Did the record showcase your growing musical talent with a cleaner, stronger sound appealing to a wider audience while retaining the group’s trademark heaviness?

Maybe a little, but a few of the songs were written even before the Into The Grave album.. for example Morbid way to die that was on our second demo already. And a Putrefaction song called Severing Flesh and also Brutally Deceased that was on our 3rd demo...

What about the shows in support of the record?

We did a few European tours if I remember correct. I think the one with Bolt Thrower and Vader was for this album. To be honest, my memory fails me way to often and I was stupid enough not to write down stuff like this, haha.. It is a good thing that Ola and Jonas have way better memory than me and can tell me road stories etc from this era..

Being a long time (death) metal fan and musician you are, how much did the death metal scene change or develop compared to mid/late ’80s/early ’90s? Would you say, that death metal reached its peak pretty quickly and became over-saturated?

As with all new styles of music that get attention from the media there will be some sort of a hype. The scene just exploded and there was suddenly shitloads of bands coming out with albums etc etc. The biggest problem was that so many of them were just crap and made by people that had listened to DM for 6 months. But among all the bands there was always bands like Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Dismember, as well as new bands that came out and were really good like for example Krisiun. Lately there have been a revival and a lot of old death metal people have picked it up again either reforming their old band like Desultory or creating new bands like for example Mr Death. But the interesting new bands are done by kids that barely were born in the late 80´s..

Your next effort was the „…and Here I Die…Satisfied” EP in 1993, that originally should have only been sold on a tour in 1994 as 3 tracks MCD, limited to 666 copies, correct?

Sounds familiar, haha..

Later in 1994/1995, Century Media decided to release this as 6-tracks CD version regularly in shops, how did that happen? Were you aware of the decision of the label?

Probably it was their decision. One of these things to keep the band name busy in magazines etc while waiting for a proper album to come out. I don't like to production that much on either the and here I die recording or the demo songs so I don't care much for this release. That is why we recorded the songs ...and here I die and I need you for the “Soulless” album.

As for the Swedish death metal bands, Grave, Unleashed or Dismember remained loyal to their roots, while Tiamat and Entombed turned into a different approach compared to their past, right?

Both yes and no. I mean, Grave did change over the years from Into the grave to Soulless even. And so did Tiamat and Entombed and to a certain extent even Dismember did. But I consider all these above mentioned bands to play death metal, except for Tiamat who have developed their style something completely unique.

Your third album was „Soulless”, how did you view that record compared to the previous ones? Was it on the same level with the first two albums in terms of sound, songs, production etc.?

No, we wanted to slow things down a little with this release. It was more groovy but still very straight forward and brutal. The production was better, maybe because Tomas really knew us by now.

Do you still follow the death metal scene? How do you view present Swedish bands, such as Puteraeon, Insision, Visceral Bleeding etc.?

I try to follow as much as I can through Swedish metal mags, gigs etc. And the scene is alive still, although I don't think is as good as before. I do like a few bands like Insision, Tribulation and a few more..

Is this album accessible to those who don’t need their death at 2000mph, and love big breakdowns?

For sure.

Do you think, that the album was featuring a more mature and musical direction than was the case with Grave’s past efforts and „Soulless” pleased the band’s longtime followers while expanding the group’s appeal to non-die hard death metal audiences, a point the trio attributed to their growth as musicians?

I remember our drummer didn't wanna play as fast as we did anymore, he wanted more groovy songs in the live set which we kinda lacked on our previous albums. And I think he was right, with many of the Soulless songs our live set got more dynamic so to say. I think the band sounded at the best at this era for sure.

Jörgen, thanks a lot for your answers, anything to add, what I forgot to cover?

Dude, I can't even remember the first question as I did this interview over a period of 6 months or so, hahah.. Thanx for the interview!!

Why and when did you leave the band? Was it a hard decision from your part to leave your long time friends?

Of course it was, we grew up together, started our career together and went through a whole bunch of good and bad things. The reason I left was basically cause I got bored with it, I needed a new challenge. Our musical influences started to stray away from each other and it was just hard for me to stay with the band when I didn't have fun anymore.

Vintage interview by Leslie David / February 2010

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Controversial, hate-filled and pure are words that seem to define Poland’s Black Metal band Cień.

Their latest release “Fate” will definitely be one of the genre milestones. Sonia had a chat with band members S. and C. What does Cień stand for? Why have you opted for this name? Why did you feel the need to create Cień?

S: Hi! In times before Cień, me and Gulver played in the other musical project called Malum. After it was disbanded, we still wanted to create our own music and that’s how Cień was born. Fascinated by Swedish BM band Shining, as well as Polish groups such as Furia and Mgla, we decided to play similar music that would be a mixture of aggression, emotions and melancholy. Name “Cień”, that translates into “Shadow”, seemed to be appropriate – dark, mysterious and in some way intriguing.

Being such misanthropes and anti-humanity… is depressive black metal the best way to express your hatred towards humanity and life?

S: In my opinion, there is no such thing as one appropriate type of music, or art in general, which can manifest your hate or any other feelings. In our case it is black metal because through this music we are able to express our emotions. Yet, listening to our debut album, as well as “Fate”, you can find out that we often reach beyond one musical style, deriving also from doom or even progressive metal.

C: Generally, each genre of metal (but black metal especially) is a very good way to express hatred towards mankind.

The latest album “Fate” was mastered, mixed and produced by Nihil. What can you tell us about it?

S: When we had more than half of the material for “Fate” ready, we started to wonder which place would be suitable for the recording and who might be a good candidate for sound engineering. One of the studios that we have been considering was “Czysciec” run by Nihil.

We managed to agree on the terms of the recording sessions (finding good time slots was especially hard due to the fact that Nihil is a very occupied person) and we could begin our cooperation. We were well prepared with all our parts so the recording of all the instruments went really smoothly and we had more time to focus on mixing and mastering. We chose “Czysciec” mainly because we wanted “Fate” to have a more organic sound close to rawer black metal and Nihil, as the leader of Furia, was an appropriate person to arrange and assure that.

C: Cooperation with Nihil was very fruitful and it was also an interesting experience for us. I hope we can go back there for the next recording session.

What’s the main different between “Ecce Homo” released in 2014 and “Fate” released in 2017?

S: There are a few factors that mark a difference between our debut and the latest album “Fate”. First of all, we are more aware of how we’d like to sound nowadays. The new tracks are still complex and rather long, but this time they have been arranged with more hypnotic and repetitive patterns comparing to “Ecce Homo”. In addition to that, the sounding of “Fate” is more organic and natural thus referring to classic black metal.

C: “Fate” is definitely more mature than its predecessor and it reflects the direction that we would like to take our music in the future.

“Fate” includes 6 tracks and 2 are written in your mother tongue. Do you express yourself better in Polish? Does it even make a difference?

C: Actually, I don’t really care if particular lyrics are written in Polish or not. The most important is the message that is sent out, the language itself is only a background for that.

Have you already decided what you will do with the extra tracks that didn’t make it to “Fate”?

S: There are a few more tracks that we recorded during the “Fate” session but the final decision has been taken not to include them in the scope of the album. I think that soon we will decide whether they will be released as an EP or as a split. It would be a pity to keep them “on the shelf”.

What’s the message in the cover for “Fate”?

S: Bartlomiej Kurzok, the artist who prepared the cover and the whole CD inlay, made a piece of tremendous work. The cover art refers to the music and to the lyrics present on the album and, of course, Bartlomiej was acquainted with it before he started off. The cover art and the album content were supposed to be closely connected – and that has been achieved. And the message itself can be found in the lyrics.

What is the message you want to spread through your music?

S: This aspect is unchanged from the very beginning of the band’s creation – our music should carry huge amount of emotions and melancholy. It is supposed to wake up your imagination and make you reconsider your existence and the surrounding world.

C: Our message is to highlight that there is not much help for the human kind.

The band has a compilation “Time of anti-humanity” which includes your demo “Anti humanity” from 2010 and “Time of Desolation” EP from 2011… why have you opted to re-release this material? Has it helped spread your name?

S: The reason why we decided to do this was rather simple – we ran out of all copies of both these releases.

The demo and the EP had been prepared and released by the band without any external cooperation. When we finally signed a contract with Old Temple, we and Eryk – the label’s owner – decided to promote the old stuff as a compilation in one CD. Those who couldn’t get our demo or the EP now have an opportunity to discover early phases of the band’s progress.

C: The older releases are still interesting for our fans, we believe that re-releasing them in one CD will make them accessible for those who didn’t have a chance to get the original versions of “Anti-Humanity” and “Time of Desolation”.

You are signed to Old Temple, a Polish label. Why this one in particular? Did you receive offers from other labels? Considering that this is a label from your own country… communication is better?

S: We decided to continue our cooperation with Old Temple because we get along very well. We are constantly in touch with Eryk, who is the owner of the label, and we understand each other – all details related to the date of release, album cover art, CD inlay etc. have been discussed “on the fly” and we have never encountered any issues. The band knows what can be expected from the label and for the time being we have no reason to change it.

I read that you would announce a change that 2018 would bring… what change was that?

S: I think that all readers who are now holding this issue of “Slowly We Rot Magazine” may get these details via our Facebook profile.

You seem to think that society mainly consists of worthless and stupid scum… how difficult is it dealing with life? I mean you must contact people in your jobs and all… how do you deal with that?

S: I am in favor of an assumption that most of us, under certain circumstances, wear some kind of a mask. In order to make life bearable, to facilitate relationships with a client, with your boss, with a team in your work – people must adjust and adapt to coexist on the same ground. Reading everyday news regarding situation in your own country and all around the world, spending most of your day in work or even a simple visit to your local grocery store gives you many reasons to cultivate a very critical attitude towards the others. I reveal my true beliefs and my real attitude towards the surrounding reality only in the presence of those who are closest to me. I don’t need to be a preacher on Facebook or during my lunchbreak at work or at family meetings.

C: The best solution is to isolate from those who are not worthy of your attention. You can exist with this kind of people, but you do not necessarily need to get into some deeper relations with them. It’s a simple waste of time and energy.

You enjoy depicting death in various forms… would you say you think suicide is a solution? Have you ever thought about it? Do you think you’d be able to do it?

S: Suicide is just one of clear indications of how weak a person can be. It is a clear example that people are able

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to give up on living instead of stepping up and fighting their problems.

C: This idea comes to me on a regular basis. But is it any solution? For some – definitely…

How can you glorify death, pain and suffering so much when many people pay experts in order to ease their own pain? Why do you appreciate it so much?

C: In my opinion suffering makes your existence more conscious. In consequence, it might be a way for selfperfection, a way of your own development. The death itself, on the other hand, is an inseparable companion of our life. It is the only certain thing in your life.

Being a fan of pain, would you say you are a masochist?

C: More psychic than physical.

C. has tried self-mutilation onstage… why?

Considering that you are a band that has a growing fanbase and young people might be attending your shows, don’t you think you need to act responsibly onstage as some may view you as a kind of “idol”?

C: I do not see myself as any kind of idol. During that particular event I simply felt that self-mutilation was a right thing to do, that’s all. And I will not hesitate to do it again if I feel like it in the future. If anyone wishes to take me as an example, well, that’s his or hers decision…

The band also avoids verbal contact with the audience for the sake of keeping the message alive… don’t you think fans would appreciate it more if you were more approachable?

C: There is no point in providing any verbal entertainment for an audience during our live shows. It will definitely not go hand in hand with the band’s stage presence.

A few years ago, metal bands in Poland were not very well treated and were seen as outcasts… has the situation changed?

S: I have a feeling that due to recent huge popularity of bands such as Behemoth, Decapitated or Vader (especially in mass and social media) metal music becomes to be treated with respect and is taken more seriously nowadays, e.g. by radio stations. On the other hand, finding a decent place for rehearsals or live show promotion is still problematic in many cases.

Unfortunately, people connected to metal music are still often regarded as outcasts, hooligans and potential troublemakers.

There are a few household names in the metal scene in your country: Behemoth, Vader, Vesania but how’s the real Polish underground metal scene?

C: I think Polish underground has really big potential.

Apart from names that you mentioned, we need to remember about e.g. Furia, Outre or Arkona – bands that present an international level.

S: If I am to compare Polish underground scene with the ones from e.g. Norway, Sweden or France I must say that our scene is more diversified and has much more to offer.

In your opinion, what are the “purest” Black Metal bands? Musically, which are your influences?

S: The bands that are in my highest esteem for a long, long time are for sure Mgla, Furia and Shining (especially their early material including “Halmstad”).

And – of course – Mayhem, Marduk, Peste Noire… I think these are the bands that influenced me the most and shaped my view on black metal music.

Are you satisfied with the genre these days?

S: Well, it’s difficult to say. On one hand – there are many new and valuable bands that try to play BM in their own manner, but still referring to classics. It brings hope that we may encounter something new, fresh and interesting within this genre of music. On the other hand, if you still label e.g. the latest Dimmu Borgir’s “artwork”, or similar plastic-fantastic piece of crap, as black metal – then you may have an impression that BM slowly becomes only a product that is destined to be exploited, digested and put aside.

Please share a message with our readers.

C: Follow your own path, not the crowds.

S: Thank you for the interview. Cultivate hate inside of you.

Interview by Sónia Fonseca / March 2018

Black Altar have achieved a cult status that many bands long for. The main force behind this Polish act has talked to Slowly We Rot and revealed some interesting details regarding the line-up and upcoming releases. In order to find out more, keep on reading…

music itself and the idea behind it is what counts. Nestor did a great job with the graphics. I saw it on his website and immediately got interested in using it. Nestor added some more elements I asked him about and the whole thing looks really good.

Currently Black Altar is a one-man band. Why? How complicated or easy is it being in charge of all the work?

Black Altar was a one-man project for the last 12 years.

All that happened during the period of the debut album when the other musicians were forced to leave due to their laziness and lack of ambitions. It's not easy to find proper musicians, even here in London where I live. Luckily, I was joined by Ondskapt’s guitarist and other guy on guitar. The position of the drummer will be clarified very soon. That is why I have high hopes for the future.

Most reviews have been outstanding… were you expecting such a positive response?

I supposed that reviews would be rather positive, I was only not that much into the "Tophet" remixed version, you know, how it will work with the more old school fans, but the reviews are far better than I thought.

Black Altar has achieved a cult status but only released 2 fulllengths… one in 2004 and another in 2008. How have you managed to achieve this?

Thank you for the kind words. Judging whether Black Altar achieved a cult status or not does not belong to me. But the fact is that Black Altar has been present on the scene for 22 years already and apart from several full-length albums we also have a few smaller releases that made us gain respect among the scene.

So, your latest full-length “Death Fanaticism” was released exactly 10 years ago… ever since then you’ve been in 2 compilations and released one EP. When will your fans have the pleasure of having a full album on their hands?

Indeed, working on a full album does not appeal to me at this moment. The new release will once again be a mini album, later probably a 7'' EP and maybe a split with a wellknown band, and then maybe there will be time for a new album. All in all, it will take like 2-3 years.

Black Altar’s split with Beastcraft is entitled “Winds of Decay/Occult Ceremonial Rites” and was released late last year. Are your songs all new?

Actually no. "Tophet" was composed several years ago and more than a year ago it was actually recorded. "Winds of Decay" comes from 99' and is dedicated to the old, Norwegian scene, it was recorded like 3 years ago. The Beastcraft cover comes from the tribute album to Nefas. The newest thing is a "Tophet" remix by PreEmptive Strike 0.1 project.

The song “Tophet” features artists from Vader, Acherontas, Ondskapt, Beastcraft… how did the idea of getting all these musicians together in just one song come up?

To be honest "Tophet" was supposed to be issued on the upcoming release but I was starting to have serious health problems, and I was close to be diagnosed with ALS, a really bad muscle illness. It's the worst, and incurable disease you can imagine. That is why I decided to put it on the split with Beastcraft as I thought it might be the last Black Altar release ever and "Tophet" the last composition in the band's history. I wanted it to be special and that is why I invited some musicians that I know and respect to play as guests on it. Luckily, after a year of observation at a clinic in Oxford, it turned out that I didn't have ALS, so Black Altar will keep on going.

The split was postponed to November because of the recording of the video for “Tophet”. Why couldn’t it be released without the video being ready?

The video was supposed to somehow promote the release, that is why it came out first, before the actual full material.

Some people reported the video… does jealousy and envy affect bands much? It’s insane that this happens especially since most band members are adults and shouldn’t behave like that!

Unfortunately, that is the nature of some people in Poland, some of them are jealous and wish the band the worst, hoping the band will not succeed. All those actions, instead of weakening me, give me the strength to continue with what I'm doing.

The number of likes in your social media pages has increased recently. Who is responsible for handling them? Do you get many messages from fans? Any stalkers?

It is me who runs the band and label pages. I must say that after the last video clip and the split with Beastcraft the popularity of the band has grown. It's obvious that I receive messages from fans, and there have been some stalkers as well throughout the years.

In your Facebook page there was a contest for fans to win shirts, CDs and signed posters, however when one clicks on the link is directed to a page in Polish.

Why wasn’t it open to fans around the world?

It was contest of Polish Kvlt Magazine. I just shared their link.

You had a very solid first full-length “Black Altar” which granted you some notoriety and it will be rereleased this year with new cover art and mastering.

Why have you decided to do this?

The material was released by German Christhunt Production in 2004. I decided to release it on my own as a digipack with new artwork as the previous one was very primitive, giving it new mastering as well as I was not satisfied with its sound.

In the split with Vesania in 2002 you had 6 tracks and they only 2. The split with Nebular Mystic in 2007 you had 10 tracks and they had 4. You seem to make great deals with other bands… how does a split work? How do you decide how many songs each band will be entitled to?

I do not limit the other band when it comes to the number of tracks they will put on the split. There will be as many as they provide. When it comes to the split with Nebular Mystic, I was asked by the label to provide some bonus stuff so I sent them some tracks from the debut album. I try to pick up bands for split releases very carefully. These are mostly the ones with which I share friendship or simply the ones I highly value.

You have 2 more splits, one in 2012 with Varathron and Thornspawn, and another in 2017 with Beastcraft… what’s so special about splits? Why do you keep on doing them?

I'm a huge fan of the splits. They give the opportunity to issue some more extreme stuff you will normally not put on a regular album. This is also a good solution for the listener I think.

You own Odium Records and your demo (1998), your EP Wrath Ov The Gods (2000), the split with Vesania in 2002, your album “Death fanaticism” and the split with Beastcraft (2017) was released through it. Why some material was released through your label and the other through other labels? How does that work?

Most of them were released by my label. When it comes to the first album I did not have so many connections in case of worldwide promotion and that is why I let Christhunt Productions release it. "Suicidal Salvation" was released by Darker Than Black due to my many occupations at the time, so when I got the offer from them there was no hesitation. All in all, I prefer to release stuff on my own. I simply have full control and I make the promotion the way I want it to be.

You have a solo project Kriegsgott other than Black Altar but nothing has been released ever since 2011. How are things standing for Kriegsgott?

Kriegsgott is dead. I will only issue the 7'' split with Nokturne and a compilation of all what was released and that will be all. I want to focus only on Black Altar.

In little over a month the video got almost 80000 views.

This is awesome!

How proud are you?

Now it has over 100 views on 3 different channels.

It’s an amazing result for an underground band and I’m very proud of course.

Decapitated went through a rough time in the US tour with the rape charges and having to prove their innocence… they were basically at the wrong place at the wrong time. Did Black Altar ever face strange situations that might damage the band’s reputation?

Not really, apart from the several rumours and slanders about my person.

The split features cover art by Néstor Avalos. In your opinion how much of an impact does a cover have on sales?

A great cover sells better?

Good cover art helps with selling but, in the end, only the

The band is featured in the book “Black Metal – Into the Abyss” written by

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Dayal Patterson. How important for you was it to be featured in this book? What makes this book so special?

It was a great honor for me to appear in a book with so many important bands. Dayal is a journalist that explores Black Metal very deeply and you can learn a lot of interesting things from him.

New album by Necrophobic is very good, the ones by Watain and Acherontas as well. Just as I said, old days had their charm. Nowadays the scene is crowded, there are new releases every day. It's easy to get lost in it.

Bootleg t-shirts and patches of Black Altar are available for sale which is a clear violation of your rights… Have you found out who is doing it? Did you take any action in order to prevent it from happening again?

I'm not doing a mess out of it, at some point it flatters me as it shows that the band is getting attention. On the other hand, it would be nice to get to know about it first or to receive some copies of that was released. In both cases I contacted the person behind it and after that I received some stuff with apologies.

In what Black Metal is concerned, in your opinion which were the golden years for the genre? Why? It is known that the best years for Black Metal were the first half of the 90's. Most of the albums released back then bore the mark of quality and individualism. There were different values ruling the scene. There’s a lot to say about this.

Has any recent album caught your attention? In an overcrowded scene filled with bands and releases, don’t you miss the old days in which everything worked at a slower pace?

Do you think the Scandinavian scene is the best?

Other countries have great bands as well but some don’t have the same promotion… is promotion an important factor for bands?

I think that Sweden and Norway have the best scene. But, on the other hand, there are a lot of great bands in Poland, Greece and France, a lot of things are happening there, some groups are even better than those from Scandinavia.

The political forces in Poland don’t seem to appreciate extreme music that much because there are always problems coming up with venues and gigs and all that.

How complicated is it trying to create a name for your band in a close-minded place?

I live in London, so I do not care about it, and things are not that bad in Poland as they are presented. From time to time a gig is being canceled and that's all.

Is there anything else you’d like to say or share with our readers?

Thanks for the interesting interview. Keep on waiting for the reissues of "Suicidal Salvation", on vinyl and digipack cd, and the debut album. Later the time will come for the mini album that will probably bear the title "Nekromantic Revelations". This info was not published anywhere else. Hailz!

Interview by Sónia Fonseca / March 2018

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Without doubt the French scene gave us some pretty interesting Black Metal bands in recent years, here's one of them; the young Acedia Mundi from Paris released their debut album last year on Throats Productions (CD) and Narbentage Produktionen (tape), which seems to have stirred positive reactions. Here's what the guys told us about them and their debut material.

First of all, what's up with the French Black Metal scene being so damn fruitful lately? There are so many new good bands hailing from France that it seems the spring is neverending.

W: It is true that 2017 has been a pretty interesting year for Black Metal here in France. We have seen the return of Arkhon Infaustus after 10 years of silence. Plus, Debemur Morti Productions released both Blut Aus Nord’s "Deus Salutis Meae" and Throane’s "Plus une Main à mordre". Our label, Throats Productions, also produced the new Black March entitled "Praeludium Exterminii" and Hats Barn’s "N.A.H.A.S.H". We’ve also been pretty thrilled with Heir’s "Au Peuple de l’Abîme".

V: 2017 has been very prolific. As W mentioned it, the return of Arkhon Infaustus, for example, that is one of our many influences, was unexpected. And with bands like Decline of the I or Au Champs des Morts, we see new influences, sounds and atmospheres. French black metal is rather healthy and inspired, for sure.

How come Acedia Mundi is still a studio project rather than a live band since you have a complete line-up at the moment? Or things have changed since your latest bio update?

W: You are correct, we do have a complete live line-up at the moment. We have welcomed A. on drums and G. (Atavisma) on guitar. What we’ve been doing for the past months is to rehearse as much as we can to promote "S.H.S" on stage next year. There will be a lot of announcements soon. We have some pretty nice shows coming up, here in France and away from our borders.

Again from your bio: "The band is extremely scrupulous with lyrics, abandoning the boring habit of screaming about Satan without having any knowledge of esotericism." This is a pretty bold statement, please explain. Also please tell us about your lyrical content. Why are some tracks on your debut album in French, and some other in English?

W: Although I did not write any lyrics for the album I was the one who mentioned that nuance about esotericism in the bio. I do believe there is a lot to look

for in esotericism, occultism and mysticism. We’ve actually seen it these past few years with the "rise" of Ritualistic Balck Metal.

Yet, I feel it has become a facade.

It’s been decades that bands have yelled the name of Satan on stage without giving it any deep meaning. What once was an act of provocation lost its meaning; and now that some people go beyond that and start to get some interest in the Qabalah or Gnosis per example, most of the bands just settle for the aesthetics of ancient mysticism. I find that quite pitiful to say the least.

V: To be honest, I don’t give a shit about these ritualistic “bullshits”. If we want to take black metal to another level, we have to break with this satanic vibe, whether there are true convictions or not. Satan doesn’t frighten anyone nowadays. In Acedia Mundi, the statement is pretty clear: if there is a “so called Satan”, it’s in the dark sides of mankind. Pedophilia, incest, vanity in human existence and alienation are much more evil incarnated than this codified diabolical folklore we find in black metal. I do believe it was exciting and threatening in the 90’s, because some bands really had a violent behavior.

But now I just see retarded teenagers jerk off with some horrific stories.

Your music sounds like a swarm of killer bees, it's relentlessly pounding and harassing the listener, what have you brought new or personal to the traditional Black Metal you took as working canvas (as per your bio again)?

V: Your metaphor is cute ! More seriously, we tried to create a “modern” black metal. We don’t want to sound like an uninspired patchwork of all that has been done in the past and that we can see in many recent bands. We have our influences, that’s sure, but we tried to bring out our own personality through dissonant arpeggio, crawling melodies and sharped riffs. In the band, we are obviously black metal fans, but we also like different kinds of music that feed our artistic background. I don’t think we are renewing anything. Everything has been more or less done anyway. But we try as much as possible to create our own universe. Creating the music that we’d all like to listen is the whole process that drives Acedia Mundi.

One interesting element in your music, I think, is the emphasis of the bass lines, very upfront, very aggressive and distinguishable, not original in full, but unlike many other bands, that's for sure. Is my observation accurate?

W: Your observation is accurate indeed. When V. and J. contacted me back in 2014 to work on the bass for the album they knew they wanted something not too technical but strong and memorable. The bass-lines had

Canada

EP and so get attention from the underground short chat will shed some light on their activity.

based duo Mausoleum is a new name on the scene, but they have already released a well-received in 2016, a demo a split on Obscure Abhorrence last year, they are starting to eyes, let's see if this

to struck right and not melt with the rest of the instruments. The emphasis on some of the bass-line is also due to the amazing work of Andrew Guillotin from the Hybreed Studio (Merrimack, Temple of Baal, Glorior Belli). As I did not record my bass-lines at his studio (they were recorded at Mannaz Records) he reamped the whole thing and did some choices that we’re pretty happy about.

The music on your debut album paints a sinister, disturbing atmosphere that brings one's mind to a mental hospital, and that's mostly due to the dissonant guitar work, to their surprisingly twisted structures. What's your aim in what concerns the feelings your music transmits, the atmospheres you create?

V: Your interpretation is accurate. We are inspired by everything that belongs to the field of psychiatry, psychoanalysis and deviances that the human mind can put into practice. Dissonance is synonymous with sickness or tormented atmospheres, something that violates the spirit. But we try to use dissonance sparingly.

The music must also remain catchy and allow breathing time. A kind of suspension preparing you for the worst.

What does Acedia Mundi means, and what does the band means to you? What's the band's statement at this point in time?

W: Acedia Mundi is Latin for "Disgust of the World".

Weather the world is the object of the subject of that feeling of disgust is up to the listener. The word "acedia" itself comes from Ancient Greek and its primordial meaning is "lack of care". Acedia is a spiritual disease whose roots go back to the fathers of the desert. Aquinas defined acedia as a form of "disgust with activity". It relates to the fact of doing several things but the one you are supposed to be doing. It is a way to avoid the existential question "What am I supposed to be doing?". I believe this disease suits our century.

December 2017

What would you say are your most notable influences when it comes to other bands? What influenced this path for your band, and do you plan on developing in this direction, or will you explore other territories as well?

Remaining visceral and intense while pushing ourselves musically is always a goal of ours. Taking any influence from any genre and twisting it into our perversion is immensely satisfying.

Talking about this, especially in the '90's there were a lot of Extreme Metal bands that changed direction, most of them becoming softer, yet they all said it was pure desire to discover new territories. only a few embraced these transformations, but

What made you chose Mausoleum for your band's name since there are already a lot of other bands with this name around? Don't you think that will be a problem after a while for people to recognize you, or that doesn't really matter?

We wanted a name that was simple, to the point, and evokes the atmosphere that we were going for. That other bands use the name is irrelevant to us.

Your music is a mix of Thrash and Black Metal, or rather a Thrash Metal influenced Black Metal according to your words. I also feel the atmosphere on your debut EP is deeply obscure and morbid, is this something you're looking for?

Is the general atmosphere of your release(s) important for Mausoleum?

Again, atmosphere is imperative to the delivery of the music. Conveying atmosphere elevates the music from just bashing riffs to creating something more. Something that connects at a deeper level.

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the major part of their followers didn't. How do you feel about that?

Why soften what is meant to be harsh? Exploration and development shouldn't mean weakening the musics core.

Our lyrics come from the observations on the world that surrounds us. The lyrics are important to me, whether published or not, to fully convey the atmosphere and strength of a track. They serve to anchor the music and punish the listener appropriately.

Your latest release, the split with Mourning Dawn, was released in late 2017 on Obscure Abhorrence Productions. How do you feel about working with such a reputable underground label? Do you plan on continuing this collaboration? How do you feel about Mourning Dawn's music? Who cam with the split idea?

Obscure Abhorrence was excellent to deal with. There reputation was obviously well earned and I as well hope to continue working with them on some level. As far as the idea for the split, I believe the label suggested it.initially it seemed kind of a odd pairing but i think Mourning Dawns suicidal salutes certainly fills out the split nicely. Excellent musicians and i think they complimented the spectrum of the release quite well.

Have you planned your debut album already? Will it feature only new material, or will you re-record old stuff, too? Will you choose a professional studio for the album recordings, or do you plan on keeping the same murky sound for it, too?

The new album is finished with the majority of the artwork being completed. We are just looking for someone who is willing to release this monstrosity. As for the material itself, it is certainly a showcase of our evolution of the band with it being far more brutal, layered and polished. Make no mistake, it is still very murky and obscure but clear enough that it'll rip your fucking heart out. As for the old material there are some plans on re-recording them and working through our extensive backlog of completed songs. Also i am not a fan of polished overly sterile productions, I want to feel the energy and the atmosphere. A studio polish can castrate music rather quickly if you're not careful.

What can you tell us about the topics in your lyrics? How important are your lyrics in the overall impression your music makes on listeners?

January 2018

Although the band's name may lead you to think you're dealing with an Italian band, Omicida are actually from the city of angels, Los Angeles. After a successful debut album, Certain Death, released in 2015, this traditional Thrash Metal combo is now gearing up for the followup opus. Let's find out more.

Your band name and track titles are all somehow related to social themes, right? What do you want to express through your music and lyrics? Is the band just a valve for your anger, or do you have a certain message, too?

The band name itself means "Killer" and it is not necessarily linked to our message in our music. I said "not necessarily" because in our next album there will be actually our self titled track "Omicida". But besides that it would not be linked to our music. So far our lyrics have been a balance between today's social \ political issues and darker topics closer to the evil sides of our lives.

We really enjoy doing what we do with our music stylistically speaking. I would not say that anger is the predominant aspect in our creative process, but definitely helps. I guess lyrics are coming out of a certain darker view we have of our present and future.

How far off am I if I say you're heavily influenced by Slayer? What (other) bands influenced your music the most and how would you characterize it, how would you "sell" it to someone who never heard of Omicida?

Not that far at all. For sure one, if not the biggest influence on our sound. I mean we did not try to come up with a recipe of bands and sounds we wanted to emulate to "sound good". We just felt in the right spot mixing all our influences and this is the one sound we got. We all have different metal backgrounds but I guess other influences definitely could be Kreator, Overkill, Testament just to name a few. What we came up with is a mix of thrash with balck hints here and there. The new album that will be out in Summer 2018 will be a great example of our development \ growth in sound and techinque.

You've all played or still play in other bands, too, from Heavy Metal to Doom to Death, it's like you enjoy Metal in all its forms, right? Then what's the place of Thrash Metal in your hearts? Do you feel like the band has a real chance to "succeed"? And talking about this, how do you value success in this area?

As I said earlier, yes we do have different metal backgrounds but we all love what we do. This whole thing started at the very beginning with Giovanni (the drummer) wanting to play thrash metal. And so this whole project started with the first release of our EP "Certain Death". We really do not know what will happen to us in terms of making it or not with our band. Especially in this nowadays tough metal industry. But definitely we do this because we love it. It is before anything else a project we really love and do it for the music. Everything else comes second. The moment you play and create music just to go after success, you lose the true beauty and feel of music. We are anyway working hard especially for our next release of our debut full lenght to make this band a working one. Hopefully it will happen.

If not, we will be still proud of our efforts and keep making music.

On your debut and so far only album you used falsetto vocals (a la King Diamond), too. Will you use them again on future releases? Was the vocalist replaced before or after the recording of Certain Death?

Unfortunately we could not record again vocals on "Certain Death". Giovanni, our vocalist (there are two Giovanni in the band just in case people are getting confused with that), came on later and just re-recorded the single "Disobey" for our video release. He is a great singer and great fit for the band. Yes, in our next release this Summer 2018 there will be more room for him to explore more with his vocal range.

After the debut album you released 2 singles. So are you close to recording a new album yet? What would it sound like, what would be the main differences

between it and your debut opus? Any tentative release date?

Our debut full lenght has been recorded already and being mixed as we speak by the one and only Ralph Patlan (Megadeth, Flotsam and Jetsam, Bonded by Blood, Michael Schenker to name a few he worked with). Our plan is to release it next Summer 2018. The date will be released soon early next year. With this album we did explore more into a blackish sound but still maintaining thrash metal the core of our music. It will be an interesting new relaese for sure. "Certain Death" was our first try and experiment. With the new album we definitely matured and developed more our thrash origins and brought to life even more our black metal influences.

As far as I know Certain Death was released only in digital format. Do you plan on release it on physical format, too, or do you feel like the physical material age is gone by now?

Not at all! "Certain Death" is ALSO on physical!!! You can actually buy that on our website www.omicidaofficial.com where you will find links to both digital and physical copies.

On the other hand though with our new album we will not release CDs but instead we are planning only on printing vinyls copies of it along with a digital release.

CDs are getting obsolete nowadays. Nobody is buying those anymore, while vinyls sales have been increasing exponentially in the past few years.

December 2017

Atlanta based Doom Metal duo Tommy Stewart's Dyerwulf is also a live act. It's not often one can come across a Metal duo playing live, isn't it?

Let's get to know them better.

Yes, playing live is a lot of the fun of being a two piece because I think working with minimalistic conditions is an art style to itself. Our show usually starts with me playing alone, then we launch into the loud stuff and mostly play from our album which is self-titled and on Soman Records. (somanrecords.bandcamp.com/album/tommy-stewartsdyerwulf) But we also play dyerwulf versions of songs from other parts of my career, for instance, a forty five minute show may have three Hallows Eve songs in it. One song, Horrorshow is done as a doom version and appears on our album.

We have had a guest guitarist, Angie Riley from RMS, added for a song on a special occasion to play Metal Merchants from Hallows Eve's Tales of Terror.

Where does the band's name come from, what does it mean? Do you think naming it as your own, I mean Tommy Stewart's, is possible to make other participating musicians less involved in it?

As I thought to name the project, I happened to be a fan of Game of Thrones and thought to myself okay, this project is like my special pet, as in the books. And, yes, this is solo because I needed space to do some of my music without hindrance from others. I generally do the studio recording, producing, and writing for the bands I'm in anyway, but with Tommy Stewart's Dyerwulf I don't have to consult with anyone. Not that I do a lot anyway.

Although you're a duo, the band is also a live act. Is playing live an important aspect in the band's life? Who helps you during live shows? How would you describe one of your live gigs?

Why have you chosen to use only bass, drums and vocals? Is it weird for the audience? Do you think you manage to make them feel at ease with the lack of guitars? Do you think this choice of yours is also because you feel like there's not enough importance given to bass in "regular" bands?

For live, it is just the two of us most of the time. We arrange the music and what I do to be what it needs to be. I'm running 2 stacks with different effects on them that come

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come and go as needed including three distortions, 3 layers of delays to sometimes harmonize with myself, and a looper. My amps and cabs are all GK and I run 15, 12, and 10 inch speakers for maximum wide coverage of tone. I've had many people and even promoters be confused as to how we're going to do it until they see us do it and they have an "oh, ah - ha like that" moment. it's pretty funny. I've had one promoter offer us a guitarists because he thought we simply din't have one. After he saw us, he got it. So this sets us apart from other bands because we're pulling it off in a unique way. I've always been a very up front bassist in bands and yes there is a little wink and dig in it to guitarists that says see, it can be done without you.

bleed over into portions of, say, desert rock. One thing I don't like is bringing anything sounding core into it.

Some sludge tends to have a core edge to it and when that happens I'm not a fan.

You've recently released your second full-length album, self-titled. Please tell us a few words about it, and for those familiar with your music, how does it differ from your debut material?

Okay, we see this differently. The Tommy Stewart Clef Doom album was one kind of album. A different act, not live, all experimental, just me. Then I decided to get a drummer and re-tool it to start over. So I added Eriv Vogt on drums and we recorded Porpoise Song, the single, live ned afternoon and passed that around to see how the response would be. We played a coupe of shows doing that, some new material, a coupe from Clef Doom. We got good response so started over with our very first album which is the self entitled Tommy Stewart's Dyerwulf in it's full go. So now we're working on our Second Tommy Stewart's Dyerwulf album and will have it out for 2018.

So I think of Clef Doom as a prequel experiment and the single as a transition to the first album.

Are lyrics important in the overall Dyerwulf process? What do you want to express through your lyrics?

The lyrics are very important to me because I'm truly expressing myself in my lyrics. As an artist expresses themselves through a painting, I do with words. My lyrics are me and many of the things i write about are not fantasy, but events, people, places, times, that effect me in real life. Although I enjoy fantasy as a listener, I've always been authentic in what I write for myself. Granted, I may write about an event that happened to me in a fantastic colorful style, but it happened. This way of doing it has kept me separate from most metal in general because it's authentic in expression and not just to entertain.

Recently we've seen some sort of a resurrection of Doom Rock/Metal globally, do you agree? Do you think this will last, or it's just a trend, a wave? How should the perfect Doom record sound like for yourself?

I think doom metal is the growing trend that's becoming bigger all the time. I also think it's a huge umbrella of different styles under one general roof. I joke that slow is the new fast. The movement reminds me of the early thrash days of when everything was new in that and grew. I love it because they're is so much to do with it and I find thrash constrictive after awhile of doing it. The perfect doom record? I couldn't say because I think that there are so many styles. So if one style is more stoner oriented then it may

December 2017

looks like we will publish our albums ourselves as long as we don’t work with a label who is a good fit for us as a Band.

Do you know that type of bands you can't really pinpoint in a genre or another but you feel like they'll fit as well in any category? Well, Infinitas is one of those bands that will please many different types of listeners, we had a chat with them also because they have recently released their debut album, Civitas Interitus.

I've seen your band labeled as Folk Metal, Folk Heavy Metal, Melodic Thrash Metal or Epic Metal, and I'd say there are plenty of other genres thrown inthere, too. How does it feel to have come up with such a versatile music? How would you describe it with your own words?

Mhm…that’s not as easy to describe. Let’s say it this way; If we would work in the Gastronomy field, we would be known as culinary wild-boar’s because we would mix different dishes, put them in one pan and cook and eat them just like that. It probably would take a while for someone to make themselves try and taste it.

But then they would be surprised about the amazing taste, no matter what ingredients the cooks decided to use.

That’s pretty much how we hold it with our music-style.

We use different elements like folk, melodic, thrash and more mixed up with other style directions. Because of that, some songs are hard to put into a definite genre. If someone ask, we define our style with melodic thrash metal.

Heavy Folk Thrash Metal would probably be even a better and more fitting description.

For me personally, the individual experience of the listener is more important than in what kind of MetalNiche we are put in. For some it may sound more like Folk Metal than Thrash Metal and for others more like Heavy Metal than Folk Metal. No matter what, every individual idea is ok.

Your debut album was self-released, how come you didn't decide to work with a label? Are you totally happy with the amount of promotion you do for your material? Do you think you'll go independent on your next material, too, or will look for a label to help out?

We were thinking about working with a label but didn’t find a fitting one so far. We want to wait for a label deal until both sides can have their share of our music.

In my eyes, most bands (including us) underestimate the promotion for a Album.

It is a completely new situation for us as a band and we are still learning how the hole process is working. It

Do you agree that the use of female vocals, violin and e-recorder (flute) makes your music stand out from the crowd? Do you plan on taking this further, by adding more let's say "unconventional" instruments in the future?

There are nowadays a lot of bands out there with female vocalists and violin player. It doesn’t seem to make a band something unique anymore like it did 10-15 years ago.

We try not to reduce our music to these specialties but try to stay inspired by other genres like Trash Metal. I think we will stick to the way our band uses the different instruments for example in the intros where you can find us playing waterphone, zither and hurdy-gurdy. But as soon as the song starts, these instruments become quiet again. I think we will keep it this way for a while.

Civitas Interitus is a concept album, what is it about?

Is it a fictitious story, or does it have it's roots in reality? Is there a message behind it?

Civitas interitus (latin) means: City of ruin. We've created a medieval Town called „Lunatris“. You can find a map in the booklet to help the listener to navigate trough the whole Album. „Lunatris“ is haunted by an evil demon who destroys the whole Town. In this Album we follow our protagonist trough the whole Town on the desperate seek for help. He is the last survivor of this terrible night. Each song describes what the protagonist experiences in a different location of the City. Tyou can find every location on the Map of the booklet. Each of our songs has a individual meaning. Our Album can be interpreted in many ways.

For me personally, the most fitting interpretation is that the Town can stand for a relationship, a job or something else. Like in the song, these parts of our lives can be attacked by a demon. The message is, that you have to either change something or move on to turn your life into a happy and fulfilling one again.

You come from a beautiful land, Muotathal, surrounded by mountains, but it's a small village. Is Infinitas the only band

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over there? Where do you rehearse? How hard is it for the band to play outside of your area and actually get attention in the big cities of Switzerland?

Even though Muotathal has only around 4000 citizens, is the music scene pretty big and active. There are a lot of bands, mainly Rock bands and we are happy that the atmosphere between them is good. We rehearse in a remodeled barn which gives us an unique atmosphere.

We have a very active metal scene in Switzerland. If you are a little bit involved, you will get to play many shows.

The CD booklet also features some maps. Who came up with the idea and what's the link between these maps and the music itself?

This idea with „lunatris“ and the map comes from me.

Because of this map you can navigate well trough the Town and the story.

To be able to understand the concept, you need the map.

Do you have serious plans with the band, or would you rather prefer it stays as a hobby, as an afterhours valve for your creativity? Are there any chance in Switzerland to actually make a living out of this music?

Our dream is focused on being able to get some kind of money out of Infinitas, that we can partially live off of the music we make.

We know we are still far from reaching this goal but we work every day towards this accomplishment. Being located in Switzerland makes it not easier because we are such a small country. Thankfully there is always the option to present the band to the world’s online music community. We are very positive that we will find a way to make our dream come true.

February 2018

Ottawa based Thrash Death Metal based trio Mangler have just released their first album, Dimensions of Terror, let's find out more about them and their debut material.

added the spike details and shadow drop to it, so it was a collaboration effort between those two metal maniacs.

early 90's where there wasn't such a defined line between death and thrash.

Mangler is quite a young band, but you guys are not in your teens anymore, correct? Do you have any previous experience as musicians in Extreme Metal bands?

Tyson: We are not teenagers. Yes we have all been in extreme metal bands before.

Jonathan: Definitely not teenagers, haha. I currently also play in Acid Cross and Gaping Grave. I also played in Regret and Silent Order for several years.

Talking about your debut album, how come you chose to release it on cassette tapes only? Why not on CD and/or vinyl, too? Or maybe that's something that's in your plans?

Jonathan: Everything is done DIY in the band so it's a bit of a financial burden to release on all three formats at once. We are actually releasing CD copies of the album in early 2018. Vinyl will come eventually. Maybe if we get label support it will come faster.

Tyson: Budget. Yes we plan on having CD and vinyl.

Your initial intention was to create straight-forward Thrash Death Metal, and you definitely succeeded it on your debut album, but how come this intention?

What was the main influence on you choosing this specific mix of genres?

Tyson: I never really thought about this before... I guess we wanted the same things as far as what we were interested in playing and the rest came out. We perhaps influenced each other to create Dimensions of Terror.

Jonathan: I don't think we have ever talked about why we sound how we sound before, haha. Thrash and Death just seem to go very well when put together. I think we found a balance between the two and that is what became Mangler. I really enjoy the period from the mid-80's to

The band's logo and the album's cover artwork are fantastic, if you were a band in the '80's both of them would have been iconic for the scene, do you agree?

Who did them?

Jonathan: My intentions for the album artwork and the logo were to have it look like the old demo tape covers from the 80's. I love the demo tape covers of bands like Nihilist, Grave, Repulsion, etc. That is why the tape cover is black ink on white, I just love that aesthetic. The artwork was done by Inksonium (@inksonium_artwork) and the logo was actually originally created by our buddy Ricky from the crossover thrash band Dealer (Montreal, Canada) and then our other buddy Cogee from the crossover thrash band Thrashards (Toronto, Ontario)

How would you describe what's happening on Dimensions of Terror to someone who's not familiar with your band? Are there any major names from the '80's and/or '90's you'd say sound similar to what you do?

Tyson: That ultimately is open to interpretation by the listener. They can listen and hopefully enjoy it. If we sound like a band from the 80s or 90s it's probably because we like bands from that era. As far as the drums on Dimensions of Terror, I was listening to Rob Mills, Paul Mazurkiewicz and Robert Garven drum parts a lot at the time. I tried to emulate these guys. "Tried", haha.

Jonathan: I would describe Dimensions of Terror as having the speed and melody of thrash metal but also the mid-paced doom and gloom of death metal. I don't know if they sound similar or are considered "major names" but when it comes to bands from 80s/90s that I would say are influences would be: Possessed, Demolition Hammer, Dr. Shrinker, Master, Phantasm, Slaughter, Devastation, Merciless, etc.

There's so much music nowadays, it's almost impossible for upcoming bands to make their way.

What do you do in order to achieve that? What do you aim for with Mangler? How supportive is the local scene and in particular the local audience?

Jonathan: It really is an over-saturation of bands in all genres currently. Mangler is very DIY oriented. If we can write, record and release music on our own terms and play it live then we are achieving what we want. We have received very positive feedback from the local scene and have had well attended shows so far. We hope to be able to tour in the near future and make it to USA and Europe eventually.

December 2017

A fractured spine is something you'd never want to happen to you, but this Finnish Melodic Doom Death duo's music might just be another story alltogether, who knows...

Fractured Spine as a band name takes your mind to a Death Grind kind of band. Who came up with the name and how accurate (still) is for the band nowadays?

Antti: This is probably the most common question we get in interviews and as always, Timo can answer as he originally came up with it.

Timo: It is as accurate as ever. It is just easily misunderstood by many, it seems, and I guess I can understand why.

Unlike some physical spine it refers to the mental �spine� all of us have. Your self-esteem, character and mental health. All of these can be broken when things go really badly down the drain.

You started a real quest of releasing 4 new EPs in 2017 and 2018, please tell us what's that about and if possible present us a bit the four EPs. Why 4 EPs and not an album and an EP (as one of them is made of only covers)?

Antti: The short answer is that they're concept EPs, each very different both musically and thematically.

The long answer is that we started to have quite a bit of material we wanted to release, but there was simply too much diversity for it to work as a single release. Granted, we mix different genres within our album releases, but the EPs go way beyond that.

"The Price of Retribution" started as Timo's lyrical concept and is musically closest to our albums. Timo took care of all the vocals as well. However, clean vocals are nearly absent and more jazz influences incorporated.

This was quite a huge project for a small band like us to compose, structure, practise, record and produce. Our mixer, Jeffro Lackscheide, will probably agree that it was not an easy task to mix, either. But he really did a great job.

"Failed Pieces" is the complete opposite: excluding the 2nd track "Tru", the songs on this release are not metal.

In fact they're very minimalistic and don't even utilize drums. The lyrical concept narrates four stories of failing our lives in different ways, with the name of the EP

referring to its songwriting. All songs were written years ago, treated as ultimately failed compositions and nearly deleted before we finally decided to publish them. "Tru" was "rescued" from the digital bin twice and I was always quite unsure as to what to do with the song. I sang the vocals myself on this release.

"Stolen Pieces" is a homage to some of the artists and bands that have greatly influenced our songwriting. The idea was to choose songs that we could interpret in our own way. There are songs from the atmospheric rock band ShamRain, the singer-songwriter-pianist Vienna Teng and the gothic metal band To/Die/For. This is another non-metal release and also the last one to feature my (lead) vocals.

"Remains" will be the last of these concept releases, going musically back to 2008 and our first demo "Frost", for the anniversary. Essentially, this means simpler, melodic songs with clean vocals that Timo will be taking care of. The lyrical concept revolves around of what remains to remember us by, after what we've done.

Timo: Yeah, had these EPs been compiled as an album, it would've been very inconsistent. Four very different concepts.

It seems that after the collaboration with Inverse Records for your two albums, you've decided to go independent. How come? Will you continue this way, or still search for a suitable label?

Antti: Well noticed! It's probably worth clarifying on how the "Failed Pieces" EP is distributed. I wanted to make this particular release a small "fan-only" thing, meaning it won't be uploaded to YouTube, streaming services like Spotify/Deezer, digital marketplaces like iTunes/Amazon or even (I hope) to torrent networks, heh.

Inverse has handled our previous releases well and we'll be continuing with them with the upcoming ones.

Timo: In fact we worked with Inverse with "The Price of Retribution", too. Only "Failed Pieces" was released differently.

Beside the obvious Gothic, Doom and Death influences, you have also mentioned you've been inspired by genres outside of the Metal spectre, can you please detail? How would you describe your music to someone who haven't heard of Fractured Spine, how would you sell your music?

Antti: My daily playlist consists of smooth jazz & easy listening, modern blues, classical, celtic music (both traditional & modern) + other folk, shoegazing, progressive rock, indie rock and dozens of singersongwriters (mainly pianists & cellists). Some of such

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influences tend to creep into the music you're writing. I tune it down by limiting this to the timing and rhythm of our songs, with the more audible role of the Yamaha Silent Cello, Ibanez semiacoustic jazz guitar and Danelectro baritone guitar. Some backing synths may be influenced by a particular classical piece or even electronic music, but are rarely loud enough in the final mix to draw attention.

As for selling and describing music, now that's the part I've always hated. We've often defined our genre as "atmospheric death/doom metal", but we've never targeted a specific audience or given thought to what kind of music would sell. If anything, I generally try to break up traditional song structures and surprise the listener with constantly changing, multi-part songs. I'm a fan of underground and indie music, so targeting an audience just for money is simply a big no-no.

Timo: On the other hand, I am an extreme metal fanatic.

I love to bring death/doom to the music with an occasional black metal vibes mostly influenced by newer Swallow the Sun, for example. I am also a fan of ambient and atmospheric music. Categorization sucks big time but if you really must then I guess it would be atmospheric or gothic death/doom. We have a recognizable sound, I think. There is just no other word for it other than FS. The band is a duo for a long time now. Do you plan on remaining a duo, or to add more musicians and eventually to play live, too?

Antti: Unlikely, but you never know. There is a certain amount of musical freedom with a smaller line-up.

Timo: Things tend to get more complicated when more people, their schedules and artistic visions get added to the mix. And even more so when the live element comes along. With this current setting you can do whatever the hell you want, whenever. On our own terms. There were plans to bring a friend of ours to play the guitar in the band during the recording process of "Memoirs of a Shattered Mind", even some talks about starting a live band, but those plans kind of withered away for some reason. There was all kinds of hell raising at the time.

By the way, how important do you think is the live activity for a band? How have you managed to draw such a big following (at least on Facebook)? Is feedback important for you? Are you influenced by the feedback you get from the audience?

Antti: If you're trying to make money out of it, you have to play live. That's the way it is these days. It's really

quite hard to tell how "popular" or "known" your band is.

For some reason, our first demos "Frost" and "Eerie Messages" already generated quite some interest, gaining us a lot of followers on social media. However, it's important to remember a Facebook "like" doesn't necessarily mean a thing. We focus in music, not social

media. Receiving e-mails from our listeners is awesome, though!

Feedback is always interesting and in many ways important, but you can't let it influence the genre and style of music you're writing. Trying to please everyone simply won't work. As one might expect, writing eclectic releases essentially creates two types of feedback: first you'll get positive feedback from your mixing & mastering engineers, for the sole reason of the release not being "another monotonous and repetitive album". Then you can only hope your fans will like it as well.

Occasionally you'll stumble upon the second type of feedback: someone happened to like one (usually the simplest) track on the album, stating how the band should only stick to this specific style. This kind of feedback is quickly discarded, because in such a case it's

Dutch Blackened Death Metallers Daemonos were grouped in 2013 and their two EPs released so far are slowly preparing the audience for their debut album; let's find out more.

At first please tell us where the band name comes from. Please present us the band members. Are you guys friends for a long time, or music just united you? Have you had any experiences in previous bands before?

The name Daemonos is a mixture of the Greek and Latin word for Demon, granted to us by the elder Daemons from the Daemonium Empire. The band consists of 4 members at the moment: Mike Vogels – Vocals Robin Ritzen – Guitars Tom Bronneberg – Guitars Rik Ritzen – Drums The band was formed by the Ritzen brothers as they both had the feeling of doing something with a more heavier music. Being their first band they found some members who were later replaced by the line up the band consists of at this moment. Daemonos at first had a guitarist/vocalist but when he couldn’t handle both guitars and the vocals they thought of adding a seperate vocalist which they found in Mike after having contact with his former band Pictura Poesis. Later on the band recorded the first EP at TomBsTone Studios owned by Tom, who later joined the band as guitarist. So you can say the line up now is united by music but also started by some sort of friendship which only grew closer.

For the Ritzen brothers, Daemonos is their first band, as stated before Mike has been vocalist in Pictura Poesis before and Tom may be known for his work in many other bands such as Retribution and Scornage.

You've just released your second EP, Asger the Collector, this year. in my opinion its a clear improvement from your debut EP from 2015 in all areas, it's better produced, way more technical, more brutal, and all in all more solid, but how do you feel about it?

After “Infernum in Terra” we felt like we had to reinvent ourselves. We had a clearer vision of the way we wanted to go, and therefor it was a little bit easier to write new tracks. We talked for a bit about what we were going to do, full length or EP. We decided to go with an EP to see how it both worked for both us and the fans. The songs pushed us far to get what we wanted but eventually we got there. We recorded this EP at TomBsTone Studios again and will be doing this in the future, just because it is way easier to do it ourselves for a lower price, and have tons of time to do whatever we want with it. We think both of those reasons made this EP better than the previous one, but probably also that everyone finally dared to speak his mind towards Tom.

obvious the band's and listener's musical tastes differ greatly.

Timo: For some bands live act is what counts the most and why music is written in the first place. But then there are numerous one or two man bands that make music only for the record and have no interest in entertaining people per se. Of course you would have to tour like a maniac if you wanted to do this for living. Live concerts and merchandise is what matters most during these times when album sales keep declining. Only the vinyl format still sells nicely. About the importance of feedback.

When you hear that somebody loves what you do, it feels awesome of course and feels like you're doing far more important work than just expressing yourself. But as Antti mentioned, trying your hardest to create something that everybody likes is selling out in its truest form. I think an artist should never make compromises when it comes to art. Some will like it and others won't.

November 2017

your lyrics?

Correct, the first EP was written before Mike joined the band, with him the lyrics changed completely. Asger the Collector is fully written by his hand and is indeed a concept EP. You can see Asger as a monsterhunter. He hunts creatures for money and collects their heads as trophies. In a town called Graveborn, the locals spotted a creature which Asger hears of and quickly travels to that town. Long story short; the high priest of the local church denies but later needs his help. Asger seeks the creature and well, the ending of the story is what you hear in the outro on the EP. We decided that all our upcoming CDs will involve some sort of Demonic aspect. In this EP the creature is this aspect. You can look at the lyrics from more perspectives, it has both the “story” side and the more “real” side. For Asger we do not have an exact message but it has aspects of a message, everyone can interpret it on their own way.

So I guess we like to have both in it, maybe the line between will be thinner in the future than it is now but who knows. Regards the artwork; the person in it is Asger, looking over the path he has to travel to the town of Graveborn Is it hard to promote your music yourselves in Holland?

Are there many similar bands competing for attention over there? How do you see the current local underground scene?

It is extremely difficult, everyone is so spoiled these days – there are so many choices of where to go, almost every day there is a well known bigger band playing a gig somewhere, so why bother supporting/discover smaller upcoming bands right? There is also the fact that quality isn’t important anymore, it is all about the money these days – probably not just here in Holland though. There are a lot of great bands from here that don’t get the recognition they deserve – mostly because money is the major problem – let alone bands in our genre.

Have you started working on a full-length album already? Will there be any major changes on it?

In fact, we can now officially say we are indeed working on a full-length album. We are currently working our asses off on new material. The biggest change will be that the songs won’t be 7-8 minutes long this time. Expect more face-crushing material, the path of war will be opened once more! We don’t want to spoil to much, but do want to say that the concept will be in the same region as the EP is.

Just curious, what would be the ideal reaction from a listener after an audition of your new EP, what would you like him/her to feel?

The perfect feeling would be amazed, that they ask themselves “why haven’t I heard from this band before? Is there any chance I can catch them during a live performance?

Do they even have merch? Can I build a shrine to adore these Daemonic musicians?

How important is production for a band like yours? Who helped you produce this May I pledge my soul to the Daemonium Empire?” We can even answer these new EP? Do you feel it's a good thing to get input from outside the band once in a questions; “No idea, yes somewhere sometime, yes check facebook/website, we hereby while, or everything should stay within the band until it's delivered to the audience? grant you permission, YES!” Well this is kind of a mixed feeling, we find it really important as we don’t want to be a overproduced band and sound exactly as other bands out there. We want a good December 2017 production but also the raw feeling from the older times, the realness – not just all computers if you get me. As stated before, we do everything ourselves, mainly Tom does everything but lets keep it that we do everything. While recording and mixing we mostly keep it within the band yet we all have someone we go to and be like “Hey listen tot his, what do you think?”, as sometimes someone else can hear things we don’t hear anymore. So we would like to keep it within the band but also feel it is indeed a good thing to get input from outside.

Asger the Collector seems to be a concept material, correct? What is it about, and is the cover artwork linked to it somehow? Do you prefer to tell a story, or to transmit a message through

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forgotten, one-man band Meslamtaea. A few months later both bands simultaneously recorded a track with a shared theme (Utopia) so that it became a concept split. It was Zwaertgevegt’s first vinyl release and we’re really happy with the result. Zwaertgevegt is a tape label of the old skool and he has also released cassettes from our 2th album.

We are currently working intensively on our third full-lenght album. Even more than on the previous album.

Dutch Asgrauw impressed me with both their albums “Krater”, we have thrown our so far but also with their seemingly serious and personal influences in songwriting. It sombre (one could say arrogant) attitude, so I wanted becomes a atmospheric & melodic to find out more about them and why not, record on which the drums sound like recommend their music to you, too. sledgehammer and the freezing cold guitars will cut through your The band was founded back in 2010 and so far you eardrums like a knive. We record and had only one member replaced, the original drummer, mix everything in Batr’s home studio so there is no timein 2012, by Batr, how come you have such a strong pressure and we can make everything sound like we want bond? Do you think it's easier for bands located in it to. The do-it-yourself attitude is high on our list. little towns to keep a steady line-up thank for big cities bands?

On records the band sounds awesome, the sound is For us it is all about the music and nothing but the music. full, there's nothing missing, but how do you display We are no band-hoppers with 100,000 side projects and your music live as a trio? Do you have live guest there are no ego’s. The music of Asgrauw is central and maybe? Is this the perfect line-up for Asgrauw, or do every individual in the band has a great significance in you plan on adding extra members in the future? that. We write the music together and everyone is Asgrauw is, and always will be, a three piece band. We essential for our sound. do not consider adding members, because for us it works How come you chose to sing in your native language from the start? Haven't you considered English? Do you think language is important in Black Metal? And since we're talking about this please tell us what Asgrauw means and where does it come from.

Actually, the first album was partly in English because there were still a few tracks from the demo era. Since, we started writing in Dutch, our native tongue, in which we can best express ourselves. For non-Dutch listeners this might be an added value: one doesn’t need to be able to understand words, in order to be able to feel it. Lyrics are very important to us. However, we keep the lyrics for ourselves and we do not share them. ‘Asgrauw’ represents a pale bleach gray color that suits the atmosphere of the band.

So far you've released 2 full-length albums. I love both of them, so my sincere congratulations, but how would you describe them to someone who've never heard about the band or its music before? I'd say your music is heavily influenced by the mid-end '90's Scandinavian scene, do you agree?

Asgrauw is 2th wave Scandinavian black metal worship, combined with a tad of punk-attitude. We’re heavily inspired by bands from that era, like Emperor, Ulver, Dodheimsgard, Dimmu Borgir, Arckanum etcetera. But being inspired, doesn’t mean that we want to sound the same. Each individual in Asgrauw adds a personal touch to the music, that makes it stand on it’s own. Our guitarist/vocalist Vaal likes the more raw unpolished kind of black metal, while bass-player/vocalist Kaos has his roots in angry street punk. He literally has spewed blood during the recording of our upcoming album.

Drummer Batr (who also does the additional instruments) is nostalgic about the 2th wave black metal and listenes to weird psychedelic prog stuff as well. We just play what we feel. Nothing more, nothing less.

perfectly as it is: both on a personal and a musical level.

We are mainly focused on writing music for recordings.

Productionwise we strive for a full, atmospheric sound by adding synthesizers, extra guitars, spoken vocals, twin bass lines, samples etcetera. In a live situation, however, we are still an old skool three piece band and we can’t and don’t want – to reproduce the multi-layered sound that we have on the records. Live we sound faster, rawer and filtier.

There are so many types of Black Metal nowadays, I think the genre has expanded tremendously in so many directions that it makes it one of, if not THE most versatile subgenres of Metal, what do you think?

What's your fave type of Black Metal and why?

Black metal has hardly changed since the golden era.

The only thing that has changed is the attitude. And not for the better. It crawled up from the underground to the mainstream. Tapetrading and handmade magazines have made way for Facebook and Youtube, and one band tries to be more trendy than the other. For this reason they invented sub-genres for… just black metal. There’s no need for that. Who cares about what it’s called? What cares is how it sounds.

On the other hand there's also a ton of hate and intolerance within the genre that at times I think everyone has his/her own type of Metal he/she stands for and no others are worthwile in his/her eyes. Do you also feel that, or are the fans more open-minded in Holland?

We don’t know whether there is hatred and intolerance between metal-genres. But it is a fact that black metal is a particular genre, far removed from any other metal genres. Our music is not appreciated by fans of trash-, grind- or death metal, where entertainment of audience with fists in the air, headbanging and moshpits is the norm. Asgrauw however, is an introvert and apathetic

Your latest release, the split with Meslamtaea (what a strange name, what does it means?), came out last year through the local Zwaertgevegt label.

Is it just the start of a long collaboration, what do you think?

Do you plan already the third full-length album?

The idea for the 7inch split release at Zwaertgevegt arose by accident after an Asgrauw gig, when the Alex Zwaert asked our drummer Batr about his old, almost

band that doesn’t want to entertain. Never. There is no

fun involved. The average metal fanatic does not understand that and find us boring. Yes, we are. Go away.

Don’t book us.

What would you like to transmit to your listeners, what's the main purpose of Asgrauw's music and/or lyrics? I mean is the band more than just having some fun with friends and enjoying the live shows thrill?

We don’t want to transmit anything to our listeners, because we only play for ourselves. Asgrauw consists of three individuals who have the urgent need to express everyday negative emotions in a musical form. It’s not about having fun with friends. We don’t play because we want to, but because we have to.

Is Asgrauw a Satanic band? What is Satanism to you and what role do you think it has in nowadays' Black Metal scene?

In the 90s, Christianity played an important role in daily life and satanism and anti-christianity were a logical (and exquisite) counter-reaction. There was still place for spirituality and mysticism. The black metal movement embraced it and puzzle pieces fell into each other. It was perfect. Anno 2018 the world looks very different.

Humanity climbed over the edge of the abyss and there is no way back. Thus, for us there is no need anymore to kick against religion, to rebel against anything at all. It makes no sense. All gods are dead. Glaciers are melting.

Nature is destroyed. The world has become a dead, hopeless place.

If it were for you to create the perfect environment for a Black Metal band to reach its scope, what do you think it would need? Many say the '90's scene was better than the current one, but there are also many that enjoy the actual movement more, so what would you take from the two periods so that combined would form the ideal?

As answered in the previous questions, the conditions in the 90s were perfect for black metal. It was the right time for free and open-minded people to escape Christian dogmas. There was reason to rebel against religion.

Mystical, ritual, hatefull black metal was a logical consequence. That made the black metal real and credible. Black metal reached its peak at the end of the nineties: seen musically and in terms of ideology. That was a milestone. Shows were well visited, kids supported the bands. It will never ever be like this again.

The actual movement is about scoring likes on Facebook. The black metal scene has become a dogma in itself. New acts are trying to conform to the non-conformists.

Trendy shit is being pushed while many quality bands are staying quite undetected. For us, black metal is more a kind of nostalgia.

Asgrauw is an egocentric band. We do what we need to do and we’re not interested in opinions.

February 2018

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the music.

versions and then share them with the others?

NGN: Until now, Totleben wrote songs and shared them How old were you when you decided to be a musician? with us, we gave our feedback and changed some things What turned you into metal? if needed. I wrote the lyrics upon the music, because NGN: I’ve started listening to metal during my puberty, when I write lyrics before the music is completed, I have I’ve started with soft stuff, but soon I realized that I a very fix idea about how the song should sound but it’s needed a higher dose to be satisfied. Metal was the kind hard for me to explain it to Totleben and… yeah… of music that reflected myself back then, it was the music On the other hand, I think this is the most effective way for misfits: ugly, aggressive and somehow melancholic. I according to the “writing-speed”. tried to be normal but I failed over and over again. On the next album we’ve planned to work much closer Totengeflüster is a German band that play Black Starting to sing (haha) was a good chance to vomit the together like: I write a short story, he composes the Metal and sing in their mother tongue. They darkness that ate me up from the inside out. soundtrack for this story and I write the final lyrics upon unleashed "Im Nebel der Vergänglichkeit" last the soundtrack.

Summer and are ready to take the World by storm. Why have you opted to play Metal/black Narbengrund Nihilis and Tobleten had a nice chat metal/symphonic? What attracted you to these genres? The cover looks very grim. Is Totleben responsible with us.

NGN: We all have a strange but intense affinity to metal for it? in general but when I met Totleben first, our favorite NGN: Yes, he is.

"Totengeflüster" means Whisper Of The Dead. Why bands combined both the harshness and aggressiveness the name in German since it is so hard to pronounce? of metal and the beauty and atmosphere of classical Both your full-lengths have been released by Pale Narbengrund Nihilis: We’re a German band, most of music. We wanted to create that kind of music, that we Essence Music. How’s it going? Are you pleased with our lyrics are German and since we don’t have a wished to hear and Symphonic Black Metal was the most their promotion and attitude towards the band? commercial focus but focus on art itself, we didn’t think promising initial point…

T.: Yes, we all are. Everything that is done is a "Do it about if someone could pronounce the word yourself" thing so I’m quite proud of how far we came in “Totengeflüster” or not and honestly I don’t care about it. The new album was released last year and has a the last time. You cannot do more than you are able to do German title. What does "Im Nebel der and to fail is a normal thing from time to time. It’s Totengeflüster has been around for 10 years. What Vergänglichkeit" mean? important to go on and learn from your tasks. One thing have you learned in this decade of existence?

NGN: Since we live in the era of mighty Google, I guess of that is that I will never put any release to a summer NGN: People are people and when it comes to money, you don’t want to hear or better to read a simple date as we did with "Im Nebel der Vergänglichkeit". I everyone seems to transform into a fucking asshole and translation, don’t you? “in the mist of transience” is think most of the people were too busy in this time. the metal music business is by no means an exception… metaphoric and describes “Life” itself: you are thrown Magazines that report on Festivals, Fans that are on I think we’ve grown up and left our childish and naive into a mire, surrounded by thick fog, never knowing festivals or vacation as well, and the simple fact that it is ideas about this world behind. When it comes to music, I which is the right way through nor which is your last step a Black Metal Album. I think it fits better in the colder think that you have to be open minded. Of course, the in this nightmare. half of the year. But it still was right to release it in first and most important thing about creating music or art summer last year, cause it connected perfectly with our generally, is that you can identify yourself with it but if What are "Im Nebel der Vergänglichkeit" lyrical England Tour and other concerts. you don’t like to end up as the thousandth copy of themes about? Who wrote them?

Darkthrone or Dimmu Borgir, you have to open your NGN: I wrote them ;-) Does the band have many concerts booked for 2018? eyes and allow foreign influences to enter your creative The lyrical themes are about transience, the meaning of How important is touring for Totengefluster? spectrum. Kill your idols and create your own life, social criticism, nihilism, “negative” feelings, T.: After our drummer Frostbitten had a serious hand abominations out of their mortal remains… individualism… and of course death and desolation. injury we had to cancel all concerts for the second half of Totleben: I can second that. Sure in the beginning you last year. We will repeat all those missed concerts and follow your own thoughts that "seem to fit" but then you If I am not mistaken, most of the band’s material is will play the Wolfszeit festival this year as well. end up doing nothing special. I think especially in the written in German. Why do you use German? Isn’t it last two years this changed for me. I more and more more complicated to gain more fans?

What’s the best place/venue you’ve played at? Why? follow my own individual path.

NGN: Yes it is, but if we wished to earn enough money NGN: Beermageddon-festival. It is a small festival near to live by this kind of music, we would play pop music Birmingham England and Jim Beerman, the boss of this 2018 is here and the band's 10th anniversary (maybe containing a little bit of Hip Hop). You see, it festival is a friend of Totleben. The atmosphere was celebrations! Have you planned anything special to isn’t our primary ambition to get as many fans as simply awesome, the sound on stage was excellent and I celebrate this occasion? possible ;-) don’t know why but those crazy English bastards simply NGN: No, not yet…or at least I don’t know about Since German is my mother tongue I can express myself love Totengeflüster! We’ve played there two times, the anything. much better in this language than in English. In addition first one was our debut show and if the journey wasn’t T.: There is nothing exactly planned at the moment. I to this, I like the sound of German words and I think they that long and expensive we would love play there every think when it’s about to do something special we will do work well for the typical Black Metal screams. If my fucking year… it anyway. No need of celebrating something extra.

French wouldn’t be so disastrous I maybe would write T.: Definetly Beermageddon! my lyrics in this language, because it sounds so damn Symphonies of Death and Desolation are listed as the ugly and fucked up if you listen to bands like Peste Noire. What would be the perfect tour for Totengefluster? band’s influences. But which bands/musicians have Where would you go? Which bands would go with influenced you?

How does the writing process happen? Do you write you?

NGN: Since our main-songwriter is Totleben, I will tell lyrics first and then riffs or the other way around? Do NGN: That’s a hard question, our “mini-tour” in you about his influences. I think the essence can be you meet often and write together or do you do demo England with Unlight 2017 was amazing and we had lots reduced to of fun (just a joke, (Symphonic) Black Metal guys Black Metal bands hate having fun) of the mid-nineties and drinks… but also to We only know classical music.

Germany and You won’t find England when it surprises here: of comes to shows, course we all love so we can’t tell, if Dimmu Borgir, Australia or Japan Cradle of Filth, would be that great Emperor, too. The second Satyricon or one is also a Immortal. Are you difficult question, I sometimes think that the most reminded of a Tim important point is, Burton movie that the guys while listening to and/or girls are our orchestral parts “cool”, that you or our can talk with them, instrumentals? Yes, you can party with Danny Elfman is them and you can also a huge rely on them, influence of being true as fuck Totleben. When it comes at best on comes to the the second place… vocals, I try to combine every Interview by style I love to hear Sónia Fonseca / for myself and January 2018 somehow fits into

20

Deus Ex Machina is a rather new band on the scene. When you formed the band were you aware of the many other bands playing under the same moniker?

Is this something that may affect the band in the future, or it doesn't matter?

To be totally honest, no, we weren’t aware other bands played under this name and we discovered it later.

But when our former guitarist proposed us this name we loved it immediately as its signification matched totally with the band’s universe.

For now, we’ve never had any problem due to this name, and if it happens one day we will see what we can do.

Your band belongs to the modern type of Metal, and although it is usually labeled as Melodic Death Metal, your genre is way more advanced, and a lot different from what one may imagine while hearing this tag.

How would you describe what you do in order for someone who never heard your music to get a slight idea?

That’s true and we don’t like to be categorized in a particular genre of metal. Our music is a mix of several influences that can change over time.

We are composing without asking ourselves in which genre our music should be: we are composing with what we like, and it makes our own genre.

You released your debut album this year, how were the reactions?

Do you still listen it at home? What's the best thing on it? Is there something that will make the listener go WOW? We were happy to see that people really liked our album! We received great reviews and great comments.

We don’t listen to it at home because we are still playing it several times a week to prepare our live shows.

It’s difficult to say what is THE best thing on it, but for sure we like the fact that all songs are very emotional and full of energy at the same time.

This album can break your neck and bring you to dark atmospheres in one song.

(Maybe the listener could answer better than us to this question.)

What are your lyrics about? Are they important in what the band wants to transmit to the listener? Why Talking about the modern Metal territory, how have you chosen English for your lyrics? supportive do you feel are the new generations of fans? The most important thing to know about the lyrics is that And I'm talking here in terms of sales, music and they are open to the interpretation of the listener. All the merch sales, which ultimately it's what drives a band lyrics are connected to each other to form a character’s ahead even if makes no money, it something that story who describes its progression into his deepest fear. shows support and appreciation (do you agree?).

The signer Stephany has chosen to sing in English after We are always very impressed by the support of people many years doing it in french, because she felt it was we meet on our shows, and especially since our debut easier to express herself in that language. album has been released. People show us their support of course by buying our music or merch, but also by Are you ready for a next step as a band? I'm attending our shows, coming to talk to us, following us referring to long tours inside and outside Europe? on social media, sending us messages… This is the most Are you willing to take the band to that level where important point for us. It’s very encouraging and it really you'd have to devote all your time to it, or do you makes us want to do more and more shows to meet fans prefer to keep it as a hobby and combine it with your all over the world! daily lives?

The name of the band, Distillator leads one's mind to alcohol, obviously, and that might build an impression of a joke activity.

How serious are you about the band and how serious is the band's music/message? is by far the most successful band we had

Distillator so far.

The name of the band was found in a brainstorming session between Laurens and Frank.

“Distillator”, is a derivative of “Distiller”, someone who distills his own alcohol. We see this as a way of self-reliance and independence. This is needed since governments are trying to limit our freedom. We see it necessary to be somehow self supportive and autonomous in this modern times we’re living in right now. The name of our band is more or less a metaphor for independence.

Talking about names, Summoning the Malicious is the title of your second album, released this year, and it can lead the thoughts to either Satanic themed lyrics, or if someone digs just a bit deeper, to social, maybe even (anti-)political topics.

What's the truth about your lyrics, what's your target when writing them?

Actually, Summoning the Malicious was released in May 2017. The themes on the album can definitely be defined as social and political. Until now, every album we have written is a concept album. On our Debut album “Revolutionary Cells” we wrote songs about events that did happen in the last 100 year. On “Summoning the Malicious” we took that to our current time. The lyrics are about topics like refugees, computerization of society, whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, Oil-trade and Narcissistic leaders to name a few. These are things that are happening right now, but most people seem not to care about it. We are not judging in our lyrics, but we want to give people notice to some fact that we think are important. We think that our freedom is taken away piece by piece and we want people to think about this.

This is actually our main goal. We already devote all our free time to it, and if we could devote even more, we would ! After the album release in 2017, we will dedicate 2018 to tour as far as possible in Europe, and also composing our second album. We are working on planning two tours and already have several shows booked. Don’t hesitate to visit our website or our Facebook page, maybe we will come in your town!

What's the biggest dream for you as musicians and for you as a band? What was the best thing that happened to Deus Ex Machina so far? Any unfortunate incidents?

Our biggest dream for now is to continue to progress together, do more shows, visit new countries, and then work with professional structures like labels and booking agency. The best thing that happen to us was to find the perfect line-up! It was the first step to a more professional work and it motivated us like never before.

Then, of course, the release of our first album. No unfortunate incidents at this time, hope it will continue!

January 2018

are the recordings (EPs, albums) for the new generation, or for the regular listener who is bombarded with music all over but finds little time to spend for it.

It’s mandatory to keep recording songs and putting out records. Playing live is important, but you need to bring something new to the table once in a while. Over the years, a band will start to improve themselves in terms of songwriting and sound. At some point there is a mismatch between the catalog of the band and the current quality.

Also, people will forget about the band and focus on other bands instead.

Currently, we have focused our creativity into a split album (together with Space Chaser, from Berlin). We have experimented with some new sounds, compositions and added some progressive elements. It will be released this (2018) spring on This Charming Man Records.

Thrash Metal seems to have its strength in fascinating a certain mass of fans all the time, there are fans of all ages and I don't see this stopping anytime soon even if it relies on its old-school sonorities. Do you think it's good as it is, or it should somehow reinvent and refresh itself?

It’s very nice to see that there is a huge following in the thrash metal scene. These days, it seems that there is more interest for thrash metal than some years ago. For example, there are tons of new bands seeing the light of day that put our records and play shows.

However, bands like Vektor for example, really transcend the boundaries of what we know as thrash metal. We think this is awesome and would encourage bands to try something different as well. A lot of bands sounding the same these days, not only in Thrash, but also in other genres as well.

The production of this new album to me seems similar to your debut one's, am I right? Are there any differences? Where was Summoning the Malicious recorded and how happy are you about the final result?

We recorded both our albums by ourselves in our own studio. The mix and master of both albums are done by Dennis Koehne (Sodom, Caliban, Lacuna Coil). The first album sounded so good, that we wanted to have a new album that sounded just like that.

For us, the final result is very satisfying! Recording in our own studio will allow us to work in a relaxed environment without the interference of someone who is an outsider of the band. This way we can get the most out every member’s performance and get the songs recorded exactly the way we have it pictured in our minds.

A band's force and catchiness must be proven live, that's a nobrainer, but I'm interested in your opinion of the current role of recordings, how important still

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Your label is (was) also home of some legendary names like Ostrogoth, Warlord or Medieval Steel. How do you find your label mates and how happy are you about the collaboration with this label?

We are very honored to be on the same label as these metal legends. Also, you forgot to mention Evil Invaders and Insanity Alert, which are great bands/guys that were signed at Empire Records. The label boss, Tony, is a very cool guy that really has passion for the music that he releases on his label.

As said earlier, Summoning the Malicious was just released this year, do you plan on touring Europe (or even further) in support of it? How should an ideal 2018 look for the band, what should happen in order to be the perfect year?

We just finished our tour with Pestilence and Rebaelliun, which took place in January/February. We played all over Europe, including our first gigs in Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Slovakia. This was very awesome and hope to be back soon! In May, we will do a short tour with Gama Bomb throughout 4 countries. Later in 2018, we are planning to do a second big European tour. Beside our regular shows, it would be cool to do some summer festivals as well!

February 2018

Want to find out why Tyrant Wrath’s new album is titled “1979”? Want to know what the band is doing these days? Want to know their thoughts on the Scandinavian scene? If you have answered Yes to the previous questions, you better read the conversation Sonia had with the band…

The band has been active for a decade now and only two albums were released. In May 2013 you posted in your Facebook page about the album “1979”… why did it take 4 more years in order for it to be released?

We have been doing other things besides music so it takes some time to get the albums ready and to rehearse the songs. The 3 of us live far apart so we don´t get together very often but usually I make some songs and then we decide together about the arrangements of the different songs. And the delay of the latest album is mostly because we do have a lot of other things going on.

“Torture Deathcult” and “1979” both include 9 tracks… why 9? Is it just a coincidence?

The number 9 is just a coincidence, we make some songs and chooses the best ones and this time we had a lot of good songs so the album became quite long. But I think it fits the album to be a little longer and the music has gotten darker and colder so the length of the album is perfect.

sound

then

make some

songs, we make the songs and then which ones that represent the music.

decide would best

The cover is kinda spooky with the stormy sky and the crows flying above the rooftops. Why this cover in particular? It is completely different from the one in your first album which was very gore and intense.

I think it fits the music that this time is darker and colder than the previous album. I really like albums that have a picture on it instead of a drawing so that’s one reason and the reason for that particular cover is that it goes hand in hand with the music. The picture represents an asylum close to where I lived some years ago.

The album has also been released in cassette format.

Do many people buy albums in that format still? Are you fans/collectors of this format?

The new album was supposed to be titled “Year of the I like the cassette formats though I rarely listen to Dead” but then you changed the title to “1979”. Why? cassettes nowadays. It´s a great thing to do I think, to What happened on that year that was so important it keep the old-school thing so it isn´t forgotten. I do not collect cassettes but I have a few old ones still. needs to be remembered?

The title “Year of the Dead” became a song title instead cause we wanted to have that song title on the album “Torture deathcult” was released through Battlegod anyway. The change to “1979” was decided because the Productions and “1979” through More Hate 3 of us in the band were born that year, the year of the Productions/Narcoleptica Production. Why the change? dead!

The reason for the change is that Battlegod Productions “1979” was a limited version of 500 copies… how did wanted to release more “easy-selling” music, softer sales go? music and some thrash metal. So, we started to look for a I think the sales goes pretty well, I haven´t talked to record label that would release black metal instead and More Hate Prod or Narcoleptica in a while now but we found More Hate/Narcoleptica Prod. which I think is a have gotten good reviews from people over here. We great label with really good releases! have sold most of our part of the records we got so I could say we are pleased with that. Then there´s always The album includes a 20-page booklet… what can be hard to promote as we almost never do live shows. We found in those pages? have played live before at bigger and smaller venues but We have included the lyrics for the songs… and some for now there isn´t time for that. other stuff that you could see if you buy the album!

Has this album brought more attention to Tyrant Wrath? Do you know how people are reacting to it?

I believe so, yes, and I know from people I have talked to that this album is much more appreciated than our debut.

Then again, I don´t read many metal magazines or read reviews so I really don´t know, but I hope more people will notice and have the time to listen to the album!

“1979” seems to need more spins in order to appeal to fans. Why have you shifted in the way you make music? Will this affect the band somehow?

Yes, it could need some more listens but I think that’s a good thing. Personally, the albums I like the most need some spins to sink in, the records that get stuck immediately often seem to fade away after a while. The shift in music has come naturally for me as I always try to make darker music with more ´feeling´ to it and hopefully the next album will be even better!

In your Facebook page says that “compared to mainstream extreme metal, the album sounds slightly old fashioned and totally uncompromising”… what do you mean? It sounds rawer and harsher than the clean albums being released these days?

We take inspiration from the feeling you get when you listen to those old black metal albums but we add our own thing to it, yet we have that harsh production cause I think it fits the music really well. We try to make the production fit the music, we don´t decide to have a raw

Last time I checked the band didn’t play many concerts to promote the new album and hasn’t got any concerts booked for this year. Don’t you appreciate playing live or haven’t you received any offers?

We have received some offers to play concerts but at this time we do not do live gigs. Perhaps in the future, you´ll have to wait and see...

Though the band has 3 members, usually only 2 show up in the photos. Why? The other one doesn’t like being photographed?

All 3 are in the band but me and Adde were the ones who started the band and Jocke joined in for the recording of the debut. We then did some gigs with another drummer and started to rehearse some new songs. But when it was time for the recording of 1979 it was Jocke behind the drums for the second time and this time he became a fulltime member.

The band has had some complicated situations with venues… why does this happen? Don’t people understand Tyrant Wrath? Do they want to exploit artists and their arts?

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Some people obviously don´t understand the art we create, so sometimes it can go wrong when they book us without looking into how our shows look like. We use large wooden crosses turned upside down, who are drenched in old rotten blood that smells bad... and some people at venues only want the music and, once, we cancelled a show when they wanted us to take away some parts of our performance.

Sweden is home to many great death and black metal bands… what’s your opinion on the current Scandinavian scene? Is it as grand and awesome as it used to be? Have any of the bands influenced you?

Scandinavia have many great bands and some have, of course, influenced us at some point. The greatness of the scene is still there I believe, although many of the old bands have developed their style of music, the greatness is still there. I don´t know a lot about newer bands and I´m not really that interested to be honest, nowadays I get my inspiration from elsewhere and not from metal music.

I listen to some black metal bands but that is mostly the bands that I grew up with, I really don´t have the time to look into new bands. We try to create the music that we wanna hear ourselves.

What about the Black Metal scene? How do you view it?

I don’t really care about any scene at all, one band tries to be truer than the other and I couldn´t care less. We do our thing and create what we think is a great music revelation and also a journey to the dark times when we started with black metal and tried to capture the feeling from those times. The feeling you get when listening to the music is more important than the music itself.

What can be expected of Tyrant Wrath in the near future? Are you already working on new material?

Yes, actually we are! I have made some songs for an upcoming album and I have a pretty clear view on the spirit of the album. I can promise that it will be more darkness and more ´back to the roots´ in the coming album. Keep your eyes open!

Share a message with our readers.

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. Yet his shadow still looms. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knifes; who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves?” Hails!

Interview by Sónia Fonseca / March 2018

Slava Tchortu! Even though you guys had released a two split's and an two full-lenght albums, you are still an underground band that perhaps is unknown to many headbangers so please introduce Sombre Croisade.

Are the guys in the band involved in other projects?

Malsain: I created Sombre Croisade in 2008, with a will to exorcise my darkest feelings.

This the initial project can be described as a dark and personal music. Some songs were composed but non recorded...in 2010, i recorded some other songs and included Alrinack as vocalist and bassist. These songs appeared in 2012 on the split with Suicidal madness called “Molasar dreams”! On the same year, is available the first album "Litanie au mal". In October 2013, a split "L'aube Illusoire" with Augure Funebre is available ! our new album “Balancier des âmes”was released in end 2017 by Pest records. With Alrinack we are involved together in other bands : Suicidal madness, Blukovla, Vils serpents, Dernier soufflé and I’m involved too in a band called Total reject.

Alrinack: Yes we have pleasure to play together in these bands! A great communion between us! Part of these projects, I’m involved in others too: Uluun, Loup noir, Asphodeles, Ysengrin, Temple, Jarnvidr, P.H.T.O….

the message you wanted to achieve or it was even better?

A: This split is important for us, from one part because we shared the opus with SM, that’s a predominant project where we play together, and from other part, because it’s totally dedicated to our friend Molasar! Songs are reflecting our suffer! We recorded with poor material, the production is raw, it’s clear but the message is honest .

M: This 1st Split or even the 1st album one recorded in a row in the same period. The sound recording is really bad but the intention that we it in put at that time, are always valid, it is exits which matter.

What was the original idea to form Sombre Croisade in 2008? Was there any revolt against modern and trendy Metal, or you simply felt the need to get rid of anger out of yourself in the form of fast as hell Metal?

A: As we said on the first question, Sombre Croisade was and is still, a catharsis for us, to express our hate and feelings! We keep our line, may be yes, to oppose us to the “trendy metal”..

M: The revolt against trends it is more stressed on the 2nd album. More and more bands it claim "Black Metal" but has in reality no attitude appropriate to the style and I do not support that. Dark Crusade is, and will stay a group Old School in the sound and the convictions, it is important for us. We spit on every these new things "comment" BM where the guys arrive in concert in sandals and jogging of shit...

Last year you have released your second full-length "Balancier des âmes" album at Pest Records. How are you satisfied with the work of this label? Although the album came out September 2017, do you already know some sales numbers?

A: We are totally satisfied with the work of Pest records! Really pro label, great production, many reviews, we can talk with them when we want, they are attentive to our desires!! A great association! I don’t have exact numbers of sales, but it seems to be good! From our part, we already sold some cds! It’s a good way!

M: Exactly, and the good returns of the public, the actors of the scene consolidates me in the idea that the label in done well its work of promotion, and that for us it is our best taken out until now.

Has the band’s intention always been to stay deep in the underground and keep yourselves amidst dark shadows? Would you continue maintaining that low profile or would you maybe like to reach the more well-known status of more commercial bands such as Immortal or Mayhem in the future?

M: I had at first no particular intention. Today if we become more known thanks to our music and our convictions to play her, to propagate our gangrene, so much the better.

A thing is safe, on no account we shall not sell our bottom by ringing more "modern" to be more known, be signed on big label and better earn money. It is unthinkable!

A: We don’t think and live Sombre croisade, in commercial or reputation terms, we don’t care about this! We play music, it’s the most important for us, after, we’ll see that future has to give us!

I am always interested in how bands started listening to Heavy Metal. How it was in your case? When have you first sniff the toxic form of this genre and due to which bands you became orthodox metal head? Have you remained faithful to these bands till today?

A: when I was young, I listened heavy metal and punk! One day I fount a tape, where was record a burzum album, and a deicide album…my first items of extreme metal, this was a revelation. Since that, I’m metalhead as you say! I’m still listening these bands, but olders too!

M: I am younger than Alrinack I thus knew the BM or the extreme metal that in the 2000s. I always listened to groups as Iron maiden but already teenager I looked more violent. My puppy loves which introduced me into the millieu are Horna, Darkthrone, Enthroned or Deicide, Exhumed... And I always listen to it yes! More often the old albums on the other hand, sometimes has there debatable evolutions héhé Your first recording was a "Molasar Dream's" split shared with Suicidal Madness from 2012 containing four songs and I know they have a very special meaning for Sombre Croisade. How did it feel to hear your first effort from a recording? Was it exactly

I really like the production you used on the debut "Litanie au mal", everything sounds naturally, dirty, raw and not polished. Maybe you have used an analog recording method which adds authenticity and atmosphere to the recording. Is this the only way for you?

A: Thanks! No we didn’t use analog recording for this opus! We did it with our limited material, simply use our home studios capacities… Now we still record by this way, but for the production (mastering…) we work with some dudes that have more knowledge in it!

M: Our current sound is a little better but while staying raw, the "home-made" pleases us. In the future, will not go to us in a professional studio to have something disinfected ..

What does atmosphere in your music mean to you? Is it natural and obvious for you that music must have a certain aura of evil, gloom and creepiness or it is rather your intention? Would you prove to listen to the recordings that have no atmosphere? Would you prove to create such music?

M: I do not really choose what I want to release of my music. It depends on my state of mind as compose them. We are on the same wave length with Alrinack, as for the musical felt, I know that he is going to understand what I wanted to exorcise with every piece and to insist in his turn in this direction.

A: For me we don’t search really for a particular atmosphere, we work on our riffs, we are looking for an adequation in our feelings, a song is a satisfaction for us, when we feel in it, our hate, or our sadness…after that, the aura is correlated to it!

Could you describe your writing process? Do you have one composer or it is a matter of the whole band? Which your songs do you consider as your best so far and which one do you prefer to play live?

A: our writing process is very simple, and always on the same schema! Malsain write and record his guitars riffs and drums, he send me them. I write and rec my bass line and vocals. We listen the song, since we are agree of the result! There are some song I really prefer,2 songs come in my mind “la mort naissante” from our first opus, and “Midiane” from our new opus! We played live, until this moment, just one time, “la mort naissante” took part from the set list, it’s was a pleasure for me, play this song on the stage!

M: To choose two is complicated but in the feeling, I would also say: " la mort naissante " and... Hem: " don ténébreux ". I was in particular phases, when I wrote these pieces and I find that the atmosphere feels the effects of it. Strangely they are far from being the most hateful (as Midiane for example) Again Sombre Croisade music is dominated by negative and dark emotions which have always been part of the horrible old Metal. All these aspects are reflected in the final atmosphere of music creating a deep and interesting artistic concept. Do you perceive Sombre Croisade as a band with deep artistic testimony of the dark arts? Do you think old devilish Metal must sound selflessly primitive and blunt, or these two levels can be combined together?

A: Sombre croisade is totally involved in dark arts, its express take birth in very dark and hatred feelings, combined to our attract to sadness, melancholy and depression!

In our process, like in our listening, we are defined as “old school”, for me it’s a real compliment hear or read that!

Buti think in Sombre croisade, we found the form to respect primitive pulses of old black metal, with some deep atmospheres, may be, more contemporary, recent. So, yes, these two levels can be combined together.

Like I mentioned above "Balancier des âmes" has been available for a while now, but there are still people out there that may be reading this interview and perhaps haven’t got the

23

chance to rage over your new opus so I thought who would be better than yourself to explain the band's proposal and concept behind the album.

A: The concept of “Balancier des âmes” is simple! It concerns a deep and extreme rebirth for us, of the band. These years, me like Malsain, we knew more and more difficulties in our lives, at different levels, we were busy we our all other bands…This opus is more strength, more efficacious, more full of claims! It talks about insane introspection but also about dogmatic emprise of religious movements that infect our society!

M: I created Sombre Croisade in the exact purpose of it has just explained Alrinack, we spit all our hatred there, in real one catharsis. I has to be in a particular state to make up, what is not forcing the case for the other groups in which I preside. This way Somber Crusade is unique and he will last in time. The fact of doing it with Alrinack is also, one truth so human agreement as musical unite us, Sombre Croisade with fact of us of true "brothers of hearts" in time.

Without that ... that would lose a little of its sense in fact!

M: As I said it higher, I hate the attitude of certain musicians of the new wave or more generally the hypocrisy of people, all the religious dogmas. I do not know if we can speak about an inheritance, but I am never bothered to tell to a guy " to go be done ", this side rebels been a member(part) of me and that can stick on the spirit Old School, but nothing is calculated. I don't care to appear "True" or not, that is the way it is Héhé Ça feels the effects necessarily in my music!

What do you think is most important thing in Sombre Croisade? Do you think you have your modus operandi and outlined way across the burning fields of underground in 21.century? In my view you write powerful tracks with their own typical character, strength and atmosphere, which is now deficient in general.

A: for me, the most important thing in Sombre croisade, it’s our honesty! We have our place in this fucking century! We need expression , by arts, music…

What can you tell me about your next release he he? Is it more of the same or would the band’s sound continue a logical evolution; would we have to wait long How did you come to an agreement with the Pest Records to release the CD? Are for the next assault? you guys happy with the work put unto the CD by the label regarding the A: We start to work on the next opus! This opus will reflect our logical evolution yes, promotion of the album? Will the band continue working with Pest Records or but we can’t say you how long you have to wait. We don’t know more about it héhé! will you opt out for a bigger more established label?

M: We compose in other bands, but i don’t know in which order are going to go out A: at the beginning, we didn’t think to Pest records..we didn’t think to a particular label. albums . And I don’t check either the inspiration. The only sure thing which I can tell I knew Pest, and Adrian, because, in past, I did several reviews for his Webzine…so we you, it is that we already have of the new material and that a next album is going to go proposed him the opus, and he accepted! He did a really good promotion for the album!! out!

Like I said before, he’s a good professional!! He’s a real support for French and international black metal scene! Not many bands released, but a work that respect the In France, concerts are held regularly and show the great Metal scene of your bands! I don’t know, if Sombre croisade will continue with Pest records, but for the country. I know that Sombre Croisade has already played some shows, so what moment we are satisfied about our collaboration! are your plans regarding live presentations, are you guys planning an international tour or something alike?

How do you feel about Black Metal from the current perspective, our time? Do A: Like I said before, Sombre Croisade just played one time for a black metal fest! We you think it has changed a lot opposite 80´s and 90´s? Do you think Black Metal is want to do live gigs, it’s certain, but we have to resolve problems about live session today still the rotten style full of abomination, blasphemy and celebration of musicians, distance, I live in northern France, and Malsain in the south of France….but impure forces? Do you believe the original heritage of Black Metal will be play live is one of our middle term objectives! If we play, yes we probably do an preserved forever, or once this old school style will extinguish and will be international tour! completely replaced by modern Black Metal?

A: this is a vast and complex question…yes black metal, opposite to 80’s and 90’s, Please finish this off with anything you may want to say, and I hope the next changed a lot, many more submovements appeared in it since the first bands! I always Sombre Croisade album will be as good as the "Balancier des âmes". Thanks for listen old school type of bm, always with the same conviction, it talk to me with the your time and hopefully this interview didn’t bore you to death. Hailz! same strength! We always find bands with the primitive way, with the notion of A: Thanks to your interest about Sombre Croisade, about our way! Thanks for your blasphemy, I share this position every days, it’s important to fight that want to kill our support to French black metal scene that suffer in these times!! We are honored to have psychic freedom! Human is source of impure forces, in all he do! Old school black this place of expression!! With interesting question from your part!! metal express the manifestation of it in us! I think that original heritage will be M: interesting questions, thanks for them and for your interest in our work! Best preserved yes! Because there always, persons to keep it alive! We see certain bands that regards for you too, for your involving in European black metal scene. put themselves under “modern black metal” banner…it permits to them, access to “extreme” people, but they don’t do Black metal…they use images, links of it, but they Interview by Don Mariano / March 2018 don’t understand the essence of it! It’s boring but it’s a fact..

On a personal level, we love nature and being in the presence of mighty trees, rivers and mountains. It just feels right. On our first ep, the title track has a line I was inspired to write after reading the book "Outlander". The main character basically says, a man has to have a Mountain! I have many in fact that I like to call home.

I'm curious how is your local scene and the local audience reacting to your music and the topics you talk about in your music.

Sacramento has a pretty good Doom scene, lots of great slow heavy bands! So musically we have peers and fans that react positively towards the riffs we In your bio you said Fell plays "slow Heavy Metal". are laying down. The last gig had some How's that different from Doom Metal, or is it skinheads that were super pumped by the different? At least on your most recent EP I also lyrics in particular. I don't know their sensed serious Thrash Metal and even Death Metal politics, but we bonded over the gods and influences, am I right? the mythology. I will state here that we in You are very right. We grew up on Black Sabbath, and no way endorse white supremacy or graduated to Slayer in our teens. We have been in Thrash, racist bigotry.

Hard Core & Punk bands as well. So, though the majority of our tunes are pretty slow and doomy, we You've recorded your 2017 EP, Cosmic can't help but tear loose on some faster stuff every once Architect, at Padded Room in a while.

Productions. Is it a home-studio, or a real studio? The production is much The topics you touch in your lyrics are deeply rooted better than your previous EP, but it in Norse mythology, and your music also "reeks" of still cannot be considered top notch, Bathory influence, do you agree? How come you correct? How do you feel about it? chose Norse mythology and not something local?

Good guess! Yeah, Padded room is I'm honored you noticed the Bathory influence. We've operated by a very cool dude out of of his been listening to Bathory since the early Black metal home in Winters, CA. When we recorded days, but I consider Hammer Heart one of the greatest the first e.p. We were the first live band masterpieces ever written. I've been fascinated by Norse he recorded. So we did a bunch of stuff mythology ever since I was a young boy reading Thor wrong, and with the new ep (a year later), (my favorite marvel comic). I do a lot of reading / he was much more experienced, and we research on Norse mythology. It strikes a chord in me did things a little differently. It also goes through genealogy, and history. I am also very interested without saying that we had a different in Ancient Alien theory which is what "Cosmic drummer on the new ep. We are good Architect" is all about. friends with the old drummer, but life paths caused a mutual split. So the I think a band's name say or at least should say a lot drummer on the new ep is just different. about the band's music. What does Fell mean to you different feel, different sound. and where does it come from?

Fell is old Norse for "Mountain". It kind of has a dual What's the aim of Fell as a band for meaning for me. In relation to music, it's huge and Heavy! the near future? What would you like

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to achieve, let's say, in 2018?

Unfortunately, we have once again lost our drummer. So first up, is to get someone new on the kit. Then, play more shows, write and record some new material. We are planing a 7" vinyl release, possibly a split with some of our brothers out here and a full length release titled "Nine".

Thank you so much for listening to our music and giving us the opportunity to be a part of this release!

November 2017

“Cassiopeia” is 5 years old but Nightfall are already preparing new material that’ll be released by the end of the year, if all goes as planned. Sonia talked to Efthimis Karadimas in order to find out about what’s going on in Nightfall’s camp, the burden to have been the first Greek band to sign a worldwide record deal, the interest in touring and his new musical project.

Nightfall have been around for over twenty years... have you achieved the goals you set out for the band?

Definitely. We started as fans and our dream was to form a band, play music, make records and stuff. We achieved everything within the first 8 years or about. After that point we lost our excitement for some time as the only option was to turn 100% professional act. That was difficult to understand back then as we never ever thought we could make any profit out of this kind of music. Greece had no tradition in anything but folk and mainstream.

Nightfall continue on having rather long pauses between releases. Why? I guess the spirit of the underground and the “anti” attitude is still with us. We don’t want to do stuff just to be around and remind people about our band. We speak when we have something to say.

Fans are already asking for a new album as the latest one, “Cassiopeia”, was released over 5 years ago and you are supposed to release something new this year.

Are you working on it already?

What is holding it back?

We work on new things and I believe we will have something to say before the end of the year. There is no rush. It has to be absolutely great and that takes time. There are so many bands around playing good music. You can’t just release another good album. It has to be superb.

Lesbian Show – this is probably the most bizarre song. It talks about stereotypes and how they fuck up our lives. It was a parable where a man’s Fate and Life, as females, made it up about each other and left him alone. Many people thought it was about sex and lesbians. It was not. But even if it was about lesbians, it is totally annoying to see young males bite the bait longing for a sexual concept that by nature man it is not welcomed. This is a stereotype.

Stereotypes are used by societies to avoid confronting difficult truths and to reject alternative ideas. Metalheads in Greece were victims of stereotypes back in the 90s. Lesbian Show as a title is about false stereotypes.

Diva – lyrics and music are fantastic, I recall many people asking if that’s a Lordie track because it sounded like that or something. It may sound, I don’t know, I am not into Lordie’s music. What I know is that it was composed years before they came out.

Semana Tragica – a very sad song that I still like to play Dark Red Sky – I like that track because it carries anger and wrath in it. The beginning is awesome.

Ambassador of Mass – this is massive! It is a sonic avalanche.

Oberon and Titania – superb opening and very smooth arrangements. I like to get lost into it.

What’s the best Nightfall memory you have? And the worst?

The best ones are many, but maybe the most important was when we signed the deal with Holy records and released Parade Into Centuries.

There are others too, like our first tour around Europe in 1994, and Wacken in 01 but the debut was monumental. It was our debut, Holy’s debut, and Greek scene’s international debut at the same time.

Nightfall was the first band from Greece getting a record deal by a foreign label and that was literally the opening of an entire scene to the world. Now that I see it from a distant it was heavy burden for us.

If things didn’t work as they should it could all have stopped right there.

But we did the best and many French labels started to trust and invest in Greek bands right after.

Worst moment, well line-up changes are always a challenging point for everybody. Not the worst, but not the best either.

What can fans expect of the new material?

Faster, more brutal stuff with lots of melodic passages the 90s way.

Are the lyrics for the new album ready? What are the topics addressed this time around?

They are not ready yet. A topic I am interested in and I think it will find its way to the writings is Issak Asimov’s Nightfall novelette. Of course lyricism and parables will be everywhere as usual.

How much has your perspective on music changed throughout the years? What’s your opinion about the current underground scene?

My perspective has not changed. I am still a fan. The underground scene is doing ok. We have polyphony and that is great.

“Cassiopeia” took you back to your roots, to the sound of “Athenian Echoes” released in 1995. Will this album be on the same vein or are going on a different direction?

Early signs show it will be more aggressive and faster. It is always a surprise when you work on new album details. You never know what elements will become more apparent in the end. Definitely Athenian Echoes is in every breath this band takes.

How many hours of your day are dedicated to music? Either playing or listening to it…

My entire life.

Efthimis is the only original member in the band, the mastermind and force behind Nightfall… is being the one that controls everything a burden? Do the other members of the band collaborate in the writing process?

I do a lot of things but these things sound better when others collaborate too. It is a team work. No matter who does what behind the curtain, the result is Nightfall as a band.

What are your expectations for the future of Nightfall?

This time we want to tour. For years we turned down offers and literally gave no shit hitting the road. This time I think our expectations are to play our new and old stuff live everywhere.

If you had to pick up the 10 best Nightfall tracks, which ones would you choose and why?

For My Soul, When the Dark Falls into – it is the very first track I wrote for the band Precious/All My Love is Lost – I totally dig the lyrics and the whole atmosphere Ishtar – the main riff and the mid atmospheric break with the primitive percussions still give me the chills Iris – melody and aggressiveness make a superb blend here Eroding – that is from the Eons’ Aura EP and it sounds so raw my speakers blow up

What’s on your playlist these days?

What I listen to these very days are Sepultura’s Machine Messiah, Sons of Apollo debut, Goat Commune, MGMT Little Dark Age and Socrates Waiting for Something.

In 2013 Efthimis said that Nightfall was his therapist, the thing that keeps him sane and that he saves a lot of money in sessions because of it. Does the same still happen? Are Nightfall still the best therapist for Efthimis?

That’s true. It will always be. Music saves.

If you were to start a band right now… how different or similar to Nightfall would it be?

Oh, I’ve already done it, it is called The Slayerking, search for it on YouTube.

Nightfall, Rotting Christ, Varathron, SepticFlesh are just a few of the awesome Greek bands. How rich is the underground there? How are the relationship between bands? Does the magic still exist?

We keep the flame alive. There are many interesting bands.

Interview by Sónia Fonseca / March 2018

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piano and church organ, one voice, some other folkloric instruments etc. It was also long to record all the guests.

Créatures is a one-man French band that has released the first full-length “Le Noir Village” last year and has received great reviews for it. Its music and concept made us decide to have a chat with the man behind this project.

This is a one-man horror metal band. How complicated/easy is it having all the responsibility?

One-man band is complicated during recordings because I have to do everything by myself, which is very timeconsuming. But it is much easier during composition because I o everything I want. I don’t have to propose each riff to other members and make compromises, or to do rehearsals.

Facebook mentions Créatures as a horror metal band but all reviews mention Black Metal. What’s the best definition for your sound?

My music is quite hard to refer as a kind of metal because I mix many styles (most of my music sounds black metal but there is also doom, death, heavy, symphonic, ambient, etc.). Some people smartly avoid the problem by referring to Créatures as experimental black metal, because of all these influences. I like to mention horror metal because it much refers to the ambience and concept of the band than the music itself.

The band’s logo is quite interesting with the bats and spider web. Who has drawn it? Does it capture the essence of the band?

It was drawn by my friend Roy de Rat. He is a very talented designer with whom my label has worked for several years. He totally understood the horror essence of the band. Now this logo is tattooed on my forearm.

The band’s main influences are King Diamond, Tartaros, Notre Dame. What inspires you in these acts?

I chose these bands more to explain to the public the ambience of Créatures than to give my real influences.

For example I discovered Tartaros at the end of the composition of the album. King Diamond really influenced me for the concept of Créatures. I like the horror stories he wrote for each album and how he composes his music and interprets characters to fit with these stories. Musically my inspiration comes from The Ruins of Beverast, Dødheimsgard, Satanic Warmaster, Culte des Ghoules, Arkha Sva, Ved Buens Ende etc.

How did the idea of creating a one-man band come up?

I was playing in other bands for several years and I wanted to express myself entirely in a musical project. A one-man band allows me to be totally free during the composition. That’s a very good feeling to create art alone from the beginning to the end.

The first full-album “Le Noir Village” was released last October and all reviews are unanimous and have rated it with a high score … almost a year has gone by, have sales and reactions in general met your expectations? How is “Le Noir village” being accepted by the fans?

About 40 reviews were written on “Le Noir Village” and just 2 are negative. I am very happy with how the album has been welcomed by the press and the listeners. It is also the best sale of our label, and a little fan base grew up.

Despite all the years’ work, the album’s production is quite raw and unpolished. Was this a way of praising the roots of Black Metal?

The raw production is not a goal, but due to the way I recorded it. I mean not in studio but alone, with my own and not professional equipment, without the skills of music engineers. This is how the founders of black metal always did.

This is a concept album about malefic creatures in an old village... how did you come up with this idea? Is it based on true facts?

I always made conceptual albums, even with my other bands. I like to write and tell stories through a whole album. “Le Noir Village” was not based on true facts or on a specific traditional tale, but I was inspired by several folkloric figures of horror that marked the cinema and literature, such as Werewolf, Ghost, Vampire or Zombie.

audience?

Another freedom in this one-man band is to make everything I want, no matter how it would be received by the audience. If I want to put 5 minutes of pure tribal ambient or a cello and violin duo in the middle of a metal song because I think it’s pertinent for the story I tell, I will do it (and I did this!). This music without concession can’t appeal to people who just listen to true old-school black metal and who want the music not to change. But if you enjoy other kind of music (I mean other kind of metal but also other kind of music) and are open to experimentation and creativity, “Le Noir Village” is for you.

Did you ever consider the idea of performing this opera live? Have you played live already? Are you thinking about doing it?

I played live with my folk black metal band Hanternoz many years ago. I would love to play Créatures live, but it is very hard to set up a show for a solo project because I have to find session members, and the songs are long and difficult to learn. Besides I don’t have that much time for rehearsals due to my other musical projects.

All the characters in the narrative are interpreted by different singers who express themselves in the first person… who are the guest musicians on the album?

Most of them are close friends that I wanted to have in my first album. They sing, play an instrument that I can’t do myself, or both. Twelve persons stepped in the album.

For example Lazareth from Ordo Blasphemus, Hyvermor from Hanternoz/Grylle/Régiment, Géraud de Verenhe from Borgia, or Arnev from Aezh Morvarc'h.

The album was released by Antiq Label. The owner of the label is also the man responsible for Créatures.

Didn’t you receive any offers from other labels or didn’t you send it off at all?

Yes, my friend Hyvermor (Hanternoz, Grylle, Régiment) and I are behind the label Antiq. I didn’t search any other label because I wanted to produce the album by myself via Antiq (so I could control my project from the composition to the delivery to the public). Antiq always The digipack is pure luxury which includes a booklet produced conceptual bands about history and occult, so with all the lyrics… how important is it for the Créatures perfectly fits this with its story about a listeners to read the lyrics while listening to the album? medieval village.

The music was completely composed around the story.

The ambience of each riff reveals the personalities of It was possible to meet Créatures at Hellfest this characters and the events that are happening in the year… how did that go? Did many people show up to village. Lyrics are very important to understand the story talk to you? in detail, but if you don’t speak French you can get an I was managing the Antiq stand during the Hellfest like overview by watching the pictures on the booklet and we do every year. It was the first time we proposed the listening to all the sounds added on the music. album for sale at a market and it went pretty well. I brought the original painting with me. Some people were All lyrics are in French. Does it add to the mystique intrigued and discovered Créatures here, some others had of the band? Do you think using your mother already heard about Créatures, some more were happy to language helps you conveying the message in a more find the CD because they didn’t buy it on the internet. I accurate way? was also surprised to meet the first fans of Créatures.

It’s both easier and harder to write in French. Easier because it’s my native language, so as you say I can be You are already working on the concept for the new more accurate. But harder because this is a very poetic album with Quentin Foureau. Can you tell us language and it can quickly sound ridiculous and cheesy something about it already? when it’s not inspired, that happened so many time in the Exclusive information: the second album of Créatures French black metal scene. I’m working on a complete will come up with a novel written especially for this opus translation in English of the lyrics because it’s a pity that by my friend Quentin Foureau, who is a talented writer non-French speakers miss an important part of the album. and storyteller. We are currently working on the storyline If you are interested, feel free to send an email to my together, and then he will write the script alone. The label and I will send you the translation when it will be lyrics of the album will be poems inspired from this over. novel and will be written by myself.

The digipack contains a 16-page booklet presenting a painting and six drawings of medieval inspiration made especially for this album. Who did the painting and drawings?

Once again I asked a friend of mine for this piece of work. Simon Hervé painted a landscape of the village on a 60x60cm canvas, inspired by naive art. Each song is illustrated in the booklet by a drawing inspired by the XV century wood engraving.

This is like an opera… do you think it will appeal to the usual Black Metal crowd? Who’s your target

Did Quentin Foureau help you in the last album as well? Will we have to wait 7 more years for this to see the light of the day?

No, I made the concept of “Le Noir Village” alone, with the help of Hyvermor for some lyrics. I took my time for the first album because no one knows about Créatures.

Now, because I have a little fan base, I can’t take that much time between two albums, so I will try to work faster, and it’s much more motivating. It will be quite long to write the novel and then compose the music and lyrics of the second album, so I am working on a short EP simultaneously. This EP will be inspired from a medieval poem in old French about a Werewolf (I let people search which one it could be!).

Maybe we will also repress the first demo of Créatures, produced in 10 copies in 2008.

How did you get into music? Which song/band made you realize you wanted to be a musician?

I wasn’t interested into music before I discovered heavy metal. My first step into it was a live of Arcania in 2001, a local thrash metal band in Angers that still exists and which is now playing amazing progressive thrash heavy. That made me want to play bass. I then opened my mind to other kinds of heavy metal, and since I am a musician I’m interested in other kinds of music.

The album took 4 years of composition work and another 3 years of production work. Why this long?

I am a sickly perfectionist, and in a one-man band I express this trait to the extreme. The composition process was long because every riff, melody, pattern, or intervention of additional instruments was thought to correspond the best to the story I tell. The recording process was also long because the album is very long and dense. I recorded by myself five guitars, the bass, the

Interview by Sónia Fonseca / September 2017

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French outfit MONOLITHE have just unveiled their 7th album “Nebula Septem”, which has many references to the number 7, is dedicated to science fiction. Sylvain Bégot, the mastermind behind the band, told us more about all details regarding the new album, new vocalist, live shows and “Innersight”, a five-episode documentary about Monolithe.

Monolithe began as the side project of Sylvain Bégot but now is a force to be reckoned with… The band has its sound rooted in the doom genre. Which bands influenced you the most?

These days I tend to think that the band doesn’t rely on influences to get its business going. Especially not from the Metal sphere. But of course the music I listen to is added to the great soup of influences that impregnate the music I do. So lately I got interested in electronic music, synthwave especially, and this is why you have traces of it on “Nebula Septem”. In the early days, MONOLITHE was a sort of product from the Peaceville three – Anathema, Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride. Overall, the British Doom and Death Metal scene with an emphasis on the heaviness, such as Bolt Thrower, Benediction… A little bit of Scandinavian Doom too, which was a little more melodic. And some stuff from the 70’s as well, Pink Floyd, Progressive Rock, etc.

The band has a rather unique way of working because your first albums “Monolithe I, II, III and IV” included only one track each. Then the 2 albums after that included 3 tracks only. Now “Nebula Septem” includes 7 tracks. Why this consistency?

Some kind of superstition?

No superstition, it’s rather the effect of seeing each of our albums as a body of work, a piece of art, rather than a collection of songs, so we try to make them be whole, with a concept both on the musical level and on the formal level. It’s also fun and inspiring to think about what you want to do for your album before you actually start to work on it. It gives guidelines and drive.

“Nebula Septem” is your 7th full-length played by seven musicians. Plus the title of the new album, which has the number 7 and includes 7 tracks and all of them are 7 minutes long. Why this insistent use of the number 7?

What’s its meaning?

Well the answer is in your question. “Nebula Septem” is our 7th album, and since we have always been playing with numbers since the inception of the band, we did that again, but we pushed things a little further. There are many references to the number 7 on this album, some of them obvious, and some others not so much. The number 7 has also a lot of meanings in the human collective consciousness. We didn’t develop on that aspect though, but we are fully aware of that and of course it’s adding to the mysterious aura around the album.

Your first 4 releases used roman numbers “I, II, III, IV”, then you released “Epsilon Aurigae” and Epsilon is the 5th letter of the Greek alphabet, and “Zeta Reticuli” being Zeta the 6th letter of the Greek alphabet. Now you use Septem, which is Latin for 7.

Why are you so meticulous with every detail?

As I said earlier, we like playing with numbers. You can either see an album just as an assemblage of songs or you can see it as an achievement on a higher level. I can compare this to directing a movie, in which you have different sequences shot at different locations and with different actors; but when you edit them together, they make sense and tell a story. For me an album is just like that so the formal aspects are very important too. A MONOLITHE album is a statement, a unity, something whole in which every aspect serves the purpose of the ensemble.

The title of the 7 tracks follow the alphabetical order… I am organized and stuff but this is a bit over the top, don’t you think?!

The alphabetical order is part of the concept. 7 first letters of the alphabet, and each song title first letter is also the tonality of the song, from A to G. The 7 notes of the western scale.

The main singer in the album is Sébastien Pierre but he isn’t a member of the band, he just filled in to help you with the vocalist situation. I believe the projects

he’s involved in seem to be working at a slow pace… did you invite him to join Monolithe?

Yes, we did ask Sébastien to join the band. Slow pace or not, it doesn’t make him less busy and that’s the reason why he could not join. He’s also not a big fan of playing live, which was the second reason why he’s not part of the band. That being said, he didn’t only fill in to help. I really wanted to work with him, as he is a very talented guy and a great vocalist. I hope we can work again with him in the future.

Yet live, Rémi Brochard will take over vocals, right?

Will he be handling both guitars and vocals?

Rémi has been handling both vocals and guitar duties for a few months, yes. We’ve done a handful of shows in that configuration and it’s been working well so far.

How complicated is it adapting to a new vocalist, even if he was already a member of the band?

It’s not complicated, except for him, as he needs to work a lot more. Being a guitarist/singer, is not like the addition of playing the guitar and singing. You also have to train at doing both at the same time, which is quite challenging in a band such as MONOLITHE, in which we have a lot of different time signatures. It’s changing the dynamics of live shows of course, but I think we won on the sobriety level and personally I like it better this way.

All your previous releases were written according to “The Great Clockmaker” concept and now “Nebula Septem” has a different concept dealing mainly with extra-terrestrial life. What else can you tell us about it?

“The Great Clockmaker” saga included the first four albums, “Monolithe I”, “Monolithe II”, “Monolithe III” and “Monolithe IV”, as well as the EPs “Interlude Premier” and “Interlude Second”, and the compilation “Monolithe Zero”. Then we did the duology “Epsilon Aurigae” and “Zeta Reticuli”, which, despite being two separate records, constitute a double album. “Nebula Septem” is a stand-alone concept so to say. Yes, most of the lyrics are dealing with aliens; or rather alien civilizations. On “Anechoic Aberration” that would be the absence of them. Human beings have been searching for aliens for centuries but never found them. All they could find were artifacts of extinct civilizations, but never actual living alien. These lyrics have been influenced by the Fermi paradox, as well as Jack McDevitt’s books.

“Coil Shaped Volutions” describes an encounter in space between humans and another sentient form of life that goes wrong. They are so different from each other that they can’t communicate and they both perceive their attempt of contact as aggression. It has been in parts influenced by Peter Watts’s novel “Blindsight” and in parts by over novels such as “Solaris”, which addresses a similar topic.

“Delta Scuti” is about a very advanced alien civilization, which harvests energy directly from stars with gigantic machines and structures, such as Dyson spheres. The problem is that they’re over-exploiting the available energy, which is slowly fading, leading to the premature demise of the universe. It has been influenced by the postulated sightseeing of Dyson spheres in recent years, due to weird patterns of light emitted by star such as KIC8462852 or EPIC204278916. I thought: what if those assumptions were true and what if this alien race was as greedy as humans?

“Engineering the Rip,” tells the tale of a suicidal alien civilization whose only purpose is the extinction of the universe.

This civilization grows and progresses over the ages, to finally reach the required technological advancement that will allow it to proceed to the disappearance of all that exists. This has been a recurring theme in Science Fiction, under different forms, such as the inhibitors in

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Alastair Reynolds’ books, from which it has been partially influenced.

“Fathom The Deep” is about an aggressive, sectarian and religious alien civilization, which crusades the universe with the purpose of converting all sentient life to their beliefs by force. Their religion consists in worshiping the universe, a sort of cosmic pantheism.

“Burst in The Event Horizon” has a different theme. It’s about a ship trapped in a black hole’s gravity and slowing approaching the event horizon, the point of no return. Of course, there’s no way the crew can get out of this. And “Gravity Flood” is an instrumental song, but in my mind it’s a sequel to “Burst in the Event Horizon”, exactly at the moment when the ship is crushed by the colossal gravity.

The band always appreciated having something special in every album… what’s special in “Nebula Septem”?

There are a few different things on this album, compared to the previous ones… First, obviously, the songs are shorter. I think they are denser and straight to the point, straightforward. The pace is also a bit faster; we’re more on mid-tempos than before. There is also the inclusion of some electronic bits, such as the first half of “Gravity Flood”, which is almost a synthwave part. There are more vocals too and they are more rhythmical. The list would be long if I talked about everything, but these are the most striking evolutions and “special” things I think.

The band’s previous releases were mainly labeled as funeral doom but this album has a shift in style.

What’s the best way to define your sound now?

We had some Funeral Doom influences in the early days but they are long gone. We have been cursed with that tag for a long time because that’s how we appear on Metal Archive and most of the reviewers are just blindly following it. It’s been getting on my nerves for a while.

There is no best way to describe our sound, though. It will always be restrictive. But to give a guideline to listeners while remaining vague enough, we usually label ourselves simply as Doom Metal or Dark Metal.

All music and Lyrics were written by Sylvain Bégot (except for “Delta Scuti” which was composed by Sylvain Bégot and Rémi Brochard). What inspired “Nebula Septem”?

It’s always difficult to answer a question like that. I don’t over-think things. I have an idea and I develop it to the point it becomes an album. There is nothing special that inspires it as a whole. To be creative, you need culture.

So my answer would be that what has inspired “Nebula Septem” are the records I listened to, the books I read, the movies I watched, the travel I made, the museum I visited, etc, etc, during all my life, all this filtered and processed by my personality and that’s how it ended-up being this music.

How does the writing/recording process take place?

Well, smoothly. We record mostly with our own gear these days, so it’s a smooth process. We take our time.

We’re not a band that books a studio for a few weeks and record intensively. It’s always done in different moments in time during several months. We prefer to do it this way because the process of recording doesn’t swallow up your energy and it’s not stressful at all.

The cover features a figure, which contains seven hexagonal rings, and it was done by Robert Høyem.

How did he come up with that design? Did he listen to the music to get inspired or did you tell him exactly what you wanted?

He didn’t listen to the music but we told him about the formal concept around the number 7. I also told him that we would like something simple and straightforward, almost logo-like. The rest was up to him, as we always did so far. He came up with two ideas, one was the 7 heptagons and the other one was the 7 circles. I asked, “what if we mix the two?”. And boom, that was it. I really like this cover. There’s an inherent class, elegance in this artwork. It’s also very strong and mysterious. It leaves a door open to interpretation and imagination.

Robert has been working with the band for a long time now… why do you use the same artist over and over again?

Robert has been working with the band since 2012’s “Monolithe III”. He worked on the covers of the previous albums when we released remasters in 2013 and 2014. We were not satisfied with the original covers, which were done by different artists, so he did them. The purpose was to give a sense of unity to our discography.

And then, since we always had been satisfied with his talents, there was no reason to change. It doesn’t necessarily mean it will be forever though. I don’t know what will happen in the future, we might want a change or not, I can’t say right now.

Ever since the release of “Epsilon Aurigae”, the band has been quite productive and has released a fulllength each year… in 2017 there was no release but “Nebula Septem” in released in January 2018 so… where does all the creativity come from?

We’ve been productive, in a sense yes, but on the other hand I don’t feel like we have released more material in the recent years than any other active band. “Epsilon Aurigae “and “Zeta Reticuli” have been composed together in 2014, then recorded during the first 6 months of 2015. EA has been released in December 2015 and ZR in June 2016.

“Nebula Septem” has been composed in 2016, recorded from January to July 2017 if my memory is good, and then released in late January 2018. I don’t know, it doesn’t feel like a frantic pace to me. The creativity comes from the accomplishment you get from creating. The thing is, MONOLITHE isn’t a professional band. We don’t need it to make a living. So every album is the result of a real artistic ambition, and not a commercial need in order to earn money.

“Nebula Septem” is already fully available on your Youtube channel. Why have you opted to put it available so soon? Doesn’t it affect sales?

It has been made available on the day of the release. Well, there have been some major shifts in the music industry over the last 15 years; so, of course, you can’t release music the traditional way anymore. People will hear your album before buying it anyhow, may it be illegally or legally. So it’s better to accompany it instead of being a victim of it. A few years ago, the release of a CD was the actual release of an album. Nowadays it’s not like this anymore. The release of an album is when people can hear it, end of story. CDs and vinyls are merchandise now. The music itself is basically free. To be honest, I don’t mind at all. I prefer my band to be listened to by more people, even if they don’t buy it.

That being said, we do need people to buy merchandise or support by, for example, buying the digital albums on Bandcamp. A band needs money in order to finance its albums. As long as some people will care about physical objects, we will be able to survive. You also have to consider that some people will listen to your music because it’s free. They would have not bought your album anyway. But these people might potentially become fans and come to a concert, or buy a CD, a Tshirt, anything, and that’s at least something you got back. They might also speak of the band on forums, which will increase your reputation, etc. So overall I find that better for development than staying in your basement with your fans and complaining endlessly against the situation.

The band was with Debemur Morti Productions for 4 releases and now you’re with Les Acteurs d L’Ombre Productions. Why the change?

Debemur Morti and MONOLITHE had a very fruitful collaboration during 5 years, and it has simply come to

an end. DMP’s business model has shifted and MONOLITHE needed to try new things. So the timing was right to split apart. It has been done smoothly. It’s a great label and they have been very beneficial to the band. Les Acteurs de l’Ombre’s label manager Gérald Milani saw us play live and asked us to join his roster immediately afterwards. At the time, we were still with DMP so we declined. Then we contacted him again after the split with DMP and he was still interested, so here we are now.

Your current label Les Acteurs de L’Ombre Productions mainly works with French bands… is this an advantage? Do the bands on their roster get along? How’s the French music scene these days?

Is that an advantage?! I don’t know. I mean, speaking the same language makes things easier, that’s for sure. There are no cultural differences and misunderstandings. We have met the guys from Regarde Les Hommes Tomber in the Netherlands in 2016, I think it was in Leeuwarden for the Into Darkness Festival. They are pretty cool dudes.

Other than that, I’m not sure we know personally the guys from other bands on the label. The French scene is, as far as I know, very interesting and lively. I’m not really up to date to be honest, but we have a lot of good bands here now. It’s been now 10-15 years that the French scene has been slowly rising as one of the best and more original Metal scenes in the world.

Considering that Monolithe were never supposed to be a live band… what is the most difficult part about playing live? Do you prefer smaller or bigger venues?

The most difficult part is to rearrange the songs in order to make them work well in a live situation.

MONOLITHE’s music is very layered, with many things happening and we have to transcribe that full, rich sound on stage with “only” 6 instruments. But we’ve done it for 2 years now and we have crafted the live songs.

Personally I prefer big venues, big stages. Summer festivals are what I like the most. I like the ambiance and the playing conditions. I like to play in front of a huge crowd. It makes me feel like it was worth the trouble to do it at all, you know?

In the early years, the band didn’t want to play live but then you changed your mind and started doing it, even it from time to time. Now, with the new album and songs that don’t last too long… will touring become a reality for you? Are you intending on doing it in order to promote the album?

We don’t tour in the traditional sense of the word. We play a handful of shows every year and we don’t want to spend our lives on the road. That being said, if good opportunities present themselves, why not?! We have been doing that already but we managed to keep them not too long. We’ll see what happens, it really depends on the situation, the countries involved, the difficulty of the traveling involved, etc.

Apart from music, do you have interest in any other forms of art?

Yes of course, all forms of art are interesting and personally I’m always eager to get to know new things.

In your opinion, what’s the best musical decade ever?

Why? If we keep on talking about electrified music as a whole (as opposed to classical music), without hesitation that would be the 70’s. There were great time for music, with great artists, a great freedom, a lot of experimentation, and not everything was based on how much money it

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will make. I have been listening to 70’s rock, prog rock and jazz music since I’ve been listening to music at all and I still discover a lot of new things all the time. It’s crazy how many great albums were born between 1970 and 1979. That being said, I like the 80’s too, for other reasons. Popular music has generated very good and timeless songs. As for Metal, for me the best decade is the 90’s. There is a usual convention saying that it was the death of metal because of grunge and all, but that’s bullshit. That was the demise of some of the bigger bands and Glam, not Metal as a whole. Extreme Metal has developed a lot, as well as Gothic, Doom, and a lot of new genres. In my opinion almost everything in Metal has been already done during that decade. There were still really new and fresh things back then. Nowadays, not so much. There are much more bands, but in my opinion only a fraction of them are really artistically important. I might be wrong, though. I was born in the late 70’s and perhaps I would not think this way if I were born in the late 80’s or later. We all are products of our generation in, at least, a few aspects.

What’s your favorite science fiction book/movie/author? Why? My favorite movie is “2001 – a space odyssey”. No question about that. This is the best science-fiction movie ever. This is what SF is all about: big metaphysical questions. That’s not the only kind of SF I like, but this is the pinnacle for me. That being said, my favorite book might be Hyperion by Dan Simmons. There are many, many great SF books, but I got a lasting impression about that one because the story is great, it’s well written and you have all kind of different genres of SF into one story. Any SF reader would tell you the same anyway I guess. It’s a milestone in the genre and no other Space Operas have reached that level of grandeur. As for an author, I’d say maybe Robert Silverberg. He has been very consistent all along the 70’s, with many masterpieces and he talked about a lot of very interesting topics. His books are short, well written and nervous. I like his very dry writing style, he goes straight to the point and you get sucked in the story very fast.

The band released a five-episode documentary titled “Innersight”. How did you come up with this idea? How are fans responding to it?

Oddly enough, the director of “Innersight” is a neighbor of mine. It happens that he’s a director for television and I don’t know how it happened, but we spoke about MONOLITHE, which he heard about without knowing I was involved in the band. So he got interested and said he wanted to make a documentary about the band. So he gathered a small team and did it. Of course it’s self-made without any money, and he did it with his own gear. We planned to release it in episodes as a teaser for the new album, which we did. At the end of the day, it got fewer views than what we expected, but people who watched it really enjoyed it and learnt a lot of things about the inner mechanic of the band.

Are all band members fans of science fiction? What are your interests/hobbies?

I’d say everybody in the band has some knowledge about Science Fiction, but I’m probably the more interested in the lot. As for interests and hobbies, I can speak mostly for myself; besides music and the usual (movies, books, etc), there might be sport and sauna. I’m a sauna addict actually!

Monolithe is a band that tries to capture the universe in its sound and essence. How do you react when you see what’s happening to our planet and the universe in general because of all problems caused by humanity?

Well, to be honest nothing happens in the universe because of humanity. Humanity is a small meaningless fortuity in a gigantic ensemble and nothing humanity does hurt it at such a scale. On planet Earth though, yeah, humanity is a problem. Its greed is destroying its own habitat, which is rather absurd. It’s like shitting where you eat. The song “Delta Scuti”, besides its obvious SF dimension is also a warning about that. Harvesting resources is ok until a certain point. When it’s crossed, you might have clenched your own demise.

Interview by Sónia Fonseca / February 2018

You were a session guitarist for Gorgoroth, live member of Godseed, and touring member of 1349. Were you intended for live temporary purposes only for these bands right from the start? Had you been asked to be a permanent member of any of these bands?

Yes that’s right. There was some talk about it with God Seed, but luckily Mayhem snatched me up. I really didn’t plan on being a member in a band, I was fine with touring, recording demos with Nidingr and having no responsibility back then.

In 2007 you appeared on a Gorgoroth album recorded live in the studio called True Norwegian Black Metal--- Live in Greighallen. Did Erik Hundvin produce the album? Distribution of the album was halted for various reasons. Can you give us some of those reasons and has the album been able to be distributed yet?

Yes, he recorded it, no idea if he produced it or not, in Grieghallen yes. My first and last (probably) Grieghallen experience. There was some argument between the member in the band. Don’t remember exactly, probably some stupid shit.

Were you on the US tour with Celtic Frost in 2006-07 with 1349?

Yes. You joined Mayhem in 2011 replacing French touring guitarist Silmaeth then left in 2012. How were you approached for this and what was the reason for your departure then? When and why did you permanently come back to the band? What sealed your permanent status with Mayhem?

We started talking about me joining Mayhem in 2009, but I had some touring do finish with God Seed first. Hence me joining in 2011 instead. The perm status comes from writing and recording the Esoteric Warfare album. That’s what sealed the deal. But its also a two way thing, we had to feel each other a bit before both parts where good to continue and taking the next step.

Youre fairly new to Mayhem? What's it been like being with the guys in Mayhem?

Did you know any of them outside of and before you joined the band?

They are awful to hang around of course. Tired of the blood stench and pig heads everywhere. Horrible violent people. Yes, knew everyone from before joining.

There is something extraordinary going on here. First of all, you're playing guitar for one of the most reknowned black metal bands in the world Mayhem. Two, your own band Nidingr is simply AMAZING. It has such a unique sound. Why do people call you Teloch?

It´s Enochian for death. I needed a black metal name back in the days. My brother Dirge Rep suggested Teloch, and I just kept on using it since. My close friends does not use that name though. Mostly scene whores that does that ;)

Besides your own band Nidingr, you’ve never stayed in a band very long, but you've stayed in Mayhem for six years now. What is it about that band that keeps you going?

It’s the first band besides Nidingr I have joined other than a live/session guitarist. But Mayhem is keeping me busy indeed. We are in a process to clean up old deals and make everything more streamlined. Not done in a heartbeat. Takes a minute. Plus Mayhem is the band I played in closes to my heart. They are just as screwed up in their heads as I am, perfect match.

Esoteric Warfare, an amazing, beautifully strange, chaotic album, MILAB being my favorite song, is the last studio album made by Mayhem in 2014 and is the album you appear on. Is there a new album in the works?

Thanks, think Milab is my favourite as well actually. I like the atmosphere in it. We are trying out some stuff these days, but very far from an actually album. We are trying something new here on the next one, that everyone is contributing with something,

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instead of like Esoteric where I wrote everything myself (besides the lyrics). So that’s a challenge with all these chefs of course, could be healthy or could be a total disaster… we´ll see.

Any Mayhem tours, shows coming up?

Australia and New Zealand coming up now this January. A quick run in North America again in March, 4-5 shows only I think. Plus we are working on two more tours that will happen this year.

WOW..NIDINGR is AMAZING…Dark, heavy, solid, spiritual…technical as well…sounds different than your typical black metal sound. Am I correct in saying this band is your primary one? I know Mayhem is of course a big thing , but I'm really hearing ownership in this band.

Yesh, we have never classified it ourselves as black metal, to many black metal elements missing to do so. Plus Norwegian Black Metal died back in the 90s IMO. Wouldn’t say its my main band, but its my baby in a way. Mayhem takes up so much time these days so there is no point of treating Nidingr as my main band. Nidingr is a no-income band and totally under the radar for most people. It limits itself how much time one can actually spend on it.

Audr (1992) - That is the name you started your solo project under. When you say solo project what do you mean by that? Was it you on all the instruments at one point in time? What was the meaning of Audr and why the name change to Nidingr?

Yeah it started out with Audr and me recorded a demo by myself. That’s where the flame where sparked to do some more black metal. I came from Death Metal before that. So this was something new for me. I thought Audr was a dick name so I traded the rights to use the Nidingr name and the logo with my vinyl collection at the time with a friend of mine who had started this Nidingr project but didn’t know how to play.

I thought it was a cool name and wanted to continue it after being asked to join.

The High Heat Licks Against Heaven, what a great name! How did you come up with that?

I don’t mess with the lyrical aspect in Nidingr. That is all Estrella Grasa´s “job”. He is an expert on coming up with themes and lyrics that sounds metal as fuck.

What had you been doing before you formed Nidingr in 1996?

Played in some local Death Metal acts where I grew up. Legions Est 1983, Morbidity Est. 91? and also a hardcore act called Dødsdømt.

I'd like to know your influences. When listening to Sorrow and Infinite Darkness I'm hearing something other than black metal in there. Also in Wolf Father (more structured?). I am hearing a powerful ominous dark solid sound, not a chaotic black metal sound.

That’s probably what you get from listening to Blarghs songs on the album, he wrote the more catchy stuff on it. That said, I don’t think there is many riffs on that album that would classify what everyone call “black metal” these days. Its mostly other stuff from every metal genre. We never been any big fans of putting tags on what we are doing. Whatever genre things are is not important at all. Is it good or bad, that’s more important.

A distortion pedal.

What is your Mayhem set up when out on the road playing shows/tours? Is your live show rig different than one you would use in the studio?

Depends on what we are doing. For the Mysteriis stuff I use Marshall 800s and a Metal Zone to recreate the Mysteriis album sound. At rehearsal Im using a ENGL powerball, but getting a Peavey 8505+ these days. For studio I use whatever fits the sound we are after. For live we have been using whatever is available. Not too picky about that. Ah yeah, and we only use distortion pedal for Mysteriis live. For the other shows we plug straight into the amp, no effects.

What is your preferred brand of guitar , amps, pickups, and strings?

ESP,PEAVEY,EMG, DUNLOP. That’s what I’m using now at least, trying not to be a gear whore and change shit up all the time.

What kind of switch do you use on your guitar - toggle switches, strat-style lever switch, les paul skeleton switch, rotary switch or other?

I only have 1 pickup and a volume knob on my guitars.

PLEASE EXPLAIN WIRING DIAGRAMS. You have all of these color codes and different wiring diagrams for the guitar. What is all of this?

Have no idea what you are talking about.

Can the output level of pickups be adjusted?

Volume knob.

ORCUSTUS In 2004 you joined with Orcustus and contributed to a track on the Wrathrash ep, track 2 called Grin of Deceit , but left the band in 2006. Were you on the 2009 album Orcustus? If so, had you come back to the band at the time of that album?

Or did you just record the album with them? Why was the Wrathrash ep released on vinyl only?

No, I only did the 7 inch in 2006. Don’t know why they did vinyl only, probably because its so much cooler than this digital things going on these days.

Do you have any hobbies, favorite foods, books, movies?

Cant say I do!

What does 2018 and beyond hold for Teloch?

Start doing hard drugs and smoke shitloads of more cigarettes.

Thank you Teloch for this amazing interview. It was very nice learning about you and your work.

Thanks for your undying support!

Interview by Heather Williams April 2018

Are you or were you, an active member of any of these bands: NunFuck Ritual, Teeth and Thorns, The Consortium, Umoral. If so, which one of them is still active or not active?

Founding member of NFR and Umoral. NFR is on a break, the Umoral debut album is being mixed now, and consisting of songs I wrote in 2005-2006. Next Konsortium album is finished and is being released this year, degraded myself to recording bass only on this on instead of both guitars and bass as on the last one. Im a sucker for playing bass.

Interesting that you composed music for the Norwegian stage play Mor Courage Og Barna Hennar. Set in the days of World War One, it tells a tale of weapons, warlords, soldiers, and survival in those war torn years. Some black metal music only seems fitting! How were you approached to compose the music and what made you decide to do it?

I was recommended to the team of directors that came from Germany to setup the play in Norway. I took a meeting with them, liked what I heard about the whole thing and said yes to do it. A very cool experience.

Interesting to see how the theatre world works, very inspiring and everyone involved where very professional.

What would you say makes black metal…black?

The name of the colour of course.

GUITAR TALK I always like to challenge the artists I interview with questions about the instrument they play.

Is there any particular equipment in your opinion that is especially good for playing black metal music?

An instrument.

What type of pedal would you recommend as a starter pedal for beginners: Loop, Wah, or Delay?

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Norwegian Black Metallers Legacy of Emptiness released a new studio album after 6 years since their debut material, so here’s what we found about it from the band’s bass player Kjell-Ivar.

Was

You guys are or were pert of Ancestral Legacy, am I right?

What made you go separate ways? it maybe the new, more melodic direction of Ancestral Legacy? Were tough guys who wanted to do tougher

you the music?

That's right. The three of us were the original lineup in Ancestral Legacy. We made a couple of demos before we disbanded for different reasons. I had an accident that prevented me from playing for several years and Øyvind pursued other non musical interests.

Eddie had written some music on his own that didn't quite fit what we were doing then so he kept the name, got in some fresh blood and took Ancestral Legacy down another path. No drama involved.

When we decided to gather our forces again around 2010 we needed a new name that could tell the story of were we came from. We took the name from the last demo we did together, 'Emptiness', and Legacy of Emptiness was born.

Eddie is still active in Ancestral Legacy parallel to Legacy of Emptiness and they are in the process of recording a new album as we speak.

Legacy of Emptiness is around since the beginning of this decade (if we don't count the years you were active in the '90's as Permafrost), yet only two albums were released, why weren't you more productive from this point of view?

After the first album we had a great momentum going and went straight to work on the next chapter.

Right from the start the "curse" of the second album set in.

Eddie took a fall off a hill and fractured an arm and leg and was out of business for a long time. Not too long after I was diagnosed with cancer and shortly after that Øyvind had a stroke. This of course, took quite some time and stole away the focus from the music for a while but we all crawled back from the edge and came out standing in the end.

Also in this period Eddie recorded and released 'Terminal' with Ancestral Legacy.

The new album is called Over the Past and it seems it is the fruit of a really painful and arduous period, can you please elaborate on the happening during the composition and recording process of the album?

It wasn't supposed to be that meaning but as we see in the previous question that's how it became. I got the idea for the title just after we finished the first album. That was an album with old songs apart from 'Onward!' so I figured a new album containing brand new material needed a title reflect that. How little I knew about how well the title should fit in the end...

Although the cover artwork, track titles and probably lyrics are quite dark and oppressive, the music on it has some sort of light, it's like depicting hope among all despair. Am I right? And speaking about this, how personal are the lyrics?

There are some streams of light here and there but they all end in darkness, emptiness and despair, haha. We actually never have a masterplan for where we want to take a song. They kinda finds their own ways and we're chasing after them trying to keep up.

The lyrics are a little of this and a little of that. The most important is that the lyric fits the song. The music always comes first and then there are some deep listening and and almost meditative state where we try to capture the story the music is trying to tell us.

Sometimes it fits with a poem from E.A.Poe or Lovecraft, other times images and lines comes from within our own minds. We also like twisted tales from Norwegian history so we managed to put in a couple of those as well.

I've seen/read lots of praises for Over the Past, but how do you feel about it, do you consider it a personal masterpiece, or better said, have you given it all at the moment you "forged" it? What's the best phrase to describe what's happening on it?

The feedback and reviews have been amazing! There are of course a few exceptions but if everyone liked our album equally well we probably wouldn't have liked it ourselves.

Florida, US based Death Metal band Altar of Flesh are back after an 8 years hiatus with a new studio album, The God Standard, so we wanted to find out more about the band and about their new work.

You've just released your second full-length album, The GOD Standard. Please explain the title and what is this album all about. How would you describe the music on it to someone who doesn't know your band?

The title is a play on words in reference to "The Gold Standard". I was having a conversation with someone who argued that the words "In God We Trust" being printed on United States' currency was in violation of the separation of church and state. My argument to the contrary is that the US dollar was worthless without those words being printed on it. The idea that our money is backed by God is a complete sham and a dupe

I would say the album is our best work so far but I see no reason why we shouldn't be able top it on the next one. We are in constant development as humans, musicians and composers and we don't really have any artistically restraints that limit us.

The banjo addition on teh track Despair is excellent, although I feel it's used too little. have you thought of using it more, maybe even adding it as permanent instrument? How did it happen that you decided to feature it on the new album?

Spice should always be added with care or the effect will be counterproductive. The idea for the banjo came in fairly late in the process but it was quite clear to us that the track demanded it. Unable to master the banjo good enough ourselves we got help from a local musician we know (Geir Emanuelsen) that nailed it.

It's impossible to say if we'll use it more later as we are mere slaves to our music but it's hard to see it being a permanent instrument.

What you and all the other bands are doing is a form of art. Have you ever thought of the future, when maybe your music will be studied by some? Do you think this form of art (I'm talking about Metal in general and Black Metal specially) has such power of influence over the World so that it "remains"?

Interesting question! Here in Norway all music that are on official physical releases are put in the archives of 'Nasjonalbiblioteket' (National library) for preservation and storage so we become a part of the cultural heritage by default. Do I believe that our music will be studied and analyzed in 100 years from now? That's hard to imagine. But I think there will be studies on black metal as a whole in the future and maybe they'll pull out a dusty copy of 'Over the past' from the archives and let the good times roll again, haha.

Already today Norwegian ambassadors to different countries are getting crash courses in black metal as they always get a lot of questions about it in the countries they work.

What can you, what can any underground band do to convince people give your/their music a few minutes of their more and more precious time, to spin at least a track if not the whole album? Do you think we're getting more and more superficial? Is there a cure for that?

It's all about focus. People need to give music the place in life it deserves. Just think if people treated a new album the way they treat a movie. Put away phones and other devices put some snacks on the table and just enjoy the music for what it is.

Many do so and my impression is that "metalheads" are among the last standing true music listeners out there. We tend to hold on to the physical aspect to the music more than others. We want to hold the records in our hands and we like to read real magazines.

I think we get more superficial and that is inevitable as we now have access to insane amounts of information 24/7 and everything is competing for our attention. I don't think there is any cure for this but if we are conscious and disciplined it can be managed and controlled. My advice is to log off regularly, put on an album, read the lyrics and pretend it's 1986.

December 2017 to the rest of the world, but we are no longer backing it by gold so why not some fictional divinity? We are no longer giving our money value via the gold standard, but rather the God standard.

The title track and the album art plays on the concept of money being worshiped in place of a god. We chose to wear suits in our photo to play on the Wall Street vibe that matches the concept.

Our music, across the board, is raw, extreme heavy metal. The songs on this record are raw, brutal, and honest! We take inspiration from classic death metal, thrash, traditional heavy metal, black metal, and melodic death metal. I like to believe the songs on this record reflect those influences.

Two albums in almost 2 decades of activity seems a bit underachieved, am I right? I guess the line-up changes have something to do with this, but do you think you've finally settled on a steady line-up to start delivering more material, more frequently?

Unfortunately, you are correct about how things have played out and how infrequent our output has come. We have existed in a cycle of form line-up, write songs, play out, someone quits, go on hiatus, rinse and repeat. We released a few E.P.s early on with the same line up, but when it came time to finally commit to the first record, we had gone through 3 line-ups. It was actually finished by just myself and my brother and followed by a 3 year hiatus. The second album was no different. We had gone through 3 bass players by the time it had finished.

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We live in a college town with a very cyclical music scene, so finding committed musicians for the long haul is a challenge.

On top of the challenges of keeping a solid line-up, life has often found a way to supersede musical aspirations. Career changes and stuff going on outside of music have pretty much left the band more of a hobbyist kind of thing for me and the other members. I've made a lot of big career and life changes in the last few years, and Nick our guitar player has a career so we aren't in a position to tour and place the focus and money into making Altar of Flesh our number one priority.

As for producing more output more frequently, I have to say that I am probably more interested in focusing on singles and possibly E.P.s going forward. Locking in to creating a full length album becomes kind of cumbersome at a certain point, but I think singles or E.P.s can offer much more flexibility and the ability to record and release stuff more often.

All about this new album screams DIY, from the production to the cover artwork, am I right? I guess you used a home studio, but why using drum-machine for the recordings? Was it an aim of yours to have everything as rough and unpolished as possible? Are you satisfied of the final result?

We did record in a home studio but we did not use a drum machine. We did use an Alesis DM-5 to re-sample the kick drums to help them cut through the mix, but the rest is acoustic drums. I employed a few different compression and recording techniques through the production of the drums that I think did make them sound a little too sharp and a little less natural than I would have liked.

As for the recording being "rough and unpolished", as you put it, we did not want to put together one of the typical digital recordings that sounded like it had been cut and pieced together. We want to keep a more natural and honest sound and keep it a bit raw.

It is way too typical to hear bands who sound amazingly tight and clean when they can over produce and edit their recordings to the max but sound loose and shitty live. We sound like what we sound like. I could have edited until we had a perfect record; using digital techniques to realign the timing, edit the leads and whatever, but I prefer to keep our sound real.

Overall, I am satisfied with the album as a whole. I probably could have spent another year mixing, remixing , and re-re-mixing until I was blue in the face, but at a certain point you just have to let it go and move forward. We've been given good remarks from our fans so it has passed the most important test, as far as I am concerned.

You've shared the stage with titans of the genre like Morbid Angel, Monstrosity, Vital Remains or Malevolent Creation, how would you describe your live show?

Please describe your best gig to date.

I think our live show is where we flourish. We approach a show with the intention of getting our point across without a lot fluff and filler. We open with two songs of full power, back to back, none of the looking at our shoes and bullshitting with the audience before playing the first note. We try to deliver a set that keeps a certain pacing and playing songs of different tempos to avoid the set being too boring or predictable. We have had our share of rough gigs like any band that has been playing as long as we have but I think we bring the brutality!

There have been so many good shows, that it is hard to pin down our best gig to date. I would rank playing with Monstrosity at a place called The Liar's Club in Tampa Florida

pretty high on the list, running up a $500 bar tab with Gardy Loo in our home town of Tallahassee is pretty high on the list, and forcing Lowbrow (Obituary/Six Feet Under and Nasty Savage members) to play their set a little faster than normal after following us on direct support in Mobile Alabama is another I would put pretty high up on the list. Though, I think the best gig might just have been playing direct support at a festival in Tampa with a bunch of local bands and one regional band who were kind of ripping through the Florida scene at the time. Most of the locals were doom or melo-death but we came out and played some of our real nasty, old school gore-core shit. We had the pit spinning for the 30 minutes we played and everyone ended up leaving after the headliner came out. The singer had a sword and armor, but I guess the crowd didn't have anything left when we finished. It was a cool gig.

Still related to your live activity, please tell us how often you get to play live over there. Have you had any tours or plan to maybe promote the new album in a tour?

How hard is for a band like yours, without the backing of a major label, to get slots on fests and tours?

Well, its really an up in the air kind of thing for us. Sometimes we will be able to line up 2-3 gigs a month, other times, its a dry well! Since we are very DIY, it really depends on our level of focus and social media activity with how often we play. We are planning to begin hitting things pretty hard again in 2018. Hopefully getting back down to Tampa and a few of our favorite places to play in the region. Every Autumn/Fall our region becomes kind of unfriendly towards rock and metal shows since clubs and bars tend to focus on Football season. So we are just working on some new material to add to the set and pick things back up early next year.

This is a very different time for DIY musicians than it was even a decade ago, so I am not sure how much major labels have to offer bands anymore. Some very underground acts have crowdfunded world tours and stuff like that so I suppose if we really put our minds to it, and pooled the resources available to bands today, we could possibly buy onto major fests and tours. The internet has really changed things for bands.

You're from the state of Florida, how do you, as locals, see the legendary Florida Death Metal scene? What is it left of it?

Most of the death metal legends are from the Tampa area, so when we have played down there we have met some of the legendary players and they've attended our shows and stuff like that. Its pretty cool to see some of those guys still active in their scene and going to shows.

I get in trouble when I answer the "whats left of the scene?" question, sometimes. Its always a roller coaster, it seems. It has peaks and valleys, but it depends on which part of Florida, obviously. Tallahassee, where we live was going strong back when we came out of hiatus in 2013. It was kicking ass here! Slowly, attendance to the shows has become less and less and clubs respond by not booking as often. Other parts of Florida are going a lot stronger, but they often go through the same cycles of less and less people supporting for a few years, then a surge of support again. I suppose its to be expected....

November 2017

Superbeast is aiming for a band that can continuously perform worldwide activities.

The band's name is simple yet powerful, who came up with the idea? Does it has any special meaning?

It made it a straight and simple name of a band that aggressiveness is conveyed. I think that it is a suitable name for the death metal band. In Japanese it is called "cho-ju??".

Not a very long or informative chat, but one that will bring your attention this interesting energetic Thrash Death Metal duo from the capital of Japan, Tokyo, they've just released their debut EP, A New Future.

Is Superbeast a live performing band, too, or just a studio project? As far as I know Ganzz started it after the demise of his previous band, Mad Machine, a band that was into Power Metal rather than what you play now. What triggered this change of styles?

Of course it is a live performance band. If you have a live offer, I will put a tour member and play it.

About style change Originally I was doing a death metal band before Mad Machine. After Mad Machine was over, I began thinking of doing an extreme metal band again.

Valan also played drums at Mad Machine.

Who are the band members at the moment, and have you all had previous experience in other bands? How serious are you all about Superbeast? What's your main target with this band?

The official members at the moment are only the brothers of Valan (vocal, drum) and Ganzz (guitar).

Before Mad Machine I was playing together with �Black Hole" Death Metal band.

So far you have released a digital EP, A New Future.

What can you tell us about the tracks featured on it?

Where was it recorded? How were the reactions to it?

I recorded in Tokyo and I finished it into a rough sound.

As long as I see reviews from overseas, I think that the reaction is good.

About tracks: "Killer shower" - A song that depicts the life of an assassin. The man who entered the world of darkness is manipulated, and it goes deeply into the world of assassination.

"Hidden truth" - The song that this world is dominated by authorities.

I drew a process of confronting with our power.

"A New Future" - Humans with no ability will be eliminated. War starts population reduction and

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people lose the future. Be ruled by a mighty human "Waking Power" - I awoke to my power/. Change from the failed past to the future to success "Revenge Of The Anger" - People full of anger begin to kill and dye life with blood I also saw you have a full-length album recorded, Hateful, before A New Future, in 2011 if I'm not mistaking, correct? Is that already released, or what's the deal with it? That one had a bit more Groove in it, am I right?

Yes. The 1st album Hateful is released on CD and digital in 2011.

Music style certainly emphasized grooves more than now, it is a style close to Pantera.

As a difference from A New Future, Hateful has its

lyrics in Japanese. How come? I think that will be an exotic feature for the rest of the World, it will probably get better reactions, but how do you feel about it?

Although I tried to sing all in Japanese, I thought that singing must be sung in English to do worldwide activities now I am doing it halfway. I hope the world accepts even Japanese.

How hard is it for a Japanese band to make a name for itself within the local scene? Are there many places where you can play live? How the Metal scene in Japan nowadays?

In Japan it is almost impossible for J-pop to be a trend and the metal band will succeed. There are many places to play, but you have to pay for playing. Japanese tend to hate Japanese metal bands.

I saw Valan is also into body-building. Is this a hobby, or it more than that? What else do you guys do beside the band? How easy is it to start and develop a Metal band in Japan?

Valan is doing boxing and body building as a hobby. In the body building I became a champion in Tokyo. In Japan it is very difficult to earn money with a metal band.

December 2017

A new Power Metal act from Brazil promising a lot is Xakol, they've just started, but their way of working seems to be really professional and targetted, I wouldn't be surprised to see them succeed in this genre quite soon, so here's some details on the band, keep an eye on them.

Xakol is a new name on the scene, but its history is perfectly presented in a video on your YouTube channel. Do you think presenting your band's work on video one way or another is important nowadays?

First of all, thank you for having already watched our video which was just released last Friday, and for having patiently followed the story, which has Portuguese audio, but is subtitled in English to become understandable for most of the World.

Telling XAKOL's story in a video was an old idea I had, because although I am a text guy, I love to write and play with words, nowadays most people don't have much patience to read long texts, such as a band biography. People prefer watching movies than reading books. So I already had this idea for a while, but when a festival we were going to play asked for a brief video introduction of the band, I just thought about doing something different, telling the story in an unusual and funny way, and use it for a YouTube video. And I was very proud of the result we got. I think videos are the great trend of the moment, it's very hard for bands out of the mainstream to earn anything with music only, and if you have a YouTube channel only for lyrics and music videos, it doesn't get as many subscribers or as much engagement as it should. In this age, it is important for artists to search for new ideas, including unusual video concepts, that can bring them closer to their audience.

although it is 8 minutes long, with some tempo changes and rhythmic variations, it is all 4/4 and not progressive enough. The real sound of XAKOL will be exposed in our second album, which will be a mix of very melodic and fast power metal with odd time signatures progressive music, influenced also by lots of metal sub-genres and songs whose structures may be unpredictable.

Do you also prepare a full-length release for the near future? Do you plan on inviting established names from the Power Metal scene to play on it?

Yes, we are currently working on two full-length albums. The first one is already mostly recorded and we expect to have it released by our next winter (which is your summer in Europe). This will be a short album, more like a preliminary release, with songs that are not much related to each other, with some different approaches and ideas.

Songs that did not make it to the next album. The second album will be called "Chaos Lit a Soul" and is my masterpiece that I have been writing for more than 12 years. It will be an 80-minute concept album with all the absolute best material I have ever written in my entire life.

Yes, we plan on having special guests from the Power Metal and Prog Metal scene. Edu Falaschi, former Angra singer, will be the producer for our second album. Detonator, which is a character by Brazilian singer and comedian Bruno Sutter, who was also voted the best singer in Brazil twice in a row, has already recorded our song Metal for Demons. Besides them, some international guests with a huge name on the Power Metal scene have been contacted, but I will not confirm anything until I have their recorded parts in my hands.

Your two singles were also released on CD format, which is really impressive. How come you've decided not to remain to digital only and how many copies have you sold/distributed? There are many bands that release entire albums digital only nowadays.

You are right, nowadays even full-length albums are mostly digital only. To release singles on CD format at this moment seems like a crazy idea indeed. Metal for Demons was released on CD, because it features Detonator as singer, and he has a great legion of fans here who would collect everything with his name on, so we thought it would be Is Xakol a real band, or more a personal studio project? What bands influences a good idea to release a physical version for collectors. Rise of a New Sun was a the most your compositions? physical release intended to be distributed to Europe as a small showcase of our music.

It all started as a solo project. XAKOL is a pseudonym I created when I was 13, even The physical version allowed me to play with the track orders from the single, which before I started learning music. It was also the name I used to sign my compositions. I will puzzle those who read them for the first time. Track 1 starts on the song's part 2, had an 80-minute full-length album ready for recording even before I recruited a band just to "cut the crap" and go straight to the heavy part that matters, because most people to play my songs live. It was supposed to be just a personal studio project, because I that are listening to a new song for the first time from a band they have never heard of would either have to hire musicians to play my songs live, while I wouldn't get paid as will not be patient enough to wait a long and slow instrumental intro. So the idea was much for playing unknown songs, or I would have to find really good friends who that the listeners would turn on the CD player and get punched in the ears by the first would join my project for believing in me, and they would also need to be skilled chord. Then, if they like the song, and are curious to know the rest of it, the full song is enough to play some technically not trivial songs. Luckily, that second alternative available as a bonus on the single, together with the first parts as isolated tracks, happened sooner that I thought it would be possible. I decided to play my songs live making some kind of 3-piece puzzle for beginners to assemble the song in the correct once for fun in 2015, then more people became interested in my project and joined the order. band for believing in its potential. Since then we have played live regularly as band on It was made 1000 copies of each single, 500 of each were delivered to our label and our "Rise of a New Tour", supporting our singles.

500 of each to us. They were the best sellers in our label for 3 straight months, and they My main influences are late 90's and early 2000's Power Metal and Prog Metal. All my say their copies are already sold old. We also have sold well, specially during our absolute favorite albums were released during that time-span. From the Prog Metal side, concerts. But we have also shipped some copies to some countries in Europe and North my main influences are Dream Theater, Symphony X and Pain of Salvation. From the America. We still have a few copies left, which can be bought from anywhere in the Power Metal side, I'd say Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius, Angra, Royal Hunt, Rhapsody, world at our Bandcamp store: xakol.bandcamp.com. among others. However, I use elements from many different sub-genres of metal and rock, like black metal, thrash metal and even punk rock. Also, there are some What's your main goal with the band? How far would you like to reach, and how experimental parts composed using mathematical algorithms. far do you think it's possible to reach?

Conquer the world. Is it probable? Not much. Is it possible? Only time will tell.

You have 2 singles released, but there are major differences between the two, Rise Anyway, if I ever have fans from the other side of the world, that had never heard of of a New Sun seems much more serious than Metal for Demons, so what's the me before, and they get touched by my music in a way that it inspires their lives, make "real" path Xakol will develop on in the future? them happier, or help them through difficult times, it will bring me the feeling that I That's right. Metal for Demons and Rise of a New Sun have nothing in common. Metal have accomplished my goal in life. for Demons is a tribute to a very known Brazilian MTV-created satire metal band called Massacration and it's sung by their lead singer, a fictional character called December 2017 Detonator. Massacration writes songs whose lyrics are mostly in English, but are not fully understandable to English speakers, because they mix variants of Portuguese words mistranslated to English in a macaronic way. The difference is that Metal for Demons is fully understandable in English alone, but still one would need to know Portuguese to understand the real meaning hidden in the song, which is based on similarity of words between the languages with completely different meanings. For instance, the last verse of the song is "For them you're so cool", which makes perfect sense in English, but it's pronounced as one would say in Portuguese "Fodem o seu cu" which means "They fuck your ass". So it is a funny song, that was intended to be played by Massacration or Detonator himself, but we have decided to release it as a XAKOL song anyway, although the musical and lyrical styles don't fit our real purpose.

Rise of a New Sun is more on the path we are about to follow, although it is not quite there yet. This song was the first Power Metal song I wrote back in 2003, and

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We tried to spread the name of GT as far as our capacity, both financial and organizational reached. And luckily positive feedbacks prevailed negative ones.

Czech Tech Death Metal legends Godless Truth are back after a 4 years hiatus when everybody thought that was it for the band. Mariano caught up with founding member Svany to find out more about the band's updates and plans.

According to your bio, bands like CYNIC, ATHEIST, MORTAL DECAY and DEATH kinda shaped the GODLESS TRUTH sound when you originally started out back in 1994… But honestly spoken, except for the obvious Death influences I never really noticed anything like that in your song writing… So, what was the reason for that? Were your musical abilities in those days still too immature, maybe?!

Well I think it was about listening to those bands a lot.

We loved their music and wanted to be like them. I personally think you can hear the influence mainly in our first two albums.

What inspired the band’s name? Did you pick that simply because it sounded good or did you have some kinda concept based around it?

And that’s a good question :) We were searching for a name for our new band after the breakup of Mortality (my first band). There were 3 of us left (me, Martin Pánek and Marek Zahradnícek) and the band manager of those days Zdenek (who later became our singer, now retired). We came up with three names and together chose the one - Godless Truth.

And yes, it was because it sounded great for us but also that it had many forms of explanation.

Was it difficult back in those days to find like-minded musicians in Czech Republic, especially in such a little town as Olomouc, or what made you go for a three piece lineup in the first place? How did you all get together? I mean, did anyone of you have any band / musical experiences prior to forming Godless Truth?

No, it was ok, you know, we were bunch of friends getting to know how to play guitars.

There were good musicians around but a drummer. To find a good drummer was almost a superhero task :) That`s why we hired Jaroslav Hanzel to record “Another Disease” demo for us, and after a few months he joined Godless Truth, oh yeah, that was great.

At the beginning of my music career we started as a two piece, me and Martin (drums, vocals later), at 1992. Then Marek (bass) and Ivan (who played drums much better than Martin) joined us. Ivan came up with the name Mortality. And after his departure Godless Truth were to start.

Same year in 1994 you already released your first demo, “Another Disease”, which featured "Intro", "Doors to Paradise", "Inhuman Feeling" , "Another Disease" and "Outro".Were those actually the first Godless Truth songs you had written or did you already have some more finished to chose from?

We had more songs. But we worked hard 2 months before going to studio with Jaroslav and we had to decide what record with him.

What can you tell us about the recording studio, where that demo was recorded in 1994… Did you have to face any difficulties while recording in a studio for the first time?

There was a recording studio called Barbarella in Ostrava. I was a renowned studio those days for a bunch of money for us :) We had great expectations and experienced one hell of jitters :) “Another Disease” pretty quickly established the name Godless Truth in the underground, so how many copies (approximately) got sold / spread around of it and did you get any negative response on it as well?

In 1996 you finally signed with Lord Mark Black Corporation for your debut full length “The Desperation”. Were Lord Mark Black Corporation the first / only company to offer you a contract or what made you sign with a company from your country? How do you judge your co-operation with them in retrospect?

LMBC was a label established by our bass player, Marek, and Zdenek helped him. It was a springboard for GT, we concentrated on spreading the name mainly.

At that particular time big line-up changes came.In 97/98 all the band members were kicked out, only Petr (g) remained and Zdenek, the band's manager at that time, became a new singer, so tell us a bit about how this happen.

That’s true. I was the only one left, we had a totally different view of creation. Martin took place of drumming again for a couple of months as we worked on “Burning Existence”, and he left after a while. Zdenek tried to sing and it worked great so he got that :) There was Michael Rucil on the second guitar and Oldrich Vožda on drums, and he recorded that album.

I suppose that not too many people are aware of the fact that you recorded another (promo) demo in 1997, which featured "Silentium" and "Don't

Believe".Where did you actually record those two songs?

Oh, sorry, I don’t remember the name of the studio, but it was in Olomouc :) When did you actually get in touch with Deadsun Records from the France for the re-release of the "The Desperation" on cd format, which previously was only on tape.Also two-song promo from "Promo Tape 97/98" which was later added as a bonus for CD version of 'Desperation'. What exactly was the reason for that? Weren’t you completely satisfied with those songs anymore or had the fact that the album got rereleased.

Deadsun Records showed the greatest interest in GT so we made a deal. We also wanted to re-release the previous “Desperation” on CD and we added those two promo songs as a music bonus to that special CD release.

Your line-up has been changed quite often ever since you originally started out and you Petr remain the only original member by now. So, would you somehow consider Godless Truth as your band?!

Yes, I am the only original member of the band left and yes, Godless Truth is my band.

How do you feel nowadays in 2018 about “Burning Existence”,“SelfRealization” and "Arrogance of Supreme Power"? I mean the material has been written and recorded in between 1999-2004, so do you still stand behind it or are there always some little

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mistakes and points to complain about them when you throw them into your player? Personally I think that albums have been really outstanding and original for the times when they have been released.

Every record is unique in some way, you know, and some like it, some don’t, why to question that?! We did our best at that time and we felt we put everything to show people our best. Oh and you could change anything anytime after all these years, nah?!

It’s definitely a sad chapter, but why have you closed the doors after a EP “Too Late to Stop My Hate” from 2010? I mean you’ve had a respected name in the scene, so which has been the real reasons? Didn’t you get along with each other personally or did you simply develop other musical interests?

You mentioned both reasons :) There was man who wanted more.

Ok Petr, tell me more about the Godless Truth reunion... When did that exactly happen, who came up with the idea and what kind of expectations do you have?Do you think that people are still remembering you?

I never really wanted to end the GT chapter in my life.

Anyway we needed break, and me personally too. In that time I composed and played with Dissolution. The reason for GT resurrection :) was meeting our current drummer Petr Mikeš. We agreed as musicians and as people too. I think the point is in understanding each other and we have that with all band members in GT now.

Well I’m happy :) Truly I have no expectation. We can continue in GT’s music as we love it. And if both old and new fans like the new face of GT, well, great happening for all of us :) So, please introduce the new line-up a bit more and if it will differ musically or lyrically in any way?You have already announced successor of the album "Arrogance of Supreme Power" (2004, Lacerated Enemy/Amputated Vein) and EP "Too Late to Stop My Hate" (2010) was finished in studio Abbadon under the supervision of the well-tested Zdenek 'Cepa' Cepicka.... tell us more about that, like how many songs you plan on recording, who's supposed to hear this material (will you also sell it?) and so on...

The present band’s line-up is: Petr S. (guitar), Petr M. (drums), Jakub (bass), Ondra (guitar), Adam (vocals).

You can hear it in our latest single/music video “Fortune Time” (2017) where we are going, what we’re working on. And maybe more brutal, we’ll see :) And again we’re going to record the new album in Abbadon Studios (close to our hometown) where we did with “Fortune Time”.

There are 8 songs to record. And as Adam says, “…it’s about torturing hatred and human mistakes…”

What are your future plans for Godless Truth? I guess most important of all for you is to find a good label, right? Any particular companies that you would like to work with or maybe you already inked deal with someone?

Godless Truth is here to play gigs for you, to show up.

Our former drummer Bizzaro is helping us a lot with PR/Management. Still searching for a label, some negotiating is going on nowadays, we’ll see :) Last but not least I like to know what you’re doing in your everyday life, hope this doesn’t disturb you? Do you still feel like a metalhead or have you turned into a family man? Thanks a lot for spending your time in this nostalgic Godless Truth lesson and good luck. If you like to add anything to this interview, just feel free... it’s up to you!!!

All of us have a job. Some have kids and families, some are partying. :) But all of us are metalheads like we used to before :) Maybe musicians can’t live that “normal” life :) Thank you all! Listen to new GT and give us your feedback! See ya at gigs or on our fb page GodlessTruthOfficial Interview by Don Mariano / March 2018

Greek Thrash Metal band Mentally Defiled announced a split with US based Evil Army for 2018 so we had a chat with them to find out if there's a new album announced with this split and heading our way soon.

Hi guys, how the band lately? I don't usually involve politics or such in Slowly We Rot, but I'm just curious how's the life lately in Greece, how do you see its current state. And obviously, how did the economical crisis affected the Metal scene over there?

Hello and thanks for hosting us in your fanzine! The band is in a transitional state for the moment – since both of the guitarist and co-founding (with me) members have left – Alex immigrated to the UK and George couldn’t keep up the pace we wanted to have. Thus nowadays only me on vox, John “Maelstrom” on drums and Chris “Z” are the remnants of the band – but soon we will have some news on filling up the huge gap our guitarists withdrawal caused. Our situation more or less reflects the crisis we are living in Greece. Many people cannot stand their financial commitments and are forced to leave the country, or tolerate a lower life standard. But I think the worse is over – Greeks have always been capable on finding a way to overcome (or cause) any troubles – in this case this also applies!

Mentally Defiled was initially formed as a cover band.

What were you covering back then, and what made you go for the original compositions at some point, what triggered it?

Back in 2001 when we decided to team up, we were just teenagers exploring the very essence of this raw music – new to us. Major covers (since my voice could reach some high pitch notes as a youngster) was some Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Metallica classics. Eventually and after LOTS of study we found our musical orientation – sped up the tempo – grawled up the vocals and composed some stuff – I think “Mosh Pit Maniac” was our very first complete composition.

Your debut album had some serious success back when it was released, actually when it was re-released. Please tell us the story, why it needed to be re-released, and why weren't you able to promote it live in the first instance.

The story behind our debut is that although the material was quite good, we kinda rushed into releasing it. At this time (2008) our drummer Tassos had to leave within the year immigrate to the US. Plus both me and Alex had to join the army for our mandatory military service. So time was at the essence and the first label that show some interest – undertook the release. This was the Russian “Thrash Massacre Records”. Although it didn’t got the promotion we expected – once we were approached for a CD re-release via Mexican label “EBM Records” and Greek “Weird Face Productions” on vinyl, we gladly accepted and eventually the record was more widely acknowledged. Sadly we didn’t get to promote it live – we were out of a drummer able to deliver, until Bill (exCrucifier) joined and we gave a couple of - local only shows.

Your second album, Aptitude For Elimination, was released in 2014 and according to your own words, it was "faster and even more aggressive, having bigger impact". Was this a target of yours when you started working on it, or it just happened?

What made you push the pedal even more back then? Maybe the constant line-up problems had an impact on this, too, with the new members having more energy for the band?

Well, as the years passed by we were getting deeper into thrash, not only by playing it, but mostly by listening to forsaken and underrated/underground bands and tunes. This had an impact in our own music creation. Faster bpm, sharper riffs and a more aggressive musical approach was inevitable and not on purpose for sure! Constant member change on drums and bass guitars refreshed and energized us as well, until we found the most suitable “beasts” in the face of John and Chris to remain to the line up ‘till now!

Mentally Defiled plays pure and straight-forward Thrash Metal with no notable other influences, am I right? What bands would you say had the bigger impact on your music and what would you say your band brings new or original to the scene, how can one recognize your own sound?

Thanks once more for your kind words, although you cannot accurately define our thrash routes and inspiration – I’d say we are a blended mix of more that the thrash genre. Bands like Demolition Hammer, GBH, Testament, Forbidden, Judas Priest, Razor, Nevermore, Slayer, Discharge, Cannibal Corpse, Tankard, Exodus, The Exploited, Vio-Lence and Discharge are only a tiny sample to our inspiration. Being a mixture of all of those, blending it and “distilling” it under our taste – end results as “Mentally Defiled”. We hope we are not an exact copy to any – but still know that cannot be a real pioneer and innovative to the genre – this is kinda impossible in 2018. In simple words – we play as we please.

I find guitar solos to have an utmost importance in Thrash Metal, and Mentally Defiled have plenty of them sprinkled all over its music, but apart from that I'd say production is also extremely important. How do you see that? How important is a good mix and master for a final release?

For me guitar solos are much more than a great chance to rest my throat during live shows – that’s for sure, haha!

Of course a good solo is necessary to energize the whole track and M.D.’s approach is to include some, placed strategically in almost every track of ours. Another big boost is good final master and mix. The best composition and riff could be easily “buried” into oblivion if it is not supported with the best possible audio production. We

Turkey has also produced some serious Extreme Metal along the years and this Melodic Thrash Death Metal combo from the capital is the living proof, a band that has been around for more than a decade now and still going strong trying to find their break.

If there's a place where most different cultures meet and intertwine, that's most certainly Istanbul. How has this meeting point influenced your lives, and ultimately your band? Is Furtherial influenced by your city's rich cultural heritage? Do you think the Progressive side of your music comes from this will to experiment, to blend and discover new territories?

Baser: Of course there are influences of that mixed culture in our lives, both conscious and unconscious. When it comes to music, we did not plan to use any ethnical or oriental elements. I usually think that metal music should be heared as metal. On the other hand, since every culture has its own unique elements, music is inevitably affected by them. If this effects are unintentional, the production of yours are heard more specifically and better, I think.

Bora: Like Baser said, we do not try to add any oriental elements intentionally, but if you take away the distortion from the guitars, you can totally hear our local influences in the melodies and the chord progressions.

are deadly serious with this and try our best in any of our

releases.

For 2018 you have a split with US based Evil Army planned. How did that happen? Many say the time of splits has passed and this is now an obsolete way of presenting music, what do you say about this?

The split with E.A. was the “Swan Song” of Alex with the band. It will be named “Defiled Army” and will be released in every possible format. It happened when John from “Weird Face Productions” proposed it, since E.A. had entrusted him with some unreleased versions of couple of their tracks. Thus we gladly accepted this proposal. We never stopped to think that a split release is a great way to introduce a band to new audiences and expand your fans – far from obsolete!

Any plans for a new studio album anytime soon? It's already 4 years since Aptitude for Elimination, how many new tracks do you have underbelt? What will be the major differences, if any, on this new material?

For the time being we will focus on this split release and try to fit in the new guitarist to the band. Some tracks are available, but first thing’s first, so we cannot define the exact time for a new full length.

Your music is not simple to play live, I think it requires above all great stamina. Do you stay away from drinks and drugs before the shows? How about after, how do you celebrate a successful gig? What makes a gig successful for Mentally Defiled?

Temptations lurk in every gig, this is a universal standard.

Although John and Chris focus on warming up and stretching before every show, I cannot say the same for myself – since my job is quite simpler with the vocals.

So I give in and the guys sometimes follow up, after the show. Of course the performance is never at stake since we are into “thrash athletics” for many years now. The best way to celebrate a great gig, is performing like it’s your last – no matter if you play for 50 or 5000 maniacs.

Sometimes we prefer small and “loyal” - die hard audiences. It doesn’t matter if you know the lyrics, or even the song. It matters to thrash like a genuine mosh pit maniac.

February 2018

What was the reason of changing the band name from Extinction to Furtherial, and what does the latter mean?

Baser: First reason is; there were another bands with the name Extinction. Secondly, Extinction era had a more death metal based attitude. Some of our songs in our first album has that kind of compositions. (for example The Newborn, Defeat) In time, we had new inspirations and naturally our music has evolved to something different. So we decided to have a name with a different meaning and also a different feeling.

The name Furtherial is derived from the word “further” with the attachment of “-ial”.

It’s intented to mean “that which belongs to the further” or “from the other side”.

You've just released Through Struggle: Part One, the first from a two EPs set.

How come two EPs and not an LP? Please tell us about the three tracks on it and what's the link between them and the cover artwork, if any, of course.

Baser: Our first purpose in making an E.P was preparation for our 3rd album. But the process has been delayed for too long. Besides there was an opportunity to record an another E.P so we tried to use it. Through Struggle Part One is mainly focused on the concept of loneliness as a result of bereavement. The main character of this story is an old and barren tree who leaves its forest to find a new one.

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Baser: It was absolutely perfect. For us, besides the concert, it was also a great experience to see a different country and environment. Also, the people at the show was very participant to our music and they really loved us as if they have known us before.

So we would love to come back there, of course. Önder: Amazing audience. The festival was also wery well organized, we'd love to come back.

And talking about gigs, how's your live activity at home? Do you get to play live often? Are there many venues and festivals currently active over there? And how's the audience?

Baser: We also have a cover band called Razor, which we do most of our live playing with. Every Wednesday and Saturday we’re on stage for 4 hours each at the Dorock Bar at Taksim. And we often have gigs with Furtherial both in Istanbul and other cities.

Bora: We recently opened for Thurisaz at Dorock Bar Taksim and our last festival performance was at the Headbangers' Weekend in Istanbul headlined by Eluveite and Kalmah last March. The metal festival scene (actually the whole music scene) has been getting smaller for the past few years due to all the crazy stuff happening in and around Turkey but it started to get better a little bit this year. We're planning a small tour around January. And of course we play two days a week at Dorock with our cover band, Razor, which is our kind of day job.

Is the second part already recorded? What can you tell us about it? Is it linked lyrically too with the first part, I mean is it a concept behind the two EPs? Baser: Yes, it is already done. It’s concept is more about spiritual recovery. Not the same continuous concept but it’s linked somehow. And musically, it has some small differences from our previous works.

Take your time and think about it a little, then answer this: what would be the best compliment one could make about your music?

Baser: I guess someone saying that they can feel what kind of people we are through our music would be the best compliment.

Bora: I sometimes get asked by people about what our genre is. I take that as a big compliment as I think that the reason they can't just pin a genre on us is that they find our music as something new and different from what they've listened in the past.

This year you've also had your first gig outside Turkey, in my country, Romania, and from what I saw on YouTube, it was a hell of a show. How was the experience? December 2017 Do you plan on repeating it soon, to play other countries, too?

somehow the cover is also related to it. How come everything about Harmdaud surrounds this topic?

Would you say this is a rather sad project overall?

Well, the short answer is no.. Or, not only. I would say that the meaning and the essence of the band is dual. In a way the lyrics are about sorrow, but they are also about coping with sorrow. You know, sorrow, sadness and happiness are apart of life, as well as a day is about light and darkness.

But sure, the music have a melancholic touch, but that is the way I like it.

Swedish one-man-band HarmDaud, led by Andreas Stenlund, who previously worked with Vintersorg among others, recently released its debut album, Blinda dödens barn, so here's what we found out from the man himself.

For a short period of time, in 2001, you helped Vintersorg as live-guitarist, and now, on your debut album, the main man in Vintersorg, mixed and mastered it, not to mention Gravisphere where you guys play together, so you seem to have a pretty strong relationship. How come you were never part of the band's line-up (I'm referring to Vintersorg, of course)?

That’s right, I got the opportunity to help them out from say - 99 to - 02 handling the session guitar in the band. I think we played more than 60 gigs during those years, mostly in Europe. It was really great to be a part of those tours and the whole band had a lot of fun!

Me and Mr. V has known each other for more that 20 years, so yea we are long time friends I felt just natural to ask him to produce Blinda Dödens Barn. Both considering that we are long time friends, and that Mr. V is a really great musician and producer so he really helps when it comes to realize the vision of HarmDaud.

Though, to answer your question more directly, Vintersorg already have two excellent guitarists and my or the bands intention back then was never that I should join as a full member. It was all about a bunch of friends coming along and playing metal together around the world!

Gravisphere is still very much alive as well and we plan to pick that up sometime in the future. We have a lot of really interesting songs ready.

Harmdaud means sorrows' death in proto-Norse language, your lyrics are also about sorrow, and

Talking about this debut album, what's the main idea behind it, what would you like a regular listener to "get" from the audition, or better said, what have you tried to transmit through it?

This connects a bit to the question above. I like the listener to be engaged through the whole album. Every song says something different and, the listener should be able to come back to the different parts to be able to connect to the feeling get the first time they listen to it.

The lyrics explore the dynamic between emotions among other things. The music does that as well, there are slower melancholic parts as well as the other faster stuff.

All in all, I write what feel and that is the thing about HarmDaud. I hope the listener enjoys that diversity, and to listen to some quality black/death metal of course!

band to be able to do some live shows in the future!

What does Blinda dödens barn means and why have you chosen Swedish for your lyrics and not English?

Does your music have also a Folk-ish side to it?

Directly translated, Blinda Dödens Barn means something like The Blind Children of Death, or Deaths Blind Children. I have a little folkish stuff on the album, but not that much. I intend to explore that a bit more on the next album though.

You're a part of the scene for a long time now, in your opinion what are the main challenges an underground band faces now rather than 10-15 years ago?

The vast majority of music presented on digital platforms I guess is the big challenge for the underground scene. It is quite easy to both record and release your own stuff now compared to 15 years ago meaning that more and more people do it. And, that is both a problem but could also be a opportunity for a young band. Though, as I said it is hard to be seen. Just a facebook page among millions of others is not enough. So, I tip I would give is to make sure that you stand out, are active in your communication towards the fans and if you can, do gigs!!

Because Metal and the underground have never been about one hit wonders on youtube, it has always been about heart, dedication, headbanging and the fans. And, that I think will prevail.

Would you say you have more freedom, or on the contrary, you're less inspired by playing on your own?

Is it frustrating not to be able to present the album December 2017 material live? Have you thought of finding guest musicians and play it live, too?

Where I am in life right now with family and children it is easier to find the time if you only have your own schedule to think of so to speak. Late nights when the children and my wife are asleep is normally the most creative moments.

Haha!

So, yea I feel that I have more freedom during the writing process , it that fits om how HarmDaud works for the moment.

There will be a cooperation between me and Mr. V as the producer/audio mastermind for the next album as well.

Meaning, when I have enough songs we finish the process in Waves Studio. So, HarmDaud is in one way a solo project when it comes to writing, but the finalizing of the album is a two man effort.

I sing in another band called TME as well, and there we write the music together so I feel fine with both artistic ways of working.

I have a plan of putting together a session

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Inquisitor is an awesome thrash band that has recently reunited and put a brand new release on Hammerheart Records and here is a interview with band members Erik and Wim. First off I know the band first releases something in 1992 and broke up in the later 90’s and got back together and released something new in 2014. Out of the old line-up how many members are original members and what is the current line-up these days?

Wim van der Valk (WV): The current line-up is the exactly the line-up that started it all way back in '91. It consists of Alex Wesdijk on vocals, Erik Sprooten on guitars, Alex Bakker on Bass guitar and Wim van der valk on the drums.

Erik Sprooten (ES): 2014 saw the re-release of our 1996 album "Walpurgis - Sabbath Of Lust, so not exactly something new but it has been remastered.

How did the band originally form and did you go through many members early on?

WV: We only had a few line-up changes. When Alex Bakker quit the band in '95 due to some personal issues he was replaced by Hans Pos. Hans is the bass player that recorded the Walpurgis-Sabbath of Lust album in '95.

When Inquisitor fell apart in late '96 I tried to continue with a new guitar player but we very soon found out that with a new guitar player the known Inquisitor sound changed much so we changed the name into Centurian and started again as a new band.

ES: To cut a long story short, Inquisitor was formed in 1991 by ex members of Desultory and I joined them on guitar.

What were the early practices like? Did you fool around with cover songs and stuff and was the band a serious one from the beginning?

WV: Fooling around is of course a thing most starting bands do in the beginning and we did as well, but next to some old school covers we started writing own music very soon. We recorded our first demo with only new material within the first year and a half. In those days Erik and Alex B. came up with loads of new material every week so we got plenty of new riffs and ideas to create songs with. From day one the band was serious but always had fun and great times while rehearsing.

Next to playing in the band we also went to gigs and did hang out together. Those were awesome times !!!

How did you come up with the band name and also the cool band logo? Were a bunch of names thrown around before you came up with the name Inquisitor?

ES: We had a different name for a very short while, but If I remember it correctly, I think that it was Alex Bakker (bass player) who suggested the name Inquisitor. Since we (still) live close to the Dutch bible belt, we felt that we needed a name for the band which has a negative meaning connected to religion. The name Inquisitor suggests a connection to the inquisition, which we don't see as a positive chapter in history. The cool logo has been drawn by Wim. In 1992 you released your first demo called “Blasphemous Accusations”. How did you come up with this title and how was it going into the studio for the 1st time?

ES: I guess the title is probably inspired by watching movies like "The Pit & The Pendulum" and "The Name Of The Rose" but I can't remember who and how he came up with that title. Wim and Alex Bakker already had previous studio experience with Desultory and we decided to record our first demo in the same studio where Desultory recorded their second demo. For Alex Wesdijk and me, it was our first studio experience. The recording sessions took one weekend I think. For me, my

first studio session was very interesting, but I remember that I didn't like the result of my guitar sound.

Ancient Rites happened because I was session guitarist for them on tour in the summer of 1996.

Did you send this demo out to many labels or webzines at the time and if so what was the response like?

WV: Erik and I were fanatic tape-traders and followed the scene very close in those days and because of that had lots of contacts with Thrash/Death bands, magazines and fans around the world. So we send tapes out to these magazines, friends etc to spread our stuff. It got reviewed a lot because of that and the response was awesome. Not many webzines in those days btw LOL.

In 2014 you had your demos released on CD. How did this come about and is this release as well as your full length still for sale?

ES: In 2012 Hammerheart Records got in touch with me to ask if I was interested in re-releasing our one and only album plus our demos. And of course I was interested in that. It only took a while to get back in touch with Wim but after we reconnected, the re-release took a short time to happen. The 2CD version is still for sale, but I think that the LP version is sold out.

The next year you released our 2nd demo called “Your Pain Will Be Exquisite”. How much was this demo different from the 1st one? At the time was it easy or hard writing songs? Was it easier going into the studio for a 2nd time?

WV: Man, this was somewhere around 1993 or so, over 24 years ago. Most of the time I can't remember what I did last night haha. I remember after recording the first demo we just continued creating new stuff, so we just went on doing what we liked best. Of course after some time the band got better, played our instruments better as the years gone by. Don't know how much in terms of studio time, but we were satisfied after recording the stuff and especially the sound was much better. Also the cover was awesome....... But unfortunately it is lost.

ES: We went to "Beaufort Studio" again, and we knew much better how we wanted sound, so in that way it was easier. The overall sound turned out much better on the 2nd demo and we became a little bit faster too.

At what point would you say you found the Inquisitor sound and for someone who has never heard you what would you say you sound like?

WV: Our sound naturally happened, and in a way it was a continuation of the style of Desultory but more challenging, more technical etc. If you've never heard Inquisitor before we always refer to bands like Sadus, Dark Angel, (old) Kreator etc.

How was the response to this 2nd demo?

WV: The response was absolutely awesome.

ES: We got way much better reviews compared to the first demo.

In 1993 you released a split called “Crush the Holy Church. Was this a self-release or did a label release it? Who was the other band and was it a CD release or was it vinyl?

ES: A label called Hell Spawn Tapes released it with permission from us, so it wasn't released by ourselves.

No,it was not released on CD or Vinyl, it was only released on a cassette, which was very typical during the early 90's. It's a live recording from 1993, which also features Desultory with a new line-up.

3 years later in 1996 you released your first full length called “Walpurgis-Sabbath of Lust”. Who released this and how was it going into the studio for the 1st time to record a full length release?

WV: The album was recorded in 1995 and released one year later by Shiver Records from Belgium. The recordings were the first we did in a really good studio; the RS29 studio owned by Oscar Holleman, a well known Dutch guitar-player and producer. Recording there was an awesome experience; he had top notch equipment in his garage and we had a great time.

In early 2017 you released an EP called “I am Sick I Must Die”. Who released this and how was it going into the studio after being out of the studio as a band in over 10 years?

ES: Hammerheart Records released the EP "I am Sick, I Must Die" as a taster for the new album. Next to the title track, you can hear two cover tunes: Extreme Unction of which the original version is from Pestilence, and Perish In Flames originally by Dark Angel. We gave those songs the Inquisitor treatment. Inquisitor hasn't been in a studio for about 22 years, but despite of that the recordings went actually very good. Hammerheart Records recommended Toneshed Studios and we went along with it and it was absolutely great to work with owner Erwin Hermsen. To save money, I recorded my guitar-solos at home, which I will certainly do again that way next time.

Recently you released an awesome new release called “Stigmata Me, I’m In Misery. How did you come up with this title and how did you end up on Hammerheart Records?

ES: It was Alex Wesdijk our singer, who in the end came up with the title "Stigmata Me, I'm in Misery". He wrote all the lyrics and we felt that the title should reflect some of his lyrics.

Hammerheart Records released two albums of Ancient Rites in the past, and worked with them before so I was already familiar with them. As I already mentioned Hammerheart Records made contact with me in 2012 for the re-release. After the re-release Hammerheart Records was also keen on releasing new material of Inquisitor so we decided to continue our collaboration.

How did the songs come together for this release?

ES: In the past we created the songs together primarily during rehearsing. Nowadays when someone has a riff or an idea we record it first at my computer, and with those riffs and ideas we try to create new material. We mostly How easy was it to come up with songs for this release? first create demo versions at home on the computer and What are your thoughts on this release these days? those versions we replicate in real versions in the WV: Most of the songs on "Walpurgis - sabbath of Lust" rehearsal room, where we can still make changes. Those were songs from both demos, next to that we wrote 3 changes will of course be updated on the versions on the new tunes. computer. It's a relatively efficient way to create our ES: We are still proud on our debut CD and it sounds the songs. way we wanted it to sound. After all it was our first fulllength album and it's great to see that there's still demand How do you plan on promoting this release and do for it. you hope to do some type of touring behind this release? Is there any live videos floating around on Were you playing many shows around this time? Is You Tube? there a good healthy underground metal scene where ES: We will do three shows in a row in March as support the band is based out of? of PESTILENCE on their release shows for their new ES: Before we ceased to exist, we have done about 25 album Hadeon. And furthermore we try to get ourselves shows in about a five year period, which is OK, but it booked for gigs. We will probably do an own belated should have been more I think. In our area never was a release show but due to circumstances this wasn't big underground metal scene, but in later years (2003- possible close after the release. Extensive touring will 2006) it was quite healthy for a while 'cause there was probably not happen but we will do some interesting even a rock/metal-pub in my hometown. gigs.Some live-footage can be found on our YouTube channel InquisitorXtremeThrash How soon after this release in 1996 did the band We try to promote ourselves in the best possible ways we break up or did you just take a break and what did can. Wim and I take care of the interviews, and we keep the band members do with themselves during this our FB page as active as possible. For the most part, time?

Hammerheart Records takes care of the promotion and ES: About half a year after the release, Inquisitor slowly so far they are doing very well. fell apart and wasn't intended as a temporary break. The reasons don't matter anymore, but our singer and Interview by Chris Forbes / February 2018 Inquisitor went separate ways, and a few months later, I decided to join Ancient Rites. The connection with

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Reviews – Reviews - Reviews [ B O L T ] (Germany) - ( 0 4 ) Narshardaa - 2017 - Black Drone Don't judge a book by it's cover they say, but it's quite impossible not to judge [ B O L T ]'s debut album by their weird (to say the least) cover art which leads you think of a new Beach Boys album, or even worse, of a kids joke Black Metal band. And don't let the genre labeling fool you either, [ B O L T ] have nothing to do with Black Metal or any of its variations (well, maybe apart form a couple of rhythms on the third track here); actually the band plays a highly mesmerizing, catchy, oppressive Drone Metal, way more varied that I initially thought, and that's maybe mostly because of the repetitive but groovy drumming of Maik Parker, the latest addition to the band's trio line-up. The two bass guitars are also doing a great job together, complementing each other, swinging between heavy, apocalyptic, metallic even brutal parts and calm, ethereal passages. I have to admit I'm not a fan of this genre, but the variations and heaviness of this album made it an excellent experience, that's why I recommend it to you too, even if you're not into Drone music at all. 8.5 ABDUCTION (UK) To Further Dreams of Failure Inferna Profundus - 2017 - Black One man band from Derby, England, with a very obscure (so far) profile, Abduction released a debut demo in the end of 2016 on cassette tape limited to only 20 copies, and somehow got the interest of Inferna Profundus Records resulting this first fulllength album out in April. 5 tracks clocking half an hour of playing time, balancing between furious, intense, fast parts and slow, mysterious, atmospheric passages. The production is good enough to allow all instruments to be distinguishable, but at the same time to sound massive and oppressive, enhancing the occult atmospheres inhere, and I especially like the upfront bass line sound and the subtle but extremely dense keyboard backgrounds that has a more important role within the whole than it gives the impression at first. The vocals are just desperate screams and disgusted vomited sounds all over, I'm sure there are some lyrics behind all this but it's impossible to get a glimpse of what the guy is saying, so after all it's clear the most important aspect in Abduction's music is the overall atmosphere. Not groundbreaking, but pummeling, dissonant and creepy as hell. 8 ABSALEM (Spain) Chaosvolution Art Gates - 2017 - Modern Metal Young female-fronted Spanish band founded last year, Absalem have already reached a deal with a respectable label, Art Gates, and seem to have all intentions to push as much as they can. The 10 tracks featured here are positioned on a melodic and modern type of Groove Metal with plenty of influences from many other genres, and because of Gina's vocals (but not only, some of the harmonies lead this way, too) to me it sounds like a Guano Apes gone heavier and more extreme, with hints of Arch Enemy at times. It's clear the band is still in formation, the amount of influences and elements from all over the place prove that it's still experimenting. It's not my cup of tea at all, so I'd recommend

you to give this band a listen if you think you'd enjoy a modern mix of Groove Metal, Alternative Metal and Melodic Death Metal, with melody being the underlined element instead of anything else.

vocals. Excellent, damn excellent! Don't lose any more time and get this tape until it's not too late, for me this band is now in pole-position in my "bands to follow closely" top. 9.5

ABSOLVTION (France) Obscure Catharsis Atavism - 2017 - Black Death Atavism is a cool label that has made it's own path in recent years, I mean when you see a new release on their roster you know exactly it will be somewhere in the Black / Death territories and necessarily occult, raw and obscure as fuck, and Absolvtion is no exception from this "rule". This is the band's debut demo, a 5 tracks effort clocking a bit over 25 minutes of playing time, pretty long duration for nowadays' standards, and it was firstly released by the band themselves in 2016 before being give the cassette treatment by Atavism. We're dealing here with such a filthy and cavernous production that I think only the ones of you into rehearsal-sounding recordings will appreciate, but at the same time it has an oppressive, pestilent atmosphere all around it that I guess was enhanced in a mix / master session after the recordings. Low-tuned guitars supported by super-heavy bass lines, background deep bestial growls, with the drumming line being the weakest link inhere, very synthetic sounding, as opposed to the rest. The compositions are somehow generic, not very surprising or original, but the atmosphere these guys manage to create will give them the necessary niche to evolve in the future, and by the look of it, the band has potential, for a certain type of listeners this tape will be a blast (if they manage to get one, as it's limited to only 100 handnumbered copies). 6 AFFLICTION GATE (France) Dying Alone Atavism - 2017 - Death Wow, this EP might well be one of the best surprises I get in my mail in the past few months! Originally released by Transcending Obscurity Records on CD last year, Dying Alone got the tape treatment from Atavism Records this year, and 100 pro cassettes were released, maybe a bit less than this music would deserve, but at least I'm sure they'll sell out quickly. Affliction Gate is an experienced band on the French scene, being formed back in 2006 and even releasing a full-length album in 2009, so the tightness and brutality of this record shouldn't surprise, what it does is how well the band manages to sound traditional and fresh at the same time.

Although it took the band 4 years to come up with these 4 new tracks (plus 2 bonus tracks), it was all worth it, Dying Alone is full of catchy and memorable guitar riffs, excellent old-school, expressive guitar leads and solos, a brutal as fuck bass line, drumming that's spot on all the time, not rushing things, not losing any tempos, and last but not least a fantastic vocal unleashing one of the best tonalities I've ever heard, growling, comprehensive and natural at the same time, it sounds like the guy was born to produce Death Metal

It took 23 years of activity for this Tenerife based band to release their debut album, and although I haven't heard of them so far, I think they were more into playing live than recording in the studio, or they simply took it as a weekend AK-11 / AASGARD (Australia / Greece) hobby and nothing more so releasing an - Unto Heretic Flames album wouldn't do much for them Frozen Blood Industries - 2017 - Black / anyway... who knows? Anyway, the 13 Black tracks featured here are directed in a US Opening this split are AK-11, a band fashion, a mix between Pantera, Lamb of that's been visiting our pages from time to God and melodic, modern Thrash Metal time, an Australian act started in 2011 as maybe with some hints of Heavy Power a solo project and soon after became a Metal here and there, too. The guitar full line-up band, a quartet at this moment. work especially is very solid, blending AK-11 kept the same path since its melodic harmonies with headbanging, inception, meaning fast paced, traditional, catchy and memorable riffs and excellent hateful Black Metal of Scandinavian solos, the vocals are also very good, inspiration, with the benefit of a solid, versatile and capable of bringing force to crystal clear and yet organic production the whole performance, and finally the on this recording, too. The compositions rhythm section works without problems, are good but don't stand out with anything, very subtle but at the same time there's nothing to set the band apart from extremely supportive and secure, like the the rest, so in my opinion this split should backbone it is supposed to be, so from have featured the lyrics printed, too, they this point of view Alea Jacta came up would have probably given more meaning with a damn impressive album, but I have and depth to the tracks. no idea how this could grow into Next are a duo from Greece, Aasgard, a something special if not supported with band that has been active for more than a heavy touring, too, and not only within decade and already released 3 studio Spain. Check them out if you're into the albums. Their 4 tracks here have a above mentioned bands. 8 murkier, stuffed sound, reminding me of the '90's Black and Death Metal demo AN EROTIC END OF TIMES (France) tapes, it's a pretty big difference from - Chapter One what AK-11 offers here.

The Les Disques Rubicon / Echozone - 2017 compositions, although still Black Metal, Industrial Gothic Rock are way different, starting with the Apart the intriguing band name, I'm glad uncomprehensive vocals in the there's more about this French duo, and background (sounding somehow here I mean I found their music very industrial-like), supported all the time by interesting as well. Chapter One is moans and screams of torment, and obviously their debut album, 8 tracks in ending with the much more repetitive almost 40 minutes, a mix between arrangements.

Industrial and Gothic Rock/Metal, A cool split offering two totally different following a The Fields Of The Nephilim / ways to approach traditional Black Metal, Sisters Of Mercy path, maybe a bit more I wish the booklet would have had the sombre with the addition of some Metal lyrics though. 7 / 6.5 elements but also because of the use of a heavy and very upfront bass line that AKROMA weights hard on the general outcome. But (France) - still, although it's dark and pretty Apocalypse (Requiem) oppressive spiritually, this album could Fantai'Zic - 2017 - Symphonic be better fit in a Gothic Rock territory as Progressive Black it cannot be considered aggressive at all, I'm a former vocalist, yet that's just one of far from that, it's actually quite dreamy the reasons I consider this position as and, why not, erotic. The production is ok being the most important in most bands but sometimes, especially on the few out there, and that's also why I'm always Metal parts, it becomes chaotic and not as more critical towards the vocal part of a clear as one would like. And another release, and in Akroma's case I wouldn't complaint of mine would be in regards to say I'm satisfied at all, I consider both the the lyrics: being in English I guess the screams and growling vocals as being author didn't succeed in expressing below par although I have to say they are himself too well as they seem too not annoying either; the screams are too minimal and even unclear, maybe a childish, immature sounding, and the switch to French would do them well... growls sound quite forced. And yet I still found two aspects of the vocal part of this ANOMALIE album as good: the female vocals that pop (Austria) up here and there offering a professional, Visions quality influence to the whole, and the Art of clean, shouted male vocals, both are top Propaganda notch. Now about the instrumental part of 2017 this third album from Akroma I'd say it's Melancholic rather interesting and although end of Black '90's sounding, the progressive twist to Wow! I've been this Symphonic Black Metal sounds listening to this album for the past few intricate and well-thought, especially on days (it is also seriously affecting my the last track, which I find to be the best review process as I've left many other "on and hopefully the one that gives a hint on the bench" in the meantime), and because the band's upcoming material, too. All in I'm a '90's formed metalhead growing up all I'd say the material is pretty successful, with bands like Anathema, Paradise Lost, give it a try and make your own mind on Samael, Katatonia and such, so bands that the vocal part, ignore my personal taste. managed to bring depression and melody 7.5 in their Extreme Metal craft, I can honestly say this album reached among ALEA JACTA (Spain) - Tales of Void my all time top, it impressed me so much and Dependence that I struggled to find faults to it; in the Art Gates - 2017 - Power Thrash end I did find a fault, actually more like an unfulfilled desire of mine: I would

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have liked a bit more clear vocals thrown inthere beside the excellent screams and occasional growling vocals. Getting to the music on it I'd say it's a combination of the '90's Melodic Extreme Metal with nowadays' Post Metal, sprayed with some Melancholic and Atmospheric Black Metal and even some Melodic Death Metal and Melodic Alternative Rock elements to make things even more complex and offering. There's everything you need inhere, from slow, heavy rhythms, to mid-tempo, catchy passages, to fast and furious parts to give you goosebumps, classy harmonies built up by at least 2 layers of guitars, a powerful, upfront, metallic bass line, intricate drumming and expressive vocals, all working towards a fantastic end result, one of the best I've heard in this genre lately. No more words, go get it! 10 ANTICHRIST (Sweden) Sinful Birth I Hate - 2017 - Thrash The second full-length album from Swedish Antichrist sees the light of the day 6 years after their highly acclaimed debut, quite a long distance between albums for a Thrash Metal band. Having produced such an impressive debut at that time placed Antichrist in an uncomfortable position of high expectancy from the public in regards to their next release, and I guess that had an impact on how much they spent on creating and finishing the new offering.

The new material is made of 9 tracks and clocks 45 minutes of fast and brutal retro Thrash Metal highlighted by hoarse vocals, catchy riffs seconded at times by fast and furious solos, and an organic, clear rhythm section that will please the fans of analog sound for sure. There are two tracks that kind of made it for me, The Black Pharaoh, a combination of the band's speedy and uncompromising brew of Thrash Metal with an epic, almost King Diamond-like atmospheric guitar lead, and the instrumental Chernobyl 1986, an excellent mid-tempo to fast paced soundtrack for the silent death that went on in that and the following years in and around Chernobyl, I'm curious how they've decided to cover such a topic and what's the story behind this track. All in all the new album sounds great, I doubt their fans will be disappointed. 8.5

ANTZAAT (Belgium) The Black Hand of the Father Immortal Frost - 2017 - Black Don't be fooled by these guys' image, as many other bands they were heavily influenced by the hoodies image a la Mgla, but their music is quite far from the nowadays trend. Antzaat are a new band founded in 2015 seemingly by Ronarg from Ars Veneficium, and what we have here is its debut EP, a 5 tracks effort clocking a good 22 minutes of playing time. The music, as I was saying, is not what's in fashion nowadays, and from my point of view is close to what the Norwegians gave to the World in the second part of the '90's, with the difference that Antzaat doesn't rely at all on keyboards' addition to the atmospheres, they rely solely on what the guitars are building, and I have to say that's excellent.

The more I listen to this album, them more I like it, it's like an ivy that grows on you as time goes by, a Norwegian type of Black Metal based on clever and technical guitars constructions built on top of a skeleton of intense drumming and incisive bass lines, and all these complimented by a vicious, ice spitting vocalist that even though not versatile enough does a good job in transmitting emotions. It all sounds quite epic and grandiose, so you can imagine how good those guitar harmonies are, but apart from that the compositions, the band's ability to build tension, and calm things down at the right moment, are excellent. A great debut EP, give it a try and make sure you spin it at least a couple of times before judging it. 9

AORLHAC (France) - L'esprit des vents Les Acteurs de l'Ombre - 2018 Epic Black Here's something weird about this album: it's the closing chapter of a trilogy started back in 2008 with the band's debut album, continued in 2010 with the second, and closed no less than 8 years after with this new release... I guess they were also considering disbanding in the meantime, they haven't been active since 2011 and I'm sure that affected them seriously. Luckily enough for their fans (their first 2 albums were well received ANTIPATHIC and acclaimed) the band is back with a (International) new release and from the sounds of it I'd - Autonomous say they are thirsty for blood and Mechanical determined to reclaim their place in the Extermination nowadays' thriving French Black Metal Independent - 2017 - underground. As a side-info, Those Brutal Death Grind Opposed Records also re-released the Tato from Zora and the US based Chris band's first two albums at the end of 2017, from Human Repugnance are the two so one can get the complete discography members of this studio project. Since both without problems. And Aorlhac really of them are already playing in at least one deserves it, their melodic, medieval brew other Bruta Death band, I guess this of Black Metal highlighted by colorful, project was born only as a result of their clever guitar riffs, epic leads and solos, friendship and has probably serious comprehensive hoarse vocals and chances to survive for a long time if they fantastic rhythm section are all building a treat it like it is, a studio project. As I said, flawless album, absolutely enthusing Brutal Death Metal is the name of the material fit for raw, aggressive Black game here and it seems this 6 minutes Metal fans as well as for melodic, storydebut EP talks about a machines attack on telling Black Metal followers; LADLO human race and of course, its prove once again to be champions in extermination, a common theme in Metal. picking and promoting only top quality The music is fast, heavy as fuck, outputs in this genre. I knew it will be a slamming, rhythmical and quite intricate, good album, but didn't expect it to be that and although offering nothing out of the good, so good that I'm already sure it will ordinary, it's a good effort and definitely a be amongst my 2018 top. 10 serious debut for the band, one to make a statement: ANTIPATHIC should be taken APHONIC THRENODY seriously even though its a studio project. (International) - Of Loss And Grief I could listen to a full album without Terror from Hell - 2017 - Funeral Doom problems, so guys, bring it on! 8 Lately I feel more and more the "actors" of the current Funeral Doom scene will

lead to its suffocation sooner than later because of their implication in as many projects and bands as possible and the constant release of new material, there's no way the genre's audience will keep pace with the amount of releases this genre has seen during the past let's say 5 years and that keep pouring in from all over the place. Same as it happened with Black Metal I think this scene will get more and more divided in little bits and pieces (read subgenres). Here we're talking about an international project featuring members from Italy, Chile and UK founded in 2012, a project that has reached its second full-length album here, a work of spread over 6 tracks in more than 70 minutes of playing time. The music is, of course, sombre and morose, but the compositions are way more varied than one could expect from a Funeral Doom work, there are even lots of surprise elements thrown in all over the place, from guitar solos to interesting keyboard tones, to complex drumming, to violin parts, to female vocal parts that, to be honest, saved a somehow monotone vocal register, the only point I found that would have still needed more though/work/variety, I'd say I wasn't impressed by either growling vocals or occasional shrieks. The instrumental part however offers lots of interesting ideas and there's a lot to discover along the way, the band proves to be a serious contender for the top of this genre; a well done work!

Oh, I also have to mention the awesome, iconic even, cover art, one don't get much better than this! 8.5 ARKANOS (Bolivia) - Tierra de hĂŠroes X (2006-2016) Metalica zine - 2016 - Heavy Metal Bolivian Heavy Metal heroes Arkanos celebrate through this release 10 years since the release of their second album, Tierra de heroes, which is pretty strange if you ask me, not sure why a band would celebrate their second album and not their first for example, but that was probably the one that brought them the most attention in front of the local audience. So this material might as well be considered a new album, but at the same time can be considered a remastered version of an old album, or even a compilation of tracks since the tracklist is not actually identical with the first release. Anyway, for those not familiar with the band, Arkanos are a traditional Heavy Metal band with native language written lyrics, quite a lot of epic atmospheres, themes about heroes, glory, courage, and similar, and I'm pretty sure they get a fair share of fans in their home country, they play the typical Latin Epic Heavy Metal you've heard before on the biggest names in Spain or South America, complete with ballad-like songs, melodic vocals, atmospheric keyboard backgrounds, headbanging riffs and fancy solos, so if you're into this music this is a release you'll enjoy for sure.

ARKHON INFAUSTUS (France) Passing the Nekromanteion Les Acteurs de l'Ombre - 2017 - Black Death Interesting to see this influential French band returning after a decade of silence, with a ton of wrath and venom, but at the same time following a seemingly wellcalculated schedule, taking it slow, with an EP, hence preparing the surprised audience for what's to come, a new, fifth, full-length album. At the same time it's interesting to see the band "playing" under a different roster than Osmose, the one that marked most of their career; the

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band has signed with the ever-growing LAdlO Productions and I'm sure this will be a good decision for both the label and band, a fresh new beginning. The new EP is made of 4 long tracks with a total duration of more than half an hour, so by Today's standard this could have easily been considered a full-length. If you know Arkhon Infaustus you know the level of brutality and destruction its music delivers, and it's no different this time, a technical, sinister, oppressive Black Metal of Death I'd say, but with plenty of room for the listener to breathe and consider himself safe, just to attack again, even more ferocious, even more vicious than before. The fourth track for example is instrumental and acts like a postapocalyptic soundtrack, bringing a disturbing and frightening calm after a fierce battle that was obviously lost. The production is grandiose, very precise and thorough, there's nothing underachieving here, so all in all this is a kicking comeback for one of the most important names in French Black Metal to regaing its welldeserved place among the top acts again.

A really serious effort, don't miss it, I like it a lot and will definitely revisit it again and again! 9 ASTARIUM (Russia) Drum-Ghoul More Hate / Symbol of Domination 2017 - Symphonic Black Every few months I get to review a new Astarium release, so in my mind this oneman-band from Novosibirsk is extremely active and productive. Although featuring only 4 tracks, this is actually a new fulllength album from Astarium, its 6th stuio opus released 2 years after the previous, Nekrocosmo. Recorded, mied and mastered at the end of 2015, I guess it was waiting on SiN's shelves to be released at a 2 years distance since the previous, a practice respected almost to perfection for all Astarium's albums so far.

The 4 tracks here are ranging from 8 to 16 minutes in length, so a total of 46 minutes for the whole album, and the material is dedicated to Burzum's legendary Hvis lyset tar oss, with lyrics completely based on a novel called The Slitherer from the Slime by Lin Carter and Dave Foley; I'm not familiar with this novel but from the lyrics I get it's a gothic tale about darkness, leneliness, monsters, spirits, vampires, that suits Astarium's music pretty good. And regarding the music, there's not much difference since the previous album, I still don't like the synthetic drum programming and the vocals although I find the latter being Astarium's trademark which together with the same synthetic sounding guitar work and the excellent atmospheric, dark, creepy keyboard lines, constitute the band's originality, wether one may like it or not... Astarium is an original band in its own way and although I have continuously criticized the abovementioned elements, I can only say I'm glad SiN continues on his own path because now I'm sure I'll be able to distinguish his work from 100 other. On this album all 4 tracks are following the same Symphonic Black Metal path, without any being only Ambient tracks like on some (most) previous releases, that might be the major difference. For those of you interested in deep dark gothic atmospheres in their music. 8 ASTRU / NAGAARUM (Hungary) ...a mizantropia es elidegenedes ujabb ertelmezesei...

NGC - 2017 - Experimental Black

I like very much what Nagaarum is doing with its experimental music, so having another such project from Hungary present on this split only aroused my interest even more, and for my luck Astru (as a side-info, totally unrelated to the band, astru in Romanian means star) offers the same amount of experimental harmonies in its compositions.

Opening the split is the one man band Astru with its strange, dissonant, close to sinister mix between Black Metal and Noise Ambient, with opening to any other influence that might find its way in. It's definitely not an easily digestible music but it's interesting enough to make keep your interest high in what's about to come next; cold, razor-sharp guitars meet synthetic, impersonal drumming, atmospheric keyboards/synths and a creepy mix of whispers and hoarse Black Metal type vocals.

Nagaarum offer 2 tracks, each of them 10 minutes long, and compared to Astru's side it offers a more solid, oppressive production, hence a more sinister atmosphere. I still think Nagaarum's music could be envisioned as a schizophrenic patient escaped from the mental hospital, roaming free through the city and of course, having multiple hallucinations, visions, nightmares... it's a sad, but at the same time deeply disturbing and touching music, or at least it is to me. If you haven't met Nagaarum's music before, check it out, but be warned, you can love it just as much as you can hate it to bits, I don't think there's a middle option here. 6 / 8 ATREXIAL (Spain) Souverain Godz ov War 2017 - Black Death Out of nowhere comes this Spanish trio (now a quartet by Metal Archives' info) and shatters everything away with their debut album. The 12 tracks featured here offer almost an hour of evil and mysterious music, a fine balance between extreme brutality, atmospheric soundscapes, and excellent technical and compositional level resulting in a Blackened Death Metal that sounds interesting and captivating from start to finish. Mid-tempo to fast paced rhythms, astonishing amount of clever guitar riffs stacked in multiple layers, tasty guitar solos, impressive leads, versatile, complex vocal section, demented drumming, subtle but heavy as fuck bass lines, all these emphasized by occasional addition of atmospheric keyboards, synths and even violins, yet the end result is damn brutal, serious and evil to the bone.

No doubt this is one of the best debut Black Death Metal albums released in recent years, way different than the flock of Behemoth followers out there, this one has its own identity, its own story and offers something different. 9.5 BAILE Y BORRACHERA (Chile) Sur Maldito Independent - 2017 - Experimental Folk Rock Metal The only info on this one man project I have is what I could find on the Metal Archives website, that it was started in 2006 as an Avantgarde Black Metal output and released a demo one year later, but now I received what seems to be a full-length, an 8 tracks effort clocking almost 50 minutes of playing time. The band distanced itself quite a lot from Black Metal but the Avantgarde / Experimental side of it is certainly still there as now it mixes a wide, wide range of influences from Rock, to Metal, to Extreme Metal, to Flamenco, to Latin

acoustic guitar music, to '80's Sci-Fi Synth music, all of this thrown inthere into a rather relaxing, easily flowing final result that manages to catch your attention and turn it into contemplation and dreaming with open eyes. All in all the artist, Pillanche, moves on a wide territory and if at first sight (listen) this album might seem rough and unpolished, and although it is impossible to pinpoint to a single or main genre, it definitely has its own charm.

BLACK MESSIAH (Germany) - Walls of Vanaheim Trollzorn - 2017 - Viking Pagan Metal After 4 albums on AFM Records here we have Black Messiah switching to Trollzorn for the release of their 7th fulllength opus, which is at least an interesting change for the Viking Metal sextet I'd say, one that marks their 25th anniversary. The new album features 15 (!) new tracks sung in both English and German languages and is more than 70 minutes long, so a serious journey followed by stories about Odin and other Nordic gods. The narrations between tracks are an excellent addition enhancing the overall atmosphere and actually introducing the listener into the atmosphere. Some tracks have a more symphonic, even Epic Power Metal-like side, while others are rougher, complementing the abrasive vocal tone of Zagan, which is your main companion throughout these stories. A fun, catchy, expressive and involving album from these veterans of the scene, one that doesn't necessarily bring anything new or innovative, but one that acts like a musical book for its fans and delivers exactly what they expect to get, nothing less, nothing more. A Metal audio book about Odin, that's what Walls of Vanaheim is, and if the presentation (booklet, complete artwork, lyrics, and the rest) is as expressive (I only have a promo copy here, so I couldn't say), we have a winner! 8.5 BLOODGUT (Sweden) Nekrologikum Evangelikum Pt.II: Furnace World Iron, Blood and Death Corp. - 2017 Death This is a long time defunct studio project of prolific Swedish musician Rogga Johansson, and his mate, Matte Fiebig from Paganizer, but also former member of Ribspreader and Zombified among others. The current album was recorded in 2006 and seemingly released by Vic Records in 2011, and re-released now under the IBDC banner, with a pretty serious error printed in the booklet: it mentions a bonus part of 8 tracks, but actually, beside the 10 tracks correctly listed, there's only one bonus, an untitled 3 minutes track at the end. Anyway, we're dealing here with the classic Swedish Death Metal sound, so damn low-tuned it hurts, it's so sludgy, and the vocals are so inhuman, that it feels like you're not going to get out alive from this, it feels like zombies are all around it, and from this point of view this is one of the coolest use of vocal tonalities in an album I've heart lately. The ultra-heavy tone of the guitars makes it all sound full and oppressive, and even if this is not something to impress you though its originality, it will definitely impress through its heaviness and cruel atmospheres, fit for fans of zombieinfested movies. 7

BRUTAL NOISE (Argentina) The Worst is Yet to Come Independent 2016 - Death Grind Wow, no less than 16 years since these guys released their debut album, Impending Rot from back in 2000, and back then as this time, too, the band released the material on their own, but I guess now they had some more support from independent labels even simply because there are many more around nowadays. Anyway, Brutal Noise is a band founded back in 1995 and they are still grinding it even Today and they seem nothing changed in the meantime from human point of view, I mean they got older obviously but they still do things with utmost brutality. This new album is made of 18 tracks and clocks 35 minutes of mid-tempo to mostly fast paced Death Grind, with enough groove to keep things interesting, no nonsense violence all the way from start to finish, lyrics ranging from gory stories to sexual depravities to social themes to some I didn't quite get to be honest, but there's variety and that's important. The drums and the vocals could have used a bit more versatility, but all in all I'd say The Worst is Yet to Come does its thing and delivers violent, massive, dangerous Death Grind, give it a try. 7 BULLETSIZE (Sweden) Pansar Iron Blood Death Corp. - 2017 - Thrash Death It seems this is the second version of Bulletsize's fourth album, as the first one was a self-release, in 2016, apparently IBDC picked it up and re-released it this year. Anyway, what matters is the Swedes are back with a new attack, a followup to their 2013 Numb, following the same path, a mix of Thrash and Death Metal, an energetic structure, mostly fast paced, with a fair share of mid-tempo parts to let you breathe, and with a few melodic guitar leads to colour everything.

I have to be honest I didn't like the drums' sound at first, they seemed too upfront, capturing the attention more than they should have, but after a couple of spins I'd say I got used to the whole production and enjoyed Bulletsize's new material.

We're dealing here with a quite oldschool approach, heavy and furious most of the time, but easy to follow and digest; unfortunately the memorable parts are missing except for some clever guitar leads, so I'd say that's the area the band has to work more in the future. A good, solid album, try it out! 7.5 BURIED IN A WOMB (Germany) Prenatal Suicide Independent 2017 - Melodic Black This combination between an independently and digitally released album, the band's awkward name and the fact that you're dealing with a one man band in the current state of our scene where literally anyone can record and release an album without any deep knowledge of an instrument or anything else for that matter, is a bit worrisome, but fortunately what we get here is a really good surprise. Buried in a Womb is a new name on the German Black Metal scene and here we get its debut album which features 8 tracks delivered in a bit

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over half an hour of playing time, the perfect timing for a good music to satisfy your curiosity and at the same time make you crave for more. This is exactly what happens here, we get a very complex type of Melodic Black Metal influenced by Death Metal, Thrash Metal at times and even Doom Metal here and there but still maintaining an intense, fast-paced rhythm throughout. The fine balance between aggression and complexity give these 8 compositions a well-deserved flavor, and the fact that you never know what to expect next is even more enticing, some Thrash Death inserts sound so out of case here but at the same time so well blended and natural sounding that you won't believe your ears, and when the brutality reaches its peaks it makes you mad you're not going to experience these tracks live, at least not for the moment. The guitar work is way above standard in both complexity and composition, the drums although programmed are not annoying at all, the occasional keyboards are only there to enhance the atmosphere and not to attract attention on their lines, and the vocal part is abrasive, dominant and comprehensive at the same time, with plenty of versatility to stay interesting and even add plus value to the whole. As a conclusion this debut album from Buried in a Womb is way above what I was expecting, such a good surprise, be sure to check it out! 9 CEPHEIDE (France) Saudade Independent - 2017 Depressive Black I'm surprised to see this band still not signed after a well received demo from 2014 and and EP released a year later, but maybe, and that's the most probable I think, it's because the band thought they could do well even without the help of a label.

From the product point of view they did, the CD comes in a professional, good looking 6 panels digipak featuring the lyrics as well (good idea since it's impossible to understand anything from the Black Metal shrieks the vocalist delivered inhere), but I guess from the promotion point of view the band could have done better with the help of a label, but all in all it's their decision and I should end the discussion here. Cepheides debut album offers 5 long tracks in 40 minutes of playing time, a depressive, melancholic, desperate at times and ethereal at other, Black Metal characterized by the melodic guitar leads built on a solid and dense layer of tremolo riffs, well assorted rhythm section sounding quite organic I'd say, and suicidal distant and cold screams from the backgrounds seconded at times by clean vocals that sound as distant as the main ones, emphasizing the emotional, sad atmosphere this album delivers. It's not an original release, but it offers a plain perspective over the tremendous potential this band has, and all in all it's an interesting and captivating debut that can convince the audience, no doubt. My favorite track is the last one, Aureole, where the band carefully builds so much tension and drama it feels it's about to burst at any time, it's such a claustrophobic, such an intense and oppressive track I have to declare myself impressed and revisit it as soon as possible. 8 COLD CELL (Switzerland) - Those Czar of Crickets - 2017 - Black

Third album from Swiss Black Metallers Cold Cell, and the third released under a different label, this time under Czar of Crickets; probably the collaboration with Avantgarde Music on their second album didn't go so well, or maybe CoC made such a tempting offer it made the band decide. Cold Cell offer us here 8 long tracks of modern, melodic at times, energetic at other, calm and semi-acoustic elements intertwined with a lot of energetic, aggressive, and oppressive parts. The compositions here can easily become mesmerizing and hypnotic, especially as the album progresses, but the band inserted a lot of rhythm breaks in order to keep thing fascinating and varied. The atmospheres range from sad, sorrowful, to desperate, to aggressive and offensive (when things get tight, we get some really claustrophobic, ultra-fast and absolutely brutal type of Black Metal), even to calm and meditative-like, so there's much to enjoy and discover here; the technical display is stunning on both the calm and aggressive parts, the buildup of the tension in each track is masterful, and taken all together you'll feel like part of a story (or multiple for that matter), the music won't let you numb for sure. An experienced, inventive band this Cold Cell.

I find important to mention the nice idea to have alternative covers for this release meaning the digipak comes with 3 different panels that you can "set" as main cover, each with both sides portraying something. Interesting idea. 9 CROC NOIR (France) Froid | Nuit Wolfspell 2017 - Black Croc Noir was founded in 2017 as a duo and quite fast they managed to release 2 EPs on digital and cassette format, so it was about time they get the CD treatment as well; in collaboration with Wolfspell Records they gathered the material from their 2 EPs and released it on Digipak format, an almost an hour of material that from my point of view doesn't differ too much and keeps quite the same direction, a simple, straight forward, mid-tempo to fast paced Black Metal for fans of the traditional and simple approach, without any additional effects from keys or whatever, just the regular instruments (real drums would have been way better though, the synthetic drum machine is annoying at times) and the atmosphere created by them. The atmospheres are, indeed, excellent, cold and sinister as they should be, so from this point of view I think the band has what it takes to become an important name in their game, but on this compilation unfortunately there's nothing surprising or overly impressive especially these days when there are some real treats in this scene, and to tell you the truth the drum machine is the biggest turn off for me, but if you think you'd have no problem with that, give the band a chance. I'd compare their type of Black Metal with Sombre Croisade's, what do you think? 7 CRYOSHOCK (Sweden) - Cryoshock Independent - 2017 - Thrash Death Young band started in 2015, Cryoshock present us here their debut EP, a 5 tracks effort clocking 13 minutes of old-school Thrash Death Metal with Heavy Metal influences. If you don't have a problem with synthetic drum-machine, you'll discover a mid-tempo to fast paced visceral, hateful Metal like straight from the beginning of the '90's, but with better, more up to date production. The vocals are, from my point of view, the highlight

of this band, very brutal and expressive, you'll literally feel the wrath the band is trying to push forward. The instrumental part is nothing special or original, but enjoyable and well executed, for a debut it's good enough. I like the cover artwork though, simple and effective, it will stick to your mind. 6 CRYPTIC REALMS (International) - Enraptured

by Horror Iron, Blood and Death Corp. - 2016 - Death After a successful and impressive demo in 2015, the year they were formed as a band, International outfit Cryptic Realms returned a year later with their debut fulllength, an 8 tracks monster clocking 35 minutes of playing time. If you're into retro Death Metal you've probably stumbled upon this band before as they had a decent coverage for the first demo and the following split with the Spanish Astigarraga Thrower, or at least I've seen the name a lot over the past couple of years, so I guess this album comes as quite expected and at the same time with high expectations, too. The music follows the same path as the previous releases, a Massacre / Obituary influenced midtempo Death Metal. Unfortunately for me, although I admit the tracks are cool, the vocals are at the same level as before, and the guitar part is as delicious as it was, I feel like something's missing, I feel the band didn't progress at all; maybe the stuffed production and the synthetic drum machine has something to do with my impression, but all in all I was expecting something more from Cryptic Realms.

The band is still one of the best followers of the above mentioned monsters, so in that aspect I recommend you to give them a listen, but again, I somehow wanted more from this debut album. 7 DAMNATION DEFACED (Germany) Invader from Beyond Apostasy - 2017 - Melodic Death The third studio album found the German band in a new home, Apostasy Records, and by inviting David Hambach (Epitome, Display, Tachion) to insert his keyboard / synth touches all over the material it seem Damnation Defaced really wanted to shake things up and bring some serious changes for their fans. 11 tracks, a bit over 40 minutes of playing time, Invader from Beyond offers a futuristic / sci-fi atmosphere to an already mature Melodic Death Metal highlighted by grave (almost grows but perfectly comprehensive) vocals, heavy guitar riffs and melodic solos and technical, intricate leads, and a groovy rhythms section, apart from the already mentioned highly influential keys/synth section, all of this delivered with the perfect mix and master from Dan Swano himself. The tracks are fairly balanced between mellow melodies and heaviness, but also between hope and darkness, it's a well thought and crafted album that doesn't disappoint, fans of the genre will definitely appreciate it. Not sure who came up with the idea, but the greyscale cover art is a touch of genius combined with this colorful music. 8 DARKENHOLD (France) - Memoria Sylvarum Independent - 2017 - Medieval Black I have to admit I always found this band's image as incomplete, in all their pictures they try to be medieval they always slip something that has nothing to do with

those times (like jeans, gothic-like long leather jackets or even motto rider leather jackets), which made them somehow unserious to my eyes. On the other hand their music was always a nice surprise and especially this fourth full-length opus is a total blast for a "maniac of the '90's like me", meaning a mid-tempo Black Metal with plenty of acoustic guitars all over, excellent "true" Metal-like guitar solos and melodic leads here and there and mystical, dense atmospheric keyboards, all this on top of some clever and complex display of guitar riffs and supported by a gritty, organic yet clean production. Most probably the band's best offering to date is a diverse, thick discharge of melodic, atmospheric and medieval-inspired Black Metal that will please a large portion of this genre's fanatics. Darkenhold are not reinventing the wheel, instead they deliver what can be easily described as good Metal music.

9 DEAD CARNAGE (Czech Republic) Flesh, Blood, Orgy Parat Magazine - 2017 - Death It must be awesome for a band to be released by a label that gives away so many copies of your work for free spreading your music to so many people; in this case the debut album of these Czech Death Metal maniacs is being distributed for free with every copy of Parat Magazine #77, just imagine the distribution and promotion these guys get around Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Although the band's name sounds familiar, this is probably my first encounter with Dead Carnage, a band founded in 2013 that released an EP in 2015 and a split a year after. The band is formed by experienced musicians, three of them members of Disfugured Corpse (a band I totally adore), probably very influenced by the American Death Metal and Grindcore in their teens, and what they deliver here are 10 brutal tracks clocking a bit over half an hour. Tight, groovy, massive sounding Death Metal highlighted by the powerful vocals of Joshua (that looks like a kid but sounds like a fuckin' wall in your face) and the quite catchy structures of the tracks, and I'd also like to point out the short but very effective guitar solos that pop out here and there throughout the album. The part I didn't particularly enjoy was the drums' sound, too dry and unpolished for the rest of the production, they sound like they're from another movie totally. All in all this is a fun Death Metal album, solid, heavy, oppressive, but without anything to actually stand out in the overcrowded scene. 7.5 DEAD SEASON (France) Prophecies Dissonances 2017 Progressive Thrash I'm a bit surprised this is not a North American or a British band to tell you the truth, to me they sound so much typical to those scenes rather than to the French one.

This is the band's second full-length album, a 12 tracks effort clocking a bit over an hour of playing time, a superb mix of traditional Thrash Metal with influences and elements from loads of modern scenes like the new Progressive Metal school, the Power Metal, the Hardcore / Metalcore and even more brutal hint to Death Metal or to Post Metal at times. From start to finish it's a whirlwind of influences and harmonies

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that in the end I'd say are like a bridge between traditional Metal and Extreme Metal, but because of the Progressive touch you'll never know when one ends and the other takes over, it's such a good blend I'm really impressed. it all sounds so professional, so ready for the next level, it's crazy; this band, although using heavier tones than the general public is used to, could be airplayed in any Rock TV show at any time, and I hope they will get to soon. "Heavy" would be a good word to describe what happens on this album, but there's much more to it than that. Such a good album, such a nice surprise... in my opinion this is as close to perfection as it gets! 9.5 DEATHPROOF (Spain) - Evolve or Die Art Gates - 2017 Thrash The second album from this Valencia based quintet comes out 6 years after the release of their debut album, Abuse, but compared to that one, Evolve or Die is released under a label, and quite a serious label I'd say, Art Gates. The 8 tracks featured here are clocking a bit over 35 minutes of playing time and offer a mix of old-school (a la '80's) Thrash Metal with a more modern approach, '00's Modern Groove Metal with Alternative influences. I find it half interesting half dry and uninspired so after the audition I'm torn in between some catchy, headbanging Thrash riffs on groovy rhythms and a vocalist that's versatile but sounds insecure of the path he wants to follow; at times I find it way too light for my taste, and at times they remind me of the good old days when Metallica ruled supreme. The overall impression if indeed of an undecided band that wants to play all genres they like or used to like in highschool. At least the production is clean enough to offer the possibility to enjoy and dissect all parts of this album, so try it yourselves, you might like it better. 6 DECAYED (Portugal) Dark Pagan Ritual Iron Blood Death Corp. - 2017 - Dark Pagan Ritual The legendary and unrelenting Portuguese masters of Black Metal, Decayed, are marking yet another release in their impressive catalogue, although this is actually a re-release of a compilation, first out on CDR and now on factory pressed CD. The tracks are taken from the band's split with Darkness, Unholy Sacrifice from 2007 and from a compilation of unreleased material titled Under Hecate's Spell released the same year. If you know the band's work it's pretty clear what you'll find here, and if you don't you should know Decayed's Black Metal is fast, furious, unpolished, raw and putrid, emanating an asphyxiating stench of death. I wouldn't say their compositions are technically complex or challenging, but that's compensated with hate and disgust; repetitive, simple harmonies that stick to your mind, especially on tracks like Six Six Six, a constantly oppressive atmosphere emphasized by subtle keyboards in the background, and evil hoarse vocals, but unfortunately that's not matched in the drums section, the programmings they use are annoying at times, way too synthetic for this raw, aggressive music in my opinion. Anyway, an enjoyable "new" experience from Decayed that probably announces a new, twelfth, full-length album for sometime soon.

DECONSTRUCTING SEQUENCE (UK) Cosmic Progression: An Agonizing Journey Through Oddities of Space Independent - 2018 - Avantgarde Extreme Metal Here we have the debut album from UK based trio Deconstructing Sequence, a band I've been following since their first EP, Year One, in 2013. I was impressed then as I am impressed now but the ability these guys have to create totally intricate and explosive tunes to blow your mind away. DS's music could be described as a point of meeting between Black, Death, Grind, Electro, Atmospheric (Spatial better said) and Progressive Metal, and this debut album featuring 9 tracks in almost an hour of playing time, is absolutely demented, starting from the Goregrind type of synthetic drums (the snare sounds totally plastic-like) that curious enough are blending perfectly with the rest of the instrumental parts, then the synths that range from '80's Arcade-like sounds to spatial / cosmic sounds and even epic Black Death like darkened passages, then a guitar work that varies from repetitive and monotone to progressive, and then a versatile vocal part delivering from (mainly) growling vocals to clean vocals to screams, about all one could think of.

It's not at all an easy listening, don't get me wrong, it's not all that shiny and perfect as I describe it above, but from one that searches for something challenging and open-minded this will be a blast; this Electro Metal has been attempted before many times, but it is probably the first that reaches my heart so close, there's not too much Electro for me to get annoyed, there's so much brutality my thirst is quenched, and the avantgarde / psycho level is the right amount for me to spin this disc more and more from now on. Try it yourselves, this one is tricky, you might hate it to bits, or you might love it like I do. In the meantime the album was released on CD format by Polish Via Nocturna label. 9.5 DEMOTIONAL (Sweden) - Discovery Art Gates - 2017 - Modern Metal Art Gates welcomes its probably first Swedish signing, a band presented as "an up-rising, promising sextet recognized not only for their music but also for their sense of fashion and style on and off stage" a reference to the band members' tendency to dress in suites, but that's not a novelty on the scene anymore, probably even the opposite, people might be tired of this by now... Anyway, they look sharp indeed, and that pretty much give you an accurate idea on their music, which is clean and modern as well, although still Metal in its bones. It's that kind of Metal based on a classic skeleton but with a body of synths, effects, breaks, clean melodic vocals (even female vocals at times) intertwined with angry Metalcorelike screams, and a polished, classy production on top of all. It really sounds good, you don't have to be a fan of the genre to enjoy what they do, and maybe that's the best quality of their music, is so open and versatile it will get on a lot of different types of persons' tops. All in all I have to agree with Art Gates about the serious potential of this band, check them out if you're open-minded. 9 DEUS EX MACHINA (Switzerland) A New World to Come Independent - 2017 - Melodic Death Formed in 2013 from the ashes of the then defunct Groove Metalcore band

Ironoya, Deus Ex Machina switched to a more modern and melodic Death Metal path and here is their debut album, the 9 tracks, 52 minutes long A New World to Come. Probably because of their time in Ironoya (3 of the 5 DEM members were part of it), this debut album already sounds curdled and somehow mature, with a definite and precise target. We're treated with some Melodic Death Metal of Swedish inspiration spiced with plenty of Metalcore passages, building a modern, fresh sounding atmosphere enhanced by the electronic synths popping up here and there. The drumming is as intense as possible all the time, the vocals of Stephany are damn aggressive yet organic and natural sounding (at least she doesn't seem to struggle a lot to produce these sounds), the bass is subtle and supportive, and the guitar work, in my opinion is the key point in DEM's music, very versatile, complex, technical and at the same time memorable, so all in all I'm surprised to see this band still unsigned, I hope they'll get the exposure they deserve. Two of the tracks featured here have official kick-ass videoclips available already, so it seems the band is determined to make themselves known, check them out at least on YouTube. 8 DEVIATOR (Ukraine) - Might ov Ancient Vacula / Kundalini - 2016 - Ambient Black Not sure how this material be considered a new album (the band's fourth) since it features only 5 tracks of which the first 3 are taken from a 2015 EP, Thy Immortal Majesty, and one from a 2008 demo called Estrangement, so basically only one of the 5 is a new composition...

Anyway, this release also marks the birth of Kundalini Records, Deviator's own label, so it must be a pretty big deal for both monikers. The compositions are really simple and repetitive and unfortunately don't transmit any confidence for the listener, you will always have the fear that something will go wrong and either the vocals or the guitar work will make some mistakes (the drums are programmed, so those should be out of this question though). The only interesting element in Deviator's music on this album are the keyboard parts, repetitive, mysterious and mesmerizing at times, a la Burzum, sinister and thrilling at other, but somehow from a different picture than the rest of the instruments. It all sounds like a '90's demo, so if you're into such sonorities you might like it, but as a stand-alone full-length album this is way below my expectations unfortunately.

Sorry, it completely missed to produce any emotions in me. 4 ME NO GRAVE (Russia) Immemorial Curse Satanath / Sevared / Wings of Destruction - 2017 - Death Although this is the first time I come across this band and its music, Dig Me No Grave is no newcomer for sure, they've been around since 2010 and since then have been relatively active on discographic level releasing a few singles, a demo and an EP, plus their debut album in 2014. This one if the followup studio material, a 10 tracks effort totaling 35 minutes of old-school Death Metal, a '90's type of mid-tempo US meets UK scene Death Metal mostly based on dark atmospheres. Although the guitar work is good to excellent at times, the rhythms section has its memorable moments, and

the vocal part is intended to be versatile by adding a few parts with backing growls, by the end of the material I feel unimpressed, I had the constant feeling that something's missing even though the band has two guitarists (usually I feel this when a band only has one guitarist), and that's strange to say the least; then the vocal part sounds quite lifeless, it failed to imprint any emotions on the music, and actually although I know this sounds harsh, focusing on the instrumental part I think it would have been better with different vocals, more aggressive, more visceral, not just down-tuned as they sound now. Maybe it's just a matter of taste as I'm a fan of '90's Death Metal and maybe I'm too harsh judging this band, but it's just my impression, the production is good, really meaty and clean, the compositions are heavy as fuck, so there's no reason for you not to give it a try at least, maybe you'll like it more. 6 DIMORFIA (Greece) - Utopia Independent - 2017 - Symphonic Power Hot damn, it took this band 10 years to reach the point of releasing their debut album, so I'm pretty sure this one is also filled with high hopes beside all the sweat and effort the band put in it not only when we're talking about the actual recording of it, but the whole process since these 9 tracks were created, most probably with plenty of changes along the way; and there's also no wonder the thanks list seems so personal and from-the-heart for all the members of the band.

Unfortunately I'm quite disappointed on the production of this album, the whole sounds clean and polished indeed, but from my point of view too stuffed and way too soft even for this kind of music, it sounds like yelling into a pillow, only a little reaches the other side, plus at times it gives you the impression the mix is not done properly, the instruments sound unbalanced one with the other. The compositions are good though, it's clear we're dealing with good instrumentists, and I have particularly enjoyed the guitar and keyboard work. The vocal part is a main element of Dimorfia's music, Maria, the soprano vocalist, seems to have proper training in this field, but again the production doesn't allow her voice to reach its full potential, at least it doesn't reaches the listener, and that's the main point in a recording. All in all Dimorfia is a good Symphonic Power Metal band but this recording only frustrated me not te be able to get the best from the band (for example the track Dimorfia features some good and versatile guest male vocals, but being able to distinguish them from the rest of the instrumental is absolutely excruciating), sorry... 6

DIG

DISCORDANCE (Italy) - In the Shadow of Leaves Earthuake Terror Noise - 2017 Technical Death First album out after a decade of activity... it took Discordance quite a long way to reach here, but actually I'm not sure if they were active all these years though, which might make it more plausible.

Anyway, the fact is we have here the band's debut full-length effort, a 10 tracks material clocking a bit over half an hour of music. Technical, intricate, compulsive Death Metal highlighted by the excellent guitar work that is all over the place, like one of those soccer players that wants to pass but at the same time wants to score, too; the good thing is Discordance's guitarists work so well together they actually succeed in passing and scoring at the same time. But I wouldn't want to

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miss noting the upfront, complex, infectious bass lines, and the chaotic and at the same time surgically precise drumming making this album something to deeply enjoy by the fans of the genre.

To be honest I'm not a fan of the type of vocals Discordance presents, but this is just a personal thing, nothing wrong with them. Bottom line In the Shadow of Leaves is an impressive first effort from these Italians, hopefully they'll keep it up and followup with something even more impressive.

ELEGIS (Norway) Superhuman Syndrome Independent 2017 - Death Baron from ProFanatism has also this one-man-band that is actually older than his "main" band, Elegis being born in 2011, after Baron relocated from Poland to Norway, but what I have here is its most recent release, its debut album that was released only this year. Elegis follows a Death Metal path, fast paced but with plenty of mid-tempo parts as well, and sounds '90's influenced all the way, parts of it reminded me of the American scene, with loads of blast beats, sombre vocals a la Morbid Angel, razorsharp cold and massive riffs and technical constructions, but it also brings in influences from the current Black Death Metal scene, especially when it comes to the mystical, evil atmosphere it manages to create. Although at first listen I thought this sounds pretty synthetic, after a while it grew on me and in the end I have to say I'm pressed by the intensity and brutality it delivers and I'd say it's also an intricate album with plenty to discover along the way. It also seems like a concept album from the lyrics point of view, so I guess this is Baron's result of a many years work, I'm curious to see if he follows-up with a new album that's at least as good as this one. I'd recommend it to fans of Nile, Vader, Mithras, Morbid Angel. 8 EMBRYO (Italy) A Step Beyond Divinity Art Gates - 2017 - Melodic Death Italians Embryo haven't had much luck with labels so far, or at least that's what their discography is telling to me, the 3 previous albums they released were all under another label, and this fourth studio full-length is no exception from the rule.

This time they've ended up with Spanish Art Gates, a label that moves better and better as times goes by, proving to be a solid enterprise, so from my point of view Embryo took a step forward by signing this deal. Now talking about the material itself we're treated with no less than 12 tracks clocking almost 50 minutes of modern and polished Melodic Death Metal. Overall the material sounds really solid, compact and heavy as fuck, there's not much that will stick to your mind after the audition other than the overall impact and the fact that it's an energetic, massive, solid album with a serious melodic side as well, that doesn't annoy the listener at all, on the contrary, it's very entertaining. The vocals are versatile enough to have made me think it's at least a couple of vocalist we're dealing with here, the guitars and bass have their fair share of technical displays (even jazzy at times) in order to convince the listener, the drums are triggered and perfected enough to sound synthetic but at the same time not bothering at all, and last but not least the keyboards and synths, an

important side of Embryo's music, sounding subtle but at the same time supportive and guiding in order to impress their atmospheric touch on the whole. As a general conclusion I'd say the new Embryo album is definitely welldone, mature and balanced, well worth checking. 8.5 FATEFUL FINALITY (Germany) Mankind Fastball - 2017 Thrash Two years ago they released an album under the Steamhammer banner; not sure how good that went, but certain is the new album, their third, is out on a different label, Fastball, one of the fastest moving labels out there nowadays, so this might be a good new step for Fateful Finality. The band has been around since 2007, so we're dealing with an experienced combo, and this new album proves their somehow simplistic but full of catchiness mix of Heavy and Thrash Metal (with plenty of Groove all over) is made by a curdled team, the material sounds damn powerful and precise, it transmits the band's determination and self-confidence, you can actually imagine their live gigs through these 14 tracks (almost an hour of playing time). All tracks have at least a guitar hook to make them memorable, the vocals are more on a Groove Thrash path, angry and demanding, and the rhythm section is right on spot, with a metallic bass line that seems subtle at first but proves to be heavily decisive for the heaviness of the material as a whole. I think their live shows are pretty wild to say the least... 8

more than 35 minutes, a fast paced, highly energetic, expressive traditional Thrash Metal complete with super-sonic guitar riffs, chaotic (on the surface) yet well-defined solos, a solid bass line that pops up in front at times, and a punkinfluenced unrelenting drums part that sound quite organic I might add.

Traditional Thrashers will probably enjoy this piece of punishment even if it brings nothing new to the table. 8 FROM

THE SHORES (Italy) - Of Apathy Metal Scrap 2016 - Modern Death Debut album from this band founded back in 2008, not a prolific band I'd say, because they have only a Single and an EP released prior to this debut, but at least these 10 tracks are new and not published before. From the Shores are playing some sort of Modern Death Metal with Heavy Metal influenced guitar riffs, a few melodic leads here and there, a Metalcore-like speed and energy (and look, for that matter), and at times an almost Death Grind punch, all fronted by a manly, pissed off vocalist that spits out anger from the start till the end. Not original stuff, but still impressive through its vitality, variety of the guitar work, intensity of the drums section, and as said before, by the kick-ass vocals of Luca Cassone (well, the production also has a solid word in this since it's mixed that way to fully benefit from the vocal potential). I'm pretty much sure this has chances to appeal to both old-school and newer Death Metal fans at the same time.

7.5

FRACTAL GENERATOR (Canada) Apotheosynthesis Everlasting Spew - 2017 - Technical Blackened Death The debut full-length album from Canada's Fractal Generator was first released by the band in 2015, and I guess Everlasting Spew noticed there's quite a big fuss around this material and/or enjoyed the album to an extent they decided to give it that CD treatment, too.

And good they did as this 9 piece material is a tremendous effort, something sounding like a militarily precise attack from space... It's a damn mathematically calculated and delivered aggression on all senses, and probably there's where the band will niche their craft even more because the ones of you in search for something personal with humansentiments will have a bad surprise, this sounds robotic to the bone (or metal rod?), like Star Wars on Black Death music.

And this is also my general impression after I've spined this a couple of times: a damn technical Blackened Death Metal with dark / cosmic atmospheres all over.

The final few minutes from the last track are a bit more melodic, but the rest is calculated atrocity, very well constructed structures with a serious sci-fi aura; this will definitely satisfy the ones of you in search for technical display. 9 FREAKINGS (Switzerland) - Toxic End Independent - 2017 - Thrash Ok, I've been listening to this material for the past 2-3 hours and I have to say that even if it's not a surprising, original piece of Metal, it's definitely a catchy, entertaining and well executed one. With Toxic End, Freakings reached their third full-length material in 9 years of existence, an 11 tracks effort lasting for

FUNERAL DESEKRATOR (France) First Desekration Atavism - 2017 - Black Young quartet from the capital of France, Funeral Desekrator present us here their debut demo made of 5 tracks, a mostly fast paced mix of Thrash and Black Metal.

The guitar riffs are quite generic, good enough to keep you banging, but you've heard them all many times before, so nothing special in that area; if there would have been more catchy leads or a few solos maybe I would have had another opinion, but although headbangingfriendly in this current state I find them stale. The drums sound pretty organic, so if they are programmed the guy who did this is good, but they sound like recorded live by a real maniac, so a positive element from my point of view, and the same goes for the bass lines, quite subtle but heavy enough to contribute to the overall atmosphere of FD's music. The vocalist is trying his best, he has a good, sharp, evil tone balancing between shrieks and growls, but that's not enough to make the whole interesting though. The fast parts are good, but when things slow down you start noticing they're not quite ready to do the jump to a full length album, they need some more time in the rehearsal studio and maybe they can offer something more impressive next time. 6 GAEREA (Portugal) - Gaerea Everlasting Spew - 2016 - Black The debut EP from this Portuguese band was mixed and mastered in Holland by former Atrocity and Aborted bass player, now producer John Bart van der Wal, and by this you'll understand exactly why the solid and upfront bass sound on this release. We're dealing here with only 5 tracks, but the total running time is almost half an hour, one could even consider it a full-length album by Today's standards,

so it's nice to see the band takes things slow, or at least that's my impression. The music is interesting, Black Metal is the core of it, but there's plenty of variety inhere, from doomy parts to a fast paced and energetic, to a somehow Power/Thrash influenced sound, to the more modern atmospheric Black Metal that's now all over the place, you get them all, and I have to say the structures of the songs are pretty convincing, overall the EP sounds curdled and open to experiments while keeping close to the backbone of this genre, but what puzzled me were the lyrics, touching some very Seputura - Chaos AD -like social topics and if the English of the one who wrote wouldn't have been so limited this could have been a really interesting take on Black Metal, a new path if I can say so. If you're a native English speaker try not to read the lyrics, but if you're like the band, only casual / rare English speakers or no English speakers at all you won't give a shit on this matter, the vocal tone is good and expressive, it's enough to compliment a solid instrumental part from Gaerea.

Interesting debut from a promising new band, keep an eye on them. 7.5 GOD SYNDROME (Russia) - Controverse Mazzar - 2017 - Melodic Death Oh yes, the debut album from Russian God Syndrome is a serious kick in the teeth; it's such a solid, massive, precise material that it will make you wonder what does it takes nowadays to become a known band, and good music is definitely not a complete answer anymore. God Syndrome were founded back in 2011 and this is their debut album, the followup to a 2013 5 tracks EP, made of 12 tracks clocking almost a full hour of manly, heavy as fuck European type Death Metal mixed with Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal; and here are the elements leading to an exquisite end result: oppressive growling but comprehensive vocals, perfect for this genre, supported from time to time by background screams, intelligent, intricate and captivating guitar riffs, a machinegun-like upfront bass line, technical and melodic guitar leads and solos, and last but not least a damn impressive precise drums section, maybe at times too precise and polished, not a bit of dirt left. All this presented with a perfect production, making everything sound as close to perfection as possible.

I'm very impressed by this band and really hope they'll make it big as they deserve it. A not to miss piece of Melodic Death Metal, go get your Controverse!

9.5 GRAVEWARDS (Greece) Subconscious Lobotomy Independent - 2017 Death You know the Carlsberg commercials ending with "probably the best beer in the World", right? Well, Gravewards is probably the best damn new Death Metal band name in the World, that's for sure, what's more suggestive for a Death Metal band than a name like this? Well, Gravewards come from Greece and they have only 2 years of activity so far, so this is no surprise their debut material, the one I'm talking about here, is a demo, a demo tape to be more specific; Subconscious Lobotomy features only 4 tracks, but it lasts for more than 20 minutes, so we're dealing with some pretty long compositions for an oldschool Death Metal band. This is what we

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used to say in the '90's semi-technical Death Metal heavily influenced by bands like Benediction, Bolt Thrower or even Obituary, mostly mid-tempo groovy rhythms spiced with a few faster parts, with guitar riffs balancing between catchy, repetitive and semi-technical (meaning a bit more intricate than the average, but not as complicated as a Prog Death Metal line though). The vocals are the most expressive here, the center element in Gravewards' music, very cruel, organic, angry and visceral I'd say, the band can build solid, memorable compositions around these vocals, they have what it takes on the instrumental part, too. All in all I like this debut, maybe a bit more than I was expecting, and as I see it now, the band has a bright future if they continue in the same manner. The tapes are limited to 300 hand-numbered copies but I have to say I find the cover artwork and booklet too blurry, everyone will have problems reading the lyrics. 7.5 GUERRA TOTAL (Colombia) Nihilistic Malthusian Manifesto (The Ouroboros Cosmic Indifferentism) Iron, Blood and Death Corp. - 2017 Speed Thrash Black Wow, the 7th full-length album by these Colombian Thrash Metal heroes, also marks their 20 years of existence mark, an impressive milestone keeping in mind they've been highly prolific when it comes to releasing music during the last 10 years at least. This new album is made of 11 tracks clocking almost 45 minutes of fast, uncompromising, catchy Speed Thrash Black Metal. If you can pass over the weak sounding main vocals (honestly they're sounding like a hoarse kid it trying to scream), the synthetic drums sound and the childish, generic and simple lyrics (probably because English is not really a language they use frequently), you'll actually discover a solid, menacing band, one that brings a lot of ideas and influences into their music while still keeping it real and goddamn frisky. The supporting (darker, growling-like) vocals are pretty cool, the speed all of this is delivered with is stunning, the guitar riffs are intoxicating and the few gimmicks thrown in here and there like the Salsa (?!!?) part from the 5th track, Interludium: Osario de Palonegro, are absolutely delicious. All in all I did pass over the above mentioned minuses and enjoyed this album a lot, I could listen to it for hours in a row, hence I'm recommending it to you, too; a honest band, hardworking, deserves your full support. 7.5 HATE MANIFESTO (Greece) - To Those Who Glorified Death Fistbang - 2017 - Black Wow, this is a 16 years work started by W.S.P. back in 2000 and finally recorded, mixed, mastered and released in the last couple of years. I'd say Hate Manifesto is his one-man-band because Warhead, the drummer who helped out on this album is listed as session musician only, so this might as well be a lifetime of work on one single material, quite a grandiose endeavor when you think of it like that. 7 tracks with a total length of 33 minutes, To Those Who Glorified Death is a putrid, wrathful, brutal and totally captivating release fit for fans of both Black and Death Metal, it's actually a Black Metal of Death is you allow me this

categorization. A tornado of sharp guitar riffs, pounding, relentless drumming, clever constructions and a brutal, barbaric vocal tone, all delivered with a perfect production, make from this album something well worth at least sampling out. From my point of view I'd listen to this 100 times better than most of the War Metal bands out there, it has a crystal clear sound but it's as brutal, if not even more brutal than the above-mentioned, it's a real feast of ferocious Metal of death! 9 HEIR (France) Au peuple de l'abĂŽme Le Crepuscule du Soir - 2017 Sludge Black Heir marked their official debut last year, on the three-way split with Spectrale and In Cauda Venenum, although they've released an EP prior to that, but the EP was only "released" digitally. Here I have their debut album, a 5 tracks effort lasting for 40 minutes, offering the same type of modern Black Metal mixed with Sludge elements. On a layer of ultra-fast doublebass led drums (well, there are plenty of variations to this, too, so don't worry, this is no nonsense speed and that's it), Heir builds some dense, obscure, almost sinister harmonies highlighted by dissonant and complex guitar work, pretty tough to digest, an intense, upfront, powerful bass line and a vicious, raspy ghoul-like vocalist. Compared to the stuff on their split Heir's compositions sound more curdled, more oppressive and depressive to a certain degree, and it's clear they've chosen their path, but this is just the beginning, some more memorable elements would do well on their next works. As I said, this is an oppressive and dense work, like a wall of thick, suffocating smoke, with a few calm, meditative passages, too. To be honest Heir's music on this album made me think of a climber on top of a peak, fighting with the power of the winds and snow, it's that piercing and intense, but try it yourselves and make your own mind. 8 HELLISH GOD (Italy) The Evil Emanations Everlasting Spew - 2018 Death I've started to see more and more such traditional Death Metal releases coming out lately from all over the place, and that means a resurgence of this genre is happening as we speak, that type of Death Metal reminding of a mix between the South and North American '90's schools. Hellish God are a new quartet from Lonbardy made of ex Antropofagus or Imposer members presenting here their debut studio album, a 10 tracks effort into half an hour of playing time, a fair duration for such a release I'd say, it gives you no time to get bored and because there are so many tracks things keep turning and twisting, so it's quite interesting. I have to say I've heard better, but Hellish God are doing a good job keeping things somber and fucking vicious as they should be in this type of music, or better said things seem pretty serious and the band sounds honest in what they do here. Usually I'm more impressed by the guitar work, but here I have to say the bass lines captured my interest way more, they sound damn complex underneath the wall of brutality constructed by the guitars, drums and growling vocals (supported by screams here and there). One suggestion though:

before giving this a try make sure you give a chance to the album in full as tracks get more and more interesting along the way, and I think by listening to the whole album you will get a better experience, there's no definite stand out song among the 10. Brutal, massive, hateful and dark Death Metal with excellent production. 8 HELLWAFFE (USA) - Peace Offering Hell Is Here 2016 - Black A year after their brutal debut album Hellwaffe is back with the follow-up material, a half an hour long album featuring 8 tracks that basically follow the path chosen by the band since their inception. If this is how a peace offering would sound like I doubt we would ever have any peace at all; Hellwaffe are offering a brutal, fast, uncompromising, traditional Black Metal highlighted by a rather generic but good amount of guitar riffs a la Marduk, Urgehal and the likes, frantic drumming that sound organic, and a vicious, razorsharp vocal that's supported by growls at times. The music is most of the time fast to hyper-sonic, and yet somehow the brutality seems to have a more important role in Hellwaffe's music than speed.

Cool band that's on a good way to becoming an important name in the scene, I hope they'll release something new soon and also hope their new material will keep the same path but bring something new, have no idea what. 8 HUMANITY DELETE (Sweden) Fuck Forever Off Iron, Blood and Death Corp. - 2016 Death Second full-length album from another of Rogga Johansson's many bands and projects. Humanity Delete is basically a one-man band, but on this second album there are two permanent guests, too: Kjetil on guitars and Brynjar on drums, so it feels almost like a full band. At least it sounds like one, that's for sure, as Humanity Delete walks on traditional Swedish Death Metal (Stockholm type) paths but adds a ton of elements and influences from other genres, from Doom to Grind and from Thrash to Heavy Metal yet keeping the core intact. It's a very muscular sounding album, its meaty production might feel like harmless at start, but soon becomes vastly brutal and blunt, it will make you feel like a traditional fight, the good old fist fight, but you're on the receiving end. Some tracks are fast and energetic, while others are doomy and haunting, yet the whole album has a certain groovy feel to it. I have deeply enjoyed it and recommend it to you, too, if someone is capable of bringing something fresh to this Swedish Death Metal, Rogga is the man to do it.

9.5 IN ARTICULO MORTIS (France) Testament Independent 2013 (?)

Melodic Black I placed this CD in my player and played it in full before reading anything about it or the band that recorded it; the band name was unfamiliar, so basically I knew nothing about it, and still after the first spin I said to myself how '90's this whole sounds, and how it reminds me of other

French bands from the '90's like Forbidden Site, and surprise-surprise, this material actually is from the '90's, from the band's demos plus a few unreleased tracks, all re-recorded or rearranged during 2012 and 2013. The feature that made me pinpoint it to that decade was the sound of the guitars, quite thin for nowadays' standards, and somehow borrowed back then from the Gothic Doom scene, together with a few more elements that contribute to the final Melodic Black Metal label for In Articulo Mortis' music, still the production sounds clear and modern, quite different from what we were used to back then. The compositions are catchy and complex enough to make this material competitive even in Today's scene, but unfortunately the band is no longer active and this seems to be its actual testament, an 8 tracks material full of emotions, one that proves the band could have been way more successful if other circumstances, and although the band members only use their initials, hence I don't know who they are, I hope they were successful in other bands after this one faded away.

INNER AXIS (Germany) We Live by the Steel Fastball - 2017 - Heavy It took them no less than 6 years to release the followup to their 2011 debut album; We Live by the Steel has the advantage of being self-explanatory right from its title, I mean you can immediately guess you're about to deal with an Epic Heavy or Power Metal band, and of course you'll be right even if you didn't know the band beforehand. Traditional Heavy Metal with an epic feel is what we get here, taking me back to the beginning of the millennium when bands like Hammerfall, Majesty or even Rhapsody were the rage, but unfortunately Inner Axis doesn't have the same power of impression. I find the vocals to be quite dull as I have a constant feel they are going to miss notes (obviously they are not, but they give me this impression) and that's not something I'm looking for in a full-length album. The instrumental part is enjoyable and I found a few riffs perfect for headbanging and quite memorable but taken as a whole the album is not surprising in any way, it stays in its comfort zone all the time, doesn't try anything new. Fans of Heavy / Power Metal might like it or on the contrary, might slam it even harder for its lack of experimentation, but all in all don't get me wrong, it's a professional material that would have been praised 2 decades ago, played by good musicians, and it's catchy enough to be enjoyed at high volume. 6 KARNE (France) - Symposium of Torments Epictural 2017 - Black This French band is active since 2011, and here we have their second full-length album, a 10 tracks work clocking a bit over 45 minutes of playing time. From the first track the listener gets that the main "character" here are the guitars, the amount of clever guitar leads and their expressiveness are the very core of Karne's music, or better said the guitars say the story here and make it easy to the listener to understand and even identify itself in it. The drums are good but not overly impressive, maybe only through the sheer intensity they lead the music with. The vocals are less versatile than I

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think this music deserve although it's quite clear the vocalist is trying his best throughout, but maybe that's not enough, a few other types of vocals or even some guests would have made this work even more interesting and offering. The major problem here from my point of view is the production, quite grainy for my taste, it feels like you're listening a radio program but you're tuning is not perfect so you also get a bit of static along the way, or at least that's my impression, which is too bad for the fantastic level the guitars set inhere. All in all I will definitely revisit it, it's a strong release with plenty to offer and again I have to mention the excellent guitar work which alone makes it well worth your checking, so make sure you give this one a try. 8.5 KOLP (Hungary) Cured but not Healed Lost Horizon - 2017 Black The two guys behind this project are also team-mates in the Black Metal band Veer and Death Metal band Purulent Rites, but since they still keep Kolp alive it seems working together "works" for them. This is the band's third album, released at a 5 years distance since the previous one; the new material features 7 tracks and clocks 35 minutes of Black Metal. From slow-paced to midtempo to fast rhythms this album has them all, and judged by that is a complex release, but unfortunately its abuse of repetitive constructions brings it down, demonstrates a lack of ideas. Yes, the atmospheres are important, but here we're dealing with all sorts of atmospheres, there's no particular path the band leads us, there are too many influences absorbed from everywhere (within the Black Metal territory only, though). It's not a bad material, don't get me wrong, but it's not impressive either. The good part of this album are the tormented vocals of Jim Jones, really powerful and expressive, with plenty of potential, then I'd also like to mention the somehow organic and rough production of this album I liked a lot, at first it sounds grainy and abrasive, but it quite fits the music. I would have liked the CD booklet to feature the lyrics, too, especially since they are in English, and track names like "Let the Pale Inside", "Being My Child" and "Decompose (till only Skin Remains)" sound interesting... 7 KRANE (Switzerland) - Pleonexia Czar of Crickets - 2017 - Post Metal This is the second full-length album from Swiss Krane, and I think that's a fair number of releases for a 5 years old band, but in their bio they blame the various fluctuations (of line-up I guess) for the fact they remained so little known in and out of their country, so this tells me we're dealing with an ambitious outfit that's not settling for little, they want and target for more. Cool, that's promising, now let's go to the music on this second opus.

Pleonexia offers 7 tracks in 37 minutes of playing time, and to be brutally honest by track 6 I was about to fall asleep...

Normally this would be a bad thing, but here it's not, meaning that the band's music is so damn hypnotic it's unbelievable, it made me feel so safe and so comfortable that I haven't even realized how close I was to sleep, and that's absolutely killer, and I chose this word in purpose as the ending track features the audio of a US aerial attack and killing of a few individuals by mistake as I understand it! Although it's Metal (well, Post Metal for that matter),

and it has lots of heavy riffs and oppressive passages, overall the music is hypnotic, mesmerizing, wide. Except for some spoken words parts taken from various speeches, the album is an instrumental work, and if usually I miss the vocals, this time I say the band is spot on as they are, as an instrumental trio.

Excellent record, very interesting band! 9 KRIEG (USA) Sono lo scherno Inferna Profundus 2017 (rerelease) - Black Unfortunately here's a perfect example of how the band's name can up the value of any release; I'm pretty sure this one sells better than most of the underground newcomers out there, but the truth is it shouldn't. Apart from the raw, amateurish production and sometimes execution, too, there's not much to enjoy on composition level either, or that's what I think since I can barely hear the guitars (recording is even worse than the first Wiccan Rede, ex-Negura Bunget, demos), despite the drums being recorded live and sounding organic as they should (kudos for that). The vocals and the choirs/effects/movies cuts that support them are ok and in normal conditions would create some sinister, cinematic atmospheres, but on this release I constantly get the feeling I'm listening to a totally new and unprofessional band so I can't enjoy them at all. Sorry to slam this so hard, I know the name this band has in the scene, especially in the US one, but this release isn't what I look for in my Black Metal, not at all, sorry.

This is the band's fourth full-length album, recorded back in 1998 and originally released in 2005, now re-released on CD format by IPR. LIGATURE WOUND (Finland) Undead of the Night Iron, Blood and Death Corp. - 2016 Death Finnish Death Metal one man band of Stockholm influence, that's how one could define Ligature Wound in a few words, although like in most cases Today, that's not exactly and utterly accurate as Kalmalehto, the man behind this project adds a few influences on top, too. This is its debut EP, a 6 tracks effort clocking almost 25 minutes, a material that impressed me at first through its organic, honest approach on production, although Ligature Wound is a one man band, it seems all instruments (hence including drums) were recorded live, in a studio, not on PC, and this approach perfectly compliments such a brute, meaty music.

The EP is not groundbreaking or innovative in any way, but nonetheless it sounds so damn well, especially when Kalmalehto steps on the gas pedal and the fast rhythms sound like a cage, a cage where the listener is trapped and there's no way to escape, claustrophobic I'd like to call it. The music grows on you and by the end of this EP you're hooked, it's not about surprising the listener, but about delivering quality Death Metal for the listener to be proud of supporting this genre, and here I think where Ligature Wound's potential lies. Again, the fast parts kill, there's some more work to do on the mid-tempo side of things, but the debut is good! 7.5

LOCUST YEAR (Finland) - The World Became Flesh Independent - 2017 - Progressive Experimental Death Young Finnish quartet featuring former Omnium Gatherum bass player Janne Markkanen, Locust Year present us here their debut album, a very interesting collection of 10 tracks clocking almost a full hour of playing time. To tell you the truth I was reading about the band's Progressive Death Metal orientation and I became interested in what they are about to deliver, partly because of my curiosity in the new ways Death Metal (hopefully) will progress in the near future as we can all see how versatile "his friend" Black Metal is, and my hope is Death Metal can be as well, too. Back to this release I'd say it's much more than Progressive Death Metal and that's why I added the Experimental term in the genre's labeling; we can hear influences and elements from styles as different as Doom Metal, Thrash Metal, Progressive Metal, Post Metal, Jazz and even a hint of '70's Prog Rock, plus many others I can't pinpoint now.

The compositions are always surprising and at the same time they also deliver catchy, memorable moments, all this sprinkled with some absolutely stunning guitar solos and leads and even some (few indeed) clean vocals that are absolutely out of this World. It's a big, big mess, but a controlled and carefully planned mess I'd say, an album that's like a reverie, somewhere in between conscious and unconscious dreaming. A brutally interesting debut album from a band that promises a ton! 9 LOVELL'S BLADE (Holland) - Stone Cold Steel Into The Limelight - 2017 - Hard'n'Heavy It takes either a kick in the butt (hence to be fired), or serious balls to leave a legendary band like the Dutch Picture and form your own thing, but that's what Pete Lovell (vocals), Mike Ferguson (guitar) and Andre Wullems (guitar) did and this is the result. Lovell's Blade was founded in 2016 but by the speed the managed to move it seems this was boiling for some time now, and here we have the debut album, a 10 tracks effort clocking over 40 minutes of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, a crossroad between AC/DC and Saxon I'd say. Track titles like "Nothin' to Lose", "Out for Blood" or "Rise and Fall" might appear like statements from the Picture ex-members, but what matters is that this album sounds really good, mature like the five members have been playing together for a lifetime, catchy and somehow fresh yet keeping that old-school Heavy Metal charm intact. It's a mostly light and bright type of Heavy Rock, but it also has some darker, more aggressive parts here and there, and some epic passages as well, so we're treated with a bit from everything, even something for the ladies (Glam influenced) thrown inthere in a couple of tracks. Pete's vocals are quite raspy but warm and calculated, hitting the right tones all the time so that it all sounds professional making the listener feel relaxed, and the instrumental part is top notch as well, so all in all, although it doesn't benefit from such a powerful moniker as Picture, I think Lovell's Blade will do good, especially since it's obvious its members are having a lot of fun, at least on this debut album. 9 MARANA / HISTOS (Czech Rep.) Death Is Hidden in the Plastic / Deviation Parat - 2017 - Death / Grindcore Split promoted by the legendary Czech magazine Parat, distributed for free with the magazine, so for the two bands

featured here this should be a total gasp of air; kudos for the magazine for giving "voice" to young blood, too (although one of the bands, Histos, is around since the '90's but remained at demo stage until now).

Opening are Marana, a band founded in 2016, with their debut EP, a 6 tracks effort following a classic Death Metal path ranging from mid-tempo to fast paced rhythms, defined by generic riffs, annoying (to me at least) inhale vocals, damn synthetic drum-machine, and occasional Brutal Death Metal influences, but pretty blunt and outdated from my point of view.

Histos have an even more obscure sound, but somehow more organic (rehearsallike) than Marana, offering the 6 tracks from their third EP, Deviation, out in 2015 as independent release. Old-school Grindcore with varied rhythms, based on simple but catchy guitar riffs, vocals trying out different tonalities (thing that leaves them somehow in a somehow joke-like experimental stage), a simple drum and bass section, so all in all not much to impress the listener with, but honest sounding after all.

Not sure if any of these bands will break out of their local scene, but probably in live shows both of them are a good experience. 5 / 6 MAZE (Poland) - Devouring the Sun Independent - 2014 - Melodic Heavy Black This is an old release, and to be honest I don't even remember if I received it from the band or from one of their friends, but it's clear it started circulating again since the band also started to work on their debut album, and announced the signing with Antitheus Productions (I'm not familiar with the label though), too. The 4 tracks demo is the band's first and only release so far and displays an interesting mix of Heavy Metal and Melodic Black Metal with seemingly occult topics when it comes to the lyrical concept. We get some neat, memorable guitar leads (twin guitars at times) that seem to be the highlight and the strong point of this band, on a layer of quite generic Epic Heavy Metal guitar riffs, mid-tempo to fast paced rhythm section, all fronted by good Black Metal shrieks, but unfortunately with a thin production, oh well, for a demo it's good enough I'd say. It's an easily digestible, catchy music that can find it's own path in this retro kind of environment the scene is in at the moment, but with a good, professional production, that's for sure. 6.5 MAZE OF SOTHOTH (Italy) - Soul Demise Everlasting Spew 2017 - Technical Death Debut album from this Bergamo based ensemble founded back in 2009; it's not that encouraging to release a first fulllength after 8 years since your foundation, but I always hope in such cases this is like a discharge, something to bring new life and enthusiasm into a somehow monotone activity. Maze of Sothoth offer here 10 tracks in 40 minutes of brutal, mid-tempo to fast paced Death Metal with plenty of technical displays all the time, a calculated assault, brutal and uncompromising. They are all capable musicians, the tracks are pretty diverse and have plenty to enjoy, I was particularly impressed by the chaotic, oldschool guitar solos, and by some fast parts where the music and atmosphere becomes so oppressive and fast you become claustrophobic, this would have

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been a total milestone in Death Metal in the '90's but nowadays the bar was raised so much it's getting almost impossible to come up with something of your own.

There's still room to improve, of course, especially on the vocal part which is good but not distinctive or original at all, but being a first album they will probably want to surpass it with the following, if they decide to continue, of course. 7.5 MEDIIS TENEBRIS (France) - Là où les Hommes se perdent Independent - 2017 - Depressive Folk Black Debut full-length album from this French one-man-band, Là où les Hommes se perdent, impresses at first through its presentation: the CD comes in a homemade printed cardboard packed by hand, with the tracklist again written by hand with simple grey pencil. It looks very intimate, very personal, and this has a serious impact on the audience even before listening to the music, or at least that's what it did to me. By the band's logo one can assume it's some sort of Black Metal, and that it is, a melodic, depressive, introspective form of Black Metal with plenty of Folk touches as acoustic guitars, nature sounds, and especially whistles. The Folk-ish part is really soothing, it feels like the perfect soundtrack for laying down in the forest contemplating the past, but the other side of the record, the Black Metal one, is raw, abrasive, and terribly unfriendly to the ears although the harmonies and repetitive / melodic constructions of the tracks indicate the intention was different, but the composition is an excellent Depressive Black Metal that absolutely suffocates all hopes in you and induces you to a hopeless state of mind, so from this point of view it's damn spot on! The album is made of 4 tracks clocking 44 minutes, plus a bonus track that adds another almost 9 minutes to the whole, so it's a long material we get here.

Recordings are home-made, using drummachine, and if the sound on the Black Metal parts would have been better, this would have been a fantastic release, but as a debut opus I'd say it proves its point, it demonstrates serious potential, I only hope that on the next one Akhenar will choose a better production and maybe even real drums. The unique presentation of this material makes it all worth your money, I'm sure it was released in a few copies only. 7 METAPRISM (UK) - Catalyst to Awakening Graviton - 2017 - Melodic Metal To be honest because of the band's logo (the font used reminded me of the Italian Thrash Metal band Methedras), I subconsciously thought I was about to experience some Thrash Metal, but I was wrong, again. This Bournemouth based six-piece has been around since 2012 and here we have their second studio album, 11 tracks clocking almost 50 minutes of playing time, delivering a delicious mix of Modern Metal, Melodic Metal, Groove Metal and even a few hints of Gothic Metal at times. The music is quite energetic, definitely entertaining, fronted by two vocalists, a sensational female vocalist that reminds me a lot of Sharon from Within Temptation, supported by a versatile male vocalist that ranges his tone from growls to classy clean, to metalcore-ish screams, and even some fantastic Heavy Metal high-pitched

passages that are an absolute blast, just take as example the fourth track, Incarcerate, which is also my fave, there are so many types of vocals on it that I find it spectacular. Then the guitar work is great as well constructing some seriously metallic lines intertwined with kick-ass solos (both old-school and new type of solos you'll find in current djent or prog material), plenty of groove, and many, many catchy riffs that will stick to your mind. The drums and bass section is the real metal skeleton everything else is based on, it offers such a wide palette of rhythms I'm sure this album will be enjoyed by many types of Metal followers and not only. One of the best Melodic Metal albums I've heard lately, and even though I'm not a fan of this genre, I find this material very balanced between melody, groove, aggression and technical orientation. There's so much talent in the underground... if this band would have the same chances as let's say Nightwish or Within Temptation, I'm sure they'd have another situation. 9.5 MINAS MORGUL (Germany) Kult Trollzorn 2017 - Pagan Black the 6th fulllength album from German Minas Morgul celebrates 2 decades of activity for the band. Kult is a 10 tracks effort that starts with a somehow post-apocalyptic, horror intro that leads you to think you're going to experience a sinister material, but the reality is somehow different. The music on this album is a mix of Melodic Black Metal with Pagan Metal, featuring Folkish acoustic passages, catchy Black Metal harmonies, and melancholic atmosphere enhanced by the dense keyboard lines.

The abrasive, hoarse vocals are blending well with the melodic yet rough instrumental part, and the only thing I think could have used a better "image" is the drums production, way too plastic and synthetic for my taste, becoming even annoying at times, yet this didn't take away the fact Minas Morgul came up with an excellent new album after 5 years of silence, if you think you won't have a problem with programmed drums, you'll have plenty to enjoy here, it has its moments where it gets really, really good.

7 MINDFUL OF PRIPYAT / STENCH OF PROFIT (Italy) - New Doomsday Orchestration Everlasting Spew - 2017 - Death Grind / Grindcore Two (somehow) new bands from the Italian Grindcore scene, a scene I remember being so damn strong beck in the '90's and '00's, both of them formed in 2014 and both of them with an EP already under-belt, meet under the same "roof" on this split CD featuring 27 tracks and clocking only 22 minutes, but I'd say that's well enough for both of them to demonstrate what they are capable of.

Opening the hostilities are Mindful of Pripyat, a quartet from Milano now (since 2016) featuring also Omar, guitarist of the legendary Bowel Stew. Their part on this split is made of 9 tracks, a delicious blend of Death and Grindcore, extremely brutal, traditional I'd say, energetic and contagious defined by a main growling vocal supported by demented screams here and there, damn intense drums and bass lines, and intricate guitar

constructions that will make you appreciate these guys, they are really good at what they do and from my point of view their future in this genre is bright as a nuclear explosion.

Stench of Profit are hailing from Venezia and their side is more razor-sharp sounding, centered more around traditional Grindcore, without Death Metal insertions, and although I have to admit there are some variations in rhythm and compositions, too, the material sounds like it would need some more complexity. This is straight-forward Grindcore with two vocals, Maurizio, and a female vocalist who's also the band's guitarist, Lory, and the compositions are short, around half a minute in average, extremely aggressive, obviously, unpretentious and most probably working better in live shows that on recordings, but for traditional Grindcore fans I'm sure this will be a blast, too.

All in all I think this is a cool split, unveiling two bands with clear potential, that will probably take the great Italian Grind school a step further. 8 / 6.5 MOKER (Belgium) Home Invader Independent 2017 - Death Hot damn, it seems Today I'm only reviewing good shit! I haven't heard about this band before, so I'm surprised they are around since 2003 and have three studio albums underbelt before this fourth effort. I guess they targeted their niche and they're better known locally or in certain Death / Deathcore circles; with all this music lying around nowadays it's no wonder there are so many factions and small hermetic circles. Anyway, getting back to Home Invader, this is a blasting, totally brutal piece of Groovy Death Metal with occasional Deathcore and even Goregrind influences but only enough to make it even groovier and more dangerous. There are so many little things to discover here from short bass solos to guest appearances from members of Cerebral Bore, Walking the Cadaver or Dehumanized, piano/synth inserts (!?!), neck-breaking fast rhythms supported by (almost) breakdowns to keep things spicy, excellent graphic and down to earth lyrics, and plenty of catchy / memorable elements to make something stick to your mind after the audition. 9 tracks, a bit over half an hour of playing time, a very good release, I wasn't so impressed since the first time I've heard Czech Death Grind sensation Pigsty, and to some extent Moker actually remind me of Pigsty, I guess it's that same kind of groove! The album comes in jewel-case CD format with lyrics and well inspired artwork accompanying each track's lyrics.

9 MONOLITHE (France) Nebula Septem Les Acteurs de l'Ombre - 2018 Atmospheric Doom 7 members offering on their 7th fulllength album 7 new tracks, each lasting for 7 straight minutes, if that's not careful (if not even compulsory) planning, I don't know what is. After a pretty long stay with Debemur Morti, Monolithe changed home and this is their first result from their new collaboration with Les Acteurs de l'Ombre. Mostly slow paced (obviously), with enough mid-tempo incursions to keep things interesting even for fans outside of the Doom Death spectrum, the music on this new album is deeply atmospheric, spacial, building vast

but at the same time somehow oppressive and claustrophobic soundscapes along the way, with plenty of variation and fresh ideas on the instrumental part to make me think there could have been more versatility for the vocal part as well as it sounds quite one dimensional. Although not copying anything, Monolithe's music made me think of a mix between Paradise Lost (especially on guitars) and the UK based Mithras, although far from being that brutal. The guitar work is the main focus here, but the keyboard harmonies and effects are enhancing the overall experience and the bass lines and drumming are also something to discover and digest carefully, both instruments bringing serious contribution to the technical, almost progressive facet of this album. If I were to describe this album in 3 words I'd say: oppressive, spatial and intricate. 8.5 MONSTER (Germany) Blood-Soaked Restart Kernkraftritter - 2017 - Thrash Death I feel that especially in Thrash and Death Metal nowadays you have to have a powerful frontman as vocalist, one with a timbre capable by itself to put the band aside from the rest of the crowd, and Monster do have that exceptional vocalist, very organic, visceral, capable to transmit its anger to the listener. As the album title suggests it, this is probably a restart for the band, too; the followup to a selfreleased digital debut album from 2014, Blood-Soaked Restart offers 10 tracks in 40 minutes in classic Thrash Death Metal fashion based on mostly fast paced rhythms, catchy, memorable guitar riffs, good guitar leads that act like track hooks as well, and as I was saying, a vigorous and visceral vocalist capable to making the band memorable. As a whole this new album from Monster is an enjoyable experience, fit for old-school Deathrash fanatics, it doesn't bring something new to the table but wins you over by its organic and honest approach. 7 MORS AETERNA (France) Sanctification Fog of the Apocalypse - 2011 (?) Black Not sure how come I received this CD for review, or who sent it, I'm not even sure the release year is the one above, 2011, but that's what I was able to find searching the net. The debut album of Mors Aeterna was firstly released by the band (actually a one man band by one of the members in Amazarak), then picked up and re-released as digipak CD by Fog of the Apocalypse. It features 7 tracks of satanic, occult Black Metal ranging from mid-tempo to fast paced, and highlighted by a rough, grainy, abrasive production more fit for a demo than a studio album.

The music itself is pretty varied and has a lot of influences from other genres, but in the end is still a tough, oppressive Black Metal well worth a better recording quality. The drum-machine is nothing special, of course, but the guitar work is interesting, and the vocals are vicious enough to create some pretty dangerous atmospheres. The fifth track, The Great Sabbat, features a short female vocals passage that reminded me of the Italian Evol, but for the rest I'd say I was quite disappointed I couldn't enjoy the music because of the shitty production. There was potential here, but since this was released nothing else happened in Mors Aeterna's camp, so I guess this is quite done for good. 5

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MORTIS MUTILATI (France) - The Stench of Death Independent - 2018 - Funeral Black I'm not your usual techy guy interested in what studio and on what equipment a band recorded its material, I'm more interested in the final result, the actual music than the means it reached there, but since this is a one man band (although three different individuals recorded this album) and I saw a mention it was recorded at a studio in Sweden, I got interested to find if the studio is a real one.

And indeed it's a real studio, with serious equipment, a massive client list (including names like Marduk, Ofermod or Ragnarok), and with Devo from Marduk behind the buttons. On top of that the band has played already at home and over the borders and is touring Mexico this month (March). This gave me the certainty Mortis Mutilati is a serious project with definite targets and the necessary will to reach those targets.

Regarding the music on this 4th studio album from Mortis Mutilati the label Funeral Black Metal suits it perfectly, we're talking about a slow to mid-paced sad, melancholic type of Black Metal with plenty of disgust in the vocal compartment plus a fair share of fast paced, even brutal traditional Black Metal passages to avoid being considered a weak / soft release, so don't worry, this is not your average melodic Black Metal to impress chicks, the keyboard part is quite subtle and only used to increase the horror / chilling effect, and the occasional female vocals (yes, those are present, too) are used with the same finesse just to imprint a ghoulish image to the whole.

The guitar tone sounds French indeed, but to be honest the overall compositions made me think of the Russian / Ukrainian Black Metal scene, even to vocals are going that way. The part where the music lacks is the predictability, most of this album, if not all, flows without any big surprises to impress the listener; it's a solid, serious, entertaining effort, but I think the band can still do more in the future. 7.5 MOULDED FLESH (Poland) Mind over Mayhem Independent 2017 - Thrash Death The band was founded back in 2000, and this one is their third full-length release, an independent album that features 10 tracks and clocks a bit over half an hour of playing time. From my point of view, as a teen of the '90's Moulded Flesh sounds excellent, it's like an early Paradise Lost meets the Morgoth in their best shape, with plenty of Thrash sprinkled all over the place, a Melodic Thrash Death Metal if you will. The vocals are awesome for my taste, very visceral, angry, expressive, and even if the compositions might seem a bit outdated or simplistic for what the nowadays kids would like to hear, I'd say they (the instrumental part and the vocals) complete themselves perfectly. Some tracks are more melodic, some are more thrashy, and some are more sinister, so all in all the balance is there. Expect an unpretentious, unpolished but clean sounding production that will make you remember the good demos of the '90's, even though the drums are clearly computer-generated. A band that deserves plenty of attention at least from the '90's

nostalgics like myself, so give them a try, you won't be sorry. 7.5 NAGA (Italy) Inanimate Everlasting Spew - 2017 Sludge Doom This is my first encounter with Italian Naga and their music; the band was founded back in 2013 and released an EP and a full-length album prior to this new EP featuring 3 new tracks recorded in 2016, one in 2017 and an excellent cover of Fang's The Money Will Roll Right In. The track structures and harmonies are more intricate and interesting than I would have expected so I consider the band a real surprise. The music is made of repetitive heavy, distorted guitar riffs, demolishing and complex bass lines, groovier than expected drumming and Black Metal-like shrieks supported by a few (more would have been way better) clean vocals in the background here and there, again not a common thing in this genre. The rhythms are mostly slow, of course, but there are some mid-tempo incursions as well making the whole EP spicier. I've spinned the disc three times already and I'm not bored at all, on the contrary, I like it more and more, I find new things to enjoy every time, so from my point of view we're witnessing the formation of a solid name on the Doom Sludge scene. 8 NECROHERESY (Slovakia) Asylum Symbol of Domination / Wings of Death / Darknagar - 2017 - Thrash Black Death Cool name for an extreme metal band, and I have to congratulate them for the cool logo as well as for the inspired combination between the album title, cover artwork and (some of the) music presented on this debut album. As you can guess it, it's all about mental illness and all kind of human derangements (should the intro point to religion as a mental illness? if so, they were really, really inspired, if not, it was a good coincidence). The 10 tracks offer in almost half an hour a chaotic, brutal, obscure sounding and merciless Death Metal heavily influenced by Black and Death Metal, so a bit far from a traditional sounding Death Metal band though. I've read a lot of references to Necrophobic and I can see where they come from, but Necroheresy sounds way more chaotic and extreme, with less melodic inserts and with a more abrasive production, that's for sure, so if you think a rude and rough Death Metal with hints of Necrophobic might be your thing by all means give this band a try, they sound curdled enough, experienced and well targeted so you might just have a serious surprise. I think the fact they chose to play in Slovak language might be a plus, especially for the local scene. Interesting prospect for the future! 7 NECROPHOR (Sweden) - Reborn Sliptrick - 2017 - Black Death Founded back in 2012 as a solo project of Henrik Eriksson, Necrophor soon evolves into a real band when he recruits two of his fellow Stormrider mates. The three releases three demos until becoming a quartet and starting to work on their debut album, the one I'll talk about here, Reborn, a 9 tracks effort recorded in the legendary Sunlight Studio with the euqally legendary Thomas Skogsberg, but one that doesn't sound at all like the most known names who recorded inhere. To be

honest it first made me think of Lord Belial, it has that same evil, mystical atmosphere surrounding all the tracks although the make little use of keyboards for that, and they also add plenty of Death Metal influences to make things more oppressive. Some guitar leads and riffs are absolutely delicious, they'll make you "rewind" and listen again, and this makes me think if this material would have been released in the '90's Necrophor would have been among the best known names hailing from Sweden nowadays. 46 minutes of oppressive sinister music for fans of Lord Belial, Dark Funeral or Dissection, delivering both heavy midtempo and headbanging fast paced rhythms to make you go mad. '90's teens like myself will go ape-shit for this material! 8.5 NEVBORN (Switzerland) - Daidalos Czar of Bullets / Cold Smoke - 2017 Post Metal Nothing to do with Extreme Metal, so not something we usually cover here, hence my review will be quite concise and profane. This is NevBorn's newest EP, a one song only EP clocking almost 20 minutes in playing time, so it's quite fair to call it an EP in these conditions. The very cool thing about it is that it's a concept track about the myth of Icarus’ death actually recreating the conversation between Icarus and his father Daidalos, so it's obvious we're treated with extreme emotions here and the featuring of The Ocean's vocalist Loic Rossetti is such a fine addition to the whole. The music is a combination of Post Rock, Post Metal and Post Hardcore, an atmospheric, intense and emotional story-telling composition that will leave you wanting more if you're into this type of music, don't doubt it.

NORTHERN PLAGUE (Poland) Scorn the Idle Independent 2017 - Black Quite a bold move from Northern Plague to continue on their own after a debut album on well-established label Folter Records; this new album is being released by the band although I'm sure they had a fair share of offers. If releasing the actual CD, or cassette, or vinyl, is an easy task for anyone, the benefit of a label's connections is what actually pushes an album further, that's why I think the Polish quartet took a big chance with moving ahead on their own. Anyway, getting to the music on it, Scorn the Idle offers a technical, polished and atmospheric type of Black Metal with a few Death Metal influences but not enough to be considered a Black Death release, and also influences from other genres, especially on the guitar style of playing. From my point of view this over polish of a material makes it lose brutality and Northern Plague's new album is proof of that, the music becomes more accessible if I can say that, less abrasive and will probably find a larger audience; not exactly my type of thing, but I can understand why they did it. The compositions are interesting, avoid successfully any monotony, and beside the mostly ultra-fast rhythms we also get some atmospheric passages; there are some keyboard inserts here and there but nothing upfront, only to inflict a mystical atmosphere. But the main elements in my opinion are the classy guitar work and the spectacular at times bass lines, something to listen carefully. All in all it's a very good material that will certainly bring new attention for Northern Plague if they bust their asses with promoting it. 8

OBSCURITY (Germany) Streitmacht Trollzorn 2017 - Viking Metal The 8th full-length album from Germany's Obscurity marks the band's 2 decades of activity milestone and despite some who might consider it an old, outdated outfit, the quintet sounds fresher than ever. The 10 tracks featured here continue the band's saga in blending Viking / Pagan Metal with Melodic Death Metal, all with German lyrics flavor and sharpness given by the asperity this language has especially in Black Metal kind of shrieks. Obscurity combines those types of shrieks with Death Metal kind of commanding vocals, almost growls I'd say, and the outcome is pretty good, especially on top of their catchy and melodic compositions. The guitars offer a wide variety of riffs and leads, but as I said the general impression is of a catchy, memorable material, and guitars have the major role in this result. The drums and bass lines are perfectly executed and produced, balancing between parts where they are acting as leads only, appearing as subtle influences to the listener, and parte where they stand out and do their own spotlight moments and that's fair for everyone in the band, I'm pretty sure all of them are happy with the final result.

All in all I'd have to say this is another good, solid effort from Obscurity, a band that remains on the forefront of this genre in Europe. 8.5 ONRYO (Italy) - Muto Everlasting Spew - 2017 - Technical Death Grind Seen from outside, the Death Grind scene might seem quite stagnant in recent years, but it definitely isn't, and here we have another new name from Italy featuring Hideous Divinity's drummer, that proves the scene is very much alive and kicking.

This debut 4 tracks EP is so tight and surprising I'm almost without words; blending Technical Death Grind with demented Mathcore and even Progressive the Japan-influenced (see the cover artwork, band and EP name as hints) Onryo are a fantastic apparition. We're treated here with only 13 minutes of music, enough to leave a memorable aftertaste on you, it sounds like 4 totally deranged mental patients who were previously very skilled music conservatory students got instruments and a van full of RedBull and cocaine for Christmas, the result is what we hear on Muto, brutality unleashed with mathematical precision, controlled dementia on compositions, top-notch precision and a paranoid atmosphere from start to finish. A band to keep your eyes on! My only complaint on this EP is that it's too short, but I hope they'll take their time to come up with an even more impressive and surprising debut album. 9 Ă–RTH (Norway) - Nocturno Inferno Satanic Art - 2017 - Black What later became the band Arvas was first Orth, a trio active under this moniker between 1992 and 1999, and here's its first and only recorded full-length album.

The story surrounding this album is pretty interesting although I've heard it already a few times with other bands, so its credibility is up to you: the material was recorded between '95 and '96, and was meant for a '96 recording, but the master got lost; it seems that some copies of it were distributed by the band to close friends previous to the master loss, and here we are 20 years later with the 10

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tracks found again and released as they were meant in '96. The production sure sounds like from two decades ago, but that doesn't necessarily means it's bad, actually it gives the music that initial mystical atmosphere surrounding the Norwegian scene back then. The riffs are better than a lot of bands manage to deliver nowadays, very expressive, with a certain Pagan feel to them, the vocals are less versatile than they should be, but sound pretty eerie and razor-sharp, the drums are complex and prove to be really important for the general outcome, and the bass lines are intricate as well with a perfect production to give them emphasis and clarity. I love the expressiveness this album has, the band seems to have taken its time to build tension and atmosphere, so that the result sounds well-thought, well-executed and well-delivered.

Underground Black Metal at it's best but remember, it has that dusty, stuffed, foggy production from 20 years ago.

OSCULUM INFAME (France) Axis of Blood Battlesk'rs - 2015 (re-release 2017) Black This is the second edition of the second Osculum Infame album, and I have to say it makes perfect sense the first edition from 2015 sold out. We're dealing here with a masterpiece, and although this band's debut was such an appreciated material, this one is even better in my opinion. It has so many facets, so much to discover and enjoy on each of the 11 tracks featured here, and most of the time the band spews so much venom and disgust towards humanity it's mindblowing, and I say most of the time because there are also some melancholic moments thrown inthere (especially on White Void, the 8th track) to spice things up. To some extent it reminds me of Hirilorn's debut album and the impact it had on me when I listened to it first, only this is better, it has more depth and substance while following the same type of technical, satanic, sophisticated, atmospheric approach on Black Metal.

This is the heavy, oppressive, scary type of Black Metal most of us fans of this genre are usually looking for, so from my point of view it's a perfect hit, a fantastic album you'd better at least give a listen to.

PAZUZU (Costa Rica) - Revenant of Blasphemies Psychogrind - 2017 - Doom Death It's not everyday you get to listen to a Costarican band, so it's always a pleasure to get a new release from these lands.

Pazuzu is a band apparently founded back in 2005, but it seems the release I'm about to talk about here is their debut demo, released this year, so not much activity from the San Jose based quartet, two of them were more active in other bands like Gutbucket or Repulsive Death in the meantime. We're offered here 5 tracks with 2 of them being short instrumentals, like an intro and an outro to the 20 minutes massacre. Old-school mid-tempo to fast paced Death Metal with Doom influences here and there, very beginning of the '90's sounding, with long chaotic guitar solos, sinister vocals, oppressive guitar riffs and a repetitive, quite catchy and definitely headbanging-friendly rhythm section. The sound is quite raw, unpolished, just like it was recorded from the rehearsal place I think, but it sounds clean enough and at the same time deeply dark to enjoy it without problems.

Costarican Pazuzu are not reinventing the wheel, but the play with conviction and prove there's potential in creating sinister

music in those shiny lands, too, who knows what the future will bring for them.

7 PERSECUTORY (Turkey) Towards the Ultimate Extinction Godz ov War - 2017 - Thrash Black I was working something for the past few hours and for this reason I had this disc on repeat, so at least 5-6 spins (the 7 tracks featured are totaling 42 minutes in length), and I have to admit I'm impressed, not only I wasn't bored at all and still I'm not, but I realized I discovered something new to enjoy every time. Persecutory's debut album is a violent discharge of Thrashing Black Metal, mostly fast paced and unrelenting, but with some excellent insertions of technical mid-tempo passages that reek of hellish atmosphere, not to mention the long, chaotic guitar solos straight from the golden era of Black Death Metal, and even some groovy, catchy, memorable parts that make this debut a highly enjoyable delivery. Dark, evil, oppressive, visceral, technical and varied, Persecutory's debut album is well-worth your time and money!

8.5 PIG'S BLOOD (USA) - Pig's Blood Godz ov War 2017 - Death Repulsive, sickening, fast and merciless Death Metal, that's what we get on Pig's Blood self-titled debut album made of 10 tracks clocking 36 minutes. The band seems to be impressed and influenced by the War Metal movement quite a lot, but the music is leaning more towards a sinister and raw indeed, but less chaotic form of old-school Death Metal. Fans of this genre won't have many complaints towards this material for sure, it brings exactly that type of menacing, energetic and deeply dark and oppressive atmosphere without using anything else that the main instruments, so no keys, synths or effects, just a wall of catchy riffs, blastbeats and terrifying vocals ranging from ultra-low, gurgling growls to suffocating screams perfectly blended together. No melody here, just plain and simple brutality from start to finish, no mercy at all, this is one fucking ugly release, make sure you check it out! 7.5 POKERFACE (Russia) - Game On M & O - 2017 Thrash This band seems to be a two members business since the bassist (Free Rider) and the drummer (Doctor) are the only members from the original line-up; in only 4 years of activity they've changed both guitarists twice and the vocalist once. Pokerface is still a femalefronted band, the beautiful Delirium Tremens who sung until last year being replaced on the new album by the equally beautiful Owl, and this time one of the guitarists is a girl as well, so double the attraction for the metalheads' eyes. This is the band's second studio album, a 10 tracks effort clocking 40 minutes of fast and furious Thrash Metal highlighted by the catchy, precise guitar riffs, relentless drumming, meaty bass lines and last but not least by the two types of vocals Owl manages to produce: screams with a certain femininity, and brutal ferocious growls that makes you seriously wonder if this is really a girl singing. There are

plenty of rhythm changes and the tracks are diverse in approach and construction so there's little time to get bored in this audition, so in my books that means it's a well-done material, not ground-breaking, but solid enough to be appreciated by the fans of the genre. The band seems to invest a serious amount (of money, time, effort, what not) in themselves, so chances are they're here to stay and attack the tops soon enough. 7.5 POPPY SEED GRINDER (Czech Rep.) Bleeding Civilization Amputated Vein - 2016 - Brutal Death It's quite a while since PSG released their second album, back in 2008, but since then the band changed it's line-up almost completely, with guitarist Yarda remaining the only founding member still active, and his new colleagues joining PSG only in 2014. Keeping this in mind, it's quite impressive they managed to write and release a new album in less than 2 years. The new material is made of 9 tracks plus a bonus, the title track from Opressed Reality, their debut album, and clocks half an hour of groovy Brutal Death Metal with serious Grindcore and Hardcore influences all over. The production is organic to the bone, but at the same time it's not abrasive or harsh, on the contrary, it's quite warm, leaving the obvious Death Grind brutality to be led by the composition manner and execution, quite a bold thing in my opinion, but it works fine in PSG's case.

All in all we get a massive and oppressive Death Grind album, stripped of most of Today's over-production and polishing and delivered naked, in all its brutality, with plenty of ideas to stick to one's mind.

8.5 PORTA DAEMONIUM (Chile) - Serpent of Chaos Iron, Blood and Death Corp. - 2016 - Death Founded in 1998 as Porta Salomoniis, here we have the band under the current moniker releasing their long-awaited (at least by them, I'm sure) debut album, an 8 tracks material just under half an hour long. I've played it four times already and I'm still impressed by the high level of intensity and brutality it emanates from start to finish, and although at first I have major doubts in what concerns the murky, stuffed, almost chaotic production, I now completely understand and agree that this is the best possible approach for such a demonic display of music brutality. The album will make you feel claustrophobic, like you're stuck in hell enduring its torments, it sounds like a wall of demonic creatures constantly attacking you. I'd say only South Americans can come out with this type of sound, but I'd be unfair with the others, so I prefer to say that South Americans really have a calling for such bestial music, they know how to make it and how to deliver it, and this debut album from Porta Daemonium is a perfect proof. Despite the muddy sound one can easily follow the catchy guitar riffs, enjoy the massive brutality of the frantic drumming, and be amazed of the inhuman growls and screams that lead one of the most brutal Death Metal material I've heard this year. Only for the initiated! 9 PRAYER OF THE DYING (Malta) Banished from Death Independent - 2017 - Doom Black

Martin Ciappara is back with the fifth full-length album of his long-lasting (11 years and counting) one man band Prayer of the Dying, at a 4 years distance from the previous studio effort. This copy I've got here I think is intended for finding a suitable label to release it in professional format later on, as it's a Pro CDR seemingly limited to only 150 copies.

Banished from Death features 13 tracks and clocks a bit over an hour of playing time. As always Martin brings forth some really interesting ideas, a mix between traditional Doom, Melancholic Rock Metal, Epic Metal and Black Metal, an experimental music that will make you replay a few of the tracks inhere for sure.

The main problem in my opinion is the thin production especially on the vocal segment; the main vocals are a bit annoying, Black Metal shrieks that sound forced and chocking most of the time, not menacing, not evil, not dark, but on the other hand the occasional supporting clean vocals seem to be amazing, too bad one can barely hear them in the mix, they sound Ghost-like, really solemn and majestic. In my opinion Martin would do this project a lot of good by losing the shrieks and focusing on the clean vocals, although the project would lose some force, it doesn't sound too aggressive now anyways. The Doom Metal-influenced melodies constructed here are probably the highlight of this album, the guitar part is really fantastic most of the time mixing epic Doom leads and riffs with freezing Black Metal riffs, expressive and catchy, building some memorable moments; there's plenty of potential in PotD, maybe more than Martin imagines... I just wish Martin would get rid of the shrieks or find a proper vocalist for them, and focus on his excellent guitar harmonies and clean vocals. 7 PROFANATISM (Poland) - Hereticon Putrid Cult / Under the Sign of Garazel 2016 - Black After a couple of demos and a split with one-man-band Sarg, Polish duo ProFanatism manage to release their debut full-length album, 8 tracks of horrifying Black Metal from the bowels of hell. If you can pass over the awful drums' sound, you'll discover a demonic, chaotic yet carefully crafted Black Metal quite original in its own, led by a sick, vomiting, hateful vocal section on a dense layer of twisted guitars that sound like a swarm of insects attacking a decaying body. The atmosphere ProFanatism manage to create are so putrid, so infected, so horror-drenched it makes this album a masterpiece, this not to mention the occasional Progressive Death Black Metal guitar harmonies that pop up here and there. If it wasn't for the shitty drums' sound this album would have been the perfect soundtrack to your worst nightmare, a massive construction of filth and disgust. In the meantime the band released a new album, I hope it has a better recording quality, but I'll make sure to check it out soon, so should you. 8 PROFANATISM (Poland) - Through the Frozen Styx Heerwegen Tod - 2017 - Black Hey, I just reviewed ProFanatism's previous album and was mentioning they have a new album out and here I have it already, the new, second studio album by Polish ProFanatism. We're served with 9 new tracks, one of them being a cover of Sacrilegium's Darkness track, and in total we're talking about almost 50 minutes of playing time. The music is not better nor worse than the previous from my point of view, and it's a bit of a bummer since I was expecting so much more from the

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new material. Maybe there are, but I don't see any major changes from Hereticon, it's the same atmospheric, highly sinister and offensive, dense Black Metal that will impress you if it's your first encounter with the band's music. The guitar work is a bit more colored than the production lets you discover if you don't listen closely, and probably the guitars could have been a bit more upfront than the rest of the instruments, there are some interesting leads and harmonies popping out all the time but all in all, as I was saying, you need to be fully attentive to get them. No doubt, a good album, like the previous one ProFanatism proves to be a solid, trustworthy outfit. 8 PROJECT PAIN (Holland) Brothers in Blood FA - 2018 - Thrash Damn, this one is as Metal as an album can be! The third full-length album from Dutch Project Pain is an absolute blast for any Thrash Metal follower out there; clearly reminding of Slayer, it has also good hints of Testament or even Megadeth, but that's less important.

What's important here is the energy and aggression it manages to transmit to the listener, and that's because of the intensive drumming, incisive bass lines, demented and catchy guitar riffs and spicy solos, and last but not least because of the angry, hate-filled vocals. Brothers in Blood will make you first feel proud to be a metalhead, then will pump you up to be ready for some serious moshing, and ultimately will boil your blood for straight on battle; if you'll play this to a bunch of old bats before their Sunday church be sure they'll rip their heads off later when they meet, and the last track here is like a promise this will happen (it's the fastest one on the record), haha.

Seriously now, the third album from these Dutch maniacs is a gem of traditional Thrash Metal with no extra influences, not tricks, no detours, try it out! 9 PUTRID OFFAL (France) Anatomy Xenokorp - 2017 Death Grind It was about time for the 2014 reformed French Death Grind legend Putrid Offal to offer something new after their highly acclaimed 2015 debut, and so far only, full-length album, Mature Necropsy, and here we have the Anatomy EP made of 4 new tracks and 2 live recorded as bonus with a total duration of about 16 minutes.

If sinister, regurgitating, ultra-brutal traditional Death Grind is your thing, Putrid Offal is definitely your thing, too!

An overwhelming discharge of brutality and calculated sonic assaults from start til finish, very energetic and at the same time very heavy, oppressive, offering a good volume of headbanging-inspiring guitar riffs supported by sick drumming (by the Dehuman drummer who's a current Putrid Offal member, too) and thundering bass lines, and all this highlighted by the sickening double vocal levels, a deep growling one and a ghoulish, Black Metal type one. Putrid Offal do not disappoint on this new EP, on the contrary, they prove to be in excellent shape, so it's the right time for us to ask for a new full-length album, we know they'll deliver the good stuff. 9 RAZZMATTAZZ (Germany) - Diggin' for Gold Good Night Music - 2016 - Hard'n'Heavy

First time I meet this band's music and it's a damn fine surprise for sure. Mixing Hard Rock, NWOBHM, and Rock'n'Roll into a contagious, highly entertaining musical pot, Razzmattazz manage to deliver here 12 new tracks that, as the album title suggests, are digging for gold and from a certain point of view are finding it. Just imagine a mix of AC/DC, ZZ Top and Accept, but delivered with an own identity, with a tremendous ease making you imagine these guys are actually playing their music in a striptease bar while enjoying some fine whisky with pretty ladies all around them. The music sounds so natural, laid back at time and highly energetic and engaging at other, that it's no wonder how come Razzmattazz has won several awards in Germany lately. Great album, great band, great discovery (for me)! 10 RED RAVEN (Germany) - Chapter II: Digithell Fastball - 2017 - Melodic Progressive Obviously the prime point of interest in this band is Frank Beck, current vocalist of the legendary Gamma Ray, so from this point of view Red Raven has already a good starting point with this second full-length album of theirs, I'm sure Gamm Ray's fans will be at least interested in giving this a try. The music Red Raven offers on these 12 tracks, in an hour of total playing time, is an experimental, progressive, open-minded kind of Melodic Metal based on high level technical skills and composition potential of its members, topped by Frank's exceptional vocal range and power of expression. The band joins in their melting pot even Flamenco or Blues influences on top of the "usual" Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Power Metal sonorities, and the music sounds really powerful (reminds me of Accept at times) on some tracks, or really touching and sentimental on some others. The main problem inhere, as I see it, is the lack of some really memorable tracks, all of them are exquisite to listen to, but they don't leave major marks on your mind after the audition, and probably that's the section the band needs more work on their next material. But again, this is really good quality material, professional, involving, diverse and classy. 8 RICTUS GRIN (USA) Burning a Cold Fire Independent - 2016 - Heavy Doom Thrash I know Larry from Rictus Grin since 2005 when we planned and actually "executed" a 1+ week tour of our bands in Romania, which was, as far as I know, the first ever independent tour of a Romanian underground Extreme Metal band in my country, but most probably also the first tour of a US Thrash Metal band in Romania. Since then Rictus Grin kept on playing and releasing stuff even though Larry remained the only one from the original line-up, and here they are with the fifth full-length album, an 11 tracks effort clocking almost 40 minutes of playing time, offering a mix of a wide variety of sounds from everywhere Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Doom Metal, Thrash Metal and even a hint of Punk at times.

Because of the slow to (mostly) midtempo rhythms and the oppressive bass lines, to me it sounds more like a Heavy Doom act at the moment, but even that's such a relative label to be honest. Being a trio at times, especially when Larry does solos, the compositions feel like they would need a second guitar, but this is and I think always was Rictus Grin's approach, an unpretentious, fun-infused

take on Metal, simple, to the point and catchy. In comparison to their previous album to me it seems the production is less abrasive, less aggressive, directed more towards a darker atmosphere. Cool to listen to on vinyl, too (thanks Larry!); make sure you support this hard-working US act that's close to celebrating its first 2 decades of activity next year, there's so much passion, heart and soul invested in it you won't believe it! 7.5 RIENAUS (Finland) Saatanalle Kvlt - 2017 Black I'm a declared fan of Finnish Black Metal, I feel like almost everything this country produces in terms of Black Metal has its distinct aura of mysticism, its unique form of melodic harmonies within all those Black Metal spiky and razorsharp rhythms, and even if a legendary band like Azazel took into ridiculous territories with their alcohol infused performance at Steelfest, I still feel it was just an exception from the rule that this genre is and should be respected if hailing from Finland. Rienaus is lead by the above-mentioned Azazel's guitarist, Mavrofos, and actually it seems like its his own offspring even if he is helped on bass and backing vocals by J.H., also a founding member. This is Rienaus' second full-length, released 3 years after its debut, and made of 7 tracks clocking almost 40 minutes of fast, expressive, melancholic and melodic yet extremely abrasive and definitely cold Black Metal music I could portray like this: think you're walking through a deep forest, in a freezing Winter night, thinking about your past while enduring the bites of the cold outside. Introspective and raw Black Metal, that's how i percieve it although I have no idea what the lyrics are about.

The album starts quite shy but it turns out great by the end, a very good effort I'd say. 8 RUBUFASO MUKUFO / NERVOUS IMPULSE / EPICRISE (Czech Rep. / Canada / Ukraine) - Atomic Grind 3 Way More Hate / Darknagar - 2017 - Death Grind / Death Grind / Grind Who let the dogs out? Who, who? And they are fuckin' rabid, too! Sick three-way Grind split featuring three band that have a fair (not huge, but fair) name in the underground Grindcore scene, so plenty to enjoy for the fans of this music.

Opening are Rubufaso Mukufo, who are back after a 7 years hiatus in what concerns new releases, their previous studio material being also their debut album, ReMoLAB, in 2010. These 11 tracks are actually the tracks making the come-back EP, Violent Show, released by the band in digital format earlier in 2017.

11 tracks of fast paced Death Grind (occasional mid-paced passages to break monotony, too) with violent, rabid vocals, demented, complex drumming, good technical guitar inserts beside the regular heavy-ass riffs, an intense and insame atmosphere surrouning everything, it's like they just broke out of a mental hospital and killed a fair share of humans in the meantime. Sick, twisted, groovy, violent Death Grind.

Nervous Impulse from Canada is next, with 5 absolutely obliterating ultra-fast and terribly brutal tracks led by two types of sick vocals: uncontrollable vicious screams and cuffed yet sickening growls.

The instrumental part is a delight for any fans of this genre, it's impressive how these guys are blending so well absolute

devastation with technique at staggering speed throughout their set. That kind of brutal music that will have your jaw meet the floor, especially when the guys reach those sick guitar solos passages to make everything even more intricate.

Epicrise from Ukraine present us 7 tracks, 4 from their 2008 Dead Sea demo plus 3 covers, so I guess they either wanted to show their followers they are still alive, or they are finally preparing a real comeback after their 2008 debut and so far only full-length album. Intense, fast, heavy and disgusting Grindcore to make you puke your guts out; cool organic production, too!

Excellent split, if you're into this kind of music don't miss it, it's well worth your few bucks! Intense is the first word that comes to mind after the audition. 8.5 / 9.5 /8 SAVAGE ANNIHILATION (France) - Quand s'abaisse la croix du blaspheme XenoKorp - 2017 - Death Wow, this is one hell of a sombre music I tell you, Savage Annihilation's third studio album makes you feel these guys are never smiling, and on top of that they present you here the end of the World with all its implications, to the point of total annihilation, so from my point of view this album proves the band's name was perfectly chosen. This is traditional technical, complex, brutal as fuck Death Metal, a savage (link with the band name again) assault on all your senses for a bit over half an hour of music, with a one and a half minute outro that sounds like you're dead and ended up in heaven among angels that eventually turn up to be evil. Massive and oppressive production offering a crystal clear take on all instruments, brutal guitar riffs spiced up with excellent '90's type of guitar solos, subtle but supportive bass lines with the right amount of enhance here and there, just to make them present and highlight the bass player's skills (check out the emphasis on it and especially the solo on the second track, Par-dela les dunes de cadavres), and a merciless comprehensive growling vocalist that's not as versatile as the instruments, but imprints that savage take on the whole material. All in all this is an impressive new album from French Savage Annihilation, one of those albums that will make you feel there's still plenty of room for good outputs from the traditional Death Metal scene. 8.5 SEKTARISM (France) - La mort de l'infidele Zanjeer Zani - 2017 - Funeral Doom Although trying Death and Black Metal territories (under the Malekhamoves and Malhkebre monikers), the members of Sektarism are still determined to follow the experimental Funeral Doom path, and the new album (only their second although the band is alive since 2005) is a proof for that. The three tracks featured here are clocking more than a full hour of disturbing, simplistic, yet highly expressive music, one that painted a full action in my mind: it made me think of a middle-ages troubadour who finds out he has a terminal illness and then begins to express his despair and hate through music. The lyrics actually seem to talk about esoteric, occult things, but still not far away from the middle ages. The music is deeply experimental and theatrical, but to tell you the truth it's quite tough to get into, I guess you have to imagine your own "movie" and develop it along the way, with Sektarism's music as

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soundtrack and their vocalist as narrator (even if you don't know French, like me).

Don't expect anything headbangingfriendly here, this is aiming completely at the spiritual side of things although it is Metal after all. I have the digipak version here, which unfolded is shaped like a cross, a yellow cross, with all sort of symbols and writings worth discovering.

8 SEPULCHRAL (France) Rehearsal of the Living Dead Independent - 2016 - Death In my opinion this is what tapes are intended for: demos and rehearsal tapes, that's why we call them rehearsal TAPES and not rehearsal CDs, so kudos for Sepulchral for sticking up to the oldschool way. Actually the 3 tracks on this tape seem to have been composed and arranged by a founding member that's no longer in the band, Thierry Vandamme, back in 1990, and the current members rearranged them in 2016, hence this tape was recorded and released in 200 copies.

The music is old-school obscure sounding Death Metal with gory lyrics and a few occasional Punk influences on drums, but nothing to be annoyed by if you don't like those. 10 minutes of total monsters lurking darkness and desecration, a truly sinister sounding music based on catchy guitar riffs and intense rhythm section, with occasional slower passages to make things even more oppressive. I'm not that fond of the main vocal tone, but the supporting one, although processed, sounds fucking obscene, like a raging and dying animal you're about to encounter; I've always loved this type of vocals, they enhance the horror in any Death Metal song. All in all Sepulchral sounds great for old-school Death Metal maniacs, they bring nothing new to the table, but the atmosphere they manage to create are well worth your time. 8 SINLUST (France) - Sea Black M & O - 2017 - Black After 6 years since their debut album titled Snow Black, Sinlust are back with the followup material, Sea Black, an album made of 8 tracks totaling over an hour of music. These guys' type of Black Metal is quite far from the traditional core of the genre as we know it, it's more progressive and open to new sonorities all the time so that in the end I'd say it's quite an easy listening, suitable for many categories of listeners. For the Black Metal fans though I think this will be a bit of disappointment though, apart from the abrasiveness of the vocals and the occasional blast-beat drumming, there's not much aggression and ferocity, and as a "bonus" the vocals become quite dull after a while, there's a serious lack of versatility in the vocal sector from start to finish with the exeption of very few (nice sounding) clear vocals insertions that should have been used much more. The compositions are like created to show the potential and technique the guitar sector has, but while doing this they miss building a strong, involving, interesting atmosphere, I think a band should be more than showing technical skills, should build and transmit emotions.

There's potential in this band, but on this album they failed to impress me, try it yourselves you might be of another opinion. 6 SOLFERNUS (Czech Rep.) Neoantichrist Satanath / Murdher - 2017 - Black

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This is the first time I come across this band's name, even if it is around since 2002 and features some big names in the Czech Black Metal scene like Igor and Pavel from Root, or Parambucha from Asgard, and before Pavel took the drums, they were "operated" by Tomas from Lykathea Aflame (not Black Metal, I know, but still a well known name back in the beginning of the '00's). This new album, the band's second opus, comes out 12 years (!) after its predecessor, Hysteria in Coma, out in 2005, and in the meantime the band had no notable activity on discographic level, not sure how active they were live though. And judging by that, and the fact the band itself makes an aggressive and thorough promotion campaign for it, beside what the labels are supposedly doing, means not only that it was a really awaited material, but also one that represents the band in full at the moment, one that makes them darn proud, so from this point of view I'd say it's well worth at least an audition. There are 10 tracks offered here in a bit under 40 minutes of playing time, and what impressed me from the first audition was the variety, the vast territory these compositions stretch without though leaving the Black Metal field at all, so the overall impression is still of a deeply Black Metal rooted band, not of an experimental one, rather an experimented and mature ensemble that knows exactly what and where to insert at any time. The album has its melodic parts, its blastbeats-induced furious Black Metal ones, and even some Thrash Death influenced ones, but the main attraction should be the versatility the band moves and builds complex structures. The guest appearance of Big Boss on the fourth track, Pray for Chaos!, is just the cherry on the cake, the album in itself has a lot of substance to offer to the listeners, so I can only recommend it to you, too! 9 SOYUZ BEAR (France) - Black Phlegm Zanjeer Zani - 2017 - Sludge Doom Hailing from the beautiful city of Toulouse, Soyz Bear were founded in 2012, and here they are after 5 years releasing their debut album, a 6 tracks effort clocking a bit over half an hour of music. Mixing Sludge, Doom and a few Black Metal (on vocals) and even Hardcore (I'd say) spices here and there, their music sounds versatile enough to trouble your intuition, basically you won't be able to tell what's going to happen next (ffs, there's even a Noise track thrown inthere!), and that's great! I wouldn't say they are groundbreaking or anything, but the album is interesting, has a nice flow and becomes catchy from the first audition, there's enough heaviness to involve the Doom fanatics, enough dirt to cater the Sludge followers, and enough versatility to get on others' playlists, too, so from my point of view the band reached its purpose with their debut. 7.5 STORMFRONT (Norway) Djevelpakt No Colours 2017 - Black Hailing from a city, Lillehammer, that's more known for its winter sports connections than its Black Metal scene even to affictionados, Stormfront was formed back in 1996 and acted as a trio for a few years before becoming a one man band, format in which this debut album, Djevelpakt, was recorded and released. 8 tracks clocking almost 40 minutes of traditional Norwegian Black

Metal influenced mainly (in my opinion)

by Darkthrone, Djevelpakt sounds rather primitive in composition and execution, there's not much polishing here, the tracks structures are predictable and the execution is nothing to impress either. I'd say the dying, decadent vocals are the only element that stands out on this album unfortunately, even if most of they time their harmonies are in sync with the guitar riffs which I hate profoundly. The drums parts are too simple both in rhythms and technique, the guitars are repetitive and offer no real memorable moments, and the bass lines are blunt, you can hear and follow them but they sound rather like a wall of sound than real influential bass lines. Some of you might prefer their Black Metal this way, so by all mean, give this album a try on the internet, but even if primitive (or especially if), I prefer more aggressive sounding Black Metal, more expressive and particular, sorry, this one didn't do it for me. 6 STORMGOAT (Sweden) Stormgoat Iron Blood Death Corp. - 2016 Hard'n'Heavy The band name, the cover artwork and the label this album is released on gave me the impression I was about to deal with a Black Metal material, but I was far from the truth. Stormgoat, although made of musicians coming from the Extreme Metal field (and that's quite obvious), plays a dirty kind of Hard'n'Heavy, a mix between AC/DC and Iron Maiden with the rawness and dirtiness of Motorhead, I guess a weekend fun thing for its three members. It's not a band material at all, some of the tracks are quite catchy and would be perfect for a night out drinking and having fun with friends, or for a motto festival, but it's far from what the masters of this genre did some decades ago, and most of them are still doing it in style. The vocals don't raise up to the necessary level for fans of this genre to embrace it properly, then the somehow psychedelic passages that pop up here and there (track 5 especially) are quite boring, so those would be my complaints, but the guitar part is groovy as hell, the bass lines are excellent, and the drumming, although nothing complex or demanding, keep things heavy all the time. It's obvious this is just a fun thing, and I'm sure they do have a lot of fun playing in this project beside their "regular" bands, but it still needs something more I think. Anyway, with all this current revival thing going on I wouldn't be surprised to see them reaching cult status in certain circles though...

STORMHAVEN (France) Exodus Independent - 2017 - Progressive Death Seven years after their foundation Stormhaven manage to release their debut album, following only an EP, released 3 years ago, so we're dealing with a not so productive band. This material is made of 3 chapters, but the first one is actually split in three sub-chapters, so all in all we get 6 long tracks totaling almost a full hour of melodic and atmospheric Progressive Death Metal highlighted by the heavy use of keyboards both on supporting background and on upfront passages, heavy vocals combining lowtoned growls and vicious shrieks, intricate yet quite repetitive and catchy guitar work, and an intense rhythm section. It's all done with good taste, but there could have been more surprises like the Techno Thrash-like influences on track 3, or the excellent guitar and bass solos, or jazzy

piano insertions, or theatrical-like clean vocal choir on track 5, but their existence prove the band is capable of excellent things, these two tracks only are raising the band level with at least a bar and makes the Progressive term in their genre definition to be well deserved. Overall an unsurprising album, but with a few passages and ideas that will melt your brain, so it's a well worth checking out material. 8 SUBSTRATUM (USA) Substratum Swords and Chains - 2016 - Heavy This is actually the band's debut album from 2016, but in the meantime they have already (for sure by the time you're reading this) released a new one, Permission To Rock, so this might seem outdated, but anyway, I have received it for an opinion and here I go. Substratum are hailing from the Grunge capital, Seattle, but their music couldn't be more distant from the genre that made this city famous all over, they are a female fronted '80's classic Heavy Metal band whose music is based on memorable assaults of guitar riffs, with plenty of hooks, good leads and clever solos, certain to make you bang your heads throughout the 52 minutes playing time and beyond. Some of the tracks are thrashier, and some have a more Rock feeling, but Amy Lee Carlson's vocals make them all sound angry and energetic, she not only looks, but also sounds like a true front-woman for the band, expressive and influential; the guitarists are taking influences from the '80's and even '70's, there's plenty of diversity to enjoy (the intro from track 7, Curse of the Soothsayer Part I: The Beggar's Toll, reminded me of Scorpions believe it or not); the drums sound organic and unpolished, and the bass lines are subtle but deep enough to bring more heaviness to the pot. Even if it's not the most original thing ever, it sounds like there's plenty more where this came from, and above all it makes you feel like they mean it, like they are in this genre for good, not only for fashion (see the retro fashion), they sound genuine. 8 SUM OF R (Switzerland) - Orga Czar Of Crickets / Cyclic Law - 2017 Ambient Psychedelic Ritualistic Music Hailing from Switzerland, this duo reached their third full-length album 9 years since the band's inception. The name of this album, Orga, is the abbreviation of "organic", something the band would very much like to have their music labeled as, and although this is 100% instrumental (well, if we don't count the cuts from different astronauts' conversations), it sounds, indeed quite organic, atmospheric and ethereal but at the same time organic and palpable. It made me feel I'm on a spaceship experiencing everything an astronaut does, including the clichee of meeting new forms of life; it's a wide, open, thrilling experience that has to be felt, not described. Featuring its fair share of ritual, repetitive, mesmerizing elements, Orga is made of an impressive complex palette of harmonies and sounds, with plenty of different noises to discover along the way.

Since I'm no expert in this genre, I can only say the audition was a rich experience, a superb mix of white noise, space ambient, "regular" noise and meditation.

SVARTSTORM (Russia) - Illusion of Choice Requiem Distribution - 2017 - Melodic Death

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Probably Melodic Death Metal is a too strong label for Svartstorm's music, but the biggest similarities are with this genre, adding on top Power Metal, Gothic Doom and Melodic Heavy Metal influences to result into an eclectic, versatile music that's quite hard to locate on a certain path.

This is the band's debut album, released after a couple of EPs and singles that paved the way during the 6 years of Svartstorm's existence. I've listen to it twice already and what stood out after these coupld of auditions were the keyboards that reminded me a lot of the East European Metal keyboards tone used in the end of '90's - beginning of the '00's, and the good vocal performance in both clean and growling vocal territories. It's not a game changing release, but it's enjoyable, professionally crafted, solid and curdled, and so for a debut full-length I think the band can be proud of what they realized. The CD booklet is completely in Russian, someone like me who doesn't know a bit of this language might get frustrated for not understanding a thing, but since the lyrics are also completely in Russian I guess the band is exclusively addressing to Russian speaking audiences. 7 TEMPLE ABATTOIR (Spain) Cacoangelion Vertebrae 2017 - Black After a quite long hiatus, this Spanish demonic trio Temple Abattoir are back with a new studio material, this time a 5 tracks EP clocking close to 25 minutes. I have a soft spot for A5 digipak releases and this one looks sick, indeed, starting with the expressive front cover that comes as a small poster within the case, too, and ending with the 4 pages booklet that features the lyrics that in Temple Abattoir's case are deeply important in the overall atmosphere and "story" of the material. We're offered traditional midtempo to fast paced Black Metal with raw and dark production that still stays within the confines of "good quality" though.

Razor-sharp tremolo riffs are combined with other more melancholic I'd say, supported by a strong, upfront bass line and an organic sounding drums section, and all this fronted by ferocious almost growling vocals backed by Black Metal shrieks like bursting from the underground, very sinister sounding. So even though the whole can be stamped as traditional Black Metal and you'll know from the start here it's headed, I'd say it's still quite versatile and offering in many aspects, it's a dense material able to captivate your attention throughout its whole length, and most important, proves Temple Abattoir has the potential to be one of the leading names in Spanish Black Metal. 8.5 THE

SATAN'S SCOURGE (Colombia) Threads of Subconscious Torment Terror from Hell - 2017 - Thrash Black Death Trio from Colombia founded in 2002 which apparently relocated to Argentina in 2011. Although a trio (one might say composing should be easier and faster in this format), The Satan's Scourge haven't been that much active on discographic level, they've only managed to release a couple of demos, two EPs including this one, and a split with Nocturnal Vomit, pretty scarce for a band counting 15+

years of activity. Anyway, this new EP is made of 9 original tracks, an Impaled Nazarene and a Bathory cover, all counting only a bit over 20 minutes of playing time. The music could be described as a very dirty, extreme, fast paced, furious mix of Thrash, Black and Death Metal, with emphasis on delivering ferocious tunes rather than complex, technical compositions, so you'll know what to expect. I don't find this band any different from the huge amount of similar bands invading the scene lately, but I have to admit the production of this EP is good enough, the brutality delivered is impressive, and I'm sure fans of this genre will have plenty to enjoy here. 7 THYRGRIM (Germany) Vermachtnis Trollzorn 2017 - Pagan Black Although a band with almost 15 years of activity and 5 studio albums released before this one I'm talking about here, this is the first time I hear (or better said notice) about Thygrim, so I guess they were really focused on the German auditory and market, and their lyrics completely in German language kind of prove me right. This is the band's sixth full-length album, an 11 tracks effort clocking almost an hour of Pagan Black Metal, mostly mid-tempo with some fast paced outbursts as well, led by an abrasive, shrieking vocal that sounds somehow comprehensive, at least for the German speaking public. On guitars level some of the tracks offer a more Black Metal approach, with straight-forward tremolo pickings, interesting and quite varied, and some others offer a more "spiritual", meditative and epic side of Thyrgrim (well, if you can get over the razor-sharp vocals), and there's where the Pagan element jumps in. A good effort, with plenty to discover and enjoy, but without something to actually stand out, to become memorable I'd say; fans of Pagan Metal, Black Metal infused Pagan Metal, not the happy kind, should try it out. 7.5 TIRAN (Russia) Apocalyptic Tales Wings of Death / Metal Race / More Hate - 2017 - Thrash With 12 years of activity underbelt Tiran still seems to be the project of its mastermind, guitarist and vocalist Tiran, and this third full-length is a new proof of that. The album was conceived and recorded during 2013 and 2016, with plenty of drama surrounding the line-up in the meantime which led to members changes as well. Tiran set himself a target to release three fulllength albums with this band, and niw that it reached this goal it's interesting to see if he will continue the project.

Talking about the music inhere, we're dealing with fast paced, adrenaline-filled (Speed) Thrash Metal with occasional Death Metal influences, highlighted by a raw but clean at the same time sound, a rabid vocal line that leads perfectly and makes the music as a whole to stand-out of the crowd, then we get a traditional tongue in cheek guitar work with plenty of catchy moments and leads of rhythm changes, and an organic sounding rhythm section. For old-school ('80's) Thrash Metal maniacs there's a lot to enjoy here even though we cannot talk about originality anymore in this territory; Tiran is a cool and passionate band and this new album sounds honest as fuck, give it a chance! 8

TOTENGEFLUSTER (Germany) - Im Nebel der Verganglichkeit Pale Essence - 2017 - Symphonic Black German Totengefluster are back 4 years after their highly impressive debut album, with an even more impressive followup.

The band clearly reminds me of the '90's Cradle of Filth, but even more of the Russian Tvangeste, a band that was intensively promoted in the beginning of the new millennium, a band that was even regarded as a proud successor of Cradle of Filth, but one that disappeared as fast as it appeared. Anyway, the difference between these bands is that Totengefluster is a DIY band so far, Pale Essence being one of the members' own label, so they are pushing everything by themselves. From the visual point of view the band is absolutely flawless in both the graphic side of this second studio album and the band's image, at least in the booklet pictures and video they released in support for the album, the band members appear like some sort of aristocratic ghouls, very close to the image Bram Stoker gave to Transylvania through his Dracula book. From the music point of view Totengefluster's compositions are mid-tempo to fast paced Melodic Black Metal heavily supported by emphasized symphonic keyboards throughout the whole material painting a horrifying yet dreamy and mesmerizing at the same time atmosphere close to what Cradle of Filth used to do back in the days, but not copying the British in no way (and getting back to my first mention, Tvangeste's music had some CoF in it, Totengefluster are their own thing). I would have liked the vocal part to be even more complex and varied, maybe a few female vocals, and choirs, other than the ones made by keys, would have been great. Anyway, all in all another impressive, carefully planned and delivered release by Totengefluster, I can see this band at the top of Worldwide Symphonic Black Metal sooner or later.

9.5 VALGRIND (Italy) - Seal of Phobos Everlasting Spew - 2017 Death Wow, this band is active since '93, so we're dealing here with a true veteran of the scene, although for my shame this is the first time I meet their music. Oldschool Death Metal of US inspiration is the name of the game here, and Valgrind do it pretty well; I'm not that fond of the production here, to me the whole sounds pretty thin and abrasive, I would have liked an oppressive, dark sound for this music, but passing over this "inconvenient" I find the tracks really good, mostly because of those fantastic long guitar solos a la '90's Tampa Bay, and because of the overall pace and energy of Valgrind's music. There are some pretty good riffs featured here as well as some generic ones, the bass lines are fat and metallic as they should be, and the drumming is fast and brutal as fuck, with a sound quality to advantage them, these tracks would have produced serious damage, but in this form they are only good and that's it. Anyway, Valgrind is definitely an interesting band worth following, the mysterious, mystical outro of this EP promises things are not over and the worst is just yet to come... hopefully! 7 VANISH (Germany) - The Insanity Abstract

Fastball - 2017 - Power After a second album released in 2014 under the Massacre Records label, here's Stuttgart based Vanish following up that material with their third studio opus, this time released on Fastball Music. I'd be curious to see what triggered the band's leave from such a prestigious label as Massacre and join the fast and steady growing Fastball, it may mean Massacre is going down, or not catering their bands properly, or that the band didn't raise up to their standards, or that simply Fastball made a better offer, but either way, it should be interesting to hear. 12 new tracks making an hour of melodic and technical Power Metal, darker than I have expected to say the truth (the five guys look like they are a boys band in the booklet picture, so I was expecting something way mellower), but still extremely accessible and open to wide audiences. The vocals of Bastian Rose are absolutely superb, especially when there are multiple layers of them, perfectly complimenting and leading an already colourful, versatile and expressive instrumental part, and there are also many synth inserts to make the compositions sound fresh and somehow futuristic, so from my point of view this album will touch multiple ages of Power Metal followers and not only, it for sure has the class and technicality to impress and catch their attention. Vanish is a band I should have heard of until now, and if you're like me, just meeting their name, I urge you to go check their music out right away, it will be well worth it. 9 VIN DE MIA TRIX (Ukraine) Palimpsests Hypnotic Dirge / Cimmerian Shade - 2017 Progressive Funeral Doom Monumental is the right word for this second studio album from Ukrainian Vin de Mia Trix, a quartet that's celebrating its first decade of activity. The new album is made of only 4 tracks but they are long enough for a double CD release, more than 100 minutes of "open minded" Funeral Doom Metal, or Progressive how many will call it. Unlike most of the Funeral Doom we're used to, VdMT's music attracted influences from many other genres and the result is versatile, complex, balanced, epic and expressive.

It took the guys 6 years to produce such a titanic work, but as they hoped for, it was well worth it, the album easily manages to take the listener to its own dimension and keeps it captive for as long as the two discs last. The guitar work is excellent, there are many, many layers and facets of it to discover and enjoy, managing to fully fill for the lack of keyboards in emphasizing the melodies, the bass lines are not only very important in the overall atmosphere, but also give the material a classy touch with plenty of upfront "solos", the drumming is subtle but at the same time dramatic, acting like the real backbone of VdMT's music, and last but not least the vocals are exactly as versatile and interesting as they should be, delivering everything from enchanting clean vocals to choirs, to growls and even Black Metal shrieks at times, everything you can imagine. The overall atmosphere and feeling of the album is of course sad and sombre, but this doesn't mean it's a monotone material, on the contrary, it offers a lot, don't be afraid to try it even if at first its length might appear too much.

What a release! 10

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VINEGAR HILL (Austria) - Ghost Flowers Art Gates - 2017 - Melodic Death Here's the power of a label deal: people like me get to hear of bands that otherwise are truly and absolutely hidden, and the proof is this Austrian band with a curious name to say the least, that's already at its third studio album, but of whom I hear for the first time just now. they've been working on their own or with obscure labels so far and although this year it's the 10th anniversary, this third album and the deal they got with Art Gates will probably mark their welldeserved "release". Ghost Flowers is a 10 tracks work clocking 50 minutes of modern and melodic Metal having as distant (nota bene: distant!) relatives the Gothemburg Melodic Death Metal scene on one side and the European Melodic Power Metal on the other, and looking at it as a whole you'll also find plenty of Metalcore inspired elements all over which gives the whole a somehow young feeling, a modern approach, actually most of the times the material is closer to Metalcore than Melodic Death Metal...

Any way you'd like to call it, Vinegar Hill's new album is a fresh, modern, entertaining piece of Metal that will appeal to both older and younger type of fans, I can see this band go far with this material and with the push of their new label, now it's time to back it up with an intense live activity, of course. 8.5 VOIDS OF VOMIT (Italy) - Ritval Expiation Everlasting Spew - 2017 - Death Initially released on Unholy Domain Records as tape last year, this new EP from Italian Voids of Vomit is no out on Everlasting Spew as CD and 7" vinyl, and features 2 new tracks and 4 bonus ones, the tracks featured on the band's 2008 split with Morbid Upheaval, including the cover version of Asphyx' Rite of Shades. The music is damn sinister, oppressive, groovy and to a certain degree catchy as well, and compared to the old tracks the new ones have a clearer, more massive sound, and benefit from the excellent addition of subtle atmospheric keys in the background that emphasize the sinister side of VoV's music. The guitar work is a bit more intricate, beside the groovier constructions I'd say they also add a certain Brutal Death influence to spice things up. The vocalist and drummer are the same as 9 years ago, but still it's clear they improved as well, the vocals are more comprehensive and blunt, and the drums part is the backbone of the band's music, a serious push ahead. All in all it's a damn good EP, the two new tracks prove Voids of Vomit are serious about this, so it remains to see what's next for the band. 8.5 WAFFENTRAGER LUZIFERS (Germany) - Ten Years of Total Goat Worship Stunde des Ideals / Total Death - 2017 Thrash Black As you may have guessed it, this is not a new studio album from Waffentrager Luzifers but rather a compilation of tracks released along the 10 years of activity that are being celebrated here. 20 tracks, almost 70 minutes of playing time released in form of a Digipak limited to

only 67 copies, and a box limited to 33 copies featuring a flag, a patch and a poster as bonus goodies, so I guess for their fans this will be a real treat, and after 10 years of activity, coming from such an effervescent Metal scene as Germany's, it won't be long until they move all copies, or at least it shouldn't be.

The music on it, for those unfamiliar with the band, is a primitive, simplistic Black Metal with serious Thrash and Punk influences, and even a few (rare indeed) Heavy Metal hints here and there. So we're dealing with constant speed, repetitive rhythms, monotone screaming vocals, organic, analog recordings and the

word Satan in almost all track titles, a simplistic description for a simplistic music, Hellhammer comes to mind at first when listening to this. I'm not a fan of such recordings, I have to admit it, as I find the tracks having little to no variety at all, not to mention the catchiness level that's close to zero, but I'm sure (and I know) there are plenty of you guys out there that prefer this rough, primitive type of compositions to the nowadays overcosmetized and over-shiny production, so you might give this a try. 6 WOLF COUNSEL (Switzerland) - Age of Madness / Reign of Chaos

Czar of Bullets - 2017 - Doom Led by Ralf Winzer Garcia, member of the Swiss Thrash Metal legend Poltergeist, Wolf Counsel seems to be a very productive band so far: in a bit over three years of activity they released 3 fulllength albums, and since the previous album Wolf Counsel is a full line-up band consisting of 4 musicians, so it's even more interesting how they can manage to compose new stuff so quickly. The new material is made of 7 tracks and clocks a bit over 40 minutes of playing time.

Traditional Doom Metal is the game here, complete with all you would like to get from such a clean vocals, slow and heavy

riffs, catchy leads and solos, organic drumming, oppressive bass lines and and overall dark atmosphere, not to forget the good lyrical content. The biggest surprise on this album is the 4th track, O'death, which sees the joint venture with a female vocalist and the result is simply spectacular giving the whole album a fresher impression. Although the album in its entirety is very good, with plenty to taste for a Doom Metal fan, I'd say we're yet to see (read listen) Wolf Counsel's work, they do have the potential to deliver a true masterpiece at any point. 8

Underground Metal Press Arch Vile #4 (Hungary) This is the best Arch Vile issue so far from print quality point of view, hell, the letters almost seem like silver on black and that looks so cool... Again plenty of grindcore, noise, power-violence and such presented here in interviews and reviews. I don't know many similar zines around, but this one is becoming a household name at least for zines coming out of this part of Europe. I'm glad the two editors kept the same layout based on old pixelated arcade games, and the same format, which is like an A5 but horizontally oriented. Fans of abovementioned genres (and not only) should better get this in their collection! posthumanzine@gmail.com Corrosive Altars #4 (USA) Nice little A5 zine from the States featuring a few but interesting interviews with underground Extreme Metal names (most known being Unholy Archangel from my point of view), informative reviews and an article about Deicide. 40 pages, clean two columns layout with easy to read fonts, not much more to add; yet another cool zine to have in your collection. sephiroticprod@gmail.com Doom Metal Lexicanum (book) I think this is the first attempt of its kind, the first Doom Metal lexicon where the most important names of the genre are listed and dissected by the author, and by the amplitude this genre has reached in recent years one can agree this book is quite welcome and needed. Alexey Evdokimov from Russia is the author and the book was released by Dayal Patterson's Cult Never Dies Publishing company. Almost 300 pages which, before ordering, I thought would be quite boring (based on previous lexicons I've seen/read), but I was wrong, Alexey takes inspiration from various interviews with the bands beside their official bios, and also adds his own views on their music, like album reviews within the articles. Good job, and an essential read for Doom Metal fanatics. cultneverdies.com Forgotten Path #9 (Lithuania) Odium continues his path with Forgotten Path and becomes probably the best Black Metal zine in Europe at the moment because apart from the fantastic look of this zine, the extremely informative and in-depth interviews, the honest reviews and clever articles, it comes with an advantage to the other zines around: the serious, predictable, dependable work around it that makes it ready for release each November of the year. I think this time more than half of the bands featured were unknown to me so discovering new interesting names, bands that take things supposedly as serious as Odium does, is one of the main objective of Forgotten Path, Black Metallers can rely on it. forgotten.path.mag@gmail.com Headbangers #8 (Holland) One of my all time fave zines is back with another issue, in the same style as the previous ones, so if you know it already, you know exactly what to expect: a mini-book full of interviews and reviews covering styles as diverse as Hard Rock / AOR to Black and Death Metal, from new, emerging, totally unknown bands to old legends we all know or legends we haven't heard or thought of for a long-long time, bringing them back to attention. This is definitely one of the most diverse zines active Today, I hope all of you support or will start to support it! headbangerszinemarco@gmail.com

This is the first time I get to read this fantastic looking magazine from Bolivia, and I have to say I'm really impressed of it; professional printed, glossy paper, color cover with an extra-glossy foil covering part of it (don't know how to explain it), 68 pages of Extreme Metal interviews and reviews published in both Spanish and English, so its target is way larger than the rest of the zines around. If I were to be a teenager and get across this zine, it would have definitely marked my youth and made me start my own zine. Excellent magazine, go get a copy asap! holocausto.zine@hotmail.com Into the Tomb #2 (Poland) Very cool little A5 format zine, xeroxed, old-school, focused on underground Black Metal; most bands interviewed were totally unknown to me, so this fanzine provided a great opportunity to meet new blood. The first issue was in Polish only, that's why the editor, Rafal, decided to publish some of its interviews in this one, too, in English this time. The layout is very nice, I was used to this type of layout in Black Metal zines in the '90's and beginning of the '00's, with many (unclear) pics, easy to read fonts, and the interviews are quite informative.

Recommended! intothetombzine@gmail.com Necroscope #31 (Poland) No need to introduce Necroscope, if you don't know it yet, you better do your homework and get in touch with Adam for at least a copy of the longest running underground zine in Poland, maybe in the whole of Europe. It seems like Adam is living for this zine and this zine alone, each issue is absolutely packed with information (tond of interviews, tone of reviews), and in this case we're talking about an 140 pages behemoth of a zine! Nothing more to add except Adam has already released issue 32, so don't waste any more time and order your copy right away! necroscope1@wp.pl Noise Mattanza #3 (Peru) I have no info on this zine in regards to what issue I hold in my hands or where the editor comes from, I only know what I was able to find out from its pages, that this is probably the last issue he releases. 16 A5 pages featuring 3 interviews with Posthuman zine from Hungary among others, not only about music but also politics and social topics, too. It has a Punk feel to it especially because of the cover, but not only. Not very good xerox quality, very simple single column layout, a very fast read; not bad, but could have been way, way better. cedipo@libero.it (PS: I later found some info about this zine, like coutry, issue and contact in the latest issue of Arch Vile, where it is reviewed, so thank you David!)

Northern Darkness #8 (UK) I find this new issue from Northern Darkness simple and to the point, but by simple I mostly mean straightforward, without too many effects on the edges, exactly like the short introductory editorial suggests; the one column lay-out contributes to this feeling of mine, too.

We're getting a few informative interviews (NWOBHM legends Avenger, Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult and Under the Church among others) quite long and as informative reviews, and a nice live report, an hour worth of good relaxing reading. luke.hayhurst@outlook.com Throne of Chaos #6 (Portugal)

Holocausto #7 (Bolivia)

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64 A5 pages zine focused mainly on Black Metal, well, almost exclusively actually, with acceptable quality photocopying, clean layout, aired and easy to read, featuring interesting interviews with underground names, most of them I've never heard before, plus a good chat with the editor or Lithuanian Forgotten Path zine. If you're into discovering new sonorities through reading zines Throne of Chaos is a good choice, at least to me it unveiled some interesting bands. pgrave73@gmail.com Tough Riffs #4 (France) Wow, this magazine is getting better and better with each new issue, and its editor, Dima, releases it quite often; there is actually a new issue out at the moment I'm writing this. Not only the bands chosen to be interviewed are top-notch (Autopy, Obituary, Immolation, Beheaded, Acrostichon, Brodequin and others, yum-yum!), but the interview questions are raising the bar as well, with plenty of non-standard topics touched within. Hands down one of the best Death Metal zines active Today! toughriffs@gmail.com Ultimate Darkness #3 (Malaysia) This is a zine released by two Malaysia based brothers that produced such a wave of respect that the three issues released so far were compiled into a book and re-released as such! There are 18 years since issue 2 was released but it seems the flame is still burning high for these maniacs and they are back on the barricades. Issue 3 features 51 (!) interviews in 126 pages, so damn impressive I'm speechless; and naming a few bands interviewed will make it a must buy for anyone: Venom Inc, Blasphemy, Sadistik Exekution, Treblinka, Merciless, Pan-Thy-Monium, Tormentor, Protector, Old Funeral, Master's Hammer or Infernal Majesty, wow, wow, wow!). draugaldrahn@gmail.com Ultimate Darkness - Zine Anthology 1995 / 2017 Dayal Patterson and brothers Karl and Ason offer the 3 issues of Ultimate Darkness zine under one roof, not an original, but a cool idea that opens the '90's Underground Metal World to the reader seen through the eyes of these 2 dedicated metal brothers. Not the best English writing, but certainly comprehensive, with a layout that's typical to the '90's zines, easy to read, with what some may call Today "a lot of lost, empty space", but I think that's quite necessary for the eyes to adjust better to the small fonts.

200+ pages of underground literature. cultneverdies.com Ultra Damaged - Damage Inc. zine Anthology 1985 / 2017 Part of his recent series called Underground Archives, Dayal Patterson and his Cult Never Dies publishing house, offer us here a compilation of Maniac's own zine, Damage Inc, the 3 released issues of it: 1 from 1986, 1 from 1987 and 1 from 2017. For the first two it's obvious Maniac was a teenager and the enthusiasm was tremendous; the interviews aren't that in depth and/or informative, but they're honest and denote a certain desire of Maniac's to become professional, it's clear he was envisioning himself as becoming a professional writer at some point (especially in the interview he did with Kirk Hammet of Metallica) although this is mixed with typical teenage fanaticism and is a fun read. cultneverdies.com

Last Minute Reviews AZZIARD (France) - Metempsychose Malpermesita - 2017 - Black Metal Azziard are back after 3 years since their impressive second album, Vesanie, this time with an album out on the newly founded and funny sounding (at least to me it sounds funny) Malpermesita Records. Metempsychose is even better than Vesanie, the band got more atmospheric, more intense, vicious and mysterious, borrowing plenty of new techniques from the new Black Metal bands out there, but still keeping things brutal and traditional, without any space for mellow stuff. Sinister is a word that could best define what's happening on this new album, but I'd say the technical level has also improved, there are plenty of impressive elements thrown in all over the place, like GoreGrind-like vocals, or Heavy Metal leads and solos, but the overall delivery is of a solid Death Metal influenced Black Metal, fast (to sickening fast) paced and fronted by a damn versatile and interesting vocal section that takes the aggression to another level. One hell of an impressive album coupled with one hell of an impressive and memorable cover artwork. 9 BEASTCRAFT (Norway) - The Infernal Gospels of Primitive Devil Worship Pulverised - 2017 - Black Metal Beastcraft was the project of Trondr Nefas, founding members of Urgehal, and Northgrove from Vulture Lord.

Unfortunately Trondr died in 2012, but the legacy of Beastcraft seems to never end, and that's amazing, there are plenty of releases after Trondr's death, a live album, an EP, a compilation, a split with Black Altar and this one, a 9 tracks fantastic full-length album clocking 40 minutes of Primitive Norwegian Black Metal. Beastcraft's music is like forged in the deep bowels of Gehenna, absolutely devastating, abrasive, sulfurous, and totally satanic and offensive, music to provoke a repulsive reaction from the listener (unless it's initiated in this kind of sounds, of course), some would say that's how Black Metal should sound like and to a certain point I agree, that's how traditional, ugly, hateful Black Metal should sound like. Even if the music is primitive, there are plenty of passages to understand we're dealing with skilled musicians here, and apart from the fast, unrelenting Black Metal hurricanes that spring all over the place here, we're also served some interesting atmospheric midtempo passages where the music gets more oppressive and melancholic would be a big and inappropriate term, but somehow meditative would do it better justice. Urgehal (and not only) followers will be thrilled with this new album from Beastcraft! 9 FLEURETY (UK) Inquietum Aesthetic Death 2017 - Avantgarde Metal Inquietum is basically a compilation of all tracks featured on the four EPs released between 2009 and 2017 under Aesthetic Death, 9 tracks in total, 45 minutes duration, the perfect way to advertise a bit more the release of the band's long awaited new album, The White Death released in the meantime on Peaceville.

Mostly based on repetitive patterns, Fleurety's music is definitely not the most

accessible, but it also offers a high dose of avantgarde, experimental elements to make things interesting and captivate the listener's attention til the end; one could say it's damn catchy, but only to those looking for the weirdest stuff around.

With a pronounced industrial, even electronic edge Fleurety prove they are not afraid to experiment, an even more than that, they are eager to do it even more than 2 decades after their most acclaimed effort, their debut album Min tid skal komme, one that marked my youth as well.

HEIMSGARD (France) Following the Starlight Epictural 2018 - Pagan Folk Metal Today I've had the luck to listen and review only good and very good materials and Heimsgard's latest effort, its second full-length album is definitely no exception from this rule. Following the Starlight continues the work Raido (also in Karne and Malevolentia) started three years ago with Ordrag and even takes it a step further. The material comes in form of a classy looking digipak with 16 pages booklet with all lyrics, and features 13 tracks in a bit over an hour of playing time. Beside the enchanting Folk inserts, epic atmospheres and Black Metal influenced guitar riffs, we're also getting much more flavor on the guitar work, plenty of melodic leads and solos that give an extra value to the whole material.

Then the addition of a session (very good) female vocalist is an excellent idea as well, because together with the keyboard lines they emphasize the melodic side of this album. The balance between melody and aggression is finely crafted, no worries, there are some fast and brutal Black Metal inspired passages here and there, again very well thought and executed. Raido also does a good job on his vocals alternating rough, raspy Black Metal shrieks with epic, manly clean vocals and choirs, so all in all I'd say this turns out to be a very good album, complex, expressive, involving and catchy, well worth a chance. 8 HELLAVISTA (Austria) Robolution Art Gates 2018 - Groove Thrash Metal Three of the five members of Hellavista were previously members of a Thrash Death band called Freund Hein which activated between 1994 and sometime in the second decade of this century (wow, this sounds pretentious, right?), so basically we could think of a continuation of that band. Hellavista have no traces of Death in their music, but instead they added plenty of Groove influences to their Thrash Metal so that the end result is a catchy, mid-tempo to fast paced music that to me sounds like a groovy and less serious/sombre Metallica from the '80's maybe with a bit og Annihilator and Pantera thrown inthere. I very much like the long guitar solos that spice things up all the time, and also the addition of '70's like psychedelic keys to support the atmosphere in the background is a fine move from the band. My only regret/complaint is that not all tracks are as catchy as they could be, the band could have spent more time on developing the choruses parts. A fun, interesting album that won't change the World, but will

make a fine half an hour to any Thrasher out there. 7.5 MAD HATTER (Sweden) Mad Hatter Art Gates - 2018 - Power Metal Rather impressive to have a band like this formed in a year and debuted with a fulllength album less than a year later, on a pretty serious label as Art Gates is, and sounding so carefully thought and constructed. It's clear we're dealing with top-notch musicians here, and this debut album is just the proof of that, 11 tracks clocking an hour of melodic Power Metal, mostly fast-paced, built on a skeleton of fantasy-like keyboards, a very nice combination of regular epic Power Metal keys and '80's Electro synths. As we all know a Power Metal band needs an impressive voice to front it and Mad Hatter have just that, a versatile, capable, professional vocalist that can go anywhere he wants with his tonalities.

Apart from the already mentioned fine keyboards and vocals, Mad Hatter's first album rises to any other classic (Italian and not only) Power Metal album when the best days of this genre, the end of the '90's - beginning of the 00's, I'm sure fans of this genre will enjoy this album a lot.

8.5

minutes of playing time, a lot to enjoy for their fans and plenty to discover for the ones that don't know the band (including me). Stranger are quite versatile in style, ranging from Melodic Hard Rock to Heavy Metal, to Hard'n'Heavy and even plenty of Glam influences, one won't be able to pinpoint the band to a certain style, but you get where they point towards.

The production is excellent, clearly rooted in the '80's, with that particular flavor, but polished and crystal-clear, so I guess all listeners will enjoy it. The compositions are ranging from very catchy and hit-like to average, but they all are enjoyable and entertaining so all in all although we're getting a long album, it's far from being boring. I guess the reason this band didn't make it to Worldwide success back in the '80's was because of the lack of a serious label to support them abroad; now it's a bit too late for that, but not too late to make good music and have lots of fun - the band is back at it and recording new stuff from what I hear. 8

TERRA INCOGNITA (Greece) Fragments of a Ruined Mind Symmetric - 2017 - Melodic Heavy Metal To be honest it was hard for me to pass over The Word, the fourth track of this album simply because I like it so much and replayed it so many times I know it by heart now. It's the first time I meet this band's music and I find it absolutely SCHWARZACH smashing! Lead by a fantastic vocalist, (Germany) - Billy Vass, that will blow you away with Sieben Seelen his vocal range and composure, the band Independent - gathers the best from Heavy Metal, Power 2017 - Metal and Epic Metal and skillfully Medieval Industrial Black Metal throws it in our ears with class, of course Isn't it ironic to have both Industrial and supported by an excellent production. As Medieval in labeling a band's music? I said the highlight of this band are the admit this is my own combination of vocals, but the guitar work is also very terms, so I might be wrong, but to me impressive, varied, melodic and technical that's how this third full-length album at the same time, delivering plenty of from this German duo sounds like, a surprising moments yet keeping things combination of medieval harmonies and catchy and memorable all the time; the compositions (and apparently lyrical rhythm section is a powerful and solid themes as well, but again I wouldn't bet backbone for Terra Incognita's music, on it since I don't know German language) with its fair share of upfront moments for with industrial drumming section and both the drums and bass. Fragments of a effects all over the place, definitely teh Ruined Mind is a beautiful, deep, first time I hear this combination, think of enchanting Melodic Heavy Metal album, a mix between Mysticum and Abigor don't miss out on it! 10 with the rawness or a German sung vocal section. The emphasis of the guitar work VON HEXE is on the atmosphere, on creating melodic (Italy) - Promo and medieval soundscapes, rather than on 2017 reaching a high technical level, but that's Independent not necessarily a bad thing, on the 2017 - Black Metal contrary, it takes the music to a more This 3 tracks promo reminds accessible and catchy; some parts of the me of the good old advance tapes that album tent to contradict my previous were used in the '90's to promote an statement as we're delivered some almost upcoming release; and so this advance Progressive guitar harmonies, but overall CD promotes the band's debut album, I stand by my words. The album is Ord-o Acausa Caenaculum, released later interesting from start to finish, and if you in the year on War Kommand will, it "describes" a rougher, more Productions. 3 tracks of mid-tempo to fast abrasive side of the Medieval times as paced Black Metal building up quite a opposed to most such releases which tend mystical and sinister atmosphere I have to to add a bit more melody than would be say I've enjoyed a lot; the compositions necessary; it's an album that will grow on are traditional and repetitive on the one you with each new audition, so it did to hand, but also featuring plenty of me, and I'm glad I had the chance to meet refreshing and interesting/surprising turns the music of this German duo. 8 on the other hand. The production is clear enough yet still sounding organic and STRANGER (Holland) - Stranger crude, fully allowing the band to Headbangers - 2017 - Hard'n'Heavy demonstrate their abilities.

The This Dutch band seems to have been combination they did between traditional active and at its peak somewhere in the repetitive and mesmerizing razor-sharp '80's and '90's, and by the music they play Black Metal with the current sulfurous, I have no doubt they had a fair share of repugnant type of Black Metal, with some success, too, so their come-back is now hint of Epic (even Viking?) Black Metal celebrated by Headbangers Records with resulted into an catchy material, if the this CD, a compilation of 11 tracks from complete album is so good we'll probably demos and from the band's debut album have another new name to make its way and a few of their demos, more than 50 to the top of the genre. 8

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The following is a transcript of an interview conducted by J.R. “The Butcher” Torina and John Longshaw (Black Seas of Infinity) with their mutual friend Dean “Goatgrinder” Diaz, via telephone, with Voices of Wonder, the record label in Norway that took over Deathlike Silence Productions after Euronymous’ untimely death. I had made a written attempt as well as a phone attempt to contact Euronymous, basically to get some copies of all of his Deathlike Silence releases for my distribution at the time (Sutekh Productions \ Slaughterhouse Records), the first releases by Mayhem, Abruptum, Burzum, etc. Later that week I read in Metal Maniacs magazine that Faust had murdered someone, and that it’s possible Euronymous himself was killed- I showed my friends, and we had to find out immediately - this took place just after Euronymous was killed, just before I was ready to broadcast my radio show at the time (“Sonic Slaughterhouse”) that Saturday evening.

J.R. “The Butcher” Torina \ Slaughterhouse Records, February 2018 *** We’ve heard some rumors over here, wondering if you can verify those for us?

Yep

we’re

We heard that Count Grishnach of Burzum supposedly killed Euronymous?

Well, Euronymous was murdered in November, Count Grishnach has been arrested and charged with the murder, but he hasn’t been convicted yet.

How probable is this, did he really do this?

It’s rather probable, yes - I think there is strong evidence against him.

Is there any reason or motive of why?

It was a power struggle.

So Euronymous ran DSP, or did he (Grishnach)?

Euronymous ran DSP, but now we’re taking it over.

Another question, about Faust of Emperorapparently a man made a pass at him, and he (Faust) killed him as well?

Been charged with the murder.

(Pause) Wow… (laughs) So this is no bullshit then?

No, it’s the real thing.

We also heard the Fenriz bombed a Therion concert in Sweden, is that true?

No, that I’ve not heard, that’s just a rumor.

Do you know the members of Darkthone or Emperor?

No, I don’t know them - the only person I knew was Euronymous, because he was taking care of things, but now he’s gone.

So Mayhem is no more then?

No, the Mayhem album should be out by the end of this month (“De Mysteriis dom Sathans”), but they’re still around.

Is there anything else you have coming out (on DSP)?

Well there’s a Swedish band called Abruptum… There’s also a release this week from a Japanese band called Sigh.

Is “Det Som Engang Var” (Burzum) still going to come out now, since he’s been arrested?

Well, just before he was arrested, Count Grishnach bought the rights to all his records, so he’s doing them himself. All the records are down in his basement, so you can’t get a hold of any Burzum records right now because he’s going to prison.

Even the first album, or the (Aske) ep?

You can’t even get those, he bought the rights to all of his records. murdered, and now we’re going to release it in January So basically you’d want to get a hold of those, as they’ll be limited?

Yeah.

What other new releases are there?

Emperor, and also Abruptum.

We heard all these rumors, and we were wondering just what the hell is going on - we’re in Salt Lake City, home of the Mormons, and black metal is getting so popular here. Darkthrone is getting huge in Salt Lake City…

Darkthrone by the way may not be existing anymore.

The drummer Fenriz is releasing a solo album on Peaceville Why did they break up?

I don’t know, it was personal, two of the members had moved far away into the forest, and they don’t want to speak to the third member!

Really?

Yeah. There is talk about making a fourth album, they have a contract to fulfill after all.

What about Monumentum?

They’re an Italian band, more operatic and gothic - but I don’t think we’re going to release that one after all, after Euronymous’ death.

What else is coming out?

There’s a band called Mysticum, completely their own style, rather industrial I’d say Has Faust been convicted?

No he has not been convicted.

Is he going to be?

He has confessed, so he’s very probably going to be convicted What about Emperor, are they getting a new drummer?

I think they already have a new drummer Right now it seems as if the Norwegian scene is ruling over everything else…

Well, it’s the real thing, you know?

Usually Deicide is big here, but from what we’ve just heard, the Norwegian scene makes them sound like the Brady Bunch kids! (laughs) With Euronymous being murdered, was there any attempt on the life of Grishnach?

No, things are very calm, but just after the murder, there were all kinds of crazy rumors…

No threats or attempts on his life?

There has been lots of threats on his life, but no attempts Are there any other Mayhem albums we can get access to?

No, because that’s the only one that has been released. They’ve had crazy things happening, like a vocalist killing himself. Then they recorded “De Mysteriis dom Sathanas”, and just when we were going to release it, Euronymous was

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So there was never an album or ep called “Freezing Moon”?

No, that was just a song recorded for a Swedish compilation, “Projections of A Stained Mind” You’re not going to get into trouble for telling us all this, are you? (laughs) No, no In the future, will there be access to the new Burzum albums?

Well there’s two recorded already, but it’s hard to tell, he’s going to be in prison for a long time Do you have the death penalty in Norway?

No, when people get a life sentence in Norway, that means twenty one years maximum.

Are there a lot of people into this music in Norway?

Quite a few, yes - on a small scale, because Norway is a small country. But you know, the really true black metal bands don’t perform live, like Darkthrone.

So Darkthrone and Burzum have never played live?

Burzum had plans to perform live, and Darkthrone played one show when they were a death metal band; now that they play black metal, they won’t play live because they think the audiences won’t understand what they are doing. The only Norwegian band to play live so far is a band called Immortal, they are currently on tour with Blasphemy.

Are you familiar with the Swedish scene?

Yeah We were surprised that Abruptum doesn’t sound like any other band in the Swedish scene Well they don’t sound like any other band at all!

Have you been to Sweden or Finland to see any of their black metal bands, or have any of their bands played in Norway, like Beherit?

No, and Beherit will not play in Norway, there is a sort of a war between the Finnish scene and the Norwegian scene.

Really? So where does the Swedish scene fit in with all this?

They’re pretty much at war with the Finnish and the Norwegian scene! Everybody’s trying to be the toughest guys, you know? I think the Finnish scene is much better than the Swedish scene.

Thanks for all your time, we appreciate this a lot!

What was your name?

My name is Christian, unfortunately… *** NOTE: Another such interview exists. We followed up this interview with another VoW employee named Kjtel, who told us that Count Grishnach’s fingerprints were found in the blood of Euronymous, so he was definitely guilty of the murder and went to prison. He also told us many other stories, about how Abruptum are rumored to torture each other while recording, Norwegian church burnings, and more Darkthrone drama. Unfortunately this tape has been lost! Maybe it will turn up in the future… ***