Hey, if you’re reading these lines here it means I’ll have to thank you for your interest in SlowlyWe Rot Fanzine. This is its debut issue and as you can see it’s far from being a good looking piece of underground literature, but I hope you’ll at least enjoy reading it, because that should be the most important feature in an underground fanzine, its contents. The reason of creating this fanzine is quite simple: I also run a webzine called Pest Webzine, but my all times passion is for printed zines, I’m a collector, I was an editor since ’99 at different zines, so I thought I should transpose some of Pest Webzine’s contents on paper. Not many metalheads have the time or will to read an online interview or review, but I know some of them would like to read about their fave genre on real (even cheap as this one) paper. I wanted this issue to look way different, I wanted it to be printed at a professional factory, but since my designers all left for one reason or another, I had to do all graphics and stuff by myself, and I am certainly not savy in this. All reviews published in this issue are made by me, but some of the interviews are also made by my Pest Webzine collaborator from Venezuela Osiris Stefanelli (big thanks, Osi!), during a few years of Pest Webzine’s existence, and all bands featured have if not an old-school music, at least an old-school attitude. Yes, this is a tribute to the ‘80’s and ‘90’s metal, and the following issues will remain the same. And regarding reviews, please take them as they are, my presonal opinions; search for the bands online and build your own ideas. I also don’t like mocking bands’ works, so if you’re looking for something like that you’re in the wrong place. First bought 50 copies of this issue will come together with Insetus Zine, and I have to thank here Kezio, its editor, for his dedication and friendship! I have also added a free compilation CD to this issue, DIY CD, but done to spread the music of some proactive bands from the nowadays so overpopulated underground scene. Please find the tracklist below. For more information please contact the bands directly. That being said, there’s nothing left except keep on supporting the underground scene and see you next time! Adrian – March 2012 Editor: Adrian Collaborators: Osiris Stefanelli (interviews), Sergey SL (front cover artwork) Contact:
[email protected]; www.facebook.com/swrzine www.pestwebzine.ucoz.com www.facebook.com/pestwebzine www.myspace.com/pestwebzine www.youtube.com/user/PestWebzine SWR #1 Compilation CD tracklist: 01. Ad Patres - Scars of Compromise www.myspace.com/adpatresdeathmetal 02. Beast – Beware www.myspace.com/beasthrash 03. Bestia – FS www.myspace.com/hallutsinatsioon 04. Collapse - Roma a Mano Armata www.myspace.com/collapseflorence 06. Cryptic Remains - Horrid Vision www.crypticremains.atw.hu 07. Decimation – Revulsion http://www.facebook.com/decimationuk 08. Der – Feltámadás http://gportal.hu/portal/nativeprideprod 09. Foetal Juice - Colostomy Bagette www.myspace.com/foetal 10. Gutwrench - Domain Of Pure Putrescence www.reverbnation.com/gutwrench 11. Horrorcaused – Undead www.facebook.com/HorrorcausedUK 12. Karathos - Rats In The Walls www.myspace.com/karathos1 13. Leprosy - Skinned In The Womb www.myspace.com/leprosy 14. Loudrage - Fear Me www.myspace.com/loudrage 15. Rape - Blaspherape http://blaspherape.weebly.com 16. Sicarii - Thicken the Trench www.facebook.com/sicarii.offical 17. The Obscene - The Final Silence www.myspace.com/theobsceneuk 18. Turmellus - Kappaleita Kaaoksesta www.myspace.com/578624552 19. Spiritual Carnage - Carcass Reigns www.myspace.com/bandaspiritualcarnage 20. Upheaval - Obey the Beas www.facebook.com/upheavalextreme Greetings Tom, thank you for agreeing to do this intie for Pest webzine. How are you lately? Hails, I am doing great and always up for an interview. I won't go through Nokturnel's history that much because the inties you gave until now are 100% relevant on that one and I wouldn't know what else to ask you, but still I'll try to come up with some questions to know more about you and the band. First off, on your Myspace you say that back in the days you were never interested in looking like everyone else, looking metal. How was your look back then and why choosing to be casual instead of metal, after all you were a metal band? I have to tell you, the timing of this question is perfect due to the fact the book Glorious Times A Pictorial of the Death Metal Scene [1984-1991] just came out. What I meant by the "we didnt care about the look" statement was no matter how far you look back in the history of metal there were always bands that went for the costume image, or a look. I got so used to seeing metalheads of today in black jeans, boots and leather jackets and forgot how many people looked like Nokturnel used to look in the early 90s. The easiest way to say it is we were stuck in the 80s,,, and by that I mean blue jeans, sneakers and T Shirts. Many adapted to the more modern and serious look, I did not, I didn't care...until I was kind of forced into it when I joined Morpheus Descends and Incantation. Facing the facts I realized it would not be cool for me to be the frontman of these bands in thrasher mode... so I went with it, and it was not uncomfortable for me at all... it was a bit of a wake up call. However part of this "I dont care" attitude also came with the fact no one realized how trendy the scene was... and not only did many bands look the same, many sounded the same. So I felt that it was just one more way to make us different than the rest of the bands out there. There are barely any photos of us anywhere period... but it seemed most of of bands from the New Jersey scene were pertty regular looking guys. All that has changed, but to this day to me, Nokturnel is a thrash band....one of the heaviest and most brutal thrash bands on the planet. Now in 2010, I too am a black jeans, boots, leather jacket guy... I see no point in going retro... been there and done that haha! Nokturnel always tried to discover new fields in technical (death) metal. Which were your first influences and why choosing the technical path instead of the brutal one? People need to understand Nokturnel is not my first band. In my Savage Death days during the mid 80s I was already a really good guitar player and once I knew how to play lots of music I thought was great became boring to me. This is in the sense of actually playing the music. For example I always loved the first release from Sodom, I still do. But I never wanted to play music so basic and simple, even back then for me the more notes and technical music was the more it appealed to me. Some of the greatest records from Priest and Maiden were a lot of fun to play...killer solos and notey riffs, this taught me a lot about playing but Show No Mercy was what put the nail in the coffin. The speed and notey songs floored me. Then early German Thrash bands came along and I could not stand Priest and Maiden anymore... the slow drums drove me nuts. The first Savage Death demo had 3 songs written by the other members. 3 riff songs with a few chords.... my first two songs were a bit more notey and tech... and it seemed like we were REALLY tech back then...for about 10 minutes....as suddenly metal bands were taking guitars to new levels daily! Demo 2 came out which was much more technical... I believe it was 85? And I felt like I was on track. Savage Death disbanded and Nokturnel was formed. Same formula, we started off with a few songs that were really basic... but on that first demo we already were heading into the realms of very technical metal. By demo two we were looking at the scene worldwide and saw these bands popping up everywhere with the same guitar sounds, same look, same fast slow mosh patterns.... and though we LOVED so many of these bands we thought it was ridiculous to become one. When Fury Unleashed came out many started saying I went Black Metal... pointing out the vocals. I have news for them... I have been singing the same since 1989. I follow NO trends... Brutal? Jesus fucking christ....dont even get me going. I saw Suffocations first show, I remember the impact they made shortly after, they're still definitive for brutal death and again I like some of that music. But to see a concert, with 6 bands in a night, and knowing if I wasnt looking at the stage I'd have no clue who was playing because they all sound exactly the same! Fuck that! Nokturnel fans know I like to shred... I like guitar solos...and for many years this also was considered a weak point. Cant have solos in brutal music... yeah whatever... again I don't care what everyone else is doing...I do what I want and its worked out pretty well for me. To chose the technical path was the only path for me. I had been involved in the first wave of Satanic Black Metal with Savage Death and wanted to create a band that made you feel hatred, but lyrically was just not typical. Nothing But Hatred was my masterpiece of insanity. I wrote that music and today I can barely play it! The speed is nuts, the time changes and drumming is so out of control it barely holds together... the vocals were old school when guys began growling and the solos were bursts of speed that came and went before anyone had a chance ot bitch about them... For me...muting some chords and encouraging people to mosh while we played some generic shit was never an option. I am trying to leave me mark as something at least a little different than most of the bands from my era, or eras...since I strarted so long ago and the scene has changed so many times. I still play technical metal but it is held together by more solid drum patterns. The majority of my songs that came after Nothing But Hatred are like this, but the songs I am working on now...they're going to have some really sick guitars,,,,I can not wait to unleash them Your debut album was out on JL Records. Please tell us a bit about this label and how come you signed with them and not with a more well known label? Death Metal was at its peak years in '92-'93, I guess you had a lot of offers. Am I right? No, the industry has always for the most part shut me out. I am anti trend.... they want trendy. Some known people from very established labels have acknowledged me as a talent and I appreciate that but every label on earth seems to want me to be a little different than I intend to be. I have a few stories about coming close to doing this and that, but what does it matter if it didnt happen.... Before we signed with J.L. America the majority of US bands that had the current death metal sound were already signed ot lables like Nuclear Blast and Road Runner. Tampa style Death was in and Nokturnel was at the opposite end of the spectrum. One thing I never understood is why so many people turned thier backs on thrash when Death Metal arrived. Guys who loved bands like Kreator were suddenly calling them weak...and busting out all the newer records and changing the metal image of themselves... and again, I love death metal but thought turning Nokturnel into that kind of band was a retarded idea, and wanted to keep the integrity of the band. JL America popped up in a signing band type of frenzy [which doomed them] and they not only liked the music, they wanted the demos as is for the first release. We wanted to re-record all the material. We were looking at a label with a killer distribution deal so we took thier offer and Nothing But Hatred was released. There was very little interest from other labels.... the Nokturnel curse, was being ahead of our time. What were labels asking you so big that made you work on your own at the end? I honestly thought I had something going with Incantation and that I would be a permanent member. When all that went to shit changes came in my life and I got married and moved and financially I was in no position to beging dumping money into any band. I was running a distro and competing with many other people and basically struggling. There came a point where I got fed up and had a freakout and began writing a record of vengeance! Backstabbed, kicked to the curb and a stranger in a strange land [as I knew no one at all where I moved to in Texas] I found a session drummer and we put together the music for Fury. I intended to grow our metal business with that release in hopes of doing more and signing other bands... but the industry changed so much with downloads and all this shit... many labels and other distros took copies. Sadly the record was appreciated, but all I ever got was really lame licensing offers and no one seemed willing to let me take it too the next level with a followup record. It's a good thing I did do everything myself or all I'd have to look back on was the first record and Anti Grunge 7 inch... If no one is willing to help... well sometimes you constantly releasing music. I am self financed and have a very busy life outside the just need to get off your ass and do it yourself realms of metal. Believe it or not some people still thought Fury was still too technical... and I thought to myself I am going oldschool. One incredible song with How did you managed with shows and promotion without the help of a strong label? hooks like Hellraisers demons and only a few riffs with some maniac vocals and Shows were weak, and we had no help from the label. They fell apart soon after the ballictic guitar solos. Drummer Chad Walls was recommended to me and though we release. It was good friends from geat bands like Ripping Corpse, Human Remains, have never met in person, we worked together on the song Demonic Supremacy and he and Deceased that helped with shows. Promo never seemed to work haha! These days really came through for me. That song is on myspace now and will come out through myspace and facebook are the best things to work promotions. Keep in mind I come Diabolist Services in 2010. I just got a new guitar and Chad and I will be sending files from the days when we put fliers around towns...hand drawn and Xerox copied, and back n forth soon to begin work on the next 2 songs. The newer stuff is going to be we handed them out at other shows, it was much more personal and the scene was so guitar mania at its sickest! much smaller. Now bands have people who are willing to do promo because it is easy for them and its thier way of showing support... its a great thing and I wish we had Are you planning a come-back with the band? Will it be a one-man-project or a real, this shit back in the day! full line-up band? I intend to keep Nokturnel the way things are now with me composing everything, I know during that time you've started your own distro. What made you start it and playing all instruments except the drums, writing all lyrics and doing vocals. I will how? It was the usual trading of Nokturnel's releases for other? play live as immediately as I find a drummer. I have no time to teach people songs I It started with a small contribution of money towards a friends Distro. He was not can record myself. active in the scene at all and I took merch to shows to set up tables. I have always known tons of people and many would buy metal from me. When I loved to Florida for You have also Spiked Leather, your own business. How is it going? a while I had intended to continue on my own and that's what I did. I began wholesale I have been making Spiked Leather since 1999. My armor is killer and I enjoy the accounts with big labels and began stocking metal when it was hard to come by. work, We are expanding and carrying lots of leather clothing, mostly for women, which European friends of mine would laugh....as to them seeing thier CDs in stores was no I do not make... but the business Nokturnel Eclipse is something I intend to keep big deal. US band seemed ready to have a party over this as it was a big big deal. So going for eternity. We have a myspace page at www.myspace.com/spikedleatherand here in the States many of us were ordering imports from overseas and when those much more online at SinfulNightwear.com. Metal LADIES need to check that out! bands caught on, especially Osmose labels band.... there was a huge demand and I got in on that. I was a dick about trading.... I shot Tell us how's a normal day for Tom Stevens. down most bands and labels. I didnt want a Sometimes I shower... I try and get up before catalog full of shit... I chose bands I thought noon. Hot pockets for breakfast with a Schlitz or were good and that were gonna sell. Not Yoo Hoo.... whatever was the most obscure or whatever.... Nah I am just fucking around haha! The majority of my CDs were sold for cash... My daughter is 7 and I get up at 6:45 during the week. After I drop her off at school I fuck around What's the story of the "Anti Grunge" EP? online and look at my orders for Spiked Oh man that's a scary story. You know Grunge Leather... then get to work in the snake rooms..I even affected what I thought to be some real always have several hundred snakes as i am a metalheads. I had my white trasher years... and breeder for the pet trade. I do not practice guitar lived in the Northern US where half the year is often... I am lucky that I just don't need to as cool as far as tempratures and to my horror my much as many of my friends seem too. I pay nasty flannel shirt became a fucking fashion attention to the news... watch a lot of movies, statment for the current trend. People that liked and read a bit. I have just got my foot in the metal were acknowledging how great this door with Fangoria magazine/web site as a fucking shit music was...and bought into the contributing writer so I hope that works out. My trend. Culture is one thing... I know not wife and I are happy and we are together almost everyone looks at people in the US like they all the time and yes...she IS metal. should all be like us... but all of a sudden people became modern hippies.... hairy armpit Are you still in touch with the metal bitches.... dreadlocks... and generally dirty underground? Any upcoming bands you've looking assholes. Then this spreads to a listened lately? worldwide mania? People bought into the "you Of course. I have been since metal was created... aren't cool if you aint down with Nirvana" I like about 129873893 bands... this is hard to bullshit.... fuck all of them granola eating pick just a few. I'd look up Blasphemous assholes. The metal scene got smallers and we Creation, Atrocious Abnormality, HOD, lost some good men haha... I was disgusted and Tyrannizer Order, Dead Mountain, and Dim we thought it would be cool to show are hatred Mak to name a few and we created the concept of Nuke Seattle. The music was actually from a SOD wannabe song How will you spend the upcoming Holidays? we wrote for Savage Death with some grinding What's your biggest wish for 2010? drums... but it was well recieved as middle I took so long to do this interview the Holidays finger in the face of the trendy. are passed! haha! I always spend the holidays with my family...when you have a kid its all "Fury Unleashed", your second and latest fullabout them and this is fine with us... Xmas is length was released on Nokturnel Eclipse cool but religeon has nothing to do with it. I got Records. Was it a natural development of your hammered drunk on New Years and even tried distro to form your own label? to play the guitar a bit haha! Didnt work out too Like I mentioned earlier. It was a logical choice as I had a name for myself, an well but my 2010 wishes are for the worldwide economy to recover, my friends and established band, and contacts with many other labels and distros. I figured I'd get an family to be healthy and onto better things and to get Nokturnel signed and back on offer after I released my own record but I did it to avoid wasting any more time stage. waiting for someone to back me. Thanks a lot for your time, Tom, the final words are yours. You were investing a lot of efforts and money in Nokturnel. Where were your money Any which way I will have some new songs for 2010. Please ad me on myspace and coming from? Facebook-Tom Stevens [Nokturnel Tom] and check out all my web sites I sell heroine and pimp whores. SinfulNightwear.com TomsSnakes.com www.myspace.com/nokturnelband, No really... the original lineup all worked and contributed money... and for Fury I www.myspace.com/spikedleather, www.myspace.com/sinfulnightwear needed a loan which worked out well as all money invested was made back. Now I run Thank you for the interview and thanks to everyone who has supported me in any way a few businesses from home but things are veyr different when you become a parent... shape or form over the years. From Savage Death fans, and those who supported me I have more bills and responsibilities than ever before. 2010 is here and I will record in Morpheus Descends and especially Incantation. I enjoy hearing from everyone some mroe songs and I have the Diabolist Services kult backing me on this. thanks to myspace and Facebook so please write me. Thanks! Tom Stevens What happened since 2001 with the band? I know you have some new tracks recorded, please tell us a bit about them. Unfortunately I had some failures as far as things just not working out after the January 2010 release. When I had the session guys on Fury ready to play live, offers I tried to capitalize on went into the toilet. I can not find a suitable drummer for shows... I am always talking with people 1000 fucking miles from here since I am surrounded by wannaa be black metal and brutal death metal people. No offense to them but I dont want them in my band anymore than they want to play for me. So the few efforts I made to play shows after Fury just didnt work out. I gave up for the time being and focused on a new song. Nokturnel is a quality over quamtity band. I see no point in Greetings Paul, thanks for taking a bit of time to answer my questions. How are you lately? How was your first 2010 month? Hello Adrian. I've been very busy, but doing well, thanks. So far so good this year. Writing music & working, mostly. Let's get into the subject right away. Jugular Appetizer, your band's first name, was founded in 1997. Back then Death Metal was becoming more and more underground so why choosing it? The fact that death metal was becoming more underground never even occurred to me/us. We were just doing what came natural. I always was a huge death metal fan and no matter how underground it became was & still is irrelevant. It is in my blood. Were you influenced by the end '80's - beginning of the '90's Death Metal movement? Which bands were in your playlist back then, so which bands influenced you? I was very influenced by bands from that time period. I was born in 1973, so by 1985 & onward I was starting to buy cassettes &/or vinyl with my allowance money or however I could get my hands on them. Possessed, Bathory, Carcass, Sodom, Death, Autopsy, Napalm Death, Kreator, Mercyful Fate, Destruction, Morbid Angel, Dream Death, Godflesh, Infernal Majesty, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, and several others were all in my possession & still are. I know J.A. was not your first attempt to get in the underground movement. Please tell us about the Crematorium days a bit, too. 'Crematorium' started in 1992(when I joined, the band name was 'Innoculant', but I quickly persisted in changing the name to 'Crematorium'). Tom Tangalos asked me about doing vocals and I did. At the time, Mike Mazylewski was the bassist & the drummer was Joe Hernandez who went on to play for 'Novembers Doom' for a while. Shortly after I joined, Joe was replaced by Michael "Bats" Martocci who ended up later playing for 'Disinter'. I also recruited Chris Mull(who is the current guitarist for Morgue Supplier) to join the ranks. In 1993 we recorded the demo "Baptism of the Oppressed", but not long after, Chris & Mike Maz were replaced by Tom Leski on second guitar & Russ Powell on bass & we changed our name to Embodied. In 1994 we recorded an 8 song demo but never released it, as internal issues in the band surfaced and we disbanded. The two Tom's & Russ went on to form 'Gorgasm', while Bats & myself went on to form 'Jugular Appetizer'. What can you recall about your first and only demo as J.A.? Tell us about its recordings sessions, production and promotion/distribution. Is it still available anywhere for purchase? The first demo was recorded by me in 1999. It was raw as fuck, but definitely showed the potential of the band. There were 6 of us in the band at the time & I recorded it on a 4 track tape, so it was quite a task, but a good piece of our history. I have the demo in my possession but we didn't circulate it too much as I knew better things were to come with future recordings. It was a building block. Why changing your band name and why Morgue Supplier? Who came up with the new name? Well, Jugular Appetizer was a song title & so was Morgue Supplier. I ended up deciding to make the name change because 'Jugular Appetizer' felt more like a song title than a band name, so I went with 'Morgue Supplier' as I liked it better anyways. I came up with the name. I saw you had lots of line-up changes. Why? Anyone of the old members in particular you still regret? Yeah, so many lineup changes it's ridiculous. I think we've gone through 12 members or something like that. I am the only original member. The reasons are too many to recall, but it usually boiled down to a lack of dedication in most cases. As far as regrets, the only one would be Bats. We started this together & he was one of my best friends. He changed a lot & went his own way in 2002. I've only spoken to him on the phone once & haven't seen him since. What's the current line-up? Do you think this one is a steady enough one? Eric Bauer - Drums Chris Mull - Guitar Steve Reichelt - Bass Paul Gillis (myself) - Vocals This is by far the tightest lineup yet & the one that created the new album "Constant Negative", so I sure hope it remains. Another lineup change would not be good right now. How would you describe Morgue Supplier's style, how do you see the band evolution during the years? Are you all happy and proud of your current level? Our style is brutal-death-grind. We have a semi-technical element to us at times as well. We don't like to play a bunch of useless show-off riffs, but we do like to mix things up a bit(for instance, the title track on the new ep "Constant Negative" displays this quite adequately, I believe). Our evolution mainly is in our abilities & our tightness as a unit. The premise of bruality has been there from day one, we are just much better at channeling it now. I would definitely say that we are happy with our current level, but there is always room for improvement. If you stop improving, you're finished. Tom from Nokturnel recommended us your band in a previous interview for Pest Webzine. He's a pretty legendary guy in the scene, how do you feel being in his top preferences? Do you know each other? Glad to hear that. It's always nice to be appreciated for what you do, so a big thanks to Tom. I do not know him personally, but I do enjoy his music & what he stands for. Are any of your prior releases (with morgue Supplier) still available for purchase? Where from? How do you feel about your previous releases. Yes, all 3 of our previous releases are still available. 2001's "Not Dead Enough" EP, 2004's "Sociopath" full-length & 2006's "The End of the World" EP are all available for purchase @ www.myspace.com/morguesupplier or by emailing us @
[email protected]. I like all the previous releases in their own way. It's interesting to look back & see the progression to the present day. You're now signed with Necrotic Records. Please tell us a bit about your deal. How do you feel they helped your band until now? Necrotic helped us on the money end of things with getting the new cd out, as well as hooking us up with other distros such as Deathgasm records, Mutilated records, & Murder records. P.J. runs the label & is a great guy, but we will probably be looking elsewhere to release our next album. Nothing against P.J. or Necrotic, but we are looking for some tour support & more promotion/marketing in the future. Please present us your latest release, "Constant Negative", what should we know about it? "Constant Negative" is the culmination of many years of trials and tribulations & hard work. We busted our ass on this album & know it is by far our best. Eric Bauer(drums) & myself recorded, mixed, & mastered it. If you are into bands such as 'Gorguts', old 'Cryptopsy', 'Brutal Truth', etc.. & want a little extra intensity & variety, you will be into us. Guaranteed. Why choosing an old Metallica song (great song!) to cover for this EP? Who came up with the idea? "Fight Fire with Fire" is a classic & I have always loved the energy of it. I brought up the idea of covering it to the guys & they agreed. How do you promote the band and in particular this latest release? I saw some pretty cheerful comments on it, are you happy about the reactions so far? Mainly by sending it out to reviewers like yourself & through Myspace. It's hard to obtain a steady flow of sales without a bigger label pushing the marketing boundaries, so we do what we can on our own. Yeah, we've been receiving plenty of reviews lately & for the most part they have been really good. A few mediocre ones in there as well, but you can't please everybody, no matter what you release. What do you do beside Morgue Supplier? How's your day by day life? By trade, I am an Elevator Constructor. That is how I earn most of my money. Playing Death Metal isn't a big money making field, as I'm sure most people know, but it's what I enjoy doing, and have been doing so for the last 18 years. My nights usually consist of spending time with my wife, or practicing/rehearsing/recording with one of my bands. Please tell us about your other projects/bands, too. Here are my other main bands/projects I am involved with most extensively: 'Drug Honkey' is a psychedelic/death/doom band started in 1999. If you had ever wished 'Pink Floyd' had made an extreme doom album, you'll probably like us. www.myspace.com/drughonkey 'Asscavern' is a noisegrind project that I have been doing on & off since 1998. Just imagine the harshest sounds & most intense speeds, mixed with disgusting humor. www.myspace.com/asscavern 'KLLU' is a dark/electronic project that me & the drummer from 'Drug Honkey' started in 2003. If you like Mick Harris' 'Scorn', you'll like this project. www.myspace.com/kllu What are your plans with Morgue Supplier for 2010. Necrotic mentions a tour, is it going to happen sometimes soon? Where? We are playing the 20th anniversary Michigan DeathFest in July. We will also be playing several other shows as throughout the year, but right now we are promoting the new EP, and also already writing and arranging new material for the upcoming full-length that we hope to release by the end of 2010. As far as a tour, Necrotic has not given us any info on that. It would be great, but I'll believe it when I see it. The final words are yours, please tell the readers where they can reach you and/or buy your EP. Thanks for the in-depth interview & massive support Adrian. Much appreciated & Hail. For all the readers out there, listen & decide for yourselves @ www.myspace.com/morguesupplier or contact me direct @
[email protected]. You can purchase our cd's & t-shirts from either of the above contacts. 2010 should be a great fucking year for us. With the growing popularity of our recent "Constant Negative" EP & our plans to record an even sicker full-length, things are looking way up. It's about time!!! Thanks for reading & come check us out soon. February 2010 Oblivionized (England) Oblivionized features members/previous members of Gorerotted, Infected Disarray, Fleshrot, Decrepit Womb, and Bludgeon. Since December Oblivionized has performed with with Blood red Throne, Diamanthion, Dam, Cerebral Bore, Dead Beyond Buried, Amputated and Prostitute Disfigurement to name a few. Oblivionized are booked to open for Deicide at London Deathfest along with numerous other UK shows and tours in the upcoming months of 2011. The 'Abhorrent Evolution' EP is entirely self produced by Oblivionized and mastered by Scott Hull (Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed). The EP is four tracks of misanthropic technical death grind, Oblivionized aim to push themselves to their music limits. 'Abhorrent Evolution' is self-released on the bands label 'Malignant Manifestation Productions' the EP is a pro-pressed CD, with distribution from Comatose Music (USA) and Amputated Vein Records (Japan). www.facebook.com/Oblivionized Repulsive Vision (England) 4 piece Old school Death Metal band from Cumbria Influenced by the extreme metal of the 80s and 90s, Repulsive Vision hope to introduce their own brand of death metal to Cumbria. With a 10 track album on the way and aspirations to begin playing live in the near future, the band shall be making a mark on the local alternative scene very soon. Formed in the December of 2010 by multiinstrumentalist and main songwriter, Matt Davidson, the project has quickly become one of the most anticipated acts in the Barrow in Furness extreme scene and has ambitions to extend further into the death metal underground of the world Influences: Morbid Angel, Carcass, Obituary, Entombed, Repulsion, Cathedral, Napalm Death, At The Gates, Terrorizer, Cannibal Corpse, Morta Skuld, Mayhem, Atheist, Exhumed, Edge of Sanity, Gorefest, Wormrot, Gorguts, Celtic Frost, Discharge, Deicide www.myspace.com/repulsivevision1 www.facebook.com/RepulsiveVision Greetings Nefarious, how are you lately? How's the band doing? Greetings.... Ah, what a year its been! Both personally and for the NAETU horde, many ups and downs have been experienced. And both are now making transition into a more stable and stronger phase... For the readers who don't know about Naetu, please tell us a brief history of the band. Briefly? Well, myself and Vorkgnar created this entity in early 2002. Alas the first 2-3 years were somewhat slow in progress, Vorkgnar was learning to juggle commitments, and I was fighting my own demons. This began to gain stability and momentum in 2004 with the first complete line-up, this was short lived with the drummer parting ways. The next drummer stayed with us for some 2 years, before leaving as we prepared to record 'The Burning Lands' in early 2007, as you can imagine, it was a bitter loss for us at the time. With the acquisition of a session drummer, we finally entered the studio in late 2007, it took 4 months to finish our debut album, which was released in April 2008. After this, more line-up changes and frustration. Myself and Vorkgnar, now joined by Sentient, continue to write new material, and keep momentum moving forward as we approach the dawn of a new decade.... Where does the name come from and who came up with it? This was Vorkgnar's concept. If you can imagine, a place that is always horrendously hot, much pain and suffering, souls enduring torture until they perish only to be resurrected to suffer again and again, a place where white light is but a myth and the weak forever burn.... Its hell, but worse! Although the band was released in 2002, you've released your debut album only last year. How come? Do you have any prior releases? There is one, but it is by no means any 'official release'. I think there may be 5 copies of it floating around our city. As for 'The Burning Lands', we had difficulties with drummers essentially. But deep down, we know this was a blessing in disguise for us, the drummer we used for the recording was far better than any other we had in the past, and we were more 'in tune' with our musical style at that later stage. Please present us your debut album, what can we find on it and where can we find it? How would you describe your sound? Our debut album, 'The Burning Lands' is of sorts, a history of NAETU's journey and growth through the early years. The images within the art work are powerful, and display that stage we were at when it was finalised. I've traded it to several other record labels around the world, especially in America and here in Australia. It can be found at our other distribution label, Satanica. Or from my label, Blood Black Productions (BBP) and the associated Ebay store. Our sound? We describe it as STORMING BLACK METAL. Chaotic, powerful, with a certain element of destructive splendour, much like that of a lightning storm.... I know it was released under Blood Black Productions. Is it your own label? What other bands are on it? Yes, Blood Black Productions is my creation, it started as just a name to put on our album release ceremony poster. But I began using it to help attract other labels to trade with, and further distribute NAETU's release. At present, it only serves NAETU's purposes directly, but I do use it to help (to a limited extent) other local bands get their sounds overseas. I would like to expand it in the future, but for the moment, my main focus is on NAETU, not the label.... How was your first album received by public and media? The release ceremony in 2008 was held to a full house at a local venue, some 400 punters. For a local band here, that is extremely rare. Since then, it has been very well received by black metal fans, and even fans of other musical genres. The media has also been excellent, getting a lot of airplay on radio stations, and good to excellent reviews from web sites and zines. You had an Australian tour supporting Cradle Of Filth. How was it? Have you had the chance to bond with the UK guys? That was a great experience for us, and was the first time we played outside our city. It felt good playing to crowds who for the most part, had no idea who we were, and getting such inspirational cheers and applause by the end of each set. We played with power, passion and intensity, and it was appreciated by all. Cradle Of Filth on the other hand, tended to keep to them selves, which I kind of expected. We did manage to get a couple of photos with them back stage, but that was about it. Usually extreme black metal bands tend to mock CoF, how do you find their music? Personally, I greatly enjoy the first 4 official releases, and they get play time on my iPod fairly regularly. Midian and after is when they started loosing my attention a little, I still respect them as musicians non the less, but their newer music just holds no excitement for me. How is the life for a Black Metal band in Australia? I know there are many Death & Grind acts in there, how about Black Metal? What are the best and the worst parts of being an Aussie BM band? Australia is very divided, there is the west, and there is the east, with west being the minority. Death and Grind are a trend here, a fashion almost, I dont care for it at all, there is no essence or true feeling to this style. There is a thriving black metal scene, but it to is riddled with division in some areas, elitism and the like, I dont care for this either. Black metal comes from the soul, there should be no competition or egos involved, its raw expression, nothing more. But quality bands to watch for, Wardaemonic and Mhorgl from the west, and then from the east we have Nazxul, Pestilential Shadows, Oracle Of The Void, Noir Macabre, Drowning The Light and Ruins to name a few. You have also played in Bereavement, please tell us a bit about this band, too. Are you still with them? Bereavement are a symphonic styled black metal band, in the vein of old old Dimmu Borgir I guess you could say. They required a bass player, so I helped them out until time required for NAETU and Blood Black Productions took over, I was with them for around 6 months (late 2007-early/mid 2008). I only played a few shows with them..... The album is almost 2 years old now, what is Naetu preparing at the moment? When can we listen to new stuff from your side? Due once again, to member instability, we are a little further behind with writing than I would have liked. But we have a full line-up now, hopefully it stays that way, as good drummers are hard to find! But we now have a bevy of new material, one track (Hymn To The Conquered) can be seen on YouTube from a show we played in December 2008. We hope to enter the studio again in mid 2010 to record the next album, some songs may be played live between now and then, keep an eye on YouTube for that! What's your biggest goal with Naetu? What would you like to achieve through it? Well personally speaking, I'd love to be able to play live ceremonies around the world. I love what we (NAETU) do, and I love performing it live, anything else after that is just a bonus. The feeling we get from crushing skulls with our music is intoxicating! At the end of this chat please tell our readers where can they listen to your music, or how to contact you. Thank you for the time you spent answering this intie. Our primary domain is at www.myspace.com/NaetuDominion From there, you can find music, live video footage, reviews and photography, along with links to every other site we use on the web, including the BBP Ebay store.... Many thanks for your time as well brother, may the left hand path guide you well! Nefarious www.MySpace.com/BloodBlackProductions www.MySpace.com/naetudominion December 2009 Hi Charlie, how come you decided to form a Death tribute band? Who came up with the idea? The idea to start an exclusively "Scream Bloody Gore" era DEATH tribute happened in 2008 between myself and our guitarist/vocalist Mike Lare. One day while we were hanging out at a show we both wanted to do it so we can spread the magic of the first album to the younger people that wouldn't ever be able to see DEATH because of Chuck's death and to help bring the older people who have either seen DEATH back in the day, or who have never got the chance to see them at all, back in time to see the old songs being performed live! Who are the members of the band? Have you had prior experience in other bands before teaming up in Infernal Death? The band is made up of: myself (Charlie Taylor) on drums, Mike Lare on guitars and vocals, Jason Snyder on guitars, and Wes Studebaker on bass... We have all been in bands prior to, and currently still with other bands as well as INFERNAL DEATH. Mike is the bass player for the Cleveland, Ohio thrash band RINGWORM, Wes is in another band on bass called SHRINE OF SUFFERING, Jason and I don't have any other bands right now that we play for. I used to play bass for 8 years in an 80's thrash band from New Jersey called LETHAL AGGRESSION and a local Columbus, Ohio black metal band called THE CONQUERING. What about now, do you have any other bands besides this one? I am the bass player for a Connecticut hardcore band from 1988 called PAYBACK that is recording 2 cds this summer (2011) You mentioned Infernal Death is a fully authorized Death tribute band, please comment on this subject. We are the only authorized official "Scream Bloody Gore" era DEATH tribute worldwide.. When we started doing this my whole intent was to spread the magic and music of the first era of DEATH to the masses and I made sure and got pemission from the estate lawyer and also made sure to get the blessings of Chuck's family who were very awesome to me and kind enough to let us utilize a variation of the DEATH logo for our logo. I have written many emails to his family and gotten many responses... They are truly amazing people. Let me clarify things with whomever reads this interview; We, INFERNAL DEATH, are in NO WAY making money or a profit off of the music or legacy of the genius of it's creator or estate or family... I know there are people with bad attitudes and jealousy that will try and make people think otherwise. That is why I wanted to state that fact. How are gigs going so far? Here is Europe tribute bands are slowly but surely getting more audience at shows than most other local bands. Is it the same over there, too? We have done about 15-20 gigs so far since we started in and out of OHIO. We don't really play with other tribute bands yet so I couldn't tell you accurately how the tribute band scene is doing where we are from. We usually play with kick ass thrash and death metal bands from all over the place. Some of the bigger names that we have played with are: SKELETONWITCH, ACHERON, INCANTATION, CARDIAC ARREST and MUNICIPAL WASTE. We would absolutely love to come over to Europe and do some festival shows or something. I am sure there is a good crowd that likes the first two DEATH records there. Do you plan on recording your own versions of Death's songs or only play them live? As of right now, We only play the songs from the "Scream Bloody Gore" lp and the bonus tracks "Land of no return" and "Beyond the unholy grave". Oh, we also do a few classic thrash cover songs for fun as well. Towards the end of the summer we will be learning the entire "Leprosy" album as well. That is where we stop though. We will not do anything past the second lp. And to answer the question properly, we only do them live. We would love to re-record the entire first lp but we have to go through the estate lawyer to make sure we do everything properly. I would want all the proceeds from the album to go to Chuck's family. Do you plan on working on your own tracks at some point or Infernal Death will remain a Death tribute band? We will always remain a DEATH tribute band but we do plan on working on original material that sounds like it could have been recorded for the "Scream Bloody Gore" album. Did you ever meet Chuck? What about the other Death members, have any of them seen your band live so far? Mike and I have met Chuck before.. I have met Chuck on several occasions and have had the fortune to be able to see DEATH on avery tour of the states that they have ever done. He and I have talked old school metal on several occasions. He was a very kind and appreciative person to me who didn't ever think that he was better than anyone else or more metal than anyone else. I hold those times sacred to me. As far as members of DEATH seeing us live... I have sent a video of us playing live to every former member and have had nothing but positive feedback from everyone. Rick Rozz and Richard Christy are very cool and are always prompt to reply.. James Murphy is a good guy too as well as Gene Hoglan. Thanks for this short chat and good luck with the band! Thank you so much for your time and interest in doing this interview. If anyone would like to contact us for bookings and just to talk old metal please go to facebook and look for us. You will know that you have the right page when you see the INFERNAL DEATH logo. Extra special thanks to Eric Grief, all members of DEATH, The Schuldiner family, and Chuck (R.I.P.) without him we would not be. May his music and spirit be felt for ages to come! May 2011 Impaled Existence (Wales) Impaled Existence are a 5-piece progressive, groove death metal band from North Wales, UK. Forming in 2004, the band has evolved into a combination of Melodic Death Metal & Progressive Death Metal. With songs "If Error Were True" and "Through Stinging Eyes" the band shows off it's more aggressive and progressive side with devastating riffs, finger-defying bass lines, pounding double-bass footwork and ear-shattering vocals. Showing their diversity, songs "Worthy of Remains" and "Fictions within the Mind" demonstrate the band's more melodic side, with soaring lead parts and melodic choruses. www.facebook.com/impaledexistence Witcher (Hungary) The history of WitcheR dates back to 2009, when bands like Trollheimen and Under The Surface split up. It resulted that the two main members of these groups, Roland and Karola were left without a band and finally in the summer of 2010 they managed to set a base for their own project and started writing songs to release them as their debut demo, called "Úttalan Utakon" ("On trackless roads") at the end of the year. Their aim was to alloy atmospheric, mainly slow- or midtempoed black metal with keyborad passages and shrieking vocals. The first release of the band as a whole was put to the CD supplement of the second issue of Fekete Terror fanzine - Hungarian Black Assault Vol. II. -, as well as they will participate on a compilation with a cover of a Hungarian soldiersong, which will be distributed country-wise... In 2011 we release our second demo, called „Boszorkánytánc”. The tape version released by Old Skull Productions (a bonus song) and the CD-R is self released. www.witcherzenekar.uw.hu Vrag (Hungary) The history of Vrag dates back to the beginning of the 2000s, the time period when it first crossed my mind to unleash my thoughts on world with the means of black metal. My aim was and still is to write suicidal music that salutes to the greatness of nature and is majestic and profound, so I wanted to find company to this project of mine. I made some themes and texts back then which has not been used till today. The real beginning of Vrag dates to 2010, when, after many years of being in bands, I managed to make my dream come true and I finished my debut demo entitled "A természet útján…” ("On the way of nature..."). The stuff came out in 150 copies as a self release, distrubuted free and it received good feedbacks. The name Vrag means "devil" or "evil" in a forgotten Slavonic dialect. 2011 also started well for Vrag, the only song from the debut demo was put onto the compilation called Hungarian Black Assasult Vol. II, which was followed by the second demo in March. The material called "Avarkoporsó” ("Duffcasket") contains 3 songs in about 30 minutes, and in my opinion it perfectly represents the path set by Burzum, Mütiilation and Nargaroth, which I have dreamt about earlier. The demo came out again as a free self-release, in 300 copies. In 2011 was released two tape with Darkness Shade Records. The first one is a demo collection, it was called „Forever on the Way of Nature Demo Collection 2010 – 2011” and the second is a split material, with Orbis band. www.vrag.uw.hu Wall Of The Eyeless (Russia/Sweden) Wall Of The Eyeless was formed in November of 2011 at Helsjön, Sweden by SL, 21, who originally comes from Pskov, Russia. SL was trying hard to form a band in his hometown with no success, but never lost hope and kept on writing songs, and, when he came to Sweden, he found a drummer - Simon, 18, and the things just clicked. After the month long and focused rehearsals, the "Through Emptiness" demo was recorded in folkhogskola’s studio by the guys themselves, which includes 4 songs out of a lot of material the band has to offer. SL, being a guitarist in the first place, ended up doing the vocals and the bass as well. The band tries to combine music, lyrics and artwork to create one single picture. www.facebook.com/walloftheeyeless Hi guys, thanks for accepting to answer my questions, how's the band lately? Chrys Baphometal: Hi everybody ! It’s a great pleasure for us to do this interview for the best Webzine ! Axecuter is doing fine, doing rehearsals and gigs, all that usual stuff. At the moment we are working VERY HARD on the production of our first full lenght album. Things are never easy when you’re on studio but...we have no hurry. All we want is to raise a killer record, destined to all those who understand our proposal and love real metal with all its power. T. Basstard: Hello... It’s great to answer your questions. Thanks for your support... Please tell us about the short history of your band, how did you decide to form it, and tell us if you had/have any other bands/projects beside Axecuter. T. Basstard: In the year 2000, me, Danmented and Baphometal plus some mutual friends used to meet on weekends just for fun, barbecues and beer drinking. Everyone played metal on an uncompromising way and the first riffs and ideas came at that time. Ten years later, I asked Danmented and Baphometal to bring back those ideas and create a real METAL band, so here we are… I play in Offal (Death Metal) and I also have a one-man-band called Lutemkrat (Black Metal). Danmented plays on Imperious Malevolence (Death Metal) and Jailor (Thrash Metal). Baphometal is playing only in Axecuter right now. Axecuter, the band name is taken from a mix between the words "axe" and "executer"? Tell us where you got the idea from. C.B : Yes, you are right....it’s a mix between these two words. This name "Axecuter” is a pun, there’s no philosophical or intellectual meaning on it. We believe it’s a good name for a band like ours, cause we play raw and fast metal, straight to the point. When we were choosing a name for our band, we wanted something straight and objective, as our music is. It sounds a bit cliché, no problem for us... we don’t want to reinvent the wheel. Why choosing to play an old-school type of metal? I know there are many bands in Brazil playing an old-school type of Death, Thrash or Black Metal, but what about Heavy Metal, is it a wide-spread genre in your country? C.B : No, absolutely not. Here in Brazil, our style is very rare and unusual. Here you can find bands into death, thrash, black, gothic, melodic power metal, hardcore, nu, etc. Circa 90% of Brazilian bands are into these styles and our media (webzines, radios, magazines) are mostly into these styles as well. Bands such as Axecuter, Comando Nuclear and Denim And Leather are extremely obscure, destined only for a specific kind of people, the 80’s die hard fans. We don’t give a shit to what’s going on nowadays on the "metal” scene, we just try to keep honest to ourselves, to what we believe. You've recently signed with Inferno Records, how did you get in touch with them or them with you? Is it a long-term deal or it's just a short, quick step in the band's career? C.B : We got in touch with Fabien, owner of Infernö Records and he replied us in a cool way. He liked our songs, our attitude and offered a cassete single release. We accepted, and we’re very satisfied with his work for the band, our partnership is going really fine! This is the perfect label for a band like us, where "money” and "profits" are not the main words. Everything is done with passion, pure metallic devotion. The next step is to release our first full lenght album through Infernö Records in early 2012, that’s the goal. After that, nothing is planned yet. We’d like to work with Infernö for more than one album of course, but all future projects will depend on the CD’s feedback. Is it hard to play as a trio? Was this intended or it just happened to not find more members for the band? And how do you guys get along with each other? C.B : At least in our case, it’s very easy to play as a trio, not hard. We are all long time mates, we grew up together and we all know how our songs should sound. Yes, this was intended since the beginning because me, Danmented and T. Basstard have the same mind, we’re an union, tag team. We’re not only band mates, we’re daily friends, real metal brothers. Axecuter’s songs are not too difficult to play, but you must have the right interpretation, the right feeling and the right technique. If not, you just can’t do it. That’s one of the reasons we don’t add more members in the band. It’s very hard to find people who understand our proposal and play the right way. Things always worked for as a trio, so there’s no reason to change it. Your debut album is about to be released, please tell us a few words on the tracks that will be featured on it. Any major differences between your debut album and the recently released single? C.B : No, there won’t be big differences between our tape and the full lenght album. All three songs from the tape will be there too, re-recorded with more punch and feeling, we think. About the other songs, you can expect a good mix between traditional metal and speedy styles. There will be fast songs, mid tempo songs and slower songs, all on that typical 80’s rifferama style. And there will be a nice surprise too, stay tuned!!! T. Basstard: I think these new tracks show more diversity without losing our identity. As Baphometal said before, our main objective is to use that old feeling with this music language to spread our visions. We’re all looking forward to it... Brazil is a big country, full of contrasts: on one hand you have the sunny, party-friendly beaches, and on the other you have the brutal, poor neighborhoods of the bigger cities. How would you describe it? Does this controversial nature of your country influence your music in any way? C.B : There are many "Brazils” within Brazil. Our Northern and Northeastern regions are poor, colonized by Spanish and Portuguese immigrants whose brought African slaves. On the other hand, there you can find the best beaches, beautiful natural places, perfect for tourists. Southern/Southeastern are rich, mostly colonized by German, Ukranian, Polish and Japanese, it looks like Europe. The difference of culture between the regions is quite large. Most people think about carnival, football, samba, bossa nova, beaches or Amazonian jungle when they hear the word "Brazil”. This is only a part of it, not the whole thing. Of course there is too much poverty here, impunity, corruption, all that typical "third world” reality. But it doesn’t influence our music at all. We don’t write about social conflicts, religion or politics. For us, the music is the most important factor, not the lyrics. T. Basstard: Our lyrics are about our personal concepts and points of view about Heavy Metal (past, present and future) and most of the lyrics are written by Baphometal and Danmented. I think this kind of lyrics fits perfectly with the band. You seem pretty mature and experienced persons, how do you see the scene nowadays in comparison to what happened a decade and even two decades ago? C.B : For us, nowadays "metal" scene is absolute crap, a disgusting reality which we keep ourselves away from. All that goth, nu, core, alternative, melodic stuff, etc. Nothing against these kind of music, but for us it’s not metal at all! The 70’s and 80’s were and always will be the best years for Heavy Rock and Heavy Metal, no doubts about it. The best albums and the best bands came from there. If you want to play real metal, you must go back in time and learn from the masters, no other way. Fortunately, there are younger bands arising on every corner of the globe, bringing real heavy metal back to life. Helvetet’s Port (Swe), Bullet (Swe), Steel Horse (Spain), Nightmare (Colombia), Razorwÿre (New Zealand) and others. It’s very important because in the future we won’t have the pioneers among us anymore. AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Accept, Saxon, Judas Priest, Motörhead, etc, will disappear and only their music and legacy will survive. The younger bands have a great responsibility in their hands, to keep it alive! How would you describe your music to someone who never heard of you before? C.B : We are just a metal band. Raw and powerful metal, straight to the point, that’s it! Sometimes fast, sometimes not so fast, but always metal. Some people call us Thrash Metal... To make it clear: We are not a thrash metal band! Yes, we all like Thrash, but we don’t play typical Thrash. For us, Thrash Metal is old Testament, Anthrax, Overkill, in the American way. Of course there are many ways to play Thrash, not only the American way, but we consider ourselves a bit far from this context. Most of our inspiration comes from the European side, bands like Motorhead, Venom, Mercyful Fate, Tank, Destruction, all the good metal you know. T. Basstard: I would say: "Axecuter plays Metal... LOUD!” What do you guys do besides playing in Axecuter? How's an ordinary day for you? C.B : I work as a drum teacher on music schools, Danmented is teacher too, he has a degree as musician and T. Basstard works with design, and he is also a teacher. Our daily routine is very simple, I could define it in two words: Metal and Sex. Well, of course we spend our time with other serious things but metal and sex are what keep us alive! At the end of the day, all we want to do is to lie down on the bed and listen to a great metal record. I did it yesterday with Picture’s "Diamond Dreamer”, absolutely great!!! T. Basstard: Well, every ordinary day is a busy day for me... I work with graphic and interaction design, but I also work with music recordings. I have produced some soundtracks and some metal albums. Our first full length is being recording on two studios: AvantGarde Studio with Maiko Thomé as a producer and Lutemkrat Studio with me... I really enjoy my activities, but sometimes, after 8 or 12 hours of work, all I want is to listen to Heavy Metal and to forget about everything. Music is what recharges my batteries... it is where I can find the real MEANING! Ok, guys, thanks for this short interview, hope it gave an idea about the band to our readers and hope to talk again soon, after the release of your upcoming album. The last words are yours. C.B : All right Adrian, thank you for this interview and also thanks for all the Romanian die hard metal fans for supporting real metal alive nowadays ! Stay tuned for Axecuter! T. Basstard: Thanks a lot for you support! I also like to invite you all to listen to our songs on MySpace (www.myspace.com/axecutermetal), ReverbNation (www.reverbnation.com/axecuter) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/pages/Axecuter-Official/189367251077353) Answers by Chrys Baphometal and T. Basstard October 2011 Hi Paul, how are you lately? All is fine, we just began rehearsing for the new CD. Things are going quite well at the moment with the South American journey coming up after we record the record, followed by another European trek beginning on March 5th in Berlin. I am really busy these days and the future looks quite interesting. We will play arend 53 shows from now until April of 2010. So I guess I can’t complain. How come you're at home and not on the road? I cannot be on the road the entire year, I have a house and a family to take care of. Actually I rather enjoy the rest at home from time to time. I will be leaving again for 14 days on the road with Six Feet Under and Illdisposed on the 30th of November as the merchandiser of Illdisposed and the other support bands this time. So as they say, no rest for the wicked. As well, I need to finish writing and recording the next CD, so this takes a bit of time. I'm compiling these questions without having your bio in front of me because if I would, it would come out as a 100 questions intie, and also a very long, informative and interesting bio is posted on your page for whoever interested. How do you see yourself after all these years of extreme metal? Do you live the life you wanted? Anything you would change? Of course I enjoy the life I lead these days, afterall, I live from the music in one form or another. I have to go on the road and do merch or tour management throughout the year, but along with touring and royalties, I make a decent living. So what more could I ask for. Hindsight is 20/20 anyway, and I wouldn’t change a thing. Back in the early days the original drummer Bill Schmidt and I were pretty connected to cocaine and marihuana, as well as experimenting with other drugs and things were a bit crazy then. Life is much more laid back these days. Of course we made a big mistake not signing the Combat contract, but in the end, one of us would have died for sure if the contract went through. I've read on your website about the incident with Krabathor in Hungary. Was that your biggest incident during the time? No. Many things happen that are crazy on the road, but I live for these adventures for sure. I remember being pulled off the bus in Mexico with the guys in Krabathor and searched for drugs. Only we didn’t have any and the Mexican border guards threatened to leave the Czech guys in jail for the night if we didn’t cough up the drugs that we never had. They ended up letting us go after and hour or so, but not before stealing 50 bucks from my wallet. But hey, what could we do, call the police, They were the police. What about the funniest thing you remember from the road? I was on the road with Illdisposed when there former guitarist Lasser, decided to get off the bus and take a piss. The tour manager and I smiled as he dropped his pants to his ankles, pissed, and fell asleep a minute later in the snow with his pants still at his ankles. That’s the one thing I enjoy about working with so many bands every year. Some can do the silliest things while intoxicated or on drugs. It’s often a fucking blast. You live in Czech Republic now. How do you see the differences between US and Europe? I guess those differences made you move here in the first place, correct? There is and always has been more freedom here in Europe. I noticed this the last time I came in 1998 after living in America for so many years. People are just more laid back and relaxed here. Hell, even the police have a more laid back attitude. America has become a police state. I really noticed this on the last few tours in the USA. Police continually roam the highways and byways looking for a bust. Freedom is a thing of the past in the USA. When I was younger there wasn’t so much control by the authorities. Today kids cannot get away with anything. We used to drink and drive when I was younger. Today this isn’t possible. You have to watch your back over there. My brother and I spoke on skype the other day and he said that 7 people were killed in his neighborhood in Kankakee, Illinois. He also said that there have been drive-by shootings over the last few days. He told me he is thinking about arming himself against the minorities that have moved into his neighborhood. I don’t have to worry about these difficulties where I live now. Ok, maybe a drunk may stumble and fall in the neigborhood down the street, but this is far less difficult than arming myself. Do you still practice your bass at home (so not at rehearsals with the bands)? What new things/tricks have you learned recently and where from? I should probably practice more, but I usually practice a few months before a tour in preperation for the oncoming battle. I usually play guitar more than bass when I am at home. I haven’t learned anything new really. I still play the same style I always have. To be honest I was a much better bassist when I was in the band Warcry. When we began Master and Deathstrike I simplified my technique, nowadays I am actually playing more difficult licks on the later Master albums than in the beginning. I still however feel less is more. I am more into the heaviness of a band versus ten milion riffs per second. I would rather listen to old Heavy Metal than any of the latest technical bands of the day. There is Thrash Metal resurgance going on and this is pretty cool with bands like Suicidal Angels from Greece and a few others. You're amongst the founders/initiators of the death metal movement, but some do not recognize this. How does that make you feel? It really doesn’t matter to me so much anymore. I mean it’s cool when bands like Napalm Death cover Master songs. Respect is the key thing and many of the icons of the genre respect Master and have at least heard of the band. On the last US tour legends like Joe Caper, and Chris Reifert came to some shows and really enjoyed the shows and this also important. One important thing I can say is that I can go to bed at night with a clear consience knowing that I was one of the first to write and play this music, and wasn’t copying others of the genre. My influences were Sabbath, Purple, GBH, The Exploited, Venom and Discharge. I know you hate death metal with keyboards. What about Nocturnus' type of keyboards? And what are your feelings about the new wave of brutal death metal, extremely technical and fast? I guess I am too old, because I really cannot understand where the genre has gone today. I would still rather here early Possessed or Carcass, or Massacre and Autopsy. Speed is for Speed Metal. This year you had a US Tour with Master, how was it to return home, in Illinois. Have you visited Chicago as well? Yes it was great to return in October 2008 and July 2009 to the USA and play to packed houses. I mean some shows were bunk, but many kicked ass. The shows in Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Hollyweird were killer. It was cool to visit Chicago after so many years for sure. I was surprised when guys like Alex Olvera from Funeral Bitch as well as Schaefer from Abomination, and even Mittelbrun from Deathstrike and Master showed up at the last show in the Windy City. The show at the CIM Festival was a bit of a joke this year with a lame sound engineer, but at least I got to see some of my old buddies again like Mark Sawackis and hang out with John and Jill from Incantation and Funerus as well as see Sammy and Ben again from Goatwhore. Hopefully I will make it the journey to the US again next year. How come your deal with Displeased ended? What do you expect from Pulverised now? The Displeased deal is ongoing, They will continue to re-release many of the old CDS I suppose for years to come. We have a great understanding and they also do a killer job for me. Pulverised is pouring a lot of cash into the new Master release and already has begun promoting the band and the new CD hasn’t even been recorded yet. I always have said over the years that if a professional label such as Pulverised Records would put time and effort into a Master release than we would both reap the rewards and I am sure this will soon happen once again. Please tell us a bit about your upcoming album, "The Human Machine". What can we expect to find on it? You will find some of the best Master songs ever written. I have have been working on the tracks for several months at home now and I expect everyone will be surprised. Is there a lyrical concept behind it? Where will it be recorded? We are all working for the societies and governments of our nations and it’s time we broke away from this farce and become free again. We are all human machines working for the brass upstairs. The goverments of the world must be removed from power. The youth of today must take a stand against these politicians and form a truly free society once gain. But I am afraid this will never happen. I can only write about it and hope for the best. Because freedom is nearly lost. Every year the US government implements more technology designed to manipulate, control, and remove freedom from its citizins as well as the rest of the so-called free world. I know you like fishing. Do you still have time for that? What types of fish do you go after and where? What's you're biggest capture so far? Are you a catch & release guy like I am, or do you like your fish released in the owen? :) I try and go fishing whenever I have time, mainly in the summer of course, but I realise fishing can be done all year. I really haven’t gone ice fishing for about twenty years, but it was fun though. I go fishing in the nearby Morava River a few miles from the house, or a block from my father inlaws house. I recently discovered a new fishing hole over near my new house, so next year I will take a crack at it. The weather dropped to about 30 degrees in the last day or so, so i won’t be fishing for while. People here fish for catfish, trout and a delicacy over here, carp. I was taken aback when I first came here in 1999 and they told me that carp was the Christmas dinner. I remember back in the day in Illinois, only the brothers took the carp home for eating. Everyone I know killed the suckerfish usually. But live and learn. Over here in Europe many countries eat this fish, and I have to say that after trying it I was presently surprised. It’s best deep fried. I mostly catch and release unless it’s decent size and meets the legal requirement. What other hobbies do you have? Do you like sports? How do you, as an American, like our kind of football? I hate sports. I like bike riding in the forest in the summer. When I ride there’s no one there. It’s quiet in the woods and this is a plus after all the noise of Metal all the time on tour. I used to lift weights as a teenager, but it’s of no real interest to me anymore. Football, soccer, the same boring shit too me, but no offence to the ones who like this. There’s nothing like watching the news and seeing the hooligans beating the shit out of each other over a stupid game and then getting beaten and arrested by the cops. Hell, this is family entertainment over here afterall. I think I’d rather go to a Motorhead concert. Ok, back to the album, when it is supposed to be released? What do you expect from it? It will be released in March 2010 followed by another European Tour. I expect the same as always except probably better sales figures this time as the label has great distribution and will begin promoting in a major way very soon. Time will tell. Will there be any changes at all in Master's music? Master always uses the same formula when recording and I write about what’s happening in the world during a current time. There’s no need for a change. I write what comes from the heart and this is what it’s all about as far as I am concerned. Maybe a Satanic album would sell better for me, but I am not interested in those themes anymore. The first Abomination cover was about as Satanic as it gets for me. Thanks a lot for your time Paul. At the end of this intie please tell us a bit about your upcoming (hopefully) book. Have a great time in your South American tour! I have written a book about some of my adventures across the frontier of my life. Some stories about others, and many stories about myself and growing up in the Metal scene. The book titled Speckmann, Surviving the underground will hopefully be released one day if I ever find a publisher that believes in it. I certainly found label that does, next is a publisher. Thanks for the interest in doing this interview my friend. Paul Speckmann Interviewed by Adrian November 2009 How are you doing today Paul? I am actually great, just returned from a vacation in Croatia with my old lady and rehearsing has begun for the newest Master CD. I also received news of the 7-inch release of the original Funeral Bitch demos from 1986 coming up soon. So things are looking up. No rest for the wicked I say. Dark Descent Records has just reissued the death metal classic "Fuckin Death" by Death Strike, one of the oldest death metal albums in the history of the genre. Take us back to the mid-eighties and where your head was at musically speaking at that time, there couldn't have been a lot of other bands as extreme as Death Strike during this time period. What was it like to be a death metal pioneer? Well, at the time you speak of I was just trying to get my life together. After auditioning many guitarists in and around Chicago original Master drummer Schmidt became disillusioned with the band and Master never really got off the ground. Bill joined a band called Mayhem from Chicago and began rehearsals for a demo with these guys. My father passed away in the fall of 1984 and I was left along in his house until the house was sold. I was playing bass in the basement one afternoon when the riffs came to me for a song called The Truth. I felt like I was surrounded by mannequins and society was a complete farce. This song would forever change my life. I began auditions for a guitarist myself after being left alone to my own devices. Chris Mittelbrun came along as well as Scott from a band called Natas later Not Us. Anyways, Scott broke his leg and never returned to practice after a few rehearsals, so my girlfriend’s brother Kirk Miller came in and a drunken maniac called John Leprich. We began rehearsing in the basement and after a few weeks we went to record "Fuckin Death". Problems arose when Leprich had trouble with "Pay To Die". The 3 songs were recorded on the first day and thankfully John pulled off, just barely, Pay To Die on the second day. We mixed on the second day. So needless to say this was done really quickly which is still my favourite way of recording and we still record quickly today. I was listening obviously to Venom and Slayer at this time and visitng concerts of these killer bands, but the obvious inspiration for the demo came from bands like GBH, MDC, The Exploited and Discharge. I never really thought of it as death metal, for me and the guys in the band it was just plain metal. All these silly categories came later on in the music scene. Now this isn't the first time that "Fuckin Death" has been re-issued, Nuclear Blast released this classic back in 1991 but what makes this current reissue unique is the addition of four previously unreleased rehearsal tracks. I'm sure your fans would like to hear your thoughts on these rare rehearsal tracks and I'd like to know if there is any other unreleased Death Strike material in the vaults that might ever see the light of day? These are just original rehearsal tracks that some kids made back in the day on a tape recorder and they are aggressive as fuck so it’s cool for the people to see what things sounded like in a storage unit back in the day. I mean by listening to these rehearsal tracks you can tell that these young cats were onto something. These original demos would go on to influence a generation of bands for sure. I suppose there are a couple others for a future release as bonus tracks. I laughed when I read some Italian review yesterday that said the bonus tracks were shitty sounding. It was rehearsal after all and they are still brutal as fuck so whatever. You have been possibility this recording and touring a great deal with Master steadily building momentum these last several years, does this leave any to temporarily shift your focus into staging a platform for a Death Strike reunion? Maybe a series of festival shows summer to commemorate the reissue? We’ll see, I’ve had one offer so far at the moment. As far a reunion this will never happen because the guys are all lazy fuckers that have no interest in touring or playing concerts. I will have a different lineup if I ever tour with the band. Speaking of reunions, you are set to perform live for a string of European concerts with your 1990's band Abomination this coming November. How did that reunion come about? Had you remained in touch with your former band members through all of these years? Again the original members are long gone, it’s been twenty years since we toured. Unfortunately guitarist Dean Chioles passes away from ALS many years ago and the drummer Aaron Nickeas runs his own pizza places. There will be a new lineup for Abomination, but it really doesn’t matter as I am the front man and main writer of all these bands. Is there any archival footage of the early concerts of the band lying around somewhere ? Any chance fans could hope to see that kind of content unearthed eventually? We never played a concert with Deathstrike so no. Last year you released your tenth full length album with Master entitled "The Human Machine" that was well received by both the press and your fans alike. Then before a scheduled performance in Tel Aviv, Israel you issued a statement proclaiming that for the time being Master was being put on hold after some hired gun band members exited the band's lineup. I'm sure everyone reading would like to know the current status of the band, have you had the time to find some adequate replacements to get Master back in action? This statement was actually misinterpreted by the press, the guys never left the band or were fired. Everything is still normal. The drummer just refused to play the show in Israel and I had to pay the promoter 1000 Euros back for the flights because I am metal and felt bad about leaving the guys holding the bag, so I paid them. The promoters read a bit more into the statement I made than what was really true. You have stated in the past that you have found "more freedom in the Czech Republic" than you "ever did in the USA". What are the greatest benefits, in your opinion, being based out of the Czech Republic? Is there a strong death metal scene where you live? Freedom is the strongest benefit in this country. Police look the other way when I walk the streets, they’re not interested in who I am or what I am doing. Some of the most beautiful women in the world live here. The food is great and the village I live in is small and quiet. Outside of the Czech Republic, where would you say are your favorite countries to tour and perform in and why? I enjoy Italy for the food and the crazy fans across that country. Holland is by far one of my favourites as again, freedom exists there. You can choose what you wish without government intervention. The Netherlands have their own set of rules I guess, but freedom is at the forefront. Brazil was excellent in 2010 as well. In a 2007 interview with a German webzine, you made a very bold statement that "Drugs are great. Experimentation is awesome." Although it is somewhat rare for a musician to publicly endorse using drugs it is also very intriguing. What is your drug(s) of choice and does drug usage ever play a role in composing your music? Any seasoned musician will tell you that he had experiences with drugs. Drugs can be enlightening sometimes. I don’t really experiment with drugs anymore, but I am an advocate of freedom of choice. I enjoyed smoking pot and hashish when I was growing up and it helped me become the person I am today. I indulged in mushrooms and acid and tried cocaine for a while, but I am really now only addicted to Marlboros and Jack Daniels, the latter only on tour. Actually I wrote some killer bass-lines while stoned back in the day! A number of years ago the grind metal pioneers Napalm Death paid tribute to Master by covering the song "Master". If you were to ever return the favor and choose to record a Napalm Death cover, what song from their illustrious, seemingly never ending back catalogue would you choose? I don’t know. Really my friend... Sorry for this answer! Where would you say your lyrical ideas primarily spring from? A lot of your recent lyrical output deals with your take on the current state of society, do you stay current with politics and the news? All lyrics from all my records were inspired by personal tragedy and the society we live in for sure. Governments of the world have too much control over what the population does and should be brought down and executed for their crimes against humanity. Tell me your thoughts on the current state of death metal. A lot of the tried and true greats of the genre have recently tried there hand at crossover commercial success, but at what cost? How do you feel about this? Is death metal strictly for a chosen few, namely the underground? Do you see anything wrong with death metal becoming more and more accepted by the mainstream? Many bands have sold out for sure which is ridiculous, but I guess they have to eat maybe. I have always stuck to my true beliefs when it comes to my music. I will never sell out! Money is not as important for me as integrity. In the end you have to live with the music you create. Who would you say originally inspired you to learn how to play the bass guitar? A band called Duce at my high school really planted the seed so to speak after I watched a few shows. I began as a singer in a cover band called White Cross at school and then realised playing bass would be better for me. I practiced my ass off until I could p lay. Then I met Steve Harris and my world changed. After discovering Geezer Butler I really began a rigorous regiment of practice. Tell me about how you first discovered metal music. Was there a specific band that lured you in? I'd be interested to hear about your memories of that... Actually I discovered a record called "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" among my older brother’s Disco collection. After listening to this and Aerosmith’s "Draw The Line" I was hooked. I plugged my cheap Epiphone bass into my brother’s stereo when he was at work and began jamming along with the records and discovered I could actually play these tracks by ear. It took years to get really good though. It wasn’t an easy journey but in the end it was well worth it. What should fans expect from Paul Speckmann for the remainder of 2011? What's next? More shows across the globe for sure. Mexico is coming up I believe and several festivals here in Europe and the Abomination tour of course. A big thank you from Pest webzine for taking the time to do this interview for your fans. Any last words Paul? Yes thanks for the killer interview and people can purchase some rareties from many entities if they are interested. DeathStrike Fucking Death from Dark Descent Records also The Human Machine is available on vinyl at Doomentia Records in Czech. For more info people can go to master-speckmetal.com Interview by Osiris Stefanelli July 2011 Hi Wes, How are you lately? How's the band? Everything is really good! We are currently writing material for a couple of upcoming split 7", and preparing to play some shows. Who are the members of Blaspherian? Is it the same line-up since the beginnings? Current line-up: Wes Infernal - guitars, Matt Mayhem - drums, Lord Apollyon - vokills, Joe Necro - bass [on the CD, he has switched to guitar now]. Lord Apollyon replaced our original vocalist in 2008... You've just released your debut album, "Infernal Warriors of Death", how are the reactions and sales so far? Most reviewshave been positive, and sales are fantastic... The European version has just been unleashed through Deathrune Records, so if your in Europe order it through them! They are formerly known as Die Todesrune Records... How come you released your debut after 7 years since your foundation? Well due mainly to our singer leaving in 2008, as well as a myriad of other problems, including the fact that I wrote the entire record, and I write at a snails pace! I like to take my time, I'd rather have an album of songs I'm happy with, than an album of songs that are rushed. Are you satisfied with the final result of "Infernal Warriors of Death"? Overall I would say yes. There are a few things that we could have spent more time on, we were somehow rushed, but as I said overall it came out the way we wanted... We were not looking for "perfect" production by any means... This is underground death metal, so theres some things we left in because we wanted it to have a human, and non robotic feel to the CD, we wanted it to be organic in nature... Too many albums these days sound far too sterile, with perfect production, triggered drums, clean guitar sound... That to me is fake, we will never do that. How do you manage to have such a necro, old-school sound? Who took care of production in the studio? Production was handled basically by our studio engineer, Chris Ryan, and ourselves... The necro feel you speak of is basically my guitar sound... Very raw and heavy. Also we went with very little in terms of mastering, the CD is not really mastered so I think that contributed to the overall necro sound... Who did your cover artwork and how are you satisfied with the result? Artwork was done by the great artist Juanjo Castellano, he's worked with Sathanas, Quinta Essentia, as well as many others... We love it, its a tribute to the old school death metal artwork masterpieces.... Blaspherian built a strong name in the underground even before releasing this album. How do you promote the band and its releases? Well promotion is mainly done through the labels that we work with... But we of course also contribute, if I find a zine I like, I'll send them a CD for review. Another example would be Mystical Music 'zine [Germany], we'll be in the next issue, and also all copies will come with a free Blaspherian sticker... There are many ways we promote throughout the underground... How's Blaspherian when it comes to live shows? How are you on stage? What notable gigs did you have up until now? Blaspherian live rituals are a crushing expression of anti-christian hate. Probably our most notable live ritual, was at last years' "Rites of Darkness" fest in San Antonio, Texas, we shared the stage with our friends in Blasphemophagher, Grave Miasma, Manticore... So many killer bands played that show its unreal... Who writes the lyrics and what are they all about? Most song titles I come up with, and Lord Apollyon writes almost all lyrics, I may have a few things to contribute here and there. All lyrics are completely hate filled antichristian, occult, satanic philosophies and will remain so. The theme of this band will never change! How is a Blaspherian track coming to life? Do you have your own rehearsal place where you can stay as long as you want or do you share it? Basically I write some music and we work on it from there. It takes a while for us to complete a track, so that's usually why it takes so long between releases. How's your relationship with Deathgasm going on so far? Is it a multiple albums deal or you plan on renegociating at some time? Out partnership with Deathgasm is spectacular! We really enjoy working with them. Also, the CD and vinyl will be released through Deathrune Records in Europe!!!!!!!!! Our deal with Deathgasm is not a multiple album deal, but we would love to work with Evan again for sure. How do the members of Blaspherian get along outside of the rehearsal room? We get along well, we hang out at shows and parties, but sometimes its hard to hang out away from practice as we all live in complete opposite direction from each other, and very far apart! How important is for a band to have a steady line-up? Well of course its important, when people are coming and going, its hard to get anything accomplished... We want metal warriors in this band... Those that bleed and die for metal... Please recommend us 3 of the best albums you've listened to recently. 1. Grave Miasma - Arisen Through the Grave Miasma 2. Butchered Saint - Demo 3. Mitochondrian CD Are you involved in tradings as well? Tell us some unsigned bands that should deserve more attention? Yes we trade all the time, we also have our own distro, we sell a lot of music at shows... Right now the best unsigned band is Butchered Saint... Our metal brothers in San Antonio Texas... Check them out for sure. Any new tracks done so far? Can you give us a little preview of how you plan the future for Blaspherian? We have 1 new completed song and we are currently working on 2 others... Right now we have plans for some split 7", mainly the most important one is with my old band, Imprecation... We will be doin a split with thwm on Dark descent Records, Sometime in 2011... As well as others, and also a new CD in 2012, ano satanas. Thanks for this chat, Wes, the last words are yours. Thank you for the support! Look for our CD on Deathgasm Records... And also on Deathrune Records in Europe! Hail true death metal, hail the infernal warriors of death! Answers by Wes May 2011 Celtachor (Ireland) Celtachor began in the early months of 2007 but only became a proper band in the year of 2010 The band take its numerous influences from black, doom, and folk metal, The Main focus was to bring the Mythology of the Irish saga’s to life from the grief of the Son’s of Tuireann to the Life and Death of Cu Chulainn, The band see themselves as the narrators of the legends of the ancient times of Eire. Celtachor incorporate Irish whistle and bodhran into the music with crushing hooks and Drums of war to bring the listener back to that time and create an atmosphere wherever possible .With this year progressing well a full line-up complete and with the work started on our first album on its way it proves to be a good year for the band. Celtachor is the unity of our thirst for spreading the knowledge and stories of Legends and High Kings dead and gone, and we are proud to document Irelands greatest tales of Sorrow , Battle and Victories past.In 2010 the band had a full working lineup and started work from then as a full band. www.facebook.com/celtachor Dark Theory (England) Dark Theory is a Black Metal band from Thanet, Kent who combine furious Black/Death/Thrash riffs, pounding grindcore influenced drumming and contrasting high pitched growls and operatic female vocals with the occasional electronic influence. They started off as a one man band and stayed that way for a couple of years, releasing two extremely experimental and noisy demos. While these demos were well received by the Black Metal and Grindcore scenes on Myspace, in made no impact in the local area. In January 2010 a full band was formed and worked on covers and a new demo for the first 6 months, starting the summer with their first gig and an offer to record in the studio. In the year since then the band has been plagued by occasional member problems due to their unwillingness to change from Black Metal to the more trendy sounds of Metalcore, but they have received highly positive reviews on their live performance and have shared the stage with the likes of Foreboding Ether, Seven Year Kismet, Malefice, Wretched Soul, The Furious Horde, Inner Fire, Septic Discharge, Tragic Millennium, Shatterpoint and most recently supported Sarah Jezebel Deva. Search them up on facebook and myspace. www.facebook.com/pages/Dark-Theory/176915864515 Luciferus Vargulin (England) One man Black Metal Project from Cumbria Owing to the immense amount of extreme musical talent throughout the Cumbrian area, Luciferus Vargulin has begun to create his own black metal opus for the world to hear... Influences: Mayhem, Darkthrone, Arkhon Infaustus, Celtic Frost, Venom, Kreator, Ophthalamia, Opera IX, Belphegor, Discharge, Hecate Enthroned, Emperor, Rotting Christ, Cathedral, Secrets of the Moon www.facebook.com/LuciferusVargulin Greetings, Hugin, thanks for deciding to answer my questions for Pest 'zine. Have you told your guitarist about this interview? What did he say? He-he I guess you are referring to the fact that he calls himself Pest also.. well to use his own words, he knows that PEST is not a very original name, and he did NOT expect that he would be the only one naming himself Pest, so he is alright with that .. I'm curious, is it day or night when you're answering this intie? Do interviews mean anything to you? Do you have to have a special state of mind when answering one? Its day-time right now, and yes of cause interview matters!, just like lyrics do. I think its important to share your view and believes, and also it keeps the readers up with what has been going on lately etc, so yes interviews means something to me.. I think that mostly People that doesn’t give interviews, are afraid to be confronted with their own lack of honesty and so-called believes and "True” attitude When people have something to say, and believes in it, they speak. When they have nothing to offer, and its all about attitude and image, they usually keep their mouth closed.. Simple as that! (well, that’s just my opinion of cause) but of cause an interview can be so crappy that one doesn’t want to answer it I guess, but I have never stumbled over SUCH a bad interview, that I did not want to answer it yet. Up to now I have answered all interviews send my way. I need no special state of mind when answering an interview, but I like to be focused, so I usually answer interviews when I have a day/night with good time, which is not that often these days. You're a dark follower, but since when? Do you remember the first time you started having doubte and asking questions about the truth behind religion? Does music had any influence on you back then? Yes I do remember the first time I started asking and seeking questions and answers to religion and life in general, I was actually very young, and no, music did not have any influence on that back then, since I barely had a music-taste in that age. I grew up 500 meters from the local church, and had the local priest as a neighbour and the first thing you question, is the first thing you see, and as I -when being around 5years old- saw the church, and the priest-farm every time I played in the garden or went outside, I got a natural interest in what this was, so along with my intelligence developing along childhood, I investigated and understood the hypocrisy of the church and its religion, and grew up with a hate and disgust for this very empty and hollow mass-deceiving institute. that laid right next-door, and I also hated the people that came to the church, for, liking what I hated.. So I turned to the power of Satan (as Christianity calls that energy) way before I had music in my life. But when I was 14.years old, and had the possibility I moved from the island of Bornholm were I grew up, went to Sjalland/Copenhagen, and started my first band, with the purpose of spreading my believes, thoughts, visions etc. Ever had an attraction for Christian holydays like Easter or Christmas? How are your holydays now? I guess it bothers you to be so fed up by all those "happy" feelings those times of the year. It bothered me a lot when I was younger, because I had to escape from it. By that I mean I lived with my family and their traditions, but also When that is said, you must understand that there isn’t much Christianity in the way my family celebrated these holiday-times. To them it was more a reason to gather the family and have a good time, my parents doesn’t care for Christianity much either, but as I was, and is, a soul that takes things very serious, I struggled a lot with my family celebrating these Christian holidays when I was a child, because it felled like they were betraying my standards and believes.. These days I don’t care, you see I moved on my own when I was 14. years old, (and I am 30 now) and from there on I could make my own traditions. So these days I don’t care about Christian holidays. But, but , but I can not leave this question without informing you if you don’t know already, that Christmas or Jul, as it is called in Denmark, is originally here a heathen tradition the Vikings celebrated, and first later on, Christianity took the concept and put their own god and symbols into jul/Christmas. And over a few hundred years JUL/Christmas was turned over to be a celebrating of Christ. Instead of a celebration of the year, which it originally was to the notherns. Many things are like that, you see Christianity when trying to move in on the heathens to convert them, took things the heathen could relay to, and used them in their attempt to persuade them that this new religion called Christianity was the way forward. One god above all! Instead of the many gods the heathens had. So when the heathens were already having a traditions on celebrating Jul/Yule that they wouldn’t let go of no matter how much the Christians tried to convince them, Christianity thought : "hey, since they will not let it go, lets make this tradition the heathens call Jul/Yule, into a celebration of Christ.. no even better lets make it a celebration of Jesus birth!” and in a period over 400 years of manipulation and deleting of history, so it was done.. When did you started take contact with the black metal scene? What attracted you? Why was it better than the "regular" music? I started my first band only with 1.purpose.. to spread my thoughts, visions, ideas and believes. When i started MISANTHROPIA I came in naturally contact with the up-growing blackmetal scene, but I cant say something special attracted me into this scene, it was just a natural development, as I found related souls in this inviroment.. when I first started MISANHROPIA it was never the idea to play a certain type of style, I just wanted to create an serious extreme Satanic Metal-band, and as none of us were pro’s we just played it as we felled it should be, and as I have never been capable of Growling(and don’t like it much either) I had to use my own personal vocal, (more screaming and tortured), and this way the band felled under that times "blackMetal” label which was also very true, or atleast the closest you come to labelling our art, as we had nothing in comment with those days deathmetal-scene (yes back then there weren’t so many different styles you see hehe) but our main focus has and will always be on the lyrics, as to begin with the music was nearly a tool to spread the lyrics, if you know what I mean. Most of the black metalheads I know or knew along the years take pride that they first started with the cult bands like Venom, Celtic Frost, Bathory, etc. Is that a thing to be proud of? No, proud is not the right word, but I guess it shows they had good taste hehe, and its just the way things developed I think, I also listened to all the bands you just mentioned growing up, and its just a fact that many of todays older metalheads started with listening to these and likewise bands. You also have to understand that these bands were actually the best ones around at that moment, or at least the ones one could relay to, so its not something about being "proud” of it, or not for me, its just the way it was/is and that was what we grew up with. You see there weren’t that many bands with satanic lyrics back then. What if for example the first band a youngster hears and changes his life is an underground one, known only regionally? Is that kid an object of mockery? Strange question..ehhh why should he be that? I don’t know..i guess not..dont really care .. The first rock band I ever liked was Guns'N'Roses, I never hide that. Which was the first rock band ever to be spinned in your player? The first EVER was Melissa LP with MERCYFUL FATE, which I borrowed from my best friends step-father. The next was "jump in the fire” 10inch EP which I bought from a friend when I was 10 years old (both is luckily still in my collection today) Now, back to you. Which was your first project/band? Is it still around? Please tell us more about your previous musical activities. My first band was MISANTHROPIA which I created in 1994. its not around anymore. My bands/projects through the years are : BLODARV (active), HUGIN (not around), SKJOLD (stopped this year), MISANTHROPIA (not around), ARANRÚTH (stopped in 98), GWATH (not around), SANSAGER (stopped in 98), ESSOUPI (not around) I won't ask you about the history of Blodarv because it's on the website, but I would ask you about the meaning of its name. Why did you have the urge to create another band and what's different between Blodarv and your previous bands? BLODARV was under process along with all my other activities, so it was my plan to create BLODARV from the beginning, and not a sudden urge I developed. BLODARV is the concentrated essence of me.. and much more personal than my earlier bands. I wanted to created it, because I wanted to put all my demons, thoughts and visions into 1 intense band.. and not spread them over many, also I wanted a band exactly in my own spirit, that’s why I started BLODARV. BLODARV means "inherit in the blood” or "passed on in the blood” I know Skjold was deeply Satanic propaganda. What about Blodarv? I think the second one has a more death, dark, misterious oriented approach. Am I right? Yes you are right, but as I partly spoke of before, BLODARV is my thoughts, visions, demons and Life, so I guess some would call it satanic propaganda.. well you cant define BLODARV with a label.. it must be listened to, and the lyrics must be read. I have no certain agenda for my music, lyrics etc, I just play and write from my heart and soul. That’s BLODARV. Your lyrics are truly deep and very interesting. How do you write your lyrics? Where from comes all this inspiration? Was there any period when you felt uninspired and couldn't write any more? Thanks, and No there wasn’t, I just write them along with my life developing, my inspiration is all that surrounds me, both bad and good things, so I am always inspired to write more. I've seen you don't like that much to explain your lyrics, but why do you feel the need to write them so personal, to expose all your thoughts? Don't you fel that makes you a bit vulnerable? No my friend,that does not make me vulnerable, not at all.. this is what its all about, why should I write un-peronal lyrics? There are plenty of pop-bands doing that! Ill leave that to them and there empty-headed fans. I write my lyrics and music, because I actually have something I want to say, state, or tell I went into music because (as mentioned a few times now) I wanted to spread my thoughts, visions, demons etc, not because I wanted to unload a lot of fake empty-hearted bullshit into the world, which in my opinion there are also plenty bands doing out there. I want honest music and lyrics, and by that I mean honesty to myself. I stand behind all my lyrics and music 100%, that’s also why I don’t care if people don’t understand or likes it, as long as I can stand 100% behind my art, that’s all that matters to me. As for explaining my lyrics, its not that I don’t want to, but what is there to explain really? Its all written in the lyrics.. it can not be explained better then its done in the lyrics.. Lyrics are created, and are as they are, for this very reason. I don’t see how one can explain what is already explained.? Black metal is a major industry nowadays and even the so called "true" bands that promote their releases as "22 handnumbered copies" want to sell. I don't want to offend anyone, but it seems there are only few people left that care more about their principles and ideas than about image and beautiful girls. How do you see it? I agree 100%. But hey If that’s what people want to spend their time on, let them, it don’t move me. There are so many idiots in the world, and I don’t care for such people/bands, they are not a part of my universe.. fuck’em I liked the fact you stated in one of your interviews that you would like to earn your living from BLODARV and so to live only through and for it. That's honesty and I see nothing wrong with that, but why do you think many of the "true" black metallers are blaming you for that? Haha ..Are they? I don’t care! Perhaps they are not dedicated enough to their own art.. but If these so-called true black-metallers would rather earn their living and spend precious time on being a plumber, carpenter or something else, that’s fine with me.. personally I prefer to create lyrics and music, but if they prefer something else, like plumbing or so, Fine with me. You see All my time goes with BLODARV, and there is no room/time for anything else like a "normal” job, so ofcause I would like to live from what I do, wouldn’t anyone? I do it anyway, so why wouldn’t I like to get paid for it, and not waste precious time on getting money elsewere.? When this is said, there is something you have misunderstood a bit ..I live (to re-use your own words) only through and for BLODARV and have always done so, no matter if I can live from it or not!(if not I will die trying!) I don’t care for money,(anyone who knows me knows that) but it bothers me to use time on earning money through a normal job, when I could have used that time on BLODARV instead. But perhaps these "true” teenagers likes to spend time on a "normal” job And related to that, you are using female vocals. I remember a few years back any band using female vocals were labelled traitors and trendy. Why? Why there's so much fights in this scene? These days it isn’t a strong scene, its filled with spoiled children who talks bad about each-other, and one claiming to be more "true” than the other. The focus is gone, and both God and Satan laughs these days I think. it’s a shame, but I don’t care if these "Satanists” fights each-other, though in my opinion they really should concentrate on fighting the real enemy of Satan .. well of course when this is said, you can also have enemies within own lines, it all depends.. but these days most of these "true satanists” are just doing exactly what the Christians hope for,.. its weak, and pathetic, just like christianity. As for using female vocals, you are right, it’s a fact that it was over-used by many and it still is, but everything is relative, and i actually agree that there was/are to many using female vocals just because it is/was popular, but there is also some bands out there using it with meaning, were it actually gives something to the music and/or lyrics. To explain it better, let me tell you why we use female vocal in BLODARV. We use female vocal in the parts of my lyrics were it is a female soul that speak, thinks, or acts. We use it to create a more correct vision of the story in the music. As stated before the lyrics come first in BLODARV, so we create a sound-image based on the lyrics if you know what I mean, meaning that if there is a part in the lyrics that includes a female soul, then it will be sung by a female soul (satainae Ma) Etc,etc…Did that make sence.. OK, pissed you a lot with my childish questions, now let's talk about your latest release which I think it's simply awesome. the story and atmosphere behind it is really giving the creeps. Congratulations for such a deep material. Can you please say a few, general words about it? Is Linaria's tale a real story or fiction? Many thanks, and yes Its a 100 percent true story, There is no fiction on that album at all my friend. As I said previously I am honest both to myself and my art, and everything on it is all real. As for the concept on this album, Its just a small fragment of My and now dead Linarias mind and life.. Who was Linaria Amlech and? Was she really schizophrenic? She was a really beautiful girl, why was she so depressed? Yes some would define her schizophrenic.. Being Beauty has nothing to do with feeling either depressed, schizophrenic or likewise. Its only if you are a very stupid hollow person you get your happiness only from looking good.. looks doesn’t reflect how you feel inside my friend.. do you also think beautiful people are always happy and beautiful on the inside?.. then you are very wrong I can tell you. About the demon in her head, do you know how was he supposed to look like? When did it all started? Did you just ask me how here demons looked like?.. You are aware of that we speak of demons in the mind and soul right?! And not a human-figure in front of you that you can see.. this is just as strange a question as when you ask me how I think the devil looks like.. thats doesn’t make sense in my head, the devil or a demon, is not a person that looks a certain way, its energies that manifests in many different forms, I honestly don’t understand if these questions are serious, sorry but I am not on this level. She enjoyed the pain inflicted by Battailes, but despite that she was afraid of abortion... Maybe behind all this is the message that love is pain but it doesn't hurt? You have misunderstood it ..Linaria enjoyed pain, and was not afraid of abortion, she was afraid/uncomfortable of hospitals. That’s why she tried to do the abortion herself. It's a strange thing reading her diary: she says she can't wait to sleep, to meet him in her dreams, although at a moment she says he's around all day... No, she says that during the day she feels his presence around her all the time, but during sleep, she meets and speaks with him. How were the reactions towards this (in my opinion) masterpiece? Thanks, They’ve been good, I cant complain, but the most important thing to me was to get this album out ( a needed mental process) then the reactions on it must become as they become. As the album is now kind of old, when we'll see/hear the new album? It will be a pretty tough job to surpass "Linaria", what do you think? What will be the new album about? The next release will definitely not stand in the shadow of the LINARIA-release, I will leave it up to the listener to decide if one album surpass another, but in my opinion this new release features some of the best I have ever made up to now, and I look forward to introduce the new line up with the new members on CD also, as up to now they have mostly been a part of the live-line up, so this album is the first were all the members participate on, and I look forward to get that out. Its been a good process. Anyway, as always I want reveal to much about the upcoming album before its out, and it will be released very soon ( we are speaking weeks) so you can see for yourself very soon. but I am VERY satisfied with it, I can say that the title for the release is "Civitas Diaboli” and it will be released in a regular, and a special digi-pack edition together with Civitas Diaboli T-shirt, pin and patch. All released by EISENWALD TONSCHMIEDE Germania Hugin Prods is still alive? What releases do you have available at the moment and what are you planning to release if you are? No its definitive over, I simply don’t have the time for it and haven’t had for many years. So no more releases on Hugin Prod, but you can still get some of my old stuff as demos etc released on hugin prod, directly from me, so if people are interested in some of my old demos and projects, they can always write me and we will find out of something. Another question related to Blodarv is about the two female vocalist. Why two, one for recordings and one for live gigs? I am glad you ask, because there has been some misunderstandings there. WE HAVE ONLY 1. ACTIVE FEMALE VOCALIST now, and that’s SATINAE MA. Just before BLODARV became a full line up with the new possibility to play live, I spoke with ISAZ that did the Vocals on the earlier releases if she had the time to do the vocals live for future gigs, and she simply had not, she has so many other things in her life that takes her time, so she would only be able to join us live on like 5 out of 10 concerts, so we both agreed on that it would not work, so from that day I let Satinae Ma take over all the female vocals part, meaning that she sings on the old track live also, doing the vocals that Isaz originally did on the CDS "Soulcollector” and "Linaria Amlech” and Satinae Ma is now a full member of BLODARV so she also does all the female vocal-parts on future releases, and is the only female singer in BLODARV. It is also only Satinae Ma that does the female vocal on the upcoming "Civitas Diaboli” release (you can listen to the tittle track on our myspace profile www. myspace. com/blodarv If you were asked to play at, let's say, Metal Camp, with the biggest bands around for a shitload of money, but during daytime, would you do it? By the way, how's Blodarv live? How's the atmosphere? In BLODARV we like to play live, so yes ofcause we would, but not because a shit load of money as you say. And it wouldn’t matter to me if we play with the biggest or the smallest bands. We are there to do our own performance, so which other bands plays there also, doesn’t really matter. but of cause we always prefer to play with like-minded bands, because its always more enjoyable to play with some bands you like, and can relay to. Anyway, If I haven’t made it clear, it is not the money that drives us my friend. we are into this because We want to spread the universe of BLODARV, not because we want to be rich or rock-stars. Surely we wouldn’t like to play during day, if we could play at night instead, but if we could only play during day-time we would still do that of cause, a bit of daylight shouldn’t be able to stop us.. That would be weak. As for BLODARV Live we always do our best to create a strong atmosphere on stage, and build of the scene with a look that fits the universe of BLODARV, and then we just let the demons out, and perform with a with a –kickjesusass-powerful stage-act.. We want to give the audience all we got every time we play, and there is always something new happening each time we play.. you should come. Thanks for your time, Hugin, and sorry for all these questions, I'm a curious fellow. There were more of them, but I'll keep them for the next time we'll talk. P(b)est regards! Thanks for the interview, and a big fucking HAILS to all our friends, followers, supporters and allied! May the devil be with you all!! 666 hugin Contact: http://www.myspace.com/blodarv July 2008 Hails Brother! Thank you for accepting this interview, how are you doing today? Greetings metal warrior everything is going good! Tell me about the early days of the band? Were your ideas always clear about the musical direction that you wanted to pursue as a band? Well, like any band that will linger in the mouth of Cronos, ideas like the music mature in unison. Funebria has been steadily releasing their bestial hatred and power. It is always our desire to worship the morbid loathing that all Modern slaves flock to. A long time ago I interviewed Lord Daemonae, obviously a lot has happened since then, many shows, etc. Tell me they have done since that time and what they are currently up to? In the last two years the herd has had a variant in which members are concerned, the annexation of Iblis as official bassist of our circle, likewise at the end of 2010 we had the pleasure of opening for the blasphemous Cradle of Filth no despised the very significant for several concerts the beast that had several locations in the country between these Barquisimeto, Los Teques, Caracas, Rubio etc. After your latest album "In blasfemical est Dominus ad Noctum .. Sathani" in 2009 you have continued to remain very active as a band. Do you have some material ready to record in this new year? I will give you the scoop that within two weeks we will enter the studio to record an EP which will tentatively be named "The Serpent Sing" that will contain five more cursed items of fast and voracious raw material in the style of black/death metal that we recorded before. Also we are working on new songs for an upcoming full length. What inspires your lyrical content on your compositions in Funebria? Our lights emerge from the depths of our thoughts, keeping the fire burning that embraces our unchristian hatred, in short, our inspiration will always be washed by the Luciferian mantle of eternal night... How does it feel to be one of the bands that open the show for CRADLE OF FILTH? And that other notable shows have you already secured as a band? It was a pleasant surprise for us and we thank the organizers who selected us as Horde to open this macro event. Another concert that brings memories of this band of blasphemers was made together with Ancient Norway in 2007 and 2008 where Bestial Machinery was part of the "Dead Plan Tour" with major extreme bands from around the country sharing with Cultura 3. A few weeks ago the horde participated in the "Pre-Gillman Fest" in the city of San Francisco, an event that brought together more than thirty bands on a single date. Some of you have side projects. Tell us a bit about how they handle balancing their musical duties in Funebria and then playing in other bands as well... For my part (SethAumXul) military in a death metal band called Bloodwork and the black metal band Ar Ishtar Barquisimeto, Daemonae has a black metal side project called Daemonhorn, Iblis military band practicing in Abysmal black/death metal and Samech is a guitarist and leader of the death metal band Morzgul. Tell me all about the current metal scene in State Maracaibo and nationally? Would you say that the extreme metal movement has been growing in numbers in recent years? It has been growing gradually, consolidating rather than on the state capital, it has also grown a great deal for the eastern shore of the lake with brutal bands and events postponed. With serious regard to the rest of the country, the scene is very strong. The dark invasion has arrived and it is time for black metal and metal necro to take his throne! What is your opinion on the division between the different genres of metal, such as black, thrash, death metallers etc.? In my circle there is no such division you speak of even though we know that there is some ignorant media touting the separatist tendencies of these two bloody world (styles) ever since the beginning of everything in the extreme metal genre, but even if you mix these worlds in a single system, the examples of this evil are captured with blood in the annals of extreme black metal. What other bands nationwide could name that we are for you too brutal and have emerged in recent years? Veldraveth, Metzeli, Herejes, Noctis Imperium, Zatrarath, Sectasys among many others at the moment but they know not remember swimming with all his dark forces in the burning infernal Stygian waters. Hail for all .. What do you expect in the future for Funebria? Profanity, death, destruction and redemption. Our posthumous worship of the great beast that shines strong and the serpentine possessor in the path of the left hand, hail thanks for the interview we will see you soon ... REGIE SATAN! www.facebook.com/funebriaband Interviewed by: Osiris Stefanelli July 2011 Hello Tony, Atomkraft is back with your new single "Coldsweat" that is also available as a five track mini-CD availble from W.A.R. Productions. Why do you feel it was finally time to revive Atomkraft and what are your plans as a band for the foreseeable future? Is their a full length studio album in the works? I recorded a cover of Thin Lizzy’s ‘Cold Sweat’ some years back as it was suggested by a friend for the Phil Lynott anniversary. I decided on this track as it was more in the vein of Heavy Metal, from the Thunder and Lightening album. I looked at ‘Killer on the Loose’ also but the problem with Thin Lizzy is...they are so classic...it’s hard to do them justice..Metallica did a great job with ‘Whisky in a Jar’ but my approach was always going to be more extreme and picking a track without destroying it was gonna be hard...hahaha.. Hopefully I did it and them justice..I had some guests on the recordings...Par Hulkoff (Raubtier) guitars and Cherrise Osei ( Mantas band/The Faders/Mika, etc.)and a guest solo by Jurnalist and solo guitarist, Joe Matera. The track was never released and Joe has always championed it since we did it. Everntually Alex Wieser at W.A.R productions contacted me after getting a copy from Joe and asked to release it..and that was kind of it..Following that I was invited to contribute an interview to ‘The History of a Time to Come’ documentary being shot now, about the British Thrash scene during the 1980’s and then was asked to appear as ATOMKRAFT at a show in London with Helstar. I agreed to everything and so here we are..lol. All kinda just happened..Now I am writing a new album with Kraen Meier (Sacrificial), Paul Caffrey (Gamma Bomb) and my old friend, Jim Durkin (Dark Angel) the album is titled, ATOMKRAFT – The Dark Angel and will be released around January 2012. Speaking of the "Coldsweat" release, one of the bonus tracks entitled "Intro" was recorded during a gig at the London Marquee Club where Atomkraft served as the direct support for American thrash legends Slayer on the "Hell Awaits" tour. What all do you recall from that concert? Did Atomkraft have any interaction with Slayer backstage before or after the show? Yes that is true...that was put on the Ep for fun..it was used only once and in 1985 so I figured why not...Yes we had a great time meeting a playing with Slayer back then. They had toured Europe and this was their last dates before returning home. They were kinda tired but played a great show.. We chatted and had some photos done before they played and after we played then after the show we all went back to their hotel for some drinking etc....I have always been a huge fan and so this is one of my favourite memories...We played only 3 tracks at this show because...the equipment failed on us (Story of our life..lol) so we waited for it to be fixed but then I thought..fuck this...and after all,I am the Demolition man...so I trashed the fuck out of our stuff...our drummer even took a sledgehammer to his drumkit...hahahahaha. The crowd was still throwing our drummers bass drum around the place while Slayer were on...hahahaha. I have a tape somewhere from the whole show with Tom and Jeff shouting, Slayer while we are on...hahahahaha. Good times..They are top guys, were then and are now... Tell me about the other bonus track "Coldsweat" that was a previously unreleased song. How long did you have this song in the can before unleashing it upon your fans? When and where was it recorded? These songs were all recorded along with ‘Cold Sweat’ as I intended at the time to complete a full album..but my acting work and my theatre work (I am an engineer/Master Crapenter) took up too much time that I was not able to concentrate on it any longer..They were all done around..several years ago..and I recorded it here in London at my studio at the time. The new album is being recorded between Denmark, London and Los Angeles... Take me back in time to 1985 where after six years as a band, Atomkraft finally released your debut full length album "Future Warriors" through Neat Records. In a period that found many of your peers in the NWOBHM scene steadily releasing albums and further establishing their names I imagine it must have been a bittersweet triumph to finally issue your debut full length after six years as a band. Did the three of you ever feel like you "missed the bus" in a sense by not releasing your debut during what was collectively considered the heyday of NWOBHM from 79-82? Yes...the band that made the debut album was a different band from the 6 years before...we had been playing and recording demos all that time but it took til 1985 until NEAT Records agreed to release something and by then I had 2 new members after losing the original drummer and the second guitarist in the band..to be fair...we never sent demos to any other label than NEAT...we had no idea who or where we would send stuff, back then don’t forget there were mainly fanzines apart from Kerrang, and Sounds, Melody Maker here and most of the fanzines were European not English. So as NEAT was right where we lived we just waited and kept doing demos til they said yes...hahahaha..stupid but, we had no guidance otherwise.. If we had have put an album out in 1980 to 83..it would have been a very different album...we were Very Heavy and Dark....in those days...but could play our instruments....lol... I don’t think we , ‘Missed the bus’ but yes it had an effect on us...as it looked like we got our tickets late...and of course made some people think we came later..hahahahaha..sorry but we came at the birth... Did the nickname "Demolition Man" come before the Atomkraft song "Demolition"? How exactly did you wind up with that moniker? Ah...hahahahaha..no the track Demolition came later as my anthem..lol. The way the name came about is..we played a show with Warrior in the North of Englad...around 80/81 I think and we all 3 had a solo spot...during my own bass solo I launched myself at the audience and my bass cable, that was wrapped around my amps and stack, pulled everything over...there was lots of flashes,vales exploding etc...lol...it was a real mess...hahaha...so Steve White (original guitarist who went on to form, WarMachine) went to the mic and said.....’Ladies and Gentlemen............The Demolition Man!!’ and that was it...hahahahaha Of course three years later in 1988 you would join Venom as bassist and vocalist. Was it difficult for you to leave Atomkraft behind? How did Ged and Rob initially take the news when you told them that you had landed the Venom gig? Were they happy for you? Well of course it seemed like 3 years later but for me it was actually..almost 9yrs later...lol...We had just done our biggest and best tour when that all happened but to be honest...Rob decided he had had enough and wanted to leave...we had a singer we were using and a bassist and I was doing second guitar duties by then as I wanted a fuller sound..the singer also wanted to leave and I just did not want to start over...members (including myself) were coming in and out over a 3 year period and I had had enough..Ged wanted to continue and tried for 5 minutes but it was never gonna happen I guess. The Venom job came at the same time so it was an easy choice..did I miss AtomKraft? Well.....here I am? Hahahahaha...I guess I did!! I just like playing and was a long time friend and fan of Venom so...it was natural and easy..plus Mantas and myself have a certain chemistry as musicians which is very enjoyable.. Obviously the "Prime Evil" album must hold a special place in your heart purely from a sentimental or nostalgic aspect as there must be a great deal of memories involved about recording your first album with Venom. Would you call this your favorite Venom album that you recorded with the band? If not, what would refer to as being your finest or fondest moment with the band? Yes it does and it is probably my fav recording yes...it all seemed perfect then..I looked at what I liked from Venom and took that as my starter point for writing.. I can’t help my style or approach so never wanted to try and copy anyone...why? lol..I am me and don’t need to be anyone else...myself and Mantas were tighter and I think Abaddon enjoyed the challenge also..we had some great moments but alas some bad ones too...I am proud of all I did with Venom but some cover art and recordings (as far as production goes) suffered later. We should have kept to the plan like with Prime Evil and we made mistakes doing club shows...but hey...everyone makes mistakes...We were always called Venom by the way...we did a set of low key shows on purpose to fit in a second guitarist...so used the moniker, Sons of Satan from Welcome to Hell...but this was always planned...not a name change...as some like to try to make out..hahahahahaha... What were your primary reasons for leaving Venom in the early nineties? Looking back now are there any regrets for doing so? No...no regrets...had we followed the game plan..we would have taken it through the 90’s and still been doing it now..but as usual...money is the problem with that band...well people stealing it from the others...and having it stolen..Sorry but there is no other way to exlplain...getting paid...X for something the band does and not paying everyone equally...I think Abaddon and Eric (manager) stole around £40,000 or something from me on deals they did....etc.. and I was on the dole(unemployment benefit.) how can that be fair? Exactly it isn’t. They were all stole from as Venom by NEAT but instead of learning to be fair they learned to do the same...eventually after poor production and bad artwork...MFN weren’t keen to take another 3 album option and I had found out about some of the money...so I said fuck this...I have life to get on with...Also I was working with the Royal Shakespeare company and making great money and had moved to London..so I couldn’t be bothered with the shit any more... No certain people like to tell how I left to allow the old singer back in and..well frankly all sorts of other horsehit but none of that is true...just someone’s dream that it was...hahahahaha.. I left coz I was done with it. And to be absolutely clear, I am not whining, complaining or still living in the past...hahahaha..I have moved on coz life is too short..and I don’t care enough....but just pointing out that, having wrong done to you is no reason to do it to anyone else but especially people you class as friends...is it? Mpire of Evil is the re-branded name of the Primevil project that you and Mantas recently revived alongside drummer Antony "Antton" Lant (brother of Venom bassist/vocalist Conrad "Cronos" Lant) An EP entitled "The Creatures Of The Black" will be released later this year through Scarlet Records. From this point forward do you envision Mpire of Evil being the main priority for both yourself and Mantas? Yes, it is our main priority...we all have our side projects..mine being ATOMKRAFT but the M-PIRE comes first...The full album...HELL to the HOLY will also be out in January 2012 so we are also focused heavily on that piece right now too! Four cover songs were recorded for the debut Mpire of Evil EP. Was it an easy decision for the three of you to all commit to the same four songs? Tell me about what these songs mean to you as a musician.. Well yes...we needed something released before the album as we wanted to so some shows as we were ready so the idea to do this mini came up..we would commit 2 new trax and pick 4 covers that meant something to us as individuals and as a band...It was kinda easy really... as we are fans of the genre as a whole...and all the bands we chose..First we decided we each would pick THE band that made us want to play ourselves and then pick a fav track from that band that did then and does now still inspire us. For Mantas of course it was Judas Priest...his love for the band and KK downing goes all the way to making him who he is...we picked Exciter because of it’s pace and the stops..which if you listen carefully on our recording there is a clue to which venom song it inspired somewhat..when Mantas wrote it! For Antton...ACDC...a classic Bon Scott era track too...Hell Ain’t A Bad Place to be...pure DC and perfect for us as...Hell isn’t a bad place to be and we know as we’ve all been there..lol. For me..it could only be Motorhead..the first, extreme act....and the track Motorhead...that opening bass riff...that Rickenbacker..that voice..that fury...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..:-) Perfect!! And the 3 way choice...KISS..all things lead to Venom’s stage approach..the showmanship, the size, pyros, etc..Venom had attempted God Of Thunder before and so we thought it was time to actually do it! It was so great to do all of them and we tried to stay true to the tracks...as far as we could...as changing them would not have been the point...we wanted to show how they made us feel by performing them with that feeling.. money it is about emotion but no money and you can’t do it on a bigger scale....and you need that to let the world hear you! Oh and on tour....Shag some birds! Hahahaha You have always struck me as an old school metal musician that keeps current with today's metal scene. Tell me who we could expect to find on Tony Dolan's i-Pod. Who are some bands that have recently caught your attention? ...yeah I can’t turn off...hahahaha...well currently ...I’ll get it and have a look...Mmmmm..k...I have on there right now.... Rammstein..Naplam Death..Gamma Bomb..Destruction...Kreator..Tryptikon..Immor tal..Motorhead...Exodus..Slayer...Carpathian Forest....Ulver...Bloodwrath......Def Con One...Warbringer...Witchburner....Backwater... Behemoth...Sacred Legacy....Mortad....lots from South America and the middle east..about 300 more...lol Let's talk about your career as an actor, you've appeared in a number of films throughout the years. How did you originally break into cinema? What was your favorite role as an actor and are you involved in any film projects at the present? Well there is always project around but you need to be chosen but right now and for the past years I have not concentrated on the acting...I need to focus right now on the M-PIRE and ATOMKRAFT.. I worked for a famous theatre company and once when we were in India performing was asked to fill in as an actor..I did this and then when returning to London they asked me to help and do it again and that as kind of it really..I really enjoyed it and so decided I would do that...I have been very lucky and consider it an honour to have worked with great directors and great actors...like Paul Bettany, Sylvester There was some talk years ago about an upcoming solo album that would include Stallone, Russell Crowe amongst others...onstage and on film..I am currently working guest appearances by such notable players as Mike Sifringer (Destruction) Dani Filth on a stage play from a very famous horror film which I intend to perform in but right (Cradle of Filth) and Phil Fasciana (Malevolent Creation) Whatever became of that now cannot say more..we currently have around £300,000 but need more investment project? Do you expect those tracks to ever see the light of day? to make it happen...anyone????hahahahaha Well THAT I will still do...but I got sidetracked as one does by life itself...but those guys and the others are all amazing...in their own ways and I want to work with them What's next for Tony Dolan? Where do you see yourself in the next few months leading all if I get the chance..I still have %80 of the tracks and so...who knows when but it up to the first quarter of 2012? shall come into being at some point I hope...:-) Next? Well promoting ‘The Creatures of the Black’ ep and finishing the prep for the full album for M-PIRE of EVIL...we are making a special appearance at a friends show What inspired you to learn guitar/bass in the first place? Was there a specific song or and doing a new photo shoot in London in October and with our new manager ( band that made you want to learn how to play or perhaps the appeal of shagging some Tommy Moriello) are booking for festivals and date through 2012. There is a European birds? tour and US tour on offer but we plan to get to South America as soon as possible...it is Shagging some birds?? Ahahahahahaha....I wasn’t thinking until I saw a very manic a hectic time....also I have been working on the fanclub...HELLSPAWN....there will be show of the Dickies (who were a fav band of mine back then)where I thought all sorts of cool offers..for both Gold and Silver members...this will be officially up and man...that looks like fucking fun...that was ’78. Then later that same year heard a running by January when the album is launched..in Milan...where we will do all press bassline to a track that shook my world....Motorhead...by Motorhead...and that was and perform a special show... it...!! On behalf of Pest Webzine and XMG Venezuela I'd like to thank you for taking the After doing this for well over thirty time to talk metal with me today Tony. Before we wrap this up do you have any last years, what advice, if any, would words for your fans reading at home? you lend to kids starting their first Thank you..this was fun and great questions...:-) metal band? How can they take For Venezuela and all fans...We are coming...I cannot wait to meet you all..I hope you their musicianship to the next level like what we are putting out for you...the best is yet to come...keep the faith...in a and what are some things to world where governments are corrupt and money is none existant, we will will because beware of as a recording/touring we are one, a brotherhood of man...hand in hand we are never alone and stand musician? strong..we need to make one big effort..be one with all...build and M-PIRE, the MAdvice? Go for it...don;t be put off PIRE of EVIL...come and join the M-PIRE...Best wishes...and a great thank you from just follow your dream..you can my heart to you! Stay strong and keep it wild and heavy!!!! make it happen...other people will say great stuff, bad stuff, love you, http://www.facebook.com/groups/131747700249587/ hate you, advise you etc,etc....listen http://www.facebook.com/pages/ATOMKRAFT-Legions-Southto yourself...YOU...no one America/214920855229540 else...they have opinions just like you but there are not you and are Interviewed by Osiris Stefanelli and Robert Williams not in control of anything...Go for Answers by Tony Dolan (Atomkraft, M-Pire of Evil, ex.-Mantas, ex-Venom) it!!! March 2011 Taking it to the next level is keep going, just keep going, play with heart and mean it....beware of false prophets...and keep in mind, EVERYBODY wants something...if they want to help or advise you...what do they want? You will know what you want but you must know what they want also..just keep your eyes open and do not be swayed by offers to do something for nothing...always ask this...are you getting paid? Music is not about Hey there Killjoy, how are you? Is the first time you do an interview for a Venezuelan media? Hi, I have done so many interviews over the years. I really can't remember if I have done some for Venenzuelan media yet. I'm really looking forward to bringing our horror show to the maniacs of your country on our upcoming tour. In 1983 when you started, your idea was basing of horror films and other things gore. at that time had others extreme metal bands in America? Necrophagia was the first extreme metal band to exclusively use horror and gore viusally, lyrically and musically. There have been many others over the years but we still do this better than anyone in my opinion. I'm not saying we are the best band in the world. I am just saying we are the best at conveying true horror and gore through music. After of 6 years buried in your coffin, you return with a new album Deathtrip 69, tell us about the new album, any surprises? You are correct. It's been six years since our last release. There have been line up changes,music written and then rewritten, it was a very long process to get this new recording done. There are always some suprises on each Necrophagia record and this one is ceratinly no different. Deathtrip 69 is a very, very heavy old school extreme metal record. It's full of horror as always and I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out. Completely sick ;) As is the composition and recording process? Is completely finished? Yes it's finally completed. It took six months to record and mix but the end results made it worth the effort for us as a band. The release date is May 17th via Season of Mist. Films like "Night of the Living Dead", "Black Sunday" and "The Beyond”, influenced seriously your songwriting? Absolutely. Horror is the very essence and lifesblood of Necrophagia. The films you mentioned are three of my all tim favorites. Those songs have influenced Necrophagia tremendously. Very good observation on your part Osi! Tell us a bit about your project parallel to "Necrophagia", one of your other bands is Wurdulak (Black metal) are there any other? Over the years I have done many side projects like Ravenous, Wurdulak, Enoch, Hellpig, and a few others. I like creating diffrent styles of music. By doing other things in the past it has helped keep Necrophagia on a better path. I don't need to bring those elements of side projects into Necrophagia since they have been exorcised in other bands. What do you think of the new extreme bands that have emerged in this new time, changing and innovating new sounds? I really don't keep up with many newer bands. I prefer stuff like Venom, Hellhammer, Slayer, Mayhem, Witchfinder General when it comes to metal. I also enjoy punk like Sex Pistols, Plasmatics, Amen, Discharge, Exploited. I just really don't care much for many of todays bands. I wish new bands all the best. It's just not my thing. Have you thought seriously about making underground films in the future to complete your great love for the horror? I will definately make films. It's been a very, very long time in coming. I have to focus on it 100% and thats been hard with working on Necrophagia. But the day will come when I make the transformation from making music to making films. I wanna do it right. I will not make a film unless I can do it my way, that takes a lot of time and a huge amount of money. It will happen and whe it does. I will show the world my visions of horror. It's gonna be very disturbing I can assure you! What movie you recommend to your fans? The three you mentioned earlier (Black Sunday, Night of the Living Dead, The Beyond) are perfect exapmples of true horror. I would add in The Exorcist. Rosemary's Baby, Carnival of Souls, Let's Scare Jessica to Death, The Sentinal, The Changling, Cemetary Man, At Midnight I'll take your Soul and Suspiria to name of few. For newer films I would recomend The Loved Ones, Inside, Martyrs, The Strangers, Eden Lake, House of the Devil and Let the Right One In. The videos are very significant in the way of the band. Do you think to make a new video for the new album? Yes for sure, we will probably do three or four new videos for the the material of Deathtrip 69. I think the first video will be for Beast with Feral Claws, which is about Lycanthropy, so expect to see some werewolf chaos in the video, we will then follow with a few other videos. What do you think of the South American public? Have any reference? I love South America. My goregous girlfriend and Coffin Joe are two things I find Back to old times, how absolutely perfect! The metal scene is amazing. I can't wait to do some very intense was it for you to work shows. with Phil Anselmo, freediablo, Joey Have thought of coming through these lands some day? Would be super pleased to see Jordison? you live... An honor. I enjoyed working I am making sure we do as many shows in South America as possible. It's gonna be with Philip amazing. I promise you! immensley, he's a great guy and very How does it feels to be a pioneer the "masters of horror” of many extreme metal bands talented. Joey is one of present? the most amazing I am glad we have made an impact and influenced many over the years. I am proud of drummers in all of the fact that we have always done things our own way and never even thought about metal. He's been a giving into trends. We will always stay true to ourselves and our legions of good friend for many gorehounds. years. I've enjoyed working with everyone Well… thank you very much for your time in this small interview, you're very good throughout person and would love to have you here. If you want to add something more, you can Necrophagia's career, do it with freedom.... Good luck with your new album hope to hear that new job… and including past HORRIFIED all members and guests. It's been my pleasure. See you on tour soon. Gore Forever! Fulci Lives!! When you see We have a few on my girlfriend (in the mirror, ha, ha) tell her I love her and miss her! See you all in Deathrip 69 including horror hell soon! Casey from Amen, www.myspace.com/necrophagiaofficial Maniac (ex Mayehm) and Kim from Of the Interviewed by Osiris Stefanelli Wand and the Moon. March 2011 REVIEWS – REVIEWS – REVIEWS - REVIEWS AASGARD (Greece) - Nekriki Mistagogia Lower Silesian Stronghold - 2011 - Black Metal I got a bit confused when listening to this EP's intro, an excerpt from the movie "300", the connection of a major Hollywood flick with a raw Black Metal band somehow din't make sense to em, but then I thought these guys are from Greece and want to praise the glorious Hellenic past, and then I thought about the band's name, what does it have to do with Greece? And even at this moment I can't come up with a plausible answer... Anyway, this 6 tracks EP presents us a good Black Metal band that plays its music the old-school way, without compromises, fast, grim and vicious as it should be. Their music is melodic and aggressive at the same time, the melody being transmitted by the guitar leads, and the aggression being made of organic, primitive drumming (good stuff) and distorted, almost industrial-sounding Black Metal screams. Too bad it's almost impossible to read the lyrics listed in the booklet because of the fonts used, without them it's absolutely impossible to understand what this band is singing about. A fair 23 minutes of devastating Black Metal that won't make the Greek scene ashamed for having this band. 7/10 www.myspace.com/aasgardgr www.trueunderground.cba.pl ADRAGARD (Italy) - Sadistic Delirium Manifest Self-released - 2010 - Black Metal Debut album of this two members band, "Sadistic Delirium Manifest" contains no less than 14 tracks and lasts for almost an hour, not a usual release for old-school Black Metal, but the guys definitely had time to compose as the band was on ice for 10 years. Adragard was founded in 1997, but split up after only 1 year and a demo released. The compositions on this album are really stunning, I wasn't expecting such a good release to be honest. Fast, technical, grim and vicious tracks with extremely well executed rhythm section (in fact it's so good at times I tent to think this is a drum-machine after all), catchy and atmospheric guitar riffs with the right amount of repetition not to bore the shit out of you, and a very raw vocal that piles up perfectly on this sick release. This is a band many of you should give a chance, and I really hope they get signed soon if they keep working on new material and don't give up the project again. Recommended! 9/10 www.myspace.com/adragard ASHEN EPITAPH (Serbia) - Somewhere Behind the Nervecell Selfreleased - 2008 - Death Metal These guys from Serbia are in for some old-school type of Death Metal, unlike what we're used to get lately from Serbia, meaning very technical stuff. Ashen Epitaph keeps theis music pretty simple, but at the same time what's interesting about them is their apatite for mixing in all sorts of melodic guitar elements. If released 20 years ago this would have been a top seller album, that's for sure. Everything, from the composition to the sound is oldschool, old-school of European Death Metal. I know this has no value for the nowadays listeners of this genre, but I speak for myself when I say this is a hell of a good band, one of those bands that are not in for making the most brutal, technical or the fastest metal but who's interested more in the sinister, creepy feeling side of it. What can I say, I'm now a fan of Ashen Epitaph. 9.5/10 www.ashenepitaph.uw.hu BLASPHERIAN (USA) - Infernal Warriors of Death Deathgasm Records - 2011 - Death Metal I must confess I'm a bit surprised this is only the first album released by Blaspherian. The band has aquired quite a good reputation in the Underground Extreme Metal scene especially after releasing stuff on labels such as Hells Headbangers and Blood Harvest, but this would seem a normal thing for a band that has been active since 2004. Anyway, I find "Infernal Warriors of Death" to be the perfect name for this release; it's absolutely infernal, one of those albums you either love or hate, there is no middle ground for this. The sound is as low-tuned as possible creating a dark, grotesque atmosphere, and if you add an old-school US style of guitar riffs that give the impression of flagelation throughout the whole album, with few, short solos, and a slow to mid-tempo rhythm section with occasional fast insertions, you get an image of this monster Blaspherian has created. I have enjoyed it so much I haven't even noticed how fast I spinned this CD three times. Definitely recommended if you're in search of some extremely heavy and dark Death Metal with no trace of any compromise. 9/10 www.myspace.com/blaspherian www.deathgasm.com/deathgasm ABOMINANT (USA) - Where Demons Dwell Deathgasm Records - 2010 - Death Metal This is Abominant's 9th studio album, but I have to admit I've only listened to their first 2 out on Wild Rags, when Wild Rags was all over the place and having one of the most solid name in the Extreme Metal fields. "Where Demons Dwell" could be considered a controversed album as some tracks are absolutely average and nothing more, while others are really tasty and solid pieces of organic Death Metal, so I can't say I like it all. The band clearly demostrates its maturity and ability to create some very curdled tracks, but what lacks the most inhere (well, not on all the tracks) is the atmosphere, the album gives the impression these veterans are relying more on speed than on brutality or dark, horrifying atmospheres. Don't get me wrong, overall this is an above the average album, but from a band that will soon celebrate its 20 years of intense activity you would expect something more. Throughout the almost 40 minutes of this album you can hear every typical segments of old-school Death Metal, and the instrumentists are not hiding at all their technical abilities. The vocals are maybe less diverse than needed although Mike Barnes shows he can do much more on the track "Blackened Earth" for example. Anyway, if you like your Death Metal raw and fast Abominant's latest release might be a good choice. 7.5/10 www.myspace.com/abominant ALTUS ASTRUM (N.Ireland) - Antediluvian Pest Productions - 2010 - Black Death Metal Altus Astrum was formed in 2007 as a band but only released their first tracks in 2010 in form of a 3 tracks promo CD meant to get them a record deal. And they got it, Chinese Pest Productions signed them and released, the same year, the debut album I'm having now in front of me. Fast and cruel Black Death Metal based on old-school guitar riffs, not bad at all, but the thing I don't like inhere is the mixing of all instruments, the guitars are too in front of the other instruments and capture almost all attention but I'm sure that' not how they intended their music to sound. And the best thing on this CD, the vocals, very aggressive and sharp, with a horrifying timbre, perfect for any Black Metal band. The album has its slow, doomy parts as well, but although it's not monotonous it failed to impress me (maybe because of the mixing), but at least it doesn't sound like any other such album I've reviewed lately. Try it yourselves, maybe you'll like it more. 7/10 www.altusastrum.co.uk www.pest666.com AMUN KAR (Chile) - Knights of the Southern Cross Pagan Forces Records - 2011 - Black Metal A side project of Lord Blasphemous Tyrannus from Tirano, Amun Kar plays raw Black Metal with quite good heavy guitar riffs and old-school attitude. This EP contains only 2 tracks recorded back in 2007, so I have no idea why they were released only after 4 years. The music is recorded live at a gig or more probably at the rehearsal place as I hear no audience at all. Despite the bad sound, the music is very good, especially for the guitar riffs, although the drums and vocals are not inferior either. This is much better than a lot of Black Metal releases with extremely polished sound, so I can only hope I'll have the chance to listen to a new release (better recorded, of course) as soon as possible. Recommended! 7/10 www.myspace.com/amunkar BODYFARM (Holland) - Bodyfarm Selfreleased - 2010 - Death Metal Hey, a new Death Metal band from Holland, that's cool, these lands usually produced some of the ugliest monsters this genre has nowadays, so it's a pleasure for me getting to know a new Dutch act. Bodyfarm was formed in 2009 and this is their first EP, produced by themselves, although this year they were picked up by the US based label Abyss Records who rereleased this EP. There are 5 tracks inhere totalizing 18 minutes of aggressive old-school Death Metal, the genuine type of European type Death Metal I would say. The sound is fat as a damn hippo, the guitar riffs are heavy as bulldozers, the vocals, although not varied at all, are both aggressive and comprehensive, the drummer makes a good effort building complex structures and the bass line is good but not as incisive as I would have liked it (maybe because of its volume). The tracks are all great, catchy, but I'm not so fond on the fast punkish sounding parts especially on the last track (good stuff, but very overused by now), so I won't miss them if they were out on the next release and maybe replaced with more heavy mid-tempo compositions like on the rest of this CD. Anyway, this is a great hope coming out of Dutch lands, recommended stuff! 8.5/10 www.myspace.com/bodyfarmnl trying to create here is an uncompromising, primal, raw and heavy Death Metal, without any tricks, any suits and ties, just sombre and brutal music, the was it was done 2 decades ago. Still, even if this debut album is based on OldSchool sonorities, the sound and some particular parts of it are pretty fresh, and I'm talking here about the tight as hell, fat sound and the quite groovy rhythm section. Then again, even if the album is not innovative, the music inhere is excellent for any Old-School Death Metal followers out there. I have to mention the good, but a bit too short and few guitar solos, and the "close" sound production, it really makes you feel like you're in their rehearsal room. This is Underground Death Metal in it's purest form, you have to support it! 8.5/10 www.myspace.com/burialchambermetal BUTCHER (USA) - Welcome to the Night Inferno Records - 2010 - Heavy Metal Butcher is a US band founded in 1982 as Coven. Their actual monicker was adopted in 1991 and with this label they have released 2 full-length albums. This is my first encounter with Butcher's music and I have to admit I like it a lot. "Welcome to the Night" is a 14 tracks release lasting for almost 60 minutes. With the benefit of one of the yummiest metal covers I've seen, this album has a powerful impact from the starters. There are actually 26 tracks on the album, but almost half of them are bits and cuts from radio shows and commercials which I don't like. They say this is a story and must be taken as one, I can understand and accept that but I simply don't like the way it is "narrated". Plain and simple. the music, on the other hand, is great, containing different periods of Butcher's history, it is very complex, extremely catchy and diversified so that any and all Heavy Metal maniacs can find something to fit their taste inhere. "Welcome to the Night" is raw, varied, technical and at the same time simple and effective, headbanging-friendly, vicious, melodic and organic sounding. Old-School Metal followers should get familiarized with this name. 9/10 www.myspace.com/butcherusa www.inferno-records.net Death Metal, raw, low-tunned, dark and heavy, that's what you'll find on this release. Nothing innovative, nothing too complicated or complex, but I don't think that is the purpose of this band, they seem honestly involved in creating some brutal, devastating mid-tempo to fast rhythmed Death Metal the way it was done 2 decades ago, and from my point of view this sounds like the '90's Swedish Death Metal school with vocals a la Demigod ("Slumber..." period). Cool combination, but a bit more guitar solos and fast parts wouldn't hurt them on the next release. 7.5/10 www.myspace.com/corpsessed www.darkdescent.net BRUTALLY DECEASED (Czech Republic) - Dead Lover's Guide Levadome Productions - 2010 - Old School Death Metal This is my first review for 2011, so I took the liberty to pick up what to review. :) Brutally Deceased - "Dead Lover's Guide" - this CD inspires Old-School from whatever angle you look at it or listen to it. The band was formed in 2007 having 2 members of Heaving Earth (signed with Redrum666) and one of Jig-Ai (signed with Bizarre Leprous) in their line-up, so by looking at the line-up you get they are experienced in the Death Metal field. This album is their debut, a 9 tracks effort lasting for a bit more than half an hour, presenting a very raw, uncompromising Swedish Death Metal, the brutal one, not the melodic side of it, so if you're into the old Entombed, Unleashed or Dismember albums, you'll love this one, it comes with the exact guitar tone that the Swedish Death Metal masters used some 20 years ago. The vocals are hoarse growls but Michal, the vocalist keeps it all pretty comprehensive so you can follow the lyrics without any headache. If I add that the rhythm section is Swiss-clock exact, and that they also include some pretty rad guitar solos (old-school again, of course) here and there, I can clearly say this is the absolute perfect release for any Swedish death metal maniacs out there! Excellent production, order it without any worries! 9/10 www.myspace.com/brutallydeceasedband www.lavadome.org BULLET (Sweden) - Highway Pirates Black Lodge / Sound Pollution - 2011 - Heavy Metal Bullet celebrates 10 years of existence through this album, their third studio effort so far, a gathering of 10 new tracks totalizing 40 minutes of pure, old-school Heavy Metal. The album is absolutely enjoyable from the start till the end, but only for die-hard Heavy Metal maniacs. I don't know if any of you interested only in the new sounds will ever enjoy this release. This is 100% pure '80's sounding pounding Heavy Metal with catchy guitar riffs, melodic guitar solos, simple but precise rhythm section, and a very good vocalist that although at first listen you might think it's about to loose pace, he doesn't, he sounds rusty, but at the same time his voice gives this album the most of that old-school true Metal feeling. If you miss the good ol' days, Bullet is the right choice! 10/10 www.bullet.nu www.blacklodge.se CRYOGENIC IMPLOSION (Ukraine) - Creation of the New World Metal Scrap Records - 2011 - Death Metal I have reviewed these guys' 2008 demo a couple of years ago and I was pretty fond of their work back then, a combination of new with old fashioned Death Metal. This is their debut album, and they still keep their style intact, meaning a fat sounding old-school Death Metal with elements from the nowadays Technical and Brutal Death Metal scenes. This is a quite well executed music with excellent sound, but unfortunately for me it doesn't do anything as besides the low, guttural and somehow dark vocals the instruments are more focused on building intricate passages than on curdling a brutal atmosphere around this album. This is recommended for the ones of you in search for Technical Death Metal but not the kind used nowadays, the over-complicated one, but rather a more aired, easier to follow one. 7.5/10 www.cryogenicimplosion.com www.metalscrap.org.ua CRYPT OF THE ZOMBILORD (Sweden) - Crypt of the Zombilord Selfreleased - 2011 - Grindcore The debut demo of this Swedish trio presents us 8 tracks totaling 15 minutes of crusty sounding Grindcore, the oldschool way. Simple, to the bone, fast and not fancy at all, that's how I would describe this band's music, but I really like their honest, organic approach, and again, speaking for myself, this is the grindcore I like, these guys demonstrate you can still create stuff even in the oldschool Grind, without using the electronic easy means of nowadays, and here I'm talking mostly about the guitar riffs which sometimes have a heavy Southern Rock influence, not something I've heard before that's for sure. The concept behind this band is on my taste as well, meaning zombies (haha, you would never guessed it from their name, right?), and the zombie flicks intros they use are not long-ass boring to ruin the music listening mood. What can I say in the end, just imagine Napalm Death, Obituary and Repulsion eaten by a zombie and puked on this release and you'll get what it's all about. You'll hear more about this band, I'm absolutely sure! 9/10 www.myspace.com/cryptofthezombilord BURIAL CHAMBER (Australia) - Left to Decay Selfreleased - 2010 - Death Metal Yes, I'm glad to have the chance to review these guys' debut album, and I can say that even just after reading the small presentation sheet they've sent: "Left to Decay showcases the primordial aspects of a genre too often abused by pretenders". The genre in question is of course Death Metal, and what these three Sidney based sickos are COPROSTASIS (Bulgaria) - D.E.A.T.H. Selfreleased - 2011 - Death Metal Bulgaria has some pretty awesome Brutal Death Metal bands around these days and slowly but surely they will make themselves heard around the World, but old-school Death Metal is also making its way out of this country and I know they have some interesting names out there. Coprostasis is one of them, playing an American type of old-school Death Metal, the very incipient type of Death Metal, when it was still strongly influenced by the Punk scene. "D.E.A.T.H.", the second album from Coprostasis sounds great, even if it's executed by only three guys it sounds full enough not to bore you. Fast Death Metal infected by Punk and even old-school Grindcore elements; ugly, aggressive, energetic and catchy, this is something we're not used to come out of Eastern Europe nowadays. I know a few labels that would kill to have such a band in their roster so I'm almost sure their next album won't be a selfproduced one. A very good, professional but still organic job done by these Bulgarians, definitely recommended! DARK FURY (Poland) - Saligia 9/10 Lower Silesian Stronghold - 2010 - Black Metal www.myspace.com/coprostasis This Polish band is presented as NS Black Metal, but honestly I see no NS elements, at least not on this release. "Saligia" is the band's 6th album and is by no means NS oriented, I'd say it's a deep anti-christian release with blasphemic lyrics and attitude. The music is very good mid-tempo to fast aggressive Black Metal with occasional melodic guitar leads, but still the general impression is of a brutal Black Metal band with cold atmospheres. Good sound, mature compositions, no boring parts, an album that I openly recommend to all old-school ('90's type) Black Metal followers who like their music aggressive but with a CORPSESSED (Finland) - The Dagger & The Chalice fair share of organic melody and technical parts. 8/10 Dark Descent Records - 2011 - Death Metal Corpsessed' debut EP, "The Dagger & The Chalice" is a 6 www.trueunderground.cba.pl tracks effort lasting for almost 25 minutes. Old-School compositions are extremely tight and mature, leaving no space for boredom. I especially like the hoarse vocals, the killer solos and the clever addition of keyboard backgrounds that add a note of darkness to the overall product. Too bad the CD ends in less than 20 minutes, but on the other hand it's like a teaser for the upcoming album due to be out this year. Check this band out, you won't regret it! 9/10 www.deadnight.net DEATH INSTINCTS (Russia) - Madness 33 Selfreleased - 2007 - Death Metal As I had no info on this band I started checking the net and so landed on their Metal Archives page. It seems this is their debut album, but on there it is listed as a double CD. What I have here is a simple CD with no mention of a second one linked with it, so I don't know what's the story. Anyway, Death Instincts is a 2 persons band made of Azazel and Ereth, and they are trying an old-school Brutal Death Metal, but unfortunately there's nothing brutal about their drum machine both on composition and sound, it's just anoying, very unprofessional. On the guitar part it actually becomes more interesting and Azazel adds some clichee but varied riffs, and what I get from this CD is the guy wants and tries to make his music as complex as possible. Sorry, I wasn't able to enjoy this CD at all, it sounds nothing more than Death Metal improvisation recorded in their livingroom. 5/10 www.myspace.com/deathinstincts Metal with a Punkish attitude, without any intention of being professional or classy. This is pure "fuck-off" attitude, quite admired nowadays, and although I pretty much hate this CDs presentation, I have to admit I kinda liked their music, they got what they wanted out of it and here I'm referring to the attitude I mentioned earlier. Recommended for the ones of you looking for something organic, extremely raw, and unpretentious (well, I recommend this one only in case the real product looks better than the one I got, on mine the sticker will get off after a few spins only). 7/10 www.myspace.com/demoniccremator DETERIOROT (USA) - The Faithless Xtreem Records - 2010 - Death Metal Deteriorot is a US band that already passed over its 20th year of existence, although this one is only ther second album to date. They were signed and released their debut album on Relapse Records back in 2001 and now its time for an Xtreem Music release. "The Faithless" is an 11 tracks release lasting for almost 45 minutes of Old-School mid-tempo Death Metal bearing the same type of sound that was used back in the beginnings of the '90's. Good atmosphere, dark and sinister, good ol' chaotic guitar solos, Doom Death riffs everywhere, 100% organic, 100% oldschool. This is not at all that kind of masses-friendly Death Metal that's so in fashion nowadays. The only things I don;t really like on this release is the vocals sound (much higher than the rest of the music) and the fact they are getting a bit monotonous on some parts, but all in all this is a good release for the ones of you into old Finnish Death Metal or US Death Metal a la Autopsy. 7.5/10 www.deathmetal.biz/deteriorot www.xtreemmusic.com DEVIATOR (UK) - Way of Warriors - Hymn to Immortals Glorious North Productions - 2011 - Ambient Black Death Metal This CD is a kind of a best of compilation because it's made of previously released tracks, although I don't see the point in releasing a best of compilation after only 4 years of activity in the underground, but again that's not my business, I shouldn't care. Deviator is not a Thrash Death Metal band as you might think (I thought the same, no problem), but it's a blend of Ambient Black Metal (on early releases) and Black Death Metal on the new CDs, so what you get on this compilation is a bit of everything, you can judge by yourselves if the band has progressed or not during these 4 years since they started releasing stuff. The sound is quite raw, but that wouldn't be a problem is the drums were a bit better produced (I'm talking about the drum programmings they are using), at times they really get on my nerves being so synthetic. Anyway, the good thing is Lord Haster's (the main man behind this project) chose the old-school way of playing Black Metal on guitars (reminded me of Wiccan Rede, the old Negura Bunget) and he has the skills to keep the music quite interesting and diversified. Speaking for myself I like their earlier works much bettern than the new stuff where the drum-machine really becomes laughable or worst, irritating as hell, just listen to the 13th track which is one of the worst I've heard lately. So all in all a thumb up for their earlier works and two thumbs down for they are doing now. -/10 www.myspace.com/deviatorukr www.gloriousnorth.co.uk DOSE (Venezuela) - Demo Selfreleased - 2011 - Thrash Metal I don't have much info on this band, so I'll just stick to what I'm hearing on this 5 tracks demo lasting for 17 minutes. Dose is all into Thrash Metal, fast, quite catchy, having good compositions, old-school spirit and aggression, and above all, they are quite skilled on their instruments. This demo is mostly dedicated to the Spanish speaking part of the World as all lyrics are in Spanish, but any oldschool Thrash Metal follower can find something to chew on inhere also. The sound is not so good, but it doesn't create any problems for listening this material, so all in all this is a good debut, nothing new on the scene, but very honest work. I have to admit I liked the keyboard insertions idea a lot. 7/10 www.myspace.com/doseband DARK MESSIAH (Greece) - Virtue and Glory Eternal Lost Symbol Productions - 2011 - Black Metal Nice surprise this Greek band, a band that's not quite new on the metal scene being formed in 2000, but that managed to release their debut album, this one, in 2011. Dark Messiah plays that kind of pure Greek Black Metal, mostly mid-paced, with fast rhythm insertions and overall having that cruel, raw but still epic atmosphere surrounding their music, and lyrics inspired by the Hellenic glorious past. It reminds me of the emotions bands like Necromantia, old Rotting Christ or Unholy Archangel were/are able to transmit to the listener. If you know how the genuine Greek Black Metal sounds, you have a good clue on what Dark Messiah is all abut. Great stuff! 9/10 www.myspace.com/darkmessiahgr
[email protected] DAY OF EXECUTION (Bulgaria) - Dead Burning to Ashes Brewery Productions - 2012 - Death Metal I was expecting to get the chance to listen to this debut album of Day Of Execution, I've seen them live last year and really, really liked their old-school type of Death Metal, a great combination of mid-tempo European Death Metal with fast US style Death Metal, '90's type of execution and sound. Not many of Today's kids will enjoy this organic, somehow dry type of sound, but for the mature Death Metallers this will be a blast, a very enjoyable piece of brutality. 8 tracks, a bit less than half an hour of playing, a short but effective CD that's like a breath of fresh (or putrid?) air in this nowadays' so over produced and polished scene. Catchy riffs, fat sounding rhythm section, killer guitar solos and a vocalist that altough is not too versatile, does his job perfectly adding that cavernous atmosphere to the whole. Day Of Execution is a must for any old-school Death Metal followers out there! 9/10 www.myspace.com/day_of_execution www.brewerydistro.com DEEP DESOLATION (Poland) - Subliminal Visions Quid Est Veritas Productions - 2011 - Doom Black Metal If you think a combination of Doom with Black Metal isn't as aggressive as your regular Black Metal playlists, think again, Deep Desolation is an example, a band that mixes perfectly the groove and minimalism of old-school Doom with the cold and dark atmospheres of Black. This is their debut album and although it's no groundbreaking discovery, it definitely portrays a new Polish act with great potential. If I said minimalist in the first phrase it doesn't mean I can stay 100% behind it because Deep Desolation are spicing things a lot with rhythm changes, intricate guitar riffs and desolate guitar leads, plus a cavernous vocal that brings damnation on everything. Supporting this mayhem they even added some background keyboards that honestly reminded me of the ones Nocturnus used back in the days. Sick release, sick band, recommended for old-school followers! 9/10 www.myspace.com/deepdesolationband www.qevproductions.dbv.pl DEADNIGHT (USA) - Riders of the Black Wind Selfreleased - 2011 - Thrash Death Metal Deadnight was formed in 2003 but for some unfortunate reasons they have only managed to release 1 full-length album in 2008. This EP follows after 3 years and I guess their main problem is the unstable line-up since "Riders of the Black Wind" was recorded as a duo and at the moment I'm writing this review they are again a quartet. Anyway, the 4 tracks presented on this EP are great, old-school fast and dirty Thrash Metal a la '80's Kreator, Slayer or Destruction, spiced with a bit of sinister Death Metal touches here and there, but the general idea is of course Thrash Metal to the bone. The material was mastered by Andy LaRocque so you know you'll deal with top notch sound inhere, the simple but professional CD production and look deserve a thumbs up as well, and the DEMONIC CREMATOR (Scotland) - Crucified Unholy Resurrection Records - 2011 - Raw Black Metal I really hope that this is not the way Unholy Resurrection Records sells this release because my copy is so crapy that I was afraid it will explode in my player (it happened to me before, I'm not talking shit): the CDR has a sticker that was clearly not designed correctly and sticked with a "whatever" attitude. Anyway, it's their business how they promote their releases. Let's get to the band and its music. Demonic Cremator is a duo from Scotland formed in 2009 that seems to be quite active in the Underground scene: they have released 2 demos, an EP, a single, and an album, each of them on different labels, so I guess they stick well to the underground labels. This one is their second fulllength, although I won't call it so since it lasts for less than 20 minutes. Anyway, it contains 8 tracks with rehearsallike sound, raw, unpolished, and quite aggressive, have to admit. The duo plays a kind of old-school Thrashy Black Metal bands are playing not to some core shit. Anyways, if you want your metal raw and dirty, easy listening, Fester would be a good choice. 7/10 www.myspace.com/festernorway www.officialabyssrecords.com ECLIPSE (Ukraine) - Triumph of the Pain Metal Scrap Records / More Hate Productions - 2011 Brutal Death Metal There were and still are countless Eclipse bands out there but here we have the Ukrainian guys with their second full-length album, " Triumph of the Pain". Basically this could be categorized in the new wave of Brutal Death Metal, but still it has lots of old-school elements and the best thing about it, it somehow kept the old-school atmosphere, the idea that Death Metal has to be horrific and inflict damage, not to be based exclusively on personal instrumental skills and execution speed. So yes, I have enjoyed this release and I'm only sorry it lasts for only half an hour. Recommended for the ones of you in search for old-school type of Brutal and Dark Death Metal, these Ukrainian guys deserve more attention. 9/10 www.myspace.com/eclipsehorde www.metalscrap.org.ua www.morehate.com ETERNAL CHAOS (Colombia) - Dark God of the Eternal Mighty Hordes Productions - 2010 - Black Metal I think this is the first Colombian Black Meta band I'm reviewing. Eternal Chaos were formed in 2004, but "Dark God of the Eternal" is their debut album, a 10 tracks effort lasting for a bit more than half an hour. Eternal Chaos' music is raw, aggressive, fast and old-school Black Metal without influences from other genres or any attempt on discovering something new. This is old-school to the bone, organic sounding, and correctly interpreted, nothing to argue about it. If you want like Black Metal raw and brutal try Eternal Chaos. Unlike most of the South American extreme metal bands, they are using English lyrics so I guess that makes it easier for the rest of the World to understand what are they all about. As a final statement I would say this is homest Black Metal from South America. 8/10 www.myspace.com/eternalchaosbm www.mightyhordes.com ENTRENCH (Sweden) - Inevitable Decay Abyss Records - 2011 - Thrash Metal A new addition in Abyss Records' roster Entrench descends from Sweden and propose us their '80's-like Thrash Metal based on killer guitar solos and leads, fast to Speed-like rhythms and crazy good vocals. This album / band won't bring us anything new, but for sure their music is worth checking out if you're an old-school follower, there are so many catchy tunes on this album that I can't stop thinking what would have happened if this would have been released 25 years ago, I guess the Would would have gone nuts for Entrench. If you buy this album please keep in mind you'll have to enjoy not only the Thrash Metal from the '80's, but the sound from those years as well as there's nothing fancy or polished on "Inevitable Decay", old-school to the bone. Strongly recommended! 8.5/10 www.myspace.com/entrench www.officialabyssrecords.com EREVOS (Greece) - Descensus Ad Inferos Orkestral Promenade Productions - 2011 - Melodic Black Metal Although founded in 2004, Erevos managed to release their debut album only this year even though they have released a few demos and splits before as well. The problem is they are not composing so many tracks, some of the tracks featured on this album are also featured on their other demos starting 2006... Anyway, maybe finding a good label deal was the incentive they needed to start working some more on compositions. The music on "Descensus Ad Inferos" can be described as somehow old-school (late '90's) Black Metal with a high dose of melody infused by the keyboard background and guitar leads/solos. Actually the keyboards are a key element in Erevos' music adding both the melodic parts and the weird, psycho atmospheres here and there. The guitars range from traditional Black Metal to Thrash and even Death Metal parts, the rhythm section is Swiss-clock tight and precise, and the vocals, even if not diversified almost at all (except from some Death Metal vocal insertions), give the music the aggressive touch it needed. All in all this is quite an interesting album that deserves your attention, Erevos is definitely not the typical Black Metal band. 8.5/10 www.erevosblack.gr www.orkestral.gr EXPURGO (Brazil) - Burial Ground Black Hole Productions - 2010 - Grindcore Oh, it's a long time since I've listened to some good oldschool Grindcore, so Expurgo is more than welcome to my ears. The band was formed in 2003 in Belo Horizonte (the well known city that gave birth of Sepultura) and since now they have perticipated in several splits released by South and North American labels, but also by European ones, so they worked quite seriously on building a name for themselves. "Burial Ground" is their debut album, containing 27 new track, and two remakes of old compositions. The music is absolutely awesome for any Grindcore maniacs out there, old-school to the bone, with influences from Death Metal, Hardcore, Punk, but still keeping the real, brutal sound of Grind. Expurgo is: two vocals (growls and screams), fast, catchy guitar riffs, fast drums and powerful bass lines. This album is absolutely delicious, I honestly recommend it to all of you, you can't go wrong with a whirlpool of horror inspired Grind, crystal clear sound and a great looking CD booklet. 9.5/10 www.myspace.com/expurgo www.blackholeprods.com FETID ZOMBIE (USA) - Vomiting in the Baptismal Pool MetalHit.com - 2010 - Death Metal Looking at the guest musicians Mark Riddick (the man behind this project) had on this release you get the goose bumps: Kam Lee (Death, Massacre), Don Crotsley (Nunslaughter), Steve Miller (Loculus) and Mike Majewski (Devourment). Pretty sick line-up, correct? This is Fetid Zombie's second full-length album, a 10 tracks effort lasting for a bit more than 30 minutes. The music on it is old-school Death Metal with an atmosphere that is perfectly described by the band's name. Mark displays quite a lot of technical skills on his guitar and I think that was his main focus (together with the putrid atmosphere) when starting to create this album. At some point during this album I felt there are too many parts missing something, but as an overall judgement I have enjoyed this a lot and I can say by the end of it the music grew on me, there are some memorable parts also. the sound is not that great, but for an old-school Death Metal band it does what it's supposed to do. Good album, but he can do better, I'm sure. 8/10 www.myspace.com/fetidzombie www.metalhit.com FROM THE VASTLAND (Iran) - Darkness vs. Light, The Perpetual Battle Arx Productions / A5 Production - 2011 - Black Metal The second CD from an Iranian band (well, one-manproject actually) I review this week. From The Vastland presents us its debut full-length, a 10 tracks effort totaling 47 minutes. First of all I have to say I don't like the drummachine effects this guy used; too synthetic, too robotic for my taste and even for this kind of music, but since he's the only one composing and playing music under this moniker using a drum-machine is quite a normal thing. I only hope he improves it on the next release. The music is quite catchy, raw, aggressive, mid-tempo to fast rhythmed but also melodic and expressive, so if you're into old-school Black Metal you might enjoy this. There's nothing new or original except maybe for the lyrical approach, so if Sina, the man behind From The Vastland, doesn't continue and improve on his music, this might as well be another Black Metal CD doomed to collect dust on a shelf. His guitar skills and compositional ideas are good, but he need to start building from that. 7/10 www.myspace.com/568382076 www.arxprod.net.ua www.aprod.kiev.ua FESTER (Norway) - Winter of Sin (reissue) Abyss Records - 2010 - Black Death Metal When you hear Black Death Metal you think of very extreme, brutal music, but what I have here is released first in 1992 so it's not that brutal for nowadays standards. For those years I'm sure this album was a pretty scarry release, especially for the vocal part that's great to date. So this is a release dedicated to old-school Black and Death Metal followers, especially for those who were around when this was first released by No Fashion Records because at that time this album was fairly well rated. The sound is raw, unpolished but it's a good one, though, the band manages to create a sinister, gloomy atmosphere without using keys or other additions, there are some catchy guitar solos, but the rest is pretty liniar for what's up Today, and I refer here to what Old-School Extreme GLAURUNG (Slovakia) - Black Visions Excramentum - 2011 - Black Metal The young Slovakian band Glaurung was founded in 2008 and before this demo I'm listening right now they have managed to release a split with their countrymen Surt in 2010. This demo contains 4 tracks of their own and 2 covers, Mayhem's "Freezing Moon" and Root's "Piseo pro Satana". Their music is raw, primitive, and repetitive oldschool Black Metal, with a good tempo, but with many annoying breaks. The vocal's type is not really my cup of tea, but if you're into Immortal-like vocals you might find it ok. The guitar solos are the ones which make you think these guys want to evolve their music from rehearsalsounding primitive compositions to something more challenging. This demo is just the beginning, let's hope they'll come up with something better next time, they are not bad musicians and they are quite young guys, so the premises are there. 5/10 www.myspace.com/glaurungsvk GOL (Australia) - Ritually Unshriven Heathen Sacrament - 2011 - Black Metal Nice one, it's a long time since I've received such an oldschool CDR with good looking xeroxed b/w covers (not made in a hurry as usual), so I kinda guessed what I was about to listen, and I was right. Gol is an old-school Black Metal band playing their music without any special effects, or how the standard statement was back in the '90's "with no keyboards or female vocals", haha. Their music is mostly slow to mid-tempo but there are some faster parts, too, and also some Thrashy influences here and there. Quite simple, but effective compositions, Gol brings nothing new to the scene, but their ace is the doomy, dark atmosphere they manage to create, which fits perfectly with their blasphemic lyrics. I have to admit this is an underground release I enjoy and would recommend you to support. You'll get 4 tracks, 22 minutes of playing blasphemous old-school Black Metal, and the sound is not bad at all. 7.5/10 www.myspace.com/appaller HELLSCOURGE (Brazil) - Hell's Wrath Battalion Dybbuck Records - 2011 - Black Death Metal Debut full-length for this new Brazilian band founded in 2010. Hellscourge is 100% old-school, nothing on this release will make you think this is a new the sound is dirty, analog-like so there's no link with the digital world of Today, the music is fast and devastating, very well curdled for such a young band, and the style of playing their Black Death Metal makes you think of early monsters as Venom, Sodom or even better, their country men from Sarcofago. Fast, raging, thrashy and dirty, the songs are good, the guitar riffs and solos are excellent, the vocals are comprehensive enough, but the sound in this case is not a plus. Recommended only to the most avid oldschool followers out there. 7/10 www.myspace.com/hellscourge www.dybbukrecordsofficial.blogspot.com JANE DARK (Serbia) - Voices from the Deep Terrorblast - 2011 - Death Metal Serbia reeks of good extreme metal in recent years so I was pretty curious when receiving this CD. Jane Dark recorded this debut album during 5 years, so you can easily say this is some sort of best of compilation, although they only have a promo CD released before "Voices from the Deep". The album is made of 11 tracks lasting for 48 minutes, and the music on it is an Old-School Death Metal with both Melodic and Progressive (a few, indeed) influences. It feels like listening to a Death Metal release from the beginnings of the '90's, spiced with Thrash and Black Metal elements, I like that. Unfortunately this type of music and sound has no more value Today, but if you like your Old-School Death Metal played with honesty and that organic melody from the '90's, you have to try this album out. 8.5/10 www.myspace.com/janedarkband www.terrorblast.tk KLADOVEST (Ukraine) - Atmosphere No Colours Records - 2011 - Black Metal This is my first time listening to Kladovest's music, but I've heard about their second album that it was a Burzum copycat. Luckily this new full-length has nothing to do with Burzum and I would say the Ukrainian band is moving towards an original direction by their own. 4 long tracks totalizing 35 minutes, a mid-tempo to fast Black Metal based on repetitive but catchy guitar riffs, old-school sounding raw and unpolished drums, and supporting melodic guitar leads. The vocals are not so versatile, but they proove not to be boring at all. The occasional oldschool Black Metal parts are really good and welcome bringing more interest towards Kladovest's music. This is certanly not a ground-breaking release, but it's one that will satisfy followers of multiple Black Metal types. Maybe that cold atmosphere based on repetitive parts can, on a certain degree, compare Kladovest to what Burzum was once doing. 7.5/10 www.no-colours-records.de GUTWRENCH (Mexico) - Domain of Pure Putrescence Selfreleased - 2011 - Doom Death Metal Founded last year, this trio presents us their debut demo, a 2 tracks (+intro+outro) totaling a bit less than 10 minutes, so we only get a small glimpse of what are they all about. Gutwrench is definitely an old-school band playing minimalist Doom Death Metal, the one that makes you remember the best horror flick you saw lately. I'll start with what I don't like on this one: the length would be the first as 10 minutes are not enough, then the drum-machine is very annoying, and ending with the very simplist compositions, very primitive and lacking originality big time. The pros for this demo CD would be the sick but still comprehensive cavernous vocals, the totally devoted image and absolutely nightmareish atmospheres they create, and the balls to release something and show it to the world although they were not 100% prepared for it. If they work a bit more on compositions and have a better drumming part on the next release we might see a new rising star in the old-school Doom Death scene. 6/10 www.gutwrench.bandcamp.com HEKSERI (USA) - Hekseri Time Before Time Records - 2011 - Black Death Thrash Metal This one here is an interesting band coming out of Boston, USA. It's not everyday you stumble upon a female fronted extreme Thrash Death Black Metal band, and Hekseri is certainly doing justice to the word extreme. 2 girls and 1 guy compose the actual line-up of Hekseri, and although they are using drum programmings, they sound pretty organic and old-school. Normally I would be annoyed by the drum machine, but in this case they have mastered it properly and it sounds like a normal drummer. The music is fast, aggressive as hell, blasphemic and manages to express some real feelings, and that's the best thing on Hekseri I think. I have enjoyed this album a lot, and would recommend it to all of you old-school extreme metal followers out there, Hekseri might rise to a cult status in the scene if they will continue to release such albums (well, I guess I am still nostalgic for a band like Derketa was). My fave track on this album, and the track I think would become an anthem for the "Invoking The War Goddess", give that one a listen asap. 9/10 www.hekseri.net www.time-before-time.com KILLGASM (USA) - Bloodbath of Satanic Vengeance Underworld Records - 2011 - Grindcore Black Metal Killgasm is a band I've heard a lot along the years, they were formed in 2002 and had a quite susteined activity so far, that's why I was surprised to see "Bloodbath of Satanic Vengeance" is their debut album. Regarding the music on this release, for me at least this is a curiosity, a combination of Black Metal and Grindcore sounds pretty forced and not so serious, but thses guys seem pretty into what they do and they really do it well, without falling into the nowadays "all fun grindcore". Even though they have some of the elements of the new Grind scene, their core influences are from the old-school fast, brutal, offensive and organic. Above all there is the Black Metal attitude, a deep anti-christian exposure of their thoughts. Although I hate the post-grindcore like screams, I have to admit the go on pretty well with the rest of the music inhere, and also with the growling, grotesque vocals that appear here and there. All in all Killgasm is a really good and inventive band you should check them out if you didn't already. 8.5/10 KORGULL THE EXTERMINATOR (Spain) - War of the www.killgasm.com Voivodes Xtreem Music - 2010 - Black Thrash Metal Second full-length album for these Spanish maniacs, "War of the Voivodes" is, of course, a homage to the band that inspired them the most, Voivod, early Voivod. The 11 tracks listed here are 100% old-school Thrash Black Metal, a combination of early Voivod and Sodom with the necro feel inspired by Darkthrone. From the start till the end of this release Korgull The Exterminator is full on speed and aggression, repetitive riffs, a few razor-sharp solos here and there, important bass lines and above all a female vocalist that most probably is the best I've hear on such a KOLAC (Serbia) - Bastard Son Is Dead Moon Records - 2011 - Black Metal Debut album for this Serbian trio that is starting to get its name out there quite a lot lately, or at least that's my impression since I've came across multiple times lately with their band name. They have decided to work with Moon Records and release their debut album on tape, what else can be more old-school than that? Kolac plays fast, mature sounding Black Metal that reminds me of Marduk, and not only because of their well-done cover of Marduk's "Bleached Bones". A band that prefers to keep their music as offensive as possible rather than trying to discover new territories, so if you're looking for progressive or avantgarde stuff stay away from this, I would recommend it only for the ones of you in search for what's nowadays called "the real" or "trv" Black Metal. 8.5/10 www.myspace.com/kolac666 www.moonrecords.glt.pl band, very evil and horror inducing vocal timbre that creates a quite scarry atmosphere. Of couse this wouldn't be possible without a Necro old-school sound, so yes, I would recommend this to all old-schoolers out there. 9/10 www.myspace.com/korgulltheexterminator www.xtreemmusic.com www.brewerydistro.com KREW (Germany) - Demo Selfreleased - 2010 - Black Metal Krew is a young band from Germany founded in 2008, a band that seems to be working hard to promote this debut demo CD of their and that's great, we need more of these bands to revitalize the underground. Krew's 2010 demo is composed of 5 tracks lasting for a bit more than 18 minutes, with good sound, a demo that shows us a pretty curdled gounp with a lot of potential, but somehow after listening to their work you feel something's missing, and I guess that "someting" is the overall atmosphere. Although some parts are really good, cold and dark as they should be, on some other parts they show only a band that's very capable on their instruments, but a band that's more focused on creating their tunes as technical as they can instead of concentrating on the atmospheres they create. I don't like the drums (drummachine I guess) sound, it's too synthetic and maybe that's the most important fact I'm basing my judgement on. But instead I like the vocals tone (quite good vocalist for Black Metal, he just needs more courage to experiment more) and the guitars work. Try it yourselves, make your own opinion. 7/10 www.krewmetal.de LYCANTHROPY (Russia) - Black Christmas Glorious North Productions - 2010 - Black Death Metal First of all I cannot help on commenting on this one: I don't understand why a lot of Black Metal oriented labels nowadays are re-releasing materials from years back, investing a lot of money and effort, instead of releasing new materials when there are thousands of bands out there who are really looking forward to get such a deal. It's the labels' policy, it's their decision, but honestly I don't understand it. Anyway, let's talk about this album. Debut album of this Russian duo, "Black Christmas" is composed of 9 tracks, with a total playing time of a bit more than half an hour. The music is definitely based on Black Metal, old-school, raw Black Metal, but there are a lot of influences from oldschool Death Metal also, and that's why I've labeled it Black Death. They (the band and label) say it's 100% Black Metal, but I don't agree, the American Old-School Death Metal influences are multiple. Passing over that the music is really good, very aggressive, brutal at times and served with a deep darkened and sinister atmosphere. The short melodic, semi-acoustic insertions are some very good additions also, and the general impression after listening to this album is quite favourable, if you're into '90's aggressive, raw Black Death Metal and you care more about the music than the sound quality, you'll pretty much enjoy this release as I did, everything sounds organic here, even the drum-machine, usually I'm bothered by its sound, but not here. The only fault I can find is the vocals sound that sometimes becomes overwhelmed by the instruments and you can barely hear it. 8/10 www.myspace.com/lycanthropy6black6metal6 www.gloriousnorth.co.uk MANDATORY (Germany) - Adrift Beyond Xtreem Music - 2010 - Death Metal Can you believe this is the debut album of Mandatory? A band that is around since 2002 and has built a very strong and important name all over the World with their DIY attitude, Mandatory released "Adrift Beyond" on Xtreem Music last year, a coronation of almost a decade into the underground, the perfect gift for all their fans. For the ones of you who don't know this band (although I hardly believe there's any), Mandatory comes from Germany and plays the ugliest form of old-school Death Metal around since the good ol' days of the beginning of the '90's, a proud follower of Morgoth's tradition. Actually just imagine a combination of Martin van Drunen (Pestilence, Asphyx) / Marc Grewe (Morgoth) for the vocal part with the Swedish Dismember for the instrumental part (especially on the chunky, fat sounding guitar tunes) and you get the picture, dark, sinister, horrifying Death metal at its best. Mandatory are great, don't hesitate to get this album! An easy guess for you: am I a fan? Haha. 10/10 www.mandatory-death.de www.xtreemmusic.com MERCILESS TERROR (UK) - Perpetual Devastation Bad News Records - 2011 - Thrash Death Metal Debut EP for this Uk band founded in 2009, "Perpetual Devastation" is a 6 tracks EP totalizing almost 20 minutes of playing time. Merciless Terror present us a strange music, an extreme combination of old-school with newschool: '90's Death Metal guitar riffs, '80's Thrash Metal rhythm section, influences from the nowadays metalcore scene, especially on the overall atmosphere, it feels like Obituary are trying to go Metalcore but doesn't succeed that well and they remain old-school. An interesting approach, and even if I don't enjoy that much the new "core" movement this "rusty old" presentation and feeling made me like this band quite a lot. The vocalist is versatile enough to range from John Tardy like vocals, to deep growls, to metalcore screams and even some pig squeals, great job! Definitely a band to keep an eye on, I will, for sure, I haven't heard any other band with such compositions! 8/10 www.myspace.com/mercilessterror MANIPULATOR (France) - Unearthed Soulseller Records - 2012 - Death Metal I'm not sure if this is an EP, a demo or an album, but the latest is likely to be possible since 8 of the 12 tracks presented here are actually the ones that compose Manipulator's demo from 2009, Unearthed. So the ones of you who already know about this band and its music should know that they get only 4 new tracks. Manipulator comes from France and they attack us with an old-school European type of Death Metal, a combination of the German and Dutch scene from the early '90's. Unfortunately the sound is horrible, although it is destined to keep the feeling from those years it fails big time in bringing a curdled product to the listener. Music wise Manipulator is not bad at all, if you're into the European type of Death Metal, a combination of mid-tempo and fast rhythmed one with occasional doomy passages, then you should check this band out, if not for this release, at least for a preview of what they are capable of. Dirty, cavernous, low-tuned, and aggressive musicfor nostalgics. 7/10 www.soulsellerrecords.com MORBID TENDENCY (Israel) - ...Bleeding Demos... Wings of Destruction - 2010 - Death Metal One man project of Alex, who's also involved in the Israeli Black'n'Roll band Promiscuity, recently reviewed in Pest Webzine as well. With Morbid Tendency Alex is trying to bring back the '90's Death Metal sounds and his music is heavily influenced by the American Bay Area masters. Despite the quite synthetic sound (especially on bass and drums) on this tape, the music is varied, well composed, aggressive and features some very good and catchy guitar riffs. "...Bleeding Demos..." actually features Morbid Tendency's 2008 demo "The Old Adam" and 3 new tracks that should make the 2010 demo. The difference between these two sets of tracks is the sound, on the later one it's a bit more low tunned, a sound that's usually called a necro sound, but unfortunately the drum programs are even more synthetic. the guy has real potential on guitar playing and composing (solid riffs and great American oldschool style solos) and has a very good, dark voice, but he must improve his bass and drums sound on the next release. This is a pro tape limited to 500 copies and more than half are already sold-out, so hurry up if you want to get one. 7/10 www.myspace.com/morbidtendencyband
[email protected] MORS SUBITA (Finland) - Human Waste Compression Violent Jurney Records - 2011 - Thrash Death Metal Mors Subita was formed in 1999 but only managed to release their debut album this year, although in the meantime they were active releasing some EPs and demos and I guess touring, as they seem to be a pretty solid team, and that's something you gain best from live activity. A debut album that's 50 minutes long and contains 11 tracks into Thrash Death Metal, a very melodic release, but at the same time fairly aggressive and what I like the best in their music is their capacity to create modern music on oldschool skeletons by adding a lot of grooves and of course benefiting from an excellent sound. Although they come from Finland I would better fit Mors Subita in the Melodic Death Metal scene from that country and place their music near the likes of Arch Enemy or Soilwork, and yes, they are that good, they really crefted a great piece of melodic brutality on this album: killer guitar riffs, catchy leads, hammering drums and aggressive, intelligent vocal lines. MASS INSANITY (Poland) - Silent Language Brewery Distro - 2010 - Death Metal This CD contains 2 previous demos of Mass Insanity, "In Deadly Silence" from 2004 and "Language Of The Dead" from 2007, totalizing 8 tracks in almost 40 minutes of playing. I decided to start listening to the first demo tracks, so with the 5th track on this CD, only to see the band's evolution during the years. What we get on this demo is a pretty solid old-school Death Metal, fast, intricate, aggressive but with some (few) crums of melody also. Still the first demo is a find piece of Death Metal with underground sound but not bad at all. The second demo (starting with track 1 on this CD) has a much better sound (not perfect though), keeps the same combination of two aggressive vocals, the same music based on razor sharp riffs, a little mor egroove on the drums section and a much more involved bass line. I prefer the sound on the first demo and the music on the second, so I guess their next release (debut album to be soon released on Brewery Distro) will form my opinion 100%. 6.5/10 www.myspace.com/massinsanity If you're into this genre I suggest you don't miss this album as it is faultless. 9.5/10 www.morssubita.com www.violentjourneyrecords.com catchy riffs, comprehensive clean but still thrashy vocal types, some razor sharp guitar solos sprinkled all over, and a crystal clear sound. A very good album with one fault, though, sometimes the band's compositions sound like they would have needed 1 more instrument, it feels like NACHTLIEDER (Sweden) - Promo 2010 something is missing here and there. Anyway, if you're Selfreleased - 2010 - Black Metal into Traditional Thrash Metal this will make your daily Susanne Hansen is back with a new Nachtlieder release, dose of crushing riffs. 8.5/10 this time a Promo CD, but honestly I don't understand the www.nuclear.cl difference between the two previous demos and this promo, www.myspace.com/nuclearthrash from the "package" point of view. Why labeling this one as promo and the previous as demos? Anyway, this material contains 3 tracks, quite long ones, lasting for 18 minutes. The sound is not the best one I've heard, but it's good enough for a rehearsal-like material, you won't have problems with it as the instruments are all distinguishable and her vocals have the right amount of volume not to break your brains. What is great about this promo is it sound organic, and I really think Susanne recorded with real drums, which is a major bonus. The music is melodic, but still very brutal Black Metal, and it NUCLEAR AGGRESSOR (Italy) - Human Pulverizer sounds very good, sinister, cold and aggressive. Recorded Selfreleased - 2010 - Old-School Thrash Metal in better conditions this music would gather lots of Nuclear Aggressor is back with a new release, this time it's followers, that's for sure, as she's much better than lots of an EP we're talking about. I have reviewed their previous other projects out there. Although Nachtlieder is based on (debut) release last August so it's nice to see such a hardstandard, old-school fast Black Metal sounds, Susanne is working band at least once in a while. "Human Pulverized" not afraid to experiment with the instruments and the is a step forward for the band from all points of view: result is a very interesting blend of metal parts. although the music remained the same, uncompromising simple old-school Thrash Metal (this is a very good thing Recommended! 8/10 they keep the same path), now we're treated with a bit www.myspace.com/nachtlieder more complex rhythms and twists, the drummer included more variations in his playing, the lyrics have a better English, the music is catchier and the whole impression after listening to both releases is that the band improves in songwriting and even playing. The sound is the same old organic type a la '80's Thrash Metal scene. I hope they will try to find a label to release their stuff on vynil, that's the best format for such music. Catchy, honest music. Recommended! 8/10 www.myspace.com/nuclearaggressor overused at all. Strongly recommended to old-school organic Gory Death Grind fans! 9.5/10 www.offalgore.com www.blackholeprods.com OMISSION (Spain) - Merciless Jaws from Hell Xtreem Music - 2010 - Speed Thrash Metal I think the cover of this album will bring them lots of sales, or at least I'd buy it, hahaha. "Merciless Jaws of Hell" is the second full-length album from Omission, a band founded in 2002 that started to be active from the discographic point of view only since 2005, but since then they have released quite a lot of demos, and splits. Their music is an old-school Speed Thrash Metal with a few Black Metal influences as well. Nothing pretentious here, just pure and simple fast and aggressive metal the way it was done 2 decades ago. Fans of old-school Thrash Metal will enjoy this as it has all that's needed: raw sound, catchy guitar riff, old-school melodic guitar solos and fast rhythm section, plus a combination of thrashy Black Metal like vocals with Death Metal growls as background choirs as support. What I don't like is that they are loosing pace and syncronization at times and the mixing is not the best around either. 7/10 www.omission.es PLEURISY / ASGAIA (Holland / Germany) - Unholy Spheres / Waves Magnificence Records - 2011 - Death Metal / Melodic Death Metal This split was originally released on Paranoia Syndrome in 1998, and Magnificence Records re-released it unfortunately in a limited edition on CD last year, unfortunately because it is already sold-out. The opening band should ring a bell to all old-school Death Metal followers out there as Pleurisy were pretty active in the underground in the '90's and not only. The band is now split-up, but they have managed to release 3 full-length albums in their career. Their music is old-school Death Metal based on quite melodic guitar lines and combining the mid-tempo rhythms with the fast ones in a successful way. Good as hell stuff, no wonder why they were mentioned in lots of metal publications from more than a decade ago. The Germans Asgaia are still active and actually they have released their third full-length album last year, but they have never achieved the pupularity of their split mates here Pleurisy. This split was their debut in the metal scene but even knowing that aspect their tracks are quite good. Melodic Death Metal in the old fashion way meaning based on organic, intelligent guitar leads and a few keyboards insertions. The guitar riffs and drums are a bit dull at times, but given their experience at that time it is totally understandable. Honest music, quite melancholic for me, I have to admit. This type of music reminds me of the good old days of Doom Death Metal, the mid '90's. Hopefully Magnificence will reissue this as at this moment it's sold out. 9/10 7/10 www.myspace.com/pleurisy www.asgaia.de www.myspace.com/magnificencerecordshw9889 NEFTARAKA (Malaysia) - Morts Eldritch Lunar Miasma Records - 2012 - Black Metal As far as I know Neftaraka are one of the oldest Black Metal bands in Malaysia, and quite a respected and wellknown underground bands ever to emerge from this country although they have only one full-length album out prior to this one. Their popularity comes from the numerous split releases they have been involved in and that's a good thing, it means they really care about their work and are always looking for new ways to share it with the listeners. "Morts" is composed of 8 tracks totaling 42 minutes of fast, aggressive and very cold Black Metal, oldschool Black Metal. Still there are some parts where the rhythms become more melodic, more mid-tempo and from my point of view that's for the best because it avoids boredomNothing new or out of the ordinary here, but we get a band that's honest in what they do and they are quite good instrumentists as well. The sound could have been better, but all in all it fits the old-school approach quite well. 7.5/10 www.myspace.com/necroneftaraka www.eldritchlunarmiasma.com OBLIVIONIZED (UK) - Abhorrent Evolution Selfreleased - 2010 - Brutal Death Grind Young band from England, formed in 2008, Oblivionized is presenting here their debut EP, actually their debut release as far as I know. At first listening of these 4 tracks featured here I thinght this is just sensless brutality, but I must admit I kind of started to enjoy it after a while, I discovered all the chaos inhere has a common ground and the whole is, or at least it seems, pretty much organized and well calculated. Basically this is extremely technical, ultra-fast brutal Death Grind, the new way of doing it, it has nothing to do with the old-school. From start to finish you're overwhelmed by the intensity this music is playing, and the only thing that will make me leave this aside and wait for a new Oblivionized release is the pretty poor sound quality, as such music deserves, actually needs a crystal-clear sound and mastering. If you're into the most intense music around in the extreme metal field, I suggest you give these guys a try, they have a great potential. 7.5/10 www.myspace.com/oblivionized OFFAL (Brazil) - Macabre Rampages And Splatter Savages Black Hole Productions - 2010 - Death Gore Grind This album is great, it took Offal 4 years since their debut official album to release this one, but it was worth the waiting for their fans. "Macabre Rampages And Splatter Savages" is a 39 minutes effort (12 tracks) that would make any Autopsy's fans' day, and this not because Offal would be an Autopsy copycat, but because of its atmosphere, extremely fat, horrifying, gory and disgusting. The cover artwork says it all, it's a long time since I've seen such an inspired cover, so well linked with the musical content of the CD. Offal's music is both groovy mid-paced, and old-school Death Metal-like fast, and they switch at the right time. Also the guitar solos, the movie exerpts and the screaming backing vocals are positioned that way that they can only help the music, without being NUCLEAR (Chile) - Jehovirus Sick Bangers / Australis Records - 2010 - Thrash Metal Nowadays I guess everyone is aware of the South American appetite for Thrash Metal, and Chile is a country that rises more and more its Extreme Metal scene over the past few years. Nuclear is one of the leading names from Chile, a band founded in 1998 that has reached with this "Jehovirus" its third studio album to date. These 9 tracks were recorded in their country, but the mastering was done in UK by the famous Russ Russell (who has also worked for Napalm Death, Dimmu Borgir, Evile) so the expectation bar is raised even more. In almost 40 minutes of playing Nuclear present us their own view on Thrash Metal: fast, violent, old-school fashioned and straight to your face, no compromises indeed. Tons of PROMISCUITY (Israel) - Infernal Rock N' Roll Israhellbanger Records - 2011 - Speed Black Metal From Israel we're treated (or threatened?) with a 666% underground and old-school sounding trio called Promiscuity. This is their debut demo, a 3 tracks effort into 12 minutes of playing a raw, fast, simple and catchy form of old-school Black Metal, just immagine a combination of Motorhead, Venom and Hellhammer played with a (good) rehearsal sound quality, unpolished, organic and totally honest. If you're into the '80's form of Black Metal and you like Lemmy, you might just have found a band that will satisfy your needs. Too bad there are only 3 tracks here, but it's great more and more such bands appear every month here and there. Ah, and another thing, this demo is released on tape, so it's even more inaccesible to the masses, I guess only the true fanatics will get their hands on this. Nice. 8/10 www.promiscuity-band.com www.israhellbanger.com although live, is quite good actually. We might hear of this Helvete again, who knows. 3/10 6.5/10 www.myspace.com/saagarblackmetal www.helvete.com.ar www.myspace.com/mortishumanae RELIGIO MORTIS (Italy) - La Progenie di Krono + Vargata la soglia Malaluna Records - 2010 - Thrash Death Metal Religio Mortis is a band formed in 2008, a pretty unlucky band from what I see. Unlucky regarding its line-up, because the two members that make the band at the moment are searching for a stable line-up since 2008. Anyway, although only two, they have managed to release 1 demo in 2008 and their debut album in 2009. Here I have their new EP, EP made of 3 tracks and as bonus the complete debut album from 2009, plus 2 other as bonus to the bonus if I can say so. After listening to this release I can say Religio Mortis is a Thrash Death Metal scene with a powerful hint of Speed Metal, all of it presented in an old-fashioned manner with raw (but not that bad) organic sound, and an overall Horror inspired atmosphere. The most prominent element in their music is the Thrash Metal one, especially on guitar; old-school thrashy guitar riffs, catchy enough, supported by a fast rhythm section and a combination of clean and vicious vocals with background growling vocals. Recommended only to fans of old-school dirty and violent Metal. 7/10 www.myspace.com/religiomortis0 REVELATIONS OF RAIN (Russia) - Emanation of Hatred Solitude Productions - 2010 - Dark Doom Death Metal If there's such a term as Old-School Doom death than that's what Revelations Of Rain is playing, a very heavy, dark and quite depressive form of Doom Death Metal with guitar leads and riffs we used to hear 10-15 years ago, filled with melody and sorrow. Not a sophisticated music here, but one that delivers what it meant without boring you a bit, and that means it is clever structured. The third Revelations Of Rain album (also third one on Solitude Prod.) contains 7 tracks, lasting for almost 50 minutes, an effort recommended to die-hard My Dying Bride fans out there. One thing I'm not too fond of, the keyboard work, quite poor of ideas, doesn't bring anything to the overall atmosphere, and all construction is left on the guitarists shoulders. Production-wise this is, as Solitude used their fans/customers, top-notch, of course. 7.5/10 www.myspace.com/revelationsofrain www.solitude-prod.com SAAGAR / HELVETE (Argentina / Argentina) - Spectrum of War Mortis Humanae Productions - Mortis Humanae Productions - Black Metal New release from Mortis Humanae Productions, yum-yum. :) This time we're talking about a split CDr release between two Argentinian bands, limited to 100 handnumbered copies as usual at MHP. Saagar is the band opening this split with two tracks, the first almost 9 minutes long and the second only 2 minutes long, strange isn't it? Anyway, this is not actually a real band but rather a one-man-project. Unfortunately after giving these tracks a few spins I still can't understand a thing from that this guy wants or tries to build here, and above all the execution is so poor that it astonished me. I was trying to find a thing I like in this music, but it's impossible so I'll stop here on talking about it, I'm disapointed. Helvete is actually a full line-up band founded in 2011 (maybe they should have thought of a different band name since this one is so frequent in the Black Metal scene nowadays). They offer 2 tracks here, both of them recorded at the rehearsal place I think, and both of them lasting for more than 5 minutes. What can I say about the music: raw, old-school '90's type of minimalist fast Black Metal with occasional semi-acoustic elements. At least these guys show a bit of potential and being such a young band the lack of identity is absolutely understandable. The compositions are simple but not bad, and the execution, SANGUINARY MISANTHROPIA (Australia) - Promo VCD Selfreleased - 2010? - Black Metal A new VCD for Pest Webzine to review. These releases are not so common nowadays with the YouTube dominion, but it's good they still exist and some bands still keep it old school. This is Sanguinary Misanthropia's case, an OldSchool Black Metal band from Australia recently signed with US based label Abyss Records, if I'm correct. What I have here, or better said what I should have here, are 6 tracks recorded during one of their live gigs, but unfortunately I have only 3 of the 6, the other were not burnt correctly so they are only Copy of... files. The band, although being a trio (or because of this?) sounds pretty tight and mature, their Black Metal is aggressive, raw and catchy, not monotonous at all. The sound is also acceptable, so it was a good way to spend a few dozens of minutes watching this a few times, too bad I don't have the complete tracklist. Don't know if it's for sale, but you can ask the band directly. 7/10 www.myspace.com/sanguinarymisanthropia SOUNDER (Brazil) - Praise be to Death Metal Inquisition Records - 2010 - Thrash Metal SANHEIM (Russia) - Bringer of Death When you're involved in writing a metal webzine you're Dead Center Productions - 2010 - Thrash Metal stuffed every single day by new releases, bands, labels, Sanheim is a young Russian band founded in 2009. This is news, etc., and that makes it a bit hard to still keep your their debut EP, a 4 tracks effort lasting for 17 minutes of desire to browse the net for different stuff, for labels Old-School Thrash Metal. '80's style all the way, from the outside of your collaborators' ring, and that's why I have music to the sound everything's old-school inhere. The only recently found out that the guys at No Colours started sound is so organic, rehearsal-like, that on the first track I a new label focused on Traditional and Thrash Metal only, was under the impression one of the guitars is actually a and boy that was a good news for me. They have proven cello, and I'm still not sure it's not, haha. The music is fantastic abilities to find Black Metal gems and promote mostly fast paced, catchy enough and quite aggressive, them, so I'm sure they won't fail in this field also. with the benefit of a vicious vocal part and very good, Sounder presents us here their second full-length album razor-sharp guitar solos. They still have some work to do, that's also the second release on Metal Inquisition, after especially on drums, but they are young and have all the their "Evil Sides" EP from 2010. The 10 tracks featured future ahead. If you're into early Metallica and the '80's here are lasting for a bit more than 30 minutes and I have demos sound than this EP is for you, a breath of dusty air to tell you listening to this half an hour effort was a great in our nowadays so clean and sterilized metal scene. 7/10 pleasure. The band is full-on old-school organic Thrash www.myspace.com/sanheim Metal, fast, catchy, technical, honest and filled with www.deadshop.info headbanger-friendly riffs. The insertion of some mid-paced and even doomy parts in rhythm is also welcome as it SIGN OF THE JAKAL (Italy) - The Beyond keeps the album varied, but the highlight of this album is Heavy Artillery Records - 2011 - Speed Heavy Metal for sure the old-school, traditional atmosphere surrounding Looking at them and listening to their music you can bet everything. Also I should mention the good lyrics, the great these Italians are not from this age and time but from 30 guitar solos, and the hoarse, evil vocals. Killer release! years back, but that only means they are playing an Old- 9.5/10 School Heavy Metal with some Speed Metal spiced all over. www.myspace.com/sounderthrashmetal "The Beyond" is their second EP out on Heavy Artillery www.metal-inquisition.de Records, a 5 tracks effort lasting for 20 minutes of extremely entertaining and catchy traditional metal music. SOURCE OF DEEP SHADOWS (Poland) - Fading They have managed to get the best out of the '80's and Emptiness present us a material that contains plenty of catchy riffs, Redrum666 - 2011 - Doom Metal leads, solos, plus a female vocal that keeps it metal Source Of Deep Shadows (SODS) is a trio from Poland although adding some melodic touches, but her voice is founded in 2004. this is their second album, an 8 tracks mad as hell, although she could need some more work on effort lasting for 40 minutes. I would say SODS plays an English pronounciation. I like a lot this album and this is old-school type of Doom Metal combined with many what I'm going to listen for the rest of the day. I would love elements from Funeral Doom, Death Metal and even to see them live sometime. 9/10 Gothic Metal. It's a very complex album, as much as this www.myspace.com/signofthejackalmetal style allows, avoiding too much repetition, and that's a www.heavyartillery.us great feature for SODS. The guitars are as inportant as the other instruments inhere, while they create the diversity (lots of different riffs, leads and solos), the bass keep the atmosphere a cold and dark one, and the drums are creating the funeral rhythms. The vocals are deep, low type growls with occasional whispers. An interesting, organic release. I'm not a fan of this album's cover/booklet artwork, though, too many different colours and themes. 7.5/10 www.myspace.com/sourceofdeepshadows www.redrum666.net SINISTER (Holland) - Legacy of Ashes Massacre Records - 2010 - Death Metal With their 10th album (9th studio album) Sinister delivers exactly what their fans would expect them to, 9 tracks of fast Old-School Death Metal the Sinister way. Nothing less, but unfortunately nothing more either. I mean the album is tight as hell, very aggressive and displaying the same excellent guitar riffs, 100% Death Metal, but there is no innovation and sadly Sinister starts to sound somehow limited. I know this sounds very harsh, but that's the truth, there are countless new bands out there that raise the standards of Death Metal every day so I don't see this Dutch legends gaining more fans with this new release, like they did with, for example "Aggressive Measures". Of course, it will satisfy all their die-hard fans because it's not at all a bad album, it's catchy and technical, but I guess you understand what I mean here, it lacks something, it's one thing what you would expect from a new, young band and it's totally different for a band like this. Their music seems to become more and more centered around the guitar riffs and forget about the rest, including overall atmosphere. 8/10 www.sinister-hailthebeast.com www.massacre-records.com tuned guitar riffs supported by quite melodic guitar leads, and a rhythm section that plays a very important role in the whole music, it's not like the bass and drums is only there for keeping the rhythms. Now the less satisfactory facts: the sound is very raw, I would have better named this a demo, but maybe they want to keep that analog feeling to it, and sometimes the music feels like something's missing inthere, they should create more tracks like the 4th and 5th. Anyway, think of giving this a chance if you're into old-school Doom, the one without keys SULPHUR CROWN (Hungary) - The Cult of Ugliness and female vox. 7/10 Selfreleased - 2011 - Black Doom Metal Damn this is a strange band! Their compositions are so www.myspace.com/tethrahell primitive they make you think of unprofessional attitude or lack of skills, but after listening to these tracks a few TANATOSSIS (Spain) - The Darkest Reflections times I started thinking they wanted the tracks to be so Xtreem Music - 2010 - Thrash Metal minimalist. The whole sounds desolate, hopeless and Although this band was founded in 1996 and this album is doomed, so it fits well with the lyrical idea behind this their third to date, I was not familiar with their name or demo centered around the damnation theme. Fans of Doom music until now. Maybe that's because the first two and old-school slow Black Metal might like this band, I'm albums were released by themselves and had lyrics in just curious about their next release, if we'll get more Spanish only so I guess they chose to promote their complex compositions or if this is really their aim, to create material only within Spanish speaking territories. This new album is the first one released on Xtreem Music and vrey primitive tunes. 6/10 also the first one in English so it seems they are aiming to www.myspace.com/sulphurcrown get recognition all over the place now. The album starts with an oriental-influenced intro that SUPURATION (France) - Back from the Crematory made me think I'll have to review a quite interesting Xtreem Music - 2011 - Death Metal This is one hell of a gift for any old-school Death Metallers combination during the 11 tracks listed here, almost an out there, especially the ones into the European school as hour of playing. Well, I was wrong, the following tracks are Supuration (now SUP) is one of the biggest names France 100% Thrash Metal based on old-school guitar riffs without ever produced for Death Metal. This new official the nowadays impulse to discover new territories. There compilation includes their first releases from when they are some Speed parts here and there, but the major part of were called Etsicroxe, one studio recorded and one the album is pretty mid-tempo, quite melodic and a bit captured live, and the first Supuration releases, a aggressive, but none of them enough to raise this band rehearsal recording and their first EP. Supuration were from the big amount of similar bands nowadays. After one of the first European Death Metal bands ever to use listening to these tracks I feel they miss a bit more keyboards but if you're not familiar with their music don't aggression. 6.5/10 think they are soft or anything, on the contrary, www.myspace.com/tanatossis Supuration is extremely morbid, heavy and sinister. Their www.xtreemmusic.com Etsicroxe releases are more Thrash Metal influenced, but the Supuration ones are more into doomy, morbid Death Metal. A must have release for all Death Metal collectors out there! www.facebook.com/sup.supuration www.xtreemmusic.com are getting too repetitive at times and that gets monotonous, and if you add the mono-tone raspy vocals of Niclas (good vocals, but not varied enough) this drags down the release, but still all in all I have enjoyed it, especially the guitar leads and bass lines. Recommended to old Amorphis followers. The Progressive Death Metal elements that are thrown in here and there only show that these guys have a lot more potential than they show on this release. 7/10 www.myspace.com/thegardnerz www.officialabyssrecords.com THE SKELETAL (USA) - The Plague Rituals Metal Inquisition - 2011 - Death Metal New US band having as front-man the famous Kam Lee known from his days in Death (Mantas) or Massacre. This is The Skeletal's debut album, a 9 tracks release lasting for 38 minutes. Apart from Kam Lee's very good and distinctive, comprehensive vocals, the band displays a great appetite for fast rhythms, catchy old-school guitar riffs, and solo moments for each of its members. A type of old-school Death Metal that can be considered both brutal and groovy, but with nothing linked to the nowadays type of Death Metal. I have to admit I love everything on this release and it's just my type of Death Metal, very comprehensive, honest, to the core, and with no effects at all. 9.5/10 www.metal-inquisition.de THE SULLEN ROUTE (Russia) - Apocalyclinic BadMoodMan Music - 2011 - Doom Death Metal Second full-length album for these 4 Russian Doom Death metallers (they used to be 5 on their debut album as far as I remember, but got rid of the girls playing bass. Their music became less Death Metal influenced on this new album and more open to experimenting with Progressive elements within a Metal that could hardly be labelled as Doom as well, but rather a Dark Metal, a genre that's getting to rise up more and more nowadays, a genre that allows more experiments and avangardish ideas. Well The Sullen Route combines the old-school (beginning of the 2000s) Melodic Doomy Metal with Progressive Metal touches and still manages to keep a steady and catchy flow to the whole music. The only thing I don't like on this CD is the overuse of cymbals that become freakin' annoying at times, but the rest is quite enjoying, a good Amtospheric Prog. Metal album. 8/10 www.myspace.com/thesullenroute www.solitude-prod.com TIRAN (Russia) - Reborn Chaos Wings Of Destruction / Dead Center Prod. - 2011 - Thrash Metal Rather than a full line-up band Tiran seems to be more of a solo project of it's leader, Tiran, who's also the owner of Russian Wings Of Destruction label. Tiran as a band has been around since 2005 and managed to release a couple of demos, a single, and EP, and a full-length album before this new effort, "Reborn Chaos". "Reborn Chaos" is a 9 tracks effort lasting for 32 minutes of old-school raw, primitive sounding Thrash Metal the way it was done in the '80's. It even sounds like recorded on an analog equipment, so you've guessed it right, there's no digital, synthetic sounds on this release, only three guys playing mid-tempo to fast Thrash Metal a la old Sodom. So if you like your Thrash old-school and raw sounding (rehearsallike), give Tiran a try, you might be pleasantly surprised by some of the riffs and other insertions they added in their music. 7.5/10 www.myspace.com/tiranrussia
[email protected] www.deadshop.info TERMINATE (USA) - Demo Selfreleased - 2011 - Death Metal Now this is a great demo! Containing members of Deadnight that I have just reviewed a few days ago, Terminate plays pure old-school Death Metal, the European, Scandinavian better said, way. This 3 tracks demo makes me think of Swedish Death Metal, namely Unleashed, Entomber or Dismember with some groovy parts as topping. Cool stuff, I'm only sorry there are only 10 minutes of playing time here. Low-tunned chugging guitars, aggressive hoarse vocals, and a groovy, brutal rhythm section, that's why Terminate serves us on this debut demo. Can't wait for a full-length! 8.5/10 www.facebook.com/TerminateChicago TETHRA (Italy) - At the Gates of Doom Occultum Promotion - 2010 - Doom Death Metal Belfagor from Horrid is also a part of this quite new Italian band founded in 2008, but I have no idea if he only helps out or if he's a regular member. Anyhow, this one is their first and only release so far, a 5 tracks release that lasts for 25 minutes, and although Belphagor is a part of it, Tethra's music has nothing to do with what Horrid plays, well maybe only the old-school touch. Tethra is an OldSchool Doom Metal band that makes use of some Death metal elements (rhythms and vocals) here and there, but the main conclusion after listening to this EP is that we're dealing here with a simple but effective music, without any innovative elements or such, but with a very good atmosphere for fans of '80's and even some of the '90's Doom Metal scene. Clean vocals combined with comprehensive growls, simple and straight-forward, down- THANATHRON (Poland) - Hiarra Moon Records - 2009 - Black Metal Honestly I don't know how well known this band is in the underground Black Metal scene, but it should be a popular name at least in their homeland since Moon Records decided to re-release all their demos from 2003-2006 on one tape. There are 24 tracks presented here totaling almost 80 minutes of raw, old-school Black Metal recorded for different releases, so the volume difference between each of them is understandable, although I like the sound of their first demo better than the rest. Thanathron is fast, raw, aggressive, demonic and keeps their style uncompromised by influences from other styles. Although there are some melodic guitar riffs on the second part of thsi tape this doesn't mean they are getting softer, the overall music is very aggressive. Recommended to fans of organic old-school Black Metal. 7.5/10 www.thanathron.glt.pl www.moonrecords.glt.pl THE GARDNERZ (Sweden) - The System of Nature Abyss Records - 2011 - Doom Death Metal The gardnerz seems to be a South American band actually, two of is members being from Chile, one from Mexico and only one from Sweden, but I guess they have relocated to Sweden. The Mexican guy namely Wilhelm Lindh was (is?) also a member of the Death Metal legends Toxodeth, everyone should know who Toxodeth is. "The System of Nature" is The Gardnerz' debut album, a 12 tracks effort lasting for exactly an hour, a melodic, heavy and dark Doom Death Metal a la' '90's that honestly made me think of early Amorphis, and that's because of the "oriental" approach on guitar leads. The guitar riffs unfortunately TORMENTA (Maldives) - Tormented Souls Selfreleased - 2010 - Thrash Metal It seems Today I get to review only old-school stuff, and I cannot say that bothers me, not at all. Tormenta may be the first Maldives band I get to review in Pest Webzine, so I was pretty curious to hear a band from a region that's so exotic for me (and I guess not only for me). The band was formed in 2008 and this one if their debut release. I liked a lot what I've heard on this, especially the guitars work, very precise, complex, groovy and catchy as hell, complementing perfectly the raw, aggressive rhythm section. The only part I'm not too happy about is the vocal line, a bit too monotonous for such great compositions, sounding a bit like Max Cavalera's "Chaos AD" days. Anyway, I'm absolutely hooked by the great guitar riffs and solos, and I would recommend this band if only for that feature of their music. Thrashers, give this band a chance, they deserve it. 7/10 www.myspace.com/thetormenta UNTIL GRAVES (Italy) - In Your Name Selfreleased - 2010 - Melodic Thrash Death Metal This is Until Graves' second demo released in 2010, a 5 tracks effort lasting for a bit more than 25 minutes, so we're dealing here with quite long tracks. After listening to it I'm not sure they have a well determined project for the future, and by that I mean the music on this demo seems to go in different parts, there is no middle ground for it, so it's really hard to name it Melodic Death, Melodic Thrash Death, Gothic Death or Gothic Thrash Metal because actually they have elements from all the mentioned areas. There are some good ideas, catchy riffs and some old-school Gothic Death Metal parts that I really like, but not enough to consider this band as a well curdled and solid one to attack the scene nowadays. And also I hope they get a better sounding keyboard next time (and here I mean the actual instrument, not the guy playing it), this one sounds too out of date and is unable to bring any plus to the band's musical atmosphere. 6/10 www.myspace.com/untilgravesband VASTATOR (Chile) - Machine Hell Inferno Records - 2010 - Speed Thrash Metal This seems to be a legendary band of the Chilean scene as they started in 1985 as Hammer and changed name to Vastator in 1986, released 4 demos, a DVD a live album and this is their 3rd studio album to date. Their name is not so well known in Europe, that's for sure, but this will change as Inferno Records signed them and released "Machine Hell", an 11 tracks effort lasting for about 55 minutes. Vastator plays a combination of old-school (or true, how you prefer) Heavy Metal with Speed Metal and some Thrash Metal as well, but unfortunately this album's sound give them a chaotic feeling, or better said the mixing is not the desired one, it seems like a (good, indeed) rehearsal recording, and that's not enough, at least here in Europe where the competition is fierceful. Good vocalist, good instrumentists, but the final result is not satisfying. 6/10 www.vastator.cl www.inferno-records.net old-school fats Thrash Metal and they seem to be dedicated to the beginning of the '90's type of Thrash Metal music. This is nice for a spin or two, but it's a bit too common since there is no original elements inhere. I don't know what to say, this is not bad but it's not outstanding either and there's no hooks to make you remember anything after listening to it, so if you're not looking for innovative Thrash Metal you might give Warnament a try. 6.5/10 www.myspace.com/warnament
[email protected] www.myspace.com/atomiccarnage WINTERCOLD (Sweden) - Lost Wolf Selfreleased - 2011 - Gothic Doom Metal Wintercold is the one man project of William Satanic Tony of Salute Records, one of the most devoted underground metal activists in Sweden nowadays. The band is signed with Satanica Records I guess, but honestly I don't know if this album was produced by Satanica or if it's a selfreleased effort. Anyway, the music on it it's a kind of underground old-school (a la mid '90's) Gothic Doom Metal with a very primitive sound. The compositions are quite good but the home-made recording is like a block, you can distinguish only a few lyrics although Tony uses mainly clean vocals and whispers. If you'll listen carefully to these 14 tracks (totaling 45 minutes) you'll find some beautiful melodies, well crafted guitar leads and an almost melancholic overall atmosphere. I think Tony should definitely buy some time in a proper studio and record/produce his music in a professional environment, nostalgics of early Doom Gothic Metal will certainly find his work interesting. 7/10 www.myspace.com/wintercold WITCHCURSE (Greece) - I'm no Fool Inferno Records - 2011 - Heavy Metal New release for the Greek traditional metallers Witchcurse, "I'm no Fool" is actually a single because it's composed of only 2 new tracks and other 2 taken from their debut album also out on Inferno Records. If you don't know this band you should know they play a traditional form of Heavy Metal that reminds mostly of Iron Maiden because of the twin guitars, but that doesn't mean we're dealing here with a copycat. Catchy tunes, honest approach on music, organic sound, and above all a nowadays hard to find enthousiasm. The vocals are not top notch, but the guy really puts his mark on Witchcurse's music, it wouldn't be the same without him, it would only be another band amongst others. Fun, entertaining stuff here, old-school Heavy Metal followers will love this! 8/10 www.myspace.com/witchcurse6669 www.inferno-records.net TORTURE THRONE (France) - Thy Serpent's Cult Odir Productions - 2011 - Death Metal By this band's name I thought I would review a Black Metal act, then by this demo's intro I thought this is going to be a Doom Metal CD, but I was wrong both times, of course, haha. Torture Throne is an Old-School Death Metal act from France (there are some really killer such bands over there nowadays) founded in 2009. "Thy Serpent's Cult" seems to be released by the band in 2010 and picked up by a new label called Odir Productions this year. The French quartet plays a European type of Death Metal heavily influenced by the '90's Swedish and Finnish scenes. Torture Throne means heavy and low tunned guitar riffs, killer melodic and sharp guitar solos, mid-tempo to fast rhythm section, and hoarse growling vocals, I have to admit I deeply enjoyed their music, it reminded me of the scene from the beginning of the '90's, so I recommend you check out this upcoming brutal monster from France's underground. 8/10 www.myspace.com/torturethrone UNGOD (Germany) - Cloaked in Eternal Darkness Kneel Before The Masters Throne Records - 2011 - Black Metal Holy crap! This is Ungod's second album after a waiting of 17 years since the release of their debut full-length, and we're not dealing here with a band that was mostly inactive during these years. Ok, they had a 6 years break between 2002 and 2008, but still managed to release in during the rest of their career a few demos, EPs and splits, so they were there, in the underground. And underground they are now, too, and I guess that's how they want to remain as the raw, primitive and honest old-school Black Metal attitude is characteristic for this new opus. Fast rhythms, abrasive vocals, raw production, cold and evil vocals, repetitive, but good guitar riffs, nothing for the new wave of Black Metal followers, but a good offering for the ones of you into how this style used to sound almost 2 decades ago. 8/10 www.ungodstomb.de www.mastersthrone.de VASTUM (USA) - Carnal Law Selfreleased - 2011 - Doom Death Metal This is Vastum's debut demo, and also their debut album. How so? Well they have released it by themselves earlier this year and immediately got signed by 20 Buck Spin, so this will be released at the end of May as a full-length also by 20 Buck Spin, I guess with something different on it (at least the cover). Vastum plays a slow-driven Death Metal with fat, Doomy sound and slow to mid-tempo rhythms. nothing spectacular, but quite enjoying for any old-school Death Metal follower, but also for Doom Metal fans who like their music a bit more aggressive, not only slow and meaty. The sound is great, very dark and extremely heavy (just listen to the bass which sounds like a rusty machine gun), and the atmosphere is overwhelming, feels like a bulldozer coming at you. Recommended to fans of Doom Death Metal from the beginnings of the '90's. 8.5/10 www.myspace.com/vastum ZOMBIEFICATION (Mexico) - Midnight Stench Chaos Records - 2011 - Death Metal If you miss the old-school Swedish Death Metal (I'm not referring to the melodic one here), this Mexican band could be a breath of fraught, fetid air just right for your needs. Although a duo, these guys have managed to get some special guests that not only not ruined their perfect Swedish sound, but even added their valuable support on this 11 tracks debut album. It's hard to imagine they are from Mexico, though, they have captured the exact atmosphere and feeling bands like Entombed, Unleashed or Dismember used to have back in the days. For me, as an "old-schooler" this is an absolutely enjoyable release, but I can also agree that there is not enough variation and catchy parts for this album to become an instant hit on the metal market. However, the production, the cover artwork, the sound, and concept behind "Midnight Stench" recommends this to all Old-School Death Metallers out WARNAMENT (Macedonia) - ...Where Home is Found... there. 7.5/10 Wings Of Destruction / Atomic Carnage - 2010 - Thrash www.myspace.com/zombiefication666 Metal www.chaos-records.com Pretty active this Macedonian band, or at least in what concerns splits with other bands. They were founded in 2007 and so far they have released 3 splits, a couple of demos and this debut album consisting of 8 tracks and lasting for a bit less than 40 minutes. Warnament plays COMPILATIONS this manner they will certainly deliver some killer stuff; so far my fave band on this compilation (they are from Belarus) Nebelsang - they seem undecided weather to go Melodic Black Metal or develop into a Black Death Metal band; no Pagan touches here, maybe on lyrics, and also the sound is a bit poor Woodscream - great track, although it has nothing innovative or impressive, it sticks to your mind and that's the most important thing; light Folk Metal from Russia with female vocals Asathor - good Viking Metal from Austria based on Heavy guitar riffs and leads, but ruined by the vocals (dull, uninspired and sounding like a joke) Chur - this one seems to be an Ukrainian Folk Metal band, but on this track there's no trace of metal, it's just acoustic Folk music made of guitars, percussion, and a crappy keyboard; hope they have something better on other tracks, this one is boring Minhyriath - Folk Death Metal from Switzerland; unfortunately the poor production make you think there are two different bands playing, a Folk one and a somehow melodic Death Metal one, there's no cohesion betwen the two elements Znich - legendary Belarussian band, Znich seems to have lost most of their Folk instruments and now rely on keyboard to add the atmosphere; they are good, but I was used to their old stuff so it kind of disapointed me (Natural Spirit is closer to how Znich used to sound) Nogroth - Humpaa-like Metal band from Germany, a bit too happy for my taste so I'll just skip it Leshak - the same happy Metal stuff that I can't stand, but Leshak added a medieval-like flute that's a great addition, so after all I was able to enjoy the only 1:30 min of this track. All in all, if you're into Folk, Pagan, Viking Metal you shouldn't miss this compilation, it's a great way to meet new bands. Sturmglanz deserves your support! www.sturmglanz.de 4 Ways of Eastern Brutality Extreminal Productions - 2010 - Brutal Death Grind 4 ways split between 2 bands from Indonesia and 2 bands from Turkey, an underground release originated by Extreminal Productions, limited to 100 copies, so I think they'll run out of copies pretty soon. Cranial Schism appeared in our Blitz Quitz section too, don't forget to check them out there. the band plays fast Brutal Death Metal with guttural vocals, pretty technical guitar work, brutal rhythm section and some groove here and there. Good stuff, two violent tracks with the main point of interest constituted by the the guitarist (or guitarists?) who's mixing old-school leads and solos with new fashioned riffs. I only hope they won't turn deathcore or even worse,, metalcore, in the future. Rever present here 2 short tracks of low-tuned Brutal Death but unfortunately I couldn't get into their music at all; the drum-machine is too synthetic and that bothers me, maybe Dicky should think of a real vocalist or at least of a decent drums program. The guitars are also too simplistic, and the vocals, although the idea of adding a 2 low grunts duo, could have been more varied. I have never heard of Makkatopsy from Turkey. What can I say about their music is that although they use that kind of vocals I'm starting to get bored by more and more every day, their instrumental part is very interesting, varied and technical so that the two tracks presented here are really good. The guitarist uses some really good Brutal Death Metal riffs that were the exact thing I needed from such a band. Rektal Tuse are straigth on Grindcore, fast, aggressive, disgusting Grindcore. I like the fact they alternate the fast parts with some slower ones, the atmosphere resulting is quite groovy. Also the crunchy, old-school type guitar tone is something to be mentioned here. 6.5/10, 5/10, 7/10, 7.5/10 www.myspace.com/cranialschism www.myspace.com/rev3r www.myspace.com/makattopsy From Russia with Hate www.myspace.com/rektaltuse Wings Of Destruction - 2010 - Extreme Metal www.extreminal.com Wings Of Destruction Prod. had this great idea to present us a few extreme metal bands from this so crowded Russian scene. I don't know if they are selling this compilation or giving it for free, but if you're interested in it, just ask them directly. Here's my thoughts on the bands/tracks featured: Immoralist - Technical Thrash Death Metal, not bad but the drum machine (or if they are real drums, their sound) is not on my liking at all Septory - fast and brutal Death Metal, a combination of old-school with the nowadays groove, catchy track with a good enough sound; good band Astarium - Symphonic Black Metal with quite a lot of followers all over the World; for me it's just too synthetic, although the compositions are spectacular; Grond - a combination of Brutal Death Metal with Old-School Thrash Death, quite simple, but with good, memorable riffs The Rigor Mortis - US style Gore Grind with gurgling vocals, repetitive guitar riffs and mid-tempo to fast rhythms Tiran - Technical Thrash Metal with quite intriguing rhythm changes and unpolished, rehearsal like sound; good band a la '80's Truep - aggressive, fast Old-School Thrash Death Metal with good, rhythms and catchy guitar riffs Der Heidensturm Volume 3 Cavandish - Melodic Black Death Metal with intricate rhythms; too bad the sound is Sturmglanz Black Metal Manufaktur - 2011 - Pagan Folk Metal I'm glad i have the chance to review this new volume of Der Heindensturm compilation. quite poor as the music is very good Yansen from Sturmglanz is to be respected for what he tries to accomplish through these Blood Pollution - Thrash'n'Roll with very entertaining composition, great track for beer compilations, that is to promote some of the less known Folk and Pagan Metal bands. drinkin' parties, fast and catchy Volume 3 is splitted equally between Slavonic (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus) and Germanic Sanheim - rehearsal sounding fast Thrash Metal; old-school underground maniacs may (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) bands, and related to my taste in music this time the like this Slavonic bands won the battle, but let me say a few words on the bands and tracks Death Instincts - fast to ultra-fast Death Metal with some Thrash Metal influences; the sound is a problem in their case, too featured on this compilation: Yansen - Yansen's own project opens this volume with a track that made me think of a Monastery Dead - aggressive and fast Death Metal with groovy rhythms, a combination Pagan version of Bethlehem; I wouldn't call this aggressive, but fast and experimental, of old-school with the new wave of rhythm breaks Grenouer - one of the most important Russian names in the Industrial Thrash Death there is still a lot of work to do on this project Satanakozel - Russian epic and melodic Folk Metal with repetitive guitar riffs and quite Metal scene, great track, great band, makes you think of a more brutal version of Fear Factory nice vocal parts; good but not mindblowing Ahnenstahl - Austrian epic Black Metal with good atmospheres, clean vox, keys, and a Violent Omen - fast Thrash Metal with a Thrash'n'Roll attitude and even some combination of melodic, doomy slow rhythms with fast, Black Metal; liked it although the DeaThrash influences; '80's style again, not bad (I would have liked a bit more of those guitar solos) drums sound is not the best around Natural Spirit - a pretty complex composition ruined by the poor sound; Ukrainian Folk Arcanum Sanctum - Melodic Heavy Death Metal, the way it was made in the beginning of the 2000's, not bad, but not original or stand alone either Metal with lots of melodies all over, loads of violins, acoustic guitars, whistles and keys Vinterskog - Pagan Black Metal from Switzerland; great female vocals (raw and hoarse,
[email protected] Black Metal - like) but the istrumental parts has lots of rhythm breaks that do no good Drygva - nice one, symphonic and melodic Pagan Metal with a Thrashy touch on guitars; the sympho parts with the more thrashy ones seem a bit forced, but if they continue on Hardsounds Compilation Vol.1 Hard Sounds - 2011 - Various This is the debut volume of a series of online compilations released by the Italian Hard Sounds Webzine. It's always good to see such support for the metal scene, in this case for the Italian underground metal scene, bands should be seeking more for such promotion as it's a simple and effective way to spread their name all over the World. I'll take each track one by one and say a few words on 'em, hope I won't bore you too much. As Likely As Not - opening band on this compilation, As Likely As Not is a modern sounding Melodic Death Metal with some powerful Hardcore/Metalcore influences. Good, groovy track with a quite varied and catchy composition. Usually the vocal type bothers me on such bands, but not on this one. If you're into modern stuff, give this band a try. Carnal Gore - good band, I've reviewed their demo a while ago, they have good ideas, but still not convincing, this track is not aggressive enough, nor technical enough, but that is due to a weak sound (not bad, but weak, not suitable for this genre) on the most part of it. Semi-technical Thrash Death Metal. Furyu - an instrumental track, quite experimental Progressive Metal, not aggressive at all, based on technical display. Not my type of metal, but I wasn't bored by it either. Innervacuum - Mathcore. Nothing to say about it, I'm not at all into this style. Marco Campanella - Instrumental track into happy Hard'n'Heavy. Good guitar skills, and great combination with a '70's like keyboard a la Black Sabbath, plus a futuristic Atmospheric keyboard touch at the end. Interesting and good for driving. Midgard - Electro Goth with Black Metal type of vocals. Too synthetic for my taste. Necroshine - Raw Black Metal with a Death Metal-like sound. Nothing groundbreaking but honest enough to be on your liking O - Very interesting Black Metal band, slight combination with Grindcore creating intricate rhythms, with a pinch of strange, cold melody on guitars. this band has a huge potential! Ocaenides - Progressive Extreme Metal a la Messhuggah, Textures or Dillinger Escape Plan, technical, intricate, melodic, extreme, a killer band Yikon - Stoner Metal with a '70's like sound. Their melodic guitar leads and solos are a good idea. Enjoyable band. Rising of Yog-Sothoth - Tribute to Thergothon Download this compilation for free from Hard Sounds and support these bands! Solitude Productions - 2009 - Funeral Doom Metal www.hardsounds.it Although Thergothon had only 1 full-length release out they are considered the pioneers of this, nowadays so popular in the underground, genre called Funeral Doom, so releasing a tribute to this band was only a question of time since there are so many new bands and labels around focused on Doom. This will only increase Thergothon's popularity all around. I myself wandered on the net to listen to this band once i got the compilation because for my shame I wasn't aware of it. Solitude released a double CD compilation featuring 17 bands, some well-known in the underground, and some (most of them) with a less resounding name, some with with a lot of immagination on covering Thergothon's tracks, and some less inspired, with covers that sound almost as the original. But nevertheless this is one lesson of Funeral Doom Metal that any maniac of this genre should have in his/her collection. The sound overall is good so there are no complaints on this side, even though some tracks could have used a better recording studio. The bands that presented their tribute to Thergothon: Asunder, Officium Triste, Evoken, Imindain, Colosseum, Mournful Congregation, Worship, Umbra Nihil, Persistence In Mourning, Nojda, Otzepenevshiye, Krohm, Inter Arbores, Astral Sleep, Aarni, Axis Of Advance, Singultus. A release definitely worthing your money if you're into this genre. 8/10 www.solitude-prod.com Hungarian Black Metal Assault Vol. II Fekete Terror 'zine / Neverheard Distro - 2011 - Extreme Metal Nice initiative from the Hungarian Fekete Terror print zine, supported with distribution by Neverheard Distro, "Hungarian Black Metal Assault Vol. II" is a compilation containing not only Black Metal acts, but from other genres too. And here are my impressions on the bands featured: Cryptic Remains - very good Death Metal with an old-school feeling but adding some influences from the nowadays Brutal Death Metal also; plenty of brutality with some melodic touches, a band to keep an eye on, that's for sure; De Profundis - this is a band I have reviewed last year and I remember I liked them a lot. The track featured here confirms my general opinion on them: great technical, melodic, dark and aggressive fast as hell Black Metal, very good band Fantom - a live track with bad sound, but it lets you understand you're dealing with an old-school raw Thrash Black Metal band; it seems they are pretty legendary in the Hungarian metal scene, the band was formed back in 1987, but now it's split-up; I'd love to hear some better recorded tracks of Fantom, their compositions sound pretty neat I Divine - great Experimental Black Metal band that by its use of trombone makes you think, of course, of Sear Bliss, and they have something in common with Sear Bliss, some former members, but that's it, they are pretty original, very catchy and display a huge potential. Excellent atmospheres, twisted melodies, complex composition, look out for this band! Malediction - quite complex Death Metal, mide tempo to fast rhythmed, catchy and fat sounding. The only thing I don't like in this band's music is the drums' sound, too slamoriented for their style. The rest is very enjoyable, very dark Death Metal Nuclear Beast - fast and furious Thrash Metal with Punk attitude, raw sounding; I guess they can appeal to Hungarian speaking metalheads Rombolo - an Austrian one man project that may have moved to Hungary or something as it is presented as being both Austrian and Hungarian project. Old-School Black Metal with Thrash Metal guitar riffs, primitive rehearsal-like sound, nice guitar solos used to create the atmosphere; seems to be a good band, too bad for the horrible sound Solus - average fast Black Metal with repetitive guitar riffs, not bad at all, but not original either; Tyrant Goatgaldrakona - brutal Black Death Metal with growling vocals, some old-school guitar riffs that I have quite enjoyed, nice groove and overall a simple but memorable music, but it would need a better sound to break through; Vrag - slow tempo melodic Black Metal one-man-project founded recently; simple composition, repetitive themes, primitive sound, it still needs a lot of work to be noticed amongst all the similar bands. Ok, these are the 10 bands featured on this compilation, but as a bonus, the producers also included the full debut demo of Witcher, a two members band including the man behind Vrag. 3 track in more than 20 minutes of playing; melodic slow to mid-tempo Black Metal is their style and I have to admit I like it way better than Vrag, it reminds me of the '90's underground Black Metal bands thriving to get recognition, although this is basically Vrag's music with the addition of keyboards, '90's like atmospheric simple but effective keyboard backgrounds. It's a long time since I've heard a new band having this sound, I give this a big thumb up. Nice effort by Fekete Terror and Neverheard, they deserve respect for getting the word out about their homeland extreme metal scene. Support!
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