Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Ampmandens Dotre Interview


    1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Ampmandens Døtre is a sludgepunk trio from Oslo, Norway. Born late 2010 and has to this date released 2 LPs an 2 EPs + 4 tours abroad. All DIY.


    2.Recently you have released an album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

Dirrty!


    3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

Anders: Some of the lyrics are very political and placed on the far left side on the political spectrum. When you see the political scene in Europe with the uprise of the right and far right and higher inequality all over the world, it is not difficult to find inspiration. Unfortunately.

Lyrics can also be inspired by characters in novels and films, or mundane episodes that happen in our lives.


    4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Ampmandens Dotre'?

Cancer Bats said it best when we shared stage with them in 2012: Amplified Daughters!

Really a rewriting of the title of the Norwegian novel Amtmandens Døtre (1854) by Camilla Collett. Not to be confused with the 70s feminist folk group.

    

    5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

The best shows are always those that we have the lowest expectations for. Never fails.

We are loud, hard hitting and energetic. 


    6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

We did a few shows around the recent release of I Tre Volti Della Paura and have one festival gig coming up. Then we will see what the autumn brings.


    7.The album was released on 'Ampandens Records, is this label owned by the band?

Yes.


    8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of sludge and punk?

Thumbs up! Especially in Spain and Czech Republic where we have toured the most. Luckily, Norwegians seem to like sludgepunk as well...


    9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Haven´t really started making new songs yet, but why change a winning team?


    10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Ampmandens Døtre has always been about mixing elements of hardcore, punk, noiserock and stoner. The influences are many, but nowadays it is the new albums of High On Fire, KEN mode and Fight Amp that get the most rotations.


    11.What are some of your non musical interests?

I run. 


    12Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

That one goes to you. Thanks for reviewing our record and doing this interview with us! Great job.

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Hexenjager Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
Hello ! First things first, thanks for the interview ! We are currently working on our first full length album. We're on it since the release of the demo. We're also working for a split with the Italian band Lizard Queen. We keep ourselves pretty busy lately.

2.In March you had released a demo, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
C : The two tracks on the demo are really old now, over two years for the title track. How do we describe it ? Is slow paced heavy shit an acceptable definition ?
F : What he said. The two songs are quite old, and it seemed to us that those were the best songs we had at that time. It's kinda hard to describe the sound, we want to play slow and heavy. I have to add that we recorded the demo ourselves in one day. We like the way it sounds, but we hope to have a better sound on the album.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
We are total nerds. So basically, the lyrics covers anything that inspires us. It can be movies, novels, horror, fantasy, etc... Classical heavy metal stuff !

4.I know that the band name means witch hunter in German, how does this name fit in with the musical style that you play?
C : We just like the figure of the witch hunter, and in german it sounded cool. There's no hidden meaning behind that.
F : I think the name fits pretty well in the new doom « scene ». There's a lot of « witch » in band names nowadays, in some ways it can be pretty boring, on the other hand you can almost be sure that you will listen to a doom related band.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
The one we played with Stonebirds and Burn Society Burn (friends of us from our hometown). It was our best, first and only show so far. We're not really seasonned veterans yet, but we're looking for more ! Our stage performance was pretty straight forward I guess, we played and got drunk afterwards. No fancy stuff, candles or animal skulls..

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
Nothing yet, but we will take any opportunity. We hope to hit the road after our recording sessions.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
Yeah, we're looking for a label. Our next record is the most ambitious thing we've made yet and we hope to find someone to release it. We have recieved a proposition to release something but we don't want to talk too much about it since nothing is done.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of sludge and doom metal?
The feedback has been good so far, essentially outside of France (it seems no one gives a fuck about what we're doing here). We're all very pleased with all the reviews so far !

9.When can we expect a full length album and a where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We have a recording session planned this summer but we can't give no release date yet. If we find a label, we hope to release it before the end of the year.
You can expect more experimentations. But the tracks are still heavy. We're heading towards a more personal sound.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
C :The big influences on the band's sound are the ones we have in common : Black Sabbath, St Vitus, Pentagram... Stuff like that. We all listen to a lot of different stuff and it influences us in one way or another.
F : We listen to a lot of different things, from blues to black metal, from rock 'n roll to drone... As long as it's good, I'm in ! Lately, I've been listening a lot of stuff, The Gates of Slumber, Seremonia, Stone Dagger, Townes Van Zandt, Sinister Haze... I'm pretty much always listening to music.


11.What are some of your non musical interests?
C : I'm big on horror. Movies, books, comics... And whiskey, of course !
F : Same thing here, as we said, we're nerds so... novels (Howard, Lovecraft, Wagner...) movies (mainly old horror), video games, etc...

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Thanks for the interview,  ! 

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Lodo Interview


1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

“Lodo” is the continuation of our previous band “Bazooka” formed by 4 people who come from different bands but with many common interests and born

in the “Vega Baja”(to the south of Alicante,Spain)


2.So far you have been a part of a split, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on your side of the recording

It is a close instrumental sludge doom bands like Cult of Luna, Pelican or Neurosis or something like that....


3.What are some of the concepts and images the band brings out with their musical style.

Slowness,dark but within a strong bond of friendship


4.So far all of the recorded music has been instrumental, are you planning on using vocals in the future?

No,but never close doors to anything


5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Lodo'?

We wanted a name that would describe our music
Lodo means Mud in spanish so....
We believe that well defined with “Lodo”


6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

We have not debuted live ....


7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

We start playing next September and hope to do regularly in the future


8.In November you where a part of a split with 'Hela', what are your thoughts on the other band that had participated on the recording?

We like a lot and especially the combination of female vocals with more classic doom are also very good friends


9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of sludge and doom metal?


There are people who like a lot but we still much work to reach more people and have a clearer feedback



10.When can we expect a full length album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?


We have about 5 or 6 songs and we intend to record an album made this year so we hope to have the album by the end of 2015.

Our only goal in the future is to enjoy what we do


11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

We hear lots of different music but as influences can say bands like Mastodon, Isis,Pelican, Cave In, Neurosis and etc

As we say before we hear many different styles of music like Hardcore,Surf, Garage, Metal but the last thing I remember hearing is

Tame Impala and Cave-in's last album




12.What are some of your non musical interests?


Reading, movies, sport and especially being with family and friends


13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

We want to thank Julian (Marchalenta Records)

Dani (Discos Macarras)

Rob (Third and i RexRecords) for publishing the LP and CD

Thanks for your interest

Doom or Die!

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Akasava Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new ep?

First, thanks a lot for this interview! We are all doing good, we've been pretty busy rehearsing and working hard on new songs!

2.You have a new ep coming out in June, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

This is actually our debut release, we are a rather young band formed back in July 2014. We are presenting what we've been working on for the past few months. The EP was recorded live and it was important for us to capture that raw energy we have on stage. It's rather possessed, wicked, has its doomy ways, fuzzy moments and a certain kind of madness.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

Lyrics are often influenced by those old movies I'm very fond of. It can be dreamy too, like weird visions of the moment that I need to put on paper. Sometimes I want to sing about long black haired vampires/witches, lovecraftian subjects and sometimes I'd rather sing about my feelings which results in some more or less chaotic sentences. I'm really into movies and books so I'm not afraid to say that I can be heavily influenced by the stuff I own. And it also comes to the way I dress, which is important to me once I'm on stage and outside as well. But globally speaking, the topics are always revolving around the unusual, the odd, the ancient arts, creatures & babes from the 60's/70's era, including the Hammer, Jean Rollin and Jess Franco movies. I also go for Argento and Italian Gialli movies, often accompanied by a delightful soundtrack...
"Sons Of Bastet", for example, is rather chaotic lyrically speaking as it brings up my passion for Egypt and also some kind of apocalyptic vision brought by those sons of Bastet, rising up to restore a certain order among the living and the dead - something like this.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Akasava'?

It comes from Jess Franco's 'The Devil Came From Akasava' with Soledad Miranda who was a really fascinating actress. It came all very naturally though it's not my favourite Franco movie, the name got stuck in my head. I think it's pretty effective too. And also the movie has a killer score by Manfred Hübler & Siegfried Schwab!

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

We haven't played so many shows so far but the highlights were definitely playing with some great bands like Goatess, Barabbas and Witchthroat Serpent!
The stage performance is wild, raw energy, sweating like hell, open-heart surgery, all wrapped up with a ritualistic, theatrical approach.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

We have two gigs next month, on the 21st and 27th in our hometown. It's been a while since our last performance so we can't wait to be back on stage!
We'll be playing with Bathsheba for an unforgettable occult doom night later this year, in October!
We are hoping to play more shows of course... we'll see what future brings!

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

Yes, it's all DIY so far, the EP is digitally released on Bandcamp and then, there will be a small run of CDs, available on Bandcamp as well.
As a record collector, I'd really love to have our EP straight out on vinyl format and so it does justice to Karmazid's amazing artwork that he did for us... Well, of course it would be amazing to know that a label is interested in releasing our music but in the meantime, we know where we are coming from so like I said before, we'll see what future brings! I also believe that hard work always pays off... Wait & see!

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of occult rock and doom metal?

Pretty good actually so it's very encouraging and motivating! We are very pleased by the kind words and support we've received on the social networks!

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

I think the next step will be to release a full-length LP, we are already working on new numbers, we will play some of them during our upcoming shows!

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

My record collection which is made of 60's/70's psych/prog/heavyrock/folk albums is where I have all of my influences. I'm into record collecting for ten years now, it's a real passion! Roky Erickson is definitely on the top of everything, I love the Elevators, his solo albums, his horror rock. I'm still hoping to see him live one day!
I've been very much into two bands recently which are Three Man Army and Blodwyn Pig ("2" and "Ahead Rings Out" albums). If I had to chose one modern band I'm really fond of, I'd say Blood Ceremony. There are other bands I dig as well like Purson and Uncle Acid. If I had to pick one major influential artist I'd chose David Bowie for I feel like he was always "around" me since I'm a kid haha!

David: My biggest influences and what I never get bored listening to are : Johnny Cash and Motörhead for the rightheousness of their music and their sharp songwriting, Lemmy is probably the last True Rock'n'Roll singer alive on Earth, in fact I really started listening to music, thanks to them. Now these are the bands and all the different music genres that I'm listening to: Electric Wizard, Earth, Sunn O))), Kadavar, Sektemtum, Wheelfall, Bass Drum of Death, Sleep, Om, Cult of Luna, Graveyard, Orange Goblin, Valley of the Sun .... and so much more I forgot, I'm not focused on a particular type of music, I listen to all of them and try to pick the one that really sounds good to me. That's it.

Arnold: I have many different cultural influences, mostly touched by cult sci-fi movies, video games and epic, emotional compositions. This is how I've been in touch with music for the very first time.
I'd say that Matthew Bellamy is a great reference to me in terms of sounds and creativity as well as Jack White for his unique, uncompromising, brutal, fuzzy sounds, a fantastic composer for sure. And a third one to conclude would be Jimi Hendrix, for the man with the Strat' is a talented genius.
Lately, I'm absolutely amazed by the performances of Omar Rodriguez Lopez (At The Drive In, Mars Volta...) and my last discovery is Bosnian Rainbows which I really dig too.

Amélie: I'm influenced by bands like Tool and Porcupine Tree, in which there are powerful, complex bass lines. My sound is about loud, fuzzy and groovy bass lines, like in Kasabian, songs like "Vlad The Impaler".
These days I'm mostly listening to Ghost B.C., Ghost Brigade and Tesseract.

11.How would you describe your views on Occultism?

I'd say it derived mostly from the records, books and movies I own. I'm not like practising or anything, it's more of a visual, cultural impact to me, the Occult through the prism of 60's/70's movies and music. I do have some books dealing with Occult Science, Magick, Talismans, Symbols and their meanings. It offers a truly fascinating reading.
It's always through the prism of a cultural matter in the end. Lovecraft got me obsessed with the Cthulhu mythos and the Necronomicon. I read everything about it. I love how Lovecraft built his own cosmology and induced that fear that we, humans, are nothing but tiny little tools and that we should live in fear that something bigger, out of control is going to be unleashed one day!
The imagery of rituals, cemeteries at night, dusk or dawn, half-naked women holding knives or chandeliers, secret societies... I love it in Jean Rollin's movies, the poetic aspects too. I also love the erotic visions of Jess Franco in "The Female Vampire" and "Exorcism". It's the perfect alchemy to me, the combination of dark visions in late 60's/70's movies melting into a psychedelic kaleidoscope. A good compromise between a darkish nature and my love for psych actually. Vampires in bell-bottoms sounds awesome to me.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

Music is a major part of my life but I do have a big interest in movies, like I said earlier, mostly stuff from the 60's/70's, horror and fantastic, gialli movies.
I don't like much the times we are living in so I try to find beauty in the little things. I do enjoy long walks, daydreaming and lately I found myself thinking a lot about a future video clip for the band. I've visited some places, I've got some ideas, another thing to work on! On Sundays, I like to wake up in the morning and go to some garage sales, picking up some records, dusty books and anything unusual my heart goes for.

I'm from a left-wing family, my grandpa told me about human values which I now really wear on my sleeves. I do have chills when people are gathering to fight for their rights or defend an ideal of living.
Staying with the family influences, my grandma on my father's side is very much into Astrology and readings, she has some pendulums and many books. I've got from her that interest in Astrology, when I was a child I became more and more curious about the signs and their meanings.
I also have a deep interest and knowledge about the Roman Empire's coins that I acquired during my teenager's years, so in case you need to have one coin checked, let me know about it haha!

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Thanks a lot for this interview, it was a real pleasure! We hope to meet you someday on the road somewhere! Doom on!


Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Raging Dead Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Sure, hi there! We’re Raging Dead, we’re an Italian Horror Punk Metal band born at the beginning of 2014 from an idea of Cloud Shade (Vocals/Guitar) along with Matt Void (Lead Guitar).
Cloud had in his mind this project by more than two years, but he never found the right conditions to start it until he knew Matt, and only one month after the band’s debut, Tracii Decadence (Drums) joined Raging Dead…… and finally the band found its stability and good understanding.
Our first year of activity was pretty intense, and so is now too, we played a good number of gigs….. so we did a good number of after-party too! We really LOVE to party.
In February a friend of Tracii (with whom he had another band), Simon Nightmare (Bass), joined the band completing our current line-up.

2.Recently you have released an ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

Yes, we released our first ep Born in Rage some weeks ago, it was recorded and produced at Atomic Stuff Recording Studio. We think Born in Rage has a very aggressive and raw sound, we usually pay attention to make a good impact in our sound, so sometimes we prefer discard a bit of technique to gain impact and power. We like the idea of an entertaining sound that doesn't let rest and doesn't bore the listener.
Anyway, we’re trying to not forget the melody too, it’s really important.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

Cloud Shade: I’ve wrote all the lyrics till now, I usually describe the situations rather than thoughts, fill it with emotions and sometimes metaphors.
If we take for example Scratch Me and Redemption, these two songs talk about a person (and this person could be I, or could be anyone of you) who has lost his way, his reason to live and is falling down, but he’s trying to react accumulating all the bad things, turning them into a new power to overwhelm the world and restart a darker and better life…. In case of Scratch Me, the second chance is given by signing a pact with the devil. A classic . While in Redemption the situation is more personal, darker and brutal, a concentration of thoughts.
In a way, these songs are surely related to me and my “Shade” character, especially Redemption… and very connected to the title of “Born in Rage”.
Let’s talk about Nightstalker: I like it a lot, we can say this is Raging Dead’s love song. It talks about a psychopath lover that chase his “prey”, because he’s attracted by them. He’s obsessed with them. And his desire drives him crazy to the point to chase them, attack them and maybe murder them? Nighstalker is a mixture of love and madness, and it’s full of deep emotions that contrast each others.
Vengeance was the first lyric (and song) of Raging Dead, I think it’s a bit trivial, but somehow effective. It talks about Revenge, a topic I love. I wrote it thinking to “The Crow” movie.
And finally we talk about Anathema. I like it a lot, I wrote it without effort and in a very spontaneous way, it’s very flowing, involving and funny too, I think it’s the lyric closest to my idol Wednesday 13’s horror-satirical style, I’m very proud of it!


4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Raging Dead'?

We came up with the name right before our debut, the reason behind  "Dead" is pretty simple and clear; we like horror stuffs, specially the undead. It easily recalls we are an horror band.
While "Raging" was chosen because of our sound, we noticed it was aggressive and raw like we said before and we like it. It makes the pronunciation stronger and it's right for us.
We like the idea we are four undead coming back to overwhelm the world with a lot of Rage, "The Rage" is the key of our sound!

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

In February we had the luck to be an official open act for Sister's (SWE) Tour here in Italy in two shows, in Turin and Milan, along with our friend Scream Baby Scream, we were a lot of bands, these shows were crazy! it was an unique experience, we had a lot of fun and satisfactions.
Cloud Shade: "memories take me back: I saw Sister play for the first time at the end of 2012, and I was having a chit chat with the singer Jamie Anderson....he said to me a circumstance sentence I think, it was "maybe sometimes we'll play together" ..... but hey, he had foreseen right! (*laughs*)"
Sister are a great band, we learned a lot from them in this experience together and they're part of our influences too, we admire them and we're looking forward to play together again!
Another crazy show indeed was a special horror event we held in our city: the name was Night of the Living Dead Stars. that was one hell of a night with a very good line up, there were our friends Superhorrorfuck too, so many people attends the show... We're lucky enough to have the Midian Pub in our city which shows off a full horror-gothic furniture: coffin-tables and tombstones on the walls..... and other stuffs like these! Everything was perfect as the ultimate horror night  and being the local band we had a lot of friends there, it was an epic night!
The last gig we really want to mention is the Zombie Walk Night event in Bologna, along with Scream Baby Scream. There were a lot of people with beautiful make-ups, much better than ours.... we were ashamed (laughs)


6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

Actually yes, we're planning an European tour near the end of June, along with Cream Pie, it's our first tour abroad.... we should play in Germany, Unghery, Czech Republic, Slovakia...
And we're not sure yet, but maybe there will be another suprise this summer that we can't tell you now.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

We are still unsigned but we received some pretty good offers, we can't talk about this for now

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of metal and punk?

Whoa, maybe it's a bit early for this question, we really don't know.... we are a young band and  this year we played a good number of gigs here in Italy, having a good reply from audience; being a new entry we're pretty unknown, but we usually sense interest and surprise from people, we think we're doing good!
But in a worldwide scale we don't know, it's true that social networks help a lot, but we've never played abroad till now.
In the last month, however, Atomic Stuff Promotion began to spread the word a bit further in Europe, we have to thanks Stefano Gottardi, which works with some foreign webzines too.
We'll have a better answer after this summer.


9.When can we expect a full length and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We've just released our ep in which we put so much effort, we think it's a good work and we would do better in our full lenght, so there is no hurry. We already play in our shows some tracks you can't find in Born in Rage, but we must write more and improve ourselves, playing more live shows to gain experience, so we think we will not make a full length before one year and a half from now.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Cloud Shade: Horror Metal, Sleaze, Punk, Rock n Roll and now I'm listenig to a lot of Italian underground bands as we all do. Wednesday 13 is my idol, he's a genius, and he gave me strenght and ideas to start this project.
Matt Void: Basically I can't define the music I listen to (*laugh*) . I listen to Heavy Metal, Sleaze Metal, Electronic music, Deathcore and now I'm getting into Crust because of Tracii's evil influence ahah
Tracii Decadence: I listen to Crust, Hardcore, 80's Hair Bands, Sleaze Metal and Dark Wave bands
Simon Nightmare: I grew up listening to a lot of bands of the NWOBHM

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

We all live for music and it's hard to define what non musical interests are... even when we go out together we have our minds into this music and this environment mostly. Don't think we have a "working relationship" only, we are all good friends and we feel like family, music is what we all love after all.... we always have a lot of fun together, in the reharsal room or not.
We all like horror stuffs, that's for sure! and that's important for our project.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

This one could be the most difficult question of the interview (*laughs*) maybe we've already talk a lot, we just wanna say thanks to you for this interview, and say to the readers to search us on web and listen to our works.... and if there'll be a chance you came to our concert, don't bother to come and greet!!

Keep on Raging!!


Monday, June 1, 2015

Taken by The Sun Interview

(completed by Mark Cichra, guitarist)

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

First of all, thanks for taking the time to interview us. Always appreciate getting the chance to talk about our music. Anyway we’re from Chicago; we’ve been a band since about 2011 and released a demo EP two years ago. We’re all just big fans of all kinds of metal and want to mess around with sounds that we love and try to create new sounds.

2.Recently you have released an album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

If I have to give a short simple label to our sound I’ll call it experimental metal. We’ve got a lot of the tones and textures of doom metal, some of the songwriting sensibilities of post metal, and some of the riff-writing of death and thrash metal. We throw it all together and try to have it all make sense. It’s definitely an experiment!

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

Like a lot of doom-inspired metal bands a lot of our lyrics present aggressive or threatening images and moods like war and violence and destruction. But some of our songs are more idiosyncratic; “Volatile,” for example, is a very personal song. “Fuse” is a reflection on images of astronomical events. So you can see we range from broad, abstract conceptual lyrics to personal, contemplative themes.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Taken By The Sun'?

On a high, more profound level we like the name because it can be an image of decay or rebirth. It can be an image of decay, with the sun burning and destroying and pulling time away from us, and then of rebirth, with the sun’s movement representing time passing so that decay ends, the day starts again, and there is a chance for renewal. On a much simpler level, the name is a nod to TV documentaries about ancient aliens, which we love. The image is of people who have disappeared and are believed to have been abducted by aliens from the sky, or “taken by the sun.” It’s a fun name because it works in many ways.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

One of our very first shows was opening for one of Wino’s bands, Premonition 13. It was an honor to be on the same bill as Wino, who has done so much for doom and stoner metal. We’ve also opened for Cancer Bats, whom we really like. I would say our shows are a bit more aggressive and frenetic than our album might suggest. I know that some of us wish we could be in a grind band, ha! We’re not quite at that level of aggressiveness, but we try to make the live show raw and intense while still staying true to the album arrangements.

6.Do you have nay touring or show plans for the future?

We’re trying to organize shows around the central US states for the summer and we’ll branch out from there.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

We’d love the chance to be on a label someday; we haven’t been approached by anyone, nor have we really tried to market ourselves to a label. At this stage in our development there’s a lot we can accomplish using our own resources; we’re looking to grow a bit before we approach labels so we have can a strong proposition for anyone interested in us.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of post metal?

Positive. It’s been great to see that audience in general understand what we’re trying to do: take the sensibilities and experimental attitude of post metal and add some of the raw aggression of other  types of metal. Of course  not everyone likes every experiment that we tried with the album, but in most of the conversations we’ve had and most of the reviews we’ve read people get what we’re about and appreciate it.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We’ve talked about it and we’d like to be more deliberate about focusing on the more aggressive and intense side of our sound. There are a lot of post-metal bands that do slow, drawn-out, artful layering with tons of atmosphere and melody; where we have an edge is in taking that as a foundation but still hitting listeners hard with more of our death and thrash influences. Kris is a strong, violent singer; Justin’s drumming is thunderous, especially with Bill’s bass; Pat developed a guitar sound that really cuts through. We’ve got to use these elements with even more commitment on our next album and really flatten listeners while still providing intelligent, experimental elements in our sound.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Post-metal bands like Neurosis and Cult of Luna are big influences; Chicago bands like Pelican, Russian Circles, and Minsk (whom we should mention especially because Sanford Parker engineered the album) are important to our sound. We all love the classic thrash bands like Metallica and Megadeth. Lots of us are big Faith No More fans. Pat the other guitarist loves 90’s Florida death metal. Today we listen to lots of our peers in the Chicago metal scene; we dig the guys in The Atlas Moth and some unsigned bands around here that people should check out like Pale Horseman, Snow Burial, and Scientist (in which Justin and Pat also play).

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Kris our singer probably does the most interesting work outside of music: he restores vintage Cadillacs. Bill our bassist is a big sci-fi fan and has made his own high-end costumes and stuff like that. Aside from that now that I think about it most of our interests have something to do with music! Many of us play in other bands, Pat used to be an amplifier technician, Justin works at a music store, I build and modify guitars.

12.Before we wrap upthis interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Thanks again for talking to us, and thanks in advance to anyone who checks out the album. It represents a lot of hard work so it’s something that we’re very proud is finally out there and getting to metal listeners around the world.

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Hexenjager/Demo 2015 Review


  Hexenjager  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  mixture  of  70's  inspired  doom  metal  and  sludge  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2015  demo.

  A  very  heavy bass  guitar  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  horror  movie  samples  and  a  minute  later  the  music  starts  adding  in  more  of  a  retro  doom  metal  sound  and  when  vocals  are  added  into the  music  they  are  done  in  more  of  a  clean  style  and  both  of  their  tracks are  very long  and  epic  in  length.

  You  can  hear  a  great  amount  of  melody  in  both  the  riffs  and  guitar  solos  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  atmospheric  and  psychedelic  sound  at  times  and while  the  music  is  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  70's  doom  metal  sound  the  elements  of  sludge  gives  the  music  more  of  a  heavier  and  modern  sound  and  both  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  slow  musical  direction.

  Hexenjager plays  a  musical  style  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  70's  and  80's  style  of  doom  metal  which  they  also  mix  in  with  a  touch  of  psychedelia  and  the  heaviness  of  sludge  to  create  a  sound of  their  own,  the  production sounds  very  old  school  yet  professional  at  the  same  time  while  the  lyrics  cover  are  written  in  French  and  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my opinion Hexenjager  are a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Murk".  8  out  of  10.

       

 

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Ampmandens Dotre/Self Titled/Ampmandens Records/2015 Full Length Review


  Ampmandens  Dotre  are  a  band  from  Norway  that  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge  and  punk  and this  is  a  review  of  their self  titled  2015album  which  was  released  by  Ampmandens  Records.

  Drum  beats  and  melodic  vocals  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  powerful  sounding  bass  guitar  which  leads  up  to  high  pitched  sludge  screams  becoming  a  huge  part  of  the  recording  while  also  keeping  around  the  clean  singing  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  both  melody  and  heaviness.

  When  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  add  more  melody  to  the  recording  and  the  mid  paced  sections  are  heavily  influenced  by  punk  rock and  the  faster  sections also  bring  in  the  raw  energy of  that  genre  and  at  times  the  music  also  brings  in  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  and  some  of  the  songs  also  bring  in  elements  of  noise  and  hardcore. 

  Ampmandens  Dotre  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  sludge  and  punk  and  mixes it  in with  a  great amount  of  melody  to  create  a sound of  their own,  the  production  sounds  very powerful  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent,  angry  and  hateful  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Ampmandens  Dotre  are  a  very  great sounding  mixture of  sludge  and  punk  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Militant  Antifacism"  "Black  Fetus"  "The  Killing  Of  Cedric  Williams"  and  "God  Is  Not  Great".  8  out  of  10.

Friday, May 22, 2015

Messenger Interview

  1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new ep?
    First of all, we have been very busy with writing the new stuff for the forthcoming album. There are a lot of things to do, and we also had to meet our good friend Victor L. Pax in order go give him new input for his second Starwolf-novel, that will be released in December 2015, too.




    2.Recently you had released an ep that contains half original songs and half covers, how would you describe the musical sound that was presented o  the originals and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
    MessengeR itself has a big variety of styles, so it may would be a little bit difficult to compare the style of the band with others. But all songs we have covered have something in common: they are filled with power and energy, emotions and a little bit of madness. These are exactly the treasures of the Captain's Loot.



    3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?
    Our lyrics are about our adventures as space-pirates under the flag of Captain Wolf Morgan. The whole story was written down by Victor and is true. Before this, the Sci-Fi has always been big part of our lyrics and also were the fantasy stuff and vikings.




    4.The band has been around since 1990 but there was only a small amount of material released in the early years, can you tell us a little bit more about the gap between releases?
    There are two different periods in the history of MessengeR. The band has started with Hard-Rock/AOR,  in the new millenium we have changed that a little bit and made some demos in order to find our unique style. And to build up a great friendship, which is the most important thing to us. Then we have started the real career of MessengeR - with our first full length album "Under the Sign" up to "See You in Hell", which was released with Massacre-records, "Starwolf" and finally, "Captain's Loot".




    5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Messenger'?
    We are MessengeR and we are spreading our words of freedom around the galaxy.



    6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
    We really had a great time on our tour through europe last year, the crowd has always been amazing, no matter in which country.And no matter how small or big the club is - you can alway count on the metalheads, because they are like pure energy and we are the amplification for them. And this is what our stage-performance is like: pure energy! We have the incredible Merlin on the drums, the evil Dr. Strauss on his strings of deep science, the read-haired madman Pyro Jack on guitar, the warrior Chainmaster on the fiery solo-guitar and myself, Francis Blake, the wicked man on the microphone. We are buccaneers on the stage!



    
    7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

    Yes, but nothing we can tell you at this moment. For the other shows, you may feel free to have a look at our page.




    8.On the new ep you had a good amount of covers, can you tell us a little bit more bout them and the decision behind doing your own versions of these songs?

    Port Royal and Blackbone Song are one of the most famous pirate-metal-songs from Germany. In our novel, there is even a space-port which is called New Port Royal. For the DIO-songs, we have been asked by our label Massacre-records whether we would record two songs for a tribute-sampler. Kill the King has the power and Dont talk to Strangers has the emotion that ist very representative for our music, too.



    9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of heavy, power and speed metal?

    The feedback of the metal community always had been great, we have fans in every country, which makes us very proud.



    10.Are any of the band members also involved any other musical projects or bands these days?
    N.A.

    11.When can we expect another album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
    Our next full-length album will be released in December 2015



    12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
    N.A.



    13.What are some of your non musical interests?
    sports, history and science.



    14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
    Thanks for this nice interview and thank you all for your interest. And never forget: A SPECTRE IS HAUNTING THE GALAXY...

    1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new ep?
    First of all, we have been very busy with writing the new stuff for the forthcoming album. There are a lot of things to do, and we also had to meet our good friend Victor L. Pax in order go give him new input for his second Starwolf-novel, that will be released in December 2015, too.




    2.Recently you had released an ep that contains half original songs and half covers, how would you describe the musical sound that was presented o  the originals and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
    MessengeR itself has a big variety of styles, so it may would be a little bit difficult to compare the style of the band with others. But all songs we have covered have something in common: they are filled with power and energy, emotions and a little bit of madness. These are exactly the treasures of the Captain's Loot.



    3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?
    Our lyrics are about our adventures as space-pirates under the flag of Captain Wolf Morgan. The whole story was written down by Victor and is true. Before this, the Sci-Fi has always been big part of our lyrics and also were the fantasy stuff and vikings.




    4.The band has been around since 1990 but there was only a small amount of material released in the early years, can you tell us a little bit more about the gap between releases?
    There are two different periods in the history of MessengeR. The band has started with Hard-Rock/AOR,  in the new millenium we have changed that a little bit and made some demos in order to find our unique style. And to build up a great friendship, which is the most important thing to us. Then we have started the real career of MessengeR - with our first full lenght album "Under the Sign" up to "See You in Hell", which was released with Massacre-records, "Starwolf" and finally, "Captain's Loot".




    5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Messenger'?
    We are MessengeR and we are spreading our words of freedom around the galaxy.



    6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
    We really had a great time on our tour through europe last year, the crowd has always been amazing, no matter in which country.And no matter how small or big the club is - you can alway count on the metalheads, because they are like pure energy and we are the amplification for them. And this is what our stage-perfomance is like: pure energey! We have the incredible Merlin on the drums, the evil Dr. Strauss on his strings of deep science, the read-haired madman Pyro Jack on guitar, the warrior Chainmaster on the fiery solo-guitar and myself, Francis Blake, the wicked man on the microphone. We are buccaneers on the stage!



    
    7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

    Yes, but nothing we can tell you at this moment. For the other shows, you may feel free to have a look at our page.




    8.On the new ep you had a good amount of covers, can you tell us a little bit more bout them and the decision behind doing your own versions of these songs?

    Port Royal and Blackbone Song are one of the most famous pirate-metal-songs from Germany. In our novel, there is even a space-port which is called New Port Royal. For the DIO-songs, we have been asked by our label Massacre-records whether we would record two songs for a tribute-sampler. Kill the King has the power and Dont talk to Strangers has the emotion that ist very representative for our music, too.



    9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of heavy, power and speed metal?

    The feedback of the metal community alwas had been great, we have fans in every country, which makes us very proud.



    10.Are any of the band members also involved any other musical projects or bands these days?
    N.A.
    11.When can we expect another album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
    Our next full-length album will be released in December 2015



    12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
    N.A.



    13.What are some of your non musical interests?
    sports, history and science.



    14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
    Thanks for this nice interview and thank you all for your interest. And never forget: A SPECTRE IS HAUNTING THE GALAXY...


Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Demon Lung/A Dracula/Candlelight Records/2015 Full Length Review


  Demon  Lung  are  a band  from Nevada  that  has  been  featured before  in  this  zine and  plays  an  occult form of  doom metal  and  this  is a  review  of  their  2015  album "A Dracula"  which  will  be  released  in  June  by Candlelight  Records.

  Acoustic  guitar  playing  starts  off  the  album  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  more  of  a  heavy doom  metal  direction  along  with  some  clean  singing  vocals  and  a  good  portion  of  the  songs  are  very  long  and epic  in  length  and  all  of  the  songs  use  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  80's.

  Clean  playing  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  while  the  music  is  very  rooted  in  the  old  school   tradition  of  doom  metal  the  music  still  sounds  very  modern  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  slow  musical  direction  and  when  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  remain  dark  and  melodic  and  on  a  later  track  acoustic  guitars  make  their  return.

  Demon  Lung  remain  trues  to  a  traditional  style  of  doom  metal  creating  an  album  that  is  very  slow,  heavy,  dark  and  melodic,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  based  on  the 1977  form form  'Alucarda.

  In  my  opinion this  is  another  great sounding  recording  from  Demon  Lung  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Behold,  The  Daughter"  "Deny The  Savior"  and  "Raped  By  The  Serpent".  8  out of  10.    


Sunday, May 17, 2015

Hela Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

We are a band based in Elche (Alicante, Spain). We started in 2,013 as Hela. Before, we played under another name (The Sand Collector) with another line up. We used to play a stoner-rock/metal style, but after line up changes and start to write darker and heavier songs, more doomish, we decided to change our name to Hela. That´s how we started.

 2.So far you have released a full length and a split, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on both of the recordings?

Broken Cross was our debut album in 2,013. It was released in cd version by several spanish labels, and released by finnish record label Svart Records a year after in vinyl. It´s a doom rock-metal album. There are a few elements of our previous band, but it´s more doom oriented than stoner. There are also a few elements of prog rock and psych. You will like it if you are in the Blood Ceremony/The Devil´s Blood/Windhand style, but also if you like doom metal style like Candlemass, My Dying Bride or the old Anathema.

The songs from the split sound more doom metal. It was released by Marchalenta Records and Discos Macarras (vinyl version) and Third I Rex (digipack version). It´s definitively doom metal. Heavy, dark, yet melodic and melancholic. There are no elements of stoner rock or something like that in the split.



 3.3 of the band members in the band where in 'The Sand Collector', what was the decision behind breaking up that group and starting over again with a new band?

As we said before, line up changes mainly, and then, changing our style of music. We still had some elements of The Sand Collector when we began like Hela, but we sound totally different, as a new band. So...the best was begin again, like a totally new band, and of course, change our name.

 4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

We use mainly metaphors to talk about things that we see in our lives, news, etc...We also use mythology to talk about those things. Broken Cross talk about the abuse of power and anarchy. There is also a anti-religious feeling in it. Mainly we tried to spit in the eyes of the people that try to control our lives at any cost. In the split we talk about the extinction and how our life is controlled. We used norse mythology (Ragnarok and Norns) to talk about that.



 5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Hela'?

We were looking for a short name. And something that could express the kind of music that we do. We are not fans of viking music and that stuff, but looking for the name we saw information about that underground goddess that is Hela. The duality of her body, beautiful but rotted and how short it is, made us choose that name. We know it´s not very unique or original, but fits perfectly with our music, heavy and dirt (the half rotted), but melodic(the half beautiful).

 6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

We played only a few gigs in Spain. We had been forced to cancel some shows because our rehearsal room was closed for various months. The owner has some problems (urban problems about the construction and legalization of the rehearsal rooms) with the government of our city  and the police closed the place for a couple of months last summer; after that, Isa, our singer, left the band. When Mireia (the new singer) joined Hela, the place was closed again. We still suffering that legal problems and we cannot do nothing but wait. From summer´14 until today, we only rehearsed 3 months or something like that.

So, we played only a few shows...and maybe there are two that we felt our best shows. One in Castellón and the other one in our city, Elche. We felt very comfortable in stage. We try to sound the best that we can when we play live. That is very the main thing for us. And now with Mireia on vocals, there will be more energy and passion in our shows, that´s for sure.

 7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

Yes, we talked about play some shows in September. There´s nothing booked and we have to wait because of the problems with our rehearsal room and see how soon Mireia learns the songs, but we try to play very soon. And when we have a new record out, we´ll try to tour, Spain of course, but also we will try to tour some places in Europe.

 8.In November you where a part of a split with Lodo, what are your thoughts on the other band that had participated on the recording?

We are friends for a long time. We shared stage together, when we were The Sand Collector and they played under the name of “Bazooka”. They suffered the line up changes like us, so they changed their name too. We love their songs, and we are very happy to be together in the split. Soon we will share stage together, or at least we´ll try.

 9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of stoner and doom metal?

Very good. We are from Spain, a country without tradition in metal bands, especially in doom, we have no big names in the underground around the world. But we think here there are a lot of good bands and the feedback by fans put us in the list of that good bands, not only here in Spain, also around the world. Broken Cross received a lot of very positive reviews and that makes us really happy. Also a lot of people contact us via facebook our email, telling us that they love our music. That makes us feel really proud of our job.


 10.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?

Well, Nahrayan is the oldest band we have (Julian and me) it´s a zombie-undead band right now. It is in stand by and maybe in the future we´ll work behind that name, who knows. The other project that we have together is Quebranto. We have a few songs, but...we need more time to continue with that project and record the album. Hope in a few months we could record, because it´s a nice project. It has influences by bands like Blut Aus Nord, Breach, Terra Tenebrosa, Neurosis, The Secret, Celtic Frost, etc...and it´s really dark and agressive, in the vein of Nahrayan, but more darker, a mix of doom, death, black, crust...

Julian also plays guitar in Muerte por mil Cortes, a grind-death band, they continue playing every time they can, and they have released two albums.

I (Miguel) have a couple of projects more. Neptunian Sun. We play doom metal. Our first album was instrumental, but we are finishing the new one and will contain some surprises. More doom/death/black oriented. And also I play drums in another project, without official name. There are some ex-members of Nahemah. More rock-metal, for fans of Solstafir, Ghost Brigade, etc...

Tano played in a couple of projects in the past, but right now he´s playing in a surf band, called The Bearded Gremmies.

And Mireia has her own band, a stoner-grunge band, called Rosy Finch. They will release very soon their first album, after the release of their ep debut.

11.When can we expect another full length and album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We are working in new songs. We have ideas for...I think 4 new songs. We have to work really hard on each one, but with that ideas and a couple more, the new album will be finished. We hope to record at the end of this year, so, maybe at the end of the year or in the beginning of 2,016, there will be a new Hela album. The way to follow will be the same, write the songs we love and continue playing. And, if it sounds doom, we will be happy.

 12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Obviously doom, any kind of doom. From My Dying Bride or Anathema to Electric Wizard or Kongh. A lot of metal, old classic stuff to extreme metal (black, death or whatever). Sludge. Rock. Tons of rock, from the 70´s ´til now. Also grunge or jazz or trip-hop. Even dark ambient bands.

Everyone is listening a lot of different kinds of music in the band and has their own influences, and I cannot talk by everybody, but I can name some bands we like and are an influence to our sound, like Subrosa, Pentagram, Yob, Kongh, Anathema (old), The Gathering, Kongh, Arc of Ascent, Spiritual Beggars, Pallbearer, Neurosis, Candlemass/Krux...and a big etc...

 13.Does Occultism play any role in your music?

No. Not really or...not yet. Lyrically, there are a lot of bands talking about occultism. A lot of female fronted doom bands are talking about that and we know it´s not very original. But we are talking about a lyrical concept for our new album and maybe we could try to approach to occultism and witchery. As we said it´s not very original, but if we finally do that, we´ll try to do it in a different way. But that maybe we´ll be the future, and the present is that occultism doesn´t play any role in our music.

 14.What are some of your non musical interests?

Mainly...search for time to rehearse together! Hahahaha. Because our real jobs, it´s really difficult to us rehearse together. And in our leisure...cinema! We see a lot of movies. We all love cinema. From crap movies to big classics. We love terror, scifi, and independent movies. Also some big productions.
We also try to read a lot of books and comics.


 15.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Just say thank you for this interview. And thank you to all the people who support us around the world. We have a new version of the split in an awesome digipack released by Third I Rex so...if someone is interested, please visit our facebook and our bigcartel or Third I Rex facebook.
Thank you!


Saturday, May 16, 2015

Charge Interview

1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
First we would like to thank you, because we are really grateful for this interview. We released our first album in March. It was produced by Francis Caste who also worked with famous bands from the French metal scene, such as The Arrs, Bukowski or Zuul FX. We will play our first gig of the year on the 30th of May in a famous Parisian venue.

2. Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
We defined – actually we tried to define – an aggressive, melodic and catchy musical sound. We also wanted it to sound between rock and metal.
This album is mainly made up of songs from our two first EPs. So it doesn't sound much different from the material we have released previously.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Our lyrics can deal with all sorts of topics. I do not think they are very special. 84, the first single of our album deals with the famous novel by George Orwell. Fantasy literally means what it means. We did not sit down and spend hours defining what the songs would be about. We wrote what we felt on the spot.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Charge'?
We wanted something that was straightforward and we wanted it to sound "right in your face".

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We played some our best shows in two of Paris’s most famous venues (Le Batofar and La Flèche d'Or) last year. Concerning our live performances, it's all about being spontaneous and giving energy with no time out. There is no pause, no silence. We keep on moving and never seem to be slowing down. That’s pure energy.

6. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
We mainly have plans in the Paris area. We're also planning gigs in the rest of France. Of course, we wish we could play all around the world!

7. Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
Our first album is being distributed by an independent record company named "Rebel music/Brennus records".

8. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of metal and rock?
Pretty good. Surprisingly we received quite a lot of great reviews for a debut album. It's good to have such support. And we even have to admit the negative remarks they make about the record are right!

9. Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We may move toward a style that will be more rock than metal. We want to mix the melodies and structures of rock with some metal arrangement and influences.
Our next album will be out next year.

10. What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
We love MetallicA (I myself am one of their greatest fans) Machine Head, Muse and Motörhead – for their unique sound. I also like Red Fang, Godsmack, Slayer and SOAD.

11. What are some of your non musical interests?
I love American football. I am a great fan of the 49ers. I am also fond of Star Wars . I have got a great action figure collection.

12. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
We want to share our music with as many people as possible. We really want to break all the boundaries between rock and metal. We are setting up a French rock/metal scene so that we may organize tours. And we want to thank all the media who are supporting us. Thank you so much.


Friday, May 15, 2015

Akasava/Strange Aeons/2015 EP Review


  Akasava  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  psychedelic  form  of  occult  rock  with  some  elements  of  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2015  ep   "Strange  Aeons" which  will  be  released  in  June.

  A  very  dark  and  psychedelic  sounding  intro  starts  off  the  ep  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  going into  more  of  a  70's  proto  doom  metal  direction  along  with  some  clean  singing  vocals  that  also  have  a  blues  rock  feeling  to  them  and  the  solos  and  leads  the  band  uses  also  stick  to  a  70's  metal/rock  direction.

  While the music  is  heavily  rooted  in  the  70's  the  music  still  has  a  modern  sound  to  it  and  some  of  the  songs the  music  speeds  up  and  also adds  in  a  touch of  proto  punk   and  on  the  later  tracks  the  music  starts  to  get  more  psychedelic  and  when  they  add  whispers  into  the  songs  it  gives  the  music  more  of  an  evil  atmosphere.

  Akasava  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  70's occult  rock,  psychedelia  and doom  metal  and  mixes  them in  with  a  more  modern  sound,  the  production  sounds  very professional  for being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  occult  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Akasava  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  occult  rock,  psychedelia  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Join  The  Ritual"  and  "The  Witch  Is  Rising".  8  out of  10.

 

Membrane Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?

Since the record, we have actively prepared this album release, as it was 4 years since we hadn't released an album, we had to review everything. The composition and recording (mixing and mastering included) lasted 8 months in total (from March to October 2014). a short time because we don't live of our music, we all have a job. From the moment we were all ok for the mastering of Alan Douches, we looked for labels, Big or small, our priority was to take it out on vinyl, and also to have a digital support via internet ...  "Basement Apes Industries" was ok to do it, so we embarked on co-production for this album release and Atypeek was ok for digital sound. It's more interesting to play the music but it was necessary to do the other aspect (promotion, research shows, printing t-shirt, making the video part for the show, vinyl visual, design, etc, check for cd and vinyl pressing ...). We had to create the artwork and the mood of the new album "Reflect Your Pain" then. We also made a new website: www.membranenoise.com (Max manages) and revived the social networks ...  and bandcamp.. we also look for concert dates for promotion. The objective is the release in April, so release party at Paris, and European tour dates with Revok. It is a continuous work, it never stops, you put a lot of energy, we (members of membrane: Nico, Max, Alban) help each other to move forward on some points to advance, it is quite constructive, there is much discussion. and in parallel to all this we create other new pieces in anticipation of a split with another band and to extend the set live.

2.Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

The sound featured on the new album is very heavy, powerful and "opaque", it helps to put a heavy atmosphere with the aim not to allow the listener to breathe ... we wanted a sound that can fit in as much to the compositions and we found it!
other albums are different in composition, the songs were more "Noise" , faster and therefore the sound is different . We also worked every time with different sound engineers for records , so personal keys for each sound texture of each album. " Utility of useless things" is eleven years ago now, and the pieces at the time was less speed and noise! We were satisfied every time for the sound, it fitted us! for " Reflect Your Pain " we did a vinyl mastering different and the sound is even better , much heavier and freezing! and on this album I put more despair for singing, which accentuated the effect of heavy atmosphere!

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

For themes of the songs , I went on this album about death, the double personality of an human being , the cerebral state of a person under the ground, on the pain, evil thoughts , hopelessness, mental distress , fall , assault we hear in our heads , the reflection of his image, loneliness and all that with time some glimmers of hope ! etc .. it was also a lot in connection with music. At the beginning of the musical writing I had my themes, then once we had the pieces , I harnessed the words , and it was a very important moment for me, I spent nights making that, to become crazy! and registration had to be given to the texts all this intensity! "Breath" for example , where I started alone on guitar and vocals and other instruments then arrives and ends with a female voice , I think this song is representative to make you want to spend as image of this album "Reflect Your pain"!

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Membrane'?

we chose the name " membrane " because it has several interesting definitions, and we wanted a short band name and thought that it sounded good. 15 years ago , when "Membrane" was formed , I was a fan of the film " Existenz " David Cronenberg and also films of David Lynch where music have a very important role in his films , so the name came pretty easily . A membrane is both a substance surrounding an organ, a cell but also a part of a vibrating transducer under the effect of an acoustic pressure , sound wave , and finally a sealing wall for separating the compartments, and acts as a diaphragm!

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

The best shows are those where we played support with bands such as Unsane, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Mouth of the Architect, Kylesa, Kong, Ufomammut  and more because you play with bands that you enjoy and you'll put the mental pressure! You are obliged to give you in depth, and you give all your energy on stage! and when bands members say to you "Crazy show guys", you become aware of the impact of your music! there is also a great time to the Eurockeéennes festival in 2004 !, it was our first big festival as musicians, a great moment! we were also younger! and then played Jr Ewing and Mono on the same stage! There is also an amazing time in Poland in Wroclaw (2010) where people were trans, cry, dance to our music and it was a crazy concert! full of emotions, I still have a lot of images in my head! and recently the European tour in May 2015 has strengthened us to defend our last album, the shows were more and more intense emotions, and scenic and visual expressions, we really found a symbiosis between us and we thoroughly!

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?

 Yes! We were a 10-day tour with Revok (band of paris) and others shows in April. You can see photos and comments all day of the tour: https://revokbuntaufgrau.wordpress.com/  We did some dates in eastern France too, and nearly the release party 2! at "Home" and a show in Switzerland (june 4). We seek a maximum of dates to promote the new album for the Automn (mainly in France) and we also think about another European Tour for next year.


7.The new album was released on Basement Apes Industries and Atypeek Music, can you tell us a little bit more about there labels?

Membrane Basement Apes Industries, this is a great "Love Story"! Fred Bouchet, the manager of the label, trusted us since the beginning, our first album was released in 2004! and since we are still working together! His ideas and his conception of the music industry correspond to ours. He was always there to promote the band, and edit all our albums, he worked on some album covers, too, it is always fully invested, and since its creation (in 2003), he worked with many groups, this year it is in its fiftieth out! He Has Worked very Actively for the release of the latest album. . Regarding Atypeek Music is a recent meeting, Christophe Feray followed us for a long time and contacts were made well before the album was finished, he trusted us on the production of the album, and we are very satisfied! The label Explored a surprisingly wide range of genres, principally Noise bands! digital media is important now because people are also increasingly linked to what is going on the internet via itunes, deezer, etc... People also another way to listen to music and discover bands. Atypeek Music Allows us to exist and to be distributed on digital platforms. Both labels have become complementary to us, and they worked together to also promote the album, and it also served to streaming the album for a week over "New Noise magazine" just before the official release.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of noise rock and hardcore?

The feedback is very good ! even better than before! we feel a clear evolution , social networks have played a big part! I'm on networks that only last year and this facilitates much better spreading our music and connections worldwide . I feel that people are really receptive to our music , I now correspond with people from Japan, Usa, Mexico, Brazil , Norway, Poland etc ... in our albums, there is always the fiber " Noise" !, our identity ! and I think we touch different people now , whether in the "Noise" , "Post- Hardcore" , "Rock", "Metal", "stoner" , "doom" , "sludge" etc ...

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

I think the band really found its guideline, we try to give all our emotions through our music , music is an exutoire / outlet and we will give the most attention . we already let's create other songs , with the same vein as Reflect Your Pain. We already play in concert, and we see that it sounds well, and we think even record a few songs at the end of the year. Always quite long songs , between 6 and 8 minutes each.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

We listen different musical styles, whether of Pop to Death Metal ! We are all fans of Neurosis , Unsane , Breach and Amen Ra , so it plays a lot on our music. For me, I am a  Sonic Youth fan since adolescence, I always liked the saturated guitars !!! and I 've always had this attraction to "Noise Music" !!! I think this album has managed to distance with those great bands developing our own style ranging from the Noise and Metal, to have our own personality ... now we're listening the last album of Metz ! terrible !, also Kenmod , Wovenhand , Terra tenebrosa , Envy, Buildings and more, more ...

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Nico: red wine, the design of the fifties and sixties , skateboarding, BMX, the design/vintage market , and looking after my family
Alban : the great wild spaces , good drinks , my wife and my daughter .
Max : Tennis, horror movies , family.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

 In the future, near or far, we would be really happy to see membrane open a bit more to the world, that would be really fun to be able to come and play in England or even beyond Europe. The music is an important link between people, and allows you to meet so many different people at each place where you play . Strongly following the events !  Thank you for your interest in our music, it's a pleasure to see people put the ear on our "Reflect Your pain" album. THANKS

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Obsidian Sea Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?

Anton: We are trying to spread it around, let people hear it and we’re busy making some live shows happen. Some new ideas are already starting to emerge but we’re taking our time with them

2.Recently you have released  a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

Anton: I guess you can say the sound is still rooted in the traditions of what is called “doom metal/rock”, but with a dreamlike and sometimes uneasy air to it. I don’t know how others will feel, but to me it’s a quite introspective album that you can drift away to.

The main difference with what we did in the past is that we didn’t have the desire to stick strictly to the “canon” this time around. We gave ourselves more freedom with the songs and as we also had some line-up changes the sound naturally changed too.

When I look back, I feel the debut was much too straightforward and while this is not necessarily a bad thing, the current one is to put it simply, better musically. Of course, every band probably declares the same thing for their latest work, but I think there’s a lot more from our personalities put into “Dreams, Illusions, Obsessions” so it’s a more accurate representation of our band and the energy behind it.

3.This is the first album to be released in 3 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time period?

Anton: First of all, we added a bass player (Ivaylo Dobrev) in late 2012 so I’d say we were getting used to writing and playing our music as a trio both live and in the rehearsal room, working out what sounds best for this line-up and of course, writing the current album. Three years between albums seem like a long time when we look back but it didn’t really feel that way especially when you consider the mundane day-to-day activities, work etc. that we have to deal with in order to keep the band going.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?

Anton: There isn’t a strictly defined concept but I think the album title fits quite well with what we are trying to achieve. In the end these are all stories about Man and his fate: his journeys inside his own soul and mind and the connection he has with what lies beneath the surface of our everyday existence – ecstasies, dreams, faith, the wanderings in which one could lose himself and become detached from his own beliefs and suffer.
This is probably not the common routine “reality” at first glance, but then again, this is what really matters and what defines us as humans, I believe.

The particular inspirations, I think, are not so important. All the lyrics are based more or less on our own life experiences so they might look distant and abstract to some, but for me the main goal as a lyricist is to evoke a certain mood, a subconscious and emotional reaction with them, rather than preach or “say” something self-righteous to someone which is to be understood in a literal way. I have no ambition to do that.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Obsidian Sea'?

Anton: Again, there isn’t a hidden “true” meaning behind it but when I came up with it I had this picture of the night starlit sky in my head. Subconsciously I’ve always associated music with the element of water, with the waves and the sea. So there you have it. I never felt that I have to explain the name to myself and to others, I think it just goes well with our music.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Anton: I haven’t thought too much about it. First of all, we haven’t played so many shows because there aren’t a lot of places in Bulgaria you can go and play especially outside of the capitol – Sofia - and we are just starting to arrange things for abroad.
Anyway, we’ve done memorable shows with 1000mods and Ufomammut (both great bands) but I believe we are getting steadily better live and for me personally our very last performance -  our album promo this April - was actually our best in terms of overall atmosphere (which is the most important in the end).

About the stage performance – we are not a band who tries to interact too much with the crowd or try to get them fired up or whatever – I’d say when we get on stage we enter our own little spaces and sometimes it feels a bit trance-like to me, so we try to accentuate that with the lights and with some little touches on how the stage itself is set. We don’t do anything really expansive or flashy – we just focus on the atmosphere and try to instill our own mood and temperament into those who watch us live.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?

Anton: We are working on it. We have a couple of shows in Bulgaria planned for June and we were also invited to a fest in Serbia (you can look it up here: http://www.puljp.org/ ). Hopefully we’ll be able to do something of a mini-tour in some of our neighboring countries at least: Greece, Romania, Serbia, but that is still to be arranged properly. Anyway, if someone is interested in offering us a stage – we are open to any invitations, you know.

8.The new album was self released, are you open to working with another label again in the future or do you prefer the DIY approach a lot more?

Anton: Both ways have their good and bad sides. We worked with Solitude Productions from Russia for the first album and I cannot say we were unhappy with them but we wanted to try and do things ourselves this time in order to really know what’s happening and to have full control over the band’s dealings. It’s pretty hard work and we are still getting experience of how to do it properly, but we manage for now.
Anyway, we are not against working with labels in the future. We’ll see how people react to the album, it was released in 500 copies so I wouldn’t exclude even a future re-release if someone is interested, of course.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of doom metal?

Anton: It’s still early to say, but there are people from around Europe and the US who bought it and so far we’ve seen some positive reviews (one of them was yours for which we thank you, of course) so that makes me hopeful for the future. However things are not moving too fast, because we’re not the most well-known band in the style so we’re working on getting a wider distribution for the album. Things will happen in time.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Anton: It’s hard to say. I’m not really interested in doing the same thing over and over again. I’m happy with the current album’s direction and I think we still have some nice songs in us in that vein, but there’s not a lot of new material for now… We’ll see. It’s not unthinkable for me to do something completely different in a couple of years if we feel like it.
Actually from what I’ve seen, people really focus on the very traditional element of our music, which is nice, but I feel there’s an unusual atmosphere to it that you can catch if you really listen. It’s not straight “doom” or only “metal” to me and probably we’ll add more strangeness in the future.


11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Anton: Well, obviously the biggest influences are classic doom bands from the 70s and 80s like Trouble or Pentagram (you all know them) but also early Judas Priest albums, Budgie, Wicked Lady. I also like to listen to soundtracks quite often – Goblin and Fabio Frizzi, some stuff from John Carpenter or say, Angelo Badalamenti’s score for Twin Peaks all come to mind. But it’s an influence in terms of mood and approach to music more than anything.

Anyway, the list would take too long and I’m really not so sure what really goes into our playing so perhaps people would find some completely different similarities.

However I can say for sure that our current sound owes a lot to great Italian bands such as Black Hole, Paul Chain, Death SS or Epitaph.

Apart from all that, nowadays… I listen to almost the same as always, some of the things I mentioned already too. I’m pretty slow in discovering new music. Boring, I know, but it makes me feel comfortable that way.

I can say that one of the last bands I saw live was Wovenhand and I was really impressed...


12.How would you describe your interest in the occult?

Anton: It’s strange, because this is a question we are often asked in interviews, but the truth is we don’t have a real profound experience with it nor do I feel we need to pretend just for the sake of image like many others do.

However, if we expand the answer to whether we are interested in the nature of being, of the world, of ourselves and ultimately – in the truth which unites all this, then yes, we are, as everyone who is working through any form of honest inspiration is…

And I think knowledge and experiencing life are one and the same but knowledge should be approached with honesty and not pride and there are lots of paths to it, be it philosophical, esoteric, imaginative, creative or even the most simple of practical experiences, but it has to be done with pure heart.

And to be honest, I have found that even the experience of not simply “playing”, but actually letting music sound through you is often more profound than the very superficial “wisdom” some sources offer under the pretense of truth.

13.What are some of your non musical interests?

Anton: I don’t want to sound pretentious, but my main interest is living in an authentic way. I studied philosophy, graduating a few years back and I always had an interest in the ways of fantasy and imagination so this defines my taste in books and movies too.

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Anton: Thank you for the interview and for showing interest in the band.
There’s no need to talk too much, music says it better anyway. Take care!

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Goatsnake/Black Age Blues/Southern Lord Recordings/2015 CD Review


  Goatsnake  are  a  band  from Los  Angeles,  California  that  plays  a  stoner  form  of  doom  metal  with  a  touch  of  sludge  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Black  Age  Blues"  which  will  be  rleeased  in  June  by  Southern  Lord  Recordings.

  Pianos  and  clean  singing  start  off  the  album  along  with  a  very  lo-fi  atmosphere  and  after  a minute  the  music  starts  going  into  more  of  a  heavy  and  melodic  doom  metal  direction  along  with  clean  singing  that  also  adds  a  70's vibe  to  the  recording  while  the  music  still  sounds  very  modern  and  the  later  tracks  bring  in elements  of  stoner  rock  and  sludge.

  Most  of  the  music  sticks  to  a  very  slow  yet  heavy  musical  direction  and  you  can  also  hear  a  small  amount  of  harmonicas  in  certain sections  of  the  recording  which  also  adds  a  touch  of  blues  rock  to  the  album  and  when solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  also add  more  of  a  stoner  rock/metal sound to  the  recording  as  well  as  enhancing  the  retro  vibe  of  the  songs  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length.    

  Goatsnake  plays  mostly  a  melodic  style  of  doom metal  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  70's  and  80's  but  also  mixes  in  elements  of  stoner  rock  and  sludge  along  with  a  more  modern  sound  to  create  a  musical  style  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Life  Experiences.

  In  my  opinion  Goatsnake  are  a  very  great  sounding  stoner/doom  metal  with  a  touch  of  sludge  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Elevated  Moon"  "House  Of  The  Moon"  "Graves"  and  "A  Killing  Blues".  8  out  of  10.