Bangladeafy/The Briefcase/Nefarious Industries/2013 EP Review

  Bangladeafy  are  a  band  from  New  York  that  plays  a  mixture  of  extreme  metal,  hardcore,  avant  garde,  experimental,  progressive  and  jazz  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  ep  'The  Briefcase"  which  was  released  by  Nefarious  Industries.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  some  blast  beats  being  utilized  at  times,  while  the  sound  effects  bring  elements  of  experimental,  avant  garde  and  noise  to  the  music,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it  is  the  lead  instrument  with  no  regular  guitars  on  this  ep  and  they  combine  extreme  metal,  hardcore,  experimental,  funk,  progressive  and  jazz  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own.

  Vocals  when  they  are  utilized  are  hardcore  style  screams,  while  the  song  themes  cover  weird  concepts,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Bangladeafy  are  a  very  great  sounding  hybrid  of  extreme  metal,  hardcore,  experimental,  avant  garde,  progressive  and  jazz  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Fruit  Flies"  and  "Pest  Control".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

   

NitroVault/Panzer/Mausoleum Records/2013 CD Review

  NitroVault  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  mixture  of  speed  rock,  punk  and  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "Panzer"  which  was  released  by  Mausoleum  Records.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  no  blast  beats  being  present  on  this  recording,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  with  heavy  riffing  that  dominates  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  riffs  that  combine  speed  rock  with  punk  and  metal  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  while  the  lead  guitars a re  very  old  school  sounding hard  rock/punk/metal  guitar  solos  and  leads.

  Vocals  are  mostly  clean singing  hard  rock/metal  vocals  with  some  punk  style  shouting  being  utilized  at  times,  while  the  lyrics  cover  everyday  and  party  themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  NitroVault  are  a  very  great  sounding  hybrid  of  speed  rock,  punk  and  metal  and  if you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Pay  The  Price"  "Twisted  Shot  Of  Booze"  "Hardrock  Queen"  and  "So  You  Die".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Memory Garden Interview

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  1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

  1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?1. We have been working on the new album since the summer of 2011, and a year or so before that we started to put together the songs for it.
  Right now everything is finished, the album "Doomain" is being released on the 15th of april. We're rehearsing again and look forward to start playing live as soon as possible!

  2. How would you describe the musical sound of the newer material and how it differs from previous releases?

  2. I think it 's very difficult to compare and tell exactly what the differences are. Some parts of the songs are about the heaviest and most doomy we have ever made. We still have the mix between really heavy power metal and doom,
  and that makes it more fun and varying to play. Also a few progressive parts are found in some songs. All these elements have been with us since -98 at least, so I guess there's not too many differences today but the songs are way better if you ask me.
  One thing is that we have put more effort in the vocal-melodies to make it a bit more catchy and memorable, and the songs might be a little more structured than before. We did a lot of riff-stacking in our older stuff.
  Some songs actually fit that way but others not so much.

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

  3. The biggest influence for most lyrics are the cruelties in this world, and different ways people are being exposed to it. For example a pedofiliac priest, dangerous unquestioned religious leadership, mr "angel of death" Joseph Mengele, a devastated world and so on...

  4. When can we expect a new album?

  4. It will be out on the 15th of april.

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

  5. A few of our best or most memorable shows for ourselves must be Wacken Open Air, Sweden Rock Festival, Up the Hammers in Athens Greece plus another show in Athens with Candlemass and Grand Magus. Also Headbangers Open Air in Germany was cool.
  We always try to do the best show we can of course, though we are not a band with a specific image or any theatrical stuff going on. Just doom'n roll and a few hard-ass poses 

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

  6. No touring plans at the moment. But we are in contact with a few festivals in europe, and if the economic parts work out hopefully we can get some cool gigs during the year.

  7. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of doom metal?7. I think we have been pretty well received everywhere we have played. However, our gigs in Greece felt really special for us. Everybody was so dedicated, it was well organized and the fans really made us feel loved! I remember a show in Germany where there was like 90% powermetal bands with swords and other shimmering shit on stage...Not the right place for us, both us and the audience agreed on that!
  But we get a lot of nice words from all different places in the world, so we can't complain.

  8. What is going on with the other musical projects these days?

  8. Well, Simon has been very busy with Wolf the past year. I think they are about to record a new album in the near future.
  Nightingale is also in the process of making new songs and we will probably start recording during the summer. Andreas has his other band Evil Conspiracy, they are about finished with a new album as well.
  So, there are a few other things going on. Hopefully nothing of it will cause a major collision...

  9. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

  9. Probably pretty much the same path we've been on since the nineties, but who knows? Every album has had a little different feel to it, but of course that is also about the whole production and not just the songs themselves. We have found a type of powerdoom that we are comfortable
  with, guess there won't be no drastic changes.

  10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

  10. It's hard nowadays to find new inspirational music, a lot sounds copied and pasted from something else. We can appreciate all sorts of genres, from folk music to thrash to the hardest death metal. I don't listen that much to doom metal, one spin of Candlemass every once in a while will do the trick for me. Two bands I recently got interested in are Omnium Gatherum and Anubis Gate. Very melodic, atmospheric and powerful. AG being the more progressive of the two.

  11. Outside of music what are some of your interests?

  11. There's not much time left for other hobbies. We all have daily jobs and families, so just getting the band together for one or at the most two times on the same week is good.
  Other than that for me, just a few visits at the gym now and then.
  Stefan likes to get his hands dirty, he's fixing up old VW cars when he gets a little extra spare time. I know Johan and Simon likes photography, Andreas on the other hand....hmm. Not sure about him. Maybe he is into genealogy... 

  12. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

  12. Thanks for your interest in Memory Garden, I hope you will enjoy the new album and come see any nearby show.
  Cheers!

  Tom Björn, Memory Garden

Stone Magnum/From Time To Eternity/R.I.P Records/2013 CD Review

  Stone  Magnum  are  a  band  from  Indiana  that h as  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  with  a  musical style  I  would  describe  as  being  traditional,  old  school  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "From  Time  To  Eternity"  which  was  released  by  R.I.P  Records.

  Drums  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  playing  with  no  fast  drumming  or  blast  beats  being  present  on  this  recording,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  with  heavy  riffing  that  dominates  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  old  school,  traditional  doom  metal  riffs  that  utilize  a  great  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  being  thrown  in  the  riffing  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  soft  and  clean  playing,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  dark  and  melodic  sounding  traditional  doom  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads,  as  for  the  acoustic  guitars  they  are  only  used  on  the  last  song  and  they  use  finger  picking  and  full  chords  to  bring  a  classic  80's  metal  feeling  to  the  album.

  Vocals  are  mostly  clean  singing  traditional  doom  metal  vocals vocals  with  some  more  aggressive  elements  being  used  at  times  as  will  as  a  brief  use  of  whispers  and  spoken  word  parts,  while  the  lyrics  cover  evil  and  personal  struggles,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy,  dark  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording  with  the  songs  being  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Oliver  Magnum  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "From  Time  To  Eternity"  "By  An  Omen  I  Went"  and  "In  The  Garden  Of  Beasts".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Havok/Unnatural Selection/Candlelight Records/2013 CD Review

  Havok  are  a  band  from  Denver,  Colorado  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  with  a  musical  style  I  would  describe  as  being  old  school  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "Unnatural  Selection"  which  was  released  by  Candlelight  Records.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  some  blast  beats  being  thrown  into  the  music  at  times,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  with  heavy  riffing  that  dominates  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  thrash  riffs  that  are  very  heavy  and  old  school  sounding,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  old  school  and  melodic  sounding  thrash  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads.

  Vocals  are  all  aggressive  sounding  thrash  style  vocals  that  utilize  some  melodic  elements  at  times  along  with  some  back  up  shouts  as  well  as  some  spoken  word  samples,  while  the  lyrics  cover  political  and  everyday  themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Havok  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Give  Me  Liberty...  Or  Give  Me  Death"  "Wast  Of  Life"  "Worse  Than  War"  and  "Unnatural  Selection".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.    

SaaR Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?

We are SaaR, a french instrumental (so far) band. We try not to put any kind of label on our music but we often hear it's post-rock, post-metal, "score like". The band is Yann, Seb and Ju on guitars, Aurélien on bass and Constantin on drums.


2. How would you describe your musical sound?

_Emotionnelle car sans émotion la musique ne touche personne surtout pas  soi meme. la sincérité ammène d’une certaine façon l’émotion. Sincere and emotional, Saar is first and foremost a human project without any bounderies. We try as much as we can to push our ideas as far as possible.
-Sincere cause there's no will to please a wide audience. When we write, we do it for us, for the sake of our music.
-Emotional cause without emotions, music doesn't ouch anyone, especially not thyself.


3. What are some of the  themes and concepts the band brings out with the music?

It depends of the song, we don't use recurring themes. For instence the last album was about the end of something and everyone in the band had his own idea. The concept is to mix all of our styles to get organic music. We like to think our music becomes alive, some kind of matter.


4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?

Saar is the name of a very wide river in Germany,  that is constantly frozen on one particular spot. We like the idea of that river half frozen half liquid. Saar is also the name of one of the firsts gods of Mesopotamia : the Saar is pictured as a giant fish that lives in the depth of the earth.


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

The best shows probably took place during our french tour. At Lille it was very intense, there was an amazing energy and the public was very receptive. Our concerts are described like a cosmic experience cause we play with big blue light tubes on the ground and a lot, A LOT of smoke. It's sounds a little "Pimp my Ride" but visualy it's kinda cool. We play loud enough so that the experience is extreme.


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

We're organizing a big tour for february in France and Eastern Europe in addition to bigger gigs we'll have in the current year.


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

We're indeed actively looking for a label and a tour manager, the organisation takes up so much time and energy. It's a full time job to deal with schedules, events, venues, marketing, etc...


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

Rather good, we know the band isn't very well known and it's destined to a specific audience so few feedbacks are very positives. It's always cool and a little unexpected to have americans or norwegians liking our music.

9. Are there any other musical projects besides this band or is this a full time line up?

Not at all, we each have different projects :

-Aurelien (bass) has 3 other projects : Crappy Meal(folk pop), No More Excuse ( Hardcore) and Noise Above The Ocean (experimental )
-Seb (guitar) has another project : Owlwood (Stoner Sludge)
-Ju (guitar) has 3 other projects : Owlwood, Crappy Meal and Hopkins (Greasy rock)
-constantin (drums) has another project : Blues Devil (Rock/blues)
-Yann (guitar) has 2 other projets : Crappy Meal and CoolCoolCool (Pop/Rock)


10.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

Into different ones. We make it a priority not to repeat ourselves from an album to the other. Of course some things will be back but we'll always try to change as much as possible, in the form at least. Like using vocals, we're seriously starting to think about it.

11. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays/

Many influences at Saar, it depends on each member... The common grounds would be : Isis, Pelican, Cult of Luna, Mogwie, Red Sparows, Walk Through Fire, Jesu, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, And So...

12. Outside of music what are some of your interests?

Sound in general, we're all in love with the different crafts surrounding music. The cinema is of importance, video games and beer.

13. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?


It's our first interview and we hope it ain't the last one ! We've been really happy and greatful to answer your questions. We hope we'll play in your country soon.
Thanks.

Ass Of Spades Interview

ASS OF SPADES - INTERVIEW

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?
Ass of Spades was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, 4 years ago. Four guys coming form different music scenes deciding to play something more basic, wild, strong, poutre, loud and live. Something like making the best out of the good old school stuff.

2. How would you describe your musical sound?
As we like to listen to rock’n’roll as well as punk or black metal, we certainly sound like a mix between all these influences. What’s most important for us is to try to sound as natural and honest as possible, meaning getting the sound of a real drum, wild guitars coming out straight of the amps. We’re always writing songs in a way we are able to play them live.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Birth, death and what’s between. Instead of writing about political subjects or trying to convince people we are right in a way or another, we prefer laugh and turn into jokes what’s happening in our lives in a philosophical way. So our lyrics are most about drinking and have fun, driving motorcycles, getting dead on the road.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?
There is none. We were supposed to call ourselves My Mom Plays Football. But since none of ours did, we chose another name. As you can imagine, our name is a joke between the “Ace of Spades” from Motörhead and an ass. But… ok. Do you know what I mean ?

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
Basically, we like to play every one of our lives. Our music is made and thought to be played live. A great memory remains Rock’Oz Arènes Festival 2011 supporting Motörhead. On stage, Ass of Spades is a mix between professional way in playing, loud, rock’n’roll and some other stupid things.

6.Do you have any touring plans for the future
Yes but you won’t know. We’re planning a tour in Europe this year but it’s still in preparation.

7. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your album by fans of music?
It has been out for 2 weeks. Worldwide can wait a bit. But still, reviews are quite good, we’re happy to see that a lot of people understand that we’re not trying to do something original, just play the best we can the music we really like. In some point, we have our own sound and way to play event if rock’n’roll wasn’t born yesterday.

8.Are there any other musical projects besides this band or is this a full time line up?
Ass of Spades is still a full time line up but Peter and Sergio play together in a kind of indie-rock-blues-grunge band called The Two Boys Sandwich Club. They have a record out called “Fresh Pot Blues” that you should check out. We’re also playing in two other metal bands quite full-timely. Hyperactive way of life.

9. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?
Same shit, different day.


10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
A lot of things from the Hellacopters to ACDC, Motörhead to Bad Religion, Dirty Sound Magnet to Fat No Brain but basically we can assume that Back to the Future is our best influence. Except the second one.
As we’re answering to your questions, we’re listening to Orange Goblin, Karma to Burn, Shape of Despair, Clutch, Paramore, ABBA, Turbonegro, Mork Gryning, Abigor, Vulcain and Anal Cunt.

11.Outside of music what are some of your interests?
Our interests fluctuate between 1,3 and 6,9 percents, depending on the exchange rate of the market value and the weather. When it’s cold it decreases.

12. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
Kamoulox !