Reaper/An Atheist Monument/Massacre Records/2014 CD Review

  Reaper  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  traditional  form  of  heavy  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "An  Atheist  Monument"  which  was  released  by  Massacre  Records.

  Distorted  clean  playing  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  melodies  before  going  into  a  heavier  musical  direction  which  also  leads  to  guitar  solos  and  leads  becoming  a  part  of  the  bands  musical  sound  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  going  into  a  more  traditional  metal  direction  along  with  some  vocals  that  have  a  rough  and  melodic  sound  to  them.

  Blast  beats  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  music  sticks  mostly  to  an  80;s  style  of  metal  but  with  a  more  modern  day  production  and  the  music  sticks  to  mostly  a  mid  paced  direction  while  it  also  has  its  fast  and  slow  moments  at  times.

  There  is  a  brief  use  of  growls  on  one  of  the  tracks  while  the  music  never  gets  heavy  enough  to  qualify  as  death  metal  an d  the  music  also  shows  elements  of  the  style  of melody  that  evolved  into  speed  or  thrash  metal  and  while  the  vocals  are  very  rough  the  singer  also  shows  he  get  signed  with  a  lot  of  talent  and  melody  and  some  of  the  later  tracks  shows  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  samples  and  clean  playing  before  making  a  return  back  to  a  heavier  musical  direction  and  the  last  track  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  female  vocals.

  Reaper  plays  a  very  traditional  form  of  metal  only  the  ways  that  veterans  can  play  this  genre  as  well  as  updating  their  musical  sound  for  the  modern  day,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  philosophical  and  anti  religion  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Reaper  are  a  very  great  sounding  heavy  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Realms  Of  Chaos"  "Hail  The  New  Age"  "Taste  My  Revenge"  and  "Fields  of  Joy".  8  out  of  10.

Unisonic/Light Of Dawn/Armoury Records/2014 CD Review

  Germany's  Unisonic  have  returned  with  a  new  album  which  shows  the  band  continuing  their  hard  rock  approach  to  power  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Light  Of  Dawn"  which  will  be  released  in  August  by  Armoury  Records.

  Dark  and  epic  sounding  synths  start  off  the  album  giving  the  music  a  feeling  of  a  fantasy  movie  soundtrack  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  going  a  more  80's  hard  rock  metal  direction  along  with  some  melodic  vocals  which  leads  up  to  a  more  German  orientated  power  metal  direction  being  added  into  the  music.

  Guitar  solos  and  leads  when  they  added  into  the  music  gives  the  music  a  more  old  school  hard  rock/heavy  metal  feeling  and  there  is  also  a  good  mixture  of  both  clean  and  hard  parts  along  with  some  acoustic  guitars  being  utilized  at  times  and  they  also  bring  in  a  few  power  ballads  and  some  of  the  tracks  have  a  more  anthem  aor  orientated    feeling  to  them  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  There  is  a  great  amount  of  diversity  being  displayed  in  all  of  the  tracks  while  the  music  always  remains  true  to  a  more  melodic  musical  direction  and  as  the  album  progresses  the  music  gets  a  little bit  more  faster  almost  close  to  speed  metal  and  synths  also  make  their  return  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording    

  Unisonic  remain  true  to  their  hard  rock  approach  to  power  metal  bringing  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  catchy  hooks  into  all  of  the  songs,  the  productions  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Unisonic  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "You  And  I"  "Blood"  "For  The  Kingdom"  and  "Manhunter".  8  out  of  10.  

Planet Of Zeus 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?

One day after the release of the album we embarked on our greek tour, playing 16 shows in all greek major cities. We got the chance to play most of the album's songs live and the immediate feedback we received really helped us realize that we are on the right track. We also had the honor of playing at 4 european festivals. Heavy by the Sea in Athens, Glockenschlag Festival in Hamburg, Exit in Novisad and Rock im Ring in Bolzano.

2.Recently you have released a new album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical direction of the new recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

All these years of playing together made us stronger as a musical team and gave us the confidence to record the album live in the studio. That was a big change for us. We established a more raw and groovy sound, that resembled the energy between us in our live shows. We didn't want to make the album vintage sounding, although our most beloved recordings come from the past. We had the songs ready and really believed in them, because we thought that we were getting closer and closer to establishing our own sound. A seamless blend between blues,hard rock and metal, genres which share some common values.Sincerity, groove and riffs.

3.The band has been around since 2000 but waited 8 years to release the first album and since then it has been 3 years in between releases can you tell us a little bit more about the gaps?

We could label the first 8 years, as our formation period. In 2000 we were 16 years old and played our first gigs, but as you know the distance from conceiving the idea of a band to actually having one , that has something to offer, is quite long. After the release of our first album, "Eleven the hard way", we started touring around Greece, with one purpose. To become a great live band, that makes people dance and have a good time. Just like the bands we admired. We rehearsed in a daily basis, trying to improve both our songwriting and playing skills as a team and not as individuals and slowly gathered the experiences, that would later become songs and make some people actually relate to them. When "Macho Libre" was released we had just become quite a big name in Greece and this fact led to our first European tour, which was a life-changing moment for us. It made us realize, that we're actually far more united and determined as a team outside of our comfort zone. We slowly started playing some European festivals, like Stoned from the Underground and Exit, shared the stage with many of our musical heroes, from Ozzy to Clutch and all this things led to booking our third and most lengthy European tour ever, which starts on the 28th of August and consists of 36 shows in 42 days.

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

"Vigilante" is probably our lyrically most diverse album. It starts with "The great Dandolos", which is a song about a famous Greek gambler, "Nick the Greek", who was said to have gone from rags to riches about 73 times. He had no respect for money, donated enormous sums in charity and his life was all about the game. There are songs like "Second Coming", "Tornado", "Vigliante", " Disappointment Blues" and "The Beast Within", which address sociopolitical matters in a quite aggressive manner. There are plain feel-good songs like "Burn this city down" and "Sky High Heels". And last but not least, there is one love song called "No tomorrow".

5.I know that the band name is related to Greek Mythology, what was the decision behind using it as a band name?

The name was actually conceived in a period, when we were listening to Jimi Hendrix's Experience and several other stoner-psychedelic bands. So, when we heard of Planet of Zeus(Jupiter) in our of astronomy classes, we immediately felt we had gotten ourselves a name.

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?

One of our most memorable shows was our first sold-out gig in Athens, at the historic "Aν club", a show that made us feel obliged to all these people who believed in us and gave us a mission of "keepin' it real" for them. One year later, in Athens again, at "Gagarin205" 1200 people attended our show and made us feel like local heroes. And last but not least all the shows we played around Europe, sharing the stage with bands that we love and admire, like Clutch, Hermano, Brant Bjork, Monster Magnet, Ozzy, Machinehead etc.

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

answered in question 3.

8.The new album was released on Ihaveadrum  Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

Ihaveadrum records is an independent record label we founded in April 2014 after not getting the offers we wanted from several record labels. Ihaveadrum records from now on, will be a sanctuary for bands, that we love and have problems finding a record label.

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

Since we've tested our new album both on the road and through the stereo , we feel really blessed , that the people who listen to it, dig the direction we are taking and understand the reasons we felt the urge to do it. Nowadays, our audience has shifted more to rockers and metallers than stoner fans, because we also have moved to more straight-forward song structures and don't have enough nice psychedelic jams for them.

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

I can't specifically say, but I think we are getting closer to writing our best songs. We want to incorporate all the things, that made the songs we love from the past special. Freedom, ignorance of danger, not giving a fuck...But not in a vintage sounding way.

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

Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Band of Gypsys, Allman Brothers band, Muddy Waters,Wishbone Ash, AC/DC, Rage against the machine, Mastodon, Metallica, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Clutch. We enjoy listening an array of musical styles. From the history of Blues, to afrobeat, to Dj Premier's whole discography, to Jaga Jazzist.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

We are creatures of the night and so we enjoy everything that involves a bar playing nice tunes, beer and nice company. As we 're growing older we are getting fonder and fonder of tasting delicious food. We also watch tons of documentaries.

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

In a period of time, when  90% of mainstream music produced, seems to be aimed at children under 12, support the bands you love and treat you with respect.See you on the road...

Wild Witch Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Felipe – We are Wild Witch. Traditional Heavy Metal band formed in Curitiba, state of Paraná, south of Brazil. The band was formed in 2011 and by Felipe “Rippervert” on the bass guitar, Flav Scheidt on lead vocals, Mariano Burich on guitars and Weiberlan Garcia on the drums.


2.How would you describe your musical sound?
Felipe – We are very influenced, specially, by early 80’s Heavy Metal and 70’s Hard Rock. Bands that used to play pure Heavy Metal with classic Rock n’ Roll elements. Naturally we have our influences but we ever try to make our music with our own identity. Many bands try to play “oldschool” metal only using direct elements of some bands. We prefer to bring, each member, their own references and work hard over this to do something that sounds only like ourselves.


3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Felipe – We are always searching to be not stagnant with our lyrical themes, we like to be free to write our music. However, of course, we have our favorite themes. These are history, mythology, heavy metal and Fantasy, but nothing prevents us to do lyrics about movies, sci fi or love.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name Wild Witch?
Felipe – It was a Flav idea. We thought many options like Lamia and Sandman. So Flav suggested Witchripper (after it would be a song title) but we found an Australian band with this name (it was the old Sithlord, a great Black/Thrash band that changed their name to this). So, from Witchripper, she had an “in sigh” about Wild Witch. It sounds like a typical 80’s/70’s Rock n Roll/Heavy Metal band name and we liked how it sounds to us.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Felipe – The band started to do concerts in the middle of 2013, after the release of “Burning Chains”. We don’t have many concerts of traditional Heavy Metal in Curitiba. It’s really hard to happen here. The best concert that we made was a gig with the Canadian band Cauldron.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
Felipe – Yes, we have a gig with Leather Leone in August and a concert in São Paulo to the second semester. Nothing else has been arranged yet. Now we are focused in studio and we are pretending to organize more gigs after to this.

7.Recently Inferno Records re-issued your 2013 demo on cassette, what are your thoughts on the final product?

Felipe – It was a pleasure to us. Unfortunately we did not see the cassettes yet. We still waiting for this in Brazil, but we hope that it was very well done. We are anxious to see this.

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

Felipe – It was good. The feedback out of Brazil was too good as the feedback that we got here. People in Greece, France, Germany and Japan liked too much of our job and we sold many copies of the independent version of Burning Chains for these countries and some other more.
The cassette version has gotten a good selling.

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

Felipe – We are currently recording our first full length. The drum and rhythm guitar sessions were finished at the last week and now we are working on the bass guitar. We are very committed to this work and we hope that we will finish it as fast as possible.

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/
Felipe - We have many influences. As I said earlier, Heavy Metal of the first half of the 80’s of bands like Saxon, Priest, Tank, Iron Maiden, Accept and 70’s Rock bands like Thin Lizzy or KISS. We try to compose the songs only with our own reference, not thinking if our song will sounds like another song of some band that we like. Currently I’m listening many Heavy Metal bands of that new crop like Fire Strike, Rampart, Lady Beast, Iron Curtain, Witchfyre and many others.

11.How would you describe your views on Occultism?

Felipe – We like to read much about that. Some members of Flav’s family had some experiences with African religion and evocation of spirits. It’s really usual in Brazil. I’m curious about those and other ‘real’ (or not) experiences and sometimes I like to read about it but I prefer search occultism as an artistic expression. I like movies, literature, comics and music about this theme. I hope that thought of Mariano and Flav are similar to mine. Weiberlan is even more skeptical I guess.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
Felipe – I’m graduated as Design bachelor and now I’m doing my second college in Software Analysis and Development. From September until May I’ll be in Dublin studding and the band gonna do some concerts with another temporary bassist. I work in a bank as enterprise architect and I’m a maniac for arts in general. Flav currently is studding Computing Science and working on a bank also. Mariano is electronic engineering student and Weiberlan is programmer.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Felipe – Yes! I’m really grateful about all the support that we have received and I really liked to answer to this! I would like to thank Underground Extreme Music cast for the opportunity, Fabien of Infernö Records and all the bands that made part of the label. Thank you all!

The Cutthroats 9 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?

We went on a short West Coast tour with Black Cobra and are looking at doing a full U.S. tour with Whores. We're also looking forward to a European tour in the near future. We've also been working on some new stuff to come out in the Winter.

2.Recently you have released a new album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical direction of the new recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

Personally, I wanted to work more with slide guitar. I think we'll be exploring that more in the near future.

3.The band was broken up for a long time, what was the cause of the split and also the decision to the reform?

I wouldn't actually say that we were broken up. I was working with my other band Unsane and our drummer Will Carroll was working with DeathAngel, both of which kept us very busy. We both wanted to keep doing stuff with The Cutthroats 9, but simply didn't have the time.

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

We generally write about things that we know. How fucked up people are, How society and technology are homogenizing the human spirit or how humanity is eating the planet alive. Light subject matter...

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name "The Cutthroats 9'?

It's taken from an old 70's gore western called Cut-Throats Nine.

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?

SXSW I think in 2001. We smashed everything at the end of our set and the singer from the next band stood next to me looking at the mess and said "What are we supposed to do after THAT?" We generally smash as much equipment as possible. I really like fixing things.

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

Yes. A U.S. tour in the Fall followed by a European tour in the Winter. Also, hopefully a new record this Winter.

8.The new album was released as a joint effort between Lamb Unlimited and Reptilian, can you tell us a little bit more about those labels?

Lamb Unlimited is a new noise label that''s vinyl and downloads only. It's run by me and a friend. We licensed the cd rights to our friend Chris X at Reptilian mainly because he has the previous Cutthroats 9 releases.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your new material by fans of sludge and noise rock?

Amazing! It's really surprising that there has been such a good response.

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

I'm not sure which musical direction we'll want to take. We really enjoy what we're doing now, so I think we'll just try to improve on what we love to do.

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

That's a very long list. Anything from Flipper to Hank Williams Sr. to The Birthday party to Robert Johnson to the Stooges to the Velvet Underground. The list could go on for quite a while. Lately I've been listening to a lot of Jimi Hendrix and The Fall.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

Shooting guns, Riding motorcycles...

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

Support yr local noise scene!

Guilty As Charged Interview

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

Guilty As Charged is a Thrash/Heavy Metalband from Bruges, Belgium. Our current lineup was formed in 2008. One year later we recorded our first demo CD. With good results, we played a lot of cool shows over the years! We played Alcatraz Metal Festival 2011 and Masters @ Rock 2012 and played with bands such as Soulfly, Helloween, Death Angel,... Now we’ve released our first album: Leap Of Faith, and we ourselves are ready to take a new leap to bigger stages!

2.Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound of the newer material and also how does it differ from the album you have released 5 years ago?

We obviously still play thrash/heavy metal, the genre hasn’t changed. I think we’ve matured more in sound and structure the songs. We’ve put in a lot more effort in this album than the previous one and I hope it shows! This album was mixed and mastered by Dan Swanö and we’re very happy with the sound we got!

                                                                                                         

3.This is the first recording that has been released since 2009, can you tell us a little bit more about the 5 year gap between releases?

We admit we took some time before this album came out. We’ve been playing shows and finally gathered enough money to pay for the recordings, mixing & mastering.  Also we wrote more music than we put on the album. Songwriting isn’t something that should be done too fast, it should be done right.

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

Preach to the masses for example, is a song that delates war. I’ll Never… is about a child being mistreated by his father, the kid rebels and swears to never be like his father. Leap Of Faith is, to no one’s surprise, about taking a leap of faith, Making a change in life. Jan (vocals, guitars) is taking the writing of lyrics for his account, he usually writes about things he encounters in life.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Guilty As Charged'?

The name came up when the first songs were written.. the titletrack of our demo was about someone rotting away in his cell, therefore you must be guilty of something. We are guilty of playing heavy music and we thought it was a good name for a metal band.

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?

The finest shows were definitely the couple of festivals that we played: Alcatraz Metal Festival and Masters @ Rock. On and offstage, everything is organized on a professional level. It’s a delight for musicians to play and also good for promotional purposes. We could reach a lot of people this way.

On stage I’d describe our performance as energetic, active, asskicking, humoristic and tight sounding! We plainly have a lot of fun on stage!

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

There aren’t any specific plans yet, but yes, we would like to tour in countries other than Belgium and in general play all the shows we can to promote the new album! Therefore we are also searching for a management solution, it’s impossible for us to keep doing everything by ourselves.

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

We’re unsigned and independent, but a label is very helpful. A professional organization has contacts that we just don’t have.

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

I was stunned to get reactions from Europe and America through youtube, facebook,… All feedback we got are positive, so we’re happy with that and eager to reach a whole lot more people!

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

Musically we’re happy with what we’re doing right now. Thrash and Heavy metal is a genre all four of us can relate to very well. We will make sure there’s always some catchiness and melody in our music besides the heavy stuff… and of course we hope to grow bigger and get better.

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?

The four of us all listen to different genres of metal but the big four all influenced us greatly. We’re still listening to that good old thrash, it doesn’t seem to ever lose power. But as I said: we all listen to different genres. Dempsey and Heinz listen to death core and death metal, the drummer Matthew loves glam metal and Jan has always been loyal to thrash and rock ‘n roll.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

The usual stuff I guess: go out, party, drink, have a good time with friends,…

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

We’d like to thank you for this interview. Hopefully it convinces people to check out our music, and that’s our main goal: have people listen to and appre

Brimstone Coven/Self Titled/Metal Blade Records/2014 CD Review

    Brimstone  Coven  are  a  band  from  West  Virginia  that  plays  a  mixture  of  retro  rock,  psychedelic  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2014  album  which  will  be  released  in  August  by  Metal  Blade  Records.

  Drum  beats  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  70's  rock  metal  direction  along  with  some  melodic  vocals  and  after  awhile  powerful  sounding  bass  guitars  and  melodies  are  added  into  the  music  along  with  some  classic  rock  style  guitar  solos  and  leads  and  on  the  second  song  clean  playing  becomes  a  part  of  the  bands  musical  sound  while  the  music  remains  mostly  in  a  heavier  direction.

  After  awhile  you  can  really  hear  the  70's  doom  metal  in  the  bands  musical  sound  and  the  band  also  starts  adding  in  more  psychedelic  elements  as  the  album  progresses  and  the  music  is  heavily  rooted  in  occult  rock  and  proto  metal  and  they  also  bring  in  a  few  long  and  epic  tracks  as  well  as  speeding  up  a  bit  on  some  of  the  later  tracks  which  makes  the  darker  side  of  their  music  have  a  more  ritualistic  feeling.

  When  the  album  goes  into  the  9th  track  they  add  in  synths  along  with  a  brief  instrumental  that  also  utilizes  the  sounds  of  thunder  before  making  a  return  back  to  a  heavier  musical  direction  and  the  bonus  tracks  are  another  ep  that  the band  has  recorded  and  they  are  in  a  more   raw  and  retro  doom  metal  direction.

  Brimstone  Coven  goes  back  to  the  origins  of  heavy  and  doom  metal  with  their  musical  sound  with  every  song  sounding  like  it  could  of  been  recorded  in  the  70's  and  you  can  also  hear  a  good  amount  of  psychedelic  and  occult  rock  in  their  musical  style,  the  production  sounds  very  old  school  yet  professional  all  at  the  same  time  while  the  lyrics  cover  Anunnaki,  Faustian,  Satanism  and  Occult  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Brimstone  Coven  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  retro  doom  metal  and  occult  rock  and  if  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Behold  The  Anunnaki"  "Lord  &  Master"  "The  Seance"  and  "The  Ancients".  8/5 out  of  10.