Spook The Horses Interview

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

At the moment we are preparing for the release of our second record 'Rainmaker', rehearsing for shows and shaping our plans for the future. It's all pretty intense.

2.Recently you have recorded 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 done in the past?

The music on 'Rainmaker' is a lot sparser, a lot more riff-driven than on our first album 'Brighter'. We stripped back the effects and the density of the guitars, experimented a lot with different instruments and percussion. I think the end result is a record that hangs together a lot better, even with the range of different material that's on it.

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

We all had a hand in the lyric writing process this time around. We explored a few themes that contributed to the imagery and overall feel of the album. Dreams, both comforting and terrifying, and the images that linger after them. The vision of a dry, desolate earth. Personal memories.

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

We wanted a name that evoked a reaction, but didn't denote anything too specific, and looked good in print. After a few candidates "Spook the Horses" is what we landed on.

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 a few shows opening for KYLESA last year, which was a hell of a time. Whenever we play in our home town Wellington after an extended period is always a lot of fun, and really humbling.

In our live shows we always try to create an atmosphere, an environment that encompasses our audience, no matter how big or small they are. We want to pull you into our world for the entire set. When it ends, it should be like an exhale of breath you didn't know you were holding in.

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

We will be touring cities in New Zealand around the release of the album early this year, with our eyes set on an Australian tour later on. In the future we plan to play in Europe, Asia, and eventually the US, all going well.

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

Not at the moment. We put out feelers for labels to release 'Rainmaker' on, but ultimately decided to release it on our own label, allowing us a bit more freedom.

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

We've had a lot of incredibly positive feedback online from our first album and the singles from 'Rainmaker', coming from all over the world. It was a real surprise for for a band at the ass-end of the world to be getting fans from the Czech Republic, Scandinavia, Indonesia, the US, all over. It's exciting, bizarre, encouraging.

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

We're constantly trying to put ourselves in different situations and locations to create in, trying to stay outside of our comfort zone. We're switching around instruments between members a lot. I have a feeling that whatever we do after 'Rainmaker' is going to be very different to anything that came before for us.

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?

There's an enormous breadth of tastes within the band, ranging from prog rock, alternative hip hop, 60s pop, black metal, synth porn, etc. Big influences on this most recent record were albums that evoke a very specific tone and setting and keep you there for the duration, such as Earth's 'The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull' and Cult of Luna's 'Somewhere Along the Highway'.

Currently on heavy rotation for me: pg.lost, Death Grips, Moderat, The Blood Brothers, Bolzer, Code Orange, Dödsvarg, A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Kollwitz and Lorde.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

I work at a video games company as a quality assurance tester. Games are almost as big a part of my life as music.

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

It's very, very fucking exciting for us to be on the cusp of so many things this year. Our second album, playing overseas, as well as some other projects we have under construction. We can't wait to share 'Rainmaker' with the world. I hope everyone enjoys and is terrified by it.

Crowned In Earth/Metempsychosis/Sonic Mermaid Records/2015 CD Review

  Crowned  In  Earth  are  a  band  from  the  United  Kingdom  that  plays  a  mixture  of  progressive  rock  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Metampsychosis"  which  will  be  released  on  January  19th  by  Sonic  Mermaid  Records.

  A  very  melodic  and  psychedelic  sounding  70's  style  rock  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  guitar  leads  and  progressive  style  keyboards  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  an  experimental  vibe  at  times  and  when  vocals  are  added  into  the  music  they  stick  to  a  clean  singing  direction  while  the  acoustic  guitar  parts  also  bring  in  elements  of  folk  rock.

  Most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  while  the  music  is  heavily  rooted  in  the  70's  some  of  their  musical  influences  and  the  production  gives  the  album  more  of  an  updated  feeling  along  with  some  traces  of  post  rock  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  doom  metal  elements  of  the  earlier  material  are  rarely  heard  on  this  recording  with  the  musical  style  going  for  more  of  a  progressive  rock  direction  and  one of  the  tracks  also  bring s in  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  and  there  are  also  some  riffs  that  bring  in  a  proto  metal  feleing  at  times.  

  Crowned  In  Earth  stay  away  from  the  doom  metal  element s of  earlier  releases  and  focuses  more  on  a  progressive  style  of  space  rock  on  this  recording  while  still  having  a  touch  of  proto  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  metaphysical  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Crowned  In  Earth  are  a  very  great  sounding  progressive,  space  rock  band  with  elements  of  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "But  An  Echo"  "Symmetry  Of  night"  and  "Travelling  Road".  8  out  of  10. 

Khaos Interview

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

Of course! Well Khaøs is a very challenging project. The band was formed in mid 2012 originally as an Internet project connecting members living in Europe and US. Khaøs is: Chandler Mogel on vocals, myself, Mark Rossi on guitar, N I c Angileri on bass and Trevor Franklin on drums. The band was connected through German producer Rolf Munkes. In his Empire Studios in Germany we recorded our debut EP ‘Rising’ that was then completed by Chandler in New York and Nic in Switzerland.  It contains 5 songs and two radio edits. The EP has been the ideal vehicle to introduce the sound of the band to a wider audience.  After the release of ‘Rising’ in the fall of 2012 we decided to continue our common work and immediately started working on our full length album ’Risen’.

2.You have released your first album in October, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

Fresh Modern Hard Rock with a good blend of heaviness and melody! Soulful and energetic mid-tempo songs enriched by thought provoking lyrics with a deep meaning. It’s muscular and filigreed at the same time, with light and shadow.

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

It explores today’s society and its craziness. Personal struggles, unanswered questions, mental mechanisms, fear and hope. You won’t find many fun songs on our album, although we have plenty of tunes with a good and positive vibe. Take ‘Exalted’ for instance this is THE positive song par excellence! I think you can have a party without walking the usual path of drugs, naked women and rock’n’roll (laughs).

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

Khaøs is basically something born out of nothing. It wasn’t planned to form a new band at the time. It’s a musical project that we developed together while recording our first EP and later our full-length album ‘Risen’ that was recorded right after the EP came out. The inspiration comes from the idea to write good songs with a bunch of great musicians and to strive together for the same goal.

5.The band members both live in America and Switzerland and so far have recorded everything through the Internet, are you planning on taking this band from just being a studio project to doing live shows?

Yes definitely. To celebrate the release of our second video ‘Exalted’ we just played a live acoustic show on November 18th in Switzerland in front of an intimate audience and it went really great. We’re discussing about future gigs for next year as we speak. I don’t know where exactly but we will make it happen. Finally!

6.The album is coming out on MRR Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

MRR is our own label.  We knew from the very beginning that using our label might have been an option. We shopped the album at the beginning of 2014 but it took too long to obtain reliable answers from bigger labels. They seemed all very busy promoting their existing band rosters and less interested to risk in something new, in a new band to be built up and sustained.

7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to the music by fans of metal and rock?

So far it has been great! We have had some astonishingly good feedback from new people who have just discovered the band through our new videos and the new album. Some ordered t-shirts and our previous work. We still have a couple of signed EP’s, which you can only purchase directly on our Facebook page. So if you like the new album you might also like the EP.


8.Are the band members involved with any other musical projects these days?

Yes, my band mates are really busy with other bands and projects. Chandler is singing for Greek/US Melodic Rock band Outloud. They’ve just successfully completed a European tour and even played in Sweden on my birthday (laughs). He has another great L.A. based band called Chrome Public. Really modern sounding combo I very much like. Nic is busy with Swiss Hard Rockers Alto Voltaggio and Norwegian guitarist Tore Moren. As for myself, I’m only playing for Khaøs at the moment but I’m also working on new songs as we speak. I’ve just started a new pre-production and the list of ideas is rapidly getting longer. I’m very excited about this new material. It sounds very fresh, raw, fast and furious (laughs) and may perhaps attract a more metal-oriented, headbanging audience. It’s a bit early to talk about future releases though. Let’s keep up the good work and vibe for now. I’m pretty sure this material will see the light of the day sooner or later.

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

Hard to tell…  I think we will surely keep a good blend of melody and energy, which are without any doubts the main elements of our sound. Personally I would like to spend more time on the whole production and on the overall sound next time. I don’t want to leave anything to chance, work out the songs more accurately and strengthen the good stuff we already have done so far. I’m very excited to write some faster and punchier songs with this band. ‘Risen’ is filled with mid-tempo tracks that are just great for this record. I think the next record might get benefit from a couple faster songs and offer some more surprises.

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?

Back in the 80’s I started with The Beatles. It was when I picked up classical guitar at the time acts like Madonna and Cindy Lauper were really huge and filled the hitparades almost everywhere. I was attracted by real bands playing real instruments. One day I’ve seen Angus Young playing ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ on TV and I knew I had to learn how to play electric guitar. I started dreaming about having a Gibson SG. From this moment on my musical taste changed a bit and I started to follow guitar oriented bands with strong and charismatic guitarists. The louder the better (laughs). Slash, Randy Rhoads, Steve Ray Vaughan and Jimmy Page soon filled the walls of my bed room. I discovered AC/DC, Guns n Roses, Ozzy and The Cult. These were my absolute favs. Then shortly after the turn of the new millennium  I discovered Creed and Mark Tremonti and later around 2005 Alter Bridge, another big influential band. Today I’m still listening to the same old bands and players I’ve always loved. From Tremonti and Alter Bridge, Metallica, to Slash and the Conspirators, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, plus newer ones such as Shinedown and In Flames.

11.What are some of your non-musical interests?

Arts and architecture, photography, cinema and sports...


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

Well our album ‘Risen’ is out now. We have a fantastic worldwide distribution deal with Plastic Head in England. Go to their shop and buy yourself this album. This is the best way to support our band. Plus we have two great videos on our YouTube channel. It might be worth checking them out. Here some links for you:

Videos
“After The Silence”:  http://youtu.be/TPQt0CzettM
“Exalted”:  http://youtu.be/FKYuDA5K8p4

Shops
Plastic Head -
Amazon -
iTunes -
Cede.ch -

Monolith/Against The Wall Of Forever/Funeral Noise Records/2015 CD Review

  Monolith  are  a  band  from  California  that  plays  an  old  school  mixture  of  thrash  and   traditional  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Against  The  Wall  Of  Forever"  which  will  be  released  by  Funeral  Noise  Records.

  A  very  old  school  and  retro  70's  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  clean  singing  vocals  and  solos  that  are  heavily  influenced  by  the  NWOBHM  era  and  the  vocals  also  mix  in  the  aggression  of  thrash  while  also  keeping  around  a  melodic  style  and  the music  also  starts  to  get  more  heavier  after  awhile  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to t hem.

  Spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  on  some  of  the  tracks  you  can  hear  elements  of  70's  southern  rock  being  mixed  in  with  the  more  traditional  metal  elements  of  the  bands musical  style  along  with  the  energy  of  punk  rock  being  utilized  at  times  and  as  the  album  progresses  elements  of  speed  metal  are  added  into  some  of  the  tracks  and  they  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing  and  a  power  ballad  before  going  back  to  a  more  hard  and  heavy  sound  on  the  following  tracks.

  Momolith  plays  a  style  of  heavy  metal  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  70's  and  80's  and  brings  in  elements  of  NWOBHM,  thrash,  speed  and  power  metal  along  with  a  touch  of  punk  while  also  having  an  updated  take  on  those  genres,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Monolith  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  heavy,  power,  thrash  and  speed  metal  and  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Against  the  Wall  Of  Forever"  "Die  With Your  Master"  and  "The  All-Father  And  The  Chaos  Lord".  8  out  of  10.    

  

The Matterhorn Project Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and musical project?

My name is Zahari Tzigularov. I’ve been a drummer in various rock, metal, blues bands since high school and the guitarist of the Denver, Colorado art/progressive rock band called The Skivies for about 10 years.  I have always wanted to do a project where I write and record everything, hence the matterhorn project.

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

I like heavy guitar sounds so most riffs are heavy.  The album also incorporates melodic guitars, distorted synths, piano, acoustic guitars and some experimental sounds. I like odd time signatures as well. I think that comes from my heritage - Bulgarian folk music.  

3.What are some of the themes and images you bring out with your musical style?

Darkness, hope, energy, motion…

4.Most of the album was instrumental but you did add a small amount of vocals in a couple of the tracks, are you planning on using more vocals in the future or do you prefer the instrumental route?

Ya, I plan on experimenting with vocals in the future, so it would depend on whether it makes the music better.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'The Matterhorn project'?

I love the mountains and live in the foothills of the Colorado Rocky Mountains and the street I live on is called Matterhorn, so..there it is.

6.With this project you record everything by yourself, are you open to working with a whole band or do you prefer to remain solo?

I would love to get this project live as I love playing live.  My band is currently restructuring, but my drummer and I have already mentioned considering bringing it live, so …will see.

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

I have not received any interest, but I do not have any interest or at least will not actively pursue that.

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

I have not received tons of feedback yet but the album is only 10 days old, so I am still trying to get it out there.  Whatever feedback I have received has been great.

9.Are you also involved with any other musical projects or bands these days?

My last band, The Skivies, went on a hiatus for couple years.  We did write a few songs in that time and we plan on starting rehearsing and playing the new material very soon.  It would also be under a new name.

10.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician in the future?

I would love to continue producing new music under the matterhorn project.  I have tons of ideas:) I would also love to take some of it live as well as write, perform and record new material with my band.

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?

In the past year I’ve been listening to Gojira, Isis, Deftones, the new EP by Red Kunz, Godflesh, Mastodon, Radiohead, Pelican.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

Mountain stuff - biking, hiking, skiing..

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

Thanks for the interest and hope more people would take the chance to listen to the album.

Velentin The Mad Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your musical project?

I`m a lead guitarist-solo artist currently living in Haifa,Israel. Right now I`m focused on finishing the demos of my solo album entitled "Deadly Obsession". Its an album centered around electric guitar music and the guitar solo.


2.You have released quite a few songs on your Youtube channel, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you play?

The music in the solo project is in the styles of Rock-Prog-Metal with other influences such as Indie, Ambient and Middle Eastern music. Heavy Metal is the most dominant style in the project.

The balance between riffs, guitar leads and solos is very important for me. While the solos are a big focus in my music, I don't want to write tracks where I`m just soloing for 8 minutes straight.


3.So far all of your music has been instrumental, are you planning on using vocals on any of the future tracks?

I`m very close to finishing the demos of Deadly Obsession, so this album will be entirely instrumental, but I`m not ruling out possible projects in the future if I find the right vocalist.



4.With the solo project you call yourself 'Valentin The Mad', can you tell us a little bit more about this name?

Since my last name (Belokonenko) isn't very catchy, I was looking for a stage name for quite a while but couldn't think of anything good. Then one evening I went to jam on an open stage night with a friend, he arrived shortly before and signed us up as "Valentin The Mad" - a name he gave me for my playing style. Thought about it the next day and decided to go with this name.


5.On all of the tracks you have recorded everything by yourself, are you open to working with other musicians or do you prefer the solo route a lot more?

While I really enjoy doing all of the writing myself I`m open for working with other musicians in the future. I`d love to play the music from my solo project with a full band and I`ll definitely need someone else to do the drums for the studio version of Deadly Obsession.


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

I`m definitely looking to get signed, relocate to wherever the label is based and really launch my music career.

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

The feedback has been amazing and very motivating. I got messages from people in different parts of the world who enjoyed my music. The best so far has been a fan from Italy who sent me a poem he wrote that was inspired by my track "Sandstorm". I have that poem posted on my facebook page.

8.Are you or have you been involved with any other bands or musical projects?

I wrote a couple of songs with friends, but nothing other than that.


9.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician in the future?

I see the solo project being my biggest focus, touring playing this music (preferably with a full band) and writing more albums for it. I`d also be interested in collaborations with other musicians and playing "guest" guitar solos on various albums.


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?

I`m listening mostly to 80's-90's Metal and Classic Rock, with Metallica, Dream Theater and Megadeth being my top 3 influences. I`m open for any style of music (digging a few Gangsta Rap songs now, actually) but the music that really speaks to me is old school heavy music.

My biggest influence however is Metallica. I picked up guitar because I wanted to learn how to play Kirk Hammet`s solos, and not just "air guitar" them. Eventually Metallica`s instrumentals had a huge part of shaping my view of how I want to write instrumental music.


11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Fitness (home gym workouts) is very important to me. Recently I added some body weight exercises to my routine and I`m wondering how far I can go with that. I started working out about 6 years ago, but I was never good at body weight and endurance exercises, so I`m trying to build that up now.

Other than that I enjoy movies (horror movies being my favorite genre, stuff like The Conjuring\Sinister is awesome), gaming (mostly tactical shooters), archery and paintball (which I don't get to play as much as I would want to).


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

I have an upcoming track that I am very excited about. It will (most likely) be entitled "Everything On The Line". Its a reflection of how I feel about going solo and taking a different route from pretty much everyone around me (even my musician friends). Its also going to be my longest track to date (8:30 minutes last time I checked, but that can still change).

In Other Climes/Leftover/Bastardized Recordings/2015 CD Review

  In  Other  Climes  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  heavy  form  of  hardcore  with  influences  from  thrash  and  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "leftover"  which  will  be  released  by  Bastardized  Recordings.

  A  very  distorted  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  spoken  word  samples  that  are  also  used  on  some  of the  other  tracks  as  well  before  going  into  more  of  an  aggressive  hardcore  direction  along  with  some  shouting  and  angry  style  vocals,  back  up  gang  shouts  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  You  can  hear  a  great  amount  of  thrash  elements  being  mixed  in  with  a  90's  style  of  hardcore  along  with  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  some  melodies  being  added  into  the  music  at  times  and  the  solos  and  leads  that  are  added  into  the  music  go  back  to  more  of  an  80's  style  of  hard  rock  and  heavy  metal  and  as  the  album  progresses  the  vocals  starts  adding  a touch  of  melody  into  their  aggressive  approach  and  on  of  the  later  tracks  also  brings  in  a  small  amount  of  symphonic  sounds before  returning  back  to  a  heavier  direction  on  the  following  songs..

  In  Other  Climes  plays  a  style  of  hardcore  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  80's  and  they  also  bring  in  the  heaviness  of  thrash  metal  and  the  rawness  of  punk  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent,  dark  and  hateful  themes.

  In  my  opinion  In  Other  Climes  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  hardcore  and  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Dreams"  "City  Of  Glass"  "Have  You  Ever"  and  "We're  An  European  Band".  8  out  of  10.