Evil Force 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?

The first thing to mention is that since her album was a change in the second guitar, since we were invited to a lot of concerts and interviews.. We are currently working on new songs that are almost ready for the second album.

2.In October you had 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 we achieved in this album is totally superior and more professional than previous work, we dedicate much time and effort for this first lp. In contrast with other recordings from previous years it is that we've matured musically and find the exact spot for us, also the way it was recorded and produced, from the cover art to the final mastering.

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

The principal theme was always METAL!!! The devotion we have towards him, we always talk about the headbangers, our passion and as METAL makes us strong and motivates us everyday to overcome the various obstacles that you have to live in a third world country. But that we also talked about other issues such as the devastation caused by war, and the aliens among us and visit our rotten world.

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

The inspiration was always evil metal!!! And it really does not have any special meaning as the name was proposed by the drummer, which was immediately accepted by the rest of the band.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band ha splayed over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

There were many shows seemed really brutal and never forget, to name a few could say without doubt these concerts .. Tribute to Paraguayan Metal Bands, when we opened for Revenge (Colombia), the album presentation concert with Massive Power (Chile) and the From The Dark Metal Fest in Encarnación. The staging would say it's very strong, speed  and full of feeling and alcohol !!!

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

The immediate plan is to record the next album and play abroad, we never did a tour, maybe someday we do..

7.You have been a part of many numerous splits over the years can you tell us a little bit more about your participation on these recordings?

The first was published by the brothers Steel Force and Evil Fist, when the band was inactive, the other Splits arrived almost all at once, we were pleasantly invited by the bands and labels to do something together and that's how they went giving things ...

8.The last album was released on Headbanger Force productions, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

This label was founded by the brothers Steel Force, Evil Fist and an old friend called Devastator (of the band Violent Attack) .. we started with a cd-r production of the band Cacería and working as Distro, decided to release the album in “conspiracy” with other friends labels to handle distribution and know how far we could go with that recording.

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

It was more than we expected, many metalheads around the world contacted us and asked for our cd is something that motivates us to keep going, because we see the underground world is in a great moment.

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

Yes, almost all have other musical projects, Evil Fist (drums) also plays in bands like Cacería, Violent Attack and is helping the band Under Assault, Bernie Marecos (bass) plays in Toxic Avenger and guitarist Marcelo Nightlord plays in Under Assault too.

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

We see ourselves in the future following the same musical line, perhaps with some darker .. things always keeping the name of the Metal and our ideals high!!!

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?

The bands that influence directly in our music are the old bands of the '80s, from the heavy metal, speed metal and thrash, mainly on the German scene, USA and South America, we are now hearing a lot South American metal bands there really good, we believe they are the best, as Revenge, Guerra Total, Wichtrap, Enemy, Dekapited, Massive Power, Acero Letal, Cobra, Xenotaph among other ...

13.Does Occultism play any role in your music?

We believe that always played an important role as we worship the dark and evil metal, may not be reflected both in our music, but we are against the whole Catholic hypocrisy prevailing in our country ..

14.What are some of your non musical interests?

Parallel to play in the band, lead a "normal" life, working, studying, spending time with family, and we do not live of music, have different individual interests .. Aliens, alcohol, girls, travels, books.. and more…. more METAL…!!!!!!!!!!!

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

First of all thanks a lot for the support !! We tell the headbangers who always fight for their ideals and keep higher the name of METAL !!! Fuck trendys, posers, Christians, mainstream, white metal, metalcore and others shits ...

Ghold/Of Ruin/Ritual Productions/2015 CD Review

  Ghold  are  a  band  from  the  United  Kingdom  that  plays  a  very  heavy ad  melodic  form  of  sludge  metal  and  this  is  a review  of  their  2015  album  "OF  Ruin"  which  was  released  by  Ritual  Productions.

  Clean  playing  starts off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  sludge  metal  direction  but  still  adding  clean  playing  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  after  a  couple  of  minutes  aggressive  post  hardcore  style  vocals  are added into  the music  and  become a  huge  part  of  the  songs  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic in  length.

  Elements  of  doom  metal  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  the  vocals  also  have  a  very  melodic  tone  at  times  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  some  of  the  tracks  also  bring  in  a  touch  of  noise  rock  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  small  amount  of  drones  can  be  heard  and  the  whole  album  also  sticks  to  either  a  slow  or  mid  paced  musical  direction.

  Ghold  plays  a  style  of  sludge  metal  that  is  very  heavy  and  melodic  and  also  mixes  in  elements  of  doom,  hardcore  and  noise  rock  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  esoteric  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Ghold  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  sludge  metal  band  and  if you  are  a fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Partaken  Incarnate"  and  "Odic  Force".  8  out  of  10.

Graveyard Shifters/High Heels And Broken Bones/Eternal Sound/2015 CD Review

  Graveyard  Shifters are a  band  from  Finland  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  crust  punk,  rock'n'roll  and  thrash  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "High  Heels  And  Broken  Bones"  which  will  be  released  in  June  by  Eternal  Sound.

  A  very  raw  and  heavy  crust/thrash  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  vocals  that  are  very  aggressive  and  also  use  back  up  gang  shouts  and  melodic  singing  and  the  music  also  brings  in  a  great  amount  of  d  beats  and  the  riffs  and  guitar  leads/solos  also  utilize  a  great  amount  of  melody as  well  as  addign  in  eleemnts  of  rock'n'roll.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  a great  amount of  pop  punk  elements  and  while  you  can  hear  a  lot  of  old  school  metal,  punk  and  hardcore  influences  throughout  the  recording  the  songs  still  sound  very  modern  and  one  of  the  tracks  also  adds  in  a  touch  of  rockabilly.while  a  later  song  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  and  there  are  also  a  decent  amount  of  atmospheric  elements being  mixed  into  the raw metal/punk  sound  at  times  along  with  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats.

 Graveyard  Shifters  creates  another album  that takes  crust  punk,  hardcore,  thrash  and rock'roll  to  create  a  very  original  sounding recording,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover a  mixture  of  real  life  themes  and  some  stories  out  of  the  Kalevala.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Graveyard  Shifters  and  if you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "High  Heels  &  Broken  Bones"  "Love  On  the  Rocks"  "Firestarter"  and  "Beerserker". 8  out  of  10.       

Red Room Ensemble Interview

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

Red Room Ensemble was formed in early 2014 at the initiative of guitarist Kari Sundstrom, who by then had been secretly working on riffs that would eventually turn into some of the songs on the debut album. We had been playing together for several years, performing covers of our favourite metal, and honestly were starting to get fed up with the difficulty of coming up with new, interesting tunes to play. The five of us go way back, and have jammed together in various constellations, but when we began playing as Moonburn, our cover act, things started working out really well. Forming Red Room Ensemble was both a way of re-energizing the band and realizing a long term goal of each of us.


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

During the process, we had problems pinpointing under what heading to sort our music. The tracks on the album all have a slightly different feel to them, possibly since the musical preferences within the band diverge quite a bit. With a bit of distance to the production, it is pretty fair to place us under the heavy metal genre, but influences from progressive metal are obvious, and to some extent, also from thrash, doom and power metal.


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

The lyrics were written by Stjarnfelt, Darmark and Sundstrom, single-handedly or in collaboration. Generally speaking, the lyrics to “I Am Hunger”, “The Hoarse Whisperer” and “Everything Went Red”, all deal with the psychology of insanity and violence, taking a “first-person view”, while “Sheherazade” and “We Come At Night” delve into areas of fear and fantasy.


4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Red Room Ensemble'?

The name of the band was the result of an agonizing process, during which many suggestions were tried and discarded. We wanted a name that conjured up images of violence, but in a subtle and more mature manner.


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

Hehe, so far we’ve only had one show, as Red Room Ensemble, so that would have to be it!  Our focus during the last year has been the completion of the album, and our live performance still has to be polished. Our ambition is to put together a theatrical act, we believe that a metal show should be about more than the music!


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

We are signed up for the Dark Water Metal Fest in the Aland Islands in august and are also scouting for venues in Scandinavia.


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

It’s still a bit early to say. It is not our top priority at the moment, and all would depend on what a label would have to offer. Certainly, there is room for improvement, especially regarding marketing and booking, areas where we have very limited experience.


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

We are happy with the reception. The feedback has been mixed, but generally positive.


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

We have already started to work on ideas for a future release. Many of the traits from Red Room Ensemble can be expected to influence upcoming material, such as the interaction between melodic, guitar based, mellow sections and more rhythm driven parts. To achieve a heavier sound, we are thinking of further tuning down the instruments and also including more backing vocals. Hopefully, we will have more time to complete our next project, letting us create a more coherent end product.


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?

Sundstrom and Darmark grew up with thrash bands such as Kreator or Nuclear Assault as well as the death metal of Entombed, Carcass, Amorphis and Dark Tranquillity, while Stjarnfelt is more into the heavy metal of the 80’s, Judas Priest and Kiss being absolute house gods. NWOBHM is a genre that we can all agree on, as well as the bay area thrash represented by the big four. It is easy to get stuck with the bands from ones earlier years, which is certainly true of us as well, but a great advantage of producing an unsigned album has been to discover the underground scene that seems to be thriving!


11.What are some of your non musical interests?

A bit tricky to answer, since we are five different individuals. Together we basically just have the band and all that it involves, as well as the occasional beer binge, but separately we cover everything from sailing, hunting or fishing to gaming, calligraphy and flint knapping.


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

We thank Extreme Underground Metal Zine and all other supporters out there!

Distant Sun/Dark Matter/Metalism Records/2015 CD Review

  Distant  Sun  are  a  band  from  Russia  that  plays  a  mixture  of  power,  speed  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Dark  Matter"  which  will  be  released  on  May  30th  by  Metalism  Records.

  Acoustic  guitars  and  clean  playing  which  is  also  used  on  other  songs  as  well  and  ethnic  sounds  start  off  the  album  and  a  few  seconds  alter  heavy  guitar  riffs  and  melodic  guitar  leads  start  becoming  a  huge  part  of  the  recording  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  lot  of  thrash  elements  and  when  vocals  are  added  into t he  music  they  are very  aggressive  yet  melodic  at  the  same  time.

  A  lot  of  modern  metal  element s can  be  heard    throughout  the  recording  along  with  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  the  vocals  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  power  metal  influences  at  times  and  you  can  also  hear  a  touch  of  death  metal  and  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  in  some  parts  of  the  songs.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  band  also  takes  element s of  early  80's  speed  metal  and  updates  them  for  the  modern  times  as  well  as  adding  in  back  up  gang  shouts  at  times  and  there  are  also  a  couple  of  power  ballads  that  demonstrate  how  clearly  the  singer  can  sing  at  times  and  some  of  the  tracks  also  bring  in  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  which  also  gives  the  songs  more  of  an  epic  feeling.

  Distant  Sun  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  the  old  school  genres  of  thrash,  power  and  speed  metal  and  mixes  them  in  with  a  more  modern  sound  to  update  these  genres  for  the  modern  day,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  science  fiction,  space  travel,  mysticism,  fantasy  and  adventure.

  In  my  opinion  Distant  Sun  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  power,  speed  and  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Kill  The  Freman"  "Matrix  Hacked"  "Gifts  Of  Journey"  and  "Zero  The  Hero".  8  out  of  10.

Hands Of Orlac 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?
The recording took quite a long time and quite a stretch took for the album then to be released. There's been a lot of energy involved. Hands of Orlac is a collective hallucination and it´s not easy to deal with it.

2.In November you had 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 new album can be seen as a progression as we would not have liked to stay on the same step statically. Production-wise we have been much more aware of what we wanted this time. And despite the coldness of the overall sound we have been able to inprint the dynamic movement that we wanted. We have been able to as well get a more horror vibe to it. We wanted the music to affect the listener in a psychoactive way.

3.Your lyrics cover a lot of horror and occult topics, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in these topics and also are you interested in the non fictional side of occultism.
We are a horror themed band. We like mostly to use the classic italian gothic and Hammer productions movies as inspiration for our songs but still we prefer to focus on certain aspects of the plot or change the point of view in the narration. As a band we don't pursue the non fictional side of occultism but the individuals in the group follow their own personal paths.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Hands Of Orlac'?
For the name we got inspired by the silent movie from 1924. The creepy and disturbing atmosphere seemed suitable for the kind of music that we wanted to create.

5.Originally the band was from Italy but now have relocated to Sweden, what was the decision behind the move and also how would you compare both of the countries?
After the line-up became "international" in 2011 during the recording session of the first album the italians of us started visiting the country more often. By 2012 we were only with two italian members left and we decided to tighten up the circle. Italy and Sweden are quite different countries with opposite positive and negative characteristics.

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 best shows have been those we played with our friends from The Wandering Midget on the mini tour Opium Dreams Over Sweden, so far an unreplicable experience. Our live performance has no specific traits. A little bit of stage appearence.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
We don´t have any confirmed plan in the near future.

8.The album was released through both Horror  Records and Terror  From  Hell  Records, can you tell us a little bit more about these labels?
Horror Records supported us right after we released our demo and trusted us for the creation of the first album. It´s the best label we could have asked for, defnitively the most suitable. We´ve been knowing the people from Terror from Hell for a while and we knew they are really reliable and dedicated, that´s how it developed to the release of the cd. The two labels as well cooperate in a MC release.

9.A year ago you where a part of a split with 'Sodomizer', what are your thoughts on the other band that had participated on the recording?
It´s been a honor to share sides with Sodomizer. A great band, horror driven companions!

10.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of doom metal?
People who like a certain kind of music showed appreciation. Still, we think our music is not for everybody, specially from a "doom" point of view. We sound a bit unconventional and this might keep away the average listener. We don´t like to sound like many people like doom to sound. But fans know and understand.

11.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?
Surely Portrait and Vidunder are doing great these days. Other projects don´t have an influence on the band, though. We as well know soon the Instigator will rise to rule with an iron fist.

12.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We will see what ground we will have to wander in the future. Surely a land of mystery.

13.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?
Something that has always influenced us and will always do is Black Sabbath and the whole surrounding of what they did at that right time. Everybody owes them. On the other hand, our newer music has actually the same influences as the older music but with newer words. Nowadays we listen to good music, mostly.

14.What are some of your non musical interests?
We like to wander the night when the new moon is rising to celebrate the stars and all the creature of the dawning. Some of us like other things, too, like sports.

15.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?  
Thank you for the spotlight you gave us and for the interest in our band. Listen to the music from beyond!

Hela/Lodo/3rdirex/2015 Split CD Review

   This  is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  Spain's  Hela  and  Lodo  which  was  released  by  3rdirex  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Hela  a  band  that  plays  an  atmospheric  and  psychedelic  mixture  of  doom  and  sludge  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  a  very  distorted  stoner/doom  metal  sound  along  with  some  melodies  that  lean  towards  post  metal  and  both  of  their  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  when  vocals  are  added  into  the  music  they  start  out  as  clean  singing  female  vocals  and  the  music  also  mixes  in  more  of  a  modern  style  of  sludge  at  times  and  the  solos  and  leads  that  are  utilized  remain  in  a  very  melodic  musical  direction  and  both  songs  stick  to  a  slow  style  of  rigging,  the  production  sounds  very  powerful  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Hela  are  a  very  great  sounding  psychedelic  and  atmospheric  doom  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Norns".

  Next  up  is  Lodo  a  band  that  plays  an  instrumental  mixture  of  stoner,  sludge  and  doom  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  clean  playing  and  psychedelic  sounds before  going  into  more  of  a  heavy  doom  metal  direction  which  also  uses  a  decent  amount  of  melody  and most  of  their  songs  are  long  and  epic  in  length  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  bring  in  a  melodic  post  metal  feeling  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  stoner  and  sludge  elements  and  the  last  song  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  samples  and  the  production  sounds  very  powerfu.

  In  my  opinion  Lodo  are  a  very  great  sounding  instrumental  mixture  of  stoner,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Disparate".

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  I  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  stoner,  sludge  and  doom  metal.  8  out  of  10.