February 2016 – Page 3 – Wonderbox Metal

Interview with Beehoover

The latest Beehoover album Primitive Powers is a highly enjoyable listening experience from this uncommon band. Combining quirky and characterful Stoner/Doom/Sludge influences into their personable music, I had to ask their drummer Claus a bit more about what they’re made of…

For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!

It’s Ingmar on bass and vocals and me, Claus, on drums. We play loud rock music beyond typical standards. We don’t care about common structures, song lengths or whatever. We don’t have a specific political, social or visual outfit. However, we do care about our music a lot!

Give us a bit of background to Beehoover

Ingmar and I met around 2002 and we realized at once we share the same ideas about music. We tried to put together a proper rock band with a guitar player and a singer that didn’t work out so we had to carry on as a duo, which has worked out well ever since. “Primitive Powers” is our fifth album, other than that we have released four albums on Exile on Mainstream Records, an EP and a demo.

What are your influences?

We both have listened to bands like Primus, No Means No, Tool, Ninewood or Isis. Lyric-wise there are influences to be found in our everyday life or historical facts.

What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?

I listen to some older stuff or BBC6 radio. We both don’t really listen to any specific new bands.

How do you feel that you fit into the wider musical scene?

We ourselves think we do. There are people with different musical backgrounds at our concerts, all together dancing and banging their heads, which may mean we’re right. However, some promoters, labels, bookers or magazines seem to see us in a freakier corner and not appealing to a larger audience.

Give us a bit of background to Primitive Powers – any particular concepts or ideas you want to discuss?

This album covers topics like domination, aggression and suppression on one and those like hope, despair and disappointment on the other side.

“Primitive powers” is a line of the song “Tickling the Dragon’s Tail”, which is the name of an experiment carried out by nuclear scientists in the 1940s. It was a very dangerous experiment, however safety precautions were neglected and in the end something went wrong and some scientists died from radiation. We think this shows how arrogant human beings can be.

The cover artwork may give some space for interpretation as well.

Tell us about the album artwork

They are handmade collages and a collaboration between an Dutch and American artist. The cover is a symbol of human arrogance.

How do you think this is different to or has progressed from The Devil and His Footmen?

Always difficult to tell because you don’t do anything on purpose, it comes out a certain way and that’s it. We’ve already gotten some very nice critiques about the album being the most elaborated Beehoover work so far.

Also, it’s the first album we didn’t record and mix ourselves, which made things a lot easier. It’s also the first for our new label Unundeux.

How do you go about writing your songs?

Normally Ingmar comes up with riffs. We work on them, record them, share them online, listen to them again and again, combine them with other parts, rewrite them, throw them away and so on. So our songs grow step by step and we always work on several songs at the same time.

We live several hundreds of kilometres apart. So we met every other weekend over a couple of months for rehearsing sessions until the songs were done.

How did the recording process go?

We locked ourselves in at Tonmeisterei Oldenburg for six days. It’s good to be caught in that microcosm and be able to concentrate on nothing but the music. When recording we don’t experiment a lot and try to be prepared as well as possible.

What’s your favourite song on the album and why?

That’s difficult because they’re all our babies and we don’t play something if one of us doesn’t like it. Of the new songs I really enjoy listening to Embers and Bombs & Bagpipes. Those songs have lots of dynamics and unusual structures, which I like.

What does the future hold for Beehoover?

We have some touring plans for later this year and hopefully we’ll get the chance to play more gigs and a greater recognition.

A Thousand Sufferings – Burden (Review)

This is the début album from Belgian Doom Metal band A Thousand Sufferings.

This is semi-blackened Doom with dark screaming shouts. The band succeed in creating sombre, down-beat moods that snare the listener in their barbed grasp.

The band have a similar feel and mood to that of Triptykon; like an updated Celtic Frost with added Doom and Black Metal atmospheres.

The riffs pile on top of each other, almost reaching wall-of-guitars proportions but offering more nuance than that style usually does. There’s some quite inventive and emotive ones on here too, adding to the overall dark feelings that they espouse.

A Thousand Sufferings understand the nature of this kind of music all too well, with negativity seeping out of the speakers in an occult way, seeming to feast on the souls of those drawn into this grim web of mystical invocations.

A very enjoyable slab of Doom Metal for fans of the darker side of life.

Kataklysm/Septic Flesh/Aborted – Sound Control, Manchester – 19/02/16 (Live Review)

When I first saw this tour advertised I couldn’t quite believe it, such a ridiculously strong lineup featuring three high-profile acts, any of which could probably headline here in their own right, at least to my mind. This is the very definition of an unmissable tour to me.

So here I am. It couldn’t be any other way. Continue reading “Kataklysm/Septic Flesh/Aborted – Sound Control, Manchester – 19/02/16 (Live Review)”

Sea – Demo (Review)

This is the début demo from US Doom band Sea.

Sea play their Doom with a good amount of Sludge and roiling Neurosis-styled claustrophobic heaviness.

These three tracks drag themselves along, lazily pounding out heavy riffs alternated with more restrained sections, with even the odd guitar solo drifting out from the sludgy miasma that they create. They shift up a gear on rare occasion, introducing some blast beats into their style. These are infrequent and short lived, but it all adds to the music in the right way.

The vocals mainly consist of rough semi-cleans and higher, softer, clean vocals that emphasise the more emotive parts of the songs. These lighter parts showcase a Post-Metal side of the band, allowing them to demonstrate the breadth of ability that they clearly have.

There are some really strong guitar parts across these tracks and the band stand out quite quickly as being above-average in the songwriting department. It’s all very memorable, surprisingly diverse and even catchy for the style.

Sea have made a good impression with this demo and the songs are very enjoyable. I like this kind of gritty, heavy and emotive style of Doom and it would surely be a hit for fans of bands like Neurosis, Sorxe and Sea of Bones, in my opinion.

A highly promising first release.

Vredehammer – Violator (Review)

This is Vredehammer’s second album. They play Black Metal and are from Norway.

Vredehammer play aggressive Black Metal that keeps the core of the genre alive and well, while merging it with a state-of-the-art blackness that bands like Satyricon, Keep of Kalessin and Temple of Baal do so well. Add a bit of Death Metal in the form of something like Behemoth and even a touch of Aura Noir-esque Thrash and you have a good overview of Vredehammer’s style. Tracks like Ursus even have a bit of the Amon Amarth about them, to my ears.

The vocals consist of dark outbursts that strike a fine balance between legibility and outright harshness. Sitting somewhere between the styles of Black and Death Metal, they work well to provide a focal point for the music without dominating it.

Powerful rhythm guitars form the bedrock of the tracks and these punish and damage for all they’re worth. Interestingly though, the band build on these strong foundations to provide a more well-rounded listening experience than you might expect; Violator is not a one-dimensional album.

Twisted melodics and bright, ethereal leads occasionally add colour and texture to the band’s blackened rhythms, allowing them to explore wider pastures that their brutal tendencies might otherwise preclude them from. This adds a lot to the album and raises it to another level, quality-wise. This is all wrapped around their inherent malevolent nastiness though, which is never too far from proceedings.

Boasting a strong production to round things off, Violator is a very enjoyable album, and at 35 minutes in length it’s easy to get your fill of their blackened aggression.

Recommended.

Communal Grave – Solace in Violencia (Review)

Communal Grave are a Death/Thrash Metal band from Pakistan. This is their début album.

The singer has a pretty impressively scary deep growl that’s as dark as night and reeks of a huge black pit that you could easily fall into. It’s the kind of cavernous growl that makes an immediate impression and for a few moments it’s easy to forget the music that’s backing it up.

Phew.

As for the music – this is Melodic Death Metal that’s merged with Thrash Metal to produce an exact and precise rendition of both styles, mixed in together and spiced with some nice melodic tendencies throughout the songs.

The band sound like they have a tight rein on the music, playing everything with precision and care, focusing on the end result of the song and considering every part down to the last riff. This is in stark contrast to the feral vocals that sound completely unbound and unfettered, savagely growling their way over the melodic riffs and mellifluous leads. The contrast between the rough growls and precision-cut music is jarring, but somehow works nonetheless.

The longer-than-average nature of some of the tracks allows the band explore various melodic climes and these 45 minutes pass by easily, with the listener concurrently being buoyed up by the melodic assault and tore down by the deep, malevolent growls.

Ha! No matter how many times I listen to this, the best word I can think of to describe the singer’s vocals is “terrifying”. Oh, you’ll probably listen to them and think they’re deep growls and nothing more, but for me, for some unnameable reason, they hit a raw nerve that chills me to my very core. What’s that all about then? Best not to dig too deep I suspect.

At any rate, it all adds to the experience and Solace in Violencia is an engaging and enjoyable listen.

Now, excuse me while I go and select some new underwear…

Beehoover – Primitive Powers (Review)

Beehoover are from Germany and play Stoner Doom. This is their latest album.

About their previous album The Devil and His Footmen I said “This is an uncommon band who provide an uncommon listening experience” and I stand by that statement for this newest one.

The band remain a two-piece drum/bass combo that provide the listener with a quirky and characterful interpretation of Stoner/Sludge/Doom that mixes elements of artists like Mike Patton, Tool, Primus and Melvins into its enjoyable and personable style of music.

Considering the makeup of the band there is a lot of content to enjoy on Primitive Powers and the songs are quite infectious. The band are adept at adding real atmosphere into their sound, with the bass seemingly capable of expanding to fill all of the areas that the guitars normally inhabit with other bands, and then some.

The drumming is complex, yet easy to get on board with; along with the music’s warm and intimate production it makes for a very satisfying sound.

Maybe I’m misremembering, but the songs on this album seem stronger and more concise than that of The Devil and His Footmen, and also seem to have a greater abundance of atmosphere and progressive tendencies too.

Either way, Beehoover’s latest release is a left-field success and I heartily recommend it for something a little different. Your ears will thank me.

Perihelion Ship – A Rare Thunderstorm in Spring (Review)

This is the début album from Finnish Progressive Metal band Perihelion Ship.

I like a good bit of Progressive Metal and was intrigued by this release in particular due to the striking cover art.

Featuring Hammond organ and mellotron, Perihelion Ship have captured the essence of 70s Progressive Rock and combined it with a more modern Metal influence à la Opeth and the like to produce a very enjoyable album that mixes both eras well.

The vocals alternate between cleans, screams and growls, depending on the needs of the song. As mentioned previously, Opeth are a clear influence here, but this is only a starting point for Perihelion Ship and they have enough of their own personality and style to make A Rare Thunderstorm in Spring their own. It’s also quite interesting that as the album progresses the band seem to almost come into their own more and more, with the Opeth influence receding further and further into the background. Intentional? Who knows.

The tracks are atmosphere-heavy and full of light and shade, with the music reflecting the different vocal styles in many ways. There’s good depth here and it’s easy to return to this release for further listenings.

The album is crowned by the final song, the title track, which is a 21 minute epic that rounds the album off in impressive fashion.

A recommended listen.

Sarke – Bogefod (Review)

This is the fourth album from Norwegian Black Metallers Sarke.

With band members from such esteemed groups as Darkthrone, Satyricon and Khold, this band features a high pedigree and a wealth of experience, all channelled into these 35 minutes.

The familiar darkened twinge of sinister and mysterious Black Metal riffs is joined by less-familiar leads and solos and a Thrash Metal influence in some of the heavier riffs. It’s a predominantly Black Metal work, but there are enough Metal and Thrash elements to make Bogefod more than just a pure Black Metal release, even though it’s all smothered with dark atmospheres and blackened aesthetics.

The songs are well-written with lots of juicy guitars, both of the Blackened Thrash and more traditionally Black Metal variety. The songs keep their pace nicely without going too far either way and there’s lots of memorable moments.

I like that the band don’t play it safe and repeat the same type of song over and over. There’s a decent amount of variety on this release, with the various influences of the band members showing up in different places; each song has an identifiable personality of its own. I particularly enjoyed Barrow of Torolv‘s Doom-infused atmospheric darkness, as well as the female vocal-led Dawning. Very nice.

The screamed vocals with an edge of attitude should be familiar to most, (all?), Black Metal fans and it’s always a pleasure to hear the singer’s voice. His performance is right where it needs to be on these songs and he contributes quite a bit to the catchiness of some of the tracks.

Keyboards are included and these are subtle enough to not overpower the rest of the music, but prominent enough to really add another layer of depth to the songs.

I really enjoyed this album. It has enough going on to keep and hold the interest, but is short enough to not overstay its welcome. Repeated listens bear this out, and Bogefod just gets better the more you listen to it.

Check it out.

Teething/Feastem – Split (Review)

Feastem are from Finland and Teething are from Spain. Both play Grindcore and they have come together to unleash this savage split on the world.

Teething start things off and offer up three tracks lasting four minutes in total.

Their music is fast, furious and full of aggression, just the way we like our Grindcore. They slow things down here and there and offer up some mid-paced groove with a Punk edge that adds to things quite nicely.

For the most part the vocals are halfway between shouts and growls, finding that sweet spot between the two that sounds harsh as Hell.

It’s a brief few songs, but enjoyable. Their blend of extremity and energetic Punk know-how makes them the epitome of Grind in many ways and if you like the style it’s hard to find fault with them.

Feastem are up next and also offer three songs, lasting a slightly longer five minutes in total.

Compared to Teething, Feastem have less of a Punk influence and offer streamlined, sharp Grindcore that has a more modern edge than their Spanish counterparts.

The tracks are full of blasting mayhem, not happy unless they’re doing their best to damage the listener’s ears by any means necessary. There’s a decent Extreme Metal influence to the guitars, although you can still hear the Punk/Hardcore influence too.

Scathing screams are the main mode of delivery for the singer, although deep growls do join in on occasion.

Another top quality Grind split between two bands that represent different points on the Grind spectrum in some ways. Which you prefer will depend on your personal preferences, and for me it’s hard to say – occasionally Teething’s more traditional approach wins the day, whereas at other times I love the blasting speed and modern delivery of Feastem. Either way, this is short enough to enjoy again and again and packs a punch regardless.

Highly recommended.