Interviews – Page 22 – Wonderbox Metal

Interview with Caelestia

The second album by Caelestia, Beneath Abyss, is a much more interesting listen than you might expect from a band who ostensibly appear to be a Symphonic/Gothic Metal band, but in reality have a lot more going on than that…

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

We are a progressive / symphonic extreme metal band from Athens, Greece. The band was initially formed in April 2012, by founding members Nick Palivos (bass / vocals) and Dimitra Vintsou (lead vocals). The band released its second studio album “Beneath Abyss”, on February 16th, 2015 under Finnish Label “Inverse Records”. The album was recorded and mixed at “Basement Studios” (with sound engineer Michalis Meleteas) in Athens, and mastered at the renowned “Fascination Street Studios” in Sweden, by Tony Lindgren. We have undergone some line-up changes, since the band was initially formed, before we end up in the present 6-member line-up (Nick Palivos – vocals, Dimitra Vintsou – vocals, Vassilis Thomas – guitars, Vangelis Evangelou – guitars, Stelios Varotsakis – bass and Socratis Panagouleas – drums).

Give us a bit of background to Caelestia

The band was initially formed in April 2012, as we mentioned before. The first band line up consisted (besides Nick and Dimitra) of Panos Varvaropoulos (guitars), Haris Kyriakopoulos (guitars) and Aggelos Kousakis (drums). A first studio album titled “Last Wish” was released in the end of 2012, under independent label IKK Productions (the band was still called “Me And Myself” then). The title song “Last Wish” became our first official video, which was directed by Christos Tsoukalas (Basement Studios), and released in September 2013. In the summer of 2013, the band changed its name to ‘Caelestia”. The decision to change the band name came naturally, after the line-up was finalized, and –most important- after the musical direction and genre was changed to symphonic / progressive extreme metal (not to mention the fact that the new name was better sounding).

What are your influences?

Our band’s sound contains influences by many styles of metal, such as death, progressive, gothic, symphonic, black and thrash. One can easily distinguish such passages in our album’s songs, and this is something we cherish a lot, not to mention that it gives us a unique sound. There are many bands that we can name as influences; needless to say that each contributing band member has his/her own influences. If we were asked to name a few, we ‘d say our very own Septic Flesh, Moonspell, Death, Dimmu Borgir, Behemoth, Katatonia, Hypocrisy, Cradle Of Filth, Rotting Christ, Nightwish, Epica, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Morbid Angel…

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

A lot of different things, since every member of our band has his/her different influences and likes. A couple of albums (which came out in 2015) that keep playing in our iPods are: “Shadows Of The Dying Sun” (Insomnium), “Extinct” (Moonspell), “Shadow World” (Wolfheart), “Ylem” (Dark Fortress), “Labyrinth” (Fleshgod Apocalypse) just to name a few….

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

Our music and lyrics explore a wide variety of subjects, with the main focus being in the eternal war between good and evil, light and darkness, either taking place internally, thus within an individual’s soul and thoughts, either externally, in the outside world, not leaving aside subjects, such as disrupted states of mind, occult etc. We also tried to give a certain theatrical sense in our song lyrics, introducing dialogues (e.g. in the track “Mi Ultima Vida”) between characters, and lyrics written in Spanish and Latin, besides English. That is a key element in our lyrics and music, which we plan to continue and expand in our future work. In our new album, we have strived to achieve a well-balanced combination of the styles, that each of the band members favours, thus melodic death metal, symphonic / gothic metal, visible elements of progressive metal, but also black metal passages. The goal was head on to achieve a unique style of our own, and not try to sound like an impression of any other band, which is quite difficult nowadays.

How do you go about writing your songs?

Our music is greatly based on diversity, large amounts of guitar riffing and phrasing (it is quite indicative that each of our songs contains at least 7-8 different guitar riffs), changing time signatures and varying tempos, that range from 130 to 210 bpm. We tried hard to break the so called “conventional” form of songwriting (intro / verse / chorus / verse / chorus / solo / chorus / outro etc), and introduce various and altering parts and bridges in our songs, so that the listener is constantly left curious of what’s going to come next. That is quite a big turn compared to our previous album, which could easily be characterized as alternative / gothic metal, with more “conventionally” written songs, and not so many complicated passages, bridges and altering time signatures.

Caelestia2

How did the recording process go?

Surely the process of making “Last Wish”, and the experience that came thereof, helped us in the recording of “Beneath Abyss”. However, there was a significant difference in the recording process of “Beneath Abyss”; what most bands usually do, is book a certain amount of bulk time at a studio, and then go record their album as a whole. What we did, is to break that “norm”, by recording each track, after we had already finalized its song-writing process. This meant that the tracks for “Beneath Abyss” were recorded with approx. 7-days intervals between each one of them. During these intervals, we finalized, re-considered and edited parts in each track, so that the final outcome was what exactly the band wanted (from a musical and structural point of view). In this way, the process of the recording may have taken a little longer than usual, but it gave us the ability to control every aspect, and do changes and corrections at the same time, ensuring that the outcome was “complete” to our ears.

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

Oh, that’s a difficult and tricky question… All of the band members have their personal favourite among the tracks in the album, and that’s because not one of the included tracks can be characterized as mere “filler”. If we were to choose, we’d say track 1 (Malleus Maleficarum – The Secret Cult) and track 5 (Beneath Abyss). That is, because the aforementioned songs contain all the elements of the band’s new musical direction and sound: fast and altering tempos, aggressive and dark guitar riffing, progressive passages, melodic bridges and haunting orchestral background.

What does the future hold for Caelestia?

We just finished a great support show in Athens (Gagarin Club 205) on November 14th, opening (as a sole support act) for Swedish melodic death metallers Arch Enemy, which was nearly sold-out, and which constituted a very powerful and intense experience on its own. We recently engaged in cooperation with world renowned promoting agency “Clawhammer PR”, who launched a second round of global promotion for “Beneath Abyss” (we got big expectations on that one!). There are two more Athens shows and a mini-Greek tour coming up in the beginning of 2016, whereas we are scheduling appearances at various European festivals in 2016. At the same time, we continue working on the pre-production of new material (we already have 4 songs ready for our next album). Last but not least, we are scheduling to make our second official video in January 2016, for the track “The Rise Of The Hidden Nature”, with renowned German director Matthias Kollek (Kreator, Lacrimosa etc).

Official website:
http://caelestiaband.com

Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/caelestiaband

Interview with Biopsy

Biopsy’s début EP Fractals of Derangement is a solid slab of USDM-style Brutal Death Metal that has enough ugly surgical scars to cause the staunchest of Death Metal fans to take note. Curious to learn more about them, I caught up with their vocalist in his operating theatre…

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

Hi, I’m Shomeresh, vocalist of the band. I’ll be answering your questions today, most of our opinions about the band and the industry are rather unanimous so I’m quite confident I can do justice to do this interview by myself. Well, let’s get into it.

We’re Biopsy, a brutal death metal band from Bombay. We started off as three teenagers with a passion for this genre of music and that eventually evolved into us jamming, then composing our own music and finally recording an EP.

Give us a bit of history to Biopsy

The three of us met back in 2010, Keshav (drums) and Akshay (guitars) were already jamming with each other a few others, I (Shomeresh – vocals) came into the picture a few months later and joined the lads for a jam session and we really seemed to connect on a musical level. We initially began covering and composing music as a death metal act but over the years our musical interests shifted towards brutal death metal. The sheer aggression, intensity and versatility of the genre is something that appealed to us and we then decided to stick with this genre and began composing several tracks out of which a few of them made the cut to what is now called ‘Fractals of Derangement’ our EP.

What are your influences?

Our musical influences come from a variety of genres. We love listening to music outside of just metal or even rock. So to answer this question I would like to say our influences come from the entire music eco-system as a whole, which would include genres like drum & bass, psychedelic trance, electro-house, rock, post-rock, classic rock, metal, funk, techno etc. Pretty much any track that sounds good, we don’t like limiting our musical tastes to the genre our band plays – that’s like restricting yourself from enjoying all this amazing talent out there. When it comes to Biopsy’s influences in particular, I’d say bands like Disgorge, Defeated Sanity, Gorgasm, Cephalotripsy, Dying Fetus, etc. helped us shape our sound into what it is today.

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

Well, I can’t speak for the rest of the guys on this one but personally I have been listening to a lot of hip-hop of late (best music for the drive to work), along with that I’ve always been a passionate lover of electronic music (psychedelic trance, electro-house, glitch, trap etc.) and metal of course. Among the metal bands on my current playlist, Betraying the Martyrs and Of Mice & Men are two bands that feature more often than not.

As this is your début EP, is there anything you would do differently if you had to do it all over again?

Not really, we’re really happy with how it sounds and the way it’s been accepted and appreciated by peers and professionals around the world. If anything we’d probably like to change my profile picture in the EP booklet, according to the guys I look like a queer ‘Persian prince’.

What’s your favourite song on your EP and why?

We each have different favourites, because each track has different levels of contribution from the various individuals in the band. My favourite would have to be ‘Surgical Symmetry’ as I deeply enjoy the extremely synchronised synergy between guitar and vocal lines throughout the track. There were several segments of the track where the vocal lines fit so well with the guitar lines that the three instantly knew we would never find a better alternative. It was one of those tracks where everything just seemed to come together, and we probably brainstormed the least on vocal, guitar and drum lines for this one and I love it when that happens, because otherwise you’re constantly second-guessing your decisions.

What are the subjects/themes of the songs?

The theme of the band is a deranged surgeon killing individuals who he deems unworthy of existence. People with contagious diseases or tainted characters. A quick read of the booklet in our EP case should explain this in elaborate detail.

Give us a bit of information on your songwriting process.

The song-writing process for this EP consisted of Keshav and Akshay sitting together and ironing out the instrumentals, then sending over the track to me after which we’d brainstorm on appropriate vocal lines which was followed by me penning down lyrics and selecting a good title for the song. Sounds really simple when I lay it out like this, but there are several complications that come up along the way which you have to deal with on the fly, but I suppose that’s the journey every set of artists go through while composing something as a group, there are always individual preferences and tastes it’s about how you can best accommodate everyone’s opinions without compromising on the integrity of the final output.

How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?

A. Given the fact that we’re currently in different countries, I’m in UAE (Dubai), Akshay is in Michigan (USA) and Keshav is back home in India (Bombay) composing music is quite the challenge, but we plan to exchange stuff over the internet and try to put together a few more tracks then hit the studio and record another EP in the near future.

Thanks a lot for this great interview! We enjoyed it very much!

Biopsy Bandcamp – https://transcendingobscurityindia.bandcamp.com/album/fractals-of-derangement-brutal-death-metal

Biopsy Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/biopsyband

Transcending Obscurity Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/transcendingobscurity

Interview with Khemmis

Khemmis’ début album Absolution is an interesting, exciting and fresh take on Doom Metal, combining Traditional Doom with harsher Sludge Metal qualities. It’s a sure-fire winner in my book and a firm recent favourite. I wanted to find out a bit more about this intriguing band…

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

We are a doomed rock ‘n roll outfit from the greatest city in America – Denver, CO. We like good beer, loud amplifiers, old motorcycles/cars/vans, and Iron Maiden.

Give us a bit of history to Khemmis

[Ben] I moved from Mississippi to Colorado to go back to grad school. Phil was already a student in the same doctoral program, and we hit it off instantly after talking about Saint Vitus. I posted an ad on Craigslist featuring a picture of Jawas from Star Wars carrying a Sunn Model T, and Dan got in touch with me. We grabbed beers at TRVE Brewing, where Zach, having also recently relocated to Denver and looking to join a band, was the head brewer. At the end of the day, we’re just four friends who try to write the sort of rock ‘n roll we want to hear. We are floored that our music is connecting with people.

Where did the band name come from?

[Ben] While travelling abroad, Phil partook in a ritual with the high priests of Akhmim. He awoke, alone in the desert, babbling incoherently—and the only word that could be understood was “Khemmis”.

khemmis band What are your influences?

[Ben] We each have our own personal influences, but collectively we cite Yob, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Sleep, High on Fire, and Motorhead. Personally, living in the South for most of my life really impacted how I approach music. Bands like Rwake, Deadbird, Eyehategod, His Hero is Gone, Crowbar, and Corrosion of Conformity have shaped what constitutes “heavy.”

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

[Ben] Fister – IV, Primitive Man – Home is Where the Hatred Is, Water Liars – Wyoming, Abrams – Lust, Love, Loss, Mercyful Fate – Melissa , Bell Witch – Four Phantoms, the new High on Fire (Luminiferous).

Absolution has an interesting mix of Traditional Doom and Sludge – tell us about this.

[Ben] Thanks, we’re excited that people are into our take on doom/rock/whatever you want to call it. We started as a more traditional low-tuned, mega-loud, fuzzed-out doom band. Over the course of a few years, we just naturally found ourselves playing more harmonized lines and streamlining our songs, combining our love of classic rock/metal with the visceral heaviness of amp-worshipping doom and sludge.

You strike me as a band that would be very good live – what’s the typical Khemmis show like?

[Ben] We are loud. Eyeball-vibrating loud. Bring earplugs. We try to put on a show that is both compelling and entertaining. The four of us enjoy playing music together and try to convey that through our shows. So, duelling flying Vs, a wall of amplifiers, and a band of guys who try not to take any of this for granted.

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

[Ben] I love ‘em all, but “Ash, Cinder, Smoke” is one that just evokes a lot of emotion for me, as it’s a rather personal song about loss. Plus, our brother Ethan from Primitive Man laid down the heaviest of heavy vocals at the end.

khemmis band2 What are the subjects/themes of the songs on this album?

[Dan] Each song has its own topic and meaning to us. Themes include suicide, abuse, and (when it’s time to lighten things up a bit) the apocalypse. Phil writes most of the lyrics, so the songs are largely about those things as he has experienced them, though we can all share those experiences to some degree. Basically it’s your typical, uplifting metal album.

Give us a bit of information on your songwriting process.

[Dan] Usually Ben and Phil work out a riff or two together before we play it as a band. In the rehearsal space we massage it until it feels right: we’ll play with timing/tempo, the overall feel, modifying riffs, changing structure, maybe even borrowing riffs from other working or discarded songs, and then Phil will start singing nonsense along with it all. Zach and I are usually on the same page; I think we try to take a listeners perspective and apply that to the working tune. Generally speaking, the song comes together like this: riffs first, structure, and then vocals; but nothing is set in stone and the formula is constantly changing.

How did the recording go?

[Dan] Overall, it was awesome, because we’re really happy with the result. The process definitely evoked many emotions; at times it was hard work, sometimes it was really fun, we occasionally wanted to quit, but mostly it reassured us that we loved what we were doing. Dave (Otero at Flatline Audio) was super focused when it came to vocals. He and Phil shared ideas constructively, revisiting much of what we thought we were going to do, and the finished product turned out great (we think).

How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?

[Ben] We are already writing for the next album, actually. There are Thin Lizzy moments a plenty, some hollerin’, some soaring, clean singing, and lots of heavy riffs. That said, there are already some moments that are more rockin’ and some that are more expansive than what we have done thus far, so expect some surprises.

What’s next for Khemmis?

[Ben] We are hitting the road in August and heading up to the Pacific Northwest and down through California. We are lucky to get to play with a ton of great bands on that run, including a few days with Atlas Moth, Vattnet Viskar, and Atriarch. We are also ironing out the details for a run with a certain sludge band from St. Louis later this fall. 2016 will see us head down to Texas and, with any luck, out to the East Coast at some point. Our primary goal, though, is to complete writing and preproduction for the new album by the end of the year and to return to the studio in early 2016.

Interview with Seven7

Seven7’s third album The Follower is a feast of Modern Progressive Metal that’s big on riffs and melodies. I asked Nicolas some questions about the band and their latest release…

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

We are Seven7, from around London. Luke Nelson on drums, Arran McSporran on fretless bass, Dave Brown on vocals, Sally-Jo on violin, Nicolas Meier on guitar.

Dave and Nicolas met about 10 years ago and started to write the basic songs and looking for the sound of Seven7, mixtures of heavy grooves, tribal, with some world sounds and instruments. Big melodic choruses and crazy guitar parts. Year after year, Arran, then Luke then Sally joined the band.

We are now on our third album (The Follower) and we are really happy with the writing and the sound. We also have 4 videos out, including “Free” and “Fall” from our latest album, “Run” from Under Eye and “Changing” from Different world.

Where did the band name come from?

The number 7 has been following me a long time, kind of a good luck number. Then I saw already bands with 7 so we went for Seven7…

What are your influences?

Lots of type of metal, but we can use Korn, Alice in Chains, Dream Theater. But also a lot of world music and classical music too…

Seven7 Band What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?

Well I just came back from Brutal Assault in the Czech Republic and really enjoyed Sepultura, Kreator, Triptykon, Vader, Annihilator and Cannibal Corpse… loved it all.

Otherwise I just got a beautiful album of a jazz pianist on ECM Records called Marcin Wasilewski.

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

I love the song “Why?”, because it’s epic, it’s prog, it’s heavy and has some world music elements and very melodic.

What are the subjects/themes of the songs on this album?

Our singer Dave needs to reply this one… but “The Follower” the song is about sects… crazy leaders and blind followers. It’s about a cult, any cult. A man who joins the cult and he can’t leave.

If you listen carefully to the samples in the midsection of “The Follower”, one of the samples is Charles Manson. He tells you to do something and you have to do it, if not he is going to do it for you…

Each song has different subjects but quite dark; “Free” is about a man who gets accused wrongly and stays in prison, but finally escape; “Fall” is about a plane crash, and 2 men surviving; “Business” is about selling drugs; and “Magic Box”, a box of Hell.

Give us a bit of information on your songwriting process

Well in general, I come up with the music, send it to Dave, get some feedback, and when he is happy we record the demo. Most of the time I write with an acoustic guitar, and we say a good song should sound good with one guitar or with a full band…

How did the recording go?

I have a home studio, so does the drummer Luke, so we can get a great quality ourselves.

How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?

That’s always a surprise… but I guess it’ll start from The Follower.

What’s next for Seven7?

More concerts, festivals next year, more videos and hopefully a new album soon…

Interview with Behold! The Monolith

The latest album from US Doom Metallers Behold! The Monolith has landed like a falling box of iron weights. Architects of the Void is a varied and exciting release that takes Doom, Sludge and pure Metal into its emotive embrace and produces an album forged from heaviness and darkness. I wanted to find out more about this album so I cornered their guitarist Matt Price…

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

Hello, I’m Matt and I play guitar for Behold! The Monolith.

Give us a bit of history to your band

Well, it was something I started doing by myself in 2006…just for fun, for myself. Just stockpiling and demoing riffs here and there. I met our bassist and vocalist Kevin McDade in 2007 and just did a bit of off and on jamming with him, then at the beginning of 2008 we decided to make it a band. We just started writing and recording and playing shows. We put out an EP and two full lengths ourselves. Then in June of 2013 Kevin died in a car accident. Our drummer Chase (who has been with us since 2010 or so) and I took a little time off but decided to move forward. We have since added Sasquatch bassist Jason “Cas” Cassonova and Fractalline vocalist Jordan Nalley to the ranks, and here we are about to put out a new album “Architects of the Void”.

Where did the band name come from?

It was just a name I came up with when I first started compiling riffs by myself, just so it had an identity, you know? I originally just wanted to call it ‘Monolith’, but there were already 4 or 5 bands using that name. I’ve always loved the word ‘Behold’. I’ve always listened to Judas Priest’s “Sad Wings of Destiny” starting with what is technically side 2 with the song “Prelude”…I think that was how the band intended. Anyway, the first word in “Tyrant” is “Behold! (tis I the commander)”. It’s just such an epic word. I had forgotten about it and was trying to think of names and someone said it on TV and I was like “that’s it!” and put ’em together. So when we started the band we wound up just going with that.

What are your influences?

As far as the band is concerned, too many to mention. We all come from different backgrounds and tastes with heavy music. Cas is the Stoner Rock guy and a lot of Jordan’s background is with Prog and Death Metal. Chase and I are into a lot of classic Metal and old Progressive Rock, plus I’m into dark, weird stuff and riffy Doom and Sludge type shit. I think we pretty much all come together on Black Sabbath, but we are pretty all over the place.

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

Since we got done recording I’ve just been mostly listening to a lot of old, mostly Proggy stuff like Yes and early King Crimson. As far as new, new stuff, I’m digging the new Arcturus album, and the new Cattle Decapitation is pretty sick. Not my normal “go-to” stuff but my brain needs a break from the slow and low stuff lol.

There’s a variety of different styles on this album, incorporating Doom and Sludge as well as bits of Classic and Post-Metal. How did this arise from your songwriting?

It’s just a catch all of the stuff me and the other guys like. I’m not a huge fan of the whole sub-genres of sub-genres thing. I get that it serves a purpose to some for categorizing or keeping things pure or whatever. But I think a Death/Doom thing or something inspired by Zeni Geva can co-exist with a part inspired by Angel Witch or Iron Maiden if it’s approached the right way. It keeps things interesting, to me anyway. It’s not like we are truly “genre-splicing”…to us it’s all just Metal or Heavy music at the end of the day.

Behind the obvious fact that it’s being released for wider consumption, this strikes me as quite a personal release. In my review I say “This sounds more like music played for the sake of musical catharsis and outlet than for the need to simply rock out or any such thing” – is there any truth to this?

Yes! Particularly for this album. I know we put a lot into this one. Losing Kevin was really hard on me and Chase, and we really wanted to do right with what we started with him. I think we were all going through our own personal stuff on one level or another, so there was some genuine release there, especially in hindsight. This one just hit a deeper chord in all of us I think.

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

That’s a tough one actually! I could tell you what my least favorite one is, but I won’t do that haha. Right this second I’d say the album intro “Umbral Vale” into “Philosopher’s Blade” could be my favourites because they were actually the very last things we wrote right before we recorded, and they were completely written fresh and with the new lineup in mind. But I really love “The Mithriditist” and I really like the way the song “Architects of the Void” closes out the album.

Tell us about the album artwork

The art was once again by Dusty Peterson. He’s just great. He’s always gotten what we’re going for and this time he just knocked it out of the park! I had a basic idea or two in my head, and he just nailed it.

How did the recording of the album go?

It was at times awesome and at others really stressful. We had a few technical issues, mostly with equipment and whatnot. But I think some of the frustration may have actually benefited the performances.

How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?

It’s hard to say. We can plan for one thing but it can very easily wind up sounding like another. I have been going down the Prog wormhole lately – and I feel like we abandoned a lot of our vibey space-rock I originally wanted to do, so maybe more of that. But who knows? There’s a lot of potential and the slate is clean right now.

What’s next for Behold! The Monolith?

Getting this record out! And some touring for sure. We really want to make it to Europe, that is at the top of our list for sure. And there has been talk of getting right back into writing…but I’d say promoting “Architects of the Void” as much as possible is the priority right now!

 You can order it here https://beholdthemonolith.bandcamp.com/album/architects-of-the-void

Interview with My Silent Wake

My Silent Wake’s eighth album Damnatio Memoriae is full of dark magic and heaviness. I quizzed main man Ian Arkley about this latest release…

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

We are My Silent Wake, a UK based death/doom band with many other influences. We were started ten years ago from the members of the final line-up of Ashen Mortality minus my ex wife. I am also the founding member of Seventh Angel and other bands and projects over the years.

Give us a bit of history to My Silent Wake

We were formed in 2005. We have recorded eight albums and 2 split albums and played in various European countries. Although we have had a number of line-up changes I have always been the main vocalist and guitarist in the band so the sound hasn’t completely changed over the years, though it has developed in various directions. We have recorded acoustic and ambient music as well as death/doom and like to keep things flexible rather than be restricted in the style of music we play.

Where did the band name come from?

It was something I came up with and have very little memory of why it came about. I’m sure I wanted the meaning to be slightly ambiguous. I remember our drummer commenting that it sounded like My Dying Bride. I couldn’t see it at the time, but it has been commented on since and I think this gets us compared to them when a lot of our music is nothing like them. It is so hard to come up with a band name that you are always going to be happy with but I think it works fine.

What are your influences?

Having said all that, MDB are (of course) an influence as well as many other doom bands, other metal and rock bands, death/doom and Gothic bands. I would say some of our main influences would include Trouble, Sabbath, Paradise Lost, MDB, Dead Can Dance and Zeppelin. I am also a fan of medieval and folk music which comes to the fore in our acoustic songs.

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

Right now as I type this, Sorcerer. I listen to a wide range of music that has recently included: Obsequiae, Attrition, Hawkwind, Pentagram, Grand Magus, Roy Harper etc….At Bloodstock fest this year I enjoyed: Agalloch, Wolf, Nuclear Assault, Lawnmower Deth, Opeth, Conan, Ihsahn, Enslaved, Godfesh and Rob Zombie to name a few.

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

Not sure which I like the best, but probably The Empty Unknown. I wrote the lyrics and Adam wrote the music to this and I think it has come out well especially with Greg Chandler’s huge vocals which are interspersed with mine and Martin Bowes’s atmospheric synth in the mid section.

What are the subjects/themes of the songs on this album?

There are a variety of thoughts and meanings in the songs but I can put the main ideas within them in a nutshell ‘Of Fury’ is about destruction of property, people and ideas by tyrants, religious leaders etc and those that follow them in this; ‘Highwire’ is about being split in your ideas and directions; ‘Now it Destroys’ is about the end of a relationship; ‘Black Oil’ is about depression and the damage done by certain experiences in life; ‘And so it Comes to an End’ is about infidelity and the after effects; ‘The Innocent’ is about the abuse of vulnerable people such as children; ‘The Empty Unknown’ is generally about the need to rebuild and redeem yourself after a massive loss and it talks about the suffering felt during those times; ‘Chaos Enfolds Me’ is similar in its subject matter to ‘Now it Destroys’

Give us a bit of information on your songwriting process

No set process, just coming up with ideas and forming them into a song – sometimes lyrics first, sometimes music. Sometimes the songs are a collaborative effort and sometimes written by one member so there really are no rules.

How did the recording go?

Great! It is always both fun and productive working with Greg and the studio is a fantastic place to record. I think the sound on the album is perfect for the songs and the results are better than we could have hoped for. As usual we didn’t have much money to spend on this but it was our biggest budget out of all the MSW albums. I love Greg’s production as it seems to retain some rawness and is extremely heavy, unlike a lot of modern production. We had previously recorded ‘Silver Under Midnight’ and the Seventh Angel album ‘The Dust of Years’ there. I knew Greg back in the Ashen Mortality days but we got back in touch when I saw Esoteric in Bristol. That was an amazing performance which required getting my ears syringed.

How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future, and what’s next for your band?

Not sure about direction musically, as this depends on how the songs develop and come together. We have no set rules for the way we want an album to sound but maybe a loose idea of the overall direction. In the near future I hope to get a live album done with at least one new song and a ten year anniversary double compilation. I have been working on some more medieval ideas with my friend Luke, who played with us on the split album with Pylon. We are also making an announcement of a new member very soon.

Thanks for the interview!

Interview with De Profundis

Paul Nazarkardeh, (guitarist), was kind enough to answer a few questions about the latest De Profundis stormer Kingdom of the Blind. This is the second interview I’ve done with this exceptional band, the first occurring shortly after their Frequencies EP was released; I think it’s important to support good music wherever and whenever you can, and De Profundis are one of the best Death Metal bands in the UK at the moment. A bold claim? Not if you’ve heard Kingdom of the Blind…

For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself

As the interview title probably suggests – we are De Profundis. We hail from the United Kingdom and play an intricate, mercurial form of death metal, free of gimmickry and bullshit. In truth, the best possible introduction to De Profundis can be found in the first song of our upcoming album Kingdom Of The Blind – Kult of the Orthodox. It introduces us better than I possibly could here.

Give us a bit of background to De Profundis

De Profundis has existed for 10 years, and have evolved and transformed much in that time. Kingdom Of The Blind will be the band’s 4th LP, following on from last year’s Frequencies EP. The band have played in 24 different countries alongside names some familiar names such as Immolation, Marduk, Rotting Christ, Malevolent Creation in 2009 supporting the legendary Iron Maiden in India. Needless to say, the band has kept busy.

De Profundis 4 Where did the band name come from? For me it will always remind me of a Vader album!

Haha – some would say Vader, some might say Abruptum, some might even think of Oscar Wilde. The term translates from the original Latin as ‘From the Depths’.

What are your influences?

Since De Profundis hasn’t always been the same collection of 5 individuals (hell, since I joined on guitars in 2013 in the grand scheme of things I’m pretty new) the collection of influences in our music don’t remain constant. The name Death is often mentioned in reviews, which is pretty justified. Chuck Schuldiner’s work has had a massive influence on me, as it should on any extreme metal artist with a functional pair of ears. Other than that it varies. Personally, when we wrote Kingdom of the Blind I was listening to bands like Carcass, Akercocke and Atheist as well as copious amounts of King Diamond/Mercyful Fate. I’m sure the other members of the band would give very different answers.

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

Well, as I’m writing this I’m listening to Ulver’s Bergtatt. I’m not sure why I find myself listening to so much black metal in the summer months – testament to the farce that is the British summertime I suppose. As far as new releases by bands, that becomes a lot harder. The new Paradise Lost is a great return to form, and I’ve high hopes for the new My Dying Bride. What I’d prefer is for some new music to be recommended to me!

There’s a lot of involved, intricate playing on Kingdom of the Blind, including some quality bass-work. How do you go about writing and arranging your songs?

The beginnings of a song usually come from me or Shoi. We’ll bring some guitar riffs we’ve been playing about with along to rehearsal and start bouncing those ideas off each other. As you can hear, Arran is by no means a typical bass player. Rather than us prearranging lines for him, he works alongside us to come up with bass lines that compliment our playing. Our frontman Craig then handles quality control, which he’s rather good at as he certainly isn’t afraid to tell us if an idea that we’ve been working on sounds like shit – which keeps us instrumentalist musos in place.

De Profundis 3 Do you ever see yourselves writing ever longer and longer songs in the future? I can imagine, potentially, you becoming more and more Progressive in the future.

Way ahead of you – De Profundis have a whole discography worth of longer more drawn out songs. With this album we’ve sought to do quite the opposite – trim the fat and leave only muscle. Earlier De Profundis material is full of longer, slower songs, but that isn’t what this current incarnation of the band represents. Kingdom of The Blind is the first De Profundis album that I feature on, and I can say both as a member of the band and a fan for many years that this streamlining in favour of the acute over the obtuse is part of the reason why Kingdom of the Blind is undisputedly the best De Profundis album to date.

Progressive is an interesting adjective. Although I agree with you, I think it’s a word that is horrendously abused in metal, especially in this day and age. It seems that every ten minutes I hear another flavour of the month band regurgitate the same hackneyed and insipid clichés under the supposed buzz word of “progressive” music, when anyone not sucked in to the paper thin marketing can clearly hear that the far more fitting term would be “regressive”! On the contrary, I think that De Profundis has been a band that have been progressive for the majority of it’s existence and I think that on Kingdom of the Blind this is rather evident, as it also is in the bands previous record The Emptiness Within. That being said, no two De Profundis records are the same – which is an ideal any truly progressive band has. No-one calls the early Morbid Angel records progressive, but at that time there were very few bands who would have the nerve to write anything as unorthodox as God Of Emptiness, and that’s what I consider to be a progressive mindset.

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

I have a few. I’ve a special fondness for Illumination, as it was the first full song I was part of the creative process for. I can’t possibly neglect to mention the sheer ferocity of Kult of the Orthodox or the morbidity of All Consuming, but another favourite of mine is Thrown To The Wolves, with it’s juxtaposition of left-field guitar work with straight up old school death metal aggression.

What does the future hold for De Profundis?

Kingdom Of The Blind is finally set for a release on September the 28th of this year under our new label Wickerman Records. Though we’re looking forward to the release, we don’t like to sit idly by waiting around either. We’re already well into the creative process of album number 5. De Profundis will also be hitting the road shortly after the release of the album with two of death metal’s biggest names, where we intend to help as many people unfortunate enough to not know of us as possible by exposing them to the Kingdom of the Blind.

Interview with To the Pain

US Classic Metal/Thrash band To the Pain’s latest album 7 is a feast of delicious Metal delights, albeit one that’s over far too quickly for my liking! The very amiable Steve kindly answered my questions about the band…

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

Hi those unfamiliar with our band…where have you been? We are To The Pain!!! We are a METAL band from Long Island, New York. We formed in 2012, and just released our 2nd album, “7”. The band is Johnny Intagliata- Vocals, Jimmy Klimatas- Drums, Craig Piano- Rhythm Guitar, Jeremy Lustig- Bass Guitar, and me, Steve Shaver- Lead Guitars. Check us out on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ToThePainNY or Twitter at https://twitter.com/ToThePainNY

Give us a bit of background to To the Pain

To The Pain formed in 2012, as a band. Originally it was a recording project of Johnny and Steve. We were just re-recording a few old songs we had written in the 80’s and a few new ones. We decided that we really should get a band together and play some gigs. So we recruited Jimmy and Jeremy, and our original rhythm guitar player Mark Trojanoski. Mark eventually decided to leave the band to follow Janick Gers around the globe to learn the fine art of marching in place, and we got Craig Piano to replace him. Here we are now, making lots of loud noises! (Sometimes even in key!)

Where did the band name come from?

The band name is from the movie The Princess Bride. There is a duel scene in the movie, and instead of battling to the death, they battle To The Pain! Mark thought of the name, and we all thought it was slightly better than any other name we could think of, so we kept it!

What are your influences?

The bands influences are definitely the Big 4 of American Thrash Metal, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, and some other band who’s name escapes me. Also Iron Maiden, King Diamond, Judas Priest, Racer X, and of course Mariah Carey. (Just kidding)

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

Not sure what the other guys are listening to, but I cannot stop listening to the new Lamb of God album. Its brutal, heavy, and I think one of their best. Also the new Symphony X album. They have been playing nonstop in my car. Both great albums, and vastly different.

What’s your favourite song on 7 and why?

Tough question. My fav is probably either “Seven”, or “Is It My Turn To Die”. I was real happy with the solo in “Seven”, and the crazy tapping part in the outro of “Die”. Oh yeah, and there is some decent song in there too. LOL. If you made me choose, I would pick “Seven”. I just like the groove of it, and I like the anger in Johnny’s voice. Although some dope on Deadspin called it the worst song he ever heard because he didn’t like the lyrics. So to that guy, suck it! Actually I feel if people love your stuff, some people are going to hate it too…nobody ever 100% approved of any idea or song.

How do you feel you have progressed between releases?

Well the first album as I said was really just going to be a recording project, so I wasn’t really that concerned with who else was playing on it, or their style of playing, or anything like that. A lot of what Jimmy played on the drums were parts I played on the demos. This album, is way more of a polished band playing the songs. Johnny shook off the rust from his vocal cords, and the rest of the guys in the band really brought it on the second album. I also think we found our groove as far as the style of music we play. On the first album we tinkered with some new school metal ideas and on this album I kind of threw them out the window. We all like the classic stuff, we are good at playing that, so we stuck to it. Not to say there aren’t any newer types of influences, but you can really hear the classic style in our album. I also have always looked at the band song-wise as trying to write like early Van Halen. What I mean by that is Van Halen played all kinds of tunes. There was variety in their music. They just didn’t play 10 versions of “I’m The One”. You had “Ice Cream Man” and “Running With The Devil” along with “On Fire”, etc. We tried to have a vast array of styles, but with that classic feel. There is some Priest inspired playing, but also some Slayer and Anthrax inspired playing. Definitely a lot of Maiden inspiration throughout the guitars on this.

So far both of your releases have been quite short – what’s the deal? MORE THRASH!

LOL. I would love to write a full length album and release it. But the truth is, we just don’t have the time to sit down and write and record the full album. This album has 6 songs, plus an orchestrated intro that I wrote. It very easily could have been 4 songs, as I made the call to add “Is It My Turn To Die” and “Don’t Eat The Eyes” in the 11th hour when Jimmy was doing his drum tracks. Its funny, people say we are a thrash band, but I consider us to just be a metal band. Sure we play some thrash, Heavens Carnage is certainly thrash. But we also play Dio/Maiden inspired metal like Don’t Eat The Eyes. If I had to say what we are, we are a metal band. But if someone wants to call us thrash, or speed, or retroclassicmetalrockwhatevergenreIjustmadeup, that is fine too. Getting back to not recording a full length, because we do all of this ourselves, and I am mixing and recording everything in my house, and not in a studio, its tough to find time to add more songs. But we will try on our next one! I promise!

What does the future hold for To the Pain?

Hopefully the future includes some shows with some established artists…and some bigger and better venues. We do pretty well for a local band drawing folks to shows, and we have some awesome fans that just go bananas at our shows. So we are hoping to grow that fanbase, and move on to bigger and better things…Oh and write longer albums with more songs for you!!!! Thanks for taking the time to interview us, and check out our album! We really do appreciate all the opportunities and the reviews, both good and bad that you folks in the press give us.

Interview with Designs of Chaos

Designs of Chaos’ new EP The Darkest Storm shows once again what a fertile breeding ground the UK is for Metal bands. Let’s find out a bit more about this promising band…

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

We like to think of ourselves as a modern metal band from London, nothing fancy, no technical sub genre to hide behind, just plan and simple metal. Some say technical death metal, we just like to say metal. We play fast, we hit hard and we sing about stuff that has meaning to us, and we enjoy ourselves while we do it.

Give us a bit of history to Designs of Chaos

Designs of Chaos has been around for 7 or 8 years in one form or another, but we’ve only recently become the band we are today. Several members have come and gone, but it wasn’t until Jay joined as our frontman 4 years ago that we’ve felt that we were the band we wanted to be. Jay forced us to play faster and heavier than we had in the past and took us in the direction we always wanted to go. We have come a long way since our humble begins and we try to bring influences from all the members of the band to deliver the package we’ve become.

Designs of Chaos 5 Where did the band name come from?

The name was thought up by a couple of ex-members, they liked the juxtaposition of the order in chaos, they pitched it to us and we liked it, it just kind stuck from then on.

What are your influences?

We have a vast array of influences, each member has quite a different background, Dean is an old school thrash head and loves bands like Exodus, old school Metallica, Sepultura and even more modern bands like Lamb of God. So we get a lot of our fast thrashy roots from his love for that style. Jay has a more modern post hardcore, technical death metal influences which is where his vocal style comes from. All the band has similar bands we all draw from like Lamb of God, Meshuggah and Metallica, so we just throw it all together and see what comes out the other side.

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

The new Lamb of God album is sick, plus the new Between the Buried and Me is really different. Also look out for the new Enabler album that’s pretty awesome as well.

The Darkest Storm has a much more aggressive edge to it than some of your peers – is it important to you to keep this intensity and heaviness in your sound?

That’s what we like, we’re not really into melodic vocals at the moment, we might go down that route one day, but it’s not where we are right now. We enjoy heavy and fast paced song therefore we play that style. When someone brings in a new song or a riff we all have to be feeling it to get it to work, we’re very critical of our own work like that, but we’re all in it together so we all have to like our output or it’s not going to work.

You strike me as a band that would be very good live – what’s the typical Designs of Chaos show like?

We get great feedback from people at our shows, we just give 110% and really try and give people a good performance. Jay especially tries to really engage with everyone in the crowd and get everyone involved, jumping around the stage like the crazy monkey he is, we all go nuts for how ever long we’ve got, it’s exhausting at times but such a rush!

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

It’s fair to say we all have a special place for Darkest Storm in our hearts. For us it’s more than just a song we wrote. It was written and partially recorded right before our close friend and drummer died last year. The lyrics are about having someone there for you during tough times, so we all felt it spoke to us when we lost him, and we all drew strength from each other to get us through, what was our darkest storm.

What are the subjects/themes of the songs on this EP?

I’ve already spoken about darkest storm, but Social Phantom is about how the social media has connected us so much that we know more people than ever before and yet are just as isolated as ever. You watch vicariously as “friends” are out having fun, but they never see you, or they might interact with you online then blank you totally on the street. The social media frenzy of late is really weird and we tried to address that.

Designs of Chaos 4 Give us a bit of information on your songwriting process

I’ve already touched on it really, but generally Dean or JD will bring a riff into the studio and we’ll jam it out, and start to work on the composition, Jay does all the lyrics himself and tends to wait until the song is more or less complete before finalising his lyrics, we all jam through the track as much as possible and really hammer out the dents until it’s a smooth and polished piece.

How did the recording go?

JD is a wicked recording artist, and we did all the recording with him, either in a studio or just at his home. It was the first time we’ve ever recorded in this style as historically we’ve always gone into a studio and recorded everything over the course of a couple of weekends or something so this was a little alien to what we’re used to but it allowed us more time to get everything perfect.

How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?

Right now we have been focused on getting our last EP out to everyone, so we don’t know how our songs will form next, we’ve got a few things kicking about which we are working on, but nothing solid as of yet. We just want to make good metal songs that we and others enjoy, who knows where that thinking might take us.

What’s next for Designs of Chaos?

We’ve got a few shows lined up in the future and we’re just going to be getting out there and trying to play to as many people as possible. We’re playing Beermageddon in August and we’re all looking forward to that, then we will continue to look for shows around London, and who knows we might even get to do a UK tour in the winter.

Interview with Deathwhite

Deathwhite’s latest EP Solitary Martyr is a professional 25 minutes of polished Melodic Metal. Find out more about them below…

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

We are a trio of musicians spread across the United States, coming together with the sole purpose of creating new music together. We do not play live, so our efforts are limited strictly to the studio.

Give us a bit of history to Deathwhite

We formed in 2012 under the idea to play darker, melodic metal. Given our current locale, it was decided early on that we would not play live, but rather be a studio entity. The approach has worked well thus far. In 2014, we released our first EP, Ethereal, and are following it up with Solitary Martyr.

Where did the band name come from?

Our name is derived from an Omnium Gatherum song, which dates back to their 2003 album, Spirit and August Light. As you are aware, coming up with a proper band name is a difficult task. However, we feel “Deathwhite” is a suitable one, for it doesn’t pigeonhole us, although there is a severe proliferation of bands with the word “death” in their name. We are simply adding to the list.

What are your influences?

Our main influences would be Katatonia, Anathema, My Dying Bride, Alcest, Isis, Junius, and Green Carnation. Surely there are countless more lying beneath the surface, although we try to be a band that doesn’t prominently display its influences on its sleeve.

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

A band of tremendous influence would be the Netherlands An Autumn for Crippled Children. Vocally, we are worlds apart, yet their melodic phrasing, penchant for atmosphere, and memorable nature of their songs is utterly captivating. They cannot be recommended enough.

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

“Suffer Abandonment” is certainly a favourite, although all five songs have their merit. It was released as the EP’s first “single” because it was probably the most immediate. On the vocal-front, it’s probably the best representation of what the band is capable of as well. It was an easy choice to release first.

What are the subjects/themes of the songs on this EP?

The themes range from self-doubt (“Pressure”), frustration with organized religion (“Suffer Abandonment”), the treatment of marginalized people based on their demographics (“Vain”), withstanding the urge to fall in line with the faceless sheep of the world (“Solitary Martyr”) and how people need to do a better job of owning up to the decisions they make in life (“Only Imagined”).

Give us a bit of information on your songwriting process

Because none of us reside in the same city, all songwriting work is done via computer. Files are traded, ideas are exchanged, then we firm the songs up prior to hitting the studio. The band’s previous version often rehearsed in-person, but that’s simply not possible with this lineup. It actually makes the whole process much easier, believe it or not.

How did the recording go?

The recording of Solitary Martyr was about as effortless and enjoyable as one could hope for. Brette Ciammara is a total pro, and is a master at getting strong, professional sounds. Plus, he did plenty of post-production work that enhanced the album. There’s not much more you could ask for in a partner like him.

How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?

Deathwhite will never undergo a radical change in direction, but we are planning on adding keyboards to our sound. It’s unlikely we will take the bait of having growled/death metal vocals, either. Clean, well-sung vocals are very much the strength of the band, and, it’s a challenge to write for them. The end result, though, is worth it once everything is put together.

What’s next for Deathwhite?

Right now, we are composing songs for a full-length, which should see the light of day in 2016. In addition to that, we will be promoting Solitary Martyr throughout the remainder of the year.

A sincere thanks for your support,