Interviews – Page 23 – Wonderbox Metal

Interview with Expenzer

Expenzer’s début album Kill the Conductor is a no nonsense, no frills Thrash album that hits the spot. Their vocalist Tom gave us some more information on the band…

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

We are Expenzer, a 5-piece Thrash Metal band from Switzerland. We create Metal that is alive and evolving. Formed in 2014 we just released our début album “Kill The Conductor”.

Give us a bit of history to Expenzer

All members of the band played together in various combinations on projects and have a long history together. I (Tom; Vocals) joined the the four guys (Jeff and Sean: Guitars; Reto: Drums; Lou: Bass) who just played their last gig with their old band Pigskin that existed for about 18 years. They looked for a new singer to restart the band, and it felt right from the beginning. But it was a different thing, so we decided to change the name too. With the focus on all our individual strengths, we created a monster that just tasted its first fresh blood…

Where did the band name come from?

We wanted to call the band Bud Spencer (hehe) … but then we thought it was a bit to lame just to steal a name…. I mean you have to live with that then….but we liked the sound of the words, so we came up with Expenzer. It means nothing, just sounds cool and we are in good company with the EX- at the beginning…

What are your influences?

The spirit of the untamed Thrash Metal. All dudes in the band are very into stuff like The Haunted or Testament, Pantera, Darkane… just bands who took this kind of music and put their stamp on it. We all are not bound to a certain style and there would be so much you could miss if you just focus on a genre, but with Expenzer we want to make music that we are rooted in, that’s our homebase.

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

Oh man…this could fill a double page…I worked for a long time in a CD store and still talk about bands without end… I just check my albums, ah here..

Sadus 2006 Album Out For Blood (A pissed off singer & the coolest bassplayer and a super weird/angry production ).

Anacrusis 1991 Manic Impressions ( Visionary music, still ahead of it’s time.)

Non Human Level 2005 Self titled: ( project of Darkane, Meshuggah and Devin Townsend Band musicians…you get the point)

and some newer cool shit:

Alkaloid 2015 – The Malkuth Grimoire ( Death Metal in the spirit of Gojira, no blinders here.)

Gorod 2012 A Perfect Absolution ( So much music to discover on this; songs, not just riffs.)

Zatokrev 2015 Silk Spiders Underwater ( A Swiss Band, heavy as fuck, Neurosis-like)

And always every Overkill Album….

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

I think our album works the best, as a whole. Each song fulfils its purpose in the order we’ve put it on. We just rehearsed today and “Play for the Deaf”, fourth song on the record, just feels awesome to play live. I look forward to every part of the song, it flows and kicks you in the teeth at the right times. Tomorrow I’ll maybe say the same thing about another song, I love them all…

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

Most of the time I try to put the music into words. I like Metal Songs who sound like Monster Movie Titles, “A Dying T-Rex”, “Lightspeed Heartbeat” or “The Silence of The Amps”, just come to mind over a certain riff, then I write the lyrics around it. I don’t have a concept or a defined message, I just paint bloody pictures over killer riffs….

Give us a bit of information on your songwriting process.

On “Kill The Conductor” Jeff wrote most of the stuff. 3 Songs came from Sean and 1 from Lou. We all work on songs by ourselves, we can trust each other that no bullshit will come through, and if so we are vocal and open about it. I get the instrumental version of the song and, as mentioned , try to support the riffs and rhythms and give the ugly baby a name….

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

I think you can’t make plans on that. I have a vision for the new stuff, but so have the other four guys in the band. So our goal is to combine the strength of everybody, to create the best we can at that moment in time.

What’s next for Expenzer?

Play gigs as often as we can, record the next album and have fun playing exactly what we want and know what that is.

Interview with Locrian

Locrian’s new album Infinite Dissolution is a highly textured and multi-faceted release that requires repeated spins to really make its wonders known. In an effort to delve deeper into all things Locrian I got in touch with keyboardist/vocalist Terence…

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

I’m Terence and I play keyboards and do vocals in Locrian. I live in Baltimore while the other guys live in Chicago.

Give us a bit of history to Locrian

We started in 2005 as a duo of just Andre on guitar and myself on keyboards and vocals. In 2009 Steven joined on drums and we released “The Crystal World”, we’ve collaborated with Mamiffer, Christoph Heemann and Horseback.

Where did the band name come from?

Andre came up with it, it’s a mode in music theory but it’s also a lost civilization in antiquity.

What are your influences?

It’s really diverse, for the band it’s a lot of progressive rock, noise, German kosmiche music, Industrial and metal – everything from Voivod to Emperor. Personally I would say Einsturzende Neubauten, Skullflower and Brian Eno are big for me.

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

The new Container LP just titled LP is nice. Chaos Echoes “Transient” LP is beautiful I think.

The cover for Infinite Dissolution is pretty special – tell us about this

I am a visual artist and I used to be an art critic and had to review a show that I saw some of David Altmejd’s early work in. I’ve always been enamored with his work and just kept following it as it got bigger and more immersive. Anyway I thought a mirror was kind of this negating surface to compose with mirrors is a way to dissipate an image or presence – it just fit.

Is having a visual aspect to accompany the music an important thing to you?

Absolutely.

Locrian Band 2 What are the subjects/themes of the songs on this album?

The extinction of humanity. By the elements and by our own doing.

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

The whole album is a story you can’t really pick one – just listen through.

Your songs are quite complex and feature many different parts – what’s the creation process like?

Thank you. Our process is very intuitive we use the studio to create and we just want to surprise ourselves and the listeners. I don’t think there is much new under the sun but I hope we can try and get people excited.

How did the recording go?

Great! We recorded at Electrical Audio with Greg Norman in our favorite space, studio B. It was great. I got to use their Mellotron and an EDP Wasp. Just a great time.

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

I’m not sure, we kind of go where we want and where the narratives go.

What’s next for Locrian?

Well we will be playing on the west coast in August 13-22 and are really excited to get there and celebrate our decade of existence in November with some special dates in the Midwest.

Interview with Desolate Pathway

Traditional Doom Metal band Desolate Pathway’s début album Valley of the King is best savoured loud and is a very engaging listen. I was moved to find out more about the band…

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

We are Desolate Pathway. A traditional Doom metal band from England playing some Epic style music and telling a bloody good story.

Give us a bit of history to Desolate Pathway

I started the band originally as home based on my own while I was between tours with Pagan Altar. When the band became less active I decided to bring the project to life and start a real band in 2014.

Where did the band name come from?

Strange one really but I found a lot of bands I grew up on had a 2-word names and thought that worked really well. I wanted something dark, gloomy and sinister-sounding.

What are your influences?

Black Sabbath for the riffs, Manowar for the storytelling and Candlemass for the Epic doom style.

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

The new Sorcerer material is excellent. We have also been compared to these guys so that’s superb.

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

It changes every gig because I see the audience react differently but overall Shadow of the Tormentor. I think that track has like every influence I have in there and I think it’s the only track people can really headbang too.

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

It’s all a mix up of Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings. Lots of Epic battles, sword fighting and castles. The whole album is a concept based on a prince trying to reach a castle to take the throne but he and his army encounter lots of supernatural and evil things during their journey. Each track unfolds the story in full so it is recommended to listen in one session.

Give us a bit of information on your songwriting process

I have an idea in mind then I write the guitar work first in demo form then add lyrics to them. After that the other guys do their bit, we rehearse and change things up until we are all happy to record.

How did the recording go?

I did all the guitars in my home studio. This way I have the luxury of time to make it perfect. After that we set ourselves deadlines to practice and complete. It was really a great experience but we have learnt a few things to take on board for the next album.

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

They already have developed. We are now making the guitars more full with double tracking each guitar, more than one harmony in a riff section and more Epic.

What’s next for Desolate Pathway?

We have a single due for release on 31st October.
On the A side we have Kostas Solomidis who is the lead guitarist of Greek band Sorrows Path.
He is playing the 2 solos on a track named ‘Into the Realms of Poseidon’.
After that we are finishing our 2nd album that will be solely based on Greek mythology, so the single beforehand is a foot into the album.
To keep update visit our website at http://www.desolatepathway.com

Interview with Witch of the Waste

Appearing like a violent hurricane of multi-textured chaos out of their native Canada, Witch of the Waste’s latest EP Made of Teeth is a dynamic and savage listen. Guaranteed to perk the interest of anyone who is into challenging and exciting music; I wanted to find out more, so delved into their world of rather amiable extremity…

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

We’re a Canadian band that plays fast, and weird music.

Give us a bit of history to Witch of the Waste

I started this band with a buddy. We found some friends to play in it. We wrote a demo, then wrote an EP. People were kicked out, people left. Unremarkable story really. What matters is that we always found a way to differentiate ourselves from our influences while still staying true to them. People have found it hard to pin us down because of that and we think that’s pretty cool.

Where did the band name come from?

It’s a reference to the Hayao Miyazaki film Howl’s Moving Castle.

What are your influences?

Everything from Converge, Gorguts and Russian Circles to Pink Floyd and Sigur Ros.

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

I’ve been super into the new Modest Mouse record. They have never disappointed me. I would also recommend our friend’s Exits who just released their first full length. It’s fast. Scope it out.

Where do you see yourself fitting in in the international Extreme Metal scene?

We are very much a product of Vancouver. Our scene is very densely packed with bands ranging from crusty metallic hardcore, techy metalcore to stoner doom and everything in between. Crowds here are also super open and down to hear new things which I feel is fairly rare. I think if we start looking at aggressive music with a wider scope I would say Belgium sticks out like a sore thumb. Oathbreaker, Rise and Fall, or Young and in the Way are all bands that we sort of liken ourselves to. It’s hard to pin down a specific genre because I can only think of a handful of bands but I suppose even something like Catharsis fits into that. Sort of Atmospheric Hardcore I guess you could call it. Either way I think we could find ourselves very happy in a place like Belgium. Also: they are wicked into beer.

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

My favorite is They Haunt Minds. I feel like we were really able to nail our aesthetic and package it in something quick and terrifying. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to accomplish.

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

I don’t feel like giving away much because I do feel it’s important to allow our work to remain ambiguous and let the listener have their own relationship with the songs and lyrics. If they feel it means one thing and I say it means another than that dissonance can be harmful. Besides, what do I know? I only wrote it. So without spoiling anything I can say that it’s a discussion of loss using imagery lifted from ghost stories and horror movies. There is probably also some True Detective in there. It’s really hard to have consumed True Detective and not be influenced by it haha.

Give us a bit of information on your songwriting process.

This line up is very different from the one this band started with. Songwriting used to be like pulling teeth. It’s very collaborative now. A song can stem from a guitar hook, a riff, a bassline or even just a feeling. It’s been extremely productive.

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

Made of Teeth was an exercise in boiling down our sound to a base aesthetic. I think we want to keep going in that direction but write with a wider variation of tempos and volumes. Fast songs faster and slow songs slower. Loud songs louder and quiet songs quieter. We want to expand on what sorts of songs we write.

What’s next for Witch of the Waste?

We are planning to tour Western Canada and the West Coast of the United states as well as writing for our next release. We’re actually the busiest we have ever been and it’s been really awesome.

Interview with Ilsa

Ilsa are one of the best Sludge Metal bands out there. After the electrifying Intoxicantations and now their crushing new album The Felon’s Claw, I’ve been privileged to fire some questions at their drummer, Joshy…

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

Ilsa is comprised of five people: Orion is the vocalist, Joshy (me) plays drums, Tim plays guitar, Brendan also plays guitar, and Sharad plays bass guitar.

Give us a bit of history to Ilsa

We formed in early 2008 after the guitar player in our former band tried to punch somebody on the other side of a window that happened to be closed. After that, due to a lack of connected tendons in his arm he couldn’t play guitar, and we started Ilsa as a way to take up time while he recuperated. Obviously Ilsa ended up being the main band for us after that.

What are your influences?

Musically I’d say our influences are Bolt Thrower, Amebix, Asphyx, Townes Van Zandt, Dead Moon, Morbid Angel, Burning Witch, The Plasmatics, Thin Lizzy, a bunch of other stuff.

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

At this very moment I am listening to Pink Floyd, I would recommend them very highly. Other stuff I’ve been into lately would be Alan Parsons project, Primitive Man, Forn, honestly I listen to a bunch of really lame shit like Air Supply and Chicago and things like that. I’ve really been into Eddie Hazel lately, I think he’s a really underrated guitarist. Oh and the Saga demos from Iron Age are amazing!

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

I wanted to make the heaviest most thought provoking yet lunkheaded album ever recorded.

How do you go about writing the songs?

Generally I write songs in my basement and record them on my computer, then bring them to practice and show everybody and we go from there. Or somebody will bring some riffs to practice and we’ll work with them and build them there. I personally write much better when I’m by myself in my little dungeon

What can you tell us about the lyrics?

Well Orion would be the best at explaining the lyrics, but I can say that one goal that he has always had was to think of our songs as spells and our concerts as rituals. I don’t personally believe in mystical or supernatural powers, but I think that if words were capable of any tangible power like you would find in a ritualistic setting then it would be the veracity behind them that produced it. In that sense, I feel like our songs would have more power than you would find at any church.

What is your favourite song on the album and why?

I think my favorite is Buried In the Bedrock and Concrete of Our Cities, because I think it’s the most successful in my attempts to make a song that has memorable, heavy, and simple riffs.

What do you feel the main differences are between Intoxicantations and The Felon’s Claw – how have you changed between the two releases?

I don’t think there’s a ton different between the two, except I think this one is more focused. I think we were able to approach the idea of making music that is as stripped down as we could make it while still retaining a certain amount of brutality and heaviness in a way that we hadn’t been able to before.

Are you happy with how the album turned out?

I’m very happy with it. It’s my favorite album yet. Of course there are always things you wish you could have changed or tweaked in retrospect, but there are way fewer of those things on this album than any before it.

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

Like I mentioned before, the goal for me is to make songs that are as simple and basic as they can be without being boring. I think there are few things that sound as good as a heavy guitar with a solid, driving beat behind it to bang your head to. That’s really all I’m personally trying to do with Ilsa. The other guys may have different goals, but so far whatever our individual ideas are they seem to all be reachable by the same approach, so that’s good.

What’s next for Ilsa?

We’ve got a couple of splits coming out, one with the awesome Japanese death/doom band Coffins, and one with the Hardcore/D-beat band Greta. There’s another split that could possibly happen, but it’s too early to talk about at this point. If it does work out, it could possibly be the heaviest split ever released! We’ve got a few local shows coming up, and we will be playing at Don’t Call it a Fest in Detroit this year with Eyehategod, In Cold Blood, Noisem, and a bunch of others.

Interview with Neck of the Woods

Neck of the Woods’ début EP is an exciting blend of Progressive Metal and Hardcore fury, one that’s really made itself felt around these parts. I was eager to find out more about this compelling new band…

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

Dave: Neck of the Woods is a five piece metal progressive metal band from Vancouver, BC. Myself and Travis Hein on guitars, Jeff Radomsky on vocals, Jason Puder on bass and Jeff Brown on the drums.

Give us a bit of history to Neck of the Woods

Dave: Jeff Drums and I starting jamming back in 2012 after my old band split up. I had one song ready to go and that got the ball rolling. We found the other guys, mostly through Craigslist, and the plan was the keep the band on the down low until we were ready to play our first show. We released a two song demo in 2013 and made our live debut January 2014 ready to go. Just a couple months later we were chosen to represent Vancouver in the Waken Metal Battle Finals in Toronto. We didn’t make it all the way to Germany but we had opening gigs for The Faceless, Havok and Wrecthed shortly after we returned. Hit the studio in October 2014 and here we are now with our debut EP!

Where did the band name come from?

Jeff vocals: When we were picking a name we wanted something that wouldn’t pigeon hole us as a metal band, something that looked good in type and was easy to remember. ‘Neck of the woods’ was something I remembered my dad saying all the time as a child, it fit our criteria and goes along thematically with the art and design I wanted to do while hosting a kind of pacific north west feel to it. We’re all happy to be playing under the name.

What are your influences?

Dave: There are a couple key bands we all really enjoy. Between the Buried and Me, Gojira, Every Time I Die, Opeth, Misery Signals, Converge…

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

Dave: I’ve been listening to a lot of Cloudkicker lately. The album Beacons especially. Instrumental stuff, really cool grooves and riffs. If we’re hanging out having beers we’ll toss on From Parts Unknown, the latest Every Time I Die album.

Neck of the Woods Band Your début EP contains a number of different influences, where do you think you fit in the wider Metal scene?

Dave: Wherever we land really. We naturally end up writing in the ‘progressive’ style. Regular use of odd time signatures and cool transitions, quieter clean parts to help with the build ups… but our singer Jeff has more of a hardcore sound so it’s a cool blend. We really don’t limit ourselves when it comes to the style of riffs we write, so you never know!

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

Dave: Right now, I Know Where I’ll Bury you. Which is strange because there are no guitar solos on it haha. We ended up choosing that tune to release as the single from the EP, and now kids are going off when we play it live! We’ve been closing our set with it as of late and you can’t help but throw down the whole time. Feels good man.

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

Jeff vocals: Self awareness and personal growth are the two main things that all 6 songs branch from. The EP touches on faulty leaders, close friends, family grievances and the quarrels of endorsements.

Give us a bit of information on your songwriting process.

Dave: Travis and I are always riffing, but only certain ones will make the cut. One of us will show up with a decent chunk of a song started… the first couple riffs or the general feel/groove and then we build from there. Play it a couple times, see if we need to extend/shorten certain parts. Usually we’re just hashing it out in the jam space, but lately we’ve started recording riffs and sending them to each other just to help things along.

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

Dave: Hard to say, and that’s the best part. The EP has a pretty good mix of longer prog tunes, and short riffy bangers. I can see that being a consistent thing with us. Actually the new song we are playing has more of a Opeth groove going on. We had a chance to play it at the EP release show and it was really well received. At the same time we’re working on a new thrasher tune that has some Revocation style stuff happening… so we aren’t slowing down just yet!

What’s next for Neck of the Woods?

Dave: We’re got Calgary Metalfest in June and Armstrong Metalfest in July, as well as an all ages gig and another local show in between so we will be busy. Hopefully hit the road again in September to support the EP, and keep on the riffs so we’ve got enough for a full length next year! Make sure to check out the album stream at https://neckofthewoods.bandcamp.com/album/neck-of-the-woods

http://www.facebook.com/neckofthewoodsmetal

Interview with Ashtar

Ashtar’s highly recommended début album Ilmasaari successfully treads the line between occult Doom and Blackened vitriol; a 46 minute ritual that will leave you begging and gasping for more. I decided to find out a bit more about the creative force behind the band…

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

Marko: We are a duo from Basel, Switzerland, playing some kind of blackened sludge doom. Before forming the band, Witch N. was the bassist of the female doom band shEver, I am the drummer of the space doom band Phased. We met for the first time when these bands played together four years ago.

Give us a bit of history to Ashtar

Marko: We started to rehearse in 2012. Witch N. played the guitar and I sat behind my drums. Like that we developed some first ideas but didn’t really know where the way would lead us. We knew we wanted to stay a duo though. After a while we had some songs together and recorded them between December 2013 and April 2014 in a studio in Greifensee, Switzerland. It was the studio of a guy called Mäthe Imboden who’s very much into the Zurich black metal scene and friend of bands like Bölzer. We played all the instruments on our own. That means: We started with the drums and rhythm guitar riffs as basics and recorded the bass, growls, clean vocals and lead guitars as overdubs. Later Greg Chandler of Esoteric, whom shEver had already worked with, mixed and mastered the album in his studio in Birmingham. And in January 2015 we played our first gig with two guest guitarists.

What are your influences?

Marko: We love the modern intellectual metal bands that mix black metal and doom. Many of them come from France or Finland.

Witch N.: Beside other sources of inspiration we like bands such as Glorior Belli, Oranssi Pazuzu, Wolvserpent, Blut aus Nord, Dark Buddha Rising and Eagle Twin.

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

Witch N.: I am constantly trying to discover new underground bands in the sphere of sludge, black and doom although I was a bit neglectful recently… I’d like to mention Laster, Atriarch, Portal, Altar Of Plagues, Sea Bastard, Inter Arma or Bastard Sapling. Besides I do listen to older bands like The Chameleons, The Jesus And Mary Chain or Samhain.

Marko: I also listen to a lot of music that doesn’t sound like Ashtar at all: 70’s prog, kraut, shoegaze, 80’s new wave, modern jazz. It’s difficult to recommend something particular at the moment – well, I always go for Pentagram.

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

Marko: Nothing particular, actually. We just wanted to play other parts in a band than we had before as bassist and drummer. We wanted to do a record with our own songs and play all the instruments on our own. We just felt the need to do our own thing finally.

Are you happy with how it turned out?

Marko: Yes, we are very happy with it. Most of all it wasn’t self-evident for us that the guitars would work that well because they’re not our main instrument. I mean, of course you could always do something better or different if you listen to a record afterwards, but at some point you just have to let loose and hope it still feels good later. And we think it does. It does have a dark atmosphere that spreads through the whole album.

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

Witch N.: I honestly like all of our six songs, but if I had to decide I would say «Des siècles qui éternellement séparent le corps mortel de mon âme». It’s the most personal song regarding the lyrics, and from the musical approach it starts as the most «black metal» song and then develops into the most representative song for the music of Ashtar. And last but not least: It’s great to scream and growl in French!

Marko: My favourite song is «Celestial» because of its many mood and rhythm changes and because I’m particularly happy with my guitar work in the second part of the song. But I think every song on «Ilmasaari» has it’s own character. So I really like all of them.

What can you tell us about the lyrics?

Witch N.: Generally I do not like to analyse my own words – the listener should be as free and unprejudiced as possible. For sure I don’t want to tell a story with my lyrics, I’d rather want them to be some sort of poems. I see them as an addition to the musical atmosphere, even though I write my lyrics without listening to the specific song. I try to create a special feeling, mood or vibe, to draw a certain picture.

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

Witch N.: The songs on «Ilmasaari» emerged from one or two riffs and jams in the rehearsal room. We always knew quite quickly if a riff had the potential to become a song or not. When a song developed we defined the structures and recorded it as a basis with one guitar, drums and lead vocals. At home, we listened to the recording and tried to add some bass lines, more guitars and vocals. The songs were not completely finished when we entered the studio though – «Celestial» for example developed mostly in the studio. That it turned out to be one of the most intense songs of the album was the proof for us that spontaneous creativity worked very well!

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

Marko: We have no idea because we never plan where we’re going musically. We don’t say: Now we want to sound like Glorior Belli or whoever. We just play and see what happens next.

And what’s next for Ashtar?

Marko: After the release of the CD and tape version of «Ilmasaari» on June 8 we wait for the vinyl to come out in early autumn. And then we plan to tour in winter and spring.

Interview with Ichor

Ichor’s third album, Depths, is a thoroughly modern aggressor that drowns the listener in blast beats and hyper-aggressive brutality. I got to explore the darkened reaches of the sea with vocalist Eric…

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

Hi , we are a five piece extreme death metal bastard from Germany . We like the horror of the deep sea and live by the code of metal! Drinking beer and listening to metal all night!

Give us a bit of history to Ichor

Ichor started blasting in 2008 and shortly after in 2009 the début full length “the siege” was released via Bastardized Recordings. We started touring immediately, playing a lot of live shows all over Europe supporting bands like Aborted, The Black Dahlia Murder or Benighted. When we weren’t on the road we wrote songs for the next album Benthic Horizon which was released in 2010, again via Bastardized Recordings and re-released in the UK via Siege of Amida. Again we started touring relentlessly and worked on our latest record Depths which was released last year.

What are your influences?

I would say that our main influences are polish death metal bands like Behemoth, Hate or Decapitated and some old school american death metal like Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation and Morbid Angel. Everyone in Ichor has kind of a unique taste in music, not only metal but throughout all kinds of genres and everyone brings new ideas to rehearsals. But we don’t see music as our only source of inspiration. The deep sea for example has a huge impact on our work, the secrets that lure deep down in the unknown, its cataclysmic force which destroys everything in it’ way once it is unleashed.

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

Behemoth’s The Satanist, Watain’s Lawless Darkness, Whitechapel’s This is Exile, At the Gates’ At War with Reality and Vader’s Litany.

What’s your views on the current state of Death Metal in 2015?

The development is going crazy, more brutal, more faster, more tech. It is fucking amazing how many good bands are out there, I would love to buy every single CD, but my pockets are always empty har har! Sometimes I am loosing the focus out of all these bands, but there are many talented kids out there.

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

As I said, we are really big fans of the polish scene and we’ve recorded in the same studio as Behemoth and Vader. Our aim is just to play extreme death metal which we like most, just to live our metal way of life. Of course it’s not easy to be outstanding, we just wanted to play some great metal shows and blast some shit out to the crowd and drink some beer with good old friends.

As this is your third album, how do you feel you have progressed since your earlier work?

Yes, we have changed in some way. In the early days we’ve had more modern death core elements in our sound and nowadays we are blasting more than ever. No mosh just blast beats.

Are you happy with how Depths turned out?

Yeah, we’re satisfied with the outcome. We would never release anything which is unsatisfying for us. Of course in retrospect there are always things which we could have done better, but it’s no use to be pissed off about things like that. Sometimes when you hear the songs you think, ah damn, I could have done that differently, or play this harmonic or whatever. But that’s part of the process as an artist. It makes you wanna try harder on the next record, get to a new level and when you have reached that new level, technically or in terms of composing and songwriting, you produce and release a new record, be pissed off about that and so on and so on. That’s progress 😀

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

The Heretic King it shows the whole spectrum of the band.

What can you tell us about the lyrics?

Depths is about the end of the world as we know it. Most of the surface gets destroyed by an asteroid and humanity divides itself into people who stay on the surface, being heavily mutilated and those who were forced to find a new place to live in the depths of the sea. They form a new civilisation, hybrids of humans and underwater creatures. Depths describes the inevitable war between those two societies.

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

Usually we just start jamming for a while. When we find any harmony, riff, rhythm or something else that we think could work in a new song we look into that and try to build it up, play variations of it. Most of the time we feel right on the spot whether it will work or not. But sometimes one of the members writes a song at home, records it and sends it to the others so that they can work with it at home and when we meet in rehearsal we can directly start playing. Both kinds of processes work for us.

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

I think we will try some new elements perhaps more heavier stuff like Desire of the Depth. Expect the unexpected is usually said hehe.

What’s next for Ichor?

We started writing songs for the next album. We will take our time to make it sound as good as possible, we’re definitely trying to reach a new stage, beyond Depths and everything we have done before. But until that, we are planning to play a lot of live shows and touring Europe. As much fun as writing and recording is, the best part of being a musician is playing live, seeing different cities and meeting all those crazy-ass metal people out there.

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Interview with Profanity

Profanity’s first release in over a decade has been their storming new EP Hatred Hell Within. Containing 20 minutes of absolutely top-notch Technical Death Metal, it put Profanity firmly on my radar and, if there was any justice in the world, should definitely find a place in every Extreme Metal fan’s collection. I traded words with guitarist/vocalist Tom to find out more about this supremely talented band…

Give us a bit of history to Profanity

Hello Nigel, so I will try to keep it short, but 23 years of being in Profanity makes it not easy to keep it short!

Profanity was founded by myself in the year 1993. With this first line-up we recorded two demos. But the music on both demos has not much to do with Profanity sounds today. It was a weird mixture different styles. The reason for this is simple, it was hard for me to find people which wanted also to play Death Metal in the style of Monstrosity or of course Death at this time. So everybody threw in what they liked. That was also the reason for me to change the line-up. I knew there was a crazy bass player out there named Martin who was also very into the Death Metal style I wanted to play. So after some meetings Martin joined Profanity, and it was just perfect. We also needed a drummer who also wanted to play fast and technical. The girlfriend of Martin at this time knew one, and his name was Armin. She managed to get a meeting with him and so he came into our practice room one day, made his drums ready and that was it. It was one of those great moments…Armin was fantastic.

So from that time on we worked together as a three piece and it worked very well. We all had the same motivation, to create something “different“, I mean we had the same vision of how our music should sound. Our first “try“ were the songs which we recorded for our first full-length “Shadows To Fall“. But a very sad thing was, before we did the recordings Martin had to quit with Profanity because of a very sad family situation in his life. There was no other opportunity for him, but we had the luck that we had found Daniel. Daniel had the same intention like us and was also the same Death Metal head like we are so Daniel practiced all the stuff for “Shadows To Fall“ and in 1997 we recorded it. It was released by ourselves.

From 1997 – 2000 we played a lot of great shows and we also got in contact with Cudgel Agency from Germany. Our first colaboration with them was the split 7″ which we did with Lividity from USA. The name of the seven inch was “Drowned in Dusk“. We had also new material written for our next release and so they released also our second full-length in 2000. On this record Martin was back in Profanity, so Martin recorded the bass guitar on this album. His family situation was now good again so he came back to Profanity. Daniel wanted to try something different and all was very cool so.

We played a lot of shows again and 2002 we got the great chance to go on a European tour with Cryptopsy, Haemorrhage and Spawn. So we did and for this reason we thought, it was a good idea to release something new. We made another 7″ called “Humade Me Flesh“. We recorded three songs, “Humade Me Flesh“, “Zombie Ritual“ from Death and “Fear of Napalm“ from Terrorizer. Then in 2004 it should be our last show for a longer time. We played in New York with Exhumed, Misery Index and Uphill Battle and a few days later on the great Maryland Deathfest. This was our last concert.

We always wanted to write new stuff but it’s not easy or almost not possible when you are working 40 hours per week and at weekend you are out on the road to your shows. So we decided to make a break from playing live. We fully concentrated on writing new stuff, and so we did. We wrote eight new songs whith a playing time of 60 minutes and the stuff is absolutely great. But sometimes things go an other way. The “normal“ life just took place. I got married in 2006 and now we have three girls. Martin got also married. We all went and studied further education and each of us started at a new job. So at these years there was not much time for Profanity.

But in 2011 the time was there again and the fire was still burning of course. We started to practice and also played a live show. Then we decided to start recording by ourselves the material we had written in the years from 2003 – 2006 and so we did. But another sad thing happened. Martin and his family decided to move from Germany to Australia. That was very sad for us. So we cancelled all confirmed shows and we also stopped the recordings. But maybe it’s destiny, Daniel got back again. We never thought of this! So the thing was we wanted to release something new as fast as possible so we decided to release an EP with the three songs we had recorded so far. Daniel practiced our live-set and so we were able to play live again in 2014 and our EP came out in December of 2014. So here we are now, 2015. All is perfect, we play live shows, we are working on our next full-length and we will see what the future will bring for us.

profanity

What are your influences?

I think all kinds of music we are all listening to are our influences of course. But when it comes to Death Metal, Suffocation, Cryptopsy, Hate Eternal, Dying Fetus, Necrophagist, Death, Morbid Angel, Deeds of Flesh…I think the list would be endless. This is stuff we all like in Profanity. But from the first days of the band we always had our own vision of extreme music. With every release of us I think we are getting closer to that vision. We don’t want to copy stuff, being creative feels so good and when, for example, all recording is done and you take a step back and listen to your own stuff, that feels great. We have many new ideas and we are very excited about how it will turn out. The journey of finding our final vision of extreme music will go on.

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

At the moment, ha…I am listen to Leprosy from Death. A classic album of course. I like also the new Cryptopsy stuff, very cool, new Sinister is great, too. New Dying Fetus “Reign Supreme“ is stuff that I like. Oh I don’t have to forget Aborted’s “Necrotic Manifesto“, awesome stuff, such a brilliant mixture of technique, straight-forward, blast stuff…it has everything you need! I like so many bands, and I am listening to so much stuff. Isn’t that a great thing?! Death Metal for me is just more then music, it’s definitely a part of my life. Every day when I am biking to work, I have my earphones and while cycling I am listening to crazy stuff like Suffocation – Pinnacle of Bedlam……

Are you happy with how your new EP turned out?

Yes, absolutely. Everything is the way we wanted it to be. We got mazing cover artwork, done by Federico Musetti from Italy. To work with him was just amazing. The Hatred Hell Within he created for us is just amazing. The same thing what concerns the studio. We recorded the three songs with a total playing time of 20 minutes by ourselves and mixing and mastering we did at the Iguana Studios, owned by Christoph Brandes. He is also responsible for the great albums of Necrophagist. So he is absolutely familiar with technical Death Metal. He has all the equipment and of course the know how, how to get the best result out of our music. We wanted to have of course a brutal sound but for us it was also very important that you can hear what every instrument is playing. We put so much time into the bass lines and it would be sad if you are not able to hear what the bass is playing. Christoph is the man, and I think with our next release we will go to him again. We also got the opportunity to release this EP on a label, so Rising Nemesis Records from Germany gave us this opportunity and we are very happy with that.

The songs on this EP are “I am your soul“, “Hatred Hell Within“ which were both written in 2004 and “Melting“, which is the newest one. I wrote that song in 2010 when there was a bit of time.

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

Our songwriting has changed over the years and for myself as a musician this is very interesting. We had times, when the first parts of a song were created by, oh that drumbeat sounds good here and do here a splash and there a ride and so on and this way we went through a whole song. For us it worked very well. When we had the feeling, ok, the song is done I wrote all the guitar and bass parts fitting to what the drums are playing. It worked but now, the guitar parts come first, or sometimes the drum parts are first. But that is what makes it so interesting. For example “Hatred Hell Within“ I had in mind to write a song which is like a stream. I mean the song structure. When a stream or a river is flowing, the water will pass never the same place again. The waters flows around stones and here and there but the water wants to move on. So I decided to write a song in which part A will be only played one time and part B also only one time and so on, hard to explain. “I am your soul“ does not have such a complex song structure I think. The song is very hard to play, for every instrument but the song structure is not so complicated I think. The best thing, just listen to it. That would be the best I think. Just let the music do the talking ;-).

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

I don’t have any favourite song on this EP. All three songs are different, all songs are written from another perspective that concerns songwriting. Every song on this EP stands on its own. Every song is its own picture and all together, every song is a part of our vision of extreme music.

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

We have still some material of 40 minutes to record from the years of 2003 – 2006 and that stuff is amazing. It has just to be recoreded but this will for sure take us quite a while. Everything you want to be good needs time, the same of course with our music. I think the stuff we have for our next release “The Art Of Sickness“ is the sickest, the most brutal and of course the most technical stuff we have done so far. But for us the most important thing is the song itself. We don’t want to just be technical or brutal and stuff, we want to write good music. We see all things as tools and we have many of them I think and we will use them, just to create extreme music, our vision of extreme music.

What’s next for Profanity?

We already have started with the recordings because we also want to use the little break we have now from live playing efficiently. In April we played our last show and the next will be at the amazing Deathfest in September in Germany. The headliners are Nile, Suffocation and Asphyx so we are very excited about that. We have to find a good way, to get all things managed. I mean to keep in shape for our live shows, to have time for the recordings, doing all the “promo“ – stuff for Profanity and of course to stay healthy and have time for our families and our kids. That’s not always so easy.

But the thing is, once infected by a virus called Death Metal, there is no chance for healing. I hope that we all in Profanity will have a good time and we are very looking forward to create “The Art Of Sickness“. We will see when the time will be there to go into the studio and we will see how all things will turn out.

Nigel, thank you very much for doing this interview and many thanx of course for your great support of Profanity. We really appreciate this! Keep on blasting, Tom and Profanity.

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Interview with A Secret Revealed

A Secret Revealed have recently released their début album The Bleakness. Bleak it may be, but it’s also a Post-Metal tour de force. Join me, as we attempt to pierce the darkness…

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

Hi! And first of all: Thank you for the interview! We are A Secret Revealed, a five piece band from Würzburg/Germany. We play Post-Metal anchored in melody with equal measures of Black Metal and Hardcore influences and just released our first full length album “The Bleakness” via Bastardized Recordings.

Give us a bit of history to A Secret Revealed

The band was founded in 2012. After releasing our first EP “Lay My Memories To Rest“ we had several line-up changes and played shows with Bands like “Agrypnie“, “Der Weg Einer Freiheit“, “Ära-Kra” and many more. In 2014 we found our final line-up and recorded our début album in collaboration with Nikita Kamprad. We know each other for a long time from different bands in our hometown and so it was quite natural to form a band.

What are your influences?

All our band members have different musical backgrounds, so our musical influences are quite various and reach from Post-Rock to Black Metal or even Pop. Overall other Post-Metal Bands like Devil Sold His Soul, Cult of Luna or Pelican are the biggest influence for us.

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

At the moment I’m listening to a lot of bands. But these I’d like to highly recommend. If you don’t know them, you should give them a listen:

Fjørt – D’Accord
Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Stellar
Capsize – The Angst in My Veins
Red Apollo – Altruist
Polar – Shadowed by Vultures
Oathbreaker – Maelstrøm
Devil Sold His Soul – Blessed & Cursed

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

Of course we also wanted to reach more people with the album, but most of all it’s very important to us, that everyone who listens to “The Bleakness” can feel the atmosphere and empathize with the deep despair that we pack into our songs.

How do you write your songs?

Our guitarist Ralle and I usually compose all our songs at home and record a pre-production of them. After everyone in the band listened to it and approved it, we rehearse them and work on small changes if necessary. Once a song is instrumentally finished Lukas or our vocalist Paul add the lyrics to the song.

Your sound takes in a wide-range of different styles. How did you decide what you wanted to incorporate into the album?

To be honest it wasn’t a real decision which styles made it into the album, it all happened completely natural when we wrote the songs. Nevertheless the most important thing for us is that, whatever kind of idea someone comes up with, the idea/the riff should support the atmosphere and fit into the song.

Are you happy with the final result?

We are very pleased with the final outcome. For our recordings we collaborated with Nikita Kamprad (Der Weg Einer Freiheit) who is responsible for the powerful and differentiated sound we wanted to achieve. We are very satisfied how everything worked out in the end. Of course there are always some new ideas and stuff that came into our minds after finishing the record, but these ideas have to wait for the next songs.

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

This is a real hard one. Eventhough i like every song in its own way, I personally like “Drowning” the most. This song changes between fast blast beats and slow atmospheric clean parts and the guest vocals of Nikita make this one very unique.

What can you tell us about the lyrics and theme of the album?

We think the whole album is very good summed up by our title “The Bleakness”. All of our songs deal with a lot of personal struggles, disappointments and experiences. Even though every song stands on its own, they all create a melancholic and oppressive ambiance and make the album work in its entirety.

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

That’s hard to say, because we just released the album, but there are already some new ideas coming up. We think that our songs probably will be longer and a little bit more atmospheric.

What does the future hold for A Secret Revealed?

Near-future plans are definitely booking shows and promoting our first full length record. We don’t really know where this journey will take us and what we can expect to happen but we are highly motivated and can’t wait for the upcoming months.

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