Interviews – Page 26 – Wonderbox Metal

Interview with Neverworld

Neverworld’s debut album Visions of Another World is a talented and energetic display of Metal prowess. I wanted to find out a bit more about them, so I quizzed lead guitarist/vocalist Ben Colton about their impressive début and the universe of Neverworld…

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

Hello! I’d describe us as an epic/traditional/progressive metal band. We try to take all the best elements of the old school styles and put a fresh twist on it. Come and check us out!

Give us a bit of history to Neverworld

Well we were born in late 2009 forming from the demise of a couple of bands. Basically I was trying to put my old band Sentinel back together but when I couldn’t get everyone on board, those of us that were formed Neverworld. It’s been a busy and brilliant 5 years. We’ve worked very hard behind the scenes and it’s slowly starting to pay off. We’ve been very lucky with gigs, reviews and our fantastic fanbase right from the start. In 2010 we released our début EP ‘Welcome To…’, hit the road for a couple of years and back in March finally released our début full length album ‘Visions Of Another World’!

Tell us about your band name – where did it come from?

Picking a band name in this day and age is incredibly hard! Everything’s been done before so choosing a suitable name was difficult. We wanted a name that reflected our vision. Something with huge scope for song writing ideas and imagery. Right from the off we’ve considered ourselves to be an audio visual band and Neverworld just fitted that perfectly. It’s the place where we all go to when we go to sleep. The dream world if you will, where anything can happen!

What are your influences?

Personally I have loads. My taste is generally metal but quite diverse. I just love great well played well written music. I really admire bands who do something different every album but retain their signature sound. Bands like Fates Warning and Winger deserve a special mention for that. I’m also a huge fan of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, King Diamond, Manowar, Crimson Glory, Redemption, Mr Big, Thin Lizzy, Slaughter, Kings X right through to stuff like Alice In Chains, Dan Reed Network, Blue Oyster Cult etc. It’s a huge list and I could quite easily be here all night! I have a massive CD collection and I’ve probably been influenced by most of it at some point in my life!

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

I’m about to release an album with my side project All Seeing Eyes so that’s getting a lot of my attention atm! The new Winger and Fates Warning albums are great. I’ve also been listening to Dan Reed Network and The Mob quite a bit but in terms of new bands or music I’ve just been introduced to I’d have to say go and check out my buddies Avenging Benji, Elm Street, Neuronspoiler and Wardrum. Insanely talented musicians and song writers and there’s a fantastic prog band from Italy called Astra. Amazing stuff

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

As much as possible really. We aren’t silly and we aren’t on a major label. There’s only so much we can do but what’s important is reaction and the reaction has blown us away. We’ve been blessed with great fans and glowing reviews. Something I’m very proud of. Sales wise it’s done quite well too. All in all we are happy with what it’s done. It’s paid for itself and our CV looks a lot better now than it did before its release!

Are you happy with how it turned out?

Absolutely. Mainly because of what other people have said about it. I think there comes a point when you’ve heard it too many times and your own judgement becomes clouded. All you can do then is turn it over to the people that matter and cross your fingers which is exactly what we did. It was a very hard and long process making this album so in the end we were happy it was finally done!

What can you tell us about the lyrics and any themes/stories the songs have?

The themes of the album are quite diverse. We have a duet about a vampire and a girl falling in love. Sounds like Twilight right?! Not so, never even seen it. Very much influenced by Let The Right One In and Bram Stoker’s Dracula that one. We have a track about the movie They Live which is one of my favourites, there’s a song all about revenge, one about being haunted by spirits. There’s kinda something for everyone I think on the album. The track This Fire is all about having a desire so strong the flame will never go out. We’ll be experimenting more with themes on the next album and exploring Neverworld a bit more.

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process

Well a lot of the first album was written a few years back. When we started out we needed 5 songs so we could go out and play live so I sat in my room and wrote some riffs quite quickly, took them to the studio where the others could have a say about it and laid them down. We were just a 4 piece then. Our original keyboard player left before we’d played a single show! So it was quite a straight forward process. Tracks like Ghosts and Eminent Reprisal came about a bit later and had more band involvement. We’ve started writing the second album already and it’s a completely different process now. Everyone’s involved. We are all sitting there in the studio laying stuff down, changing each others ideas slightly and stuff like that. The next album will very much be a complete team effort and I’m loving it. This band has some brilliant musicians and they all have their own influences so it’s going to be interesting to see what we come up with!

How did the duet with Christina Gajny come about?

I’m quite an impulsive fellow. I literally woke up one day and thought wouldn’t it be awesome if we did a male/female duet. I went on my laptop and started looking for a good lady singer. The first one I came across was the amazing Christina Gajny! I thought wow she’s the one. I messaged her but didn’t hear anything back for about a month! I figured she didn’t wanna know! Luckily she did reply and we wrote Blood And Romance. The rest is history! She’s a very talented young lady so I consider her involvement an honour. It was also a masterstroke because of her we had people actually turn up to see us when we started playing in London! Haha! She’s a great girl and if we do ever need a female vocalist again she will be it.

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

As I said earlier the song writing process is already under way. We are trying to write the ‘perfect’ album. Visions got a lot of great reviews but we have to better it. It’ll be tough but a task we are all up for. As far as music goes I believe in progression. I think that’s a really important part of being a musician. No part of us wants to make the same album again. The next album will have a lot of depth and variety. There will be out and out rockers, a couple of epics and hopefully some more prog style tracks. It’s early days yet but we have 6 ideas on the go at the moment and all are sounding like they could make the album. I’m excited and I think Neverworld fans should be too! Like I said we are on a mission to better Visions and we won’t stop until we have!

What’s next for Neverworld?

We play our final show of the year on September the 20th in our local club. Looking forward to that one. We are playing with Desolation Angels, The Deep and Death Valley Knights. All great bands so should be an epic night. Then we are concentrating on the follow up album. With our début we were recording and playing shows all over at the same time which didn’t really work. The album got delayed massively because of that and we don’t want to do that again. So we plan to hit the studio in a big way and get about 15 tracks done. The best 10 will make the album. We will also be making a video soon for a track off the new album. Really hoping we can get this all recorded this year and then spend next year back on the road. That’s the plan anyway! Wish us luck?!

Good luck!

Interview with Sorxe

The début album by Sorxe – Surrounded by Shadows – is an absolute stunner of an album that will hopefully find Doom fans everywhere frothing at the mouth in anticipation of getting their grubby mitts on it. It really is that good.

I manage to catch up with Tanner Crace to find out what makes this band tick, and just how they created such a good début…

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

We are Sorxe from Phoenix AZ .
Shane Ocell – Drums ,
Tanner Crace – Guitar , Vocals and Synths
Christopher Jason Coons – Bass
Roger Williams – Bass

Give us a bit of history to Sorxe. Also – why two bassists?

The band was formed in the summer of 2012 after Shane and Myself jammed out a few improvs. When looking for a bassist to complete the sound we each had a bass player in mind. Both Roger and Chris already knew each other so it was just natural to have both guys join and just roll with two bassist, it felt right and sounds HUGE!

What are your influences?

Its like what are we listening to now or what influenced us while we were making a particular song? Hard to say cause at any time there could be a number of different influences during the writing process.

Shane is big into Helmet and the Melvins, I have always been partial to Mike Patton for his range vocally and also his choice in melodies. Old Metallica, Soundgarden, Nirvana and Pink Floyd is a big one, all the cliché. I learned the most from two specific groups – Fantomas’ 1st album was a huge eye opener in that there are absolutely no rules in music that one must follow and then Neurosis for the use of space and textures, peaks and valleys in their music.

We all love so many bands and different kinds of music this list of influences could be a book.

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

T-Rex – the slider, Pallbearer’s new album – Foundations of Burden and Take Over and Destroy – vacant face.

The vocals on your album are especially impressive. Anything to reveal about them?

I try to add some variety to the vocal lines, and I also like to texture certain passages, the phrasing is the most important part, lyrics come 2nd. The vocal phrasing is written usually in the early stages, and most of the lyrics for this album were actually the last thing written – some times the lyrics don’t come till I’m actually about to lay down the vocal track – since we recorded the album on our own terms I had the time to experiment and write the lyrics while recording.

What did you want to achieve with your new album? Any specific goals?

We just wanted to put out a dynamic album packed with music that can best possibly portray where we are as a band right now. And also something that will leave a mark on the people who enjoy the tunes.

Are you happy with how it turned out?

Yes, we are proud of having done everything ourselves. But I will never do it like that again cause its a major time consuming bitch!

Sorxe Band 1 What can you tell us about the lyrics?

The lyrics are for the listener to interpret in their own way.

Your songs are richly textured and very well composed – give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

Most of our songs come out of improvs, a lot of the riffs we jam out in practice and then I’ll have Shane lay down some beats and refine them later on back at my home studio. Then bring them back to the rest of the guys and work out all the kinks. We don’t really sit down by ourselves and write, that would defeat the purpose of this bands mission.

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

We are just still learning how to write together so I feel that we will get a lot tighter, and more comfortable together in our jams which will lead to better songs. I already have an outline for the next album based on about 20 songs/riffs that are in the back catalog. Its going to be a lot deeper, darker at times and lighter at times.

Tell us about the Sorxe live show.

Loud, relaxed and crushing.

What’s next for Sorxe?

The 1st half of October we will be on our 1st tour with Godhunter, then Southwest Terror Fest opening for Neurosis in Tucson Oct 18th.

Interview with Fornicus

Having recently released their début album Storming Heaven, Fornicus are ready to make a mark on the Metal world with their bitingly aggressive take on Black Metal. Curious about the band, I asked their lead guitarist some questions…

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

I am Kelly McCoy lead guitarist. The rest of the band is Scott Briggs-vocals/guitar, Chris Carver-bass & David Snow- drums. We are black/death metal from the bowels of central Kentucky that tends to appeal to old school ears.

Give us a bit of history to Fornicus – what are your influences?

Scott and Chris formed the band having known each other from a previous band they played in years ago. Scott had recorded David’s previous band and knowing they were no more he was asked to join. I came last to the line-up. Scott and I play in a blasphemous gore grind band together where he is on drums and I found out that Fornicus was looking for lead player so I gave it shot and made the cut. I personally am influenced by Carcass, Slayer, Morbid Angel, Death, Dissection. … I know the other guys like many of the same as well as Emperor and I recall Chris saying Miley Cyrus.

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

Visceral Disgorge, Ghost B.C., Abominant, Fornicus, Gorgy, Nevermore, Nifelheim, Watain, Broken Hope, Carcass, Vulkodlak. Just a few off the top of my head staying regular in the playlist.

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

Not to come across as arrogant but just to make and be a part of music I like to hear. I am sure all our goals may differ in way but short of world domination just enjoying our own music is most important to me.

Are you happy with how it turned out?

Absolutely, Scott owns the studio we recorded at and mixed, mastered and made it perfect for us.

Where do you see yourself in relation to the larger Black Metal scene?

Not sure… black metal purist may like us just as much as new comers to the scene however we are more refined sound wise. I don’t think any of us concern ourselves with whether or not we fit in anywhere.

What can you tell us about the lyrics?

Blasphemy, disappointment, anger, sorrow, rage and war all reflect our lyrical content. We are disgusted with herd conformity and the dogmatic monotheistic bullshit fed to the masses.

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

It’s rather simple really. We write riffs or become inspired by lyrics and put it all together in the jam room. No preconceived notions of what we should do.

Tell us about the Sepultura cover – why include a cover on your album, why Sepultura, and why that song in particular?

Antichrist was a great choice because we could make it more powerful than it was remembered. We are all Sepultura fans and it is paying homage to the metal we grew up enjoying.

How do you see your sound developing in the future?

Darker and more chaotic. As musicians we will always push ourselves but there is no formula for Fornicus just what naturally comes out. Evil spews forth from a deep well in our band.

What’s next for Fornicus?

Continuing to promote the first release with shows and writing new material. We are discussing a 4 way split to be released by our label Negative Earth Records. Other than that banging our heads and blaspheming.

Interview with Secret Cutter

This year Secret Cutter unleashed their début album Self Titled on an unsuspecting world. This was an avalanche of heaviness and naked hostility tempered down into a short shock of an album that was immediate enough to get the adrenaline flowing and featured enough depth to carry it for the long haul. If you haven’t already heard it I recommend tracking it down. Now.

I wanted to find out more so dived head first onto the cutting floor…

sc5 For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!

Jared: We’re Secret Cutter, a 3-piece Sludge/Grind/Doom band from Bethlehem PA and we play heavy music!

Evan: We don’t have a bass player.

Give us a bit of history to Secret Cutter

Jared: Ekim and I’s old band (Oktober Skyline) broke up and we were in between bands and heard Evan, who put out the OS record, wanted to play something heavy, so we decided to try it out and a few months jamming we recorded our 7 inch in Ekim’s basement.

Tell us about the band name

Evan: It’s about the trap of self hatred. None of us cut ourselves on purpose.

What are your influences?

Jared: Impermanence, edibles, the human experience, love, hate, anything can be an influence if you let it.

sc4 What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?

Jared: Nothing heavy really, Emil Amos from the Holy Suns is destroying me lately.

Evan: The “Off Your Parents ” Ep by The Yah Mos. It came out in 1994 one of the best 7 inch’s of the 90’s in my opinion.

Ekim: On the heavy side of things, Lord Mantis.

How did you decide upon the sound that your band has? Was this a conscious decision to aim for this or was it a more organic, natural process of just finding out what fit and felt right?

Jared : Definitely wanted to do something heavy. I think in time as we grow we’re constantly trying to bend our definition of ‘heavy’. But not on purpose…it just happens with time, and that moment when we’re chuckling with the hairs standing on our necks, we know it’s right.

sc3 Where/how do you think you fit in with the wider Metal scene as a whole?

Jared: I’m not sure where we fit in really. I’d hope it would be enjoyed by any fans of heavy music but I feel like we don’t appeal to just one genre.

Do you have any specific goals you want to achieve with this album?

Jared : Just to get it out to as many ears as possible.

Are you happy with how it turned out?

Jared : Very happy at this point. The response has been overwhelmingly positive.

Evan: The response has really been great. One review basically said we make music for the end of the world. I really enjoyed that..

What can you tell us about the lyrics?

Ekim: The struggles of everyday life for everyone. Each song is it’s own meaning for me, but could be relate-able through other people’s interpretations. No love making lyrics here.

sc2 How do you write your songs?

Jared : Evan brings the riffs to the table like a manic scientist and I basically learn the song and try to syncopate the rhythm. Then over time the songs just grow. It takes a really long time for some songs to be fully incubated.

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

Jared : If any more bleak than what we’ve been writing…I’ll want to swallow a bottle of Zoloft. And I’m OK with that.

What’s next for Secret Cutter?

Jared : All unknown! Except our next LP which is basically written. I’m very excited about playing out with this new material.

Interview with The Von Deer Skulls

With their latest EP It’s Time to Paralyze The Von Deer Skulls have shown a willingness to experiment and test the waters of their burgeoning sound. Find out more below…

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

Peter: Hi, we’re The Von Deer Skulls a France based band. We’re a trio, but some other musicians play with us sometimes. We play something the press defined as Rock Doom Ambient, sometimes Indus or Post-Rock.

Give us a bit of history to The Von Deer Skulls.

Freke: The band started in the end of 2012, we have recruited Peter at the beginning to make the visual stuffs of our last band (The Dead Sound), but after talking a long with him we decided to make a new project.

Peter: Yeah at that time I worked on some songs that have become the basis of the project, then we wrote the song “B*tches Of The Wood” which is the one was entirely composed for the band like the interludes, intro and outro.

Hektor: Then we decided to make our biography like a history to serve the visual aspect of the band.

Where did your band name come from?

Hektor: The band name come from the artist pseudonym of Peter (Peter Skull), because like a leader to the band, and the “Von Deer” come from the semi-fictional biography of the band and because we have often antlers on our video-stage costumes.

Freke: It’s also to making us a family.

What are your influences?

Peter: Influences are from everywhere, each one listens to different things, I’m a big fan of Jazz, Tool, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, indus things. Hektor listens to a lot of Post-Rock, Electro, but also Radiohead, Kadavar and Freke listens to old Rock ’n’ Roll like Black Sabbath, and some loud things like Sunn O))) or Indus.

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

Freke: Right now I listen to a lot of Kadavar, go to listen this German band if you don’t know, otherwise some old Marilyn Manson & NIN period.

Peter: On my side, I listen some more soft things right now as The Decemberists, Miles, Coltrane and Goon Moon and Pelican a lot.

Hektor: I listen some Queens Of The Stone Age’s songs, Pelican too and the Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s discography.

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

Peter: We would like to record songs which are the beginning of the project, to know each other a little better as a band and to show the public who we are. But it is just the beginning, a presentation.

TVDS2 Are you happy with how it turned out?

Hektor: Yes, we think that’s a good beginning. We worked hard to develop the visual aspect as much the music, both are equally important in our universe.

Freke: We were actually surprised to have such good returns.

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

Freke: Peter works on the structure, and we’re making all the atmosphere.

Peter: As for the songwriting process it changes according to the songs. Sometimes we want that song sound like that and sometimes they grow up alone.

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

Freke: I think the next songs will be more loud, maybe more direct.

Peter: We’re working on it right now, some different songs, some heavy, some more ambient, but yeah maybe more direct for the moment.

Tell us a bit more about the visual aspect of your band.

Peter: As we say before the visual aspect is as much important than music. Because it opens so many possibilities. At first I’m a visual artist, I love painting, shooting videos… for this band, because we create our own mythology and histories with that, it’s like a tale what we are proposing to the people, with the costumes, the videos…

Freke: And it’s also a way to distance ourselves from what we’re doing. The important isn’t what we look like, important is the music, the tale.

What’s next for The Von Deer Skulls?

Peter: Next, we’re working on new songs right now like I said, we hope to record them at the end of this year or in the beginning of 2015. And we’re going to do new videos to go with it.

Hektor: Yeah, don’t forget to follow us, new costumes and visual stuffs are on the go!

Website: http://www.thevondeerskulls.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheVonDeerSkulls

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWzz-fueVbw

Peter Skull Website: http://www.peterskull.com

Peter Skull FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/Skull.Peter

Band email: thevondeerskulls@gmail.com

Interview with Uburen

Uburen’s début album Withered Roots is a fiery homage to the band’s Norwegian heritage done in a much more aggressive style than is the norm for most Viking/Pagan bands. I asked some questions to find a bit more about them…

Give us a bit of background to Uburen

Uburen is a 3 piece band formed after ending other music projects. All members had a common interest in Norse mythology and the old Norwegian culture and wanted to form a band that would deliver both musically and as a live preforming band with a stage show that will not be forgotten right away.

What are your influences?

Bands that influence us are many, but among some of the more known bands: Enslaved, King Of Asgard, Varg, Vreid a lot of the underground bands also offer a lot of inspiration for their music and their will to continue on self economy.

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

Nowadays we listen to a lot of various bands such as Woods Of Ypres, Wyrd, King Of Asgard, Solstafir, Khold.

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

We would like to spread our music and the message of a dying culture, meet new people have some drinks and play concerts.

Uburen Band Are you happy with how it turned out?

With a budget nearly none from our own pockets we ourselves think its pretty decent, but can’t really measure up to Amon Amarth or Enslaved.

Tell us about your sound – it’s a lot heavier and more extreme than a lot who play this Viking style

The sound on Withered Roots is heavily inspired by folk and black metal, but not “nice sing-along boy-scout-campfire” music or music is inspired by the frontline on the battlefield and we try to captivate the macabre, anguish, anger, fear, hate, despair and all the raw emotions.

Tell us about your lyrics

Our lyrics focus around the darker side of the Norse history and mythology from the tales of creatures such as “Nøkken” the disapearence of men lured in and suffocated in the cold lakes fact based stories of brutal executions such as the “Blood Eagle” songs that tells stories with underlying words from the old sagas for instance about never giving up fighting ’til you die. Not trying to avoid your fate, keep walking through every winter.
Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process and how you create your songs.

The song writing process varies from song to song, usually one of us has a riff or bits of lyrics then we sit together think it through, what feeling and what message we want to tell when the song is put together we play through couple times take a break for at least 1 week to reflect if its how we want it to be.

In my review I say “Imagine Enslaved if they were less Progressive and more aggressive, or maybe Amon Amarth if they used Black Metal as the basis for their sound rather than Death Metal”. What are your thoughts on this?

It’s and honour to be compared with such bands as Enslaved and Amon Amarth we are all fans of them since way back, but we have not intentionally tried to sound like anyone. Our sound has just formed itself from our own minds.

How do you see your position in the wider Black Metal musical framework/genre?

Can’t say that we have given much thought to playing within a certain genre like Black Metal or Folk Metal its just music inspired by old Norwegian history and folk lore and our past is grim so that we sound like Black Metal just happened.

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

We have no planned direction for our music nor for our lyrics, it will continue to evolve with us. No compremise.

What does the future hold for Uburen?

At the moment we are looking into playing at festivals around where we are wanted. We have some booked, but those are secret for now we would also like to go into the studio again in the not to distant future whenever our pockets allow it. Maybe even another music video.

Thanks!

Interview with Methedras

Methedras have recently finished their latest album System Subversion and are getting ready to unleash it on the world. This is a hard working band who clearly love and believe in what they do, so I decided to get a bit more information from them…

Give us a bit of background to Methedras

Quintessence of the most direct-in-your-face thrash-death style, Methedras sets among the leading underground Italian bands, a real war-machine which has been able to release a demo and three full-length albums during its 18-years old activity, as well as have performed hundreds of concerts throughout Europe, many of them in support of big names of the international metal scene (Testament, Dismember, Hatesphere, Destruction, The Haunted, Onslaught, Exodus, Overkill, Sepultura, Deicide, Hirax and many others), without ever losing an ounce of anger and energy. Quartet formed by Claudio (vocals), Eros (guitar), Andrea (bass) and Daniele (drums), originally near Milan in 1996 with a double-guitar line-up, the band has changed over the years various members preferring in the end a solid line-up with only one guitar, arriving to a proper own style with no compromise: a sort of derived thrash metal spiced with more typical death metal influences and a groove-hardcore approach concerning the vocals.

What are your influences?

I think our influences are everything rock and heavy, ‘cause our background is right that. We love thrash and death metal, of course, but we also do listen from hard rock to grind and brutal, we have no kind of musical prejudice, for example we’re actually attracted by the industrial side of some of the new stuff written…we are in “experimental mode on” right now, and cannot say at the moment where this will end up, for us it’s enough to be free to create, without mental chains. By the way let me say everything that comes from the american bay-area of the early ’80s, being inspired by such big bands like Metallica, Testament, Megadeth, Exodus, Slayer and many others, then we grew year by year opening our minds to a more specific North-European death metal attitude, trying to mix in our sound these two different and typical metal streams.

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

I’m currently in love with the killing productions of the German thrash metal heroes Kreator and Destruction, especially “Enemy Of God” and “Violent Revolution” for Kreator, and “The Antichrist” for Destruction. These cds are a brutal assault to the ears of each metalhead, with brilliant productions, and great riffs and solos.

From USA I recently listened a lot of Exodus, Machine Head, Nevermore and Overkill. Especially Machine Head are one of my favourite bands of the last decade, they started their career with an incredible album like “Burn My Eyes”, recently repeated by two CDs like “Through The Ashes Of Empire” and, of course, “The Blackening”, in my opinion the best Thrash Metal album of the latest years, with an incredible production, tons of killer riffs and solos, and a supreme singer like Rob is. I think that “The Blackening” broke with the actual returning of the 80’s thrash metal, it is a modern way to see this kind of music, with some new ideas that brings a breath of fresh air. The same that Nevermore has done until few years ago, with their personal vision.

However, I usually listen to a lot of other genres, in death metal I loved so much the reunion’s album of Carcass, all the recent production of Cynic (but it’s hard to define “Death Metal” their last albums, I think it’s better to say “Prog Metal”) and many other bands.

What are your opinions on the current state of the Thrash Metal in 2014?

In the latest years, Thrash Metal is having a new life, with numerous band that resurrected the glories of the 80’s, with modern sound and most of all brighter productions, in some case also new ideas which carried the genre into new territories.

For example the Italian scene is healthy and continuously growing, despite the very few occasions where to show up and the total lack of a more professional approach by the music system. There are tons of very good bands worthy to be discovered and listened to, but interests from media, promoters, venues and labels pretty always focus on the usual four old big names.

They’ll never get the chance to arrive to a bigger audience if this kind of situation keeps on going, we’d need the help from everyone involved in the underground in order to let these bands grow and become more-exposed, we all should finally act as a whole family, not only when it’s time to fest and hang out!

What did you want to achieve with your new release?

Ten years ago we imagined Methedras still on the road betting to gain a place on stage just a step behind heavy metal legends like Testament, Overkill, Exodus, Destruction, Entombed, Dismember, The Haunted, Onslaught and many others.. well, we won that bet ‘cause we really did it, and all of them teached us the real meaning of the music we love: blood, sweat and passion, ever! We learned that lesson (in violence ahahah) and we kept it as a way of life, everyday, on and off the stage…so, openly speaking, with the new release we’d love to imagine the same thing but at an even bigger level.

Are you happy with how it turned out?

Oh yes definitely satisfied man. We believe to have reached a milestone in our career with System Subversion, achieving the long-time target to build up a delicious platter full of tastes and well-balanced. We have to infinitely thank our dudes at Domination Studio (RSM) for this, in the persons of Simone Mularoni and Simone Bertozzi, who followed all the sound tuning, recording, engineering, mixing, mastering and producing processes leading to a final great outcome such the album you’ve listened to.

Methedras Band 2 Talk to us about the lyrics

The lyrics are all written by Claudio, the singer, and are mainly about experiences he directly lives on his own skin everyday. So we can consider ’em a kind of belief-extensions directly coming from his mind, outlining how he’s used to analyse such political, cultural and lifetime subjects, viewed through his eyes and deformed by his apparent pessimism and nihilism, which instead lead to, if focused to a deeper level, an unwavering and immovable faith in the humankind and his capacity to always resurrect from his foundation, no matter how bad have been his actions, like a phoenix who recursively arises from its own ashes after being dead.

Tell us about the themes behind the album

The new songs are literally more aggressive, faster and well-balanced, rather than our past stuff, offering to the listeners a varied mix of modern heavy thrash-core, spiced with the usual band-trademark death influences, which gave to the music something darker and groovier. Let me say we believe to have been able to put together ten real killer songs which are gonna blow out your mind!

How do you go about writing your songs?

Usually the songwriting process starts with the guitar player breaking through with a killer riff, then the drummer and bass player follow building under a bone-saw drumming and some harsh bass-lines and finally the singer finishing spitting over all the shit of the world, simply telling the truth, the best thing to do the most of the times.

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

Well at the moment is too much early to analyse any kind of further development, the new album is still in a pre-release step, and has been kickstarted literally few days ago, so the time spent has been really too short in order to reply to this question…what I can say is that a couple of reviews already arrived and they seem to be very optimistic and enthusiastic. The most part, pretty everyone, of media and music biz related people in Italy who have had the possibility to listen to it, tell this is our best album, with killing, fast and very exciting songs in the name and spirit of the best thrash-death metal around…so let’s see what kind of feedback we’ll first receive with this one before to start thinking about a new path for the band 😉

What can we expect from the future of Methedras?

Of course releasing System Subversion worldwide, hopefully under some good label, trying to catch the more attention possible as we believe this new album deserve a serious hype around, it’s really well-done, aggressive and brutally melodic, if you’re a fan of thrash-death-speed metal, then you should definitely diggin into it…moreover we’ll be soon engaged in a couple of imminent summer fests to officially present the new songs, at Metal Crowd in Belarus on the 16th of August, headlined by Hate, and at Malta Death Fest in Malta on the 6th of September with our bros Hour Of Penance headlining…and finally during the next fall, we should take also part to the “Sentencing Europe Tour”, supposed to happen end of November and beginning of December, and directly supporting the mighty US thrash-death maniacs Solstice from Florida, for the first time appearing in Europe. So the imminent future seems to be great for us and we’ll try to our best as usual!

Thanks so much for this interview and your time to read it, we hope to see you all at our next live events truly supporting what is the most important thing: the real metal attitude.. we exist because of you, thank to all of you out there!!

Thanks!

Website: http://www.methedras.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/methedrasthrash
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/methedrasthrash
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/methedrasthrash
Reverbnation: http://www.reverbnation.com/methedras
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/methedrasthrash
LastFM: http://www.last.fm/music/methedras
Soundcloud: http://www.soundcloud.com/methedras
Deezer: http://www.deezer.com/profile/32232261
Spotify: http://play.spotify.com/artist/7gRx2htny4NtVY3JIEWQRr

Band email: contact@methedras.com
Management: jon@theflamingarts.eu

Interview with Giant of the Mountain

Having just released their impressive, diverse and very individual second album Moon Worship, I caught up with the band to find they’re only just getting started…

Give us a bit of background to Giant of the Mountain

Giant of the Mountain is a Dallas based metal band started by me and my wife Randi (the drummer) in 2008. We both started on guitar, went through member changes and Randi switched to drums. Since then, we’ve released a few recordings, and evolved into what we are today.

What are your influences?

I would say my main influences are Opeth, Emperor, and Death.

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

Right now, I’m listening to Mournful Congregation. I haven’t been able to put The June Frost and Concrescence of the Sophia down lately. They are incredible. I’ve also been jamming Laethora out quite a bit. They haven’t put anything new out recently, but it’s so dark, brutal, and a little crusty too. I also recommend the new Infestus, and the new Imogen Heap is really great too.

You have a wide range of styles in your sound – how would you describe your music?

Basically everything I write is me trying to make my own My Arms, Your Hearse (Opeth). We have a little death, a little black, and we also try to be progressive about it. We also welcome singing and acoustical passages. I guess I just have a song in my heart, and I can’t help but show it to the world, you know?

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

Well we are constantly growing and evolving as a band, and I wanted to fully capture our progression and growth on tape.

Are you happy with how it turned out?

Yes, most definitely. I think it’s the best thing we’ve done to date.

What lyrical themes/feelings have you covered on it?

Mostly it’s Lovecraftian lore. There are songs about Dagon, Yig, a Cthulhu/Shub-Niggurath spawn and one about the moons in The Elder Scrolls lore (Masser and Secunda).

What’s the meaning of the album title?

Mostly the songs are about the moon, and reverence to it. It’s about the moon calling its followers the depths to Dagon.

Your songs have a lot of variety and interest to them – how do you go about writing your songs?

It’s hard to say where exactly inspiration or that magical special riff that makes the song comes from. Once something that really strikes my fancy comes along I start building on that until I have a whole song. After that we start working on adding the drums and bass, and then I write the lyrics and working them into the songs. Then we practice them until we feel they are the best they can be.

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

I definitely want more of everything. I want more complexity, brutality, and blackness. I want more acoustical passages and I want to top the vocal harmonies we did in moon worship. To me there is no limit, and we are at the beginning. I haven’t even begun to think of my best idea yet.

What can we expect from future releases?

Hopefully it’s something you wouldn’t expect. I want something to take you off guard and pull you in at the same time. Who knows what we’ll come up with!

What’s next for Giant of the Mountain?

Touring ! We want to play everywhere, and we want to meet more great people from around the world. Metal really does have the best fans. It seems like no matter where you go, and what city you’re in metal folks are always cool to be around.

Thanks! 🙂

You’re very welcome!

Interview with Unaussprechlichen Kulten

Unaussprechlichen Kulten have recently released their third album Baphomet Pan Shub-Niggurath and it’s a veritable feast of occult Death Metal. Between bouts of blasting it out at high volume I quizzed guitarist/vocalist Joseph Curwen about the album hoping he could shed some light on the dark depths within…

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

To the readers of Wonderbox! Of course all of you are unfamiliar with our band! We come from the end of the world: Chile, so the” third world” sends his curses to the “first world”!

Give us a bit of history to Unaussprechlichen Kulten

We start in early 2000 in Santiago, Chile with a couple of demos, inspired at Lovecraft’s “literary”. Our style: OCCULT DEATH METAL, taking inspiration from old and new metal.

Until now, we have 3 albums, some 7 inches and some splits, this year 2014 (September) we will do our second European tour.

Unaussprechlichen Kulten Band What are your influences?

The “Olds Ones” are our spiritual influences! About Metal influences, you know from classics like SLAYER (old), MERCYFUL FATE, INFERNAL MAJESTY until INCANTATION, MORTEM (Peru), NECRODEATH, INCUBUS (USA), GORGUTS, SHUB NIGGURATH, IMMOLATION, PENTAGRAM (Chile), MORTA SKULD, DISMEMBER, NOCTURNUS and of course The Almighty SADISTIC INTENT.

We have a foot in Swedish/Finnish, and the other in American and South American DEATH METAL (80-90s) and a bit of influence (guitars) from some new bands like Deathspell Omega.

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

From Chile: GODLESS (maybe the best Chilean band!), DEMONIC RAGE, FORCE OF DARKNESS, MAGNANIMVS, ATOMICIDE, HADES ARCHER, DIABOLICAL MESSIAH, ANCIENT CRYPTS, SLAUGHTBBATH, INVICIBLE FORCE, HORRIFYING, ATHANATOS… Pure feeling!

Foreign: POISONUS, DAEMONIC, ATARXYS (Arrrg the last album rulezzz), VOIDS OF VOMIT, ZOMBIFICATION, SWALLOWED, TOMBSTONE (Italy), IMPOSER,ABYSS (Canada), ECTOVOID, BLESSED OFAL, INCARCERATION, NECROHOLOCAUST, EVOKED TERROR, HATESPAWN, LATERN, AFTER DEATH, MASADA, ORDO INFERNUS SKELETHAL, SULPHUR AEON, GOREPHILIA, HAEMOPHAGUS among many others.

Tell us about your new album

The concept background of this new Chapter it is a consolidation of mythology in relation with the “Goat Worship”, the Eliphas Levi´s Baphomet, the God Pan and Lovecraft´s Shub Niggurath, mixed with universal mythology and even Chilean legends.

Was recorded in one month at DM6 studio, at home, this year 2014. We have recorded all of our albums there and also our rehearsal room is there. The owner of this studio (Pablo Clares) knows how Death Metal must be recording.

The cover art was painted by Daniel Corcuera in a fuckin awesome way!

Unaussprechlichen Kulten Band 2 Are you happy with how it turned out?

I’m pretty satisfied, until now the album have good promotion from both labels: IRON BONEHEAD and DARK DESCENT. Talking about music, to me is our better work, but the best, will come in the future.

What can you tell us about the lyrics/themes of the songs?

As you may know, mainly the Lovecraft’s myths and their relation with the “Mysteries of Death” are the core of our lyrics. The deities of Lovecraft represent archetypes present in different cultures and every culture has something that we called “The Memory of the Blood”, that’s what creates “worships”, myths and religions in relation with “common” monsters like Hydras or Sea Serpents, so we take the Lovecraft terminology to explain with “his words” spiritual concepts that otherwise we would be forced to use “christians” or “common” terms.

How do you go about writing your songs?

About Metal, first I do the riffs, arrangements and disharmonies of guitars, in accordance to what lyrics need, like faster, slower or thicker parts, thinking in the “concept” under the lyrics all the time. After “a-melodic” line are ok, I show guitars to Butcher, drum is 100% his responsibility. Then we adjust the structure and cuts, together in the rehearsal room.

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

The most twisted, morbid and creepy that our capabilities allow. Special techniques or sound??? Who cares?…..

What’s next for Unaussprechlichen Kulten?

In September of this year 2014 we will be in Europe in our second tour with INCARCERATION and ZOMBIFICATION in Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Holland and Belgium, and finally with DECAPITATED CHRIST! In Spain, France and Portugal.

Thanks!

Interview with Algebra

Feed the Ego is Algebra’s second album and a veritable delight for all fans of the harsher, darker side of Thrash Metal. Tony and Phil from the band filled me in with some insights into what makes them tick…

What are your influences?

Tony: So many things ! Regarding the effort put in Algebra I listen to a lot of not-so-easy-listening thrash, for example Forbidden’s “Distortion” record, “Time Does Not Heal” by Dark Angel or some Forced Entry. Personally, regarding my style of drumming, it’s quite easy to name: Lombardo, Hoglan, Benante and as a bonus I always put a Lars Ulrich drum fill in every record… it’s up to you to find it.

Phil: I think that every band that I intensely listen to inspires me, whether it’s conscious or not. I started listening to thrash and then thrash and then some more thrash. I think my first influences are Megadeth, Forbidden, Testament, etc. As time went along, I started listening to more and more extreme metal. And slowly some death metal parts started to appear in my songwriting.

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

Tony: Right now while I’m answering your interview, I’m updating my Accept compilation, which is a band I really love. Besides that, I really recommend Misery Index’s latest album “The Killing Gods” to any listener of extreme metal.

Phil: Not really new bands. I listen to a lot of bands like Dawn and God Dethroned right now

What were/are your aims with Feed the Ego?

Tony: To give the listener a real album, not just one or two songs that stand out, but a progression. Of course, it’s not a concept album, but you can listen to it in its entirety without being too disorientated. The lyrics, for us, are globally as important as the music, they also need a certain degree of coherence.

Phil: To make the best Swiss thrash record since Polymorph hahaha. I set multiple goals for this album. The first is a musical one. I think that after Polymorph, everything had to be redone regarding songwriting and searching for new ideas etc. I find it to be a difficult moment because you easily say to yourself: “damn, how will I find new ideas”. But slowly it all comes naturally and the songs started to spawn and then all your fears disappear. The second goal was to give the new album more exposure than Polymorph. When you do things DIY-style, your exposure tends to be quickly limited. We were lucky enough to have contact with Eric from UnspeakableAxe who offered us to release our next album.

Are you happy with how it turned out?

Tony: I’m the happiest guy on this damn earth. I’ve been fighting ever since the first time I sat down behind the drumkit and played songs from Kill Em All to make an album of this quality, even if it’s not related to Kill Em All. Right now, when listening to my own album, I can objectively say: Damn, this is not bad!

Phil: Oooohh yeeeeeesss. First off, I’m very happy with how the CD turned out, at all levels. Whether it’s the playing, the lyrics or the production. Furthermore, our expectations were fulfilled, like I said, by the fact that UnspeakableAxe released our record. The communication and exposure is already y so much bigger than it was for Polymorph, thanks to their job.

How do you feel about the recording/production of the album?

Tony: We are more than satisfied with the job Andy Classen did in only 4 days on our first record “Polymorph”. Because of that, we worked with him again and are very happy about it. The sound remains very natural compared to a lot of modern productions, and that was our main goal. Furthermore, having played with Holy Moses, he very easily understands our examples and comments.

Phil: I’m really happy with the way the album sounds. We all worked really hard for it to be as clean as tight and right as possible. Some songs needed more hours of work than others and at many times we were on the verge of kicking us in the nutsack but globally speaking, everything sounds like we wanted it to sound. Because we like our sound to be as natural as possible, we once again recruited Andy Classen, who already worked on Polymorph. His job is even better this time.

What can you tell us about the lyrics?

Tony: The lyrics are strong and in accordance with my opinions and thoughts. I will never talk about something I don’t believe in or that has no interest. I like to study human relationships, the current state of the world, and many other subjects. It seems like it’s too well thought of for thrash, but I’m not so sure of that!

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

Tony: Two words: Guitar Pro (version 3.0. haha). It’s actually very easy for us to write songs. Phil and myself are the biggest input of raw ideas. After that, I sit down and think about not putting 52 riffs per song, but to develop a single idea in many different ways. And that’s what’s funny in Algebra’s music, many people here think that we spend a thousand hours to arrange our songs, but in general, the same idea will be used for the main riff, the arpeggios, the clean bits, etc… It’s a question of arranging and that makes all the difference when you listen to it, believe me.

Overall you work in the heavier/darker side of Thrash Metal I’d say – was this a conscious decision or something that developed naturally?

Tony: Both. Like everybody, we started by playing Slayer and Sepultura covers among many others, but it didn’t totally complete all of our wishes and ambitions, albeit the genius of these bands and the undeniable contribution to metal music, they lack of musical elements that we keep close to our hearts. Slayer, for example, did it really well on a record like “Divine Intervention”, with a wide range of riffs, vocals, great arrangements, without losing the aggressive and fast side that defines Slayer. I listen to a lot of things with great care, Voivod, Coroner, Pestilence, Atheist, thus when I write songs, I want to add as much variation in the music as possible.

Phil: I’d say that’s something that developed itself through time. Regarding myself, I don’t write songs saying to myself “ah shit, this needs to sound more evil”. I roll with sensations in music and it’s that part that I like the most. When I write songs, I will not propose something that doesn’t touch me, even if the riff is cool.

Your song My Shelf is a little different to the rest of the album – it works really well and adds a bit of variety. Tell us about this song.

Tony: Simple (as usual): Reviews. We listen carefully to positive and negative reviews that listeners make about our music, that’s what allows us to move forward. I can very well recall the day when I read the next comment, on Youtube I believe: “Never slow down and never play ballads, it’s for pussies.” That’s when I was forced to show that we also like that and that it can rightfully be put on a thrash record. For example, Testament’s ballads are musical pearls that shouldn’t be ignored.

How do you see your position in the wider Thrash Metal musical framework/genre?

Tony: I’m really happy we can spread albums on a worldwide scale like we did with “Polymorph” and now thanks to UnspeakableAxe Records, this is going beyond our expectations. We reach a lot of listeners that are very demanding and genuine connoisseurs, that are satisfied with our records. And I won’t hide to you that not reaching the 15-year-old thrash revival fans isn’t important to us, because that style doesn’t affect us, we think it’s empty, musically speaking, and redundant.

Phil: We’re not that bad at all hahaha. All jokes aside, I think it’s hard to find your place in a scene satiated with “revival” bands that nag all the people that like real thrash. I believe that thrash isn’t just about having Ed Repka artwork, tight pants and Converse Weapons.

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

Tony: We are going to continue in the same direction by keeping ultra solid foundations of old school thrash while adding all the other musical elements that influence us.

Phil: Regarding myself, I never know which direction I’m taking whenever I write new riffs or new song ideas. But I think that over time, I’d like to have songs with more complicated structures. Having more technical songs will come naturally with time but I don’t want to leave the “in your face” side.

What’s next for Algebra?

Tony: Gigs! Gigs! Gigs! We really love to play live and to share our music with fans and listeners.

Phil: Since the departure of our vocalist/guitarist, the main priority is to find new members. A lot of work is ahead for us!

Thanks!