Interviews – Page 27 – Wonderbox Metal

Interview with The Wolves of Avalon

Recently released; The Wolves of Avalon’s second album Boudicca’s Last Stand is an hour of interesting, captivating and unique Metal that everyone should ideally have the privilege of hearing. A strong contender for the album of the year slot, it uses history as its muse to create something powerful and compelling. I wanted to find out more about this special band, and got to ask Metatron a few pertinent questions…

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

I am Metatron of UK band , The Meads of Asphodel, and also the pagan folk metal band, Wolves of Avalon. With the Wolves, new album, Boudicca’s Last Stand, I have attempted to create the last days of the great British war Queen. She is a proud image of my land’s ancient past, a lost symbol of freedom and hope before a great oppressive power.

Give us a bit of history to The Wolves of Avalon

The band was formed many moons ago with myself and James Marinos who is the master song-smith. The first album, Carrion Crows over Camlan, is about the Celtic Arthurian legends that tell of a Romano-Celtic war leader who fought against the onslaught of the Germanic Saxon invaders. On this album we had Rob Darken [Graveland] on guest vocals and this gave us some shit in Germany due to the NSBM label we were branded with. Just because we are proud of the past and speak of forsaken family values and cultural bonds, this does not make us racist. I get frustrated with ignorance in this scene.

The Wolves of Avalon Band 1 What are your influences?

James tries not to aspire to any of the bands he likes to listen to but to enjoy what they do independently of anything creatively he works on. For my part, I have many from Bathory, Sabbat, Hawkwind, Venom and the list goes on and on.

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

I just listen to all forms of black pagan metal and some good ones at the moment are: I am playing a polish band called, Wedrujacy Wiatr, which is very much like the great Russian bands, Walknut, and Forest. The new Finsterforst album is also one of the best Viking related albums I have ever heard.

James was recently listening to ‘Ceremonials’ by Florence and the Machine maybe some Alcest, Gary Numan or Killing Joke. Depends on his mood.
How would you compare your experience with The Wolves of Avalon to that of The Meads of Asphodel?

I find both bands similar in the way I work with the song-smiths J.D Tait [Meads] and James Marinos [Wolves]. Both bands exist in similar working mechanisms where guests appear and add their own dynamics to the basic structures of the songs. Lyrically the bands are different, as the Meads concentrates on world religious insanity and genocide, whereas the Wolves, is centralized on British ancient history.

For James Marinos, who writes the music for the Wolves, This time round he was extremely thorough and rather than just working on one song at a time, he wrote perhaps thirty tracks of varying stages. Some were just too weak and others ended up being split in half to become a whole. He wanted the album to be far more ethereal and yet more driving in its approach, while also not trying too hard to set a precedent.

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

An album that will be remembered and to sit alongside the great British pagan metal band, Sabbat. To have your music touch others in a positive way is all anyone who is in a band can hope for. We have strived to create something that cannot be made any better, so it is the best result we can achieve.

Are you happy with how it turned out?

I am very proud of this album, as is James. We spent many, many months crafting the music and the lyrics, and everything about the release is just how we wanted it to be. I hope others will enjoy the album.

The Wolves of Avalon Band 2 What can you tell us about the themes/story of the album?

They are all woven around the British tribal quoin Boudicca who lived around 2000 years ago and this land was under Roman domination. It was a time when the great druid sanctuary of Anglesey was destroyed, and also when Boudicca fought back with other tribes of Britain by her side. This is a very tragic tale of a woman and her people who fought against the mighty war machine of Rome and was defeated completely, but not before burning to the ground many Roman settlements and slaughtering the inhabitants. Blood, violence and sorrow is what this album is all about.

Give us a bit of information on the song-writing process.

James spent over a year piecing together the music that would work within the confines of the lyrical themes.

It sounds like a lot of time, care and attention went into these songs – was that the case?

It most certainly was, James will appreciate you alluding to that. For James personally there wasn’t a point where he thought ‘That will do’, He really wanted the album to be what was conceived in his mind before he could move on. We are very happy with the album as a whole and can only hope that others enjoy it as much as we do.

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

We wonder that too, but it’s too early to say but we will tailor the feel of the album to the core subject of the story at hand i.e. Boudicca, Arthur, next time… I don’t know!

What’s next for you?

To wait and see what happens with this release cast into the sea of uncertainty that is this new digital age that I loathe. If I could go back to the tape trading days I would, but we must walk with progress or be left in its merciless wake. I hope we will do another album, but only time will tell.

Watch this space.

Interview with Johnny Touch

Johnny Touch have recently unleashed their stunning début album to the world. Inner City Wolves is the kind of throwback to a bygone era in Metal that has no business being as good as it is. It has the timeless appeal of pure, original Metal, however; that and the fact that it’s just a great collection of songs mean that this is an album that everyone should be getting their grubby mitts on. Determined to find out a bit more about this seeming anachronism, I grilled Denimal about the wonder that is Johnny Touch…

For those of you unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!

There’s 4 heavy metal maniacs in JT; Ramrod Hodgson on vocals, Jamie Whyte on guitars, Inphiltrator on bass guitar and Denimal (me) on drums/cowbells.

Give us a bit of history to Johnny Touch…

I started JT sometime during 2009, effectively a mere project at that point. I had collated enough material of the heavy rock/metal ilk since the late 90’s, to warrant some form of project at the very least. Along with a couple of session members, I recorded a demo called ‘Fight For It’, which was released on pro-cassette by Abysmal Sounds Productions.

It was soon thereafter that the primary band members wove their wicked ways towards JT! From that point on we became a focussed and deadly laser beam, having wrought 2 more split 7 inch records released and more recently the début album.

Where did the name of the band come from?

I think I construed this name on a whim, it kind of stuck! It is inspired by 80’s street gangs, the leader of such bearing the name, Johnny Touch.

What are your influences?

Rock, metal, martial arts, classic action films, big haired ladies.

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

Rainbow – ‘Long Live Rock n’ Roll’
Realmbuilder – ‘Blue Flame Cavalry’
Pariah – ‘Blaze Of Obscurity’

That’s what I’ve been listening to this week, and heck, I’d recommend them all!

So, a bunch of Australians manage to faithfully recreate the glory days of the NWOBHM in style and with quality. How did that happen?

Hahahaaaa jesus man! They were the ‘glory days’ for a reason. We aspire and work hard! Simple. Whether that be in relation to our skill level, performances or song writing.

In my review I also state that if this album had actually been released back in said NWOBHM glory days, you’d probably be very big indeed and famous to most Metal fans. Discuss.

Maybe, it’s hard to know, but I appreciate the sentiment nonetheless mate. It seems to me, the biggest ‘metal’ bands worldwide are still the traditional heavy metal bands. The music appeals to a broader range of music lovers due to it’s quality, catchiness, conviction, and less extreme nature. Though I remember hearing Twisted Sister’s track ‘I Wanna Rock’ when I was a kid, and seriously believed that to be the heaviest song in existence! There’s a more extreme perspective nowadays, but that song is still really fucking powerful, no doubt. If you doubt, watch them play it live!

Unfortunately many of the great metal bands are disbanded so there may be necessary voids to fill in the near future!

What did you want to achieve with Inner City Wolves?

We wrote and recorded what we would want to hear from a new heavy metal band. There’s no good reason why traditional heavy metal should be dead. So we took our own high expectations and forged something that vintage metal and rock fans would froth at the mouth for. Interestingly we also have a large cross section of extreme metal fans into JT. Especially when we play live, is the power of classic heavy metal most apparent.

And that album cover! Tell us about that…

A fantastic artist called Andrei Bouzikow painted that up for us. It’s a vista of earth in post nuclear/war ruin. Fallout having altered the local flora and fauna, huge wolves are abound. The scantily clad warrior-ess has claimed this one from a pup, riding down men for mating and food.

Are you happy with how the album turned out?

Pleased enough. It’s a snapshot of that time I doubt we could really improve on without destroying the feel of it. Everyone whom we have spun it too has thought it was an album from the late 80’s…mission accomplished.

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

Jamie and I write about 50/50. So either he or I will demo the tune, give it to every member to get acquainted with, then we work on that sucker until everyone has made it their bitch! I think songs should age a little bit too. Nothing like Father Time to weigh in on the formation and depth of a song.

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

In all ways one could respectfully imagine. We’ll produce speed metal songs, some 60’s/70’s sounding rock ballads, some overtly technical tunes. It really comes down to what the album needs to keep it interesting from start to finish.

What’s next for Johnny Touch?

JT had a quiet year in 2013 due to Inphiltrator being in hospital, so there were no live shows we could play. With the album fresh out we are now playing select live shows nationally and booked some shows outside of Australia. Hopefully ‘Inner City Wolves’ will earn us some invites to any of the myriad traditional metal festivals the world over. New material is currently being put together, we have a title and album cover concepts for this album, but who knows when we’ll be ready to record. Why rush?

Why indeed.

Interview with De Profundis

De Profundis have recently released their latest EP Frequencies, which has been receiving a lot of praise from every quarter with the band even being involved in a promotional tie-in with fabled UK Extreme Metal magazine Terrorizer. I asked Shoi Sen some questions and here’s what he had to say…

Give us a bit of background to De Profundis

De Profundis started life in 2005 when Craig (Vocals) and our ex guitarist Roman met in a pub to discuss how to take over the metal world, the meeting was interrupted by Roman’s father who wasn’t happy that his underage son was in a pub with a older man, maybe he thought his son would be ‘followed home then killed’! The band released its first album Beyond Redemption in 2007 followed by 2 more albums and more recently our first EP ‘Frequencies’. The band evolved from playing some form of Progressive doom and now is firmly entrenched in delivering bone crushing progressive Death Metal.

What are your influences?

This is always the difficult question because our influences are so diverse. On the metal side the usual suspects like Death, Morbid Angel, Maiden, King Diamond etc. But also our schizophrenic side would come from early Queen and Zappa so you see difficult to really pin down. Its fair to say De Profundis operates like the Borg, we are a collective of musicians, with well assimilated influences and once you hear us all resistance will be futile 🙂

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

We’ve just toured with Demonic Resurrection from India, they are very good and an awesome bunch of guys. Otherwise if I was to recommend you stuff it would more old school music, I don’t tend to listen to current stuff much to be honest, nothing really grabs me. I can tell you what I wouldn’t recommend though, that one string wankery called Tech Metal/Djent with shit autotuned pop vocals.
What did you want to achieve with your new EP?

We have a number of goals for this EP. Musically showcase our new ethos of going for the throat earlier. Commercially although this EP is free we wanted a maximum of people to hear it share it and create a buzz around us, which is actually happening. Generally the reviews so far have been very positive but a few have questioned our more direct approach. What I can say is that the album which is also ready covers the wider range of De Profundis’ music, with this EP we wanted to showcase our more direct songs.

Your style has changed over time; how do you feel this release has progressed your sound since your previous work?

As mentioned previously our songs are more about going to the point earlier in general, that’s the major shift or progression from the previous album. Also with the arrival of Paul (Guitar) last September we had a new toy to play with (I am referring to his musical talents), his riffs were even more crazy than what I came up with so the sound of the EP has a lot to do with the way this new line up just gelled instantly.

Are you happy with how it turned out?

Yes once we got rid of Roman and Paul joined the writing went really quick and it was an awesome creative period. In previous writing sessions I always felt drained with all the infighting caused by one person in the band, and basically couldn’t get myself back in a writing mode for over a year. Now I can’t wait to start writing again.

De Profundis Band What can you tell us about the lyrics?

Craig our vocalist is the man to talk to about lyrics but unfortunately he is currently away on holiday so won’t be able to contribute and I don’t want to interpret his lyrics for him.

Give us a bit of information on your songwriting process.

We write as a band. Either Paul or myself will bring some riffs to rehearsal and then we jam the ideas we have and looks at what would work together. We spend a lot of time thinking about transitions, we have a real fear of writing songs where parts don’t transition into each other smoothly, which some prog metal bands tend to do.

How did the link with the Terrorizer promotion come about?

Miranda Yardley the owner of Terrorizer is a fan of De Profundis so when I approached her about using Terrorizer’s distribution to release the EP she was very receptive so it worked out great.

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

We are here to become a major player in the death metal scene. I think there are too many bands our there playing Death Metal forgetting about writing songs, so we are there for people who want their death metal to be brutal, melodic and technical with full of hooks which makes them come back to our music over and over again.

I hear you’re planning a new album – what can you tell us about this?

The EP and album were actually written and recording during the same session so the album is also ready. We are now trying to sort out a label to release it. Hopefully we will be in a position to get the album late this year early 2015.

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

At the moment its too early to say as we’ve just finished writing this album a few months ago, but I think we will carry evolving into the death metal genre whilst maintaining our progressive elements. I imagine in the future we will come back to longer song structures but at the moment we are enjoying playing shorter punchier songs. And it’s a lot easier to build a set list with shorter songs.

What’s next for De Profundis?

Well we are playing Bloodstock in 2 weeks time which we are very excited about. Its been 6 years since we last played that fest and we have done so much in that time. After that we are currently in negotiations about a tour with a pretty big name in Death Metal so if that happens it would be a great opportunity for De Profundis. When we are planning this EP and Album cycle we had one word in our mind and that’s touring, touring and touring. So our agents Nazgul are working on a whole bunch of potential tours for us so expect to see us everywhere over the next 18 months!

Thanks!

Interview with Deus Otiosus

Deus Otiosus have recently unleashed the monster that is Rise on the world. After getting my fill of this very enjoyable album I asked Jesper Holst, bassist of the band, some pertinent questions to find out a bit more about it…

Give us a bit of history to Deus Otiosus

The band started off as a studio project by Henrik Engkjær (guitars) and Anders Bo Rasmussen (vocals) back in 2005. They recorded a demo called Death Lives Again in 2007 and 2009 saw them gathering a full line-up with Peter Engkjær (guitars), Søren Bentsen (drums) and Jens Nepper (bass guitars) and start performing live. Shortly before I replaced Nepper on bass in 2010 the first album Murderer was released in South America and later world wide. Then, for the recording of the second album we brought in a dedicated drummer in Jesper Olsen as our ambitions grew and the band became a more serious and time-consuming project for all involved. As an old friend of some of us, Jesper was quickly integrated and we recorded and released our second album Godless in 2012. With the same constellation we recorded the third album Rise in January 2014 and released it world wide just last month.
What are your influences?

We are influenced by classic metal acts such as Death, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Pestilence and so on. However, while maintaining an old school approach to song writing, we are not just copying what the forerunners of the genre created. We use the elements and the creativity of classic death metal song writing and produce our own, original and potent songs.

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

Right now, my playlist is varied. I have got Unleashed, Dark Funeral and Iced Earth on at the moment. I especially enjoy and recommend Unleashed.

Deus Otiosus Band 1 What did you want to achieve with your new album?

Every time we release an album we strive to take a step forward and upward. Up the quality since the last album so to speak. And this pertains to all aspects of the album; the song writing, the riffs, the drum patterns and fills, solos etc. The overall goal is to create a coherent album packed with memorable songs that make up a whole yet retain their own identity. I believe this goal is achieved with Rise and it stands out clearly in our discography. This is the best Deus Otiosus to date and truthfully will be hard to top in the future.

Are you happy with how it turned out?

I grow increasingly fond of this album by the day – even now, several months after I first heard the mastered version. From the drum recordings that were perfected by Rasmus Toftlund at Fast Beat Studio to the mastering by Tore Stjerna at Necromorbus Studio, this album has surpassed all of our expectations. I also gather from the reviews that I have read so far that Rise seems to grow on people from a good first impression to something that they really appreciate. Moreover, it seems that people really grasp what we want to achieve with this album and it feels great to not just reach out to your audience, but to actually reach them. So yes, the entire band is more than thrilled by the outcome.

What can you tell us about the lyrics?

The lyrics, like the songs play in to a greater whole that binds the album together. We cover sinister and dark concepts using philosophy, mythology, history and prose (e.g. Poe, Lovecraft) and put them on edge do describe a guide-less, godforsaken world, as the band name also implies.

Tell us about the album cover

The cover artwork was created by artist Claude Witt who is a friend of Anders. He created the entirety of it over a few weeks and we were completely thrown aback by it. The level of detail is really jaw dropping. Our idea was to show a monster rising from the abyss as an analogy for the band and the album title. Claude did an awesome job depicting just that.

Deus Otiosus Band 2 Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

The main composer is Henrik Engkjær who co-founded the band with Anders Bo Rasmussen. The way we go about song writing is that Henrik writes the main framework for each song, the riffs, the drum patters and the lyrics. Then we arrange the songs in rehearsal and the drums are refined. I will add bass to the riffs at this stage. We keep adding improving details to the songs, even at the studio stage when we are recording. Other than that, on Rise, I have partly written the lyrics for the song Vultures.
How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?

We are still rising and we are already now working full steam with new material. As said, we always strive to top our last release and this will not change. We use the descriptor outlaw death metal because we refute genre-talk and we stick to this. So people can expect original, boundless yet coherent death metal.

What’s next for Deus Otiosus?

As of now, in conjunction with the release of Rise, we have already been on a Danish tour and played at a Copenhell Festival Warm Up event as well as at Metal Magic Festival, all in Denmark. We aim to take our presence abroad as we have done in the past. In particular, Germany and Scandinavia should look out for Deus Otiosus, but our ambitions go beyond as well. Meanwhile, we are hard at work with new material and we promise great deeds in the future!

Hails,

Jesper Holst
Bass guitars
Deus Otiosus

Interview with Monumentomb

Monumentomb have recently released their début EP Ritual Exhumation. This is a glorious Old-School Death Metal release that manages to seriously impress, especially for such a new band. I decided to get a bit more info on this rough gem…

Tell us about Monumentomb and where you came from?

We’re based in Kent in the south east of England. We formed less than a year ago, to start from the beginning: I was drinking at a metal pub in my local town of Maidstone. The Beherit shirt I was wearing prompted conversation very quickly when Alex noticed it, and we’ve been good mates since. Then after a long time later, years in fact we met again and decided to form a band with our strong agreement in musical tastes. At the same place a little later, I met Gaius while drinking at a mutual friends birthday, we got totally hammered and stayed in touch. Since Alex left the band earlier this month to concentrate on Infected Dead, Gaius has now moved over to guitar duties. I met Lee at a local gig that Alex was playing with his band Infected Dead. He heard that Lee was a decent and freed-up drummer and introduced us that night, we’ve been doing Monumentomb ever since.

What are your influences?

The primary influence is old-school death metal, I listen to a lot of 80’s metal ranging from Yngwie Malmsteen to Cacophony, Razor, Racer X, Infernal Majesty, Sacrifice etc. Bands specifically that we take a lot of influence from are Bolt Thrower, Autopsy, Grave, Dismember, Morbid Angel, Carcass, early Entombed/Obituary/Death to name a few. Our influences always have a bearing on our development as players. Lee is ever aiming to reach the same ability level as George Kollias and Gaius listens to a lot of technical metal too, which constantly fuels improvement individually, as well as overall as a band.

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

Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of Vinnie Moore, Tony MacApline and Paul Gilbert Racer X era. Also been listening to ‘The Cleansing’ by Nominon which I highly recommend, it has a great atmosphere and production. Morbid and filthy sounding release and has to be one of their best to date. And have been re-visiting Beneath the Remains, simply, it’s an album that never leaves my CD rotation.

How did you decide on the style of Death Metal that you wanted to play – what appeals about the Death Metal sound?

I’ve always had a leaning toward the Old-School sounding bands for as long as I can remember. The feeling and readiness of the style always screamed out to me and stood out over the extremely clean sounding releases, the style always deserves preservation in my opinion. We’re not aiming to be an overly technical band, as the fundamental idea at inception was to maintain the essential feeling and simplicity of most of the old-school death metal bands. The paramount appeal to me is the sheer aggression, the riffs, imagery and relative versatility of the genre.

Non-standard for Death Metal but judged perfectly – tell us about the clean vocals in Perpetual Execution Torment

They were performed by a good mate of mine – Chris Simmons who plays in a well-known band from our area called Wretched Soul, and exceeded the intentions of that section for the track. It was an idea that formed while watching the film Reanimator, not a direct attempt to sound like a revived corpse, but to bring a bit of humanity into the lyrical content of being reanimated as slave for the sole purpose to kill, to live and die constantly in complete agony forever.

Do you have any goals for Ritual Exhumation?

At the moment, it’s a case of getting the name around and networking as much as possible. We currently have ongoing dealings with a label to release it on CD and other formats, but that’s yet to be confirmed officially. Hopefully soon!

How did the recording process go?

The EP was recorded in 5 days, so bearing that in mind it was a very focussed effort, and fortunately with a very minimal amount of set-backs. As with most sessions the drums were recorded first within 2 10 hour days, then the guitars, bass and vocals were tracked. I was overseeing and present every day of the recording process , myself and the Engineer (Graham Waller) were totally wiped-out after that one week of little sleep and relentless concentration. We took a few moments to kick-back and chill with some music, food and some funny youtube stuff. The whole thing was a learning curve, and am very pleased with the results that were achieved within the time constraints.

Is there anything on the release you’re not satisfied with?

I think anyone who says they wouldn’t change anything in hindsight is kidding themselves, to be honest. You are your own worst critic, thus naturally there will be tiny changes you would make personally, for example a particular note on a solo, or a vocal or drum pattern you think could have been performed better. Unnoticeable to anyone else who listens to it but only picked-out by yourself really. So in essence, there are one or two things I would change but fortunately we can live with them!

Do you want to discuss any of the lyrics on the album and any themes/hidden meanings/etc. that might be there?

Yeah, sure. The lyrics are very straightforward, no hidden or subliminal meanings behind them as such. They’re simply inspired by morbid horror stories/movies and matching the visual themes for us. The themes are essentially all based around necromancy and death rituals/rites with an apocalyptic goal, with narratives and side-stories in between. A lot of inspiration comes from the Necronomicon by Lovecraft and related grimoires in terms of direct literary inspiration. I’m an avid fan of 80′s horror and splatter films and comics, it’s usually easy enough to write lyrics to these themes but it’s tough to attempt a new angle when a lot of the subject matter has been broached upon before. So just sticking to familiar territory lyrically just fits and suits the sound we’re trying to achieve.

What’s your songwriting process?

Majority of the writing in the early days started as just me and Alex bouncing ideas off each other and listening to a ton of music. The writing process sped-up dramatically when Lee joined, which then transpired into just the two of us meeting-up every weekend and continually getting a better sense of how the structures should form. The latter part of the writing process is still the same to this day, and we are currently writing new material too.

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

In the near future, the direction intends to remain on the same plateau as the EP in terms of style, atmosphere and riffs. Still taking huge influence from classic releases and present releases too.

What does the future hold for Monumentomb?

At present, we are playing our first festival in August in the UK with Onslaught. After that, we have 2 London dates in September with Krow and October with Gravecrusher. And after that, we’re focussing on getting a full-length released and alongside that, we’re looking to and hoping to get onto a tour in the future as well. We intend to remain as an active live band as much as possible, so, touring is always at the forefront of our minds!

Thanks!

Interview with Frozen Ocean

Frozen Ocean have recently released the impressive album The Dyson Swarm. It’s a surprisingly effective release that mixes Black Metal with Electronica/Industrial sounds. Finding out a bit more was the next order of business…

Give us a bit of history to Frozen Ocean.

I am afraid this history won’t be very epic. Frozen Ocean was founded in 2005 in Moscow, Russia, as a solo project of me and was intended to play black metal related stuff. After recording of the first demo “Snow is the Ash” I decided to make something different and dug into dark and drone ambient fields, in which the very first official release, “Depths of Subconscious” was produced. Later the project returned to black metal related music, but next started to bounce from style to style (or a mix of ones) from one release to next.

What are your influences?

Too hard to distinguish, because for every release they are different. In general I have always admired Ulver, how they had their versatility through artistic evolution and simultaneously kept the highest level they achieved. In particular, the musician who inspired me to start making my own works is Mikael “Vaalkoth” Baiyusik from Tearstained, Night Conquers Day, Into The Sunless Meridian and Shadowcaster.

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

The album that could become “release-of-the-year” in my personal charts – “Existence” by Australian progressive death metal band Aeon of Horus. Also I would like to recommend to everyone the last work of Russian industrial brutal death metal band 7 H.Target called “0.00 Apocalypse”; this album will crush you to dust.

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

At least to have a wider reception and recognition for the project worldwide. I had a hope that this kind of experiment would be something relatively fresh and original (as far as is possible nowadays) and thus attractive to a listener.

Are you happy with how it turned out?

As always, the reception and feedback could be wider, but I am quite happy with the existing one. In the modern music world nobody can predict the audience’s answer for your musical proposal. And of course things get more complicated when you present some stuff that lies outside of trends. So that is great that some people have found this album attractive and listened to it more than one time; I think that is the best approval for the musician.

What can you tell us about the concept behind the album?

“The Dyson Swarm” is devoted to close and outer space, and the place of humanity in it. It is built like a journey through the cosmos beginning on the Earth orbit and Solar system and longing to the known edge of Universe and further beyond, and each track describes some phenomenon or object you could face during that journey. Album’s title is describing one of the variant of Dyson sphere – a gigantic hypothetical astro-engineering construction the purpose of which is to utilize the radiated energy of the central star in a star system in the most efficient way. Humanity’s future, on the certain stage of its development and raising level of energy consumption, is hardly imaginable without stuff of that kind.

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process

The whole thing begins from the conception of release, and when I have the whole picture and structure of album in my head, I start making songs for it. When all the songs are recorded, at least in some scaffold state (without some parts or instruments), I take a listen to the whole yet incomplete release, and decide what and where should be added or changed to fulfill the requirements of the general idea. Thus I get the release united under one concept, but with the distinctive songs. Speaking about the production, all the steps of the production are performed by me in my home studio.

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

It will be something new, as usual, at least it will be different from things Frozen Ocean presented earlier. I will continue to shift shapes and styles, continue to experiment with merging of musical directions for the best representation of release concepts and emotional colouring of them. For instance, I will develop the usage of folk instruments started earlier (when I played mandolin on “Autumn Bridges”) and try to add them to electronics and metal in equal ratio.

What’s next for Frozen Ocean?

Soon Italian label Bylec-Tum productions will release the whole “Norse” Trilogy on one tape for true underground activists. Next plans are too loose to reveal, but they include the very first Frozen Ocean vinyl release.

Thanks!

Interview with Servants of the Mist

Servants of the Mist are about to release their latest EP Gross Knowledge of Genital Mutilation, and in its wake a creeping misery and despair does follow. It left such a deep impression that I felt compelled to probe deeper…

Give us a bit of history to Servants of the Mist

Servants of the Mist have existed in some form since 2010. We are from west central Florida. We are keen observers and travelers to dark dimensions. We are in touch with demons who work through and love us. We have opened for Danzig, Jucifer, Obituary and Eyehategod. We create sounds of suffering.

Where did your name come from?

The name came from a lyric in one of our earliest demos. The lyric was based on the 1992 Dracula movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gary Oldman.

What are your influences?

GG Allin, Melvins, Cough, Electric Wizard and Burning Witch. The greatest influence has been life itself. All the questions that can’t be answered. The hunger of the beast. The things we are forced to live with.

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

…I am always listening to the sound of my own voice telling my head things. I don’t hate anyone enough to recommend they know my brain or have my secrets.

What did you want to achieve with your new release

I want to promote thought and conversation. I want people who listen to realize their own hell. I want them to indulge their physical pleasures because the master won’t allow you love. People like us are ruled by their demons. I predict that right and wrong will be much harder to interpret. I believe we have a choice.

Most bands of this particular style of Sludge have a distinct Southern tinge to the riffs, yet this is largely absent from your sound. Was this a conscious decision to differentiate yourselves or was it a more natural occurrence?

The songs come from the soul. I am in an emotional prison. Where I exist there is very little color or life. This is what influences the sound. I don’t make a conscious choice to live here in exile. I don’t make a conscious effort to exclude a southern tinge.

How do your songs take shape?

I write most all the songs. I then take them to the band. We bring all the pieces together.

In your songs is it important to you to push a heavily negative vibe or is this a feeling that just happens regardless?

I have had hope and believed in love. I have been crushed by the need to be human. It is in the need for happiness that hope will blatantly betray you. The music speaks of the consequences of betrayal. It speaks of the evolution. The transformation from human to monster.

Would you change anything if you had to do the recording over again?

I am very critical of my own work. I would say that there is always something I think I could have done better. I also like that we don’t take much time or over produce our music in the studio. We plug in, play and what comes out is as real as it gets.

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

That depends completely where I’m at emotionally. I hope to write ballads that celebrate romance and love. I fear though that I will always exist in the world of shadows. I have found a home in the chaos.

What does the future hold for Servants of the Mist?

The future is futile. We will continue to celebrate madness. We will dream of you. We will hate you. We will continue on until death takes us to oblivion.

Ed Tobar…guitars, founder and father of Servants.

Servantsofthemist.bandcamp

Interview with Mordbrand

Having recently released their début album Imago, Mordbrand are like a fiery beacon of hope and devastation in the overcrowded Death Metal arena. Time to find out more – Björn Larsson gets a grilling below…

Give us a bit of history to Mordbrand

Me and Johan started out doing death metal again after a hiatus of a couple of years (we used to do the same in a band called Horned that we split up in 2002). I was very inspired by older filthier death metal bands – which sounds like a cliché today in this over flooded OSDM “scene”. Well, that’s the way it played out and we recorded some songs in our rehearsal place (that then was inhabited by THE LAW, the thrash metal band that we were very active with then). After releasing a split with EVOKE (eng) we decided to bring things up a notch. We contacted Per, he liked what he heard and we started writing and recorded what came to be “Necropsychotic”.

Where did the name come from?

I thought of the name “Arson” but I didn’t like it too much. Then my fiancee came up with the idea to use the swedish translation – “Mordbrand” – in a very non-Yoko kind of way. We, the band, thought it sounded good and didn’t care too much about the actual meaning of it. This was still in the early phase of the band but the moniker just stuck with us.

Mordbrand 1 What are your influences?

Lyrically: Total death. Musically: Old death metal, newer esoteric death & black metal and crusty punk.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?

Oh, I listen to a lot of things. I think that Mitochondrion, Autopsy, Vallenfyre, Bombs of Hades, Rite, Gravehill, Triptykon & Behemoth have released really impressive stuff lately.

How did you decide on the style of Death Metal that you wanted to play – what appeals about the Swedish Death Metal sound?

We started out playing Autopsy-esque death metal and never really thought we’d make “swedeath”, and I’m not sure we do. I think it’s the d-beat stuff that make people draw that conclusion. We don’t care, people can label us in any way they want. I use a Boss HM2 pedal which is quite important for the swedish sound, and maybe people can’t get passed that. I don’t know.

I’m pleased that you’re not just regurgitating past glories with your music. You seem to be one of the few bands who are trying to move the style forward and develop it. What are your thoughts on this?

Yes and no. I think we’re moving forward as a band but I don’t feel we have a responsibility against the genre. We do music the way we like it and we happen to digest a lot of melodic and dark music upon the strong death metal foundation. So we don’t have a deliberate task or anything. But it’s obvious that you get that we’re not a tribute band and that’s something more and more people are discovering.

What were your goals with Imago?

To make a record you haven’t heard until you’ve heard the whole thing. A lot of records do ‘sounds’ pretty well. Bands are good at nailing a mood or a sound of some genre or scene that they dig – which is cool. Our focus is to make _songs_ and try not to repeat ourselves. You’re gonna hear a lot of different things going on on “Imago”, but I think and hope that it all stays in the framework that is Mordbrand. Per’s unique vocals bind it all together in my opinion.

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

Often it’s me making the riffs and putting together demos that I send to the other guys. Then they bring me feedback and Johan starts rehearsing the songs. When the demo’s sound solid we start recording and produce it together. Since we record everything ourselves we’re not reliant on someone’s payroll and we get to throw away stuff if we’re not pleased with it, which is great ’cause we don’t have to gamble with quality.

Mordbrand 2 Would you change anything if you had to do the album again?

Of course. Since we do everything ourselves we’re constantly learning. It’s a process in itself to not think about all the flaws in the end result. But everything is flawed, so it’s about ‘letting go’ and realizing when you’re done. Luckily we don’t have to do the album again.
How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?

Well, the way we develop as artists and songwriters. Mordbrand will always be dark and brutal and that’s the only guarantee we can give.

What’s next for Mordbrand?

A split 7″ with RITE is on the way and should be out during the summer on Chaos Records. We also have a 7″ of our own with two new songs on it. Two other splits are planned too, but we can’t reveal any info on that just yet. All of our releases are gonna contain original unique material, at least that’s the plan, so we won’t regurgitate old stuff and release separately just because it’s convenient. We did that with two songs on “Necropsycotic” ’cause Per’s ideas changed the songs into new entities (and he didn’t sing on the original versions), but that was an exception to the rule.

Thanks for the interview!

Interview with Deep In Hate

Deep In Hate are about to release their colossal new album Chronicles of Oblivion in the very near future and with this firmly establishing themselves as a force to be reckoned with amongst premier Death Metal. With this in mind it’s the perfect time to find out a bit more about this exciting band…

Tell us all about Deep in Hate and where you came from

Florian (Guitars) : Hi ! Thanks for the interview !

Deep In Hate is a band from Paris and its near suburbs, founded in 2004 by Vince (lead guitar) and Bastos (drums).

The band experienced some changes of line-up before it stabilized for the release of the band’s second album Origins of Inequality in 2011.

Now, we are about to release our new record Chronicles of Oblivion on June 3rd, and are really excited about it !

What are your influences?

Amongst our shared influences in the band, but limited to the « Death » metal scene, we can quote Behemoth, Whitechapel, Despised Icon, Gojira, Beneath the Massacre, The Black Dahlia Murder but also Decapitated or Dying Fetus.

It’s actually a blend between modern and ‘older’ influences, as you can see.

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

At the moment I am listening to the last Aborted, The Necrotic Manifesto, that I am really digging, and enjoying the last Structures and Architects albums. Not totally my style, but good ones ! For the « non Metal » part, it’s Steel Panther’s All You Can Eat album, my little weakness !

How did you decide on the style of Death Metal that you wanted to play?

The first musical direction, being a « Brutal Death » band was given when the band was founded by Vince and Bastos, I was not in it at the time. Then, as the line-up changed, the addition of new blood gave the music a more modern approach.

Finally, the last conscious decision was to go more into a ‘song-oriented’ Death metal, where riffing, melody and groove are what matters most, with plainer structures but with the aim of enhancing the core of the music.

How do you feel about the current Death Metal scene? Where do you feel you fit in?

Where do I feel I fit in ? One of the most dreadful questions you could ask ! Honestly I do not know. I would like to think we have done something special, with an unique Deep In Hate flavour to it, but in the end I am the worst person to answer that question. Even when you love the music you are doing and are expressing yourself with all your guts, you might remain that kid that plays without knowing what he is exactly doing here.

In my review I note that you have a winning brutality-to-melody ratio – how do you temper the two?

By being a Libra maybe ? (laughs)

Seriously though, the fact that we are two main composers (with Vince the lead guitarist) is part of the answer.

Moreover, I have always loved bands that balance the two, and « beauty », even in the most aggressive parts, is fundamental.

I do not say we achieved it, but it is part of what we are.

And actually balance is in itself beautiful, isn’t it ?

Do you have any goals for your album?

The goals for our album are the ‘’highest’’ goals possible obviously.

I mean, we have put so much work and energy in it, we hope it will resonate in people the way it does with us. Our aim being to play live shows the more we can, the more people will love the album, the better, because it will mean a new audience for us and more shows !

Is there anything on the album you’re not satisfied with?

Not at the moment. We have had the chance to do what we wanted to do, and reach the result we aimed at.

The only negative feeling I sometimes experience is the ‘’we could have gone deeper’’ syndrome… But it is abstract, I do not know where or how, for now.

I hope it will become clearer for the next albums and that it will help getting even more mature eventually!

Do you want to discuss any of the lyrics on the album and any themes/hidden meanings/etc. that might be there?

The lyrics are written like episodes of a History in a post-apocalyptic world.

They are rather straight-forward at first, but of course we hope that they will not only be read for their literal meaning. The stories take place in a fictional world but they do emphasize some aspects of the human nature whatever the times.

For example, the fact that Men can be whether powerful and brave when in group, or stupid and coward.

Also, the notion of « cycle » is very important, as if human History is only virtually going forward, because it keeps repeating itself.

Humans are immature, at the scale of the world, and only when they evolve will they break this cycle.

What’s your songwriting process?

Vince does almost all the preliminary work. He creates riffs and melodies that go along well, and it gives us our primary material. I basically come and arrange his material into songs, and the work with the drums and bass guitar begins here. I fill the gaps when necessary and, since it is much more inspiring for me to work with something that already exists, I may add extra things to the songs.

It has to be approved by all the members at each step, and finally when the instrumental is almost finished, we work on the vocals, with the lyrics previously written.

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

In the same direction we have taken with this album.

If I may repeat myself, I see ourselves going more and more towards ‘’a ‘song-oriented’ Death metal, where riffing, melody and groove are what matters most.

Modern metal is cool, and is more catchy than ever, but sometimes melody and especially atmosphere are not that much emphasized on. I mean, the music is in those cases really good, but the ‘‘taste’’of it does not last long.

I think music has evolved with the way people listen to it : it has to quickly retain your attention, give you immediate pleasure or else you will not give it a second listen. So if a band succeeds in proposing that, and at the same time a music that is better each time you listen to it… It’s perfect.

What does the future hold for Deep in Hate?

The best, I hope. It is time now with this new album to reach a new level. We have gained over the years more and more support from professionals, and with their help we will bring our music over to a maximum of metalheads, even if some may have never heard of us before.

I do not know what else to say right now, we will see how the new album is received, but we will keep going forward anyway!

Thanks for the chance to answer those questions, hope you guys reading this will enjoy the record.

Interview with Thunderwar

After listening to the rather impressive Thunderwar EP The Birth of Thunder, I thought it best to quiz the band about it and find out a little bit more…

For those that are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself! Give us a bit of background to Thunderwar.

Hi there!

My name’s Witold Ustapiuk and I’m the lead guitarist at Thunderwar. We play old-school Death Metal, combining the non-compromising feel of the American scene with the atmosphere of the Swedish one, adding a little Black Metal flavour to it.

Give us a bit of background to Thunderwar.

My band has a short, but turbulent history. In July 2012, we released the first single, containing the song “Eagle of Glory”, which we again placed on “The Birth of Thunder” EP, as a bonus track. After sometime we decided to change our name, due to various, more or less significant, reasons. In the beginning of 2013 we went into the studio to record our début album, but were not satisfied with the final effect of the session, so we made a a decision not to publish the material. Towards the end of 2013 we released “The Birth of Thunder” with our own means.

What are your influences?

For me, the greatest inspiration are the Heavy Metal classics. They are the ones that taught me to view the genre in a conscious way. While creating the songs I mostly get inspired by what I’m currently listening to and it doesn’t necessarily have to be Metal. Still it doesn’t mean that I want to have elements like The Devil’s Blood or Blue Öyster Cult, smuggled into Thunderwar. I try to convey a certain emotional content through my music and to introduce the listener to a certain atmosphere.

What are you listening to at the moment that you want to recommend?

At present, I’ve been completely blown away by the latest Inquisition album called “Obscure Verses of the Multiverse”. Consistent, mature and with an original sound. This album puts me into a metaphysical trance from the first till the last second. I’d also like to recommend bands like Tribulation and Cult of Fire.

Your first EP is very accomplished – how did the songs come about?

Thunderwar’s songs are usually created over a long stretch of time. I bring the ready riffs to our practice room, and together with the band, we work on them and get them in order. We try to get all the details perfect and think the whole arrangement through. It gives us a lot of satisfaction, since, as we can see, this system pays off. Our EP’s met with lots of enthusiasm of critics from all around the world.

Tell us a bit more about the lyrics to the songs.

Our lyrics tell mostly about ancient beliefs and religions, forbidden cosmic cults and blasphemous rituals. Using different metaphors we intend to pay homage to our gods and convey ideas, which are very important to us. For example the lyrics to the song Vimana are based upon the themes from the Hindu manuscript “Mahabharatha”.

Are you happy with how the EP ended up?

In spite of the many complications and problems connected to the finishing of the EP, I can say, that finally we did everything, within our powers, to achieve the best effect possible. Our music now, reaches to the regions we would have never thought of. We consider this a great success.

What’s next for Thunderwar?

At present we’re engrossed in the work on the record and the band’s image. Towards the end of the year, we’re going into the Hertz studio to record the full album.

In three weeks we’re supporting Obituary, and this will probably be the last show before the releasing of the record, unless of course we receive proposals to play some bigger gigs before we find the record label.

Thanks!