Coming from Cuba and about to unleash A Hatred Manifesto, Narbeleth mean business. This is real Black Metal, unforced and ready to rage. I braved the darkness to find out more…
Give us a bit of background to Narbeleth
HAIL! NARBELETH was born back in 2008. At that time I played guitar on my previous band ANCESTOR, but I had many ideas that were out of this band concept, so I decided to create my own project. From the beginning NARBELETH was supposed to be a only a studio band, but two years later I decided to give a concert, and since then I’ve played in some occasions. To the date I’ve released “Dark Primitive Cult” demo, “Diabolus Incarnatus” album, “Hail Black Metal!” Ep, and now is almost out “A Hatred Manifesto”, the 2nd album.
What are your influences?
My influences come from the early Scandinavian Black Metal mainly. BATHROY, DARKTHRONE, ARCKANUM, JUDAS ISCARIOT, early TORMENTOR, LORD BELIAL, are among my main inspirations.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
These days I’m listening to SKOGEN, SKYFORGER, DEAD TO THIS WORLD, DEMONICAL, NORTHERN PLAGUE, CRAFT, KULT, WARDRUNA… Bands that worth to check out for sure if you haven’t yet!
How do you feel about the wider Black Metal scene?
Yes, the Black Metal scene has become wider in the last years, and that’s good from the point of view of a revival of the essence in bands that create this art based in the early concept of it. Now, what is disgusting is all this trend of new suicidal and depressive Black Metal, and that’s so lame!!!! Black Metal is about strength, about supremacy of the individual and his power to grow up spiritually and become whatever you want, without any boundaries or limits.
Did you have any particular aims when you started to put together A Hatred Manifesto?
Absolutely! First of all, I wanted to get a better sound quality, and that’s one of the reasons this album delayed more than I was predicted; and also I wanted to go a little further with this albums that what I accomplished with the previous releases, and Folter Records gave me this opportunity.
Are you happy with how it turned out?
I am very happy with the general result; with the album itself, in all aspects, and with the release and work by Folter Records.
Tell us about the lyrics and themes running through the release
My lyrics are about Black Metal, about my life, and my vision of the world and how religions lead humanity to a cliff by creating intellectual barriers to people. I write about the freedom and the power every human have inside to be greater every day.
How do you write your songs?
First I compose riffs using the guitar; maybe I do a complete song, maybe I make a riff and then it fits to a previous recorded one… that depends on my inspiration. Then, when I have the whole song I do the drums and finally the lyrics
Did the recording process go smoothly?
Yes, it was slow, but efficiently. I work when I feel inspired and with no pressure so all can flow spontaneously and the most natural. I don’t like to force the creative process.
How do you see your sound/direction developing in the future?
NARBELETH’s sound is what you know already, and that will be the path to follow in the future. Black Metal is the lead, and I will follow it step by step always in NARBELETH.
What’s next for Narbeleth?
Right now I’m preparing to perform at the mighty Under the Black Sun festival next July, so see you all there raising fists and horns in the name of Black Metal. After I return from Europe I will begin to compose for the next album.
Nux Vomica’s latest, self-titled, album is one giant mass of quality. No need to say more than that. You should go and get it. So without further ado let’s find out a bit more…
For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!
I’m Just Dave, vocalist and percussionist. Not familiar with my band? Check us out here:
We’re a punk band who learned how to play better, so now people call us “extreme metal”, which is appropriate considering how much Mountain Dew some of us drink. We started in Baltimore in about 2003, moved to Portland in 2006, had some lineup changes ending in 2008, and here we are. Our 3rd LP is out now and we have a slew of other releases. For the last year we’ve taken time off to work on other projects, and our guitarist Chris had a baby. This year we hope to get back to jamming and playing shows!
What are your influences?
This is a classic interview question, and in our case it’s so hard to answer. Here’s a very incomplete list of band members’ favourite bands: CRASS, VIOLENT FEMMES, PUBLIC ENEMY, MORNE, BLACK SABBATH, METALLICA, MISFITS, BLIND GUARDIAN, CEE-LO GREEN, DEVO, THE B-52S, PUBLIC ENEMY, DEAD MOON, THE RESIDENTS, LOW, DYSTOPIA, JUCIFER, QUEEN, MACHO MAN RANDY SAVAGE, JAY REATARD, HIS HERO IS GONE, AMEBIX, THE CURE…. I’m just stopping there.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
THIN LIZZY – Live and Dangerous. Damn good house cleaning music!
What did you want to achieve with your new album?
We wanted to agree on anything. Since that was obviously not gonna happen, we figured we’d cram our songs full of so many ideas that they became almost 12 to 20 minutes long. Then we had to figure out how to put it all on an album that sounded cohesive. 5 years later, it’s out!
Are you happy with how it turned out?
Yes we definitely are. I think all the hard work and time we put into it is very apparent. No part of any song went unscrutinized by us. We got very meticulous about how we wanted everything to sound, and some of us went back in the studio multiple times to re-record parts. In particular the extra percussion was an issue. Trying to do what we do live sounded like a clusterfuck, so we scaled down the extra drumming. I think it turned out great.
What can you tell us about the lyrics?
“Sanity is for the Passive” is about the idea that being labelled “insane” to me means you are reacting correctly to your surroundings in this world. Being labelled “sane” means you have been successfully assimilated into the insanity. “Reeling” is about a guy I knew who almost drank himself to death. People had to break into his house and take him to detox. Empty vodka bottles were littered everywhere. I’m pretty sure he is drinking again these days. “Choked at the Roots” is basically my theory on how people started down the path to being power mad ruiners of everything. Overall this is very dark album lyrically. Read all the lyrics here:
Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.
Usually one person has an idea of the entire song structure and brings the riffs to practice and we all pick it apart and build on it. We rarely have a plan of the length of a song, we just let it grow and if it starts getting boring we start scrapping parts and re-working others. We spend a good deal of time on transitions between parts. We like to the longer songs to flow well and remain interesting. We try to avoid the typical “this part ends, the guitars bring in the next riff, everyone else joins in” way of writing punk and crust songs. The lyrics for these newer songs were largely written at practice while the band was jamming. That was because the songs started getting too long and complicated to just bring a bunch of lyrics I wrote and fit them in like I used to.
How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?
We have about four new songs, and we were working on more last year before we decided to take a break. The newer batch of songs are more thrashy and shorter than this LP, and people were really into them when we played em live. We also started playing a WAKE UP ON FIRE song that was never recorded. I think once we get back to jamming we’ll see where we’re going beyond that.
What’s next for Nux Vomica?
Practice! We haven’t played in a year. We need to re-learn our songs, shake off the cobwebs and get back to it. I think we’re ready.
Decembre Noir’s début album A Discouraged Believer is a polished Doom/Death Metal release, dripping with raw and bloody emotion. It has that mystery ingredient that lifts a band above the norm into the higher realms. We decided it was important to delve a bit deeper into the background of the album to find out what makes it tick…
Give us a bit of background to Decembre Noir
Hi, I’m Lars, vocalist from Decembre Noir. So I’d like to give you my reply!
We are 5 (nice) guys from East-Germany, from the region round Erfurt, the capital from Thueringia (one of the “states” from Germany). Besides our bandproject our “baby” – almost all of us have a normal life with job and own family.
What are your influences?
Katatonia, Opeth, In Mourning, October Tide, Swallow The Sun, My Dying Bride, Anathema and Paradise Lost! 😉
I characterize the style/sound of the album!
Dark + heavy = Décembre Noir!!! “A Discouraged Believer” is a fucking doom/death monster!
Our sound in the main has become some stronger and the structures of the songs who already has been available have changed to become much more better. More Death and Black metal elements and many melodies gave the songs their final outfit. Last but not least the classical influence from the cello. In private we all listen to different music and so it was used a little bit from all our musical tastes. The good combination is doing his work!
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
Haha, Katatonia’s “Brave Murder Day” ! I LOVE this album! Every song on this record is a Doom-Metal-Diamond! My favorite song on this album is “Brave” !!! Fucking great!!! I love it!!!
What did you want to achieve with your new album?
We want to have a solid mainstay in the metal-scene! 😉
We would like to play on the bigger festivals in summertime, lovely, but unfortunately for that year we haven’t got any acceptances. We hope it is possible next year because it must be a very special experience to play stages like With Full Force, Summer Breeze, Partysan, Hellfest or In Flammen!
Are you happy with how it turned out?
Absolutely!!! We are full of proud and very happy about our first album!!! We love this record!!!
What can you tell us about the lyrics?
So to speak we have a basic concept in our album „A discouraged believer“. You can speak about the classical main idea who you can find inside the album. Nevertheless every song is standing for itself.
It tells about the journey of a young man who is trying to find every day the meaning in his life and way. It seems he has reached a deadlock, only he is looking at the obstacles in his weekday, the typical problems which become more and more and can overtax someone and no idea how to change something, because he is get stuck somehow… So like in “Thorns”.
Our protagonist is searching for that, what we call “God”, but can’t find “Him” or any answers. That’s why he is discouraged, cause he has understood, that he can’t get any help from a “greater power” and he has to go his life way and find the meaning behind that all alone.
For instance in “Stowaway” is the theme suicide to see a chance for a new begin in life (But to forestall any critical readers or regarding this potential concerned or endangered people: Don’t panic, nobody from us will incite anybody for do that!!! Please do not misunderstand!). Much more is the thought what is standing behind that song, bother things who weigh heavily upon our mind to leave behind, finish with them and try to orientate to another direction respectively to find a better way to arrange the life.
On following song “Resurrection” the name is program It reflects the start in a new life.
For myself the album is one of my most personal things, what I have written yet in my life. Have putted lots of time and heart-blood in that album. So many people has fought in life with similar piled up problems, whether in job, relationship, family…and already we all were standing for the question, who is the meaning of all and finally comes to the result if you want life better you have to make a personal breakout and has to change by yourself a lot!
Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.
Already the songs before sounded really good and varied, but of course because of the teamwork with Ali they became much better! For us all that was an unbelievable experience! We have worked with diverse guest singers and musicians. For example one of my best friends Tele (guitar player of the German Pagan/Black metal band “Hangatyr”), who gave us some clean vocals for the songs “Decembre noir” and “Resurrection”. Alis girlfriend Katharina, who is singing with me in “Escape to the sun” a duet. Not to forget our lady on the cello, Nicole, who has shown her talent by the Darkwave band “Other Day”. Just that records with the Cello have been very interesting, for Ali too, because for him it was the first time to working with such an very nice sounded instrument. Mix a cello in your music and you will get an unbelievable atmosphere. We have experimented with Synthisounds too. You can be exciting about really great moments.
At least we are happy about the result of our job!
Well, we had a very special time and a lot of fun during recording and have to say we grew as musicians and band! We were much more glad, when Eike O. Freese (Dark Age) offered us to mix and master our album together with Ali in Hamburg! On that place a great “Thank you” to both and we hope we can mix and master our next album with Ali and Eike again!
How do you see your position in the wider Doom/Death Metal musical framework/genre?
We are a tiny star on the big metal-heaven! But we want to grow! Latest with the next album! 😉
What’s next for Decembre Noir?
Looking for gigs…Well till then we will use the free time to work on next songs. We have lots of ideas and material. Guess we will start again in autumn – with pleasure!
So you will hear from us – enjoy our album and stay heavy and dark!!!
Australian band Norse have recently released the supremely tasty and atypical Black Metal EP Pest. Such a talented and bold release demands a closer look is taken at it. Let’s see what we discover…
Give us a bit of background to Norse.
Forge: The history of a band is never interesting to anyone really. All bands start in a similar fashion, with trials and tribulations along the way that are of no real concern to the listener.
If lineup changes and band statuses are your thing, maybe you’d be better off watching sports.
ADR: Norse has been reforged, as a weapon.
What are your influences?
Forge: For me, I am influenced by everything around me in nature. I work by myself in pine forests and will go days at a time without seeing anyone. When you’re this secluded, all the small things take up a bigger presence in your life and become a real inspiration.
My other influence is checking out all the shallow, rehashed and totally unoriginal bands and music in the metal scenes today. This gives me the will to rise above and create something that is unique to myself.
ADR: The complete isolation of the wilderness is highly inspirational. Contrarily, so too is witnessing the endless horrors people inflict upon each other and themselves. One can also draw great inspiration from the countless other miseries afflicting those here and across the world.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
Forge: Bjork, Mount Kimbie, Marduk’s ‘Wormwood’.
ADR: Emperor, Gehenna – Unravel.
What did you want to achieve with your new EP?
Forge: I remember listening to bands when I was a kid and actually being scared by the music. It was an amazing experience! So naturally with Pest, to create music that confuses and unsettles was a big objective. I wanted to break every rule I could. I made the guitar do things it shouldn’t (and nearly broke it in the process of recording this EP) and I went against all the standard ‘performance’ rules of recording.
…by that I mean, I recorded guitars and bass and then mangled the takes, pushed them and tortured them until they transformed into the sound I was looking for. I don’t care what purists think or expect. This is art, not music created to the specifications of the ‘heavy metal handbook’.
ADR: To create an unnerving, chilling diatribe which is unrestrained by convention.
How do you feel it has progressed your sound since your previous album?
Forge: There is a big progression from ‘All is Mist and Fog’ to ‘Pest’, although it is a natural one. With the last album, I was crossing over from standard black metal ideas into more complex and unique compositions. Then I took the weirdest ideas from ‘All is Mist and Fog’ and stretched and skewed them until I arrived at the ‘Pest sound’.
It wasn’t an easy thing to do, as I had to constantly question everything I wrote. Why does it sound good? Is it because it sounds like something I’ve already heard? How can I make this unique? Etc.
In hindsight, ‘All is Mist and Fog’ was a very important album to write as it opened the door to a new way of approaching music.
ADR: ‘All is Mist and Fog’ is an excellent creation but Norse is constantly evolving. For ‘Pest’ everything was stripped back to reveal a raw, wounding sound and the result is a truly unique release which will take more than a few listens to fully appreciate.
Are you happy with how it turned out?
Forge: Yes, ultimately. I was hating it for a while as it took me 3 years to write and record 6 songs. I recorded about 5 different versions of the EP until I was happy with it. I wanted the production to be wild and organic, but still have a certain clinical tightness and rigidity. I think a fine balance of technical execution mixed with raw aggression and emotion creates the ultimate atmosphere.
What can you tell us about the lyrics?
ADR: Dedicated fans will have a lot to relish and decipher in these lyrics. The freedom to delve into anything has led to the exploration of some warped and horrifying themes on ‘Pest’. Some weak individuals may find them offensive but this is black metal after all – extremity should not deter.
In my review I describe you as unusual and atypical Black Metal due to the non-standard riffs and structure of the compositions. Would you agree with this?
Forge: Yes, and I’m glad you picked up on this. However the problem with ‘unusual’ or experimental bands is 90% of it is garbage.
Being different just for the sake of it, with no overall goal or idea to work under is not what we are interested in at all. All we want to do is challenge ourselves and push the boundaries while still creating the best quality music we can.
How do you see your position in the wider Black Metal musical framework/genre?
Forge: We have never thought about or been bothered by it. I’m sure some time after the release of this EP it will be categorised, pigeonholed and labelled under some ridiculous sub-genre. People can’t help themselves.
How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?
Forge: Honestly I couldn’t say. No Norse album has been the same, and I am proud of this. For the next release we have invited Shayne, our permanent session guitarist to help out with the writing. This will change the dynamic and bring a new element to the band. His technical capabilities are such that I can throw anything at him and he will be able to interpret it and convert it into a cohesive idea. He also has a very good creative side. I’m looking forward to the next album already.
What’s next for Norse?
Forge: Touring to promote Pest and then back into obscurity to start the next album.
ADR: Expect more hostility from Norse in the near future.
Not so long ago Agiel released their latest EP Dark Pantheons, which is an exciting and inspired merging of Death Metal and classical orchestration. We caught up with Agiel vocalist and founding member James Taylor to see what makes the band tick…
For those that are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself
Great to speak to you! We are AGIEL, a blackened-death metal four piece band from the US. Our music integrates the brutality of death metal, raw intensity of black metal and significant orchestral arrangements to produce an intensely unsettling yet enigmatic style.
The band name comes from western astrology and symbolizes the intelligence of Saturn; a planet that represents agelessness and occult power. In the European astrological system each planet has a baleful and baneful influence; a positive and negative aspect that is. Because of its role as the intelligence and wisdom that is gain from knowledge of the occult, AGIEL is generally seen as the constructive aspect of Saturn’s influence on mankind. The focal subject matter of our music explores many aspects of the occult, theosophy, mythology and the limits of our spiritual potential as human beings.
Give us a bit of background to AGIEL
Time passes so quickly and it’s hard to believe that I started AGIEL over 15 years ago. Our origins go back to about 1997. That’s when we started making serious strides towards the creation of our own sound and style. To be honest I wish that I was a better chronologist because I’ve lost troves of AGIEL material over the years. I’ve gotten better at it, my erratic nature tempered perhaps by maturity, but the broad strokes of our history are intact at least.
We released our first full length CD The Works of War in 1999. The title was a bit of a play on the Christian concept of the works of peace (clothe the naked, feed the hungry, etc). I think we were 18 or 19 years old when that album was written, so there’s more than a small dose of blasphemy in that material. We moved past all that kind of thing really quickly once we began to study the Occult in a more serious way. Our experiences with that are what inspired us to begin writing music and continues to provide a source of inspiration to this day.
In 2000 or 2001 we started working on a demo titled Hymnos ex Maledicus Gemini, which would later become the 2002 release Dark Pantheons Again Will Reign. That album began a kind of tradition for AGIEL in that we would try and break out of our musical comfort zones and reinvent ourselves with each new release. One of the aspects of this band that I love most is that desire to constantly change and evolve, to never stagnate or stay with what’s safe. Musically we moved from a black metal sound to something that was much more like brutal death metal.
From then until about 2007 we continued that evolution and experimented with many different permutations of death metal. Like I said earlier, I wish that I had kept better track of that period because we were quite prolific with the amount of material that was written. Some of it is still available and we’ve made an effort to preserve it. There was a 10 – 12 song album titled Kuthula which was a big technical achievement for us. The songs in that collection were very intricate and extremely challenging to perform. I’m glad to say that we still have those. Next was another full length which we called Aeon and I’m sad to say that all of that material has been lost to the ages. And finally, we published a shorter work called Vessatu of which only 3 songs remain in our collection.
In 2007, for a variety of reasons, we decided to let AGIEL rest and it wasn’t until December of 2012 that we picked up its mantel once again. An improbable, but perfect convergence of opportunities brought us back together to create music once again. That brings us to this year’s release of Dark Pantheons.
What are your influences?
We draw from pretty varied sources and I think that is a reflection of the diversity of interests between the guys in the band. Jesse, our guitarist, has a lot of influence from classic melodic metal bands like Iron Maiden. Kevin, AGIEL’s drummer, is into more black-end death metal types such as Flesh God Apocalypse. Rich is into a lot of brutal death metal. I’m into a lot of different musical styles, but my listening habits tend to lean towards black metal bands like Emperor and Dark Fortress. I’m also pretty obsessed with modern orchestral music from composers like Mahler. He’s one of my favourites.
Then of course there is the music that we grew up on which was the second wave of European black metal bands like Emperor, Satyricon, Cradle of Filth, Dissection, etc . In terms of literal musical style we might not share too much in common with these bands, but that black metal attitude is engrained in our consciousness.
What are you listening to at the moment that you want to recommend?
My current listening obsession is Mahler’s sixth symphony. It’s a devastating, powerful and downright brutal composition. At over 80 minutes it is pretty lengthy in comparison to most of the music that I listen to, but totally worth the effort. We’re gearing up right now to write a new full length album and I throw this piece on whenever I need inspiration. I think a lot of people that are into death metal would really like this particular symphony.
There is so much great music out there today and it is so much more accessible than it has ever been. It can be overwhelming really. One of my favorite ways to unwind is to just throw YouTube up on my laptop and start into a random playlist. I do that a lot actually. There’s always something filling up the background while I work on various projects.
You blend Death Metal and cinematic orchestration in a seamless way that’s effective and sounds unforced. Is this really the case or was it a challenge getting the two genres to fuse together?
I’m glad that you’re into that aspect of our sound. I spent too many hours to keep track of on getting the orchestral compositions to work in concert with the songs. It was a unique challenge in that we wanted it to sound as if the orchestra was integrated into the band on a really deep level and not just a layer that goes on top of a metal song. We took our time to get the interplay between the classical and modern instrumentation to a point that we were happy with. I also tried to write arrangements for each of the different sections in the orchestra and not rely on layered sounds. So for each of the songs I wrote up to sixteen separate parts that got layered up to create the final sound.
What does the writing process involve for you?
For me, everything starts with what I call a seed idea. This could be almost anything; a short melody that came to me randomly, a particular word that resonated with an emotion, maybe one of two bars from a song heard in passing or maybe a piece of visual art that was particularly inspiring. From there I let that seed grow in my subconscious mind until ideas start breaking through to my conscious thoughts. At that point I’ll start writing things down as they occur to me. It annoys the hell out of people though. I’ll stop mid-sentence, frantically look for something to write on and then scribble down a line of lyric or a tonal progression. It doesn’t matter what’s going on. Everything stops for me until that ideas is down on paper.
In truth, a lot of my notes make absolutely no sense when I look at them later on, but a few will actually stick with me and those are the ones that make it into a song. I consider it a vetting process and don’t panic if I can’t remember something. If it is not memorable then it probably wasn’t that great of an idea anyways.
Give us some background on how the lyrics came about.
The overarching message in AGIEL’s lyrics is a call to throw off all constraint and to embrace absolute freedom for the mind, body and spirit. I firmly believe that ridding yourself of external influence until the genesis of all action comes from your own true will is crucial to reaching our potential as spiritual beings. The lyrics that I’ve written attempt to convey both my own struggle toward that potential and the multitude of ways in which that potential has incarnated itself throughout the historical human experience. My personal experience tends to be represented abstractly as the emotional context that the lyrical narrative plays out in. The broader human experience is usually represented through the mythology of many different cultures.
How do you feel you fit into the wider Death Metal scene, and is this important to you?
I suppose that this would depend on what you mean by that. If we are talking about style and influence then I’d honestly say that this isn’t something that we’re terribly concerned about. There are so many talented bands out right now that are doing some really amazing things. I’m really inspired by the level of talent that’s in the metal scene right now. I just think that it’s more important to us as a band to concentrate on contributing something unique to the genre.
In terms of our message, what we’re about, I’d like to think that we stand apart in this respect. AGIEL’s music can be a dark, unsettling and difficult experience, but that simply reflect the reality of most occult experiences. They can be troubling, even dangerous in some respects, but beyond the chasm of the abyss lies a liberating truth. We’re not just looking at the horrific violence that fills the world or how fucked up this or that aspect of our society is. I suppose that’s why I see ourselves as a beneficial influence on the world.
Are you happy with how the release came about? Would you do anything differently?
Overall we are extremely proud of this release. We went at this with an energy level bordering on frenzy and I hope that comes across in the recording. Sure there are lots of things that I’d do differently, but that’s all part of the artistic process. You have to see it through until the end in order to gain insight into the future. Now that we are on the other side of Dark Pantheons I can look back and see where we have opportunities to create an even more intense album.
What’s next for AGIEL?
Our primary focus right now is on writing new material for our next album which will be a full length release that we hope to have ready for early 2015. That’s turned into an all-consuming pursuit at this point! We are trying a lot of different methods to break out of old, tired thought patters so that we can offer something truly new and unique to the metal scene. It’s been a lot of fun to push the boundaries of our musical comfort and attempt something really ambitious. So in the upcoming year we’ll be working extremely hard on achieving that.
But in the short term we do have a couple of projects in the works that will bring new AGIEL material to light. This includes live performances of the Pantheons material as well as a few brand new tracks. That’s in production now and I hope to have everything wrapped up later this year. It’s an exciting time for the band and we feel intensely privileged to share our music with the world.
The mysterious collective that is Dead in the Manger have unleashed something special on the world with Transience. We tried to pierce the veil of secrecy…
Tell us a bit about Dead in the Manger
DITM is a collaboration of people who aim to create a feeling of unease, aggression and sadness through various elements of sound.
I understand you anonymity is important to you as individuals – discuss
Who we are or anything else we are associated with is not important. We just want the music to speak for itself.
What are your influences?
Sadness, depression, suicide.
You have an unusual juxtaposition of Funeral/Depressive Black Metal and Blackened Grindcore – how intentional was this or was it more of a natural occurrence?
We are just writing what comes natural. We want to portray how we actually feel, in an aggressive manner.
We didn’t intend on necessarily fitting in with any particular genre.
Will you continue to develop your songs in this style in the future or do foresee something different for Dead in the Manger?
I don’t believe it would truly be DITM without these elements. We are writing these songs out of pure negative emotion, so without that, there would be no DITM.
Where do Dead in the Manger go from here?
It’s hard to say what the future holds, but as long as the negative creativity is there, we will continue writing music.
There *might* be even the possibility of some select live shows if the offer and setting is right, but I can’t make any guarantees.
Having just released their devastatingly brutal brand of state-of-the-art Grind onto the world with their latest EP A Presentation of Gruesome Poetics, US Grinders The Drip are poised for big things. Bobby Mansfield answered some short questions with some short answers. Grindcore style…
Give us a bit of background to The Drip
We formed in 2007, we’ve toured extensively in the northwest, Recorded 2 previous EP’s before our Relapse debut.
What are your influences?
Heavily influenced by Nasum, and Rotten Sound, we also take inspiration from other bands such as Napalm Death, Nails and many others.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
Currently been spinning Afgrund’s Corporatacracy, and Fuck The Facts’ Misery. Stoked to get ahold of the New Misery Index as well.
What are your opinions on the current state of the Grindcore genre?
Grindcore is an ever growing genre, boundaries are broken, rules are rewritten. Grindcore will always be the most abrasive form of extreme music. Bands just keep getting better.
What did you want to achieve with your new release?
Establish ourselves as a Modern Grindcore band, It’s really awesome exposure being part of RELAPSE.
Are you happy with how it turned out?
Yes, we are, it came together very well for being recorded in 1 day, production is awesome, record sounds aggressive.
Talk to us about the lyrics
Angry, pissed off. That’s what we go for.
What’s the meaning of the EP title?
It can have many meanings, my personal take is that its meant as glimpse into our music.
How do you go about writing your songs?
We write individually and as a group. We aim to make better songs each time we start a new one.
How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?
Heavier, Faster, sicker. Already writing for a full length.
What can we expect from a future album?
A continuation of the material from APOGP. Songs will be aggressive and pummeling.
What’s next for The Drip?
Summer West Coast tour, with a stop at the 2nd annual DENVER BLACK SKY fest, writing and recording our full length.
I, for one, look forward to that full length very much.
Skinfather have produced a powerhouse of a Swedish Death Metal album mixed with Crust and Hardcore influences with their début None Will Mourn. Attempting to find out more, questions were posed to the new pack leaders in town…
Tell us all about Skinfather and where you came from
We started playing in 2010. We’ve had some member changes since then, but I think Skinfather as it exists now is the band it was always meant to be.
What are your influences?
We built Skinfather on a foundation which takes a lot from the classic Swedish DM scene, but if you listen closely I think you’ll hear other influences. Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, and early Gorefest come to mind. We also come from punk/hardcore backgrounds so that influence finds its way in there as well.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
As far as metal goes, the new Triptykon and Teitanblood LPs are insane. Also loving Stoic Violence “Chained”, The Flex LP and Forced Order’s demo and upcoming 7″.
How did you decide on the style of Death Metal that you wanted to play – what appeals about the Swedish Death Metal sound?
We collectively listen to a wide range of music but I think one place where we find a lot of common ground is that style. For me, I love the guitar tone, the emphasis on groove and the pounding d-beat influence.
In my review I note that you have a bit of a Crust/Hardcore influence to your sound as well – would you agree with this?
Definitely. That wasn’t a conscious influence on our part but its there. We have all played in punk/hardcore bands and some of us are heavily involved in that scene, so its just natural for that to come out in the music. We’re not trying to be something that we’re not.
Do you have any goals for your album?
Our goal was just to release a mind numbingly heavy album, which would be something we’d like to listen to ourselves. We’re really proud of this record and I think we achieved that, so anything else that happens from here on out is just a nice bonus.
Is there anything on the album you’re not satisfied with?
Anytime you’re engaged in any kind of creative process, you’re never going to be 100% satisfied. At least that’s how I am. That said, I’ve never been as satisfied with any musical output I’ve ever been a part of as I am with None Will Mourn. We’re very pleased with the result.
Do you want to discuss any of the lyrics on the album and any themes/hidden meanings/etc. that might be there?
I’m going to let our singer Stephen handle that one:
“Most of the songs deal with storytelling that’s meant to display imagery of social issues that surround us. I like to read about history, and thus used it to create what I thought to be intriguing stories with underlying themes of oppression, adversity, corruption, etc. Ordeal by fire, Born of Despair, Hellish Grave, and Impaled are songs written in this manner. Drown in Black, Calloused, and Planes of Ruination are more personal songs that deal with psychological struggles. Dead Still is kind of a lone wolf as far as its theme goes. It’s a slightly fucked up twist off of an old English folk tale from the 12th century that I find fascinating.”
What’s your songwriting process?
Either Anthonie or myself (guitarists) or Taylor, our drummer, will have an idea for a song. If its Anthonie or myself, we’ll do a rough recording of the song at home with programmed drums and then bring it to the band. Most of None Will Mourn started off this way. We’ll usually learn this “first draft” as a band, jam it a few times and spend time making whatever changes need to be made. This might mean adding parts, fills, or rearranging the song. It has to sound like a Skinfather song, and not a Scott, Anthonie, or Taylor demo.
How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?
I think that the process will only become more collaborative. I think that you’ll be able to hear a Skinfather record and think “This sounds like Skinfather” rather than “Wow this sounds just like _________”
What does the future hold for Skinfather?
We’re trying to play as much as our personal lives allow us to. We’ve got a couple festival appearances coming up, and will continue playing local shows. We’ll be making our way up the West Coast very shortly with Nails, Iron Lung and Bone Sickness we’ll be on the East Coast this fall.
The first album from A Breach of Silence, (Dead or Alive), is barely cold and the band have already polished off their second. With this in mind it’s the perfect time to catch up with the band and get to know them a bit more…
For those who are unfamiliar with you – introduce yourself!
Hey, we are A Breach of Silence, we are from Brisbane Australia. There are 5 members. Cossie, Blairsy, Kerrod, Rhys and Stix. If you want to hear something fresh and you love metal/metalcore/power metal. Check us out :).
How did A Breach of Silence form?
We formed in 2009 when a bunch of us decided to get together and see if we could come up with something different and fun. That happened by meeting Blair at a party and seeing him sing and not just sing but hit falsetto’s that were so high that even Rob Halford would be proud of. We wanted to combine different elements of our favorite genres and make something different. So we set out to do that. Add our elements of traditional metal and metal core but add spice by putting in power style signing. I know that sounds weird and somehow might not work? But it does. Our debut Album dead or Alive is testament to that :). So after meeting Blair, we met our drummer Stix through mutual friends and then after going through quite a different number of member changes we have our current solid line up. With Kerrod and Rhys rounding it all out!!
What are your influences?
We have heaps of influences. Myself and Sticks love old school traditional metal and metalcore, Blair is into power metal and Rhys and Kerrod love all spectrums of metal, but mainly the newer style of metalcore and hardcore. Particular bands would be: Iced Earth, Killswitch Engage, Devil Driver, Parkway Drive, As I Lay Dying, and everything between Johnny cash, Toto and Fleetwood Mac.
What are you listening to at the moment that you want to recommend?
Things we have been listening to and would recommended would be the new Steel Panther (all you can eat), new Architects (lost forever/lost together) and we are still on BMTH (Sempiternal).
How did you decide on the sound for Dead or Alive?
The sound was really through trial and error and a lot of credit goes to Fredrik Nordstrom and Henrik Udd of studiofredman. Those guys really helped us pull together the concept of our writing style and help us produce a sound that we are incredibly happy with. Those guys are some of the best producers the world has to offer and you only have to hear the album to experience what they help us create. After getting the mix of riffs, blast beats, singing and screaming to a good balance we were able to work out our sound with the right smarts from the swedes :).
Are you happy with how the album came out?
We’re super happy how the album came out. Our Début release was done to set our foundations in the world of metal and we believe it really has done that. The songs, the sound and the response have been fantastic. We have appreciated every small and big step that this album has been able to offer us. It has been a fun journey so far.
What can you tell us about the lyrics?
Our lyrics are based around life experiences more then anything but we use subtle ways of expressing those views through other stories. Like Night Rider for instance, this song on the outside is about an outlaw gun slinger from hell that is there to take the bad guys to hell. The song is really portraying the message that, yes nobody is perfect, and you can have done bad things in the past, but its up to you and you alone to turn that around and that you can do it. In a sense a part of you can die but that leaves room for another part of you to breathe life. We like to look at things in a fun way and base our messages through stories.
What does the future hold for A Breach of Silence?
We have heaps of things going on :). We just finished recording our follow up album to Dead or Alive and can’t wait to release it. We are touring New Zealand and Australia in 2014 a few times, and we are trying to organize as we speak a tour to the USA later this year in support of the new album. We have just released a new film clip for our song Night Rider (watch at http://youtu.be/fVjFfxHj59c ), and we are about to release a few more live clips :). We have a bunch of surprises with the new album with us releasing a few things different to go along with the album! We are excited about the future and can’t wait.
Electric Hellride have finished their new EP Come Darkness, Come Light. As a band who are very talented relatively individualistic this hopefully promises a bright future and good things to come for them. Time to get a bit more information on this band. Enter Casper…
For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!
Well, we are Electric Hellride, a metal band from Copenhagen, Denmark. We had our first rehearsal back in the summer of 2008 and had some years getting our act together but with our EP “Charged” from November 2010 things began to roll for us. A solid sound of metal with a groovy twist, a lot of fine reviews giving us more shows, all developing our live skills. This led to us winning the Danish leg of the W:O:A Metal Battle in Denmark and thus playing at Wacken Open Air in 2012 (the show can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/xbDEWUs8KdA).
After that we signed with Mighty Music and released “Hate.Control.Manipulate” in late 2012. Since that we played our first tour (in Denmark) in 2013 and developed a little different approach to our songwriting and this is where we are now: presenting some of our new material on an EP called “Come Darkness, Come Light” which will be released the 5th of May.
Give us a bit of history to Electric Hellride
We have known each other for several years. Some of us even went to the same public school and later to the same high school. We actually had a no-name band back in the years 1996-1998. When we decided to play together again in 2008 it was not to reform that old band of ours but to make something new as we knew that we would get along in a very fine way – being friends already.
What are your influences?
We all started listening to metal a few years before the teen years. This means that we are of course to some degree raised on Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and such. But since that we have all developed our taste in metal into something wider, so it’s not easy to narrow our influences down to just a band or two.
Maybe Brian (drums) has a distinct taste for groove through his early fondness of Pantera, Anders (lead guitars) brings us something more “classic metal”, Nicklas (rhythm guitar) puts in something dirty rocking via his interest in acts such as Down and Black Label Society. And me (Casper, bass/vocals), I’m very much into good old Swedish death metal, which might be heard to some point in our music – but I don’t really growl – except for a few words here and there.
But we all like a lot of different metal so it’s really a bit too simple to just put it down as I just did. Oh well, I tried anyway, haha!
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
But on a more recent plan, I believe at least 75 % of the band enjoys the new Behemoth. And I personally really enjoy the new Triptykon.
Tell us about your EP
We were on a good path towards the second full length but we wanted to put out a teaser – or maybe a test – to see how our followers would like our new material as we felt we had changed our sound a bit. So on one hand we wanted to present some new stuff to get some feedback before we would write the last songs for the next full length. On the other hand we felt it was time to show the world that we are still alive and well and writing killer music.
This will of course require for us to write even more songs for the next album, but it is really worth it, as the feedback regarding the EP already is great and some great concert opportunities are being offered to us now.
It’s a four track EP, and as I mentioned earlier: it’s called “Come Darkness, Come Light”.
Are you happy with how it turned out?
Absolutely! We have worked with Jacob Bredahl earlier, but decided to try something that also was more local to us so we wouldn’t have to travel. So we picked Emil Sauer to produce, mix and master. He has worked with Helhorse and Cerekloth among others and the recording session to place in his Grizzly Sauer Studio in Copenhagen.
The sound is not as dirty on the bass this time but it has given more room for guitars to really breathe. It sounds “more metal” but still very organic and clearly played by human beings and not edited to death in ProTools.
What can you tell us about the lyrics?
“Higher Profanity” is about the clash between religion and science. I tried to make it open for interpretation but I think it’s obvious that I’m into the science part. What can you do – I’m a civil engineer, I’m educated to believe in science!
“Grey Mass Depression” is about living in a sad, boring, depressing environment of concrete buildings that really need refurbishment and how it in some places slow down the mind to something zombie-like.
Evil lives in us all. That it basically the conclusion of “Phosphorus”. Phosphorus relates to Venus which relates to Lucifer. And phosphorus also relates to DNA. So we can’t avoid the evil one. It’s in our DNA, simple as that. No need to try to be good, haha.
“Master Inferno” is about power. Power used to control others who are being (way too) submissive.
Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.
As already stated we are working hard on the song writing for the next album and it is going really well and it will be more in the style of the EP than our first album. Usually one of us comes with a riff or two and we work around that and we are all taking part of the songwriting and thus we are all very important for how a song will turn out.
You have quite an individual sound – was this intentional or a more natural development?
I think it’s natural. We don’t aim to land within a specific genre such as jumping on the retro thrash metal wave. We just like metal, but we are very critical to ourselves in the rehearsal room regarding what we feel works and what we don’t feel will make the cut. And over the years we have learned a lot about what we do well and which elements we should leave to others to pursue. It has taken some time to get here, but we do agree that we actually have found something a bit of our own now.
Working with producer Emil Sauer this time also has a lot to say. We really listened to his views on our music and together with him we landed on the sound that can be heard on the EP.
In my review I say that you’re almost a kind of Stoner/Thrash hybrid, almost as if someone has appropriated the singer of a more contemporary band, (Clutch?/Godhunter?), and forced him to front Kreator. What are your thoughts on this?
That is just how I sing, haha! I like the way you tried to describe to vocals as a mixture of two different genres, as my singing is something that really is hard for a lot people to describe. As the producer said during the recordings “You don’t really sound like anyone else. Well, I remember one from Belgium but he doesn’t sing anymore. So…”.
But honestly, back in the day – long before Electric Hellride – I tried to sing clean, but although I wasn’t singing out of tune it did sound a bit flat and boring, so eventually I tried to yell instead. I like growls but the music I’ve played never really fit to that so to “yell” was the right way to go. It’s been a long walk but since our EP “Charged” I’ve been more or less satisfied with my vocals, and luckily my vocal skills are still getting better and better. Some part is better technique, something is just the natural ageing of the voice (well, I’m 35 – is that old?!). And a lot is the gained experience and just all of us in the band being critical towards the vocals.
How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?
At the moment we feel that “Come Darkness, Come Light” is our sound of the future. It is a bit different to our earlier material and the clues to what makes it different is variation: we try vary the tempos of the songs more to each other, making heavier and slower songs as well as making faster and more aggressive songs. And we are also challenging ourselves to make riffs that doesn’t sound as it was picked from our usual “comfort zone”.
And then we are a solid live act and this will get even better in the future as we are getting a lot of interesting gigs at the moment.
What’s next for Electric Hellride?
We really want to play more outside Denmark. So that is a focus point – we are trying to land a tour in Europe in the fall of 2014. We hope it works out!
Are you happy with how it turned out?
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.
Are you happy with how it turned out?
What are you listening to at the moment that you want to recommend?
What are your influences?
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
What can you tell us about the lyrics?
Wonderbox Metal 