Interview with First Fragment

First Fragment Logo

Tearing out of nowhere like a compressed ball of pure savagery, First Fragment’s début album Dasein managed to completely floor me in one fell swoop. Lead guitarist Philippe Tougas gave me some background to this uncompromisingly impressive band…

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

Hi, Phil here. We’re First Fragment from Quebec and we just released our first album “Dasein” on Unique Leader Records. Thank you for the interview.

Give us a bit of background to First Fragment

We started this thing in September 2007. I was 15 and Gabriel was 8 years older than me. We didn’t even listen to the same bands yet somehow we made it work. We were just a bedroom band back then. David joined a bit later. We mostly remained a drummer-less band throughout the next few years. We recorded seven tracks in summer 08′ and we released four of them in October 2008 and re-released them with the 3 other tracks in February 2009. We recorded an EP in fall 2009 and after the recordings, we found Vincent Savary on bass and Phil Boucher on drums. We released the delayed-EP in late 2010 and played several shows. We went through a long show-hiatus after 2012, although we were still working very hard on the album for a very long time. After finding Troy Fullerton of Severed Savior to do session drums for us, we got Unique Leader Records interested in releasing our album. We got our first album Dasein (mostly composed between 2004-2010) released just this last month. We are now rehearsing for upcoming shows with our current drummer Samuel Santiago (ex Gorod) who joined in 2015. Continue reading “Interview with First Fragment”

Yüth Forever – Skeleton Youth Forever (Review)

Yüth Forever

Yüth Forever are a metal band from the US and this is their second album.

And now for something a little different…as they say…

Described in the promotional blurb as “13 songs of groove-laden, dark electronic, angst filled mood metal”, it’s hard to come up with a better description than that really, so we’ll go with it.

The singer’s harsh screams have a rhythmic quality to them which Continue reading “Yüth Forever – Skeleton Youth Forever (Review)”

Messa – Belfry (Review)

MessaThis is the début album from Messa, a doom/drone metal band from Italy.

Messa provide the listener with almost an hour of occult retro doom and dark ambience.

This is akin to a strange-yet-effective mix of Sunn O))) and Pentagram, with deliciously seductive female vocals included. Some tracks are dark ambient/drone, full of mysterious atmospheres and distorted malice, while others take Continue reading “Messa – Belfry (Review)”

Harakiri for the Sky – III: Trauma (Review)

Harakiri for the SkyAs the name suggests, this is the third album from this Austrian post-black metal band.

Harakiri for the Sky blend resplendent, expansive post-rock/metal with a blackened intensity. The resulting 75 minutes of music on III: Trauma is heavily atmospheric, with a darkened core that screams out in forlorn misery and pain.

There’s an element of the depressive black metal style on this album, but whereas Continue reading “Harakiri for the Sky – III: Trauma (Review)”

Interview with Uhtcearu

Uhtcearu Logo

Are you a fan of melodic black metal? Do you crave darkness in your music, but still like some vibrant and addictive streaks of colour amidst the blackness? If the answer is yes, then you could do a whole lot worse than checking out Uhtcearu’s début album The Plight of Wanderers. Zach Ostrowski, (bass/vocals), took time out from weaving dark magics to give us a bit more info on this US band…

What are your influences?

We have a ton of influences that range musically from death and black metal to genres of classic rock, fusion, jazz, and prog.

Name five things you’ve listened to recently that you’d recommend

Here are 5 bands:
Northless – https://northless.bandcamp.com
Vukari – https://vukari.bandcamp.com
Capture the Sun – http://music.capturethesunband.com
Vow of Thorns – https://vowofthorns.bandcamp.com
Hot Coffin – https://hotcoffin.bandcamp.com

Honorable Mention – Mgla – https://no-solace.bandcamp.com Continue reading “Interview with Uhtcearu”

Hard Charger – Bad Omens (Review)

Hard ChargerHard Charger are from Canada and play crossover/thrash metal.

Chrome Lord was a short and confident blending of the hardcore and thrash styles, showing a band who knew what they were doing, but just needed a few tweaks here and there to truly make an impression.

So how have they done on this release? Well, the sound Continue reading “Hard Charger – Bad Omens (Review)”

Sacramental Blood – Ternion Demonarchy (Review)

Sacramental BloodSacramental Blood are a brutal death metal band from Serbia. This is their début album.

This is savage, ferocious death metal that wastes no time in establishing its presence with blast beats, daemonic growls and lightspeed riffs. Yes, Sacramental Blood have arrived.

The vocalist spews forth powerfully delivered growls that seem to Continue reading “Sacramental Blood – Ternion Demonarchy (Review)”

Unothera – Broken (Review)

UnotheraThis is the début EP from Unothera, who are a melodic doom/death band from the Netherlands.

This EP consists of 5 tracks – two actual songs and three piano movements.

The songs take influence from the likes of My Dying Bride, Katatonia and Paradise Lost, with sorrowful atmosphere aplenty. Keyboards are also used to add depth to the misery that the band exude, and I think these are particularly Continue reading “Unothera – Broken (Review)”

Poison Headache – Poison Headache (Review)

Poison HeadacheThis is the début album from this US metallic hardcore band, Poison Headache.

Featuring an album cover that immediately grabs the attention, this is a band that fuses hardcore and metal into an ugly ball of condensed violence.

Hearing this description, and knowing that there is an ex-member of As I Lay Dying Continue reading “Poison Headache – Poison Headache (Review)”