Sunwølf’s fourth album Eve is an extremely engaging Post-Metal release that has quickly wormed its way into my heart. Curious to find out a bit more about the album, I got in touch with head honcho Matt to tell me a bit more about Eve…
For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!
We’re Sunwølf, an instrumental band from Scotland. We formed in 2012 and have released 3 records with a fourth (Eve) due out on 18 April.
Give us a bit of background to Sunwølf
We formed four years ago in Leeds as a duo. We had been playing a lot of ambient music in another band but wanted to create something more abrasive, whilst keeping a hand in the ambient scene also. We had a busy few years of touring and releasing records, playing with some great bands along the way (Chelsea Wolfe, Forest Swords, Dragged into Sunlight, Bossk & more).
Sourvein’s latest album Aquatic Occult is surely one of the most enjoyable records to come out so far this year. I managed to catch up with mainman T-Roy and went a bit deeper into the waters…
For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!
Aloha. I am T-Roy I sing and play guitar for Sourvein among many other things.
Give us a bit of background to Sourvein
Well we started in the Cape Fear 23 years ago and we been on the road every since bringing our sound world wide and released many records and still going for it 100%.
What are your influences?
There’s a lot man, everything from Black Sabbath to Howling Wolf to Bad Brains and Amebix to Blue Cheer and Peter Tosh, Blackflag to Bauhaus to Kiss.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
The new Witchcraft album Nucleus is awesome!!!!! I wanna tour with them…Low Desert Punks, Black Power Flower is rad…and new Goatess album and Iggy Pop’s record. Om is great…Yeah to name a few.
How do you feel that you fit into the wider music scene?
I feel we a straight up and have a good live show and the music can do the talking. I feel given the right opportunity and right setting we can fit in anywhere people like a good rock show.
Give us a bit of background to Aquatic Occult – any particular concepts or ideas you want to discuss?
It’s an idea I had a loose theme of the ocean mysterious and to me that’s what Aquatic Occult means. It’s written in abstract word play and metaphors surrounding the island I am from and the ocean’s creatures. And tales of pirates, sunken ships, hurricanes and castaways.
How do you go about writing your songs?
It starts with a riff or lyric and I just build from there or if someone else has a riff I arrange it to fit my vocals. But it I usually like to start with the music. Sometimes I have lyrics ready or times I have to make them fit. It’s whatever is best for the song.
Was there a conscious decision to keep the songs relatively short, or did that just happen naturally?
Well on some yeah they are interludes like Mermaids and Bermuda Sundown. But some others just came out that way then I noticed we could put more songs in to show different sides and thats something new for us, we usally keep em around four minutes but I don’t like songs too long anyway. Some of my favourite songs from growing up are under two minutes. Like Corrosion of Conformity’s Kiss of Death.
Tell us about the album artwork
It was a vision I had of things that inspired the lyric. All the different elements are in there they all go to the songs and music other images I used are from the island I am from and the Cape Fear river. But artist Jordan Barlow took my sketches and really brought this thing to life. He’s a amazing artist from New Orleans, he tattoos and does other art. He also just did a album cover for High on Fire. We been working together on this for a few years and he really nailed what I wanted.
How did the recording process go?
It was hard work but anything good is going to be. We had some ups and downs but that’s part of it sometimes you just keep rolling. We made it happen no matter what. Mike Dean is great to work with…It really went well though pretty organic in the way it flowed. I thought I worked hard on the lyrics but they also flowed pretty smooth all and all it was a very enriching experience and a pleasure.
What’s your favourite song on the album and why?
Umm, I don’t know that’s hard. I have a few but I’d have to say Capsized. Because I wrote the riffs on my porch and Reed Mullin destroyed that song on drums. And my good friend from the hometown Dave Capps is on it he was the guy already doing in town so he inspired me a great deal so it was awesome to come back and get him on this album. That means a lot to me. It’s a kicking track as well.
What does the future hold for Sourvein?
Support Aquatic Occult. Looking into booking a tour in the UK and Europe now and the USA. So we are touring soon as possible, I wanna go to Australia and Japan. Promoters get in touch. We also want to do one of those metal cruises. Also want to hurry back to the studio already got five songs smoking and to be honest it’s some of my favourite riffs ever so I am looking forward to backing up Aquatic Occult very soon. We are looking forward to everything…Thanks T-Roy
Israeli Metal band Ferium’s second album Behind the Black Eyes is chock full of professional brutality and streamlined aggression. Guitarist/vocalist Elram Boxer brought me up to speed with all things Ferium…
Give us a bit of background to Ferium
Ferium is a 5 piece Metal band from Israel, we have had the dream to be musicians ever since we were teenagers growing up watching the biggest bands on earth go around the world.
We come from a very demanding place when it comes to being a Metal band, although Israel has it’s amazing sides of community and brotherhood and a faithful following, living in a political & financial cesspool, distracts the people from the art that this place produces, we all have our day jobs to pay for getting out on at least 2 tours a year, our own recording studio & rehearsal room, and the motivation to create music, and lots of it, to put it in a definition, we are an Independent band.
What are your influences?
Mostly our day to day lives, our past experience and, basically, everything aggressive.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
The Fading – ‘Til Live Do Us Part! A Swedish death metal from Israel! This band is RAD!
How do you feel that you fit into the wider Metal scene these days?
Lost… hehehe. We feel that Ferium will always be somewhat old school oriented… it seems that the metal music is going to a more technicality and skilled based music, (and Jesus there are some skilled players out there!). We write the music we write from the bottom of our souls, the creative minds behind Ferium have experienced deceit, unfaithfulness, heartbreak, betrayal, pain, loss, and all of these things create a sonic & lyrical portrayal of aggressiveness & frustration in an effort to solve all of life’s struggles, and to turn them into positive and empowering experiences.
Give us a bit of background to Behind the Black Eyes – any particular concepts or ideas you want to discuss?
“Behind The Black Eyes” conceptually picks up where “Reflections” left off. It brings the story of a man’s relationship – its ups and downs, the good and the bad, and the image being portrayed by gut-wrenching and goosebump-inducing lyrical work. This album is certainly an evolution to the band’s sound, where other bands today hold back on their aggression, we do the exact opposite and back up the album’s real approach to relationships with honest brutality.
How do you go about writing your songs?
We write a lot! mostly in our own studio. There is no specific way we write…sometimes it’s jamming in the studio while recording, sometimes its writing a song as a band, sometimes its just grabbing the guitar and groove it to oblivion! We do have a solid vision of what Ferium is and where Ferium is going (musically).
There seems to have been a cutting of fat and focusing of songs between your début and Between the Black Eyes. Was this a conscious effort?
We have sculpted ‘Behind The Black Eyes’ to be 110% to the point, which is the atmospheric aggression throughout the storyline from the good to the bad. The riffs are heavier, the groove is heavier, the bassline is heavier! So no FAT has been cut off from our point of view.
How did the recording process go?
Fortunately, we have our own studio so we can basically do whatever we want to and take the time with everything. The recording of the instrumentation on ‘Behind The Black Eyes’ was pretty flawless and quick! When we got to the recording of the vocals, we immediately knew that the attitude of the vocals needed to be changed so Tiran and I took about 2-3 months of refining and rehearsing the vocals into shape.
Tell us about the album artwork
The artwork was done by the one and only, Mr. Eliran Kantor (Hatebreed, Testament, Iced Earth to name a few). The album cover shows a man pierced by a Rhino, where in ‘Reflections’ the man was trying to tame the Rhino…so again, there’s a clear view of the relation between the two albums.
What’s your favourite song on the album and why?
This album, for me, is one continuous song… so it is kind of hard to point out one…
Krigsgrav’s fourth album Waves of Degradation has stuck out in my mind as one of the more memorable releases I’ve listened to of late. Its harrowing atmosphere of hopelessness and pain made an indelible mark on my psyche and I keep returning to it again and again. Thankfully, I was able to share some words with Justin from the band, who gave me some more background to Krigsgrav and their superlative new album…
For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!
My name is J. Coleman, I play guitar and provide vocals for the band Krigsgrav and Heimar.
Give us a bit of background to Krigsgrav
Krigsgrav was a solo project started by David Sikora in 2004 in Keller, Texas. I say solo project in the sense that he was the main person performing all the instruments, but he did use session vocalists until I came into the fold. He founded the band as an homage to the second wave of Norwegian/Swedish black metal, so the older material (‘As darkness falls above’ demo, ‘Arcana Imperil’ ep) sound more like Gorgoroth, Darkthrone and Carpathian Forest. He started to change the sound dynamic with the ‘Leviathan Crown’ (self released in 2010) and integrated more epic song lengths and sorrowful melodies. the next year with Lux Capta Est, he created an album that really came to be what I consider the foundation for the Krigsgrav sound.
David, Corey (guitars) and I played in a band prior to Krigsgrav, so we knew each other that way. As we were friends, we would share our musical ideas and projects with one another. David showed me LCE and I thought it was great. After hearing LCE I knew I wanted to be a part of Krigsgrav in some way. David, Corey and I had a few conversations about taking the ground work laid with LCE and making a fully functional band, which obviously happened. Initially the idea was to just rehearse and try the material out live and see what happens. Well, we kept coming up with new material at rehearsals, met Wes (bass) who fit right in, and we continued to fine tune ideas which became ‘The Carrion Fields’. After that album was released via Naturmacht Productions, we kept up momentum playing live, writing material and here we are today with another new album, ‘Waves of Degradation’, to be released April 1st via Bindrune.
What are your influences?
I can say nature, life and death are influences for all of us in the band. As cliché as it sounds, the band is heavily influenced by nature above all else, be it’s beauty or wrath and man kinds existence with in it. When I write lyrics they generally revolve around my perspective on existence and how fucked up we are as a species. Basically how we are plague to our planet. I’m not an ‘eco warrior’ in any regard, but that’s how I view the world, so to me that is more realistic than writing about religion, politics, occult, as those hold no bearing on my life. I live in the real world where gods don’t exist and men are the real beasts and life comes and goes. I find man’s constant need to find out ‘why’ and to know the divine truths boring. So I write about reality.
Musically, old ‘classic’ stuff, like Dissection, Woods of Ypres, Type O Negative, Bathory, Necrophobic, Mayhem, etc.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
Nightfell. They are on 20 Buck Spin currently. I absolutely love their releases thus far, they combine elements of second generation black metal and old British doom metal (old Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride). Really good stuff.
How do you feel that you fit into the wider Extreme Metal scene?
I have no idea and I don’t care. When we play live usually we stick out because we don’t sound like too many bands, especially in the Southern U.S., so I couldn’t say know how we fit overall, but our sound fits more with black metal than anything else, but that’s not all Krigsgrav is as a band, it’s just one aspect since you have 4 unique personalities all in one band. We just create what we like and that will never change. Scene acceptance where and how we fit among the myriad of metal bands is something I don’t worry about.
Give us a bit of background to Waves of Degradation – any particular concepts or ideas you want to discuss?
The concept of the album is very direct – our eventual eradication as a species and the nature moving on with out us (humans). Basically, the dark path mankind is voluntarily taking today influenced me to write lyrics in this direction and then as a band we discussed creating a cohesive overall ‘darker’ mood for the music to fit the theme/lyrics of the subject matter. Some films like “The Road” (the sample at the beginning of “As Color Fades..”, the book is written by Cormac McCarthy) and writings by Hemingway, Hesse, Irvin Welsh, helped me to expand the aesthetic of the album as well. I feel like having a direction like this to work in help achieve a clearer end result. So we set to work with those ideas/themes and after a while came out with what you have as the finished album and we couldn’t be happier with its misery.
Tell us about the album artwork
The album cover art was created by Nate Burns, who had also designed art in the past for one of our shirts. He does great work at reasonable prices. Check out revolting worship.tumblr.com. The rest of the interior art work was pieced together by Marty of Bindrune and us working together, the nature pictures were taken by Dora Alvarez.
How do you go about writing your songs?
I live about 3 hours south of the other guys, who are located in North Texas, so for me I usually come up with ideas on my own and send the others my ideas via e-mail, text, etc. and we’ll just shoot files back and forth until a song is complete. Some times we’ll meet up at one of our homes and rehearse what we’ve completed or are working to see how it really sounds and works organically. For this album David, Corey, and Wes wrote a lot together and would send me their ideas and I would add my contributions and we would just go back and forth. We were very tough on making sure we kept the absolute best material for this album and many ideas were scrapped in the end. Luckily we’re adults and can give each other constructive criticism so the whole process is very democratic. We won’t finalize a song until we’re all pleased with it, same goes for the lyrics. We all stand behind every aspect of what we make with Krigsgrav.
How did the recording process go?
It was a somewhat lengthy process, but it worked out well. David recorded his drums first with our sound engineer, JT Longoria. He sent us the raw tracks which we rehearsed on our own time to, then we came up to David’s home where over the course of a month or so we recorded all guitars and bass. When it was time to record vocals, David brought his recording gear my my house and we completed the vocals, then we added all the extra bits like violins (performed by JT) and female vocals performed by Katrin of Awen, samples, and keyboards. I do want to note we were fortunate to have The Watcher from Fen contribute an excellent vocal performance to the end of “Under Trembling Stars”, so that was great as we are all big fans of Fen. After that it was all sent off to be mixed and mastered by David and JT. Since David does most of the recording we don’t really have too many time restrictions and were able to stretch recording it out over the last half of 2015. All in all it was as stress free as the recording process can go.
I like that the bass is audible and makes a good contribution. Was this a conscious decision or just something that occurred naturally?
It was totally conscious. Wes is probably the most talented musician of the band, and it would be a complete crime to let his bass lines go unnoticed. Also, I’m a huge fan of Simon Gallup from The Cure, so I wanted more moving bass lines like his, and Wes delivered. Glad you noticed!
What’s your favourite song on the album and why?
This changes depending on my mood. I think the album is best heard start to finish, and once I usually start playing it I’ll listen to the entire thing, but if I have to pick I’d say right now it’s “Son of the Stones”. I love the diversity of the music and how the song progresses, it has what I consider some of our best moments on this track, plus the last lyrics sum up the entire album perfectly in my opinion: ’graven silence, for a world of tombs’. We’re all dead in the end.
What does the future hold for Krigsgrav?
Our tour with Giant of the Mountain starts in April, so many shows in April and a few select shows to round out 2016, a vinyl release of Waves of Degradation and the writing of an acoustic release to be released in the future.
Blackened Death Metal can sometimes be a bit hit or miss, but with the début album Miserable Miracle from French band Mithridatic, it’s a definite hit. It’s a very strong album in more ways than one, and I was curious to find out more, so I caught up with their guitarist Romain Sanchez to find out what makes a miserable miracle…
For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!
Hi! Firstly Mithridatic is just a band in the middle of a plethora of bands, created in 2007 in Saint Etienne France. Our inspiration is in old school death metal with some modern touches. We try to make an uncomfortable feeling, and to give much violence and power to the auditor. We pass by diverse styles of extreme metal such as doom, or fast as death brutal and using dark atmospheres of black metal.
Give us a bit of background to Mithridatic
Mithridatic is formed by 5 musicians all from the same region in France.
The drummer Kevin Paradis joined the band for the release of our demo “Hunt Is On”. Since Kevin’s entrance to the band we brought our style to a faster way, more extreme music, more hostile and oppressive. We are musicians with a lot of different influences. It allows us to pass by various styles of rhythms and various feelings. By the opportunity to have in the team musicians with a lot of technique, we want to achieve our goal: to give extreme music and to accomplish ourselves with our skills.
What are your influences?
We all have different influences, but I am going to begin my influences: the groups which marked me the most for making our song tracks are Morbid angel, Slayer, Arkhon Infaustus, Mayhem, Immolation, Angelcorpse etc. Mithridatic is a mix of an heavy atmosphere with ultra fast beats!
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
At the moment I would like to recommend Dead Congregation, Portal, Lvcifyre, Conan.… and I know Guitou is into Kerasphorus, Abhomine and Peter Helmkamp’s other works these days…
How do you feel that you fit into the wider Extreme Metal scene?
We still have a long way….But we are very enthusiastic to expose our music in various situations, we just want to play more and more!
Give us a bit of background to Miserable Miracle – any particular concepts or ideas you want to discuss?
The main idea of this album is to overcome different kinds of harmful situations… we describe nocebo effects, social anxiety, precarious existences…lyrics are inspired by some writings from French authors like Antonin Artaud, Henri Michaux etc. and some strange movies…Guitou had a kind of surrealist approach for its works for this album. We tried to create a ‘bardo’ state and to give a transcription of our anxiety and sickness…and this is also the way for the next album. Miserable Miracle is an important album for us because it’s our first “official” album for almost 10 years of activity. We hope the first one of many others! It also marks our entry into the French label Kaotoxin and Miserable Miracle has a better exposition than our old productions very underground. We also changed our habits of production by recording in two professional studio “DLM Studio” and “Sainte Marthe Studio”. We are all satisfied by results and by the sound of this album between old school and modern stuff. Kevin our drummer decided to record in a most natural possible way to get a sound close to our live performance. We wanted an organic and human sound.
Tell us about the album artwork
Damien Guerras’s illustration gives a free interpretation….I’m going to speak to you about mine: it represents the Adam and Eve tree in our world and society! The perversion of humankind have exceeded all the limits, the tree decomposes. The poison of perversion intoxicates our nervous system….This is a pessimistic picture of our miserable human condition.
How do you go about writing your songs?
I lock myself at home with my guitar for several days to record many riffs. It’s long process and sometimes inspiration doesn’t comes. I need time to get into a negative state of mind. Sometimes it can go very fast for example riffs of “Dispense the Adulterated ” and “Oxydized Trigger Sabotage” were written in the same week…Once riffs are recorded I send it to Kevin. It helps for structures of tracks and he makes his personal drum parts. Then we discusses of our ways to develop harmful songs…In rehearsal Alex and Remolow also composes with the material for bass parts and leads guitars. To finish Guitou places his vocals…The lyrics process is a quite difficult to describe because it’s an everyday process…. Miserable Miracle is a team work and everyone gives its personal style or feeling to get the riffs richer. Everyone is involved in an extreme vision of life and music.
How did the recording process go?
We recorded all the songs in the DLM Studio in Saint-Etienne and the mix/master was made by the Sainte-Marthe Studio in Paris. We decided to make the mix/master in Sainte-Marthe Studio with Francis Caste because we like his works on Svart Crown, Arkhon Infaustus, Kickback or Cowards for example. Francis Caste is a great professional, very fast, and an effective worker. Dupont Ludovic of the DLM Studio allowed us to record without stress at 20 minutes from home with a very good analogue equipment. Everything is very well.
What’s your favourite song on the album and why?
My favourite song of the record is surely Oxydized Trigger Sabotage…I like the particular atmosphere of this track. Doom and tortured. The vocal performance by Guitou is awesome!
What does the future hold for Mithridatic?
The maximum of gigs to defend our music on stage. We hope to build and to acquire a solid place in extreme metal! We will work on new material as soon as possible! We have a lot of motivation to make a second album and to make good shows!! See you on stage!! Thanks for your interest!
Kampfar’s seventh album Profan is like a fine wine that just improves over time. Their bassist Jon Bakker gave me some insight into their world…
For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!
I’m Jon, the bass player of Kampfar.
Give us a bit of background to Kampfar
Kampfar came to life back in 1994. Over the years we released 7 albums via different labels. We are currently signed to Indie Recordings and our latest release, Profan, was out November last year. The last 13 years we have been a 4 piece, doing several tours in Europe and North America.
What are your influences?
We were teens in the 80s so naturally our favourite music and inspiration comes from that time. Can be everything from Heavy Metal, Thrash and early Black Metal like Kiss, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Sodom etc. Of newer times everything that makes a difference might inspire us.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
There are some cool records being released nowadays. Personally I like Tribulation, Alfahanne, Mgła, Melechesh, Secrets Of The Moon and so on. I’m also into new thrash bands from Norway actually. Inculter, Reptilian and Nekromantheon rocks.
How do you feel about the Extreme Metal scene in 2016?
As I mentioned above there’s still hope for Extreme Metal. The new trend is to be different, and that may not be a bad thing. I’m pretty sick of bands trying to copy others though. It’s enough with one Abbath creature and one band like Darkthrone…
Give us a bit of background to Profan – any particular concepts or ideas you want to discuss?
The whole idea behind Profan is to dig as far down in the filth as possible. It’s a search for hope and a journey to see if there’s anything that can save mankind. If you follow the lyrics the answer is pretty clear. There’s no hope, no hymns, no chants and no mercy. But there will be fire!
Tell us about your songwriting process?
Our process works with sharing ideas. It’s a long process for sure. One song is changed many times before everyone is satisfied. Then we meet in the rehearsal room and check the live potential.
How did the recording of the album go?
Everything went very smooth. The recording was done in different levels and places. Bergen, Pärlby/Sweden and Oslo. We’re very happy with everyone involved. Jonas and Stamos did an excellent job for us.
What’s your favourite song on the album and why?
That’s difficult. I have favourites for every mood. Daimon is a killer live song while Tornekratt have a great groove and wildness.
How do you see your sound developing in the future?
To the extreme. We will not do another Profan nor Djevelmakt. If we ever find the inspiration for a new album, we will do it. If not, who knows…
What’s next for Kampfar?
We’ll play live as much as we can. We have a good package of excellent live songs now, and now its the time to get it out to the world.
As I sit here listening to Collision’s latest release Satanic Surgery, it strikes me that in addition to being a very brutal record, it’s extremely well put together and just plain fun! As it’s a very enjoyable album that I keep returning to, when the opportunity arose to catch up with the band I grasped it with both hands…
For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!
We are Collision from the Netherlands! We play a crossover between grindcore and thrash metal with a lot of punk and hardcore influences! Collision is around for 15 or 16 years now, touring Europe and sometimes we will make an album… like we just did: Satanic Surgery! Released by Hammerheart Records on CD and LP.
Give us a bit of background to Collision
Collision started back in 2000, after a trying out some guitar and bass players we found the right line up for this band and we start to write songs and perform live. We were ask to do some local supports and shows on metal festivals. From one thing came another and before we knew we were in the studio recording our first album, released by Czech Republic’s grindcore label “Bizarre Leprous”. With this album in our pocket we did a lot of shows in The Netherlands, Belgium, France and Czech Republic. We changed bassist after this and now we are still in the same line-up. We just like to do a lot of shows and sometimes we record an album, a split single or some cover songs for a tribute album.
What are your influences?
Old school grindcore, thrash metal, hardcore and crossover in general. We are 5 individuals, but I think we all love Slayer and Napalm Death haha. More influences came from bands like Repulsion, Nasum, Wehrmacht, Stormtroopers Of Death, Brutal Truth, Municipal Waste, Dead Kennedys, Anthrax, Suffocation and more!
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
I’m currently listening to Skeletal Remains (groovy old school death metal, good stuff!), the latest album from Gadget (ultra fast grindcore with cool sludge and hardcore parts), Textures (awesome Dutch band) and some old school classics that are not metal like The Specials and Run D.M.C. But like I mention before, the other members will listen to complete other music then me haha.
How do you feel that you fit into the wider Metal scene?
I don’t know, we also love to play in the crust and grindcore scene… but for us it’s not about scenes etc. We just love to play and that everybody that likes grindcore, thrash metal, hardcore, death metal, punkrock etc will love our music!
Give us a bit of background to Satanic Surgery – any particular concepts or ideas you want to discuss?
Normally we sing about drinking, stupidity of religion, girls, war and horror. We used to do some politics, but that’s just not our thing.
How do you go about writing your songs?
Normally our bass player Boris will come up with some riffs. We will select our favourites and make skeletons of songs from it together with guitar player Luc. These songs are sent to our drummer Job and together we finish the song. Normally Björn (sometimes me) will come up with some lyrics and topics to scream about. Some fine-tuning and the song is finished! These days we think it’s important to have the song full of power and energy, but also needs to be catchy and have a good chorus!
I’m glad you mentioned that – is it important to for you to have a good amount of catchiness in your music, rather than focusing purely on aggression and extremity?
Hehe, I already answered this! But yes, it needs to be catchy! But we also focus a lot of aggression and extremity for sure.
What’s your favourite song on the album and why?
I don’t know, I really love to play “Necromantic Love Affair” live because of the combination of grindcore riffs with a sludgy metal break. Lyrics are also hilarious hehe. I also really like “Cripple The Cross”… faster, faster!!
Tell us about the album artwork
The artwork is done by Luis Sendon, he also did the cover from our previous album and the split 7″ with The Rotted. The concept was already clear for a few months, so it was just up to him to visualise our ideas. And I must admit, he did an awesome job!
How did the recording process go?
Surprisingly smooth! We were not that prepared like the previous album, but we made nice demos for ourselves, so we finished the job in a few recording days.
What does the future hold for Collision?
We just hope to play a lot and everywhere! We have some cool shows booked at the moment, but we are still open for more! So keep an eye at http://www.collisiongrind.nl for updates!
Upon the release of their fourth album Bogefod, Sarke have unleashed a shambling horror of an album on an unsuspecting world. Dark, sinister and mysterious, it’s an album I can’t stop listening to and keep returning to again and again. I wanted to find out a little bit more about this impressive release…
For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!
I am Sarke, plays bass. I am the main songwriter in Sarke.
Give us a bit of background to Sarke
Sarke started out as a solo act. After tons of band releases I wanted to release an album were I did almost everything myself. Write all the song and lyrics, play all the instruments and produce the album. The album did well and the record company wanted to release more albums. I did not feel like doing another solo album, so I got together a full line up band.
What are your influences?
My influences are Norwegian nature like forests, mountains, lakes. Paintings by Kittelsen. Music from the 70s and 80s.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
I don’t listen to much these days. When we play concerts ourself I focus on our own music.
How do you feel that you fit into the wider Black Metal scene?
Sarke is not only a black metal band. Our music has a big range. We have a lot of different style in our music. The members of Sarke have played all kind of metal.
Give us a bit of background to Bogefod – any particular concepts or ideas you want to discuss?
Bogefod is a concept album. Its based on a 1000 year old Viking saga. Its about Torolv Bogefod, a Viking king that dies, comes back from the dead and terrorises the village as a walking dead.
Tell us about the album artwork
It’s done by Terje Johnsen. The artwork is taken from the movie SAGA, a film that Sarke is involved in and has also made a lot of the music in the film.
How do you go about writing your songs?
Its mostly written at home on acoustic guitar. We finish the song at rehearsal with the whole band. And usually add some riffs or parts together to make it work, so we get a complete song.
How did the recording process go?
It worked out great. We planned the recording process in advance. We start with drums. Acoustic drums with no trigging and so on. Then guitar, bass, keys and then Nocturno comes and do the vocals as the last thing.
What’s your favourite song on the album and why?
Hard for me to pick one song. Maybe Taken because of the guitar solo.
What does the future hold for Sarke?
Not easy to say, but hopefully we will get some good shows and the people will check out Bogefod.
Vredehammer’s second album Violator is an incredibly enjoyable 35 minutes of blackened aggression that I can’t seem to stop listening to. Wanting to know more, mainman Per Valla provided me with some more information…
For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!
We are Vredehammer from the north of Norway. We play extreme metal. Some people compare our music to Decapitated, Keep of Kalessin and Testament etc.
Give us a bit of background to Vredehammer
I started Vredehammer as a soloproject in 2009 without putting too much effort into it really, but when people seemed to like it and I had several offers from labels, I decided to start taking it more seriously. Before we started doing live shows Vredehammer had already released 3 EP`s. After this we signed to indie recordings and started releasing albums and doing tours etc.
What are your influences?
Probably the same as for all metalheads my age I would say. Testament, Pantera, Metallica, Megadeth, Sepultura and so on.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
At the I am listening a lot to the new Dream Theater album “The astonishing”. I definitely recommend it. A real masterpiece!
How do you feel that you fit into the wider Black Metal scene?
Personally I don’t think we are a black metal band, but more just an extreme metal band. Given that we live far north in Norway we don’t really associate with the rest of the Norwegian bands, this way I think we have more freedom to do our own thing and create our own sound with time. Besides that I feel we offer the same amount of quality as other established artist in the genre.
Give us a bit of background to Violator – any particular concepts or ideas you want to discuss?
The music was inspired and written after having done a couple of tours with Six Feet Under. I was never really into their music until I saw them live, and the power they distribute with their groovy material. I wanted to adopt this feeling and offer a more groovy sound and feeling live. The lyrics are mainly inspired by books from Stephen King, war and some personal lyrics where I share my views on ignorant people and the state of the world.
Tell us about the album artwork
The album artwork was created by Remi Juliebø and Indie Recordings. They thought it looked cool and so did we hehe.
How do you go about writing your songs?
I write all the raw material and the lyrics. In the studio all members of the band put their personal touch on the songs through their instruments.
How did the recording process go?
This time the recording process was insanely smooth. No bumps in the road plus we had a really great studio technician Stamos Koliousis. Basically I tracked the guitars at home, sent the files to our bass player who did the same, and in the end our drummer Felix tracked the drums in a studio in Oslo.
What’s your favourite song on the album and why?
My favourite song is Deadfall. It’s a heavy motherfucker!
What does the future hold for Vredehammer?
Hard work and quality releases. That’s basically what we can offer. The rest is up to our listeners, promoters, festivals etc.
I’ve been a fan of Neverworld since their first album and have already interviewed their main guitarist/singer Ben Colton previously. As they’ve just released their second album Dreamsnatcher, it seemed like the right time to get in touch once more and see what’s been going on…
For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!
Hello! We are Neverworld! Our sound is basically a mixture of traditional, power, progressive epic metal with a huge emphasis on melody. Basically if you like King Diamond,Queensrÿche, Fates Warning, Judas Priest, Helloween etc then I’d like to think you would quite like us too!
Give us a bit of background to Neverworld
Well we formed in September 2009 so we’ve been around a while now. Our vision was actually very simple really. We consider ourselves to be story tellers. An audio visual band is how I personally like to describe us. So we set out to do just that, telling our stories with melody and metal! In 2010 we released our début EP ‘Welcome To…’ and it got a lot of great reviews which was awesome to see. After a couple of years on the road solidly we started putting together the first album ‘Visions Of Another World‘ which we released in March 2014, again to critical acclaim. So we’ve been very lucky with the press and fans so far. About 18 months ago we started writing and recording our new album ‘Dreamsnatcher’ and just last week we released it on time for once! It’s been a fun ride so far. Sure we’ve had our ups and downs but we’ve played some amazing shows with some amazing bands along the way and these guys are my brothers. I’m really looking forward to the next chapter of Neverworld with these dudes. When you are in a band with your best friends…well it doesn’t get any better than that.
What are your influences?
As a band we are obviously all into metal but our influences are all quite different and I think that is great for song writing. For me I love so many bands. Music has been my passion since I was 4 years old so I’ve got a pretty huge music collection. My favourite styles are traditional, progressive, classic rock and AOR. There are a lot of bands out there who don’t get much attention and I often find they tend to be my biggest influences. I love all the big guns too like Maiden, Priest, Manowar, Van Halen, etc. but I’m also a huge fan of bands like Winger, Fates Warning, Crimson Glory, Magnum, Circus Maximus, etc. Guitar-wise there are so many great players out there. Especially now but I’d have to say Reb Beach, Tony Clarkin, Eddie Van Halen, Scot Gorham, Andy LaRouque, Slash, Dave Murray and Adrian Smith helped me get better and find my style more than anyone else. Singer wise, again there are so many. Rob Halford, Kip Winger, Ray Alder, Geoff Tate, Biff Byford, Ray Gillen, Brad Delp, Michael Eriksen, Midnight, Mike Andersson right through to David Bowie, Stevie Wonder and Luther Vandross believe it or not. What I love about the dudes I’ve just mentioned is that you know exactly who it is when they start singing. That is the mark of a great singer for me. Power, range and identity.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
I listen to a lot of stuff because I hate to get bored of music. If I love a band or a song I try not to play it over and over so I tend to listen to lots of compilations I make for the car. Right at this very minute I’m listening to Magnitude 9, Cloudscape, Anubis Gate, Avantasia, Redemption and Circus Maximus. I’d like to just give a shout out to a few bands. Not just because they are friends of mine but because they are genuinely awesome. Bands like Neuronspoiler, Elm Street, Wardrum, Avenging Benji, The Deep, Kill Confirmed, Fat Nelly and Enbound. Outstanding music, please go check them all out. You can thank me later!
How do you feel that you fit into the wider Metal scene?
It’s really hard to say. What I do see with us is a broad age range listening to our music and coming to the shows. I think that’s a wonderful thing to be able to bridge the age gaps. I’m talking people in their mid teens to people in their mid 60’s! That’s awesome right?! I think our music has a lot of layers and depth. I’d like to think that we would appeal to all kinds of metalheads. Our music can be dark and brooding but also upbeat and positive. Like the moods of most people. Kind of a weird take on it I guess but people generally listen to music to make them feel a certain way. I think we cater for all but I will leave that up to the listener to decide!
Give us a bit of background to Dreamsnatcher – any particular concepts or ideas you want to discuss?
We really wanted this album to be a big step up in everything. Songs, production, musicianship, etc. I think we achieved what we set out to do and that was better ‘Visions Of Another World’. This album has more depth. More light and shade. It’s got its rockers and it’s got its epics. It pretty much sums up Neverworld and what we do. Song themes include a homage to the movies In The Mouth Of Madness and The Warriors much like we did with ‘They Live’ on the first album. There’s a dark ballad on there about falling for a girl in a dream, a song about serial killer lovers, a nice epic track about facing your fears. There’s a lot going on on this album. We worked very hard at crafting it and I took my time with the lyrics and vocal melodies to make sure the stories got told in the right way. It’s got a song for every mood and that is something we really wanted to have too.
How do you feel your sound has progressed between Dreamsnatcher and your previous album Visions of Another World?
It’s a massive cliché but it’s a more mature album. There’s nothing worse than treading water as a musician and I absolutely refuse to do that. One thing I really admire is when a band retain a signature sound but never make the same album twice. Fates Warning and Winger get a special mention for that. It’s hard to do. The only way to do it is to evolve and not be scared to take risks. In-between albums go learn new techniques. Go and listen to new music. It really does help you move on and get brand new ideas you’ve never thought of before. Half of the first album was written about 7-9 years ago. Of course we are all much better musicians now and that shows with the new album. I have no doubt the next one will be even more diverse!
Are you happy with how the album turned out?
Hey I’m a perfectionist so no! Haha I think there comes a point when you have to stop over analysing and just get it out and let the critics/fans decide. I’m happy with the songs. Like I said it’s a real step up from Visions and for that reason alone I am happy. I’m very critical of myself vocal wise but that just comes down to always wanting to deliver my absolute best. On the whole I think it’s the best album we could have put out at this point in time and I guess that’s all we could do.
How do you go about writing your songs?
There’s no rules here as such. Sometimes it’s a solo riff written at home and taken to the studio to be expanded and sometimes we either pair up or usually 3 of us will sit there bouncing ideas. There’s no science involved with us. It really depends on what story we are trying to tell and picking the music/melody to suit the theme. This band has some very talented musicians, all with different influences so it makes for very interesting writing sessions!
How did the recording process go?
Well the first album was an absolute bastard to make and this one wasn’t. It was a lot of fun actually and really helped us bond together that much more. Every week we would go into the studio and just write and record the demos as we went along. It was a great way of doing it and we just had a really good laugh too. We have a great work ethic but we are always laughing. It’s a great combination. Recording is fun. It’s being creative which is what being a musician is all about. I love the process until it comes to vocal harmonies! Haha! I hate doing them but the rest is all good. All in all the album took 18 months to write, record and release. Much better than the 3 and a half years Visions took!
What’s your favourite song on the album and why?
This is the hardest question you’ve asked! Because they are all quite different it’s hard to pick. I think I have a favourite to play live and a favourite to listen to. ‘Armies Of The Night’ is a great live track. Loads of solos, riffs, energy, etc. As for my favourite on the album I’m going to say ‘Into The Mouth Of Madness’ just because it kinda has it all. The big build up intro, the verses are cool, the chorus is cool and catchy. It’s just an epic of a track!
What does the future hold for Neverworld?
Hopefully quite a lot! We are going to be busy this year in terms of playing live and supporting the release. We are currently planning a small tour for October but will have quite a few shows up until then too. I think we are likely to go back into the studio this year to do a limited edition EP and then next year we will be writing and recording a concept album. I won’t give too much away on that just yet but it’s something that would suit us to the ground and the 3rd album seems to be the right time to do it. To keep up to date on all things Neverworld make sure you like our Facebook page and check out our lovely new website http://www.neverworldmetal.co.uk
Thank you for talking to me and I sincerely hope everybody enjoys the new album. It’s available on the site and waiting for your ears now!
Wonderbox Metal 