Interview – Page 21 – Wonderbox Metal

Interview with All Seeing Eyes

Trinity Road by All Seeing Eyes is one of my favourite releases of 2104 and is a real treasure trove of delights for any Metal fan. Singer/guitarist Ben Colton, (also of Neverworld), was kind enough to give us a bit more background to this exceptional group.

What are your influences?

All our influences are quite different I’d say within ASE. Mainly within the metal genres but personally I just love great, well written, well played music. I have a huge CD collection and I think it’s probably fair to say all of it has influenced me in some way or another. I tend to lean towards music’s unsung heroes. I really admire bands like Fates Warning and Winger. Both genius, both criminally underrated. Both have never really repeated themselves but somehow they have retained their own sound. That is something that’s really hard to do. I’m big on a lot of bands though. Stuff like Van Halen, King Diamond, Crimson Glory, Redemption, Circus Maximus, Dan Reed Network, Thin Lizzy, Ratt, Guns N Roses, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Helloween, Manowar, etc. It’s pretty much an endless list. I’m also very influenced by the music of the director John Carpenter. He’s a very clever guy musically. I love music that can tell a story or just surround you in an atmosphere. John’s music definitely does that. Very simple stuff on the surface but it’s captivating, eerie and just plain awesome!

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

Well there’s several great bands out there that definitely aren’t getting the attention they deserve. I just mentioned Circus Maximus and Redemption. Two absolutely amazing prog bands. Every bit as good as Dream Theater in terms of musicianship and quite frankly much better song writers in my opinion. Never self indulgent. It’s all about the story, the music, the song. All Prog fans should be listening to them. As for good old heavy metal, there’s 3 bands that spring to mind. Wardrum, Hibria and Neuronspoiler. Mind blowing musicians. Stellar vocals. Great songs. What more can anyone ask for?! If you haven’t heard of them before go and check them out. You won’t be disappointed.

What’s the meaning/concept behind the album title?

Initially ‘Trinity Road’ came about as a private joke really. No one else will find it funny so I’ll spare you the finer details! We just used to go to a shop a lot when we were kids and the road opposite is Trinity Road. The title comes from that but we sat around one night and just thought of this concept of a road splitting off into 3 destinations, 3 different outcomes if you will. It’s like you’re at a crossroads and the future is down to you. You have the power. Make the right choice. We just sorta came up with the theme for the art work in our heads and just thought yes! That’s it!

Talk to us about the album artwork.

Basically the picture depicts the present and the future on the horizon. The road to the left leads to darkness. Apocalyptic, bleak. Like a nuclear wasteland. Straight ahead leads to an endless life of monotony. Watching TV, going to work, not thinking much. To the right leads to enlightenment. A bright future. Happiness and fulfilment. We really liked the premise behind it and thought it would make for a great cover. I think we were right. John Vincent took our idea and made it happen brilliantly. He’s a very talented artist and went above and beyond on the art for us. We are all very happy with the outcome

What did you want to achieve with Trinity Road?

Pretty much as much as possible. I’m a realist, I wasn’t expecting anything really but the reaction has genuinely blown me away. From the media and the fans, it’s just been so positive and already made the project worthwhile. Ideally I’d like to reach a much wider audience but that is hard. I understand why. It’s an over saturated market and people don’t often like going out of their comfort zone, especially with music. I’m fairly confident that most metal/rock fans would get something out of the album but it’s hard getting people to listen. We’ll keep trying, reaching out and hoping people bite. I mean we aren’t greedy, the album is available for a great price and there’s a couple of reasons behind that. One is we don’t want to rip anyone off and secondly we want to sell as many as possible! We hope the price tag serves as an incentive for people because at the end of the day you won’t find a double disc extravaganza like Trinity Road anywhere else. It’s 1 hour and 48 minutes in length, it’s completely different and it’s waiting to be discovered

Are you happy with how it turned out?

Musically yes I consider it my finest hour to date. We worked really hard on this. We wanted to make an album with great depth and that didn’t repeat itself. I think we’ve achieved that. As a musician I pushed myself like I’ve never done before. Both vocally and guitar wise. I don’t think I could have done it better than I did and the same goes for Kenny and James. We wrote and performed to the absolute limit of our abilities. The challenge is to better that in the future!

What can you tell us about the lyrics?

I guess you could say they cover various themes from love and life right through to government manipulation and the NWO. We like our music to have a message or tell a story. There’s a couple of deeply personal songs on there about stuff that has affected me in a big way. I’m quite happy with how it turned out lyrically because I’m not a big fan of writing them! I often dread that part of the writing. Sometimes it comes easy but most of the time I end up sitting there for bloody hours listening to the same songs/riffs over and over! Anyway quite a few people have said the lyrics really get to them, make them think. That’s great. Couldn’t ask for more than that

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

Well the three of us had worked together previously about 8 years before in a power metal band called Sentinel. We know each other well. I think we just hit a creative boom (hence why there is 18 tracks on the disc!) and the writing process just came really easy in terms of ideas. It was a cool environment to write in. No pressure whatsoever. We just had a lot of fun, had a lot of laughs and just got on with the task in hand. We knew what we wanted to achieve at the end of it. We wanted a quality product, a selection of songs that were all different. It was just a great experience to write without any rules. There was no one saying well we can’t do this or that because people won’t like it! So we got together a lot and just let the music flow

What’s your favourite song on the album and why?

That’s quite a hard one. I really like all the songs for different reasons but if I had to pick two tracks I’d say ‘Trinity Road’ because it’s just completely different to anything I’ve ever heard before and ‘Wild Life (The Tribe)’. ‘Wild Life’ is a track that kinda sums up the project. It’s got a bit of everything in it and I think it’s pretty infectious too. Proud of that one. It nearly didn’t happen because Kenny and James couldn’t stop laughing when I was trying to write the intro and using my acoustic as a bongo! I’m glad I persevered!

How do you see your position in the wider Power/Heavy Metal musical framework?

I don’t know really. I guess it doesn’t really matter how I perceive us. We are what we are. I just hope people like it and see us in the same light as the greats! Obviously I want us to be held in that regard but saying that we need to back up this release with another and it has to be better. There’s a lot more work to do

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

I’m excited right now. We are literally about to hit the studio again now so it’s gonna be interesting to see what we come up with. I think at this stage we are likely to make a more progressive album this time round. I don’t like the idea of treading water as a musician. If you can’t better what you did before then there’s no point. I think we can. We are better musicians now and the new songs will definitely reflect that.

What’s next for All Seeing Eyes?

Another album although this one won’t be a double! We’d like to follow this up quickly so we are hoping to get another 8-10 track album done in the next 6-7 months. It’ll be difficult because I’m also in the middle of writing the new Neverworld album too. Keep your all seeing eyes peeled and we’ll keep you posted on the albums progress! Watch this space.

Interview with Sarpedon

Sarpedon have just released their début album Anomic Nation, an album that takes Progressive Metal and drapes it in Extreme Metal influences with dramatic, powerful vocals. Definitely a band to watch out for. I wanted to find out a bit more about this impressive band…

Give us a bit of background to Sarpedon

Carl, Eirik, and myself started the band a few years back, to be honest I don’t remember exactly but I think it was in 2006. The line-up was a bit of a mess at times but we released two demos and were gigging quite frequently around Norway, and began eventually recording what would later be “Anomic Nation” around 2009-2010. However, due to several fuckups with former members, different priorities, other bands, day jobs etc., things stalled “a bit” (several years, to be honest) – but in 2013 we together with Børge Finstad finally managed to get the mixing done, and after the mastering from Peter in de Betou was finished it didn’t take too long before the deal with Inverse was in place.

What are your influences?

For songwriting – Savatage, Nevermore, Queen, Rainbow, Blind Guardian, Symphony X, Emperor. For guitar playing – Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Brian May, Nuno Bettencourt, Ritchie Blackmore, Criss Oliva, Eric Johnson, Andy Timmons, Jeff Loomis, Dimebag Darrell, André Olbrich (etc etc etc).

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

The new Blind Guardian album (and very much so) – other than that I’ve had a Swedish kick lately with Lefay and Tad Morose, Extreme due to Nuno being in Oslo for the Nobel Prize concert. It’s a shame he only did “More than Words” on that occasion, but I don’t think Malala would appreciate “He Man Woman Hater” or “Mutha (I don’t wanna go to school today).

What did you want to achieve with Anomic Nation?

Lifetime sponsorship for Burgundy red wine and maple syrup pancakes! No seriously, it’s actually a slight sense of relief to finally have the album out, due to former frustrations and the way too long time it took. The reception has been very good, and hopefully we’ll be able to continue in a more constructive manner this time around, have a bit of fun, do some gigs, and eventually make a new album.

Sarpedon2 Are you happy with how it turned out?

YES! 🙂 Haha, no but we are. The songs had been with us for so long so we had almost lost the ability to hear if the music was actually any good at all – but the response has been so good that it gave us back the belief in what we are doing. Even when we got the record deal and decided to release the album the plan was basically to release it, do a gig or two and then call it a day. But now we will make (at least) one more album, do as many gigs as possible and really have some fun with it all.

What can you tell us about the lyrics?

There are different subjects, but also some recurring themes. A few songs are about specific incidents – “Dead Birds”, for example, is about a horrific series of suicides in a certain area of Wales a few years ago. The number “17”, which is sung several times, is the number of young people that had committed suicide in Bridgend in Wales at the time of recording, the number has increased since. “Lusk Letter” deals with the Jack the Ripper mystery, which has always fascinated me – George Lusk was the man who received the infamous “From Hell” letter in October 1888. One recurring theme is the little man against the big society – “Anomic Nation”, “The Claustrophober”, “My Mysteries…” 1 and 2.

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

I do most of the music – although the only songs I’ve written entirely on my own and then presented to the band as complete pieces of music are “A Seed of Evil” and “My Mysteries Unwind Pt. 2”.The rest of the band are also heavily involved in the arrangements and also contribute both riffs and melodies for several of the songs, and of course Eirik comes up with most of the vocal stuff himself.

In my review I comment on the Black Metal influence on your sound. Can you expand on this?

There is definitely a black metal influence – Emperor is one of my favourite bands, and Carl and Andreas have basically only played in black and death metal bands until Sarpedon came about (and still do – Endezzma, Unspoken, and others). In a way Sarpedon is about incorporating all the different influences we have and musical styles we enjoy into one band, and it’s definitely refreshing for me as a guitar player and songwriter to be able to use riffs and harmonies which maybe belong more in other genres than in “traditional” prog/power metal.

Sarpedon3 How do you see your position in the wider Metal musical framework/genre?

It was Eirik who came up with the slogan “Declaring war on progressive metal as we know it”. And without trying to be overly arrogant or anything we try to create our own little twist on progressive metal – which is a genre which, inevitably, is not very progressive any more. We’re not the most technical band out there, but we try to put heavy riffs and drumming with both thrash and black metal influences, into a context with strong melodies which might hint at Broadway/West End influences, atmospheric synths and huge choirs.

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

To quote one big hero of mine – “MORE IS MORE” 🙂 We will begin working on our next album next year, and I think we will use “Anomic Nation” as a starting point and then try to do a bit more of everything. The choirs will be (even) bigger, the riffs will be heavier, the melodies will be catchier, we will incorporate more dynamics –

What’s next for Sarpedon?

We have our release party in Oslo on February 14, celebrating Metal Express Radio’s 30th anniversary – then we’ll see what more gigs show up before we begin writing songs for the next album. It’s been a blast to finally hold a proper Sarpedon CD in our hands, and to hear that people actually enjoy what we have come up with. We’re really enjoying playing together, and hopefully there’s more fun to come in the upcoming months and years. And thanks to you Nigel for taking the time to do this interview and for the review you gave us – we sincerely appreciate it! 🙂

Thanks!

Interview with Valdrin

Valdrin’s début release Beyond the Forest is an atmospheric Black Metal delight with none of the pomp and plenty of bite and an all-round highly enjoyable listen. Vocalist/guitarist Carter Hicks provided some background information to this compelling album…

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

My name is Carter and I play guitar and do vocals in a black/death metal band called Valdrin.

Give us a bit of history to Valdrin

Valdrin was formed in 2010 and spent the years of 2011 to 2012 recording the debut album Beyond The Forest. The line-up during the recording was Carter Hicks: Guitar/vocals, Avik Subedi: Guitar, James Lewis: Bass. We released the album on bandcamp in February 2013 and eventually on a digipack cd format limited to 100 copies. Ryan Maurmeier joined on drums in early 2013 and Avik left the band in the summer of 2013. In early 2014 we signed to Blast Head Records and they released Beyond The Forest on CD. Since then we’ve played out as much as possible to spread our message and our dark story to those who are willing to understand it. We are currently working on new material and trying to expand to playing in other territories.

What are your influences?

Metal wise, mostly 80s first wave black/death, early 90s black/death stuff, thrash and traditional metal of course. Bands like Bathory, Destruction, Sarcofago, Sodom, Dissection, Windir, Sabbat (JAP), Sigh, The Chasm, Possessed, Order From Chaos, Morbid Angel, Immortal, Voivod, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost…etc, the classic essential extreme metal to us. My favorite band along with Bathory would probably have to be Pink Floyd. My favorite composer is Nobuo Uematsu. Ryan (our drummer) shares these same influences with myself. James also has a deep background in the blues. With a lot of these influences we’ve been able to craft our sound and find our identity. We listen to all kinds of music of course, but these artists that I just named have given us all that inspiration we needed to create our own identity. We’ve noticed our identity from the early stages of the band, and since then we’ve mostly looked inward for inspiration as opposed to looking outward.

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

Bands like Order From Chaos, The Chasm, Cenotaph, (old) Morbid Angel, Inquisition, are some bands that have been favourites of mine in the recent years. I still gain influence from most of the classic bands I named above as well. However, discovering an album like Procreation of the Inner Temple by The Chasm was life changing. Never before had I heard something so truly ancient and majestic sounding. The strange melodies, the dusty recording, it just sounded otherworldly. That’s the music I like the most. I remember hearing it for the first time with our old guitarist Avik, around 5:00 AM after a long night of drinking….the perfect state of mind to hear that album! I get fascinated by cryptic recordings that are hard to decipher, not just bestial black/death…but stuff that actually has a lot of depth and articulation underneath the lo-fi sound. Albums like Stillbirth Machine and An Ending In Fire by Order From Chaos had this same quality and they are some of my favourite albums.

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

Well calling it new isn’t possible for us. Yes, it is new to the world, but to us its over 4 years old. I’m definitely proud of the album though. We all had goals that we wanted to achieve through the album and I think we accomplished most of them. I specifically had a certain indescribable calling to make an album taking place in an abyssal underworld. The inspiration came when I heard Bathory – The Return…… an album that changed my path in life, and still to this day is my all time favourite album. That was the first piece of metal I’d ever heard that took me away from where I was standing at the time of hearing it. It oozed pure darkness and evil, and it instantly clicked with my imagination. I wanted to make a soundtrack like that, to the blackest of black worlds. I know that obviously Beyond The Forest sounds nothing like The Return…. and that’s a good thing of course. That album, along with some old RPG games I used to play as a kid on MS-DOS, provided most of the inspiration to create The Orcus underworld in Beyond The Forest.

My favourite track is Beyond the Forest, an epic and empowering song. Tell us a bit more about this one.

Beyond The Forest was actually the last song written on the album. It was compiled with most of the left over riffs that had not gotten into other songs. The song really just wrote itself. I remember James getting behind the drum-kit at the time and helping guide me through the song. Of most of the songs, that one came out the most natural. I remember writing it very fast, but spending a good deal of time on the lyrics. I still view those lyrics as some of the most important I’ve ever made. It really sets up the premise of the story, and I’m very proud of what came out of that.

Are you happy with how it turned out?

Definitely. Being a musician is like a creating a timeline for yourself. It connects you to the most pure feeling you had at each point in your life. Yes, when I look back, there are a million things that could’ve been done better. But there is no use in worrying about the past. What’s done is done and I’m certainly proud that it has reached so many people.

What can you tell us about the lyrics?

Without going into great detail, I can say this: the lyrics are conceptual and based on what we call The Wolf Ausadjur Mythos. This mythos is collectively inspired by all forms of spirituality fused all into one story. Its a re-interpretation of the creation story, only with human beings as the conductors of the spirit realm(s). The story looks into man’s evolution out from the wild with emphasis on one key point: the evolution of inventive thought, or imagination. This power is to be considered the most crucial factor in the creation of tribes, language, culture, civilization…etc. These are all by-products of our ability to imagine what’s not there and replicate what’s in our minds using the natural tools we have on earth. Most importantly from imagination comes the conception of good and evil. In our story, these concepts are literal forces created by the human mind, using the conduit of what we call The Spirit Genome. This is a metaphysical organ within the brain that allows us to access the powers of good and evil from the dimensions that we have created. These worlds are known as The Orcus (latin: underworld) and The Aurae (latin: heavens, or light). The story of Beyond The Forest deals with our protagonist, Valdrin and his descent into the underworld of the Orcus and the subsequent journey that follows. Everything else can be described within the lyrics on Beyond The Forest.

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process, and how do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?

The songwriting process usually begins with me making a basic skeleton of a song. I’ll usually program some drums based on what I believe would sound good over each riff. After that, I sit back and let the song tell me what’s happening in the story and that’s where the lyrics come from. Once I show the song to the rest of the guys, we go through a process of trial and error in figuring out what works best for song. Recently however, we’ve written a lot more material together in the rehearsal room and often James and Ryan have ideas about where the song should go. Its becoming a more collaborative process due to us all fully understanding our concept and having faith in each other’s abilities.

What’s next for Valdrin?

We are working on recording our new mini-lp “Two Carrion Talismans” it should be finished somewhere in mid 2015. We are also playing often in new territories and looking to put together a tour around the mid-west and east coast. We have many plans in the future and we are very driven to deliver our new music unto this world. Hails to all our supporters! We cannot wait to conqueror more territories and spread our netherworld metal!

Interview with Mourning Pyre

The début EP from one-man Ukrainian Atmospheric Blackened Doom project Mourning Pyre made an impression with me. It’s very good – go check it out! I was compelled to find out more…

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

Hello there, I’m Scott! I am the sole creator and writer for Mourning Pyre. Another one of those ‘one-man’ projects… I figured there weren’t enough of them, so I decided to make one myself! Mourning Pyre is a wide conglomerate of genres, but I suppose it can best be described as atmospheric doom / melodic blackened death. Say that three times!

Give us a bit of history to Mourning Pyre

Mourning Pyre actually came about earlier this year because I wanted a more versatile name to write under. I have a vast array of genres that I enjoy listening to, and I found that sometimes I had more “death metal” songs or more “black metal” songs… so I just wanted a name where I could put all that under one roof, so to speak, and not have to try to think of a new band name every time I write a song. It is convenient for me, but extremely difficult when it comes to trying to explain my ‘kind’ of music to others. Often, I’ll simply say I write ‘metal’ music.

What are your influences?

My main influence is my life. I fully believe that music is my gift that has helped me get through some really hard times in my life. I don’t want to sit here and say that I’ve had it worse than anybody else, or that my pain is worse than yours, but I can say that without the ability to write music, or at the very least the strong interest in music, that my life would be very different today and I’m not at all sure I could say it’d be better.

My musical upbringing was an eclectic one. My grandparents listened to jazz and classical which was a great addition to the heavy metal influences from my parents. As I grew up, I found death metal and black metal in the mid 90’s when I was on a quest for something new and even more brutal. This is about the time I got onto the Internet and used Napster to really broaden my horizons.

If we pinpoint specific genres… 80’s metal, 80’s synth pop, dark wave, trance, black metal, death metal, straight rock, movie scores, industrial, classical, etc.

As you can see, I like pretty much something from everything except rap and hip-hop and those offsets as I don’t even consider that stuff to be music.

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

Well, it’s hard for me to recommend certain types of bands or music… so I decided to just type the latest bands I listened to from my Google Play account:

Woods of Ypres, Nokturnal Mortum, Faith No More, Cannibal Corpse, Galaktik Cancer Squad, Belphegor, Dark Forest, Arx Atrata, Thrawsunblat, Nine Inch Nails, Aborym, Stuck Mojo, Static-X…

Obviously, I’d have to recommend pretty much anything by Woods of Ypres, though I’m particular to Woods V. Galaktik Cancer Squad, Arx Atrata and Dark Forest might be gems for people out there who want some more atmospheric black metal.

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

The main goal was to get a professional sounding release. I was lucky in that the guy I was working with was privy to the type of music I was playing and the kind of atmosphere I wanted to get from it. I was very particular about drums and guitars and meticulously recorded the guitars. There are videos about that on the YouTube page. However, ultimately…

Are you happy with how it turned out?

This is a tough question. I suppose I could start nit-picking… In terms of a pristine release at studio quality that is listenable? I’d say I achieved that and then some… though I think some of the character of atmospheric music was removed. It’s almost like it is a bit too clean and polished. This is not a knock against the guy I recorded it with, but there are things I wish I could have done differently now that I’ve had time to listen to it about 1,000 times. Overall, the E.P. sounds great and I’m fully proud of how it turned out.

What can you tell us about the lyrics?

Mourning Pyre isn’t very adept at lyric writing… though I wish I was. I think vocals, singing, and lyric writing is the final frontier that I need to tackle.

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

Good question! I actually posted a video talking about how I write my songs on my YouTube channel. Basically, I get the idea and inspiration, and then I go to town. In that video, I showed a very old program called Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 from 1999. I actually have forced myself to give that up and now I am writing new music using Reaper 4 directly with Kontakt and soft-synth patches loaded. This allows me to write in dynamics immediately and get a better feel for what the song will sound like. Doing it this way has lent my music a much more cinematic quality.

From there, I’ll either record it in Reaper 4 or in Sonar X3 Studio. I’m a big fan of Cakewalk, actually. I used Pro Tools 10HD for the Mourning Pyre E.P. and I see no particular advantage to using Pro Tools. I mean, if you have $800.00 to blow on over rated software, by all means!

Tell us about the Classical parts/influences.

As it turns out, my Grandparents were on to something when they exposed me to the Classical greats. I’m quite happy they did so. Classical instrumentation helps add the extra layer of dynamics that makes up for my lack of vocals and guitar ability. At this point, I think it’s the last piece to the puzzle of my music – effectively learning how to create the dynamics with strings and orchestral instrumentation… it’s the human quality in metal that gets lost, I think. I should add, also, that the type of instrumentation is more geared towards film score and not so much traditional classical parts… though I wish I had the ability to do that, too!

Some of the songs on this release have a bit of a Post-Metal feel to them on occasion – Holding My Breath (Until I Die), for example, has a guitar part in it that wouldn’t be out of place on a Red Sparowes record. Is the Post-Metal scene an influence at all?

Big fan of Post-Metal! In fact, there used to be a website called Depressive-INC that has since disappeared. It’s a real bummer because there were numerous bands that I had downloaded from there and really enjoyed. I have, unfortunately, lost the MP3 files and, as I said, the website is shut down. Does anybody know of a replacement?

The thing with post black metal that is interesting for me are the use of the tremolo picked chords. I’m fascinated by the types of chords they come up with. I’m more into the melodic aspect of it, obviously. I like the new release from Deafheaven, ‘White Tomb’ from Altar of Plagues, ‘Tenant’ by Ludicra is pretty good as well. The thing also with this type of music is that I need to be in the mood for something that I can just turn on and fly away with. I like it when a melody takes me away.

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

I’m always trying to grow and expand. 2014 hasn’t seen many new songs… in fact; I can say that 2014 has been my least productive year in terms of writing new music since I started writing music 15 years ago. That’s okay, though. I have a ton of ideas and directions to go. The song I’m currently working on has a very cinematic feel in the beginning. I’m also trying new writing techniques (such as writing riffs or leads ‘on the spot’). I used to write songs very quickly when I would get the idea… now I’m allowing that inspiration to flow, but I don’t force myself to finish the song.

I have always envisioned that 60 minute song… a story of some sort… something that would encompass all of the human emotion. I don’t think I’m quite ready to undertake that task yet, but I feel that someday soon I’ll be mature enough musically to be able to put something like that together.

Thanks a lot for allowing me to do this interview with you. I had to sit down and really ponder some of the questions you asked me. It was a pleasure!

Interview with Arroganz

If you’re looking for a perfect example of a Death Metal band that combines emotive destruction with wanton slaughter then you’d be hard pressed to better Arroganz. Their third album Tod & Teufel is a must for all fans of interesting, individualistic Death Metal everywhere. I quizzed their guitarist -P- to find out more…

Give us a bit of background to ARROGANZ!

ARROGANZ are – K – (vocals / bass / guitars), – P – (guitars / vocals) and – T – (drums / vocals). The bands origin is the city of Cottbus (Ger). Nowadays we live in different cities.

What are your influences?

Life and death. A lot of dark arts and music are given to us and we have a heart for all its being as long as it is honest and filled with spirit. Surely you could hear some of the influences – but we don’t like to be compared with these and other bands all the time.

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

Just to reduce it to actual (2014) albums: Tryptikon – Melana Chasmata, Morbus Chron – Sweven, Ophis – Abhorrence In Opulence, Deathronation – Hallow The Dead, Dark Fortress – Venereal Dawn, Woods Of Desolation – As The Stars, Herder – Gods, Stench – Venture

What are your opinions on the current state of the Death Metal genre?

German death metal is growing more and more as t is recognized by the international underground better than ever.

Your take on Death Metal is a bit more individualistic and interesting than the norm and includes, to my ears, shades of atmospherics, Black Metal and My Dying Bride-esque melodics. What are your thoughts on this?

We just don’t go along with any trends. The construct of ARROGANZ contents and expresses a special philosophy and spirit. You can hear that certain combination of black/death/doom/rock’n roll elements and we feel free to do whatever we want to do! I don’t see anything ARROGANZ has in common with My Dying Bride. It is a great band but it serves a different style of music.

What did you want to achieve with your new release?

By releasing “Tod & Teufel” we manifest the line-up and its being in 2014.

We just made another big step!

Are you happy with how it turned out?

100% yes. You wouldn’t have been able to listen to it if it was different. We are satisfied as fuck and can’t wait to release that bastard. Our new label FDA REKOTZ is doing a great job and we get the support for “Tod & Teufel” that we need.

Talk to us about the lyrics

-K- writes the lyrics. The lines of “Tod & Teufel” are deep and dark philosophical – as well as spiritual. They are a strong outbreak of an inner being and very open. But instead of talking about them: Read them!

What’s the meaning of the title?

We don’t want to translate it into English. It is about freedom – the will and want to do, what you want and need to do.

How do you go about writing your songs?

-K- writes the songs. Then we arrange them together and try to get the best out of them. When we’re done doing this, I (-P-) make a preproduction. We all try to give the best amount of atmosphere, darkness and dirtiness to the songs. It is not only important to write it perfect, it is always about how to play it, too!

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

We are a very creative band – of course we already got ideas for the next onslaught. We will go the way we started to go – the songs will sound like ARROGANZ and probably will be different…that’s our attitude.

What’s next for Arroganz?

The first shows and festivals are confirmed. After the release we’re going to play gigs and in 2015 we’re going to have a split EP with three other German death metal bands.

http://www.hellishhordes.com

https://www.facebook.com/hellishhordes

http://www.fda-rekotz.com/

Interview with Annihilation

Annihilation have recently released their stellar new EP The Undivided. This is a big step up from their, (still enjoyable), début and I was keen to find out more about this exciting new phase in their development…

Tell us all about Annihilation and where you came from.

Annihilation was formed in 2004 in a small town called Almeirim (80 kms nearby Lisbon). I was living in England back then and was invited to start the band with a couple of friends from my hometown. Since then we have progressed and at the moment I am the only original remaining member.

What are your influences?

I draw influences from everything, all aspects of life and death, the universe, the day by day, and especially music, I mean all kinds of music styles not just metal.

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

Carnality (sick band from Italy) “Dystopia” is their latest release, the last album from Calm Hatchery called “Fading Reliefs“, At The Gates (love their new album), Hideous Divinity (another sick bastards from Italy, Nader Sadek, just to name a few.

There has been quite a bit of change in the Annihilation camp it seems. The Undivided shows a different side to the band than Against the Storm. Tell us about these changes and how they came about.

Well every band passes through line up changes. With Annihilation I always wanted to have a good vibe within the band. If I feel that someone is not on the same level as the other band members the best option is for him to leave. I don’t wan’t people to think that I’m arrogant, but in a band if you do not share the same vision as the remaining band members or have the same goals you do not belong on this band. I have been always the main composer in this band, all the songs are written in guitar by me and then I share my ideas with the rest of the guys and we start working them and maturing the songs, and basically that’s why “The Undivided” is different than “Against The Storm“. I call it evolution, “Against The Storm” was written between 2008 and 2010 since then I grew up as a musician, songs started to became more intricate and eerie and that was always one of the goals for Annihilation.

Explain the concept behind The Undivided

The Undivided is the first part of our next album that will be released in 2015. The album will be called “The Undivided Wholeness Of All Things”. Lyrically “The Undivided” focuses on the journey of Human energy, or the soul if you want to call it like that, through life and death. How we are connected to the Universe as one entity but have been separated or divided from that source.

Do you have any specific goals for this EP?

Well the EP was intended to be a demo to send for labels, but our PR suggested that we should release it as an EP, so the goal is to get signed by a label to proper support us on releasing our next albums. To tour abroad is also one of our main goals. Lets see where this EP will take us.

Annihilation Band Is there anything on the EP you’re not satisfied with?

Nothing worth to mention. We will rewrite and record these songs again for our next album, since the EP and the album are meant to be connected as one song divided in 3 parts – “The Undivided”, “Wholeness”, “Of All Things”

What’s your songwriting process?

I compose the main riffs and structure them before presenting my ideas to the band. After this first process is completed we then start working on the songs as a band and sharing ideas so that the songs can sound even better.

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

Even more intricate and eerie than they are now, dissonant chords, weird drum patterns. Basically to continue evolving as musicians and as a band.

What does the future hold for Annihilation?

Hopefully a good label and touring abroad. But until that happens we will continue to write music and to release albums.

Interview with Lelahell

The début album from Algerian band Lelahell – Al Insane… The (Re)birth of Abderrahmane – is a welcome breath of crushing air in the Brutal Death Metal scene. I wanted to find out a bit more about this exciting new band…

Give us a bit of background to Lelahell

Lelahell are one of Algiers’ newer extreme metal acts, their concrete-crushing death metal bludgeoning skulls since 2010. Founded by Redouane Aouameur (A.k.a Lelahell) who is no stranger to the Algerian metal scene as he has already been in other bands including Neanderthalia, Litham, Carnavage and Devast. Following the completion of 2011’s ‘Al Intihar’ EP, fellow Algerian metallers Slave Blaster and Nihil (who also form the rhythm section of black metal outfit Barbaros), completed the ranks. In 2012 Goressimo Records officially released the band’s debut EP.

The first full length album of Lelahell ” Al Insane …The (Re)Birth of Abderrahmane ” mixed and mastered by Ivan of Anthropocide Studio from Belarus (Abominable Putridity, Aborted Fetus, etc.) was released the 5th of august 2014 by Horror Pain Gore Death Productions (Coffins, Haemorrhage, Abscess,..) from USA.

What are your influences?

We don’t have any particular influences , we get our inspiration from everything which is related to death metal and all brutal stuffs and some local music.

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

Hideous Divinity a great death metal band formed by ex members of Hour of Penance and Eyeconoclast from Italy, their music is technical modern melodic and brutal!

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

We haven’t decided anything, we just played the music that came from our deep guts!

Do you have any goals for your album?

Our main goal is to make music, play all around the world and of course having fun!

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

For a first album we are really 100% satisfied!

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

The song “Al Intissar” is an hymn to victory and all against those fuckin’ losers who complain all day long without doing anything from their lives. Move your ass fucking assholes! “Voices revealed” is inspired from the memories of Phillip Garrido a serial killer, Hypnose is a message to all our governors in the planet ! Am I in hell? is a question that every one asked at least one time in his life, Kalimet essir is a tribute to our Martyrs, Black hands is about the difference between the rich and poors , “Hillal”, has a more philosophical concept and it is about the interaction of the human with the nature and Mizmar talks about the human pleasures!

What’s your songwriting process?

In general I come with the main guitar riff and structures and other musicians compose their own parts during rehearsals.

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

Increasing a little bit the ethnic parts and adding more technical and modern elements to the guitar are the main changes in the future ! Wait and see…

What does the future hold for Lelahell?

For December we have a European tour planned in Germany, Switzerland, Poland and France. It is called Al Insane Tour. After that we’ll start the writing process of our second full length.

Thanks for your great support and stay brutalz!

Support LELAHELL or die!

Interview with Aeonsgate

The début album from Aeonsgate – Pentalpha – is an impressive foray into extremely Epic Doom Metal territory. Thirsty for more background on this intriguing project, I sought out the man behind the music…

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

I`m Jondix, guitar player of Great Coven, eight Hand for Kali and Atman-Acron…More of a visual artist, but with unusual ideas and classic taste… Another looser…

Give us a bit of history to Aeonsgate

I just showed the demoed idea to Mats and he liked it for being unique, than Marco Minneman found it interesting to Sabbathian drumming instead of do polyrythms as he’s used to…

Aeonsgate 3 What are your influences?

For this project Iommi, Ritchie, and trance inducing boring noises from Metal underground…

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

The new Judas Priest and Griftegard

What did you want to achieve with this album?

Make a long boring song that I can work to.. specially when I’m painting in the studio

Are you happy with how it turned out?

I’m never satisfied… Now is one year after and I would love to hear the keyboards louder… My brother did an excellent job… But we are preparing a new record together

Tell us about the concept for the album

Death and the people you leave behind….that exact moment when you die… and the road to the other world whatever it is

Aeonsgate 2 What can you tell us about the lyrics?

It’s very romantic… fighting against death and trying to come back, cause you want to stay in the world with your lover… and seeing her from the astral projection….

Give us a bit of information on how the song was constructed.

Me and my brother Joseph, we did a demo in which I sung the lyrics… and then handled it to Mats and he played his magic… Same with Minnermann… he recorded all drums in 2 days… unbelievable… then we played guitars and bass again, trying to be just simple, repeating ad nauseum….

What’s next for Aeonsgate?

Some very important people are interested in a few live shows…

Maybe a second part with different members….Like “True detective”…

Interview with Northern Crown

Northern Crown’s début EP In the Hands of the Betrayer is a thoroughly enjoyable slab of Metal that any Doom/Heavy Metal fan should rightfully have in their collection. I wanted to find out more so I quizzed multi-instrumentalist Zach…

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

Hey there! So we are Northern Crown from the US. We’re based between South Florida and Nashville, TN. We play what we like to call “Epic Doom Metal”.

Give us a bit of history to Northern Crown

I formed Northern Crown in January of 2013…it had a different vibe initially. It was more of a jammy stoner/sludge vibe. It was a 3 piece with me on vocals. That lineup didn’t really work out and as I was writing this album, the sound really transformed. As I began recording the album, I was put in touch with Frank and Josh through a mutual friend. Randy, Sally and Roberto are all friends of mine. The lineup for this record end up coming together really quickly.

Northern Crown1 What are your influences?

Classic heavy metal, classic doom metal, 70’s rock. Specifically, Black Sabbath, Dio, Candlemass, Rainbow, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple. Really, anything epic and heavy.

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

I’ve got a few things…I’ve been in a bit of a 90’s mode, so I’ve been listening to Edge of Sanity Crimson on endless repeat. It’s a great album…and if you’ve never heard it, you’re missing out.

I’m also big into the hard rock/proto metal stuff that’s coming out of Sweden like Witchcraft, Graveyard and Horisont.

What did you want to achieve with your new release?

Fame and fortune? Barring that, get our name out to the metal public and build some momentum for our next release and hopefully some live performances.

Tell us the meaning behind the title.

Without getting SUPER specific, the title “In the Hands of the Betrayer” is about me putting a great trust and responsibility in another person and they failed in the worst way possible.

Are you happy with how it turned out?

As someone who drives themselves really hard, I’m never totally happy with anything I do, but I’m really proud of this record and everybody that was involved.

Northern Crown2 What can you tell us about the lyrics?

The lyrics are all pretty personal…and I won’t get into specifics as I want people to take their own meaning from the songs…but each original track on the record tells the story of 3 particularly bad, life altering days in my life. Dramatic? Yes…but also cathartic.

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

This album was written by me and the songs were basically finished before anybody else got involved. Frank wrote all the vocal melodies. My hope is to be more collaborative on the next release.

Tell us about the cover song on In The Hands of the Betrayer – why this band and why this song?

Firstly, I love Candlemass and they’re obviously the single biggest influence on this band. Epicus Doomicus Metallicus is one of my all-time favourites and Crystal Ball is such a heavy, powerful and groovy song.

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

We’re a traditional Heavy Metal and Doom Metal band…and I want to continue to explore that sound while keeping it modern. I don’t think we’ve scratched the surface yet in what we can do with arrangements, whether it be vocals, organ or guitars.

What does the future hold for Northern Crown?

The near future is going to be spent promoting the début. I’ve already done some initial writing. Hopefully next year we get out and play some gigs and release a follow up to the EP later in 2015.

Our début EP, “In the Hands of the Betrayer” is out on October 14! You can find us online @ http://doommet.al

Interview with Orbseven

Orbseven is a one-man Experimental Black Metal project that has recently released a very impressive new album. As I’d not heard of Obseven until relatively recently and knowing next to nothing about the project I decided to find out more…

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

This is A. Zeven and Orbseven is my own personal solo project out of the US. Texas to be exact.

Give us a bit of history to Orbseven

I first thought about creating Orbseven in late 2004 and spent the next few years preparing the first release “The Linear Divide”. Since then I’ve released two more albums “Fall Below the Earth” and “.ismos.”. The latter of which has just been released this past year.

What are your influences?

Life is my main influence. My life. Others lives.

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

I just finished listening to the latest Anathema album “Distant Satellites” for the hundredth time. I love everything they do. Aside from that the recent releases from Overkill, Cannibal Corpse, and Bolzer. And I’m always listening to Rainbow (Dio era)…which I still believe is very under appreciated. In my opinion, the best work that both Ronnie James Dio and Ritchie Blackmore ever created. I think those first Rainbow albums should be looked into more by the general metal fanbase. I can go on and on about Rainbow. They’re essential listening.

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

After the first two releases, I had the urge to write something more open. Music that breathed a bit more than the previous material. I admit the first releases are really claustrophobic in sound and production. Very intense, and very exhausting. My idea for a third release was to counter those feelings but still create something that had impact…just without that frantic in-your-face approach. The music had to have clarity. I wanted it to have an inner and emotive pulse that resonated sonically.

Are you happy with how it turned out?

Pretty happy yes. I’ve always been happy about how my releases turned out. Being a solo artist that doesn’t have label representation and produces all the music alone, I have that luxury of releasing exactly what I want. It just so happens that I’m getting a bit better at representing the material with better production with each album. I think the two previous albums suffered because of my direction of the production. But it was the best I could do at the time and I’m happy about that.

What can you tell us about the lyrics?

Not a lot. The lyrics are the most personal thing about Orbseven. For “.ismos.”, it’s generally about existence. Just being. What that is, I don’t know. And I think thats the point of it. I have an idea of existence. Of being connected to everything. Of being aware. I have ideas…but I’m not certain. No one should be certain. Existence is too big for us. The contemplation is too enormous. No answers…all questions. That in a nutshell is what “.ismos.” is. I may release a lyrical line or two through social media from time to time. But never all of them.

Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

Each album has been quite different. Guitar is my primary instrument so it usually starts with that. And then I fill in the rest. With this latest one, it was a bit of writing before recording..and recording while writing. That just happens to be how the previous albums came to be. The first was pretty much written before any studio time. I had an over abundance of material and I was prepared before recording. And with the second album, 90% of the music was written while I was recording it…so I didn’t familiarize myself with it very much. I think that also contributes to that chaotic pace that you hear on that release. And in actuality, I can still play most of the first album by memory. The second album not so much. I only remember bits and pieces. I’d have to relearn how to play it. Again, with “.ismos.”, it was both knowing some of the material and still writing the rest. Lyrics would always come last because its the part I’m most intimidated about.

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

I think for the next release, I’ll go back to that more aggressive style. After writing and recording “.ismos.” which is very minimal in guitar playing, I’m itching to play the heavy and fast stuff again. But at the same time, I want another “.ismos.” too. So it’ll probably be a marriage of both I think. That could all change. Orbseven is not very predictable.

What’s next for Orbseven?

Possibly a second video. But for now, I’m letting “.ismos.” do its thing. Letting it have its early life. I do that with all albums. I let it runs its course. By not preparing and writing a new Orbseven album, I’m allowing it to reach out and expand. It deserves that.