Metal – Page 594 – Wonderbox Metal

Interview with Electric Hellride

Electric Hellride have finished their new EP Come Darkness, Come Light. As a band who are very talented relatively individualistic this hopefully promises a bright future and good things to come for them. Time to get a bit more information on this band. Enter Casper…

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

Well, we are Electric Hellride, a metal band from Copenhagen, Denmark. We had our first rehearsal back in the summer of 2008 and had some years getting our act together but with our EP “Charged” from November 2010 things began to roll for us. A solid sound of metal with a groovy twist, a lot of fine reviews giving us more shows, all developing our live skills. This led to us winning the Danish leg of the W:O:A Metal Battle in Denmark and thus playing at Wacken Open Air in 2012 (the show can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/xbDEWUs8KdA).

After that we signed with Mighty Music and released “Hate.Control.Manipulate” in late 2012. Since that we played our first tour (in Denmark) in 2013 and developed a little different approach to our songwriting and this is where we are now: presenting some of our new material on an EP called “Come Darkness, Come Light” which will be released the 5th of May.

Give us a bit of history to Electric Hellride

We have known each other for several years. Some of us even went to the same public school and later to the same high school. We actually had a no-name band back in the years 1996-1998. When we decided to play together again in 2008 it was not to reform that old band of ours but to make something new as we knew that we would get along in a very fine way – being friends already.

What are your influences?

We all started listening to metal a few years before the teen years. This means that we are of course to some degree raised on Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and such. But since that we have all developed our taste in metal into something wider, so it’s not easy to narrow our influences down to just a band or two.

Maybe Brian (drums) has a distinct taste for groove through his early fondness of Pantera, Anders (lead guitars) brings us something more “classic metal”, Nicklas (rhythm guitar) puts in something dirty rocking via his interest in acts such as Down and Black Label Society. And me (Casper, bass/vocals), I’m very much into good old Swedish death metal, which might be heard to some point in our music – but I don’t really growl – except for a few words here and there.

But we all like a lot of different metal so it’s really a bit too simple to just put it down as I just did. Oh well, I tried anyway, haha!

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

We actually made a list of what we listened to most in 2013, it’s here: http://www.electrichellride.dk/?p=1279

But on a more recent plan, I believe at least 75 % of the band enjoys the new Behemoth. And I personally really enjoy the new Triptykon.
Tell us about your EP

We were on a good path towards the second full length but we wanted to put out a teaser – or maybe a test – to see how our followers would like our new material as we felt we had changed our sound a bit. So on one hand we wanted to present some new stuff to get some feedback before we would write the last songs for the next full length. On the other hand we felt it was time to show the world that we are still alive and well and writing killer music.

This will of course require for us to write even more songs for the next album, but it is really worth it, as the feedback regarding the EP already is great and some great concert opportunities are being offered to us now.

It’s a four track EP, and as I mentioned earlier: it’s called “Come Darkness, Come Light”.

Are you happy with how it turned out?

Absolutely! We have worked with Jacob Bredahl earlier, but decided to try something that also was more local to us so we wouldn’t have to travel. So we picked Emil Sauer to produce, mix and master. He has worked with Helhorse and Cerekloth among others and the recording session to place in his Grizzly Sauer Studio in Copenhagen.

The sound is not as dirty on the bass this time but it has given more room for guitars to really breathe. It sounds “more metal” but still very organic and clearly played by human beings and not edited to death in ProTools.

Electric Hellride Band What can you tell us about the lyrics?

“Higher Profanity” is about the clash between religion and science. I tried to make it open for interpretation but I think it’s obvious that I’m into the science part. What can you do – I’m a civil engineer, I’m educated to believe in science!

“Grey Mass Depression” is about living in a sad, boring, depressing environment of concrete buildings that really need refurbishment and how it in some places slow down the mind to something zombie-like.

Evil lives in us all. That it basically the conclusion of “Phosphorus”. Phosphorus relates to Venus which relates to Lucifer. And phosphorus also relates to DNA. So we can’t avoid the evil one. It’s in our DNA, simple as that. No need to try to be good, haha.

“Master Inferno” is about power. Power used to control others who are being (way too) submissive.
Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

As already stated we are working hard on the song writing for the next album and it is going really well and it will be more in the style of the EP than our first album. Usually one of us comes with a riff or two and we work around that and we are all taking part of the songwriting and thus we are all very important for how a song will turn out.

You have quite an individual sound – was this intentional or a more natural development?

I think it’s natural. We don’t aim to land within a specific genre such as jumping on the retro thrash metal wave. We just like metal, but we are very critical to ourselves in the rehearsal room regarding what we feel works and what we don’t feel will make the cut. And over the years we have learned a lot about what we do well and which elements we should leave to others to pursue. It has taken some time to get here, but we do agree that we actually have found something a bit of our own now.

Working with producer Emil Sauer this time also has a lot to say. We really listened to his views on our music and together with him we landed on the sound that can be heard on the EP.

In my review I say that you’re almost a kind of Stoner/Thrash hybrid, almost as if someone has appropriated the singer of a more contemporary band, (Clutch?/Godhunter?), and forced him to front Kreator. What are your thoughts on this?

That is just how I sing, haha! I like the way you tried to describe to vocals as a mixture of two different genres, as my singing is something that really is hard for a lot people to describe. As the producer said during the recordings “You don’t really sound like anyone else. Well, I remember one from Belgium but he doesn’t sing anymore. So…”.

But honestly, back in the day – long before Electric Hellride – I tried to sing clean, but although I wasn’t singing out of tune it did sound a bit flat and boring, so eventually I tried to yell instead. I like growls but the music I’ve played never really fit to that so to “yell” was the right way to go. It’s been a long walk but since our EP “Charged” I’ve been more or less satisfied with my vocals, and luckily my vocal skills are still getting better and better. Some part is better technique, something is just the natural ageing of the voice (well, I’m 35 – is that old?!). And a lot is the gained experience and just all of us in the band being critical towards the vocals.

Electric Hellride Band

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

At the moment we feel that “Come Darkness, Come Light” is our sound of the future. It is a bit different to our earlier material and the clues to what makes it different is variation: we try vary the tempos of the songs more to each other, making heavier and slower songs as well as making faster and more aggressive songs. And we are also challenging ourselves to make riffs that doesn’t sound as it was picked from our usual “comfort zone”.

And then we are a solid live act and this will get even better in the future as we are getting a lot of interesting gigs at the moment.

What’s next for Electric Hellride?

We really want to play more outside Denmark. So that is a focus point – we are trying to land a tour in Europe in the fall of 2014. We hope it works out!

Best of luck!

Enbilulugugal – Noizemongers For Goatserpent

Coming from the US this is Black Metal Noise of the darkest and filthiest order.

This is so not for most people it’s almost funny. Even the majority of hardened Extreme Metal fans would balk at this.

This is a compilation of sorts – we get their 2004 album Noizemongers For Goatserpent, a remix/reinterpretation version of the same from 2010 and a whole host of smaller harder-to-find releases tacked on to the end. All in all there are 79 tracks and 2.5 hours of music. Yes, that’s right. Read it again. 2.5 hours of music. And it’s not easy listening music I can tell you.

Enbilulugugal fuse the most twisted, mutated Black Metal with the harshest of Noise to create a perfect fusion of the two that’s nigh on unlistenable unless you’re in a certain mood or just want to punish yourself. This is the sound of nightmares made urban where the remorseless decay of society is mechanised and abused.

To judge a release such as this as good or bad is missing the point in some ways. It’s more of an experience, or even an endurance test, than any form of pleasurable listening as most people would recognise it.

Upon first playing this it took me a couple of minutes to acclimatise to what I was hearing and adjust myself internally to this new way of existing where I was being constantly buffeted by the capricious whims of noise terrorists via short, rusted aural jabs to the mind. They must have altered my brain chemistry somehow though because after a while I became inured to it all and started to find it strangely endearing.

When you exist in a perpetual state of torment is it common to miss it when it’s gone?

I very much doubt that you have the fortitude to survive this release intact. It is expressly designed to push people away so that only the worthy are left. For the vast majority of people this is simply not music and not worth the time to listen to. For the remaining few, this is Enbilulugugal.

Neige Morte – Bicephaale (Review)

This is the second album from French Black Metal band Neige Morte.

This is unusual, multi-faceted Black Metal that kidnaps other subgenres to do its wicked bidding. Noise, Industrial, Sludge, etc. all make an appearance; anything that can lend itself to creating a filthy and degrading atmosphere is used.

The band aim to create eerie, desolate, dysfunctionally abrasive atmospheres where everything is permitted except hope. The dissonant assault is overwhelming and darkness quickly takes hold.

The band play their dissonant Black Metal at an acceptable level, but I find my attention is held firmer when they slow down and give in to their filthy Sludge leanings. When they do this then they light up like a murky, Blackened funeral pyre and the filth and witchery flows freely.

This album is likely to not appeal to everyone, but for connoisseurs of the underground there is a good amount on offer here, if your tastes run to this.

Beyond Mortal Dreams – Lamia (Review)

Death Metal – this is the latest EP from Australia’s Beyond Mortal Dreams.

Having previously heard their very enjoyable Dreaming Death EP I stated at the time that I couldn’t wait to hear more from them. Well here we have it, albeit only a taster. Two tracks in just under 9 minutes.

The first song Lamia is a new one. It rolls out of the speakers like a steamroller and flattens everything. There’s a older-Nile vibe to this track; a sort of atmospheric brutality that sounds like it’s being filtered out through a black hole. Quality stuff. Hopefully this bodes well for the next album…

The second track Demonsword Infernal is new version of a song from their The Demon and the Tree of the Dead demo. I haven’t heard the original but this version is a top quality rhythmic pulser with dark melodies and swirling riffs.

Beyond Mortal Dreams have delivered the goods again. Only next time we want, nay, we demand, more!

Septekh – Plan For World Domination (Review)

Septekh are from Sweden and play Death/Thrash Metal with a Blackened edge.

Based on the album cover I was expecting something a bit calmer than this, but what bursts from the speakers when the first song Into the Void of My Mind starts is a frenetic and excitable beast covered in spikes and claws.

This reminds me of a mix of bands like Darkthrone, Audio Pain and Aura Noir, with the stylistic nature and playfulness of a band like Die Apokalyptischen Reiter.

The vocals are straight form the nails-down-a-blackboard school of throat shredding. They do the job well and manage to avoid the faceless nature of this kind of vocals by having a clear identity and personality behind the bark.

At an hour in length this is a long release with a lot of content to digest. This album works best over repeated spins though as it takes a while for the Blackened melodies and rhythmic patterns to imprint themselves on the psyche. But imprint they do as first and foremost these tracks are songs and as such have hooks and catchiness more than you would expect for a band of this ilk. Death/Thrash/Black they may be, but there’s a firm core of out and out Rock running through this album.

Satisfying and enjoyable, Septekh have produced a solid slab of Metal that will have you coming back for more, again and again. Perhaps world domination isn’t as unlikely as you first thought…?

https://www.facebook.com/septekh

Vanhelgd – Relics of Sulphur Salvation (Review)

This is the third album by Swedish Death Metallers Vanhelgd.

Interesting fact – the vast majority of all of the bands that I have reviewed who have been playing the Swedish Death Metal style haven’t actually been from Sweden. Here, however, we have the real thing; authentically Swedish and authentically Death Metal.

So, if you’re a fan of this genre, or even someone who merely flirts with it now an again; you know what to expect here. That doesn’t diminish its impact one iota though.

This is Death Metal with chainsaw guitars and a razor sharp sense of melody. The riffs and spiky melodics threaten to lacerate, they’re that focused.

They have the song skills that go hand in hand with this style and inject a real sense of horror and suspense into proceedings. Vanhelgd are especially good when creating an atmosphere with their riffs; when the dark melodics crash into each other or propel the song onwards underneath a sea of blastbeats. Crushing stuff.

There are eight songs in total and each one is all brawn and gristle. Vanhelgd are perfect ambassadors for this style and present it in its best light.

A very strong album and a very enjoyable way to kill 40 minutes. Long live Swedish Death Metal!

Countess – Ancient Lies And Battle Cries (Review)

Hailing form the Netherlands, this is the new album by Countess, their 14th in fact, I believe.

This is the follow up to last year’s Sermons of the Infidel, where I was introduced to their individualistic, dare I say it, chirpy, brand of Black Metal. I have been looking forward to seeing what they serve up this time.

Within a few scant seconds of pressing play Countess confirm that they haven’t changed and they are, in fact, just as unique and special as they’ve always been. Hurrah!

The same distinctive vocals layer the music, and the same NWOBHM-influenced Black Metal underpins everything nicely.

There are two main differences between this and Sermons of the Infidel. The first is that Ancient Lies and Battle Cries has a few longer songs on it, and these have a bit of a nice Progressive feel to them in addition to the NWOBHM feeling. The second is the sound the band have on this recording – they sound absolutely huge! A really massive production rounds off the release and the songs sound positively buzzing due to it.

The songs remain absurdly catchy and the tracks have an astounding amount of depth and longevity in them for relatively simple compositions. This is the joy and the gift of Metal in the hands of masters.

I don’t have any of the older Countess material, sadly, but they have made a life-long fan of me nonetheless just with these last two releases alone. I won’t even pretend to be objective about this – Countess are just brilliant.

Wicked Inquisition – Silence Thereafter (Review)

Wicked Inquisition are from the US and play Traditional Heavy Metal.

Here we have some good old-fashioned worship of all things 70’s style Doom, with Black Sabbath, Trouble and Saint Vitus all being good reference points.

This is a short EP, with 4 songs in just under 16 minutes, one of which is an interlude-style track.

This kind of music is instantly familiar as soon as you press play; within the first couple of seconds they’ve already established what they’re all about and what you should expect.

The songs are good and the production warm. The singer fits with the vibe of the band and everything gels nicely into place.

They do what they do well and make for a perfectly enjoyable 16 minutes. You know what to expect with this style, and Wicked Inquisition do it as well as any.

Interview with Ferium

Israeli Death Metallers Ferium have released their début album Reflections recently and have been receiving a warm reception. They’re clearly passionate about what they do and it was good to catch up with their frontman Tiran to get him to spill the beans on the entire thing…

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

Tiran: We are Ferium, a 5-piece Death Metal Band from Israel.

Tiran Ezra – Vocals
Guy Goldenberg – Guitar
Elram Boxer – Guitar
Yoni Biton – Bass
Ron Amar – Drums

Give us a bit of background to Ferium

After a release of an E.P & a performance at the 09′ Wacken Metal battle we’ve went through a couple of line-up changes that consists the band today, 2013 saw us open for Gojira and go on our first European tour with The Agonist & Threat Signal, on the 7th of April our début album of 4 years full of hard work, sweat & blood has been released and has been receiving some attention including you guys! Hehe

What are your influences?

We take inspiration from the mundane actions of human beings as friends, spouses or just focusing on the scum that people close to you can be.

When it comes to the musical influence, we try not to input too much of it into our music, we just let the muse roll.

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

TesseracT – Altered State, if anybody doesn’t know them yet, then shame on you!

Where do you think you fit in with the wider Metal scene?

I would like to think that people who just like good Metal will like us, but if you mean to say with bands, then I think that the best scene to get along musically would be Whitechapel and/or Gojira.

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

The main goal was to get our music out to the people, it’s an image that we’ve worked on a lot in the last 4 years, and it’s important for us to get that across, because this album is just a part of a saga that will reveal itself when the next albums come.
Are you happy with how it turned out?

Everything, couldn’t be better.

The sound has that Oomph that we wanted to get across with the concept of the album, and the songs are well thought out, and the album can be considered as a concept album, which is the epitome of an ‘album’ in my eyes.

Ferium Band Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

The writing for Reflections has been partially with the band in full, but most of it was written by Elram, Tiran & Guy at Elram’s studio and then brought to Ron & Yoni for their take on the specific riffs.

Talk to us about the vocals – did these come naturally or are they more considered?

Lyrically, the concept was chosen beforehand so we could actually plan out the sequence of events in the story told.

From there we started touching specific subjects that bother us on a daily basis.
How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?

We have a plan for the next couple of albums, it will be a slow rise to build the concept behind the music, but it is an epic journey inside the minds of us as writers, there are a lot of ideas flying around.

What’s next for Ferium?

We are planning a European tour in autumn, we would love to go out earlier!

But the plan is basically – TOURS!

Thank you for taking interest in our band!

Mind – Save Yourself From Hell (Review)

Mind are a Crust/Hardcore/Metal band from Germany and this is their third album.

This is primitive Crust violence, played with passion and honesty.

The songs rattle and bash their way from the speakers while the singer tries to compete with the local attack dogs to see who is the most rabid.

Songs like Lost carry a real feeling of threat but also, paradoxically, of camaraderie. Best to make sure you’re on the right side, eh?

They have an Old-School sound that could probably have done with a little more beef in some of the departments, but having said that it still fits the music well and hones the authentic feeling of Hardcore being played by lifers.

The feeling in general is Old-School, reminding of Hardcore bands from the 90’s such as Merauder and especially fellow German’s Ryker’s, as well as all of the standard Crust reference points. They also cover Napalm Death, which can never be a bad thing.

This is a 25 minute trip to the wrong side of the tracks. Will you survive the journey? With this as your soundtrack you might.