We Wither - Exclusive Metal Interviews

ASPHYX - True Death Metal You Bastards

2012-02-21T22:25:00.000+01:00

Bands like Bolt Thrower, Entombed, Grave and Asphyx have written some of the most memorable albums in the history of European death metal. What would the world of extreme be without such timeless old school classics as "Realm of Chaos", "Left Hand Path", "Into the Grave" and "The Rack" by the Dutch masters of brutality who returned in 2007 after some years on hiatus? Reuniting with the original vocalist Martin van Drunen, also now the front man of super group Hail of Bullets, they were able to produce two astonishing records - "Death... the Brutal Way" in 2009 and the latest strike of "Deathhammer", which was released by Century Media in February 2012. Martin talked to We Wither about the newest Asphyx offering but commented on the past too.

After twenty years and eight albums Asphyx is still exactly the same band. Is it hard not to stray from the path for such a long time?
I'm 25 years in this business and my enthusiasm and passion is still the same as in the beginning. I'm a musician but I'm very much a fan, a metal-head too. I started early and never changed. It's like a dream come true to become a recording and touring artist. I sometimes realize that on stage. I can't believe I made it and am actually doing it. Being surrounded by great people who are my family and friends gives me a lot of joy from what I do. Death metal is fun but hard work too. People usually don't recognize it but I practise, I write lyrics and some music too, I tour and do interviews. It's not only a hobby on the side. I feel a need to do this and it makes me happy but it's not just as easy as people might think.

Was the success of Hail of Bullets sort of a kick to revive Asphyx from its hiatus?
Stephan Gebedi of Thanatos approached me years ago when I was playing with a smaller band Death by Dawn and asked if I was interested in doing something old school together. It took a while but eventually we started Hail of Bullets. I was in contact with Bob Bagchus, who is the only original Asphyx member and I knew lots of people were asking him to do some festival shows but we didn't want to do it without Eric Daniels because his guitar sound was irreplaceable in our opinion. Later on a drinking night with the Hail of Bullets boys Asphyx was mentioned and our guitarist Paul Baayens, who also plays with Thanatos, had a couple of beers too many and boldly said that he is up for filling the position in Asphyx. The next day he was a bit shocked when he realized what he'd said but I spoke to Bob and he agreed to check how it would sound. When he plugged in and we rehearsed we just knew he suits the slot perfectly. That's how it happened!

You called the “Deathhammer” album “a manual to death metal”. Do you think metal should always stick to its roots and if you want to evolve a lot it’s better to change the band’s name?
More or less I have to agree. I remember being disappointed so many times in the past when the bands I loved recorded some awful albums. For example I'm still not able to get over Celtic Frost's "Cold Lake", which is just an utter piece of shit. I never forgave them. I'm not even going to see Triptykon because I'd need to speak to Tom about how the hell it happened that he wrote such a thing. It's very hard to accept the situation when the band you love so much change drastically. The same happened to me with Kiss. I was a big fan of theirs but once they came up with that crappy disco style I just felt like my heroes had died. I don't listen to death metal every single day but I'd never dare to change the style of Asphyx.

“Deathhammer” is such a straightforward record. Did you write this album as if it were your one last manifesto of brutality?
Interesting that you mention that because it's actually something I was thinking about. After we finished in the studio and the material was ready and when we listened to it I experienced something I never felt before in a similar situation. It was a strange feeling in my gut. I spoke to Bob asking if he felt the same and for some reason he felt weird as well. I never had that before. Maybe it meant this is a record you only do once in a lifetime. On the other hand it was the most relaxed recording session I ever took part in. I was just having fun doing my vocals and I was singing so loud that our producer Harry Wijering told me there was feedback on the headphones and I have to take it easy.

After my first glance at the “Deathhammer” cover art my reaction was that it’s the book of the dead from the “Army of Darkness” movie. How wrong am I?
Fucking hell. That's a good one. I guess you are right. Nobody thought about it before. It was not our intention but it works. I will need to speak to guys about it. They will like it.

Would you ever be able to continue playing such extreme music for so long if not for the pure and loyal love for death metal?
To do this death metal has to be in your bones and your blood. If one day I no longer enjoy being on stage I'm going to quit as soon as possible but at the moment it's out of the question. We have the best atmosphere in the band now and if one of us leaves I think we would just stop doing Asphyx unless that member expresses clearly that he wants to be replaced.

When I listen to your vocals I can almost feel how you tear your throat. Do you often practise? How does it feel after a full live set?
Yes I do practise a lot and take care of my throat. I keep discipline in order to be in good shape on tour. It's like sport. You have to practise to look and perform good. Of course it can be sometimes hard on the stage but usually I'm well-prepared. If we do an extensive club show with a really long set and the gig is about two-hours-long I feel exhausted but when you play festivals the set is most of the time about an hour-long, which is rather easy.

You started Pestilence in 1987 when you were actually still a kid. Now you’re a mature man but your music hasn’t changed much. How do you sustain your interest in death metal?
I like to say that metal keeps you young and I believe in it. Every now and then I feel a little old but it's a natural process. Once in a while I'm more tired than I used to be 15-20 years ago but that's okay. I don't care if my hair goes white. I don't need to dye it. I'm not Type O Negative or Morbid Angel to care about things like that. I still have the strong ambition to do what I do. I always return to the same old records I was listening to as a teenager and I still love them. That's something that simply doesn't change.

Did you ever have a moment when you thought I’ve had enough of recording, touring, playing etc?
There was a moment like that. After I left Bolt Thrower about 1997 I just felt disappointed with everything around me and I didn't want to be in a band anymore. I wasn't musically active for almost five years. I went back to school for some education and found a job. Only later did I regain the eagerness to return to the metal business.

How do you remember your spell with Bolt Thrower. Was playing live with them different that with Asphyx?
Bolt Thrower is an institution. Everyone in England speaks of them very highly so it was a very exciting and rewarding experience. It was a pleasure to meet these people and to become friends with them. I was immediately accepted as a member. Before we performed together for the first time I practised on my own for two months and then before the tour I flew to England and rehearsed for five days. They were astonished with my attitude and abilities. I don't think there is much difference playing with them or Asphyx.

Hail of Bullets drummer Ed Warby said your passion about World War II history is very close to an obsession. Where did it come from? Do you like to visit old battle scenes in Europe?
It all started with a book by Theodor Plievier entitled "Stalingrad" that I read when I was about 18 years-old. Later on I discovered he'd written a war trilogy with "Moscow" and "Berlin" as the other two books. It didn't grab my attention straight away and at the time I was naturally much more into horror novels by Lovecraft and Poe. The history of World War II became more interesting to me when I started meeting members of my German ex-wife's family and some of them remembered the war pretty well. I had a great opportunity to hear about their experiences and memories, which taught me a lot. Wherever I travel I love to visit places connected to the history of the war but I rarely have any spare time when we are touring. Personally I'm much more interested in places such as Berlin or the eastern front than the usual Normandy.

Times are hard, gas and accommodation is expensive. Did you ever consider a European tour consisting of Asphyx, Hail of Bullets and Thanatos? Paul would definitely kill you but maybe it’s worth it!
Hahahaha. It would be too exhausting for me and I would most probably die. So would Paul for sure with three sets every night.

KRISIUN – Combusting Execution

2011-11-28T09:55:00.000+01:00

Brotherhood of blood, metal and an uncompromising attitude is what defines Brazilian extremists Krisiun. The Sao Paulo-based trio, which has continued its crusade of brutality and terror for over twenty years, has just produced its eighth full-length "The Great Execution" for Century Media. After two straight up death metal records, "AssassiNation" (2006) and "Southern Storm" (2008), the band delivered much more diverse material with mid-tempos, loads of groovy riffing and developed arrangements. Krisiun's drummer Max Kolesne talked to We Wither about the course of its creation, his home country and first steps behind the drum kit.

What is the difference between "The Great Execution" and the previous album, 2008's "Southern Storm"?
We wanted to do something different on the new album and didn't want to repeat the same old formula once again. We added some variations to our style. Playing fast songs is in our blood and it's still present on "The Great Execution", but this time we tried some new tempos and rhythms. I think you can hear the influence of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest or Mercyful Fate.

The new album is your most progressive record to date with no track clocking under five minutes. Did you plan to do such a complex record or did it simply come out that way in the process?
It's definitely our best recording session to date. We naturally wrote really long songs but we didn't plan it, they just came out like that. We jammed and shared the ideas for the new material and for some reason we wrote longer tracks than before. They are catchier than our old stuff but Krisiun remains the same death metal band.

Was the new album fun to write?
Very much! We have the right chemistry in the band. We understand each other very well. I'm sure this is the best time for us so far. We feel really comfortable with what we do at the moment. Writing and recording "The Great Execution" was a lot of fun. It was a natural process. With no compromise. We used a bunch of analog equipment in the studio, that's why it sounds natural. The important thing for us is that we didn't overproduce this material.

You often emphasize your dedication to the underground. You’ve been active for more than twenty years and stayed there for the whole time. Do you feel comfortable with where you are?
Our music is underground and we are a 100% death metal band with underground roots, so definitely yes. That doesn't mean we don't change our style a bit from time to time. I hope what we do can attract more and more people to the underground scene. Every time we tour we meet new fans and that means the underground is the place for us.

What does working with Andy Classen give you? Is he the kind of producer who is almost a band member or rather an advisor?
First I have to say we're a very easy band to work with. When we enter the studio the material is heavily rehearsed and prepared. We don't fuck around and don't waste time. We actually produce the music ourselves but we need a guy like Andy who gets the best possible performance from us. He pushes us to the limits and always delivers the sound we’re looking for. We don't spend ages in the studio. With "The Great Execution" it took us four weeks with a break for a short European tour.

Everybody knows Sepultura and Sarcofago, lots of people have heard of Krisiun, Rebaelliun and Mental Horror but there are not many bands from Brazil that are popular globally. Is the metal scene in Brazil strong at the moment? Do a lot of people come to metal shows?
The Brazilian metal scene is very strong and huge. There are tons of people at shows. It seems that Brazilian people love metal a lot. I think there aren't that many well-known bands from Brazil because it's really hard for local bands to break through. I'd say it's easier for bands in the US or Europe. Apart from the bands you mentioned I'd also add Torture Squad and Claustrofobia. Both bands are around for about twenty years and they are worth of checking out if you don't know them yet.

Rio Grande do Sul, the province of Brazil you come from, is the southernmost region of your country. Is the south of Brazil an easy place to grow up and live?
Actually it's a very good place to grow up. I had a happy and decent childhood, I totally enjoyed it. The good thing about growing up in the provinces is that you're close to nature. We used to spend time at the river or playing football most of the days. In big cities like Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro the pollution is horrific, there's a lot of crime and it has to be tough for kids to grow up in such circumstances.

The stereotype is that music and football are the only options to make a career and a good living in Brazil. Would you say there is a bit of truth in it?
Not at all, it's not true. You can be whoever or do whatever you want in Brazil. It's only up to you and how determined you are. If you're a professional and have certain skills you can be as successful here as anywhere in the world.

Brazil is the fifth most populated and the fifth biggest country in the world. What are the advantages and the disadvantages of living there?
Sao Paulo where we live at the moment is a huge city and the great thing about it is it gives you a lot of opportunities to do whatever you like at anytime you want. There are always shops and clubs open. A lot of things happen in Sao Paulo so it's a good place to hang around. There is a great cultural diversity and the food is awesome. The worst thing about living here is the terrible traffic. You literally waste hours of your time to just travel within the city. There are far too many cars here.

I remember your gig at Metalmania 2004 in Poland, when you recorded your DVD "Live Armageddon", as one of the most crushing shows ever. When you started the band was your goal to become the most brutal and punishing band in the world?
We were young, really pissed off and full of hate. We wanted to play radical music full of brutality pushed to the limits. On our first EP "Unmerciful Order" and the debut album "Black Force Domain" in 94-95 we simply wanted to just destroy everything with our music not as much to compete with other bands. That DVD is absolutely a good representation of what Krisiun and our live shows are. We always play intense and straight in your face gigs.

Drummers have always been my favourite metal musicians. How did you start?
Alex who is the oldest among of us used to be in a band before Krisiun and before he started singing and playing bass guitar he was a drummer. I never thought I could be a drummer one day but I really loved the rhythms of AC/DC songs etc. Moyses, who now plays guitar for Krisiun, told Alex to show me some simple techniques and that's how I started. I didn't have a drum kit so I practiced on the furniture or pieces of wood. I was about 13-years-old. I was only able to repeat some basic easy beats. There was no chance I could even try to play Iron Maiden. I was asking older guys for advice how to play. And then when I listened to early Metallica and heard the double-kick it just completely changed my drumming style. I went crazy for that intensity.

fot. Łukasz Popławski

What is your favourite metal record drumming-wise?
It's easier for me to point to three records that are a perfect representation of what my influences are. They’re "South of Heaven" by Slayer, "Covenant" by Morbid Angel and "Darkness Descends" by Dark Angel.

Krisiun is a true band of brothers. Would you ever consider continuing to play if one of you left the band?
It's hard to say what will happen in the future. It depends on the situation. Probably if we fought against each other we would rather kill the band than continue with somebody else. If one of us preferred to slow down a bit and retire from Krisiun we would probably give it a thought to recruit a new member. But that's only one of many possibilities. On the other hand I can't imagine how Morbid Angel could record an album without Pete Sandoval. His style is an undisputed part of the band's sound and without him it's not the same.

VALLENFYRE - Cryptic Vibe

2011-11-12T14:53:00.000+01:00

The new project of Paradise Lost main composer and guitarist Greg Mackintosh may come to some people as a great shock. The man witnessed the loss of his father and turned the devastating experience into fuel for his grim obscure death metal monster Vallenfyre. Greg recruited some notable musicians such as drummer Adrian Erlandsson of At the Gates and Paradise Lost, guitarist Hamish Glencross of My Dying Bride, bass renegade Scoot of crust punks Doom and guitarist Mully, Greg's close friend. Released at the end of October 2011 Vallenfyre's debut "A Fragile King" offers a tribute to the old school sound of harsh and raw uncompromising beating. Songs such as "All Will Suffer", "Ravenous Whore" and "Humanity Wept" are just what death metal was originally all about. Greg talked to We Wither about how the record came to life.

If not for the death of your father, would you ever have started Vallenfyre?
Probably not. Death of my father was the thing that made me do this record. It's been therapeutic to me in that sense. It gave the spark to creation of the music. About seventy percents of the lyrics are about my father's death and my grief. For last three or four years I have been listening to my favourite old death metal again and the idea was somewhere there but it wasn't channelled.

As far as I’m aware, it’s the first time a Paradise Lost member has teamed up with a My Dying Bride member. Both bands have been compared on numerous occasions in the past. How much did Hamish influence the shape of the band?
He didn't much but it's only because he joined the band when about seventy five percents of the record were already written. He definitely added his touch in the studio, he brought in some ideas for production and his playing style was important to the fact how the album sounds.

You have written all the music for “A Fragile King” but what did other guys bring in to the band?
The whole idea for Vallenfyre was to bring back and recreate that old school vibe that we have in a band because we are all been in the scene long enough and we come from the same background musically. Adrian is Swedish but he's been living in London for a decade now. That vibe and understanding are more important to us than anything else. We have this feel for how death metal should be and it's quite an opposite to how modern death metal bands sound, often overproduced.

Could you tell me more about the writing process? How long did it take you, what did you experience during that time?
It was happening in a couple of stages. The first one was just after my dad died. I started writing down my thoughts and feelings. These ideas turned to music later on. When you stay alone with such emotions they might become pretty self-destructive. I didn't really have anybody to talk about it. That's why I spoke to Hamish and the guys to join me in a band. I had a bad thing turned to a good positive thing at the end. I spent almost the whole 2010 writing the material and then we were in a studio between December 2010 and April 2011 with a few breaks for our other bands. I noticed one thing. When death metal bands speak about ripping people to pieces it's just fine but when you come up with the real experience of death suddenly people get frightened and don't know what to do with it.

It's quite easy to guess which old school death metal bands are your favourites but do you check out younger bands? Did anything released in the last decade get your attention?
I do listen to modern bands but not really to a lot of death metal. I prefer other forms of extreme metal, things between hardcore/punk and metal like Tyrant, Black Breath, Nails, Trap Them or Coffins. I somehow lost interest in death metal since nowadays it's usually too technical, too clean in production and actually with no soul.

Could any of the Vallenfyre songs fit on the early Paradise Lost records?
Possibly but only rather more doomy songs like "Seeds" or "The Grim Irony" since the majority of the album would be too aggressive.

You have written all the lyrics for Vallenfyre, while in Paradise Lost it's Nick Holmes who writes the most of them. Was writing these lyrics easy for you?
It was bit difficult I guess. I wanted to write them in an interesting way for the listener. I was looking for the cryptic feel and atmosphere. I had lots of inspiration and experiences of sadness and mourning and put them into words. Probably the first few lyrics that I wrote, which were "Desecration", "Seeds" and "The Divine Have Fled" became a fundament to what I wrote later on.

What are the chances for another Vallenfyre record?
It's too early to talk about it. I don't have such plans at the moment. I'm not looking so far into the future. It may happen later but I don't know. For the moment we some shows scheduled for next year. We as well released a video clip to "Cathedrals of Dread", which is a song about religion and how people are told what to do and are brought up in sheep mentality of the followers. It's got some aggressive feeling, it's dark and edgy.

Will what you do with Vallenfyre influence the next Paradise Lost record?
Not at all. Quite the opposite actually. I draw a fine line between what I'm doing with both bands. The new record, which we will be recording very soon is more melodic than our last album "Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us". It's going to be a blend between classic metal and gothic style with a lot of lead guitars but no keyboards. We are going for sort of retro production. We are working with Jens Bogren again and the record should be out around March 2012.

You have been playing heavy music for more that twenty years now. Did this lifestyle turn out to be the thing you always wanted and wished it to be?
Yes and no. When we started the band we didn't even expect to do a proper record or tour etc. What I like is that we always kept the things the way we wanted. Of course we witnessed some shitty music business stuff but overall I enjoy this lifestyle much more now than in the past. I keep myself busy all the time. I write music at home when we're off tour. Then we record and go on the road. It all happens in 2-3-years circles.

fot. by Daniel Gray

Where is Paradise Lost at the moment? After twelve albums and some ups and downs what is ahead of you?
I'm quite sure than our new record is as good as anything we released in the past. It's relevant to what's happening in the scene today and we still have a lot of fun writing and playing music. We feel creative and are eager to stay around for some time. At the moment we have a very good relation with our label Century Media. Those people understand where we come from and it works just great.

AZARATH - God-crushing Hammer

2011-11-02T16:32:00.000+01:00

While Behemoth took its compulsory year-long break due to the band leader's illness, the unstoppable drummer of the Polish blackened squadron, Zbigniew “Inferno” Prominski, used the opportunity to complete the fifth Azarath full-length. The group, which delivers raw, vulgar and violent death metal, produced their strongest offering to date. "Blasphemers' Maledictions", released by the Witching Hour in June 2011, is a furious leviathan packed with outrageous tempos, an annihilating wall of brutal riffage and church-burning profanity. Inferno, much respected for his über-human drumming skills, spoke to We Wither about the new line-up, underground ideals and his hometown.

You started as a really deep underground band and made it to the death metal premier league. How much has changed since 2001’s “Demon Seed” album?
Our approach, values or ideas didn’t change even a bit. I’m glad to say that they are getting stronger and stronger all the time. We have progressed musically and you can clearly see that when you look at Azarath today. There is a new line-up, a new label and finally a new record, which raise a lot of sometimes radical reactions and emotions. They are right and if you also add our satisfaction to the scheme, then everything seems to be going in a good direction.

“Blasphemers’ Maledictions” is a big leap forward even in comparison with the great sound of your earlier albums “Diabolic Impious Evil” and “Praise the Beast”. How was this possible?
There are a few elements that are important in that context. One is the opportunity to work with some new people. Witching Hour gave us a chance to choose the studio to work at with no exact time limit. Second is Necrosodom, who puked out all the lyrics and some guitars too. Third is a cooperation with the great graphic artist Zbigniew Bielak, who did the cover art. Having the time off with Behemoth, I fully undertook the whole process of production of “Blasphemers’ Maledictions”.

Do you think Azarath contribute a lot of new elements to the genre or are you rather a homage to your death metal masters?
If you do your thing honestly with authenticity and total sacrifice, it automatically becomes an original and contributing act. We never wanted to stand out because of originality. The genre’s parameters are pretty much defined and leaning out of them would be out of order and a desecration. I don’t mean limiting ourselves or anything like that. Simply there are things Azarath will never do and I assure you we will never compromise. We stay loyal and faithful to the ideals of true death metal.

The new guitar player and vocalist Necrosodom and the bassist P. joined the band recently. Did they creatively contribute to writing “Blasphemers’ Maledictions”?
We wrote the whole album with the other guitarist Bart. Necrosodom is responsible for lyrics and vocal arrangements. He’s a wild animal in both the studio and on the stage and absolutely lived up to the task. His creativity and passion were very inspiring. I can’t imagine anyone else in the band instead of him. P. joined us while we were recording and his stage debut took place on September’s tour with Bulldozer, Witchmaster and Deus Mortem.

fot. by Aga Krysiuk

In spite of being involved in a lot of other bands, you have managed to produce five regular records in ten years. Is writing for Azarath that easy for you?
We write and record when we feel like it but once we decided to treat this band seriously we wanted to offer new material in regular spaces of time.

What was the impulse to form Azarath, what did it look like in the beginning?
The main motive for starting Azarath was my short break from Behemoth. I met Bruno, who I previously knew from another band – Delerium – we played with in the 90’s. Then we brought in Dlugi who played guitar in Cenotaph. We started practising the discipline of music and alcohol. Eventually Bart of Damnation joined too and that was the moment we actually became a regularly functioning band.

In September 2011 you played a nine-date tour in Poland with Bulldozer, Witchmaster and your new black metal project with Necrosodom called Deus Mortem, where you actually play guitar. In the previous years because of your commitments to Behemoth Azarath was usually performing with ex-Lost Soul drummer Adam Sierzega.
We have changed about three-quarters of the old live set. We mainly focused on songs from “Blasphemers’ Maledictions” and “Diabolic Impious Evil”. We had a new stage design and our shows were filled with brutality and mysticism.

fot. by Aga Krysiuk

Does Azarath give you more artistic satisfaction than Behemoth?
Yes, it does and I don’t think that’s anything shocking or difficult to understand.

Do Behemoth fans talk to you about Azarath when you meet them on foreign tours? Are they aware of Azarath at all?
We will very soon have an opportunity to properly introduce ourselves to a foreign audience because in December we are playing the Hatefest tour with Triptykon, Marduk and Kataklysm and within almost three weeks we will visit Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, and Holland.

Is drumming for Azarath and Behemoth different in any aspect?
The emotions and fatigue are pretty much the same. It’s tough at times but adrenaline helps me to get through the set with no problem. When I perform with Azarath, I’m sometimes pissed off with myself because I have written such sick and breakneck drum parts. On the other hand when I listen to our records I’m really proud and satisfied because I know that’s how it should sound.

In “Terrorizer’s Readers’ Poll of 2009” you were voted the drummer of the year. Does that mean your work on “Evangelion” is your top effort to date?
I don’t believe so. I think what I did on “The Apostasy” was way more difficult and demanding. I wouldn’t be able to entirely repeat those tracks at the moment. That session was one of the most murderous and exhausting experiences in my life. Plus I had a spine injury that wasn’t helpful at all.

fot. by Aga Krysiuk

You come from and live in the city of Tczew, which is located in Eastern Pomerania and has 60,000 inhabitants. Is it easier to keep a healthy perspective distance from a so-called career there?

I generally keep a very big distance from everything around and from myself as well. I’m aware of what I do and living in Tczew is no problem for me. Actually, lately I enjoy spending time in the outdoors more and more. I go to the forests of Kashubia whenever I have the chance and time to do so.

1349 – Unholy Radiance

2011-10-01T10:53:00.000+02:00

Coming out of the filthiest holes and gutters of Oslo’s burning inferno, 1349 unleashes the new plague. In contrast to the Black Death, which actually spared some survivors in the great epidemic more than six centuries ago, the band doesn’t take prisoners. With drumming maestro Frost of Satyricon nailing the most annihilating blastbeats and vocal leviathan Ravn, the group raises the grand shrine of beastly and volcanic extremity. The furious albums “Hellfire” (2005) and “Revelations of the Black Flame” (2009) established their status, but the band’s fifth full-length “Demonoir” (2010) takes them to another level of abysmal necromancy. Frontman Ravn answers the questions of We Wither.

„Demonoir” was released more than a year ago. Are you satisfied with the feedback from the press and fans? Would you say it’s 1349’s best effort to date?

I will say without a shadow of doubt that “Demonoir” is our best effort to date. I am especially pleased with the way the energy and feeling from all our previous releases are captured and added up and became this monster of an album. It gives me the feeling of the past and the future meeting and creating a black hole in between them. Feedback from the fans has been fantastic and we still get feedback from people that say they discover new things every time they listen to the album. As an artist you can hardly get a greater compliment than that. Regarding press, the feedback has been positive but I am of course biased and would always expect more. After all, we released the best album in our career so far, so we want only the best for it. Hence we will in most cases want more of everything when it comes to press and the day we are satisfied I think it will be a sign of stagnation. As long as we are hungry for more we will continue to develop and grow as a band.

fot. by Martha Lewicka

You don’t seem to waste time. Since your debut “Liberation” in 2003 you have released four more albums. What makes you write so fast?
I don’t think this is fast at all and wish we could have had more albums out but one needs to tour also and this takes time, plus it gives us a natural break between albums so one can gather new inspiration and get feedback from the fans. After all, it is the fans buying the albums that is the main reason we are able to release new albums, so one needs to let the circle complete before starting a new one. “Liberation” was actually written and recorded in 2001 but to finish it and get signed took a bit of time, so “Beyond the Apocalypse” was already in progress when it first got released.

You worked in the studio with Tom G. Warrior on “Demonoir” and “Revelations of the Black Flame”. He doesn’t produce bands very often, so what happened that you got him to work with you? How is he to work with?
Tom is a close friend of mine and, actually, the same day as I was to ask him if he would consider working with us, he asked to work together, so it was a mutual wish of both of us. Working with Tom is a very creative process. With his background and knowledge you have a huge resources for how to produce a dark and heavy album, and also as a musician he knows when to interfere and when to let the band unfold. He stated from the beginning that he was not there to change the band or its sound. He was there to ensure we kept and developed what we already had established and that we used this to the max to bring the band forward.

fot. by Rob van Wilgen

How do you work in the studio? Do you record hundreds of takes until you find the perfect one or do you rather record quickly and spontaneously?
We do both actually as we believe that our form of music needs room to develop and live on its own. So in a studio situation and the rehearsal leading up to it we always leave some things to develop in the studio. The core is there and is often recorded in a short amount of time. Like we set the schedule for drums to record a song a day, but it always ends up with two to three songs, same goes for guitars and bass. When all this basis is recorded we start to relax more in the studio and the fills and extras start to develop and the album starts to take its form. Several times it is art-by-accidents that leads to the big differences and makes a riff or a song stand out. We have always felt that 1349 is a force on its own and we as musicians are its tools and have learnt to let go and let it guide us. Vocals have always been recorded last and I have always felt that this is the right thing to do, as it lets the album take part in me and my job to lay vocals much easier when it comes to unite the vocal side with the musical side of the album. Finally, it is mixing time and that’s when the mayhem starts. Getting everything together in the right way and, at the same time, creating the final atmosphere of the album is just as rewarding as it is exhausting.

Frost is a permanent member of 1349 but due to his commitments to Satyricon he has at times been substituted by Tony Laureano. How does it work and is anyone able to repeat Frost’s inhuman drumming?
As I mentioned above, 1349 is like a force on its own and this helps a lot when it comes to session members in general. I bet Tony can verify this as well, as he is the one that has been doing the most gigs with us and at one point we had done more shows with him on drums than with Frost. But of course every drummer has his own style and brings different elements into the band. Nobody can replace Frost, but to repeat his drumming is possible. We have had two other session drummers and they both managed to pull off 1349’s music. The difference lies in style and execution. Every drummer likes to add their touch on things as well, but as long as the basis is there I feel this artistic freedom just improves playing in the band. The fact that such extreme music can be performed by different drummers proves my point about 1349 as a force of it own.

“Demonoir” is totally packed with ultra fast and fierce tempos. Are speed and wildness synonyms for black metal?
“Demonoir” has its fair share of this, yes, but also slows down and attacks in different ways also. In order to get the sense of speed one can add a slower part for reference, so people can reflect on the speed and grasp it. I have always stated that black metal is an art form where primal feelings and emotions are best used as inspiration and mindset. Today’s society, heavily infused by religions, rejects this natural primal side and uses this to separate humans and animals. Therefore, all primal instincts are used as an inspiration in our black art.

A few years ago, you made an intense and raw video clip for “Sculptor of Flesh” from the “Hellfire” album. Do you have plans or ideas for a video for a track from “Demonoir”?
Yes, there are plans and actually work in progress. It has been in the planning for a while but we needed to find the right people to work with and now that we have done that we hope to see at least one video out soon.

fot. by Martha Lewicka

Poland is a very conservative country with statistically 90% of the population declared Catholic. When Gorgoroth recorded a live DVD in Poland, the media were going out of their minds. When cinema shows a movie critical of the church, people start protesting. At the moment, Nergal of Behemoth is public enemy number one. How does the Norwegian media and public react to the open anti-christianity and nihilism of bands like 1349?
Normally not much. Most Norwegians are not fanatic when it comes to religion and we are mostly spared from the big fanatic demonstrations and such narrow-minded behaviour. Things have changed in regards to black metal in Norway and more and more people start to respect it for its global influence and skilled musicians.

Oslo has a lot of great metal bands. Do bands hang out with each other or is it every man for himself?

I don’t know if there are a lot of great metal bands in Oslo, as I don’t pay much attention to the metal music. 1349 was formed because I disliked the direction black metal was heading in and after that I stopped paying attention to new acts. If they are good enough, they will come to my attention. Everybody was hanging out at the Elm Street in the ‘90s but this faded away with the new millennium and what is going on today is not of big interest to me. Sometimes it is better to let the past become just that.

Have you seen Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2009 film “Valhalla Rising” with Mads Mikkelsen? I’m very curious about your thoughts on it?
I do know of Mads Mikkelsen and have also briefly encountered him on a couple of occasions but this particular movie with him I have yet to see.

MORNE – Untold Weight of Grief

2011-09-19T18:23:00.000+02:00

The Boston-based quintet has been feeding the audience with the riff-ridden force of anguish and depression since 2005. Their debut “Untold Wait” and the follow-up “Asylum”, that hit the streets in May 2011, offer vast landscapes of sonic, crusty post-metal hardcore introduced in lengthy monuments of an overwhelming isolation. Morne’s veteran guitarist Jeff Hayward, whose legacy with Massachusetts sludge doom legends Grief and such records as “Come to Grief” or “…And Man Will Become the Hunted” speaks for itself, spoke to We Wither about his present and previous band.

You went for a month-long tour in Europe in June and July 2011, which included more than ten countries. How satisfied are you with it? Did it make you stronger as a band?
I do believe the tour was successful. We played thirty something shows and only a few were lousy. Got to see many friends along the way and make many more. Plus with the second record just being released we felt it was important to hit the road. Also I do think it made us stronger as a band. It was the first tour with this line up and I think it's important for bands to tour and come together. Five weeks is a long time and obviously there are stressful moments but you work together to get through them. At the end of the day we all had a great time.

Your success is a style that combines different heavy sub-genres but it’s actually quite hard to label. How would you define your sound and aspects that make Morne what it is?
Not exactly sure how to label our band. We're just trying to write music with feeling. It's more than just down tuning and playing loud. We try to create music that is heavy but also has emotion. I believe we're heading in the right direction as far as where we want to be but not quite there yet.

Is there anything that Morne stands for, a theme or a thought that you would like to be its keynote?
As far as what we stand for, not really sure. Maybe Milosz has some thoughts about that, the band was his idea before I even knew him. I guess I would like the band to be known for creating heavy powerful music.

fot. by Slawek Rzewuski, e-rzewuski.pl

There are long instrumental passages in your music since Morne is based on the guitar force in the first place. Would you consider doing a full instrumental record?
Doing an all instrumental record… not sure. It's nothing we've ever discussed. I could see us possibly writing an instrumental song but probably not an entire album.

Are you devoting 100% of your time and efforts to Morne at the moment? Does it allow you to be a full-time musician without a contract with a major label?
Musically I dedicate myself to Morne 100%, but not 100% of my time. I work a full-time job putting in about fifty hours a week. As much as I love the band I certainly cannot make a living and support myself from it. Maybe someday but I'm not holding my breath.

How much did Morne grow from what you were doing with Grief? Do you think both bands have something in common?
I think the stuff we're writing with Morne is more involved than the Grief material. Especially since the addition of the keyboards, really trying to create atmosphere. The Grief material was more primitive, a little more straight forward. The bands are a little similar as far as both being heavy and slow but Morne will never be as slow as Grief.

You played with Grief in the nineties and recorded five studio albums that earned you a lot of respect in the scene. Was shutting the band down and establishing Morne like going back to basics? Was it the same sort of challenge with Morne as you had with Grief back in the day?
When I joined Morne they were already a band. They had already recorded and released the demo on CD which had created a little buzz about them. Morne has achieved popularity much easier than Grief did, we really struggled back in those early years.

Grief released splits with such cool bands as Corrupted, 13, Soilent Green, 16 and Dystopia. Did you get to know them and tour with them first and then decide to do something together or did it happen the other way around?
All of those bands with the exception of Corrupted we knew personally, I never had the opportunity to meet those guys. The 13 and Dystopia splits seemed fitting to do. We all knew each other and played similar music. The 16 split came about because both bands were on the same label. The Soilent Green one, don't remember how that one came about. Back in the early years we played many gigs with 13 in NYC. Played also with Dystopia when we toured the west coast and also played with them here on the east coast when they were touring. We did two tours with 16, one on the east coast and one on the west coast. Back in 1995 while on tour here with Extreme Noise Terror we hooked up with Soilent Green for about a week. Had some great times playing with these bands and made some great friends also.

How did it work in the early nineties when you started? Did anyone understand what you were doing? What bands in Boston were you hanging around with?
Back in the early 90's people in Boston didn't get what we were doing. There were some but for the most part we would play shows and nobody would show up. I think part of it might have had to do with the fact that four of the five original members were also in Disrupt. Maybe people were expecting one thing and got the complete opposite. Or Boston back then was a very hardcore city as far as music goes and we went a different direction.

Boston is quite well-known for its hardcore scene and such bands as Slapshot, Gang Green, Blood for Blood or SS Decontrol. Did Grief ever play for hardcore crowds?
No, back in the day we never really played for hardcore crowds. Also never played with any of those bands you mentioned. After the first few years we stopped playing Boston entirely. We were not well received here back then, we had more success playing out of state.

What records, events or experiences influenced the heavily slowed-down style that you created with the early Grief albums? Which extreme doom metal bands did you know in 1992-93?
We all listened to different types of music. Before Grief we all played in either a punk or metal band. I think that after Disrupt broke up we were looking to do something completely different from what we were all doing at the time. Just wanted to play slower, heavier music. Back then I personally was influenced by bands such as Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, EyeHateGod, Sleep, Buzzov-en and 13. There are probably more but those were my favourites.

What do you consider a highlight in Grief’s history?
A highlight in Grief's history, that's a tough one. There were many highlights over the eighteen years the band existed. To pick just one is difficult. Let me put it another way, being a part of Grief is the highlight of my music career. We had our share of good and bad times but it's nice to know that after so many years people still appreciate the band and the music we created. I spent half of my life dedicated to Grief and I'm very proud of that.

A commonly cited reason for Grief’s break-up was “the hostile environment for doom metal bands”. Do you think you were ahead of your time?
Well that quote didn't come from my mouth. But in a way it rings true to a certain extent. I wouldn't say ahead of our time, there were doomy bands around back then. I just think doom metal in general really caught on and started getting very popular in the later part of the 90's. For me personally a big part of the band ending was the continuous line-up changes. It seemed every couple of years we had a different line-up. After a while it just starts to wear you down. It was like two steps forward one step back, over and over again. When it was all said and done at the end of 2008 I was the only original member left from when we started back in 1991. At some point you have to call it's quits and move on and it just felt like the right time for me.

KRALLICE – Progression Through Blackening

2011-08-28T19:00:00.000+02:00

In only five years since establishing the band, Krallice has released three ground-breaking full-lengths: a self-titled album in 2008, “Dimensional Bleedthrough” in 2009 and finally “Diotima”, released in 2011 by Profound Lore. Gathering extraordinary musical talents, Krallice produced a unique and surprising style of monumental riffs drilling across the stratosphere. Long instrumental passages, supported by relentless and machine-like drum beats, create the perfect soundtrack to climbing the highest mountain. The New York quartet combines members of Dysrhythmia, Behold… the Arctopus, Bloody Panda, Angelblood and Astomatous. Bassist and vocalist Nicholas McMaster explains matters to We Wither.

Recording and releasing three full-lengths in four years means you’re a really productive bunch, not to mention that you’re all involved in other bands too. Is writing for Krallice that easy?
I wouldn't say that…but something to consider is that all of us write. Many bands really break down to one songwriter, so that person has to do a ton of work writing for his/her bandmates. We are lucky to have strong synergy between members and sometimes I can't wait to write a corresponding part to demos that my bandmates record, and this back-and-forth produces rapid results. Many hands make light work.

photos by Samantha Marble

You have created your own original style and sound, but the media still call you black metal, which in my opinion is a senseless labeling. Are there words to describe what Krallice is?
Black metal is a somewhat convenient label because the original intent of the band was to make music influenced by the usual second wave bands. But I feel like bands often start as a sort of collage of their favorite artists and then, over time, move into a sonic realm all their own. Hopefully this is what we have accomplished, or are beginning to. I am content to call it metal—that much seems indisputable.

“Diotima” seems to develop your style to its limits. It’s very hard to imagine what you could do better on the next record. Do you feel you have reached the sky?
The nice thing about being in a band is that when you feel tapped out creatively you often can get an extra kick from the other people around you, and that can push you forward into musical realms you wouldn't have discovered otherwise. It's worth noting that as I write this we have about an hour of demos for the fourth album and perhaps an EP. It's also worth noting that we're not a band that feels we necessarily have to change greatly on each record—it's perhaps desirable but not something to force for its own sake. Look at Darkthrone, or Graveland: they've put out a steady stream of records, demonstrating, at least to me, that they are simply in love with the act of creation. The sound may only shift very slightly from album to album but over time, as the world and the artists themselves develop, the changes are enormous.

photos by Samantha Marble

What is your main goal with “Diotima”? Where can this record take you?
For me personally the only goal was to develop the compositions to a point where they felt complete, and to record strong performances of them. As I outlined in the previous question, taking “Diotima” to its endpoint allows us to move to the next natural stage as songwriters.

Would you say Krallice is a difficult band to listen to? The structures, the tempos are far from orthodox metal.
"Difficult" is not necessarily the word I would use. There's no desire to be obtuse; it's music, after all, and is supposed to provoke an emotional response. But we have to balance that with a desire to engage the mind, and to make something that remains interesting past the first listen. So the structures reflect a desire to make metal that sounds fresh and can bear the scrutiny of repeated listens.

You have quite a few very long songs such as “Aridity” or “Litany of Regrets”, for example. Is performing them live physically demanding?
Yes, but practice makes perfect!

Is it actually tough to memorize the Krallice songs? The number of riffs, breakdowns and speedups appears to be a massive challenge.
It can at times be challenging. Some progressions stick in the mind easier than others. But taste comes into it. Music that you really like is going to be easier to remember than music you don't. This is also a style developed over time, and something that is a reflection of us as musicians, so it plays to our strengths. Someone coming to it cold would probably find aspects of the music that I think are difficult to be easy, and vice versa.

“Dimensional Bleedthrough” has fantastic cover art. Could you say something about the idea itself and the artist you hired?
I actually made it. After the first record we wanted a figure, as opposed to a kind of atmospheric background. We were thinking of the cover of Incantation's “Mortal Throne of Nazarene” as a kind of guide and I hacked it together from a number of paintings.

Do you think the sub-genre called US black metal has anything to do with European bands such as Mayhem, Satyricon, Immortal or Enslaved? Isn’t it only a marketing device?
Some bands referred to as US black metal are closer to the bands you name than others. I think that the term is honest in terms of who a lot of these bands are drawing inspiration from (Krallice included) but influences are subjective. Something I make with certain bands in mind may not remind listeners of those bands at all.

photos by Samantha Marble

Where did the band name “Krallice” come from?
Mick made it up. He often invents words for his band names and song titles.

New York City has an awesome extreme scene. Does being there make it easier for a band to get an audience and publicity?
I would say so, yes. There is a decent amount of people interested in this stuff, so when you play shows, even as a new band, you can get the invaluable feedback that comes from playing to an engaged audience. Then, there are a lot of bloggers, photographers and videographers here so things that happen here go online quickly and are disseminated across the world. There's also a lot of good bands, as you said, so I think there's a pretty high bar for quality, and people really bring their best, writing- and performance-wise.

What extreme bands do you see as a leading progressive force in today’s scene?
That would be Portal, Wold, Ulcerate, Gorguts.

EXTREME DOOM PART VIII: Brendan Roache of Mourning Beloveth

2011-08-27T21:14:00.027+02:00

This is the eight part of the series of short interviews with prolific and notable extreme doom metal musicians. They were all asked the same questions to see the different perspective they have for specific aspects of the genre. I spoke to Brendan Roache, bass player for Irish doom warriors Mourning Beloveth. Such records as “Dust”, “The Sullen Sulcus” and “A Murderous Circus” established them in the underground. “A Disease for the Ages”, their fourth full-length released in 2008 is another epic slab of the finest funeral doom mastery. The band is currently working on its follower. Brendan answers the questions about doom.

What was your first experience with extremely slow doom metal?
Besides the likes of Black Sabbath, probably my first experience with extremely slow doom would have been the early 90’s explosion with the likes of Cathedral, Anathema, Paradise Lost, or My Dying Bride. The Peacevile revolution I guess you could say. I was only a young teenager at the time, well into the likes of Obituary, Morbid Angel and Bolt Thrower and all the big death metal bands of the time. Those days were obviously well before the internet and discovering new and more obscure underground stuff, whatever the sub-genre of metal it was supposedly belong to, was a time-consuming, sometimes frustrating, but altogether a much more satisfying experience. Most of my discoveries were from word of mouth of friends, distro lists, zines. Black Tears distro being of particular importance to me. There was no magic mouse click to bring all the information you wanted up on a screen in front of you. A major amount of time and effort was required to find out even the most basic info on any band in the underground, where ultra slow doom most defiantly belonged back then. But as with everything in life, the more you put into it, the more rewarding each new find was. All that is gone now I think…

What inspire you to play such music?
Easy. The first time I ever heard “Turn Loose the Swans” by MDB. It was on double LP and it was in my friends house. It belonged to her older brother, and to say it knocked the socks off me would be an understatement! Its impact on me was second only to discovering heavy metal in the first place, several years previous. As I’ve already mentioned I was a committed death metal freak and that whole scene was so overtly macho, all satan, gore rape etc. The very first time I heard that album it struck me that here was this monumental piece of work, that not only abandoned that macho ethic and image but blatantly shat on it. Here was this guy singing, actually singing about stuff most teenage lads would be mortified to even admit feeling in private, never mind actually sing out loud, and lay bare on record. On a metal record for that matter! It was brave, dangerous, heartfelt, intelligent and most of all, honest. That’s the one single thing that struck me the most. The absolute honesty of the whole thing. Not only in the lyrics, but the structure and atmosphere of the music too. It was everything I never knew I wanted from metal music. There was no bravado in the songs, everything was there simply to compliment the songs themselves. No insane blastbeats for the sake of it. No demonic shredding solos. Just feeling, atmosphere, purpose and deliberate intention. Take one element of all that away from the record and it fails. It was to me the first truly complete record I’d ever heard. I fucking loved it. And I wanted to meet people who heard what I heard in that record too. That was 18 years ago.

What is the most important in Mourning Beloveth – is it the heaviness, the atmosphere, the lyrics or maybe something else?
The most important thing for me is the people involved in the process of creating what everyone else hears in our records. Without those people, it simply wouldn’t be Mourning Beloveth, weather your talking about the classic line up responsible for the first three albums, or the current line up, knee deep in writing the next record as I type. How we interact with each other, interpret each others ideas, how we argue and disagree and how we eventually pull it all together at the very last minute. It all stems from these five very different individuals. How we trust each other to do what needs to be done. So all the heaviness, atmosphere, lyrics, concepts all come from within us as a band.

Do you see your music as a very demanding one for the listener?

I hope so! But a question like that can’t really be answered by any one person. It’s all completely subjective. Every person that hears any of our songs is going to have their own opinions on it. And for that person, that’s the correct opinion. At the end of it all, once we put our music out there to the public, it doesn’t matter what we think. All we can really hope for, or expect, is that people spend some time with it, digest it. Its not pop music, it requires more than five minutes of attention. The biggest compliment we hear from people is that they spend hours, days out of their very finite existence listening to our music. Because each of our albums represent years out of our very finite lives to create it. Once it goes public so to speak, everyone’s opinion is as valid as the next. And we don’t pay attention to any of them.

Is extreme/funeral doom metal more over the top and extreme than super fast grindcore in your opinion?
Hahaha, who honestly gives a flying fuck? I like what I like, whatever genre purists would label it. Fastest, slowest, heaviest, most insane, most over the top are accolades only people that can’t write a good song are concerned with. Let them have their awards. We have the songs.

Is doom metal a state of mind or just another sub-genre of metal?
Speaking only from my own point of view, it’s a state of mind, a personality. Anything that is genre is by extension generic. I prefer music or any form of art or expression to be honest, without playing for the gallery so to speak. When we plug in, we play what we feel. It mostly happens to be doom, but that’s just what comes out of us. And you can really tell when something is done from the heart. Everything else is a waste of my time to consider.

Did you ever feel like a misfit or a reject in the metal scene?
Not in the least. I have a life. I have a circle of friends who I happily share a drink with and trade insults and occasional punches with. I play in a music group of my peers who I respect and feel privileged to be a part of. That group has no constraints or limits except for ourselves. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.

Can you relate to escapism?
Oh course. I feel sorry for those that don’t or can’t. I don’t dwell in some fantasy or make believe world. What flies around in my brain on a daily basis is what keeps me amused and entertained while doing what needs to be done to put food on my table and beer in my glass.

EXTREME DOOM PART VII: Anders Eek of Funeral

2011-08-20T11:51:00.000+02:00

This is the seventh part of the series of short interviews with prolific and notable extreme doom metal musicians. They were all asked the same questions to see the different perspective they have for specific aspects of the genre. I spoke to Anders Eek, a drummer and the only original member for legendary Funeral of Norway. Since their debut effort “Tristesse” in 1994 these doom dinosaurs have been delivering the most haunting and depressing sounds in the metal underground. Records such as 1995’s “Tragedies”, 2006’s “From These Wounds”, 2008’s “As the Light Does the Shadow” or “To Mourn is a Virtue” released on Solitude Records in May 2011 defined the band as one of the pioneers of extreme doom. Whole new album by Norwegians is coming out later this year.

What was your first experience with extremely slow doom metal?
I was heavily into tape-trading and got hold of the first Cathedral demo, the first Thy Grief Eternal and some other obscure bands and it instantly blew me away. Prior to this I had been a huge fan of Candlemass, Black Sabbath, Paradise Lost and was really taken by the atmosphere of dirge that they presented. This really gave me the spark I needed to form Funeral and our goal was to take the extreme doom metal to new heights (or lows rather haha).

What inspire you to play such music?
Everything really. I wanted to create the perfect music to a funeral. In my view both sad, beautiful and aggressive, thus the band-name really fit our style, I think. Of course being a miserable bastard also led me into this slow, self-pitying music.

What was the most important in Funeral – is it the heaviness, the atmosphere, the lyrics or maybe something else?
All of the above! I believe in music and the channelling of emotions and I think if you also manage to present a message of some sort I think one has succeeded. Creating an atmosphere of despair really can be quite a good way of getting out different feelings, listening to doom metal makes me happy. Of course this also include playing this kind of music. We really make music that we think is the best but it’s of course flattering when fans say they can relate to Funeral and telling us they feel a sort of comfort from the music.

Do you see your music as a very demanding one for the listener?
Not really. Of course there are a number of details within our songs and we definitely don’t write easy-listening music so this means that Funeral is not for everyone. For me it’s fine. As mentioned above, we really write for ourselves and take it as a bonus if people want to buy our records.

Is extreme/funeral doom metal more over the top and extreme than super fast grindcore in your opinion?
It is extreme in opposite ways. I love it and I listen to all kinds of extreme music.

Is doom metal a state of mind or just another sub-genre of metal?
Music is a state of mind in my view whether it’s metal or whatever kind of genre.

Did you ever feel like a misfit or a reject in the metal scene?
Absolutely! Coming from Norway especially during the black metal explosion really made us a rarity in the music scene, which we never really have been a part of. But that just gave me even more inspiration to do what we felt to, eventually leading us to venture into more obscure experiments, getting a female singer, the use of orchestration etc. And I believe this is the cause of our integrity as a band to this day.

Can you relate to escapism?
Can’t we all? What is escapism? For me it’s a way of forgetting about daily trivialities and just go on a "trip". I always do it, especially through music. both as a listener and a composer.

EXTREME DOOM PART VI: Lasse Pyykkö of Hooded Menace

2011-08-16T20:51:00.002+02:00

This is the sixth part of the series of short interviews with prolific and notable extreme doom metal musicians. They were all asked the same questions to see the different perspective they have for specific aspects of the genre. I spoke to Lasse Pyykkö of Hooded Menace, a band’s mastermind, main writer, guitar player and vocalist from time to time who as well was or still is involved in such creepy death metal acts as Phlegethon, Vacant Coffin, Claws or Acid Witch. Finnish doom metal was always on top of the game and so is Hooded Menace with its heavy rocking mixture of colossal riffage and obscure terror-ridden vocals. Both of their records 2008’s “Fulfill the Curse” and 2010’s “Never Cross the Dead” brought loads of classic doom worship and horror film obsession. They have also released splits with Coffins, Ilsa and Asphyx. Lasse speaks about doom metal.

What was your first experience with extremely slow doom metal?

Teemu, our main contact guy in the early Phlegethon days, got Cathedral demo through tape trading when it was put out. It was definitely extreme doom at the time. Painfully slow and heavy songs with weird sort of an half-grunted vocals. I really liked it a lot.

What inspire you to play such music?
I have always dug the rugged and forlorn vibes of doom. When I heard "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" by Candlemass for the first time in the late 80’s it blew me away! We used to jam their songs such as "Solitude", "Mirror Mirror" and "A Tale of Creation" at Phlegethon rehearsals. We loved that stuff! So Candlemass and particularly their debut album sowed the seeds of doom in me. Of course we must not forget that Black Sabbath was on a heavy rotation on our record players and tape decks before any other doomy stuff. When I write for Hooded Menace I don’t have to feel desperate or pissed off. Pretty much the opposite actually. I need to be giddy with anticipation and just excited to express these desolate, creepy and menacing vibes. Horror movies and soundtracks are definitely a source for the musical and especially lyrical and visual inspiration but first and foremost the music upwells from the heavy music I grew up with. Albums such as "Forest of Equilibrium" by Cathedral, all the first four albums by Candlemass, "The Rack" by Asphyx, "Severed Survival" and "Mental Funeral" by Autopsy, two first Paradise Lost albums, 80’s Maiden, good old classic and epic Metallica, Black Sabbath classics just to mention a few. I know this might sound a bit cheesy but also wandering in well preserved medieval cities kinda puts me in a doomy mode. Gimme a gothic cathedral and that does it, haha! We should get to record in one of those things, haha!

What is the most important in Hooded Menace – is it the heaviness, the atmosphere, the lyrics or maybe something else?
All together but if I had to choose one thing I’d say soul. Without it you are on a feeble ground and you can give it up already.


Photos by Alex York

Do you see your music as a very demanding one for the listener?
Well, if you are a fan of doom and real death metal then our music shouldn’t be too demanding for you. After all our songs are pretty catchy and memorably. There is diversity in the riffs and tempos. Doom purists might have hard time coping with our vocals but hey, we are a death/doom band so what do you expect? One more Ozzy clone?

Is extreme/funeral doom metal more over the top and extreme than super fast grindcore in your opinion?
I’m not following those scenes much but certainly both are pushing the envelope. Personally I enjoy more grindcore (mostly old stuff and to me that is "superfast" or say fast enough!) more than funeral doom which I never really got into. I do get the point of this style but I just find plain funeral doom pretty boring. I’m a bit behind of the modern grindcore scene and it’s bpm. To me Napalm Death’s "Scum" and "From Enslavement to Obliteration" are still very extreme, chaotic and totally relevant stuff. Yeah, I’m an old fart, tell me about it, haha

Photo by M.Salminen (right)

Is doom metal a state of mind or just another sub-genre of metal?
Yeah I guess you need to have a certain kind of state of mind/approach to play doom. So many metalheads still find it utterly boring music to play or to listen to. Some just cannot relate to the forlorn, rugged and monumental vibes of doom at all. It’s definitely not for everyone which only makes the genre even more fascinating to all us who "get" it.

Did you ever feel like a misfit or a reject in the metal scene?
I have always felt more or less like a misfit in my life. I don’t follow the scene too much. Idiots dwell in every community. You bet I know a tool or two in the underground metal scene that are more obsessed with drama and talking crap about everyone than the actual music. I have my persistently growing connections in the metal scene that I interactive with and have good time with.

Can you relate to escapism?
Sure. With the art comes the relief. It’s an escape from reality which is something we all need every now and then I guess. Let it be music, movies, painting or whatever. It’s not that I cannot cope with everyday life. It’s got more to do with my imagination than depression and such.

EXTREME DOOM PART V: Adrian Bickle of Mournful Congregation

2011-08-10T10:45:00.000+02:00

This is the fifth part of the series of short interviews with prolific and notable extreme doom metal musicians. They were all asked the same questions to see the different perspective they have for specific aspects of the genre. I spoke to Adrian Bickle, drummer for Australian group Mournful Congregation, which in their long history produced mammoth albums such as 1998’s “Tears from a Grieving Heart”, 2005’s “The Monad of Creation” and 2009’s “The June Frost”. 2011 will see another load of darkest funeral sounds from these Adelaide-based doom merchants. “The Unspoken Hymns” is a compilation of rare material that comes out in September. As well there is a whole new record “The Book of Kings” to be released through Osmose before the end of the year.

What was your first experience with extremely slow doom metal?
The early 90's work of Cathedral was probably the first such music I encountered. In the early to mid 90's I was quite a fan of a lot of the Peaceville releases that were emerging but I also liked the idea of taking this style even further.

What inspire you to play such music?
As a drummer, I didn't really consider playing this way until I actually met Damon Good of Mournful Congregation who was composing this sort of material. I liked the idea of playing in such a band but had no idea that there was anyone writing in this way where I lived. Once I heard the first two demos I was convinced this was something I wanted to be a part of.

What is the most important in Mournful Congregation – is it the heaviness, the atmosphere, the lyrics or maybe something else?
I'd say it's probably a mixture of these things but mostly the atmosphere, the feeling. The correct atmosphere is essential in this type of music.

Do you see your music as a very demanding one for the listener?
It depends on the listener. It's not casual music, not the sort of thing the average person would put on as relaxing background music. Our style does require a certain level of open-mindedness and patience but I don't believe that necessarily renders it demanding.

Is extreme/funeral doom metal more over the top and extreme than super fast grindcore in your opinion?
Extreme is just a very general word. A person could argue that funeral doom is more extreme in an emotional sense whereas grindcore is more extreme in a brutal sense. To me though, they just can't be compared... and I like both styles. I don't think they are over the top, they just push the envelope of two genres (doom and grind) that were fairly intense to begin with.

Did you ever feel like a misfit or a reject in the metal scene?
Again, the 'metal scene' is a very broad term. The metal scene I know is a collective of friends and musicians that possess a particular commonality. It's more like a brotherhood (with many sisters) and I feel completely at ease in this scene. On the other hand, if I was to go to a shitty commercial metal gig where I was surrounded by inbred halfwits then I'd definitely feel like a misfit/reject and I'd be thoroughly disgusted in myself if I didn't.

Can you relate to escapism?
Yes, completely.

EXTREME DOOM PART IV: Greg Chandler of Esoteric

2011-08-08T14:25:00.003+02:00

This is the fourth part of the series of short interviews with prolific and notable extreme doom metal musicians. They were all asked the same questions to see the different perspective they have for specific aspects of the genre. I spoke to Greg Chandler, guitarist and vocalist of Birmingham-based Esoteric, which is one of the longest-running groups in extreme doom business. The band started around 1992 and so far recorded five full-lengths. 2004’s “Subconscious Dissolution into the Continuum” and critically acclaimed 2008’s double album “The Maniacal Vale” are among their very finest works. Their style consists of tormented vocals and hypnotizing tempos that introduce the listener to the dark endless journey of torture, suffering and damnation. Lately Esoteric recorded their sixth studio effort. A double album "Paragon of Dissonance" will be out in November 2011 on Season of Mist.

What was your first experience with extremely slow doom metal?
I guess that the first Cathedral and Paradise Lost albums were my first experience of extremely slow doom metal. Though I also really liked the slow parts in Autopsy’s first two albums, more so in “Mental Funeral”.

What inspire you to play such music?
We were looking to do something different to what we were hearing, yet something that was natural to us, a part of us. So we write music that is inspired by our own emotions, thoughts, philosophies and experiences in life. Focusing mainly on the darker emotions and deeper recesses of the mind, transposed into music and lyrics. We try to focus more on what is within that using other forms of music as influences or inspiration. But yes, some bands, especially when you see them play well live, can be very inspiring.

What is the most important in Esoteric – is it the heaviness, the atmosphere, the lyrics or maybe something else?
I would say that no one thing is more important than another. It is the sum of its parts.

Do you see your music as a very demanding one for the listener?
Yes, particularly on first exposure to our music, I would say that it is music that is hard to comprehend at first. It needs time to grow on the listener as the melodies are not obvious, nor the structures. I think once you get the feeling of the music, if you can relate to the emotions within the music, it’s easier to appreciate.

Is extreme/funeral doom metal more over the top and extreme than super fast grindcore in your opinion?
I think you get different levels of extremity within all styles of music. It’s hard to compare really. It’s more about the intensity of the atmosphere and the music rather than the style or speed.

Is doom metal a state of mind or just another sub-genre of metal?
That would depend on the individual I think, it isn’t an answer that I think could be generalised. I think people that listen to similar styles of music still have different states of mind. Some are very involved or passionate about music and others less so.

Did you ever feel like a misfit or a reject in the metal scene?
Perhaps in the first few years of the bands existence when there were very few extreme, slow bands, many people didn’t get the music and found it too slow. I wouldn’t say that we felt like misfits, but simply that we didn’t fit into any category too easily and didn’t always go down so well with the crowds of other bands when playing live.

Can you relate to escapism?
I think most people have an interest or recreation that could be defined as escapism.

EXTREME DOOM PART III: Niko Skorpio of Thergothon

2011-07-29T21:03:00.000+02:00

This is the third part of the series of short interviews with prolific and notable extreme doom metal musicians. They were all asked the same questions to see the different perspective they have for specific aspects of the genre. I spoke to Niko Skorpio former vocalist and keyboard player of the split-up Finnish band Thergothon, which was one of the most important groups of the extreme doom underground. Their only album “Stream from the Heavens”, released in 1994, is a milestone of obscure and tortured funeral sound. In 2009 bands such as Mournful Congregation, Evoken, Asunder, Worship, Officium Triste and more paid their homage to Finnish pioneers with a double tribute album “Rising of Yog-Sothoth”. In spite of not being active in the metal scene Niko Skorpio answered to a couple of questions about the dark past.

What was your first experience with extremely slow doom metal?
Depends on what you mean by extremely slow. Early Paradise Lost and Cathedral (the two tracks on “Dark Passages” compilation) are the first that come to mind. But I think we considered them only halfway down that road and we wanted to go way slower ourselves.

What inspired you to play such music?
We found it a suitable way to express and exorcise the negative emotions we were experiencing. I think each of us was suffering from the kind of existential angst common to most teenagers everywhere. I don't think we were influenced by any other bands but in retrospect it's quite clear we were influenced by Bathory (especially “Blood Fire Death” & “Hammerheart”), Paradise Lost, Cathedral, Black Sabbath, Tiamat, Mana Mana and obviously my lyrics were influenced by H.P. Lovecraft. As for places I've been interested in all kinds of desolate and abandoned surroundings since a kid, the atmosphere felt in those kind of places might have been and influence on some level.

What was the most important in Thergothon – is it the heaviness, the atmosphere, the lyrics or maybe something else?
The atmosphere. Everything else happened just to support it.

Do you see your music as a very demanding one for the listener?
I don't know, it depends on the individual listener and his or her musical background, taste, openness to things he or she haven't heard before and so on.

Is extreme/funeral doom metal more over the top and extreme than super fast grindcore in your opinion?
I have no opinion on this, except that it sounds like another of these "my daddy is more extreme than yours" things.

Is doom metal a state of mind or just another sub-genre of metal?
Just another sub-genre of metal.

Did you ever feel like a misfit or a reject in the metal scene?
Not really, more like an outsider. Then again I feel like an outsider in most social surroundings I find myself in. Anyway, consider the fact that all the hype about Thergothon appeared some ten or more years after we had terminated the band. Back in the years the band was active there were maybe ten people in the world who really cared about our music. Luckily a few of those people ran record labels.

Can you relate to escapism?
I guess so, up to some extent, as most of us.

What do you think about the “Rising of Yog-Sothoth” tribute album?
To be honest I never listened to that tribute album. In general I'm not a fan of tribute things, and the idea of metal bands covering a metal band didn't really pick my interest. Having said that, I must add that I do appreciate and respect the efforts of those involved in that project. It is of course an honour having been involved in something people want to pay tribute to.
Thergothon was just something I did for a couple of years as a teenager, nothing more, nothing less. There's plenty of other things I've been involved since which have been more important and creatively rewarding to me personally. I'm aware it's hard for some people to see things from my perspective, but so be it.

EXTREME DOOM PART II: Matt Skarajew of Disembowelment/Dusk

2011-07-27T21:38:00.000+02:00

This is the second part of the series of short interviews with prolific and notable extreme doom metal musicians. They were all asked the same questions to see the different perspective they have for specific aspects of the genre. I spoke to Matthew Skarajew, bass player for obscure doom death metal group Disembowelment from Melbourne, Australia. They have released only one full-length “Transcendence into the Peripheral” in 1993 but what a groundbreaking and horrifying album was it. 18 years later it still seriously kicks ass. Now the band is active again as Dusk and performed live for the first time in 2011 because the original Disembowelment never had a chance to do so. Some new material might be on its way.

What was your first experience with extremely slow doom metal?
For me it was Sabbath, Candlemass, Trouble and the doomy aspects of early Mercyful Fate, Death, Autopsy. Some bands had doomy moments that really stayed in your memory. That can be just as powerful. So I would include Venom and Celtic Frost. Some might be surprised by that but if you know that material well you should see where I am coming from. It was not an instant realization, rather something that grew over time.

What inspired you to play such music?
I remember watching an early video of Trouble live in a tv studio at a party one night. It was so heavy and brooding. Such great attitude. Also I was playing in a thrash band in the late 80's and we had a comparatively slow and heavy song that the crowds always seemed to love. We realized people liked the slow stuff just as much as the really fast stuff. The second Disembowelment demo was very inspiring too. We were already friends but I loved it and offered my services. I know Renato loved early Sabbath and Paul was corresponding with Gary Jennings of Cathedral at the time. Their early demos were inspiring. All of Disembowelment had a great love and respect for a Melbourne band Persecution. They were utterly crushing live. As good as any band of the time and so heavy. Their doom was mind blowing. A big influence for us. For me it was not just metal though. I was brought up listening to a lot of dark ambient music and loved the idea of incorporating that into the heavy context.

What was the most important in Disembowelment – is it the heaviness, the atmosphere, the lyrics or maybe something else?
Well the most important element in d.USK is a balance between the musical elements, light and shade, sparse and complex textures, rhythmic and melodic contours. This is in my opinion the secret to playing heavy music. We absolutely try to avoid repetition in any one of those factors. Lyrically we always try to tell an impartial story be it in the first or third person. Creating atmosphere is also a key component. Always has been and was the ultimate key to Disembowelment. Keep in mind it is the balance of the elements we seek.

Do you see your music as a very demanding one for the listener?
d.USK should not in theory be particularly demanding for any listener. We are trying to avoid the epic style of songs that Disembowelment featured. That developed more out of youthful enthusiasm and ignorance than anything. That's not to discredit what we have previously done but looking back the songs can suffer at times from being a little over self-indulgent length-wise. I want d.USK to be able to entertain a listener in a live context, so we use d.USK as a vehicle to break up the long-winded nature of the old Disembowelment tunes. For example we have a new doom track that clocks in at around five minutes! That's new for us but still feels complete. It's like playing a half of an old song!

Is extreme/funeral doom metal more over the top and extreme than super fast grindcore in your opinion?
More over the top? No it is simply the inverse. If I understand what you are implying. I like to see variation in a set or on a recording not a continuous stream of fast or slow.

Is doom metal a state of mind or just another sub-genre of metal?
I think it is fair to consider doom metal as a substantiated sub-genre.

Did you ever feel like a misfit or a reject in the metal scene?
Never. We're from the old school. We celebrated metal in most forms except glam and religious-based music. One of the big disappointments for me in the early 90's was the super-cool tribalism that developed and the split in the local scene. In Melbourne, throughout the 80's all kinds of bands played together and the crowds were a great mix. You got exposed to all kinds of metal and accepted each others' tastes. Admittedly we were keen to eschew some of the clichés of the death metal scene at the time. This was two-fold. It gave us a unique angle and subsequent foot-hold in the scene and quite frankly some of the imagery and topical ideas seemed very childish or simplistic to us at the time. It is a little known fact that we momentarily tried to change the band name from Disembowelment to d.USK before the full-length came out but Relapse would not allow it even by that age we were a bit embarrassed by the name at least the visual profile made up for it.

Can you relate to escapism?
I think it would be fair to say yes. I think escapism is a natural human phenomenon in many shapes and forms. Perhaps as long as it doesn't distort your concept of reality. That might be unhealthy. I like holidays. I like to have a glass of wine in the evening. That's all escapism isn't it? And I suppose slamming out brutal and heavy music is a great positive form of escapism. I'd recommend people stick to positive life-affirming escapism. I have personal reservations about religion-based escapism. It's a broad notion though very subjective to us all. Spending time with my family and spending time with my guitars and amps is a great escape from the menial or tough aspects of everyday life. I can certainly relate to that.

EXTREME DOOM PART I: John Paradiso of Evoken

2011-07-25T19:59:00.000+02:00

This is the first part of the series of short interviews with prolific and notable extreme doom metal musicians. They were all asked the same questions to see the different perspective they have for specific aspects of the genre. First one of them is John Paradiso, guitarist and vocalist of New Jersey monumental and monstrous act Evoken. The band is active since 1994 and released bludgeoning albums such as “Embrace the Emptiness” (1998), “Quietus” (2001), “Antithesis of Light” (2005) and “A Caress of the Void” (2007), which indisputably belong to extreme doom finest achievements. The group is currently writing their fifth opus and heading into the studio later this year.

What was your first experience with extremely slow doom metal?
My first experience with extremely slow doom had to be the Thergothon demo.

What inspired you to play such music?
Mainly, it was that you can be more creative with doom. What I mean by that is you can have parts in your songs that wouldn't sound right in standard death metal. I also find that to be true with black metal.

What is the most important in Evoken – is it the heaviness, the atmosphere, the lyrics or maybe something else?
The heaviness is up there but it has to satisfy my ears the most. I think the production is very important to capture the atmosphere of the pieces we write.

Do you see your music as a very demanding one for the listener?
Yes, I think that's why we don't sell as well as we should. The average listener can't dedicate an hour of their time to experience the CD like it was meant to be.

Is extreme/funeral doom metal more over the top and extreme than super fast grindcore in your opinion?
I'm not sure about more over the top. I think it requires more thought because you are challenged to keep the listener’s attention with material that is usually over ten minutes long.

Is doom metal a state of mind or just another sub-genre of metal?
A state of mind by far. It's the ugly, grim version of what it might be like to journey to hell.

Did you ever feel like a misfit or a reject in the metal scene?
No, more like just overlooked. Maybe if it was played constantly on the metal stations like 89.5 here in Jersey we could see just how many people could appreciate it.

EXTREME DOOM METAL INTERVIEWS

2011-07-24T11:57:00.092+02:00

Extreme doom is one of the most underground, misunderstood, overlooked and uncompromising genres of metal. I decided to speak to the musicians who are or were a part of it to get to know more about their true inspirations, experiences and motivations. They were all asked the same questions. Here what they had to say.

John Paradiso of EVOKEN (USA)

Matt Skarajew of DISEMBOWELMENT/DUSK (Australia)

Greg Chandler of ESOTERIC (England)

Niko Skorpio of THERGOTHON (Finland)

Adrian Bickle of MOURNFUL CONGREGATION (Australia)

Lasse Pyykko of HOODED MENACE (Finland)

Brendan Roache of MOURNING BELOVETH (Ireland)

Anders Eek of FUNERAL (Norway)

ALTAR OF PLAGUES – Celtic Blast

2011-07-19T17:21:00.001+02:00

They took the metal underground by storm. But two strong EPs, “Through the Crack of the Earth” and “Sol”, published consecutively in 2007 and 2008 were only heralds of what was about to happen later. Their debut long play “White Tomb” marched high on the ‘best of’ lists of 2009 and Tom G. Warrior, as a curator of the Roadburn festival, invited the Irish group to be a part of the “Only Death is Real” event in April 2010 by performing the record live in its entirety. The band returned in 2011 with a second album, “Mammal”, in the meantime releasing an excellent EP, “Tides”, which only made their music a more obscure and disturbing wave of intensive sounds. Again they hit deadly and precisely. Altar of Plagues’ guitarist and vocalist James Kelly talks to We Wither about post-black metal, Ireland and poetry.

“White Tomb” was a quality record and it was acclaimed too. Do you think you have bettered it with “Mammal”?
I would never describe something new as 'bettering' something older. They were created for different reasons, under different circumstances, and with different motivations musical and emotional. We were extremely pleased with “White Tomb” and likewise we are equally pleased with “Mammal”. Something that felt different to me when writing and recording "Mammal" is that we are now much more comfortable working together and we have a far more natural dynamic as writers. We have improved our craft, so to speak.

Was the writing process of “Mammal” any different to the previous sessions?
It was written in a very natural and impulsive manner. “Mammal” essentially came about as we had reached the point where we felt we were ready to create an album. We felt inspired and our energy levels were high. We toured quite a bit last year and the intense energy of live performance found its way into our writing. I wrote the basic tracks first and we collectively structured them. We prefer to let the music dictate its own structure and this was especially the case when writing "Mammal". It is about achieving a sort of emotional exhaustion or climax. Once we have delivered that motivational force then we know a track is complete.

How close to perfection is the sound of “Mammal” in your opinion? Did you achieve everything you wanted with it? Is there any room for improvement?
Yes we feel that we have achieved everything that we wanted with it. We anticipate the recording process, and now having endured it a number of times, we know what we like and don't like, and how we wish to approach it, generally speaking. During the mixing process we are quite meticulous and ensure everything is exactly as we want it to be. But once we all agree that the work is complete, we no longer listen to it in a critical manner and we simply engage with it as listeners.

Does post-black metal mean anything to you? Isn’t it just a label created for the lack of accurate words to describe your style?
I have never been a fan of that word as it has far too many negative connotations. It is generally associated with the word 'hipster' – a word that means nothing to a man from rural Ireland. If people struggle to pigeonhole us then that is only a good thing in my opinion. We have never been interested in being a copy cat band, or a part of a specific scene. We simply do what we want to do. I am very much enjoying the black metal, or derivatives of black metal, that have appeared in the past number of years. There is a true honesty behind all of this, I believe.

“Mammal” is issued with different cover art through Profound Lore in America and Candlelight in Europe. Was that your idea? Which art is your first choice?
This was a choice made collectively between ourselves and the labels. It was not any sort of a marketing ploy to sell extra copies (we detest such things), it was just a simple means of keeping both releases distinct from one another. We decided that we would choose two very different artworks, but wanted both to be entirely representative of the album’s concepts. We are extremely pleased with the outcome. The photograph used for the Candlelight edition was captured by Daniel Sesé, whose work I came by when looking at some photography. We contacted Ketola as I am a huge admirer of his work and I was confident that he would be more than capable of creating the right piece, which we feel he did. I like that both covers are quite ambiguous and are open to interpretation. However, both artworks were created (in the case of the Profound Lore edition) or sourced (in the case of the Candlelight edition) after the album was completed and as such the lyrical content was in mind throughout this process. I think that the representational value of each cover becomes somewhat more apparent when one reads the lyrics to “Mammal”.

How did you get to release your EP “Tides” through Burning World Records?
Quite simple actually - they just sent us a message saying that they would like to work with us.

What are the chances of you getting your Roadburn show published?
I'm not entirely sure. For various reasons we were not entirely happy with our set(s) but it’s a lesson learned. I have not listened to the recording myself but I'm not confident that they would be the best possible representation of our live performance.

What is the inspiration of Emily Dickinson’s poetry to your music?
Her work is immensely beautiful while touching upon some of the darkest subjects. She sees the world in a very unique way and describes her world with such colourful language. Her personality shines through her work and I think if you read a number of her poems consecutively you may begin to see how her moods change, often indicated by optimism or pessimism. There is a great deal of ambiguity in her work which I also enjoy as it allows the reader to make their own interpretations, as opposed to some other poets of similar statue who may have been less reclusive, and actually provide explanations of their work.

What other literature would you name as an inspiration to Altar of Plagues?
John Steinbeck’s "To a God Unknown", W.B Yeat's "The Second Coming", J.M. Synge’s "The Playboy of the Western World", Aldo Leopold’s "A Sand County Almanac".

Is Altar of Plagues mainly a live band? Is playing live hard work or something you always look forward to and enjoy?
Writing and performing live are my favourite aspects of music. Recording is a necessary evil. I believe that the music only truly exists when we perform it. That is when it is a living, real thing. Recorded music is just a document. While recordings serve their own purpose, I believe strongly in the power of live energy.

Could you say a little about the upcoming project, the split with Year of No Light?
It is a track from the "White Tomb" album recording sessions. It was unfinished and we revisited it this year to complete it. I think that it will stand out among our other tracks as somewhat unusual but we like this piece very much.

Cork seems to be a distant location, somewhere in the south of Ireland, away from Dublin. Is the vibe, the atmosphere of the city present in what you do?
If it is, then it is not consciously. I grew up in the country-side and that is what has influenced me most. Cork is a very grey place, as is Ireland in general. But Ireland, despite many of its less appealing qualities, is the place that makes me most happy.

What would be your dream-come-true tour line-up to be a part of?
We don't really think about such things. To be honest, every tour that we do is a great experience.

SARKE – The Way of Old

2011-06-21T18:43:00.000+02:00

At the beginning a one-off project, Sarke became a regular band with the release of their second longplay ”Oldarhian” in 2011. The full line-up is packed with members of such extraordinary Norwegian hordes as Spiral Architect, Ihsahn, Susperia, and Satyricon, which gives all the right to say that this time it’s serious. The band is led by Thomas ”Sarke” Bergli, previously better known as a drummer in both Khold and Tulus, and completed with the unique figure of Nocturno Culto. It takes the cold and raw Scandinavian sound to its deepest roots. Mixing all that is best in thrash, heavy and black metal classics, Sarke offers records which are simply a joy to listen to. Primitively and straightforwardly, they strike with old school passion, distance and humour. Sarke himself explains matters in a telegraphic manner.

“Oldarhian” is a more complex record in a structure than “Vorunah”. Is this because there are now more people involved in the band beside just Nocturno and yourself?
Yes, I think so. On the first album I did everything by myself and worked a lot on my own. On the second release there were more people involved. We rehearsed a little bit and spent more time in the studio.

“Oldarhian” was released almost exactly two years after “Vorunah”. What were you up to during that time?
Sarke was supposed to release only one album. It did well and more and more people were asking for it, both live and new stuff. So me and Nocturno agreed to put a band together and do some live shows and release a second album.

How did the release party of “Oldarhian” go? Did you do any extra songs like surprise covers or other stuff?
It went very well and there was a lot of people coming from different countries. Great sound and a great crowd. We only did songs from our two albums.

You recorded the whole “Vorunah” album by yourself except the vocals and keyboards. How challenging is it to complete guitars, bass and drums tracks alone from scratch?
It’s very ok. I can do everything my way. With Khold and Tulus I have to explain to the guitarist how I want them to play the riffs. With Sarke I could just do it myself. And also it was great to do it at my tempo. That’s fast. Often just one take and move on.

Your lyrics on the first album, especially ones like the title-track “Vorunah” or “Old” are very striking and to the point, pure brilliance. Did you want to keep them simple to emphasise the old-school classic heavy metal style of the record?
Yes, you could say that. Direct and primitive, just like the music.

In the interview for Lordsofmetal.nl you said: “Vorunah is someone living inside you that you hate and can’t control”. Is it actually possible to play loud metal music and to live it without having such a demon?
Maybe not. Metal people are something for themselves. Metal music is always best loud and of course with demons.

Could you tell me what was the reason to start Sarke? You play in Khold and Tulus as well, so you shouldn’t be lacking metal.
The reason is I want to release a solo album with music that has inspired me since I got into the metal scene. I think I did that very well.

Did you want Sarke to be a live band from the beginning or did that idea came later on?
It was going to be one record only and that’s it. But here I am with a second album, full line up and several live shows.

Was Nocturno Culto the first and only choice for the vocalist of Sarke, or did you try any other guys too?
He was my first choice and the vocalist I wanted very much for my record. Of course if he had said no, I would have had to look for someone else, but luckily, he said yes.

Does the fact that there is a lot going on around Sarke right now mean a hiatus for Khold and Tulus?
No, Khold had a break long before that. We are doing four festivals with Khold this year. Tulus is on and off depending on what we feel about it.

Was the photo on the cover of “Oldarhian” taken especially for Sarke or did you pick it up from Bahrin Diana’s portfolio? And what the hell is it? A dragon sleeping beneath the snow? Maybe Vorunah himself?
It was not made exclusively for us. It’s something dark, that’s for sure.

Now with six creative people in the band, can we expect another record sooner than in two years?
Maybe, we have to take one at the time. I’m not sure when the next will be out.

THE GATES OF SLUMBER – Iron Hammer of Doom

2011-05-16T22:52:00.000+02:00

Doom heavy metal would be the best term to describe what Indianapolis-based trio The Gates of Slumber is about. Mixing the classic vibe and groove of timeless mammoths such as Saint Vitus, Pentagram or Trouble, they have added a fresh touch and actually reinvented the sub-genre once again. Since their 2004 debut “…The Awakening” they have released another four records with the “Suffer No Guilt”, “Conqueror” and “Hymns of Blood and Thunder” albums all being huge steps forward. May 2011 saw the premiere of their fifth and strongest full-length so far, ”The Wretch”, which is out on Rise Above. Karl Simon, the band’s leader, vocalist and guitar player, told We Wither about the opportunity of recording in Europe, his inspirations and the difference between doom and occult metal.

Your music doesn’t sound like you only started the band in 2000. Are The Gates of Slumber a response to modern trends in metal?
No, not at all. The Gates of Slumber is music that we want to make. Music we want to hear and that’s all. I don’t follow much that happens in the modern metal scene. So I can’t react to it.

You’re on the label run by the guy from Cathedral and the roster includes Electric Wizard and Church of Misery. Can things get any better for you?
Well, that’s a loaded question, isn’t it? Things could always be better... but with regards to our label, we are very happy to be on Rise Above. They have taken a lot of interest in us and treated us with a great deal of consideration. Both Lee and Will are awesome guys.

What was the direct inspiration which lead you to form the band?
Saint Vitus. Back in high school, I sang in punk bands, cover bands, whatever... you know? Just to make music. But my first love has always been Black Sabbath. I could never find a suitable group of people to do a band along those lines, so me and Chuck Brown from Apostle of Solitude formed The Keep... things kind of ground to a halt after a couple of years because we couldn’t keep a guitarist. I was playing bass at the time. We also had different ideas as to what we wanted to do. I went off, bought a guitar and started working on The Gates of Slumber.

People usually say there’s no way you can beat the classics. In this situation, it would be bands such as Saint Vitus, Pentagram and Trouble. You took the challenge and you have succeeded. Is it difficult to find something fresh in the sub-genre so exploited and worn-out?
I don’t know if we’ve bested Saint Vitus, Trouble or Pentagram, but thank you! I also don’t know if doom metal is exploited and worn-out. To me it’s actually less worn than any other style of metal. Certainly black, death, and true metal are all way more exploited than doom! Coming up with something fresh is just a matter of time and work. You have to write a lot of bad songs to come up with a good one, at least that’s my theory. Write ten songs throw nine away and that one is as good as it’s going to get.

“The Wretch” is unquestionably your best effort to date. Was the writing process the same as with the four previous records or was something different this time?
There was actually a lot less stress on this one. Jason and I decided that we were going to go back to the more doom laden style that was represented on “The Awakening” and to an extent “Suffer No Guilt”. It was a very simple thing to do. The kinds of riffs that are all over “The Wretch” are like second nature to me. It was much harder to do things like you’ve heard on “Conqueror” or “Hymns of Blood and Thunder”. And thank you by the way. I really like “The Wretch” as well. I think it’s our best record too.

You’ve been on Rise Above since “Hymns of Blood and Thunder”, so it’s no real surprise that you recorded “The Wretch” in London in Orgone Studios, but still it’s a significant fact. Why did you decide to travel so far for the session?
Well, Rise Above was into the idea of us doing the record in England, and it wasn’t too hard to convince us to do that. Let’s see, do a record in Chicago, or Indianapolis... or go to London, one of the most exciting cities in the world and record. And get to see Saint Vitus live at the Underworld, check out the Cathedral 25th anniversary gig (we missed the “Forest of Equilibrium” set though... damn).

The third song from the new album “To the Rack with Them” offers a similar groove and drive to the Vitus piece “Living Backwards”. Doesn’t every proper old-school doom record demand a banger like that?
I think so. We’ve always tried to vary our tempos. Like Vitus or Trouble, or Sabbath did. A one dimensional record is a one dimensional record... no good.

How much fun is it to play enormous anthems such as “God Wills It”, “Descent into Madness” or “Dark Valley Suite” live? These songs are more than 10-minutes-long. Do people dig them or rather prefer shorter tracks?
We very rarely play these long songs live really. “Descent Into Madness” is the only one of the three we’ve ever done. I doubt we’ll ever do any of them again, really... maybe “Descent into Madness”. Really for the most part a 10-12 minutes song is going to eat up a big chunk of a 45-minutes-long set, which is what we mostly get to play on tour. With the rest of our songs being mainly between 5 and 8 minutes that is a big chunk of time. Who knows though, if we decide to throw one in we decide to throw one in. One never knows.

Are you into checking out younger bands or do you only worship the old stuff?
Me personally, I mostly listen to the old stuff. Though there are younger bands that I get turned on to, like Orchid. I love those guys. Good stuff. Jason is way more in touch with the newer bands than I am.

What do you think about the new bands which sound like they’re lost in time – Ghost, The Devil’s Blood, Blood Ceremony or Jex Thoth? Aren’t they doing the same thing as The Gates of Slumber, but that you’ve been doing for more than ten years now?
Nah man, I don’t think we have too much in common with any of those bands, really. That’s all a bunch of occult stuff. We don’t do that. I mean people might mistake “The Castle of The Devil” for some satanic shit, but it’s a Solomon Kane story! Musically they are all on a different and more retro bend than we are, for them it’s more a thing to be vintage sounding I think. We don’t get hung up on that vintage gear stuff. We just play doom metal, you know?

Your cover arts are stylish. Could you tell me more about the artists you have been working with?
The covers for “Conqueror” and “Hymns of Blood and Thunder” were both done by Vebjorn Strommen. We licensed “Conqueror” from him and he did “...Blood and Thunder” for us as a commission. Very cool guy and easy to work with. Arik Roper did the cover for “The Wretch”. It was a licensed piece. I’ve never spoken with Arik, but his art is fucking amazing.

Is it hard to get the right live sound when you’re a trio? Would the band gain anything if you hired a second guitarist?
No, I don’t think so. Jason is a very heavy bassist so there is no loss of anything live. And besides I think two guitars muddy the sound very easily. It also restricts what the bassist can do unless both guitars are in unison. There are few doom bands that sound better with two guitars, I think. Black Sabbath had only one...

You played the Roadburn 2011 festival. Is it the right place for a band like The Gates of Slumber? Did you play the new songs?
Roadburn was great! I think the gig went amazingly well. The crowd was very into it and the set was mostly new songs! I think it’s one of the top 5 gigs we’ve done for sure.

INDIAN – Guilty Of Being Sludge

2011-04-28T08:02:00.000+02:00

Chicago-based sludge metal mongers Indian took the sub-genre to its limits of raw heaviness and sheer brutality with their fourth studio record “Guiltless”, which was released through Relapse in April of 2011. Devastating and hammering riffage, extreme vocal abuse and suffocating tempos are what Indian is about. The weak don’t come out of there alive. Will Lindsay, on duty as a guitarist and vocalist, and earlier involved in the Wolves in the Throne Room and Nachtmystium, told We Wither about his bands and other extremely important issues.

I have to tell you „Guiltless” is a ruthless, merciless, radical album. You don’t play blast beats or participate in the metal-racing contest but still it’s very extreme. Is it your heaviest album so far?
I feel that it is, but various people will no doubt have various opinions. A lot of people into Indian still swear by “The Unquiet Sky” as the heaviest.

How do you get such a heavy sound? Is it only a matter of production?
Production certainly plays a role in the heavy sound. The equipment that we use is very crucial to the heavy sound, as well. The guitars were Les Pauls, a Monson Doomsayer and a Lakland bass. The amps were Sunn Model Ts, a Marshall JCM 800 2203 and an Acoustic 370. The cabinets and drums were all Emperors. Sanford's expertise and knowledge as an engineer was very important, as well.

Does the album have a concept in terms of the lyrics? Could you point out the most important things you sing about on “Guiltless”?
There is a concept through the album but Dylan wrote almost all of the lyrics and I wouldn't feel comfortable commenting on what he wrote. The lyrics that I wrote tie into the concept of being guiltless and are about a personal experience in my not-too-distant past. I'm afraid it is something I can't really get into, though, as I wouldn't want to name or embarrass the people involved in the aforementioned experience.

Does your band name mean that you identify with the native Americans in the way you feel like rejects and misfits, or is that explanation a little bit too obvious and naive?
The band started before I was a member and I never have asked why they chose that name. I would imagine that it is something other than the idea that you mentioned, though.

Is there a distinct line between doom and sludge in modern metal? What would you rather call Indian?
I don't really have an opinion. However, a lot of other people seem to. I personally don't have a preference in which term people use to describe us. Whatever is going to help them make sense of what we're doing or whatever is going to give them a comfortable reference point is on them.

You have been recording with Sanford Parker, who has produced lots of awesome albums is the last couple of years. What is the best thing about working with him?
Sanford is a good friend of ours. There are a lot of great things about working with him. He's actively involved in the “scene” or “genre” or whatever beyond his role as an engineer. He has a lot of good ideas and he is not afraid to voice them. He also has a high level of tolerance for people and their idiosyncrasies, which is a key and often overlooked element of being an engineer.

How close is Indian with the hardcore/punk Chicago scene?
I've only been living out here since July and have not really gotten involved in the local punk/hardcore scene. I haven't really been involved in the local punk/hardcore scene since I lived in Eugene, OR, honestly.

I really like your artwork. I generally love bands that stick to certain aesthetics and develop it from album to album. Could you tell me about the graphic artists you have worked with?
The only artist we have worked with for our album-related stuff has been Scott Fricke. He is a tattooist here in Chicago and a good friend of the band. Scott has been very good at making visual representations of our music and ideas. He actually spent some time at the studio with us to get his ideas for what to do with the artwork for “Guiltless”.

You seem to love tattoos and all of the Indian covers look like perfect ideas for a tattoo. Did you get any of them inked yet?
I have the pentagram that we use for our logo on my shoulder. Everyone in the band with the exception of Sean has the pentagram. I don't know that I would get album-specific tattoos, but I do love Scott's style and look forward to having him tattoo me in the future.

Are any of your tattoos related to the music or bands in general?
I have four Black Flag tattoos. I also have the word “Outlaw” tattooed on my wrist, which has a lot of meanings. One of which is a nod to Waylon Jennings. I also have a portrait of Hank Williams, Sr. tattooed on me.

What made you go vegan? Did you ever care about bands such as Day of Suffering or Earth Crisis, which try to talk about social problems?
I became a vegan in 1997 for ethical reasons. It was just something that I didn't want to take part in anymore. I grew up hunting and fishing and had never felt entirely comfortable with it, which also contributed, albeit in a more latent fashion. I still have the same ethical feelings but it isn't something I really go flaunting about and I certainly have no intention of using the band as a platform for that or any other ideology.
I never cared for the bands you mentioned. Bands that were talking about social problems and such that I was into were more along the lines of Born Against, Man is the Bastard, Noothgrush and the like. All of which are still bands I still love.

Why did Middian only manage to complete one album “Age Eternal” in 2007? Was Mike Scheidt too busy with Yob to keep Middian going?
I was actually talking to my friend that booked that band last week about things. The band seemed kind of cursed from the start. There were always some underlying personal tensions that really flared up when our lawsuit happened and it is ultimately what killed the band. I think the band not being universally accepted in Yob's place is what also led Mike to reform Yob. Our last tour, half of our set was Yob songs. That really kind of put the writing on the wall. That and the fact that the law suit really kind of pulled us apart. It was too bad. I really miss playing with both Mike and Scott.

You were involved with the 2009 Wolves in the Throne Room album “Black Cascade”. Was it just an episode for you? Why did you leave the band so quickly?
I was also on the “Malevolent Grain” EP and the “Live at Roadburn 2008”. I played with them for a few years and did not join the band with the intention of it being solely an episode. My leaving the band is rather complicated to explain without having to tell some details that are really not to be shared publicly. The best I can do is state that the Weavers and I have different ways of looking at a lot of things. We did try to make it work and it didn't. Unfortunately, I don't think any of us feel very good about how everything ended up, but we did the best that we could. We're still friends and keep in touch and see each other when we're in town, which I am very happy about.

Wolves in the Throne Room is seen as a pretty specific band, with its own sound and atmosphere. Did you feel it was something special to be a part of it?
I never really thought of it in terms like that. I enjoyed playing with them and I particularly enjoyed all of the travel we did together. One of the points of contention between us is that I never cared for the visual aesthetics that the band had or the talk about spirituality/magic/etc., which is very important to Nathan and Aaron as well as a lot of people that like the band. It was a good experience and I'm happy that I did it. Ultimately, Aaron and Nathan are happier not having a dissenting opinion and I'm happier playing with people that I have more in common with. I must add that I am also happy to not be involved in the black metal scene. It's not a scene I was ever particularly interested in as a fan or musician, with a few exceptions.

You were also part of Nachtmystium during sessions for the 2010 album “Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. II”. That material is really original and different to anything else. Was the recording inspiring too?
I don't know that I would use the word “inspiring”. I had a lot of fun making that record. Usually, I don't enjoy the recording process, although I am certainly happy to have the finished product. I think part of what was so enjoyable about making that record is that I wasn't emotionally involved as I was never really a member of the band or anything. It ended up being a lot more casual than any other recording session I've done, which I think definitely contributed to the final product. Blake is extremely open to other people's suggestions and ideas as well.

MINSK – Fire and Silence

2011-04-19T18:51:00.000+02:00

Not many bands know better than Minsk how to deliver ritualistic and atmospheric metal full of worthwhile arrangements and clever turns. The Chicago quartet has released three albums – 2009’s “With Echoes in the Movement of Stone” being their last so far – as well as the 2010 Hawkwind Triad split collaboration with Harvestman and US Christmas. It offers real quality in terms of dark doom tremors and uneasy tension. Bass player and vocalist Sanford Parker, who is also a well-known underground producer and a member of such groups as Twilight, Buried at Sea and Nachtmystium, answered a couple of questions about his various initiatives.

I decided to do this interview with Minsk because it’s your most productive band. You’ve done three full-length records in five years. Does that make Minsk your most important band?

For now yes, Minsk has been the most productive band out of the bunch. This year I have been pretty busy playing out with Nachtmystium. We just got back from a seven-weeks-long tour with Cradle of Filth. We’re also playing some fest in Europe this summer and a European tour this fall. So right now this is taking up my time as far as shows. I’m also putting together a band to start playing out with Circle of Animals so Minsk may have to go on the back burner for me but I’ll still be doing it.

What do you think of a comparison of Minsk to Neurosis?
I like Neurosis.

This might be a little bit of a naïve question, but have you ever been to Belarus or the city of Minsk? Have you ever played in this part of Europe?

Nope, I’ve played Moscow but that’s as close to Belarus as I’ve gotten. We’ve tried to get agents to set up shows there but they always say it’s too hard and not a good idea. Maybe one day, we’ll have to wait and see. Why, you got some hook ups?

What is happening with Buried At Sea at the moment. It’s been four years since your last EP “Ghost”?

The wheels are in motion. We just booked a show with Orange Goblin in June. That will be the first show in about 8 years. Maybe there will be more to come, European shows perhaps. No new material has been written though but I’m sure that’s around the corner as well.

The “Migration” album by Buried At Sea is one of the single heaviest things the extreme scene has ever given birth to. Have you ever heard any other band that sounded heavier than you?

Swans “Kill the Child” – this is true heavy. No metal record can touch this. This album will crush every “doom” song ever written. Listen to this album in the dark = total bumout!!!

Your second album with Twilight, 2010’s “Monument to Time End”, was not only critically acclaimed because of its content but also because of the outstanding musicians involved in the band. Is it a piece of cake or rather a constant war of egos working with such creative guys as ex-Isis guitarist Aaron Turner, Nachtmystium leader Blake Judd or N.Imperial of Krieg?

Everyone involved on this record are good friends, no egos just bros. This is one of my favourite records I’ve been involved with. This album was a blast to make, everyone brought just the right amount to the table and I feel the end result is new and exciting like nothing I’ve ever heard. I’m hoping third Twilight record will happen and if it does we will have new and improved bros.

Although Twilight is labelled a black metal band, do you sense the direct influences of groups like Burzum, Mayhem or Satyricon in your music?

I personally don’t listen to a lot of black metal but the other guys do, so yes these bands are an influence. Everyone listens to such a wide variety of music that black metal is just a percentage of the overall mix and I think that’s what makes this band unique.

Are Circle of Animals and The High Confessions one-timers or do you plan on doing more records with these bands? Were you the one who gave life to both bands?

The High Confessions part two is almost complete and I’ve started collecting drum tracks for the next Circle of Animals. I’ll start writing and recording songs over the next few months. Aiming for a fall release on both. Circle of Animals was my brainchild and soon after Bruce Lamont got involved. The High Confessions was the idea between Jeremy Lemos and myself. Jeremy and I ran Semaphore studios together, he also does sound for Sonic Youth hence Steve Shelley.

How are you able to fairly share your time between each of your bands? Do you get to sleep at all?

It seams like as one band rest another takes flight. I usually don’t have much overlap between projects. I also don’t stop. I rarely watch TV or sit on my ass. It’s taking all my will to sit long enough to do this interview. I don’t slow down and if I’m not in the studio making music I’m at a bar taking to a band about making music.

Your achievements as a producer get more and more praise. Can recording bands be inspiring or is it just hard work in the studio?

I haven’t worked a day since I stated making records. This to me is a privilege. I get to hang out with amazing people and make amazing music. I have just figured out a way to do what I love and make a living doing it. I also get ideas for my own stuff with every record I do. Working with other bands does inspire me personally with my own music. The idea I had with Circle of Animals as far as the drum looping was working on other albums. Just fucking with the band I would loop a small section and they would say “dude that sounds like a Ministry song” and I thought yeah you’re right it does.

Could you name a couple of records you produced that were a genuine challenge? What makes a real challenge? Is it simply a demanding band, a limited budget or maybe tracks with lots of layers?

I love a good challenge. I get off on a guitarist walking into the studio and saying “Okay I want my guitar to sound like giraffe fucking a peacock in outerspace”. I don’t get a lot of demanding bands though, there has to be a level of trust between the musicians and myself. Their job is to rock and mine is to capture that the best I can. I’m not saying there’s not some head-butting going on but for the most part it’s fairly mellow.

Your studio Semaphore Recordings in Chicago closed in January 2011. Did you call it quits as a producer?

No! I did close the studio because I needed a break from running a studio and it frees up more time for me to tour and take on travel gigs. The closing of the studio had nothing to do with a lack of business, we were booked pretty solid. I just needed to step away for a while. I have no intentions of slowing down any time soon.

Working with which active band would be a dream come true for you as a producer?

Wovenhand, Dave Edwards is one of the best song writers – period.

What is the best sounding record of all time to you?

I like certain records for different reasons. The Mars Volta “De-Loused in the Comatorium” to me is a perfect sounding record. It’s powerful and clear. I really dig the dynamics of the mix. Killing Joke’s 2003 self-titled album has some of the most powerful drum tones. The guitars are super crisp and the vocal effects are tasty. His Hero Is Gone “Monument to Thieves” is just brutal sounding. It really sounds like this record could explode right off my turntable. These are the three albums I listen to before almost ever session I do.

Your Roky Erickson split with Minsk and Unearthly Trance is a great tribute to a fantastic song-writer. Was it difficult to make a decision on which song to choose?

No, when Unearthly Trance asked us to do it we all instantly said, “Stand for the Fire Demon”. We all felt the song is heavy enough and the cool break down left room for lots of cool sounds.

Are your massive sideburns some sort of a tribute to an old Victorian fashion?

Sideburns or sideboards are patches of facial hair grown on the sides of the face, extending from the hairline to below the ears and worn with an unbearded chin. The term sideburns is a 19th-century corruption of the original burnsides, named after American Civil War general Ambrose Burnside, a man known for his unusual facial hairstyle that connected thick sideburns by way of a moustache, but left the chin clean-shaven.

CROWBAR – To Only Deal in Truth

2011-04-06T19:06:00.000+02:00

They are often named the fathers of sludge metal alongside EyeHateGod and The Melvins. It’s actually hard to imagine most of the modern tough hardcore bands such as Hatebreed to even exist if not for Crowbar’s classic 1993 self-titled album and its timeless hits of “All I Had (I Gave)” or “Existence is Punishment”. Released in February 2011, “Sever the Wicked Hand” is their ninth studio effort and definitely one of the greatest too. Apart from Crowbar, distinctive leader Kirk Windstein delivers tons of heavy hard rock riffs for the celebrated New Orleans legends Down and the younger creation Kingdom of Sorrow, which makes him one of the busiest and most creative people in metal. While on tour with Saint Vitus, Helmet and Kylesa, Kirk tells We Wither about the upcoming live record, his relationship with the fans and how fortunate is it to be a gifted riff-maker.

„Sever the Wicked Hand” is the third Crowbar album in the last decade. Would you have recorded it earlier if you weren't touring with Down and starting Kingdom Of Sorrow?
Yes, we probably would have recorded earlier if I wasn’t so busy with Down.

The new record's sound reminds me of the „Sonic Excess In Its Purest Form”, which is my number one Crowbar album by the way. Did you want to return to that sound or is it just a coincidence?
“Sonic Excess…” was our best sounding record up until “Sever the Wicked Hand”, so yes, we tried to get the best sound that we could.

Your previous record, „Lifesblood for the Downtrodden”, had more complex arrangements. Did you want the simpler songs on the new album?
I always just write from the heart. I guess these song arrangements just felt more natural to be a bit simpler.

The album-closing track „Symbiosis” is Crowbar's finest along with earlier songs such as „The Lasting Dose”, „December's Spawn”, „Empty Room” or „(Can't) Turn Away From Dying”. Could you tell me about its creation and the lyrics?
I wrote the guitar riffs in about ten minutes hahaha! But the great songs usually come that way. Lyrically it’s about a symbiotic relationship with me and the fans. How they help me give 100% even when I’m sick or really run down from all the touring. It’s a perfect song to close out a perfect record!

You said the last recording session was the first time you had ever recorded vocals sober. Did it happen in the past that you messed with the lyrics so much that they came out differently that you planned at first?
No, the lyrics were always correct, I’d just be drinking beer while recording them. On this record it was a great feeling to remember everything and to know that I gave everything I could to each word.

Alcohol and drugs are for people and it's important to know your limits, but you can never beat them. The harder you try the harder they fuck you up. There is only one Lemmy, but many try to be like him too. Did you try yourself?
That is perfect because basically I was trying to be Lemmy but no one can do what he does! He’s the one and only!

Hurricane Katrina hit and devastated New Orleans in one week of August 2005. Where were you at the time and did you get over it by now? Did you lose any friends?
I was home with my sick mother. We didn’t get hit hard but yes we all lost friends. A very horrible experience.

Your song „Existence is Punishment” from the 1993 self-titled album is probably the most recognizable Crowbar line. Is it the best representation of what Crowbar stands for?
Maybe. It just means life is hard but I have a better outlook now and life is much better.

You're a big fan of bands like Motörhead and Thin Lizzy, but are you interested in checking out younger bands too? Who got your attention in the last few years?
I don’t really listen to new bands. For me they just don’t stand up to the classic bands that I grew up on but that’s probably because I’m getting older.

Could you go back in your memory and tell me about the formation of Down in 1991? Who gave the first impulse, who wrote the first couple of songs, who came up with the band name, etc?
Phil had the first impulse and he came up with the name. We all helped to form the sound of the first few songs.

You are often labelled as the riff-master. It's hard to argue with that statement. It's enough to listen to a random hardcore or sludge band to see how much your style influenced them. Do you spend ages trying to create new riffs or do they just pop into your head every minute? In other words, is it just hard work or have you got the gift?
Thankfully I have the “gift” I guess. I work hard at refining my riffs but the ideas come to me all the time thank God haha!

You have lots of tattoos and among them some heavy metal ones like Saint Vitus, Iron Maiden and That Metal Show. What else have you got and which tattoo is your favourite one?
I’ve honestly got too many to even count and I don’t really have a favourite. They are all an example of where I was at that time in my life.

Are you going to release anything on Phil Anselmo's label, Housecore Records?
Yes for sure. We have a new live record that is being mixed right now.

photo by Markus Lehto

I love each Crowbar record with all my heart but need to tell you one bitter thing. The new record's artwork is your worst to date. It's got none of the atmosphere of the previous covers. How do you explain this yourself?
I like it and I hate most of the older artwork. Everyone’s got their opinion I guess.

You're the leader in Crowbar and write the most of the material. What are the differences between the way Crowbar and Down work and write?
It’s much different to write with Down. Everyone has ideas and there are so many riffs going around. With Crowbar I write most everything although our bass player Pat Bruders has been coming up with some great stuff! It’s fun to write with both bands.

OBLITERATION – Ridden With Disease

2011-03-27T12:17:00.000+02:00

If anyone ever thought death metal was actually dead, the Norwegian quartet Obliteration reignited the faith in the filthy repulsive sound, dedicated to the old school traditions founded by Autopsy or Possessed, with its 2009 longplayer “Nekropsalms”. Sindre Solem, the band’s guitar man and vocalist, who’s also on duty in thrash death dealers Nekromantheon, speaks about the early days, the future record and their hometown of Kolbotn, also the base of legendary duo Darkthrone.

You made an impact with “Nekropsalms”. Did you feel that it was going to be something special when you were writing and recording the album?

Thanks man. Na, I’m not sure. We thought the record sounded cool and that the songs were great, and I remember we talked about how people would react to the album and so forth, but I don’t think we thought that it would be a special album when we recorded it. But we knew that it would turn out good, at least better than our first album, hahaha.

You’re a relatively young band, which more or less came out of the blue and delivered a fantastic record. Do you feel the expectations about your future that the press and fans might create?
Yeah, we’re in our early twenties. Wouldn’t say we came out of the blue. We’d been around the Norwegian scene for at least 5-6 years and our first album got good reviews in Europe. But I see your point. Yeah, we feel it alright. Before “Nekropsalms” we had no press, no label pushing us or anything, but now we have a new label (Indie Recordings) and a Norwegian booking agent stressing us with questions about when our next album will be out, haha. And it seems like people all over loved the album, so we have a job to do not letting them down. But we don’t care, we wanna do an album we are happy with, not just to please people. So our upcoming album will not be another “Nekropsalms”, it will be different. Some will love it, others will hate it.

Fysisk Format published some other awesome bands beside Obliteration like Haust and Okkultokrati. The Norwegian scene seems to be full of young eager bands. Do you feel there’s a lot of good local bands around that will get bigger soon?
Yeah, there’s a lot of great younger bands out there now, especially in Scandinavia, but also all over the world. There’s a good underground movement, but how I see it, it’s still the old bands controlling the metal scene. But it seems like the new generation are slowly coming forth, so I hope bigger labels/festivals and so forth will take a chance and support the new breed of extreme metal bands. This has already begun in Sweden with In Solitude and Enforcer signing with big labels for example, and now us signing with Indie Recordings. “New” bands on the rise now are Deathhammer, Black Magic, Execration, Morbus Chron, Maim, Bastard Priest, Natur, Diskord, Salute, Saturnlia Temple, Beasmilk, Swallowed, Krypts and many more!

Your 2007 debut “Perpetual Decay” came out on Nocturno Culto’s label Tyrant Syndicate. How did it happen, how did you guys meet?
Since we’re from the same town, we gave Fenriz our first demo, and we’ve been in contact ever since. We’ve traded music over the years, and after a rehearsal demo we did, Nocturno decided to sign us to their newfound label. It was a glorious time, fantastic guys. Too bad the label didn’t get to continue. Still in contact with them, fantastic dudes with the best musical taste ever.

“Nekropsalms” was recorded and produced by yourself in your own studio. That sounds like a dream come true. You’re a very self-sufficient and independent band. Is there anyone you would like to learn from?
It’s great indeed. Kick from Nekromantheon and Arild (guitarist for both bands) own it together. Shit, there’s plenty we’d like to learn from with it comes to recording techniques, but some of the charm and the edge of our sound comes from doing it our own way, and figuring stuff out as it goes along. But there are loads of cool bands and engineers we would love to learn a trick or two from when it comes to sound/production. Like the dudes who recorded Autopsy’s “Mental Funeral” and Black Sabbath’s “Master of Reality”. But we’re lucky enough to know many cool sound guys here in Norway that offer loads of cool tips to us. The dream move for us is to get a 24-track tape recorder into the studio, but it’s extremely expensive and hard to maintain, so I guess that not will be in the near future, haha.

You have signed with Indie Recordings for your third album. Is it possible to make a better album than “Nekropsalms”? Are you going in the direction of longer songs like “The Spawn of a Dying Kind” and “The Worm that Gnaws in the Night”?
Of course, it’s possible! There are already hundreds of albums better than “Nekropsalms” out there. But the important thing for us is to avoid copying “Nekropsalms”, and try to do something different. But we don’t plan it too much, it’s important to just go with the flow, let the songs live lives of their own. I think we’re heading more in the direction of those tracks yeah, darker stuff that are not pure death metal. I want to make something that sounds unique, without being fancy about it, and yet sound old school. But we just let it rip, jamming the songs together. And it’s important for us to listen to loads of different types of music, so the inspiration comes naturally. But on where we stand now with the writing, the tracks seem to develop in a darker manner than “Nekropsalms”, yet very punk at the same time. We’ll see how it turns out. Hopefully we can record the upcoming album this summer.

If you started playing metal in 2001, you were kids at the time because even now you’re young guys. What made you start that early? Maybe dad bought you “Reign in Blood” for your tenth birthday?
My mom always pushed me to play an instrument, so after playing piano for a while when I was a kid, Arild and I jumped over to learning guitar instead. And that spiked us to start a band at an early age. It wasn’t too serious at first, we played covers of tracks we heard in skateboard movies and such. Hearing The Misfits, Bad Religion and AC/DC and so on in skate movies, our musical interest grew, and suddenly music took over our lives and skateboarding faded. We didn’t get much cool stuff from our parents, except that Arild got a Jimi Hendrix album from his dad. Didn’t take long before we found heavier stuff, and it grew from there.

You have some serious competition. Autopsy recorded its first new album in 16 years. Do you think you can beat them with your next record?
Haha, no, I don’t think so. Our stuff will sound very different I hope, while Autopsy will sound like Autopsy. “The Tomb Within” EP fucking kills! “Seven Skulls”! We will of course try to make an equally good album, but we’ll see. Those guys are sick geniuses.

Kolbotn is a very small city just outside of Oslo, but it seems to be a true metal goldmine. Darkthrone, Aura Noir, Lamented Souls and you come from there. What is it like? Does everyone in Kolbotn listen to black and death metal?
It’s a small suburb outside Oslo. Not much to it, but the scene for young bands starting up is good, since there’s youth clubs where they can rehearse for free, like we did when we were kids. Other than that it’s kinda boring, but it has nature/forests close by, plus it’s close to Oslo, so we get a nice mix of solitude and chaos perhaps. Haha, not everyone here is into metal, but there are some sickos here that make good shit and listen to the right stuff. A music reporter thought it might be something in the water here, since all the bands from the area sound so fierce and good. But I don’t know. Happy to live here anyways.

Besides Obliteration, you and Arild play in Nekromantheon. Were some of the ideas you created unsuitable for Obliteration? Was that the reason you formed another band?
That’s not why Nekromantheon was summoned. Arild and Kick started out as a black metal outfit sometime during high school. I filled in on bass or vocals at some rehearsals. After a while they figured out that they wanted to play intense and angry thrash metal instead, and they asked me to join on bass, and a guy called Glen on vocals, who now plays in hardcore band Rabalder. This was long before Obliteration’s first album got released. Now perhaps we use riffs that are left over from the other band (it goes both ways), but the philosophy behind the band and the way of writing music differs a lot from Nekromantheon to Obliteration. In Obliteration, we can include everything, no boundaries what so ever, evil has no boundaries. But in Nekromantheon, we’re strict making die hard old school evil thrash metal in the vein of Dark Angel, Aura Noir, Possessed, Slayer, the first two Sepultura records, Sadus, Sacrifice, Slaugther, Voivod, the first two Destruction records and many more. Hails!

THE ROTTED – Get Rotted or Die Rotting

2011-03-18T18:54:00.001+01:00

After eleven years of existence, London die-hards the Gorerotted called it a day for a second and reformed as The Rotted, an even more powerful and pissed off grinding force. After delivering a stunning debut “Get Dead or Die Trying”, which contained such epic pieces of crusty blasting death metal as “Angel of Meth”, “Fear and Loathing in Old London Town” or “Nothin' But a Nosebleed”, the band offered the self-released EP “Anarchogram” and started working on the second album, which should be out in the middle of 2011. The band’s frontman and vocalist Ben McCrow answers the questions about their specific sense of humour, becoming independent and the London underground.

Could you remind me again: why did you drop the Gore- prefix in 2008? There isn’t such a striking difference in the music between Gorerotted and The Rotted.
You think so? It’s funny, some people think there’s a big difference, other people, not so much, but personally I think there’s been a huge leap forward with The Rotted material. Gorerotted didn’t really push any boundaries, we did what we did very well, but it was effectively just death metal, grindcore, whatever you want to call it. With The Rotted, the limits of Gorerotted have been cast off, and we throw a lot of punk, black metal and classic rock ideas into the equation. Tim and me are still left from the Gorerotted days, but we have Trud and Nate from Screamin’ Daemon in the band now, so to us, Gorerotted felt dead. The limited style wasn’t going anywhere else, the lyrical content had got very boring for me and we just wanted to leave Gorerotted as it was and move on. It was the truest move to make, and the only way we would feel we were being true to ourselves. It cost us some fans, it made us some new ones but most importantly, it’s allowed us to make the music we want rather than the music people expect us to make!

Metal Blade released the “Get Dead or Die Trying” album so I guess you have got some sort of a deal with them. Why did you publish the “Anarchogram” EP by yourself then?
We put out two Gorerotted and one The Rotted album with Metal Blade, but our contract is over so we won’t put any more material out through them. The idea of putting “Anarchogram” out ourselves was to return to our DIY routes and to have full control of all promotion, pressing and distribution. In the early days of Gorerotted, our friend did the artwork, we would hand out flyers at gigs and club nights, and we posted the discs out ourselves. We missed that connection with the fans that we had, and in this day of numerous labels and file-sharing, we just wanted to go back to the way we remember music when it was magical, not just a load of files people could download all at once!

I thought of your slogan “No Gods No Governments” as a reference to London, which supposedly has the biggest number of CCTV cameras in the world. Is living in London like being under surveillance?
That slogan is a reference to self-rule, self-belief and not serving anyone else’s purpose but to use your own judgement and common sense. It’s about not putting your trust in any higher power. But you’re right, there are far too many cameras here. The UK is one of the easiest places in the world to live, but under the surface, there’s so much control and yes, we are being watched. It’s true, London has more CCTV cameras than the entire state of California!

You like to take the piss. Most of your songs are a mockery of record or movie titles. Do you especially like the ones you mock or is there a different key to it?
We like subverting popular culture and playing with words and phrases, it’s part of our humour. A lot of bands are too serious all the time, and they take everything too seriously, which is fine if that’s how they are naturally, but for us, we like our personalities to come through in our music, so we don’t hide anything, everything is natural and real! No gimmicks, no bullshit, just honest and from the heart.

Is there anything you wouldn’t dare to mock or pastiche?
I wouldn’t say we’re mocking anything or anyone. There’s no personal attack on anybody, that’s not something I’m really interested in doing. A lot of people think the Gorerotted song “Masticated By The Spasticated” is me poking fun at the disabled, but it’s actually based on the scene in “Bad Taste” where the guy is in the cooking pot surrounded by those weird alien jokers. Gorerotted had a sick sense of humour, but as I approach 30, it’s not something I’m interested in anymore. The humour in The Rotted is a lot more subtle, but still very much there, because it’s a part of me. I have a very cynical, sarcastic sense of humour that’s typical of many Brits.

UK Subs released their 23rd album in January 2011. Do you see yourself doing extreme music at the age of Charlie Harper who is an incredible 67-years-old?
He’s 67!? Jesus, he looks good for his age! Charlie’s a living legend, he’s an icon, the Lemmy of the punk scene, and there’s very few of those kinds of people in music, proper lifers who don’t abandon their principles, but instead keep on doing what they were born to do. I think both those guys will make music until they drop dead, and fucking good on the pair of them! Me? Who knows, in today’s climate I’d be surprised if I was still doing this shit next year hahaha.

London is a massive pot of people from all over the world. Do you think mostly English go to see The Rotted live?
I think our audience represents London’s population pretty well, many English people, but also lots of Polish, Czech, Russian, South American, Indian, Italian and Spanish people too. London’s a good place for people to settle, and there are metal, punk and hardcore shows every night of the week, so it’s not surprising so many metalheads from around the world choose to live here.

What’s the progress on the new record? When can we expect it? Working title yet?
It’s all recorded, we’re just waiting for it to be mastered. I can’t give away too much, but what I will say is that it’s the perfect mix of death metal, black metal, d-beat and hardcore punk! No trendy shit, no stupid shreds or breakdowns, just kick-ass, heavy as hell, catchy verse/chorus/verse tracks!

Does working with a guy like Russ Russell behind the recording table make the process much easier? Does he give hints and directions about what you should change etc?
He’s a real asset, yes he does put his input in and if we had done it ourselves at the computer at home, the songs would still be great but they wouldn’t have come out as well as they have! I’d recommend Russ to any band out there, if he likes your music, he’ll put everything he’s got into making it a success!

Since John “Gian” Pyres left you’re a quartet. Does it make your new stuff simpler?
No, not at all, Tim has always been the principal songwriter. With no disrespect to Gian, most people tell us it’s better with just the four of us, we don’t need two guitarists with what we do, the whole thing’s tighter and it allows the bass guitar to really break through. The balance is just a lot better and everything runs a lot smoother now, which is why we didn’t choose to replace him. We didn’t want to upset the chemistry we have with each other –both personally and in terms of writing.

Do you practise a lot of your guttural growls? Don’t tell me it came to you as a natural talent!
I wouldn’t call my vocal style guttural anymore like the guys from Disgorge or Devourment, but when it was more like that, I found it a lot easier. Anyone can make a low rumbling sound with their throat after trying out a few techniques, but the sheer volume and aggression that I use now takes a million times more effort than before, and it really wipes me out! If I didn’t have such a good diet, or keep fit, I’d be fucked!I So lots of warming up before the show and keeping in good shape is the key! If you come off stage and you don’t need to collapse, then you haven’t given it enough effort!

Do you have any interest in football? What club do you support?
Not really, I became obsessed with music at a really young age so football never really stood a chance, but my granddad played for the West Ham United youth team and my girlfriend’s brother plays for Yeovil Town so those are the two clubs I like to win!

There is a pretty prominent hardcore London label called Rucktion. They release stuff like Six Feet Ditch, Knuckledust or Ninebar. Do you feel connected to that scene as well as the metal one?
No, not really. I’m a big fan of Knuckledust’s music and I’ve got a lot of respect for Rucktion, they’re a brotherhood that are responsible for a huge part of the UK hardcore scene, but the metal and hardcore scenes are pretty separate here, which is a shame. I’d love to see more mixed bills, in the Gorerotted days we did a duel headline show with Knuckledust but the metalheads went to the bar during Knuckledust’s set, and the hardcore dudes went to the bar during our set, which is kinda lame really. Metal’s my thing, I’ll be a metalhead until the day I die, but I love hardcore bands like Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags and Bad Brains too, and I think if people opened their minds a bit they’d find a lot to enjoy there as well.

Trud your bass player is a tattoo artist. Does he usually tattoo the guys from the scene? Did he do all of your ink?
He did my family tribute piece all over my lower leg, and the Black Flag tattoo on my neck, and he also did all of Tim’s pieces. He’s about to do Nate’s first piece too. Every few months I see his latest work and it’s even better than the last, he’s come a long way in five years so I've got many more plans for him to do on me! He’s also doing the artwork for the new album, which is great, yet again that’s another aspect of our band we handle ourselves. Complete control! Anybody interested can check him out at http://www.facebook.com/reverendtrudgilltattooist

What’s the weirdest tattoo he's ever done?
I know he tattooed “I Fucked Your Mum” on some guys arse, who the following weekend actually fucked one of his friend’s mums which is pretty clever. Some guy also had his ex-wife’s name “Mari” tattooed on him, so Trud altered it to say “Calamari and Chips” instead!

MASSEMORD – Sworn to the Black

2011-02-25T18:52:00.002+01:00

From the depths of Poland’s Silesia comes the black metal bastard of Massemord. A band of attitude and nonconformism. Their two heavy strikes of albums – “Let the World Burn” (2007) and “The Whore of Hate” (2008) – chopped off the ears and carved out the eyes in a hyperblasting fashion of brutality. Their latest offering, released in late 2010, „The Madness Tongue Devouring Juices of Livid Hope” is a monstrous slab of drug overdose, hypnotic tempos and nihilism. Vocalist Namtar answered the questions about Massemord as well Furia, those black metal primitives whose line-up consists of four fifths of Massemord.

Your latest album „The Madness Tongue Devouring Juices of Livid Hope” is one 35-minute-long track. Is it a form of rejection of metal clichés and routines?
I didn't know there were any routines in metal. Maybe that's because I always liked „Deathcrush” and „Filosofem” at the same time. We don't do anything just for sake of it. We didn't want to piss off people on purpose. The form of the latest album came out naturally and it didn't take us a great deal of time to make it what it is. Our guitarist Nihil came up with the idea and we were blown away. The first listening was overwhelming. People see it as a manifesto, as a sort of provocation but it was only our state of mind in 2010. Our e-fans on the internet say that now it's hard to predict what we're going to do on the next album. No comment.

How did you manage not to play a single blast beat in more than half an hour?
Priest our drummer recorded the whole thing playing with just one hand. We had to cuff the other one to the radiator, so you can hear on the album that he’s fighting with it. There was a bet. He lost it so he had to accept the fact that he wouldn’t be showing off on this one. To give him some extra shit we fucked up the sound of his drums on purpose.

Have you already played „The Madness Tongue...” live in its entirety?
We're thinking about it but we're not sure that the world is ready yet. And there really aren’t enough drugs going around at the moment to take such a show, and even if we had the right resources we would probably use them ourselves and get fucked up to death.

Could you summarize Massemord's and Furia's 2010?
We were mainly under the influence of Basshunter last year. I think we didn't meet expectations with both bands, since we recorded stuff people hardly accepted. We gave blast beats a miss this time. The most sophisticated technique wasn't our goal either. We skipped the promo photo sessions again. The rest remained the same, just another year closer to death.

Can you actually speak about any sort of success in terms of such extreme bands as Massemord or Furia?
It's not up to me to estimate that. I don't really know what success means. Is it a couple of thousands of albums sold or listens on last.fm? Those figures are an abstraction. If you check how many people come to our shows, our popularity is somehow countable but the result is pretty shitty. Success to me is artistic freedom. We don't give a toss about anything. We only care about what we want to do.

Does black metal allow that artistic freedom? Did you ever say during rehearsal: „this bit is not black metal enough, let's forget it”?
We have never done such a thing. It doesn't matter to us if our music isn't what black metal people generally expect. We don't lose any sleep over that. Anything we do, it's always going to be black metal. We're the apostles of the new religion, which is overcoming the limits and weaknesses of the social norms, standards and conventions that make us what we are. We have defined the barriers of what we do and it's a sort of our quasi-ideology.

Do you care about reviews and the press? Do you feel misunderstood?
We feel that constantly. We don't need to read any reviews to feel it. We have created a vehicle, which is going very fast and no one is able to keep up with us. It's sometimes even hard for us. We're chasing each other because we tend to easily go off and depart into absurdity. We are usually seen as icons or bored artists, but we don't care about any of that.

Massemord is almost ten years old. Are you slowly coming to an end with it?
Well, Massemord was formed around 2002, that was a big break, we got enlightened. Nihil had most of the rotten ideas in his head and they exploded. Everything we do is spontaneous and we don't store music. We write, play and record on the spot. It's all in the moment. We might be doing it until we shit ourselves or die.

Being a metal-head in conservative, catholic Poland was always tough. Did it change in the last ten years?
Fuck the metal-heads. I don't give a fuck about that. We tend not to be associated with any group or sub-culture since we don't identify with them. Metal-heads say one should be against the dogmas and the preaching of the priesthood, but look how serious and important it is for them to maintain the metal dress-code. It's ridiculous. If you stand for individuality, just be yourself – that's it. To make it clear: I'm for individualism but not for the tolerance of somebody else's individualism [laughing].

Gene Hoglan said drumming is mainly a mental, not a physical activity. How are you doing behind the drums in Furia?
I think he could use some physical exercises because his figure looks grotesque behind the drum set. Which doesn't change the fact that his skills rule and, compared to him, I'm only an average craftsman, a vocalist who was trying to kill time when the guitarists were boring me to death writing riffs. That was a couple of years ago and I'm still making a little progress from time to time. My drumming is quite shitty, so for me it's still 100% physical. It's a pleasant struggle against the weakness of my body.

It seems that Darkthrone are doing everything to put off as many listeners as possible with their latest offerings. Do you think people would still make a fuss about their newer records if it was some other band?
Since Immanuel Kant, it's a well-known fact that it's a subject who decides about the aesthetic value of the object. I don't care if people like the newer Darkthrone. I respect the guys for being against the trends, the clear production and being true to fake origins of black metal. On the other hand, I don't think Fenriz cares about messing with anybody. He just does what he feels like doing. But you're partly right – if not for the Darkthrone logo, their stuff would probably be forgotten the second it was released. The same story with Vader – it doesn't matter they have recorded the same album for the seventh time – people will still get really excited about it.

What records inspired Massemord?
There’s a ton of them. I could name hundreds literally. If you want me to give you a concrete answer, I'm going to say that the Norwegian scene was a big sick influence on us. Nihil and myself were devastated by „Nattestid Ser Porten Vid” [1999 album by Taake] and we were listening to it in almost the same place it was recorded.

You're involved in lots of bands. Do you have any spare time for a social life?
I don't have a regular job and have no family either, except for my far cousins from Finlandia and Russia. I'm not really that busy with the bands. Most of them don't consume so much time. I'm not chasing new projects, I'm not really writing any music and I don't need new friends. I like to do something cool but only if the people involved are representing what I respect.

Are there many underrated band on the Polish scene?
I would rather say there are lots of overrated ones. Metal-heads usually have shitty taste and they often don’t see the real value of music. Most of the bands have a PR specialist because it's publicity that counts. We don't give a toss. If they want to participate in such a scene they're free to do so but we're walking away from this. I'm not going to tell you what bands are underrated in my opinion because I don't want to promote anyone. Every band for themselves. They need to work hard and gain respect.

Does the industrial character of Silesia make an impact on your music?
It's hard to say but I'm sure everything we experience makes our music and lyrics the way they are. We're surrounded by the forests of factory chimneys, grey snow and environmental and social degradation. It's difficult not to be influenced by it. Silesia is important to us. It has chosen us. It wasn’t our decision. Coal mines, which are here in high numbers, make this place closer to hell and that might be the reason that Silesia is that way. Anyway, we hate the people from outside of Silesia.

HOODED MENACE – Rituals of Doom

2011-02-15T18:07:00.000+01:00

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the doomiest of them all? If the Magic Mirror knows what the game is all about, it shouldn’t be difficult for it to point to Hooded Menace. The lakes, woods, caves and graves of Finland where the Eyeless Horde lives are also home to the filthiest creation of extreme doom metal that the world was punished by in the last couple of years. Two gargantuan albums, “Fulfill the Curse” (2008) and “Never Cross the Dead” (2010), exterminated most of the potential competition with the outstanding style of their old school song-writing, horror-worship and crushing heaviness and groove. The band’s mastermind Lasse Pyykkö, who is absolutely no newcomer to metal, having been involved before in such groups as Phlegethon, Acid Witch or Vacant Coffin, talks about the reality of doom.

Doom metal is sometimes understood as a state of mind. What emotions and events drove you to the point where you created Hooded Menace?
Lasse: Simply the need to play something crushingly heavy and slow stuff led to the birth of Hooded Menace. I have always dug the rugged and forlorn vibe of doom. I craved to play some slow heavy stuff that oozes thick atmosphere and melts your face off. Not to forget good compositions... real songs.

Hooded Menace was formed in 2007 and it's a relatively young band. Did you have any basic ideas for its sound in your head for years before 2007?
Lasse: I guess the basic ideas have been hiding in the back of my brain for many years actually. A few riffs on "Fulfill the Curse" are taken from the songs I wrote for Phlegethon "Promo 95". If I had formed Hooded Menace say sometime in the 90's I don't think the compositions would have been much different. Candlemass, Paradise Lost, Autopsy... that's what I grew up with and that's definitely where I would have drawn the influences from if I had a death/doom band. Phlegethon had a little bit of these influences.

Hooded Menace artworks are top-notch. You take good care of the way your records and merch look. Who are you co-operating with on that matter?
Lasse: Thanks! We have been working with artists such as Putrid, Eric Engelmann, Rafal Kruszyk, Daniel Desecrator, Justin Bartlett, Adam Geyer, Daniel Devilish... It's really important to us to have a decent design for everything we put out. Good art belongs to good heavy metal. The art already creates a certain kind of atmosphere around the band. The artists we work with "get" what Hooded Menace are all about so working with them is easy.

Playing very fast blastbeats and breakdowns is naturally, physically difficult. Is playing very slow difficult too? Maybe it is, but in a different way?
Lasse: Yeah, in a different way... it can be a bit difficult for a band to hit the notes exactly at the same time at really slow tempos. It's easier to hear if you miss a note in doom than if you miss a note in grindcore. I'm not saying that it needs to be "perfect" but I like our songs pretty tight. Surely this is not music for players who want to go for crazy solos and drum fills and stuff like that just to show off. This needs a different kind of approach really. It's about real songs and the crushing weight of sound produced by a few guys playing together as a solid unit.

You started Phlegethon at the age of 14. How did it all happen? What was the main inspiration? Did you have a clue how to play?
Lasse: We were a bunch of kids into fast and heavy music. All of us had been playing instruments for some time already before forming the band. Bands like Slayer and Death were probably the most important to us at the beginning but of course there were others also such as Kreator, Sepultura, Coroner, Bathory, Sacrifice... Actually we did have a clue how to play and I guess we were pretty okay players for our own age.

You released „Visio Dei Beatifica”, your first Phlegethon demo in 1989. That was only a year after Darkthrone's first demo „Land of Frost”. Back in the day, did you know their records, were you in touch with them?
Lasse: I don't think we knew Darkthrone when we put out our first demo but of course very soon we would and did. The first Darkthrone stuff I heard was the "Cromlech" tape that Teemu (our contact guy back in the day) bought/traded from somewhere. As far as I remember we weren't in contact with Darkthrone at the time. "Cromlech" blew me away and I was really looking forward to their debut album and picked up "Soulside Journey" fresh from the print. Great album indeed. Very impressive and cool drumming from Fenriz and some awesome doomy moments also. I'd say you can hear a little bit of that early Darkthrone influence in Hooded Menace.

In Claws, you handle all the instruments including drums, guitar, bass and vocal duties. Are you that talented or didn't you want to bother finding anyone who's up to playing with you?
Lasse: I bought a new drum kit (I had sold the old kit years ago) a few years back, had fun playing and soon thought that maybe I should record an album and play all the instruments by myself. So I went for this really raw and ugly death metal solo project called Claws. I don´t regard myself as an "multi-instrumentalist" as I can play drums and guitar only. I'm not even that great a drummer, guitarist or vocalist but I knew I was good enough to handle everything in Claws. It was supposed to be really raw and a little bit of sloppiness wasn't going to bother me. The album and the 7" came out really cool so I'm happy I decided to go solo.

What is your favourite instrument? Which was the first one? Which one do you practice the most often?
Lasse: I write the songs on guitar so that's definitely my favourite instrument. An acoustic guitar was my first instrument. I don't practice actually. Well, before the Claws project I practiced drums a bit because I was horribly rusty. I learned guitar by writing songs basically. I never practiced scales or any of that boring stuff.

If you had to choose one movie, would it be „The Exorcist” or „Omen” and why?
Lasse: I like them both but I'll go with "The Exorcist". It's creepier and grosser. The soundtrack is killer too.

You have left Acid Witch. What's the history behind that band and why do you no longer participate?
Lasse: Dave formed Acid Witch sometime in 2007. At first he only had some instrumental tunes on Acid Witch myspace and I told him I liked what he had there. He liked the idea of getting someone to growl to his songs and the next thing I knew I was in the band. I left Acid Witch because I wanted to focus on my own bands. You know, Acid Witch is Dave's brainchild and he writes the music. I was "just" a singer. I guess I simply got a bit tired of singing the stuff. They also wanted to start playing gigs and that could not happen with me as I live in Finland and the rest of the guys are in the US. Now with Dave on vocals they sound just as good as ever. Actually I think Dave's vocals fit better to Acid Witch than mine.

Sweden has got Nihilist, Dismember, Entombed. Norway has got Mayhem, Darkthrone, Satyricon. What bands and what people were the most important to the Finnish metal scene in the early stages?
Lasse: Tapetraders like Luxi and Jami Lahtinen were active and significant characters in the scene. Also “Isten” mag needs to be mentioned. As for the important, early death metal bands, there was Funebre, Xysma (not really death metal but one of the most momentous bands in the scene) and Abhorrence. Soon Sentenced, Amorphis, Demigod and others followed. What was really cool back in the day was that the bands had their own individual sound. Everything was exciting and small... pretty much everyone knew each other and played with each other. Indeed, some unforgettable death metal was created during those early years in Finland. Late birds who missed those early days and are now in their mid-30's or something raving about how "real" and "by the book" their bands are make me laugh. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that more bands play "old school" metal but I don't get what all that loud mouthing is about. In my opinion, it only shows how uncertain these people are in fact.

Finland has popular bands such as Amorphis, Children of Bodom, Rotten Sound and Impaled Nazarene, but compared to Sweden or Norway the scene seems to be really small. How does it look from your perspective?
Lasse: I don't follow these things too much. But yeah I guess the Swedish scene is a bit bigger as it has always been, but Norway and Finland are pretty fifty-fifty. Maybe they have more black metal in Norway or at least they are more known for it, but we have more death metal in Finland. That's the impression I have got. Not that it matters to me though. Anyway in Finland metal is huge. A phenomenon... a folk music really. So kids are excited and encouraged to start metal bands, more gigs are arranged and so forth. Of course this spawns a lot of crap but there can always be a few diamonds among the garbage.

RAFAL KRUSZYK – Death Metal Cult

2011-02-04T21:05:00.000+01:00

The metal cover arts were always as important as the music itself. Images of suffering, horror, death and mutilation are just an inseparable part of the whole genre. Maybe a bit kitschy, but how awesome? Rafal Kruszyk from Poland is an underground graphic artist who has been haunting our eyes for some time now. His obsession with old school death metal, zombies and pure evil made him a recognizable producer of graphics for such killer bands as Hooded Menace, Interment or Nunslaughter to mention just a few. Rafal answers to a couple of short questions.

When did you start?
Rafal: I never wanted to be just a passive listener. I always wanted to do something more. I started drawing when I saw this "cover" generator in Photoshop and other shit. It all started around 2001. In the beginning I met Tom of Throneum and Time Before Time Records and I drew mostly for him. Later Nunslaughter came along and a lot of other underground bands. Apocalypse keeps going!

How do you work?

Rafal: I simply start with a piece of paper. Do a draft first with a set of fine-tip pens. Then scanning and the addition of a colour or two on the computer. I'm not an artist, just a death metal maniac! In general I specialize in raw and minimalistic artworks for EPs, splits, demos and t-shirts. I don't really like making complicated pictures for full-lengths as it is very time-consuming and I get bored very quickly.

What inspires you?

Rafal: I'm interested in many different things besides music. I draw for the metal scene so my inspiration can only be one thing and that’s METAL! Mainly the old raw stuff from the ‘80s and a whole load of other underground bands.

What bands have you drawn for?

Rafal: There is a lot of stuff but 99.99% of it is for death metal monstrosities like Cianide, Nunslaughter, Throneum, Hooded Menace, Maim, Interment, Regurgitate, Bonesaw, Coffins, Decrepitaph, Machetazo and many more. I can't stop! I'm addicted!

What bands would you love to draw for?

Rafal: For lots of new sick and obscene death metal bands, but also for some rock'n'roll bands in the vein of Zeke and Motörhead.

What graphic artists inspire you?

Rafal: Ed Repka for the best death metal artwork ever! I'm of course talking about „Scream Bloody Gore”! Also Matthew "Putrid" Carr mostly for his work for Hooded Menace, Anatomia, Nunlaughter and Impetigo – masterpieces! At this moment he's the best. Nicke Andersson and his pervert art from demo tapes and fliers when the Swedish scene was growing. Comic artists like Berni Wrightson, Mike Mignola, Paul Azaceta, Eduardo Risso or Shane Oakley. Once I was under the big influence of H.R.Giger and Zdzislaw Beksinski (R.I.P.) but with time my style has become simpler. However, I really appreciate those two artists.

Your top-three best cover-artworks ever?

Rafal: Three perfect records and three perfect covers that give atmosphere to the albums are: Death „Scream Bloody Gore”, Kreator „Pleasure to Kill” and Mercyful Fate „Don't Break the Oath”.

Lasse Pyykkö of Hooded Menace / Phlegethon / Vacant Coffin:

I don't remember exactly who contacted who first. The first thing Rafal drew for Hooded Menace was "The Chalice" design. It came out awesome. He has been drawing us a lot of art just for the fun of it as he's a fan of the band and obviously quite obsessed with expressing himself with all this grotesque illustration. Not only is he a great talent but also an easy-going and fun-to-work-with guy with great taste in music. If we collected all the Hooded Menace art together it'd be safe to say most of the stuff would be Rafal's work as he's been very productive and just possessed to draw! We've been lucky to have Rafal and all these other great artists and cool people working for us.

Johan Jansson of Interment / Centinex / Regurgitate:
A friend of mine, Andy from EveryDayHate Records, recommended Rafal to me. I contacted him to do the artwork for „Into the Crypts of Blasphemy” album and the final result kills! He has also done some cool Interment t-shirts. I really like his old school style with the skulls and zombies.

Elektrokutioner of Decrepitaph / Encoffination / Father Befouled:
We've worked with Rafal many times and he always does top notch quality work! Also, he gets art done in a timely manner too, which we really appreciate! We love working with him with Decrepitaph and I personally have worked with him on other projects too and he always provides just what we're looking for.

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Check out more graphics by Rafal Kruszyk at www.myspace.com/rafalkruszyk

HAIL OF BULLETS – Messengers of Destruction

2011-01-30T23:38:00.000+01:00

Bringing back the old school death metal vibe became a bit of an underground trend in the last couple of years. But who does it better and more sincerely than the old school bastards themselves? If names such as Asphyx, Gorefest, Pestilence or Thanatos mean something to you, the Dutch supergroup Hail of Bullets should have been on your wall since its formation in 2006. Two releases in that period – their debut „...Of Frost and War” and sophomore „On Divine Winds” – filled the gap before the new Bolt Thrower record with massive riff-work, war drums and the voice of ex-Thrower frontman Martin van Drunen. Drum master Ed Warby tells the story of the band.

Hail of Bullets achieved quite a reputation in a short period and became a pretty important band. Did you start HoB with the intention of doing anything else apart just one album?
Ed: When we started the idea was to get a good record deal as fast as we could and take it from there. At the time Gorefest was still my main band, and HoB a fun thing on the side. Gradually this changed until it got to the point where I enjoyed being in HoB more than Gorefest and I think the band exceeded the other guys’ expectations as well, so the mission was extended indefinitely!

Stephane Gebedi started with Thanatos in 1984, Martin van Drunen joined Asphyx in 1990, Paul Baayens was with Cremation from 1993, Theo van Eekelen and Judgement Day started in 1988, you and Gorefest kicked off in 1989. To summarize the above – you are a band of the old death metal bastards who dedicated their lives to brutal extreme music. Does it still feel the same way as in the early days?
Ed: No, not at all. Back then it was just about the music, the underground was extremely active and the whole atmosphere was carefree and inspired. Nowadays it’s more about image and marketing, of course we don’t play along with that cause we’re old fuckers! One of the reasons for starting HoB was to bring back the old school vibe, well-crafted songs and riffs, and real brutality instead of just trying to be the fastest band alive.

Compared to your original bands, was formation of Hail of Bullets a different process? Did you talk about it with the guys a lot in the past or you just met over beer and started writing songs straight away?
Ed: I know Steph had the idea for a long time and he basically hand-picked the other guys. The formation was very different because we didn’t really know each other, and to solve this we decided to go out drinking first. We had a great night and the chemistry was obviously there, so the next morning we got out a camera and took our first bandshots without having played a note together! Fortunately I had a bunch of songs and riffs that were perfect for this new band and the rest as they say is history.

Was there anything to improve on „On Divine Winds” compared to the first record? Could it have been your first album and „...Of Frost and War” your second?
Ed: The improvement is in the details, stylistically we’ve moved toward a slightly more epic, majestic sound but most of the progress can be found in the arrangements, vocal lines, production/mix etc. To me „...Of Frost And War” sounds a bit rawer, while „On Divine Winds” has a more professional sheen to it. I don’t think they’re interchangable as such.

Did the concept of „...Of Frost and War” come first or did you write some songs and only then decide to make it a war-on-the-eastern-front-themed album?
Ed: When Martin heard the first demo I made he said it sounded like war, and since he’d always wanted to do a concept album about the Eastern Front the whole thing evolved naturally. One of those early songs was „General Winter” and the combination of music and lyrics worked so well on it that we continued in the same direction with the rest of the material. Because of this we were able to fine-tune the songs to Martin’s outline for the concept, which made it a very coherent album instead of the pretentious mess it could have been.

Who writes the lyrics for Hail of Bullets and is there much historical research involved in the process?
Ed: Martin writes all lyrics and his research borders on obsession, he literally devours tons of books and documentaries and even went so far as talking to actual veterans for the first album and visiting the US fleet for the second. One of the greatest compliments we received was from a history teacher who used „...Of Frost And War” for one of his lessons. How cool is that?

What are the chances for a HoB album focused on Operation Overlord? If not, what other theatres of World War II are in your sights?
Ed: I think Martin would find that too obvious and therefore not challenging enough, right now he’s focusing on another aspect of the war that should make a good concept but I can’t tell you what it is yet... don’t want to see a Sabaton album next year with the same theme, haha!

You have gathered an impressive collection of sexy female fans to present the HoB merch on the band's myspace page. Did they start sending the photos themselves or did you have to make them do it somehow? How can women get attracted to such filthy sounds anyway?
Ed: It’s amazing isn’t it? That’s mostly Stephan’s project, I think it started with the girl that inspired our first girlie design and more girls contributed. That’s one major difference with the late 80’s/early 90’s, women at death metal shows, and lots too!

I need to ask you about the „Warsaw Rising” EP as I'm Polish. Putting all the heroism and bravery aside, do you think it was a good decision to give the order for the Warsaw Rising in 1944? There is a theory saying that if the Poles didn't fight, a whole generation might have been saved (over 200.000 people died in the rising in fact).
Ed: I wish I could say something sensible about this, and I did read some about the background when we released the EP, but I don’t know a fraction of what Martin knows about this. I do think it’s impossible to look at this without taking heroism and bravery into account, better to die on your feet than to live on your knees... but that’s easy for me to say, I wasn’t there and neither were my (grand)parents. In the grand scheme of things it was a major event, even if it wasn’t successful strategically.

The Metal Archives website names twelve bands that you have been involved in over the years, which is probably some sort of a record if you don't count Dan Swano. What moments of your career would you consider as your high-points?
Ed: Really twelve? That’s probably including my very first band that I started when I was 12, haha! I guess my past is just more well-documented. My years with Gorefest are obviously a high-point, the Dynamo Open Air Performance (captured on the „Eindhoven Insanity” CD) and the US tour with Death in particular. The Star One (Ayreon) tour we did in 2002 was an incredible experience, and lastly I should mention the first The 11th Hour gig in 2009 at the Dutch Doom Days. That was the first time I ever went on stage with a guitar instead of drumsticks and I died a thousand deaths but I loved it. It was a very emotional show because my sister was in the audience and much of the album is about her and our parents (r.i.p.) and as long as I live I will not forget that night.

You're one of not many death metal drummers using headphones during live shows. How do they better your performance?
Ed: Actually, they’re not headphones but ear protection. With Gorefest I used real headphones for in-ear monitoring but I couldn’t get used to it. I have a massive case of tinnitus (damage caused by noise) and since I don’t play well with earplugs I accidentally discovered that wearing headphones works really well for me. The ones I use are specifically made as ear protection for drummers, they don’t have speakers. It may look funny, but at least my hearing won’t get worse than it already is.

Did you see the HBO war mini-series „The Pacific”? Why the fuck didn't you get to sell „On Divine Winds” as a soundtrack to it?
Ed: Haven’t seen it, sorry. When we started working on the „On Divine Winds” album I read about the series, it just started in the US then. At first I was kinda bummed about it because people would think we were inspired by it, but then I figured it couldn’t hurt. I don’t think Steven Spielberg would like to use a death metal soundtrack though.

If I say that Hail of Bullets is the greatest tribute to the Bolt Thrower style, what would your reaction be?
Ed: I think we’re more of a tribute to the classic death metal style, but to me Bolt Thrower is the ultimate death metal war machine and I can’t deny they’re a big influence. But so are Autopsy, Entombed, Celtic Frost, (early) Death, Massacre, etc.

Your other band The 11th Hour is a traditional doom effort. Have you always been a fan of a slower and more atmospheric vibe? What inspired you to start The 11th Hour? Eleven other bands were not enough?
Ed: Yes, ever since I heard Trouble and Candlemass I’ve loved doom. Never thought about making it myself until I started playing guitar though. The 11th Hour was inspired by Rogga Johansson (my Swedish doom partner) who wanted to do a doom project with me on drums, but it mutated into something very different and utterly personal. It’s a great way to deal with some stuff that’s been haunting me as well as indulge in the more melancholy side of my musical personality.

The 11th Hour is almost a one-man project because you take care of the all of the instruments and most of the vocals. What's the difference between composing for The 11th Hour compared to the way you work with HoB or Gorefest? Do you feel more free as you don't have to look to any other band-members?
Ed: The 11th Hour, for better or worse, is 100% what I want it to be since I make all artistic decisions and play almost everything. Writing for HoB is different because I have to take four other people into account and while I write about 70% of the music it’s obviously more of a group effort. Fortunately we have pretty much the same taste, something that was not the case in Gorefest so that was by far the most difficult band to write for. By the way, The 11th Hour exists on two levels, in the studio it’s just me and Rogga but since the release of the debut album “Burden of Grief” it has also grown into a live band featuring members of Officium Triste, Cirrha Niva and my ex-Gorefest buddy guitarist Frank Harthoorn. On drums I have my old friend Dirk Bruinenberg who already replaced me in Elegy in 1993.

BEATEN BACK TO PURE - To Live and Die in Dixie

2011-01-23T19:59:00.003+01:00

„I bet you can squeal like a pig. Weeeeeeee!” - that quote from John Boorman's 1972 masterpiece „Deliverance” represents a common view of the Deep South of the US with its eerie environment and rough inhabitants hostile to all strangers. Ben Hogg, vocalist on duty with southern metallers Beaten Back To Pure who fouled this world with nasty records like "Southern Apocalypse”, as well as frontman of all-star thrash/sludge outfit Birds Of Prey where he bangs his head alongside none other than Erik Larson and Dave Witte, proves that people of the south are not what they are stereotypicaly thought to be. I asked Ben about the future of BBTP and his other bands.

Beaten Back To Pure released its last album so far „The Burning South” in 2004 and it was a hell of a banger. Do you have any desire to make another record together again in the future?
Ben: Man, we've been trying. We had a change at the drum throne this year so that has moved things along on a faster track. Perhaps we've let our side projects get in the way somewhat but we love each other and jamming together. Shit, I've moved seven hours away from our „home base” and I still have every intention of doing my parts when they are ready for me. I think we've got nine songs together for this one. I still got some words to write. All this moving and shit made me pretty slack.

Is it going to be very similar to „The Burning South” with its bluesy, swampy, dirty sound?
Ben: Yeah, we haven't reinvented ourselves, although there are new elements. If the people liked the last couple of records they will probably like this one too. The working title for the album is „Southern By The Disgrace of God”.

Does your band-name mean something specific or is it a word play?
Ben: Mostly just word play. Most people think it has racist overtones, but they are wrong. The name existed prior to us using the confederate flag as imagery. Perhaps that is an unfortunate combination, but fuck anybody that gets caught up in that shit. It's rock and roll, not social commentary. Me and Vince Burke [guitar-player] came up with the name over some beers back in 1998 or so at a bar named Rosy's. It was probably our tenth name we presented to the band mates of the moment and I'm shocked it's the one that stuck.

You managed to complete three albums with Birds Of Prey in only four years. Concerning how busy the guys are, that's pretty impressive. What made you work so fast?
Ben: Well, Birds Of Prey don't take a ton of time in the writing process. Bo Leslie and Erik Larson (guitar-players) write a bunch of what they deem „metal” riffs that don't really have a place in their daily bands [Alabama Thunderpussy and The Last Van Zant], they get together over some beer and arrange them and then we add Dave Witte [drummer of Municipal Waste, Burnt By The Sun] and Summer Welch [bass-player of Baroness] to the mix. All those dudes are completely pro, so they tend to know shit from shine-ola. We then schedule studio time and get the damn thing done.

Who were the first band that started playing sludge metal? Who came up with the genre's name?
Ben: I dunno. Buzzoven and EyeHateGod were definitely at the forefront but they were influenced by somebody. Maybe just Sabbath and punk rock mixed up. As far as the name „sludge metal”, fucked if I know.

Being from Poland that north vs south issue is a bit unclear. All we've heard about is alligators and the civil war. What does it mean to be a southerner?
Ben: It's a general distrust of those we view as „yankees”, who in turn look down their noses at us „hillbillies”. There is still a lot of „fuck you” in the air. I like that. Watch that documentary „Slow Southern Steel” that is being edited as I type this. It's a project of CT from Rwake and Karim from I'm Better Than Everyone Records. There are bound to be thirty different answers to this very same question.

What does Dixieland mean to the people of the south?
Ben: Are you asking me about the song „Dixieland”? Dixie is just another name for the south. Specifically the confederate states. Fuck Kentucky. Sellout motherfuckers. The song is catchy though. „Look away, look away, look away dixieland”.

You have been talking about the reissue of BBTP albums for some time. What's the status on that?
Ben: Originally we were contacted by Relapse because they bought out the old Retribute Records catalog. Unfortunately it looks like it's only gonna be digital versions of the old records with a few exceptions (Rwake's „Hell Is a Door to the Sun”, notably, excellent record). So it appears that that is what's happening with that.

You are also doing the death metal thing with Plague The Suffering. Your 2008 demo „As Bodies Wash Ashore” was quite brutal. Will you go further with the next record?
Ben: Man, when I moved from Virginia that was possibly my biggest regret, I never took them dudes where I thought I'd be able to. I assumed I'd have us a record deal in six months from when I joined and it never materialized. Honestly, drugs really started messing the chemistry of that band up and it became less awesome. When we started, make no mistake, the songs were awesome, but as time tends to do your material can become „dated”. C'est la vie. I do hope they continue on and if I can help them in anyway I will gladly do it. Good dudes in that band too. I've gotten really lucky over the years.

How does a regular day in your hometwon of Norfolk, Virginia look like if you're not doing a gig or a tour?
Ben: In Norfolk I worked as a locksmith for fourteen years. I recently quit, sold my worldly possessions and moved to the mountains of North Carolina. My workday will now consist of scrapping metal and running shine I suppose. We'll see.

Films such as „Deliverance” or „Southern Comfort” try to show the south as dirty, wild and dangerous. Is there a bit of truth in those movies?
Ben: Personally, I have not yet been raped by hill folks or done any raping, so I can't attest to that aspect. Compared to Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles (Compton), Baltimore or Washington DC, it's not any more dangerous. Just a different style of danger.

Where were your last couple of gigs? Where did you play and how did it go?
Ben: My last show was with Plague The Suffering at a venue in Virginia Beach opening for Crowbar. We were awful. Sloppy, fucked up, it was disappointing. Apparently the drummer couldn't hear the guitars but neglected to lemme know so I could tell the sound guy. It was a fucking mess. Some of those songs we had been playing for ages and to fuck it up on that level sucked. We went over pretty well though. Virginia Beach is filled with shitty bands so when anything happens that isn't super-shitty, people are stoked. It was too big a crowd and my going out show, I wish it had gone better. I did fuck with the set-list at the last second and that may have thrown the dudes off too. What's done is done.

When was the last Beaten Back To Pure gig and what songs did you play?
Ben: I'm not 100% sure. It was something local in Virginia. Our setlist has some of the following normally: „One Shovel and a Place to Die”, „Last Refuge of the Sons of Bitches”, „Wheels Coming Off”, „Smothered in Sundress”, „Whores Bath”, „American Vermin”, „Where the Sewer Meets the Sea”, „Tremors Beneath the Skin”... shit like that. „Paleface” sometimes. Some other shit.

What is your favourite Black Sabbath record and why?
Ben: Man, that's tough. I really liked „Born Again”. It was my first Sabbath exposure, I was twelve. But as I went backwards I guess „Master of Reality” might win. Or „Vol. 4”. I loved that savage nasty production. „Sabotage” has some high points as well. I own them all, so I have no need to pick favorites. What is not my favorite is anything after „Born Again”. „Tyr” and „Headless Cross”, etc...

Your three favourite records of 2010?
Ben: Hmmmm... I haven't listened to as much music this year as in years past, but lemme see. I liked the new Burzum and Beherit records a lot. Freakhate had a killer album I think it came out in 2010 [„It Comes from the Grave” came out in late 2009]. New Cough is killer. I have yet to hear new Electric Wizard, probably great. That's a few I think most of ya'll should be familiar with. If ya ain't heard Freakhate, you should. Sick.

GOD DETHRONED - Barbed Wire Death Metal Warfare

2011-01-15T09:05:00.002+01:00

Some bands are just as tireless and determined as Sisyphus. Dutch death-dealers God Dethroned are for sure such a band. Spitting out extreme album after album for two decades has to bring some serious respect in the metal underground. They haven't rested much since the 2009 album “Passiondale”, returning to the studio and completing another piece of death metal warfare with their ninth record “Under the Sign of the Iron Cross”, which with “Bloody Blasphemy” is their top effort to date. Bass-player Henk “Henke” Zinger discusses about the band.

In 2011 God Dethroned will be 20-years-old. That's a pretty impressive achievement. You are a very hard-working band too. Nine full-lengths is much more than others are able to produce in even more than two decades. Where do you get that energy and inspiration from, what drives you?
Henke: Love for the music I guess. There’s not really an explanation to be honest. We are not dependent on the income of the band, so it’s still kind of a hobby. When you have to tour and make CD’s just to pay your bills, it’s really like a job. Nothing wrong with that, but I think that’s one of the reasons why we still go for it for every album. It’s not a “must”, it’s because we want to do it.

Are you planning anything for the 20th anniversary of the band's formation?
Henke: On Friday 24th of December 2010 in Groningen we had the presentation of “Under The Sign Of The Iron Cross”. I know it's a month later than the release date, but we made it a special show. Because of the 20th anniversary we played songs from every record including some old band-members. Our live sound engineer was the guitar-player on the first God Dethroned ever, so he played two songs together with us from “The Christhunt”. Also a special guest appeared on stage – our producer for the first four albums. We did a Sabbath cover “Children of the Grave” together. As well we had former guitar-player Jens and bass-player Beef from the “Bloody Blasphemy” period on a couple of songs.

“Under the Sign of the Iron Cross” is probably your fastest and most fierce record so far. Can you imagine a God Dethroned album without a blastbeat? Did you ever write a song without a single blastbeat?
Henke: Well, we did that on “The Toxic Touch” album. There are only two songs on that album with blastbeats. But we found out that it’s not really the way God Dethroned should sound. I still like the album, but God Dethroned should sound aggressive, but with melody. That album was just a bit too much melody.

In spite of the numerous line-up changes across the years God Dethroned never lost its sound, its style. Is it because guitarist/vocalist Henri Sattler who is the only original member is an absolute mastermind of the band and a sole general between regular privates?
Henke: Yes and no. Henri’s the mastermind concerning the lyrics and composing the songs. But we all have our input. Everybody is looking for riffs, but it’s Henri who makes songs of those riffs. The funny detail is that this is the first time that the whole album is composed by Henri. Every riff on this record is his, so you can almost speak of a solo record. But he will never do that, because he’s just not like that. And about the general part... he makes the final decisions. You need a leader in a band and it’s pretty obvious that he is that leader.

After Henri you are the second longest-serving band member at the moment. There were a lot of changes in the past. Do you feel like staying with God Dethroned until the end?

Henke: I think anyone who joins the band feels like staying until the end at first. Otherwise it's useless to join the band. But it's not always an easy thing to do. It takes a lot of time and it will test your relationship or your “normal” job. A lot of people dream of touring and playing everyday, but forget the circumstances you live in sometimes. Not everyone is meant for this life. I have been lucky to have a girlfriend who understands what I'm doing and that's the same for my day-job. So sometimes people just leave the band because of wrong expectations, but also because they can go to a bigger band so they can pay their bills. Pretty understandable in my opinion.

You have been connected with Metal Blade since 1997 and your second album „The Grand Grimoire”. That is a bloody long time. Do they love you so much or did you sign a long-term contract and became their slaves?
Henke: We had to sell our souls for that deal... no just kidding. We just have a very good contact with Metal Blade and somehow they still like us. So since “The Grand Grimoire” we already have signed three new contracts. That means Metal Blade still believes in us. So why change a winning team right?

The “Under the Sign...” album focuses on Nazi Germany during World War II. That subject matter has been talked about a million times before. What is your perspective on the subject and what did you want to emphasise?
Henke: That’s not correct. It’s all about World War I, just like our previous album “Passiondale”. Which is a big difference, not only because many bands sing about World War II and not WWI. Somehow people always talk about WWII, but everything in that war originated in WWI. We just wanted to let people see how crazy that war was and how influential. So many strange and weird things happened in that war.

Would you say that “...Of Frost and War” by your fellow-countrymen Hail of Bullets inspired you in any way to write “Under the Sign...”? The similarities in the subject matter, if not in the sound are damn striking!
Henke: Not at all! I mean, I like what they do, but we are doing something totally different in my opinion. We try to show people the craziness of that war. The aggression in that war we tried to put on record. It’s a real story which we try to tell. I think for Hail of Bullets it’s just more a “cool” subject to sing about that really suits their style of music.

Your album “Passiondale” came out in 2009, a year after the Canadian film “Passchendaele”. They both concentrate on one of the biggest battles of WWI that took place in Belgium in 1917. Was it a coincidence?
Henke: Yes, we were busy with the recordings and somehow we found out there was a movie about the same subject. We couldn’t change the name any more. To be honest, we didn’t want to change it. When we were on tour through South America, I know Henri watched it. I believe it’s more a love story than a war movie. I haven’t seen it yet, but I really will watch it one day.

Did you go to the location where the actual battle was fought to feel the atmosphere of the place? I suppose you don't live too far from it.
Henke: The reason why we started writing about this subject is because of our former guitar player Isaac Delahaye. He lives in Ypres in Belgium and that whole region is just one big World War I museum. There are so many things that remind you of that war. Every weekend the place is full of English tourists. There are many cemeteries you can visit and we did go there for the photo shoot. So yes, we really went there to feel the atmosphere so to speak.

You say Belgium is like a living war museum. What about Holland? It was under the occupation of Nazi Germany too. There was a similar amount of war atrocities there as well. Does Dutch society often talks about war, is it still an important every-day topic?
Henke: I live in a place called Westerbork. If you look that up with Google you will find out a lot of information about a former concentration camp, where monuments like the National Westerbork Memorial are located. My parents were little kids during WWII but they remember everything like it happened yesterday. So you can imagine that I grew up surrounded with images and thoughts about WWII. Every year there's a big national liberation day so we will never forget the war. So yes it's still a big thing here in the Netherlands.

What album do you think is your fans' and critiques' favourite? What do they usually ask you to play live? I would venture to say it might be “Bloody Blasphemy”, no?
Henke: It really depends where you are. It seems like every country has its own favourite album. But of course “Bloody Blasphemy” is absolutely one of the albums everyone wants to hear. But it seems that “Passiondale” is doing pretty good too.

What are your favourite war films? I'm pretty sure you are real experts.
Henke: To be honest, I’m not that kind of war “freak” at all. The other guys are way more into the whole war and history. Same with movies. I can’t give you any names of war movies that I have seen lately. I do like to watch Discovery Channel or National Geographic when there are documentaries about war though.

Knowing how fast you are able to work and write songs can another record be expected in 2011? Do you have an idea for the main theme yet?
Henke: Good question! I think for now we just want to play the new songs live. Hopefully we can do some festivals in 2011 to promote the record. Maybe some tours, we will have to wait and see. We will start writing the new album when we feel like it. Could be 2011, but I think not. That would be a bit too fast I guess.

The Dutch metal scene seems to be quite well-organized. So many great bands in a not so huge country. What is a secret of such popularity of metal in Holland?
Henke: We are not a huge country indeed, but we have a lot of citizens. Around 17 million people live in that little country of ours. That's a lot, trust me. So even though it's a very small percentage of people that listen to metal, it's still pretty much for such a small country.

The media likes to say that Holland is a very liberal country. They always brings up drug legalization, gay rights etc. But on the other hand there is a hardcore right opposition to that liberal current. And that brings conflict. Some examples are often racist ruthless football hooligans well-known across the whole Europe or politically-driven murders such as the one of Pim Fortuyn. Do you think Dutch society is very divided? That aggression must be coming from somewhere.
Henke: You just said it all. For the outside world we are a very liberal country, but in fact it's getting less liberal every year. Drug legalization is already pushed back, gay people are getting beaten up more and more. We had a left-wing government for years, but now it's a right-wing orientated government. So maybe it will get even worse, who knows. It's hard to say I guess.

MUSICIAN'S TOP OF 2010 (PART II)

2011-01-14T22:03:00.001+01:00

Three more musicians I asked about their favourite records of 2010:

MITCH HARRIS of Napalm Death

1. DEFTONES "DIAMOND EYES"

This album is a true return to form with an interesting new 3/4 twist. Definitely the best live band I've seen in a long time! Love the riffs, vocals and drums! The Quicksand bass player definitely complimented the writing approach on this disc! Fantastic for me, but not for the closed-minded community that we are continuously surrounded by, a very welcome change of pace which is very welcome with the ever present stagnation of musical inspiration that I am crying out for.

2. Pendulum "Immersion"
3. Macabre "Human Monsters"
4. Immolation "Majesty & Decay"
5. Enslaved "Axioma Ethica Odini"

ERIK BURKE of Brutal Truth

1. IHSAHN "AFTER"

I've always wanted to meet this dude. Not sure what I'd say exactly other than I'm a huge fan (which is kinda gay) but I love his style. His solo records inspire me to work on my own this year. Each one is different. And bringing sax into the mix is the icing on the cake. Adds a totally different element and feel to the killer metal he's pushing. I look forward to his future work. Fucking awesome!

2. Charred Walls of the Damned "s/t"
3. Jamie Foxx "The Best Night of My Life"
4. Mono "Holy Ground: NYC Live With The Wordless Music Orchestra"
5. Knut "Wonder"

ADRIAN BICKLE of Mournful Congregation

1. BURZUM "BELUS"

When I first heard that Varg was undertaking a new metal Burzum album I was unsure about what to expect. "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss" is one of my all time favourite records so my expectations in terms of Burzum are always high. I really felt "Belus" was a great return to form, it contained basically all the factors that had always appealed to me. The hypnotic riffs were there, the right energy and atmosphere was there. This music is timeless.

2. Watain "Lawless Darkness"
3. Stargazer "A Great Work of Age"
4. Enslaved "Axioma Ethica Odini"
5. The Dillinger Escape Plan "Option Paralysis"

CHECK OUT MUSICIAN'S TOP OF 2010 PART I

MUSICIAN'S TOP OF 2010

2010-12-31T14:07:00.003+01:00

As 2010 came to an end I decided to ask a few notable musicians to point out their personal metal high-lights of the year. They were as well asked to leave a short comment on their album number one. Below is that what they offered.

ED WARBY of Hail of Bullets, Gorefest and The 11th Hour

1. TRIPTYKON "EPARISTERA DAIMONES"

Too bad Celtic Frost couldn't keep it together but this is the best follow-up to „Monotheist” anyone could hope for. Ultraheavy, pitchblack and simply awesome.

2. Masterplan „Time To Be King”
3. Facebreaker „Infected”
4. High On Fire „Snakes Of The Divine”
5. Dark Fortress „Ylem”

GARY MADER of EyeHateGod, Outlaw Order and Hawg Jaw

1. OFF! "THE FIRST FOUR EPs"

While everybody's old favorites are out there growing up/old and putting out music that is depressing because it lacks urgency and any trace of sincerity, OFF! first put out a 7" the reaffirmed my faith in the possibility of anything new coming out having the genuine venom and vomit of great bands like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, The Germs, or say Wasted Youth. The first time I heard it, I swore I was listening to a "first four years" outtake... it's that real. They extend the greatness of what they started in the late 70's/early 80's here to us now via a few players that know everything about good hardcore. I just got the rest of the collection of four 7"s... Do yourself a favor and hear this pure example of great hardcore music. There is no band better than them right now. You will listen to these 18 minutes over and over.

2. Triptykon "Eparistera Daimones"
3. Black Breath "Heavy Breathing"
4. Arson Anthem "Insecurity Notoriety"
5. Floor "Below & Beyond"

LASSE PYYKKÖ of Hooded Menace, Phlegethon and Vacant Coffin

1. THE WOUNDED KINGS "THE SHADOW OVER ATLANTIS"

This album oozes eerie and foggy atmosphere. The songs are well written, the vocals are great, the production is pretty much perfect, the artwork is awesome... what's not to like? In its mighty haziness this is a very refreshing doom album. Roughly said they are a bit like a mix between Candlemass and Electric Wizard so how could I not like The Wounded Kings?

2. Masakari "The Prophet Feeds"
3. Ramesses "Take the Curse"
4. Ilsa "Tutti il Colori del Buio"
5. Electric Wizard "Black Masses"

JOHAN SEBENNE of Year Of No Light

1. MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKKAKE "TOTEM TWO"

Don't know if it's metal or not, but it's simply the best band around today! Huge sound and totally freak out performances.

2. Cough & The Wounded Kings "An Introduction to the Black Arts" split
3. Watain "Lawless Darkness"
4. Twilight "Monument to Time End"
5. Electric Wizard "Black Masses"

MIKE HILL of Tombs

1. TRIPTYKON "EPARISTERA DAIMONES"

Extreme music owes a huge debt to Tom G. Warrior who brought us Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Apollyon Sun and now his latest band, Triptykon. I was looking forward to the release of this record and it delivered all I hoped for when I first listened to it.

2. Watain „Lawless Darkness”
Though I still prefer „Sworn to the Dark” this is one of the best records to come out in 2010.

3. Deathspell Omega „Paracletus”
Every record by Deathspell Omega get more and bizarre and uncomfortable sounding.

4. Unearthly Trance „V”
Though I love everyone of their records, this is probably their best record to date.

5. Planks „The Darkest of Grays”
Brutal, extreme and emotional with a slight gothic/black metal vibe. I’ve shared a van with these guys and travelled in Europe, the UK and the US with them. True road brothers.

JAY NEWMAN of Unearthly Trance

1. SABBATH ASSEMBLY „RESTORED TO ONE”
Amazing occult beauty 60's throwback ala Jefferson Airplane psychedelia. Fav track: "Phoenix is reborn".

2. Integrity „The Blackest Curse”
Hellion's return to form! Fav track: "Simulacra".

3. Wooden Wand "Death Seat"
Toth is a master. Best recognize! Folk blues psych be-damned! Fav tracks: "Servant to blues" and "The Mountain" tied.

4. Swans "My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky"
I'm pretty sure this is a Angels of Light record, no? Whatever you call it got that Michael Gira swagger! Fav track: "Eden Prison".

5. Deathspell Omega "Paracletus"
Put more and show you! Fav track: "Epiklesis II"

CHECK OUT MUSICIAN'S TOP OF 2010 PART II

COUGH - A Thousand Years in a Dopethrone

2010-12-16T19:33:00.005+01:00

Records such as “Ritual Abuse”, which was dropped by Relapse in October 2010, are of a rare kind. They tend to grow on you, they become addictive, and they get deep under your skin and stay there. How you get rid of them I don't know, but I don't care and don't want to know. The doom underground scene across the whole world is talking about this four-piece unit from Richmond, Virginia and it's no empty chatter. Taking some serious inspiration from Electric Wizard, the band worked out an extremely depressive form of crawling and grievous doom metal, which definitely resulted in some of the best records of 2010. Vocalist and bass player Parker Chandler tells us how it really is.

What I like about the “Ritual Abuse” sound is the fact that production is not over the top, with everything down-tuned, brutal and loud to the limits. It has been done before, so why bother? Did you do this on purpose?
Parker: Raw, down-tuned, brutal and loud? Sounds like a good combination to us. Why bother fucking with a good formula? That's exactly what we wanted to accomplish.

How did you come up with using an acoustic guitar in some parts? Was it originally written that way, or did you come up with the idea later in the studio?
Parker: “Crooked Spine” song was written by David [Cisco, vocals & guitar] as an acoustic song. It was never meant to be a Cough song until we all heard it and decided we could do something different while staying grounded in doom. Putting the acoustic on the album just seemed appropriate given the roots of the song.

When you started Cough in 2005 what did you want it to be?
Parker: The loudest, heaviest band in Richmond.
“Ritual Abuse” cover art is probably the best I have seen in years. Could you say something about the artist and the work itself?
Parker: Glyn Smyth from Scrawled Design came up with it. Conceptually, it fits with our theme of being trapped in a situation where any move you make will only hurt you but you can't sit still forever. He did a great job on the cover but I think he fucking killed it on the gatefold.

Do you care much about bands from Europe such as Electric Wizard, Hooded Menace or Katatonia? Do people in the doom/sludge/stoner scene in the US pay attention to European bands or they mostly stick to what's happening in America?
Parker: European bands are pretty big over here, at least in the doom scene. Americans love the European doom bands. More of them need to come over here and fucking tour with us.

Is weed an inspiration to you? A means to get creative and write music?
Parker: It is what it is. We've written as much music sober as we have blazed or drunk. It's not necessary to our creative process, we just enjoy it.
Did you read Ozzy's autobiography „I am Ozzy” that came out in 2009?
Parker: No. We like to forget that he survived the 70's.

There are some great bands from Virginia, where you come from. For example, Municipal Waste, Deceased, or Alabama Thunderpussy. Do you hang around with them or stay all day in hiding, worshiping the horned one?
Parker: We run into various Waste dudes from time to time. They're still in touch with the local scene. Asechiah (an original guitar player of Alabama Thunderpussy) is a fucking blast to hang out with and he's in a new band called Windhand. They kill it. I've seen Deceased a couple times but never hung out with them. We mostly hang out with the less successful crowd just because they're around more.

Your first 2008 album, “Sigillum Luciferi” was produced by Sanford Parker – the guy from Minsk, Buried At Sea, and Circle Of Animals. He sounds like an outstanding musician. Is he a cool guy too? How was it to work with him?
Parker: He was really cool to work with, that's why we decided to do “Ritual Abuse” with him too. His studio setup is very relaxed, in a good location, and he takes good care of you while you're there.

Is having an album released by Relapse a sort of a breakthrough for Cough?
Parker: It was enough of a “reward” to keep going. We probably would have given up if things didn't change.

Your “An Introduction to the Black Arts” split with an English band The Wounded Kings contains only two songs within 35 minutes between you. Could that song “The Gates of Madness” be on “Ritual Abuse” as well?
Parker: There wouldn't be any room for it. I guess it could have gone on the album but we wrote it specifically for the split LP.

You have played some shows with those proper doom legends, Pentagram and Trouble. How did it go?
Parker: It was cool but our two worlds (old school and new school doom) are very different. I love Pentagram and I like Trouble but neither band was the actual line-up, so it does take away from the experience. We fucking killed that Pentagram show though.

There are plans for quite a lot of touring in Europe in April and May of 2011. Are you coming on your own or with some other bands from Relapse? Catching any of the bigger festivals?
Parker: We're flying solo. Playing Thursday at Roadburn and the last show of the European tour is the Alerta AntiFascista Fest in Germany. We'll probably be playing with locals at most of the shows so I'm interested to see who's out there.
Your lyrics are depressive and very dark. Do you need to have a fucked up life to write them, or is it just getting into the genre's mood and atmosphere?
Parker: No. I wouldn't say that we have fucked up lives but that's not to say that we don't mean what we say. It's not even about being in a certain genre. It's not like we're putting on this act and projecting these negative attitudes, it's just us. I don't want to listen to happy songs and I don't think that there is any reason for people to write happy shit. That shit is for children who haven't gotten a grasp on reality. The truth is that you will be shit on for the duration of your life, you will experience loss and you will die. Make the most of it but never forget where we all end up.

Would you rather play before Black Sabbath or Saint Vitus?
Parker: Early 70's Black Sabbath or Wino-era Saint Vitus.

If “Ritual Abuse” is included in Terrorizer Magazine's top of 2010 list, will you be excited?
Parker: It would be cool, I guess. The metal market is so saturated these days that it's probably hard for the magazines to pick out the true, no bullshit records. I also don't buy into a lot of what the magazines say because their funding depends on advertising. They can't bite the hands that feed them. I'd be more excited about ending up on some basement-dwelling, lifelong doom fan's top 10 list.

UNEARTHLY TRANCE - The Goat, the Trident and the Unholy Spirit

2010-12-15T11:13:00.006+01:00

First of all – what a bandname! Can you play silly radio tunes if you're called Unearthly Trance? Definitely not! This New York-based powerhouse trio delivers an ungodly and merciless doom sludge assault completed with the full-of-rage vocals of Ryan Lipynsky, who is the band's frontman and six-string axe-master. If you missed their 2008 opus „Electrocution”, go back to it right now and join the cult. Two years later, the band has put out another tough-as-nails effort through Relapse – the epic „V”. Here is what Ryan has to say about it.

Unearthly Trance has been around for 10 years already. You have recorded five albums and a ton of splits. Do you think you could have done more? Could you briefly summerize that decade?
Ryan: Could we have done more? No, I don't think so. Perhaps we could tour more but that isn't always such a wise choice for bands who want to stick around. This decade has been a steady pace since Darren Verni joined in on drums in 2001. Write, Rehearse, Record. We are a band that has been totally dedicated to our own craft. We have not swayed with the trends like so many do. We have stayed true to our foundation and have taken our listeners on what we like to think of as a journey. With „V” there is some sort of full circle feeling that has occured.
„Electrocution” had pretty clear production. With „V” you went for dirtier, less selective and very underground sound. You wanted it to be really different from „Electrocution”?
Ryan: On „Electrocution” we let pur producer Sanford Parker do everything and we sat back and tried not to interfere too much. On „V” we recorded and mixed a majority of the record under our control. I think „Electrocution” was an album focused more on the vocals and drums and this album was focused more on the power trio vibe of rehearsal and live feeling. On „Electrocution” we tried different studio techniques and Sanford is a professional. I'm proud of both albums. Some don't understand „Electrocution” but perhaps in time, people will see it in the scheme of our career as a unique piece of the whole. „V” is raw, honest, and occult. From here... the unknown. We will never do the same record twice.

You are of Ukrainian descent and live in New York. In that context, I would like to ask about „Little Odessa” film with Tim Roth and Edward Furlong. Do you have any experience of such neighbourhoods or issues?
Ryan: I have never seen this particular movie but I live close to Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. I'm sure those people don't fuck around. I have lived in Brooklyn for quite a while now, but I grew up on Long Island. My only exposure to Ukrainian culture was through my grandparents and the only thing I know is my grandfather liked scotch on the rocks and my grandmother was a hell of a cook. I am half of Welsh and half of Ukrainian descent. So I grew up in a typical lower-middle class Long Island, New York existence, not in an urban ethnic neighborhood.

Brooklyn is well-known for its hardcore scene. Do you feel attached to it in any way? Do you go to hardcore gigs?
Ryan: Lately, I go to DIY hardcore shows through playing in my other band Pollution. Somehow, we fit in with what young kids are doing and are into in Brooklyn. I have an affinity for DIY music as it is the opposite to the corporate scum that rips bands and musicians off.
Unearthly Trance has that unique vibe and it must be overwhelming during live performances. What do your concerts look like?
Ryan: Our concerts are usual and an anomaly. Occasionaly we have lots of women attend, sometimes no one shows up, sometimes a whole new crowd of people that we have never seen shows up... Basically, over the past 10 years in New York playing shows we have seen a ton of people come and go and everyone seems to want to „climb the ladder” in „the scene”. Unearthly Trance stays isolated and we focus on our own thing only. We barely even have bands that we like around here. I could count them on my hand.

Do you choose shorter tracks to make it as intense as possible or do you play longer and growing ones as well?
Ryan: This is one of the coolest questions anyone asked in a while! I had to actually sit and think for a bit. Unearthly Trance is fun to play as we all embrace the attitude that our sets will always vary. In fact, I doubt we have played the same exact order of songs ever. Even on tour we change it up every night. I like playing the shorter songs and that is why I have written more over the years in recent times. They work better live. Sometimes if we open for a bigger band we only get 30-35 minutes. So sometimes we will just play 4 songs. It all depends on the vibe of the show and what sounds sounded best at the previous rehearsal. Or sometimes we just call out songs and change the set on stage! In Europe we play for longer on demand. But we like it, as we get treated well over there and we seem to have more of a devoted following overseas.

Was the album title „V” a conscious reference to the Saint Vitus record?
Ryan: No more than a reference to a pentagram or venus, or perhaps Crowley's V for Victory to combat the facists. Our „V” is the power of the hidden conquering the oppression of modernity in America. V is for Vengeance don't you know!? The rabbit hole effect is the desired result for the listener’s experience. We want you to wonder what it all means.

You use the symbol of the trident quite a lot in your artwork. What does it stand for and how do you understand it?
Ryan: The trident is of course multifaceted. Simply, we are a three piece and it can been seen as three people joined together to create a unified sonic force. The trident is also associated with Neptune. A symbol of lightning. It can be a weapon used out at sea; the sea is a metaphor the subconscious and metaphysical.

You have done a split with Minsk and recorded Roky Erickson songs. How important is his work to you? Is he an underrated artist?
Ryan: I think Roky is a very underrated artist. His voice used to be incredible. Really haunting and powerful. He wrote some awesome rock songs over the years and he has this unique take on alien/lucifer lyrics. This was a result of the drugs and the cruel shock therapy the powers-that-be subjected him to. First he was tripping and then they locked him up and he connected to demons and supernatural forces. Much respect to Roky and the 13th Floor Elevators.

What pushed you to form The Howling Wind at first?
Ryan: The Howling Wind was formed to have an outlet for the kind of material I did with the previous black metal tinged project I did called Thralldom. I like to play more overtly metallic stuff with two guitars sometimes. Being that this has only been a studio band so far. It frees me up to do things I would never do with a live band.

Would you do live shows with The Howling Wind or is it strictly a studio initiative?
Ryan: No live shows right now. We have yet to play live and I am unsure if we ever will. If we do, we will have Carl from Coffinworm help us out on bass or guitar and I think we would probably need another member as well to pull it off properly. Also, there isn't this great demand for us to play. So for now, unless some amazing offer comes through, we will keep it as underground and distant as possible. I very much like not having to go through some of the annoying things that can be brought out being a touring musician.

There are many memorable and epic riffs on your albums since your style is very guitar-oriented. What are your favourite guitar riffs of all time?
Ryan: Cool question. I will probably list things that many would consider obvious but we should never overlook the pioneers of what we call heavy metal. So, it's Black Sabbath's „Black Sabbath”, „Snowblind”, „Symptom of the Universe” and countless others. To be honest, most of my favourite riffs ever have been done by Iommi, Butler and Ward. Others for example: „Procreation of the Wicked” by Celtic Frost, „Black Diamond” by Kiss, „Under a Funeral Moon” by Darkthrone. There are too many to name!

INTRONAUT - Caught Somewhere Between the Riffs

2010-11-29T19:30:00.007+01:00

It's pretty easy to imagine why kids from Birmingham, Stockholm or Seattle might play depressive music, but coming from Santa Monica suggests Baywatch, The Beach Boys and surfing rather than a sludgy down-tuned stoned riff attack, mixed with skilled drumming and fat organic bass lines. Axe-master and Intronaut frontman Sacha Dunable proves how wrong these preconceptions can be. We talk about their new album „Valley of Smoke”, what it means to be progressive and how much they like coming to Europe to tour. California Über Alles!

Your previous 2008 album „Prehistoricisms” was simply great. What did you want to do with the new record? Top it, try something new?
Sacha: I think we had a different mindset for a new album. „Prehistoricisms” was much colder and harsher in sound and atmosphere. This time we wanted it to be more musical. With more melody and harmony. The singing developed a lot, which we didn't plan. It just came out naturally. We just thought it would be good to bring some variety to our style and sound.

What expectations do you have with „Valley of Smoke”?
Sacha: It's pretty simple. We hope poeple will find the record interesting and we have more opportunities to tour and play shows.

You have made impressive progress since 2006's „Void”. Did it take much effort?
Sacha: We obviously put lots of effort and work in our music. Lately we spent some more time on developing vocal to be able to do something more than just 45 minutes of shouting. We are now much stronger as mucisians compared to 2006. We jam a lot and we practise some cover-songs as a warm-up before the rehersals.

What songs do you usually play?
Sacha: Sometimes it's just some crazy stuff such as playing over Primus bass lines or something like that. We as well like to do some Alice In Chains and Led Zeppelin songs.

Would you agree with Intronaut being called a progressive post-metal band?
Sacha: I don't really care about what labels people give us but I can understand why they need them. It just helps some new listeners to figure out what we are about. One of the goals for Intronaut is to avoid labels and cliches so I can agree with „progressive” but only if it means trying something new.

Some bits of your music seem to be improvised. How do you write?
Sacha: Most of it is being written during rehersals and jams but I do write some riffs at home too and then present them to the rest of the band. We usually start with one part and build the track based on it. There is hardly any improvisation in both our records and live performances.

What music influeced the way Intronaut sounds?
Sacha: We are influenced by a vast variety of stuff, which are not easy to point out. At the earlier stage it was some doom, sludge and grindcore but our guitar and bass players Dave and Joe are massive jazz guys. They can talk about jazz for hours. So you can imagine it's a mix of different experiences and styles put together.

You have toured the US and Canada with Helmet lately, in October-November 2010. Is Page Hamilton really a great guitar player?
Sacha: It was just awesome to do that tour since when Helmet's „Meantime” and „Betty” came out (circa 1992-94) I was at school and I loved those records. I think Page is actually a better guitarist now then he was 20 years ago. We had a decent reception. The crowd was rather older. More people at our age. Not many teenagers at all. Just proper music fans. It was really cool to do that tour.

What part of California are you from? Is Los Angeles really as a dangerous city as portrayed in such films as „To Live and Die in LA” or „Colors”?
Sacha: I actually live in Santa Monica, which is located just at the seaside and surrounded by Los Angeles County by other three sides. Los Angeles is a huge city. It's really spread-out. There are so many different neighbourhoods and areas that it is difficult to speak of it in general. I think films you're talking about show LA in the 80's. It has changed a lot since that. Some areas that had some certain reputation are much better now.

Los Angeles is huge so definitely there are tons of bands there. Who do you hang around with and who are you friends?
Sacha: We share a rehersal room with Lightning Swords of Death. They are a black metal band. Ancestors are very good friends of ours. Their doom/sludge stuff is awesome. We tour together quite a lot.

How did you came across Century Media?
Sacha: I have known some of the guys from the US branch for years. We have been flatmates with some as well. So it's not that we have just got the call straight from Germany and signed a paper with some people that we have never seen. Working with them is just great. We are happy about the cooperation.

The year is slowly coming to an end. What records did you find interesting in 2010?
Sacha: I really loved Cloudkicker's „Beacons”. It's a one-man band from Ohio. It's got some of the same vibe that we have at Intronaut. It also reminds me a little bit of Meshuggah sound and feeling. I think Immolation's „Majesty and Decay”, Nails' „Unsilent Death” and Horseback's „The Invisible Mountain” are very good records too. I think Danny's new band Murder Construct that just signed with Relapse put out pretty quality self-titled album. It's grindcore.

What are your touring plans for 2011?
Sacha: There is a European tour somewhere there coming but it's not really planned yet. We are doing some touring in the States first. We have been to Europe once previously in 2007 and would really like to return. We were a very new band at the time. I think Europe is more artist-friendly than the US. There is more appreciation. People and promoters seem to care much more. There is more freedom. In the States we are always bugged by specific laws and restrictions in different states. For example the time show has to finish etc.

What were last three gigs that you went to?
Sacha: It was Watain. I'm not a very big fan but my girlfriend is and she got us tickets. The other one was Suffocation, The Faceless and Decrepit Birth. I have been a Suffocation fan for a long time. I would never imagine those guys actually ever heard of Intronaut. I spoke to their drummer Mike Smith and he told me he loves our music. I was both shocked and happy. The third gig was Saviours. They are a pretty young band but they play old-school heavy metal.

What did you do to Warlord Clothing people that they have about 20 Intronaut t-shirt designs?
Sacha: Hahahah! They guy behind Warlord isa friend of ours Bruce Reeves – ex-Phobia bass player. He has as well been in Destroyed in Seconds. Well, we were giving him all the designs over the years so it somehow got to that number.

Do you appreciate heavy metal solo guitar players such as Steve Vai?
Sacha: I don't really listen to that kind of music. I think Vai is quite cool but it's usually not my thing. It sounds bit corny to me. It's like elevator music. I would rather like to listen to George Benson.

VALKYRJA - Contaminate the Earth

2010-10-23T12:55:00.006+02:00

Valkyrja is a toxic sewer of filth thrown into your eyes. It stings, it burns, it causes pain and suffering. It doesn't go away. It stays in your system. The fairly young Stockholm commando poured tons of deadly black scum on the face of Earth with their second album “Contamination”, released by Metal Blade in January 2010. A crushing wall of high-speed riffs, accompanied by a tearing rhythm section, is only fully completed with Andreas L.'s voice which tortures and haunts everything in sight. Nearly an hour-long inferno of overwhelming hymns such as “Oceans to Dust”, “Solstice in Withdrawal”, and “The Womb of Disease” brings nothing but shock and awe. The year is not over yet, but so far it is one of the strongest and bleakest records of 2010. Andreas L. was asked to comment on recent events and the future of the band.

You played your biggest tour so far in September 2010 with Marduk and Ragnarok. It was 17 dates in Poland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway, your country Sweden, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania. What were your expectations? Were they fulfilled? Could your sum up the whole thing in few sentences?
Andreas L.: Our expectations were of course to manifest the grandest violence possible. We knew a lot of hard work had to be dealt with, and with the experience in the rear-view mirror, I can say with pride we shunned no sacrifice. Since this was our first tour we were extremely fortunate to share the experience with such well-experienced individuals, both bands and Massive Music crew in mind. A torch has been lit and time to harvest will come again – to our delight, to others’ misfortune.

You had a substitute drummer for that tour? Who was the guy and was he up to the task after all?
Andreas L.: Due to J. Wallgren, our regular drummer’s hectic schedule we had the fortune to collaborate with Ragnar Sverrisson. He's from Iceland and plays with the death metal band Beneath. He showed an energy and intensity beyond this world and it would be my privilege to cross paths with him again in Valkyrja’s future. I see him as my brother in arms, no question about it!

Did you watch Marduk each night? Did they maintain the level of energy and fury during the whole tour as they produced during the opening gig in Poznan?
Andreas L.: Each band made their greatest effort each night. It is why we chose to begin the crusade in the first place. Few times before have I felt such violence linger in the air as they produced inside these arenas.
Your album “Contamination” is one of the brightest releases in 2010. How satisfied are you with it? Do you think it's an ultimate effort of Valkyrja or you can do even better in the future?
Andreas L.: Each and every album from a band should of course stand as a monument of blood, sweat and devotion – a prime example of what you truly are made of – otherwise the artists simply have the wrong mentality or actual will to sacrifice. “Contamination” is, to us, an expansion of all we previously have done, seeking further down the deeps, ascending even higher into the unknown and lighting fires in catacombs before unknown. We are satisfied with the manifestation in each aspect for it is another corner stone of our monument.
Concerning upcoming material – there are never any promises of more. If we feel we cannot evolve enough to present something that for us is overpowered with the same passion, fire and hunger and reach levels we, in the past, were unable to reach, then there will be no more – and that is the only sane way of thinking, in my humble opinion. If a third Valkyrja will surface, we’ll simply have to see what this abomination will contain. I do not dare to even take a wild guess at this point…

Metal Blade advertises you as black metal. Does it make a difference to you to be called black or death metal?
Andreas L.: You could call it jazz or rock if you felt the urge for that. It wouldn’t twist the reality of its content anyway. Genres or labels cannot alter the truth of its wretched presence. Let people be the judges when it comes to categorizations and the like, but know this – we are the executioners.

Stockholm is home to death metal. Bands like Nihilist, Entombed, Carnage or Dismember built the foundation for it. Does Stockholm still have lots of new interesting original bands coming out each year?
Andreas L.: Of course, some gems are to be found among the piles of dung spread across our feet, a statement which I guess goes for each and every country. There is no value in lifting forth specific bands, the ones who carry the fire and frenzy within the audio channel will be known in the future anyway, let it be known!

Is Swedish society rather traditional and religious or maybe like in Germany, the UK or France, the level of laicization is quickly rising too and churches are emptier every day?
Andreas L.: As far as I am concerned, Swedes are quite liberal when it comes to religion. YHVH is in generalization a comfort and a symbol of the “clean moral values that should fabricate the society”. Compared to Italy or similar countries, injected with the Holy blood in a way that differs quite radically from us, we stand quite dormant.

Being an underground extreme metal musician in Sweden, is it possible to make a living from it? Do you have regular everyday jobs?
Andreas L.: Far from it. If I had any economical profit in mind, I would have fallen to my knees in dismay a long time ago. The small amounts of money of earned economical profit are, in some way or another, invested within the band and stay in that circulation.
There are some crushing bands from Poland such as Azarath, Furia or Mgla. Do you give a fuck about any Polish metal?
Andreas L.: I recognize some Polish bands, sure. I must point out that I see no relevance in any aspect where musicians originate from geographically. Whether it be Norway, Spain, Greece or Bolivia – it has no importance as long as the performers are serious in their vision and practice. This art form doesn’t originate from any specific soil (the musical art form, to be more specific), so let the fleshly vessel shine with its light, no matter the location.

Watain or Behemoth have a lot of production behind their gigs, with all the effects, lights, stage design and pyrotechnics. If you had such means, what would your show look like?
Andreas L.: It is impossible to point out any specific scenery, since I would like to see the most blazing inferno, a horrific terror by no man ever before witnessed. Each aspect in a live performance should be rancid and malevolent for each sense, the visual part not excepted. I do not think it is possible to manifest the grandiose funeral I have in mind for a performance, so I will see what the “realistic” means will be able to provide us to at least let the audience catch a glimpse of the idea(l).

There is a fantastic film called „Valhalla Rising” with Mads Mikkelsen as a main character. Have you seen it, do you have an opinion about it?
Andreas L.: There are few recent movies I’ve truly enjoyed, to be honest. The movie you mentioned is not one I’ve seen, so I cannot make any comments about it.

What albums have you enjoyed so far in 2010?
Andreas L.: MMX has been a rewarding year actually, several releases have delighted. At this moment, I have no real interest in listing any highlights, let each individual revel in the artifacts of the year with their own interest.

TRIPTYKON - On Frosty Ground

2010-10-08T20:01:00.004+02:00

Tom G. Warrior was the main man behind the ugly monster of Hellhammer and then now-über-cult Celtic Frost. Since their way was always the painful and hard one, the band was finally laid to rest in 2008. It didn't take Tom much time to go hell and back and bring another horror being to life – Triptykon. Songs that were included on 2010's “Eparistera Daimones” album and “Shatter” EP were originally written for the next Celtic Frost album. Triptykon is an extension of all his previous work, but brought to a new level of dark disturbing riff-worshiping metal. I spoke to Tom about the band.

You are much older than the rest of Triptykon members. Did you have sort of mentor-pupil relationship at the beginning?
Tom: We treat each other equally. Our relations are healthy because there are no ego problems like we had a lot in Celtic Frost. Triptykon is free from that. The way we got to know each other came out pretty natural. Our bass player Vanja was a good friend's friend, so we were aware of each other before. V. Santura was playing guitar with Celtic Frost for the last couple of years of the band's existence. Actually, the only new guy was our drummer Norman. Maybe at the beginning there was a little bit of what you called a „mentor-pupil relationship”, but soon it didn't matter anymore. The age factor is not important since we became a band of close friends.

Norman used to play with Fear My Thoughts, a band originally connected with the hardcore/metalcore scene. Are you interested in checking out younger bands?
Tom: My life is heavy music but that doesn't mean I'm limited to metal. I'm interested in other genres and sub-genres of heavy sounds. There are so many bands around right now that it's really tough to check them all out. It's easy to miss out on something good too. Fear My Thoughts split up two years ago but Norman has another band going called Pigeon Toe. I have seen them playing live. It's got lots of groove. It's something I'm interested in not only because it's Norman's band.

Organizers of the Roadburn Festival asked you to choose bands that you respect and invite them to play live in April 2010 during the festival. Among them were Altar of Plagues, Thorr's Hammer, and Church of Misery. The thing was called „Only Death is Real”. How did it work out?
Tom: Roadburn people who are friends of mine came to me with that opportunity, which was a great honor. Once in a lifetime chance. I was asked to prepare a list of bands that are important to me and made an impact on my life. As you can imagine, the list was very long. Not all the bands could come to play of course. That wouldn't be possible. Shamefully, Jesu and Evoken were canceled because of the volcano eruption in Iceland. The truth is I couldn't see all the gigs on that day because I was also busy with interviews and my own set with Triptykon.

„Procreation (of the Wicked)” and „Dethroned Emperor” are monumental songs that are totally significant to the history of metal and probably inspired a thousand bands. Are there any stories or anecdotes regarding their creation?
Tom: The very first song I did for Celtic Frost was „Procreation”. The funny thing is I never write songs during the jam. I was always doing them at home. Creating the riff myself, recording it on the cassette first and later bringing it to rehearsal where we all worked on it. This time it was different and the song was an outcome of a jam, which was very unusual.
When we started Celtic Frost in 1984 we didn't have any material written and ready yet. I was so eager to do something that I decided to bring some older Hellhammer stuff and worked on it just to keep playing and creating. „Dethroned Emperor” was a newly developed and re-written version of the song called „Power of Satan” off the Hellhammer demo „Triumph of Death”. When you listen closely to it you can hear that riff, which I borrowed and built the new song on.

As a massive Black Sabbath fan, how did you like the Heaven & Hell album „The Devil You Know”? Have you ever met the big man, Ronnie James Dio?
Tom: Unfortunately we never met but I really hoped it would happen in the future. It's a huge loss. From what I heard he was a very wonderful human being, which in music and especially the heavy metal music business is really unusual.
To be frank, I was little disappointed with „The Devil You Know”. I was counting for more complex song-writing and lyrics. I was blown away by the song „The Devil Cried”, which they wrote and played earlier but it didn't go on that album. I need to say that Dio-era Black Sabbath and records like „Heaven and Hell” and „Mob Rules” made an absolutely great impact on my life when they came out. I prefer them over „The Devil You Know”. Tony Iommi never wrote a bad album anyway. His worst work is still hundred times better that anything I have done myself.

Where do you live in Switzerland and what is your neighborhood like?
Tom: I was born in Zürich but then my parents divorced when I still was a kid and we moved with my mother to Nürensdorf, a small city 15 kilometers from Zürich. Right now I live just outside of Zürich, in the neighborhood I would never expect myself to live. It's clean, quiet and rather full of older people. I have here all the peace and anonymity I need. That’s where I write all my music and where I wrote my books.

You often say Hellhammer and Celtic Frost used to be ridiculed a lot in the past and that there were only a couple of people that gave you support. Now people start giving you appreciation awards and saying how much your bands were always important to them. Do you think it's sincere?
Tom: Good question. You need to know that there are lots of people that still really hate me and it's not only for musical reasons. There are some envious and jealous individuals. My music was always provoking extreme reactions. That award you're talking about was a nice thing but it seems so much surreal. I don't create music for any awards, just for myself. Thinking from that point of view, I honestly don't care about awards etc.

The formation of Hellhammer in 1982 was a manifest of your hate and anger. Is it still the driving force behind the creative process almost 30 years later?
Tom: It's a different form of anger today. Hellhammer was an escape from a difficult youth I had. Now, as an adult, I don't need to escape anymore. What pushes me now is the frustration and hatred against human kind and its deeds.

Many bands admit being deeply influenced by your music. Do you hear Hellhammer or Celtic Frost in other's music?
Tom: I don't see myself as so influential and important. It's difficult to hear such things in other's music. Once, though, in a record shop in Zürich around 1998 some music was played through the speakers. In the first reaction, I was sure it's Celtic Frost, only seconds later finding out it's not but the sound was so similar. I was astonished, so I asked about it. It was Darkthrone's „Panzerfaust”. I immediately got into their stuff. Later, when I met the guys, I spoke about it to one of them, Nocturno Culto, and he confirmed they had a heavy Celtic Frost influence.

There is a video coming out to a Triptykon song called „Shatter”. Behemoth has been doing some really top-produced pictures lately. Did you like them?
Tom: The video we shot for „Shatter” will be quite different than anything else since the song is a mixture of rather delicate melody and harsh heavy metal sound. Like the one we did for „A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh” a few years back, it's going to be done with much attention.
I admire Behemoth. Their videos are fantastic. Nergal actually is a friend of mine and we share the same passion for music. We both put a great deal of effort into how we present our work visually and musically.

You took a part in Dave Grohl's project called Probot in 2003 by co-writing the song “Big Sky”. Did you work in the studio together?
Tom: We corresponded directly but actually never met in the studio. He approached me about the whole thing. Saying he was a big Celtic Frost fan. The song was done by mail. I recorded my vocal lines in Switzerland and sent the stuff over to him to US. Later on there was an occasion to do the song live during one of Foo Fighters gigs in Europe but at the end it didn't work out.

Triptykon is playing almost a month-long tour in the US in October 2010. I'm rather concerned about Europe, to be honest. So, Tom, do you have any plans? There are some hungry fans waiting for your band in Poland!
Tom: I'm not so much excited about the US either (laughing). Yes, definitely we want to do a large European tour. Most probably in spring 2011. I would really love to return to Poland since the gig with Celtic Frost in 2007 in Katowice was one of our best experiences. I'm very much counting on coming to your country again!

MOURNFUL CONGREGATION - Attending Your Own Funeral

2010-09-10T00:08:00.010+02:00

While most bands take part in speed racing, these Aussie funeral doom merchants took the advice given by Saint Vitus and Thergothon to insanely slow the fuck down and captured the essence of heaviness. Their 2009 long-player, “The June Frost”, together with Evoken's “A Caress of the Void” and Esoteric's “The Maniacal Vale”, is the top effort in the doom business from the last five years. Drummer Adrian Bickle answers the questions.

You started the band in 1993. What took you so long to actually start playing some live gigs a little more often in 2009 and 2010?
Adrian: We’ve basically always operated as a two or three piece band in terms of the studio but we knew we’d require a five member line-up if we were going to transform Mournful Congregation into a live machine and authenticate the sounds. There was an attitude amongst us that we were only going to do this if there were significant incentives to play live. It just didn’t seem worth the time and effort training up two new members and developing a live set to only play some shows in Australia. However, by about 2008 it was obvious that there was a lot of interest in us playing abroad and some solid opportunities so we recruited Ben Newsome on bass and original Mournful Congregation member Ben Petch joined us on guitar and we just took it from there.

As you say „Doom is for those whose hearts beat slower”. While most metal bands pursue speed and blastbeat records, you are one big fuck off to all that. To all the trends, all the fashion, all the competition. Is doom metal a different state of mind? I love to look at it through the lyrics of the Saint Vitus song „Born too late”, which could be sort of an anthem or a doom manifesto. What do you think of that?
Adrian: There are so many people out there who measure heaviness simply through the speed of a blast beat or how fast the riff can be played whereas our focus has always been more on the heaviness conveyed in an emotional or atmospheric capacity. You’re correct, as a collective we are completely indifferent to whatever is fashionable and in vogue so I guess, to some extent, our indifference is in itself a negation of whatever trends surround us.
As far as doom metal being a different state of mind... I think that comes down to the individual, to whatever their impression of doom is and how that manifests within them. And yes, if there was to be a doom anthem then Saint Vitus, Candlemass... these are good places to look.

You came to Europe with Mourning Beloveth and Longing For Dawn in 2009. Bands from Ireland, Canada, and you from Australia. What an extraordinary tour! What could you say about the whole thing?
Adrian: We made some lifelong friends out of that tour – the guys from Mourning Beloveth and Longing For Dawn were just such awesome people to tour with so we really couldn’t have asked for anything more. We stayed in some crazy places, met plenty of crazy people… so there wasn’t a dull moment. I think when you travel through a different country every day you end up in an almost constant state of surprise and awe at the architecture, the environment, and everything that varies from what you’ve come to know as ‘normal’ in your homeland. Nothing was disappointing though, it was a brilliant experience.

You went to Japan in July 2010. Played three shows in Nagoya, Tokyo and Osaka with Corrupted. Most bands that go there say it's crazy, fans are out of their minds, etc. Can you confirm that?
Adrian: There’s definitely a lot of fanatics in Japan – they are passionate about the music they enjoy but also the most respectful people I’ve ever encountered. And Corrupted.. damn, that was one of the heaviest things I’ve witnessed!

Your label Weird Truth is Japanese. What made you to cooperate with them?
Adrian: We’ve had a cooperation going on with Makoto & Weird Truth for about ten years now. I believe originally they contacted us about re-releasing the first couple of demos on CD and that eventually became what is now “The Dawning of Mournful Hymns” double CD. Over the years Makoto has proven to be a completely reliable and dedicated guy so we were very happy to carry on the working relationship with Weird Truth.
Your lyrics are quite poetic and metaphoric. Could you mention the most important and main themes and thoughts of them?
Adrian: Damon has written the vast majority of the lyrics for the band throughout our history and the themes include depression, transcendental meditation, the occult, suicide, loss, nature and that which encompasses the pursuit of universal knowledge and mystery.

I really love “The June Frost” layout. Who is Pat Di Palo and what does the triple cross with serpent stand for?
Adrian: The triple cross is in fact the Tree of Life (Kabbalah) and the snake draped around it is the Kundalini Serpent. The concepts behind this symbology are quite detailed but we’d certainly encourage those inclined to explore the more esoteric aspects of life. As individuals we consider there to be more to the universe and to the purpose of our being than zoning out watching television and drinking beer whilst checking Facebook on a phone. Unfortunately, in our dumbed-down and consumption obsessed societies most people have lost the inclination to explore the real mysteries or expand their thinking to embrace greater truths.
Pat Di Palo is a great friend and an extremely gifted photographer and graphic designer. His skills can also be seen on recent related releases such as the new Cauldron Black Ram and StarGazer albums.

Where did you take “The June Frost” promo photos?
Adrian: The photos were taken on a property in the hills outside of Adelaide. The road from this region carries on to the Riverland which is the area from which the band first originated.

Adelaide is a pretty huge city. Do you actually live in the city? What's the vibe like?
Adrian: Yes, we all live in Adelaide although I wouldn’t exactly class it as a huge city. There’s about a million people here but it’s only about the fifth largest city in Australia. It’s quite a nice place and I’d say the people here are generally rather friendly. The vibe is pretty relaxed, definitely more relaxed than the larger Australian cities like Melbourne and Sydney.

You seem to be really aware of all the aspects of the band. The whole sound and song structure, the lyrics, album art. It's all perfected and so carefully worked out that it's not much of a surprise that it takes you five years to complete the record. You like to take your time, don't you?
Adrian: Yes, we tend to be fairly meticulous with all the details and we’d definitely prefer to take our time with the whole process and be very satisfied with a release than rush things and end up regretting one part or another. Having said that, the five years or so between “The Monad of Creation” and “The June Frost” was also partly due to our busy schedules with music and the other things going on in our lives. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into Mournful Congregation in the last few years and we are just about to enter the studio once more – so there will only be about two years between “The June Frost” and what will follow it in 2011.

Tell me about the new material.
Adrian: We’ll be in the studio by December 2010 and should have the next album out by mid 2011. I’m confident this will be the most bleak and epic release thus far.

Do you have a working title for the next album? Will you re-record any of the older songs for it?
Adrian: We have some ideas for the next album title but nothing is certain yet. There will be no re-recordings on it, all of the material is fresh.
Let's say metal in general is underground music. But taking a closer look, Mournful Congregation is an underground of that underground. Nine out of ten of Sepultura or Dimmu Borgir fans wouldn't possibly make it through your album. How narrow is what you are doing?
Adrian: One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that there are plenty of metal fans who simply don’t get where we’re coming from but there are also plenty of people who generally have zero interest in metal that really enjoy what we do – on some levels we’re not particularly genre specific. What we do may be narrow in some ways, especially in the context of the metal scene. We don’t write music for people to mosh to, it’s not aggressive in any conventional sense, and we’re not trying to be more evil than the clowns in the next village. This isn’t music designed for simple digestion – it will never be mainstream, it will never be compromised and if that means nine out of ten Sepultura fans never understand us… well, we’re absolutely fine with that.

How does Australia affect your music? I can imagine some vast landscapes, loads of space, an impression of loneliness, alienation, melancholy. Are you inspired by the nature, Australian soil much?
Adrian: I find it difficult to imagine growing up in a place as vast and epic as Australia and not being influenced by it or drawing any form of inspiration from all that surrounds us. This environment would inspire each of us in our own way and in the end that inspiration can find a musical voice. As you mentioned though, there is a sense of isolation that prevails when you live on an island at the end of the Earth and this isolation can lead to states of melancholy and detachment. It’s natural, we’re used to it.

All of you play in other bands as well. Are they your side bands or is rather Mournful Congregation something you only do from time to time?
Adrian: No, I think I can safely say that Mournful Congregation is as important to us as any other bands we’re involved with. It’s definitely not looked upon as a side project. We’ve put much time into it and it’s becoming increasingly demanding.

What particular records made Mournful Congregation what it is? Who is responsible for the doom metal genre?
Adrian: In the beginning the members were inspired by records such as “Epicus Doomicus Metallicus” by Candlemass, “Forest of Equilibrium” by Cathedral, “Stream From the Heavens” by Thergothon etc. We were influenced by these types of albums but wanted to take it all to a more extreme, darker place. As for the origins of doom metal – to me it goes back to Black Sabbath, although that’s just my opinion.

Damon played with Portal – one bloody disturbing metal commando from Brisbane. It's one of those bands that is almost unlistenable. Are those guys total necro death-obsessed freaks?
Adrian: Aha, Damon assisted the Portal demons a few years ago now. Your description of them is fairly accurate although they’re more extreme than that.

Is your drumming style influenced by any other drummer? Did you ever hear anyone drumming as slow before yourself?
Adrian: If we’re talking about my drumming in Mournful Congregation then I’d have to say no, I didn’t base any of my playing on anyone else. I just tried to develop a trademark but minimalistic approach that would complement the feel of the music. I actually find it more difficult to play this extreme doom than most other styles because you have to try and make it powerful but insanely slow and tight at the same time. Generally speaking, the drummers that influenced me most were guys like Sean Reinert of Cynic, Terry Bozzio of UK, Virgil Donati – to name a few.
There were definitely guys playing ultra slow before me – Thergothon is just one example.

You have done a cover song of Thergothon for the "Rising Of Yog-Sothoth" tribute album. Are you considering doing any other covers in the future?
Adrian: It’s not something we ever really discuss. In all these years that is the only cover we’ve ever done so unless there was a really good reason it’s difficult to imagine doing another one.

What was the set-list of your last gig?
Adrian: That was in Tokyo: “Descent of the Flames” – “Suicide Choir” – “The Epitome of Gods & Men Alike” – “A Slow March to the Burial” – “Mother-Water, The Great Sea Wept” – “Suffer the Storms”.

One of your other bands, Chalice, is no more, but there is Tzun Tzu. You seem to like Japanese history and culture. Did it start with Kurosawa movies?
Adrian: Chalice disbanded quite a while ago but several of the members still play together in Black Orchid, including Justin from Mournful Congregation. I don’t actually play in Tzun Tzu, I just did some session drums on a couple of tracks in the studio and live when they performed with Dismember. Tzun Tzu is really the brainchild of Don Taylor who’s a death metal legend here in Australia and so even though I do possess a deep respect and interest in Japanese culture that band is in fact a reflection of the interest of Don in the Asian cultures.

What albums have impressed you so far in 2010?
Adrian: Burzum “Belus”, Watain “Lawless Darkness” and StarGazer “A Great Work Of Ages”. There’s probably a bunch of others, I just can’t think of them right now!

The Australian scene isn't too well-known in Europe. Well, there is AC/DC, but I mean more underground. Could you name some significant bands in the history of Aussie metal?
Adrian: When I was growing up there were bands like Sadistik Exekution that were taking things to a pretty extreme level. Nowadays there is a lot of talent and diversity within the metal scene here – sadly, our isolated location means that only a handful of the talent here gets seen abroad. If I was going to recommend some quality bands I’d probably say Psycroptic, StarGazer, Neath, Virgin Black, Nazxul, Tzun Tzu, Black Orchid, Portal, Altars, Austere, Cauldron Black Ram. That’d be a solid start.

I cannot resist asking this one. Chopper – legendary man. A few books, a great movie and loads of myths. How much of a public person is he in Australia and do Aussies actually give a toss about him?
Adrian: Haha, yeah, Chop Chop is a real cult legend in Australia. Some people love him, some loathe him – but everyone knows who Chopper is! He has quite a solid place in Australian folklore because he managed to take humour and intelligence and cleverly reflect on a life as a career criminal.

KYLESA - Between Silence and Sound

2010-09-05T18:21:00.038+02:00

Year of 2009 was a breakthrough for Savannah-based rockers Kylesa. They have released their self-titled debut in 2002 and later hit with another two decent full-lengths “To Walk a Middle Course” in 2005 and “Time Will Fuse Its Worth” in 2006 but only after “Static Tensions” was let out in March 2009 the band received the well deserved praise. Combining southern and sludge heritage with hardcore punk and psychedelia they created an original and recognizable swampy sound. Vocalist and guitarist Laura Pleasants explains the details.

“Static Tensions” sound compared to “Time Will Fuse Its Worth” is better, the writing is on a higher level, the whole thing seems to work as a very natural creation. How would you look at “Static Tensions” comparing it to your previous records?
Laura: I think it sums up some of what we were doing in the past while forging ahead with new ideas. I think it’s more refined than our past efforts. The song writing is better. The production is better.

Does the fact you have two drummers make the whole process of writing more of less difficult? I love the fact that you do not try to just fill the songs with the wall of blasting drums. You have the clear concept of using it. When I listened to Kylesa for the first time I didn't even realize you have two drum sets.
Laura: Well, no, because we still write songs. When we wrote “Static Tensions”, Phillip Cope and I wrote with Carl McGinley and we wrote with drum parts in mind but those said parts didn’t dictate the nature of the song. With the structure, we wanted good riffs and flow with vocals to match accordingly – we wanted to use the drums as a force and as a dynamic. I think it’s pretty apparent that there are two drum sets on “Static Tensions” – especially if you listen to the album on headphones. We didn’t have two drummers until 2006’s “Time Will Fuse Its Worth”.

Playing live you have the passion, the energy and the noise. Two drum sets give you that real driving force. Would you say drums are the crucial part of your sound?
Laura: No, I don’t think they are the most important element but maybe that’s because I play guitar. They are a very important element, especially live because of that added volume and force. There is without a doubt, an added intensity to the music with the two kits. But, they are one part to a bigger whole. I think emotion and energy are probably the most important elements to Kylesa. It’s the way we shape the passion and energy that makes us who we are.

There is a bit of sludge, stoner, hardcore, crust and even punk in your style. Would you consider yourself as a metal band or rather an unidentified mix of many sub-genres of heavy and loud music?
Laura: We are of the latter for sure. I consider us a heavy band: heavy in sound, heavy in tone and heavy with emotion.

Phillip used to play with Damad between 1993 and 2001. Could you say what did you and others in Kylesa were up to before you get the band started and how did it all happen?
Laura: The original line up of Kylesa was the former members of Damad minus their singer, Victoria. I was going to school and playing in a few punk bands. I quit the last punk band due to musical differences and the fact that I was concentrating on my studies. I knew all the folks in Damad. I went to a lot of their shows. I became good friends with Brian Duke and Phillip and started hanging out a lot. Phillip and I started to jam around 1999 as I was looking for people to play seriously with. He broke Damad up in 2000 and asked me to start a band with him. I was into it because I liked his ideas and I wasn’t having any luck with anyone else around town. Carl, who has been our drummer since 2005, was born and raised in Savannah and is about 10 years younger than Phillip so he grew up on Damad. I was in school when I met Carl and I think he was about 14 at the time and I was maybe 19. I booked a show for his band Unpersons, who then sounded like the Germs. Of course the Unpersons grew tremendously over a few years and became my favourite Savannah band. They were leaps and bounds ahead of their time.

There are some good bands around Savannah. There are Baroness, Black Tusk and many more. Could you say some more about the city, the people that live there, the climate, the scene?
Laura: Savannah is very small. It is a port city, a college town and a tourist haven. Their used to be a decent scene there when we were starting out but it has since died down (I should also note the importance of Circle Takes The Square and the Unpersons as important bands). Black Tusk were another band to grow up listening to Damad and early Kylesa. I met James May (the drummer) when he was about 16 and we used to hang out a lot way before either of us were in bands. Baroness came a little later on around 2003. I met John at a Kylesa show. As far as the city goes, it’s a beautiful old southern town. It has the oldest historic district in the country. It’s beautiful yet there is an ugly underside. It has a very strange unique vibe and sometimes can be very oppressive. The heat in the summer is overwhelming. That’s when the crime seems to skyrocket the most. I have a love/hate relationship with Savannah.

Alex Newport of Fudge Tunnel and Nailbomb have produced “To Walk a Middle Course” album. How did you get to work with him?
Laura: We were interested in using a producer. I think Prosthetic Records had the idea to use him. It was an interesting experience. By far the best studio experience for me was when we did “Static Tensions”.

You have an outstanding cover arts. You have some stuff done by the famous Pushead. John Baizley of Baroness designed the artwork for “Static Tensions” and some of your merch. You have done some covers for Kylesa yourself as well. I love bands that pay attention to how their albums look like. Do you?
Laura: The artistic representation of our band has always been important. I went to the art school in Savannah and Phillip grew up with this art school in his town thus, being surrounded by artists. It’s always been an important factor. I love looking at cool cover art, you know? When I was a kid, I would buy cds/records based on the cover art if I didn’t know who the band was. I love the really weird/odd ball art the best.

Is it hard to be a leader of a band and being a woman at the same time? Is it easier for a man? I think you have to prove so much more when you are a chick. People at first might think you probably are doing all those clean vocals and adding that little bit of sensitivity to a band. All this is crap but I think people like to make judgements a lot.
Laura: I want to make it clear that I am not the leader of the band. Phillip and I are equal creative partners. That said, it can be difficult being a female in a very male dominated scene. It can get old sometimes but I just do my own thing and don’t think too much about it. It’s not like I can compare it to being male in a band because I’ve never had that perspective.

You have covered Pink Floyd song “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” (originally from 1968 “A Saucerful of Secrets” album). Is music of 70s important to you? It is a big part of your inspirations?
Laura: Yeah it’s very important. I’ve been listening to music from the 70s since I was in middle school. Pink Floyd is a huge influence – especially early Floyd.

You have also covered EyeHateGod for the tribute album “For the Sick”. What does that band mean to you and the underground scene in the US?
Laura: EyeHateGod is a hugely important band for the southern sludge scene and the sludge scene in general. They are pioneers!

Whom did you play with in last 12 months?
Laura: I’ve been pretty happy overall with the bands we’ve toured with this past year. Some include: Skeletonwitch, Black Tusk, Mastodon, Intronaut, Torche, Amebix, Birushanah.

Metal press in Poland is not very much interested in other genres of metal except black, death and thrash. Yes, there is a lot of people into prog tech stuff but sludge, stoner and doom is more of a margin. I think most of the time sludge and stoner is more identified with hardcore and is naturally rejected by strict metal heads. I hate that but what can you do? Do you think it is also a case in the US?
Laura: I think early on our style of music was a bit rejected. It wasn’t punk enough for punks and it was too weird for metal heads. That has changed drastically over the past 5 years. It’s quite accepted now in the US and has strangely become popular. But like everything that gets popular, it will soon be rejected again.

Kylesa interview was done in November 2009 and published in Polish in 2010 in “Struggle Zine”. It's the first time it's published in English.

TOMBS – Black Metal Punk

2010-09-04T22:33:00.031+02:00

„Winter Hours” is a top record in the metal game of 2009. It brought a perfect blend of metal speed, sludge heaviness and punk aggression. It strikes like a lightning, it hipnotizes. It is a stunning vehement display of energy and vigour of the riff and live shattering drums. Down-to-earth frontman guitarist/vocalist Mike Hill anwsers some important questions.

You come from Brooklyn, New York City. Lots of hardcore bands and rap artists come from that place. It's got a certain reputation of a tough place. How it is to live around those corners? Could you describe your neighbourhood and the place you have been growing up at?
Mike: I grew up outside of the city in a suburb so I don’t feel any kind of local pride or anything. Though Brooklyn has a reputation for being a rough area, that is largely a misconception at this point due to the gentrification and influx of people with money. There are definitely some neighborhoods that have high crime rates, but I generally steer clear of those places. I have friends that grew up in Brooklyn and I observe their local pride but I can’t really claim any of it. I’ve lived in a lot of different cities in the US so I have grown farther away from those feelings.

Tombs is a pretty new band but you and the other lads have been playing in few bands before. Could you tell me about those bands and how did you get first started with Tombs?
Mike: I played in Anodyne, Versoma and a number of even lesser known hardcore and metal bands. Our bass player Andrew Hernandez was in ASRA, Revenge, Blood Red Residual and I’m sure numeroous other bands that are slipping my mind at the moment. The drummer – Carson Daniel James is a man without a past.

You have a band, as well you run an indie label called Black Box and you produce other bands on top of that. You seem to be a bloody busy guy. Was creating your own music or recording others first? What bands did you produce so far?
Mike: I backed into producing after I had been playing in bands for a number of years. In the past I’ve worked with Isis, Premonitions of War, Lick Golden Sky and Hot Cross. These days I focus on my own music, I’m not interested in helping anyone else realize their musical vision because I’m ultimately far too self-centered and want to control everything. Producing is no longer a goal of mine.

You have done a videoclip to an opening song from „Winter Hours” called „Gossamer”. It's a pretty simple picture with you guys playing in sort of an empty hangar but it looks great. Where did you shot it and was it fun or pain to do it?
Mike: We shot the video in a loft in Brooklyn, the kind of place that is rented out for film shoots, art and functions like that. I had never been involved with a “real video shoot” so I didn’t know what to expect but all in all it went pretty smoothly due mainly to Kevin Custer, the producer. He’s a total professional and his vibe is what made the whole thing enjoyable.

„Winter Hours” sounds really fat. It's naturally loud and heavy. I'd rather say it's loud as fuck. It should be mandatory to play it on full volume. It's got that natural, organic, dirty sound of guitar riffs. Many bands right now sound very sterile and polished. You are a total opposite. Would you agree with that?
Mike: I’m not a fan of the super clean style of production where everythiing is isolated and over-compressed. I think a lot of bands that are in the “metal” genre all sound the same due to this style of production. We’re going more for a Neurosis style of soound on our records.

It's hard to label Tombs. You have a bit of that good old hardcore spirit. There is a massive wall of sludgy riffs but also some space for intensive atmosphere. There is a bit of melody that makes me think of Helmet a little. On the other hand you throw in ultra fast parts and blastbeats and those cold bits that make it all much more interesting and brutal. Would you rather say Tombs is a hardcore or a metal band? Or maybe something else?
Mike: If pushed to pick a classification, I would say that we’re a punk band. Philosophically we share more with bands like the Minutemen, Black Flag but we have mainly metal aesthetics.

The cover art for „Winter Hours” is a surprising picture. Not very much in vein of heavy bands. Original and beautiful in my opinion. Who is an author and was it created for Tombs especially?
Mike: Thomas Hooper created the artwork for the record. It’s all original material. I gave him a copy of demo tracks that we recorded for the record and the lyrics and he just went to work creating the art.

What's your opinion on Mastodon's „Crack the Skye”?
Mike: Honestly, I am unfamiliar with Mastodon’s work. I know the band and have seen them several times, but I can’t say that I am a fan of their music.

New York is one of those few cities in the world where things happen. I mean popular culture. There is so many huge bands that come from NYC. Metal, hardcore, punk and many more subgenres. Is there a big competition? Is it relatively easier to be noticed there or is it harder to get through all those bands around?
Mike: New York is all hype and very little substance. Many people in this city have a careerist attitude about making music and favor the business aspects over the actual creative process. For example, when Interpol became popular there were a thousand bands copying them. Now that metal is kind of popular there are a lot of very hip, attractive kids adopting the fashion and playing a false, watered down simulation of metal. Metal is ugly.
That’s not to say that there aren’t a lot of really great bands from NY. Unearthly Trance, Villains, Sick of It All, Merauder, Madball, Defeatist, Inhuman, Darkside, Disassociate etc. These bands are all lifers that have been involved with music for a long, long time.
It was never a goal of mine to get noticed. I wanted to make powerful music that had meaning for me and any kind of popularity that may or may not have happened would be a pleasant surprise.

You have been on tour with Isis and Pelican. How long was it, how many states did you visit and what are you reflections on it? Where people's reactions to Tombs satisfactory?
Mike: Both of those tours filled up about six weeks of time and we hit pretty much the whole country except for the mid-west. It was great being on tour with smart, professional people and I miss those guys a lot now that we’ve been off the road for a bit. Again, I’m really not the guy to ask if people dug us or not because I often feel like there is an adversarial relationship between the band and the audience.

You have published your album on Relapse. It's one of those labels that almost guarantee a great record. What I mean is they seem to really put out only good stuff and most of stuff they publish kick ass big time. Bands sound top notch. The artworks are first class. I see Relapse as sort of elite of underground extreme music. How do you see that?
Mike: Relapse is a great label and everyone that works there is extremely hard-working and professional. A fairly large percentage of my record collection are Relapse bands: Neurosis, Today is the Day, Soilent Green, Pig Destroyer, Origin, Zombi, Unearthly Trance... the list goes on and on. It really is an honour to be part of the roster.

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Tombs interview was done in June 2009 and published in Polish in 2010 in “Struggle Zine”. It's the first time it's published in English.

COALESCE – Crash and Bang

2010-09-03T22:22:00.037+02:00

They have allowed the world to forget them. But after almost a decade of silence they returned and it's a comeback in the genuine style of mathcore/metalcore as it ought to be in the beginning. The “Ox” album released in 2009 with Coalesce classics “Functioning on Impatience” and “0:12 Revolution in Just Listening” is the band's highlight and the strongest effort to date. Guitarist Jes Steineger answers the burning questions.

You haven't put out a single record in 10 years. In 2009 we got an album and an EP in just couple of months. Was life boring without a band so you decided to show the world you're still alive and kicking?
Jes: Actually, I’ve become accustomed to telling everyone that there are really only two reasons for Coalesce’s existence: the friendship that we have between each other in the band, and the feeling we get from playing this crash and bang music. I don’t think we’ve ever really cared if the world thinks we’re alive and kicking. We have been lucky to meet a lot of really cool people through Coalesce, so I think that’s another reason for doing it again: travelling and meeting new people.

The “Ox” and “Ox EP” artworks are nothing but original. It looks like some weird electronic music. Did you want to have covers that stand out in punk/hardcore/metal standards? Did you want to show you're different and unique?
Jes: I never think of Coalesce in terms of whether or not it’s “unique” or “different”. I think all of us just think in terms of what we like. I think there are a ton of people who would disagree with you and say that our art work and music is neither unique nor different. So it’s not even an objective criterion for doing what we do. Honestly, we try to keep things as simple as possible. Do we like it? Does it fit what we feel? Can we relate to it in some way? Basic questions you ask to make sure that your art matches up with your sentiments.

Both “Ox” and “Ox EP” are terrific records. Your style is unrepeatable. There is so many bands that try to improve their technique and production but end up sounding so similar and that is so disappointing. And then you come out of blue and bring these totally new records distancing all the others by miles. How are you able to do that?
Jes: Thanks for the compliments, but we really don’t think in those terms at all. It’s dangerous to think in terms of competition when you’re in a band. You set yourself up for major disappointment when things are based on others. We find it better to just focus on what we like so that when we complete a record or a tour we feel complete in some way; tranquil. That’s how I feel after a recording session or a show anyway. Honestly, for all we knew, people were going to hate the new records; and there are quite a few people who do hate the new records actually. That emphasizes my point though: better just to focus on what correlates whatever it is you create with your sentiment.

Did you complete both records during the same session and then decided to put them out as two releases instead of one 40-minutes-long album?
Jes: Our original plan was to record an EP of just Western tracks. An entire EP of interlude songs like we had on “Ox”. Then we were snowed in at the Scion Fest in Atlanta back in February 2009. While we were in the hotel room we started putting together some of the riffs that made up the more crash and bang songs on the EP. We had already booked studio time to go in and do an EP of interlude tracks, so we just recorded the new crash and bang songs instead. Voilà.

Rumour says you got 12 children between 4 of you. That is hell of a lot of kids! Who's got the biggest bunch and is it fun to run such a kindergarten?
Jes: Sean and I have four kids each. Jr. and Nellis have two kids each. It is a lot of kids. They don’t go with us on tour or road trips.

Earache released your split with Napalm Death in 1997. Did you get more recognition because of that?
Jes: I was a fan of Napalm Death at that time and I still am. Such a solid band. I wish we could tour with them actually. I never think of Coalesce as a popular band really, but I’m sure that putting out that split with Napalm Death helped us out a lot in terms of exposure.

Kansas is more or less the geographical centre of the US. What is life there like? Do you still get to meet Native Americans there?
Jes: Life there is simple. I have lived in Chicago for about four years now, so I miss Kansas a lot. I hate the city. There is a significant Native American community in Lawrence because they have a college there. I worked with various Native American scholars when I was at Kansas University. In general, people in the Midwest stick to themselves and try to live simple lives. That is my romanticization of the situation.

No doubt you're huge Led Zeppelin fans. “There is Nothing New Under the Sun” says it all. Why are Zepps so important to you? Did you kiss your future wife for the first time listening “Stairway to Heaven” or something like that?
Jes: Haha! Don’t recall ever making out with any girl to Led Zeppelin. I don’t even think any of us consider ourselves to be “huge fans”. We wanted to do a cover record and sort of interpret some older songs in a crash and bang way. The more Zeppelin songs we learned, the more it just felt right. It was also a way for me to try and maybe give Coalesce some shape for my Dad to understand what was going on. I liked the idea of finding some way to relate my generation to an older generation of music listener. If I could go back, I would probably have asked the guys to do it differently and not record all Zeppelin covers but it is what it is.

How was the Euro tour in June 2009? What were the reactions? What European countries did you find interesting, where would you like to return?
Jes: The summer 2009 tour was my favourite Coalesce tour ever. I had such an awesome time and I think the other guys feel the same way. We got to play an entire spectrum of shows: from huge festival shows to extremely small club shows. It really was perfect to experience so much in such a short amount of time. I am seriously counting the days until I can return to Europe. I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed every country we visited. I wish there had been more time to see some medieval sites, but I was content to see what I was able to: particularly Kües in Germany. Hopefully next time we’ll get to see Poland, Denmark, the Scandinavian countries, and more of France and Italy. I really want to see Athens and Moscow as well.

Watching your live videos I have the feeling you're a pretty fucked up band. I mean you seem to lose your minds and freak out. Does the live act bring you some sort of catharsis?
Jes: Any way we go about trying to describe what we get out of a Coalesce show always sounds ridiculous. It is a very unique feeling of freedom for us. Most times I feel really tranquil after a show, so maybe catharsis is the right word. I just think Coalesce opens up a small cavern in Being for us. A place where we can do what we want for 40 minutes or so and feel a certain way that we can’t get anywhere else.

You have a flippin' awesome guitar sound? How did you work it out?
Jes: I don’t think it is worked out. Most of my stuff is broken half the time so it never sounds the same way two nights in a row. Whatever it is you consider to be awesome and original is just me being a horrible guitar player, haha. Honestly. I’m a guy who loved a few metal bands growing up but was never good enough to play metal. It was easier for me to get on in the punk scene. That’s maybe a good way to describe how Coalesce came about: a crappy punk guitarist trying to play Metallica, haha.

With two releases in a short period do you plan to keep that intense activity going?
Jes: We don’t have any plans at this point to release on any sort of schedule. Just two weeks ago we started kicking around ideas for what we think the next Coalesce project will look like. I’d like to do at least one more record or EP or even film of some sort, but we’ll see if our schedules allow for it.

I suspect you might be a Western films lover. So John Ford or Sam Peckinpah? What are you favourite films of all times?
Jes: I’m an Eastwood guy, all the way. “Fistful of Dollars” is my favourite, but all of them are freaking awesome (the rest of the Man with No Name series of course, “High Plains Drifter”, “Hang ‘Em High”, “Joe Kid”, even the newer stuff like “Pale Rider” and “Unforgiven”). All of the classics, man: “Once Upon a Time in the West”, “The Wild Bunch”, “The Magnificent Seven”, etc. Nellis and I were watching all of these movies when we were writing “Ox”!

What active bands are in your opinion the most inventive, original and inspiring for you?
Jes: I think The Mars Volta are the most creative band in the world right now. They are like a bottomless abyss of creativity. I love that band. I love the Black Keys as well, but for different reasons. I think Minus the Bear fits all the criteria you listed, as does Mew (whose new record is impeccable). I think Torche is eclectic and original – great band. There are some bands that I like because they are just so into what they’re doing: Stuntman and Chere Catastrophe from France, Taint from Wales, The Atlas Moth from Chicago.

You've played at some vege/vegan festivals/events. Do you care about the diet and animal rights yourself?
Jes: I haven’t thought about it in a long time. Coalesce is not a platform for any sort of ideology. None of us have any sort of commitment to animal rights or dietary concerns. Our friend Dan Askew is a vegan, so we always try to accommodate him when he travels with us. Ultimately, it’s like I said earlier, Coalesce is really just about hanging out together and trying to ignite a certain feeling we get when playing our songs. When it comes to everything else: to each his or her own, as we say in America.

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Coalesce interview was done in November 2009 and published in Polish in 2010 in “Struggle Zine”. It's the first time it's published in English.

CANNABIS CORPSE – Stoned to Death

2010-09-02T22:09:00.052+02:00

Make no mistake this band is not a joke. It is as real and death metal as Immolation, Deicide, Obituary or Cannibal Corpse. And they have funnier song titles. Songs like „Staring Through My Eyes That Are Red”, „I Cum Bud”, „Mummified in Bong Water”, „Gallery of Stupid High” or „Skull Full of Bong Hits” are top examples of brutal blasting and heavy crushing riffage. I spoke to a vocalist Andy „Weedgrinder” Horn to find more.

Could you tell me about the history of the band?

Weedgrinder: We began as a 3-piece home recording project in Richmond, Virginia back in late 2005 or early 2006. My memory isn't too sharp these days. Hallhammer and Landphil were staying in my tiny modest apartment with me and my room mate for a couple months. They began recording “Blunted at Birth” and asked me to track most of the vocals. We never intended to really release it, or play out. We figured it would be fun to just re-approach Cannabis Corpse, which the brothers had played a show as sometime ago. Our close friend had just started Forcefield Records and offered to release a CD/LP. It was received so well that people encouraged us to play a few shows. We did, with the help of Nickropolis on guitar and had such a blast that we continue to play now. Couple of years later with 2 LPs and a “Weeding” EP.

No doubt Cannibal Corpse is pretty much your favourite band. How did you get the idea of sort of remaking them? I know that you're a unique band with kick ass songs but I suspect lots of people might think you're only taking a piss and didn't take you seriously at first. Was that ever an issue?

Weedgrinder: We have always taken death metal seriously, as have we taken this band. We never tried to “reinvent” Cannibal, we just use to always throw weedy song titles around whenever we were smoking and listening to death metal. To me, death metal is no joke, it is a part of our lives that cannot be replaced. Cannabis Corpse is death metal we love, so we play it whenever we can, and are happiest when we get to play it. I'm sure some people think we are taking a piss, but fuck that. We play what we like. No parody here, just worship.

One of my ideas how you could have started is you all been Cannibal Corpse fans and loved to play their songs together and one day you started to write your own songs but writing them like you're them, sort of “how would Alex Webster write that bit or how would Paul Mazurkiewicz play that blastbeat?”. Does that make any sense or I'm chatting some bollocks?

Weedgrinder: Your perception of our band's conception isn't to far off. We never tried to copy Cannibal, or any other band. We are playing a form of death that we like very much. To me, death should be punk. If you're not behind your music, you might as well be a bunch of silly jazzheads playing the most complicated technical jibberjabber you can, which is often unlistenable. We all like death metal you can bang, thrash, and skank to. Not art metal, no breakdown mosh crew radio false metal.

Phil was with Municipal Waste before and surely that gave you some more recognition since they're a great and popular band. What bands did other guys play with before or still playing?

Weedgrinder: Yes, Landphil plays bass in Municipal Waste. Nickropolis plays in Parasytic (ala Deviated Instinct, English Dogs, Concrete Sox) and Volture (heavy metal ala old Priest, old Maiden). I play in Battlemaster (ala Immortal, Absu, Destroyer666). All of these bands are still active.

I dig Cannibal Corpse but need to say I prefer their earlier stuff with “The Bleeding” being my favourite record. Last couple of records seem to be slightly repetitive and I was over the moon when I first get to listen to “Tube of the Resinated”. It blew me away because it had all the best things I always loved about Cannibal Corpse but all the freshness on top of it. You have somehow reinvented their style, redone it and to me it's better then their new record because it's less expectable. How do you see that?

Weedgrinder: We all have different favourite albums. We all favour the older stuff, as do I, but my favourite all-around record is “Gallery of Suicide”. Our favourite to listen to in the van is the “Created to Kill” sessions. Every album they have is heavy as shit. Again, we aren't trying to reinvent them at all. Thanks for the kind words, but we just add our fair share of 90's east coast death metal influence, haha!

You are a pure worshippers of the ganja and its magical qualities. Do you support legalization? How does possession law look like in Virginia?

Weedgrinder: We support the legalization. In our country, the pot you can find ranges from super shitty to super trippy. Our federal government wages a silent drug war where they profit on two ends: 1) a large percentage of drug traffic funding is filtered into the pockets of politicians via loans we give to central and south American drug bosses/politicians and our west coast's growing “medical marijuana” industry, and 2) through privatized prison systems which overfill constantly, creating a tax cycling cash-grab that American citizens pay for in the end, while the corporate pig gorges itself on our incomes, crushing the weaker swine underfoot. In our state, Virginia, pot is illegal completely. Even a pipe with any amount of resin could feasibly get you jail time or 1000's of dollars in fees and fines, along with months to years of state-sponsored drug-testing and “rehabilitation”. It's bullshit, but we just do our best to stay away from the pigs. It's like this through out most of America, with the exception of parts of the west coast, where they simply give you relatively inexpensive tickets. A huge part of the population smokes weed regularly despite these cock-sucking laws. Drug-free and stoner alike, we all get along here. We are lucky to have a scene where people are not concerned with each others habits, clothing, race, etc.

People say you start with a little blunt or two then you move to ecstasy, speed and coke and all of a sudden you might end up pretty bad taking some serious shit. Do you think ganja is only a harmless funnier version of tobacco or can it be bit dangerous and you need to be conscious it may fuck you up?

Weedgrinder: What you refer to here is what the government propagators refer to as a “gateway drug”. Everyone has a different body, and responds to different drugs differently. I think idiots outnumber non-idiots. Idiots are the ones who slave themselves to hard drugs out of desperation, social naivety, and ignorance. I wish they weren't a concern to me, but you must be aware of all around you. My advice is to decide what you want, and then do whatever you want to do. But what you do is none of my business, you know?

The United States are a bloody big country with lots of different regions, accents, people and cultures. What would best describe Virginia and Richmond? What is characteristic about that place?

Weedgrinder: Richmond is the former capitol of the Confederate States of America, which was a short lived country comprised of the south-east part of America and went into Civil War with the United States of America in the late 1800's. The southern attitude and culture isn't as evident as it once was here, but it still survives. That attitude is typically more friendly than the north. We have some of the oldest surviving buildings in our city, which are not old at all compared to Europe's castles and towns. Richmond has a strong scene of hardcore punk metal freaks. We all like to party a lot. We have tons of killer bands and awesome people, but have been struggling for good venues for shows. We end up having house shows here a lot, with a few small bars and restaurants willing to open their doors to drunk and smelly punks and metallers. I love our city, and it is a great place to stop if any of the readers tour over here.

You have a mysterious friend appearing at your gigs. Who's the man and do you pay him in green, well I don't mean Benjamins!
Weedgrinder: The Bud Monster is who you speak of, haha! We don't know much about him, but he stops by many of our shows. His real name is in a language so ancient it remains unspeakable today. His name roughly translates to “Cool Dankula”. Not sure where he came from but we speculate he slid through a portal to our universe sometimes in the mid 80's. He's learning to cohabitate with humans, but it is a slow process.

What I love about Cannabis Corpse is that you simply have a sense of humour. Taking all your song titles, artwork etc. It's so important to be cool and don't treat yourself too serious especially when you're pushing 40, putting on corpse paint, wearing same pair of jeans for last 5 years and stating that you're true and never get your hair cut though you don't have much left anyway. Lots of metal bands just make me laugh though I love their music. Is Cannabis Corpse a bit of a mocker in a metal world?
Weedgrinder: We all have decent senses of humour, but by no means do we mock metal at all! Metal isn't some sort of short-lived phase or trend. Metal is what we have always loved, and lived. I see mockery everyday, and it lies in the fly-by-night trendies, metalcores, false metals, etc. These bandwagoneers maybe think that metal will get them money, or girls, or fame, or friends. This is people using metal, and that is mockery. We all laugh at stuff that is funny, whether it's in metal or not. A fat old guy in a corpse paint I would probably laugh at, unless his music was so black I didn't find him funny and lame.

Could say some more about your appearance in the film “In the Loop”? What's the plot about? Does it have anything to do with “Ace Ventura”? What was your part and how did it work out?

Weedgrinder: “In the Loop” is a British comedy dealing with the US and the British politics. We were contacted last minute about filming, and told whoever called that we'd show up and play some crushing death metal. The scene is kind of random, the two main characters go to a club for a drink, and we just happen to be playing. The only connection to “Ace Ventura” is that Cannibal Corpse played a similar scene in that movie and well... you know, we're called Cannabis Corpse. The director didn't seem to know that. I think it was a pure coincidence!

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Cannabis Corpse interview was done in November 2009 and published in Polish in 2010 in “Struggle Zine”. It's the first time it's published in English.

WE WITHER LINKS

2010-09-01T00:54:00.001+02:00

Some links to good metal websites that We Wither recommends:

DOOMMANTIA

DOOMSMOKER

SEVEN GATES OF HELL

DEATH METAL INVASION

ABOUT WE WITHER

2010-08-30T01:06:00.001+02:00

WE WITHER is dedicated to metal.
All band interviews are exclusive.
Done by email or over the phone.

WE WITHER interviews and other written materials copyright to Adam Drzewucki.
Photos and artworks used by permission of the record labels or bands.

Contact WE WITHER through: henry_krinkle [at] o2.pl

WE WITHER is based in Poland in the city of Poznan.

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