Endless Disappointment 11 - Alien Report

Well Shit. Here we go again.

For those who keep up to speed with the F H E D (no it's not pronounced FED or F-HED, it's literally 4 letters, like W-C-W but different letters and 4 of them), somehow we managed to sell out Issue 10 in a weirdly swift amount of time.

So unless some of the Distros who picked up copies still have their copies, it's gone; any remnants of Issue 10 is gone and forever in the hands of private collectors to gather dust, only to be seen a few years from now when I release them all as one giant anthology, or some fool references them as a relic to music was in the not-so-roaring 20's.

Could it be the fact we stacked the last issue with the likes of Undergang and Wvrm? Maybe, we'll find out with this issue. We've got some acceptable features and interviews this issue, including the exquisite return of Puzzle corner. I said I'd give myself a break last time, and I suppose I did, but in a way I moved straight from one onto another almost straight away so really I didn't: Fuck. Ah well. I'll give myself Christmas off, keep me from doing one of those "review of the year" things that everyone likes doing.

Anyway, read it, or don't, either way you've got a copy now.

1 - The New Wave of British Death Metal 5 - Human Cull 11 - Undeath 17 - Possessor 23 - Corrupt Moral Altar 29 - Mortuous 35 - Autopsy 45 - Puzzle Corner: Revengenator

The New Wave of British Death metal A blogger in the USA highlighted once that the UK Death Metal output is few and far-between; whilst we can always roll off the same old list of bands to highlight the UK's contributions to extreme metal, as of late it could be said that UK Death Metal doesn't have as much reach outside the UK as we think it may.

This point is only hammered in further when you consider the mainland European output, as well as the North American output which was seen acts like Necrot, Sedimentum, Soul Devourment, Phobophillic and many more contribute to an increasingly high torrent of Death Metal reaching our shores slowly and steadily.

It's easy to list off bands like Bolt Thrower, Benediction, Desecration, Akercocke and Gorerotted when looking at the UK's contributions to Death Metal, but these are all bands formed a long time ago; it's very hard to compare UK Death Metal bands from the last 10 years to a similar standard, especially considering the UK was a key proponent in the whole Slam movement gathering momentum.

The term "New Wave of British Death Metal" actually came from someone else; it's hardly a unique term yet it sufficiently unites a series of bands that have sprung up over the last few years that, independent to each other, have created some of the freshest and most unique Death Metal I've heard come out of the UK for a while. I'm sure you could unify these bands under any other collective term and the output would remain unchanged, but NWOBDM does sound pretty decent (nice one Tom, love ya). It could be a few years before you see festivals like Bloodstock pick up on these bands, but by the time they do. these bands stand a pretty decent chance of having gathered significant momentum independent of any support from the old establishments of Extreme Metal in the UK. I get that articles like this are as divisive as they are unifying; those who can relate to the article band around the idea and look to see how they can attach their wagon to it; on the other hand, those who are opposed to it look to mock or scrutinise the article for reasons ranging from their band not being represented, to their mates' bands not being represented in the article. I also get that a lot of these bands featured are bands that I really liked and went on to work with; you could question my journalistic integrity as a result, but that's under the brave assumption that I am a journalist... and that I take other people's feedback on board when writing a zine.

Anyway, read on to learn about parts of the UK Death Metal scene that have really caught my attention lately.

I

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If you've never been there, Leeds is brilliant and has always been a solid creative base for fast and heavy genres of all kinds to form and sustain themselves.

Whilst my experience of Leeds is primarily its exquisite (and I cannot emphasise enough the word EXQUISITE) contributions to Hardcore and Grindcore as genres, that's not to say they haven't had a nice little contribution to Death Metal too, and this is the first in this list that emanates from the mighty Leeds.

Slimelord are one of the more recent bands to come out of Leeds as of late. They've really managed to hit that Old-School Death Metal sound with the Doom vibe to the point that I forgot that I found the Death/Doom genre massively boring in years prior. Channelling a sound that the US cannot produce enough of lately, Slimelord are one of the bands that have all the likelihood and ability to help spearhead a new surge of British contributions to Extreme music in years to come, so hopefully their new material will be the good shit.

They also recorded a set at Boom to help raise funds for the venue after it got stitched up getting relief funding from the Government, so clearly they're decent dudes too. www.Slimelord.bandcamp.com // www.facebook.com/horriblebog p.s. Save Boom, it's a class venue and it needs your help.

Now was it really going to be a feature about the New Wave of British Death Metal if I didn't feature the band coined the term that gave its name to this article? Short Answer. No. Anyway, taking their name after a great Bolt Thrower song (not that there is such a thing as a Bad Bolt Thrower song), Celestial Sanctuary are the closest you're going to get to that Bolt Thrower sound we crave (sorry Memoriam). I was fortunate enough to put out their first EP on Cassette, since then it's been reissued more times than I can comprehend and they have a full-length coming out soon; it's going to be the real deal from what I've heard of it so far.

Starting out as a studio project, a lineup has formed around it so that we can look to expect live-shows from them in the future..... once gigs become a thing again. For anyone who got a copy, their interview in Issue 9 isn't too shabby either. If you're going to pay attention to any band in this feature, this one. www.Celestialsanctuary.bandcamp.com

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I discovered this band by fluke when scouring Instagram's recommendations for pages I should follow and this was the only one they could suggest that wasn't an artist or a West Highland Terrier page; little did I realise they were a South Wales band and a hecking decent one at that.

The Mortician vibe in strong in this band and fits in really well with the resurgence we've seen lately in slow to mid-tempo Death Metal. Their latest EP Rotting Alive came out recently and was mixed and mastered by Fan, formerly of South Wales Extreme Metal standouts Order of Tepes and Necrocest. Starting out as a 2-piece, they've now draughted in a 3rd member to really bring the heavy.

Whilst I'm dead-keen to see these guys play, or *fingers crossed* have them play my shtity DIY shows in the future, I approach them with a sense of caution knowing that promoters in South Wales have a tendency to put the same local band on so much that eventually everyone stops caring. That being said, I can see this band becoming a sleeper-hit, where they aren't reliant on a local following to get their name out there. We'll see I guess, or not. www.graveeater.bandcamp.com For anyone who was able to get a copy of Issue 10, you probably had a gander at the interview we had with these guys and that probably covers all you need to know given they're an incredibly new band.

I put their demo out a few months ago, the similarities to Spectral Voice and Autopsy being far too good to ignore; I'm putting out their new album "Katabasis" and, at the risk of sounding bias, it's truly something special and hopefully you'll all feel the same.

www.vacuousdeath.bandcamp.com To my best recollection Coffin Mulch were about around the tail-end of 2019. I hadn't heard much from them since, but out of nowhere a track from their new EP came up, which initially looked to be released through a label but that seemed to fall apart and they're now going it alone.

You can never tell how much of an impact a release will make until it's there, but from the small amount I've heard so far this is going to be good shit. https://coffinmulch.bandcamp.com/

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So the eagled-eyed readers out there have probably already realised that I released their EP just last month.

Combining a mix of Death Metal and Grindcore with the darker and sinister elements of Black Metal thrown in for good-measure, Chestcrush's debut demo reminded me of bands like Vermin Womb, Wake and the ludicrously named ClingingtoTheTreesofaForestFire, with nods as well to UK Extreme Metal Heavyweights Dragged into Sunlight.

Long Story short, it's evil stuff and a whole lot more sinister than some of the other Death Metal bands that are whipping up a storm right now. With their debut Demo out now, I'll be keeping an eye out for any follow-up material. www.chestcrush.bandcamp.com

As far as UK Extreme Metal goes, I'd go as far as saying Deus Vermin are the closest the underground scene has got to the "total package" without having received widespread attention in the Extreme Metal Community yet. They're the heaviest thing to come out of Leeds for years, and have already played some amazing shows with the likes of Calligram, Ulcerate and Abyssal. A few decent shows and the right support from the right people could have this band easily force its way to the forefront of British Extreme Metal.

With their Demo coming out a few years back, their debut EP "Monument to Decay" is truly something to behold; where some Black / Blackened Death Metal Bands get sidetracked with theatrics and all other bollocks, Deus Vermin channel the same sort of darkness and bleakness you'd get from bands like Grave Miasma, Of Feather and Bone and Dragged Into Sunlight (yes I know this is the 2nd time I've namedropped them on this page alone).

I put out the first run of this EP on Cassette and CD before Goatprayer Records raised the bar and put this spicy offering out on 12" Vinyl (I picked up the Die-Hard edition, I regret nothing); they lost their singer not long ago which undoubtedly was a momentum-killer, the last few months hardly helping anything either. I featured them back in Issue 5 where there was talk of a new singer (who also happens to be a lovely individual, and I don't like a lot of people), so hopefully we will hear more from them again soon. https://www.facebook.com/DeusVermin https://deusvermin.bandcamp.com

And now for the bit where I list other Death Metal Bands that are still good but aren't necessarily as new Body Harvest, Cryptworm, Live Burial, Cryptic Shift, Decrepit

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Human Cull came about around the time I started venturing into Grindcore beyond the immediate go-to's in the genre; fast forward nearly a decade and Human Cull have ticked off most achievements for any grindcore band and have become a mainstay of UK Grindcore in the process.

With a new album ready and raring to go, I checked in with Ed to see how things were going in the Human Cull camp.

First of all, I think it's important everyone learns what the band's former name was before changing to Human Cull.

Haha of course you would raise this! We were a band called Gran Toucher. Classy, I know.

I think a lot of people remember that band more fondly than they should.

So Revenant, your last full-length, came out about 2 years; what's been happening in the Human Cull camp during that time?

Handful of short UK tours: couple by Tour Poster from their 2019 tour with Axis of ourselves, one with Atomck from the UK and Despair one with Axis of Despair from Sweden. We also wrote and recorded a new album (we actually began writing it early 2017 if I remember correctly). Said album will be out in a few months hopefully.

Outside of band stuff, how have you all been killing the time now that we can't do anything fun?

This and that! To be honest there isn't be a whole lot going down on the music front...

Personally I've been reading a lot of history and am preparing to launch a blog about horror stories in medieval England. If you like to learn something interesting it'll be worth your time (perhaps...)

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In respect to your Medieval Blog: You're not the first person to be interviewed in this zine that has taken a keen eye to Medieval History, what draws you to it?

My blog will be live in November and it's titled 'The Old Night'. I'll be examining lay beliefs and superstitions in contrast with what is assumed to be the religion of England between 700-1400. In it I'll be introducing the readers to some really cool spooky ghost stories from medieval England and Iceland - if you like it creepy come and have a read.

As for what draws me to it? I like looking at the unanswerable and thinking about thinking... we don't know what people really thought about life and death back then, this is interesting and there will always be room to consider new concepts in relation to the period. I also find the quest for a "history from below" (that is from the laity, the peasants rather than the elites) very appealing. This is not easily achieved and, to use an example I draw upon a lot in 'The Old Night', one way of doing this relies upon what the elite writers record of what they encounter in the peasantry.

Your latest album "To Weep for For Unconquered Worlds" is wrapped up and not far off release; having had a listen (thanks by the way) it's exquisitely Deathgrind and a bit of a departure somewhat from previous Human Cull release, what caused the change in direction (sort of)?

I think that each time we’ve written a new album we've tried to differentiate it from the previous one. To my ears "Revenant" is very different to "Stillborn Nation", that is a greater change, I think, as took one step away from the looser crustgrind we'd become known for and went for a more concise and metallic sound that owed as many debts to Assuck as it did Nasum.

This new album follows on from that and I think we were quite keen to distinguish ourselves from everyone else to the best of our abilities. We wrote and discarded a lot of material this time and the stuff that survived from the beginning of the writing session is unrecognisable when compared to how it was initially written. I wanted to inject something of an epic air (within the context of grindcore at least) and this felt natural with a bit more of a metallic direction. Basically we grew as a band and really took our time with it. We think this is the most intense recording we have produced so far.

As per the case with a lot of grindcore releases, as well as some crust-punk and hardcore releases, a solid chunk of any back-panel for any release is relinquished to accommodate a wide menagerie of label logos to reflect the various outlets who have all chipped in for one release. Whilst it’s somewhat a part of a territory to get some releases out there, do you ever get frustrated with the delays and communication-blips that can occur when so many various people are involved in one effort?

Yes the delays and "yes/nos" can be frustrating, but given that there is basically no money in it whatsoever I discard those irritations quickly and reflect on the fact that we just do it (eventually). It’s also a good way of broadening distribution from the day of release. Our last album had 13 labels involved haha.

For documentary proof of the 13 labels involved in Human Cull's "Revenant" LP, see this scan of the back of my copy of the LP, which had to be split into two sections

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At the start of lockdown, before you could record vocals for the album, you opened up a track for your fan competition "Deathgrind Karaoke". Whose idea was it to open the song up to fans and were there any ludicrous or weird submissions for vocals?

It was born of a conversation between myself and Sam when we were sat in the lounge. I thought it'd be a good way to promote the release of our new t-shirt. To be honest none of the entries were that weird, but the most amusing was Oscar from Axis of Despair's effort featuring his eight year old daughter. Ultimately everyone who entered gave it a good shot and I loved hearing people's interpretations of it. I'm sorry to say that none of them influenced the final result though haha (the song in question is now titled "Siege Lord").

It's not uncommon for members in grindcore bands to dabble in several other projects; members of Human Cull went on to form Iron Eagle, who have released 2 albums and an EP over the last 6 years. What is it that you wanted to get from Iron Eagle that Human Cull wasn't able to do for you?

I'm sorry to correct you (Editor's Note: I don't think he was sorry at all) but it's just the one full length for Iron Eagle ("Audio Nasty"). Sam and I have two friends and we just decided to jam and Iron Eagle was the result, but if I remember correctly we settled on the name before we ever played a note. We would later add another friend on guitar so we could throw in loads of guitar harmonies. IE is much more about sitting on a riff than Human Cull. HC is also mostly my work lyrically and thematically, whereas in IE I just focus on playing guitar and Steve handles all the lyrics. The bands are also generally focused on very different topics. If I'm honest Iron Eagle is also far less "work" when it comes to playing, so I might indulge myself before a set a little more heavily than I would before playing with HC and the same is true of Sam. You also took part in Confine, a standalone project featuring members of Corrupt Moral Altar, The Afternoon Gentlemen and Oblivionized (RIP). Is there interest I resurrecting this project anytime soon or is everyone busy with their own ventures?

I can't speak for the other members but I feel that Confine is done. We did that EP over 3 days of jamming followed by a day recording. Reese came in and did vocals a month or so later and that was it. Confine is dead (unless they reform without me).

During Human Cull's time as a band you've released several albums/Eps/Splits, toured with the likes of Axis of Despair, played Obscene Extreme as well as various other cool shows around the UK with the likes of Wormrot, Napalm Death and Repulsion (I'll always have fond memories of the not-shit first edition of Temples Festival). Given the limited scope for opportunities for Grindcore bands in the UK, how do you see Human Cull's future playing out?

With the result of lockdown on the live industry I really can't say. We just don't know what will be left when the smoke settles and the longer that the ban on the kind of gigs we play lasts, the less likelihood there is of the scene rebounding very quickly. Sorry to be negative but right now I'm not feeling at all positive about the future of live music. I hope I'm proven wrong. I think that whilst there will be a thirst for live music, it could be a couple of years before we see gigs happening. Of course this is just my musing, but you can see a future of being in and out of lockdown and this will continue to put strain on venues and bands will just split up with nothing to do... I dunno man...

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The UK grindcore scene, whilst relatively small, is also pretty dedicated and a lot of the various members in bands have been active for fairly lengthy times. This is the point where you big-up bands/labels/people who have been supportive of Human Cull and the wider UK grindcore/powerviolence scene.

Lots of labels and lots of bands. Matt from Circus of the Macabre Records, Smith and The Afternoon gentlemen, George, Joe and ONA SNOP/Famine, Bentombed in Leeds, Tony, Jill and the Chimpy crew, the guys in Atomck... you know what I'll forget too many bands, organisers and labels, you'll have to read the thanks lists on our albums.

Whilst people always say they enjoy playing places, certain ones are better than others; where's Human Cull’s favourite place to play?

I don't have one. A good gig is a good gig, some places are more consistent than others (Nottingham has always been good) and sometimes I'm surprised when we have a great gig somewhere I wasn't expecting it. There are also those places I used to love to play but then the scene changes or whatever and then the next gig feels very lame by comparison. If we're talking playing abroad then I'll say Prague (CZ) because the two times we've played there have been absolutely raging nights with great lines ups from around Europe.

Worst show ever played? No holding back.

Liverpool 2012. We did a UK tour with Oblivionized and we played this total dive on St Patrick’s day. The organisers were useless and we were at the only place in the entire city that was empty that night. A mic got shoved up an arsehole… the whole thing was juvenile and tragic.

Another question around that tour: I remember the Cardiff date being a bit awks as there was not only a burlesque act midway through the show, but the area didn't have any grindcore bands at the time (still doesn't) so Fourth Autumn (a relatively ok metal band) and another band supported, don't suppose you can remember that opening band's name? I know they were like REALLY poop mosh/metalcore but honestly my mind has gone blank.

I can't remember the bands that played or the burlesque. I know there was a burlesque act. That's a funny snapshot in time though, when promoters would crowbar in things like that because it was fashionable t do so. It's a very Download Festival mentality. No idea why they even booked us, but oh well eh.

What's worse: False Grind or Fake Death Metal?

Both have their merits. If Nasum and Rotten Sound are considered falsegrind (and I know in some circles they are), then I'm putting FDM into Room I actually found the flyer for "that" Cardiff Date. The early 10's was not a good time for Music 101 and walking away with my copy of "Helvete" in Cardiff, to the point metalcore bands were clasped tightly in my clammy hands. supporting Grindcore bands. Halp.

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What's worse: People who gave up on Powerviolence after Weekend Nachos split up, or people who are only fans of grindcore whenever Napalm Death comes to town?

Since I rate grindcore far above powerviolence it's hard to answer this. I guess the former behaviour is more lame and tbh I totally get the place the metal bros who roll up to ND shows are inhabiting. This is actually a difficult question. I'll say the one about powerviolence cos I reckon that's the more contentious position by a gnat's hair.

What's worse: Pornogrind or Gorenoise?

This one is easy: pornogrind. I actually really like gorenoise.

Best enemy of Godzilla?

I'm going with the generic answer: Ghidorah: he's a three headed golden space dragon that shoots lightening. He also looks SO COOL in the 1991 film.

In respect to Godzilla: Do you not think MechaGodzilla looked cooler though?

Which Mechagodzilla do you mean though?

The 70s one? The 90s one? The 00s one?

(I was not ready for this response) What is better: Godzilla when it's a guy in a Godzilla suit, or Godzilla in the 2014 Movie (think it's 2014 anyway)?

Rubber suited fights every time.

For more information on Human Cull, follow the linkeroos below https://humancull.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/humancull

Members of Human Cull also play in the following bands https://conquerorwormuk.bandcamp.com/releases https://helplessnoise.bandcamp.com

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The North American Death Metal output has always been pretty robust to the point it's easier to point out moments when it wasn't brilliant (the only one I can think of is late 90's / early 2000's but I'm happy to be proven wrong on this). That being said, the last couple of years seem to have produced something a bit special, with a wave of Death Metal acts coming up through the underground that are gaining hype on their own steam. Labels like 20 Buck Spin, Rotted Life and Sewer Rot Recordings appear to be primary hotbeds for the upcoming crop of Death Metal lately, with the exception of Undeath who have recently gone into partnership with extreme-metal force Prosthetic Records.

I had a chat with Alex to see how their relatively meteoric rise has treated them so far.

So Sentient Autolysis, was released via Caligari Records just over a year ago. Whilst the EP has served you well and extended a lot of opportunities your way, looking back at when you first released it what was your honest expectations of how it was going to be received and where it would take you?

I honestly don't think I had much in the way of expectations for it. We were still very much under the radar at that point, as our first demo had been released just a couple months beforehand, so at the time I was just hoping that people would like our new songs!

Caligari Records also put out your debut demo, who you cite as being an incredibly supporting label during the early days of the band; had Caligari Records not been involved could you have seen the releases having as much impact as they had?

That's a great question. What Caligari lacks in bigger label things like press, distro, etc., he (Caligari is basically just one guy) makes up for it in always supporting the bands he releases in whatever way he can. For us, that meant always providing us with tapes to sell, sending our tapes to other tape labels to help get the word out and being open to whatever ridiculous ideas we had. The optimistic part of me wants to say that we could have gotten people's attention without Caligari helping to get us in front of them, but I know he was instrumental in helping get us off the ground. I can't begin to thank him enough for that.

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For your upcoming LP "Lesions of a Different kind" you chose to keep the artwork in-house, the art being as colourful as it is gross. Having previously collaborated with Riddick art on a merch design, what kept you from reaching out to him again for work?

We've got nothing but admiration and respect for Riddick, but Matt (our drummer) is our go-to guy for album art. His attention to detail is insane and his personal style is so unique and vibrant that it's hard to want anyone else's work on our covers. That's not to say we aren't totally open to working with Riddick again on merch, flyers, etc.!

Given the sheer amount of stuff going on in the art, ranging from a cave littered with dead shit to something jumping from a butt in the cave ceiling to chop someone's head off, I really want to learn more about your thought process behind the artwork and what you were looking for?

I think Matt wanted to create something that stood out from the endless amount of ultra-black, ultra-grim album covers out there that also wasn't just some generic "evil" painting. From there, he just looked at the lyrics and painted something that encompassed the general vibe and atmosphere of what we're going for in the songs, which is basically all things gross and death and gore.

You've even got Prosthetic Records involved, who have recently been having some excellent momentum with records from Vile Creature and Venom Prison; there appears to be quite a few different Death Metal-focused labels doing "Lesions of a Different Kind" the rounds lately in the USA (i.e. Rotted Life, Arguably some of the most unsubtle album Maggot Stomp, Redefining Darkness etc.), were art since The Black Dahlia Murder's Deflorate there lots of other labels vying for your album attention?

We're actually working with Maggot Stomp on "Lesions" as well! They're putting out the cassette version of the album. Much love to Scott and Larry for doing awesome work with that label.

As far as other labels vying for our attention, it wasn't like there was a bidding war or anything, but I know a couple labels were interested in talking to us. We went with Prosthetic because they were the only ones that actually hit us up directly, asked what our plans were, and were totally open and transparent in the signing process. Also, there are so many great bands on Prosthetic that I loved growing up (Trap Them, Lamb of God, Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire, Gojira) that I was just pumped to be a part of that history. They've been awesome to work with ever since and I'm stoked that we went with them.

Speaking of Maggot Stomp, was their any reason that Prosthetic didn’t oversee releasing the album on cassette?

You'd have to ask them ahaha. On our end, I just asked if they were interested in releasing a cassette of the album, they said they didn't really do cassettes, so I just said no biggie and asked Maggot Stomp if they wanted to put it out. Easy peasy.

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On the subject of Death Metal; there seems to be an explosion of activity in the USA over the past few years, with Undeath fitting quite nicely into that; what the hell do you think happened for the USA to suddenly become so prolific?

I think that with metal in general, regardless of where you're from, there's always going to be trends. Subgenres are always falling in and out of fashion. Grind was huge for a while, then there was this huge wave of black metal bands, then doom and sludge were trendy for a while, and now it's death metal. In that sense it's not really that surprising to me as I think it was always just a matter of time before death metal got its turn in the sun again, but I feel like the U.S. has always been really fertile ground for great death metal so it only makes sense that a new wave of exciting bands are coming out of here.

Given the absolute onslaught of US Death Metal doing the rounds lately, how does Undeath fit into that and to what separates Undeath from the rest?

I occasionally see people tagging us as "OSDM" (Old School Death Metal), which I don't really agree with.

While we draw a lot of influence from bands like Cannibal Corpse, Carass, Morbid Angel, and bands like that, we aren't worshipping at the altar of 80s and 90s death metal or anything.

We love that shit, don't get me wrong it's my bread and butter, but we never said "Let's do a band that sounds like ______" when we started. We're all just huge fans of death metal in general and wanted to put our own spin on it, and I think that "spin" lies in how catchy and well-considered our songs are. I'm not trying to stroke my own ego here, I promise, but for us I think we stand away from the pack a little bit because we're focused on writing fun, catchy, memorable songs rather than 6-minute breakdowns or tempo exercises.

You've toured previously with Sanguisugabogg, who you seem to have quite a decent friendship with. Are there any other bands within the scene that you're friends with and wish to bring to our attention?

We love the guys in Sanguisugabogg and I'd definitely consider them our "brother band" in a lot of ways. As far as other bands go, we're friendly with Frozen Soul, Outer Heaven, Phobophilic, Sedimentum, and tons of other ones!

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Somehow you're the second band featured in this issue to have a Beer made in their honor. How did you strike up a relationshop with Nine Maidens Brewing and could you tell us more about it?

Well, we had been toying around with the idea of doing an Undeath beer for a little while but didn't really know how to go about executing something like that. We learned pretty quickly that drinking a ton of craft beer doesn't mean we know the first thing about actually brewing some ahaha. One day on a whim we just hit up Nine Maidens, which is a nanobrewery here in Rochester that we go to all the time, and thankfully they were very interested in working with us! The brewmaster there, Zeb, is a really cool guy and the idea of making a New England IPA brewed with charcoal to make it black was all his idea. It turned out great.

You released an EP earlier this year called "Live from Hell", an audio release from a set recorded for the Chattanooga Film Festival. Whilst I get the recording quality was meant to be deliberately shitty, the quality seems to reflect that of an actual 90’s video camera, by any chance is that what they used?

Yup, the whole thing was recorded on an old VHS camera that our good friends Cass and Dylan from the band Full Body had.

Do you plan on revisiting the idea of set-recordings in the absence of shows happening anytime soon?

Definitely. We actually have a few more "live sets" coming up, and with higher production values!

I know the prospect of shows happening again seems a far-away dream, but with the album due out anytime soon how do you envision the foreseeable future playing out?

I wish I knew. Things seem to just be getting crazier (and somehow even worse) every day, so I'd feel like an asshole if I even attempted to predict the future.

I know one thing for certain, though: We're over halfway done writing our second album, so we'll probably record that sometime early next year. Until shows can happen again, I think the plan is to just go all out on writing and try to be as productive as possible.

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Right, we're on the final stretch now; Undeath's lyrics are macabre and centred heavily around gore, which is cool. Where do you draw influence from in terms of lyrics?

Thanks! All sorts of stuff. Kyle handles our lyrics and I feel like he gets most of his inspiration from horror movies, fantasy novels and generally just thinking of sick shit that would sound cool in a death metal song.

We all have our favourite horror movies, what's the bands favourite horror movies either for scare-factor or gore-factor?

Scare-factor, I'd have to go with "Under the Skin" as my number one pick. That might be kind of a controversial answer as I guess technically it's more of a sci-fi drama movie than a straightforward horror flick, but no other movie has come even remotely close to making me feel as disturbed and upset as that one did. The guy who directed it, Jonathan Glazer, has only directed like two other movies (one of them is "Sexy Beast", which I'd also highly recommend) and a bunch of very elaborate music videos for bands like Blur and Radiohead, which makes this subtle, super minimalistic movie even more of an anomaly. Scarlett Johansson is fantastic in it as well and I don't think she says a single word the whole time.

Gore-factor, you can't go wrong with Evil Dead 1 and 2. The pre-Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson stuff is toward the top of my list as well - Bad Taste and Braindead. Re-Animator, The Thing, Hellraiser, Brain Damage and Nightmare City are also a great time.

Lesions of A Different Kind is out now via Prosthetic Records; the first wave of Vinyl variations sold out in bonkers-time, but there are still copies available.

For more information, please check out the following links https://undeath.bandcamp.com https://undeath-maggotstomp.bandcamp.com/ https://prostheticrecords.bandcamp.com https://www.prostheticrecords.com/

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Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, once said that it is no longer viable to just release an album every 3-4 years. Ek's tone-deaf interview aside, most artists will probably agree with 3-4 years between albums is fairly realistic when considering artists have to manoeuvre through a minefield of obstructions including work, family, saving money for recording or even honoring commitments from the last album's cycle.

Possessor seem relatively unchained by such restraints, with their new release "Damn The Light" out soon, their 4th album since 2016. I had a chat with Graham from Possessor to figure out how he does it (and other stuff too).

Before we get into Possessor-related business, you’ve all been in some fairly spicy bands formerly, to which I think I can recount maybe 1 or 2; what bands have you all been in prior to Possessor becoming a thing?

Nathan has a good CV for sure. He’s been the drummer for Satan’s Wrath, Capricorn’s, Conflict and Labrat. I've been in a few bands over the years myself too.

How did the band come to form?

Possessor came about around Christmas 2013 after I'd had a dry patch of not playing my guitar.

I was also experiencing depression and daily anxiety. My lovely wife persuaded me to start taking sertraline and over the following week or two I wrote the "Wings of Fire" EP at home. It was just a super rough collection of hammered out songs with a pretty crap production, almost intended as a bit of a tongue-in-cheek laugh. The bloody first lyric on it is "Vikings from the North...." so yeah, I didn't have a dreadfully serious or political agenda, I was just out to embrace the fun side of metal as I had as a young kid.

Unsatisfied with that I set about recording a full length almost immediately; Electric Hell. I was genuinely blown away by how quickly that album became known across the globe. The reviews were all great and it became a little cult gem almost overnight. Something I hadn't foreseen or do understand to this day. Ha. Again, I didn't have any plans for this one but it got picked up by Occult Whispers Records really quickly and released physically only a couple of months later!

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Never planned as a live band, in fact it hadn’t even crossed my mind but my old childhood friend Marc persuaded me to let him play bass if it ever became a live band. Which it quickly did!

Unfortunately it didn't last as long as I had hoped with Marc as he lived way too far away to be expected to travel to London for rehearsals once a week. Nice bloke though. He was with us for two years.

The rest is history...

Given there was already a band called Possessor around at the time, did you ever worry about fans getting confused between the two?

I only discovered they existed after our first album came out. They're a real balls out hardcore thrash band. Loads of fun!

I did a bit of research and noticed that they had been on a hiatus that seems to have lasted to this day, and also, one of the band members is now in a cool band called Forest of Legend. We follow each other on Instagram so it's obvious we're both aware of each other and there's no problem.

There was a spot of confusion early on but we never clashed over it. If they'd have requested we change the name I would have done so, but that never happened and it would appear they ceased to exist quite a while ago. What can I say? It's a good band name!

Maybe it's just a hunch but Possessor's lyrics seem to have their groove in not just Horror movies, but specifically 80's Horror. For those unfamiliar with what you're about, what Horror movies have found their way into your songs over the years?

Wings of Fire EP (2014) Possessor's Debut EP Recorded apparenly on a Broken 8-Track at the end of 2013

Oh man that's a big question! Every band I've ever played in has had some form of either slasher or occult imagery. When the band started I was really deep into M.R.James and William Hodgson books. Also films like Legend of Hell House, Blood on Satan's Claw and Dr. Terror's House of Horrors...to name but a few. Mainly folky, Hammer-esque British stuff.

The whole doom scene kinda saturated that occult vibe so I dropped that quite early and went for the more visceral and simplistic inspirations I got from shit like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, Evil Dead and The Blair Witch Project. Simple horror! Simple scares!

No messing!

Basically the stuff that got me into horror in the first place. The Eighties were badass for so many cult films but there's no particular era I like more than another. I love the nineties as we got stuff like Scream and in the noughties as we had some films really captured my imagination like American Mary, Ginger Snaps and Wolf Creek. As a genre it's never really weakened or lost sight of itself, it's simply gone from strength to strength and continues to inspire. My lyrics are horror films squeezed into the songs running time. Like vignettes combining Stephen King, Wes Craven and Lucio Fulci.

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Going off on a tangent a bit, but how do you think modern Horror cinema weighs up against the classic 70's/80;s era where it was all live-effects and were about as subtle as being hit with a Gold Brick. Do we get scared like we used to or do different things scare us now?

Practical effects can never be replaced by CGI. For me things have to be REAL. I'm a huge lifelong Star Wars fanatic and I've spent far too many years trying to deal with the way those films have been treated. It's infuriating beyond belief when you're a mega nerd. But I take it very seriously.

There's been some great horror films in recent years, but again I switch off the moment a film relies too heavily on computers or broaches the third wall by introducing off screen texts. I'd happily have really bad puppetry over CGI. Like, for example Peter Jackson's early films like Braindead and especially Bad Taste were made on a pretty small budget and done entirely with practical effects. Look at the state of his other films! Christ, Lord of The Rings looks like a washed out video game. All green screen and no soul, and that immediately just bores me silly.

I want to see actually things on screen not a screen of a screen of another screen. For me it's impossible to get engaged in something that's not actually there and I will always see CGI an incredibly overused and lazy technique that sucks my interest away every time.

Blah...

There's some cool stuff around though. Eli Roth may not make particularly great films but he sure as hell knows how to use his effects team properly. Same goes for Jordan Peele and Fede Alvarez. That recent Evil Dead film was a blast! And done without relying on animation.

I dunno, gimme Texas Chainsaw Massacre over anything else any day of the week. That's my main inspiration. That's REAL with a massive capital R. A masterpiece that stands head and shoulders above almost every film I've ever seen. A howling rage of purity and unbridled eye ball fucking lunacy. And it haunts me constantly.

You recently released a shirt with Godzilla on it, which I automatically interpret as an open invitation to chat shit about Kaiju. What's your favourite adversary to Godzilla and how do you think the last 2 American movies measure up in the grand scheme of things?

Mechagodzilla was my favourite. So badass and their fights were hilariously goofy. King Ghidorah is a close second. Hedorah was my least favourite as he was quite shit. I've not seen either of the recent Godzilla films.

Did you know the original Godzilla sounds were made by rubbing a leather glove covered in Pine Tar down the strings of a Double Bass?

Ha. I did not! Ingenius.

Your upcoming album "Damn the Light", out soon via APF records is your 5th release in almost as many years. In the time it's taken for some bands I featured to write one album, you've released 3 and probably started writing another one for the heck of it. How in the Blue Hell do you keep up with the creativity?

Once I've started writing I cannot stop. I always plan an album out down to the finest detail.

It's always been the way...I'm endlessly inspired. If I listen to an album and love it I want to pick up my guitar and come up with something immediately while that freshness and enthusiasm is still in my skull.

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We aren't getting any younger and I really feel the need to leave a legacy. For me there's nothing more exciting than discovering a band with an epic back catalogue. It means you've got so much to look forward to. And hey, what else am I gonna do with the band? We are here to make music. So while we exist that's what we will continue to do.

I have weeks off playing anything constructive but once I've decided to write a record I don't stop until it's been hammered into shape and had all the fat trimmed. We had to remove three whole songs from Damn The Light to physically fit it onto vinyl which is ridiculous. I can say right now we are already planning the next release. But it won't be released for a while now. I try to breathe from time to time.

Whilst it's not the only means of promotion, live performances are a staple of getting any new record out there into the ears of new-listeners. Given gigs are pretty much in the bin at the moment, has your approach to promotion changed with this album, compared to your previous effort Graveland where you were afforded the capacity to have a launch-show and play shows around the release?

The state of live music is truly depressing right now. We had three big festival appearances booked for this year...all of which have been either scrapped or postponed until god knows when...? We've never been the most prolific live band and I'm happy to just play a handful of times each year but it's certainly a royal pain in the ass for us and all the other awesome bands in the world. It's saddening. It feels like a lot of venues won't survive this.

When it comes to promotion I think we will be focusing on music videos more with this album. We already have three planned. Hopefully seeing us thrashing about and having a laugh will be a nice alternative to seeing us in the flesh. There's a lot of constructive ways to promote oneself on social media, from posting daily Spotify playlists created by band members, to banter about favourite albums and films. As long as your online presence doesn't dwindle you can stay afloat! People like to see that bands are alive one way or another.

Right, so let's talk about the album some more, can you break down the tracks for us a bit?

Sure!

The album kicks off with Bloodsuckers which was written and dissected slowly over a month or three. I had an epic Kvelertak style build up in mind mixed with an early Metallica thing. It definitely showcases our love for several bands. There's a section that Nathan refers to as the "Enslaved part" and there's definitely a sly black metal feel to the finished song. My vocal chords were battered after recording that.

Next up is Coffin Fit which was one of the first songs I wrote after Gravelands. It's a sludgier mid paced tune that gallops off into the sunset on a NWOBHM stomp. Lyrically that one is a bit chaotic. The second half came about when myself and Ellie (ex bassist) got drunk in Brixton and had an in depth discussion about spirits, ghosts and how my mum used to work in a haunted National Trust property. I remember going home with lyrics in my head.

Take it to the grave was the first song with lyrics written by another band member (Nathan), which was fun and gave me a chance to not worry about that side of things. The descending riff had a bit of seventies doomy feel to it but we cranked the amp gain and it became more of a thrash number. Nathan added his groovy roto-toms and the song concluded with a solo that's a reworking of the opening piano intro on the album. I wonder if anyone will notice that...

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The Strangeness is another mid-paced heavy metal song entirely inspired by aliens, UFO's and I guess the X-Files! I wanted a song that embraced the open skies and spaces in Death Valley and the scenery of the film The Hills Have Eyes. It was written around Christmas last year and pieced together bit by bit over the following weeks. I'm chuffed with how this one turned out but it may not be a live track. Oh, and that opening heart beat is my daughter Connie in the womb. A little nod to Sepultura and one of the only positive things to have occurred in 2020.

Razorback was intended for Gravelands but it didn't quite work for some reason. I won't say much about this track but it took us a while to get the feel for it. It's kinda inspired by eighties Rush and is basically a sporadic cocktail of bits and pieces. Lyrically it's about a killer pig.

Damn The Light is a different beast. I wanted a nice clean guitar intro that builds into a minor key anthem of sorts. Like Medal-era Pink Floyd and Metallica's Call Of Ktulu. Only nothing like either. It's an emotional track this one, lyrically based on how crummy this year has been and how we need to look out for each other. The lyric "I need your blood to survive" was as much a nod to vampiric folktales as it is a fear of losing loved ones and holding on for dear life.

Fresh Hell. Again lyrically inspired by the pandemic but this time soundtracked by a simple thrash trek through some punky wastelands.

Early Megadeth vibes towards the end I guess and a lot of other old school harmonised metal. No messing. This track is straight up.

"Damn The Light" Confession is our little soundtrack interOut October 30th through APF Records lude that I created using various sources and On a sidenote: the art would make for an sounds. Part of which is a tiny section of the exquisite VHS cover.

Nekromantik soundtrack. I wanted a voice recording of a confession so I asked my lovely Canadian friends Stacey and Natty to do a reading of something I'd written. We edited it down and they did a great job! One day I'd like to do an album purely of soundscapes and scary mood music.

Scalpel is probably the heaviest track of the lot and it brings the album to a fuzzier and more sludgy final quarter. This one is inspired a little by Celtic frost and a little by Buzzoven and is about a killer whos nightmares keep other people awake in a telepathic trance warning them that he is coming. My wife loved that idea. It's silly but hey...

The album ends with Return to Slaughter High. A reworking of a song from an earlier album.

It's always been a live favourite and I'd never been satisfied with the original recording. For this we cranked up the BOSS Hyper Fuzz, set phasers for stun and killed all in our path. I'm keen to go more in this direction in the future!

You had Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Horse Studios work on the album, who readers may also recognise as the other half of PetBrick alongside Igor Cavalera. What drew you to him and what did he bring to the process?

Wayne is a top guy. He's mastered every single Possessor release besides The Ripper and we've always planned to record with him. He has a very simple and structured manner of working.

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He gets things done and doesn't mess about. When I heard the final mix of Gravelands I just thought "Yep. This is what Possessor are meant to sound like. Raw and heavy and very metallic, yet cleanly mastered and with room for the instruments to really breathe amidst the chaos", so it wasn't even a question when it came to recording this new one. We spent longer this time and you can tell. It's an immense sounding album and we are really proud of it given the strange and unpredictable year we wrote and recorded it in. Hats off to all involved!

Whenever I'm at Wayne's studio I hope that perhaps Igor will turn up. Alas I've not yet met him.

Everyone in this band has a soft spot for Sepultura obviously.

You dabbled into the Beer game too, with Weird Beard Brewing Company releasing a Pale Ale called "Gravelands". How did that come about?

I used to to run a little bar in Crystal Palace and I ended up working with Weird Beard and regularly buying their exquisite range of beers in. I was keen to ask them if they were named after the Fu Manchu song and I believe they were!

A few years later and I ran the idea of doing a sessionable beer for our album launch and they jumped onboard straight away. I went down to the brewery in the pouring rain with a broken umbrella and helped chuck in the hops after having some tasty beer samples with their boss Bryan, lord of his own very weird beard. They're a good bunch and it's now become one of their core range! That was surreal but really cool! They're all headbangers and it seemed like a match made in Heaven. Or Hell if you will.

Having been quite active as a band, and with the band's collective experience in other projects outside of Possessor, do you still get that same excitement with the process of releasing music to this day?

Releasing music is the number one thing I do it for. I've not played in any other bands for around six years and this is 100% my only musical outlet these days. I've been toying with the idea of a very raw and messed up death metal side project from home but that doesn't seem to have ever happened. The rest of the band are musically a lot busier. Nate is in 11Paranoias and Ollie is also in Old Horn Tooth and Cartomante. I dunno how they have the energy. It's inspiring though.

So we've got a few months left of the year; assuming gigs are not happening anytime soon how do you expect the next few months to play out in light of your release?

Well It's hard to say if we will be able to do any form of album launch like we would normally but we are gonna keep plugging away on social media and making sure people are brainwashed by our new album. Hopefully physical print magazines will keep people happy in the meantime. It's been a truly abysmal year but I'm finding a lot more positivity and camaraderie in the music scene in general.

Damn The Light is out now on various formats via APF Records For more information feel free to have a gander at the links below www.facebook.com/possessorband www.possessor.bandcamp.com https://apfrecords.co.uk/

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Two UK Grindcore bands in one issue? Noice.

With a wealth of experience brought to the table by the various members, coupled with the fact they've never released anything shit, it's not too difficult to argue that Corrupt Moral Altar are at the forefront of the UK's grindcore output, having played all manner of excellent shows and toured with the likes of Noisem, Venomous Concept and Magrudergrind. After a brief period of inactivity, Corrupt Moral Altar return with their new EP "Patiently waiting for wonderful things".

Tom, CMA drummer and proprietor of the ever-snazzy Vagrant Studios, stops in to chat some stuff.

So how are things currently in the CMA camp?

Pretty reasonable considering gigs and fun are basically off the table for another year. Our band chat has never seen such a constant flow of memes.

It's bonkers to think that you’ve been active since 2012, when your debut EP "Needle Drugs" came out. Given Grindcore and Powerviolence bands' tendencies to play fast and burn out faster, did you ever envision CMA still being around 8 years on?

I don't think we really thought about it. Personally I've never started a band based on a 5 or 10 year plan, I only started playing drums when CMA started so I'm probably more surprised at how much I've spent on drum gear over that time without having much to show for it.

There'a video you put out a few months back from when you all toured Europe, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed; how have you all changed since then and how does it feel looking back on your younger selves monkeying around on tour?

I lost more hair and we're all fatter and slower than we were back then but it just brings back good memories really. We still have the same aim whenever we go away: smash out some loud sweaty music and have a nice time while doing it. I'd like to say we try not to drink as much as we did... but I don't think that will fly.

It wasn't long after your band's inception that, in 2014, you were snapped up by Season of Mist to release your debut full-length "Mechanical Tides", what were your expectations going into business with Season of Mist and were there any other labels interested at the time?

There were a couple of other labels who had offered to release the album but we ended up going with Season Of Mist based on their quality roster (past and present) with the plan of touring and promoting the record.

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We were hoping to get a vinyl release for Mechanical Tides too, but alas that didn't come to fruition as nobody who approached SOM about licensing the vinyl rights could afford what they were asking, apparently.

During this time CMA started playing some really cool shows, including Incubate Festival, Bloodshed Fest and the 10th edition of Damantion (arguably the best lineup that Damnation Festival has put together). Did you ever feel under pressure at the time to keep active in light of the release coming out?

If anything we wanted to do more. In between shows/touring we were writing the follow up to Mechanical Tides as we just loved jamming together in any way shape or form. All those 3 shows were great, its a shame Incubate and Bloodshed are no longer around, they were great fun.

The credits on that album are utter bonkers for a debut album, with contributions from Mitch Harris of Napalm Death and Jeff Walker of Carcass. Given Mitch Harris was looking to wind down his involvement with Napalm Death back then, and Jeff Walker always appears to be grumpy as heck (even when playing his own music), how the hell did you pull off those guest-appearances!?

Jeff and Mitch are both good friends of John's. He'd toured with both Napalm and Carcass as a tech/merch guy/van driver/ tour manager on and off since around 2007. So it was just a case of them hearing the record and John asking them if they fancied being a part of it. Of course that didn't stop the rest of our tiny minds being blown when Jeff turned up at my studio and just smashed out his lines in a couple of takes. He wasn't grumpy at all to be fair, just wanted a cup of tea before starting. The track that Mitch sang on was a bit of a different flavour on the album, it was recorded all live and sent over to him with the instruction to "go nuts". We got the tracks back and it worked out great, completely different to anything we could have come up with.

Mechanical Tides, released 2014 through Season of Mist

It was ultimately your last release on Season of Mist. How was the relationship with Season of Mist looking back and did you feel they supported you throughout the album release cycle?

Things went a bit differently to how we expected to be honest but there was no bad blood or anything, everyone we dealt with at the label was pretty sound. There were a couple of tours in the works that didn't finalise and ultimately we didn't promote the album on the road as much as we would have liked. By the time we got around to recording Eunoia, they just said they liked it but we would have needed to be on the road a lot more for them to consider releasing it.

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Fast forward a few years and Eunoia came out. Not only was there quite a lengthy gap between Eunoia and Mechanical Tides, but you sought to self-release it. What motivated you to take a different approach to releasing this full-length.

Most of it was recorded about 2 years before it came out actually, but vocals took absolutely ages as Reese was brutally busy with work; we binned off a lot of stuff and revisited it a few times to ensure maximum horrendousness. We were speaking to a few smaller labels about releasing it but after much umming and ahh-ing we just decided to stick it up for free download, as we were sick of sitting on the tracks. Loads of people paid to download it through Bandcamp and we ended up putting that money towards releasing it ourselves on 12", as a kind of antithesis to how things went with Mechanical Tides. After doing it DIY we felt a lot better about Eunoia than Mechanical Tides, and we have the added bonus of still having tour stock without having to buy it from a label.

In the 3 years between both releases, had anything changed to the band that altered how you approached the album or writing songs?

We took a much more raw approach to recording Eunoia, but the songwriting process was very similar. Just jamming the songs out in the rehearsal room, knocking out some rough demos then getting stuck into the final version.

We were probably in worse places mentally overall which is kind of reflected in how the album ended up sounding.

The word Eunoia derives from the Greek work for "well mind" or "beautiful thinking". Perhaps it's my inherently negative mindset or Grindcore's tendency to revel in songs about futility, but am I to assume there was a degree Tour Poster from their 2016 Tour with of irony in the choice in name for the album? Magrudergrind. Featuring rare grindcore shows in Margate and Newport Definitely, writing the lyrics to Eunoia took a lot out of Reese emotionally and mentally. So coming up with a title to reflect the total opposite of that seemed fitting. I'm sure we laughed about how comically inappropriate the name was.

Human Cry, the opening track to that album, is an absolute salvo and the strongest start to an album I've probably heard even to this day (next to maybe "Silence is Deafening" by Napalm Death); this is only heightened by the no-nonesense statement "This Town Has a Drug Problem", and that's probably as positive as the lyrics get throughout the album. What was your mindset like when writing this album and what themes did you want to get onto the record?

Mainly the lyrics are just honest observations, talking about dark and troubling times in life as they occur and addressing experiences which are causing a negative world view.

Musically we just wanted to rage as much as possible, but also counter that with dark conflicting passages which reflected much of what we were all going through at the time. The whole thing was an extremely cathartic process for us all.

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Prior to some announcements and reveals in July of this year we really hadn't heard much from CMA since your tour with Noisem in July 2019, was it planned for CMA to take a bit of a hiatus or did real-world stuff get in the way?

That year was a stupidly busy one for me at least, studio wise, and after the immense fun we had with Noisem we decided to just focus on writing some new stuff, hence the emergence of this EP. We recorded the bulk of it back in October then went through the same kind of thing vocal wise, trying different things and binning stuff until we ended up with something we were happy with.

Following you announcing your partnership with APF Records in July, you've recently confirmed the release of "Patiently Waiting for Wonderful Things", your first new music in 3 years. How has the band changed over those 3 years and what can listeners expect?

You can expect something a bit more light hearted this time around, and nothing too "out there" for the most part. We opted to focus on the more ignorant side of riffing, almost reverting back to how we originally sounded back in 2012 in some places. I would hope that collectively we're in a more positive state of mind than 3 years ago.

You've sought to work alongside APF Records this time round, who have released music from the likes of Desert Storm, Video Nasties and Diesel King. With the label's roots deeply entrenched into the Northern Stoner/Doom scene, how did the partnership come together?

To put it in a slightly "safe for work" wording: Reese was showing Damian (Video Nasties) a rough mix of the EP and he offered to send it over to APF. A couple of days later, we'd agreed APF would release it! It's a good job really, because otherwise it probably would have ended up as another free download.

Ritual Fest 2017; utter shitshow organisation-wise but the lineup was dead good.

With your last album, Eunoia, being a self-released effort, what attracted you to having label involvement again given a lot of bands celebrate the independence and freedom that come with self-releasing?

Aside from the fact that APF is fronting the cash to press the record and help promote it (which I don’t fancy doing again), we liked the fact that they're an independent label who genuinely care about the music they put out. No excessive amounts of paper to sign and we're good friends with many of the bands on the label. I wasn't too fussed about seeking out a label to be honest, but here we are.

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Looking beyond CMA, all the individual members have their own ventures going on. You happen to run Vagrant Studios, the studio of choice for the likes of Venom Prison. Dragged into Sunlight and Gets Worse, as well as for CMA. To what extent does it makes things easier knowing that your recording facility is about as in-house as it can get?

It's great as far as demoing and experimentation go, but it does make the recording process a lot longer as it’s too easy to keep refining stuff. Eventually you just have to decide that it's done. I was much stricter with myself this time around in regards to mixing; I think I did one set of revisions then told myself it was finished. I think I did about 10 different mixes of Eunoia while we were waiting for the vocals to be finished. Never again...

Your guitarist John, after a successful stint filling in for Mitch Harris, became the full-time guitarist for Napalm Death and the touring guitarist for Venomous Concept. Whilst to this day John still keeps active with CMA, ultimately ND is a full-time entity and would likely require most of his time. How easy is it to juggle commitments and how involved is John with CMA knowing it isn't always practical to dedicate all his time to the project?

It took us a little while to find our feet from a live point of as Adam moved onto guitar and we had a couple of people stand in on bass until we found gentle Oliver to take the position permanently. Obviously John plays any gigs he can with us when he's around but we can tour as a 4 piece without him if necessary (although it's always more fun if there's 5 of us!); he's always there in spirit e.g. texting us I LOVE YOU ALL whenever we have a gig he can't be at. I've been doing some drumming for Venomous Concept recently too so he can't get away from us that easily.

I could have put some meaningful content in this bit, but Chips are life and I can personally relate to this image

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Vocalist (Chris) also sings for HorseBastard, a band I was introduced to when they toured with Infanticide a few years back in Bristol. Whilst CMA is heavy as shit and has the capacity to be serious, by comparison Horsebastard is a lot more about wordplay and finger-wags. That being said, aside from the odd split here and there we haven't heard a lot from Horsebastard, are they still active? Is my head in the sand on this one?

I like the way you phrased that! We have the "capacity" to be serious but we very rarely are, but

by Horsebastard standards yes, we are deadly serious. Horsebastard are always up to something!

They have a tonne of different splits out and are always concocting something weird, wonderful and completely nonsensical. They probably released something last week and we didn't even notice. Reese doesn't bother telling us much about anything these days.

There's also Lake Baikal, a collaboration that features you and Reese and is a fairly Blackened-Doom affair; do you ever worry that, as a band, you're spreading yourself thin with the amount of projects and side-projects going on at any given time?

Considering the latest Lake Baikal stuff took about 9 years to come to fruition, I don’t necessarily think we spread ourselves too thin. We just work on different things when we have chance. While we try to keep a bunch of different influences and styles prevalent in CMA, we don't want to force anything in which doesn't suit us. So naturally we all end up fulfilling those needs in different projects when we have time.

Before I wrap up the interview, are there any other projects / side projects in the pipeline or that members are currently a part of?

Current active associations include (but are probably not limited to): Napalm Death / Venomous Concept/ Blood From The Soul/ Coughin' Vicars/ Horsebastard/ Utopia/ Lake Baikal/ Satanic Dystopia/ Deadbodydrones/ Evisorax/ Blitzkrieg/ Bent Sea/ Man In The Dark So 2020 is a bit of a write-off and I think most rational people have accepted gigs aren’t likely to return anytime soon; how do you plan to keep yourselves busy until then and how would you like the rest of the year to play out?

We have basically another album’s worth of stuff written and have been delving into some experimental industrial stuff as a part of that, so I guess we may try and demo that before the year is out. There’s no great rush. Overall I think we just need to figure out a way of existing without getting too stressed about it.

"Patiently waiting for Wonderful things" is out 27th November via APF Records For more information, follow the links https://corruptmoralaltar.bandcamp.com/ https://apfrecords.co.uk/

p.s. listen to HorseBastard

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I didn't actually catch on to Mortuous until around Issue 9 when I interviewed Chad from Necrot; turns out he drums in Mortuous too, had a bit of a listen and from there it was only a matter of time until I featured them.

Contributing heavily to the US' recent surge in Death Metal output, Mortuous have actually been active for quite some time, seeing through a flurry of releases and a lineup reshuffle that drafted in current and former members of both Necrot and Exhumed.

I checked in with Colin, the driving force of Mortuous to see how he was keeping and talk through the band's evolution.

Interviews in this scene tend to go fairly chronologically and I don't see anything changing for this one. Can you take us back to what sparked you to start Mortuous and record your initial demo "Mors Immortalis" as a solo effort?

When my first attempt at a project ended (Funerealm) I felt like there was room to grow and explore, I had a drumset at home and had been writing riffs tuned to C instead of E. There was a sense of motivation after Funerealm, and I was going deeper down the death metal hole with an obsession of Incantation, My Dying Bride, in addition to current favorites at the time like Autopsy, Death, and Paradise Lost. Autopsy tuned in C so I wanted to as well. Being a one man band is hard! Sure you have complete control, but it became an obsession, and I needed to keep stepping away but without being able to constantly take my mind off it. It took me over a month to record 4 songs. I decided afterwards the recording world was not for me, but because of the amateur attempt, it did capture something kind of raw.

You're not the first artist I've featured that operated primarily as a solo project, and I've gone to know a few more who have toyed with solo projects now that current affairs in the world mean it's not possible to play live or even rehearse frequently with people. Having gone through the process of recording and releasing your demo as a solo project, what advice do you have to anyone wanting to do similar?

Find the balance between being satisfied with what you produce and trying different things.

It's easy to spiral into picking out every detail and wanting to sound perfect. Have fun most importantly.

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3 years later the follow-up came along in the form of your next demo "Among the Lost", sporting a much weightier sound and a 5-piece lineup. What drew you to continuing the project in an expanded capacity and ultimately step away from vocals for the recording?

When I was able to connect with Col Jones, everything started to fall into place; Mike Beams came in with Col, Nick worked with me and shared the interest of joining, and I wanted Al to do vocals because I already played in Bruxers with him, and I thought he sounded like Chris Reifert to me, even though he was really just finding his own voice. Mike Beams started to provide some lows as well. I really just wanted to play guitar and headbang.

Whilst referred to as a demo, the recording is incredibly slick to the point it transcends beyond the "declaration of concept" vibe of a rough-around-the-edges demo, to the point it's hard to see it as a demo and more as a fully-fledged release.

What else changed in your approach when recording Among the Lost?

It really came out sounding way different than I could have ever imagined. To be honest at first I didn't like it, it's grown on me since then. Maybe looking back I can see why, when you go from one person to six (Greg included) working on something in a professional environment, there's a lot of ideas from everyone, and it really just became its own beast. It was also a learning experience for all of us, and I think was a great precursor to what we wanted to dial in the next time around.

Both these demos seem to have achieved a bit of a cult following in the Death Metal community, to the point they have since been re-released via Carbonized Records in the US and Dawnbreed / Triumvirate of Evil and Epidemia Records Internationally. Pretty certain that Transylvanian Tapes have released Among the lost too on cassette. Seeing as you've released 2 splits and an LP since then, did you anticipate people wanting to revisit the older material given how the band has evolved in that time? (personally, I dread the prospect of people wanting to read older issues of this zine as they were pretty naff before Issue 6) What I hope is that both first demos can still be enjoyed even when you knock the dust off the cassette 5 or so years later, and be in that kind of rotation somehow. Transylvanian Recordings actually just rereleased the 2012 cassette, and we do have copies as well that we'll make available soon. I think it's great hearing the evolution of sound, and I hope we can keep evolving.

Where did the idea come from to re-release these recordings?

Dawnbreed first did the Among the Lost demo on vinyl around 2015, that was the first rerelease.

I like having all the different versions available, especially internationally. Hopefully someone can always find a copy if they want one.

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Your debut LP "Through Wilderness" didn't come about until 6 years later; what went on within that time and what contributed to the arguably lengthy absence?

There was a lot of different factors, from Col Jones having his baby, to me driving across the country to play with Deform. Clint had become our new bassist before I left, and when I came back in 2015, it was decided Chad would take the reigns on drums. Chad is a super busy guy as he has Necrot and Carbonized now, at the time he also had a couple other projects going on as well. His dedication to music knows no bounds, and since Chad joined, his motivation has been infectious.

In that time you recruited former Exhumed/ Repulsion Guitarist Mike Beams and current Necrot drummer Chad Gailey, who you have worked with closely as well through his label Carbonized Records. How did you come to meet them and what ultimately led to them being recruited?

Mike joined at the same time Col did, he's contributed 3 songs over that span of time and currently he's been working on a lot of new material for the next album; he's been an unstoppable force. Chad I've known longer than Mortuous has been a band, we played in Bruxers early on, and since have been friends for a long time. It just clicks, and I'm really stoked Chad is a part of Mortuous.

The record seems to channel a bit more a doom vibe and a generally more epic sounding Death Metal release; where did you draw your influences from with this album?

Mortuous has always experimented with doom elements, I just love when you can take a slow tempo and speed it up or vice versa so it plays tricks on your mind and has more of a flow, or like an unfolding story. Definitely influenced by My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost for the more doomier stuff. Now days I feel like all I listen to is Evoken.

Production went up a notch too, with Earhammer Studios overseeing the recording process and appearances from Chris Reifert and Danny Coralles of Autopsy and Derrel Houdashelt (formerly of Exhumed). Where did these guest-spots come from and was there any degree of starstruck getting the nod from a band as respected in the genre as Autopsy?

It was really casual, I saw Chris after a Violation Wound set in Oakland for California Death Fest, and I just asked him. He did guest vocals on two of my favorite releases by Immortal Fate and by Nuclear Death, and has been a part of numerous projects over the years. I didn't expect him to bring Danny to the studio so that was a pleasant surprise. I did feel a bit starstruck hanging out with my idols/legends, they came through with a blunt and I happened to get so drunk and high at one point that I just had to lay down on the couch and make a couple visits to puke in the bathroom. I tried to apologize to Chris a bit later and he just said "It's your recording and I couldn't imagine it any other way" or something like that, those guys live to have a good time, and know how to take the pressure off. Derrel is the same way, I first met him at a music store in San Jose shredding on his work break, I asked if he would do a guest solo on the demo I was working on, this is how Col and Mike came into the fold, Derrel showed Col the track and everything fell into place. I have so much respect for all these dudes, and definitely I'm eternally grateful for everything I've been able to learn from them.

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California's scene, particularly around San Jose and Oakland, seems fairly robust and has a few noteworthy names emanating from the area (Exhumed, Noothgrush and Necrot to reference the most relevant ones to yourselves). Given that former members from these bands have gone on to form a huge part of Mortuous' identity, and your current label Tank Crimes is also based out in Oakland, to what extent has the various scenes in California help shape Mortuous? Could you have seen such a project evolve the way it has anywhere else in the States?

We’re definitely lucky to have grown up in and somehow stuck around to the bay. We’re certainly shaped by our environment here. San Jose means a lot to me, and from San Jose to Oakland/SF and everything in between. I went through all my vinyl recently and literally half of them are Bay Area bands. It's crazy how much music is out here.

I'm pretty certain I covered this when I interviewed Necrot a few issues back, but can you tell us more about the Oakland/San Jose scene?

Where to start... every year, there are a handful of new bands that come out, it can be hit or miss, but the fact that there's so much going, it really reflects on the culture here. There's not only a scene for death metal, but you can choose your poison here.

There's punk, thrash, new wave, grind, noise, heavy metal and even a bit of black metal, the scene here is literally so vast that it's very hard to catch everything going on. Pre-pandemic you could go to a show any weekend, and have plenty of options. Someone that comes to mind who really reflects the scene here is Greg W., because he's not only in a handful of bands (Deathgrave, Brainoil, Shrinkwrap Killers) but if you're from the bay and you want to come out with a good recording you go to Greg, he's worked with pretty much anyone worth mentioning here in the Bay Area. He's also recorded bands like Undergang, Fetid, and Necrot... the list goes on.

There was a part in another interview I saw where your bassist Clint Roach was asked to fill in on bass for a show, giving them 3 days to learn the set. Bit harsh don't you think?

It was a tall order. We were actually set to play two local shows with Exhumed, so Clint stepped up to the challenge, and it really set the tone with regards to his ability to learn play/perform. He has a menacing stage presence, I remember watching videos of him with Limbs before he was in Mortuous. It was some kind of house or warehouse, and I could see him ramming his bass into people like some kind of bayonet!!

I wanted that type of energy for Mortuous, and now Clint is honestly like a brother to me.

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Another thing I took from that interview was the ways in which Death Metal has changed and the ways in which it has somewhat stayed the same. Despite the vast advances in graphic design over the decades, a lot of the posters displayed and shown in that interview seemed to hold close to the DIY cut/paste/handrawn aesthetic commonplace with demos and zines in the 80's/early 90's. Considering that tapes (and even VHS) have somehow made a return, what's your take on Death Metal's evolution over the years?

In some ways it seems to have evolved and crosspollinated with other genres, yet there seems to be a core contingent lately that seems to hold tight to elements from Death Metal in the 80's (both sonically and visually).

I love that old photocopied aesthetic. Yeah most of those flyers and what not came from people including myself, Chad, my other bandmate Jimmy (Swampwitch, Evulse, Transylvanian Tapes), or anyone involved with setting up/bands playing the show. I think in the scene here there's a shared love of lo-fi.

Even with labels being able to command a global presence these days, there also seems to be a return to the territory-focused days where different labels are entrusted with releasing certain outputs in different parts of the world. Whilst I enjoy keeping in touch with different labels and artists from around the world, it's a lot of legwork compared to one label overseeing it all. How do you see this situation and are there any particular labels outside of the US you'd like to give a shout-out to?

Well the first label that comes to mind internationally would be Extremely Rotten from Denmark, then I also wanna give a shout-out to Dawnbreed from the Netherlands. Both labels have given so much support over the years, and David M. is involved on so many different levels from actually playing in great bands (Undergang, Phrenelith ect.), to running his label (and storefront), and then even above that, doing art for the underground, starting his own zine... He's one of those guys that I like to say "Eats, lives, breathes, Death Metal".

Yellow Eyes, Spectral Voice, Mortuous and Caustic Wound on one lineup. Dayum.

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The recent pandemic has made it difficult for bands to keep active, the restrictions on travel rendering your European tour with Hyperdontia a nonstarter. Re-releases aside how have you been keeping busy?

We've been doing a lot working on new tunes, and we should have more news on that sometime next year.

Moving forward, given the various commitments other members have (notably Chad's commitments with Necrot and Carbonized Records, as well as his full-time job), where does Mortuous fit into everyone's agendas and can we expect new material anytime soon? What does the future hold for Mortuous (other than a real shitty election and more pandemic-related chaos).

It's actually the perfect time, Chad would have been busy the rest of the year touring with Necrot, and all spare time going towards his label Carbonized (because spare time almost doesn't exist). Chad is one of the hardest working guys I know, and for him to have all this time right now, we've been able to take advantage of the situation and work on new material. It's been a silver lining with everything going on.

Seeing as there's a feature on new British Death Metal bands in this one I feel compelled for you to speak of your experiences with British Extreme Metal, what are your top albums from the UK? What bands influenced you and inspired you? Are there any new bands you're into?

When it comes to the UK, there's totally different scenes that spring to mind. You have the death/grind scene with acts like Napalm Death and Carcass, then on the doomier death side, you have Peaceville acts such as Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride. And then furthermore going back, and still related to Peaceville, you have bands like the legendary Doom. There's so much to say about the UK that I could see why a feature is necessary. I forgot you even have bands like Cathedral!! These are all just barely scratching the surface of what England has to offer. I'd definitely be interested to hear about new acts coming from G.B. Top albums from the above bands I'd have to say: Napalm- Harmony Corruption Carcass- Symphonies of Sickness Paradise Lost- Gothic My Dying Bride- Turn Loose the Swans Doom- Total Doom Cathedral- Forest of Equilibrium Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos Benediction - The Grand Leveler

For more information on Mortuous and their future activites, follow the links below https://www.facebook.com/mortuous https://mortuousdeath.bandcamp.com/

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Well shit, didn't expect me to interview any band with this much of a legacy in Extreme Music, yet here I am, doing exactly that. Sweet.

So anyway, formed in 1987 following Chris Reifert's departure from Death, the band recorded a demo later that year and later went on to team up with Peaceville to release their debut album "Severed Survival" in 1989. Stalwarts of Death Metal such as Cannibal Corpse, Dismember, Entombed and Deicide all cite Autopsy as a source of influence, with Autopy's Doom-Metal style of slowed-down Death Metal ultimately being a driving force behind the formation of the Death Doom Genre.

With their debut Live LP "Live In Chicago" out now via Peaceville, I had the opportunity to speak to Chris Reifert, the drummer and founding member of Autopsy, to discuss Autopsy's legacy.

Without wanting to go off on too much of a tangent, your experience in Death Metal goes back to the embryotic days of the Bay Area Music scene; what were your memories of the scene when it began to form, is it even possible to describe what it was like being around that scene at the time?

Looking back, it was a pretty special time whether I realized it or not at the moment. The first time I saw live music was in 1982 when a band called Freefare played my middle school. I can't remember what all they played but I do remember them throwing down some metal cover songs like Saxon's "Princess Of The Night" and it was an eye opener. From that point on I went to as many shows as I could get to, including actually seeing Saxon live in '83 with Iron Maiden and Fastway. Getting back to your point, seeing shit like Slayer, Exodus, Possessed and Blizzard for $5 at Ruthie's Inn in '84 was pretty sweet. I got to see lots of bands in the Bay Area, local and non-local in the early to mid 80's like Suicidal Tendencies, WASP, The Boneless Ones, Tyrranicide, Mercyful Fate, Overkill, DRI, Motorhead, Wendy O Williams, Voivod, The Accused, Part Time Christians, Wermacht, Bloodbath, Venom, Celtic Frost, Wizard, Running Wild, Laaz Rockit, Desecration, Sacrilege, and whatever the hell else. The list goes on and on. You had to be there, ya know?

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Before the various scenes within Extreme Metal began to form their own followings, it was commonplace to see Metal bands play with Punk and Hardcore bands, resulting in a very diverse bills. Given to this day these sorts of crossover shows have a patchy rate of success, what was it like seeing bands from very clear and distinct music subcultures play shows together knowing the crowds weren't guaranteed to get along?

It depended on the show, bill, day and vibes. I saw shows where hardcore and metal bands played together and all was hunky dory and other times not so much. I remember seeing DRI and Possessed playing together, which was awesome for me because I loved both of those bands. This was in '85 at a place called The Farm in SF. Possessed was supporting DRI and was crushing it but next thing you know, the punk crowd was throwing eggs at Possessed while they played. Gigs like that paved the way for how things are today where everyone kinda likes everything to some extent I guess. A necessary tension maybe? Who knows, but it was an exciting show and that was just one example.

Upon forming Autopsy, what were you looking to achieve and how did it feel starting something fresh and new having had a decent run with Death?

Autopsy didn't have any goals that I remember and still don't. Haha! We started off wanting to get our kicks and play the heaviest stuff we could muster that we also would like to listen to. Isn't that what most bands want at least at first...playing stuff that they'd like to listen to that didn't exist before? At that time we were trying to make our own mark and not just be thought of as "band with ex-Death member" which was a challenge at first. But hey, we kept the path and shit worked out pretty well with lots of persistence and not giving a fuck.

Rumour has it you took the Sleep approach to the recording budget for your debut album Severed Survival, spending half the budget on Weed. Is there any truth to this and how did you work around the notable decrease in recording budget?

Well, it's something we owned up to even if not at first when Peaceville may have gotten mad at us. Haha! But yeah, we bought an obscene amount of weed and left ourselves four days worth of recording time in the studio to get it all done. Maybe two days recording and two days mixing? It's a bit hazy as this was 31 years ago and as mentioned, we were smoking SO much fucking weed. But things turned out ok in the end and that's the moral of the story, whether it's a good moral or a cautionary tale.

Bottom line was we had a limited amount of time to crank out a record and failure was not an option. Haha!

Severed Survival (1989)

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I've read that the recording times for both Severed Survival and Mental Funeral were relatively quick affairs, preparing heavily in advance so there's no downtime in the studios.

Do you ever wonder what some of these bands are doing when they are spending months in the studio?

Weed stories aside, we've always had meager budgets to work with and believe it or not, we took our task seriously. I have often wondered what bands do when they talk victoriously about getting all the drums done in two weeks or a month or whatever for example. If I don't get my drums done in one day I get a little bit frustrated but always finish them the first half of the second day. Maybe if our label gave us six months to record an album we'd see things differently and play ping pong 'til the wee hours of the night or something but we've never had that luxury. We typically get a week or so to load in, record and mix and then it's done. If our records sound urgent at all it's because they were recorded that way, with our eyes on the clock the entire time. It can be stressful at times but at the same time we never sit around overthinking things while shit gets stagnant and the adrenaline fades. It's full throttle all the way.

Looking at Autopsy's first run, are there any particular standout memories or accomplishments from that era that you look back on fondly?

Of course, plenty. Making those first demos, our first album, playing local shows like in an abandoned bowling alley or friend's house parties to bigger and better shows which eventually led to actually getting in an airplane to get there and stuff like that. Mostly the behind the scenes goofing off and dicking around and making mindless noise in the jam room stands out.

The hanging out and bullshitting, ya know? Sometimes it's the little things that makes being in a band fun, rather than reaching for bigger and better heights and shit. Most bands start out as a way to get their rocks off and make some noise and that's something that they shouldn't lose sight of. Why did you begin doing this shit in the first place, ya know?

Around 1995, the band called it a day, releasing Shitfun as a final hurrah before going on hiatus. Ultimately things remained amicable to the point that the band could reform further down the line. What contributed to the collective decision to call it a day? Were there any particular moments in time you recall as being straws that broke the Camel's back?

To put it in a nutshell, it was the '93 US tour that did us in. We were fine until then but man, that was a grueling motherfucker of a tour and it sucked the fun out of the band. It was way too long, way too poorly organized and as soon as we got home we had a quick meeting where we decided we'd had enough. Sure there were fun moments but it was just such a clusterfuck internally as well as externally. Splitting up after that was the best thing we could have done since it allowed us the extended break that allowed us to finally juice up our batteries, let the planets line up the right way and open the door for MDF to bring us out of the coffin and back into the light of day and/ or dark of night again. And hey, here we are talking about it now so things must have worked out the way they were supposed to in some bizarre way.

On the subject of Shitfun. The Artwork is a mouth with a poop in and for some reason I to this day find that really unsettling. Bravo.

You're welcome!

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Shitfun (1995) Observe the poop in the mouth.

I can only hope it was a fake poop or someone was suitable compensated for their part of having a poop in their mouth.

Throughout the 90's there were numerous cases of bands that reference grizzly and prolonged tours as a contributory factor to burnout, Sepultura being arguably one of the bigger examples of a tour breaking their spirit. Prior to splitting Autopsy went on relatively extensive tours with the likes of Bolt Thrower, Paradise Lost and Benediction, to what extent did being on the road for so long drain you?

Actually those first two tours in Europe didn't damage the band at all. They had rough moments but the rough moments can be looked back in a comedic way now. We had lots of laughs with those bands, really.

Touring with Bolt Thrower was like touring with Monty Python and I'll never forget that shit. Those tours weren't too long though, so any bullshit we had to deal with didn't last too long. It was the US tour that drove the stake through the collective band's heart but that's how it goes sometimes. And honestly, Michigan Deathfest 2: Casually throwing even on that tour we still had some fun times that Mortician, Vital Remains, Incantation, Cannibal I'll never forget and probably other fun times that Corpse, Repulsion and Autopsy onto a lineup, I've probably forgotten about. I'm all for having a blissfully unaware we'd envy such a lineup 29 years later. good time even when it's not probable or appropriate whenever possible. Hah! Not wanting to deviate too far away from Autopsy-stuff but also needing to address the period when Autopsy hadn’t yet reformed, what did the various members do during this time?

Eric did a band called Funeral that did some kick ass stuff but didn't last long. After that he took a long break from music in general which was most likely therapeutic in hindsight.

Danny and I played in Abscess for 15 years before reforming Autopsy and that was a completely insane ride. We had a hell of a killer time and I don't think we could survive it a second time.

That band was hellbent on debauchery and insanity. It was a lot of fun but how our brains and livers didn't explode, I'll never know.

Was there anything during this downtime that you wanted to achieve or experiment with seeing that you had closed the chapter on your time with Autopsy by this point?

Well, Danny, Joe and I made a record under the name Mirror Snake that was psychedelic rock that was a ton of fun to record. It was the result of obsessing over bands like Mighty Baby, Ultimate Spinach, Saint Steven, May Blitz, Five Day Week Straw People and stuff like that and creating our own version. We self released the album and I still have boxes of it in my garage that I'm sure will be around long after I die. Haha! But we wanted to do it, did it and I'm happy that we did. Besides that Abscess kept things busy and I don't see how anything else could have been crammed in. Noise, noise, noise!

In 2010 your reunion was confirmed, The Tomb Within EP following shortly after and Macabre Eternal coming out in 2011. Returning to Autopsy older and, in theory, wiser, how easy was it to adjust to the changing music landscape and were there any lessons from the first run which you were keen to utilise this time round?

Well we certainly waited long enough to get back in the saddle but it was for good reason, meaning that the fact that we got back together meant the time was right and we weren't forcing ourselves to do something we didn't want to do. Not doing things we don't want to do is part of the being wiser part I guess.

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That and not letting anyone else but ourselves handle merch after being ripped off too many times. As for the musical landscape, that was never a thought. We figured anyone who wanted to see us would come out and see us. Ultimately though we're the same band, just not teenagers anymore. Our bodies and brains have been through a lot over the years but hey, we're still able to do this Autopsy thing, so that's a good feeling.

What was the biggest change for you when coming back? Was there anything you weren't prepared for?

The biggest thing on our minds was getting ready for our first comeback show, which was MDF. Even though we rehearsed a lot there was still that feeling of knowing we hadn't been on stage as Autopsy for 15 years. Some of us, myself included. were having nightmares about it like getting on stage in front of everyone and not remembering a single song. The thing we weren't prepared for though was how we'd be received because it had been so fucking long.

Any concerns we had vanished pretty fast though as while we were doing our quick line check before starting the set the place erupted with people chanting the band name. That shit was crazy and we knew everything was going to be more than alright. I'd check that bit off as one of my favorite Autopsy moments of all time.

A lot of bands that go on to reform are usually met with a level of fanfare far greater than what the band may have been used to during their heyday, to the point bands may be wondering where these people were during their first run.

Did you experience any of that when you returned or did you just put it down to your legacy ageing like fine wine?

Maryland Deathfest VIII Autopsy's first live performance in several years

You nailed it on that one. In the old days we did lots of shows with very small crowds, sometimes just a few people in the earliest days and even sometimes on the US tour. But, we also had killer shows back then. It all just depended on the where and the when and if the show was even promoted at all. Nowadays every time we play it's a packed house or festival which is a nice feeling. We didn't form the band to gain acceptance...probably the opposite actually. But when people do love what you do it's pretty fucking awesome.

And I gotta say we do not take our fans for granted. There's no way we would be doing this at this point in time if it wasn't for them. We are genuinely grateful for all those sick fuckers.

Your were invited to support Bolt Thrower at their BoltFest fundraiser at the Forum a few years back, a show so cheap that it sold out in absurdly quick times? What was it like catching up with Bolt Thrower having toured extensively with them during your first run?

Boltfest - 2012 London Kentish Town Forum

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It was a blast. We always got along with Bolt Thrower really well and I'm glad we got to play with them a few more times before they split up. Great band, great people. The show was a lot of fun and even raised a good amount of money for the Teen Cancer Trust which made it even better.

A few friends I knew that went to that show said that Discharge absolutely sucked that evening. Was it really that bad? The readership for this zine isn’t broad enough that you'll get any backlash so feel free to be honest.

Oh man, I thought Discharge was killer. I had never seen them before and not only did I get to see them but play a show with them no less. I loved every second of their set, honestly. Also, I was already a Varukers fan so it was cool to see Rat with Discharge and I thought he was a good fit. The latest album from them, "End Of Days" is badass as well.

Throughout Autopsy's existence you've been tied closely to Peaceville Records; having been signed with them effectively the entirety of your career, how has the relationship changed and how useful has it been to have Peaceville a consistent source of support for the band?

Yeah, it's crazy that we signed with them in 1988 and we're still with them. Who saw that coming? It's kinda cool how we signed with them when they were relatively new and so were we. It was a good fit right out of the gate and it's interesting that we dropped in with them when they were transitioning from being a primarily punk label to more metal. They've been through a lot of changes over the decades but they've been consistently good allies, even putting out Abscess records when Autopsy was split up.

So you've got your latest Album "Live in Chicago" out on Halloween through Peaceville. In the Press release you speak extensively about how much you enjoyed this show, what was so special about it?

Well for one thing, it was the only gig we got to play this year before all of the other ones got postponed or cancelled. That right there makes it stand alone.

Beyond that fact though, we had already played at Reggie's 3 times before and it's been a fun time every time. We don't do a lot of club shows these days but there's just something special about that place. We get to hand pick the bands we play with when we play there too, which makes it even funner. We love playing big fests too but we don't have any say in who else is playing, not to knock who we've played with because we been on some truly epic lineups. For some reason it feels more like a party than a gig when we play there and that atmosphere comes across in the recording I think.

It's been labelled in the Press Material to be the first ever "official" live album. With Autopsy playing a select high-profile shows since their reformation, including Maryland Deathfest and many other high-profile festivals, was it never considered to record them?

Until now we were more focused on just playing rather than recording shows. The time just felt right this year, although we had to alter our plan. The original intent was to record all of this year's shows and cherry pick the best tracks to assemble a live album from. It was a great idea until we lost all of the gigs after Chicago. The good news was we got that one recorded professionally so we could actually mix it and give it a bit of a spit shine. Instant live album!

The release date of Oct. 30 was supposed to be reserved for the new studio album which we had time booked for this past June but we had to scrap the dates due to the COVID thing. Hopefully next year won't totally suck dog dick and we can actually get in the studio.

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On the subject of it being marked as the first ever official "live" album, didn't Peaceville release a live compilation set a while back? Also, it looks like Wikipedia acknowledges two bootlegs as part of your discography too.

There's been a couple of releases of live tracks but nothing pro recorded. Just audio from video cameras or whatever else but nothing that we could mix and make sound proper. This was the first time we actually got to take audio into the studio and work it into something that we feel is worthy of labelling "official live album". One of our favorite things about this one is that fact that we got our own double live lp with a collage taking up the inside of the gatefold just like all the albums we grew up with like "Aerosmith Live Bootleg" and all those other double live albums like almost every rock band put out in 1977/1978. Kind of like our little kid rock fantasy coming true for our own band. How fun is that?

With most things either being disposable in music these days, or being heavily documented and recorded, you don't see bootlegs as often as you did in the 80's and 90's. Do you have an opinion on bootlegs seeing as they were often done without any consultation with the bands?

There have definitely been some Autopsy bootlegs, some good quality and some horrible. From an insider's point of view it sucks when a bad sounding show ends up as a bootleg, that's for sure. I remember hearing about a Mexican bootleg lp called "Live From The Grave" that came out a long time ago and I tracked down the address of the person who put it out. I said hey, if you're going to bootleg a show of ours, at least have the decency to send us copies of it. And to my surprise they actually sent us some copies of it and fortunately it's one of the better ones. From an outsider's perspective I have some bootlegs from Alice Cooper, KISS, Twisted Sister, Necrovore, Sacrifice, Mercyful Fate and more that I fucking love. Maybe I should feel guilty about getting those but I don't. Haha!

With an extensive back-catalogue of albums, how difficult was it to pick songs for the setlist?

It should have been tougher but we kept it kind of basic since Chicago was to be our kick off show for the year. Who knows what we would have added or subtracted from the set if the rest of the gigs had taken place.

I guess we'll never know. The Chicago one was pretty heavy on Severed Survival stuff but hey, it was the 30th anniversary of the second version of it cover-wise so maybe it made sense? We made sure to pepper a few other cuts in there from other albums though as well as a brand new song. Next time we play Above: Dead as Fuck live, whenever the fuck that is we can really think Below: Tortured Moans of Agony about it and maybe dig deeper in the vault to build a more two of the less subtle bootlegs that got creative set. We'll just have to wait and see. recognition on Discogs and Wikipedia

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That show took place March 7th, weeks before things started getting really weird over the pending Global Pandemic, where people were starting to sweat a bit over large crowds; did it dampen the vibe of the show at all?

On that trip there was only talk of things starting to get strange but that was about it. Just chatter on the street, ya know? But ultimately the club was packed, everyone was sharing joints and bottles and it wasn't a big deal at all. It was only when we got home and about a week or two later shit hit the fan hardcore and it was time for lockdown, face masks and everything.

Chicago was kind of the last innocent night before the nightmare became real. I'm glad we were oblivious to what was to come because it would have seriously dampened the festive atmosphere in a big way. The last show I saw before that was Overkill in February with Danny and it was the same thing. No one had any idea that it would be the last show before everything went nuts. It was just pure fun and basically a big party with lots of friends there and Overkill totally crushing it.

Those days seem like a lifetime ago somehow, it's so weird. I can't wait to get back to the future good old days.

I bet you consider yourself lucky that you picked that show of all of them to be recorded?

Yeah, especially since it was the only one of the year, and we had a pretty busy schedule booked for ourselves. We could speculate on what else we could have captured but there's no point. We got a gem and are super grateful and fortunate that it happened. I'm sorry to disappoint everyone that couldn't come to the other show but we're disappointed too. But before we feel sorry for ourselves or some shit, we have to remember it's every other band and fan on planet earth as well that are feeling it. But really, music events are fantastic but life and health versus death are much more important.

Cheeky reminder that this has been

With Autopsy's identity deeply rooted in themes rescheduled to next year. Pretty certain it's the same weekend as of gore and horror, have you ever sought to break away from such themes or does writing naturally ArcTangent too so that sucks quite a bit as crowds have to make an awkward choice between being gravitate itself to those themes during the bankrupted in London seeing Hellhammer and creative process?

Autopsy or getting muddy and cold watching Cult of Luna and Alcest. Honestly both seem like solid

With Autopsy rooted in horror and gore and all choices. that fun stuff we need to keep it that way to some extent. We can write about psychological terrors as well as bodies being torn apart and everything in between as long as the lyrics sound like the music and the music sounds like the lyrics. It's a challenge to keep lyrical content fresh and still nightmarish but it's a good challenge. If your band is called Autopsy, the words have to fit the music, plain and simple.

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In terms of the gore-laden artwork that adorns not only the full extent of Autopsy's backcatalogue, but other bands within the genre too, is there any art you've seen that you thought either took it a bit too far, or just looked a bit overthe-top?

Nothing that I can think of right away. Gore is no holds barred as it is, ya know? That's the appeal. At this point it's probably all been done and them Autopsy on tour with Pestilence and Bolt Thrower in 1990. some, so it's just a matter of Decibel Magazine have an in-depth feature on this tour if you ever personalizing the imagery and fancy have a read about when touring was punishing and draining for a making it your own. whole different set of reasons.

Mortuous (who are also featured in this issue) spoke highly of both you and Danny, who contributed towards their latest album Through Wilderness. Looking to the more current crop of Death Metal bands, are there any that you think are particularly special?

Mortuous are definitely a killer band worthy of your earholes. There's more from our local scene like Necrot and Deathgrave as well. Death Metal is alive and well, you just have to dig around a bit. Blood Incantation and Cthonic Deity are killer too. Oh yeah, Fetid are really good as well and also Molder. I'd say just poke around and see what grabs your attention.

Being an experienced hand in Death Metal and heavily ingrained into Death Metal's identity, is there anything you've seen about its evolution you either enjoyed or disliked? Has Death Metal changed that much at all in your eyes?

I think for the most part it's kept it's integrity. The stuff that gets me the most excited is bands that channel the original spirit but give it their own flavor, whether it's a band of geezers like us that are still going or young hungry death metallers that are just getting started. The one thing that drives me nuts is albums with plastic sounding triggered drums and overly processed guitars and no originality in the riff department. That shit drives me nuts. But that's just me being jaded. Like what you like and don't like what you don't like.

That's the beauty of music. Just don't be so quick to air your every grievance and gripe on the fucking internet. You can spend your time much more wisely just listening and not making as asshole of yourself publicly.

Autopsy's "Live in Chicago" LP is out on Halloween via Peaceville Records. For more information please follow the below links.

https://autopsy.bandcamp.com/ https://peaceville.com/bands/autopsy-2/

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Puzzle Corner: The revengenator YEAH BOI! Puzzle Corner is BACK. Let's start shit off with a sick wordsearch about all those fools who took part in the WWF BrawlForAll in the hope it would boost their career (it did not)

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The lesser WWE Veterans So for all the HHH's, Undertakers, Randy Ortons and John Cenas, there's the veterans who have been with WWE for prolonged periods of time and nobody is sure either why they're still there or why they didn't get binned sooner.

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Illegible Logo Boogie So I was meaning to do this a few issues back, fast forward a few issues and the idea didn't go anywhere until someone brought up the idea (nice one Sophie). So here it is. Guess the terrible logos.... if you can

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ANSWERS: Top Left- xavlegbmaofffassssitimiwoamndutroabcwapwaeiippohfffx (The abbreviated form, the full name is actually " Acidic Vaginal Liquid Explosion Generated By Mass Amounts Of Filthy Fecal Fisting And Sadistic Septic Syphilic Sodomy Inside The Infected Maggot Infested Womb Of A Molested Nun Dying Under The Roof Of A Burning Church While A Priest Watches And Ejaculates In Immense Perverse Pleasure Over His First Fresh Fetus" Bottom Left - 01101111011101100110111001101001 Top Right -Paracoccidioidomicosisproctitissarcomucosis Middle Right - Nokturnal Mortum Bottom Right - Forgotten Land