Endless Disappointment 12 - Garbage Made Flesh

Aww Shit, here we go again Yeap, it's 2021 and Endless Disappointment Zine is back; with each day I hurtle closer to Endless Disappointment Zine's 2nd Birthday, which will inevitably go forgotten as it’s slap-bang in the Summer when I will be doing far better things like feeding the Ducks and shouting at my crops to grow quicker.

I felt compelled to put out another issue on the basis that nothing really gets done between December and February anyway; that and I completed Shadow of War and the prospect of finishing off the Tomb Raider trilogy seemed far too much of a grind. You may have noticed the layout’s changed a bit; it’s nothing snazzy but hopefully will make it easier to read for you all.

In this issue I managed to interview a band who managed to once again break the current ED Zine record for longest interview; I thought Feminazgul had that locked in for ages, then Wallowing pipped them just about, now I have an interview which takes up about 1/3 of the zine's contact and left me briefly thinking whether I had to do the unspeakable and start printing this in A4.

Thankfully rational thinking prevailed and EDzine remains in its superior A5 format.

As usual though it’s a delightfully diverse mix of heavy sounds; we have a guest-contributor in this issue too, as well as something I probably won’t announce until a few weeks after this comes out too so I suppose for a brief moment you’ve got exclusive news over everyone else.

Anyway, it’s your copy now, enjoy it however you see fit.

No Proof reads / No Spellchecks / No Mercy

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1 - Trivax 15 - iselder 19 Werewolves 27 Slimelord 32 - Scenewatch: Texas Death Metal 35 - Suffering Hour 40 - Ungraven 43 - Puzzle Corner

Shows being raided, Merchandise being seized, being subject to campaigning by moral conservatives and the sisyphean task of essentially forming a subculture from pretty much nothing: these are all things that people within extreme-music movements had to endure in the early years so that we need never experience such ardous ordeals. Upside: artists can develop to their full potential without any significant roadblocks, the downside however is that we have never been further away from sentiment of rebellion and counter-culture as we are now.

It's the above paragraph which probably makes Trivax's story all the more appealing. Founded in Iran as a solo project, the government's archaic laws on culture and expression created a backdrop where every element of Trivax's existence and, the scene it found itself a part of, was essentially illegal and subsject to immense persecution at every turn. Relocating to the UK not long after, Trivax's lineup stablilised and subsequently allowed them to become a rising force within the UK Black Metal scene.

With their latest release "Into the Void" out via Rat King Records, I took the opportunity to speak to founding member Shayan to learn more about the origins of the band, his relationship with Black Metal and his experiences relocating to the UK. Without wishing to get hamstrung too much by the origins of the band, the band’s early years tell a very different story to what most bands would have to endure, Trivax's origins telling a muted tale of resistance and subversion that's been somewhat unheard of in the Western world for several decades. To set the scene for readers, could you explain Iran's relationship with extreme music and the challenges people face in terms of consuming/creating extreme music compared to somewhere like the UK or USA? Greetings, and thank you for choosing this opportunity to shine light on the subject, which is one that I feel very passionate about and has been the centre piece of my life.

In the majority of the Middle-Eastern countries, such as the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is my homeland that I was brought up in, there are certain cultural restrictions in place, that go as far as being matters that are legally imposed. We all know that when the state and the religion mix together, it is bad news for everyone. Well, this was exactly the case for those of us back in Iran who simply wanted to enjoy their Western styles of music, particularly Rock and Metal. We weren't allowed to attend any gigs, could not buy any official CDs, couldn't wear any band merch with remotely striking designs on the street, and of course if ever found sporting any of the said culture, or even worse, performing it...we would indeed be in big trouble.

So, this obviously didn't mean that we would abandon our interests... Absolutely not! It would just mean that the path to simply being a metalhead and someone enjoying cultural freedom was one of many challenges and potential consequences.

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You could be jailed for performing and promoting this kind of music. People who have been arrested have had their instruments trashed and broken, their hair forcefully cut, and then thrown into jails and threatened, some even tortured. If they were lucky, they would be let go if their family could afford the extortionate bonds to get them out; on the other hand, if they were unlucky, and if their music and activities would be linked to political or anti-religious propaganda, then they could even face death by execution.

Luckily and thankfully, I got to get out and I have been performing Extreme Metal freely for the better part of the last 9 years at this point.

What was your first exposure to Metal/Extreme music? What attracted you to it and drew you to looking to contribute to the genre by writing your own music?

The way I like to reflect on this, is that it was just one of those things, where it found me, instead of the other way around. I was always drawn to abnormal and extreme things even as a child. For the longest time, maybe between the age 8 - 12/13 my dream was to one day move out of Iran in order to either become a professional wrestler, or a DJ. But my idea of being a DJ was that I would write my own music and only ever perform that. I was already writing lyrics and music in my head going as far back as being 9 or 10. I always knew that I didn't fit in there with my interests.

Now fast forward a good few years later, one afternoon I'm sat at home doing my own thing, and the TV volume was off, and then out of nowhere, here comes Metallica. I had never seen them or heard of them before, yet the moment I saw James, something inexplainable clicked for me. For a strange reason, I started screaming at my mother in the kitchen "Mom, I know this band! I KNOW THIS BAND!" And I remember she was just a bit like "Ehm, okay... that's good?!". I never even turned up the volume, but just as the video was coming off, I saw their name and then ran to my room to write it in my notebook. Literally within that same week, I went into the CD store at the bottom of Pasdaran street, which is near where we used to live, and I asked the guy who worked there if he knew Metallica and if they had any CDs by them. Out he comes with a bootleg copy of their latest album. There I went and at first it took me some time to get past the heaviness, but once I did, I was like cool, what else is there?! And literally two or three months after that, I was already starting to learn how to play Electric Guitar and it was all that my life was about. That never changed since that moment.

Coming from my previous interests, finding Metal was really the absolute perfect marriage with my spirt and personality. I always have had the urge to create, and to perform. There are many instances of it where I was already showing potential, when I look back at my life, where I didn't actually realise at the time. I don't know if that's just a Capricorn rising thing, I know that Hetfield is the same.

With Extreme Music being a strictly-underground venture in Iran, what measures did you have to take to avoid heat from the Authorities? Was your safety ever compromised and how did you manage the project knowing the risks involved?

I always say this, I think that I was very lucky, because I got to deliver the most blows, yet walk away the most unscathed for the better part of my activities there. The blows being mainly the 3 underground shows that I got to play with Trivax. Which is great, considering how reckless I was as well. I was violently hateful towards Islam, as anyone should be in that environment, and would sometimes take measures that could have very easily cost me my life back then. Thankfully, it didn't.... at least not yet.

Background Photo by Miley Stevens Photography

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In terms of the music itself and being with the band, we simply just kept things underground, to the literal sense of the word. We rehearsed in the basement of our drummer's house and the guys who were there before I formed the band with them, had cemented egg cases all over the walls to create a DIY acoustic room in order to block the noise from going out. We did however, still receive threats from neighbours that they would call the authorities on us. Thankfully, nothing ever happened to me directly, but just the tension and the fear of walking into our rehearsal room every week was definitely something that affected the atmosphere and how we were towards each other, but on the plus side, it made the playing a lot more vicious... which to me is what makes Metal what it is.

In terms of getting our name heard, the drummer had a very big network of people who he was in touch with and, even though we had zero online presence by this point, by let's say May 2011, there were already dozens, if not hundreds of people who knew who we were. It just went around word of mouth, and since we were among the handful of Metal bands in the entire country to ever perform live by that point, it certainly made us stick out. Our notoriety back then, was in a very mysterious way, which I think that makes it a lot cooler looking back.

How accessible were CD's/Records/Tapes in Iran? To what extent was bootlegging a thing?

I think that I started getting into things just as the tape trading thing had died off, but that still was a thing in Iran back in the 90's and even some of the 00's, just in much smaller circles and it was harder to get hold of as you needed someone to be bringing them in from abroad. For the time I had to get my hands on the music, there were many different ventures that you could take on. The limitations were always there, but a little less for my generation, and now I think that they've started hacking into Spotify for free, so people can pretty much listen to anything. The way it used to work for me was that I would normally research and discover bands, and then if you were lucky you would know someone, who knows someone, who might have a decent internet connection. Then I would basically order to see if I could get my hands on the albums of those bands. The average person would mainly have dial up internet with 2-3 KB per second, and I did try downloading a few albums with that but it would take hours and hours, and you could only do it track by track and sometimes if the connection interrupted, you would lose progress and would have to start again.

Thankfully, when I was 14, I had a guitar teacher and he was into Metal himself, so he'd sort me out with some of these bootlegs. It was good because by the time I was 15 I was well into the likes of Behexen, Aborym, Abigor, Satanic Warmaster etc... Of course, all of these are quite well-known bands in the scene, but bear in mind that this is a 15 year old in the Islamic Republic of Iran where Metallica is considered Satanic and Linkin Park was the heaviest thing any of my friends had heard of at the time, just to give you some perspective.

With Extreme music being effectively banned in Iran, a lot of the ways in which a scene is cultivated in the UK/Europe are luxuries that wouldn't have been extended to yourself. Was it ever possible to network with other artists and musicians knowing the music that connected you all could put you all in trouble?

I don't think that was ever a trouble, mainly because that Metal personalities themselves aren't that well-known. I did at the time have some communications here and there with people like Karl Sanders, Nergal, Ralph Santolla (R.I.P) and a few others... like I remember talking to some of the (now ex) guys in Negator for a bit, and they were actually really cool about it and supportive of where I came from... but that never caused any issues as such.

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The authorities and people in charge just see it all as the same anyway, they are very uneducated. Like, it's that kind of backwards mentality where Guns n Roses and Blasphemy would probably be the same in their eyes. For example, I remember, I once found an officially sourced website talking about the dangers of Satanism and metal music, and they had a whole article on Metallica and how they were promoting devil worship, but actually the picture that they had used was one of Watain playing live, which is pretty self-explanatory. It's retarded, but also, kind of cool actually. I'm sure that they wouldn't have minded that.

I can only assume the underground and subversive nature stunted the ability for artists to hone their craft?

Yeah, I would say so. I think that just the basic principle of the fact that people can't really go to gigs and keep participating in live performance, both as fans and performers, is a major setback. Because you need that interaction to really learn what's good about you and what's not.

The competition, as we say, is very important, and you need to be able to play but also see other bands. Sadly, most bands over there, have only experienced the best of their expression through a digital medium, which is really nothing of what really makes a band what it is. There are always things like, equipment being unavailable or simply too expensive to get, but I think that those who are willing to get it done will do so, just like I did, with extremely limited equipment. But it's the freedom of expression that really halts the growth, as much as in a way in encourages it.

What spurred you to go with "Trivax as a name and what was the thought-process behind the name?

Since the initial formation in 2009, we/I went through quite a few different name changes. Back in 2011 when I actually had the full band back in Iran and we had started becoming quite serious about things, I started making a long list of names in my spare time. Now, as I've mentioned previously in other places, I always had a very tight relationship with the founding member of the band Lavizan Jangal.

He had basically made a fuck load of albums with weird names and covers that he'd put together himself, and only the two of us really knew of their existence at that point. One of the releases, which I recall had a red cover on the front, was called "Trivax Motamanelism Humanism" and for one reason or not, I got really drawn to that word. It was all completely made-up words, expect for the "Humanism" part. However, the way he had come up with it, it had a different pronunciation. I decided to change that, and made note of the name. I felt pretty good about that one and there was just something about it that felt superior to the rest of the names.

One day, whilst it was just me and our drummer, Keyvan, we were sat in the basement, in the room next to the actual rehearsal room, on a rolled-up carpet. We were talking about taking the band to the next level and whatnot, and bare in mind, we have already played live by this point which is a very rare thing as it is, we just didn't have a name. So, I would read the names out to him, and we were both assessing them at the same time. There were quite a few, but as I kept reading down the list, I finally got to Trivax, I already had a really good feeling deep down where I knew somehow that was gonna be it, and when I said the name out loud, he was instantly like "I like that one!" and we were both nodding our heads. Anyway, I went through the rest of it, but we pretty much instantly agreed on Trivax. The rest is pretty much, as they say, history.

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During my background research I read that you were able to play 3 shows in Iran; given the challenged faced I'm sure readers would be keen to hear how they went and ultimately what you had to do in order to stop them getting shut down in dramatic fashion. I think it's also important you speak of the show where the fans burned the venue down shortly after your set.

Man... what a first introduction to performing live music, right?! First of all, you are correct, we indeed played 3 shows in Iran. We also did a "test" show which was an absolute disaster and I nearly killed some guy because he silenced my amp halfway through when they wanted us to stop, as they were worried.

Anyway, the very first Trivax show, was at Kamalolmolk institute, near Tajrish in Tehran, essentially a high school but only for guys who are doing pointless and second-degree careers like arts, carpentering etc.. and we played there in February 2011. The drummer was a regular student there and managed to sweet talk them into putting on free entertainment as a celebration for the anniversary of something to do with the Islamic Revolution... which made the endeavour rich in irony.

The amphitheatre was around 200 in capacity, and we pretty had the place packed out. We played a 40 minute set. When we first started, we did a Metallica cover as like the second or third song I think, and because none of them were really metalheads, they starting all dancing together in a circle as if it was Persian pop, because that was the only way they could process what was going on. But later on during the show, it went from that, to everyone screaming and throwing things and the violence was growing. By the last song we were just jamming, but the Devil had really began possessing and manifesting through all the kids there, I dare say in a similar vibe to how the South American audiences would react to Sepultura in the 80's. The tension was unreal and the electricity was flying around everywhere in the room. I remember that I was totally lost in a solo and the kids had put the spotlight on me and a bunch of strobes over the stage, and then I look up, and suddenly, there's a big fucking black smoke coming towards the stage from the back of the room. Out of the smoke, came the school principal, screaming at the top of his voice "Stop the performance! Everyone get the fuck out!" and I was just like "Oh shit what is happening". At first, I thought that it was the authorities who had broke in, because that was the mindset that we went in. I even have a video of myself from the night before in the rehearsal room, where I basically say that I'm ready to die if that's what's gonna happen. And I really was going into that show. So anyway, it turned out that some kids had gone crazy and set fire to this room, that was just near the backstage area. Luckily, the fire was eventually put out, so the place didn't actually burn down, but I remember standing there with all these other kids coming up to me saying how incredible the gig was, and we're all having great conversations whilst I'm still in a haze (My first experience of that, too) and this is all when we're completely oblivious to the smoke that's still left in the amphitheatre from earlier, haha.

Anyway, we eventually fucked off, as we were told to do so. But that was my first gig. One of the proudest and the best moments of my life that I will never forget, despite being only 16 at the time. There is a video of that show on Youtube on the official Trivax channel, if you check it out, right at the end of the video is where the smoke started coming in and you can hear the reaction. Pretty cool stuff. The other two shows, one was in Niavaran park, which was in front of like 500-600 people, and that has its own story, and the last one was I think August or September 2011, at a somewhat illegal house party. That was actually just after I had broken up the band, as I'd already decided that I wanted to move on and play with different people (Little did I know that I'd actually end up leaving the country for that purpose, soon after) But we had gotten back together just to do that one show. It felt like a very awkward and tense environment, but nevertheless, anytime I got to break the law I'd feel pretty good about it. Still do.

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Do we get to hear this story of the show at Niavaran Park?

Well, we played this show during the Gemini season in 2011, during a moon eclipse that happens once every 70 odd years, in front of about 500-600 people, on an open air stage, at something like 11PM. We managed to convince these organisers that we would bring entertainment for people and had done it loads of times before. We basically blagged our way into it, because if the organizers knew what we were like earlier on they wouldn't have agreed to it.

It had nothing to do with Metal, or even really music for the most part. They just had the festival as a celebration of this unique moon eclipse that was happening on that night, and apparently, Iran actually has the best view of this, so there are people who travelled from abroad just to catch the view, from what I was told. When we got there, it was like early to mid-afternoon. All day, we sat there knowing what time we were meant to play, but we kept persisting. They almost dodged us, but we made up a massive fuss that we would go to the newspapers etc and that we had cancelled our performance at this charity place called "Mahak" until which I think they finally gave in and let us play, at nearly midnight.

Of course, we had zero arrangements with Mahak and totally lied about it. This is how you do business with Iranians.

What was cool was that the high point of the eclipse happened during a point where I was doing a solo section and they had the spotlight on me. In the end, they got brave and threw in some pyros as well. I think that's the only reason that we didn't get arrested was that it was too late and they didn't want to provoke any public outrage or riots then, otherwise the area was loaded with officers, but there were more people than there were police and security, the people were fucking into it too... I remember looking up and seeing some old fucker shouting "We want more!". We did have a really good crew with us as well, both in terms of stage hands and people who spoke to the organizers to show their appeal as we were waiting for ages, as well as actual metal fans who all showed up based on word of mouth. The police knew that it was a problem as well, just couldn't do anything at the time, because after our show they banned all public entertainment activities at Niavaran Park, which I thought was a nice touch. Again, truly another one of the most special moments of my life without a doubt, one that I still question how I walked away from, to this day!

I really feel that the 16th year of my life beats anyone elses'. Even if their dad became a millionaire then, no one can say that they've done what I've done around that particular age. In fact, I challenge anyone who thinks that they have done that, because ultimately I would have pure respect for them... but I'm yet to meet a person like that, one who's still alive anyway!

You mentioned that you broke up the band due to wanting to play with different people. What was it that made you want to distance yourself from your previous bandmates and was it awkward ultimately playing again with them once more before moving further afield?

So basically, my reason for departure and dissolving the band came to two things... one was that, I wanted to play Extreme Metal, and whilst our drummer was actually a great Metal drummer and always underestimated himself in that area, he actually had a really shitty taste in music. Like, by choice, Lamb of God was the heaviest band in the world to him, which is just self explanatory.

Our bass player, Sina, his taste was actually not bad and he was a good bass player, but again, he was very much stuck in the mainstream metal area... all of this whilst I was obsessing over Black Metal. Although my initial vision of Trivax wasn't entirely Black Metal, it sounded a lot more like a meeting ground between Sepultura, Death and the Demigod era of Behemoth. But either way, that wasn't really the music that I could play with these guys. But I thought to stick with them for a long time, which I'm glad that I did, as we did have a very tense and electric chemistry between us, despite not agreeing on most things, that truly made us a unique band.

Background Photo by Shade Grown Eye Photography

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What did pull the last straw for me, was that the other two always had lots of problems with each other, which I even still have documented to this day, and they'd fuck around a lot. Whether it was over money, or the bass player feeling disrespected by the drummer, which sometimes was fair, sometimes not. They just always had tension between them, which I feel like helped shape the band's violent energy, despite the music not being too heavy back then. But one day, we were rehearsing there in the basement, and we ended up being there for like nearly 8 hours, and I don't know, something about the lack of energy, built up of frustration, the constant fear of neighbours and all... one thing led to another, and suddenly the two of them were having one of the most brutal fights I'd ever seen. Like, I wish that it was on a PPV or something. But anyway, I was enjoying watching them trying to kill each other, and our friend at the time, Peyman, was also there. But what happened was that they were rolling around the floor next to the drum kit, and in the midst of all of that, one of them accidentally kicked my Ibanez Destroyer (You can see me using that during the Bloodstock 2018 footage) that was next to the wall, which I had just bought at the time after going through some extreme difficulty. When that happened, I sort of switched, and I just walked in there right next to them whilst they were trying to kill themselves, grabbed the guitar and walked out. And when that happened, I just turned cold. Like even some time ago, an ex-partner of mine in the UK who I was having an argument with at the time, grabbed one of my guitars and threw across the bed out of a tantrum, and from that moment on, she was completely dead to me. That's just an area that you don't fuck with... So anyway, going back to the fight, in the end the bass player stabbed the drummer in the neck with a pair of scissors, and the drummer took a ping pong sized chunk of skin out of the other guy's arm by biting him. After they sort of calmed down and had their orgasm, the drummer fainted from an anxiety attack and the bass player rushed into the local clinic. They thought that he could have had rabies, because at first they thought that a dog had bit him. True story. Anyway, afterwards we were all sort of okay, although we had to have the ambulance called on the drummer and his whole family ran downstairs to find him shirtless with a stab wound in his neck. I tried to film it when his mom was crying over his head, but Peyman stopped me because he thought that it was inappropriate. I wish that I had gone through with it. How many times do you even get in a situation like that?! Anyway, I do ramble a bit. But basically, once my guitar got kicked, I instantly stopped caring about either one of them and I didn't feel that they were worthy of having me in their band, so I quit about a week later when we were to meet for our first rehearsal. I even recorded my voice doing it, and I just recently sent it to the bass player, 10 years later!

Going back to them, wasn't as awkward, no. Maybe it was a bit at first, but at this point I was deliberately using them, because now I already knew that I was going to leave the country, as it was a few months later. Surprisingly, we were still in good form, and I hadn't left in bad terms with them. Although I recall that I encouraged the two of them to carry on, both of them expressed that if I wasn't there, they wouldn't want to continue working together and would just pursue other projects, to which I said, fair enough.

So yeah, it was the fight that kind of did it, but actually the kick to my guitar that was the final straw for me to disband that line-up. It just so happened that I was moving out of the country not long after. Bare in mind, these two had issues building up for the 8 months leading up to this, and we've played all the gigs and been through the whole thing, and our next step at the time was to actually start recording new demos (One of the songs was "Scars of the Guilty" which later appeared on the first Trivax EP in 2013) and it was a shame that we didn't make it to that.

But such is the way. Thankfully, I have the Iran era of Trivax quite well documented, in case people were ever interested in seeing more in the future. I feel that I would really like to make a documentary about the band, but I feel that we haven't hit our best points yet, so just a simple reflection won't suffice yet, but definitely something that I'm interested in doing in the future.

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There are a few noteworthy instances of artists who subsequently fled Iran and sought refuge in other nations, but understandably I’m sure there are just as many who stayed. Are there any artists that you keep in contact with that stayed in Iran or have they all moved on or elsewhere?

I would actually say that, maybe %90 of them are still back there, if not more! You have to understand that my situation is somewhat unique, not everyone has the means to suddenly just decide to leave their country and start a life elsewhere. Sure, there are actually quite a few people who have fled and moved away, but you will noticed that very few amongst those metalheads are actually artists themselves. But yes, I keep in touch with some of my fellow respected bands and musicians from back home, both in Iran and outside.

Given the unique nature of the situation you and many of your colleagues adapted to, as well as the general lack of awareness many have of Extreme Music outside of the USA/Europe, are there any other artists from Iran you could point us in the direction of?

Absolutely! I’ve always had a pretty tight relationship with the guys in Kmarykan. We have a lot of mutual respect for one another and we have actually collaborated previously on a couple of endeavours. They’re also amongst the few of us who have actually played Black Metal outside of Iran. Some people might have already heard of From the Vastland, which is the band of a friend of mine, Sina, who now resides in Norway. They were good because they were a part of a documentary which brought some attention to the situation of things in Iran with regards to Black Metal. Unfortunately, he made a claim previously that he was the only Black Metal artist from Iran, which of course isn’t true at all, but I respect what he’s doing with his band and hope to see more from them in the future. A friend of mine, Niloofar, who now resides in Paris, she is also amongst those who have had to flee the country. She’s actually a really cool chick, and sadly was under some serious threats from the government and had to basically avoid Iran completely after playing just a single show in Turkey. She’s currently a band called Virran, I believe, but I think that they’re just taking their time for now before releasing anything, so just keep an eye out for that name. If you wanted to check her work, she previously played with a French band called Unscarred, they did a lot of stuff around 2013 with her involved. I know that I’m beginning to sound biased, but honestly, nothing screams anti-Islamic rebellion more than a woman having a voice, and to top it up, expressing it through a radical culture like Metal. It truly is one of the most beautiful things in a world full of ugly. Go and support these movements. Of course, I couldn’t go without mentioning my very good friend M, who is the founder of Lavizan Jangal. That is probably one of the most powerful and vicious units of Black Metal to ever spawn out of Iran, if not the Middle East as a whole. The last album speaks for itself.

No longer residing in Iran, how close do you relate to your Iranian heritage given that the Authorities were fundamentally resistant to your passions and what you stood for?

Good question! You know, I’d have to say that is more so the case now, than it was ever before. I think that once you reach a certain age, and the DNA data which you were shot into the world with, takes its full format, you will really grow to understand and appreciate a lot of your background and culture wholeheartedly. I’m very proud of my Persian heritage, and as an adult I take plenty of enjoyment from its cultural fruits, which is great considering that for most of my growing up I never gravitated towards anything that came from home.

I was always drawn towards everything western and hated Iranian TV and music, and instead I was into pro wrestling and mainly Russian techno music, until of course I discovered Metal. This was always the case, but more recently, I have been talking a lot to people close to me back home and I’ve been trying to feed off a lot from their knowledge of Persian artists...

Background Photo by Shade Grown Eye Photography

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and honestly, I have come to discover that we have so much great things in our history. I always knew that, but never felt it, if that makes sense. I think that one of the most beautiful things about it, is that I believe that Iran, specifically before cursed Islamic revolution, was one of the only countries in the world where its mainstream culture, would so strongly express the state of melancholy through its art. You look at the work of someone like Fereydoon Foroughi and read his lyrics, and it truly is great, in how macho he sings his words, yet deep in the meaning of his songs there is almost, a sense of nihilism, that has reached emotional acceptance. Plus, his actual texts were something else. Imagine lyrics in a very similar tone to some of Mgla’s works, but put in the context of a Persian pop song dating back by quite a few decades. I’m pretty big on a select few guys from the Rap e Fars scene. There are a few really good artists who have a unique message. I really like Hichkas, he was always a cool cat. I should also point out, however, that whilst I’ve finally learned to really enjoy what Iran’s rich culture has to offer... I still don’t fit in very well with the mindset of the people. I always find that a lot of Iranians tend to hold on to values and principles that no longer really hold any value in today’s world and are past prides. I always believe that it is important to measure yourself by where you are now, rather than where you have been, because where Iran is at the moment is absolutely nothing to be proud of. This also involves issues of race, mixed with pride and prejudice that are common, which I’ve always distanced myself from.

In 2011 you relocated to the UK and revived Trivax by recruiting new members to your lineup; being new to the country and the musical landscape of the UK, how did you find the adjustment and what was it like starting anew in a far liberal but more competitive environment?

I hope that you understand how rich of a question that is. So please, sit back.

It was very difficult at first, actually. And you know what, my biggest pet peeve of it all, which still remains the same to this day when it happens, is actually the lack of competition. There are many reasons for that, too. The biggest problem, I felt at the time, was the lack of opportunity because I didn’t really know anyone. I realised early on the truth, that people only want to support their “mates” and not anything that is remotely substantial, therefore the competition felt dead from the beginning anyway, but sadly, that didn’t equate to more opportunities for us.

The truth is that I don’t care about being anyone’s mate, I just want to deliver an explosive and mind-altering experience via my music. I do see things a bit differently now, but at the end of the day it’s only made my competitive side want to expand and grow, and we are now, undoubtedly, one of the most powerful units within the underground UK scene, especially when it comes to the live shows. I would challenge anyone to contest that. You also have to understand that, back in 2011, all that was popular over here, especially around the Midlands, was the Deathcore and Metalcore scene, and on top of it was the bullshit trend of bands with full sentences for names. Now imagine being a single Black Metal fanatic who just broke loose from the Islamic Republic of Iran, trying to make it in a sea of excrement such as that. If you look at things now, Black Metal has come such a long way compared to those years. I’d like to think that, to some degree, regardless of the scale, we have actually played a role in making the genre more acceptable here. Whether that’s good or bad, I don’t know… but it certainly equates to more opportunities. In terms of challenges that I faced within the band itself. For the first, maybe 5 or 6 years of Trivax, I felt extremely limited by what the other members were like, both as musicians as well as people. And I have actually expressed this to the remaining members since.

I’m a fire-fuelled type of personality, I like to find the explosive nerve in other human beings and connect with that, which I just wasn’t seeing anywhere. Of course, we have come a long way since, and I now know how to work with the politics of things much better and have a much better version of British people in general… But yeah, Trivax for the most part has been an uphill and a very lone battle for me. Not one that the other members had much part in, maybe until my good friend and brother Sul joined the band, which made me realise that I wasn’t on my own anymore.

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I never would have realised this before then, but the fact that it was a liberal environment was actually a detriment to the quality of things, making the end results spoilt, stale and stagnant.

It’s really hard when you want to play a show to make people rip their faces off and start mass mutiny, when they only care about having a few pints and carrying on with the same monotonous life that they are living. The European structure of society is built in a very clever way, they make sure that there’s already an answer to all of your needs, so you never feel the necessity to look elsewhere. In reality, I’m not mad at the people as it’s no fault of their own, and if anything, even more appreciative that over time I’ve gotten to meet those who are actually passionate about this music, be it promoters or bands, because having the structure format of society in mind, you have to be truly devoted to this music to still be interested in it when in your 40’s, and I consider those people a breed of my own, and vice versa. I’m still incredibly grateful that I’ve had the opportunities to even play and let alone build a following over here, though I feel that I’ve really had to earn it. Those first few years, I had a lot of adjusting to do, and I feel that only very recently, I’ve found the fire reignited again, finally.

Being primarily a solo-driven act in your early days, did you wish to continue that dynamic when recruiting new members or were you happy to embrace the input from others when writing new material?

To be honest, that dynamic has never actually changed for Trivax. I’ve always been the main songwriter in the band. Even when other guys started coming in, the actual notes or the structures of the songs would never change. The most I’ve been helped with song writing is an instrumental track on the first record, made by my friend in Lavizan Jangal, and maybe less than a handful of riffs by the old guitarists in the band. I’m basically 99% behind the creation of what you hear. I have a very weird chameleon-like brain, which allows me to absorb the body language and the personalities of the people who I play with and the dynamic of the band itself, so when it comes to putting the songs together, I write each person’s parts as them and in their playing style. I don’t know how I do it, but it always seems to work. I’ve done this for every project that I have been a composer. When I speak of the “twist” that the other members put on the material, is more the energy that transfers during the recording, which to be completely honest, I really wasn’t happy with on our first album… But I learned my lesson, and have since been just as hands on with the production and recording as I have been about the song writing part. It’s a lot more work, but it allows me to perfectly execute the neuron experience that I want to create for the listener. I don’t know how to make music with other people, because no one can ever see things from my perspective, so my band members, in any project, actually serve as my first audience.

Your most recent tour of the UK came during by far one of the most timeframes, straddling the period when people’s attitudes towards gigs were starting to turn and when promoters began cancelling dates left, right and centre. As one of the last bands to play shows in the UK before the Government intervened, what was the mood at those shows and to what extent were people sweating over the increasing level of pandemonium?

Interesting question. Yeah, I actually think that we must have played literally what was one of the last shows in the country as a whole, which I’m proud of, but it was lucky that we did. We did a few dates down the south of the country, and I particularly recall that our shows in Cardiff and Exeter, on the 13th and the 15th of March, Friday and Sunday, were fucking great! The attendance was alright as well, at least for my standards.

You could definitely feel a little bit of a dip in the mood, from the Friday to Sunday, but I really don’t think that it held back too many people. I’m not really a “What if” kind of person, I’m just grateful that we did those shows. The Exeter one, in fact, which was the last show, was fucking flawless! Excellent crowd, good turnout, good sound, decent merch sales, hellish after party... it was a really cool experience, considering that we hadn’t been to that part of the UK before.

Background Photo by Tom Allison

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I still made sure that I showed gratitude to the crowds for showing up, but to be honest, if the fearmongering of the media stopped anyone then, it probably only weeded out the lack of passion anyway so we still ended up with the good people. Although I do have to say, shoutout to Witchking Music, without whom none of that probably would have happened. Ben did a phenomenal job of organizing those few shows... just a shame that we couldn’t carry on doing the rest of the dates. But that’s history now.

The temptation to talk about the Government Lockdowns is real, but I’m not going to go there as you’ve got a new EP out called “Into the Void”, a sentiment we have all felt at some point or another. Could you tell us more about the new EP? For sure. I think that this EP, might just be our first attempt, unintentionally, at making a concept release. What you get with this release is more of an experience. A journey, if you will.

Both of the A and B sides are exactly the same length, and with each side you get closer into the void. There is a point of climax, at the end of both sides, where it is the moment you reach death.

The A side offering the death of the physical body and ego, where the B side is the aftermath, which then builds up and reaches unto the second death. Some of the lyrics during the main parts, were written in Sanskrit, and their objective is to unlock the magic by using carefully selected words placed next to one another and each one to create its own effect in the multi-dimensional world. Something which I always feel, that a change is happening, whenever we perform those parts. The structures of the songs are also very carefully created and never without a meaning or purpose. It is a designated set of experiences, whilst also somewhat narrating the story, as one reaches the ultimate void within themselves. It is basically about fucking God and reaching the realm of death in exchange. The ultimate projection. An ecstatic plunge into the depths of the abyss, as I said in a statement previously.

“I is gone, Eye is all, Life is nil, Force is all”

It’s been a few years since your last release “Sin”, which came out in 2016; was it a case of writer’s block that saw the delay in music or did the band’s increasingly active gig-schedule hamper the creative process a bit?

Not at all! The moment that record came out, and it was all set in stone, I immediately began writing the second album. The first track that I wrote for it was actually done exactly 10 days after SIN came out, on a rather strange and unforgettable evening, and I had already finished the writing of our second album by the end of 2018. You just have to understand, since the releasing of our first record, I gradually became a perfectionist in all other areas of making music, such as working on the production as well as the marketing itself, which were things that I wasn’t very invested in before. The first album simply opened the gates to a total death and rebirth in character of the band, as well as myself, personally. Trust me when I say that I am simply waiting for the right moment to deliver the fatal blow, and this EP is just the beginning of that.

You also have to bear in mind that, I’ve been hoarding a lot of experience since the release of “SIN”. I did the EP with my ex-band Master’s Call, I’ve written the first full length album for my other project Wyrdstæf, as well as writing and releasing another full-length album as well as several EPs with other bands anonymously, whilst performing countless live shows with all of these bands since. So, not really, there has never been a writer’s block. In fact, I seem to be writing my best material in my more recent years and Trivax is the one with the biggest slices of cake amongst them all, you just haven’t heard it yet. Despite being very chaos-driven all my life, I have found that I actually a very conservative approach to doing certain things and like to take my time to make it right. The scorpion simply awaits the perfect opportunity to sting the opponent, that does not mean that he is idle. The danger, is in fact, closer than ever.

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Spanning two tracks, one of which is 18 minutes long. Bands rarely venture into songs that long unless there’s a concept at play specifically for that song (unless you’re kraftwerk and a 20 minute number about the German Autobahns is perfectly normal). Is there a concept that drove that song?

The EP is only 18 minutes in total, exactly 9 minutes on the A Side and 9 minutes on the B Side.

But it is 18 minutes that will leave the listener wanting to come back for more. Even then, 9 minutes is still considered to be pretty long for a track. For me, it’s about the journey and the experience, and I don’t really pay much attention to the clock when I’m writing music. The point is to create something in which you can be fully emersed and forget everything, and by the time it’s over, you won’t even realise how long you’ve been going through the experience. I know that, at least for us and in terms of performance, it has been exactly that... I’m sure that it will be the same for those who will listen to it with open minds and hearts.

You partner up with Rat King Records, a label who have brought some very spicy shows to London and Bristol and are synonymous with the not-shit elements of UK’s Black Metal output. With a lack of gigs in turn creating a bloated landscape of upstart labels, what drew you to Rat King and is there any longterm vision for working with them in the future?

We had already had some gig-related collaboration with Rat King, and knew one of the guys, Sam, for some time. We also worked together for the replacement show with Darvaza, for the (now infamous) Black Plague Fest in London, which fell apart miserably at the end of February last year, which still stands as a great memory and a triumphant night over what was essentially a total cluster fuck. So, we kind of already knew that we could rely on each other if ever need be. So far, they’ve done a pretty good job with this EP and we’re very much looking forward to getting this EP out.

In terms of any long-term plans, we are keeping our options open for labels, but if we’ve got anything ready to be spewed out into the world again, those guys will probably get first dibs on its availability, as I’m very pleased with how they’ve handled this release so far.

Whilst I remember hearing things and seeing chatter about Black Plague festival, I did get the feeling those involved in the organisation (and subsequent salvaged-show) never fully let on to how much chaos was afoot with it all, akin to a Swan looking graceful at the surface whilst their feet frantically flails underwater. Could you expand on what happened with that festival, at least from your perspective?

It was pretty bad. I think that it was some Polish guy who was organising the show, who kind of disappeared afterwards?! I'm not sure, as I didn't deal with much of things on that end. Apparently bands weren't given any ticket flights so the headliners started cancelling one by one.

Generally I feel that it was an issue of payment, which normally is in these situations. What saved most of the disaster in the end, was that a good friend of the band, Anna, who was with Death Revelations Prod at the time... her and Rat King Records basically pulled together and came up with a last minute show at the Black Heart in Camden, who are now in desperate need of crowdfunding to survive by the way, so I would recommend you to check out, and yeah, we then ended playing the show last minute and providing the backline as well. It was a bit stressful and chaotic, but all the stars aligned beautifully, and I still think that has been one of our most rewarding shows by far!

Background Photo by Vivien Varga

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The EP art, which in itself is quite striking saw Nestor Avalos commissioned for the job; how hands-on were with you what you were looking to achieve and what spurred you to distance away from the colourful art of previous releases and focus on something a bit more esoteric and monochromatic?

We already started taking that approach since around 2017, and whilst I’m very proud of the uniqueness and ballsy-ness of the SIN artwork for a Black Metal record and the meaning I felt like I had already expressed that twilight aspect of myself visually and it was time to move on.

In regards to the “Into the Void” artwork, I had the material ready for ages and was just looking non-stop for different artists, as I had already made my mind up what sort of aesthetic I wanted to go for with this release and really wanted something that complimented the experience. Once I found Nestor and his work, it was like a “eureka” moment! Now that we have got the artwork, I really couldn’t even imagine it being any other way. In terms of being hands on, I had a ton of ideas, but the guy knows his shit so I didn’t really even have to do much. By far, my easiest experience with our artwork, it kind of just fell into my lap and seemed to work perfectly.

If you aren’t familiar with his work, I highly suggest checking it out. He’s done a lot of designs for Vltimas as well, actually. I even recommended his work to Bobby Beausoleil in a recent communication.

Into the Void, out now via Rat King Records Artwork by Nestor Avalos

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This issue is the first of 2021 so I think we can afford ourselves some wiggle-room to reflect back on 2020 and the glut of excellent releases that came out. Looking back to last year what are your standout memories and releases?

It’s funny, February 2020 is probably one of my favourite months of my life to ever reflect back on, everything just seemed to work in the way that I like it. It was just filled with my kind of fun. Ironically, I actually played some of my favourite shows of all time in my history as a musician, in 2020. I did 6 shows with Trivax and played one with Wyrdstæf. Every single one was truly a moment of bliss and ecstasy. See, the thing is, I’ve said this before in interviews... 9 years down the road since I moved out of Iran and I still to this day play every show like it’s my last, because in the back of my head I expect the authorities and the police culture to break in and end us. Whilst that can almost be classed as a form of PTSD, for me, it’s allowed me to truly take in and appreciate every single moment of being able to play on stage and feel alive.

Interestingly enough, during that time in the first few months of last year, I seemed to be the most alert and awake that I’ve ever been. The smell of the venues, the body language of every single person I met, the sounds on stages, the air in each town, I fucking remember it all so perfectly. I’ve also documented each experience fully, so my life and legacy are pretty clear to me, I don’t have to be gigging all the time now to remember who I am. It’s all there and the demons are all alive and well, if there was anything that this time has taught me.

You asked about the releases, for some reason there’s not a whole lot that really sticks to my head at the moment that I felt blown away by, even though there was actually quite a lot of releases? Anyway, here’s a few that really stuck out for me.

NerOmega - Self titled EP Ulver - Flowers of Evil Mehrad Hidden - Toonel, Vol. 2 Lavizan Jangal - ‫گرم و یکیرات‬ Tetragrammacide - Pact of Eschatological Islamic Spiritual Ordeal

Whilst nobody can speak with any real certainty, how do you envision Trivax to play out for the remainder of the year?

Well, I suppose that I know more than I can let on, however, we cannot truly predict anything, can we?! I would say that the cusp of January-February is a particular hotspot for us, so keep an eye out for the things to come. I don’t really like talking about this thought process externally and revealing any of my predictions, but since we are on the subject, if things play out and we’re not totally dead and deceased.. December 4th will mark 10 years of Trivax in the UK. If we make it, that will be very special for me and I’m sure that we would find some way to celebrate that occasion.. or mourn it, should I say?! In terms of the year as a whole, I expect a gradual growth from the release of “Into the Void” that should lead in to the next thing… then we’ll see where we go from there. If gigs do actually come back, I’m not in a rush for it and will not jump on any opportunity. It has to be worthwhile. Anyway, it’s only January, there’s still plenty of room for disasters, which is all that I could hope for.

Trivax's latest EP is out now via Rat King Records (albeit pretty certain tapes have already sold out). For more information follow the links below https://trivax.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/trivaxband Photos kindly provided by Shade Grown Eye Photography, Miley Stevens Photography and Tom Allison

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It's an interesting time for Welsh identity, with recent years seeing a growing sentiment about Wales distancing itself from the United Kingdom to varying degrees; the situation is made all the more intriguing as the movement is being driven from a youth-level, with older generations unprepared to engage with the subject they had mocked for decades prior.

It was only a matter of time until such fiery sentiment permeated into extreme music; sure Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard utilise the Welsh language in their songs, but to use heavy music to deep-dive into the subject of Welsh Identity and folklore is a path relatively untrodden when compared to the heritage of other nations. Iselder, a seasoned one-man Black Metal outfit, has seized this niche for their own, shining a light on the matter of Welsh heritage and identity. Nationalist sentiment and Black Metal are often problematic bedfellows, so it was actually quite pleasing to see an instance that distanced itself from the Far-Right, so of course I wanted to chat to Gofid, the brain behind Iselder.

I was drawn to how Iselder centres around Welsh history and folklore, and to a degree the Welsh identity in the modern day; what draw you to such subject matter above all else?

One reason is that Welsh history and its folklore is so rich and vast, and it’s something that’s not taught in schools very often, so to discover these things feels very rewarding, as does writing about them. Another reason is the fact that very few (if any) other bands from Wales sing about our history or our folklore, instead leaving it to other bands from other countries to sing about it. It’s a shame that more of my native countrymen don’t cover the subjects more often, as it’s something I feel every Welshman can relate to.

The band’s name is Welsh for “Depression”... discuss The band name was thought up back when I was writing stuff that was centred more on hate, anger, suffering and such. The original tracks were more inspired by Thy Light, Austere, Make A Change... Kill Yourself, Xasthur, and so on, much different to what you can hear me playing today.

So it only felt fitting that the band should be titled as such, and me being Welsh it felt natural to have a Welsh band name, thus Iselder was born.

Whilst Black Metal fans are no stranger to music about the band’s personal heritage, Primordial and Winterfylleth being two prominent examples of where there heritage permeates into every element of their work. That being said, Wales’ history is as different as it is intertwined with English heritage, how would compare the two?

That’s a very difficult question to answer, and I’m not sure how to answer it in all honesty. It doesn’t help that records of Welsh history were destroyed, nor does it help that Wales has been under English rule for so long. I’d say Welsh history is steeped in oppression, but we do have our stand out characters such as Owain Glyndŵr and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (the last native Prince of Wales since 1282). I couldn’t comment too much on English history past what was taught to me in school, and Welsh history isn’t focused on in school so much either, if at all,

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so I couldn’t really compare the two myself at all. I will say that while I certainly have no doubt Welsh history has its moments, we never did colonise large parts of the world, nor did we commit horrible atrocities across the globe.

Out of all the Welsh myths and legends, which resonate with you the most?

My favourite one has to be the tale of the red dragon versus the white dragon. In the fifth century the Celtic King Vortigern chose Dinas Emrys as the site for his castle. From here he hoped to escape the Saxons. But every night the royal masons would lay down their tools only to return the next day to find they'd vanished and their carefully crafted walls had fallen down. This continued until the king was advised by sorcerers to sprinkle the grounds with the blood of a child born to a human mother and a father from the “otherworld” (Annwn). They find this child, Myrddin Emrys (who we know as Merlin the wizard from Arthurian legend) who convinces the Vortigern that two dragons lay sleeping under a lake inside the mountain and it was them who were destroying the foundations of his fortress. Convinced the boy was right, Vortigern commanded his labourers to dig deep into the mountain. They did as they were told and discovered an underground lake, just as Merlin had predicted. Once drained, the red dragon (to symbolise Wales) and white dragon (to symbolise the Saxons) that lay sleeping there awoke and began to fight. Eventually the white dragon fled and the red dragon returned quietly to his lair.

Vortigern’s castle was finally built and duly named Dinas Emrys in honour of Myrddin Emrys, and the red dragon has been celebrated ever since.

Wales’ representation of Black Metal has a few noteworthy examples throughout the years, but nothing necessarily that’s had a lasting impact on Black Metal as a genre. Are there any artists or bands that stand out for you (old and current)?

Obviously there’s Ghast, who are probably the most well-known Welsh black metal act. Then there are other projects such as Deheubarth, Agrona, Black Pyre, Merciless Savage, and Verletzen, just to name a handful. In the past five years or so there seems to be more and more bands cropping up from all over the country, so hopefully this leads to a strong Welsh black metal scene in the future.

Having been active for nearly 7 years, your latest release “Welsh Nationalist Black Metal” has seen a surge of interest in the band. With it being your first release in close to 3 years, what has changed in that time?

The most notable change in my personal life has been moving back to my homeland after living in Essex for a number of years, which lead me to shift the bands focus towards Welsh history and folklore as you don’t really realise how much you miss something until you’re away from it.

There’s a word in Welsh called “hiraeth”, a word meaning for longing or nostalgia, an earnest longing or desire, or a sense of regret. The feeling of longing for a home that no longer exists or never was. A deep and irrational bond felt with a time, era, place or person. Hiraeth resonates so much within Iselder’s music, as my time in England made me wish I was back home in my own country, hearing my own native language, and seeing the hills and mountains I had grown up surrounded by. To some it may feel claustrophobic, but growing up in the Welsh valleys those mountains bring a sense of warmth and safety that no other place can truly bring me.

The release seemingly drew criticism from people who saw the word “Nationalist” and the distinct iconography and subsequently looked for right-wing sentiment that simply wasn’t there. Making clear that you find Fascist/Authoritarian ideologies abhorrent in your retort, was it uncomfortable to have such allegations thrown at your doorstep?

It’s such a weird feeling to have people throw the whole fascist/Nazi allegations at you. You see it happening to bands such as Taake all the time, but you’d never think the same thing would happen to you.

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It was surprising to me for sure, as I had people attacking the font I use, calling the symbol on the artwork (the Eryr Wen, a historical Welsh symbol) a glorified swastika, even making accusations I was hiding a Nazi message by limiting the release to 33 tapes because Hitler was elected in 1933! I expected some blowback from using the word nationalist for sure, as in recent years it has come with negative connotations, but never to this large of an extent. I thought surely people would realise Welsh nationalism was about the history, folklore, language, and strive towards independence, right? How wrong I was! However, a definition of nationalism is “advocacy of or support for the political independence of a particular nation or people”, such as Scottish independence. I have had people suggest to rebranding myself as “Welsh separatist metal”, or simply call myself “Welsh black metal”. For one, I have never seen the Welsh independence movement referred to by the word separatist. Another point to make is that while I realise I am a Welsh black metal band, I also realise the significance of being Wales’ only nationalist black metal band up until this point that I know of, which is why the EP is titled as such. There’s no hidden meaning or agenda, only a love for my country and the subjects involved therein.

Identifying as Welsh Nationalist Black Metal, in the same way people rushed to criticise you over alleged fascist elements, do you think there’s a similar risk people with right-wing tendencies will be drawn those same elements, when really you’re just wanting to shine your light on Welsh heritage?

At the end of the day, I can’t help who listens to my music. The aesthetic choices I made on the album were mine and mine alone, as I wanted some simple yet eye-catching. Sadly I didn’t know that this style is apparently used by a lot of right wing/NSBM bands (the gothic font, run in the centre, that sort of thing), which is a rather unfortunate coincidence. However, I know people who are very left wing that listen to right wing music and vice versa, it just so happens that the same is going to eventually happen to my music as well.

All in all I suppose all its done is highlight a distinct lack of coverage/awareness of Welsh Heritage.

That’s true! Luckily there were some people on Facebook who were versed somewhat in the history of Wales, why there was a nationalist movement, and sympathy for the cause. I’m fortunate enough that these people came forward and helped defend me when all I was receiving was the backlash for using the word nationalist.

With Brexit in full-swing and talk of Scottish Independence rearing its head again following the narrow referendum in 2014, talk of Welsh Independence in turn seems to have found its way into public awareness, with roughly a quarter of people in a YouGov poll saying they would support Independence in a vote. What are your feelings on the subject and on what basis did you form your views?

I’m in that quarter of people supporting an independent Wales, as I believe it would be beneficial to our country. Too long have we had another country make our rules, and too long have we had a non-Welsh government without our best interests at heart. I vote Plaid Cymru myself, and I believe they’re the only political party that could bring a bright future to Wales, as they genuinely do seem to care for my country and its people.

There’s a great video of the Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price talking to a Labour MP about free social care in Wales and how a Labour government would introduce this if voted in the general election, with Adam Price pointing at him and raising his voice (rightfully so) saying that you’re the party of government in Wales already, why can’t you do it now? I feel like that’s a great representation of how Wales is treated, and how passionate Plaid Cymru is.

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“Yma O Hyd”, a protest song of sorts, looks at a particular event which could be seen somewhat as a microcosm for how Welsh identity is perceived as part of the United Kingdom; for those who aren’t local to South Wales, could you speak more about the song and the sentiment behind it?

The original song by Dafydd Iwan is often regarded as the second unofficial anthem of Wales. The song title means “Still Here” in English, and talks about the history of the country, how despite the Romans and people like Margaret Thatcher that Wales is still here, still fighting. The chorus translates to “despite everything, we’re still here”. This cover stands as a protest against the renaming of the Severn Bridge, which went ahead despite a large proportion of the nation being against it. The renaming of the bridge itself went ahead in a private, unannounced ceremony not open to the public, with a limited media presence. Why should we rename a bridge (or any landmark for that matter) after a non-native Prince of Wales? It makes no sense.

Does it surprise you that membership is predominantly amongst voters under the age of 35?

It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. My generation is the first generation to have information so readily available to us, to be able to research anything and everything at the tap of a screen, to be able to educate ourselves on subjects so easily without the need to go to the library or attend lectures. It also helps, I suppose, that memes promoting Welsh independence or promoting the culture are seeing thousands of likes and shares each day, as I see more and more of my friends share them or become interested in the topics at hand that this time a few years ago couldn’t care about the language or if Wales should be independent or not.

How do you see the debate evolving over the coming years?

I honestly think this all hinges on Brexit and what it brings to the UK within the next decade or so. I think if it all goes horribly (which it already is doing), that people will want to distance themselves from England and re-join the EU as an independent nation.

Looking more short-term, what does the future hold for Iselder?

The short term plan is to release the “Welsh Nationalist Black Metal” EP on March 1st (St David’s Day), and eventually begin work on some new material, whether this be another EP or a full length is undecided as of yet. I’d like to see how my writing style evolves more, as the music I write now is a lot different to the music I was writing on the first few releases. When all this Covid-19 stuff calms down, I’d love to take Iselder to the stage, as for now it’s just me. I just hope my music educates more people on the oppression of Wales, how interesting and vast our history and folklore is, and how beautiful our language is. Hopefully by the end of the year I’ll have another new offering of music, and hopefully it doesn’t cause quite the storm it did this time around!

"Welsh Nationalist Black Metal" is out now via Marwolaeth Records. For more information see below https://iselder.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Iselder IG: Iselderband

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A mate I used to live local too had a disproportionately exquisite bedroom studio setup. The end-results were dire though; he could play guitar and program drums but I had zero musical talent and zero inclination to sing with any proficiency. Despite our body of work largely being terrible grindcore and extreme-metal covers of themes from kids-shows, we did manage to write and record an EP in a day, and the process of just banging stuff out regardless of quality was quite a fun process.

Now imagine that similar arrangement, but all the members were not only musically proficient and experienced in the process of writing music; now imagine that process but so fine-tuned that you can squirrel away 3 albums of work and spend the rest of the time playing Animal Crossing or whatever. That's essentially the situation of Werewolves, an amalgamation of members from several other well-renowned Australian bands who have already got all the material ready to see out their 3-album deal with Prosthetic Records.

Impressed with their efficiency and drawn to the fact I may finally get closure for something happened 15 years ago, I felt compelled to have a chat with them.

Before settling on Werewolves as a name I hear there were some absolutely delicious alternative names considered. I feel compelled to probe further into some of the names that didn’t make it...

Oh god, there were so many...I think my favourite was HETERONEUTRAL GENDERDEATH, I thought that would work fabulously with the modern social media algorithms. OATHCANNON BEASTKNUCKLE was another one, so was KNUCKLEDRAGGER. Obviously we were having one of those brainstorming sessions trying to work out what the band was about, and “caveman riffs'' was in there.

MÖRKERKUKKEN was another, which I think is Swedish for “black cock”. There were heaps.

Werewolves have said previously that you adhere by the motto “the quicker, the dumber, the better”, to what extent is that a counter-ideology to projects that can take years to formulate and complete?

Well we all play in bands that take years to complete albums so yeah, we wanted to have a go at doing a band where the material is done quickly. The funny thing is that despite the relatively uncomplex music we make with WEREWOLVES, we still have the skills to make an incredibly fiendish album of technical death metal in less than a week. Because we’ve got all that industry history it meant nothing if the music didn’t turn out good, or no-one picked it up. We just wanted that experience, we had no expectations at all. It turns out that if you quickly bang something out you can capture a lot of vibe or raw feeling in there that gets sanded down with an overworked recording. Most artists are sick of their work when the time to record it arrives.

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When we interviewed Autopsy in the last issue they didn’t seem to get the idea of people spending months at a time in the studio as well. As an artist what do you think makes people spend so long refining/revisiting work compared to those who can blast music out at an alarming rate without second-guessing themselves?

I’m with Autopsy on this one - I don’t think death metal is the kind of music that you can write jamming out in a studio. It’d be like an orchestra trying to write music by jamming, it’s too dynamic and it doesn’t work. Any sane band works out their music and is good to go by the time they hit the studio. I’ll be honest, the reason most artists take years refining albums is because recording and releasing them normally takes a huge burst of effort, energy, and expense. I record solo albums as THE SENSELESS, and it takes a large chunk of money and time to get that stuff down, it’s exhausting, and not much comes back for it. And musicians are capricious creatures, trying to wrangle them all together for anything is hard work! The reason WEREWOLVES can blast out so much music is we’ve worked out how to do albums with the least effort possible. Once you cut out the extraneous nonsense you free up a lot of energy and can get stuff done.

Having said that...we love the idea of being able to sit in a studio for a month, somewhere nice, fighting with the producer, boozing and smoking drugs and being degenerates. Probably get another five albums done if we did that.

The musicianship of the various members comes from a wealth of experience from various other Australian extreme metal bands, do you think you could have pulled off something as Laissez faire earlier in your music careers and achieved the same result?

Jesus, I’m actually giving serious answers here! Hahaha. Look, we had the skills, talent, and good looks to pull off something like WEREWOLVES earlier in our careers but we didn’t have the most important ingredient: the mindset. We were all young men looking for our defining challenge back then, we didn’t want something effortless and easy. We were invested in results at all costs. We’ve all climbed our mountains now. We’re not trying to make recording as hard as possible.

With every genre there’s going to be those who take it more seriously than others, and whilst some just enjoy the music that’s out there, there are always those who may get hamstrung on things being “new” and “innovative”, what are your thoughts on those people?

I’m one of those guys who, ironically, wants to hear new and innovative metal. If I never hear another gallop riff, or another china-hit lead into a breakdown, it’ll be too soon. Most metal bands these days sound like cover bands to me. One of things that originally drew me to extreme metal back in the 90s was how each one seemed to break totally new ground. I’m a bit nostalgic for that. We try and break new ground with our other bands but it isn’t the point with WEREWOLVES, the band is our own ‘safe space’ where we can stop trying to be musical explorers and get totally regressive and degenerate. And it’s weird, we think we’re being unoriginal and caveman as hell and we keep getting feedback that we’re being fresh and technical. Fucken people, hey.

There are bands that take themselves a bit too seriously, which Werewolves seem ideologically opposed to. Are there any situations in which you’d be deadly serious?

Not getting paid, and any review which is below 90%. Then we’d be full Will-Mortician-photoshoot serious. We’re doing a bit of a balancing act if I’m gonna be honest...we present as super total bastard serious, and people can either take us on face value, or go with the Australian pisstake attitude we also bring. In the right light, every metal band is a fucking joke. Dave Vincent in a codpiece? Kerry King’s nail bands? Carcass’ song titles? The slam genre and their gutturals? I don’t think anyone’s taking metal seriously.

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There’s so much Death Metal about lately, what’s been standing out for you lately or do you avoid it like the plague unless you’re playing it?

I hate metal, death metal, death metal fans, death metal bands, my band, and myself. I hate it even more when I play it and it makes me angry. OK, seriously, this one is more black metal, but I just heard the new album from Akhlys ‘Melinoë’ and it’s the first time in ages that an album has terrified me. I’ve been listening to the new Amenta album which is an incredibly dense listen, I think it’ll be a recording that takes many rewarding listens to unwrap. I think they’re very quietly sitting at the top of metal in Australia. They’re kind of more industrial metal though.

Given your ultra-efficient to your music, what is your take on reviewers and journalists who in reviews say you should refine your sound or work on your songwriting? We’ve all seen reviews by them and an alarming amount of them aren’t necessarily musicians themselves.

I don’t give a fuck if they’re Devin Townsend writing under a pen name and have a million shows under their belts, fuck em. There’s so much subjectivity in metal particularly with metal journalism. There’s a handful of good guys whose opinions count for something. Then there’s the rest, where they’ll get some dumb bunch of derivative fuckheads and proclaim them and their shit album “saviours of metal”. I learned early on in my career that other people’s opinions count for nothing. There’s another thousand trillion bands all painstakingly refining their sound and songwriting, fuck off and listen to them.

The lyrics are the spiciest part of Werewolves releases, which stand out as your favourites?

Oh god. ‘Dogknotted’ off the debut album has perhaps the worst lyrics of a death metal song, I’m rather proud of that. ‘Gnaw Their Bones’ has some great lines in there that work beautifully, especially “finger-licking roasted nations coated with grilled idiots''. The latest album has possibly the most abusive and cynical lyrics from any metal band, ever, on ‘Mission Statement’ and I’m very proud of the lyrical wizardry on ‘Crushgasm’. I like to think we’re finally giving metal fans a reason to read a lyric sheet again after all the derivative mindless trash everyone else hammers out.

Given how quickly your turnaround is for music, do you hoard lyrics throughout the year that are offensive sentiments or does it all just flow naturally when you get in your songwriting groove?

Both. I’ve got a lyrics sheet that, were anyone to discover it, would have me locked up immediately. A large part of that sheet is populated with catchphrases from chatting with Matt and Dave, they play a larger part in the construction of the lyrics than they might realise. But the other half of the lyrics just flow, I leave a lot of space for both.

Too much of one or the other sounds lame.

Your latest release “What a time to be alive” is out soon via Prosthetic Records, you’re taking the piss with the album title right?

Absolutely. I wanted an album title that reflected the world right now. It was originally going to be called HATE SPEECH, but it was vetoed...it appears there’s a lot of people on social media who don’t care what your explanation is anymore, they want to cancel first then talk later. WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE was the runner up. I thought it was delightfully wry.

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What a Time to be alive - artwork not to be mistaken for when everyone was fighting over Toilet Roll and Paracetamol at the start of the Pandemic

The leading song “Antisocial” has a wonderful backstory I hear. Tell all...

My fucking neighbours. Alright, lockdown started in March last year and I was living in a small apartment block. I had a group of foreign students next door who managed to get in the day before Australia’s border shut, and they were so elated that they made it in, they had all their mates over to party for the next month straight. Loudly. Lovely people, but I did want to murder them. And everyone else in the flat block went a bit loopy too...I mean, everyone’s stuck home working and studying so what do you do? Learn to listen to your music with headphones on? Get in the habit of taking phone calls indoors with speakerphone off? Not with all the cunts in my block. They all doubled the noise. This was all happening while I was trying to write the lyrics to “Antisocial”. People disappoint me at the best of times. I’ve sold the flat since.

Written at the same as your debut album “The Dead are Screaming”, you also recorded a 3rd album to round off your commitments to Prosthetic Records. Are there any plans to write more music for Werewolves anytime soon or are you happy to take a step back and procrastinate a bit?

Matt has written the next three albums, the crazy fuck. I have to record my bits for album 3, then that’ll be done….reckon that’ll happen in the next month or two. Album 4 will get done before the end of the year, I imagine 5 and 6 will happen next year, and that’s us sorted for the next five or six years. If anything we’ll go a bit harder, cause we might have to prepare for live shows depending on how the plague goes.

There’s a UK band called Wolfbastard that seems to adopt the same approach as yourselves musically, but with more of a crust/Black Metal vibe, ever listened to them?

Nope. I don’t know anything about metal and have no idea what everyone else is doing. Good band name though, I’m envious.

Werewolves is not the primary project for the band members, can you list the other bands members have commitments to?

Yeesh, erm….Dave plays in Psycroptic, Abramelin, The Amenta, Ruins, and King. There may be more active bands than that, and I didn’t include past bands or ones he did session work with...Blood Duster, Pestilence, Aborted, etc etc etc. Matt is another total band-whore, he also plays in Abramelin as well as The Antichrist Imperium and Shotgun Mistress, and we both made contributions to the upcoming Berzerker album. Christ, I feel like I’ve missed out or forgotten about half a dozen bands of his. I also play with The Antichrist Imperium and I’ve got a solo project called The Senseless.

I hear members in the past have been involved with The Berzerker. Every Time I’ve seen Luke Kenny he’s been super-intense, what’s he like to play with and tour with?

Super-intense. The dude’s like a brother in normal life but he turns into a psycho on the road.

Not like a cool personable psycho, more like a jesus-christ-what-is-wrong-with-you psycho, screaming at everyone. People would be like “oooooh, can you introduce me to Luke Kenny, I want to talk to him about my band demos” and I’d be like yeah nah that’s not a good idea.

By any chance did any of you play the Bournemouth show of The Berzerker’s 2006 UK tour where Happyface were supporting and seemed to refuse to finish, meaning Berzerker didn’t come on until like midnight?

Both Matt and I did. Heh, I lived in Bournemouth back then. People were leaving by the time we came on cause they needed to catch the last bus back home, that sort of thing. I didn’t hear the end of it. There were frequent conflicts with Happyface on that tour, they were called ‘the treacherous french’. We had shit tour managers for those UK tours, and when you have a shit tour manager, support bands can get away with stuff like that. That extended support slot of theirs was another example of their french treachery. Honestly, I quietly admired how they made the most of the opportunity and their manager ended up signing THE SENSELESS to Anticulture Records. If they had stayed together for a few more years and maybe got a better band name, I’m sure they’d be huge now.

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**EDITOR'S NOTE** The lineup for that show in Bournemouth was dead good as Sylosis and Gutworm were supporting too, but I remember the Promoter explaining to people weeks later that Happyface insisted on using their own kit and thus the changeovers were stupidly long. It didn't help that Happyface were/are/always will be absolute poo and their set sank like a lead-turd on the night. If you used to be in Happyface and are reading this zine I will gladly accept your apology for how much you shat on that night for literally every person in that crowd.

What about the tour later in the year where a Welsh date was meant to be in Pontypridd but ended up being moved with zero-notice to a really grotty pub in Trefforest called Tom’s Pub? I was on that tour, think it was a year later...I was full time with the Berzerker on albums and touring from the start through to 2008, and Matt was on that tour as well I think. I remember the show being in the smokiest venue on earth? Then we had a shower at the filthiest student house ever afterwards. Another multi-million dollar tour. We turned up around lunchtime and were looking for somewhere to eat, and walked into a pub at the end of the road. It was like something out of a movie when we walked in, these hillbilly farmers turned to stare at us and the first few notes of ‘Duelling Banjos’ rang out. **EDITOR'S NOTE - LAST ONE I SWEAR ** They aren't lying; the place was essentially a run-down working-men's club where the music was upstairs and the downstairs appeared to be inhabited by locals who had no love for whatever happened upstairs. It did however have a captive audience aas it was the nearest pub for the Uni campus down the road. The Roof blew off the venue the year after this show and when it blew off again 3 years later they shut the place down. Apparently Tom Jones made his first ever professional performance there. In respect to the show, there was some really weird dude in a trench-coat permanently camped out at the front who was getting a bit-too into all the bands, despite the opening band (Nekrosis or some shit like that) being distinctly unmemorable, and the tour support being this Norwegian Industrial-Metal band signed to that really cringe Anticulture label that did the rounds in the 00's. Fun fact, the tour support was called Miksha and the only video I could find for them on Youtube was a music-collage of various trains crashing into things.

Not wanting to hi-jack this Werewolves with Berzerker talk, but when can we expect the new Berzerker album to come out?

Fuck knows. Luke announced he was doing it at the end of 2019, Matt and I had our parts written, recorded and submitted by the end of January last year. But for some reason I can never quite fathom, Luke seems hell-bent on using guys that take forever to get their shit done, with the maximum amount of possible effort. If it was just me and Matt he was working with, the dude would have three more ‘Dissimulate’s done by now. I’ve heard some of the songs though, and it sounds unreal. Berzerker fans won’t be disappointed We’re not far enough into the 2021 that it’s too late to reflect on the last 12 months, how have you all needed to adjust and what’s irked you the most about the last 12 months vs. what’s been pretty decent?

I’ve felt pretty grateful to be living in South Australia, which has been largely untouched by the ‘rona...part of that was luck, and part of that was good judgement on my part. The last ten years were spent moving away from places that I could see were vulnerable to shocks, and those places have been fucked hard in 2020. Yay me. If anything has irked me, it has been the chorus of the ignorant clinging to conspiracy theories and misinformation the same way christians used to cling to the bible during their hard times. I thought as a species we were getting past using superstition as a salve. It also irritates me that apparently half the world can’t spot an obvious con anymore.

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Matt and Dave had it much harder, in terms of adjusting. They’ve been in Melbourne - one of the places I fled - so they were on strict lockdown for 6 months. Dave especially had it hard, he books tours for a living and tours regularly, so he had to cancel all his moneymakers for the next year and quickly pivot his business to selling merch online. Fortunately that’s working out for him.

All in all though, it has been relatively decent. We’ve stayed employed and healthy. I’m a shift worker who used to get sick from colds all the time, but now everyone has learned about the amazing technology called WASHING YOUR FUCKING HANDS AND NOT SNEEZING IN EVERYONE’S FACE so I’ve had the healthiest year I can remember. We’re all pretty antisocial as well, so haven’t missed hanging out with people. If only all disasters could be this enjoyable.

Looking to the future, what are you optimistic about and what do you think is just going to straight-up disappoint you?

A: People will always disappoint me. We’re living in a Golden Age with the fruits of technology and history around us, education more accessible than it has ever been, and people will still find a way to be grovelling moronic fuckheads. And anyone who responds to the immediate problems of the world by thinking that the issue of their identity is the most important topic of discussion right now is a disappointment, they can fuck right off. No, we can’t chew gum and walk at the same time. You had your decade in the sun, now let the adults try and stop the world from exploding.

Having said that, I’m really optimistic about the next decade. Sure, I think there’ll be extreme poverty, disruption, and war over the next few years but I see the rising fascism in the East being stopped, the new media finally being held to a civilized level of accountability, and trends in wealth inequality being addressed. I figure enough people will get vaccinated this year so that travel is a thing again by 2022.

Metal’s still going to be disappointing though. Apart from us.

"What a Time to be Alive" is out via Prosthetic Records; for more information the links are below https://werewolvesdeathmetal.bandcamp.com https://www.facebook.com/werewolvesinhell IG: Werewolves_band_official

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Vacuous - Katabasis “Disgustingly Awful and needs to be heard by all” Cvlt Nation

“A Thundering Onslaught on the listener’s ears” Cavedweller Music

an unadulterated blast of nasty death metaL Screamblastrepeat.com

Following unprecedented demand, Vacuous’ debut ep is being released on 12” Black Vinyl through F H E D Preorders up soon via www.FHED.Bandcamp.com

Thundering Hooves - Vestiges “A welcome reminder of why we all fell in love with the darker side of Metal in the first place” NoCleanSinging.com

“This is the real deal” ScreamBlastRepeat.com

“an unholy Satanic inner sanctum worthy of multiple pilgrimages” extremeundergroundmetal.com

Available soon on CD and Cassette exclusively via F H E D Preorders up soon via www.FHED.Bandcamp.com

So regular readers would have picked up on the fact I featured Slimelord in the last issue, where I did a cheeky little feature on the New Wave of British Death Metal. Featuring members of UK Death Metal standouts Cryptic Shift (whose latest album “Visitations from Enceladus” is something special in its own right), Slimelord breeds in the fertile breeding ground of Blastbeat creativity that is Leeds.

Snapped up by exponentially increasing label Sewer Rot Records, their latest album “The Delta Death Sirens” is now getting the vinyl treatment through Dry Cough Records. I had a chat with them about their love of swamps and bogs, and other stuff of course.

With your the roots of the band coming from UK Death Metal standouts Cryptic Shift, what lead to the formation of Slimelord?

Cryptic have been playing together for over 5 years non stop and it's all about the business, the focus, long intricate compositions with flawless execution. Here we are a bunch a friends that wanted to form a band, and it's a chance to experiment with a different style. Cryptic Shift wouldn't have much room to fit in Disma riffs!

Was there anything you were looking to achieve through Slimelord that Cryptic Shift wouldn’t typically allow for?

We can be much looser. Writing songs is all about finding the zone and jamming out, searching for that riff where you can lean back and sit in it's thick marshland mist. Playing Cryptic Shift songs of course is about feeling the vibe and conveying that ultimate sci-fi atmosphere, but with the traditional-leaning death metal it's a more relaxed and less intense. And as well, the immense shortage of young death metal bands from England and the UK is painful, hopefully we can inspire some more.

The band’s entire concept focuses around Swamps, Bogs, and the lifeforms that inhabit them.

Discuss.

Andy knows his shit about mycology and myrmecology. He’s a professor of infectious diseases too.

Anyway, we like the idea of swamps, bogs and the lifeforms that inhabit them. We’ve all trudged through the Farron Keep bog together, stared at the cover art of Towards The Megalith, hung out in the local forests, listened to Where The Slime Live. It was naturally going to be our theme.

That scientific background coupled with the general interest in this field works well for us, and we’re also obviously for preserving that which we’re interested in. Fuck you if you launch your McDonalds leftovers from your car window.

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Your last release, The Delta Death Sirens, turned out to be somewhat of a sleeper hit, being released via Sewer Rot and Seeds of Doom previously, and now is being given the vinyl treatment through Dry Cough. Could you talk to us more about the record and break down the tracks. Also, saying all the songs are about various bogs and swamps is not sufficient I’m afraid.

Okay, I can go through the compositions in detail. The title track is the first song we wrote. At our first jam we had no idea what we were gonna sound like, Xander and Ryan played around with some different styles as we tried to latch onto something. Hell, we could have walked out that room decided on being a dissonant doom band, technical death, straightforward thrash, who knows!

But at the very end of that first session, the main riff for The Delta Death Sirens appeared. We could have grooved on just that for hours. So over the next week Xander dreamed up a couple other riffs at home after we threw around a few band names we wanted to aim towards. Among them was the intro to Amphibia. Krystian suddenly decided to try it out a semitone higher and as one we burst into it while Xander channeled some simple but effective and maybe Timeghoul-esque single note leads. We came to know that one as 'Medievil', and the other 'Echo'. 'Echo' quickly got finished, adding those slow transitioning sections for the faster parts and ending with a total lava solo, whilst 'Medievil' gained a sinister tri-tonal riff from Krystian and somehow we summoned the badass clean section. That came from playing around with a symmetrical looking guitar pattern that really worked with it's rising and falling, and of course there was no way we could end the tune without returning to the intro leads. While our songs so far had been from practise room jams, there was some back and forth in finishing them. 'Horrible Bog' however was one straight prophetic jam front to back. We thought that stab intro was a ridiculous and obnoxious idea (in the good way), then we just continued on to wherever the music took us. Luckily someone was recording and later we transcribed it direct from the take. Finally, 'Insectoid' was a spur of the moment thing in the studio. Xander's mind suddenly fell into a hellhole of slime and black magic while noodling on swaying guitar pedal swells, everyone looked at each other like we had the same thought. We hit record and used it as an interlude type track. I've seen a lot of people who think that's actually a keyboard, but it's really just the magic of the TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2!

The artwork is unique in the way it distances itself from the more commonplace artwork styles that grace Death Metal albums. Can you tell us more about the artist?

She goes by the name Asai Nagamasa. I believe her portfolio is limited, but her abilities are exceptional. In mid 2019 she decided to take a break from painting and we actually haven't been able to contact her since. We are eager to have her portray our swamplands once again and as well Cryptic Shift hope to use her again for their forthcoming masterpiece. The piece was in fact painted in 2016 or 2017 I believe. It was intended for one of Xander's side projects called Boiled Blood that was recycling an unused Cryptic Shift track. That's still to get off the ground, the Slimelord formation definitely had a hand in postponing it hah!

I read as well the album art tells its own story as well?

Yeah. The piece was a perfect fit for us when Xander revealed he'd had this lying around unused for years, it's like it was originally intended for Slimelord anyway! Far into the marshlands, there are these witches called the Delta Death Sirens. Ugly crones who reside in wooden shacks hoisted above the muddy earth. They possess a cursed tome, pictured in the art clutched by one of them. Within is a spell to summon something terrible, the great demon toad. They gather at the river estuary and begin their chants. The trees come alive and are seething with startled eyes as they cower at the words spoken. And from deep beneath the horrible bog, AMPHIBIA seeps up and rises out of the swamp...

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For the release you drafted in Ben Jones to record, whose background lays primarily in the Hardcore/ Grindcore/Powerviolence genres having worked with such bands as Gay Panic Defence, Lugubrious Children, Stiff Meds and Cady. At the time of you working with him his Death Metal pedigree wasn’t necessarily as established as it is now, his work on both your album and Vacuous’ Katabasis EP showing the gamble was worthwhile. What drew you to working with him?

Literally because of how fast he could play blast beats. Plus he has long hair so he wasn't a poser!

It's always a joy watching him play in Lugubrious Children and more recently another band that I forget the name of. He was just a nice feller from Boom shows that we had acquainted and we didn't want to use Jack Helliwell again (he records Cryptic Shift regularly), we needed someone fresh with no preconceptions, and someone who we knew could get a grimier DIY, old school feel.

The Damnation Festival pre-shows, always a good time, if you're local or can afford another stupidly-expensive night in Leeds City-Centre You’ve got a new album out anytime soon as well, tell us more about it and what listeners can expect?

It is more intense, it is faster, it is heavier. A little different, musically and production wise.

Where TDDS puts you in a slimy bog, the new EP has you cowering deep in a cave system. We had extra mics down all the corridors coming off the main room at Boom, which captures all those harsh overtones that you get if you've ever heard the unique reverberations inside a real cave.

It really feels like you're stranded in endless caverns and you'll be getting flashbacks to watching Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. TDDS is probably simpler, but the new songs will please you in the same places. Sewer Rot and Seed Of Doom will release again. It begins with a Demilich reference and smashes straight into a track about Triffids. Have you read Day Of The Triffids? It's utterly spine chilling. We're all now terrified of encountering one in the woods.

Another is Loretta's Bane. We've played that live since the beginning, had we had 2 weeks more of rehearsal it would have been on our first demo. We have another interlude type track to mirror 'Insectoid', and maybe the standout song 'Puddle Dweller' is our current favourite.

Given that none of us could see anyone for big parts of 2020, did you have to adopt a different approach when it came to the recording/mastering side of things?

We didn't practise for fucking ages, it definitely stunted our momentum in the practise room. In January we did do a demo session with Billy "Headband Blasphemer" Sarakun at the music college.

Xander abused his Ironbird's Floyd Rose so much that day he hasn't used it since. Those recordings were great but, we believed we could do better. Two months later we were on fire. We were ready to go just as 1984 kicked in. Months later we checked up on the rotting, moss covered corpse of Slimelord and brought it back to life. Regrettably recording separately, but it was quicker this way to get it rolling again. We also had some more time to refine the tracks and tweak some parts for the better that wouldn't have happened without the quarantines.

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Not being a totally new band going into 2020 (i.e. the year everything just stopped happening), Slimelord had gathered quite a fair bit of momentum only to have the rug pulled out from under them in unceremonious fashion. As a band did you have any plan in place to keep momentum going or did you make the most of the downtime?

The entire industry got a shake up. We had planned on having a 2020 release, but anyone hoping for that perfect Metal Archives profile with yearly outputs will be disappointed. We did work a deal with Sewer Rot Records though and re-release our demo with them for all the maniacs in the USA, and as you mentioned we came into contact with Dry Cough Records who have The Delta Death Sirens out on vinyl in a couple of months.

By comparison, for a few years now UK Death Metal seems to have been undergoing a bit of a transformation itself which hasn’t gone unnoticed further afield. I can remember a time where Death Metal bands from the UK seemed to adhere to a fairly strict template, whereas now bands such as Cryptic Shift, Vacuous, Deus Vermin, Celestial Sanctuary and yourselves seem to be distancing from some of the tried-and-tested measures and having a good time of it in the process.

What do you think the future holds for UK Death Metal?

Well better I hope, I'm not sure of this transformation you speak of. In my opinion it's always been fairly stale. Yes of course there's Mithras, Akercocke... But that's old news. I could count on my fingers the great UK bands from the last 10 years. Nobody knows how to play their instruments any more or how to create an atmosphere. Honestly the frustration when drummers play a pussy thrash beat without keeping up the 16ths on the hats! The trends from further afield will catch on here though for sure, we're just late to the party. I think the future could be good, if the players focus on their art and the fans open their ears.

I’d like to talk your hometown of Leeds for a bit; the city has proven to be not only a solid base for bands to set up in, but also a reliable stop for bands from outside the area to hone their craft. Is there anything to you that you think makes Leeds a bit more special compared to other large cities (Manchester, Bristol etc.)?

I don't know what you mean about new bands, and we have better experiences playing outside of Leeds! It's mostly been us bringing bands from far out to us. Demilich, Cannabis Corpse, Grave Miasma, Spectral Voice, Diskord... These shows have been great and really put Leeds on the map for extreme metal shows, usually it's all in London so it's great to see those people coming up north for shows. Ryan and Xander had a lot planned as far as promoting shows go including Skeletal Remains, another Rest In Festering Slime, another Cosmic Terror Fest...

Coronavirus ended all that of course. But as far as local shows it's always been the same bullshit. Very rarely there's something outstanding. Pravitas are a great band though. Great musicians, interesting compositions and exciting live. Honestly there's not many diamonds in the rough here, but I guess that's like anywhere really. Except London, it's riddled with bands down there. Leeds is definitely a cool place, it's much less of a concrete jungle here which gives off a nice vibe. I hope we can help it reach to be the hotspot that you speak of in the future.

Cosmic Terror Fest - December 2019 A very spicy lineup from better times

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The infrastructure at one point was outstanding in Leeds, with Temple of Boom and CHUNK providing accessible space for shows and rehearsing across a wide spectrum of bands. That being said, CHUNK is now looking for alternative premises, BOOM (formerly Temple of Boom) is under financial pressure and I understand the area is being redeveloped in due course, and news on a new space from the original founders of Temple of Boom becoming eerily silent. What impact do you think that will have on Leeds moving forward?

If Boom closes there's nowhere to play shows for the real underground scene. We'll probably have to find an abandoned warehouse in Hunslet to play in or something. Very dodgy. So yeah with Chunk now closed everyone should act smart and keep Boom alive or else.

Looking at the wider Leeds scene, are there any people you’d like to cite as being either particularly unifying figures or beneficial to heavy music in Leeds?

Paul Priest for putting on shows over the years and Lecky and Chris from Boom for the space to put on said shows The set you recorded at BOOM is about as heavy as a bag of hammers, to who do we owe credit for doing such a good job of recording it?

That was the test show for the live rig at Boom which is now being used every week. Adam Rogers recorded it. He also did our upcoming EP just weeks prior, so he definitely knew how to get our sound into the swing pocket by then.

What does the future hold for the band?

Lots of new music. We're working on a cover track right now and a split, maybe we can squeeze out another EP too. We'd love to get busy this year after 2020 held nothing. We easily wrote the basis of over 20 songs in 2019. Some straight forward stompers that you'll be used to, and some very strange stuff. Our debut album will be very weird, full of the stranger ones. You won't have ever heard anything like it. When we get on a vibe in there we remember sitting in the swamp mist of 'Echo' and we know that it's Slimelord.

The Delta Death Sirens is out now, with copies still available via Sewer Rot. Dry Cough will be releasing the album soon on 12” Vinyl. For more information look below https://slimelord.bandcamp.com https://www.facebook.com/horriblebog

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Well Hot-Diggity-Dog, someone else is contibuting to Endless Disappointment Zine for a change; about time too, loading a zine with nothing but interviews is fine and all but hardly ideal, especially when my flatlining-journalism skills are the main driving force in the issue..

Anyway; readers of previous issues have probably seen that I have reached out to other scenes from across the UK to talk about what makes their music community tick. This one is a bit different; this issue (and probably the next few) we’ll be lookin into the history of Death Metal in Texas, a state where they probably have Walmarts and CostCos larger than the towns we’ve looked at in previous issues.

But hold up, what the heck do I know about Texas Death Metal? Devourment, Frozen Soul, Scattered Remains; I may know of more once I find out where bands are from, but it goes without saying I am not the one to be talking about this subject.

So anyway, I invited someone else to talk about it, that someone-else being writer for Purgatory Reviews, Tori Belle. Enough from me, over to them.

When discussing U.S. scopes that are significant in the metal scene, Tampa, Florida IMO is obvious, then bands from areas such as Portland, OR, Baltimore, MD, or San Jose, California also receive lot of praise, leaving other regions in a dark shadow with their smaller scaled fan base, including the great state of Texas. Globally, Texas gave yall acts like Rigor Mortis, Pantera, and most importantly, DEVOURMENT! Yet these guys are a scratch of the surface compared to discrete music accounts that are preliminary to the famous quartet who put TXDM on the map and it’s about time to give more of these bands some recognition starting with primary background,

PART I: THE EARLY YEARS (‘89-’98) Taking notes from east coast, notably on Suffocation’s “Effigy of The Forgotten” (1991), Disgorged’s “Thy Hideous Wake” (1993), and Internal Bleeding’s “Voracious Contempt” (1995). Texas had a few bands experimenting with the technical/slam aspects, sustaining that southern style groove, breakdowns between the constant varying of tempos, abruptly shifting from longer tracks backed with shorter scaled, grindcore blast beats being thrown in the mix, and abraded production to match; pure, brutal organic decadence.

One of earliest TXDM projects formed & STILL active is Severance (McAllen).

Popular releases are (1991) demo “Afterbirth of Infamy’’ & first LP (2000) “What Lies Ahead....”, realizing 4 of 5 members went on to form Thy Curse during the 90s and their sound reflected more in the vein Monstrosity, Vital Remains, and Immolation. Triple threat of acts followed in ‘91: Interment (Ft. Worth), 1 LP and a couple demos and killer 3 track appearance in a split aptly titled “TXDM 4 Way Split” (2014) with great production I wish their previous demos had.

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Above: A Sintury / Devourment Promo, back when posting your home-address and phone number to the public was the norm and you took the risk when it came to what people sent you.

Imprecation (Missouri City) went through 3 logo changes, 3 splits, 3 demos, 2 LPs, and different labels releasing their material, oddly enough their (1995) compilation “Theurgia Goetia Summa” lures you into their demise. Few members also active in other projects among death metal, branching into grindcore and black metal acts such Adamus, Dark Reign, and Birth A.D. Prophecy (Ft. Worth) which was formed by guitarist James Parks II also owns and operates Prophecy Records. Eye catching underrated gem is (1998) LP “Foretold...Foreseen”, featuring an array of guest musicians, including legendary Erik Lindmark (RIP), Jason Netherton (Misery Index), John Gallagher (Dying Fetus), and D. Braxton Harry (Necrocide) with some wonderfully executed solos by Joe “Boogie” Dunlap (RIP). 1992, one of my personal favorites, Disencumbrance (Dallas), banded together and released (1995) “The Betrayal”: three track demo with artwork ahead of its time and a disturbing concept discussing a man killing himself over his satan worship.

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Sintury - Disgorging the Dead (1998 - Corpse Gristle Records)

Only having 2 demos and 2 EPs as of now, this demo is a MUST. Viral Load (Houston), credible for using a drum machine (exception of ‘98 demo “Mouth Watering Stench” Dobber Beverly featured and brought on Darrel White (Uncleansed) from ‘10-’12 before disbanding) and guitar tone was one of a kind, significant album being 2001 LP “Practitioners of Perversion”, featuring TEN guest appearances from members of Cephalic Carnage, Deeds of Flesh, and Prophecy on track “Feasting on Ovaries”. Sintury (Cedar Hill), put out a one album wonder (1998) LP “Disgorging The Dead”, which has a similar color scheme to Deeds of Flesh (‘98) “Inbreeding The Anthropophagi” because they’re both done by none other than Jon Zig! Sintury featured members Emmitt Gillapsy, who was also part of another one album wonder with Aversion To Life, drummer Chris Stevens from Cunthammer, and beastly Kevin Clark (ex Devourment), who’s also active as vocals for Disencumbrance & Texas Murder Crew. “Disgorging The Dead” is a treasure for those who reminisce about the old slam era of the 90s, with chunky palm muted riffs and a precursor to the genetic formula for a band that would go on to be credited with one of the most controversial yet influential slam/brutal death metal albums ever released in our lifetime.

Classic TXDM Playlist: Sintury- “Innocence Raped Away” Scattered Remains “Dawn of Depravity” Sarcolytic “Arras Persecute” Imprecation “As Blasphemy Reigns” Diminished “Regurgitating Rotten Semen” Disencumbrance “Suicide” Embalmed “Bloated Cadaver” Uncleansed “Conquest of Heaven” Images of Violence “Degrade the Shapeless” Prophecy “Human Atrocity” Viral Load “Awaken in Flames” Interment “Splatter Patterns” Infernal Dominion “Rejoice in Ancient Wisdom” Sect of Execration “Blessed Be The Whores of God” Aversion to Life “Aggravated Prolapse of The Spirit’ Reign of Terror “Marching Plague” Grotesque Formation “Gestational Disgorgement” Ingurgitate “Enthralled By Christian Reverence” Devourment “Postmortal Coprophagia” Insidious Decrepancy “Horrendous Lust for Psychopathic Purity” Demoniacal Genuflection “Hail The Serpents of Eden”

In the next issue (whenever that is) Tori will dissect the boom-time for Texas Death Metal.

Until then though Tori deep-dives into the latest Underground Extreme Metal through her Instagram page PurgatoryReviews.

They also host the Purgatory Youtube Show, where they dissect all manner of subjects in by far slickest studio setup around.

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As much as we inherently look back at our younger selves and wince at our litany of ill-judged decisions, it’s interesting to see how we change over time, and ultimately it’s seen as a sign of growth not to be relate to things the same way you did in your younger years.

Suffering Hour’s story is that of evolution and adaptation; with roots set in different areas of Metal, Suffering Hour’s sound is a far more sinister and anguished beast, dancing around all manner of dark subjects.

With their latest album “The Cyclic Reckoning” out anytime now via Profound Lore Records, I checked in with them to see what makes them tick.

Catching up on the history of Suffering Hour, the band as we know it now was a product of a transformation not just in terms of name but in terms of musical style. Could you delve more into the roots of the band and the timeline in terms of transformation.

YhA: The band technically started as a recording project between me and a buddy of mine who wanted to make some late 80’s early 90’s inspired proggy thrash. Not necessarily the super fast stuff at this point, the more mid-paced thought out stuff. Once we decided to make it a band I recruited Jay (IsN) on drums and my buddy knew Dyl (DgS) through a friend of his. We had one rehearsal before my buddy left, and then it became us three. We ramped up the energy some and were left with a more death-thrashy sound with some proggy chord and rhythm work.

What triggered the switcheroo?

YhA: A combination of our personal tastes as well as just us growing up out of high school and becoming young adults. The lyrics we had even as a thrash band dealt with a lot of mental health topics, as all of us have struggles with said topic, and we started realizing thrash just didn’t capture the energy we were trying to give off. We were all starting to get more into the black metal side of things as well, so we decided to record an EP as a thrash band, change our name, and then move on playing a style that better fit us.

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It wasn’t just the band’s music and name that switched, the visual element of the band transformed as well. The relationship between sound and vision varies greatly between bands, even within the same genre. To what extent was your change in aesthetic (and adopting stage names) a way of distancing yourself from your older work?

DgS: Yeah I think that’s a fair way to look at it. The change in aesthetics was a way of marking the new direction but was more so done to better suit the sound of the new material we were writing. I personally have always put a great deal of importance on aesthetics and the visual aspects of music. I feel it’s an extremely important part of the overall experience. Maybe more so within this genre but not even just in metal, in all music really. I mean look at like, ZZ Top. They were aesthetic lords. Or Fields of The Nephilim. I just think there’s something extra special about bands that create a mystique visually, whether it’s in the promo pics, videos, album art, stage show... it all just enhances the experience.

Being a young band with your whole future ahead of you, do you envision your attitudes towards music changing or are you comfortable with the balance you’ve struck with Suffering Hour?

IsN: I think all three of us are constantly evolving our attitudes and outlooks on music and the industry. However, I believe we’re pretty comfortable with where we’re at right now. Essentially, playing music and creating art together is an itch that we absolutely have to scratch. That will never change, at least for me. Putting your all into music has it’s frustrations and can take its toll in certain ways. But at the end of the day, I’ve known since I was really young that music is all I’ve ever wanted to do. I love everything about what we do. I love touring, being on stage, creating music, working with my best friends. Even the business side. Answering emails and managing the orders we get directly. There isn’t a single thing I hate about what we do as a band.

I think the other two can somewhat agree with me on that as well.

I’ve read that In Passing Ascension, your debut release, was subject to delays wherever possible, with everything from writing, recording and even the design being subject to delays. How did you manage the frustration that comes with prolonged periods of waiting on other things to line up?

DgS: Yeah that was a strange time for us. Feels like forever ago at this point. We were just starting to learn how things work in this business and that it’s not as easy as just making some music with your friends anymore. Some of these things were on purpose though. We were taking it miles more seriously than before and wanted to do things properly. We wanted the debut album to be a serious statement and to be perfect. Looking back now, I think everything happened exactly as it was supposed to and it paid off very nicely.

I am also to believe that the writing process for In Passing Ascension was during a point when you were in a particularly isolated place?

YhA: I had just moved to Colorado from Minnesota 6 months before I started writing. I didn’t know anybody, I wasn’t going to school, didn’t have a job, I just sat there and rotted. That was what fueled a lot of the manic anxiety fueled riffs that went into that record. In a sense it was a good thing that I was able to shut out the world and not have any outside influence on what I was writing, but it was a very rough patch as far as mental health goes.

Looking back at the process of releasing In Passing Ascension, and what you’ve achieved since, is there anything you’d have done differently?

IsN: Honestly, even with all the mishaps, delays and mistakes made along the way, I don’t think I would change anything if we had to go back and do it all over again. I think a lot of how we handled things were well thought out and calculated for the most part. We were so brand new at this just a few years ago that a lot of those things that most seasoned bands might consider to be mistakes were actually super helpful in the end. And even so, pre-Covid our projection was definitely in a positive direction. It seemed we were on our way to bigger and better things before everything got shut down. Which isn’t to say that we still aren’t, but things came to screeching halt for pretty much every performing musician...

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I’m just happy Profound Lore was able to see our potential and is putting out our record. I’m eternally grateful to everyone who helped us get where we are today. No matter how good of a band you are, a lot of what we deem as success is dependent on being surrounded by good people who have your best interest in mind and want to see you grow. We’ve been fortunate enough very early on to have a lot of great people in the underground that have looked out for us over the years. I couldn’t be more grateful for everyone who has helped us even in the smallest of ways. If you’re reading this; thank you.

By comparison, I’m to believe Dwell had a significantly quicker turnaround. How did the processes different between the two records?

DgS: Dwell was more or less the same kind of process, but by the time it came to recording we had a bit of a leg up experience wise. We had played a lot of shows together by then also. I think things just flowed more naturally really. It's less than half the length of In Passing too so that was definitely a factor in getting it done faster. There’s a lot more that goes into putting together a full length obviously.

Not long into the band’s creation, you partnered up with Blood Harvest Records, a Swedish label with a pretty tidy back-catalogue of respected underground releases within the genre. You went on to work with them for both your In Passing Ascension and Dwell releases. How did the relationship come to form and what are your memories of working with the label?

DgS: We got on with Blood Harvest probably about a year before In Passing came out. We were shopping around for a label to put it out, sending promos out to a bunch of labels we liked.

Rodrigo really dug what he heard and offered us a cool deal. It was the best label for us at the time and I’m glad we worked with em. Rodrigo was very supportive and did as much as he could for us. They had great PR too and I think we hit all the right spots.

You now seek the expertise of Profound Lore, who will have released The Cyclic Reckoning by the time this issue comes out. Whilst there are benefits that come with working with a label on the same continent as you, what drew you away from working with Blood Harvest and striking up a new partnership?

DgS: Well our contract with Blood Harvest was just for In Passing and Dwell. So once that was up we felt it was just time to move on. By then we had gotten so many offers from all of the bigger underground labels and decided it would be the best thing for our career to move forward with Profound Lore. It’s obviously a much bigger label so naturally it will expand our reach.

Which transitions us well into talk about the new album. Can you speak more of the new release and how it compares to your previous works?

IsN: I think the biggest difference with this release is the input of creativity was much more balanced this time around. Our formula for creating music together has drastically changed.

Dylan and I blended a lot of our flavor into these songs and it all meshed eally well together.

I went out of my comfort zone with a few things and it paid off. I was always afraid to go too off kilter during recording, but this time I let most ideas just flow naturally with my drumming.

Although I will say, I’m already looking back and shaking my head at things I should have done differently. But it’s like that with every release. All you can do is try to get better with each recording. For example; I really pushed myself on the newest recording which is a split we’re doing with Malthusian. I threw out my old formula for structuring my drum parts and approached it completely differently. It opened up a whole new world for me musically. I also spent much of 2020 learning proper technique and how to better articulate certain ideas I have. I’ve always had things in my head that I just wasn’t technically proficient enough to translate onto the drums.

But much of the past year has been focused on improving my skills as a drummer. Especially considering we’re not touring for the time being, I think most musicians are taking this time to reinforce what they’re already good at, as well as learning new tricks to add to their toolbox. My goal for when we do return to the stage is for all three of us to be better than we ever were. I think there’s always just been a level we’ve wanted to attain as players that’s been out of reach due to lack of time, Josh living so far away, etc,.

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I was reading in another interview you did a fairly impassioned affront to extreme metal’s capacity to replicate rather than innovate, and that the innovation within extreme metal from previous decades isn’t necessarily matched now. Perceptions on originality are a very personal set of criteria, and without judgement I’d be keen to hear your thoughts on what originality and innovation within a music genre looks/sounds like to you.

YhA: Yeah I was in a pretty rowdy mood when I was filling out that interview, I was getting bombarded with all these crap bands from all directions wondering why the hell people enjoyed that shit. Now I just listen to Townes Van Zandt in the dark and pretend metal doesn’t exist, so I’ve mellowed out some since then. Fact of the matter is though I can’t answer what originality and innovation are like. If I were to be able to tell you what it sounded or looked like it wouldn’t be innovating or original because I’d be pulling my answer from an existing source, thus said sound already happened. The best answer I can give is a group of musicians pooling all of their tastes and creative ideas into a melting pot and not being afraid to do what they want to do whether or not it’s what’s being done.

Your case is arguably reinforced by the current boom within US Death Metal, with many artists looking to emulate the success experienced by the wide array of North American bands generating some good momentum lately. To what extent would you agree that, in any genre, there will be peaks and troughs within the success of the genre, and in turn the number of bands reinventing or reinvigorating the genre will always be dwarfed in number by those who look to play within the pre-established level of comfort within the genre?

YhA: I definitely agree with that. The fact is with a lot of these new bands death metal’s a new thing to them. They’ve been playing in hardcore, doom, and grind bands up until now, so to them bands that some of us have been listening to as long as we can remember are a new concept. A lot of these new USDM bands have riffing styles that, although death metal more or less, can be traced back to the more present hardcore and doom scenes. Because of that to some degree you could say this new wave of USDM bands is putting a spin on the genre with this introduction of more modern ideas. It’s just that these songwriters’ pre-established comfort zone is one I happen to find boring.

Putting a more positive spin on the matter, are there any bands that stand out to you within the scene currently that you consider innovative or something different to the status-quo?

DgS: There’s plenty of really killer bands around right now doing awesome stuff. More so on the black metal side of things. Bands like Volahn, Jordablod, Predatory Light. Pretty much anything coming out on Invictus Productions. Malthusian obviously is number 1. There’s a band that’s some of the most fantastic shit I’ve heard in years called Reveal from Sweden. Absolutely brilliant black metal infused death rock type of shit. Such a unique sound. They’ve been putting out stuff on Sepulchral Voice, another label where absolutely everything they put out is phenomenal. Tim from Antediluvian has a new project, Black Death Cult, it’s absolutely mind boggling. Any of the insane shit from Australia/New Zealand- Impetuous Ritual, Temple Nightside, Grave Upheaval.

Doombringer from Poland is one of my all time favorites nowadays. The list goes on.

Purely hypothetical here, what is the next hype-thing you can see people moving onto once they’re done with Old School Death Metal?

DgS: Honestly I have no idea. Probably just more shitty re-hashes of something that’s already been done before that the new kids are just discovering.

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On the subject of keeping things fresh, I understand that members of the band dabble in a wide variety of side-projects, care to tell us more?

YhA: I’m in a few projects here and there; a black metal band called Merihem who should finally be getting our debut album out sometime this year, a one-off recording project called The Krinkles I did with some big-hitters that I guess is spastic hardcore type stuff (they asked me to write hardcore riffs and I don’t know what hardcore is so I just got freaky), and my solo project I’ve been working on for some time seems like it’s finally coming together. It’ll be slowcore type stuff, sort of like Songs: Ohia or Red House Painters. Dyl (DgS) has just recently put out a debut EP with a band he’s in with members of VoidRot and Nothingness called Aberration. Very Impetuous Ritual, Altarage sounding stuff, walls of power chords and massive swallowing vocals. Jay (IsN) has been helping our good buddy Nate with his project Extrermination Day, which is super straightforward old school hard rock. Good stuff if you’re into The Stooges or Mountain or bands like that.

We’ve still got the bulk of the year ahead of us, how do you see things playing out?

YhA: As far as gigging and shit goes I don’t have high hopes. Not gigging has been a nice break from the shithole that’s the metal scene too though, so I’m not getting my hopes up regardless. As far as we go otherwise, we’re going to be dropping a split with our friends in Malthusian later this year. Very excited for that. Their side is fuckin nuts, and we have some cool surprises on our side that should be dope. Otherwise yeah, my plan’s to just chill out and play guitar for another year.

Suffering Hour Are DgS - Verbal Anguish & Wormhole Summoning YhA - Diabolical Phosphene Sorcery IsN - Astronomical War Detonations The Cyclic Reckoning, the latest album by Suffering Hour, is out soon via Profound Lore For more information following the links below https://sufferinghour.bandcamp.com https://www.facebook.com/SufferingHourMetal https://www.profoundlorerecords.com/

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Being in one well-known project and branching into a side-project is somewhat of a gauntlet-run.

Whilst nobody expects one project to scratch the creative itch for anyone indefinitely (imagine being in Status Quo and listening to the same 4 chords for 40 years or some shit), whenever people break away they roll the dice in respect to people automatically comparing it to their most recognisable work. Take for example Serj Tankian’s solo work and Scars on Broadway; both unique in their own ways yet both automatically doomed to be little more that System of a Down b-sides in listener’s minds.

This is the challenge Jon from UK Doom heavyweights Conan likely faces; renowned for playing heavy-riffs through a beefy rig of amps as part of a 3-piece, his new band Ungraven looks to scratch a different creative itch whilst still playing heavy-riffs through a beefy rig of amps as part of a 3-piece.

Anyway, you get the idea. With a new split out with Slomatics soon, I check in with Jon to see how things are during the downtime.

So most people will know you from your work with UK Doom-Heavyweights Conan, with Ungraven coming about almost by accident more than anything. How did Ungraven come to form as a project for yourself?

Well Ungraven started out just as a daft idea really. We were on tour in the US and I was making some notes about an idea I had to make a solo act, it was going to be this atmospheric noise project. I guess gravity brought me back to the idea of a 3 piece metal band.

Wanting to play Heavy music with programmed drum-beats, were you ever worried that people would automatically lump your sound in with the likes of Godflesh/Nailbomb/Ministry?

Not at all! For a band with no demos, zero credibility, zero buzz even it would have been an honour be ‘lumped in’ with leaders such as Godflesh / Nailbomb and Ministry. They were huge inspirations behind Ungraven, who wouldn’t I want to be associated with them?

Seeing as Ministry came to mind, have you ever listened to that album Ministry did which is essentially a synth-pop album and they get shitty when anyone talks about it?

I’ve not heard that one to be honest! I was hooked on ‘Just One Fix’ when I picked up that tape as a teenager on holiday in Florida. I’ll have to check this one out though, it sounds MAD! What did you look to get out of Ungraven that maybe you didn’t get from Conan?

I think I wanted to perform with zero boundaries and to create something brand new that exercised the part of my brain that loved Godflesh and Sigur Ros and I wanted to make music that didn’t rely on other people and didn’t only have to rely on standard instruments. I had all these crazy ideas that just weren’t practical, like playing in a robe but then I realised how unoriginal that would be.

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With your primary project, Conan, being a seasoned band with experience playing all manner of grand stages, how did it feel going straight back to square one with Ungraven?

It feels great actually. I love where Conan is, and I love where Ungraven is. It feels good to have two different outlets now, and the fact that there are different sets of expectations on each one feels good. I’m lucky that Conan seems to have a bit of a reputation so Ungraven isn’t 100% a total cold start, but I’m enjoying the challenge of building it up from scratch.

What were the first run of shows like?

Terrible. The first show was in Hull and they didn’t have monitors, so I couldn’t hear the drums that I had playing as a backing track. I stopped the show early as I was cringing too hard! On that run of shows we also played Nottingham (not so bad) and London (almost passable), but overall they were a disaster.

Starting initially as a solo project, it wasn’t long until you brought in Tyler Hodges (who also plays in Tuskar. Not long after you recruited David Ryley of Fudge Tunnel on bass; having started out solo, did you not enjoy the process of going it alone?

After those initial shows it became clear to me that this wasn’t going to work as a live show just me and a drum machine. I wanted this to be a live band, so got the best people I could in those other positions. Both were already friends of mine, and it was easy to make the transition.

While I’ve got Tuskar referenced, how was the vibe for the socially-distanced show you played with them at the Black Heart? Never quite adjusted to the idea myself but I suppose, to quote Jeff Goldblum, life finds a way..

It was actually pretty good, and felt nice to play out with the whole vanlife and driving to a venue and making a racket. It was kind of weird playing to a crowd that was sat down, but it was way more fun than not playing at all. I’m glad we did it, because we got to be in that environment again, but I’m not that keen to do it again until normality returns.

With your early works benefitting from the punchiness of programmed drums, do you work that will get lost now you have a full lineup?

I don’t think so. The snare sound on those early demos was INSANE and it’s kind of a joke now for us, so recording with a full band and giving Chris enough time to make it sound its best was really rewarding. I think the tracks sound great now, and the drums DO sound different, but in a good way.

Anyway. New Release. Let’s talk that. You’ve got an upcoming split 12” with long-time friends Slomatics, who you also recorded a split-release with as part of your work with Conan. The relationship spans back a few years now, how did you get to know them and to what do you owe credit for keeping the working-relationship going across different projects.

Slomatics are a band that, right at the very beginning of Conan, got me into into playing this sort of music. Their EP ‘Flooding The Weir’ is timeless and it was the only record I listened to for months, literally, when I discovered them. I saw them play live in 2005 in Liverpool and since then have become really good friends with them. I owe almost the entire Conan sound to them, the type of vocals, the song structure etc. Naturally, over time, we have become friends and whenever we can we will play shows together. When I started my label (www.blackbowrecords.com) I started releasing some of their music and we have a really good (but informal) working relationship. They are good people, and when we decided to release a split together it (once again) feels good to work with them, they helped to create this modern sludge / doom metal sound that Conan has and I’d like to be associated with them for a long time.

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On your debut EP “Language of Longing”, you had Chris Fielding, your colleague in Conan who also happens to run the well-renowned Skyhammer Studio mix and master the release. Aside from having excellent facilities to use for the recording/mixing process, what does he bring to the table when you work alongside him?

Mainly, Chris has all the skills required to make my music sound its best. We have a long standing friendship and working relationship, and he isn’t afraid to tell me when my ideas are awful, or good. Because of this I feel really good recording with him, it’s a bit like ten pin bowling with the side rails up.

Black Bow Records, your own label, is overseeing the release; how busy does the label keep you these days?

Actually, pretty busy. I have made a conscious effort to reduce the variety of bands that I work with because most don’t tour and that makes it really difficult to market them. SO, at least for now, I’m going to focus on Conan, Slomatics and Ungraven. Under the circumstances I think I’ll keep things tight like this for a while, and then see how things are in a while when the world opens up again.

I understand you’ve branched out into Managing as well?

Yes, my Wife and I have a small agency at www.weareblackskull.com and we have a roster of bands that we manage. We’re more of a ‘Doctor’s Surgery’ for bands that want help with specific problems rather than your stereotypical ‘I’ll handle everything and take 20% of your turnover’. We have an informal approach, and do not tie our bands up in yards of red tape. Hopefully we will continue in this vein when the world opens up again and bands need our help.

With rehearsals/gigs/meets pretty dead in the water for a lot of the last few months, where have you been diverting your attention to? Animal Crossing?

You are not far wrong there! Gaming has been a huge part of my life, and more so during lockdown. I’ve also been home schooling two of my children part of the week, and that is a (very enjoyable) challenge in itself. So yeah, gaming, and teaching. Additionally, I’ve been finishing off writing the next Conan album with Chris and Johnny. Aside from that I’m working on this cool business idea that I think is going to become pretty important.

Going off on a massive tangent as your Guitar setup with Conan is was probably the largest setup I’ve seen except for Bismuth’s world-shattering bass setup. It’s something to behold, can you go through your setup for the gear-snobs out there?

Well actually, Tanya is a good friend and also a business colleague of mine. We are part of a team developing a new networking and management app for the live performance industry. Tanya’s bass rig is indeed huge, she knows her stuff for sure and Bismuth are one of those bands who ALWAYS sound amazing. My guitar rig tends to change from time to time but right now I am using a Mesa Boogie studio pre amp OR a Ned Clayton Matamp GT120 style valve pre amp into either a Marshall 9000 series powereamp OR a Mesa Boogie 2:95 power amp. My guitars are either a Dunable R2 or a Dunable Guild S200 clone that I had custom made. I’m still using a Fuzz Throne fuzz pedal, but also use one or two other pedal for distortion too. For a while I was using the same setup as Buzz from the Melvins (Hilbish pre amp and Crown power amp) but am back to experimenting with valve amps again. I run all of this into four Matamp 4x12 speaker cabs currently, two with Celestion v30s and two with Celestion G12K 100 Looking to the future you have the split release with Slomatics to look forward to; what else does the rest of the year hold for you?

Well, hopefully recording the new Conan album in March / April and releasing it later in the year would be good and maybe not dying of Covid19! Hopefully we can get out playing again too, it feels like a lifetime ago.

Ungraven’s split with Slomatics is out now via BlackBow Records; for more information here are some links you may find useful https://ungraven.bandcamp.com/ /// www.weareblackskull.com /// www.blackbowrecords.com

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Puzzle Corner: Songs that make you cringe a bit )

Oh yes, that's right, for this issue's wordsearch you need to find some of the most cringeworthy songnames I could find without having to probe too far into the goregrind/pornogrind genre.

analphilia Enemabulldozer shitbusters

assborne ForeskinFart

Curious about these songs? Don't be.

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Embyryosorgasm misspissjunior

The Royally rotund rumble In a true test of structural integrity, imagine a Battle Royal with all flabbiest wrestlers to grace the squared-circle. See if you can identify some of the flabbiest fellows of wrestling

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