Endless Disappointment 13 - Apex Cromulence

Well look what the Cat Dragged In. Another issue in, going for another Thunderbastard of an issue as I’m starting a new job and will inevitably not release another zine for months until I achieve job-security.

We’ve got one interview that I’m hoping hasn’t become outdated by the time this goes to print; it was from last issue but for some reason I thought there wouldn’t be enough space for it, however it appears in retrospect there probably was.

Oh well......

Anyway, we’ve got another exquisite range of interviews and stuff in this issue, some of it may be relevant, some other stuff maybe not as much, but it’s yours now so may as well make the most of it.

No Proof reads / No Spellchecks / No Mercy

Extreme Metal Festvail posters are inherentl as monochromatic as they are illegible; the sea of logos sometimes even needing a small tagline underneath just to clarify who the band is. It was therefore to my delight one day to see Party Cannon’s colourful logo adorn the ultra-serious menagerie of hostile/illegible logos of bands also booked to play Bay Area Deatfest one year, sticking out visually like a turd in a swimming pool. It brought me joy, not only because of the sheer graphical-inconsistencies, but also that UK bands were able to viably embrace opportunities beyond Europe.

Nestled comfortably in the Death Metal genre, Party Cannon have somehow become the great unifier between different enclaves of death metal that normally don’t get on. The goregrind / pornogrind crowd buy into the silliness straight away, the Death Metal crowd can’t dismiss the musicianship at play, with the slam-crowd firmly onboard too.

With an oddly lengthy career so far, culminating in an impressive amount of tours and and exquisitely garish merch designs, they’re currently working on a new album; I thought I’d check in on them and let this go a bit silly for a bit.

Going to get the origins story out the way first as it was a fairly long time ago. How did Party Cannon come to form?

Chris: The first line-up of the band officially became a thing in 2010, we had all known each other for a few years and most of us played in different local bands at the time. I was playing in a melodic death metal band and Craig, Jack and Neal were doing a death/thrash type thing. The rest of the guys in my band weren’t taking things as seriously as I wanted, after seeing Cerebral Bore and Bleed From Within take off and do some proper touring I was wanting to really get out there and gig all over the place, but they were happy just playing locally to our mates. I was also really over the whole melodic death metal thing, it felt too ‘safe’ and wasn’t really for me, I was more into brutal-slammy stuff and just wanted to play blastbeats and breakdowns. The other guys in my band were really against that kind of stuff and that felt quite alienating - so I knew it was time for a change. It turned out Jack and Craig were feeling the same way about their band, it wasn’t really getting off the ground and wasn’t the kind of IQ lowering sickness they wanted to play, so we started trading Guitar Pro files over MSN and jamming in my room at my parents’ place. We asked Stony to join on vocals as we’d known him for years, he’d been trying to join a brutal band for ages and lived right around the corner from me. We went on to record a promo single using a drum machine called “We Prefer The Term Living Impaired” later that year which was received pretty well, at that point Neal decided to round out the line-up by joining on drums... it was all down hill from there.

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Hailing from Dunfermline, was it hard to form something living in a smaller part of Scotland, or did the lack of potential members make it easier to single people out to join the band?

Chris: For better or worse, it was actually easier to find members for the first line-up. It just so happened the only greebs in the village lived a short walk from each other and conveniently played the right instruments to form a full band. There’s two ways I like to look at this: in a positive way, it was fate that five teens who loved such niche, horrible music lived so close to each other in a town that literally no one has heard of which means we HAD to form the band for the good of mankind. Then the negative way, if we wanted to play slam death metal then this line-up was our only option.

Despite bringing the slams on a serious level, the band never seems to have taken themselves too seriously when compared to other bands within the scene; was it always planned to be fairly light-hearted or did you just struggle at taking yourselves too seriously?

Chris: I don’t think the light-heartedness was really intentional or ever really discussed or planned out, it just came naturally. A lot of the grindcore and powerviolence we were listening to at the time, like Weekend Nachos, The Afternoon Gentlemen etc. had some humour to their song titles while still keeping the music serious and it just felt a bit more relatable in a way. We all love the gory, super serious brutal themes and stuff but it just never really clicked with this band. Before we even had a band name we had song titles like “There’s A Reason You’re Single”, “Battle of the Spider-Men” and “Big Tasty”. Another part of it was just attending slam and goregrind gigs and seeing how much of a fun vibe it was, it was just natural.

In the early years I recall there being quite a few lineup changes, what caused the numerous cabinet reshuffles and how did the lineup changes frustrate the creative process as far as recording music and playing shows go?

Chris: So this is going to be a long one - It was our original drummer that really caused the issues early on, we had known him for years so were inclined to let things slide and give him more chances but essentially he just didn’t practice or commit to gigging. I’d text him on the Monday being like ‘hey man, jams on Saturday?’ and not hear from him until 11pm Friday being like ‘nah cba’. It was great. Every time we actually did jam with him it was like starting from square one, it was constantly re-teaching him the songs. This lead to us playing the same 5 songs at gigs for a long time, and even then I have lots of videos him just totally fucking it. “Duct Taped To A Flag Pole” was written for around two years before it saw the light of day, we’d jam a few riffs of it with our drummer then he wouldn’t commit to a jam or even touch drums for a month so we’d have to start again at the next jam. It got to the point where he’d start bailing on any gig that was over an hour’s drive away. The final straw was in 2012 when we were due to support Pighead in Leeds, he bailed on the morning claiming he was unwell but I clearly saw him posting on Twitter all night about staying up to buy Rush tickets.

Being so over it, I there and then programmed drum tracks and loaded them onto an iPod for the gig - obviously it turned out to be the worst set ever. We fired him as soon as we got off stage and this was the beginning of our great fill-in adventure!

Partied in Half don’t worry, the dude survived ... I think

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Our first fill-in drummer was Euan from my other band Iniquitous Savagery and he was amazing, he learned our set so fast and we recorded the first version of “Duct Taped To A Flag Pole” with him. It was a real game changer hearing the band with a drummer that could really play the stuff and put the effort in to practicing. We did our first UK tour with Euan as well as our first European gig at Malta Death Fest, I remember feeling like I was on top of the world during those gigs because we finally sounded the way we I imagined in my head. The responses to these gigs were amazing as well, I even remember some stuffy old distro guy in Newcastle writing us up on his blog with something along the lines of “…I don’t like slam but Party Cannon crushed it and their drummer was on fire ha ha lol buy my Bolt Thrower patches please xo”. It was a great time that really helped us see the full potential of the band, a lot of things we had only envisioned were actually taking shape. Unfortunately, Euan couldn’t stay with us as he was on loan from Iniquitous but he really made us understand the standard of drummer required for this band.

Once his stint was up we asked my friend Doog to try out, I had been in bands with him before and he was a lot of fun to be around and really determined to get better. It was going ok for a while and we wrote all the guitar parts for “Partied In Half” during this time. It eventually didn’t work out however, Doog came to us and said the stuff was beyond his skill level and with his job and college he wouldn’t be able to put in the time needed to get the band back on the road. Completely fair, we really appreciated him being up front about it. I went to see his indie rock band a few times afterwards. Our original drummer came back to the band and said things would be different and he’d put the effort in, so with no other real options we let him back in at the start of 2013. It went ok for a bit and we got offered some really cool gigs, we even managed to get a slot at Rape The Escape in Vienna and a UK tour with Prostitute Disfigurement and Rectal Smegma, only for him to bail on a support slot with Exhumed the night before. This was an especially sore one as Exhumed are one of our favourite bands and I had really, reaaaalllyy hassled the promoter to let us play that gig. We dropped him again and I haven’t spoken to him since. At this point we had just secured our first label deal with Autopsy Records, but it now looked like “Partied In Half” would either be extremely delayed or not come out at all. Instead of waiting for a new drummer I decided to hire our friend George Henry (Gendo Ikari/The Colour Pink Is Gay) to play drums on the EP which turned out great. During this time I was asked to record bass for Laceration’s album and they had hired Tom Walker from Scatorgy to drum on it. After getting to know Tom a bit through that album I asked him to fill in for the gigs for that year which he agreed to, for some reason. Tom was unable to do one gig we had in London supporting Carnal Decay, so being the most stubborn man alive I typed “drums” into Facebook and scrolled through everyone that came up. Martin’s name came up and I remembered seeing his old band Stabwound support Obituary so I dropped him a message with a link to “Duct Taped” asking if he’d be interested. I was under the impression that song was a big challenge on drums but he was just like “sure, ok”. We organised a jam with Martin and to everyone’s surprise it just sorta clicked, he came in wearing a “They Live” shirt so I knew we were going to get along. At the first jam he was able to play most of our stuff, and the stuff he found challenging he worked on and improved for the next jam. It was amazing to work with someone who was actually driven to get better, who found the challenge of playing our stuff fun – a drummer that actually gave a shit about drums. We played London with him and asked him to join on the drive home, the agreement was he’d start officially playing in the band at the start of 2014 after Tom had filled in. Around that time, just as it started going well, Jack decided to quit the band so we were now down a guitarist. It felt like there was a lot of toxic masculinity and weird animosity going on between me and Jack because I was effectively managing the band at the point and we would have big falling outs over stupid things ... I’d get raging at him for sleeping in for practice or not learning the songs, he’d get raging at me for not wanting to play local gigs in Dunfermline or wanting to rearrange his riffs etc. In the end though, it was all a front for other things going on in his life and we eventually talked it out and made amends. We’re still mates and play Smash Bros and go the gym every together every so often. With Jack out the band, we asked Hamish from Laceration to fill in on the gigs we had lined up with Tom on drums ... meaning Party Cannon and Laceration were the same band. It was great, the tour with Rectal Smegma is still one of my favourite memories of the band – not only did we get back to Leeds and redeem ourselves for the awful drum machine set we played the year before, we got to freeze Tom’s shoes because they smelled too bad to deal with. We booked our first European run for the start of 2014 and the bill was Party Cannon and Laceration, so we spoke to Hamish and we decided that’d it be best if we got a new guitarist for that tour. We were friends with a band in the Scottish scene called Agonised Deformity, they had just got a new bass player called Mike so me and Craig went to check their new lineup out at a gig in Edinburgh one night.

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During their set they covered “The Great Southern Trendkill” and had Mike swap to guitar for that song and play the solo. I said the Craig that night, “see how he can play all those notes up high, do you think that means he can play them all down low too?” which may have been the highest IQ thought I’ve ever had. So we asked Mike to fill-in for our Euro dates with Laceration and liked him so much we asked him to join and it’s been a blissful journey of horrible sounds since. I’ve only really talked about this whole thing from my perspective as I was the one dealing with it mostly, but Stony and Craig definitely deserves props for sticking it the whole thing out and putting up with me giving them bad news every other week. I’m not sure if this scroll answers the original question but essentially; slack arsedness caused line up shifts, it also delayed a lot of writing and recording. It was not good.

Having spoken to people from Scotland previously, the uniting message seems to be that there’s pockets of activity across Scotland, but as far as any regular and cohesive bands are reliant on shows in Glasgow, Edinburgh or even further afield (which is hardly ideal given the long drives to play anywhere in the UK). Especially in the early days of the band how did you handle that?

Chris: This is actually a great question as it draws on a staunch philosophy I had when we started the band that I genuinely believe is a big reason we are ‘where we are’ today ... we got around this by not playing Scotland. We made playing Scotland not a priority for us, in fact our first ever gig was in Newcastle, England. We’d all been in local bands that just kicked about playing pay to play gigs to our mates and we really wanted to skip that stage with Party Cannon. Someone once said to me, “you’ll never be a prophet in your own land” .... is that a Bible quote? I don’t know, but it stuck with me because I am pretentious. One of the main reasons we started the band was to try emulate the success bands like Cerebral Bore and Cancerous Womb were having and travel as much as possible. By the time we were ready to play gigs I had been attending underground death metal gigs across Europe and the UK as well as driving other bands around that I’d made enough contacts to get a bit of a head start on things (I’d handed out at least 500 copies of our first demo too). Even today we still play Scotland as little as possible to avoid saturating ourselves in the local scene.

Needless to say, you’ve found yourself touring regularly and have travelled across the world since the band formed. Your appearance at Bay Area Deathfest managed to catch everyone’s attention even before you travelled over there to play, less though about your reputation and more about how your vibrant kids-party logo stuck out like a baboon’s bum on a poster littered with noodly and illegible logos. Part of me assumes it was done on purpose, but also hopes it wasn’t. Did they ever threaten to turn your logo white in order for it to blend in with the rest of the Poster?

Chris: That entire thing was really bizarre and played out a little differently than you’ve described it ... our logo was actually formatted with the colour scheme for the flyer and it was only months after we’d played the fest that it became a viral meme. I don’t know who it was, but some random person on the internet found the flyer and restored the colour to our logo then posted it on Reddit. We got some accusations saying it was one of us behind the post, but if any of us were that smart I don’t think we’d be working 9-5 desk jobs. So to answer your question it was completely unintentional and to be honest I was so used to seeing our logo that the thought of it sticking out hadn’t really crossed my mind until that happened. The meme is still going strong and I still get tagged in it every other week, at one point I kinda felt a bit of resentment towards it because I am a ‘serious musician’ but I really love that it happened, a lot of these people have never even heard of Devourment or Dying Fetus but they know who we are so I can’t complain.

Bay Area DeathFest 2 Immediately memeworthy material

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I heard that US tour was a bit cursed in the way that your transport fell-through last-minute.

How much of a nightmare was that given how absurdly long driving-distances are when touring the USA? Chris: You say ‘cursed’, we say ‘perfectly average Party Cannon tour’ because we are, in fact, absolutely cursed. Nothing is simple even when it should be. We were on tour with Parasitic Ejaculation and Epicardiectomy which is an insane line up, our label had everything sorted however the van he’d hired fell through at the last minute due to a double booking... like the week before... so we ended up travelling in two cars and a smaller van that Parasitic managed to source. I can’t stress this enough... Parasitic saved everything and were the nicest, most accommodating people ever and we were (unintentionally) a total nightmare to deal. Their vocalist Jono not only picked us up from the airport three days in a row, he let us stay in his house and showed us all around Santa Cruz and just generally put up with our shit. We were all mega jet lagged, pretty irritable, quite irrational and our accents are generally impossible to understand but he rolled with it and made sure we still had the best time. Me and three other of the Party Cannon guys spent most the time travelling in Jono’s Toyato Corrolla that he’d named Ol’ Bessy, it barely fit all of us and the back bumper touched the ground when all our guitars were in the boot but fuck me did that thing get us through the tour. Being stuck in a full car for 8+ hours a day sounds like a nightmare to a lot of people but it actually turned out to be better in some ways, since we weren’t hauling the backline we had a bit less responsibility and time pressure on us so it was just less of a pressured vibe. We saw a lot of amazing things, had a lot of dumb conversations and ate a lot of stupid American food... I loved every minute of it.

Word on the street is that your live shows can get a bit silly, can you rank your top-10 dumbest things you’ve seen happen at Party Cannon shows?

Chris: This is a difficult question as attending a Party Cannon gig in itself, is a pretty dumb thing to do, but in no particular order here are 10 moments that made me re-evaluate my life choices: - Stage invasion at Chicago Domination Fest 2017: at the end of our set we like to bring the last slam in “We Prefer The Term...” back in as slow as possible, while we were building up to that final slam I told the crowd to come up and join us under the assumption a few people would come up and stage dive etc. Literally 60 people came up and flooded the stage. I couldn’t barely play any notes on my bass as it was crushed against me and another person throwing the horns in my face.

We felt the love the in Chicago and it was truly amazing (and available on YouTube).

- Crowd surfed on a whale at Death Feast Open Air 2018: DFOA was an all time bucket list moment for me, I went to the fest in 2010 and it was the first proper brutal death metal fest I’d attended so being to actually play was surreal. A month of so before the fest I got a message from someone attending saying their mate was a huge fan of the band and they were attending the fest on their birthday to see our set. They asked if we could do a shout out on stage for them but we decided to go a step further... we packed an inflatable killer whale and while shouting them out on stage, asked the crowd to crowd surf them on this whale. Seeing them go from the front of a 1,000 person crowd to the merch tent at the back was definitely something.

- Slug pit in Dallas, Texas 2015: during our set at Reno’s Chop Shop in Dallas the crowd assembled themselves into a ‘slug pit’ during the slams, where everyone got on their stomachs and crawled in a circle like slugs. We don’t know why this happened or who organised it, but it was pretty sick.

- Human pyramid and PA explosion in Aberdeen, Scotland 2014: We got invited to play a festival at the Garage in Aberdeen and it was a pretty mixed bag of bands, everything from to djent bands, old school heavy metal bands and even pirate metal bands. We were the only really extreme, brutal band playing so were pretty pumped when we came on and it got pretty weird during our set. The crowd were making human pyramids during the build up to breakdowns with other people tackling them to bits. About three songs in to our 35 minute set someone was thrown into the PA mixer (which was right beside the stage for some reason) and their full pint went all over the board, resulting in lots of sparks and a lot of cut songs.

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- Legit wiring in Manila, Philippines 2019: we played this pretty DIY warehouse setup in Manila while on tour with Waking The Cadaver, the stage was a makeshift setup with cabling taped to the floor running all the way around the venue. The power sockets were pretty loose which caused the power to intermittently cut in and out during soundcheck, we thought we had fixed it be repositioning the amps but it turned out not to be the case. It came up to the bass break during “Soft, White, Gelatinous Body” that leads into a slam and it cut out there and then, nothing but silence. I opted to shout my bass part through the microphone instead, I handed my bass to Stony then jumped in the crowd and started throwing all these Filipino teenagers around during the slam. Definitely feel like I made the most of that situation.

- House show in Salinas, California 2015: On the final date of our first American tour we lived every white nerds dream... we played a house party in California! Red cups and everything. Salinas seems to be this magical place where metal and hardcore co-exist in a beautiful way that results in just mental pits. People turned up with duct tape and wrapped their mates up during our set and surfed them about the crowd. It was amazing.

- Covered in glass at Death To Cancer Fest, 2016: We were asked to headline the first edition of the fest, we hadn’t played London since 2013 and hadn’t done that many headline gigs before so didn’t really know what to expect. Turned out the place was sold out and totally packed, people being really squished against the stage. During our set people started falling over the monitors, accidentally smashing glass all over the front of the stage. A person had fallen over onto the glass so I knelt down to try help her up, but if you’ve ever seen us live you’ll know I always wear shorts so managed to end up getting a lump of glass just under my knee. I didn’t actually realise I did this until we’d finished playing the song and had to push this glass bulb out my leg like I was bursting a massive, blood filled spot. There was blood everywhere and some girl rolled on stage and started licking it off my leg. It was a great night that raised a lot of money for cancer research.

- Inflatable vaginas in Wurzbug, Germany 2015: One of the greatest German cities ever, they usually really bring the party but this set was particularly special. We played a sold-out underground skate park/tattoo studio and the crowd brought along loads of giant inflatable vaginas. At one point an inflatable vagina had landed on Martin and completely engulfed him behind the kit. It was fun listening to him tell his fiancé about that over the phone on the way back.

- Mankinis at Ritual Halloween Fest, Leeds 2016: since it was Halloween we decided to really scare everyone by getting mostly naked. During a big ringing out note in one of our songs we all stripped down to the mankinis hidden under our clothes. I was standing on the floor in the audience at this point so handed my bass to a lady and whipped my gear off. I had placed my balls and penis into a sock for security as they kept breaking free from the mankini, I believe other members used tape or wore sporting cups.

- Plunger attack in Vienna, Austria 2020: During our set at Philosyphilis Death Fest in Vienna, someone climbed on stage and smashed a plunger onto Stony’s head. It floored him and made the most incredible noise.

When he stood up the plunger was firmly suctioned onto his freshly shaven head and required genuine force to remove. It was the most beautifully slapstick thing I’ve ever witnessed and made the entire following year without gigs almost worthwhile.

Expect intermittent breaks to highlight Party Cannon Merch artwork; they’ve had some excellent designs

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What represents a Party Cannon pit more, the scene in Adventure Time where everyone’s rough-housing and that giant Mountain starts crying, or that scene where Lisa and Bart are flailing their arms/legs at each other in The Simpsons?

Chris: I would say more Mark Corrigan losing his shit at Rainbow Rhythms and having a full freak out amongst the hippies. Does anyone know what’s really happening? Because we sure don’t, but we’re rolling with it.

You only need to watch videos from OEF or sets from bands like Spasm and VPOAAWAMC to observe that stuff can get really weird with little to no prompting from either the band or the crowd; what is it with slam that gets everybody all weird?

Chris: Brutal death metal is such an over the top genre that’s both technically complex and conceptually idiotic and I feel slam riffs just exemplify that. They’re so dumb yet so undeniably brutal. I believe slam riffs emit the same cathartic energy as blastbeats, just on the end of the extreme spectrum. It’s a primal vibe that appeals to the lizard part of your brain that craves pure nonsense. It’s similar to a drop in a dance song where everyone knows that’s the part to start moving at but instead of being in a flashy nightclub surrounded by well dressed people, you’re in a muddy field with ket fuelled crusties or aggro crowd killers.

Another excellent merch design; arguably F H E D would have benefitted from this merch design far more, but I’m relatively opposed to labels having their own merch.

In the context of dispersing balloons in a crowd, do you go for quantity of balloons or size?

Would you rather 100 balloons released or say 30 Beachballs?

Chris: Usually it’s a case of how many we can actually get blown up in time before getting on stage! Sometimes we’re on form and get many, many sacks of balloons together and even an inflatable killer whale, other times maybe not so much. I would definitely take 30 beach balls over 100 balloons however due to their resilience and sheer obnoxiousness factor.

Courage the Cowardly Fucking Dog

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So picture a scenario where you get given a production budget for your stage fuckery; what would you do with it?

Chris: We would definitely go full Gwar with that, for sure... strobe linked confetti cannons, members of the audience getting Zorbed to the bar, industrial sized beer bongs, pinatas filled with guts. I would love to do an Iron Maiden-esque stage show where the band are stationed around giant pantomime style staging and are attacked by zombies that explode and soak the crowd.

Any band who has toured as extensively as you have has likely encountered some gigs that were an absolute shitter; can you run down some of your worst tour/gig/promoter stories? Don’t hold back, the readers crave drama Chris: You know what, nothing really springs to mind as a definitive ‘we were fucked over by a promoter’ moment... maybe we’re just lucky, maybe we’re just really naïve, who knows. He didn’t fuck us over, but we stayed with a promoter in the states after the gig and slept in what I can only describe as his Wanking Chamber. It was a converted basement just filled with porn. By looking at the angle of the arm chair, the positioning of the TV and the location of the tissue box, we quickly sussed out what that room was for. There was also a toilet absolutely covered in blood, we didn’t ask why. We’ve played some right shite gigs though, however it’s maybe mostly our own fault. Recently we’ve decided to ban acoustic kick drums from the band, they are no longer welcome. A lot of our gigs require us to use shared backline, which is fine as we’re absolutely happy to play through anything and really appreciate promoters and bands lending out gear, however every so often we’d get a kick drum that’d not stay attached to the kit and roll off somewhere mid-song. I wouldn’t say that’s gear snobbery, I would say that’s a fairly big issue. So we now use a V-kick drum you can absolutely anchor to your pedals. There was one gig in Holland where the drum kit fell off the riser while Martin was playing, piece by piece it just slipped off.

I read that “High Five Ghost” from your EP “Partied in Half” isn’t actually about Regular Show at all and the lyrics are more about Neon Genesis Evangelion. I am shook.

Chris: This is true, in fact most of Partied In Half is about Neon Genesis Evangelion and H.P. Lovecraft monsters. This came about as a bit of a compromise between me and our vocalist Stony, I love naming songs and he doesn’t want to publish his lyrics (despite them being really good) so by using my song titles there’s a deliberate disconnect between the titles and subjects. The band spent a lot of time watching Evangelion together when we were all at the post-uni stage where everyone was either unemployed or working part-time and unwanted free time was in abundance. I am just obsessed with dumb shit so a lot of our song titles reflect that, things like Regular Show, Flapjack, Peep Show, Ren & Stimpy, Saved By The Bell, Clarissa Explains It All, Pokemon and general stupid American party culture... that’s my jam. I once convinced my ex-girlfriend that the final episode of Clarissa Explains It All ended with Sam climbing into Clarissa’s room and killing her with a chainsaw.

I don’t know why I did this or why she believed me.

Oh Look, another Merch design I feel you should look at Drop Slamz

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There’s a video doing the rounds of one of the guys from Anvil being made to listen to your music; whilst I’m sure a lot of well-known artists have been subjected to all sorts of underground bands over the years, how did it feel to have documented evidence of them being forced to engage with your music and be left speechless at the end?

Chris: That was a pretty surreal “what timeline are we in” moments, I bought the Anvil documentary from HMV when it was released in 2008 and at no point did I think “he’ll be listening to my rubbish slam band in 11 years”. Our current go to guy for mixing is Joerg at Soundlodge in Germany who’s worked with bands like Defeated Sanity and Despondency, but his main thing is old school heavy metal/punk so works with a lot of cool bands on that side too. Anvil just so happened to be at his studio around the time he was due to mix our split tracks so Lips was enlightened in the ways of Party Slam with ‘Tactical Chunder’.

The Slam/Death Metal genres have a tendency for outsiders to roll their eyes in disdain at some of the imagery/ song-titles / samples / general repugnancy that come up with some of the bands.

Have you ever played with a band and thought “buddy that’s just weird” Chris: I’m pretty desensitised to the shenanigans that go on in the brutal scenes, however there’s definitely been a few moments where I’ve been like “why?”. I can’t remember where it was, but we played with a band that sold joggies with “100% Paedophilia” printed on them. There’s not even any word play going there and I can’t think of any situation you’d be able to wear them... even pornogrind gigs.

Way back in the day we played a few gigs with the band Horrific Sexual Atrocity who are still to this day one of my favourite bands ever. One time when we played with them in Newcastle their guitarist was completed naked and the vocalist shoved a mic right up his arse. Right in there. It was the house mic, too. Before setting off the play that gig Stony asked me if he should bring his own mic to the gig and I said to him ‘nah man, there will be a house mic you can use’.. it was a good thing he brought his own in the end.

I can’t remember the name of the band, but we played with a goregrind band in Dallas who had a porno sample that lasted literally 10 minutes followed by them playing one note. A single chug, that was the whole song. I don’t know why they thought that was a good idea but I loved the sheer deadpan, brass balls of it.

We played a festival in Portugal with a band called Rape Machine which has to be one of the most ridiculous names ever, there’s something so to-the-point about it that makes it worse the longer you think about it. They were an incredible live band though, they handed out whistles to the audience and got them to run in a circle and whistle in time to the riffs. Tremendous and inspiring.

Party Cannon is at a fairly envious point in the band’s existence where there is worldwide demand for the band and thus merch always appears to sell well and you don’t seem to struggle when it comes to tours, high-profile shows and festival appearances either. Given the limited scope for Death Metal and Slam bands to break into the large-scale festival and gig circuit, do you ever see a point where the band achieves everything it can and, wordplay intended, the party stops?

Chris: This is a thought I’ve had many times before, but it always seems like the bar for achieving ‘everything’ keeps getting moved. When we first started I felt like playing a few gigs in Europe was the most we’d achieve, then it was going to America, then playing certain fests etc. At one point I genuinely believed I’d put my bass under my bed and be done with music once I’d played Japan, that felt literally unachievable at one point but now that we’ve done it there’s still other things I want to do. In a roundabout way, what I’m really saying is I’m planning on milking the band until we’re forced to stop.

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Word is Album number 2 is in the works and almost ready to go. When can we expect more news on this front?

Chris: Right now, while I type this, I am meant to be at Soundlodge Studios in Germany tracking our new album with the guy that produced Psalms Of The Moribund and Passages Into Deformity by Defeated Sanity, but our ol’ friend COVID-19 put a stop to that (possibly a positive thing depending who you ask). So basically, the album is delayed a little bit but we’ve got it covered. While ideally recording everything in Germany with the person mixing would have been the best option, we’ve decided to track locally at George from Gendo Ikari’s studio and send all the files to be mixed/mastered at Soundlodge like we did with the split tracks we put out in 2019. We weighed it up and given the current state of things, tracking in Germany essentially means delaying the album indefinitely as no one really knows what’s going to happen with travel and not all of us can afford the self-isolation time coming back. It’s done though and is coming in 2021, we have some ‘adventurous’ artwork to go with it along with some really stupid video ideas. We also have guest spots from two of my favourite vocalists of all time and they sound rank and also mulch-y. I refuse to let us succumb to the UKDM one album curse.

I never really figured out what Porygon did... except give a lot of people seizures when he was the focus of an episode in the first series.

We're still early in the year and therefore still have a degree of hope this year will be different; how do you see the year playing out for yourselves?

Chris: Assuming everything goes ahead that we’ve got planned (ignoring the gigs that have already been cancelled) there will be a second album, a UK tour with Crepitation and Hymenotomy, a Euro tour around Berlin Death Fest, a US exclusive at Chicago Domination Fest and a lot of silly online content for people to enjoy. Fingers crossed we can party in person this year, but of course health comes first and we’d only want to do it if it’s safe for everyone.

Party Cannon, as you’ve probably already read, are working towards a new album. For more information on defending Party Slam, see below https://www.facebook.com/PartyCannonUK https://partycannon.bandcamp.com/

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Vacuous - Katabasis

Crushing Death/Doom Metal FFO: spectral voice, Autopsy, Incantation, Of Feather and Bone

“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

Out now on 12” Black Vinyl Available via www.fhed.bandcamp.com and the following distributors Extremely Rotten Productions (Europe) Rotted Life (North America) Dry Cough Records (UK / Europe) Bitter Loss Records (Australia)

nd them) where to fi Labels (and rd co Re UK

Being a Label based in the UK, it’s never an easy task, and the last few years have been an utter kick in the nuts. Not only are there an absurd amount of labels about lately, all of which are contending for the same limited pool of bands and releasing music aimed at a finite market whose habits are rapidly changing and with each day question why labels still exist. Then of course take into consideration the UK’s exit from the EU, in turn making a huge market financially viable to send stuff out to.

Whilst labels like Church Road, Earache and Candlelight are always going to do ok, this feature is going to shine a light on some of the other labels around the UK, the ones that release records in spite of the financial upheaval, the ever changing market and the ever-existing threat that a few band releases could tank all the hard work you’ve put in up to that point.

P.S. If I’ve forgotten your label, it’s not personal, I only have so much pagespace. So focused on the more prolific labels.

I ran into this guy by fluke at a Full of Hell show in Swansea years ago when he set up his distro at the merchtable; despite living absurdly near him for years I’ve only ever run into him a handful of times, most recently at a Infest matinee show in London, where he was raking in that powerviolence monies at the merch table as always.Children, Anyway, Dead Heroes is essentially the forefront of Grindcore in the UK, having released records from the likes of GetsWorse, The Afternoon Gentlemen, HorseBastard and Endless Swarm. He’s also released records from the likes of WaterTorture and SheevaYoga as well. Oddly enough, one of the few Grindcore/Powerviolence record labels that HASN’T released an Agothocles 7”, still one of the most legit Grindcore labels around thought. https://deadheroeslabel.bandcamp.com/ http://deadheroeslabel.blogspot.com/ Key Releases: Water Torture (Discography) // Gets Worse - Snubbed 12” // Endless Swarm - Imprisoned in Skin 12” ACxDC / Goolagoon Split 7” // Vile Intent - Machine Into Flesh 12”

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Whilst the Apocalyptic Witchcraft back-catalogue is littered with spicy offerings, you’ve most likely going to know them as the label that oversaw the release of The Infernal Sea’s “The Great Mortality” Album, a record which shot The Infernal Sea to the forefront of the UK Black Metal scene, and without doubt bring some attention to AW in the process. As the home of Crimson Throne and Damin (featuring former members of Akercocke), AW picks their releaes wisely and was referenced as a truly respecteable label by The Infernal Sea when we interviewed them in Issue 10.

https://apocalypticwitchcraft.co.uk/ Key Releases: The Infernal Sea - The Great Mortality // Crimson Throne - Of Void and Solitude // Burial - Satanic Upheaval Probably not the most well-known label in this list given Black Metal’s fascination with being underground to the point of being virtually impossible to find, you wouldn’t have expected Death Kvlt Productions to have released one of the best underground Black Metal releases of 2020 in the form of Lamp of Murmuur’s “Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism” LP. Their release “Litle Turtle’s War” by Pan Amerikan Native Front could also prove to be one of the more intriguing offerings of 2021 DKP has also put out releases from Abduction, Heathen Deity, Celestial Sword and countless other Black Metal bands I probably won’t ever be inclined to listen to. https://deathkvltproductions.bandcamp.com/ Key Releases: Pan-Amerikan Native Front - Little Turtle’s War // Lamp of Murmurr - Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism // Abduction - A Crowm of Curses

Whilst not a label that immediately springs to mind in terms of UK labels, the guy is based out in Chepstow and has been pushing out grindcore releases since 2009.

Like most Grindcore labels, they have put out one or two releases by Agothocles, however releases from Suffering Mind, Sete Star Sept and SixBrewBantha stand out amongst a bloody-large 498 releases. http://www.grindfatherprod.com/ Key Releases: Haggus - Plausibility of Putridity // Unholy Grave - Grindcrew Warheads // Disrotted - Cryogenics

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Oh look! another label that you wouldn’t immediately assume was from the UK, but is based in the UK and has also been putting music out since 2009.

Whilst the caliber of Death Metal is strong, having released music from Devourment in 2010, as well as from bands such as Cryptworm, Phrenelith and Deiquisitor, their ongoing partnership with Undergang has seen resulted in some of their standout releases; the relationship with Undergang running strong, with David having nothing but high-praises for them when we interviewed Undergang in Issue 10. https://www.mesacounojo.com/ https://mesacounojo.bandcamp.com/ Key Releases Hyperdontia - A Vessel Forlorn Undergang - Misantropologi Cryptworm - Verminosis

Based out of Manchester, the fact that a lot of the bands went on to work with far bigger labels is testimony enough to Dry Cough’s contribution to Heavy Music. Having released impeccable releases from the likes of Bismuth, Vile Creature, Body Void and Cloud Rat, as well as releasing Opium Lord’s debut album on Vinyl when Candlelight Records simply wouldn’t, Dry Cough’s contribution to heavy music is arguably one of the more understated and unrecognised given the sheer quality of releases they have put out.

Keeping active to this day, a Vinyl release from UK Death Metal up-and-comers Slimelord and and a vinyl release of Blind Monarch’s debut album “What is Imposed, Must Be Endured”, Dry Cough aren’t probably going to stop anytime soon, picking their releases wisely and therefore consistently putting out bangers. https://www.drycoughrecords.com/ Key Releases: Coltsblood - Into the Unfathomable Abyss // Opium Lord - The Calendrical Cycle: Eye of the Earth // Body Void - Ruins // Vile Creature - Cast of Static and Smoke // Bismuth - The Slow Decline of the Great Barrier Reef // War Wolf - Crushing the Ways of the Old

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Whilst labels like CTW Records and Dead&Gone did wonders for putting UK’s Hardcore output on the map, when they disbanded there was always going to be a bit of a void left. With a lot of bands, promoters and labels coming and going in the UKHC scene, the role of mainstays within the scene become all the more important. Set up in South Wales a few years back, NFR haven’t ever really stopped, and are currently on release 82, having put out records from the likes of Kombat, Asidhara, Road Mutant, and a release in the pipeline for Terror of all things.

Inherent South Wales bias aside, you don’t get to that many releases without either being the real deal (or an elaborate money-laundering scheme I guess).

They’ll probably still be going long after I’ve called it a day too. Cracking lads. https://www.nuclearfamilyrecords.co.uk/ Key Releases: Asidhara - Killing Rites // Terror Trapped in a World, Kombat- New Dimensions of Pain

Similar deal to Nuclear Family but in a different part of the UK, The Coming Strife Records have somehow managed to put out 49 releases in the space of two years of being active. I’m sure it’s doable, but I can’t even think of 49 bands I like, let alone 49 bands I want to work with (and in turn would want to work with me). Still, if anything it’s testimony to Hardcore’s durability over the year, long may it continue. https://thecomingstrife.bigcartel.com/ https://thecomingstriferecords.bandcamp.com/ Key Releases: Kruelty - Immortal Nightmare Renounced - Conditioned from Birth Raiden - Bright Forth The Enemy

You’re more likely to know Static Shock from their weekenders, which in the past have hosted the likes of Iron Lung, Limp Wrist and Pharmakon, Static Shock Records has been around for over a decade and their discography reflects it. Their releases by Violent Reaction and State Funeral are crucial listens, and I’m pretty certain they released an LP by FuckedUp as well. One of their Sheer Mag releases as well ended up in End-of-Year Lists for NME and Rolling Stone as well, which is weird when you think about it. https://staticshockrecords.bandcamp.com/ https://staticshockrecords.limitedrun.com/

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By comparison they, Surviving Sounds is definitely one of the newer labels out there, not that it shows in their catalogue at all. Whilst their two releases from Hidden Mothers are standout releases, they also had the privilege of releasing the first new Underdark songs for what seems like forever (I should know, I put out their last release and that was back in 2018), which was a lovely listen. https://survivingsounds.bandcamp.com/ Key Releases: Underdark - With Bruised and Bloody Feet // Hidden Mothers - S/T // Wallowing - Planet Loss (the Graphic Novel).

As much as APF Records is one of of the more prolific labels out there in the UK right now, I’m not going to big him up too much in this bit because he literally has his own interview a few pages down the line.

That being said, I can’t NOT acknowledge him in this list, as APF records embodies the spirit of being one person ploughing seemingly endless resource into releases knowing the risk of losing substantial amounts of money or being left with unsellable stock is awkwardly real.

Forming at the height of the surge of activity within the Northern Heavy Sludge/Doom scene, the label has grown beyond that niche and has released thrash, rock and grindcore albums in recent memory.

Key Releases: Corrupt Moral Altar - Patiently Waiting for Wonderful Things // Mastiff - Plague Nomad - Feral // Video Nasties - Dominion // The Hyena Kill - Atomised

The Noise / Power-Electronics scene is about as niche as it can get in the UK, with the scene being relatively splintered and unconnected depending on where you are. Outsider Art has undoubtedly found itself as a reliable bastion and noteworthy name within the UK, having released music for their own project (KnifedOutofExistence) and other artists for several years now. I get that it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but the label’s commitment to their art has to be commended if anything.

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https://outsiderart.bandcamp.com/ Key Releases: Ordeal By Roses - A Petty and Childish Obsession // Slow Murder - Warped Skin // Any KOOE or Carrion Sunflower Releases

Born out of the long-serving Sludgelord Heavy-music blog and the rising surge in Sludge/Doom from a few years back, significant releases from the likes of Fawn Limbs, Knoll, Wallowing and Bethmoora punctuate a downright heavy catalogue of releases that arguably has moved away from the sludge roots that gave the label its name..

Of course my perception of them greatly improved given they put out Opium Lord’s last album; Wallowing’s “Planet Loss” LP is crucial listening too. https://sludgelordrecords.bandcamp.com/ Key Releases: Vow - Gentle Decline // Wallowing - Planet Loss // Opium Lord - Vore // anything by Fawn Limbs // Knoll - Interstice

Arguably the most diverse label on this list; not hamstrung by genres and labels, Trepanation has released quite a diverse range of records, including the Sense Offender / They Live We Sleep split I put out tail-end of last year.

Arguably as well the most committed out of these labels to the CD format as well, a brave stance in an industry when people either want super-efficient streaming of music or ultra-inefficient analogue Vinyl or Tapes. https://trepanationrecordings.bandcamp.com/ Key Releases: Cholera - S/T // Concrete Ships - In Observance // Lung Knots - Golden Dirges, Molten Larynges// Gnarl - The Great Blackness

OTHER LABELS I DIDN’T HAVE SPACE FOR AND ARE REALLY SORRY ABOUT Death Clock Records - South Wales Hardcore Label so young that the guy isn’t even allowed to legally drink yet. Bright future ahead hopefully. https://deathclockrecords.bigcartel.com/ Wretched Records - Hardcore/Metalcore label out Dundee-way https://wretchedrecordsuk.bandcamp.com/ SORRY IF I DID NOT INCLUDE YOUR LABEL. IT’S NOTHING PERSONAL I JUST HAVE VERY LITTLE BRAINPOWER AND MY MIND TURNED TO SOUP COMPILING THIS LIST

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I always have a spot of envy for people that can list off their top-releases of the year and successfully acknowledge the entirety of releases from January to December without missing any or forgetting their initial reactions to a record. I’m hard-pressed to even recollect what albums come out in any given year, let alone recall my feelings on every release I listen to; I’m a relatively indifferent guy so most things file under “It’s alright like” and “It didn’t keep my attention” (which in itself isn’t hard, my brain is essentially one of those wind-up Monkey toys that clashes cymbals.

Anyway, in the utter white-noise that was 2020 I can only seem to look back and actually recall a handful of releases that came out last year; Providence was one of them, it ticked a lot of boxes for me at the time and even months on my thoughts on the record haven’t changed.

Seeing that this zine is essentially a glorified ruse to interact with bands I’m into, of course it was only a matter of time before I spoke to them.

Whilst I imagine it gets referenced almost whenever you get interviewed, this interview is not likely to be any different. The band’s name derives from a short story by HP Lovercraft called “The Cats of Ulthar”, a short-story centred around Lovecraft’s love of cats and detestation of Cats being harmed. What drew you to this story in particular given the plethora of more triedand-tested Lovecraftian themes that bands tend to draw influence from?

If I’m being honest, it was mostly the availability of the name. I often joke that the hardest part about forming a band is finding a good name that no one has used… We were sort perusing the Lovecraft lexicon, as there are so many great names to choose from, but they’ve all been taken. We liked the sound of “Ulthar”, and to our surprise, when we looked it up, it hadn’t been used. There is now another “Ulthar” (a one-man black metal band from Poland), but at the time, in 2014, no one else had claimed it. I think Ultha from Germany had already formed by then, but we hadn’t heard of them. We of course love cats as well, but I don’t think they factor thematically into the band at all..

Whilst I have seen lazier journalists try and pidgeonhole Ulthar into the Old School Death Metal category, arguably in light of the rising tide of US Death Metal that’s come out lately that has nods to the Old School sound, it’s a fairly lazy association given Ulthar’s music is far more than that. What would you consider your sound to be? Where do you draw your influences from?

Calling Ulthar “old school death metal” is fucking stupid. That is not at all what we are about or what we are doing. There are, of course, plenty of death metal elements present, but I feel like that term has come to represent a very lazy, social media driven meme-ification of the genre. I’ve seen the term “caveman riffs” thrown around in reference to Ulthar, which is not only completely inaccurate, but also insulting. Our riffs are difficult as fuck man! Don’t lump us in with that bullshit.

19

We try not to put too many labels on what we do. We take pride in creating music that is unique and challenging. There is death metal present, there is black metal, but there’s doom, there’s grind, there’s punk… We take inspiration from krautrock and noise just as much as anything in the “metal” realm, I think. Nothing is off-limits for us, but we’re not actively pursuing the sound of any one genre. We want to make something that can’t be easily categorized. Which makes it all the more frustrating when people do just that, and do it so lazily and inaccurately.

It’s rare these days that truly interesting music can be labelled under one pre-existing genre; what is it with journalistic types wanting to pidgeonhole things at the risk of not really capturing what a band is really about?

It’s just laziness, I guess, and being misinformed. Most “music reviewers”--or “metal reviewers” specifically—aren’t getting paid to do it. It’s like a status symbol for them, or a way to get free records from labels, I don’t know. They make up their own story about a band or artist, and then fill in the blanks (which often includes jamming said band/artist into one contrived category or another) to try to make it sound more interesting. It’s nuts. I try not to read too many reviews or whatever, but when I do, I’m often completely baffled about how the writers come up with some of this stuff.

Providence was arguably one of my favourite albums of last year; it came off as a more focused and refined take on the sentiment from your debut album Cosmovore, but really I just really liked listening to it. The album’s been out for a while now, looking back what are your feelings on Providence?

Thanks a lot for saying that. We were very satisfied with how it came out. We spent a lot less time with the songs than we did on Cosmovore, so it was a little more nerve-wracking. Like on Cosmovore, those were songs that we wrote in the practice space, jammed on for months or years, and played live before we took them to the studio. The songs on Providence were much more pieced together, written separately, at home, demo’d back and forth… Half of those songs we never even played through once as a band before taking them in to Earhammer Studios. So it was a little more stressful, like “are these songs going to work?”. Luckily, they did, which is hopefully a good sign for our next album, which will be largely composed with the three of us living in three different states.

How do you think the band has changed since your debut album Cosmovore?

I wouldn’t be able to answer this question without addressing the obvious factor of Covid, and the point I brought up above about us living in different states. Between Cosmovore and Providence, we toured the country, played local shows, spent a lot of time together, talked a lot, learned a lot about how we all see music and the world in general. We wrote Providence over the course of just a couple months, recorded it, and then boom, everything was gone. Something like 80 tour dates cancelled, Steve (our bassist/vocalist) relocated to Oregon, no shows, no practice…

We had to sort of figure out a new approach to running the band remotely, which I’m glad to say has started working really well for us. We’ve been working on a lot of new material, with myself, Steve, and our drummer Justin using whatever technology we have at our disposal to keep moving forward creatively, and the results have been very encouraging.

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Ulthar have found a home with 20 Buck Spin, who have overseen the release of both your albums; from what I have read there was a degree of emotional blackmail involved when introducing your music to them for the first time; could you elaborate on the story about how you started working with the label?

I was already working with Dave/20 Buck Spin in both Vastum and Extremity when Ulthar was recording our LP, so there was already a line of communication there, and, I think, some mutual respect. I believe the “emotional blackmail” you’re referring to was a trip I took out to Pittsburgh a couple years ago. We already had a rough mix of Cosmovore, and I brought a CD-R of it with me. It was my birthday, and I had treated myself to a flight out there to see Demilich and Blood Incantation (they didn’t have any West Coast dates, and I really wanted to catch that tour). So I visited Dave at 20 Buck HQ, I handed him this CD-R, and I told him it would be pretty shitty of him to not put out this great album I was working on, considering it was my birthday and everything. So there might have been a certain amount of guilt involved. I returned back to California, and I actually got the email from Dave saying he wanted to put it out while we were in the control room at the studio, finishing the album. It was a good moment for us, 20 Buck Spin was our first choice from the beginning.

It’s not uncommon for larger labels to spread themselves thin, releasing music from a plethora of artists but not necessarily being able to give every artist the attention they need. Did you ever have this concern before working with 20 Buck Spin and what is the working relationship like?

Not at all. I think I was sort of “eased in” to working with 20 Buck Spin, since Vastum already had 2 albums on the label before I joined. Hole Below was my first experience working with Dave, and although our contact was limited, I got the sense that he handled his shit in a timely and responsible manner. Extremity came next, a band in which I was the direct liaison with the label, and then Ulthar. So I’ve had plenty of interactions with Dave, and I think we work really well together. We both hit our deadlines, and do what we say we’re going to do. We’ve gotten to be friends outside of just the bands and the label too. Definitely no complaints.

The hope of things returning to some form of normality means that amazing touring lineups like this are happening again.

Will it be rescheduled? At this point, who even knows!?

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The art behind both Cosmovore and Providence are striking, with Ian Miller being the creator behind both pieces licensed for the artwork on both albums. What drew you to his work? Was there a particular theme you were angling for or was it very much a case of liking what you saw and wanting to use it any cost?

It mostly stemmed from the cover illustrations he did for several Lovecraft editions in the 70s (the cover art for Cosmovore is actually a later version of a piece that originally graced the cover of At The Mountains of Madness). That’s how I was initially exposed to his art, and it just seemed so fitting, like it was organic and alien, it looked moldy and weird and there were tentacles and orbs and holes that looked vaguely like sexual organs. In short it was the perfect analog for what I envisioned as Ulthar’s sound. I found his website and wrote to him, to my surprise he wrote back the next day and was extremely friendly and easy to work with. Ian is great, and responsible for a huge chunk of our aesthetic, and what people see in their mind’s eye when they think of “Ulthar”. I can’t imagine anyone else’s art on the cover of one of our albums, at this point

You've been booked on a European tour with Misery Index and Primitive Man; tour-scheduling has been a strange thing for the last year as a lot of stuff has been booked solely in principle as the likelihood of tours being rescheduled is somewhat guaranteed. Should the shows go ahead unhindered, it'll be a time where more people will likely be vaccinated and thus you could one of the first bands back on the touring circuit, but on the flipside the crowds will likely be rebuilding their social skills and gig-etiquette from scratch, how optimistic are you for these shows?

Unfortunately, that tour has been called off (after originally being planned for this month, and then pushed back to September). I think the problem with booking tours (at present at least) is the fluctuation between countries regarding vaccination rates and handling of the pandemic (or even state-to-state here in the US)… It’s likely that some of the places we were initially slated to play on our tour would be OK by September, but rolling the dice on all of them seems incredibly far-fetched. So, for now, Ulthar is waiting it out, and seeing what happens in the next couple of months… The all-too-familiar hold pattern. We have no desire to be the first band back on tour after Covid, that to me just seems like asking for a disaster. But we are hungry to get back on the road, and will do so with a vengeance once it’s reasonable and safe to.

I really can’t predict how or when shows will be “normal” again, or what the social learning curve will be to get there. It’ll be interesting to observe.

With Providence receiving acclaim in all the right areas, what does the future hold for Ulthar?

A lot. The Other Records in Finland is re-issuing our 2016 demo on vinyl in the near future (with new cover art from our friend Ian Miller, and a new track recorded remotely earlier this year), and we are already deep in the process of working on something huge, to be released in 2022 on 20 Buck Spin. We’ve got new merchandise partnerships coming together in Europe and Indonesia, and, rest assured, when touring is a possibility again, we’ll be coming to a city near you.

Ulthar **hopefully** will be touring again, not that hope is that solid a plan to rely on, in the meantime feel free to partake of their back catalogue via the below linkeroos. https://ulthar666.bandcamp.com https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/providence

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Imagine sustaining your enthusiasm for music of a series of decades? Seems weird right? Now imagine being able to sustain that enthusiasm to the point that, at the age where people are typically winding down their involvement in music, you go and set up a label having had no experience in doing so prior to that point, then proceed to go all-in and release more labels in a few years than F H E D has done in its entire lifetime?

Turns out, if you’re APF Records overlord Andrew Field, it’s perfectly doable and in no way a drain on your energy. Starting out with little more than a goal and the will to put the time, APF Records demonstrates how Independent labels can thrive in the UK without having to deviate from the core principles, investing both financially and emotionally into every release he’s part of.

Aside from their own respective followings, UK labels probably don’t get enough praise and recognition they deserve for the endless ballache that comes with running a label and having a decent go of it; consider this chatteroo with APF Records the first step in me addressing that.

Prior to setting up APF Records, what was your background in music?

I’ve been completely obsessed with music since I was a child. I remember clear as day when it all began: in 1978... when I was 7 - my dad brought home a copy of Electric Light Orchestra’s Out of The Blue album. I was transfixed both by the majestic triple-gatefold sleeve and the transcendent songs on the record. In my teen years I tried everything to become involved in music. I taught myself to play drums, wrote for a number of fanzines, joined a couple of bands. Both were shit.

When I went to University, I ended up editing the campus music newsletter and got to know all the record labels through that. One of them, EMI, offered me a job, and that gave me a taste for it properly. After that I fell in love, got married, had kids, and spent a couple of decades being a grown up, and lost touch with what was going on in the underground music world. Eventually I came back to it again in the early 2000s, mainly as a route to healing after a really awful long-term relationship ended. I’ve always sought solace in riffs when times have been hard.

Anyway, I’d been into stoner rock since Masters of Reality’s Blue Garden album, and through listening to bands like Kyuss and Sleep on Spotify I ended up discovering Trippy Wicked & the Cosmic Children of the Knight. That turned out to be a pivotal moment. I messaged Chris, Pete and Dicky in Trippy Wicked to tell them how much I loved their work, and they then introduced me to the local doom scene here in the UK, and especially in Manchester, and I dived headlong into it: going to all the gigs, meeting all the bands, making many new friends and... it has to be said... partying very hard indeed pretty much every weekend. Without Spotify and Trippy Wicked there wouldn’t be an APF Records, that I can tell you.

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I remember reading a delightful account of when you gave shit to ultra-twat Adam Ant whilst working for EMI, you won’t be surprised to read that I’m resurrecting that story again, I like stories.

I worked in the Press Office at EMI in the summer of 1995, immediately after graduating from University. One of my jobs was to assist in marketing Adam Ant’s Wonderful album, possibly the most inappropriately named record ever as it was a complete crock of shit. Adam himself was a bit of a wanker, to put it mildly. I once spent four hours on the phone with him re-writing a press release just because he didn’t like two words in it. One day he phoned in to speak to J F Cecillon, who was Head of EMI in the UK, and I answered the phone. J F was on another line, so I told Adam I’d take a message for him. Adam said “no, just put me on hold, but don’t forget I’m here”. So I put him hold and, of course, forgot he was there. When I finally remembered, Adam had been on hold for half an hour. He went apeshit and wouldn’t listen to my apology, instead just giving me a load of abuse, going on and on and on...

So, I hung up on him.

I found out from a colleague shortly after that J F was going to sack me that afternoon at Mr Ant’s request. So, I told the office I was popping out for a sandwich, and didn’t go back to face the music. That evening I packed up my belongings and caught a train back to my family home to Manchester, tail between my legs.

Whilst I think most of us have a general idea on how consumption of music has evolved over the decades, it’s rare that such insight comes from someone with such a prolonged commitment to their love of music. Having been around during a few distinct moments in music history, what’s been the biggest change for you?

Oh, without a doubt streaming. I’ve lived through vinyl dying and making a resurgence, CDs being the future of music and now something people are getting rid of, but Spotify has changed everything. These days 80% of music isn’t bought, it’s streamed. Often for free, on YouTube. I totally get it: for less than a tenner a month, the price of one CD, Spotify gives you the best record collection you could ever want.

As a small record label releasing niche music which is never going to get big streaming numbers, APF’s challenge is making sure those people who stream music also buy something. Because the 0.004p per track play Spotify pays APF will never cover the cost of getting that track recorded, mixed, mastered and onto the platform. Many people have given up buying LPs and CDs altogether, so I try to release aesthetically pleasing merch to tempt them. For those who do buy LPs or CDs, my job is to make sure they look as good as they sound, and that they become an item people are willing to invest in. If I’m selling an LP for £20 including shipping, it needs to be a record people want to spend their £20 on. Because if they just want to hear the riffs, Spotify will always be there for them.

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Whilst labels evolve over time, I think everyone has a general vision of what they’re looking to accomplish when setting a label up, whether that be the kind of bands they want to work with or where they see themselves further down the line. What was your initial vision for APF Recs and how does that weigh up what the label has gone on to become?

Honestly, all I wanted to do when I started APF back in 2017 was release albums by bands I was watching in small venues at the weekends. Back then I was in awe of these bands, worshipping some of them. It didn’t matter to me they were playing to a hundred people in a pub in Bolton rather than an arena, they were musicians and their music made my life better and thus I thought they were all superhuman haha. The compact disc hadn’t properly started its inexorable decline into obscurity yet, so in my mind all I had to do was persuade these bands to let me release their stuff, bash out a couple of hundred CDs, bang the music on Bandcamp and streaming sites, and that would be that.

That approach worked for a bit, but then the bands wanted to do other stuff... like put an album out on vinyl (really expensive to do) and get some decent press coverage (also expensive to do, because you need help from a PR company to get decent media interest, and the good ones don’t come cheap). Suddenly money became a concern, because I was piling ever growing amounts into my releases. Albums now needed to break even, which became harder to do the more I spent on releasing them. APF went through some real growing pains in 2018 as a result, with one album underselling quite dramatically and nearly killing the label off.

In 2021 APF is the same in some ways, but different in others. I still have the same passion for the music, and I love working with bands to get their music out in the world. But the amount of money going through the label mean it’s a serious business now, no longer just a hobby. I spend more time now looking after the finances than I do anything else, an inevitable result of the label getting bigger, I guess.

Were there any advantages/foundations you had in place prior to APF’s setup that made the early years easier?

In the “real world” I’ve had a great career, including owning my own business. I’ve always had a strong work ethic. I’m a friendly, outgoing guy. All those things made setting APF up a bit easier. I knew it would be hard work from early on, and I’ve worked hard to make APF successful.

The things I learned from having my own business went into making the running of APF smoother.

Being friendly and outgoing meant I got to know loads of bands I could approach to sign to the label. If I’d been lazy, lacked basic business knowledge, a bit withdrawn, and didn’t know any bands, things might have been a bit different.

Whilst many labels are set up with an unbridled enthusiasm for music and supporting artists, the business-element is where many labels (including myself) can get flustered; this is prominent when it comes to band agreements, promotion and budgeting, all of which seem easy enough on-paper and then the reality can be quite a different beast. What reservations/knowledge-gaps did you have going into label-business and was there anyone you looked to for support/guidance during this point?

When I set up APF I thought I knew what I was doing, but found out within a few weeks I had no idea at all. I remember when I signed my first band, Under, they said “we’ll be happy if it’s just on CD and digital”. I knew nothing about CD manufacturing, and didn’t have a clue how to get music on Spotify. I had to learn really fast. Four years later I still don’t know half of what I need to know, but I know a lot more than I did back then.

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I was lucky to have two great mentors when I started out: Chris West from Trippy Wicked, who had run Superhot Records, and Leigh Jones of Riff Rock Records, who I’d met when he was in this killer band called Groan. Chris and Leigh held my hand for the first year or so, and saved my bacon on a few occasions as well. Chris’s band ended up signed to APF, and Leigh is still the guy I go to for advice four years later. I am massively indebted to the pair of them. I try to pay that forward now, because without Chris and Leigh I’m not sure I could have got APF off the ground.

Thus I will always give time to anyone thinking of setting up a label, giving basic advice or helping in any way I can.

What were the hardest lessons you had to learn? Were there any that proved near-fatal?

Well Chris West told me back in 2017 “don’t get excited and order too much stock, because people don’t buy as much music as you think they do, and you’re gonna need a lot of storage space”. I should have listened to him, because I ordered far too many CDs for my early releases, many of which are in my attic.. and that attic could cave in at any moment with the amount of stock I have up there.

I’ve had to learn not to get carried away when I have a little bit of success. When my first vinyl release, BongCauldron’s Binge album, sold really well I remember thinking “oh, this is a piece of piss, this vinyl releasing lark”. So, I piled a load of money into vinyl for a few more releases thinking they would all sell like BongCauldron. When they didn’t, it hurt me financially and knocked my confidence. I did nearly knock it all on the head at the end of 2018 as I watched thousands of pounds of debt accumulate. But I learned some tough lessons, came out the other side, and I think the whole experience actually made me stronger. You only learn from your mistakes eh?

Moreso to the point, have there been any points where you either wanted to pack it in, or events that really pissed you off?

Well outside of the 2018 experience, not really. APF is now beyond a passion, it’s an obsession for me. There are days where it does my head in, but I couldn’t be without it now. It would create such a huge void in my life if I packed it in.

The only times I get really, truly pissed off are when I make silly mistakes which cost money to rectify. I get angry at myself for that. I am a shocker for not spotting mistakes on artwork. Last year on two occasions I didn’t spot misspellings of band names on artwork, would you believe.

Which is why I’ve got loads of “Video Nasites” and “Sound of Orgn” CDs in my attic now.

I think every label has their releases they hold in slightly-higher regard than others, be it due to its success or being a significant milestone in the label’s story. What are the milestone / landmark releases in the APF discography and what makes them stand out in your mind?

I will always have a special place in my heart for Under, who were the first band to sign to APF. Their Slick album was my first release, and I will never forget that wonderful feeling of holding that CD in my hands and seeing the APF logo and catalogue number APF001 on it.

BongCauldron’s Binge album was my first vinyl release, and the first one I threw a load of money at for PR, so when that sold really well it was both a huge relief and a big confidence boost. I worshipped that band, and when they agreed to sign to APF that was a punch-the-air-with-joy.

They called in a day in 2019, playing their final gig at Bloodstock Festival. They asked me up to play drums on a track, in front of a few thousand people, and that remains my very favourite moment of the last 4 years, just wonderful.

I have to mention both Mastiff’s Plague (2019) and Video Nasties’ Dominion (2020) albums, because they’re my biggest sellers. Both those albums put APF more firmly on the map, and were important milestones in the growth of the label.

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Bit of a sour question here, are there any “the one that got away” releases you’ve experienced? To break the ice on this one, I once turned down going in on Unyielding Love’s LP and I immediately regretted that decision.

I can hand on heart say I haven’t passed on anything and then later thought “oh god, why did I say no to that?” There have been bands who have gotten away, where I’ve wanted to sign them real bad but they’ve gone with someone else. I absolutely adore Elephant Tree and would have eaten my own arm off to get them on the label back in 2018, before they signed to (the now defunct) Holy Roar. When I started APF one of my main targets was Kurokuma, but they turned me down and I sulked about that one for months afterwards. I was deep into negotiations with Acid Reign in 2019, but at the last moment they decided to go elsewhere. But these days I’m more chilled about it. Now I just think “if it’s meant to be, it will be”. I’m still friendly with all those bands, still love their music, and continue to wish them all the best for the future.

Of course it's not just Elephant Tree who were left without a label following Holy Roar's implosion; whilst a few got snaffled as part of Church Road Records, there's a lot of bands out there now, some of which have new albums ready and raring to go but no label backing. It speaks to the class of the various UK labels that we haven't all raided the old Holy Roar roster like Ants at a Picnic; have you been in talks with Elephant Tree subsequently? Are there any other bands that you could see yourself potentially working with following Holy Roar no longer being a thing?

No, I’ve not spoken to Elephant Tree. They’re a much bigger deal that when I was interested back in 2018/19, so they’re best talking to someone with bigger reach and resources than APF has. I was approached by one ex-HR band, made them an offer, but they decided to go elsewhere. Such is life.

I would sell a leg to have Slabdragger on APF, I love those guys. There know where I am if they need me.

You’ve mentioned previously that a release that blows you away may not be enough on its own to entice you to release it, and that your ability to work with the band and get on with them is a driving factor to any business relationship. Being mates with a band and thus transcending beyond just a business relationship, does it ever become difficult to manage if you think that either they aren’t pulling their weight in terms of promoting a release, or even if the release doesn’t sell well and you take a hit as a result?

I think the key phrase here is “I have to be able to work with a band” and for all of us to be like-minded in approach. There are a few bands I haven’t signed because they are difficult people, or just plain lazy. I am good mates with many of the bands on APF, but I wouldn’t be afraid to have difficult conversations with them – and I know they wouldn’t shy away from tough conversations with me either. Fortunately, all the bands on my label work hard at promoting their releases.

If an album doesn’t sell well it won’t be down to the band. As label owner I take responsibility if that happens. I haven’t dropped a band for that reason yet.

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APF’s discography, especially the earlier releases is heavily intertwined with the collective output of the Norther Stoner/Doom scene that saw prominence around the mid-2010’s, and arguably reached its peak a few years back. Knowing that interest in genres is very much a peaks and troughs situation, has changes within the UK’s heavy music scene in any way influenced the releases you put out or the resource you can allocate to a release?

That 2013 to 2017 northern UK stoner doom scene was so much fun to be a part of, and I do miss it.

But all good things come to an end, and onwards we ride. APF has outgrown that anyway. In 2021 half of the people who buy APF releases don’t even live in the UK, yet alone in northern England.

Yes, we have stoner doom bands on the label, and they’re each doing something a bit different and interesting: like The Brothers Keg, Indica Blues and Gandalf The Green. But we also have the grindcore of Corrupt Moral Altar, the alternative rock of The Hyena Kill, Beggar’s brand of intelligent post-sludge, Video Nasties unique take on black’n’roll, the thrash of Redeye Revival and Wasted Death’s d-beat punk metal. And of course, APF has Under, who are a genre all of their own.

This is a bit where you get to blow your own horn a bit, what do you think draws artists to working with you compared to other labels that they may have have shopped around for a label had you not been an option?

My bands tell me what they like is that I (a) have a passion for their music, because I only sign bands whose music gives me goosebumps, which means a lot to them, (b) that I’m honest and transparent in my dealings with them, especially on the financial side, and (c) I do what I say I’m going to do. I don’t over-promise, so the band’s expectations are realistic.

Where I think APF excels is in taking a band with a small following and giving them a platform which can lead to a bigger following. Indica Blues would be a good example. They had released an album in 2018 on CD only with a tiny bit of media interest.

APF signed them, put their new album We Are Doomed out on vinyl, and threw a heavyweight PR campaign behind it.

They have definitely come to much wider attention as a result of APF’s support. So they’re happy, and I’m happy because I got to release a killer album and it sold well.

Plus they’re lovely guys. In fact, just today another label tried to poach them and they told the guy who runs it they were happy where they are. That to me speaks volumes.

Imagine having an active roster of bands so expansive you could fill up an all-dayer with it?

APF have not only imagined it, they’ve done it, 3 times.

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To draw back the curtain a bit for the readers, we’re actually part of a groupchat with Aaron at Sludgelord Records, Frenchie at PR Trail, Dan at Trepanation Recording and a fan of our releases called Max whose enthusiasm for music seems to invigorate us all. Whilst it all seems second-nature for us to share ideas with eachother, it also seems to fly against the notion of the music business being quite cut-throat and competitive when you consider larger labels always looking to see which artists they can poach from smaller labels. To what extent do you think UK music could benefit from being a bit more collaborative, and on the flipside do you think the element of competition brings the best out in us all?

That group chat is great, because we get to share tips, pointers, moans and successes. I was a big fan of Aaron’s Sludgelord blog way before I got to speak to him, Dan has been on my label with Mastiff, and Frenchie did PR for some of my early releases. Outside of the group I chat to Ged and Paul at New Heavy Sounds, and Todd Severin at Ripple Music has been a vocal supporter of my label. It’s a great little community.

As for major labels sniffing around APF bands, I absolutely love it. In fact, nothing would make me happier than an APF band being tapped up by one of the really big boys. APF has limited time, resources and reach. If a big label wants to take one of my bands off my hands, throw a tonne of money at them and make them superstars, the band and I both benefit from that. New fans of that band would go back and buy the back catalogue, which I have the rights to, and then want to know who this APF Records is who released the band’s early stuff. Plus, I would get to dine out on the “X band used to be on my label before they signed to Sony, you know” stories. Haha.

I tell you what I fantasise about: a major label coming to me and saying “we love your bands; how would you like to be a feeder label for us?” Much in the way Red Bull has Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula 1, which is basically a testing and feeder team for the main Red Bull Racing Honda outfit, major labels could “try before they buy” by working closely with indie labels like mine.

Maybe that will happen one day.

The Feeder-team principle you raise is an interesting one, as it's used a lot in Sports and Entertainment with wildly varying results. Whilst I'm sure there's a podcast's worth of material when looking at feeder-entities in Sports/Wrestling, the only example that comes to mind of a label acting as a feeder-entity for a larger label is Drive Thru Records, a mainstay of the pop-punk scene in the late 90's and credited with the rise of The Starting Line and New Found Glory. They had a feeder-agreement with Universal Music Group, and the general opinion is it ruined them, citing lack of funding and support, as well as Universal picking talents with minimal warning at a point where Drive Thru weren't able to really capitalise on the success they built for an artist.

I suppose that Toro Rosso and Red Bull share a core brand and identity, something that B-Teams in the Spanish Leagues share with their parent club and benefit from as a result. When considering a Feeder/Parent label relationship, I get the inclination the feeder label's identity would be compromised as a result, with the parent label not necessarily guaranteed to manage the artist in the way that saw them success previously.

I agree with all your points about the feeder principles. Maybe I’m just dreaming, or living in cloud cuckoo land. What I would say is that the big labels often don’t have as close an ear to the underground as they would like or should have. If they have a label like mine, at arm’s length, doing the donkey work for them then both parties could benefit. I’ve fantasised about an arrangement where the deal is this: if the big label snaps up a band from the feeder label, then the feeder label gets to have their logo on the first release the band puts out on the big label. Remember when Nirvana moved from Sub Pop to Geffen? The Sub Pop logo was on the back of Nevermind. Which brought Sub Pop to the attention of millions of people. I’d love it if something like that happened for APF.

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Brexit. There, I said it. Independent to individual opinions on Brexit and the perceived ills and opportunities it would bring, the unifying factors amongst everyone was the certainty it wouldn’t be the deal most were looking for, as well as the uncertainty of what they actually needed to prepare for. Whilst we all saw adverts telling businesses to prepare for Brexit, nobody was really sure what to prepare for, and the last-minute nature of the deal meant chaos ensued briefly. Whilst most people appreciated that there would be limited opportunity for businesses post-Brexit, and more challenges as a result, I think it’s important that someone other than me highlights the various issues Independent labels have experienced post-Brexit (both sides of the Eurozone).

It's hard for me not to be political in this answer, because anyone with even the tiniest awareness of how the world works would have realised Brexit was going to be a disaster for the UK. Europe was never going to let us walk away without pain, because if we thrived without them that would give license to Italy and Spain and Holland to do the same, and that would be the end of the EU. And true to form, we’re being fucked up the arse royally already. Brexit was a classic case of populist nationalism colliding with a ruling elite willing to lie because the damage wouldn’t harm them, plus that elite would be long gone from power by the time the real effects of it were felt.

A bloke in Germany bought 6 LPs from APF recently. I posted them to him in a box, via courier.

He got a customs demand for 68 Euros when his parcel arrived. My bands are going to struggle to tour in Europe, because of the red tape that will come with it. That should tell you everything you need to know about what I think of Brexit.

Are there any changes or adaptations you think you’ll be needing to make to APF post-Brexit to keep things viable?

I’m talking to a company who can post my records from within the EU, to avoid the scenario I outlined above. And wishing I was still European.

We’ve also had Covid-business affect a lot of what we do. Whilst the furlough-scheme has meant people have had more free time and disposable income to spend out on music, leading to increased business for smaller labels and bands, it won’t last forever. With Gigs coming back to to the forefront of people’s minds, and consumers likely reverting back to gigs like the swing of a pendulum, do you think we could see label activity across the board slowing down again?

APF’s sales definitely went up during the pandemic, and I don’t see that changing. My job is to release killer music on really good-looking LPs, CDs and tapes – and also give fans merch they want to buy. As with any “product” (and I hate using that word when it comes to music), it needs to be something people feel they need to own. I’ve released really great music on vinyl that hasn’t sold because the album art was pants. Lesson learned. When band and label get it right, the art and the riffs make for an intoxicating combination. Over the last year Possessor’s Damn The Light LP was a case in point: beautiful splatter vinyl, stunning art by Alexandre Goulet, and the most fearsome of riffs. It sold like stink. Job done.

I’m looking forward to gigs returning. Whilst I don’t drink any more, many of my customers do. And with a load of beers inside them, their credit cards will once again be unleashed at the merch table after the show haha.

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I’m not going to fall into the trap of asking what the future holds for the label, as any answer you give me will likely either be your recently confirmed releases and then the tentative “I have some announcements I can’t make known just yet” statement, however if you could answer this question from a big-picture perspective or 5-year plan point of view that’d be swell.

APF is in an interesting place now. We are no longer a tiny hobby label run out of a back bedroom. But we’re also not so big that I can give up the day job or know for sure that a record will sell just because APF is releasing it. The plan, as ever, is to keep releasing music I love, and hope that other people like it. I have a feeling in my bones that APF is on the cusp of something bigger. My gut tells me we’re going to release something over the next year or so which will capture the moment, be out in the world at just the right time, that the stars will align, and it will sell and be streamed in big numbers. I’ve been planning for if that day comes. I’m ready if it does.

And now the gradual wind-down of the interview. Any bands/labels/promoters you think deserve specific props in this interview?

Big love to everyone who makes the underground music world so vibrant and exciting. I’m nearly 50 now and can’t remember a time I was ever so enthused about it. Anyone who puts their head above the parapet for the love of riffs has my respect: be that small labels, bands bashing away in a grim rehearsal room, the DIY promoter willing to take risks to put heavy bands on his local, or the fan sharing his love for a band on social media. Kudos to all of them.

Final words?

Stay heavy.

APF continue to release top-level UK releases on the regular; for more information, follow the links below, or check out the feature later in this issue that highlights APF as part of other righteous UK labels. https://www.apfrecords.co.uk/ https://apfrecords.bandcamp.com/

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It’s mad the amount of bands over the last year who, either due to a lack of shows or structured rehearsal time, have either gone into stasis or simply will ease away into the abyss. By comparison, there are those who have adapted on the fly, and then there are those who have known no different and are used to the band spending prolonged periods away from eachother, piecing together ideas for songs via an increasingly unmanagable email chain or shared Dropbox account; Fawn Limbs very much fall into the latter category, undeterred by the prospect of physical distance between band members and reaping the success of their latest album Sleeper Vessels, which proved to be one of the sleeper hits (no pun intended) of 2020.

I checked in with Eeli to see what was up.

First of all, I understand your Bassist has been having a hard time of it lately so just wanted to make sure they’re doing ok and if there’s any way readers can support them?

Yes, Sam and his wife lost their apartment in a fire some time back. Both are gladly safe and sound, and have found a new place as of now. They set up a GoFundMe which was a tremendous success, as people really wanted to help them out. We also auctioned off a few test presses, which generated some additional funds for them. All of us, and Sam and his wife especially, were stunned about the amount of support and compassion people showed them. They’ve also luckily made enough to get over the most difficult part of it all for the time being.

To make music as chaotic as Fawn Limbs is rarely the original goal, and with a lot of artists is often a product of previous ventures that didn’t quite scratch a certain itch; being familiar with eachother prior to Fawn Limbs forming, what was the thought process going into the project?

I think pursuing the general chaos apparent in our sound was the basis for everything. I’ve never personally done anything coming even close to the abrasive and hectic nature of Fawn Limbs, though Lee and Sam both have experience on that field, namely via Commit Suicide and Psyopus for the former, and Artificial Brain for the latter. I wouldn’t say that either of them couldn’t have scratched any itches they’ve possibly had with their othet endeavours. Therefore I’d say that Fawn Limbs really isn’t tangential to any other bands or projects, as we set out our own goals right from the beginning, and the whole thing started out in as fresh fashion as humanely possible. I knew Lee for a short while prior to starting the band, and he had been touch with Sam before we asked him to join. We just set out to do this certain kind of thing and it clicked with each of us perfectly.

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Whilst there’s usually a few commonplace artists/bands that are driving influences in chaotic/ frenetic music, the uniqueness of any such project usually comes from some of the more leftfield influences that aren’t typically associated with extreme music. What are some of the more unorthodox places you draw influence from for Fawn Limbs?

We all listen to a wide array of music, from one end of the spectrum to another, from classical to grindcore, from jazz to noise, and so forth. We draw influence to our own playing from wherever, it’s hard to point out any certain persons of interest when it comes to that, since there’s just so many. I think that adds its own flavour to our writing and performance, which otherwise is highly contained to just our internal impulses and decisions without external factors worth mentioning. Art really has no boundaries, hence I don’t think any sources of influence could be characterised as unorthodox in the conventional sense.

Despite the audio battle-royal that is heard on a record, to make chaotic music is fucking hard; I tried it years back with a mate and the end-products were hilarious but utter garbage, and I think people vastly underestimate how difficult it is to create something that captures a level of chaos without sounding like a Jackson Pollock painting. How important is the dynamic/ chemistry in the band to forming cohesive recordings? Is there a degree of resistance/challenging eachother when writing, or do you enjoy a relative degree of hive-mind towards writing?

Being the primary songwriter, I bask in the absolute trust of both Lee and Sam, and mutually I confide in their abilities. Our chemistry, albeit actually rarely discussed, is simply uncanny.

While I write the basis and frames of every song, Lee and Sam can interpret everything exactly the way they see fit, change and shuffle things up, and add their own signature mark everywhere.

I consciously strive to challenge myself as a musician, and same goes for Lee and Sam. Of course a portion of their challenges emerges from my end, but not once have either complained about it.

And equally, not once have I been disappointed in them. So, it’s definitely a hive-mind type of thing, and I think sharing that mindset is the single most important thing when it comes to being in a band. We’re all individuals working towards a one shared goal.

Living at a distance from eachother, there’s pro’s and cons to such a dynamic and I suppose that the inclination towards being a project at-distance can vary greatly depending on the person; evidently living far apart hasn’t affected the output, but is there anything you think you may have missed out on as a result?

Not being able to perform live, is probably the biggest single downside there is to our work model. Though on top of that, it’d obviously be nice to be able to meet and hang out in person, to be able to write together with all of us in the same room. But never say never, I’m confident there will be a time for all of the mentioned to actualize.

I’ve known projects in the past that work at distance and they say the main benefit is you aren’t exposed to all the shit ideas that get fleshed out in a rehearsal room, the dreadful ideas that you have to hear out but nobody can see going anywhere. To what extent do you shield eachother from your not-so-great ideas?

We’re all our own harshest and worst critics. Tailing that, I don’t think neither Lee or Sam have ever shot down a single idea I’ve forwarded to them, and the same goes the other way round as well. I think we all, subconsciously at least, have our own filters when it comes to differentiating shit from substance.

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Musically there’s a lot of noise elements throughout your material; artist such as The Body and Full of Hell have gone on to dabble with releasing their noise-music as a standalone entity, do you have any inclination to release any music that focuses more on the Noise element?

At times we’ve put the emphasis on the noise element, whether on individual tracks or coherent, bigger entities, such as on our third EP Thrum and on our impending third full-length. While we’re definitely open to experimenting with that department even more, it’s already integral and put to use in our ”regular” output, and there’s very little need to change a working model.

I’m maybe the most fanatic out of the three of us when it comes to noise as a stylistical leaning, pursuing that outside of Fawn Limbs as well, with my one man project Lung Knots, and another duo which is still kept under wraps as of now.

Looking to your most recent album “Sleeper Vessels”, which came out last year and turned a few heads in the process, I remember reading the quote "We hope that when listening to the album, you’ll get as nauseous and irresolute as we did when writing it.”. Was it really that traumatic a process!?

The process itself was extremely harsh on us all, but not really traumatic in that sense. The comment I made that you referred to above was mainly about us pushing ourselves to our limits as well as the lyrical content on my part, but I can see how it can be interpreted in multiple ways.

Musically speaking, you seemed to hit that sweet-spot musically where it’s essentially nightmare fuel, a feeling I last felt with Akhlys’ first album, but also incredibly captivating and it seems to be resonating well with people. How pleased are you with the output and the progression since your last few EP’s?

We couldn’t be more pleased even if we tried, honestly. The progression has been nothing but natural, and the coherency has also taken us by surprise to an extent, as we pretty much act on impulse when it comes to Fawn Limbs. We’ve tried writing down schedules and plans that span the next year or so, but we always ended up doing something else entirely, giving zero fucks about any prior plans. I’m personally very happy about the fact that ayou can listen to all of our releases in sequence and actually follow the evolution without any gaps.

Did you see the article in the UK where Metal Hammer branded you “The saviours of Extreme Metal”? Bit of a strong statement right?

Yes, we certainly saw that. And I agree, that statement is way out of line, as humbling as it is. It was also as funny as it was dumbfounding to notice how we got the boot from a lot of people because of that, as if the writer’s view somehow represented ours. Whether or not any certain scenes run stale or flourish like never before is solely dependent on the opinions of the individual answering those questions. While getting acknowledged by a huge outlet like that feels certainly good, it doesn’t come as a surprise that it’ll be equally upsetting to some. But what didn’t sit with me right was that there was people acting like us getting that press would somehow take it away from others. After all, we’ve worked our asses off for the past few years to get to this point, and maybe there’s a reason the people writing these kind of articles haven’t been struck by something else in similar fashion earlier. If I wanted to be out of line and needlessly harsh, I could say that if you feel that these outlets should be covering your band instead of ours, maybe step up and fucking do something about it. But I don’t mean to come across as an egocentric knob either, of course I agree that that single statement, especially when taken out of context, is a bit too much, really. Or way, way too much, to be more accurate.

34

That same article suggests as well that the genre is flatlining; I know journalists are driven towards attention-grabbing statements to keep their output viable and relevant, but do you think there’s any truth to that statement?

Absolutely. Like I said above, it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that journalists choose their wordings based on what’d have the most polarising effect and outcome, since that brings in the good ol’ clicks, and therefore the income for many. I don’t think the genre is flatlining at all, but then again I don’t see us belonging to any one single genre either.

In the process of attracting appeal from the less underground elements of music media, I’ve seen a lot of journalists not entirely sure on how to label your sound; in preparation for this interview alone I’ve seen you being labelled as Techgrind, Deathgrind, Tech Metal (that one I really didn’t get) and Mathgrind. It’s all just words at the end of the day, but it does allow me to segway into how you perceive yourselves in terms of labelling your music?

My dear friend and the owner of Roman Numeral Records Paul Pavlovich once characterised us as ’geometric noise / mathematical chaos’, and I think that’s quite apt. As said earlier, we draw influences from a multitude of sources, and it depends entirely on the listener that what they’ll take out of it. If I had to stick a genre tag to our collective ass, it’d maybe be experimental mathgrind, since we owe a lot of the aspects to be found in our sound to grindcore, mathcore, noise, and avant-garde. Still, I don’t think that these labels make any difference, and they really don’t mean jack shit to me, or to the rest of the band.

With increased visibility comes increased interviews and, in a pandemic-landscape, more appearances on various podcasts and radio shows; being interviewed in print is a very different beast compared to having to a podcast where you aren’t afforded the luxury of mulling questions over, do you ever find that side of things a bit uncomfortable?

I don’t find it uncomfortable per se, but since I like to mull things over, some things that should be said tend to be left unspoken because of the limited time. English also isn’t my first language, and while I speak it okay-ish to an extent, that also causes some slight issues when it comes to properly expressing myself every now and then.

In terms of your visibility, it’s somewhat of a paradox that at a time when you are experiencing an upsurge in people checking you out, you often reference on social media that a lot of your posts don’t have much visibility. It’s a sentiment shared by a lot of artists and brands that use Facebook, where reach is severely compromised unless you pay for advertisements, in turn devaluing a lot of the appeal people saw in the platform to start with. With habits on social media constantly changing and evolving, do you see a point where bands look elsewhere to keep fans informed?

I think we are in the middle of that shift right now, as bands are constantly trying out different platforms and mediums to be able to reach their fan base, and the same goes for us. I do think that anyone who finds any band or music worthwhile, should also make the effort to stay informed and up to date with them, as none of that can be taken for granted these days. Like you said, the organic reach on Facebook is utter bullshit, and people can’t really rely on that anymore, if they ever could. We’ve gotten some affirming comments to our ”social media sucks” posts from people who haven’t seen anything we post for months prior to those, and it’s very much paradoxical, like you said.

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Independent to your audio output, Fawn Limbs have a very distinct vision in terms of your art as well, having collaborated with the likes of Christwvrks and Artur Poterski. How important is the visual element to the band and is this anything you’d ever want to expand on moving forward?

The visual aspect is just as important to us as the music itself, and we’re working on expanding and extending that side of our essence in the nearer future to the best of our ability. That means both internal growth and collaborating with fitting people.

You dabble in art on the side as well, having not only formed the artwork for Sleeper Vessels, but also has done artwork for the likes of UK band Ba’al as well. Artistically, where you draw influence from and what do you look to portray in your art?

I’ve always found the idea of stillness speaking to you somehow fascinating.

A single picture can convey an unbelievable amount of different ideas and renditions, and this is something I’ve experienced both as a viewer and as an artist. I draw influences from wherever really, but usually I get a mental image that’s an amalgamation of abstract feelings and sometimes more tangible ideas, and then I do my best to forge those into reality. While it’s always been obvious to me that I want to be in charge of the visuals of my bands, or most of them at least, it’s been quite strange to have other people and bands enquire about my possibilities and interests to work for them as well. It’s humbling above all, but also gives me a new kind of drive, a new set of motives, and a varied overall ambition to work with. I think that people should be able to see everything in their own way, which is also why I very rarely underline any certain aesthetical choices or ideas to be found in my artworks, as I think trying to force my way of thinking to others is just inane and useless. Like the artwork of Sleeper Vessels for example; even though it’s open for interpretation, it bears a significance and a singular meaning to me, and if you read the lyrics and pay attention to what I write about, you can connect the dots yourself. I’m not going to do that for you.

Merch excellence, courtesy of Christwvrks

Ba’al’s “Ellipsism” Artwork, designed by Eeli from Fawn Limbs.

As an aside, This album is an utter banger.

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I understand the band has a few other projects on the go too, one of which features a Cannibal Corpse member right?

Yes, that’d be a project called Devil Worshipper that Lee takes part in. Each of us have a wide array of other bands indeed, including but not limited to; Artificial Brain, Mireplaner, Luminous Vault, Alphanumeric, Fargue, Lung Knots, Aeviterne, Lähdön Aika, elinguis, Gutterfucker, Sulphur Nurse, and the list goes on and on. Some of these bands and projects have material out already, some have it in the pipeline. We all do session works in addition as well.

Not being a live-performing entity is somewhat of a non-issue lately, how have you kept yourself focused over the last year so and are there any plans forming for the future currently?

We’ve kept ourselves in line by writing and recording music, for the mentioned endeavours and beyond (I’ve been working on my first art book, for an example). And strictly Fawn Limbs related, we’ve fully finished our third album that’s to be released later this year, hopefully around the end of summer already. I’ve jokingly said that we put all this work into garnering an audience for ourselves only to do what we’re about to do next and alienate each and every single one of them. We’ll see how that pans out.

Last words. Go. Fawn Limbs are Behave yourselves.

Eeli Helin - Vocals, guitars, noise Lee Fisher - Drums Samuel Smith - Bass For more Information see below http://fawnlimbs.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/fawnlimbs

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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

Out now on CD and Cassette exclusively via F H E D Available via www.FHED.Bandcamp.com

There are people out there that aren’t hugely into The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. I don’t know who these people are.... quite frankly I don’t want to know who them, nor do I want any sass from people compelled to argue that The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion was a better game.

With the setting of Skyrim being rich in creative influence, it was only a matter of time before its mastery permeated into people’s music; the game has been out about a decade now and released across pretty much every console existing, so shout-out to everyone who made Skyrim-themed music before now but simply never got recognised for it.

Born from the mind of Serena, who you may best know for their work with Svalbard (as well as the really cutesy artwork she’s done), Noctule throws Black Metal and Skyrim into the all-seeing Venn Diagram and sets up shop in the content-rich crossover area. Never deterred from an opportunity to chat shite about Skyrim, I reached out to interview them within hours of the album being announced.

So we’ve been drip-fed information about Noctule over the last couple of months about Noctule and your upcoming release Wretched Abyss, out soon via Church Road Records and Translation Loss; how long have you been sitting on this project and do you ever get itchy-feet waiting for music be out there in the public-sphere?

I started writing this album in March 2020 during the first lockdown in the UK, but I have been sitting on some of these riffs for many years before that! It was so nice to finally have the time to record them :) I'm actually really nervous about this album being in the public sphere, as I poured so much of myself into it! I can't blame any criticism on other band members haha!

With the project being seen as a solo-venture of yours, did you have any reservations about not being able to detach the project from your previous accomplishments and exposure through Svalbard?

Nah, I'm not too worried about living up to the accomplishments of Svalbard, I make music purely for the enjoyment and passion that comes with creating. So it doesn't really matter to me if this solo project isn't as popular, the goal for me is always to just to write music that makes me happy. I'm lucky that I can say I've done that with both bands.

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I follow you on Instagram so have seen dribs and drabs of you toying with Black Metal in the past, how long have you been working towards writing this album and pursuing your own standalone Black Metal Project?

I've had the riffs in my head for years, I'd bring them to Svalbard practise and the guys wouldn't dig’em, so into the solo bank they went haha! Then, finally, thanks to lockdown, I had the time to turn all the little bits of ideas into fully fledged solo songs. I've always wanted to go back to my black metal roots, as I actually recorded 3 albums on my 4 track as a teenager. So doing this wasn't really new to me. It's really liberating to write music on your own and not have to compremise your ideas with bandmates.

Word on the street is this isn’t your first foray into Black Metal either?

Yeah, I formed a black metal band when I was a teenager, I wrote all the music, got a little live band together and we managed to play some cool shows with the likes of Gallhammer and Genghis Tron etc :)

I also hear (and have seen) that you’re a massive dork for Power Metal too?

HELL YES! If I were musically talented enough, I would love to play in a Power Metal band. But that genre is brimming with the most insane talent already, I feel I wouldn't have anything good enough to contribute to the scene! The playing and song writing standard is so damn high! My favourite power metal band at the moment is Orden Ogan, boy do they know how to write a chorus!

I also love Gloryhammer, Symphony X, Rhapsody, Avantasia, Powerwolf, Twilight Force...I could go on and on haha!

So most people will likely be able to relate to the way in which the universe of Skyrim draws people in and makes them invest on a level unseen in many other games; few have gone as far as writing an album about it though... discuss.

The idea came about so naturally. During lockdown, I was writing this album and I was playing a lot of Skyrim. I started to notice that the game was really influencing and inspiring the music I was making, and as soon as I got the spark of the idea to try and connect the music I was making to the world of The Elder Scrolls, it all fell into place super quick. Black metal and Skyrim go hand in hand, I think!

Warning: Things are going to get a bit dork for a bit. If Skyrim is not your cup of Tea, you can either skip a page or two, or accept that your views may not align with this article outright

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Do you agree it was total bullshit for the Blades to give you shit about not killing Paarthurnax?

Like, they’re remnants of a dying creed, whilst Paarthurnax is a helpful Dragon who will gladly share knowledge where appropriate, one clearly offers more than the other.

Fuck the Blades, they don't do anything anymore!

Paarthurnax is so wise and lovely, I wish he could be my friend in real life!

Do you relate to the Imperials or the Stormcloaks more? Or are you just dead-neutral and refuse to engage in that Hornet’s nest of a discussion.

Paarthurnax: Sound Guy, shares knowledge with you, clearly puts time into everything he says, probably the most Metal elderly being ever other than Christopher Lee (RIP)

Hahaha I am dead neutral, I haven't joined either on my latest character build! I prefer the questline for the Stormcloaks but I don't agree with all of their politics!

Despite the Stormcloaks inherently drawing favour due to the rebellious nature of their cause and the idea of resistance to external forces dictating rule in Skyrim, each time I revisit the game I can’t shake off their limited view of what constitutes as a “Nord”, as well as the frequent cases where they show prejudice to Redguards, Dunmer/Dark Elves, Argonians and Khajiit. It’s actually quite remarkable how arguments over the Stormcloaks being prejudiced can heat up on the internet, so I couldn’t resist but get you to weigh in on the subject.

The Stormcloaks do seem really prejudice to me, they're kinda like the BNP of Skyrim. I struggle to relate to their outlook, especially as an Argonian character at the moment.

The Blades: Bitter because they underestimated the Thalmor and got their asses handed to them, operate in secret, there’s only two of them left so they hold no real influence but they still want you to kill Paarthurnax because they’re utter butts.

Favourite Skyrim Literature: Are you a fan of the “Kolb and the Dragon” Choose-your-own-adventure book, or do you partake more of the Lusty Argonian Maid (i.e. the best and worst book in Skyrim)?

I proudly possess both volumes of The Lusty Argonian Made, what a book haha! The way that Kolb and The Dragon is essentially an RPG within an RPG is also cool. I also like The Cake and The Diamond, it teaches you to never trust a mage!

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The diversity of fighting styles and choices in the game can show a lot about people’s characters too; what’s your armour/weapon setup of choosing?

Yes, this is so true. Firstly, it should go without saying that anyone who plays a sneaky archer is boring haha. I have 2 one-handed weapons, no shield. An Elven Sword (hence the song on my album about that) and a Chillrend. Annoyingly, some of the 2 handed weapons like the Warhammers look so cool and beautiful, but I find them too clunky to use effectively :( I wear heavy armor, at the moment I have a nice set of Orcish armor on.

Despite the Forsworn wearing virtually no armour at all and generally being weak pieces of shit, they also put up a huge fight and inherently can be quite dangerous if you decide to take on a whole camp; do you ever wonder behind the physics of warriors fighting in fur and bone-necklaces withstanding damage that would absolutely decimate your average town-guard?

Well after having The Reach stolen from them I guess the Forsworn are very thick skinned! I understand the point you are making though, they are disproportionately tough!

The geography of Skyrim is something to behold? Which city do you typically base yourself out of and what’s your favour discovery so far?

I base myself out of good old Breezehome in Whiterun :) classic! Sovngarde is my favourite place in Skyrim though, that beautiful sky! The first time I went there I cried it was so magical.

Did you ever see that video Bethesda released where they showed some of the concepts the team put together after the game’s release? Hearthfire / Dawnguard / Dragonborn were born out of some of the concepts in the video, but there were also some concepts like water-arrows and giant enemy crabs that didn’t make the cut.

No! I wasn't aware of this! I need to see this video :) Giant enemy crabs sounds very interesting! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PedZazWQ48 or search Bethesda Game Jam 2011).

Anyway, before I go off on a Skyrim tangent I suppose I should return to Bandstuff; whilst labelled somewhat of a solo-project, I believe you have a backing band of sorts, where did you source the members? Is it just essentially Svalbard in disguise or did you look further afield?

Basically, I wrote and recorded 90% of the music. Then my housemates heard me writing it and got involved too. I'm very lucky to live in a house full of metalheads. Matt Francis, helped me write 2 tracks on the album - namely Evenaar and Deathbell Harvest, he also mixed and mastered the album. Rhys Griffiths helped me programme the drums. So my housemates became my bandmates! Now we just need to find a bassist haha.

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When Noctule eventually performs live; can I get a percentage likelihood that you’ll all play in Dragon-Priest masks and robes that completely disguise the identities of all band members? Is this even something that you’ve considered?

I am considering robes and some sort of Skyrim based outfits, but getting bandmembers to agree to dressing up is proving difficult. I also want to have a projector behind us playing scenes from the game, and a snow machine for when we play the song Winterhold!

Same question, but with Dragon/Daedric Armour (there are plenty of tutorials on how to make this apparently).

Ohh God, I would love to wear daedric armour on stage, maybe one day I can make that happen!

On the subject of live shows, you’ve been booked in to have your first live show at Incineration Festival, a rather snazzy occasion several years in the making that will see Emperor make a much-welcomed return to the UK. Now that we dare dream of better days ahead, do you have a vision of playing live shows before then or are you wanting to keep your first show as overpowered as possible?

Hahaha good question! I'm really hoping that we manage to play one or 2 shows before we share the stage with Emperor! Talk about a crazy first show!

With the new album out anytime now, bookers and fans alike filling their diaries with potential dates, how do you see this year playing out given your pre-existing commitments to Svalbard and any other projects that tie into Noctule?

I'm really looking forward to being busy with music again, especially touring and just doing the thing I'm passionate about as opposed to just working my day job and waiting for life to start again. It's going to be a bit of a juggling act with 2 bands, but I can't wait for both Noctule and Svalbard to be playing live. Who knows, maybe some day I might get to perform 2 sets at one festival..!

Wretched Abyss is out May 24th via Translation Loss and Church Road; for more information follow the linkeroos below https://noctule.bandcamp.com https://www.facebook.com/NoctuleBand

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Ah the exuberance of youth, wanting to hit every show, absorbing influence like a sponge wherever you can find it, the willingness to want to do everything yet none of the know-how to go about it. Of course, every now and then there’s those people who just catch on straight away and make us all look like fools. Knoll are very much the latter, barely adults and have already released one of the spicier offerings of 2021. I checked in with them to see how they are finding the experience.

It shouldn’t suprise me, yet with the exception of Job for a Cowboy I can’t think of any other extreme bands who hit the ground running at such a relatively young age; what are your collective backgrounds and how did Knoll come to form?

We were all barely in high school when we started the band - I was fifteen. Evan, our guitarist, and I played in School of Rock together and ended up meeting Lukas, our bassist, through some local shows. We ended up cycling through some members while we were writing Interstice and Drew and Ryan ended up coming along to help us do that. I ended up playing drums on our debut out of necessity, but we ended up finding Jack to play drums for us when we moved out to Nashville after pressing the record. Thank you for noticing! It’s definitely hard being young but we’re grateful to be doing what we’re doing in our youth.

When starting out, were there any lessons you learnt the hard way or look back on now and cringe a little?

Oh, one hundred percent. There’s too many to name, especially since we were so young and, frankly, still are. We’re still stumbling our way through being a band. We played our early shows with electronic drum tracks that I recorded and then had a moderate upgrade to a shitty drummer who is now banished in our local scene. That was definitely an ordeal and I’m glad to be rid of the burden. We actually started this band as an aimless southern death project before realizing what we needed to do and there’s some horrific material that will never see the light of day. We probably accepted too many shitty shows as well. Very happy to be learning!

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People outside the USA probably have a wide awareness of music movements in the Bay Area, New York, Richmond etc, but that same awareness probably doesn’t stretch as far as Memphis (where, for me, two things spring to mind: Three Six Mafia and Jerry “The King” Lawler). What’s the Memphis music scene like and what was it like to start out in Memphis?

Rap is definitely key here. A lot of the metal bills have some of the more hardcore rappers on there - shoutout to Big Lukah and HANNYA CHA0$. As for metal, the closest to our genre would be this awesome death sludge band, Autolith. Really great riffs and their drummer plays in Yashira, another fantastic band. Otherwise there’s a lot of hardcore, namely Reserving Dirtnaps who are a huge figure in the scene and put together a lot of shows. One of the beautiful things about the Memphis scene is that the hardcore dudes love the metal shit and the metal dudes love the hardcore shit - everyone is super welcoming. We have Brandon from Dirtnaps and Autolith to thank for showing us the ropes growing up in the scene and giving us the opportunity to get out there and play with people twice our age. We’ll always love Memphis.

With Deathgrind and extreme music being a niche genre in most places, did you ever find yourselves shoehorned into lineups where you didn’t fit in?

Definitely. We played on just about every bill we could, sometimes with punk or hardcore bands, sometimes with prog bands, sometimes with death metal bands but nobody ever bat an eye at us. I can’t wait to get back to playing shows, especially in Memphis. Since half of us relocated to Nashville there have been a couple of really extreme bands (BREAKING/ENTERING, namely) to crawl out of the woodwork and it’s gonna be an intense reunion.

I was reading up your feature with Echoes and Dust, where 3 very un-deathgrind albums were referenced as integral influences to you as a band; bringing it a bit closer to home, were there any particular bands or sounds you consciously/subconsciously tried to emulate when writing?

Oh yeah! We’re all over the place but we collectively love anything of the avant-garde, so just trying to create something striking and unsettling was always a priority. A lot of people have drawn the Full of Hell comparison, and of course we love that band because they rule, but we love noise integrated metal in general and ended up prioritizing improvising interesting textures in the studio. Everybody was listening to different facets of extreme music when we were writing, but for me the Jon Chang style of vocals has always been key to emulate. Lots of dark ambient textures came to mind towards the end of the record.

On the subject of writing; I’ve read that preparing for recording this album was quite a mentally and physically exhausting venture for all involved, would you care to elaborate?

Both the preparation and the recording were pretty exhausting, as incredible as the experience was. We spent ages preproducing the album and finalizing each and every facet before recording.

Most of the lyrics and song titles came to me very shortly before we left for Chicago, and I was further stressed with the double duty of also recording drums. Financially, I had to work my ass off to pay for the record and never really got a break. We were novices to the efforts of such a major project and the mental stress carries throughout the body, for sure.

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Given you’re writing such extreme and emotionally-charged music, as well as extreme music’s capacity to play fast and burn out faster, do you see yourself being able to write/record music in such a fashion longterm?

I’m sure that when we are decrepit we will be playing slower, but the music will always be extreme and continue to get more so. We aim to be a prolific band and don’t want to compromise the intensity of the music. All we want to do is tour and write - that is what we’ll be doing for as long as physically possible.

It’s commonplace these days for bands to test the waters with a Demo or EP before going all-in with an album; 10/10 a ballsy move to go straight to an album on first release. How long had you been working towards the album and was their any hesitation going all-in on an LP release whilst still figuring out your audience?

Thank you! The album was under serious thought for a couple of years. We actually put out a demo a long time back but knew that we wanted our first release to be a full length. Our conceptuals are too involved to be expressed in a shorter format and I honestly would have hated to only put out an EP. It was a ton of work to do this starting off, as every band just wants to put out music as soon as possible, but the patience and effort was worth it. Regarding the audience, we put out what we wanted to put out with no real expectation of reception or anything like that. It’s insane to us that we’ve garnered what we have.

Interstice, your debut album, came out earlier this year and is an utter rager; did you anticipate the album going down as well as it has?

We’re so proud of the record but there’s been so much shit to fly by our heads that is just hard to comprehend. We read every review of the album and will never take it for granted. There was definitely hope that this record would put us on the map in some way but it’s ended up taking us into so many positive directions and we’re overly stoked about it.

I am correct in saying that, whilst Sludgelord distributed the record in Europe, there were no other labels involved?

We aren’t signed or anything, but Steve and Becky from Prosthetic helped us out a ton with general guidance and releasing music. These two are great friends. We financed everything involving the record ourselves.

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There’s a lot of gnarly themes and general resentment going on in the record; could you break the tracks down for us and go through what your headspace was like when writing them?

I don’t tend to directly write about personal experiences much, but writing lyrics is a deeply personal thing for me. There’s a lot of metaphor and veiling on the record to help convey the general agony of being over the minuscule happenings of an individual. It’s difficult to convey what I want to convey in what tends to be a shorter length song, so the language tends to be quite verbose. To break down each song individually is difficult, but there are many themes of spiritual abandonment, mental disarray, cosmology, nihilism, human insignificance, and atrocity prevalent on the record. That being said - writing these things is mentally taxing. I get headaches when putting these notions into words and I have to be alone when I’m doing it.

Unhappiness is definitely a necessary inspiration here.

You have Ethan McCarthy, who people may also know as being part of Primitive Man, put together the artwork for the album. Cards on the table, I have no idea what’s going on in the artwork for Knoll; how much instruction did you give Ethan and to what extent did you just let him run rampant with the concepts?

Ethan is insanely talented. When we hit him up to do the art, I sent him the unmastered record, our lyrics and explained thought concepts, and some art we liked. Most everything else was him.

There are elements within the art that he conjured that immediately clicked with us - the door, the infinistair, and the anguished being on the front to be specific. The only thing that wasn’t his creation was the geometric figures on the inner gatefold. These are the “prism,” specific to the first single, and “weave,” a geometric representation of the cymatic pattern for A0, which represents all that is outside of Interstice. The record starts and ends with power electronics as an honoring of the mundane and continuous forces surrounding existence.

Ethan McCarthy wasn’t the only seasoned set of hands drawn in to work on the record, with Kurt Ballou being drafted in to mix the record, and Brad Boatright at Audiosiege for mastering. As a first release, where it’s rare that money is readily available in plentiful amounts, was there ever any reservations in respect to costs going out of control for a debut release?

For sure - we’re a super young band, so I worked and was pulling seventy hour weeks between high school and teaching swim lessons in the couple of years before we recorded. It was always a necessity for the band to go as grand as we could for the first release. We had put too much work into Interstice to engineer it with people we weren’t thrilled about. It was incredibly difficult, but I think that having a well produced record straight off the bat was hugely beneficial.

Do you see yourself working alongside a label for future releases or are you happy with how things are currently?)

Honestly, we’re unsure right now. We’ve handled everything on our own so far - pressing Interstice and a couple more upcoming releases, doing our own distribution, et cetera. I love this aspect of the band and we always want to have a hand in everything that we do, but being under a label like Prosthetic or Relapse or something would be awesome!

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With the writing/recording process being a tiring affair, and the process of releasing a record inherently being a knackering process, where do you see Knoll going from here?

Everywhere we can. We have a lot of ambitions to tour and travel wherever our bodies can handle and release music as frequently as possible. We have two more 7” releases planned for this year and are putting out a second album next year. Hope to be doing nothing but these two things as soon as the situation allows

Final words?

Check out our Roadburn set if you haven’t! We played some new material for it that’s coming out later this year. Thank you for listening.

For more information, follow the links below www.knollvhs.bandcamp.com/ .www.facebook.com/KnollVHS/

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Looking at this point last year; Celestial Sanctuary’s Demo had sold out on its 2nd run, I’m pretty certain Endless Disappointment Zine was on the cusp of finishing Issue 6 (Budgetary Thunderdome) and we were all still jazzed on the prospect of everything slowing down a bit.

Fast forward a year, we’re at Issue 13, everyone is burnt out on all this lockdown business and I’m interviewing Celestial Sanctuary for the 2nd time in a year; run out of people to feature? not quite, more that since I spoke to Tom he’s gone and released one of the best Death Metal albums of the year so far. I like keeping in touch with him too, so it made a lot of sense really to bring him back for another issue.

A lot has changed since when we interviewed you in Issue 9, care to brief readers in on what’s been going on the last 9 months or so?

9 months ago seems like a different lifetime but feels like last week at the same time, ha! Feels like tonnes has happened, but also not much...I think 9 months ago we’d just finished working on the album...Or it was nearly done! Other than that - I feel like I know the village I live in like the back of my hand and could probably provide the national trust or whoever with a very detailed map of all the public footpaths around here. I get excited when I see them little green signs now. What the fuck even is life now hahah

So Soul Diminished came out recently, looking forward to my copy arriving anytime soon, I assume you’re suitably jazzed about how it’s all gone down?

Ah honestly - I’m actually blown away by it y’know? Doing the album was quite literally just ‘something to do’ - so it’s just nuts to see all these people postings pics of their records/merch, Dom Lawson being into it and the amount of people I’ve met and become friends with through doing this. That is honestly the highlight for me - just the amount of people I end up talking to and buzzing off of cool shit together. It’s just a real pure thing y’know? - and in a time of isolation, it’s a real positive thing to take away from it all.

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With having two labels directly involved, and another to release it exclusively on cassette, did the PR buildup and obligations burn you out at all?

In a way - yeah, but I don’t wana sound negative about it! And I think this is the point most bands/artists will start to feel the fatigue - you know that episode of The Simpsons where Homer is climbing the Murderhorn (powered by Powersauce bars lol) and he gets to what he think is the top, and then the clouds move and there’s basically a whole other mountain to climb. But like I say, I don’t want to sound negative because I’ve loved every moment! But when your head is so IN something it’s normal to get a bit burnt out.

You recently released a video in promotion for Soul Diminished, am I right in saying you shot that yourself?

That’s right! So in between my old band breaking up, the way I kept my foot in the proverbial scene door was doing music videos n shit for bands. It’s something I’ve loved doing to be honest and I’ve met a TONNE of cool and worked one some really amazing projects. Like I’ve done videos for Orange Goblin, Vision of Disorder, Nine Covens and like 100s more. It’s something I’m really proud of - I didn’t study it at uni, I just picked up a camera and started shooting and it’s given me a lot of cool experiences that I really value.

I have reason to believe you’ve been sitting on this release quite a while as well?

Haha yeah I alluded to the album being done like 9 months ago...honestly, I thought it would be out like a month after that! How dumb is that haha? But yeah it feels like it was finished a million years ago and it’s been hidden away in a tomb or something.

Of course this isn’t the first time you experienced a lot of buzz around a project, with your old band This is Colour gaining some decent momentum back in the day. Aside from being older (and theoretically wiser), how would you compare the two experiences? Are there any comparisons between the two?

Ahhhh when I look back at that - I realise I had no fucking clue what I was doing (I say ‘I’ because like this band, I was the one kinda managing it all behind the scenes). We were just a bunch of 19 year olds who wanted to go on road trips, drink beer and skate badly in places we’d never been. But yeah - there was a lot of missed/wasted opportunities because we didn’t know what we were doing. Plus the team we had around us was absolute trash as well - and I feel like I’ve been able to be a good judge of character since. But the main thing I’ve learned is just to be more sure of what we have, what we want and what we wana say. And I’ll always take the opportunity to say the guy who recorded that TIC album was a fucking cunt lol (Neema - wherever the fuck you are...FUCK YOU you piece of shit)

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We’ve interviewed Pupil Slicer in this issue as well, and I will pose the same question to you as well. Having gained your momentum during a time where shows simply were non-existent, as a band you come out of backdown in a very different set of circumstances compared to when you went in. Not only have you got representation in the UK and US, your profile means you’ve possible surpassed the stage in a band’s life where they play every shitty show under the sun in order to gain visibility. Is there any degree of pensiveness playing live with a lot of expectation already in place?

Yeah - you’re totally right. Like this is really unknown territory and coming up through hardcore and the underground scenes, I can’t help but feel like a bit of a ‘fake’ or like I’ve cheated the system, getting to this point without playing a show (by which I mean having an album out and people are already listening to it). But then again - fuck that! I’m very much of the mindset of progress, and I think this will probably be the case for a lot of bands over the next couple years. At the end of the day it’s all art and it’s all entertainment. No doubt there will be people sulking that some bands will come out of all this doing alright for themselves and yeah - not having to open a show in Telford on a Tuesday night to get their name about (and I’m not referring to ourselves at this point to be clear). But you know what - that’s some boomer energy and things will change so people should deal with that. Nah, personally I don’t feel pensive about it all. At this point I’ve played in so many bands and played so many shows that in a way it just feels like a continuation of that. And with regards to the expectation it’s important to try to ignore that - as there’s no way you can live up to everyone’s expectations.

Just gotta play as hard as we can and hope people dig it.

Looking towards the future of CS, how do you see Celestial Sanctuary operating as a live entity?

Do you plan to play every show under the sun or are you going to be more strategic about it?

It’ll have to be a more selective and strategic thing to be honest. Not out of arrogance or laziness - but with all of us being in our early 30s, we’ve all got careers to hold down. We’ve all got other bands and most importantly serious relationships and families which have to take priority. Plus I’ve done the whole ‘playing every show that’s thrown our way’ so many times. If I was an amp being sold on eBay I’d describe myself as ‘severely road worn - purely cosmetic but tolex could do with replacing’.

I’ve had some of the best times of my life doing all of that, but it can be exhausting. And maybe that’s not the best way to operate. But yeah - in no way am I saying that because we have an album out, that we deserve a main support slot on academy shows and that's all we’ll play. I still wana play this shit in a lock-up of some back room of pub that isn’t fit for purpose.

A lot of bands have come up during Lockdown as well, any that you’re keen on playing with?

For sure! I think we both know Vacuous is at the top of the list. I know Cryptic Shift and SlimeLord have been about a while before all of this, but I think they’ve really hit their stride now so I’m gona lump them in with this. Same goes for Coffin Mulch. Pupil Slicer as well - I’ve not spoken with them, but they seem like a cool bunch of people!

Another question I will pose to you as well, to what extent are you open to playing an utter sweatbox of a rehearsal space in Cardiff?

As wide open as the Salar De Uyuni mate haha. But yeah - so down for that.

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Speaking of the live sphere, one of which I’m not overly convinced we’re ready to return to anytime soon, but one that has got people excited for the future all the same, a lot has changed over the Pandemic.

First of all, Brexit now means European bands lack automatic freedom of movement to the UK and ultimately the paperwork required may make one-off appearances or even small-scale tours unviable; secondly, travel restrictions have in turn made it harder to schedule a cohesive tour around select festival dates and thus many bands have had to pull out. Bloodstock is a good example of this, where a few noteworthy bands have had to drop out, and in exchange greater focus has been placed on UK bands that normally may not be given the same slot/opportunity; to what extent do you think these factors will force longterm change?

Great question - I think what people need to remember is that Underground music (whatever genre) has always been a reactionary movement. Making the most with what we have and doing what we want - it has always been that way and what makes it so special. And I’m not someone who often cites the past as ‘the glory days’ because music and the scenes are always evolving and getting better. That being said...for a while it’s seemed almost too cushty up until recently. Like for a while there was a big ol’ hyped band coming over from the states week in week out it seemed, and maybe too much reliance was placed on that and people would choose to go see that American band over something else just for that reason. But if we think back to like 2007-2009 (That's my personal reference point and I’m sure there has been other periods). There’d be all dayers/fests happening all over the country every other weekend, made up of U.K. bands with the odd international act sometimes. And them shows were always RAMMED. So I think naturally with a bit more focus being given to homegrown bands people will start to realise, give them their time / money and in turn it’ll develop the quality of bands we produce over here once again. I don’t think it’s doom and gloom and I don’t think we’ll be cut off from the world. There’s always ways around the paperwork - there will be a teething period. But bands we’ll all figure out the loop holes n shit over time - I have no doubt about that.

Looking back at Covid and the restrictions its placed on how people consume music, do you think there’s any key lessons to learn from the last year or so?

I’ve gotten the impression that a majority of people have only recently realised the importance of supporting artists/labels through purchasing physical media. Like it sounds obvious, but if you’re not on the business end of it, then you may not understand that. Why would Banter boy Bob who works in procurement know how shit the royalty rates are from Spotify? But I know in all of this, there’s people who only streamed before have started collecting records or tapes. And I think it’s important that people keep that up and keep asking how they can support.

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“Virtual Concerts”, quite frankly I found the idea of bands playing in an empty-venue as if there was a crowd to be quite disheartening, but there have also been a few that followed a more cinematic feel and seemed to be more about telling a story than a music performance. What’s your weigh-in regarding virtual concerts and what would you look for in terms of an ideal virtual performance (in the absence of actual gigs of course).

Yeah I’m with you on that. When the first ones started coming out it just looked depressing. I can’t remember which one it was, but there was some euro festival that even had like a CGI stage and CGI pyro - like that’s so fucking wack haha. But then bands like Frozen Soul had a cracking idea with making an actual event of it by including some of their mates just playing in their practice space. And that’s just real y’know? Like there’s absolutely no way you can emulate a live show, so don’t even attempt that - it’s a new format and as long as That's embraced, as long as it sounds half decent and as long as the band wants to be doing it then I’m here for it!

Once gigs come back around, do you see the concept of virtual gigs being kept around the same way huge bands would occasionally do Pay Per View shows?

Yeah, you know - like the frozen soul one I mentioned was cool. And Gatecreeper did something similar too. I think it’s a really cool idea. In fact I’d say shit like that is way more relevant than a music video (shitting on the industry I work in haha) but it’s way more sincere isn’t it.

Like...actually playing and filming/editing it well is way cooler in my opinion. Again - like back in the day we’d buy videos/DVDs of bands playing shows and in a way I see it as a modern day equivalent. It’s just another way to consume a band and another revenue stream, So why not!

So the hard work has been done for Soul Diminished, are you working on anything now or do you plan on taking a break for a bit?

Yeah we haven’t stopped really. We just did a cover song for a Noxious Ruin compilation, a bonus track for the tape version of the album, recorded a session for a live stream and then we’re straight into writing for a couple of splits and then it’ll be straight onto album 2! God help me!!

Celestial Sanctuary’s Debut Album “Soul Diminished” is out now via Translation Loss and Church Road Records, and on Cassette via Sewer Rot. Keep an eye out, it’s only a matter of time until the hype machine goes into full effect.

For more information, check out the following links. https://celestialsanctuary.bandcamp.com/ https://facebook.com/CelestialSanctuaryDeathMetal

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So you see, if you didn’t read Issue 12 (onlookers start booing), it wasn’t just me who wrote everything. That’s right, I got help in (Booing intensifies).

So Tori, who runs a Youtube Channel called Purgatory (looking at all manner of things from music to movies and other stuff) and a reviews blog (Purgatory Reviews on Instagram) dispelled supreme knowledge on us about the early days of Texas Death Metal and some of the people who formed an integral part of the early Death Metal movement in Texas.

I didn’t think I had enough room in the last issue (which is ludicrous in hindsight as I clearly did) so this article about the history of Texas Death Metal has now spread into a two-parter.

Warning: A LOT of bands are namedropped in this article.

From Dallas, Brad Fincher had started off with Necrocide (‘94-’96) & after splitting, this mastermind created entity, Devourment; people noting him for his insane gravity blasts which rolled off so eloquently, generating a disgustingly brutal death metal styled composition, vicious technique, & distinct tone. By gathering different factors of his favorite influences ranging from Sepultura to Mortician, it all was essential in changing the game for future waves of metal drummers. Steady pause away between 2001-2014, he rejoined for 2019’s “Obscene Majesty”, showing he hasn’t lost his touch and without his contribution, Devourment would cease to exist... scary thought isn’t it? “Molesting The Decapitated” LP (1999) & “1.3.8” (2000) was Devourment’s climactic points, catapulting them to becoming one of the ruthless acts of the underground metal scene. TXDM emphasized heavily on slam & brutal death metal schemes, savagely rich toned breakdowns with a touch of groove and rugged character, latently crossing musical (and visual) boundaries. Reign of Terror (El Paso) put out 3 demos & monstrous (2001) LP “Threnody of The Impaled”, using more intro samples and featuring one of my favorite bass lines by CJ Holguin on “Uteral Incision” during their brief time (‘98-’03) together.

Then you have diverse drummer, Dobber Beverly, raised out of Shepherd, he credits Ken Schalk (Candiria), Craig Smilowski (Immolation, Goreaphobia), Jim Roe (Incantation), Xytras (Samael), and Gene Hoglan (Dark Angel, Death) to be his influences; an eclectic bunch, makes sense; he’s seen the ups and downs of when TXDM began, being part of bands Braced For Nails, Images of Violence, Insect Warfare, and Viral Load. His catalog ranges from Brutal Death metal, Black Metal, Grindcore, and Progressive Metal, it’s as if he took the best traits of mentioned influences to put it all out within the range of some current projects he’s in: Malignant Altar, Oceans of Slumber, Ingurgitate, and War Master.... Where does one find the fucking time? Infernal Dominion (Houston), another band Beverley is part of by the way, “Salvation Through Infinite Suffering” LP gloriously meshed black metal & death metal style, from the logo to the writing, as well as the clear message proclaiming “Fuck Jesus Christ!” (figuratively.)

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By the millennium, Ingurgitate (‘00-present, Houston) with 2 LPs, both very riff driven, gave off a decomposing type of atmosphere in composition.

Vocalist/guitarist Shawn Whitaker was hatched in Zavalla, has an unmatched morbid cadence, carrying those gutturals to the end with proficient limb splitting guitar tone and his dexterity to use drum machine, perplexing those who can’t wrap their heads around how the recording seems manmade over an apparatus. A fierce musical presence that’s been present in the TXDM scene since the beginning, he is one bad motherfucker to be around. Insidious Decrepancy (Houston), another highlight of Whitaker’s career to give us classic (2002) LP “Decadent Orgy of Atrocious Suffering”, as of 2020 presenting an actual line up including: John Trammell (bass) from Demonseed, Mortifying Deformity, and Necrosis; newcomer Dale M. Zee on (partial?) drums as well as drummer Philip Cancilla from Nocturnal Wind, Malevolent Creation, and Incinerate. Meeting him while he did his Insidious Decrepancy set back in ‘12 was a highlight for me. He is a one man machine that has collaborated with Matti Way (Disgorge, Abominable Putridity), Jacoby Kingston (Deeds of Flesh), and Leonard “Lenzig'' Leal (Cephalic Carnage) while banded with Viral Load. Part of countless bands either for one album taking over vocals like he did for Grotesque Formation & Uncleansed, or be temporarily part of bands like Oppressive Force, Extremely Rotten, and Braced For Nails. Taking a long pause after converting to Christianity, he reemerged back into the scene earlier this year, reforming Insidious Decrepancy and putting out Shawn Whitaker EP “The Sickness Singularity”. Once popular hometown favorite of mine Grotesque Formation (Corpus Christi) featured Whitaker on vocals for (2006) LP “Basement Decompositions”, but at live gigs George Elizondo did vocals, always killed it at 00’s venue & also active with current project Busted Guts along with legendary Kevin Talley (Dying Fetus, Misery Index, & Feared).

Jon Zig, vocalist based out of Austin, the guy with crazy guttural Glen Benton style pitch and artist behind some of the most grizzly album covers for musicians from all over the underground metal scene & drew majority of TXDM covers from artists mentioned above. His earlier works in late ‘90s had a blurry palette scheme in comparison to current album covers he’s done in the last few years alone. Take for instance Prophecy, Sintury or Viral Load covers and compare to present day TXDM bands: Defiled Crypt, Architectural Genocide, and Whore of Bethelehem. You know it’s a Zig painting because it always commands your attention and gets a reaction out of you regardless from the gutsy detail and color schemes used. In addition, he’s a highly respected & sought after tattoo artist, marking numerous respectable musicians and fans globally to get ink done by his articulate hands. In 2003, Zig took on two projects: First being Images of Violence (‘03-present) includes bassist Mark Denton from Sarcolytic & Iniquitous as well as guitarist Steven Watkins from Infernal Dominion, Serpentian, and Sect of Execration. The other, Sarcolytic, which is basically Images of Violence lineup with brutally powerful drummer Ricky Myers (Disgorge, Suffocation, & Cinerary) with demo, split, and (2010) LP “Thee Arcane Progeny” under Unique Leader Records. Within this year also came about Braced For Nails (Houston), which was basically Infernal Dominion lineup; their (2010) release “Icons Above All Others’ ‘ less hostile concept to it.

Also active in black/death group Serpentian, released LP ``The Divine Harm ‘’ (2019) and has done guest appearances, most recently for Deeds of Flesh ``Nucleus’ ‘ (2020).

Within this year also came about Braced For Nails (Houston), which was basically Infernal Dominion lineup; their (2010) release “Icons Above All Others' ' less hostile concept to it. Also active in black/death group Serpentian, released LP ``The Divine Harm '' (2019) and has done guest appearances, most recently for Deeds of Flesh ``Nucleus' ' (2020).

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Luckily, the spirit of our great state hasn’t burnt out. The scene transitioned into assembling albums with better production & the modern equipment to amplify their sound, use of reverb and meshing more of BM, OSDM, doom riffs/tempo, balancing out the spectrum from being obscenely extreme, to dwindling down feeling you’re taking your last breath in the cavernous filled troposphere. Some groups like Nephilim Grinder (Houston) create opportunities to branch out internationally to collaborate with other musicians, this case with Russian drummer, Roman Tyutin to give a diverse flavor for TXDM. Then there’s a blessing of having plenty of TX natives come together and branch into side projects with other heavy hitters in the scene such as Malignant Altar (Houston) featuring members from Insect Warfare, Necrofier, Stagnant Youth, Church of Disgust, & Oceans of Slumber give a wonderfully blend of subgenres to construct an impressionable sound. One other credible group to mention within the recent years is Frozen Soul (Ft. Worth), who’ve recently been signed to Century Media releasing full length “Crypt of Ice” after their demo came about in 2019. They’re unique because of their schtick being numbing ice/cold/chilling/frost lyrical and visual theme, can you recall any southern band discussing brutally frigid death?..... Yea, thought so. Gives a new light other than grizzly gorey content we get too accustomed to. There’s also many upcoming acts being released yearly out this great state of mine and to help highlight some of these folks, included a list to check and keep eyes & ears peeled for. Thanks for checking this article out and keeping TXDM alive!

Contemporary TXDM Playlist Paingiver “Tomb of Flesh” Necrosis “Abducted By The Dead” Frozen Soul “Arctic Stranglehold” Malignant Altar “Nephilim Burial” Agonizing Torture “Displayed To Deter” Fleshrot “Twisted Visions Prevail” Mortuary Descent “Skeletonization” Serpentian “Draped in Dimensions As Skin” Reviled “Cranial Decimation” Baptized By Fire “Ritualistic Burning of The Dead” Abysmally Entombed "Condemned To Sodomy" Putrid Womb “Perpetual Punishment” Nephilim Grinder “Total Destruction Wave” Signs of Omnicide “Anomalies” Architectual Genocide "Gorge on Deceased" Church of Disgust “Drowned in Eldritch Slime” Flesh Hoarder “Hogtied and Deep Fried” Defleshed and Gutted “Anatomic Decreation” Urosepsis “Cutaneous Porphyria” Eros Rot “Lucid Dominion”

Aside from having an absurd knowledge for Texas and its Death Metal lineage, Tori deep-dives into the latest Underground Extreme Metal through her Instagram page PurgatoryReviews, and also runs her own show via the Purgatory Channel via Youtube.

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Puzzle corner Marketing are on their big-brain shit today, see if you can find some of their hottest ideas for sick merch that clearly has a tangible link to the artist and their primary creative output, and is in now way questionable or a waste of resources.

Across 2 - An Actual Cumrag 6 - Their own line of Kendall Mint Cakes 8 - Bikini/Hotpants with butt-wordplay on the back 10 - A Brick from his childhood home 11 - A Coffin Down 1- Their own Line of Italian Pasta 3 - Lava Lamps (Clue: Their Guitarist is in AEW) 4 - A Lightswitch that says “Exit Light” on it 5 - An Assortment of Dildos 7 - A Snuggee / Blanket

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Down 1 - Fleshgod Apocalypse // 3 - Everytime I Die // 4 - Metallica // 5 - Rammstein // 7 - Weezer Across 2- Tenacious D // 6 - British Sea Power // 8 - Mastodon // 10 - Eminem // 11 - Kiss

Writing music is hard, some people get lost in the moment and write some real hard shit, some people get lost in the moment and never find their way out of it, or regress to the lyrical maturity of an angry 13-year old. See if you can guess some of these profound lyrics from artists that were clearly flexing their rock-hard brains when writing.

1 - “Bitches suck my dick because I look like J.K. Rowling” 2 - “I’mma Make you my Bitch, Cake Cake Cake Cake” 3 - “And I get more ass than a toilet seat” 4 - “My Lifestyle Determines my Deathstyle”” 5 - “Hot Blood Running Cold as Ice”” 6 - “One Way Ticket to Hell and Back”” 7 - “An Omelette of Disease awaits your Noontime Meal” 8 - “Crush your bones, I kill your face” 9 - “I’m madly in anger with you” 10 - “If I waggle my ass like a dark prostitute, would you think less of me” 11 - “Looking like a Tramp, like a video vamp, demonlition woman can I be your Man”

8 - Manowar // 9 - Metallica // 10 - Metallica and Lou Reed / 11 - Def Leppard 1 - Lil B // 2 - Rihanna // 3 - Nate Dogg // 4 - Metallica // 5 - Megadeth // 6 - The Darkness // 7 - Misfits //

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Additional programming sounds great in theory, until that is you start shooting it and you realise you probably only have enough content to warrant 1 or 2 shows at best. Behold a quiz dedicated to some of the more trivial programming that has been put before us in the name of Entertainment.

Across 2 - Used to be a great Recap Show, then became Raw’s B-Show 5 - WCW’s B-Show, nobody wanted it or to be on it. Terrible Video Game too.

6 - WWE still tapes for this show, nobody knows why though 7 - WWE Network show disproportionately focused around Mick Foley’s Daughter 9 - WCW’s hour timeslot to allow lower-card talent to get meaningless wins over jobbers 10- TNA’s attempt to break into the Indian Market. Didn’t really work.

Down 1 - WWF Show where openers got wins over Jobbers. Samoa Joe was on it once 3 - Used to be shot in bars, quickly became a recap show 4 - TNA’s attempt to dig deeper into the UK Market. A few years too early, didn’t work.

8 - Smackdown’s B-Show, so the B-Show for a B-show.

Down 1 - Jakked // 3 - Shotgun // 4 - British Boot Camp // Velocity

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10 - Ring Ka King Across 2 - Heat // 5 - Thunder // 6 - The Main Event // 7 - Holy Foley // 9 - Saturday Night //

As a result of WWE’s obsession with absorbing the identities and video-libraries of defunct promotions, the WWE Network (or whatever the fuck it is now that NBC have licensed their content) has just become an absolute jumble of acronyms and content you’ll never watch aside from the few standout matches they promote on the main page?

Think you can find them all?

WCW

AWA

ICW

SMW

ECW

PROGRESS

EVOLVE

WWC

WCCW

WXW

GCW

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