Interview
We spoke to one half of
FROST: drums words: Dan J.G Mitchell
When you first planned the opera performance, how did you plan transferring the atmosphere of the studio songs to a different place with the opera? “Well, I think it was more a matter of trying to add something to the songs. We had an idea of what we wanted to achieve anyway, because we got to perform this one song ‘To The Mountains’ with the opera choir in Oslo. I found it sounded amazing and that we definitely wanted to do a full show of that sort with the opera choir, and special arrangements: not just for one song but for a full show. “We brought that idea to the opera choir, and it turned out that they also dig performing with us, that it was great and different, cool to work with Satyricon, so they were very up for it. And then we set about that whole project. “After having done that special performance, we basically knew what we were after already, and it was just a great project for us to bring the band Satyricon to the main hall of the opera house in Oslo, and bring the choir with us, and to have that very, very uplifting and still very vulnerable feeling. There are so many Satyricon songs that are almost made for having choir arrangements, so it was evident for us that it was going to be amazing, and it turned out to be pure magic.” Whose idea was it to do it as part of the festival it was involved with? “It was Satyr’s idea first and foremost, he’s the creative leader of the band so it’s quite natural that it came to him. And then he said that he definitely wanted to do a full show of the sort, and the rest of us in the band were definitely with him, and the choir was also very intent on making it happen… you could say that the idea came from Satyr in the first place, but it was completely necessary to be backed up by the choirmaster.” After the success of that show, could you ever imagine using the choir on a studio performance? “We haven’t really discussed it and thought that far. I mean, that could now be a possibility...
Genre:
Black Metal
“We haven’t really talked that much about adding a choir to the album, or creating room for that; just jamming and fooling around with ideas, letting new ideas be born. It could very well happen, when we get further with these jams and songs start to crystalise, that we feel that we would benefit from adding a choir.” In a previous interview, ‘The Age Of Nero’ was described by Satyr as a project which was the conclusion to a trilogy started by ‘Volcano’. Do you think that the ‘Satyricon’ self-titled is part of a larger thing, or does it stand on its own? “Yeah, I think in many ways, it’s the start of a new era. It started as something that was way more dynamic and creative and flexible than anything we’ve done before: by adding those dynamics to the music, having some low-key parts and a mixture of musical palettes. It has opened up lots of doors, and I know that we will go through several of those open doors with the new material that we’re jamming and composing these days. “I feel that last album revealed a lot to us, things that we were seeking for and things that we wanted to bring into Satyricon… [to] work on more dynamic music. We want to operate in a freer musical fashion, music in a broader sense.” Would you say that with your next material, you’re not going to be picking one direction and going with it, but you might be experimenting again with all these different elements? “At least one thing that can be said about the new material that we’re jamming on now is that it’s very varied. We’re not confining ourselves to any particular musical expression. “We’re going [in] lots of different directions; we’re doing low-key stuff, and we’re doing harder and more intense stuff. Sometimes we sound old school, sometimes we sound very creative, but we feel that we have reached a
Live At The Opera Out Now! (CD and DVD)
Napalm Records
situation where we can operate more freely in a musical sense. That feels very motivating, it’s a damn fine feeling. That’s the kind of thing that makes us feel inspired when we go to the rehearsal place. We know that good music will arise and gather in the rehearsal place, and we know that there are so many different possibilities, as many ways to go. And for a musician that likes to be creative, that’s the kind of feeling that you want to have when you’re playing.” Would you say that the experience you have between Satyricon and 1349, do you think they cross over in any way? “They certainly do, I mean both bands are black metal. There are definitely some similarities and some overlaps, but it’s perhaps more important that there are also very distinct differences, and I feel that I’m really in two different worlds. “Satyricon to me has a lot to do with the creative work of a genius composer (that is, Satyr), and I basically try to contribute to making compositions shine. But with 1349, it’s a very different beast. The music has almost been a lot about bringing this intensity and there is still some kind of musical current that is being unleashed through the band. “1349 is guided by this band spirit, and it’s a collective. Strangely it works for all of us in the band, and I think it’s connected to all of us personally, that it’s something more than just the sum of us in the band. It’s something that makes each and every one of us get into a very particular state of mind, and we gather as 1349, and make this corrupted different kind of music, than what we would have done on our own without that band.”
Interview
We talked to of
Dani Filth frontman and vocalist
Genre:
words: Demitri Levantis Is there a concept behind new album, Hammer of the Witches? “There isn’t really one. The artwork would lead you to believe it. I think people get used to the idea that we only do concept records as we’ve done four, but we don’t tie ourselves down like some. People predict there’ll be concept records with us, and we were so inundated with ideas: we went into the studio with about sixteen tracks and the producer Scott Atkins told us to trim some. “When you have to trim things it’s almost impossible to do a concept record. As with most Cradle stuff, it’s themed. It has a medieval history sort of theme.” Would you say it sounds similar to any other Cradle albums? “So far the only people who’ve heard it are journalists, so I can only speak for them. Some have compared it to other works, but that might be because it’s twin guitar based - and that’s because we had to find two new guitarists for our tour with Behemoth last year. They learnt a lot of old stuff from the Cruelty, Midian era, which was a good starting block when we wrote the new stuff.” Speaking as a Hellraiser fan, would you ever work with Doug Bradley or Clive Barker again? I’d like to work with Clive Barker, but he didn’t want to work with us. I think he’s lost the plot, in all honesty. That’s because I picked up his new book which has the Cenobites and the guy from one of his Books of Blood, and everyone was waiting for it for so long, and it’s rubbish. Literally.” Have any recent lineup changes influenced Cradle of Filth’s personality? Do you think it’s a completely different band to how it was 10 years ago? “Lineup-wise, it’s obvious and some people say the new album sounds like older stuff, but people who join the lineup have usually been fans of the band before and are versed in what we do. People see a new lineup change and think it’s a new thing and forget people have
Suffolk, England
“forget people have been there for a while, for instance Martin the drummer has been with us now for 10 years. Dan recorded on the last album so he’s been about four and Lindsey about three.” Are you planning on doing anything for your 25th anniversary which is coming up soon? “Well we actually go from our first album’s release. Anything before that I regard as the ‘hinterlands’, professionally. So it was the 20th anniversary last year. We sort of gestated for about 10 years before The Principle of Evil Made Flesh.” What’s the most requested song to play live by fans? “Her Ghost in the Fog. Or Nymphetamine.” Have you faced any moral panics of fanatical people since you appeared in the documentary ‘Living With The Enemy’ in 1998? “We did a full tour of Russia last year and it was in tandem with Cannibal Corpse and I think they had about six dates apprehended by a catholic group called God’s Will. And we had one and we didn’t cancel, the promoter moved us to another venue where the drum kit was bigger than the stage. So we didn’t play a full set, we got made up, signed everybody’s stuff and did some acoustic action and a Q&A. We got in this pretty famous Russian translator who was translating Tolstoy for the president at the time and he came back to the hotel and got drunk with us. I think that was the only incident recently. We still get the odd incident with the Jesus is a Cunt shirt.” Have you been banned from any countries? “China, but they ban everyone.” Do you think anything you’ve released recently could be deemed as equally offensive as the Jesus shirt? “Not sure.”
Hammer Of The Witches Out Now!
Nuclear Blast Records
What are the main literary or film influences behind Hammer of the Witches? “There’s no real epiphany to what influenced the album. I used to have a copy of Malice Maleficarum, and used to live in the house where Matthew Hopkins the Witchfinder General allegedly stayed, so it’s always been in my periphery. “Whenever I do get an album budget, I usually just go to Amazon and order a shitload of books to keep my brain ticking over, so not really. I read some science fiction lately, which isn’t very Cradle of Filth.” Do you remember Cradle of Filth being mentioned in The IT Crowd by Noel Fielding? “Yes, I remember someone saying we’d been mentioned on TV and I remember almost coughing up blood with laughter when I saw it.” How do you think the metal scene has changed in all the time that you’ve been contributing to it? “I don’t know. When I was young it was all Thrash versus Hair metal, and now everyone of my age is into Thrash metal from back in the day. People feel it’s something they can relate to. My wife’s dad, for instance only listens to sixties music and won’t move on.” Are there any bands you just love to play or tour with? “Type O Negative before Pete died and Moonspell we’ve done about 8 tours with. I know whom I’d like to play with but we play with so many different people. We’ve done so many I can’t think of anyone else whom we’ve toured with more than once.”
Interview
We spoke to Thomas Giles , lead vocals, keyboards and founding member of...
Genre:
words: Dan J.G Mitchell Your last two albums were a two-parter of one album. At what stage of creating this album did you realise that it was going to be one single piece of work? “Right when we started writing we knew we wanted to write another concept record, and we knew that we didn’t want to do the multiple record thing again. Our music’s so long anyway, this one clocks in at over seventy minutes, so you’re pretty much getting two records anyway. But who’s to say? The story might evolve at some point. “One thing about my writing is [that] I leave a lot of things open-ended, just in case I want to connect the dots later or add anything. So that’s been known to happen.” What do you mean exactly by that, “leaving it open”? “Well, I’ve just found various ways to connect old lyrics with newer lyrics, like for example The Parallax: there’s a lot of connections to even as far back as The Silent Circus, that I connected to The Parallax, and The Great Misdirect. “‘Swim To The Moon’ is the beginning of the entire Parallax story, and there’s also, on The Great Misdirect, a connection on “Fossil Genera” to The Parallax as well. So I always keep these stories and moments in mind, and there’s actually a connection on the new record with The Parallax. In one of the back stories the guy is living. “So yeah, it’s not always intentional, just sometimes it comes up and works really well. It’s fun for me to see that sometimes fans will notice these things. It’s cool to know that people will be getting that involved in the lyrics.” Having released another solo album of yours (“Modern Noise”) between this and the last Between The Buried And Me album, would you say that it’s influenced the way you approached the songwriting with BTBAM? “Well I think [with] any project outside of the band, you’re learning something. With anything, the more you do it, the more you learn and hopefully the better you get at that craft.
North Carolina, United States. Coma Ecliptic Out Now!
“With the solo stuff, I think the main component is a confidence thing. I definitely learned more about my voice by doing that last solo record, because I focused mainly on things apart from screaming. You just learn more about what you do, and it definitely helped me build my confidence and get better at writing vocals, and music in general. So I think it definitely helps.” When you do listen to music, is it metal or radio or? “Everything. I don’t listen to a whole lot of metal, honestly. I guess the only metal I’ve always listened to a lot of is black metal. But aside from that, I really like rock music and I listen to jazz a lot at home. It’s all over the place. If you go to my Twitter [@TommyBTBAM], I try to put albums I listen to every day.” Has black metal ever been something that inspired you creatively? “It’s kind of in there, but the thing with me and music is [that] I’m never like “I’m gonna write a part like that,” or something that sounds like this, it’s just in me I guess. “We have aspects of black metal in our music, and I really think that genre in general has always pushed the boundaries a lot. When you get into the more experimental bands like Dødheimsgard, Ulver, Borknagar and all that stuff: those bands are really pushing the limits and throwing the fans for a loop. “I think that [black metal] scene really intrigued me growing up, just because it was so different, and I almost look at our music in that way. We take risks a lot of times as well. Music like that always intrigues me, but I do love the traditional, fast, in-your-face pissed-off black metal too. There’s just something about black metal that’s always really stuck with me. It’s got an underlying melody that I always really enjoy. It’s just a great, great form of metal.”
Metal Blade Records
With this new album, it sounded to me like it has a longer attention span compared to some of your other work. Would you agree? “Yes, our music’s dense, there’s a lot going on. It’s always been that way, and I feel like, you have to pay attention. I know that’s not for everyone, and that’s fine, but I feel that this record is easier to digest than a lot of our material and hopefully it will gain some new fans through that. Do you feel there’s a risk of losing fans for the same reason? “Always, but you can’t let that determine what you’re gonna do, or how you’re gonna write, because the second you write something that’s not genuine to you, then it just feels forced. It’s easy to read that. I can hear that in bands.” When you’re writing new music, would you say that you’re keeping the old things in mind, or do you listen to the old albums when you’re looking at new music? “We definitely don’t listen to our old music, I think it’s in our DNA. The really unique thing about us is that there’s not a whole lot of talking about what something is going to sound like. “This record’s gonna be like this, or this song’s gonna be like this.” We always just start writing music together, and what happens happens. “I think it represents that moment in time very well, and wherever we are as musicians and as people very well. I think that’s important, because when I look back at our old material, it’s all very genuine and very honest, and really shows where we were at that moment. “I think with this new record, it’s the next logical step for us, and it was very natural, and feels really good for us.”
ALBUM Reviews Doom Metal Soulseller Records
on the two-part songs of ‘Cursed Sons’ and ‘Dishonour’. Gone are the acoustic interludes and the folk leanings. The trademark melancholic melodies are successfully retained, peppered with some creative drum fills, and each song is multi-faceted enough to warrant repeat listens. This marks the release as more than listenable but given the glorious discography of Drudkh, this is a far cry from their best effort.
Elena Francis
DemON eYE
Tempora Infernalia
With a name that is shared with a lesserknown Deep Purple song, it almost comes as no surprise when North Carolina-mob Demon Eye bear a surprising resemblance to classic ‘Purple (chiefly Mk. II-era Purple). Where Demon Eye differ from their hardrock heroes is their darker subject matter: particularly lyrics which heavily draw from Black Sabbath-style occultism and Led Zeppelin mysticism. It’s a delightful mix, and benefits from genuinely pristine songwriting; well-written and never coming across as derivative or contrived. From the riffs and singing, to the production which is a balanced, softlymastered mix that sounds so wonderful in an age of brickwalled productions, every track has a decidedly 70s retrofeel. It’s kinder to the ears and allows the dynamics of each track to ebb and flow, as tracks like “Poison Garden”, “I’ll Be Creeping” and “Please, Father” breathe naturally and have a near-live sound going for them.
Lee Carter
Death Metal Nuclear Blast Records
Kataklysm
Pagan, Black Metal Season of Mist Records
A Furrow Cut Short
Drudkh, a name that reigns supreme in discussions regarding atmospheric black metal, have just released their tenth studio effort ‘A Furrow Cut Short’. The majority of the tracks comprise in excess of nine minutes each, bestowing this album as the longest playing release from these Ukrainians by a good margin. Unfortunately this works against the album at times, as some of the songs could certainly benefit from more variation in theme or mood, particularly
Elena Francis
Of Gods and Ghosts
Kataklysm have represented Canadian Death Metal now for nearly 15 years and their twelfth studio album suggests that they won’t be going away anytime soon. A good load of conventional, standard death metal with bits and pieces of melody thrown in here and there; Canadian metal still knows what it is and is still strong. If you’re a fan of Evile and Carcass’ ‘Heartwork’ days then this is something to own; nothing too slow, and the odd few tracks that hit you like a brick to the face. It’s nicely laden with surprises and enjoyable tunage. Imagine if Cradle of Filth made a lovechild with Disfigurement and you’d have something like Kataklysm’s ‘Ghosts and Gods’ on your hands!
Demitri Levantis
Drudkh
aforementioned reunion. Compared to their previous works, ‘Remain Dystopian’ incorporates some more unpredictable guitar accents into the music whilst maintaining a blistering ferocity and precise technicality. The structures are entirely chaotic, creating a nasty aural hell that isn’t for those who appreciate their music pre-digested or resolutely sticking to a script. ‘Hope Smasher’ builds up to a satisfyingly rhythmic climax and ‘Absolutist’ features some hypnotic riffs, while ‘Stride Endlessly Through Scorched Earth’ features a cornucopia of guitar styles. Vocal appearances from At the Gates’ Tomas Lindberg, Pig Destroyer’s J.R.Hayes and Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s Jay Randall contribute to the deep growls and pained screech approach. With songs predominantly clocking in under the two-minute mark, the album is littered with short, sharp shocks. Perfect if you like your music relentlessly aggressive and are keen to bludgeon your eardrums in a variety of methods.
Death Metal, Grindcore Relapse Records
Maruta
Remain Dystopian Floridian deathgrinders Maruta began in 2005 and disbanded briefly in 2011, only to reunite the following year. ‘Remain Dystopian’ is album number three in the band’s career and their first since the
Gothic, Death Metal Century Media Records
paradise lost The Plague Within
What remains to be said about Paradise Lost? A veteran band in the death / doom world, with enough variety between releases to demonstrate versatility, all whilst remaining consistently heavy. They’re the dependable “‘eavy” band. So where does that leave their latest effort, “The Plague Within”? Simply put, this is another consistent, heavy and versatile release from the band. You won’t quite see the band venturing into 200bpm-plus territory, but their mid-tempo stomp and blend of softer melodies with demonic aggression makes for an exceptionally well-crafted collection of songs. Perhaps Nick Holmes’ current stint in Sweden’s Bloodbath has lit an aggressive fire in his belly, because his harsh vocals are right at the the forefront on cuts like “An Eternity Of Lies” and the raucous “Cry Out”. That’s not to say the cleans are gone; they remain an integral part of the subtle emotional output that makes the modern Paradise Lost so much more than the legions of their clones.
What they do serves a purpose: creating memorable songs from with human emotions woven into their fabric. Everything from the songwriting to the mix serves this purpose. To some, this may normalise everything, but with “The Plague Within” it results in a more solid and dependable record. A great record, exactly what we’ve come to expect from among the finest exponents of death / doom.
Lee Carter
Death Metal Metal Blade Records
Six Feet Under
Crypt Of The Devil
Six Feet Under have been making good Death’n’Roll for 12 years now, and their eleventh album sees them wanting to appeal to a much younger fan base. The lyrics are very simple and short and do exactly what every song title entails with Chris Barnes (ex-Cannibal Corpse) delivering them at his best. Arguably this project, however, reflects his personality better: as a guy with a taste for the Black Metal Napalm Records downright gruesome and the marijuana infused surreal. Mr. Barnes is trying to make that album which got kids into death metal: a solid Live At The Opera album which the old school fans may CD / DVD find a little bland, but it’ll stand up as On the face of things the idea of the that album new blood will hail as their legendary Satyricon performing with the doorway into the death metal world. Norwegian National Opera Chorus might Demitri Levantis sound odd, but you’d be surprised by just how well the collaboration works, adding new layers of darkness and grandeur to the group’s signature blend of nihilistic swagger and brooding, morbid groove. Despite a setlist drawn mainly from the band’s post-2000 output (focussing particularly on their most recent, selftitled, album), alongside a predictably epic rendition of “Mother North”), the show never feels lacking, and stands as testament to the band’s continued creativity, and a career of constant growth and reinvention. That being said, the lack of extra features (aside from the main show there’s nothing else – no behind the scenes or documentary footage for example) does mean the package feels almost a little too simple, while the full majesty of the event doesn’t entirely translate to the home experience, meaning that, as good as the DVD is, it does leave you with a nagging sense of “you had to be there”.
Satyricon
Crust Punk, Black Metal Relapse Records
TAU CROSS self titled
There’s something undeniably raw and primal about the self-titled début from this grouping of international luminaries, with its fearless diversity and powerhouse riffery and brilliantly gritty, devilishly gutsy vocal performance. With its members having put in the years operating in the international Crust, Punk and Heavy Metal scenes (representing Canada, the UK, and the USA in their globetrotting travels) it’s no surprise that the song-writing here is top notch, from electrifying opener “Lazarus”, through the proto-thrash of “Stonecracker” and the moody misery of “Sons of the Soil”, to melancholy closer “The Devil Knows His Own”.
Andy Walmsley
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www . londonmetalmonthly . com credits: Lee Carter, Andy Walmsley, Dan Mitchell, Hilde Chruicshank, Mark Angel Brandt, Dave Coia, Nimai Pujara, Elena Francis, and Demitri Levantis.
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