INTERVIEW - KEEP OF KALESSIN Arnt “ Obsidian Claw” Grønbech
Words: Dan J.G Mitchell So you’ve played in London quite a few times, do you enjoy the city? Anything in particular you like to do while you’re here? “Well normally we don’t have that much time, because we always travel out of England through a ferry down to Europe, so most of the time we’re in London we don’t have time to do anything other than a soundcheck and get ready for the show. “I think there are quite a few good restaurants here though. So my plan today was to find a good Indian restaurant, but it turned out I had to do interviews instead! *laughs* ” Following Thebon’s departure, which obviously it’s been a little while now, but did you ever foresee any difficulties with performing particular songs live? When you were doing the vocals and guitars together. “Actually when we became a three-piece, I saw some people posting online, “Oh I hope they don’t make the riffs easier now that he’s actually singing,” but the first song we released after I was the singer was the song ‘Introspection’, probably the most difficult of all of our songs to play live, with singing and playing guitar at the same time. “‘Dark As Moonless Night’ is also a challenge, but apart from that I think most of the songs are pretty standard. It’s all about rehearsing anyway: if you rehearse it enough, you will be able to do it.” On the other side of things, did it give you a different perspective on how you might write future music? Realising that you would be on vocals. “Not really. I just did it as I normally had done: I write the guitars first, record most of the album, and then we add the vocal lines and lyrics afterwards.” In terms of your vocal style, did you look back at past records and think that that’s something you want to do similarly? Or did you want to create a new style? “Of course we took inspiration from other albums that we had done, but mostly it was about just finding the type of vocals that would work for me. “So I used time to try and nail that, get my own vocals up and running. Because when you start out singing this way, it can be fucking painful in the beginning. But we used some time in the studio, found different vocal styles and it was actually easier to push myself than I thought it would be, because I’d been producing the other singers anyway, so finding the type of vocals, especially when you have harsh and melodic vocals, stuff like this, finding that type of style was a little bit easier than I thought it would be. “ I think my vocals now are a bit of a combination from all the previous singers, and it sounds a little bit more ...maybe not extreme, but it has more attitude than maybe Thebon’s vocals. ”
Genre: Epic Extreme / Black Metal Hometown: Trondheim, Norway “ I think my vocals now are a bit of a combination from all the previous singers, and it sounds a little bit more ...maybe not extreme, but it has more attitude than maybe Thebon’s vocals. ” Are you still living in Trondheim (Norway)? “Yes.” Do you feel the hometown or the place that you write the music might have any influence or effect on the music that you write? “It might have, but sometimes I might actually take a trip to Spain, to the family house, and I stay there. With ‘Epistemology’ I stayed there for three months or something during that year, and I wrote a lot of the music down there. I heard some people say that we have Spanish influences in our music, so maybe that’s where it comes from, I dunno. ” Do you ever write any music on the road? Or do you keep that separate? “Sometimes we do it, but on tour it’s not often that I sit down and play that much guitar; but when I do ,I have made some riffs on tour, when you’re doing soundcheck or when you’re jamming backstage or whatever. “It tends to sometimes bring out a few good riffs. But you bring home bits and pieces, and you put it together when you get back home, of course.” Are you thinking about writing new material? And if so, what can people expect?
“Keep of Kalessin will always be a combination of everything from heavy metal, power metal, thrash metal, black metal, death metal; everything we like about metal, we bring into Keep of Kalessin. “Maybe not even metal. I listen a lot to electronic music as well, so I bring in a lot of influences from electronic music of course; but we put it together in our own style.” What kind of electronic music? “I’m a huge fan of bands like Infected Mushroom, Astral Projection, Goetia, goa trance, and some house music, Swedish House Mafia, stuff like this.” So you do take inspiration from other music then? “Yeah definitely. ” Anything else you want to use this as an opportunity to plug or mention? “For everyone to follow us on Facebook and Instagram, check out the music if you haven’t heard it, start with our new album ‘Epistemology’ I would suggest; check out what’s going on with the band, follow what we’re about to do. “We’re gonna start releasing some announcements in early 2016, what we’re gonna do as far as festivals and touring, and some new releases, some exciting new stuff coming up.”
“We have some new material, I’m constantly writing new riffs. It’s an ongoing process, but I haven’t really started planning the album yet. “I have bits and pieces, and probably start next year to try and put together a new album. ” Personally I would say over the albums you’ve made a shift towards becoming more diverse in your style. I don’t know if you agree to that; but would you say your progression would be linear, or do you think it might go in different directions in the future? “I think that it will always sound like Keep of Kalessin, but I also think that we are not afraid of exploring new areas of music. Sometimes we will write softer stuff, more melodic stuff, and then sometimes we write the more extreme stuff.
“EPISTEMOLOGY” OUT NOW VIA INDIE RECORDINGS
In te r v iew : Korpiklaani KALLE CANE SAVIJÄRVI & JONNE JARVELA
Genre: Progressive Folk Metal Hometown: Vesilahti, Tampere, Pirkkala, Helsinki, Lahti So the artwork for this album, Noita, is quite dark in terms of the themes. K: “Yes, it’s dark because it’s happening in the night, what’s happening there. Carrying the witch to its grave. “The theme is dark in that way because it’s related to death and it’s night. So it’s dark because it’s dark!” J: “And also, I like a lot the King Diamond album covers… [The artist] also liked these covers and he wanted a similar use of colours.” Do you think that the music is in any way linked to the artwork? J: “Yes, there’s definitely some part. The story of the cover is that the village’s local witch (note: a local shaman in Scandinavian history / folklore) was about to die, and her final request was to be buried in the cemetery yard.” K: “Back in the day, witches were not allowed to be buried in the churchyard. And that was an odd wish from the witch to be buried in the cemetery. That’s why they had to do it in the night, in secret.” J: “Also she had a wish that if she dies during the journey to the cemetery, she needed to be buried immediately in that place. “The grave is still there in that village where I’m from. There’s also a myth where every time people go past that grave, they need to throw a twig or branch to its grave, so there was a huge pile of wood on the grave. “People still throw it.” You don’t seem to have a polka song on the album, compared to previous releases, which was surprising. J: “You can get the polka in the beat though, y’know?” K: “Yeah it’s there, but maybe not that obvious. It’s the drums and the according doing that “dahdah-dah”. “That is what makes the polka oom-pah beat and it’s still there in many songs. If you hear it in that way, then it’s not, but it’s there. It’s a very used beat: it’s in thrash metal, every metal actually. “In our genre it’s more like ‘hey, it’s the oom-pah polka beat’, but if a thrash metal band plays it, then it’s a thrash beat. *laugh*”
How would you overall describe yourselves on this album? What’s changed and what’s stayed the same? K: “Well the basics are the same, the instruments are the same, and the same guy makes most of the music *laughs*
Words: Dan J.G Mitchell Has he had an influence on your older arrangements? K: “Yes, we have always had that thing where whoever plays the parts, they can play it the way they want to play it. Really free to rearrange the violin and accordion.”
“The sound is probably the main difference. We’ve been developing the sound on every album, and again we managed to make it sound better. Especially because of the new accordion player Sami, who made a lot of work for the arrangements for the accordion and violin, and also helped Tuomas with his violin parts.
J: “It keeps it alive.”
“His energy kicked ass. So now it sounds more what we wanted it to sound in the first place. They are now on top, not in the background.”
With vocals: do you do any warmups before you perform live, or do you go straight into it?
J: “It goes more hand-in-hand with our guitars.” K: ”The solos are totally different to what they have been.” J: “On a different level.” K: “It’s shredding now. *laugh*” So Sami was an influence on the violin / solos as well? J: “Yes, because he was at first at my place for more than one week, we did a demo round with his ideas. “Then we went to Tuomas, our violin player, and he was there one week. [Not sure if I have this right]” K: “And then after that we had the pre-production in the real studio, where we demo’d all the songs, made the changes “A lot of more effort was put in the fork for stuff than ever before.”
K: “And with Hittavainen, our old violin player, said sometimes that he doesn’t want to play the same thing another time, he always wanted to play it another way. “It is nice, I think. Keeps it fresh.”
J: “Just a little bit, but not so much than many other vocalists. My warmup is a few beers. *laughs*” K: “We’re always listening to music before the shows, and we are singing along. It’s not really opening your voice, but it opens that way also.” So backstage before the show, are there any foods or drinks you get a lot, or try to avoid? J: “Uh, beers.” K: “Normally we don’t eat much, that’s a really bad choice to eat a lot before the show. But drinks, whatever drinks. We prefer cider but if we don’t get cider we drink beer or wine. But something must be there.” J: “Before we used to bring vodka and whiskey, but we can’t do that anymore, we’re too old for that. We used to start our mornings with vodka.” K: “And Jägermeister.”
Why did you decide to focus more on the folk stuff? J: “Because of Sami.” K: “Yeah, we had been trying to do that on every album, but somehow it was different now when the new guy came.” J: “He’s been two years in the band, but it’s his first album. And he’s a perfectionist in a way, he can continue doing that work if you don’t say “stop it!”” K: “It’s good now!” *laughs*”
“NOITA” OUT NOW VIA NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS
REVIEWS HADES ALMIGHTY - “PYRE ERA, BLACK!” Nearly a decade-and-a-half has passed since Norway’s Hades Almighty last graced our ears with some of their progressive blend of hellfire. In that time, Nordic brethren Emperor released their final album, reunited for a tour, split, reunited for another tour and split again. So have the boys from Bergen lost their spark? Not a chance. ‘Pyre Era, Black!’ sounds reminiscent of the era in which Hades Almighty left us. There’s none of this hyperclean production, or postmetal twinklings. Instead, there’s an eversoslightly raw production that delivers a delightful, frostbitten sheen to the three songs on offer. Closing track ‘Bound’ sounds truly malevolent with its maniacal spoken passages, shrieking vocals, and ominous clean guitars; easily the highlight, and a fitting climax to this EP. Whilst atmosphere is a large part of their premise, Hades Almighty never venture beyond the initial midtempo stall they set out. It does feel a little flat in places, but never enough to truly put anyone off the song. This album is a mostwelcome reintroduction to the metal world from Hades Almighty, and may their new era be as fruitful as this EP suggests. WORDS: LEE CARTER
KAMPFAR - “PROFAN” Twenty one years on the road have boded well for the premier Pagan band from the Norwegian black metal breeding ground. Kampfar have given us their seventh album: covering all themes from the web of the all thing, to personal mantras that sound as if Wyrd itself is speaking to you from the instrumentation. They haven’t shied away from doing anything radical: exemplified in the cameo appearance of a didgeridoo alongside some pianos, so it’s great Kampfar are using indigenous / classical instruments. The tracks have some of the most epic openings I’ve heard for some time: grabbing you by the neck and belting you down the highway with some excellent ‘drive music’ arrangements of the songs. If that sounds appealing, then this is the band you definitely want to hear! Profan is proof that Paganism has not fallen out of the black metal canon, and it is being explored with as much force and passion as Sabbat did 26 years ago. An epically memorable album all round. WORDS: DEMITRI LEVANTIS
REVERTED - “SPLITTING THE WORMS” So you’ve released a debut album to critical acclaim and have seen the success your hard work deserves. So what next? New album? For Camden’s Reverted, they’ve taken the unorthodox approach to releasing an acoustic album in ‘Splitting The Worms’, featuring acoustic reinterpretations of eight cuts from their debut, and one new track. Fans of the band will know tracks like ‘Die My Saint’, ‘Magledonia’ and ‘Insanity’, so their respective acoustic interpretations will come as an intriguing surprise. Despite the acoustic nature they now possess, the intensity from the drums and vocals remains – it feels almost at odds with the softer guitars. It’s good for energy, certainly, but it comes across a little too intense. That being said, the drums are simpler and lock everything together, whilst the moments when Vega’s vocals drop the Hetfieldesque harshness are really rather brilliant. There’s a strong Godsmack influence audible on this album (and not just in Vega’s vocals): the production is crisp and balanced (save for the aforementioned intense performances), whilst the low harsh vocals are reminiscent of Sully Erna. It’s an interesting album that fans would appreciate, but those looking at Reverted for the first time would be best directed to their debut first, or bonus track ‘Bummer’ where their bread and butter is found. WORDS: LEE CARTER
WAR CURSE - “FINAL DAYS” One listen of ‘Final Days’ and one will instantly be cast back to the time when you first heard Metallica’s debut album. It’s a spiritual equal; yet it’s 2015, so surely this is some sort of contrived nostalgia trip? Not here. The debut album from War Curse is simply a solid, stable thrash record. There’s no frills, no gimmicks; just a headsdown sonic assault. Aptly, lyrical themes consist chiefly of war and carry a strong pseudo battle metal quality; ’Dawn Patrol’ is a ripping opener with it’s air raid horn and blistering intro, whilst the groove and stomp of ‘Severed Crosses’ implores you to headbang. The musicianship on display is top notch: with wellcrafted songs, riffs aplenty, and vicious solos abound. A thrasher’s dream, with production that harks back to those early Metallica days. It’s not doing much different from what we’ve all seen and heard before, but who doesn’t love hearing a little flashback? WORDS: LEE CARTER
REVIEWS STEAK NUMBER EIGHT - “KOSMOKOMA” Belgian postmetallers Steak Number Eight return with their fourth outing in ‘Kosmokoma’, which continues on their noisy, frenetic path. For those who’ve glanced the word “postmetal”, and whose attention has been piqued: this is not your conventional postmetal album. While influencers such as Isis played a beautiful, emotive, and straight brand of postmetal throughout, ‘Kosmokoma’ seems to possess a touch of multiple personality disorder. The album can almost be split down the middle, with first half tracks like ‘Your Soul Deserves To Die Twice’ and ‘Principal Features Of The Cult’ demonstrating a wild, frenzied take on the genre; cobbling together elements of postrock wanderings with the raucous nature of hardcore. Yet the second half becomes a little more settled, a little more doomy: ‘Charades’ weaves melody into its folds, whilst ‘It Might Be The Lights’ adds a touch of delicacy in the cleaner passages before drawing to a bloodied, screaming conclusion. It’s a jarring listen, but then that’s half the fun right there. Steak Number Eight have produced yet another fine album, whilst maintaining their own unique sound amidst a sudden upsurge in the postmetal scene. Long may that continue! WORDS: LEE CARTER
SLOW SEASON - “SLOW SEASON” Take a touch of Deep Purpleesque hard rock and mix it with latterday Hawkwind, and you will get something pretty close to Slow Season. Their self-titled album on offer here could honestly have been recorded at the same time as ‘Purple in their pomp: featuring exciting riffs, tinged with progressive inflections that would make fans of The Who and Led Zeppelin stand up and take notice. Examples of that progressive nature include the liberal use of harmonica on ‘DayGlo Sunrise’, postrock esque delicacies in ‘Deep Forest’, and mandolins in ‘Ruah’. The contrast between them is quite stark, which makes proceedings feel a little disjointed. Nevertheless, each progressive inflection gives their respective track an added flavour and uniqueness, all the while washed down with a heady dose of psychedelia which, mixed with a bluesy undertone, makes for an uplifting record. Three albums in: Slow Season are seasoned in their game and should feel happy in the knowledge that their latest offering is a delightful hark to the days of their influences. Despite wearing them on their sleeve, Slow Season never venture into imitation territory; firmly using their influences to craft a solid hard rock record. WORDS: LEE CARTER
THE MOTH GATHERER - “THE EARTH IS THE SKY” Though ‘The Earth is the Sky’, finds The Moth Gatherer painting with a varied palette of sounds and influences, the album is ultimately at its best when it truly finds its focus. Both ‘Pale Explosions’ and ‘The Black Antlers’, for example, are sings which focus on the heavier side of things, exploiting the classic quiet / loud dynamic to full effect, whilst ‘Dyatlov Pass’ sits firmly on the other end of the scale, offering almost eight minutes of moody, captivating Post-Rock synthscapes. Though the band’s efforts to meld the various segments of their sound aren’t always a complete success, with the failure of certain elements to blend occasionally leading to a slightly dissociated listening experience (such as on ambitious, but underwhelming closer ‘In Awe Before The Rapture’); but when they get it right, such as on the mammoth, multifaceted ‘Attacus Atlas’, the Swedes really impress. WORDS: ANDY WALMSLEY.
MIRROR - “MIRROR” The whole “Occult” style of throwback Rock / Metal has definitely earned its fair share of detractors and supporters over the last several years, and now Mirror (featuring ex-members of Electric Wizard and Repulsion, amongst others) are the latest group of heretics throwing their hat into the (summoning) circle. You can’t deny that these guys certainly know their way around a riff or two, and the songs on this album are all built around a strong backbone of brashly infectious melodies and solid, headbanging hooks; although there is some temptation to view this as simply a throw-away tribute to Metal’s supposed “Golden Age” (particularly on the faster, Maiden-esque numbers). From a songwriting point of view though there are some real gems here, with doomier numbers including ‘Year of the Red Moon’ and ’Madness and Magi’ delivering new life to an old sound. WORDS: ANDY WALMSLEY.
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