Editorial Welcome to the first edition of Music Extreme !! This virtual magazine is dedicated to all musical expressions that are not considered mainstream and that not get too much exposure from the media. So, in fact we an consider extreme music not only the metal scene but also the jazz, avant garde or progressive one that usually don´t get much radio, TV or magazines display. The purpose of the magazine is to help people to know that there is more in art than what they can see in the surface, more than what the media sells them. The making of this magazine usually takes time and is not so regular, that is why the banner says "This page is always under construction", meaning that as whe get the interviews we upload them, or as we get the CDs from the artists we review the CD and upload that article too. So, the virtual magzaine goes in a progressive way: at the beginning of the month there are not that much articles (usually we will upload those that have arrived in the last days of the previous month) but as time goes on the page gets more and more complete. I hope you enjoy Music Extreme because it is a job made from the heart from a musician to all people that really loves music.
Federico Marongiu Editor
We talked to Amorth Bredlave, the guitarist and only member of the Swedish outfit Azure. He explained us his career, the projects in which he is involved and his plans for the future. He enlightened us also about the way he records and composes.
Well, as I said I write the music at home. But I don't use any computer to record the riffs compose the song in like Qubase. I come up with riffs on my acoustic guitar and then I put them together into songs, later on I add bass lines and melodies. Most often I write the music after the lyrics to get some kind of inspiration but not all the time. When a song is finished I keep it in my head until I enter the studio to record it, which sometimes is a bad thing as I forget some of the parts, or a good thing when I can add something better instead. It seems that you are the only member of Azure. Do you find difficult to work with permanent musicians and prefer to use session ones? Yes, that is correct. I am the only real member in Azure and the reason for this is simply that I don't want any other people to get involved in the band. I have tried to have a full line-up but it didn't work out at all. Then I write all the music myself and I have all these ideas about arrangements and when you are in a regular band you have to rehearse all the time and you must come up with new songs etc. I prefer to write the songs at home and play them for myself until it's recording time. How do you compose the tracks?
Can you explain me the concept behind "Moonlight Legend"? "Moonlight Legend" is one part in a much larger fantasy story that I am writing. It's about two brothers that was separated as child's and is living very different lives. In this story we can follow one of them on his way as a black smith in a small town to become the great emperor of the whole earth. Of course it is a long way to get there and he has to sacrifice his both loved ones. The next album, if there will ever be one, will tell about his brother - the true emperor. Also there will be a lot of changes in the story as I am discovering
new stuff about the characters all the time. But it is a fantasy story, and I have had that concept in my lyrics since 1995 when I started the band. Back then it was not so usual, but nowadays every other band is dealing with fantasy in extreme music. Since you are a person that like black metal and also studied classical...which are your main influences as a musician? I would have to say both of them. I have never studied classical music that much, but I was in school and learned notes, arranging and composing classical music for a few years. But most of that knowledge isn't useful in Azure. But I also played classical guitar in this school, and mostly concentrated on Swedish folk music, and from that I have got many influences. Otherwise I am inspired by everything I listen to. Is the new material different than that of "Moonlight Legend"? What motivated this change? I recorded two new song for a promo-CD last year, and in a way they were very different from "Moonlight Legend", more experimental and so on. But the songs I am writing now is more back to the old demo-days and I will actually use a song from the last demo "The Eroican", but with some new lyrics and arrangements. The reason for changing style a bit was simply because I listened to bands like Arcturus and Borknagar so much for a while and I tried to write such songs, but I found out that it wasn't the right thing for me to do. But still I am influenced by these bands in some ways, and I will try to combine the old and the new on the new songs...
Also I have a new logo now. Drawn by Christophe Szpajdel, and it looks really great I think. Are you planning to reedit your first demos? No. I am not that satisfied with how the recordings turned out. The sound is good, and the songs are great but how we played them is not so great, if you get what I mean? But actually I am planning to release a CD with a lot of different bands that I have been a part of since I began to play the guitar. All tracks will be recorded professionally and I guess it will be about 10 bands or something. The reason for doing this is that most of the old tapes we recorded on are starting to be bad, and in a couple of years they won't be able to play anymore. And it's fun to have all the bands documented in some way. This will not be a professional release or something, but it will end up on CD with a thick booklet. The styles of these bands also differs very much, from doom metal to melodic death and black metal and American death metal, grindcore etc, etc... Is Mattias Holmgren (ex NAGLFAR, EMBRACING) going to record the drum parts of the new material or will Velvet do them? On the promo-CD "Shadows In Midark" Velvet actually played the drums on the two new tracks. But it was simply because Mattias is living 900 kilometres away from me. But I talked to him recently and he is excited to play the drums on my next recording. Hopefully he will also help me with some of the songwriting.
Have any labels apart from Solistitium become interested in your music? No. And Solistitium never seemed to be that interested either it turned out. They released the CD one year too late and nothing happened. I never got any royalty money, only CD's to sell for my self. But of course they covered all my expenses for the recording. They told me that the sales was very low, but a few months ago when I was touring with Centinex as their session singer in Europe people on every place came up to me and was talking about "Moonlight Legend"... Strange... One guy in Spain (Zaragoza) even talked to me in Swedish as he had learned that in school, it was really strange.
Yeah of course! I mean, I pick up influences from everything so all things can happen. Which is the equipment that you used to record? For the three first demos I used a simple portable recorder with eight tracks... The sound was awful on the two first ones so they were never released official. The third one "Dark & Mysterious" was quite good sound-wise so I could release it. The fourth demo "The Eroican" was recorded in a small studio in Falun Sweden. It was the guys from Without Grief that owned it and it turned out great.
Which do you think are the main changes since the "Dark and Mysterious" demo?
The MCD "A Vicious Age Lasting" was also recorded at the same place, on Peter T채gtgrens old 16 channels recorder, and the sound was even better this time.
For one thing I have learned to play a lot better, and I also have experienced more as a person and knows much more about music in general. But besides that I don't know really, I write the music in the same way but maybe I am a bit more critical now when making the songs?
For the "Moonlight Legend" recording I went the 900 kilometres to Ume책 (north of Sweden) to record in a digital studio called XL. Unfortunately the sound wasn't as powerful as I wanted so I am a bit disappointed at this one.
Do you have plan to make live shows to support the new material when it is released?
For future recordings I guess I will use the studio we are building at my rehearsal place, it will be digital and with all new, very expensive, stuff. 24 channels.
No. I am not that interested to play live with Azure. Maybe if there were possibilities to arrange a short European tour I would go for it. I like it better to play live with my other band Relentless, as that is a real band rehearsing every week etc.
If you are talking about my instrument so do I only own one guitar nowadays, my BC Rich guitar. I must buy a bass-guitar soon as I only borrows one when playing with Relentless.
Is there a possibility that different styles will surface in your music?
Well, thanks a lot for the interview and the support.
Any final message?
Anybody can feel free to order the CD "Moonlight Legend" from me for only
12USD. T-Shirts are available for the same price, but not many are left though. Otherwise you can keep yourself posted on Azure news on the new website: www.azure.come.to (Will be up soon). Don't forget to check out the Relentless web site as well: www.relentless.come.to and finally www.serenitymagazine.come.to
AZURE - DISCOGRAPHY 2 UNOFFICIAL DEMOS - NEVER RELEASED DARK AND MYSTERIOUS - DEMO (1995) THE EROICAN - DEMO (1996) A VICIOUS AGE LASTING - MCD (1997) MOONLIGHT LEGEND - CD (1998) ACTUAL LINEUP
Over and out!!! Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
AMORTH BREDLAVE - GUITAR, BASS, VOCALS GUEST MUSICIANS: MATTIAS HOLMGREN - DRUMS VELVET - DRUMS
Castrum is a metal band from Ukraine that´ s been making a name for them since 1994 when guitarist Cornelius formed the band with a vocalist called Georgius. After some line-up changes the actual band is composed by Cornelius- Guitars/ Vocals, Roma - bass and Doni -drums. We interviewed Cornalius to see what is going on with their debut album and the metal scene in Ukraine.
I was curious about the line up with Sharapoff on guitars. Did you had a bass player at the time or was a line up without bass? Can you feel a difference on the music withone and 2 guitars?
Castrum's music is described as Gothic Brutal Death Metal with medieval influences. What do you think of this categorization of your music? Right! The medieval thing is in our lyrics, intros and some songs. The brutality we like and we do it in our songs as well. And all these things combine the Death Metal we play. Now our music sounds more aggressive, but due to the historical lyrics, we like to call our music just simply Medieval Death Metal.
Well, 'til the end of 1999 we played without bass guitarist, 'cause there wasn't any good person for filling up this position. Unfortunately, we've played only one gig with Sharapoff. It was 10th of October 1998 in Banska Bystrica (Slovakia) with bands like KRABATHOR, SANATORIUM, AGGRESSIVE TYRANTS, OVS and DEZINFEKCE. Meanwhile, we have a full-time bass player, namely Roma, and the current line-up is Doni drums, Roma - bass and me, Cornelius, guitar/vocals. Regarding the use of one or two guitars in the music, of course, I feel a big difference. You could be more complex and technically it's also better to use two guitars, but for us one guitar is more than enough, ha-ha. What do you think of "The Leading Spirit of Medieval Tortures" now that more than one year has passed from its
release? As it was only a compilation material that featured all our old demos and rehearsals from the period 1996-1997 I cannot say it is out of time. These kind of stuff is always timely. And what's more it has a pretty cool booklet with all the lyrics, photo and a lot of additional info about us. "Burial of the Affection" was recorded in rehearsals of the band? Was it recorded almost like a live album but in the studio? Yes it was recorded live in our rehearsal room back in February '96.
Do you have any parallel projects or do you concentrate completely in Castrum? Once upon a time, we formed a Black Metal project called CHAMOS. OK, with CHAMOS we've done only one rehearsal demo called "Hellish Reveries" in 1997, that included 2 songs. The line-up of it was the same as for CASTRUM in that period. The music was more than just a simple Black Metal stuff. I would say it was something quite extreme and at the same time brutal, fast and evil. But it was just an experience from our side. We won't go to continue it. Why? I can simply say, because we played that kind of stuff only for our fun and don't wanted to be popular as lots of Black bands that trying to be famous after releasing only one or two materials. Nowadays, we concentrate all our power and energy completely in CASTRUM. No more projects, ha-ha.
What contributes/contributed each of the members/ex-members of the band to Castrum's music? Uh, it's difficult to say. I really don't know. Maybe the aggression, originality and energy that surrounded us all the time. Is it possible to add a new guitarist and/or a keyboard player to Castrum? Would be great to have a second guitarist again, but in our town there's no candidate for this. And to be honest, we are satisfied with the line-up we have at the moment.
Is the debut album ready? Are the songs very different from the ones in your past recordings? Well, it is ready to be recorded. It's called "Hatenourisher" and will contain 9 or 10 songs. Musically, of course, they differ a bit from our past recording, but that's understandable, because we play in other line-up. I would say, it's more aggressive, extreme, hateful and sophisticated. We'll go to the studio this
week to start its recordings. So be prepared for Medieval Death Metal massacre! How did you obtain the contract with Metal Force Records? I would say really simply. First it looked only as an order of both CASTRUM's studio demos and some 'zines from the side of METAL FORCE Records. But after a while METAL FORCE's chief Vadim Shatniy contacted me with an offer to release these studio demos along with our first rehearsal demo on one cassette. The agreement went successful and "The Leading Spirit." MC was unleashed upon the Ukrainian metal fans. Of course, we are more than pleased with the work of METAL FORCE Records. Although, you should take into account that METAL FORCE is a newborn underground label, which can arrange us good promotion only on the territory of Ukraine. That's why I take care about sending out our tapes to the foreign 'zines, mags, labels, etc. As I understood, METAL FORCE is open to release our new materials as well. Meanwhile, they are eagerly awaiting the recordings of our new stuff.
The Metal scene in Eastern Europe is quite strong. I mean there's a lot of cool bands over there like VADER, DEMENTOR, KRABATHOR, HYPNOS, PATHOLOGY STENCH, DEPRESY, PARASOPHISMA, and many more. The scene in Ukraine is growing day by day. There are lots of talentful bands over here. To name a few: NOKTURNAL MORTUM (Black Metal), MENTAL DEMISE (Brutal Death Metal), XUL (Evil Death/Black Metal), FORGOTTEN SPIRIT (Sympho-Folk Black Metal), PHANTASMAGORY (Progressive Death Metal), LUCIFUGUM (Black Metal), ASTROFAES (Black Metal), TESSARACT (Death Metal), ARTEFACTED IRRELIGION (Death Metal), MUNRUTHEL (Keyboardish Heathen Metal), RUNES OF DIANCEHT (Black Metal), etc. All these bands playing on quality level their music. And I hope that soon will be more and more bands presented to the World's scene from Ukraine.
Any final words?
How do you see the metal scene in Eastern Europe, particularly in Ukraine?
First of all, I would like to thank you, Federico, for doing this interview and supporting CASTRUM. It was great to answer your interesting questions. Keep up the good work with your virtual magazine!!! For all the readers of MUSIC EXTREME: Be the part of the music you like! Keep the flame of underground forever
burning! Fans!!! Check out CASTRUM and discover the Medieval Death Metal the way it was supposed to be! Stay who you are and support the Death Metal!!! At the end, I would also like to mention for all the fans interesting in CASTRUM don't forget to check out our new updated web site at: http://come.to/castrum . That's all I had in my mind. Death Metal Renaissance To Be Continued... We would really like to play once in Argentina. That would be a dream come true and we believe that once you'll find our records in the stores of your city and generally in Argentina! Contact address: Kornel Kontros, Yarockaya str. 7, 88000 Uzhgorod, Ukraine E-mail: cornelius@kontr.uzhgorod.ua Another great web site of CASTRUM: http://castrum.tripod.com Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
CASTRUM- DISCOGRAPHY Burial of the Affection- rehearsal (1996) Flames by Impiety - demo (1996) Pleasure in the Deeds of Horror - demo (1996) The Leading Spirit of Medieval Tortures (1999) ACTUAL LINEUP Cornelius - guitar, vocals Roma - bass Doni - drums
CD Reviews HARMONY DIES DON´T TRUST - (ARS METALLI REC., 1997):
This records is a prelude of what Harmony Dies was going to achieve with their next record. It seems a little bit faster an unpolished, but the songs resume brutality in every riff, every beat and every growl. The sound is not as good as it was going to be in their next album (particularly the drums sound a little in the back up, specifically the cymbals are quite thin sounding). The riffs are faster in some songs than in "I´ll Be your Master" but they lack the punch that the songs in that album has. Eventhough, there are the trademarks of Harmony Dies: a combination of blast beats and slower parts (that here surfaced a little bit less than in the next record). My favorite song of the CD is "Living Corpses" because of the beginning with the two low tuned guitars and the drum part that follows. In this songs the vocals fit better the music and makes it sound bigger. A great debut album. An announcement of what was going to come next.
I´LL BE YOUR MASTER - HARMONY DIES (ARS METALLI REC., 2000):
Since the title track that opens the CD you know what you get: extrem brutality. This potent band from Berlin makes you bang your head to their music. I liked specially the more rythmic parts in the songs, that give diversity to the material. It would be good to see Harmony Dies exploiting more of this parts that are more crushing than the fast hyperblasts. I liked specially the song "Final Confrontation" with a riff in the middle of the song that is not charachteristic of death metal bands. The overall sound of the record is extremely good: you can hear the bass pumping through all the songs, the drums are a double bass nightmare and the guitars are devastating. "I´ll Be Your Master" was recorded again in Soundforge Studios with the asistance of Andreas Hillbert. Christoph Carl´s vocals are extremely gutural bringing up to my mind shades of Morbid Angel´s David Vincent or Napalm Death´s Barney Greenway (Harmony Corruption´s era) (it would be a good idea to include in the booklet the lyrics since the vocals are quite difficult to understand). The songs seem extremely rehearsed and the guitars seam the engines of a big machine. I recommend this CD for people that likes brutal death metal well executed and with a great mix. Other songs to point out: "Markmen´s Destiny" (heavy metal riffs mixed with death blasts) and " Wasted Minds".
WAR TO END ALL WARS - YNGWIE J. MALMSTEEN´S RISING FORCE (SPITFIRE REC., 2000):
As all Yngwie fans know there are certain albums where the guitar sounds extremely fat and strong, such as "Marching Out" or "The Seventh Sign", but this is Yngwie´s heaviest album to date. The opening track "Prophet of Doom" is typical Yngwie with a heavy riff and an extremely catchy chorus. The guitar solos are amazing as always. One can only be surprised with the bonus track "Black Sheep of the Family" that sounds like Bob Marley meets Yngwie Malmsteen with a strange reggae feeling and vocals that don´t sound like Marc Boals. Drummer John Macaluso is heavier and more imaginative than in the previous album, "Alchemy" and keyboardist Mats Olausson plays his parts as good as always. In fact, there is little surprise with this new album, but Yngwie has this special touch that leaves you asking for more after the record has finished (like: "Only fourteen songs? That is not enough"). It is really interesting the balance between the heaviest songs ("Prophet of Doom", "Crucify" and the more radio oriented ("Bad Reputation", "Miracle of Life"). This balance is what makes Yngwie records so special for those who like him (obviously his
guitar solos are another important part of this). A track that for me is the best: "Masquerade" (it sums up all that Yngwie is).
Demos Promo 2000 - NACHTMAHR (INDEPENDENT, 2000):
This is the Nachtmar´s demo that most represent the music that they are doing at the present. As keyboardist Azazel told me via email they are currently remixing this demo to get the results that they really want to achieve. What first surprised me of this record was the overall sound. It was really good and you could discern perfectly what was playing each instrument including the bass and the drums that usually get buried in the mix in most of the bands of the style. A second surprise were the keyboards, that were really up in the mix: I think this is a point that Nachtmahr must use a lot in the future because the keyboards are what gives the band their identity. Nachtmahr is a band that plays great black metal in the vein of bands such as Abigor or old Dimmu Borgir ("For All Tid"). The promo cd consists in four tracks plus an intro and an outro making full use of the keyboards in the former and of guitars in the later. The Outro is a good example of what Nachtmahr guitrists can do with clean guitarist (I think this another point to develope in Nachtmahr for future compositions). My favourite track of the demo is "Im Licht Des Eismonds".
Christabel is the solo project of Matteo Belli ( who also plays keyboards in Evenshade) . He makes an interesting and eclectic kind of music with influences of metal and classical music. He has also a passion for literature that is demonstrated in his interest in blending literature and music. We talked to Matteo and he answer all our questions.
It seems that english poets such as William Blake or Samuel Taylor Coleridge are part of your inspiration. What about italian literature? Do you find it inspiring??
You have released two demos "So she sang in vain" and "Songs of Experience". Are there any plans for recording your full length debut? Unfortunately, there are no plan at all! Even if my demos have been well reviewed on many magazines and 'zines, no label seemed to be interested in my music and, actually, I've no resources to self-produce my debut album. I hope that I'll manage to record a new demo-cd during the 2001, but, at the moment, I'm just writing new songs. I'm also really busy with my main band, Edenshade.
I really love italian literature. I worship the works of Ungaretti, Montale, Quasimodo, Corazzini... and many others, but I think that English language is better for my songs, so I try to get inspiration from poets like Coleridge, Wordsworth and Blake. I don't think that Italian language sounds good... in music, I mean! Is Christabel going to continue with two kinds of vocals (clean and growl) or maybe one of them will predominate? Well, I never cared about this... When I write my songs, I just take care to create a particular atmosphere. So, I use two kind of vocals only because they fit to my music. If, one day, I'll change that atmosphere, maybe I'll use only clean vocals... Anyway, consider that I just sing the clean parts, so they will never
disappear because I can't help singing... I like it too much! How different are both demos between them? The main difference is the sound quality, in fact my last opus (Songs Of Experience) is recorded with professional stuff, while the first demo sounds not so well. I also changed the growling vocalist because I didn't like his work in So She Sang In Vain. Anyway, I think that Songs Of Experience is more mature than my first recording. The arrangements are more elaborated and the songs are more melodic and atmospheric. I'm really proud of this one.
screamers I've ever heard, but he is very busy with his band, Infernal Poetry. Moreover, remember that Christabel is a one-man band, and I like to make all by myself, without being influenced by anyone. I ended up working with Davide because he wasn't a good vocalist and I needed someone better... Besides, he had not much time to dedicate to Christabel. Why did you use a drum machine instead of a real drummer in the demos? Do you like using drum machines or computers? As I've already said, Christabel is a oneman band. I like to work on my own... I also play in a band in which I have to blend my influences with other members' ones. And you also have to consider that it's cheeper to record with the help of a drum machine than with a drummer! Of course, I really like computers, and programming a drum machine is a great beautiful game!
How do you approach composition as a keyboard player? I compose both with keyboards and guitars, but I'm not a good guitarist, so I delegate the recording of guitars to another musician, Paolo Petrini. I mainly compose at home, with the help of sequencers and computer. I first write music and arrangements, then lyrics. Of course, while writing the lyrics I also make changes to music, but they are not so remarkable. How do you ended up working with Paolo Ojetti and Davide Pezzoli? I still work with Paolo Ojetti, but he just appears on my cd as a guest vocalist. This because I'm not good in growls... so I just sing clean parts. Paolo is one of the best
Explain me a little bit your objective of blending music and literature. My music is my own way of conceiving gothic metal. I think that lyrics are really important and they must fit to music, so I thought that romantic poetry was the best way to complete gothic music. I also think that if I manage to blend music and literature I'll create a higher form of Art. Which are your favourite musicians and composers? I love heavy metal... I mean bands like Opeth, Theatre Of Tragedy, Haggard, In Flames, Dark Tranquillty and many others. I also listen to classical music. I love the works of Mussorgsky, Grieg, Chopin and Debussy.
What can you tell me about the artwork of your demos? It seems to fit perfectly the general concept and the music. For the first demo, I did it by myself, but it's not a good work, I think! So, for Songs Of Experience, I was helped by the guitarist of my band, Stefano Wosz. He's really good in making artworks and he also drew the cover for Edenshade last recording. As he listened to my demo, he was able to describe with images my musical intent. Do you want to say something to people in the south of the world? Hail people! Always support heavy metal scene all over the world! I think we can't live without music...
CHRISTABEL - DISCOGRAPHY So She Sang In Vain - Demo (1998) Songs of Experience - Demo (2000)
Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
ACTUAL LINEUP Matteo Belli - Keyboards, vocals Paolo Ojetti (guest vocals in "Songs of Experience") Davide Pezzoli (guest vocals in "So She Sang In Vain")
Dichotic´ s music has been defined as death metal, avant garde and a lot of different styles. What lies behind the music of this young candians from Halifax. Vocalist Raland Kinley helped us to clear our minds.
Even though Dichotic's music seems to be related to death metal, it seems to be difficult to describe it. How would you describe your own music? Well, we do play death metal. Although we try not to do what other bands are doing or what we have done in the past. I guess it's "original". That's the best way to describe Dichotic's music.
(recorded in 1999). "Essence" was done before either myself (vocals) or bassist Scott Armstrong were in the band. The current lineup features Neil Grandy on drums, Scott Armstrong on bass, Raland Kinley on vocals and Richard Guy on guitar. Jeff Calder also played guitar on "Collapse..." and "Lowest...", but he has since left the band. We just write music and record CDs for fun. It's not a money-making thing at all, and we're well aware that no label of any consequence willl ever sign us. Dichotic will go on as long as we're willing and able to play.
Can you tell me about the beginning of the band and its evolution through time? Dichotic has existed in one form or another since 1993. There were a few lineup and band name changes before the Dichotic that exists today came to be. The band was never really intended to be a serious thing. Before recording "Collapse Into Despair" in 1998, the band had already demoed some of its material under a different moniker, but those demos were never shopped to labels. There is acually an MP3 from a demo called "Essence" (recorded in 1996) included in the multimedia section of "Lowest Common Denominator"
Is the way you make the compositions conscious (for example you say...let´s do a really heavy song, etc.) or they are basically made through jamming? Richard and Scott tend to write all the music. Scott usually writes a full song all at once and we just learn it. Richard usually has a few riffs, and writes more riffs and structures the music during practices. I write the lyrics and figure out the vocal patterns. We only write heavy stuff, but we always try to do something different. Another question related to composition...When the riffs are composed, are they all put together into
one song or maybe you mix the riffs and parts into different songs? Usually, we only have enough new riffs to write "the next song". However, if a particular riff won't fit into a song we're writing, the riff will either be scrapped or it could appear in a future song.
album? Will it be released through Discorporate Music? (In this question I confused the names of the CDs…I am an asshole) Um...actually, "CID" was released in September of 1998. Our latest CD, "LCD", was released in October of 1999. The next CD is a work in progress. It will be released on Discorporate Music, but it's far too early to speculate on a release date. How do you see " Lowest Common denominator" and "Collapse into Despair" in the distance? Is there something you would have change?
I have read in Dichotic´s web page about your touring... Which are your plans of touring to support the new record that will come up soon? Heh...we don't really tour. Dichotic is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We live too far away from any of the major music scenes, and we all have careers and school to attend to, so there really isn't time or money left for touring. We do play a lot of local shows and a few road shows every year though.
I think we will try to perfect the production of our next CD. The music is quite solid on both of our previous releases, but we have never achieved the perfect sound we're looking for. There are not too many skilled producers who have worked with heavier bands in Halifax, so it's hard to get the sound you want sometimes. Are there any words that you can say to your fans from Argentina? Hmmm...I didn´t know we had any fans in Argentina. Although we appreciate support from people no matter where they are from.
Which are the main differences between "Lowest Common Denominator" and "Collapse Into Despair"? Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
"LCD" is less accessible than "CID". As a result, I would say that "LCD" is more original and has better ideas. "LCD" also sounds a lot more like what we really sound like. So the main differences are: "LCD" has better music and better sound than "CID". Since "Collapse Into Despair" was released on October 1999...In which state is now the composition of the new
DICHOTIC - DISCOGRAPHY
ACTUAL LINEUP
Collapse Into Despair - CD (1998)
Neil Grandy - drums
Lowest Common Denominator - CD (1999)
Scott Armstrong - bass Raland Kinley - vocals
Neoblast Compilation´99, contributed with "Precise"- CD (2000)
Richard Guy - guitar
Harmony Dies is a german band that is trying to make its own mark in the history of brutal death metal history. The band formed in 1992 and since then has recorded one Mini CD called "Slaughtered" and two CDs called "Don´ t Trust" and I´ ll be your Master" . I talked with guitarist Kai that gently answered my questions.
Can you tell us a little bit about the band´s history? H.D. is a Death Metal band and was founded in 1992 in Berlin/germany. The first two Demos came out in ´92, "Living Corpses" and "Slope". After that the split single with Krisiun from Brasil was released by MorbidRec. Next there came the Demo "Third Output ..." and the "Promo ´95".
After that there was the time for a selfproduced MCD called "Slaughtered", this one brings a lot of good reaction from the listeners and the Zines. After that we released the CD "Don´t Trust" on Ars Metalli. Actualy we just released our new material, recorded once again in Soundforge Studio with Andreas Hilbert. The line up of the Band changes sometimes but never lose the way of brutal music.
The actual members are Robert - drums, Chris - vovs, Jens - guitars, Marco - bass, Kai - guitars. H.D. is a live band and tries to play as often as can, we already did some shows with Vader, Deeds of Flesh, In Flames, Dying Fetus, Deranged, Krisiun, Incantation, Mayhem and a lot of others.
Bathory, Venom or Celtic Frost or your influences are from different bands? Of course these are Bands who inspired us personaly , but in our music you´ll find more influences of modern Metal Bands like Suffocation , C.C. or Vader, maybe sometimes you can hear the roots. How do you compose your music? Is it a group work or someone comes with the whole idea and the rest follows him? Most of the time somebody come with the whole idea and we work it out in our little practice room, normaly we don´t change a lot of the song so you can see what the different people in our Band sound like.
As you are having a new record out in the beginning of 2001, I would like to know which are your expectations on this new record? We have no special expectations, we hope we will find some people out there who like our stuff and maybe we can do as much shows as possible for us. Have you got more time to record "I´ll be your master" than "Don´t Trust"? Which do you think are the main improvements between both albums? And which do you think are the improvements since "Slaughtered"? We take the time we need we just do it in my studio i doing together with Andreas Hilbert, and so we have the opprtunity to do it in the way we wanna do it. We put much more in the whole sound of the new CD and i would say it´s worth. Since "Slaughtered" we learned so much , on our instruments ,to make our sound and of course in the songwriting process. So i would say "I´ll be your Master" shows the whole thing of what is Harmony Dies today. Which are your main influecnces? Have you been influenced by classic bands like
Which are the plans for touring supporting "I´ll be your Master"? Are there any festivals to play or maybe going to different countries? We would like to do a lot, but you know it is hard for a underground Band to reach all these Festivals and so we try to get the opportunity being part at some of them , we will see what ahppen with this. We wanna do as much shows in little clubs and place were we can find some Metal people who wanna hear us. And of course we hope to play some different countries around and maybe far away from germany. Do you think that Harmony Dies will start to blend different styles in the music
(such
as
classical
or
fusion,
etc.)?
H.D. play Death Metal since 1992 , yeah we learned a lot, but we still like this kind of music and we like it brutal we like it fast, and so we do it , i cannot say what we will do in future but now I say we will not be doing a crossover thing.
I would like to know about the band´s equipment live in studio. Can you tell me about it? Robert our drummer uses Sonor drum and esp. Live an Alesis DM5 to trigger his foot and snare, Marco our Bass guy uses Ibanez Guit. and a Peavy Amp, Jens (guit.) uses a Jackson guitar and a Crate Amp, and me, Kai (guit.), use Ibanez Guitars and Mesa Boogie Amp. Are there any plans to reedit older demos or remaster them? No we don´t plan things sometimes we take older refresh them , so we did it corpses on Don´t trust and cool song, i think.
like that , songs and with Living it´s a really
How would you describe Harmony Dies music in your own words? Is there any way to categorize it? I would say it´s easy to describe a fast and brutal played Metal, better brutal Death Metal, thats what we are.
new album? Are you comfortable with him? Is there any other producer that you would like to work with? Soundforge Studio is the first choice , cause I´m one of the owners and we have Andreas there, he is a realy cool Producer you can hear the sound he did for us. It goes on and on , everytime we got a better sound and thats we worked for to make a better record. Andreas does a good work, we are realy satisfied. Of course there are some dreams of going to one of the legendary studios and work with Jim Morris(Florida) or Colin Richardson, who do real good sounds, but these are dreams. I would say we had a good base to record and we will use it as long as possible. I would really like to see you live here in Argentina. How can you describe your live show? Is there any possibility of a South American Tour? On stage we try to give a good show to the guys out there, we play our music and banging around as possible. During a show is it very important for us to transport our feeling of a brutal fuckin Music to the crowd. We are just putting some showvideos together to make a little Live video coming maybe February 2001, when we are ready with this we will do some sequences of that on our Homepage Download section, so can everybody have look at us Live. About the second part of your question, hmm i hope it will be possible , we wanna do such kind of thing but most the time we have the problem with the financial part of this stuff, we are just a little Band, no big Labels or rich Parents at home. So we work for it and maybe someday it works. So be prepared for a Blitzshow of german Harmony Dies. Finally I would like you to say something to your fans here in Argentina.
Why did you choose Soundforge Studio and Andreas Hilbert again to record the
Hey thanx to every supporter of brutal
underground music, thanx to you Federico, it´s a pleasure for us to hear that we will be recognized in Argentina, thanx. Just keep it alive - brutal &sick. HARMONY DIES WEBSITE: www.harmonydies.de Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
HARMONY DIES - DISCOGRAPHY Living Corpses - Demo (1992) Slope - Demo (1992) Third Output of Incompetence - Demo (1994) Promo´95 - Demo (1995) Slaughtered - MCD (1996) Don´t Trust - CD (1997) I´ll be your Master - CD (2000)
ACTUAL LINEUP Robert Kotlarski - drums Kai Mertens - guitar Chris Carl - vocals Marco Obermeyer - bass Jens Herold - guitar
METH Meth is an eclectic one man project featuring Bill Sanwald. Sometimes it sounds electronic, sometimes black metal, sometimes death metal, sometimes who knows what. We interviewed Bill so as to know his thoughts about his projects.
Do you consider Meth an avantgarde metal project? I suppose you could call it that...but I don't go into any recording with any preconceived ideas like "this is going to be avantgarde!" or "this is going to be black metal!" The best say to desribe it is that I have a huge, infinite symphony running like a giant river through my mind. Whenever I record an album, it's like taking a thimble and filling it with a slight fragment of that symphony. If what comes out sounds like it's "avantgarde", then I guess that's the best label to put on it. Why did you choose to work on your own instead than with other people? A couple reasons... First, I like having total control over what I record! Second, it's difficult to find people who want to collaborate! I'm in touch with great musicians and people all over the world, but everyone's so busy or simply not interested. I've collaborated with other people, though. I have many other projects besides Meth. The main person I work with is Jon Apgar, who is perhaps best known for being the man behind the project Ephemeron. Jon and I just finished the Roswell CD, actually. We're also hard at work on the next Sheen album, and perhaps a couple other
things. We'll see... I also did a project called Dr. Terror and the Synthetic Erections. That was with Jeff Phillips from Carrier Flux.
Do you have the songs in your mind before start recording or do you start messing with keyboards, computers, etc. and the song arises in that process? Well, I usually come up with some themes and ideas then start the recording process. Since I do everything at my home studio J.A.M.S., I'm not under any time constraints. I remember reading about how the Talking Heads recorded their best material: they'd lay down a few tracks with beats or whatever, then they'd try ideas over it and record what sounded good. That's pretty much my approach. It's almost like making a building. I know what the foundation will be, but as for the furnishings (guitar, keys, etc.), I work on it until it sounds good to
me. Take out a riff here, add a sample there...it's like making a sandwich! How have the soundtracks of computer games influenced you? Immensley. I have a fairly large collection of video games and have been playing since I was a young kid. I am totally blown away by what the musicians come up with for games. Some of the most incredible tunes came from Konami back in the glory days of the NES. Castlevania, Contra...the music in those games can't be beat! There's a band called the Minibosses who do covers of old video game songs. Their CD is really great. The band uses guitar, bass and drums and the songs sound PERFECT. Every note and nuance is there. Amazing. Most people who listen to my music can hear the video game influence. I also have a huge love for anime and have been deeply influenced by that. Is there a possibility of seeing other musicians being part of Meth? I think it'll always remain a solo project, but I'm always ready to include outside musicians if they can fit. The last CD had a drum part that Rich Hoak (who was the drummer for Brutal Truth) made for me. He actually sent me about 45 mintues of raw material a couple years ago for a project we were working on via mail called the Dinner Hour Duo. The beat I used for the Meth tune was from that material. It worked out great. A lot of people thought it was a lo-fi hip-hop sample or something but they thought it fit the music well. Is the new CD "Biomorphic Symphony" ready? How is it? As of this interview I've completed 3 tracks for the new CD. I'm not sure how long the finished product will be or when I'll be finished. It's a lot more orchestral and catchy than the last Meth recording
and has no vocals/lyrics on it. I feel that the end result will sound like something you'd hear as the soundtrack for an anime movie or something. I have all the themes locked away in my mind, but as of now they're a big jumbled mess and I need to sort them out and arrange them how I'd like. It's like when you get out a set of Christmas lights and they're all in knots and it takes a long time to unscramble them. What can we expect from Meth in the future? Hopefully I'll be finished with "Biomorphic Symphony" by summer 2001. I'd like for a larger label to pick it up and release it, since I don't have a lot of money to do that. The last CD was sent out mainly to friends and bands I'm in touch with that were interested in it. Meth has become my most "serious" project, but it's still got my quirky sense of humor in it. But since it's my most "serious" project, that'll be where I put all of my deep emotions into. I want to keep releasing Meth albums, each with its own distinct style and themes. What are your lyrics about? "Biomorphic Symphony" will have no lyrics and I'm not sure if that is what the trend will be for future Meth recordings. On the past recordings, the lyrics were difficult for many people to decipher. "Transformerz" revolves around everything musical (not to mention in the world) being similar, if not the same. What is music but an arranged collection of notes? Is hip-hop truly that different from metal? Is country really that different from classical? They're all ultimately made out of the same thing. Well, if you take it a level deeper, are people really that different from one another? There is a frightening resurgence of racism, at least in the United States. I don't think the problem had ever disappeared, but it was pushed into a closet for many years. Now
racism is creeping out of the closet, uglier than ever. And I'm not just implying whites being racist, I'm talking about all ethnic groups. "Transformerz" was my response to that. Why fight over petty differences? Just accept and learn.
to Rich Hoak and Abbas Jaffary (Ember) about doing some beats for me and I think both of them are planning on doing something for me in the near future. Anything more that you want to say ?
Where do you get the inspiration to write your music from? I'm usually inspired by things I see or hear. If I buy a new album and am totally blown away by it, chances are it'll get me excited to create new music. It's like adding flame to the fire. The strange thing is, the music I'm listening to while I'm recording an album usually is not of the same "genre". For example, when I recorded the Mech Kommanderz album (death metal), I was listening to a lot of hip-hop. But, since all music is pretty much the same deep down, if I get inspired by good music to create music, that's all there is to it. I also get inspired by my feelings and experiences. When I'm depressed chances are my music will be somber. If I'm happy, it'll be catchier. Have you any other projects apart from Meth? Yes, and there are way too many to list! But I'm definitely slowing down in my "old age" and am focusing on fewer projects (like Meth). I have done some cool things lately. I just did a split minidisc with Chris Dodge (best known for Slapaham Records/Spazz). My half of the minidisc was my short-song project The Bumbling Detective, which was 20 songs in 13 minutes. The styles ranged from metal to hip-hop to punk and everything in between. I've also got a couple projects in the works with Jon Apgar. We're doing a new Sheen (black metal) album and hopefully we'll have the Hydrant Inspectors (Sonic Youth-type stuff) album finishes soon. In addition, I'm tentatively planning a hip-hop project and a punkpop project (probably something like Cibo Matto or Bis). I've also been talking
Thank you for your interest and the interview. If you're curious about my music, feel free to drop me a line! Keirka777@hotmail.com Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
METH - DISCOGRAPHY TRANSFORMER SERIES: COMPLETE - CD (1999) BIOMORPHIC SYMPHONIES - CD (2001) ACTUAL LINEUP Bill Sanwald - everything
We interviewed Azazel, the keyboardist from the german black metal band Nachtmahr. He explained in an open way the facts about the band, their plans and their releases.
Well, can you tell me a little bit of the history of the band? Nachtmahr was founded in autumn 1996 by Nils (guitars) and Heimdall (drums). They soon found a bass-player in Vainamoinen, who was a friend of them, and a singer in Marco. They intended to play Black-Metal the way they liked to hear it, i.e. they wanted to create music they would like to listen to themselves. So songwriting began. In January 1997, I, Azazel, joined them as keyboarder. With this new element, the music became somewhat more athmospheric and in summer 1997 a first demotape was recorded. As we didn´t promote it very much (actually we sent one copy to
german "Ablaze"-mag and that´s all - the review came out about one year later...), we sold about 40 copies. right after this demo we fired Marco, the then singer, and Vainamoinen, the basser, because both lacked engagement for the band. We soon found replacement for the vacant place of the basser in the person of mastema. After having searched quite a long time for a new singer, we gave it up and I took over the vocals. So the today still actual line-up reads Nils (guitars), Mastema (bass), Heimdall (drums) and Azazel (keyboards, vocals).With this new and effective lineup, we played 6 concerts and recorded 3 other demos up to now.
Are Nachtmahr songs composed entirely by you? How is the process of composing a Nachtmahr song? Our songs are composed by the band as a whole. Someone starts playing a riff he thought out at home our just a riff that comes in mind in the actual situation, and then the other members (if the riff is good enough) arrange their parts around the riff, then the next riff is played etc. There´s no single song that would be written by one alone, but it´s always teamwork.
speed. Melody is also quite important, but not in the way that it stands over all. What concerns brutality, I think that through speed, brutality gets lost sometimes, because brutality lies more in heavy, groovy, perhaps slow parts. We surely have some parts, which are slow, but they´re often quite short and end up in a blast attack soon.
How is the CD going? Maybe Germany is the biggest black metal market in Europe? Our last demo, which came out first as a CD and some weeks later as a special tape-version, sold about 500 times until now, mostly in Germany, of course. it may be true, that Germany is the biggest market for Black-Metal in Europe, perhaps due to the fact that it has the biggest population in Europe. But there are also some good bands, which came up not only recently. Which is the role of a keyboardist like you in Nachtmahr? I see my role as the one who has to create the athmosphere in the songs. The keyboard in our music is not intended to play a leading role, but should serve to fill holes left open by the guitar (as we have only one guitar, it sometimes takes the role of a rhythm guitar) or, as said before, to create a mytsic, gloomy, or whatever athmosphere. What do you consider to be more important in Nachtmahr: brutality, speed or melody? I think that speed is one of the most important criteria for our songs. All our songs have at least one part (most of them all parts) that is played in high
Do you feel like Nachtmahr can mix new elements in the music, such as classical parts or different instruments? Maybe the keyboards will be the most important instrument in the future? It is quite difficult to answer this. On the one hand, we increasingly add parts, especially keyboard-parts, that one COULD characterize as classic, but on the other hand we recently cut down the keyboard a bit, so that it appears only once or twice in a song. So surely the keys will NOT become the most important instrument in the future. I don´t think that we will insert new instruments either, because there are only few (acoustic) instruments that would be appropriate for our music and also for BlackMetal in general I think. Are bands like Mayhem, Hellhammer, Ulver an influence to your music or do you prefer other bands or other type of music? The old "elite"- Black Metal Bands, like Mayhem, Burzum, Emperor, Satyricon,
Gorgoroth, Dark Funeral and so on hold surely an influence for us, as we all like them very much. bands like Hellhammer and Darkthrone are not so strong in their influences, because we all do not consider them as musically above us. What concerns other types of music, Nils and I sometimes listen to oldschool Death-Metal, and heimdall and I also listen to classical music, but that´s all I think.
Are you interested in paganism and the occult?
Have your songs any conceptual meaning? Can you explain it ?
NACHTMAHR´S WEBSITE :
Our texts ( I think you mean) don´t have any concept behind them. A greater frame perhaps; one could say, they all depict myths, creatures and experiences that have to do with The Night. As the texts are exclusively written by Heimdall and me, and we share often similar thoughts (because he´s my brother), we often write texts about this theme of night´s creatures and legends. But any real concept does not stand behind this. Which are the equipments of the band in studio? The same as in the rehearsal room, not too bad, not too good.... Is there any plan to tour supporting the new CD? As we don´t have any record-deal yet, I don´t think that there will be any tour in the nearer future.
Yes, we all are interested in such kind of things, especially old folktales, myths and legends. Nils studies the myths of different folks and peoples. Though none of us is practising any kind of religion, we all like to study these, and their mixture in modern times (e.g. paganism and christianity).
www.nachtmahr.net Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
NACHTMAHR - DISCOGRAPHY Schattenfürst - CD (1999) Demo 2001 - (2001)
ACTUAL LINEUP Nils (guitars) Mastema (bass) Heimdall (drums) Azazel (keyboards, vocals)
Noctuary is an American black metal band that has been in the underground for a long time. We talked to guitarist Joseph Van Fossen and drummer Rob Alaniz that satisfied our curiosity about the career of the band and the new album " When Fires Breed Blood" You have a new record in the stores now. "When Fires Breed Blood". Which are the main differences between this new record and "For Salvation..."? Joseph: There are a lot of differences in the two. It's been 2 years since the release of For Salvation... and When Fires Breed Blood was long overdue. In those two years we had much more time to write the songs and perfect them before entering the studio. We also had much more time in the studio to make sure the production was to our liking.
description. I would actually say Noctuary is just an extreme metal band with influence from NWOBHM, Black metal, death metal, etc. As far as diving music into categories... I assume a lot of artists are against it because they assume they are so original and defy categorization... but I think it's necessary for people who want to know what kind of music that band plays, in case they would be interested in checking them out. I don't want to buy an album, expecting it to be some blazing fast necro-black metal, and it turning out to be New-York styled death metal... vice versa. You are currently touring the USA...are there any plans to tour in Europe? What about South America? Joseph: No plans as of yet. However, we would definitely like to get on the road in South America and Europe one day.
Is it correct to say that Noctuary´s Music is a blend of black metal and classical heavy metal like the one of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal? What do you think of dividing music in categories? Joseph: Yeah.. that would be a fair
Why did you decide to reedit your demo "Where all Agony Prevails"? Is the new version enhanced compared to the 1996 one?
support us, they are very extreme underground individuals and we would like to go out there and perform for them one day.
Joseph: Largactyl Records approached us originally about releasing For Salvation... The promotion, distribution and advance were just not enough to have us go for it. They offered to re-release the demo shortly after the album was recorded, and it finally was released in early 2000. The new version was remastered and the outro was updated. I see from the tributes to bands in which you have participated that Venom, Metallica and Motorhead are bands that you like. Which other bands do you consider to be influential for you? Does everybody in the band listen to the same bands or each one has different musical tastes? Joseph: I would say Megadeth is a big influence to us as well as Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Black Sabbath, etc. We all, pretty much, like the same bands... and then again we all like very different bands as well.
Do you feel some kind of relationships with the black metal scene of Scandinavia? Joseph: Not really, I did have a harsh email encounter with Mortiis though. Unfortunately, not much of Europe is opening themselves up to US 'black metal'... so we haven't found much support out there, but of the few who
I would like to ask you about the guest musicians in the new record. How did they end playing in your record? Which is the relationship that bounds you to them? (specially the one with Dr. Daniel Luszko that sounds strange for a metal band). Joseph: Well, Albert Gonzales has been a long time friend of the band. He is an extraordinary guitarist who played with Rob back in the Evil Dead days(he also toured with Death on the Spiritual Healing tour, filling in for James Murphy). We just asked him about doing some leads on the new album and he was happy to oblige. James Reyes is another friend of the band. He is the vocalist of another project we are involved in and he also did the artwork for the cover. Dr. Daniel Luzko is an award winning composer from Paraguay. He studied in Kansas and Poland, getting his phd in music composition. He has been my composition/theory professor for the last year and a half. Well, regarding the last question, is it possible that new influences will arise in
your music? Is Noctuary a constantly changing band? Is it possible that the completely different styles of music will appear in your music? Joseph: Well, we're always evolving and trying new things... but we will not ever change so drastically, we stick to the formula which suits us, while expanding ideas as to not stagnate. Lately, more atonal ideas have been popping up, as well as more of an 80s influence. Only three new songs have been written so far, so anything can happen now.
How is the process of composition in the band? Who brings the main idea of a song and how do you develope this idea? Joseph: Well, for a long time it was just myself and Ed (ex-bassist). So I took care of all of the song writing duties. Now it's a full lineup... and to keep Noctuary the same band, I still take care of most of that. The new guys definitely add their influence, and that is why we are evolving as a band. As time progresses and the new guitarist/bassist learns the noctuary style better, they will be better suited to write entire songs for the band. This is a question for Robert Alaniz. Which was your evolution as a musician
since the days in Evil Dead until now? Which are the main differences that you find between the two bands? Rob: The evolution of my playing from Evildead on through Rise and presently in Noctuary has been for the most part a trial and error process. I am a completely self taught drummer and cant tell you what it is that i am playing from a technical standpoint, but i feel that this has forced me to be more creative and has allowed me to harness more of a feel for the music and respect for song structure as opposed to just having the music suffer from being a drum-solo with music on top. First and foremost, i care about the song, because at the end of the day thats the reason for being in a band for me. Its all about good songs. As for the difference between any of the bands i have been in, i'll say right now that you can have all the chops as a player in the world but it wont get you anywhere if the right combination of good songs and a true bond of friendship within the ranks isnt there. I feel like i am finally in a band that cares about music more than how cool they are (or how people percieve them to be).... I would like to now, as a musician about the equipment that you use live and in the studio. Joseph: Well, I personally have an arsenal of guitars that I use for different purposes: leads, rhythms, clean, etc. I also use an Ampeg vh140c head with a Marshall cab for live and studio. I borrowed Albert's Mesa Boogie Mark 3 to use for one of the rhythm tracks on the new record as well. Rob:I used a 4 pc Pearl export, with an 8" timbalito downtuned for lack of a small drum. The cymbals were a mish mash of different types including Zildjian, Sabian and paiste custom "bells'" that were once full blown cymbals that i cracked and cut down.
Any final words for your fans in Argentina? Joseph: Hails for your support... and hope to be able to spread our propaganda to the South American underground soon!! Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
NOCTUARY - DISCOGRAPHY Where All Agony Prevails- demo (1996) Roots-Comp, contributed with "Black Bleeding Soul" (1998) For Salvation... CD (1998) Motorhead Tribute - contributed with "Dead Forever" (1998) Visionaries of the Macabre Vol.2 contributed with "Eternity Ever Fading" (2000) Where All Agony Prevails-MCD, demo rerelease (2000) When Fires Breed Bood-CD (2000) In the Sign of the Horns-Venom Tribute contributed with "Die Hard" (2000) TBA-Metallica Tribute contributed with "Leper Messiah" (2000)
CURRENT LINEUP Rob Alaniz - drums Joseph Van Fossen - guitar John Mc Elroy - bass, vocals Chris Price - guitar, vocals
Patriarch is a metal band from Belgium that was formed under the name Pariah. They released their first CD in 1990 " Prophecy" and have been playing since then releasing one CD and one MCD in 1999 called " Deity" . We talked to guitarist Mylemans about the history of the band and its future.
What happened with the band after "World Within Worlds"? Shortly after the recordings our original drummer left the band to start a carreer as a professional session-drummer. So we had to look for another drummer. It took a while before we found a new one so we weren't able to do many gigs to promote the album
What do you think of the "Prophecy" album now that 10 years have passed since its release? I don't listen to it that often but I still think it sounds good. It's a little bit different than what we do now, musically and also the kind of lyrics are different. Still there are many fans asking us to play some
in 1983 called in 1992 Freddy
songs from that album. 'Till now we didn't do that, the line up is completely different (except for me), and we have so many new songs that we like to play more than the old stuff. Maybe we'll think of it and see if these songs still work. I read in your web page that in 1998 you recorded a four song demo..,.what happened with it? Well, in 1995 we recorded a 4-demo and with that demo, nothing really happened, exept for some good reviews. Metal was at it's lowest point here in Europe. We couldn't find a new record company and it was even hard to find some gigs with it. So we worked on new songs and started recording them in 1998 with the intention to find a recorddeal and than to record some other songs to make a full CD of it. Again there was no interest from any record company. However, there was a German distributor that would help us if we made a mini-CD of it. So thats what we did, we created the cover for it and then it was released. We've had some good reviews for "DEITY" and with the flourishing of the metal-scene we've done many gigs. What change do you see vocally in Prophecy since Erik Rinkes entered the band?
Our first vocalist, Herman, had one way of singing and had a more melodic approach than Erik. Erik has a very different way of singing. He has a much wider range and can sing in a very aggressive as well as a smooth way. I know that not everyone likes his voice, but for me it's the perfect vocalist for our music. His vocal approach is not to sing some commercial sounding lines or in a way that everyone likes, but more in a way to suit the expression of the lyrics. And I think it's the same with our music. You could say, we do what we like and if the listener likes it, it's cool, if not...it's a pitty.
No, before we go to the studio the songs are worked out completely. Also the vocals and the background vocals. Mostly we do some 4-track recording on the rehearsals, so we have an idea how we have to work things out in the studio. Why did you record the 4 song demo of 1998 part in Belgium and part in Germany? We had a chance to record "Psycic Wars" in a homestudio of a friend of our manager. The first intention was to record all the songs there and then mix them in Germany with Roman Schรถnsee (ex-Pyogenesis).The recording of this song turned out so good that he offered us the chance to record the other songs in Germany with Roman...an so we did. People usually compares the sounf of Patriarch with bands such as Sanctuary, Nevermore and Queensryche...do you think that is unfair to the band?
Is the demo CD "Deity" completely different from World Within Worlds"or"Prophecy"? Will the songs of the demo be released in a full length CD?
It doesn't bother me. I don't think we really sound like one of those bands but we definately play the same style of music. On the other hand , we try to create our own sound, but people like to compare, so...
In a way. It's still Metal that we play with some modern influences here and there. Also the vocals are different, on "World within Worlds" most songs are sung with a high voice and that's not the case on "Deity". We'll start recording a new album one of the coming months but there won't be a song "Deity" or the other demo on it. We have enough new songs to record and "Deity" is still available... Do the songs of demos usually change and the final version becomes totally different from the one in the demos?
Which are the main influences of the band members?
We all like the bands you mentioned before ,but also heaviër bands like Meshuggah, Forbidden, Napalm Death, Death, ProgMetal bands like DT, Fates Warning, Spiral Architect and others like Dead Can Dance/Lisa Gerard, Laïs, Tori Amos, etc...
like you!!! And look out for our new album in 2001. Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
Which equipment do you use live and in studio? We use Sonor drums and Zildjan Cymbals, amps by Marshall and Digitech, Guitars and Basses by Charvel, Jackson, Fender and Ibanez. We'll probably record digital again, cause it's easy to work with an it works very fast. Is there any recording contract to release a new full length album and tour to support it? No, but we'll try to find a new record label for the new album, if that doesn't work, we'll release it by ourselves. We'll have to see what the future brings for touring, cause without support of a record company, it's hard to set up a real tour. Do you want to say something more? Feel free to say anything
DISCOGRAPHY - PATRIARCH PROPHECY - CD (1990) WORLD WITHIN WORLDS - CD (1992) DEITY - MCD (1999) SPLIT 7" AFTER ALL / PATRIARCH (2000) ACTUAL LINEUP FREDDY MYLEMANS : guitar LES VAN TENDELOO : guitar
First of all thanks for the interview and the support and also for the link on your site. And keep on supporting the underground Metal- scene, cause we can't do without the support of people
ERIK RINKES : vocals BORRE VAN TENDELOO : bass FRANK DRESSELAERS : drums
It´s been more than 3 years since you formed the band. How do you see your musical career in retrospect? We've really taken these 3 years to cultivate our live show into something brutal and memorable. As far as a career, we don't make enough money to live off of it. We all have decent jobs and live music aside from that. It's just been about going out there, fucking up and learning what works and what doesn't work. I'd say that Satan is pleased with the progress we've made.
I suppose that you are big fans of Celtic Frost (since you recorded "Jewel Throne in "Hallowed be thy agony") Which other bands are a big influence for you? The reason Celtic Frost is so amazing to me is because of this. Back in 1985, I first heard the term "Death Metal". I envisioned the vocals of a primitive warlord with these muddy plodding guitars and bass that just rolled over you and buried you like a fucking panzer. I bought "Emperor's Return" and the sound that came out of those speakers was almost exactly what I'd pictured it to be. I was hooked from that moment. I also got heavily into Sabbath, Possessed, Venom, Exodus,Slayer, Dark Angel, Sodom, Metallica, Megadeth, Death, Kreator, Destruction. Later on I got into Entombed, Morgoth, Emperor, Dissection, Angel Corpse, Cannibal Corpse, early Deicide, Krisiun, Immortal. The list goes on. Pretty much suffice it to say that all that concerns me is the music of the devil, and that is all that I care about playing. It has done so much for me. It has made me whole.
Are you in the process of recording your second full length?Where are you recording it? Are you producing it by yourself? We are really practicing our instruments that they may truly speak the gospel of the Devil. We will begin writing in the spring for our second full length. It will be recorded at the same studio where we recorded "Hallowed be thy Agony" and will be produced by the same person as well.
Originally, Joshua the drummer and I started it in Jan. 1997. We moved over to Seattle about 6 months later and recorded our self titled debut. We played local shows for about a year and had to get another bass player. Greg came in about 2 years ago and we've been playing withthis line-up ever since. Can you explain the concept that lies in your lyrics? The concept that lies in the lyrics is just timelessness. Something that can stand on it's own 15 years from now just as my influences have done. Since you come from Seattle...How was live in the 90s when everything was grunge and you were an extreme metal band?
Are you touring the Northwestern side of the USA? Are there any plans of touring the rest of the country and maybe outside of it? No tourng plans as of yet. We were planning one for the fall but it fell apart. We'll have to wait a little longer. Can you tell us something about the
None of the people I hung out with were into grunge. It really seemed like people had lumped all of the categories of metal in with the cock rockers of the day and didn't want anything to do with that. A few those bands like Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains were cock rock bands. I just thought the music sucked. Do you compose individually or all the songs are composed in rehearsals with all the members of the band? For me there is no set way of writing music. Whatever works. Sometimes I have a rough structure of a song mapped out in a day and sometimes it takes a year to write one song. Can we say that Suicide Culture is a band that was meant to "perform on stage"?
beginnings of the band?
Most fucking definitely. I was born to play on stage. It is all I've ever wanted to do. I am extremely grateful that I have something in my life like metal that hasn't stopped inspiring me one bit over the
course of 18 years. It's strange because I'm 28 and most people are quitting this music to work a regular job and support the unwanted family they have. I have a stronger desire to do this now than I did 10 years ago.
SUICIDE CULTURE - DISCOGRAPHY Suicide Culture - CD (1997) Hallowed Be Thy Agony - CD (2000)
Are there any plans to include another member in the band (another guitarist or a keyboard player)?
Kevin Bedra - guitar, vocals
Yes we are adding another guitar player. It will be uncompromisingly insane.
Joshua Hanenburg - drums, backing vocals
Any message that you would like to give?
Greg Hartung - bass, backing vocals
Thank you for the time you took to read this interview. Your grave is calling. Can you hear it? Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
ACTUAL LINEUP
Ulcus is a norwegian band of black metal that has released one CD " Cherish the Obscure" and a MCD " Malicious Triumph" ( they recorded also a CD called " Roles" when they were called Ulcus Molle) . We talked with bassist Jarle to take a deeper insight into their music.
unexperienced with music. Since then we have evolved a lot and made our own musical style. Our music has only become more and more brutal and darker over the years, and I guess that it will continue to develope that way. What do you think about "Yggdrasil" now, in the distance? It´s been more than 6 year since the band first formed as Ulcus Molle: Which are the main differences in your music since then? The changes have been quite drasticly. We started out as a power trash band influenced by bands such as Sepultura, Slayer, Metallica, Death etc. We played a lot of cover songs of these bands. We were only sixteen years old when we started, and most of us were quite
First of all we had only played for a year when we recorded it, and it was purely recorded for our own enjoyment. But I am still very proud of it. It represents our lifes back then. It brings back a lot of memories listening to it today. We occationly jam on some of the songs on rehersals , and that is a lot of fun.
Why do you call "Roles" your "real first recording"? Was the first time that you could put your power-thrash metal influence in music? I call it that because it was the first time we recorded any of our material properly. "Yggdrasil" was recorded in our rehersal place, and had an extremely shitty sound. "Roles" was recorded in a real recording studio. I guess that it was when we recorded "Roles" that we first got serious with our music. Which do you think is the main difference between the playing of Stian and that of Hektor? Hektor was a childhood friend of me and Joern. He started the band with me, Joern and Sture. He was very dedicated to the band in the the first year. But he lost interest in our musical direction, and he didn't have the necesary skills to bring Ulcus any further. So after a mutual agreement he left Ulcus in autumn 96. We immediatly recruited Stian. He is an extremely talented guitarist. He is into all kinds of music, and has a musical degree. He is extremely good at guitar leads, and has made it possible to develope our sound a lot. What new elements brought Gaute to the band? Gaute joined us in 97. We wanted to get a moore moody and darker sound. He is a very competent synthist, and is skilled through playing classical piano for several years. He has also contributed to some of the material on "Cherish the obscure", and has become an important
member in the creative process of our songwriting. Which are your main musical influences? Does anyone in the band have different ones? We listen to a lot of the same music, although we like a lot of different bands. Speaking for myself i like the following bands a lot: Death, Slayer, Satyricon, Darkthrone, Immortal, Dimmu Borgir, Hypocrisy, Metallica(early stuff of course), The Doors, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest(Painkiller), Helloween(in the eigthies), Windir, and a lot of classical music like Grieg, Prokofiev, Orff and Beethoven. How would you describe an Ulcus show? How did your live act evolve through the years? We had our first concert in over 3 years last weekend. It went really well. We try to make an energetic show as possible. But we also try to make it theatrical by using make up, and special light effects. We hope to do a lot of concerts and develop our stage show in the future. I read that you took over the main role in composition...How do you compose the songs? Is there any interaction with the other members of the band? The guitar is the basis when I write a song. I make a lot of riffs on guitar and put this into a computere program. Then I put on the rythm section (Bass and drums), and finally I put on the keyboards and guitar melodies. Then I give a MID with the song to the other members so they can learn it. The other members do not contribute very much to the songwriting, but do have a lot to say when it comes to arranging their respective instruments. The only other member that has written any music the last couple of years is Gaute.
Are there any plans of touring outside Norway? We hope to do an European tour after our next recording, but it depends on the record company. I do hope it will work out, as we do love playing live, and it is about time we get to present ourselves outside Norway What can you tell me about "Cherish the Obscure"? Is it very different than the MCD "Malicious Triumph"? "Cherish the obscure"is a Cd with nine tracks of dark, original and moody music. It is a mixture of black, death and thrash metal. "Malicious triumph" is the Cd that gave us a record deal, and 2 of the songs from "Malicious triumph" were also rerecorded and included at "Cherish the obscure". "CTO" is a lot darker and more black metal and it sounds a lot more mature than " MT" Are you composing new songs for a new CD? We have written 8 new songs that will be recorded this winter (2001). Those songs plus a cover song will be our next Cd. The new material is a natural progression from "Cherish the obscure", but they will sound moore groovy, catchy and a lot harder. I guess we can label it as powerful and melodic black metal. Hopefully it will be released during next summer/autumn.
Here in Argentina black metal is really underground but has a very faithful audience. What can you say to Ulcus fans in Argentina? I do hope that you enjoyed our debut Cd, and I can promise you that our new material will sound a lot rawer and even more metal. I hope that we one day will get the chanse to play in Argentina, but sadly I don't see that happening in the nearest future. Stay metal and support quality music. Thanx very much for the interview, and good luck in spreading metal/Ulcus in Argentina. Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
ULCUS - DISCOGRAPHY Ygdrassil - demo (1994) (as Ulcus Molle) Roles - CD (1996) (as Ulcus Molle) Malicious Triumph - MCD (1998) (as Ulcus Molle) Cherish The Obscure (2000) (as Ulcus)
ACTUAL LINEUP Jarle Kvåle- bass Sture Dingsøyr- vocals, guitar Gaute Refsnes- keyboards
Which is the main equipment of the band in studio and on stage? Drums:Tama, Bass: Aria Pro, Guitar:Ibanez & Jackson, Keyboard: Proteus, Amps: Marshall, Peavy and Mesa Boogie. + a lot of effectstuff that are differnt each time.
Stian Bakketeig - guitar Jørn Holen- drums
News December 28th, 2000: New England based Rock Band EVENT has signed a licensing contract for the United States, Canada and South America with Inside Out Music America. This will include national distribution through Century Media and Caroline. The upcoming recording is titled "Human Condition" and is scheduled for release on Feb 20, 2001. December 27th, 2000: The band CRYPTIC WINDS is releasing their CD "Storms of the Black Millenium". December 26th, 2000: The band from Chicago DITCHWATER are recording the follow up to their MCD "Breakdown". Hopefully it will be out in February/March 2001. It is a four song CD. December 24th, 2000: ULCERATE FESTER, the band from the Netherlands will have their new album in the stores in April. It is called "The Spanish Harbour". December 22nd, 2000: The following bands have new albums out now: NIFELHEIM, "Servants of Darkness"; BELPHEGOR, "Necrodaemon Terrorsathan"; EMINENZ, "The Blackest Dimension" and; THE DARKSEND, "Antichrist in Excelsis"
December 18th, 2000: HANGNAIL have finished recording their second album at New Rising Studio's in Essex. It will be released worldwide through Rise Above records in March 2001. ORANGE GOBLIN vocalist BEN WARD has lent his talents to the track "THAT THERE SOUL" GAS GIANT are working on new material right now and have debuted two new songs, New Day Rising and There's One, at there recent concerts in Kobenhavn and Aarhus in Denmark. The Concert in Aarhus was recorded by Danish national radio and will hopefully broadcast early next year. Also, look for a split LP (500 copies only on vinyl only) on Burnt Hippie Recordings with the Norweigan band WE, due out in April. This will contain 3 or 4 songs each by WE and Gas Giant! December 15th, 2000: Finland´s HOLOCHAUST put their song Holocaust at #1 in Mp3.com category for Metal Bands, also the song is #19 in the whole Metal genre SHEAVY will actually perform live in St.John's, Newfoundland on Dec28th!! The place, The Cornerstone, on George street. December 10th, 2000: We went to Vai´s concert only to confirm that every time that you see him he is better and better and better, arrrgggg. I envy him. The concert was amazing with Vai and the band displaying his usual set of songs (focused mainly on "The Ultrazone" album) and pyrotecnics. Amazing show as always !! After the show we met Vai in the hotel just for taking a couple of pictures, but no interview.
November 21st, 2000: Yngwie J. Malmsteen´s Rising Force new album "War to End All Wars" released worldwide through Spitfire Records. Shortly before this release singer Mark Boals left the band to pursue a band project called Ring of Fire.
November 20th, 2000 : Confirmed ! Iron Maiden will play in Buenos Aires along with former Judas Priest singer Rob Halford´s new band (called Halford) and Queens of the Stone Age. The show is scheduled for January 13th, 2001. Also the Red Hot Chilli Peppers will play on January 24th. Both shows will be at Velez Sarsfield Stadium.
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