Virtuosism, intelligence, great compositional skills, all this and more can be found in the playing of the band called Aghora. Every song discovers for you new worlds of technical music taken to its extremes. Santiago Dobles, guitaris t from the band talked about the history and projects of the band. How did you ended up forming a band with Sean Reinert and Charlie Ekendahl? Both of them have been good friends of mine for a while. The type of sound I had in mind could only be developed with a certain type of musicianship. Charlie and Sean definitely each as individuals had the sound I was looking for. The music was written with their styles in mind. How has studying music in Berklee changed the way that you compose and play music? It definitely helped me in many ways. I realized how I wanted to sound and how I didn't want to sound. I was introduced to a lot of new elements. But before I went in I already had an idea of what I wanted to sound like. In some ways it made me not want to write or sound like the stuff I was hearing at Berklee. Berklee is a great place but it can also hamper your true identity as a musician. If you stay there long enough you will sound like everyone else if your not careful. I don't think the classroom is always the best place to learn an art form. Is Sean Malone going to record Aghora´s next material? So, you have half of the Cynic line up that recorded Focus. What do you think of that?
Sean Malone will probably not record the next album with us. He is very busy with his own projects. It was an amazing experience to share with all of them in the process of the recording. I was not so much concerned with the actual Cynic connection I was more amazed of the individuals I was working with. Can we call the band an experimental-technical metal band? I guess so. I myself don't know what label we fall under. In fact I would hate to be labeled. How was learning guitar with such great players as Paul Masvidal, Jon Finn and Derek Taylor? They all had some great input for me to absorb. Paul really helped me to understand the basics of playing jazz and improv. Derek really helped to give the attributes needed to form my style. He taught me via correspondence. As for Jon, he really helped me to further understand putting things together. I think however the guy I learned the most from was Mashi Hasu from Berklee. He really opened my eyes when it came down to improv. Does Charlie bring kind of a death metal feel and sound to the music? What do you think each member
brings to the band? Charlie really does have a great European metal sound. I enjoy his energy and his way of expression. Sean is definitely the foundation. His playing is so fluid yet very sturdy and concrete. As for Danishta, she is what makes the band. Are you participating in other projects apart from Aghora? At the moment no. Lately I have been focusing on my own personal development on the acoustic guitar. I find it a much harder instrument to control than the electric. It takes more to make it sing. I will develop some sort of acoustic project soon as well. Are you going to put male vocals to make a contrast with Danishta? It's possible. Are you playing live or planning to do it? We are hoping to tour very soon.
Things are being planned at the moment by our label. What can we expect from the next Aghora album? Is the material already composed? I think half of the album is almost ready. It is a very thick sound. It is definitely heavier yet more melodic. It's more Aghora! Any final words ? Thanks for the support! take care and say hello to all our listeners in Argentina. AGHORA´S OFFICIAL WEBSITE: www.aghora.org Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
AGHORA - DISCOGRAPHY Aghora - CD (2000) ACTUAL LINEUP Santiago Dobles - guitars Charlie Ekendahl - guitars Sean Reinert - drums Danishta Rivero - vocals
We had this insightful and great talk with Fabrizio Cassol, saxophonist and main composer from Aka Moon. As you can see below he talked about his music, about his spirituality and much more interesting Things. Is your music experimental jazz or how would you describe it? The music of Aka Moon is an attitude. We can say sometimes "it's jazz", because improvisation takes an important place. It means we have the opportunity to re-act instantly between us in face with the energy of the present. Sometimes, people says is like "rock music", because of the collective impact of the band. Sometimes is like "drum and bass" because we just love to be in this kind of mood. Sometimes people says other things, but what is important is the attitude to be open to any kind of sources of inspiration. The "keys" we learn with the indian master Umayalpuram Sivaraman are different of those we learn with the african master Doudou N'diaye Rose. Aka Moon is a world of connections. Human connections, artistic connections, spiritual connections. Aka Moon is a reflection about what is "memory" inspired by the oral tradition as well as the written tradition. All these things make our sound, a really special sound wich makes some people say "it is experimental...it's new..." We have our language, it's not a "patchwork"! The music has his own complexity, with a lot of rules but we are free and we fly up to this. The world it self is more and more complex and we have to deal with that as well as any child. We try to be like our children. It's one of the secrets of our attitude. Which is the relationship with the Aka Pygmies of Central Africa? The Aka Pygmies are our protectors. We have others
protectors but Aka Moon starts in the jungle of Central-Africa. We stay in the forest with them 9 years ago. It was an incredible experience. They give us the energy to never give up! They give us the energy to believe in our-self and their spirits ask us to perpetuate them in the middle of the western world. They offered us a part of their "fire", their "inner-fire". But it was 9 years ago... Their music is amazing and playing with them is something rare. How was the collaboration with different musicians through the career of the band? After the experience with Pygmies, we traveled in India, recording in Bombay, playing in Madras (now called ChennaĂŻ). Later on, we met Sivaraman, the greatest mridangam player (main drum of south India). He has 65 years old and played with all the great masters of India of the last century. All the masters we know and all the masters we don't know because they are legend there and they have never recorded. Sivaraman is him-self like thousand books...Touring in India with him is incredible, I saw many times people crying because he is emotionnaly so powerful. We also played with the
scene of the new improvised music. Sometimes with 3 keyboards or 2 pianos, sometimes with horn sections, sometimes with 2 or 3 electric guitars or with singers. Also with the contemporary ensemble Ictus, or with the DJ Grazzhoppa or african drummers. We were on tour recently with the Rosas company of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, 14 dancers for 3 hours show. We were invited into the opera of Philippe Boesmans, wonderfull composer. He asked us to play our music in the middle of his opera, mixed with the orchestra, the singers, chorus and this craziness of the opera world. 12 Cds are released on the "Carbon 7" label including more than 5O musicians, the opera is on Deutch Grammophon (most important label of classical music) and 1 CD is released in Colombia from a live concert of the jazz fest. of Bogota. Each musician is different, we all ex-change our knowledges. But, as says Sivaraman, we are all one. Art is a cosmic language, we try to be cosmic. Are your songs changed when they are played in concert to allow improvisations? All our tunes, or songs or pieces, it's up to you how you call it, are supposed to be different each time we perform. First, because of the relationship with the present. And also, in relation with the musicians with whom we play.But even if we play in trio it's supposed to be always different.Our memories (of course I'm talking about the memory which include cultural traditions and reflexes, knowledges, spiritual field of energy,...until DNA informations...) are always in movement. It's very special to notice, as soon as you change a single information, how much it has an impact on all the chain of connections. And this changes the sound and of course the music. But more concretely, we play , for example, the same tune sometimes with african
drummers and sometimes with keyboards, and in trio. When we play in trio right after keyboards, we have in mind, or in body!, the sound of keyboards; but we are playing in trio, then we have an interior sound which it guide us to somewhere else and it changes the sound of the trio. It's the same if we play a song with a DJ and the next day without. We still have the first sound in mind, this inner-sound and consciously or unconsciously it changes the perception which is guiding us throught different ways of interpretation, improvisation,.... How do you compose the songs in Aka Moon? I like to work like painters. If you see for exemple the work of Picasso, he has different periods, blue period, pink period and so on. Klee is an example too.Each period of Aka Moon has his own focus with reflections concerning the rythms, the melodies, the harmonies, the conterpoints, the forms,...The first period was based on the rythm connected with Africa, of course because the trip with the Pygmies. It means, the rythm makes them in a certain kind of vibrations and makes them in touch with the Spirits of the Forest. The sequences are short and repetitive pushing them in a state of dance and transe. We've first used similar things giving us the opportunity to create special asymĂŠtric timemesures and very complexe polyrythms. These varispeed start very simply as for exemple 4 against 3, 5 against 4 and step by step 7 against 4, 7 against 5 but also 7 against 8 and so on. 7 against 5 against 3 is also possible too. Everything is possible! Melodicaly, the counterpoint between the melodies is also a special focus. The bass -line can be the head -melody and the head -melody can be the bass-line. The rythm must be melody?... Different kind of counterpoints are possible. The study of Bach music is very important to
understand it. All the tunes can be mixed to create a kind of nonform. Sometimes we play different tunes at the same time because each of them have the same "seed". In fact we were like DJ without knowing it. These are few exemples of the first period. The second period was focus on the south indian tradition. The quality of time is different up there. The sequences can be very long going to time-mesure with 11 beats, 13 beats, and more than 100 beats. The rythm is more narative than it change the form, the harmonies and the colors. We have many periods...It's too long to explain it here! But what I would like also to say that I first compose for Michel and StĂŠphane, trying to understand our-self, the others and the world. To grow up all together into the Mysteries of life. It's like a work in progress without end: the "School of Mysteries". But very basicaly, I propose them something, as a question, and they propose me an answer back. From this new point we start again including all what we know. Each of us must be free with his own intuition! Must be proud to play on stage because giving the best of him-self! How do you see the evolution of the band since "Aka Moon"to "Invisible Sun" ? From the beginning, the trio is always the center from where everything starts. The extentions with all the different guests are also, let's say like this and of course it's symbolic, the"materialisation" of the natural Aura of the band. But the center is always the trio from where everything has to comeback to re-start again. This is important and mysteriously connected with all what I said before. But in another way, there's no evolution. We don't have a project after another one, like usual. We do everything at the same time. We try to live the creation not in a linear time but in the multiplication of the time exactly as the rythm is. The univers has many-dimentions, as soon as we are in a process of spiritualisation, we travel across these dimentions. That's why we believe into cosmic art!!!The Cds have to come out one by one, but we work on everything together. Aka Moon seems to be a really prolific band...How is it that you make records so fast?
I think the answer of this question is into the other answers. Do the members of Aka Moon have musical theory training? Of course, but it's not the most important. The Soul is the most important and the intentions of the Soul. We know what, traditionally, music is. We know also there are mysteries and we let the music vibes into us. The theoretical aspect is a basement like you build a house. You have the rooms but it's not yet how you would like to live into this house. These are the intentions. Some people have so pure intentions that they don't need a house anymore. Everything is possible. In front of the Cosmic energy we are so small. If we try to have a control on everything, we will limit ourselves but if, with the maximum of humility, we let the vibrations coming into us, we will do things which are impossible to understand for a single brain. Are you preparing your new record? How is it? A new CD just came out, basically in quartet with Fabian Fiorini on piano. It's a part of the music we do with the Rosas company. Another one is recorded and we have to mix it. It's the last of the invisible trilogy. It's called "Invisible Moon". Fabian Fiorini plays piano but also BenoĂŽt Delbecq with a "prepared" piano. David Gilmore on guitar, violins from the South India (we did the recordings in Madras), Sivaraman on mridangam, David Linx sings also. It's a very mysterious CD!!! Another one in trio was finished few months ago. It will come out after "Invisible Moon". We have other projects to realized this year, forexample with DJ Grazzhoppa. Can you explain the trilogy "Ganesh"/"Elohim"/"Live at Vooruit" ?
formed
by
We have, for this trilogy, mainly two different poles: India with Sivaraman on "Ganesh" and Africa with Doudou N'Diaye Rose on "Live at the Vooruit" and in the middle,"Elohim", is a combination on both. But it's not so simple of course. Ganesh has two drummers, two guitars representing also different poles in itself. The beginning of Elohim is the end of Ganesh and suddenly everything changes
to have three keyboards, horns section and a singer. It's more electronic and electric. Live at the Vooruit is really african in his concept. Now, this work seems to be another life!!! It is not so easy to talk about it.
Rebirth - CD (1994) Akasha 1 - CD (1995) Akasha 2 - CD (1995)
Is there anything more that you want to say?
Ganesh - CD (1997)
Now we are touring a lot in trio, wish is really great because we have all these memories in mind. In may we'll play in Senegal, in june in Canada. In Europe of course and we hope to go in South america soon.Music is great! I wish you a cosmic and peaceful life to all of you.
Elohim - CD (1997) Live at the Vooruit - CD (1997) Invisible Mother - CD (1998) Live at the Kaai - CD (1999)
Ooommm. Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
AKA MOON - DISCOGRAPHY Aka Moon - CD (1991) Nzomba - CD (1992)
Invisible Sun - CD (2000)
ACTUAL LINEUP Fabrizio Cassol - alto sax, composer Michel Hatzigeorgiou - electric bass StĂŠphane Galland - drums
Can you tell me the history of the band? Me (Sathor) and Nero Baratro started up as a duo,we had the ideas and the concepts on what and how to play...fast extreme Black metal and still today we have similar ideas, and inspirations. We had different members but now we are a duo again and its working great! What can you tell me about "Iter in Obscuritates Mentis"? "Iter.." comes from more than one year of composing stuff, trying different musicians, and a previous recording we weren´t so much satisfied with( it had many songs from Iter, but had a sound we didnt want to use as for our demo debut cd ,had a sound similar to the first Emperor very rough and grim but we thought that as our first product could have been misunderstood and criticised, also we are not from Norway either).
Which are the elements in your music that you find most interesting? I think, despite what other Black Metal bands play in Italy we find that our peculiarity is of not sounding "Italian" too much. Ars Macabra music has a lot of impact, aggressivness, and evil that comes out. How important are atmospheres and melodies in your music? Very important, those are the keys that give you certain kind of feelings. Listening to our music would be too dry just to play at our hellish speed without creating catching and evil melodies and atmospheres. This is even more well done in our last recording "Daemonolatria Hypnotica". Which are the topics that you prefer expressing in your lyrics? We deal with morbid psychotic issues, and evil dark grim presences.
Is your music influenced by the old school of black metal or are there some new bands that you would like to mention?
How were the songs in "Iter Obscuritates Mentis "composed?
We are influenced of course by our listening to Marduk, Dark Funeral,Darkthrone, the old school of Black Metal is a combination that others have made as well for may be some riffing style, but we didn´t really had that particular intention, we both like good bands new and some old.
Joining my and Nero Baratro ideas together and then developing them and extending them on standard and not musical standard using also variety of instruments.
Do you prefer to work independently or are you searching for a record deal? We have a record deal with an Italoian label for 2 CDs. The debut one will be called "Daemonolatria Hypnotica". How are Ars Macabra´s shows? We didn´t make that many but the few we did were more of a thunder blasting bloodbath of evil, we like to use a lot of blood on stage. Any final thoughts? Ars Macabra thank you for the attention and say that what they play is on "Daemonolatria hypnotica". There is Ars Macabra at the best. Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
ARS MACABRA - DISCOGRAPHY Iter in Obscuritates Mentis - CD (1999) Daemonolatria Hypnotica - CD (2001) ACTUAL LINEUP Sathor Nero Baratro
How is the tour going up to now? Was it a long time since the last timeyou toured? Although I tour often, this was my first solo tour in three years. I absolutely loved it and found that I was much freer than I was three years ago when i perhaps had more to lose. The music was surprising each night, and I found myself lucidly enjoying it on every occasion. The audiences were extremely receptive, which has actually been my experience on most occasions while touring. Which are the differences between the music that you do on your solo albums and the one you do on Nmperign? The most apparent difference is the presence of more melodic material on the solo recordings. I can be more melodically precise in a solo context. This is important to me for a variety of reasons, one being that this melody is somehow distinct from both what is considered traditional and what is considered experimental, perhaps because a certain quality of melody can give you the feeling of timelessness, and so it avoids being contingent on the particular fetishes of the time. I don't think that my melodies are melodious to the majority of ears, which is fine, because most melodies are like viruses that stick in your head and loop and mutate so that you need to exhaust them somehow by hearing a song over and over again until it becomes a single, harmless crackle in your mind, which is not what I experience as enjoyment. I personally like melodies that are transparent and forgettable, that are hardly melodies at all but more like melodic experiences.
Nmperign differs from my solo music (and i'm leaving out the very complicated differences in process, which should be expected when comparing solo improvisation with group improvisation) in that the music that comes out of nmperign is almost always at the edge of what I understand as being music. it takes me a while to digest our recordings and select the strongest/clearest pieces, to recognize our intention, which is not the same in the finished recordings as it is during the performances (this difference is a basic condition of the artistic process as far as I can tell and is not unique to my experience with nmperign. the unique experience with nmperign is that the question of "why does this work?" is much more difficult for me to answer, even in vague, poetic terms, than it is with other projects I've done). Have you been playing as a session musician? Which are your main recordings with other people? The idea of a "session" musician or a "sideman" always conjures up the idea of money, the idea of a "professional", in my mind. So, in that sense, I'd have to say that I have not been playing as a session musician. I have,however, recorded on other people's projects because I respect them in some way and have felt that I could learn something from the experience. For along time i've worked with Masashi Harada, who has too strong of a personality to not in some way be the leader any ensemble he's in. I've also done a few jazz-like recordings that are refreshing now and then, like a peaceful family dinner. Mostly, the members of any ensemble that I work with are on some kind of equal footing, which is actually a shifting of dominance in practice but ends up being, unarguably, a group effort.
Do you have a lot of music theory background? How does it affect your compositions? I have a Masters in Composition from the New England Conservatory, so there is a lot of musical information in my memory. I am lucky, however, to have always enjoyed learning and to have had an aversion to being "taught". Theories are basically translations (of what happens in music and why it "works") and suffer from the same shortcomings as translations. However, they also help to excite certain latent possibilities in music (Xenakis is an excellent example of someone who consciously applied theory to produce previously unheard and arresting music), I have never self-consciously applied theory to my actual compositions (which are really selected improvisations), but it has on occasion boadened my view of what is possible. I saw that you were playing in theatres and a church in your tour... Do you change the music that you play for the different environments? The environment has an effect on the music, of course. especially when you deal with silences. Some rooms need to have the silence raised to awareness, and one way to deal with this is to begin with sound that has heavy vibrations (sustained pitches, for instance) so that when those vibrations are gone, there is a void. Some rooms already have deep silences and ask to be approached carefully or sounds that are normally strong will seem clumsy and oafish. usually the room communicates itself very clearly, and I don't have to think about how to deal with it at all. Is the soprano saxophone your main instrument or are there other kind of saxophones that you prefer using according to the mood of the song? For almost ten years I have played the soprano saxophone exclusively. If I were to pick up another instrument, I doubt that it would be another saxophone.
How was your collaboration with Jack Wright, Fred Lonberg-Holm and Bob Marsh? It was very easy to make music with that group. The combination of two cellos and two saxes allowed each instrument to disguise itself as another and thereby take more risks. Each player had the ability (and the desire) to either push the music forward or to stew in more static, textural areas, so the pieces tended to be rather mercurial and extremely contrapuntal. It is a type of music that is not really in fashion right now in the experimental music world, where either a strippeddown conceptual clarity (leaning towards coldness) or a nostalgia for free jazz seems to gather the most hype. My music and musical taste generally lean towards the former, but there is so much more to experience... How big is the percentage of improvisation in your music? Do you record your gigs to see new ideas surfacing? There is never a preconceived plan for the music, but you have to take into account the fact that I/we have "improvised" thousands of times, and that what is actually improvised in the music is always changing. Sometimes it is as if I'm playing every sound for the first time, and sometimes it is more of an unexpected arrangement of habits in varying stages of solidity. Dealing with these shifting states of awareness is actually the more interesting improvisation for me - it is openness to both strength and weakness in an arena that can be (perceived as) profound, regardless. Recordings act in volatile ways towards the musicmaking process. I've recorded an awful lot, and, listening back, I've been sent down both barren and fruitful paths. at some point, it becomes important to allow yourself to forget things, drop lifeless habits, and keep a distance from recordings and their insipid ability to create a fixed image of your musical personality. That being said, I still love to make recordings and love having recordings and
don't support the notion of music being necessarily better live. You just have to recognize the pitfalls... Are you planning to do more collaborations with other musicians or are you concentrating on solo music? Always both. My solo music is interesting me right now since it is currently in a phase of renewal. However, I have been struggling to do work with larger ensembles (5 or more improvisers), which is logistically quite difficult as you can probably imagine. A few concerts last year with a nine- and six-piece ensemble were very rich and exciting for me, and one of my goals for the upcoming year is to work regularly with these groups. In september I will be doing a month-long tour of the u.s. with Greg Kelley, Axel Doerner, Andrea Neumann, and Annette Krebs, which should lead to some unthought musical moments.
In concrete terms, this has led to me discovering various fingerings to introduce microtones, multiphonics, and unconventional timbres, and has led me to take the instrument apart or play it backwards or use small events of breath and spit to produce sounds entirely outside of the normal expectations of the saxophone. But for me, these sounds lose their novelty pretty quickly, and I am once again left with the task of trying to create compelling, honest music. It shouldn't be too surprising that you can hear changes in my music when new techniques are introduced, but that something fundamentally identifiable as "me" remains. BHOB RHAINEY´S HOMEPAGE: http://homepage.mac.com/bhobr with additional mp3s at
We're at a point right now where there exists a more global common language in this "nonidiomatic" idiom so that larger groups can play together without the assistance of particular strategies (Zorn's game pieces, Fred Lonberg-Holm's light box orchestra, etc.), but this needs to be explored further to get beyond the superficial niceties of the large ensemble texture.
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/146/bhob_rainey1. html
How are you taking the soprano saxophone to its limits? Which is your technique?
The Darkest Corner, the most conspicuous - CD
Everything that I do with the soprano saxophone has been available since it's invention (of course, some of it is peculiar to the make and model of my instrument, which is not all that unique - it was mass-produced, after all). I just work with what is already there. My approach is fairly simple and naturalistic - I see the instrument as a thing in itself (without being able to avoid a complex personal and impersonal history), discoveries may take place, my body's memory retains certain significant actions, and awareness directs my body, making all of these events recursive and allowing for all sorts of external influences. I don't do very much - I just show up for the process and try to avoid being self-congratulatory. Not that that is particularly easy....
Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
BHOB RHAINEY - DISCOGRAPHY 6 Standing Desert - split LP w/Kevin Drumm
In which the silent partner… - CD (as Nmperigm) This is Nmperign second CD - CD (as Nmperigm) Crawlspace / Universal Noir - CD The Withered Grasses - CD "44´38´´/5" - CD (as Nmperign) Ink. - CD Enter the Continent - Masashi Harada - CD There the eye goes not - Mike Bullock - CD Witness of the sun - Ben Schwendener - CD Beware the short hair girl - Titlayo Ngwenya - CD
CD Reviews A GUITAR ODYSSEY - TRIBUTE TO YNGWIE MALMSTEEN - (Gothenburg Noiseworks 2000): This is a tribute album with different results. There are the bands that succeed in doing good versions of Yngwie´s song and there are those that fail in their efforts. To remark the first ones we can say that for example Stormwind makes a good version of "Too young to die, too drunk to live", Treasure Island does a good rendition of "Icarus Dream Suite" (despite their sound that is not good in this recording), Firewind makes a carbon copy of "Little Savage". On the other side are bands that fail as does Wicked Ways with a weak rendition of "Hiroshima Mon Amour" or Pathos and Destiny that destroy "Disciples of Hell" and "Anguish and fear" with vocals taken from the worst of eighties thrash metal. I must point out Mattias Eklund that is the only artist that chose to do a tribute composing a piece called "Yngwie 2000" in the vein of Malmsteen instead of chosing an already recorded song.
ARISE FROM THORNS - BEFORE AN AUDIENCE OF STARS (Dark Symphonies Recs. 2001): An extremely climatic band that now has changed its name to Brave. The main features of this record are: first of all and most important the amazing female vocals of Michelle Loose (that can be compared with great singers as Annekke Van Giesbergen (The Gathering) or Kari RueslĂĽtten). The second thing that I found really interesting in this recording is the use of acoustic and clean guitars that are fundamental to get the feel of melancholy, sadness, dreamings or what they wnat to transmit through every song. A third feature important is the interaction between theguitars, keyboards and vocals...this is fundamental. I totally recommend this album, I liked it a lot. My favorite tracks are: "Dreaming", "Lure" and "Remember the stars". Email: darksympho@aol.com
AUTUMN TEARS - Promotional Sampler Compilation (Dark Symphonies Recs. - 2001): This is a CD compilation of songs from this great trio extracted from the complete catalog of the band which consists in three CDs and a MCD. The compilation opens with climatic "The Grand Celebration" a song extracted from the "Winter and the broken angel..." that opens the gates to melancholy for the listeners and the beauty that emanates the music will very fast embrace you. The female vocals of Erika Swinnich and Jennifer LeAnna are what dominates the whole work of the band and what gives chill down your spine. Credit must be given also to the third member of the band Ted whose keyboards, piano and whispers help to create this amazingly beautiful atmosphere. It would be really great to listen more music from this great band. My favorite tracks are: the whole compilation is extremely beautiful, musical and the feelings are fantastic. Email: darksympho@aol.com
AURORA BOREALIS - Northern Lights (Independent. - 2000): This is a band that plays a style of black metal combined with thrash. Let me explained myself better: certain parts that are full of speed can be labeled (I hate putting labels) as black metal, but the vocals are closer to the one in thrash bands like Kreator, the lead guitars also are closer to bands like Destruction or Sodom than to Mayhem or bands from Norway and there are riffs that goes beyond the two styles mentioned above (such as the ones in "". This CD is
very raw but it has a really good production (I am surprised about the clarity in the mix). A great record for those who like intense music. My favorite tracks: "Enter the Halls", "Draco", and "Sky Dweller". Email: AURORA4DTH@aol.com
BACTERY - PRICE TO PAY (Independent - 1999) : This is a hard rock band that comes from France. They sound really good and they got some touches of heavy metal, specially on the guitar riffs and the vocals. Guitarists are really fluent with shades of neoclassical shredders in their playing. Some of the songs are in english and some in french (this gives a strange feeling if you are not accustomed to listen French hard rock....great!). The overall sound is good (I would have made sound the guitars a little bit upper in the mix). This is a band that can be between the biggest names in the scene. The CD includes a piece of Mozart´s Rondo alla Turque played in piano in the beginning and later joined by the whole band (the result is extremely good). My favorite tracks: "I need speed" and "My friend of loneliness" (a dark ballad). Email: Bactery@wanadoo.fr
CANDLELIGHT COLLECTION VOL.4 (Candlelight Recs. - 2001): This is a compilation of songs from the latest works from Candlelight artists Zyklon, Extreme Noise Terror, Failed Humanity, Christian Death, Peccatum, Daeonia and Killing Machine . All of this band are of great quality and are well known to fans of death, black, gothic and heavy metal. The feelings that you get through the record are really different as are the bands featured. You have the death metal sound of Extreme Noise Terror and Failed Humanity, the black metal feeling of Zyklon, the classically arranged with electronic drums Peccatum, the gothic inspired sound of Christian Death or Daeonia or the classic metal of supergroup Killing Machine (formed by Mike Vescera (ex Yngwie Malmsteen, Loudness), guitarist Peter Scheithauer (Belladonna, Stream), bassist Mike Duda (WASP) and drummer Stet Howland (WASP, Impelliteri). My favorite tracks are: "Storm Detonation" (Zyklon), "A game divine"(Peccatum) and "Angel for a better day" (Daeonia). Web site:www.candlelightrecords.co.uk
COCK AND BALL TORTURE - OPUS(SY) VI (Shredded Recs. - 2000): I have not listened to something like this since the first records of Carcass or Napalm Death ("Reek of Putrefaction" or "From Enslavement to Obliteration" era) . I would define the style of this geermans as grind-porno. The music is extremely fast combining the speed and blasts of grindcore with death metal guitar riffs and those putrid vocals that could be listened in albums like the above mentioned. The lyrics deal with a lot of items regarding sex in a funny way. Also the booklet shows you a lot of girls in diferent stages of a bondage process. Thos who don´t like this type of music stay away from it, but for those fans looking for grind madness this is totally recommended. My favorite tracks: "Candy Teen Pussy Pleasures", "Fuck me, fill me" and "Vulvurine Cooze Blues". Email: cockandball@gmx.de
CORBETT - GUSTAFSSON - KAPSALIS - LONBERG-HOLM - Battuto (Random Acoustic Recs. - 2000): This is another demonstration of greatly improvised music. In contraposition with highly educated musicians that can not perform without reading music in paper. This is not the case with John Corbett - guitar, Mats Gustafsson tenor sax, fluteophone, flute, Terri Kapsalis - violin and Fred Lonberg-Holm - cello. This four musicians are capable of moving the boundaries of music to extrems that one
could not have imagined before. This improvisations took place at Air Wave Recording Studios in October 7, 1996. The songs are named after some italian pasta: "Tagliatelle", "Fusilli Bucati Lunghi", and "Trenne Dábruzzo" and they are divided in multiple parts that have each one life in itself. My favorite tracks are: "Enchantment", "Pause- oder was?" and "Stelen". Email: info@randomacoustics.de
COURAGOUS - Listen (Independent - 1999): This is metal at its best !! Power/thrash metal riffs such as it was in the middle eighties (Testament, Exodus type) with vocals that brings to me shades of bands like Sepultura or Prong or Chuck Billy´s style since the "Low" album (in fact the good thing is that Chris combines growling vocals with a more thrash metal attack in his voice). The opening track "Listen" is a metal fest...with solos, thrashing beats and strong vocals. And as the first song is the whole album. Really powerful. Is a band that takes the best from eighties, the best from nineties and puts it all together in their own music. My favorite tracks: "Listen", "Immortal" , "Shadows of Disbelief" and "My Inner Voice". Email: couragous2000@hotmail.com
DENATA - Departed to Hell (Ghoul Recs. - 2000): This is the second effort of this swedish band (the first one was their self titled EP). Their music is thrash metal with vocals that can make you think in death metal. They have a great sense of humor that is manifest in all the recording: titles as "Necro Erection", Mistress of Buffalo Shit" or "Saccharified and Grey" can make you laugh if you know what the lyrics are about. This is a record for fans of raw metal (in fact this is a power trio that makes their music powerful and intense). Totally recomended for thrash metal fans and people who like metal. My favorite tracks: "Mistress of Buffalo Shit", "Necro Erection" and " Heavy Metal Highway". Email:denata@telia.com
DEREK BAILEY - INGAR ZACH - Llaer (Sofa Recs. - 2000): This CD was recorded in Oslo on October 20th, 2000 in a great improvisation between Derek Bailey - guitar and Ingar Zach - drums/Percussion. It features great improvisation from this two masters of the style. Bailey´s guitar got some distortion on it sometimes and his use of harmonics and feedback make the pieces a lot more oppressive than could have been with a cleaner guitar. Zach chines through all the recording. This CD is not easy to listen because of the big amount of information that arrives to the mind while listening to it. My favorite tracks: I find amazing all the CD but if I had to choose some tracks on it they would be "Horizontal Rain", "Shiny Crimp" and "Warts´n´ all. Email: sofa@norcd.no
DIAMOND - Doctor Lost (Independent - 2000): This is a MCD of this brazilian band that makes great power/thrash metal in the vein of eighties bands but with a more modern sound. The songs contained here have great hooks and are really well constructed (in fact you will find yourself singing some of them after you concluded listening to the CD). The song "Doctor Lost" is a heavy metal hit in the vein of bands like maybe Helloween or Angra but with a much more raw sound.. The overall sound is good and I think that this guys are going to get a better one when they find a record company interested in what they are doing. My favorite tracks: "Alien Escape", "Doctor Lost" and "Crazy Love". Email:diamond_band@uol.com.br
DISCERN - REVIVE AND REBUKE (Independent, 1998): This is a weird CD ! This one man band (Bill Fraser is the only member, helped this time by Andrew Albert on lead guitar) is really good. You start listening to it and think that the music in it is death metal in the style of maybe Cannibal Corpse or some band like that ....and then you start listening to all that blues licks played with an extremely distorted sound. When you arrive to song number five you find a beautiful acoustic interlude called "Jasper" that gives way to a death metallish song like "Parallel The Righteousness". The overall result of the record is great. It has lot of energy and it doesn´t become boring when you get to the end of the recording. I am waiting for the next record of this guy to see what is he doing now. Email: discern@flash.net
ENFORCE - CAMPFIRE NIGHT (Sonic Wave Int. - 2000): This wll explain why american people called Australia "The Thunder from down Under ". This is a Thunder of death metal coming from this country who has started recently to develope a fantastic scene of extreme bands. This band comes from the locality of Perth and their style is brutal death metal with fast and great guitars, thundering drums with razorsharp precission, and gutural vocals. Enforce are a band that is worth to check live to see their possibilities extended to the limit. Recommended for lovers of death metal. A good death metal collection can not be complete without it. My favorite tracks: "As death sets in", "Campfire Night" and "Stalker". Email:dominion@iinet.net.au
ETERNAL DEFORMITY - NOTHING LASTS FOREVER (E.D. Records. - 1997): A prelude of what was going to be done in their next album "In the Abyss of dreams..." This band mixes the best from three diferent styles: power, death and black metal. They are really great and precise musicians. What I liked most from this release is the abundance of dark melodies done with great precission in a context of furious riffs. The sound of the recording is good. My favorite tracks: "Two faces of love", "Wasted Happiness" and "Repentance". Email: zawzgal@hotmail.com
ETERNAL DEFORMITY - IN THE ABYSS OF DREAMS...FURIOUS MEMORIES (E.D. Records. - 1999): The concretion of what the band was looking for in their first album. This polish band reaches new highness of power and quality in this release. The sound is much better than in "Nothing Lasts Forever" and the melodies are darker and more original here than in their previous effort. Thumbs up for this great band !! Great musicianship, great compositional leval and great feelings in this release. My favorite tracks: "Survive for eternity", "Temporary sign in your hands" and "Eternal deformities". Email: zawzgal@hotmail.com
FAILED HUMANITY - THE SOUND OF RAZORS THROUGH FLESH (Candlelight Recs. 2001): This is pure death metal ! Yes, it is death metal the way it used to be in the beginning of the last decade. Obviouly with a much better sound that makes the results and impact of the records much more intense. This album is a great combination of what was known as the "American death metal sound" (bands like Morbid Angel or Cannibal Corpse) and the "Swedish death metal sound " (with bands as Dismember, At the Gates, etc.). I totally recommend this CD to people who love brutality, speed and guttural vocals. My favorite tracs: "Your Blood, My Blood", "The sound of razors through the flesh" and To die a thousand times". Website: www.candlelightrecords.co.uk
FOUR IN ONE - Stelen (Random Acoustic Recs. - 2000): This is completely improvised music done by four great musicians: Johannes Bauer - trombone, Luc Houtkamp - alto and tenor sax, Dieter Manderscheid - double bass and Martin Blume - drums. The music is really intersting and it has totally chaotic passages with counterpoint to some jazzy pieces. It is amazing to see how well can this four musician perform in a totally improvised context. The first composition called "Enchantment" is a demonstration of their skills during almost twenty eight minutes of sonic spontaneity. Lovers of avantgarde music or free jazz will find this recording amazingly good having nothing to envy to the masters of this genre. My favorite tracks are: "Enchantment", "Pause- oder was?" and "Stelen". Email: info@randomacoustics.de
GIANCARLO SCHIAFINI - TUBA LIBRE (Random Acoustic Recs. - 2000): Trombonist/tuba player Giancarlo Schiafini has created this extremely experimental album where he takes his playing to the limits. He combines his playing with some electronics ( there is one track where it seems that he is playing the tuba through a wah wah or some kind of similar device in other parts he distorts the sound of the instrument) It is amazing how far this man can take the instrument. He has a great personality in his playing and is willing to discover new worlds of music for us listeners . I find that he has a great sense of humor too: the song titles are in spanish, he is italian and his label (Random Acoustics) is from Germany. I would recommend this record to people with an open mind and who are not afraid of experimentation. My favorite tracks are: "Scrap", "El carrosel de Juana la Loca" and "Mi mistico minimo Mi". Email: info@randomacoustics.de
HAGALAZ RUNEDANCE - ON WINGS OF RAPTURE (Hammerheart Recs. - 2000): This is a single from the greatest band of Andrea Nebel Haugen featuring a song from the "Volven" album called "On Wings of Rapture" and a remix of it. In this recording yopu can fully appreciate what makes Hagalaz Runedance a band so intimate and unique: the fantastic melodies that come from the mind of Andrea, the great instrumentation that takes you to another time and dimension and the deep amazing lyrics of Andrea singing about differnt worlds. The remix called "On wings of Rapture (Vision of Skuld)" features the same song but with parts in which the vocals are different, with some distorted guitars and a drum and bass pattern. The final effect is hypnotic. I love this band. Email: hhr@hammerheart.com
INDEX - Index (Displacer Beast Records - 2000): I liked a lot this record. I would describe the music of the band as death metal with rythmic riffs substiuting blast beats, with vocals that are closer maybe to the shrieking ones used by black metal bands (in fact they are in a point between the generic vocals of death metal and this more high pitched vocals). Also I can find influences of bands like Machine Head or Sepultura in certain parts of the songs. The sound of this release is really good, specially those fat guitars that make the songs totally heavy and full of power and the drumming (whose double bass is omnipresent) My favorite tracks: "Natural Law", "Corrosion of Instinct" and "Race Traitor" . Email:displacerbeast@angelfire.com
INGAR ZACH - IVAR GRYDELAND - Visiting Ants (Sofa Recs. - 2000): This is an experimental duet of guitar and percussion recorded on June 29th, 2000. This release is a combination of sonic experimentation and musical pieces. You can find total abstraction and some emlodic parts that are put together by Grydeland and Zach.
What I think takes this music away from what is commonly known are two things: Grydelands sounds that are far from one could call "traditional guitar" and Zach´s percussion style that is not an easy listening one (he does not create rythms that can be followed easily, in fact he creates more like phrases or structures). Great album, it opens your mind to a new kind of music that one could not have realized before. My favorite tracks: "First Visit", "Sofasticated Lady" and "...But still sofanatic". Email: sofa@norcd.no
INHUMATE - Growing (Independent - 2001): This is grindcore/death music that brings to my mind bands like Agathocles or Terrorizer. Except because the sound in this release is much better. What sets this band apart from the others in this genre is the use of different styles of vocals, not only the growling one. What I want to remark is the good quality of the sound specially concerning drums and guitars (that in other bands are almost inintelligible because they are buried in the mix). So, if you want to listen some professionally done grind / death I would totally recommend this record from this mature band. My favorite tracks: "Underground", "Clock", "Grind God" Email: INHUMATE@ifrance.com
KULT OV AZAZEL - TRIUMPH OF FIRE (Arctic Music Group - 2001): This is bestial black metal, full of hate !! The eleven tracks that compose this album gives you no mercy ! Hyperfast guitars, blast beats, screeches and screams of anguish. All this features can be found here. This guys have nothing to envy to bands like Immortal ("Battles in the North" and "Pure Holocaust" era) or Marduk. The sound of the record is great and you can distinguish all the instruments even in the fastests parts. The overall layout of the CD is great....with a great booklet and a foto of the band wearing corpse paint. My favorite tracks: "Destruction to the Throne of God", "In the Plagued Realm" and "To the Cold Beyond". Email: KultOvAzazel@aol.com ; LordXul@adelphia.net
MITHRAS - DREAMING IN SPLENDOUR (Independent - 2001): This is a band from the United Kingdom and this three track MCD is really good. In fact the only con I can find here is the mix. I believe that the mix buries the guitar ideas that are great in the second track. But beside this this people are making good music, sort of death-thrash metal but not the type that is based in speed. In fact what I liked a lot in the record are the guitar ideas that I find original and interesting. The drummer has great timing and use of the double bass (omniprescent through the whole MCD). It would be really good if this guys can find a good recording contract and record in a better studio. So their ideas will be better translated (specially Steve Crompton whom I find a killer guitarist). This CD is really promisory. Email: MITHRAS@mithras.freeserve.co.uk
NOVEMBER´S DOOM - THE KNOWING (Dark Symphonies Recs. - 2000): I am not ashamed of saying that this is my favorite style of music. This kind of melancholic and oppressing music that My Dying Bride or Paradise Lost helped to create . November´s Doom is one of the best exponents of this type of music. Dreaming lead guitar melodies combined with clean and distorted guitars, guttural vocals (in the style of Paradise Lost´s "Shades of Gods") and recitations, gothic choruses and acoustic guitars (the instrumental "Intervene" is really great and beautiful). All this and more can be found in this album from this band that has been dooming our ears with their darkest melodies since 1992. This is undoubtedly their
best effort up to date. I recommend this for all those fans of doom and gothic and those who love the dark. My favorite tracks: "Shadows of light", "Silent Tomorrow" and "In Faith". Email: novdoom@aol.com
SOLID STATE - VOLUME 2 (Solid State Recs. - 2001): An extremely powerful compilation with artists from the catalog of Solid State Recs. In fact, as in all compilations, there coexist good band with some that are really over the top (I found that Extol is the band that surprised me most because of their power, technique, experimentation). In this record most of the bands have a taste for good melodies combined with powerful guitars and some strong vocals performances. In my own opinion, the bands that I found better in this recording and that I would like to hear much more from them are: Extol (the part with a violin is amazing), Lengsel (climatic and chaotic black metal), Living Sacrifice ( powerful as it is all their last recording "The Hammering Process"). In fact all the bands in the compilation seem very powerful. My favorite tracks are: "Ember" (Extol), "Coat of Arms" (Lengsel), "Conditional" (Living Sacrifice) and "Council of perfection" (Strongarm). Web site: www.solidstaterecords.com
SONUS UMBRA - SNAPSHOTS FROM LIMBO (Moonchild Recs., 2000): This is a fantastic album ! The music is what I would called progressive metal...it is progressive for because of the experimentation and sounds that you can hear on it and it is metal because of the sound of guitars and drums that are really powerful. This is one of the best combinations of melody, originality and power that I have listened to. The songs in this CD are carefully created to reflect what the musicians had in mind at the time of the recording and they have succeeded in doing this. There is also a strange seventies feeling in there...it brought to my mind shades of King Crimson ("Red" or "Starless and Bible black" era), Yes and Emerson, Lake and Palmer but with a more actual twist. I totally recommend this band. Fans of progressive music will not be dissapointed. Email:nasser@wam.umd.edu
THOMAS LEHN - Feldstärken (Random Acoustic Recs. - 2000): This is another great record from Random Acoustic label featuring great improviser Thomas Lehn. This CD shows different experimentations done in seven different ocassions between 1997 and 1999 by Lehn with his synthesizer. Some of the pieces are closer to the normal notion of noise, while others have a more definite structure. This is a record only for people that are not afraid of listening to experimentation that can be against their notion of what is musical and what is not. A really boundaries stretcher. My favorite tracks: "Feldstärke1" , "Feldstärke 2" and "Tableaux 3" Email: info@randomacoustics.de
TONY OXLEY PROJECT 1 - Triangular screen (Sofa Recs. - 2000): This is a CD from Sofa records, a great label totally dedicated to improvised music. This time the improvisation is done by three great musicians: Tony Oxley - percussion and pre-recorded tape, Ivar Grydeland - guitar and Tonny Kluften - double bass. What amazed me most of this record is how the three interact to create this pieces and how Ivar makes all this sounds with his guitar. The foundation of the music is the double bass that acts as a support for the dynamics by Oxley and Grydeland. The experimentation here takes the trio to new levels of improvisation extracting sounds from their instruments that are
fully innovative. My favorite tracks: The whole CD is greatly improvised. I can not point out any piece. There are a couple of segments in "Second Scan" that I find amazing. Email:sofa@norcd.no
ZYKLON - WORLD OV WORMS (Candlelight Recs. - 2001): This is the project of Samoth and Trym guitarist and drummer from Emperor. The music obviously bears some resemblance to their original band but the guitar riffs are somewhat different as the vocals are. There are some really fast parts but where the band gets their best is in the slowest or more rythmic complex parts and in the experimental parts (for example where the vocals follow certain rythm guitar patterns. Lead guitarist Destructhor has worked a lot on the solos that are not merely speed chaos over a black metal drum beat part but small pieces on their own. What surprised me and that I can not identify why is a feeling of mechanical thing that makes the music of the band more powerful and opressing (I think is the combination of the guitar sound as long as the cymbals and double bass of the drums). My favorite tracks are: "Storm Detonation", "Hammer Revelation" and "Transcendental War - Battle Between Gods". Web site: www.candlelightre
This powerful band comes from Sweden , they make an extremely energetic thrash metal ( with some riffs and vocals really deathmetallish) and they have a great sense of humor not only in their lyrics but also in the way they explain some of them. Guitarist and vocalist Tomas Andersson spoke with us in a really friendly way Can you tell me a little bit about the history of the band? Ponta and I formed Denata in1998 as a project. We had been in some local bands before but that was along time since last and we were both hungry to play some real metal. We made a couple of songs and recorded them and self-financed a vinyl EP. The vinyl EP got pretty good response and we really liked our style that we had created so we decided to find a bas player and transform into a band. The bass player that joined us were an old friend to Ponta named Roger. After Roger had joined us we made a lot of new stuff and after a while we record the album Departed To Hell. Our plan was to send this album around to labels and try to get a deal but it was sent without success so we self-financed this CD as we did with the EP. Departed To Hell has been getting great response around the world from fanzines and radio stations. Right now we are in the studio and recording our upcoming full-length album DEATHTRAIN how and when it will be released isn't set yet, that's the story this far........ How has been Denata´s experiences live up to now?
We haven't played a single gig yet and I don't know if we ever are going to do get on stage with Denata. First of all we would need a session guitar player to sound as we do on the records and it's also hard to find someone we would like to play with. The second problem is that we don't think it would be fun to perform live with Ponta singing behind the drums and then we would need one more session musician so I guess we will be a studio band but maybe one day we will enter the stage, how knows? Do you consider Denata a thrash metal band or more like a death metal one? We consider Denata as a thrash metal band, maybe we got some death metal sounding riffs but its meant to be pure thrash metal from the beginning till the very last end. Do you plan to add another guitarist or another musician or the trio format is perfect for you? Its perfect with a trio for us and we won´t add any other musicians. We almost agree and think the same about everything with Denata and
another musician would probably just cause more damage than pleasure. If we should perform live one day we would need at least a session guitar player but that's a later problem. Who recorded the bass parts in your first EP? Why didn´t you hire a bassist to do it? Hehe, nice question, this is really sick. I recorded the bass guitar on the EP but we thought it sounded like shit and destroyed the guitar sound so we skipped the bass and just used the guitar. The EP production was so bad so by my opinion you don't even recognize there isn't a bass guitar.
Are there any personal aspects or feelings that influence the way in which you do your music? A hard question to answer, I haven't thought about it but I guess the music reflects the mood we are into and what kind of music we have listen to for almost the whole life. The lyrics are just for pleasure and represents our weird humoristic and psychotic minds. Is Ghouls Records your own record label? Have you reached another labels or do you prefer to work independently? Yeah Ponta and I finance Ghoul Records and we have just released 3 records this far. We really like to work independent but we have tried to reach other labels because of the high cost of promotion. On the Departed to hell recording we send hundreds of promos but we didn't get any contract on those so we decided to release it by our self. It will be the same thing with the new album, promos will be sent and if we don't get a deal on that it will be released on Ghoul Records again, nothing can stop us you know hehe.
Are you still using B.C.Rich Guitars? Which is your equipment? No I'm using a Jackson King-V guitar these days and that is the guitar I wanted from the first beginning. I couldn't afford it before so I got my self a B.C. Rich. The B.C. Rich guitars are great but I prefer to play Jackson. I got a EMG-81 mic in it and play on a Marshall stack. Rogga plays on a Yamaha bass and a Marshall stack as well. Ponta use 2 mixed drums sets, one Slingerland and one Dixon and it sounds really mean. What are your lyrics about? Can you explaine them? For example there are some titles like "Mistress of Buffalo Shit" that are quite strange. On the EP and Departed To Hell records the lyrics is totally psychotic, it's about completely insane things. "Mistress of buffalo shit" is about a girl named Helen that lives in the same city as us, she is so fat and ugly and fucks with everyone that got a penis. We wrote a song about her when she is driving around in a car and causes a terrible smell of buffalo shit I know you would throw up if you saw her hehe ... Another song I really like the topic of is Saccharified and grey, its about a guy named Jukko that has a grandma with flaccid pussy, that's all! The word saccharified did some reviewers at zines thought we had spelled wrong but that's bullshit, the word is hard to explain if you don't know what it means but it got with sugar to do! Are you influenced by classic thrash bands or there are also some new bands that have influenced your sound? For all three of us our main influence are old school thrash metal, band such as Kreator, Sodom, and Venom ....... Some new bands like The Crown, and Swordmaster also influence us, I guess it's mostly me that listen to newer bands and maybe Rogga do that as well. Ponta is total possessed by old music and I don't know when he bought a "new" record last time. Any final words ? Thanks as hell for the interview and keep up your great work with Music extreme. To all metal maniacs out there make sure to check out our upcoming release DEATHTRAIN, do you dare to take a ride, huh?
DENATA´S HOMEPAGE: http://listen.to/denata Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
Deathtrain - CD (2001) ACTUAL LINEUP
DENATA - DISCOGRAPHY
Tomas - guitars, vocals
Denata - EP (1999)
Ponta - drums, vocals
Departed To Hell - CD (2000)
Roger - bass
How do you see in retrospective your career since the band is more than ten years old now (eventhough you are the newest addition to the band)?
on experimenting with the vocals alittle more on the next album. New wave was really big when i was growing up so I am largely influenced by that along with the metal and classic rock of the time.
It has grown quite a bit to tell you the truth. I started out playing bass and singing in a band called Tiberon fromDixon, IL. I did that for about 5 years and during thattime I grew as an individual and as a musician and since noone else in the band wanted to work to make the band better I devoted myself to Disinter full time. I have been withDisinter for three years now and we have grown tremendously in that time frame and I am very pleased I made the decision and that Disinter accepted me into the fold. We are much more devoted to professionalism now than everbefore and are striving to make the band the best it can be. It is an extension of ourselves and we are working very hard to achieve our goals. Also our newest member is Tom,he took over on drums 2 years ago and comes from the band Ad Infinitum.
Can Disinter be described as a death metal band or do you prefer being known as a thrash metal band? I guess you could say we are a thrash/death metal band. Both styles are prevelant throughout our songs. The old 80's thrash influence is always popping up here and there. Are you satisfied with Morbid Records or Dead Sun Records as distribution labels?
What did your style bring to Disinter´s music compared to Eddie´s singing?
So far everything seems to be going well with both labels. We have signed to Morbid for our next two releases and will continue to work with DeadSun on separate occasions.
I think I brought more diversity into the band as far as the vocals go. More range if you will and I plan
How would you compare "Welcome to Oblivion" with earlier stuff as"Desecrated" or maybe "Disinterra et Corpus"?
books and movies influence songs as well, like Welcome to Oblivion is about Hellraiser. I usually take what I am feeling and go with it. Which are the projects of the band for year 2001? We are going into the studio in June to record our next album which will be our first on Morbid Recs. It will contain our best material to date along with some songs that were writen many years ago. It is much faster and more technical. I think it has a darker feel to it along with a lot of variety within the trax. But as you listen to the albums the Disinter style flows within each song like a disease lying in wait to infect the listener. Are you fully satisfied with the way "Welcome To Oblivion" came out? Is there something you would like to change? One thing that would have bettered the album would have been more time in the studio. We financed the album ourselves and had to record as quickly as possible due to our small budget, so a few things got rushed. The overall production turned out excellent. There are a few parts that should have been worked on more, you gain experience each time you enter the studio so it will keep getting better. Are there any plans of touring to support "Welcome to Oblivion" ? We have been doing state to state shows around IL-noise andare playing the Metal Meltdown Fest, Ohio Deathfest and Milwaukee Metal Fest this year along with The Nuclear Storm open air fest in Czech Republic on July 21st and a few European dates as well. There are no big tours scheduled as of yet. What do your lyrics reflect? Have politics or religion or maybe feelings influence on them? Most of our lyrics are about fantasy subjects. Witchcraft, voodoo and occult topics are prevalent. When I write lyrics I just make them up like short stories reflecting my personal feelings. Sometimes
Do the members of Disinter have parallel projects? Our bassist Bats plays guitar in a side project called Morgue Supplier which is brutal grinding death metal. Mike and I both played guitar in an unnamed project and recorded 14 songs but they are still without vocals. That is currently on hold for we are devoting all of our time to Disinter. Any final thoughts? Thank you for the interview and supreme hails to all of our fans and supporters worldwide. Check out our site at www.disinter.com and look for a new album this fall. Hail Metal Hail Darkness!! Strength and Honour!! Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
DISINTER - DISCOGRAPHY 'Disinterra Et Corpus' - demo (1991) 'Storm Of The Witch' - demo (1996) 'Desecrated' - CD (1996) 'With The Blood' - demo (1997) 'Torn from the Grave' - promo (1998) Promo Cassette - promo (1999) 'The Beauty of Suffering' - EP (2000) 'Welcome To Oblivion' - CD (2000) ACTUAL LINEUP Preston - guitars Zion - vocals Tom - drums Bats - bass Fred - guitars
Drowning mixes death metal with hardcore obtaining a really powerful music. They are from France and after being released by RPP Productions their name has been growing in the underground due mostly to the intensity of their live act. We talked with Reggie guitarist from this great french band.
Did you intended to mix that hardcore attitude along with a more death metal sound or was it something that came out naturally? Almost everybody in the band grew up with metal, all their previous bands were metal bands. The only HC bands tolerated are the most extreme ones. It was just natural for us to write metal music. About that attitude it's not HC or not HC, let's say that we support the underground no matter the kind of music you play. It's more against the mainstream than some close minded fights about musical genres. What can you tell me about your first MCD called "Drowning"? It was so fuckin hard to put it out as we had so many problems trying to prepare then record it. We can't really say that now it's easy for us as we got a bad luck curse upon us. We did our very best to spread it all over the planet. It put us on the map. How different are Ridwan and Julien from the previous members musically? Do you think they have added a new edge to your music?
Sorry no Julien ever been in Drowning our bassist is Stephane and he played with Ridwan for ever. He got much more technique, motivation and also the same idea than the other members about how we want Drowning to sound like. They gave a good kick in our ass and made us improve. Why was the first demo recorded live? We always had shows to plan and not much time to practice with our old drummer. We didn't have many songs and barely no time to record them. When after a show we heard that it was recorded we thought it was a good idea to put this out. We
made it cheaper than a regular demo, and gave away most of them. That's about it.
to the evolution during the years but you recognize the voice. Your songs seem to be more technical than those of most hardcore bands...are the songs composed mixing different parts or after rehearsing a lot, more things start to develope on each song?
How did you got the deal with RPP Records? DO you think that they are your best option to release your music? Alain always helped us out, we played in Bxl our second show thanx to him, and many more afterwards. He always had an eye on us then when he thought we were good enough he proposed us something. We made him wait more than a year but we gave him something better than we would have done then. He was the best deal and mostly the only one wanting to put a MCD out. Despite a lotta rumors and line up changes, he always kept his word and did it, thanx for that, man. I dunno if it's still the best deal for us today time will tell. He'll listen to our new songs then we'll see. You told me in your mail that you were going to record something this weekend (beginning of March)...Are the new songs similar to those in the MCD? Yeah we are going to the studio very soon. It'll probably be done by the time your news comes out. It's always Drowning but more mature and with a wider range of tempos. I'll say it's more brutal too. Like "Downfall" or Tempter's crowning" with the 2 years of playing and practicing. How has Ridwan changed his singing style to fit Drowning compared to the way he did in Garden of Silence or Weld? Ridwan had a Death metal band at first so vocals were low, he did Garden of Silence then with a melodic voice, in Weld he had different voices, melodic, high pitched and medium. He knows only screams from low to high in Drowning. U can listen
Thanx but I don't think we play technical music. We feel it's straight to the point but it's true we try to improve our skills in order to play better. Earth Crisis, Integrity, A.F("one voice" album), Overcast, God Forbid play more technical stuff for example. We practice some riffs at home then at practice we just throw them out and we decide if they sound good then we try to make a song out of them. We're pretty slow to write songs cuz we wanna be sure that it's the right riff at the right place and we try different beats and all too. Our new stuff is a bit more technical than the previous stuff it brings more brutality into it.
How has the metal scene received your music up to now? We played several metal shows. The crowd was suspicious as we don't have the clichĂŠ metal look. I'm happy to say that we convinved most of them as they grunted, clapped and moved to our stuff each time. We might not change the die hard ones but some guys came to us and talked after the show. In the states they don't focus on our look and respect our music as far as I know.
Are there any influences in your music that you will like to mention?
69 rue M.Berthelot. 94140 Alfortville, France. Stay brutal, support the underground.
We don't have just some bands we like also movies, paintings, daily life and books. Can't name all but we just have more than sounds in mind when we think of what we're doing. Any final message? Thanx for the support, get in touch with us for infos or merchandising. Check out our site http://listen.to/drowning write at drowndcp@hotmail.com or Drowning c/o Reggie Andre
Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
DROWNING - DISCOGRAPHY Drowning - MCD (1999) ACTUAL LINEUP Ridwan - vocals Stephane - bass Regis -guitar Georges - guitar, backing vocals DoumĂŠ - drums
Death/ thrash band Enforce has a new album out since last years and they are working on its follow up. I think I misunderstood the title " Campfire Night" together with the cover art and interpreted as a sort of Ed Gein serial killer type. Guy Bell vocalist and guitarist from the band explained me more about it.
How is "Campfire Night " doing up to now? It is moving at a slow pace but it is moving. We have a few ads coming out in some european mags plus interviews I have been doing have resulted in sales as well.
This was the only label that took interest for us! It was by fate I was communicating with a band called Abattory and the singer Kravnos passed my demo onto SWI which led into a full release today.
Were the two songs from the demo that were included in "Campfire Night" rerecorded? Do you plan to release the other songs from that demo?
How different are the actual members of the band compared to the ones that recorded the album? Do the songs sound different than in the CD?
The 2 songs from the Demo - "Infectous" and "Darkness" were added on because they were the 2 most popular songs people related to back then. We re-recorded them with the new stuff and hopefully in the future we can add the other two to new releases. Why did you release the album through Sonic Wave that is a label from Singapore?
Since the album we have lost our drummer to a spinal injury who is replaced by Troy Watson. Our Bass player had a close death in his family which gave him a hard choice to leave and was replaced by Dave Sandstrom. With these new inclusions you still get the exact feel of every song. Thrash/death metal can vary a little bit but in the new material we are writing you cane sense only little differences. Are there any plans of touring this year or you will start touring next?
We are in the process of planning visiting the eastern states of Australia in April 2002 and then hopefully visit Malaysia after that for a short visit. Europe, USA and South America will be in the long, long, long distant future unless we sell shitloads of cd's.
anyone comes to our country and ventures inland you may see apart of your own but everyone can relate to the campfire tales that are told in every culture including our own.
Which equipment do you use to create the "Enforce sound"? Bass player uses Laney with Ibanez guitar, Lead/rhythm uses Marshall with Jackson guitar I use Peavey with B.C. rich. guitar And the drummer has a Tama with Paiste cymbals.
Any final words?
Why is the band changing so often bass and drums players?
We would like to say a Big HELLO to everyone out there and keep spreading the word of metal. Support your local metal scenes so we all may thrive and spread the word of metal!!!
Just bad luck I guess, all our members in the past never wanted to leave the band. It has mostly been to Personnal events for each member that ended up us looking for new members! How would you describe an Enforce gig? At the moment I face a wall of faces and moshing Hair.Which is faced with heavy tunes and flashing lights and lots af hair!!!You can check it out on www.wf.com.au were there are pictures of our events and links to our homepage. Are you going to record your new album for Sonic Wave too? Do you have new songs composed? we have pans for our 2nd release with SWI and have completed 2 songs and have 3 on the drawing board.We plan to record at the end of 2001 and release in 2002.Hopefully!!! Are the lyrics of the song "Campfire Night" inspired by some famous murder that happened in Australia? Something like the Wanda Beach Murders...or something like that... The song campfire night was taken from a poem a friend made which described the Australian outback and it's tales. When I heard this one night around a campfire it gave me a huge idea as this song represented a Australian death metal song!!! If
ENFORCE´S OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://members.iinet.net.au/~dominion Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
ENFORCE - DISCOGRAPHY Premonition - Demo (1998) Campfire Night - CD (2000) ACTUAL LINEUP Guy Bell - vocals, guitar Rob Hartley - guitar, vocals Troy Watson - drums Dave Sandstrom - bass
Esicastic is a band from Italy that can be defined as being composed by excellent musicians with extremely original ideas and an open mind. The influences in this band range from metal to jazz and all that is in between. The whole band answered the interview and explained about their new album " Atman" . What does "ATMAN" mean? Is the record ready? Simon: Yes the record is ready. Actually we are producing it in a few copy for promotion distribution, labels, 'zines, etc.) and everyone can download the title track and some samples from our site (http://go.to/esicastic), or order it through Vitaminic.com or asking it directly to us. The meaning of Atman is quite complex, I'll try to explain it in a few words: Atman derives from Bhuddism, where it is used to define the center, and the absolute at the same time, of the human soul, but it could be compared only in part with Christian soul because Atman is individuality only before you reach it through oneself's detachment from sensorial perceptions. Furthermore, in our case, Atman becomes a metaphor and loses its religious connotation. In our intentions, it is also related to perception of reality in a social meaning, the perception of the world distorted by social opinion and convention, a trap in which we are immerged and in which we are all, there's no exception, weak. In this trap of social common sense, we stare at the world as we were watching a tv. It's the same situation as you were in a country ruled by a dictator and you could watch only a tv channel. That channel is your reality, full stop. Many of us think that through individuality you can judge what is right and what is wrong. Indeed we are
always thinking also with someone else's mind. These concepts take form through traditions, common places, even in metal culture there are many of them. The right thing to do, for us, is to fight to multiply the channels, and to choose with cognition of cause, comparing you decision with plurality. How different is "ATMAN" compared to "UNDECEMBER"? Denis: Very different. We have reached ATMAN through a series of troubles. First of all the line-up. In fact, the guitar player Dario has contribute to ATMAN only in the arrangements, while in UNDECEMBER he did a large part of the composition. His style was more bright and solar, more influenced by rock progressive. We are more influenced, in general, by darker music genres (even if we have some "strange" influences as jazz/fusion, jazz/rock and funk) I think that, first of all, ATMAN is more mature, and better played. It's less symphonic and darker. It's more similar to Pestilence, Meshuggah, Gordian Knot and Cynic than to Dark Tranquillity, Dissection and At the Gates as was UNDECEMBER. Do you consider Esicastic an extremely technical band? Nicola: No, we are not extremely technical. Technique is to play feelings in the right way, as
they are flowing in your mind. And technique is a relative concept and depends from the genres. Maybe in metal we can be considered a technical band, but if you consider the major part of jazz musicians, we are nothing. However we are all studying to improve technique, first of all to offer the audience professional performances and studio products. It's very important fore a musician to obtain full expression through the instrument.
Are your song composed from beginning to end or maybe some parts surface later when rehearsing?
How important is knowledge of musical theory in the composition of you songs?
Denis: In the past years we have worked a lot to increase the quality of our shows. As the music is quite complex, it's not easy to express it on stage, unless you play the songs in a extremely precise way. In live shows something always is wrong, the volume of bassdrum, the sound of guitars, etc.. In our songs everything is important so we try togive attention to every particular, from the sound to the precision of the performance.
Simon: It's a matter of construction of possibilities, of variety, of plurality of ideas. According to our music likes, technique is important but don't think that we plan everything, or that we write songs on a paper before even playing them. Indeed, personally, I don't like that method at all. In this way, unless you are a real genius, you'll do what someone has taught you before: how to write, how to set harmonies, how to organize songs, etc. The real technique is something we are yet very far from. It is complete spontaneity, with a large part of improvisation maybe, not too polished. Playing a song should involve a bit of human imperfection to let the listener understand that you are not arrived, that you walking through a path.
Leandro: Some part surface later. We have to play songs a lot to extract the juice from the them, to set whether all the parts and all the rhythmical changes are coherent or not. How is the band on stage?
How do you see the Demo 96 now? Have the songs that appeared in there been recorded again or changed? Nicola: Demo 96 has been a step. There are songs in it that we still play live. We have done some changes, but we prefer not to loose time on old songs, if not necessary. However some of those songs are very groovy and powerful. I like them. How important are atmospheres and melodies to Esicastic?
Is the composition individual in the band or do you compose together? Leandro: The composition is made together. When one of us bring an idea, that idea is not judged, but felt, experienced by the other members. It's a dangerous way of working because you need a great cohesion in the band. However, in this way, everyone can work at the top of his possibilities.
Denis: We are trying to find an original way of being melodic and atmospheric. Undecember is really melodic and atmospheric. Atman is less melodic and more atmospheric, I think. It depend on our mood and influences. However, we are not tied at all to melody as it has been interpreted by power or progressive metal. Our kind of melody is not linked to classical music. It's more linked to jazz/fusion and modern harmonies. How have jazz and fusion influenced Esicastic music? Simon: the influence of jazz and fusion is very strong. We like these genres very much. I can suggests some names: a part from the "traditional"
Allan Holdsworth, I could say Brand X, Weather Report, Kenny Barron, Victor Lewis, Elvin Jones, Max Roach, Peter Erskine, Jan Garbarek, Jack De Johnette, John Coltrane, Billy Cobham. These are all great artists which influenced me as a drummer and as a man. Jazz and fusion influenced our melodies, as we said before, and personally, influenced my way of playing drums, helping me to wash away some Portnoy's style, which is a technical, but mechanical at the same time, way of playing. Jazz and Fusion are fundamental in improvisation. I know many musicians which are very able to compose songs, but who can't even keep the time while playing in a improvisation! Any final words for people in Argentina? Leandro: You have a great national football team! ESICASTIC HOMEPAGE: http://go.to/esicastic
Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
ESICASTIC - DISCOGRAPHY Demo 1996 - demo (1996) Undecember - demo (1998) Atman - demo CD (2001)
ACTUAL LINEUP Leandro Di Giovanna - vocals Denis Pinese - guitars Simon Fedrigo - drums Nicola Barbon - bass Alessandro Bertoni - keyboards Michele Basaldella - guitars
Andrea Nebel Haugen has a captivating personality. Her work deals with Pagan Culture and music and she has been researching and doing it for years. I have listened some of her music and I must say that I was blown away by the power of it. Generally played with ancient instruments that point out the characteristics of the overall work, Hagalaz Runedance´ s music is extremely beautiful, dynamic, harmonic, and full of feeling. We made this interview with Andrea herself. Can you explain me what is exactly Asatru? Asatru is the organic belief of the North, the spirituality and the natural traditions known to the Germanic Pagans. Asatru means to acknowledge the forces of nature. It means to understand the circle of life and death, that we need a balance between opposites, a harmony between the masculine and the feminine, the day and the night, the spirit and the body without cutting off one from the other. The Germanic Pagans tried to understand the mysteries of the cosmos and human nature. The Gods and Goddesses are energies and symbols. They represent the natural forces and the different human qualities within the man and the woman. The tales of Northern mythology only tell the story of life, as it is, reality on earth and human relations, their strengths and weaknesses. There are no dogmas that tell the individual how to think, no threats of eternal damnation for following the own instincts. The individual can find his or her own way to the gods and goddesses. How are the lyrics in Hagalaz Runedance made? Which feelings are youtrying to express? My lyrics call to the spirits of nature and I express my longings, passions and views upon the world. Some songs are magical experiences; describing visions, dreams and Seidr trances (Northern shamanism). Is it interesting to have such a duality that people from music magazines on one hand and esoteric magazines on the other hand are making interviews with you? My musical creations and my spiritual/ philosophical concept are a unity; they belong together. So it is quite natural that magazines focus on both. Which was the role of women on pagan societies? Does it have something to do with the concept of feminine deities that pagans had?
Women indeed played an important role in the ancient Northern societies. Women had great influence. Their wisdom about the secrets of nature and their magical powers were recognised and often appreciated. A woman's strength, pride and courage were respected. This was not just the case in the Northern societies, but also in many other ancient cultures. Femininity has very many aspects. All the goddesses in Northern mythology have both so called light aspects and also hidden shadow aspects. They are not considered "evil" in any way; this word has been made up by the Christians to describe the things they do not understand. Through the myths we can learn about our many different qualities, our light aspects and our shadow aspects. Many Pagan cultures paid respect to gods and goddess alike, showing that men and women were more harmonious with each other. Do you practice shamanism and sorcery? How do you approach this practice? What is Seidr? Seidr is an ancient Northern form of magic, comparable to the practice of shamanism and Wicca (witchcraft). It was practised mainly by women and often in connection with fertility-rites, making use of intense emotions and natural substances. Seidr practise involves entering a trance, allowing the mind to travel to other dimensions of reality. There the practitioner would communicate with spirits, totem-animals or gods...I have been working with magic for over 10 years now. I have been a part of different occult orders in England and was working with various forms of magic. Seidr has always been viewed to be a feminine art and thus I feel Seidr is very natural for me to practice. Is your personal patroness Skadi the goddess of hunt and winter? Why? Skadi is the goddess of the hunt and the winter. She is a "Jotun", a giant and may well represent the primal woman, the woman of the snowy mountains, the huntress clad in furs who runs with the wolves. Skadi is a fighter, a survivor and on a personal level I can identify myself with her nature. Are you using instruments from pagan cultures in your music? How do you approach composition? Yes, I am using Celtic and Nordic Folk instruments; some were indeed used already in Pagan times, like the Lyre or Harp. The instruments on the album Volven were Lyre, Strykelyre (a forerunner of the fiddle), Hurdy Gurdy, Swedish bagpipe, Mandolin and Irish flutes. I also use a lot of Synth sounds in the music to create a floating and visual atmosphere. I make all melodies in my head. I sing the melodies and play the drum beats to it and I usually have a full song in my mind. Than I work together with the musicians to realise the song. How was the tour with Subway To Sally last year? How did the people reacted to your music? The tour was very successful and it was very professionally organised. The audience appeared to be very impressed by Hagalaz' Runedance and found the music powerful and atmospheric. After the shows, the people were literally throwing themselves over the Hagalaz' Runedance merchandise and the guys from Hammerheart - the label, had to drive up three times to the venues with new merchandise. However, the STS audience was not really like my usual audience and I experienced quite many people coming up to us after the show telling us how "cool our music is", yet they did not care to know what Hagalaz' Runedance stands for. What do the symbols in your t-shirts and books or newsletter mean?
Well, I don't know which symbols you are referring to, but I often use the Frigga figure. Nobody really knows if this ancient female figure really represents the goddess Frigga or plainly a Viking woman. I also use the 'helm of awe', a magical symbol of irresistibility, I also often use the Valknut, the three triangles, which represent the nine worlds in the Germanic spirituality. Which is the concept behind "Volven"? Are you planning your next recording and composing new music for it? It is again a blend of my different visions, feelings, longings, experiences and view upon the world. The subjects range from my personal meetings or invocations of deities (Seeker Divine and Wake Skadi), longing to different worlds (On Wings of Rapture), lament for the passing summer and life in general (Solstice Past), dreams of mythical beings (Dreaming Wild White horses) and a mythical expression of somebody who touched my heart very much (Alva). 'Your World in My Eyes' describes my sadness and anger about the cruelty of mankind and 'Volven' is a vision about the wise woman. Again, many songs have a message for the modern world today. Yes, I am working on a new album. Can you explain a little bit about your book "The Ancient Fires of Midgard"? My book "The Ancient Fires of Midgard" is dealing with Northern spirituality and the Pagan understanding of life, about the modern society, the damage caused by the monotheistic patriarchal religions, Northern myths and magic, the feminine mysteries, ancient traditions, seasonal rites, the sacredness of trees, herbs, selfdevelopment and natural childbirth. The book is, as all my creations, based very much on my own experiences, observances, studies and personal thoughts. Are there any other artists that make a kind of music similar to what you do? Can you name them? There are bands that have similar Pagan concepts to mine, bands from the Neo-Folk scene, for example, like Hekate, Sol Invictus or Fire & Ice. Or 'FolkGothic' bands like 'Faith and the Muse'. Or medieval bands like 'Poeta Magica'. There is a Same woman who makes music in the style of her people - Mari Boine (The Same are a native people from Lappland - the North of Norway) I am also very inspired by her way of singing. Her songs are very anti-Christian. Is there anything more that you want to say? I hope the readers will find some inspiration in my music and my book. To seek for your past, seek within yourself. HAGALAZ RUNEDANCE WEBSITE: http://go.to/hagalaz-runedance Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
HAGALAZ RUNEDANCE - DISCOGRAPHY When the trees where silenced - single (1996) The Winds That Sang of Midgard´s Fate - CD (1998)1996 Urd - That which was - MCD (1999) Volven - CD (2000)
Despite some idiomatic problems we made an interview with this great french band. I did a review of their two records " Operator Dead...post Aband..." and " From Within" on the issue of February I think. Both records are great and they are at this moment preparing the third one. Fans of Slayer, Pantera, At The Gates will be really delighted with this band. Who plays the bass guitar in the band? Are you going to add a bass player now? ATNG plays the bass on the album. No, we don't have a bass player because we don't have any need now. Since you are going to start the new recording on July...
How is working with Alexis Phelipot (producer)? Are there any other producers you would like to work with? Alexis has been our friend for five years now and we like to work with him. Some producer contacted him. How is the sound in "From within" compared to the one in"Operator Dead‌Post abandon..." ? Yes. I think the sound is better in "From Within".
Do you have the songs already written and rehearsed or the process of composition is starting now?
How is the deal with Mystik Productions?
We have a lot of songs already. Now we are just searching a producer and a label.
We have the production in France and the distribution.
Can we expect a big tour to support the third album?
Is there something more that you want to say?
Yes, we think. Which is the concept in Kristendom lyrics? For example a title as "Operator dead...post aband..." seems quite strange.
Yes we want to turn out of France to speak english better because in France we can´t learn it correctly!!!!!!!! Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
Do you know the zombie's movies ? This is from one of the scenes of the movie!!! How different is the singing of Laurent compared to the singing he did for No Return?
KRISTENDOM - DISCOGRAPHY Operator Dead...Post Aband - CD (1999) From Within - CD (2000)
I don't now. I never compare.
ACTUAL LINEUP
Alex T : Guitar2
Laurent Plainchamp : Vocals
ATNG : Guitar1
Olivier Couturier : Drums
Valtor :keyboards
Ravens Over Gomorrah is a band from Southern California that plays their mix of atmospheric and brutal music in an original way. We talked with vocalist Mike Wortham about the band and their new release. How do you see yourself as part of the black metal scene in the USA? Is american black metal growing?
I prefer a little of both, the faster and the melodic parts. I think the faster parts give us the most characteristics.
I don't really consider our music black metal. If I had to label it, I would just call it extreme metal...I don't like being labeled as anything.
Can you tell me a little bit about the history of the band?
Yes, the American black metal scene is growing, but not in the way it should be. Bands are all doing the same thing that has been done a million times before. I'm not implying that we are the most original band in the world, but we at least try to have our own style. Can your music be described as melodic and atmospheric black metal? Yes, I think our music is melodic and atmospheric at times. Which are your favourite parts in Ravens Over Gomorrah´s Song: the faster parts or the more melodic ones? Which do you think gives the band its most characteristic features?
Ravens over Gomorrah was formed by Darin Winn (ex-Summond/Noctuary) & Bart Schmidt (exSummoned) in mid 97. I joined the band in late 97 and soon after we recorded our first demo "Blasphemous Hymns, Nighttime Serenades". We had a bit of a brake and then we recorded our second release "Darkly Melisma". We are currently working on material for our third demo. Is the follow up to "Darkly Melisma" ready? Are you satisfied with the results that you got with "Darkly Melisma"? Our third release will most likely be completed in May.
Do you feel the band is influenced by bands like Mayhem, Gorgoroth or maybe others like Arcturus, Old Man´s Child, etc.? Are there any other influences in your music? No, I don't feel that we are influenced by any of those bands; we are however, influenced by the European sound, not necessarily any specific bands so to speak. Have your lyrics any special concept? Can you explain them? R.O.G.'s lyrics mainly deal with the occult, paganism, and mythology. When we write our lyrics we write them around the concept of the release that we are doing at that time. Both of our demos have been completely different from each other. Demo #1 had more of an occult theme to it and demo #2 had more of a pagan/mythology theme to it. It all depends on the concept of the cd we are planning at the time I guess. How is the process of composition in Ravens Over Gomorrah? We write the lyrics first. Then once we have the theme that we are looking for in the song we get together and write the music to fit the concept. Do you think Ravens Over Gomorrah´s music can evolve adopting new styles and blending them with black metal? Yeah, we have thought about bringing in some other styles of music and or instruments to our
music, but at the moment we are happy with the sound that we have. Are there any plans of touring to support the new material? Ravens over Gomorrah are strictly a studio band, so no there will be no touring. Any final words for people in Argentina? First off I would like to thank you Federico for the interview and the support you have given Ravens over Gomorrah thus far...you rule! To all your readers I would like to say, keep supporting the underground scene as well as the fight against the christian scum! RAVENS OVER GOMORRAH / BLACK DEATH DISTRIBUTION: http://blackdeathdistro.cjb.net Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
RAVENS OVER GOMORRAH - DISCOGRAPHY Blasphemous Hymns, Nightime Serenades - cassette (1997) Darkly Melisma - demo (1999) ACTUAL LINEUP Darin Winn - guitar Bart Schmidt - drums Mike Wortham - vocals
This is one of the best bands that I have listened lately. Their songs are complex but they don´ t get lost in technique. They also offer a world of feelings and different sensations. Luis Nasser, bass player and one of the main composers of the band talked with us. How is the new music in which you are working now? It is a little bit different from the other music that we have made because this time all the members of the band are participating in the composition and the arrangements. Particularly, I think that Andrés is having an esential role in the project, not only composing music but also editing and giving a better shape to the ideas that I brought written for the new CD. I am sure that it will be a nice surprise, also because is possible that we will colaborate with Pablo García, an excelent keyboard player and composer, that nowadays is very immersed in the world of academic contemporary music. Let´s say that the only thing sure is that it is going to be an extremely progressive record... ¿Why did you change the name of the band from Radio Silence to Sonus Umbra? When we signed with Brian Hirsch from Moonchild Records, he started a serie of legal things to publish the music and sell it. In this process, we realized that there were some bands calles Radio Silence. No one had the name registered or a trademark, but Brian was kind of hippie guy, that didn´t want to bother people with legal actions, and we choose to change the name. We were trying to sell a record of new music and that was no big problem. We chose "Sonus Umbra" because in latin means "the sound of the shadows" and we thought that it was descriptive of our style. Surely it is bad conjugated, but that is ignorance...
What opinion do you have in this moment of "Laughter in the Dark"? It was our first record. Is like seeing pictures of the past. Maybe it was a little bit simple compared to our most recent stuff but that were genuinely our feelings and what I tried to express musically at that time. We didn´t know anything about the Progressive movement and we thought that we were the only ones playing progressive music, at least in México D.F. It was a time when the band that was most played in the radio was Pearl Jam, and I think that I was very ignorant of how the music business worked. Despite this it is a record that
I am not sorry or ashamed of. There are songs in it that will always be a central part of Sonus Umbra, like "Lamprey Man", "March of Folly" or "Ahab's Sorrow". How did the people reacted to "Snapshots from Limbo"? The response has been extremely positive; people from everywhere are writing us y we are very grateful for that. It was voted as one of the best releases of year 2000 in many magazines and webzines and it has been something incredible, really. It motivates us to work really hard. We have received invitations to play in some festivals and progressive events, and we hope to confirm this. We would like to present our material live to an audience that can apreciate the music more than the people that you usually find in a bar; I am not interested in moving all my equipment tu play in front of some yankee trailers, drinking Budweiser and waiting to listen to "Freebird"... Which differences have the progressive mexican scene compared to that of Baltimore? You know, I have been in Baltimore for six years and I don´t know the Mexico scene. Radio Silence played in Mexico City and for example we never heard about Cast. We knew something about Chac Mool and Iconoclasta, but they never played live. I know that there is some people trying to give support to it now: Sol & Deneb Productions, Luna Negra, Las gentes de La Corte Final, etc, and bands such as Kromlech or Codice. I only have frecuent contact with Guillermo González, of the cordero Sinfónico, and with Jesús Díaz of the radio show Eufonia. Obviously I would like that progressive fans from Mexico know Sonus Umbra, because it is a mexican band. It has not happened yet. Maybe soon? On the other hand, in Blatimore there are a lot of progressive bands of all kind and we have Orion Studios, of Mike Potter and Jay Valenzuela. It is really incredible the effort and what they have done to create a progressive rock sanctuary. There is a sampler in the last number of Expose, in which there is music from some bands that are presenting nowadays, like Trephine, Uncle Gut and Dark Aether Project. Of course, there is also Iluvatar, but theya re not in the sampler because the purpose was to give impulse to the "new" in the progressive scene of Baltimore and they have been known for a long time. Do you plan to rereleas "Laughter in the dark"? ¿Is there more material from that era that you have not released yet? Andrés is working with the tapes of "Laughter" to plan at which extent we are going to rerecord it before we rerelease it. This is basically because the CD was originally recorded in an 8 track Tascam, and there are obviously produccion failures. We are going to rerelease it and we hope to have everything ready in november. Also Jeff is going to take care of the percussion because in that recording Alejandro Martini played drums, but he is not in the band anymore. We also have some songs that don´t fit so good with the new material but that we would like to give to the progressive fans. The plan is to edit an EP with 4 or 5 songs, It will be called "Music for Chameleons", and will be released on Out of Phase records, from Baltimore. I think that in january or fbruary will be on the stores. It is going to include one of the songs originally included in "Laughter", called "Asylum Waves", and 4 other inedit songs.. Edgar Franco from Krepuskulum is going to do the cover and the booklet design. I think that it will be a good wave as we say in Mexico. What can you tell me about Kurgan´s Bane? Kurgan's Bane eis a Baltimore band that plays progressive hard rock with Rush, Marillion and Savatage influences. The lineup is Pete Laramee (Guitar, main composer ), Jeff Laramee (drums, main lyricist), and Lisa Francis (Vocals). I play bass and keyboards and write some songs for the band, basically to give the music a more progressive flavor. I have been in Kurgan´s Bane for 4 years and I really like it. It is completely different from Sonus Umbra but I like the possibility to play a different style. Now we are finishing to promote the second CD "The Future Lies Broken", and we are composing new songs for the next. I think that Jeff and I are an unusual rythmic section, very interesting. All those who are interested can check the details
at: www.kurgansbane.com I would recommend fans of Nexus to check this band. I consider from what I saw of their live set on nearfest that Kurgan´s Bane could be interesting for them. Let´s say that having different styles, they have the same intensity. How important is to have a good knowledge of musical theory for the music that you do? I don´t think it is indispensable. Particularly, I know music theory, but I am not a doctor on that. My formal education is on theoric physics (doctorate). Knowing theory can suggest you some ideas or interesting combinations, but it is all about getting empathy and transmit a feeling I think that the best records in progressive rock are basically more emotive than cerebral like "Unfolded Staircase" of Discipline, or "Animals" from Pink Floyd. They are not very technical but in fatc they are of incredible beauty and intensity. Obviously there are disputes, but for me the most important in progressive music is to express with clarity, using what you need of the musical language, with no restriccions. I also enjoy a lot precision bands Dream Theater or Pain of Salvation, but I think I prefer Portnoy in Trnsatlantic than in Dream theater, because he plays more freely. He doesn´t need to impress with his double bass technique and simply plays what the piece requires. How is your deal with Musea recs.? I thought you were on Moonchild Recs... What happened was that Brian Hirsch, president and founder of Moonchild Records, committed suicide last summer. It is a tragic story and a great loss for the progressive comunity. We will always thank Brian his support and faith in our music, because without him there would be no Sonus Umbra. When he died the label dissappeared and we were left without releasing the record (you can get it only through Kinesis, Amazon and CDBaby). But life goes on and because of the support from magazines and webzines, our music arrived to Musea, thanks to Vitaly Menshikov, from webzine "ProgressoR". They offered us a deal to distribute the record in Europe and the rest of the world, and "Snapshots" will be released officially on Musea in april. I hope Big Bear in Argentina is interested in distributing it, because we know that there is in Argentina a lot of people that like progressive music and maybe they will find something different in Sonus Umbra. Can you explain what are your lyrics about? Sonus Umbra songs are basically introspective. I was born in the PRI´s Mexico and my lyrics are the reflection of the sistem in which inequity, injustice and intolerance are the base of everyday life. The record is just a collection of moments in 1994, when Radio Silence was desintegrating and I didn´t know which way to take. Songs like "Ghosts from the past" or "The eagle has landed" are clearly a critic to the PRI, and to the great lie of NAFTA and globalization . On the other hand, "Seven Masks" "Soul Dusk" and "A Season in Helare autobiographic l". Also "Homo Homini Lupus", is a joke on the myth of burla al mito del "Ragnarok" because it is stupid compared to what it would be human autodestruction with nuclear weapons and the trilogy of "Insects" that is basically a horror history about a man who does not stand society anymore and decides to reborn free of moreal and social pressures, mutating into a predator insect. It is not a tribute to Kafka because the carachter is not a victim of a cruel and sadistic cosmos. It is a a hybrid tribute to people like Baudelaire or Lovecraft whose words continue being effective on me. How do you compose the songs? Do you prefer to compose alone or with the rest of the band? I wrote almost all the music in "Snapshots from Limbo" alone.Ricardo also has written some songs but independently and then I incorporated them on the CD, using them as a seed (like in "Insects" or "Doppelganger") . I would like to make clear that I am not a "Control freak", I have always liked the idea of participating in composition with the rest of the band. In fact the melody of the music box at the beginning of "ghosts" is a theme composed by William Lee (a friend from the Physics university in UNAM). I listened it for the first time in 1988 and I always thought that it would be a good idea to use it in some piece. I think it was a
surprise for him to listen his song years later, but te fact is that I love to collaborate with other people. Andrés, Ricardo and Jeff are excelent musicians and extremely creative people and I think that incorporating what they write will make the sound of the band extremely rich We have always participated as a band in the arrangements of the music but for some reason there has not been a bigger collaboration in the compositional level. At least not until now but Andrés is now getting ready and the thing is changing. I am very optimistic for the new music that we are doing. I think it has a lot of potential and it depends on us to develope it and record a worthy CD. Is there something more that you want to add? Only to thank you for giving us the chance of getting in contact with Music Extreme readers and I hope we can establish more bonds with the Argentinean audience and the rest of South America. Say hello to everyone! SONUS UMBRA´S HOMEPAGE: www.sonusumbra.com Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
SONUS UMBRA - DISCOGRAPHY Laughter In the Dark - CD (1998) Snapshots from Limbo - CD (2000) ACTUAL LINEUP Luis Nasser - bass, korg 01W, acoustic guitar, vocals Jeff Laramee - drums, percussion, vocals Ricardo Gómez - electric and acoustic guitar Andrés Aullet - vocals, Korg Trinity
Danish gutar whiz Torben Enevoldsen has released an album plety of chops and good taste and feeling. The album is called " Heavy Persuasion" and features melodic and shredding playing from this guitar master. Torben answered our questions very kindly. I read that the point of break in your playing was in 1990. What was that made you decide to practice more? That's true. I heard the first Steeler album and was blown away by the guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, so from that point on I realized that I had to really start working on my chops if I were to reach Yngwie's level of musicianship. How different is "Heavy persuasion" from "Guitarisma"? Do you consider one better than the other or do they express certain feelings in a certain time of your life? "Heavy Persuasion" is different from "Guitarisma" in a lot of ways first of all I think I have matured a lot in my playing and song writing on "Heavy Persuasion" and also, I went in a completely different direction in terms of the actual recording process. On "Guitarisma" I'm using mainly hired guns as well as programmed drums. On "Heavy Persuasion" I was recording with my band, so that gives the whole thing a very different feel. The material on "Heavy Persuasion" is also a bit more heavy, so there's quite a big difference between the two all in all. However, I would like to emphasize that I am still really proud of "Guitarisma", but being a musician also means that you have to evolve, so each album will hopefully show some form of progress. Why the line up from "Heavy persuassion" is totally different from the one in "Guitarisma"? The line-up on "Guitarisma" was completed by mainly hired guns, and they were all busy working in different bands (Pangea, Prime Time, Savage Affair) and to be honest, I wasn't really looking for a band at the time. Things changed and later on I realized that I really wanted a band, so I got in touch with Flemming Hansen (Bass) and he was very interested and soon after I asked Mickey Hurricane (Drums), who had done a few albums with a Danish band called Merzy, and he also said yes, so here we are... Well, since I use Ibanez guitars too, i would like to ask you: What do you find really special in Ibanez guitars? Well, the first time I picked up an Ibanez guitar was back in 94 and I was instantly hooked by this particular model, a 540S which I still own by the way, and I haven't really tried out other brands that suited my style of playing. My two main guitars now are the Ibanez RG-620 which I have customized a bit, replacing the stock pick-ups with DiMarzio's "Humbucker From Hell" for the neck and "The Tone Zone" for the bridge. This I can truly recommend by the way, they sound really amazing!! And the other is the Ibanez RG-
3120 with DiMarzio's "PAF Pro" (for the neck) and "The Tone Zone (for the bridge). What I find special in these guitars are the looks, the great necks, the 24 frets + you get the great Lo Pro Edge Tremeloes!!! What can you tell me about the demo CD "Just In Case"? It was recorded in 1995 and contains 3 songs: "Just In Case", "Calm Waters" and "What If...?". Christian Rajkai did the bass and my good friend Torben Lysholm did the engineering, mixing and programming and the whole thing was done in the Hot Sound Recording Studio here in Denmark. Later on, the 3 songs got remixed and put on my debut album "Guitarisma" and finally released in December of 1998. Are all the songs completely planned or do you leave some space for improvisation? In the studio the songs are definitely planned in terms of arrangement, but regarding the actual playing I always leave room for improvisation. When playing live it's a little different, some stuff is worked out but there's always A LOT of jamming going on. It helps to keep things fresh and inspiring I think.
Are you still practicing as much as ten years ago ? How big is your music theory training? How much I practice varies a lot these days, but I do practice every single day. But compared to back then, I think that maybe now I tend to work a lot more on the writing process than on the actual practicing process... Concerning music theory training, I have no formal training but I do know what I'm doing in terms of theory. How do you compose the songs? Do you start with the solos and construct all the melodies to fit it or is it the other way round? I always start off with a melody. Then I will automatically start working on the arrangement. I build my songs in the same way a vocal band would do you know, with a verse, chorus, bridge and a solo. So to answer your question, I will say that I normally do the solo last, after the actual song is completed. What do you learned experimenting with the 4 track tape recorder and the drum machine? I found out that hard rock instrumentals comes quite natural to me, so that really helped me to find myself musically. Are there plans to do a new recording on this year? No, but I would like to mention that I have just been recording 3 new songs. In January I went to Lars Eric Mattsson´s studio in Finland, The Lion's Cage, and I recorded "Zantac", which is going to be the bonus track for the re-release of my debut album "Guitarisma" which will be released in a few weeks. I also recorded my own version of Jason Becker's "Altitudes" as well as a guest solo for Lars Eric Mattsson's "Outro Jam" which will be released on the Jason Becker Tribute album "Warmth In The Wilderness" this summer. Finally, I recorded a brand new song called "Strange Encounters" which is yet to be released. Any final words?
I want to thank you for doing this interview and I would like to mention my web site address for those interested: http://www.torbenenevoldsen.com Interviewed by Federico Marongiu
TORBEN ENEVOLDSEN - DISCOGRAPHY Just in Case - Demo CD (1997) Guitarisma - CD (1998) Heavy Persuasion - CD (2000)
ACTUAL LINEUP Torben Enevoldsen - guitar, additional drum programming Flemming Hansen - bass Mickey Hurricane - Drums and castanets
NEWS SUBLIME CADAVERIC DECOMPOSITION new CD out NOW on Bones Brigade Records available at Tristan Branger 21, rue Martissot 92110 CLICHY France prices : France : 80 FRFS port compris (chèque ordre M. Brocoletti) Europe : 12 US $ ppd Rest of the world : 13 US$ ppd ASK FOR WHOLESALES ! ! ! ! ! ! ! NO TRADES ACCEPTED WELL HIDDEN CASH ONLY OR I.M.O. (to T. Branger) Send your questions for interviews or whatever else to S.C.D@lycos.com or SCDgoregrind@aol.com Hell fuckin´ Yeah!!! POUNDING METAL Vol.III is finally available for only 10 DM (in Europe)/$7 (outside of Europe), postage included!!! This time featuring Undergroundkillers from: Nasty Disaster (Nasty Metal), Raging Force (Power Metal), Blood Red Angel (Thrash Metal), Absolute Steel (Power Metal), Mindguard (Power/Progressive Metal), Hateful Agony (old school Thrash Metal), Madog (True Metal), Sencirow (Power Metal), Mirror of Deception (Doom Metal), Mr.Dead (Thrash Metal), Majesty (true fuckin´ Heavy Metal), Silencer (US Power/Thrash Metal), Theoadore Muddfoot (Heavy Rock/Power Metal), Riff Master General (dirty Rock n´ Metal), Overlorde (US Metal), Warfare Inc. (old school Thrash Metal), Dark Breed (Power/Progressive Metal), Xiron (Power Metal), Well of Souls (Doom Metal) and Castle Well (Power Metal)!!! 20 Killers one fuckin´ Tape of ultmate Metal Madness, limited to 300 copies only!!! By the way, POUNDING METAL Vol.II is also still available for the same price, or order the KILLER Package: Vol.II&III together for only 15 DM/$10!!! SUPPORT THE UNDERGROUND, NOW!!! YOU WON`T REGRET IT!!! POUNDING METAL ´zine/Distribution/Compilation Metal District Webzine Bullet-TV c/o Steel Commander Michaelsbergstr.4 74363 Eibensbach GERMANY Tel. +49 (0)7135/7687. www.metal-district.de www.bullet-tv.de
Rotten Bones Recs. is looking for underground grind bands to release tapes and 7" in a total underground and anti profit spirit. Send your answers at infernal.waves@wanadoo.fr HOLY MOSES: Yes it´s true. Century Media signed the german thrash metal legend HOLY MOSES. The first release will be an EP called "Master Of Disaster". It´s the bands strongest material since they released "Finished With The Dogs" in the early 80´s. The EP will be released on June 18th since the band is confirmed to play the Wacken, With Full Force and Mind Over Matter Festivals. HOLY MOSES live: 10.06. Mind Over Metal Österreich 20.06. Club Show Warm Up Headbangers Ballroom, Hamburg als Wacken Open Air Party 22.06. bis 24.06. With Full Force 04.08. Wacken Open Air 11.08. bis 13.08. Open Air in Korea 12.08. Hongkong CARBON 7 RECORDS: RWANDA 94 An attempt at symbolic reparation to the dead, for use by the living PRESENTATION This book, and double CD, is a unique artistic testimony to the genocide of the Tutsi and the massacre of the Hutu opposition, in Rwanda in 1994. It is based on the play "Rwanda 94" by the Belgian theatre company Groupov, the fruit of a four-year collaboration between western and Rwandan artists. The 6-hour play has been adapted and transposed into two CDs of music and song, and a 275-page hardback book (bi-lingual French and English) of text and images. The essence of the play has been faithfully kept, and the spoken and sung texts are interspersed with descriptive passages to guide the reader and listener through the action. SUMMARY The book and music will appeal to all those who are interested in the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. It is a unique testimony, the only artistic attempt to explore and understand the events of that time, and to look at the historical and political context, the media treatment, and the human dimensions of the genocide - using text, images, acting, video, music and song.It will be of equal interest to readers and listeners.
Descriptive, moving, informative, poignant, beautiful, at times humorous Rwanda 94 works on all levels of artistic expression, information, and emotion.
GURKKHAS The French Brutal Death Metal band will open its own Fan-Club. the name of this FC will be "SPECIAL FORCES" It will officially start by the 02 of June 2001 To know more about this very special fan club, get in touch 10 Rue des Capucines 22300 Lannion-France Tel-Fax:33296483017 Mobile phone 33688642863 E mail: gurkkhas@aol.com You will discover some surprise inside this very strict but also very strong circle of friends. the band will enter the studio (LB) by the month of July and the CD will be out by sept or october on MORBID RECS. NEMS Enterprises released "Symphony X - The Divine Wings Of Tragedy" (Nems 231), and "The Damnation Game - Twilight In Olympus", in 2 CD format at the price of one, in exclusive for Argentina, Mexico and Chile. "Symphony X - The Divine Wings Of Tragedy"(NEMS 231) "Twilight In Olympus -The Damnation Game"(NEMS 232) Symphony X was born in New Jersey, USA, on april 1994. Guitarist and leader Michael Romeo had some popularity when he released his first demo, "The Dark Chapter. In the beginning Michael was joined by bassist Thomas Miller, an old musical friend from the guitarist. They contacted vocalist Rod Tyler, drummer Jason Rullo and keyboard player Michael Pinnella. The first CD entitled "Symphony X" (Nems 231), was recorded in Autumn 1994 and released in Japan on december of the same year. This record had great reviews all over Europe and in Japan. Only eight months later Symphony X recorded their second CD, "The Damnation Game" (Nems 232).
In te beginning of 1995, singer Rod Tyler left the band and was replaced by Russell Allen. With its majestic vocal harmonies and classical arrangements, the band forced the limits of progressive music giving new life to the metal genre. In the end of 1996, the band started to work in their third opus, "The Divine Wings Of Tragedy" (Nems 231). This third CD found the band in their own compositional. Several specialized publications in Europe put "Divine Wings..." in the first places of their rankings, labeling the CD as one of the bests 1997, and sales climbed to 100.000 copies only in Japan. In the beginning of 1998, they had a new album ready: "Twilight In Olympus" (Nems 232) that proved to be another important point in Symphony X´s career (and presented new drummer, Tom Walling). Sales grew and Symphony X first european tour was done with Mindfeed as an opening act. The tour was a real success, with sold out shows in Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy and Francia. In 1999 the band started composing their new record, that was released in year 2000, with a new bass player: Michael Lepond. It was "V, The New Mythologhy Suite" (Nems 207), the band continued to show the personality of their leader and guitarist. The CD flows between the speed and virtuosism of Rome oand the strength and majestuosity of singer Russel Allen, being one of the most expected records of 2000 for metal fans. NEMS Enterprises is releasing "Symphony X - The Divine Wings Of Tragedy" (Nems 231), and "The Damnation Game - Twilight In Olympus", in 2 CD format at the price of one, in exclusive for Argentina, Mexico and Chile. Also available "V, The New Mythologhy Suite" (Nems 207), with a bonus track ("Masquerade"). Death metal band SIX FEET UNDER whose vocalist is Chris Barnes (ex Cannibal Corpse) has entered Miami´s Criteria Studios to record the follow up to "Maximum Violence". The man in charge of production will be Metal Blade´s founder Brian Slagel and the mix will be done by Dave Schiffman, who has worked with System Of A Down, Rage Against The Machine and Powerman 5000. The album will include a special appearance of Ice T. Release date: August 7th, 2001. Cogumelo Records Compilation - 20 Years of Noise Format: CD Catalogue Number: CG 0049 Running Time: 52' 51" Track Listing: Troops of Doom (Sepultura); Violence (Overdose); Satanic Lust (Sarcófago); Immortal Force (Mutilator); Jason Lives (Chakal); Mirror, My Mirror (Witchhammer); Falling Into My Inner Abyss (The Mist); Genital Tumor (Sextrash); Bloody Vengeance (Vulcano); Straight (Dorsal Atlântica); General Crisis (Ratos de Porão); Rota (Eminence); Murder (Siegrid Ingrid). Cogumelo Records Avenida Augusto de Lima, 555, Loja 32
Centro - Belo Horizonte - MG Brasil CEP 30.190-000 Telefax: ++ 55 31 3224.0493 Website: www.cogumelo.com E-mail: cogumelo@cogumelo.com This is from the Band ARTISAN: ARTISAN is a powerful, melodic & technical, speed, thrash, death, prog, and melodic band, featuring the veteran talents of Perry Grayson (ex-Destiny's End, guitar), Mike Bear (exPrototype, bass, and Ana Greco (ex-Rapture,guitar). Feel free to come visit our site and drop us a hello, we'll be constantly updating about our progress. "http://artisan.knac.com" We're currently seeking a fast & solid PRO DOUBLE BASS DRUMMER to complete our lineup. Must have equipment, transportation, dedication and be able to handle odd times and tempo shifts. NO DRUGS or "Rap Metal" We practice 2-3 times a week in the Los Angeles area. If you have not heard of, or are into a good portion of our influences please don't bother contacting us for the position: INFLUENCES: Death, Control Denied, Testament, Forbidden, Nevermore, At The Gates, In Flames, Hypocrisy, Coroner, Kreator, Cynic, Sentenced, and HEARTWORK - eara Carcass, etc. Contact ARTISAN: artisanmetal@hotmail.com Check us out: http://artisan.knac.com Here are the latest releases from Retribute Records: Ret 005: SOILS OF FATE-Sandstorm Cd SOILS OF FATE follow up their 'Pain..Has A Face' demo and 'Blood Serology' promo with their debut cd of brutal, blasting death metal. If you're a fan of ultra guttural sickness and bands like Cryptopsy, Internal Bleeding and Vomit Remnants then you need this cd!! Ret 004: EVANESCE - SOWER OF SEDITION CD Brutal melodic death metal from the UK which brings to mind At The Gates and 'Necroticism' era Carcass. Ret 003: VASTION - CLOSED EYES TO NOTHING CD VASTION are the new harbingers of the Armageddon, and Closed Eyes toNothing is the prophecy for the end of times. 10 tracks of precise, technical, nihilistic death metal, will
make your soul sweat in anticipation of The Day Of Judgement. One of the best low/high vocal combinations in the extreme scene act as your anchor to the mortal realm. Once the torment is over, the silence is so deafening you'll question your own existence. You need to acquire this disc, it could end your life! Ret 002: RAIDEN-The Killing Fist Mcd Deathcore just got sicker. This powerhouse combines dethcore and slow, sludgy parts with a brutal dual high and low vocal attack. Beware! Ret 001: PUBLIC DISTURBANCE-Possessed To Hate Mcd Heavy and mean metal/deathcore-mix Merauder, Cold As Life and Integrity with a hint of Obituary. RETRIBUTE RECORDS, PO BOX 76, NEW FERRY, CH63 0QT, ENGLAND, UK E-Mail: Retribute@aol.com 6-way Split DEMONIC ORGY/ INFECTED PUSSY/ ANAL BIRTH/ DYSMENORRHEIC HEMORAG= E/ UTERUS/ KEVIN EVANACHKO PURE GRINDING PORNO SPLATTER GORE ON 90 MINUTES TAPE AVAILABLE FOR France:30FRFS port compris (cheque sans ordre) EUROPE: 5US $ ppd (cash only and well hidden) TRADES THIS TIME ARE FUCKIN' WELCOMED!!!!!! and dont forget GORE BEYOND NECROPSY T SHIRTS ALWAYS AVAILABLE!!! NECROPHIL 18 RUE DE LA PRESSE 78500 SARTROUVILLE FRANCE Infpus@aol.com
© COPYRIGHT FEDERICO MARONGIU. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTELECTUAL PROPERTY NUMBER/ NUMERO DE PROPIEDAD INTELECTUAL: 120.526