Firebrand After Dark Issue 2 - August by Firebrand's Rock&Metal Express

Issue 2 - August 2013

Burgerkill Zombie Death Stench LOKA Newsted Stone Magnum Godslave Jungle Rot Arcite

Com pet itio n

10 12 16 20 24 26 30 34 38

- Blackfinger - Jungle Rot - Burgerkill - Damnation Festival Organizer - Ashes Of Ares - LOKA - SOiL - Gacy’s Threads - Zombie Death Stench

04 06 23 33 42

- News - Hymns From The Dark Side - Firebrand DJ Top 5 - Top 5 Videos - 18 & Life

45 - Zombie Death Stench - Stone Magnum 46 - Skinny Puppy - Front Line Assembly 47 - Dick Venom & The Terrortones - Origin Konrad 48 - Her Dying Regret - Temple Of Void 49 - M.O.T.H - Newsted 50 - Eshtadur - Legion 51 - Deadlock - Arcite 52 - Avenged Sevenfold 53 - Five Finger Death Punch - Godslave 54 - Bad For Lazarus - Wretched Soul 55 - Doll - The Charm The Fury

Don’t forget you can still read the first ever edition of Firebrand After Dark! 2

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Editor In Chief Rick Palin Senior Media Consultant Rachel Whiston Well its been an interesting month in Firebrand land with a couple of curveballs popping up but as always onwards and upwards. So what do we have in store for you this month? Well to kick things off we have teamed up with Victory Records and the mighty Jungle Rot to run our first ever competition, so make sure you check out what goodies we have got to give away, as well as the competition we also have an interview with Jimmy Ganez which will give you a lot of insight into this grossly underrated band. Speaking of interviews we have a plethora of them for your reading pleasure this month including one with the head honcho over at the Damnation festival, Gavin McInally, where he gives us the low down on this years event.

Editor Lee Walker Reviews Team Heather Blewett Stoodge McNulty Graham Pritchard Jon Seymour

Last month we trialled a ‘top 5 videos of the month’ which seemed to go down well so it returns for a second month with a very surprising top video.

Contributing Writers Chris Nelson

Some of you may know that Firebrand After Dark is connected to Firebrand Rock Radio so to give you an insight into the minds of our assorted DJ’s we have asked them to send over there top 5 tracks that are currently blasting out of their speakers. This month we have Stoodge McNulty kicking things off for the heavier DJs.

Download Content Team Rick Palin Judith Fisher

That’s about it for now. As always we welcome your comments and are always interested in reading any suggestions that you might have. So feel free to shoot the team an email or message over on the Facebook page.

Content Download sales@fbrr2010.com Advertising Enquiries sales@fbrr2010.com Review Requests afterdark@fbrr2010.com

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Contact Telephone +44(0)1244 940961

NEWS Sir Bruce Forsyth attends Iron Maiden/ Voodoo 6 show at O2 Arena in London Legendary entertainer, Sir Bruce Forsyth, enjoyed a night of heavy rock recently, watching the iconicIron Maiden on their 'Maiden England' tour; Sir Bruce attended the first of their two O2 Arena shows in London (Saturday, August 3rd), without the band knowing he was there…

The brand new video for Voodoo Six single, ‘Your Way’, from the new album, ‘Songs To Invade Countries To’, released by Spinefarm Records/Universal, can be viewed below:

Tour dates: 24.10.13 Birmingham 02 Academy 3* 25.10.13 Think Tank, Newcastle** 26.10.13 Audio, Glasgow* 27.10.13 Sound Control, Manchester** 28.10.13 02 Academy Islington* * Voodoo Six headline ** Sacred Mother Tongue headline

Left to right: Matt Pearce (guitarist, Voodoo Six), Sir Bruce, Julie (Purdie), Luke Purdie (Voodoo Tickets available Six, vocals) at livenation.co.uk / ticketmaster.co.uk "We had Strictly Come Dancing in the house last night," Maiden front-man Bruce Dickinson told the crowd at the following show (August 4th). "Bruce Forsyth was here, which is absolutely f**king unbelievable. I wish I'd have known, I would have said, 'Nice to see you, to see you nice!'" Sir Bruce adds: "It's not every day I attend an Iron Maiden show. The main reason I was there was for my grandson, Luke (Purdie). He has been touring Europe with his band, Voodoo Six, supporting Iron Maiden over the summer, and it was great to see them at the penultimate show. I'll have to ask Iron Maiden for a free T-Shirt next time!" In other news, Voodoo Six have announced a new video for ‘Your Way’ plus a UK co-headline tour with Sacred Mother Tongue.

Six New Bands Added to Damnation Festival Line Up Swedish melodic doom quintet KATATONIA and Norwegian black-metal masters GOD SEED are the latest international acts to be added to Damnation Festival. German progressive collective THE OCEAN, French post-metal standard bearers YEAR OF NO LIGHT, Norwegian avant-garde jazz quartet SHINING and /Irish doom titans MOURNING BELOVETH will also bolster the stunning bill which will be unleashed on Leeds University Union on Saturday, November 2. The six additions compliment an extreme and eclectic line-up which already boast Carcass, Cult of Luna, Crippled Black Phoenix, Vallenfyre,

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Negura Bunget, SSS, Moss and Voices with at least nine more bands to be announced. Gorgoroth re-incarnation God Seed will play Damnation Festival as an exclusive UK show. Katatonia will play 2003's classic 'Viva Emptiness' in its entirety. Anders Nystrom, said: "Since it looks like November will bring us Damnation, we're absolutely certain there'll be some Swedish export of atmospheric dark metal coming your way with it! "We couldn't be more psyched to celebrate our 'Viva Emptiness' album anniversary at a festival we never got to play before. So Leeds, join us and be damned!" Brendan from Mourning Beloveth said "We are delighted to be asked to play a small part in the metal institution that is Damnation Fest. Our recent visits to the shores of the U.K. have unfortunately been limited to stages in the capital. We would like to thank Damnation Fest for giving us the opportunity to at last rectify this grave and indefensible injustice. You guys bring the ale, and we'll bring the Doom." Damnation Festival could also become a four-stage event this year, reducing clashes and allowing the return of the much-missed Deathfest stage... with fans' backing. Organiser Gavin McInally explained: "A change to licensing laws at Leeds University Union has opened up the possibility for us to use the fantastic Riley Smith Hall as a venue which fans can enjoy a pint in, but it comes with a catch. "The festival's capacity would be pushed above the 4,000 mark and although ticket sales are better right now than at the same point 12 months ago, the venue management, somewhat understandably, don't want to hand over their entire building, including terracing and bars to Damnation unless there's a guarantee the numbers will justify it. "This is not a sales pitch, if you don't believe the confirmed line-up so far doesn't merit your £34 then don't buy a ticket BUT if you are fully intending to be at Damnation Festival this year then booking your ticket now will help us land that fourth stage. "And if we do, Carcass and Cult of Luna will not clash for a single minute, the Terrorizer Stage will be reminiscent of our Deathfest event with death and grind from morning until night, a fourth stage will worship doom all day long and we'll book DJs to perform in the terrace area which has been missing at Damnation since 2008." Tickets for Damnation Festival 2013 are on sale now, priced £34, available from:http:// www.leedstickets.com/home, the official

Damnation Festival website at http://www.damnationfestival.co.uk/news or facebook.com/damnationfestival Emperor Confirmed As First Headliner For Bloodstock 2014 On the very weekend of their biggest and most successful event to date, Bloodstock are thrilled to announce that revered black metal innovators Emperor are confirmed as one of the headline acts for next year's festival, which is due to take place from 7th-10th August 2014. Recently reformed, Emperor are only playing a very select number of major shows in 2014, and Bloodstock is to be their only UK performance. The announcement was made on the festival big screen, just prior to Lamb Of God's Saturday night headline slot, and also went out over the Daily Motion global live stream, via this video clip below:

Tickets for 2014's event are already on sale at the festival site, so pick them up at early bird prices if you're lucky enough to be there, or alternatively, they will be on sale at early bird prices online from Monday 12th August, priced £115 for a 4-day weekend ticket with camping. Don't delay, as once the early bird allocation is gone, it's gone, and tickets revert to full price. Emperor's only other currently announced show at Germany's Wacken Festival is already sold out.

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Founder member Bill Beadle, lead guitarist/songwriter and vocalist of 80s Heavy Rock band Sacrilege is back, writing, recording and playing again with three new members: Vince Hempstead, Neil Turnbull and Paul Corr. In the early 1980s, Sacrilege played many venues such as the old Marquee in Wardour St, London. They also played on the David Jensen show (with U2 and the Stranglers), and from the TV appearance followed a UK tour of smaller venues finishing with the Marquee gig. Sacrilege always had a stage show no matter whether they were playing a pub, club or festival. Fans may remember the real long dry grass they used around the stage, the cobwebs over the drum-kit, the explosions, dry ice and 4x12 cabinets with crosses and smoke pouring out of them. Sacrilege ended when Bill stopped playing for about 25 years but are now back writing and recording new music in the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very own purpose-built studio and are touring.

http://www.sacrilegemetal.com/

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Stoodge Mc Nulty Interviews Eric Wagner OF

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Hey Eric, what have you been up to lately? Busy as fuck, the Blackfinger album is finally finished so I've been working on getting that ready for release, on vinyl,CD and digital download. It won't be long now and I'm also working new songs for the Skull, we are planning to go into the studio sometime in September.

How did the writing and recording of that album go? All I can picture is yourself, Dave Grohl, Lemmy, Cronos, Max Cavalera, Lee Dorian et all sitting around a studio spinning stories. Actually he sent me the song and I wrote the lyrics and went the studio at home recorded the vocals and sent it back to him. I never even met him until we did it live on Headbangers Ball. He's a good dude that treated me with total respect and he has mine as well.

Tell us about your new band 'Blackfinger' and the line up. They are all friends of mine that played in other bands from home, they were really a pleasure to work with. No egos A lot of people are wanting to know what the just 5 guys working together for the common goal of situation is with Trouble these days. Are Trouble no putting out the best record we could. more? I can't predict what tomorrow brings all I know is what is The current line up of the band is a changed one from a happening today. They are busy with their new record and I couple years ago right? am busy with mine and that's great, it's what we all need at Yes, the bass player left, he moved on to bigger and better this moment in time. If and when the time comes where we things so we are currently looking for someone. all feel that it is the right thing to do, we will. Is there a huge difference in the bands sound compared to Trouble and The Skull? Not really, we play mostly songs from the first 2 records and mix in some of the newer ones here and there. Everyone has been really digging it and have been asking us to do a record so that's what we are going to do. Am I right in saying that you planned to start recording the album a couple of years ago? The Blackfinger album took 4 years from start to finish, a long time, a lot of hard work and at times very stressful but I love it, it still gets me high. I've been listening to the first single from the album 'All the leaves are brown' since it surfaced in late 2011. It rolls in at under 3 minutes, does this indicate how the rest of the album is going to sound? No, they are all different, I think it's heavy record even dark at times. This might be the most personal one I've ever done and I'm proud of it.

So with the Blackfinger tour, will you guys be playing much material from Trouble and The Skull? The shows we've done we always throw in a couple of trouble songs and from time to time we've also played some lid songs and my tortured soul from Probot. It's been a lot of fun because I never got to play those songs live before. What modern/new bands are you digging? To tell you the truth I have no idea what's going on, I never listen to new music when I'm writing, it seems to influence me in my sleep. Eric thanks so much for your time. Before finishing up this interview have you any words for all the fans that have followed you and your projects over the past 3 decades? You are welcome kind sir and all I can really say is I thank you. It is truly humbling to think how much everyone cared about the music to come along on this long journey with us, it would not have been the same without you.

You've recently revealed what the tracklist for the new album is going to be. Can you talk us through what tracks are your personal favourites on the record? I don't know, I love them all, they are my babies and without any of them something would be missing. I wanted to make a record like they used to, where you just kick with what ever your pleasure is and listen to the whole thing. You featured on the Dave Grohl side project 'Probot'album a few years ago, if a follow up album was to be done sometime in the near future would you be up for featuring on it? Of course it was great doing that, after I did my lid record in 1997 I kinda ran away from the music business. Dave is the one who got me to do this again so I guess I owe him.

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Jimmy Ganez of

Interviewed by Lee Walker

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You guys seem to have been a part of the American death metal scene for what seems like forever. How did the band first start off? First off this is James, sorry Dave couldn’t reply we are in Europe and rather busy at the moment. Dave started the band like most any other band, a couple of teen friends want to play like their heroes and just start jamming. I think most bands are formed this way. Then you start playing local youth places and develop a following. You grow more and start playing bars, and just keep working hard to get your name out there. Why did you pick the name ‘Jungle Rot’ for the band? It’s a catchy name and very original. There hasn’t been another band with that name since we started, that we know of anyway. With all the touring that went on over the years did any of the guys ever contract jungle rot? Well You definitely will catch a case of swamp ass here and there! Haha! Seriously though, you guys seemed to have spent a massive amount of time on the road. How do you cope with the constant traveling? It’s hard. It’s getting harder to do too. Three of us aren’t spring chickens anymore. Backs get sore, necks get sore, and you don’t bounce back as quick. We just try and make it as comfortable as possible, which costs money. If we could afford a road crew and the accommodations for such a crew, we would do it. We don’t make enough from this to do that though. Have you had many bad touring experiences over the years? It happens, nothing catastrophic though. Little shit here and there pops up and might put a hampering on your good time, but you soldier through it and move on.

the years. How do you think they have affected the bands development? It hurt the band in the beginning because shit could have taken off sooner than it did. The sound never really compromised though. The sound has always been a constant. But it does affect a band and the morale. It’s hard to trust people. How did this current lineup come together? I started playing guitar in Jungle Rot during the Fueled By Hate touring cycle in 2004, I played guitar on a couple US tours and a European tour. I was going to join permanently but a tour came up that went to Canada and at the time I had some driving issues and I couldn’t get into Canada. Geoff did the tour with the band on guitar, and when they came back the bassist quit so Dave asked me to play bass. Me and Geoff have been in the band ever since. Drummers are a different story altogether! Haha! Did you expect the band to still be going now despite starting off close to 20 years ago? I really couldn’t answer this. I don’t think in those terms. I know I’ll still be playing music for as long as I can physically do it. Do you have anything special planned to celebrate hitting the 20 year milestone? Not really. Maybe that’s something worth looking into! You have seen pretty much all sorts of trends within the music scene over the years that you have been going. What’s your take on the current condition of it? You know, I’m so out of the loop on what is trendy. I just like what I like. I don’t care what anyone else thinks anymore.

You recently released ‘Terror Regime’ earlier this year. Have you been happy with the way it was received? I am very happy, the band is happy. It’s a great What has been the most memorable thing that has record. We have received many great reviews and happened during touring? people tell us all the time how good the record is. I’m This tour we are on right now. Playing with our very happy with the reception! heroes like Destruction and Sodom and then hanging with them, getting to watch their sets, and having How did the album come together? beers and spliffs and laughing. This has been a Same as any album I suppose. A couple guys sitting remarkably memorable experience! around, jamming riffs and piecing songs together. Nothing special. Like most bands that’s been around for a while you have gone through quite a few lineup changes over

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How do you think ‘Terror Regime’ compares to your earlier releases? The subject matter is much darker. It’s very much a thrashy album, but then again, they’ve all been. I think we’re just getting better at songwriting and putting together memorable shit. Do you have any favorite tracks on the album? I really dig “Pronounced Dead” I wouldn’t mind playing that one live. I’m partial to “Terror Regime” too. It’s just such a pissed off song.

I really hope so. From what I know it’s just rather expensive to do right now. We had a blast last time we were there! Are there any messages that you would like to pass on to your fans? We want to thank everyone for their support of Jungle Rot and we hope to see you on the road! November 2013 we are on tour in the States on the East Coast with SIX FEET UNDER! Cheers everyone! Checkout the video for ‘Utter Chaos’

You are about to embark upon another tour and I noticed you have quite a few festival appearances lined up as part of it. What are you looking forward to most on this tour? We are out on that said tour right now in Holland, and I definitely answered this question back on Question number 6! Haha! Can we expect to see Jungle Rot in the UK at any point?

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stoodge Interviews

Ebenz of Having a massive following in one continent and merely being at cult status elsewhere is a story Burgerkill know all too well. After 18 years of tribulations, hard labour and tragedy the men from Bandung, West Java are still fighting and aren't going to stop anytime soon. It's been a tough ride for these men but they are now stronger and more solid than ever.

Founder member of Indonesia's finest export Burgerkill chats to Stoodge about how music is evolving in Asia, his autobiography and Metal. Firebrand After Dark 01

Hey dude, I have to say it's a absolute privilege to be chatting to you. I've been listening to you guys for a while now and I've been spreading the Burgerkill venom on my radio show at every opportunity. How's things and what have you been up to recently? Hi Stoodge! We are all good bro, just a bit busy with our family and doing a few things while the tour is off. Now I'm busy writing some new riffs for our next album. Yeah, you have finished the first leg of your 'Spit The Venom' 2013 tour. Is there a reason why you have taken a a few weeks break during the tour? Yes we just finished the first part of "The Spit Venom Tour" in Central Java which had been halted because of the holy month of Ramadhan. In this month Muslims all over the world are fasting for a month, and there is no possibility for us to tour. So I can't wait for us to go back on the road with the boys and have some fun. Ah,well that would explain it haha. It seems to be a very extensive tour. Will we be seeing you guys come to over here for a European/UK Tour sometime soon? Yes this is the longest tour to date of our career. Our plan after this "Spit The Venom" tour is doing a Southeast Asia tour at the end of 2013. We will be doing a few shows in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Hopefully in mid-2014 we could come over to Europe.

I was desperate to see Ivan. We did everything we could to support him, but there wasn't much left in him. He was so ill. When he left us, I felt that the band was finished. We can't do it without him I thought. But at that time we are in the process of recording our third album "Beyond Coma And Despair", and somehow a force pushed us to think quickly and finish the album. The work paid off as this is one of the best albums we ever made. To fill the void when Ivan left, we used an additional/ part-time vocalist, until at last, we found Vicky through an audition. Ivan's autobiography My Self: Scumbag, Beyond Life and Death is a fascinating read. Would you ever consider writing a book on the story of Burgerkill? I am actually currently writing a book about my life and Burgerkill with the help of Kimung, the author of "Scumbag, Beyond Life and Death" (a book about Ivan). More than half of my adult life I've spent with Burgerkill. And while doing it, I found some untold stories that need to be told. I can say this is a complementary of our documentary DVD "We Will Bleed". I hope we can publish the book on time when we celebrate our 20th years of existence on 2015.

How big of a change in the Metal scene in Indonesia have you guys seen in recent years? Things are developing well in the Indonesia metal scene, and the internet helps accelerate that. The quality of releases are getting better and plenty of new bands are bursting into the scene with their own unique offerings. You can feel that the scene has The Burgerkill entity has been going strong for 18 been getting stronger in the past 10 years, and we years, Ebenz you have been a member since the realise that what counts in developing a scene is bands first incarnation. Are the band stronger now quality. We're getting more aware with the than ever? importance of internet technology because we can Building a career with a heavy metal band in reach new audiences with relatively cheap tools. We Indonesia is no bullshit. Metal things are going very also see some Indonesian metal bands getting signed slowly here. We changed labels several times in our by American and European labels and successfully 18 years of existence, so finally I started my own releasing their albums far abroad. Just 2 months ago record label. We signed with Sony Music once, we took home the "Metal As Fuckâ&#x20AC;? award at Metal although we learned about the industry a lot, it Hammer's Golden Gods award. It's a positive baby doesn't change anything significant. We went step for Indonesia metal bands to get recognised on through a down time when our original vocalist Ivan the bigger stage, and we have just got started. lost a fight with brain cancer, but friends and fans were there with their support. They are the reason Yeah, there certainly is a lot of great bands coming why we're still here and getting stronger and through from Indonesia. Is there something about stronger each day. Asian Metal that sets it apart from Metal around the World? Your 2011 album Venomous was the bands first In Asia, specifically in Indonesia, we have big and and after the sad passing away of vocalist Ivan solid metal communities. They're very good on Scumbag, was there a point in which you thought building networks as they understand it Clearly that Burgerkill had died with him?

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these network of friends will give them some advantage. They're all brothers and support each other. A metal music festival filled with local headliners was attended by more fans than a rock festival with international bands. What sometimes slows us down is the Eastern cultural rules and norms which is a lot different with Western cultures. It is the reason why we need to set our tone to adjust with local habits. It's highly challenging for metal musicians in Indonesia because most people are not accustomed and most of the times against, our attitude and musical style.

the bands sound? So far we don't depend that much on digital technology for live production. We use digital tools mostly in the recording studio, to ease some of the process up, but our core production set is always the traditional analogue metal-fucking-mad set up. We feel just that digital-produced sound doesn't fit in with our style of music.

How about your personal musical tastes and have your influences changed since you started out and what bands are you really digging recently? I listen to a lot of music from various genres. It keeps How would you describe the Burgerkill sound from my sanity and spirit, and it helps me to feel alive. But 1995 until now? heavy metal is my main thing. 5 bands that changed Since 1995, at the very beginning of the band, we my life and influence my style of playing are Iron always felt that exploration of new ideas and having Maiden, Megadeth, Slayer, Napalm Death and Vision fun while doing it is the reason why we would play Of Disorder. music. We don't really over think what genre we will play (although it's obvious that it is always mentally So what's next for you guys after the tour is metal), but we're more interested in playing what we finished? like. It is also the reason why Burgerkill sounds We have plenty of things to do, but at the mean time different on each release. What we keep in mind is we are focusing our efforts to promote our fourth that our core music is our main identity, which is fast, album "Venomous" and our documentary movie "We brutal and combined with a dynamic groove. Will Bleed". Furthermore, making it to Europe for a possible tour in 2014 is also our priority. It'll be great Do you feel that digital technology and equipment to play several shows there, I hope we can meet up in has played apart or helped change and aspect of person.

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Where did the idea come from to put together the first Damnation festival? The Download Festival forums. I got fed up with the likes of Bowling For Soup and Disturbed being booked when I wanted to see Stampin' Ground, Sikth, Napalm Death etc, etc so a group of us said we'd do our own 'wee' show, and we did.

Napalm Death and Pig Destroyer because they are so wildly different. However, I won't duck the question and as Cult of Luna have yet to perform, I'll plump for Amenra.

How do you select the bands that you book? Mostly, we have a pretty good idea of the bands we want so we haggle with agents for months and if it When the festival first started off did you suspect can be done, it's done and if it can't we move on. that it would still be going as long as it has been? Sometimes a great tour lands on our lap as it's I have no idea, now that I think about it. passing through the UK and we grab it or in other The first year was such a rollercoaster ride from cases, agents who are smart enough to want their never having promoted a single show to selling out a band on a 2,200 capacity stage instead of a 500 cap 14-band event with the likes of Entombed and club show, organise their tours to accommodate Raging Speedhorn headlining I didn't have much Damnation. chance to think about future because the present was mental enough. During the past couple of years in particular we have seen a lot of very high profile festivals cancelled but Damnation seems to still be going strong. What has been the key to your longevity? Good line-ups, reasonably priced tickets and being honest with fans. Too many events think they can just bullshit their way to a sell-out but it doesn't work like that, especially with our crowd who want every last penny of their money to be worth it because, realistically, there's plenty more important things to spend your wages on than a metal binge. Over the years you have had a very varied approach with the types of bands playing at the festival with countless genres being represented. What has been your favourite band to appear at the festival? My favourite band to appear at Damnation? That's a tough one. It's hard to say whether I think This Will Destroy You, Maybeshewill or Jesu are better bands than Anaal Nathrakh,

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Nowadays a lot of festivals book bands well in advance of the actual event that they are due to play at. Does that cause you many problems with regards to landing the bands that you want? Other than our main stage headliner, we aren't really in any competition with any other UK festivals because no one else seems to appreciate the demand for bands like Pig Destroyer, Cult of Luna, Ulver, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Godflesh or even Electric Wizard... and long may that continue.

How close are you to releasing the final running times for the event? Once the bands are all in place, we'll get the times out. It's usually about a month before the festival that we release them, and then get slaughtered for having too many great bands clashing!

The last time Carcass played at the festival you ended up winning Terrorizer’s ‘Best UK Festival’ Award. Do you think that this year’s festival will repeat this feat? If money was no object what would your perfect I wouldn't think so. Bloodstock has grown quite a bit lineup be? since then and if a fraction of their 10,000+ fans give Three stages, without clashes in a land where time them a vote we can't really compete numbers wise. stood still: It's amazing to see our event nestled in amongst the Jager: Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Deftones, A Perfect massive outdoors festivals though. Circle, Refused, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge And Damnation will be the best UK Festival Terrorizer: Carcass, Napalm Death, Anaal Nathrakh, regardless. ;) Dragged Into Sunlight, Doom, Hang The Bastard, A Forest of Stars. Final question, do you have any messages that you Eyesore: Explosions in the Sky, Cult of Luna, This Will would like to pass on to the Damnation followers? Destory You, Jesu, Mono, Amenra, Maybeshewill There's not much more you can honestly say than 'thank you'. What do you enjoy most about organising the We put the line-up on for them and by festival? supporting it, they allow us to continue with what is Seeing it take place. Even after eight Damnations basically an out-of-control hobby and each and two Deathfests it still feels a little surreal when November, we all get together for a dance and a you actually see thousands of fans having a blast at pint. something you helped make happen. I do tend to get If they wanted Damnation to be a three-day a little carried away though and end up in the pits outdoors festival, that's what it would be and myself most years. likewise, if they gave up on us next year, the event would be wrapped up because the fans are the only You have recently announced that you will be way Damnation can exist. adding a fourth stage to this year’s event. Have you finished booking the bands to for this stage? No, at the minute we only have Moss and Mourning Beloveleth confirmed for that fourth stage, although we do have 1,001 submissions for the remaining slots.

This years Damnation festival is held at Leeds University Union, Lifton Place, Leeds, LS2 9JT on Saturday 2nd November. For more information check out: http://ww.damnationfestival.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/ damnationfestival?fref=ts

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Being a DJ of a radio show you are really a sitting duck to receiving tracks and albums from all kinds of bands from around the World looking to get some air play. Some great and some painful and some just downright extraordinary. On this Top 5 I will be publishing what 5 songs I've been mostly blasting on my show, my iPod and whilst I'm thinking of ways on conquering the World in my home.

Carcass - Captive Bolt Pistol

This is a bit of an obvious entry into my top 5 but hey, I may aswell be honest with my choices. Carcass are a band that I've been a fan of for years although their last release came out long before I was listening to music, in fact I was 9 years old when their last album was released. The first sneek peek of the new album is the track 'Captive Bolt Pistol' and this has truly confirmed that the Grindcore legends are back with a bang (all puns intended). The album Surgical Steel was been leaked online but I've been waiting 18 years to hear it so I think I can wait another few weeks to behold it as it was intended.

Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats - Mt.Abraxas

Ever since I was left spellbound by their appearance at this years Download Festival I've been listening to a lot of these guys. This is the opening track of the new album Mind Control and it's just sheer hypnotic, it would also be a great ballad to play to your guests should you ever host an occult seance. These Sabbath worshippers are actually supporting the almighty diety on the upcoming European tour after being hand picked by Mr Iommi himself so that tells you all you need to know about these deadbeats from Cambridge.

Chthonic - Defenders of Bu Tik Palace

As you can probably tell by now I like to have a little diversity in genres to bring my listening pleasure to a climax and my collection wouldn't seem right without some Metal made in Taiwan style. Certainly one of my albums of the year so far is Bu-Tik and this nice little lullaby is the stand out track for me. Masterfully and epically multi layered in both vocals and euphony this is one awe inspiring opus.

Lost Society - Kill (Those who oppose me)

You want to know something both scary and reassuring? This is a 4 piece Thrash band from Finland that have a combined age of under 80. What's even better is that they sound lke the've had people banging their heads against their stages for years. This knockout eruption taken from the bands debut album Fast, Loud, Death could be easily confused with an atom bomb exploding in your brain resulting in a ruptured membrane, which is exactly what you expect from Thrash Metal right?

Baleful Creed - Illuminati

Another preferent addition to my iPod has been this gem by the rustic riff meisters from Belfast, Baleful Creed. This can be found on their third EP entitled 'III' which along with their previous releases is available on bandcamp. Think Corrosion Of Conformity drenched in the most potent Whisky known to man and you'll get close to the racket of this. Currently preparing to launch a thirstily anticipated debut album, expect to hear a lot from these men in the near future.

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to check out Stoodgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s show

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Freddie Vidales

Interviewed by Stoodge Mc Nulty When ex members of Iced Earth (Matt Barlow, Freddie Vidales) and Nevermore (Van Williams) unite together to form a band you're expecting something replete of power and aflare of spirit. This is precisely what 'Ashes Of Ares' have done on their debut self titled album. The lifespan of the band thus far has been relatively primitive compared to their previous time spent with their respective bands but that doesn't mean anything as we've heard the album, it comes out September 9th on Nuclear Blast and It's awesome. The band's Bass and Guitar player Freddie Vidales speaks to Stoodge about how the project got started and how they intend of accending back up the Heavy Metal Ladder.

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Hey guys, just heard the album. I have to say that it's bloody awesome. What's the general feeling in the camp about the album? We’re very happy with it. It came out better than expected after listening to our demo versions for so long before the recording. Every step of the creation and recording process was fun and very laid-back. That’s the way to do it. What do you guys think of being described as a supergroup? We’re no Daryl Hall, Paul Simon, and Hootie. We’re more like Oates, Garfunkel and the Blowfish. How did the idea of forming a new band come about and it it take long for the band to get together? A couple of years ago, Matt and I had talked about possibly doing something together if the time came that we were both out of Iced Earth. When both of us eventually were out, we followed up on that idea and came up with a couple of songs. Matt had known Van for years from the Iced Earth/Nevermore tour days, and he sent Van our stuff which he liked. The three of us met up last summer and talked about our ideas and saw that we were all on the same page, and here we are now. The name 'Ashes of Ares' where did that come from? There are a few different meanings for us. When brainstorming names, Matt came up with that and we really liked it. The Greek god of war is very a powerful image, and there’s no mistake that the Greek fans are a rabid force to be reckoned with, so that connection was a plus. Ashes can symbolize something being burnt out or left in ruins. If you look at our pasts, you can probably make an inference. How about the writing of the album. Did you write the tracks together or are there tracks on the record which were wrote before the band got together? In the end, all the songs were written together. Any ideas each of us had would get sent to the others who would suggest changes and put their ideas in. Other than the main idea for “This is My Hell,” which was the first song that Matt and I came up with together at his house, none of the other songs were written together face to face. I wrote a couple of the songs years ago. I showed the guys some of the older recordings I had done, and we decided to use them.

How did the actual recording of the album go and how was the experience in the studio? It was done in different stages. Except for the acoustic parts, I recorded all guitars and bass at my place (minus the guest leads) as clean tracks with no distortion. Matt went down to Morrisound and did most of his vocals. Van and I went down later and did drums, acoustic guitars, and any extra group vocal parts. Then we took the clean tracks I recorded and re amped them in the studio, just ran those tracks through guitar and bass amps. Van and I also started the mixing process. Matt went back in after us and finished up his vocals and the mixing. Jim Morris was the brains of the operation, as usual. As touring goes, is there a feeling that you will be starting off again at the bottom of the food chain in a way. I mean by building your way up higher on festival bills etc..? Definitely, as it should be. We’re a new band, and we don’t expect any special treatment just because we had been in other known bands. What about the live show, should fans expect old Iced Earth, Nevermore and Pyramaze tracks in your setlists? No, we’ll only be playing our own stuff. If we do decide to throw a cover song in there, it won’t be a cover of a former band. Will you be bringing a extra couple of band members on the road with you guys only being a 3 piece? For live shows we will be joined by bassist Dean Sternberg and Guitarist Gio Geraca. Dean also plays guitar and has a great singing voice. He did a brief tour as vocalist for Into Eternity, sings in Van’s “Pure Sweet Hell” band, and he’ll really be able to add a huge backing vocal sound. Gio plays guitar for Malevolent Creation, and I’ve known him for a couple of years. If an offer was put on the table in the near future of a tour with either Iced Earth or Nevermore would it happen? I can’t speak for the other guys, but that is something I would not be interested in doing. If we happen to play the same festival or something like that, that’s not a problem.

After the release of the album what's on the horizon for 'Ashes of Ares'? Tell us about the lyrical content on the album, is it a Progpower USA, European tour with Powerwolf, Rock personal record? Harvest II in the USA are the shows we have set for the I’ll do the best I can to interpret Matt’s take on this. This is rest of 2013. We’ll be looking at doing some summer not a concept album, but there are certain themes that festivals next year and definitely work on getting out to carry throughout some of the song like heaven, hell, right, play as much as we can in the states and other parts of the wrong, etc. On Warrior’s Wings was written about a world. We’ve already written some material for a second fellow officer of Matt’s who was killed in the line of duty, album, and we’ll continue to work on that in our down so that is a very personal song. time.

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Speaks to Lee Walker The Eastern rock scene is often shrouded in secrecy but slowly thanks to bands such as Loudness and Chthonic , the mist is slowly lifting. We caught up with rising Japanese rockers LOKA to talk about the band history, the Eastern rock scene and their debut album â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;EnFLAMEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

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Looking through your bio it seems that Loka as a band is still coming together. How did the band start off and how has its current lineup come together? The band actually started off as Kihiro's solo project. However, after KEN'ICHI decided to join to play as LOKA, they shifted their vision to develop LOKA into a band. On the first year, official members were only the two, and they had several support members for live shows and recording such as Junchi(Chase Down, ex. AHSM), LEDA(ex. DELUHI, UNDIVIDE), SIGMA X81(ex. UZUMAKI) and Pablo(pay money to my pain). In 2013, the two meet Katsumi through a mutual friend band BACK-ON. Joining Katsumi into the band was like a chemical reaction, after one rehearsal we both knew we needed him on the team. SIN has joined recently, he was introduced to Kihiro from a mutual friend, guitarist Masahiko Yagi from FREEDOM BEATS ORCHESTRA, who is actually also the vocal engineer for all LOKA albums. LOKA finally became a full band August, 2013. So it can be said that we are still in the developing stage as a band. With the addition of the newer permanent band members has the bands sound changed much? The basic core sound has not changed. But the sound we are aiming towards may have shifted. Before, the sound production was Kihiro or KEN'ICHI bringing the ideas and having friends help develop the music. Now it's just the members creating the music. But we still work with our friends since third opinion always helps.

100cities), Taiwan, and China, his vision had always been aimed to the world. With the hope to tour the world again, and desire to become the World Class Band, the band was named LOKA.

In recent years quite a few Eastern bands have been become more widely spread across the Western music scene, such as Loudness, Chthonic etc but the Eastern scene is still pretty much shrouded in secrecy. What is the rock and metal scene like over there? The Rock and Metal scene is huge here. However, most bands focus on developing in their own country first. The scene in Japan is still in a developing stage, but more and more people are getting interested in this scene, and more Japan bands are aiming towards outside of Japan.

In terms of Loka, the band seems to have developed more an out and out Western type of sound, similar to the likes of Down and SOiL, and dispensed with any type of traditional Eastern influences. Was this intentional? Yes, intentional. We know our vocals sound Western with perfect English, which spreads our audience to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Lokaâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; seems quite an unusual name for a band. the world. So whether in the melody line or music, Why did you choose this name? Does it have any we always try to blend in some Eastern taste. While meaning? the overall sound is Western Hard Rock, we want to LOKA means "The World" in San Script language. express somewhere in our music that we are Since Kihiro has tour experience in the US(40 stages, Japanese.

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What has been the biggest obstacle that the band has come across and how did you overcome it? To be honest, we think that is something "more to come". It was an obstacle when Kihiro and KEN'ICH were the only official members of the band, other the music production, the two had to do everything from booking, promotion, etc. But now that LOKA is a 4 piece band, we know we will have different obstacles waiting on our way.

It would be our newest single "FROM YESTERDAY". This is the first song we created with the band only, and we think this song is like the first page of the New LOKA story. So if you are interested, be the one to start reading from the first! What would you say your greatest achievement has been so far as a band? We think one of the greatest achievement is that LOKA was able to be a part of a foreign music festival on their second year (FORMOZ FESTIVAL '13 in Taiwan). Not many bands are able to do that, and it tells us that LOKA is already being watched not only in Japan. What do you have planned for the rest of the year? We have an extended Japan tour and Indonesia/EU tour coming up! Like we said above, this is another great achievement and a challenge for the band. The band is spreading across the world and we are happy to go anywhere for a show. So for this year, it will mostly be touring, meeting new people and feeling new audiences from the stage. We think it's something the band needs to grow bigger.

You recently released your first album ‘EnFlame’. Have you been happy with the way the album was received? Yes. We were able to create an album of what we aimed for, "Sexy, Bad, and Heavy". We also are receiving many good feedbacks from EU and US, which helps us to understand that our music can be accepted to a wide range of audience.

Are there any messages that you would like to pass on to your fans? We want to tour UK!! We want to show something on our stage no other Japanese band has done before, Japanese style western rock, but with performance that can connect with the audience. And we also desperately want to watch PREMIERE SOCCER LEAGUE!!

How do you think this album compares to your earlier releases? Since "EnFLAME" is our first album, the goal was to create like an extended album of our debut release EP "01-zero one-". Which we think we accomplished (we have more erotic lyric songs! lol). So the album coming up NEXT is where we feel the band needs to evolve. Musically as well as style also. If you had to pick one song to introduce ‘Loka‘ to someone who has never heard of you before what would it be?

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Tim King Of

Interviewed by Lee Walker As the new album â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Wholeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is about to be unleashed, Lee caught up with Bassist and founding member, Tim King to discuss the new album, the return of frontman Ryan, they Firebrand Afterface Dark 01with this new album... 30 and the pressures that

The band has been around since the late 90’s. At the time the band formed you were involved with other bands. What prompted you to form SOiL? We were mostly in death metal bands. We were growing tired of the 'how heavy can you be" and "how fast can you play and true you are" stuff so we decided to get back to our rock roots and form a band based on fun and metal.

No not at all. It just sort of happened. You are about to release your new album ‘Whole’ shortly. How did the album itself come together? We started writing songs and putting them together and before you knew it we had a full album ready to record.

With this being the first studio album since Ryan You often see the bands name typed as SOiL. Was returned to the band do you feel under much there any specific reason behind using the pressure for it to be successful? formatting? Possibly. But at the same time the industry has Just something we did changed so much. It's long ago to try hard to say what something exactly "success" is different. Adam came anymore. So we will up with that actually. just do what we do and see what happens. Over the years the lineup for the band has How do you think gone through several ‘Whole’ compares to changes before your earlier releases? arriving at its current The consensus so far one. Do you think that has been that it is the this has influenced the follow up to bands development "Scars"....it fits much? perfectly in with that Me and Adam have release. been the ones to be through every Do you have any change. SO we favourite tracks on definitely learned a lot the album? and developed SOiL Way Gone is my fav into survival machine. track on the album. It's one of those tracks What prompted Ryan that just took on a life to return to the band? of its own. Me Adam and Ryan all talked and decided we Have you received wanted to put the past much feedback on behind us and start the album? playing music again Yes. It's been amazing together. It just kinda so far! fell into place after that. What do you have planned for the rest of the Has Ryan’s return made much of a difference with year? the bands direction? Touring USA and doing many festival dates. Then off It actually has made us go back to our roots for to UK and Europe. sure. explore the main focus of why we formed the band and what type of direction we wanted. Are there any messages that you would like to pass on to your fans? ‘Halo’ seemed to spring the band into the spotlight Thank you. Thank you. Thank you...... virtually overnight. Did you expect the song to be as popular as it was?

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Metal vids to sink your teeth into There have been soo many great videos popup during the last month but after much debate here are the top 5 music videos currently doing the rounds in the After Dark dungeon. If you have any thoughts about these, feel free to get in touch at afterdark@fbrr2010.com

1 2 3 4 5

Neckrogoblin No one Survives DevilDriver The Appetite Newsted Above All The Commander In Chief Evolution

Avenged Sevenfold Hail To The King Firebrand After Dark 01

Stephen Of

Speaks to Stoodge Northern Irelands Gacys Threads have be making quite a name for themselves around the Emerald Isle and across the water down to tireless effort, work and touring. Supporting the likes of Fear Factory and Cancer Bats they have already got their foot in the door of what's going to be a blistering crusade of a career. Stephen from the group had a chat with Stoodge about the history of the band, Irish Metal in general and Pogo The Clown.

Photo Above Credit Diarmuid Kennedy

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So guys what the Hell is up? All is well man, just practicing our asses off for a fair few gigs in August, and then for the release of our split 7" in September. Toying with the idea of recording again straight away as we just love to have new shit out… Maybe a split tape.. who knows.

teens, myself and Vance played with, and then in his later band (Hand of Death) often toured with early Gacy's. Blane was a bit of an outsider, having grown up on the other side of the country, but in 2007 he moved to Belfast and he briefly joined my previous band, and the both of us knew we wanted to form a new band, a more aggressive band with more passion and something we would actually give a fuck For anyone that hasn't heard you dudes yet, how about. Blane had met Vance at a Converge gig in would you explicate the bands sound? Dublin prior to this, so when I dropped his name for The idea of Gacy's is to create a visceral aggressive vocals he was the perfect guy in our eyes. Fast sound yet carry through some melody in the music. forward approx 5 years later, and all roads lead to It's a crossover of our interests in Hardcore/Crust Rome. with our roots in Metal. It all comes from our belief in Personally I couldn't be any more happy with the band, we push ourselves as hard as we can when the lads I get to work with, tour with, share my playing and writing the material. "That sounds passion with… and of course blow all our hard alright"… isn't something we feel comfortable earned cash with… just to put a smile on our faces… settling on… we have to really believe in what we and hopefully a few others in the crowd. play otherwise what's the point. You guys are about to play at both the Sunflower The name 'Gacys Threads' where does that come Festival in Belfast and The Unleashed Festival in from? Fibbers in Dublin, how's the preparations coming Awh Jesus… myself and Blane (guitarist) came up along for those shows? with it in 2007. The general idea was based on John Really it's no different then preparing for any other Wayne Gacy, (known as the Killer Clown, who was gig, just locking down a solid set, and making sure convicted of the sexual assault and murder of the gear is up to speed. Playing Festivals is always teenage boys and young men in Chicago in the 70s) great as the majority of the time you get the chance and the threads part was derived from the rope he to play to fresh ears… people who may not have ever used to strangle some of his victims (he referred to heard of the band… and that's a challenge we love. this as his 'Rope Trick'), we thought each 'thread' in It's all fine and dandy playing shows for your mates, that rope could tell a story or represent each and getting crocodile smiles in the infancy of being person's life, their existence and of course their in a band, but we left that behind years ago, people awful demise at his hands. Fucked I know… so the grow tired of the same bands over and over again… easier answer… 'threads' meaning clothing… Gacy's we don't expect a line of our mates front row Clothing… the clown suit he wore as a children's wearing Gacys shirts, as down the line you realise its entertainer (Pogo the Clown)… yup… that'll do, and the new faces you have to crack and it's about we don't sound too morbid, well in comparison! increasing the fan base and delivering a performance to catch people's attention and keeping them The bands current line up, what's the background interested in the band years from now. with the group? The current lineup is the strongest it's ever been, and You did a recent tour with the Cancer Bats, how we have worked towards this formula for years, 3 did this come about and how was it? original members and Jonny our bassist having Well way back in 2008 (our 5th ever gig) we had the joined early 2013. We all come from various walks of pleasure of supporting them in Belfast, and we just life and locations in the North of Ireland, but are hit it off, they seemed genuinely interested in music, based in Belfast. Basically, we'd all been in bands for and as mentioned not just the usual 'Great gig man' years before Gacy's was even thought about. We courtesy comment. They were the nicest dudes, and pretty much all crossed paths and were friends fast forward years later, a couple of thank you's in before the forming of the band. Vance (vocals) was their album sleeves to Gacy's and I get an email in 'Choke' from a young age, and my previous band asking would we care to do all the Irish dates… "hell (November Dead List) played a lot with those guys, fucking yeah we do!" And that was it, we hit the road and then Jonny was in a few bands which in our with our good friend Paul (By Any Means) and

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played 3 of the most fun shows in our career. Hanging out with those lads, and the boys in ZOAX was great. We used these dates to capture footage for our upcoming video, and with the final date being our home town Belfast, we couldn't have asked for more… the crowd were brilliant, and as always we are greatly humbled by it. For me that Belfast show kicked the dick off any show I've played in the last few years. You are releasing a 7 Inch Split Vinyl with Swiss band Colossus Fall in September, how did this merging come about and who's idea was it? With me running the label (Savour Your Scene Records) I always have my eye on projects and avenues that can grow or aid Gacy's. And I had just released a split for Swiss band COILGUNS' (featuring members of the Ocean Collective), then one of their fans happened to add the label page on Facebook. I noticed his profile pic was him playing a guitar… I got chatting to 'em (Dave Moro) and turned out he played in a band and had supported COILGUNS previously, so after a month of chatting I dropped the idea to do a split, seeing that both bands were hard working and of a similar nature but different enough in sound to make this worth while. Following the agreement to record etc, I went on the hunt for labels to help put it out. Again a few months later I had secured 3 labels, Incredible Noise Records (Germany), Left Hand Records (France) and Black Lake Records (Scotland), the soundest bunch of lads ever. And with out labels like that, taking the risks to help lesser know bands, we'd be fucked. All in all we couldn't be happier, and vinyl was always a goal of this band, and even to have the test presses we are over the moon.

You my man are also are the owner of Savour Your Scene records, can you give us some background on the label? I'll try and make this a quick one. Basically being a fan of the underground music scene for years, I kept noticing small bands getting records pressed and released through independent labels all over the world, and I couldn't get my foot in the door. Being maybe from a more metallic background at that point in my life it was tough. I always had a DIY ethic and probably something to do with my OCD, I thought fuck this.. I'll do it myself. And of course not to be a prick and only release Gacy's material I took it upon myself to help other bands that I had a genuine belief in. I got myself a decent roster to start with, and started trading and getting the name out. I have since moved more towards Vinyl and Tape only releases/ distribution as this is a sign of the times… in metal/hardcore/noise… I believe CDs are truly dead. That's about the height of it, one guy, fuck all money, trying his hardest to get good bands exported out of Ireland, and trying to bring releases into Ireland. You's have released a string of EP's since your formation in 2007, is there any plans on a full length album sometime soon? Of course, this is something we've been hoping for for years. Only now do I truly believe we have the sound we have strived towards for years, so baring that in mind only now would I feel comfortable laying down an album. Currently Jonny (Bassist) is opening a fully fledged recording studio this year (Bearcat Studios Belfast) so this is were we will be laying the album down finally. We constantly write, and must have at least between 15-16 tunes ready to go, and a another handful in the works…

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it's just that we don't sit on songs very long. Also with the split coming out soon this will help us get the name around more labels/distros etc, and therefore be able to pitch the album further a field and get more financial support as this has always been the bane of Gacy's, we are fucking skint.. but who in a band, in this choice of genre isn't? We won't be selling out any stadiums soon, and we never intended to ha ha.

Any Irish bands that you think will make it across the water in the future? All of them. Why not like. If 4 dickheads from Belfast with 50p in their pocket can get across the water, anyone can. Not saying it's easy, fuck no… I couldn't get a full UK tour booked the last time, so I thought fuck this we're going to Europe. And the only feasible way was to buddy up with our mates in By Any Means, boom 11 date tour was sorted. And it was one of the greatest experiences of my What's your opinion on the current condition of life and I'll never forget it. So many bands from Metal in Ireland? here like Axis of, Ilenkus, Empty Lungs, Pigs As Strong I'd say. Maybe not just metal though… I People, Red Enemy, Murdock and Five Will Die, don't follow that particular genre on it's own… I have tackled UK festivals, UK tours, European tours would rather say the 'heavy' scene maybe. As I love and more… shit loads more than Gacy's has, and my hardcore, metal, crust, sludge and noise. fair fucks to them. It's breaking the illusion that if There's always been a strong backbone of Death you're in Ireland you're fucked…get off your ass and and Black metal in Ireland, and an abundance of get out there, these guys are giving up their great bands playing that like Zombified, Overoth, holidays from the daily grind, some quitting their and Rex Shachath. Hardcore seems to be on the jobs to tour, loosing money, sleeping on floors, up. When Gacy's first started there was very little eating shite for weeks… and all because they love hardcore bands in the North, next to none, bar what they do. I highly doubt any of those lads I Hand of Death, and The Lobotomies (more mention are doing these tours across the water off hardcore Punk). But in the last few years it is really their own backs to be rock stars or the next big growing, it seems to be with the younger crowd thing. It's their love of it and we have nothing but getting into it which is great, and down the line can the up most respect for anyone doing it, and that only mean great things. The South has always had comes from all the lads in Gacy's. And long may it their solid acts like Frustration, 20 Bulls Each and continue, this wee country is pulling out some sadly disbanded acts like Only Fumes and Corpse great bands and it would be a shame to limit them and Famine flying the hardcore flag, and then only to our shores. bands like Warpath, Coldwar pushing the metal side of things.

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Stoodge speaks to...

If there was ever a band that sound like their name suggests it's Zombie Death Stench. Hailing from the Central Valley in California these men show that's it's not all sunshine in the Golden State but more like blood, brains, guts and whatever else a Zombie Horde could possibly rip off and consume from a human anatomy. Having recently released their third album, the tremendous and antic 'The Coming Bloodbath' these men are sure to be spreading their virus further afield in the near future. Armed with a blind drummer (Mark) this is a band that young metal bands should aspire too as they do affirm that with effort and hard work you can do anything you want in any environment.

As the band were momentarily leaving down the freshly dead cadavers and substituting them with a few cold beers, Stoodge caught up with the guys for a conversation with involved Flying Spaghetti Monsters, and Zomb-Aids. Firebrand AfterVirgin Dark Sacrifices 01

Right first off, who's got the biggest Cock in the band? Sean: Well me of course haha, We have a single 13 incher that we trade off.

Jason: A lot of the pressure was off of me to have to come up with everything. Once everybody knew where the band was going they could add their own flavour to the formula.

Is that combined? Sean: Kind of. it's like Voltron, We're colour coordinated.

You could call it a divine amalgamation of sorts then? Sean: I would actually call it infernal. And it is quite the amalgamation. Nice, So tell us about the early days of the band Yeah that's true. Divine gives the impression that the and how did the pandemic of Zombie Death flying spaghetti monster had an influence on you Stench begin? guys haha. Jason: It originally started as a studio project by me a Matt: We know a lot of flying spaghetti monsters. few friends from a few other bands I was in. Sean: I joined a bit after Jason had a few rough cut Who's idea was it for such an awesome title for the songs from the first album "Here I Die...Zombified." I band? was in another bad with him back in 2002 and he Jason: It started off as a mockery as a Simpsons brought me on board for ZDS reference where Homer had a barber shop quartet Matt: Through a few mutual friends and a blessed called the "B Sharps." It's funny cause there is no B twist of fate we all got back together from our other sharp. The idea that it's a name that's humorous projects and it we're the now the beast before you! when you hear it but gets less humorous when you hear it again and again. Then we came up with So the ungoverned beast that is Zombie Death Zombie Death Stench, googled it and no one else put Stench started off as a kind of local supergroup? those three words together. Jason: Yeah, sort of. Sean: Everything Jason said... Sean: I was in a band with Jason that was pretty Matt: Ditto popular in the area but other members kept us from Mark: Yup... moving forward. Matt: I was in a band with Sean, after an ep and a ton Excellent, that's a hard thing to type 3 words into of shows we called it quits and I moved out of state. Google and not have one result back. Upon returning to California a couple years later I Sean: Yeah it was a better choice than Battleaxe joined ZDS when the position of bass player opened. Fuck Rape. Mark: I was in pretty much in every type of genre of music out there. Zombie was something different I ain't ever typing that into Google, the NSA are and a bit of a challenge for me. I like challenging everywhere. Sean I'll assume that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re the Cheif myself when it comes to music. of the bands imagery and merchandise being a comic book illustrator? Well that's the first part of the future movie sorted Sean: Yes I am and it was a pretty unanimous then dudes. How were the early days of the band, I decision. I actually get ideas from the guys and mean in terms of playing together again and sketch stuff all the time until we find a design we getting sound you wanted to execute? don't yell at each other over. Mark: The guys developed their sound to my playing style. I wanted to bring a different style of drumming What about the bands live shows, is there much in into the death metal genre. the way of props, pageantry and virgin sacrifice Sean: Matt, Jason and Mark have very different that go on at a ZDS show? influences and backgrounds but we meshed very well Sean: Well virgin sacrifices are a must. Hard to find together. An unwritten rule in this band is that while virgins around these parts though. But yeah, the we work well together, we allow each person to play whole point of ZDS is to have a great theatrical live their instrument how they want. experience. We utilize a occult-ish militaristic uniMatt: For me the best lesson I learned from Zombie forms on stage complete with blood, body parts and was the idea that less is more sometimes. It's music, T&A where available. a sonic experience. ZDS taught me to play music for Matt: Every show is a ceremony of sex, death and the listener as opposed to the musician playing it. good old fashioned American fun.

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Sounds sweet, any plans of bringing the spectacle over to Europe in the future? Sean: We do what we can to dress up our stage to look as close to a scene from a zombie apocalypse as possible. Matt: Being we're such fans of many European bands, we would love to take the carnage overseas. Sean: Right now we're running full speed in the states. We're taking challenges as they come. Jason: Of course. Fuck yeah we want to come to Europe. We're doing everything we can to make that happen.

Mark: One of my favorite drummers is Jason Rullo from Symphony X. Another drummer I'm really into is Asgeir Mickelson from Spiral Architect. Sean: I'm gonna sound typical. Like most metal guitarists I like Tony Iommi a lot. My personal favorite would have to be J from White Zombie. Nergal from Behemoth as well since I play and sing too. Matt: I have to give credit to Steve Harris for showing me the role a bassist can play in a metal band. For vocals, black metal in general and David Vincent from Morbid Angel. Jason: Trey Azagthoth from Morbid Angel. Yngwie Nice, in terms of what you guys listen to is it most- Malmsteen, Jeff Hanneman and Angus Young. If you ly US or European bands? listen to how I solo you can tell who I'm into. Sean: I'm really into European metal. I'm into the Polish death metal scene and I've always loved Right guys so to anyone that hasn't heard you Norwegian black metal. I like my fair share of dudes yet, explain your sound. American metal too. Jason: Old school death metal groove mixed with Matt: Both shores have yielded legendary acts at straight up classic heavy metal. different times. From Florida to Sweden, Norway to Sean: We're like a zombie apocalypse if that the California Bay Area, the glory of metal has apocalypse was fought with guitars, drums, and lots certainly been a joint venture. yelling. Mark: I listen to a diverse variety music, from all Matt: Like any great horror movie, it's horrifying yet corners of the earth. invigorating, saturated with filthy mystery but with a Jason: For me it's fifty fifty. I like bands from good dose of humor and fun. everywhere. Mark: We're hard but groovy and we have a good balance between the two. We're very old school but Is there any musicians you'd refer to as an idol? not retro.

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Yeah, I got to say I love your latest offering 'The Coming Bloodbath' how was the writing and recording of this gorefest masterpiece? Matt: Having a blind drummer with such a broad musical taste and ability, we knew we could come up with something different. As opposed to trying to push the bar, we decided to broaden it instead while still staying true to everything we love about metal. Sean: We all learned how to really work off of each other by the time we started writing material for "Bloodbath." We kept writing duties even between the four of us. We each focused doing our part to make ZDS bigger than ourselves. Writing came down to constructive criticism and productive arguments. As for recording, I actually took care of that in our own playpen ZombieFog Studios. Jason: I was really just concerned with making my solos top notch for this album. I ended up writing some killer riffs for this album. Mark: Writing and recording is actually my favourite part of the process of being in ZDS. I enjoy bringing an unorthodox approach to extreme metal drumming.

Mark: We have a formula and we're trying to stay true to it. Jason: I'm always pushing for aspects of the band to evolve and explore different things while keeping the soul of it the same. Your relationship with Turkey Vulture records, how has it been? Sean: It's been great. I couldn't ask for a better label to be on. They're very passionate about their bands and the rock and metal genre in general. Ever since we signed with them they've done nothing but support us and get our name out there. Matt: They've always been adamant about our creative freedom because they have faith in what we do. We've built a good relationship with them and I couldn't ask for more. Mark: I'm very thankful that they gave us the opportunity to sign with them. Jason: They've treated us really good so far. They're a very efficient and hard working label.

Final question dudes, you guys roll up at a venue to find that the audience How's it different waiting outside are from your previous all blood thirsty album? zombies. Your bus Matt: We had a full driver receives a bite line up this time for through his open the entirety of the window which only creative process. Mark actually halfway through on leaves you four as the remaining non infected, how the last album. We also had more time on stage in does the rest of the story play out? It can only end between both albums to see what people wanted with one member surviving who then in turn has to from us. We honed our act and knew what we could find a way to repopulate the entire planet. do and what we were and how to bring it to the The first thing that would happen is Sean and Matt masses. noticing all the undead zombie girls biting each Sean: 'The Redeadening' album wasn't as focused as other. We wouldn't outright know they were infected The Coming Bloodbath. I had a much easier time and, on our way over to them, we'd get attacked writing for this one. whilst enjoying their awesome zombie boobage and teeth ripping into our flesh. We would die happy. So is there a kind of evolution playing itself out Mark would be wandering around wondering where with the bands sound? we are and he'd end up tripping over bodies and Sean: I'd say we're trying to evolve our sound while think we're just drunk. He'd probably end up plowing at the same time not straying from what makes one of the zombie babes and dying months later of zombie sound the way it does. We're trying new zomb-AIDS. It would turn out that Jason caused the things but keeping the feel of the music consistent. mass infection with his rip roid solos from Hell. He Matt: Yes, and like all evolutions, only the strong sur- would then take his rightful place as lord of the dead. vive. What works procreates, what doesn't perishes. There's aliens too, don't know why. There just are.

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By Chris Nelson This month Chris caught up with Germanys Thrash Metallers Dew Scented and got Leif Jensen to answer those all important 18 questions WHATS THE BEST BAND YOU’VE EVER SEEN LIVE? Wow, tough one as I am lucky enough to have seen A LOT of concerts. The last great set I saw was by Death Angel doing a special anniversary gig on their “The Ultra-Violence” debut album some weeks ago. That was killer! In general, some of the most memorable gigs ever were by Tori Amos. She is extremely intense at live-shows!

already, so it would definitely have to be without meat/fish for me, which makes me avoid a good part of what other people normally recommend…

WHO’S YOUR FAVOURITE SUPER HERO? My girlfriend was telling me the other day that Spiderman was hers. I never really had a preference. I guess I thought Batman was enigmatic and dark in a way, but I wasn’t anything you could call “a fan”. ARE YOU AFRAID OF ANYTHING AND WHATS YOUR FEAR? Oh yeah, several things but not sure I wanna talk about it in great detail Does Scooby-Doo count as superhero? No?!!!! Then Inspector Gadget counts maybe? If so, my money is on him! here, haha! I am a bit worried with traffic, especially when things get fast and busy. I also don’t love heights or (open) water too much. I guess that gives you a good idea… WHAT WOULD YOU SAY YOUR CAREER HIGHS AND LOWS HAVE BEEN? IF YOU COULD HOST A DINNER PARTY AND INVITE ANY TWO PEOPLE Highs would definitely include the fact that we have been around for a while and seen a good part of the world with the band, while we made 9 FROM HISTORY ALIVE OR DEAD WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE? albums, countless tours and a large amount of friends in these past 2 Interesting...Jesus Christ and Elvis Presley sounds like a good team! I decades. It’s great to see that things remain challenging and interesting would fry them some spicy soy with potatoes and would simply for us over and over, even after such a long time of doing what we do. listen to what they have to say. I am sure it would be quite Lows? The drama and the many changes of line-up…and the setbacks entertaining… that has triggered. But I guess that’s like with everything in life: What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger! It’s all important experiences WHATS YOUR FAVOURITE HORROR MOVIE? I actually don’t like horror movies. Doesn’t sound very metal, but I find that hopefully make you learn something about others and yourself in the process… them hard to digest, just in contrary to my girlfriend’s taste. I prefer action or comedy stuff. But yeah, staying with the question…of the more recent ones I saw I found “The Ring” pretty intense. Outside of horror, DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS OR UFO’S AND HAVE YOU HAD ANY my favorite movie by the way would be “Reflecting Skin” and as far as EXPERIENCES YOU CAN SHARE WITH US series, I am really enjoying “The Big Bang Theory” right now. No and no. I am a boring but pretty realistic guy. I believe in what I see and therefor I am not one bit religious either. Parts of me would probably enjoy the fact that something like extraterrestrial life PLAYSTATION, X BOX OR Wii, AND HAVE YOU A exists, just to keep things exciting for everyone. But there is a ton of FAVOURITE GAME? Hahaha. None of this! I don’t spend any time with computer games at all people who are forgetting to enjoy and live their lives to a full extent because of something that isn’t even proven to be out there. That makes and don’t own any consoles. I remember I used to like playing me a bit worried…and pretty sad to pinball type of games on the PC or also some of those “bubble-shooters” but my attention never went beyond that. Most of my friends love Playstation or similar consoles but it simply wasn’t anything YOUR CHILLING AT HOME AND PUT ON AN ALBUM BY AN ARTIST I could care for. Even when my roommate had all relevant games here, I SOMEONE WOULD NOT ASSOCIATE YOU WITH, WHAT WOULD BE never really touched them, even though guitar hero looked like fun. I YOUR GUILTY PLEASURE ? always thought such games demand too much of my time and energy One of the first two Britney Spears albums? But I have no problem that I can better invest elsewhere… admitting that and even mentioned that on my member-profile of the band website many years ago already. I even went to see her playing WHATS YOUR FAVOURITE TYPE OF FOOD/DISH? live when in town a while back – that was a great show! I also recently Oh several! I really like mexican or/and indian food. Good spice and full picked up the debut album by Lana Del Rey and think it is fantastic! Good taste is what it comes down to. But I am vegetarian for about 20 years music doesn’t only come in the metal style, even though that’s what

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I am obviously mainly into. WHATS THE MOST UNUSUAL PLACE YOU’VE EVER HAD SEX? I would never have sex in unusual places. That’s not for me FAVOURITE COMEDY TV SHOW OF ALL TIME? Ah, here we go….I was already name-dropping “The Big Bang Theory” earlier on. I really like “Family Guy” and “Californication” right now. I also really enjoyed a series called “Coupling” and also “Two And A Half man” makes me laugh. So yeah, that type of stuff… ICLUDING YOURSELF IN AN ALL STAR BAND, DEAD OR ALIVE, PICK THE OTHER MEMBERS YOU WOULD LIKE TO PLAY ALONGSIDE? An extreme Metal supergroup would probably be something like Death around “Human” or “Individual Thought Patterns” with all the different players that were involved?! If I have a free pick, I would probably go for Gene Hoglan on drums, Gus G. on lead guitar, Tommy Victor on rhythm guitar, Phil Lynott on bass and then I would go with Ronnie James Dio on vocals. Wow, what a band… WHATS YOUR FAVOURITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK? In general, I will stick to wheat beer! On the heavier side of things, I would probably go with Gin Tonic… WHATS YOUR FUNNIEST TOUR BUS STORY? Impossible to answer, really. Touring is full of funny stories but most of them are only really funny right there and don’t really work otherwise and later on. Without mentioning any names and only when looking back in time I found it funny that one musician I was once touring with had the impression he needed to flirt with a (quite older) lady that worked at a gas station while we were having a break to pick up gas. Despite several warnings, the said person (which will best remain

unnamed) was left behind when the bus continued the drive. We were all furious back then, but looking back it was probably so silly that it was funny… WHAT WAS THE FIRST GIG YOU EVER WENT TO? Uuurgh, this is a long time back, so I don’t properly recall. It was probably a local band gig in the city I grew up with in Colombia, South America. I went straight from there to underground shows when we relocated to Germany. I never had the huge event of seeing a band like Metallica or Guns ‘N Roses as first shows, like most of the people I know seem to have. WHAT SPORT DO ENJOY PLAYING OR WATCHING THE MOST? Soccer, no doubts! It was a fun year between the German Bundesliga season, the Champions League and the European Championship…a pretty memorable season! I am hoping the best for the next year and especially for my team Werder Bremen! WHAT ARE YOU UP TO AT THE MOMENT AND WHATS YOUR PLANS FOR THE NEXT 6 MONTHS? Right now I am doing some press for the band and looking forward to the upcoming debut shows of the new line-up with the “Icarus” release date in some weeks. Also, it is summer festival season right now, so obviously there are a lot of events to attend at the moment. In the next months I look forward to some good holidays as well and more/ next challenges in life! Thanks for the interview! Check out: www.dew-scented.net and www.facebook.com/dewscented - Look out for “Icarus”! Thrash till death!

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Once again you guys have managed to surprise us with some of the releases we have had sent in for review with a very varied mix of genres covered with everything from EBM and rockabilly though to death and hardcore. The email address to send submissions to is afterdak@fbrr2010.com.

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Zombie Death Stench The Coming Bloodbath Label: TVR/Bungalo/ Universal Records Released: 26 March 2013 Reviewer: Stoodge Mc Nulty Highlight: Obliteration Imminent Website: https://www.facebook.com/ZombieDeathStench

Opening with an intense building instrumental prelude it doesn't take long until the dark demon that's raging beneath becomes relinquished. What starts as being so peculiarly vivid remains so throughout and this album soon ejaculates into what can well be described as 'Snuff' Metal. This release is stifling and boisterous and it's unique haphazardness aids the fact that this actually sounds like a 'Coming Bloodbath'.

California. Yes there is the cliched horror movie interludes but the brutal punishment that the music on here serves certainly overshadows and dominates. Tracks such as 'Darkstar Creation' '10,000 Mutants' and 'Chemical 13' keep the onslaught of this record rasping and penetrating.

On the topic of Sci Fi, I very much doubt there will ever be an invasion from the skies to fear as You could say that combining a horror theme it seems the Aliens have already sent their with Metal is a massively overused maneuver for messengers here under the guise of a Death Metal bands to exercise but there is a vast Metal band from California known as 'Zombie element of originality with these men from Death Stench'.

Stone Magnum From Time...To Eternity Label: R.I.P Records Reviewer: Stoodge Mc Nulty Website: www.stonemagnum.com

With the cover art depicting a grim and solitary gallows pole this album sounds just as it appears. Stone Magnum can only be described as a harbinger of monolithic riffagery and savage disphoric lyrics.

Released: 28 June 2013 Highlight: In Tongues They Whisper

create songs that will both spellbind and tranquilize their audience. Tracks 'The Gallows of Ohrdruf' and the albums swansong 'In The Garden of Beasts' best showcase the bands diversity in playing style and the effusive delivery of vocalist Nick Hernandez.

Having only been conceived in 2010 this is the If you don't already bow to the alter of the genre third release and second full length album from this album may very well help you become Stone Magnum and this accumulation of tracks should put the group from Michigan City, Indiana ordained into the 'Church Of Doom'. on the pedestal of Doom Metal in the United States and rightfully so. Starting off with the slow grinding title track it is apparent that these guys sure know how to

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Skinny Puppy Weapon Label: Metropolis Records Reviewer: Lee Walker

Released: 28 May 2013 Highlight: illisiT

Website: http://www.skinnypuppy.com/

Skinny Puppy is a name that I have not heard of in a long time. For the uninitiated Skinny Puppy’s history goes way back to 1982 where they were one of the unsung pioneer’s of the ebm/early industrial scene, influencing the likes of NIN and Ministry with their mix of futuristic synth based electronic sounds. With the dark duo of cEvin Key and Ogre still steering the good ship Skinny Puppy and decreeing that they wanted to get back to basics this album makes you realise just how far ahead of the pack Skinny Puppy actually was when they first started off all those years ago.

‘Skinny Puppy’s’ distinct sound still refusing to be pigeonholed into any one category, with it containing elements of pure ebm, hints of industrial infused dark wave, and everything in between, combined with the straight forward, direct lyrics that the band are known for, all merging together continuing to convey their stark and sometimes sublime abstract messages to the masses. Overall ‘Weapon ‘ proves that Skinny Puppy is still alive and kicking with their sound still sounding as fresh and relevant now as it did all those years ago.

The album itself is an interesting affair with

Front Line Assembly Echogenetic Label: Metropolis Records Released: 9 July 2013 Reviewer: Lee Walker Highlight: Deadend Website: https://www.facebook.com/frontlineassembly

Continuing through the alternative releases which have popped up for review this month we have ‘Echogenetic’ by Front Line Assembly.

benefit of bringing the lyrical content of the songs more into the spotlight while creating a dark wave/dance feel to them as the beats merge seamlessly with the sound samples creating an Having more of a pure electronic sound than album to loose yourself in to as the music previous releases Front Line Assembly returns to envelops you. utilising a full on ebm sound totally devoid of guitars, which is a decision which seems to have Overall ‘Echogenetic’ shows clear, focussed caused some split between the various members development on the part of Bill Leeb and I for of the FLA fans but all seem to agree upon one one will be interested in seeing how FLA further point ‘Echogenetic’ is the best album that FLA develop and where he takes it to next. have produced in quite some time. The album itself is well thought out and has somewhat of a futuristic feel to it thanks to the electronic nature of it, which also has the added

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Dick Venom & The Terrortones Invasion Of The SpiderQueen Label: Jailhouse Morgue Records Reviewer: Lee Walker Website: http://www.dickvenom.com/

Having heard Dick Venom & The Terrortones name mentioned quite a few times when I was offered the chance to review their latest release I jumped at the chance. The ‘Invasion Of The Spider Queen’ single is available as either a two track download via the likes of iTunes, Amazon, Spotify etc or as a three track 7”/cd which comes complete with an short comic which has to be seen to be believed.

Released: 9 September 2013 Highlight: Invasion Of The SpiderQueen

Terrortones use a lot of the free thinking 60s influences in their style of rockabilly/psychobilly music creating an array of irresistibly catchy tunes similar to a more upbeat and funkier Alice Cooper, with the groove laden music being augmented by Dick Venoms punk infused evil Elvis type vocals merging to create a sound which is arguably one of the most refreshing out there right now.

While listening to the single you can help but To say that I was surprised when the three track have a wry smile on your face with its cheesy, cd single popped up through the post would be an tongue in cheek lyrics and find yourself tapping understatement with my only regret not seeing the your feet in tune with the strangely hypnotic tunes postman’s reaction when he went to deliver it. with my only complaint about it being that we As you may have guessed from the retro 60s need more songs. Hurry up and release an style horror artwork Dick Venom & The album Mr Venom!

Origin Konrad Forgotten Souls (EP) Label: Self Release Released: 19 July 2013 Reviewer: Stoodge Mc Nulty Highlight: Starblind Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Origin-Konrad/477438722309412

Fans of Doom legends Pagan Alter should already be aware of this band as it's the brainchild of ex Guitarist Vince Hempstead who recorded both guitars and bass on this EP. Other members are drummer Darin Mc Closkey who's in US bands Pale Divine and Beezlefuzz and there's Muzzy Madhorse Tahir on vocals. You can actually keep an eye out for Muzzy in the new Zombie movie 'Welcome to Essex' he plays the lead character.

These men are accomplished musicians with years of playing behind them and their intent here is obvious, they create great Doom songs without the perennial deadening riffs that a multitude of people brand the overall genre with. This EP is by no stretch original or ground breaking but it will certainly serve as an exemplar and a vantage for many a young band to replicate and uphold.

Considered as a supergroup within the ranks of Metal, Origin Konrad have the ability to project a doom sound that is potent without being too disconsolate and grim.

What we have here is a stellar 4-track EP that leaves the beholder lusting for more. Kind of like when foreplay is getting interesting and your companion falls asleep before the Homo Erectus As a Doom fan I acknowledge and admit to the fact has entered the Cave. that some of it can be tedious, dense and overly dull but there's none of that on this record.

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Her Dying Regret Legacy Label: Self Release Released: 19 September 2013 Reviewer: Lee Walker Highlight: Ashes Website: https://www.facebook.com/HerDyingRegret

Reading seems to be throwing up quite a few bands in recent times with ‘Her Dying Regret’ being the latest band to spring forth.

leading to a lot of the songs developing a techcore feel to them ensuring that HDR don’t get labelled as just another metalcore band.

The cunningly titled opening track ‘Intro’ opens Overall ‘Legacy’ is a cracking introduction to Her this e.p up with its deceptive instrumental tunege Dying Regret and seems set to take the band to lulling you into a false sense of security before the the next level. opening guitar salvo in ‘Ashes’ comes flying out of the starting blocks and grabs your attention as the e.p starts to unfold in front of you with its mix of groove laden metalcore utilising alternating harsh and clean vocals to push the brutal songs to this next level. As the e.p progresses you begin to appreciate how well the use of the clean vocals is fitted in,

Temple Of Void Demo MMXIII Label: Self Release Released: 13 May 2013 Reviewer: Stoodge Mc Nulty Highlight: Bargain In Death Website: https://www.facebook.com/TempleOfVoid

It's a pity this is only a 3 track demo release as it's all the material I have from these dudes. This isn't just a sound but it's a substance that's dark, lumbering and in essence lamenting.

Third and final track 'Bargain in Death' which is the longest offering here at 11 minutes, advances further into the diabolically infernal wretched underworld that has been summoned by this band.

Envisage a Deathspell Omega and Crowbar confluence in a cement mixer with the resulting solvent dispersed over a live minefield and you'll get the picture.

Whatever grim domain has been mentally created in the process of this recording is sure to pose it's indwellers with unalterable and incurable weaknesses.

Primal track 'Beyond the Ultimate' opens the gates Billowing in at 23 minutes ain't bad for a trinity of into an existence of melancholic eternity where the tracks and to be this aroused in anticipation of a full only saviour is the conclusion of death. length album is very quaint on my part I must add. Second track 'Exanimate Gaze' preserves the sinister tone and thrusts this discharge of infliction into further realms of suffering and lifelessness.

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M.O.T.H (Mourning Of The Heretic)

Melancholic Verses and Diabolical Curses EP Label: Self Release Released: 7 July 2013 Reviewer: Stoodge Mc Nulty Highlight: The Vampires Eulogy Website: https://www.facebook.com/MourningOfTheFap

Listening to this dejected eulogy it reminded me of how much my home demands a dry ice machine. These saturnine men from Northern Ireland are worthy advocates of the unholy cadaver that Cradle of Filth circularised but even more nefarious and baleful. Opener 'All I Loved I Loved Alone' sets the climate of the record for what is a sullen and benighted experience for us mere mortals to behold. Eternal Night(mare) the second track on the release protrudes this narrative even further into the dark and dense snow laden forests that I can't

help but conceive of when listening to this creaton. My favourite composition on here is closing track 'The Vampires Eulogy' which opens with a Cathedral-esque Doom riff and turns into something you'd expect from a Norwegian Black Metal outfit. The overall sound from this EP isn't anything newfangled but it's grave, effective and incisive. These guys may still only be young but they are far from being unseasoned having played and shimmered in the Irish Metal circuit for quite a few years now.

Newsted Heavy Metal Music Label: Spinefarm/Universal Reviewer: Jon Seymour

Released: 5 August 2013 Highlight: Long Time Dead

Website: http://www.newstedheavymetal.com

So Jason is back, with his own band, and an album called Heavy Metal Music, so there’s no need to guess what’s going to be on the album I suppose, and any doubts you may have as to their intention are instantly removed the moment you press play.

album that doesn’t need to be there, and there’s nothing lacking either, it just does the job, and it does it well, no fuss and no messing about.

More to the point of course, is that this is a bold statement. Calling an album Heavy Metal Music and One thing that I will say is that the guy can sing a bit. not delivering the goods would be career suicide, but His vocals are aggressive and guttural and very this album certainly delivers on all counts. Jason can menacing. I think he must gargle with broken glass step out of the shadow that is that “other band” he and concrete to get a voice like that. The album takes used to be in, and bask in his own spotlight. the same approach. Subtlety is definitely not one of its strong points for sure. It’s fairly primitive in sound, Considering the pedigree of the musicians involved, I and there are no flashy guitar effects, or cleaning it guess we shouldn’t be surprised by how good an up in production. This album is as raw as the meat album it is, and there were certainly high just leaving the abattoir and no less bloody. expectations in many corners of the metal world. Well I think that expectations have been exceeded, and It seems to me that the band have used an extremely that these guys are going to go on to bigger and simple formula for the music. Make it loud, make it better things. This is a stonking album. heavy, and make it count. There’s nothing on this

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Eshtadur Stay Away From Evil and Get Close To Me Label: Gate Of Horror Prods Reviewer: Stoodge Mc Nulty

Released: TBC Highlight: Abigor

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eshtadur/177549565617566?

To be truly honest I'm not to well informed when it comes to the music scene in Colombia. That confession is something that I'll be amending after letting this beast of an album pulsate into the sensory receptors I have at either side of my brain. This isn't strictly a Black Metal album, there are of course some blackened influences but this is more like a few genres amalgamated into one miscreation which sounds vicious, cruel and it atmospherically delivers.

Yes there is a role for keyboards on a few tracks, nothing wrong with keyboards in Metal if they are used right. Too many times a great band can be weakened by an over indulging keyboard player, but here it coheres and brings the album together and these men from Pereira show no signs of self pampering. Eshtadur are a malefic beast of a band that bring you frightful tales of shuddery and reverence.

Wasting no time the first few notes of opener 'Beyond The Shadows' set the nine tracks here off on an untiring, foolhardy and thunderous crusade of brutality and destruction.

Legion Woke Label: Steamhammer/SPV Released: 2 September 2013 Reviewer: Lee Walker Highlight: B.R.F Website: https://www.facebook.com/Legion614

With a name like Legion for the band you know that the album will be brutal but ‘Woke’ pushes brutality to the maximum with its mix of hardcore sounds and gluteal vocals pulverising everything in its path as ‘Woke’ slowly crushes you into nothingness with its mixture of sheer heaviness and wanton destruction.

into the meatgrinder that is the rest of the album which chews you up and spits you out with tracks such as ‘Righteous Dictation’, ‘Priest’, and ‘Perverse Icon’ all leaving their brutal marks upon you with the devastating ‘B.R.F’ finishing you off before ‘The Roach’ drags your bloodied remains away.

Opening track ‘The Fear’ starts of the audio assault with its short eerily instrumental piece paving the way for opening track proper ‘And Then, The Devil Said’ to rain down fire and brimstone upon you with wave upon wave of crushing riffs and gluteal vocal’s pummelling you into submission before bundling your remains

‘Woke’ the most devastating album that I have heard so far this year and seems destined to make Legion one of the most watched bands in the hardcore scene. Simply put this album is as brutal as fuck.

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Deadlock The Arsonist Label: Napalm Records Reviewer: Stoodge Mc Nulty

Released: 26 July 2013 Highlight: Small Town Boy (Bronski Beat)

Website: www.deadlock-official.com

Deadlock have been described as the most beautiful band in the World and this can only reassert the consensus that beauty is only skin deep, as the truth is this album is highly unattractive.

machine and coming out to a 30 Seconds To Mars sounding production and you'll have this album.

The one positive I can find on this is that maybe it will be used as a gateway for some people that don't normally listen to anything as heavy. Not that Frankly I couldn't get into this record which is in fact this is in anyway heavy for seasoned headbangers the German bands sixth full length release and first but it could very well be the beginning of a journey on Napalm Records. into the deep World of Heavy Metal, just like Nu Metal fifteen years ago. Banana riffs and drop tuned palm muted string stabbing is a feeble way of playing Metal if you ask I won't go as far as calling this album deplorable as me. Fuse this with clean female vocals which seem it's not a release normally in my review to be the foundation of the album and you get specification, but it is inadequate and it's deficiency something that could only be described as Pseudo of anything Metal won't have me speaking too much Metal. about this band in the future. Think of Tesseract and Paramore combining in a fly

Arcite The Escape Key Label: Transcend Music Released: 14 July 2013 Reviewer: Stoodge Mc Nulty Highlight: For The Night Website: https://www.facebook.com/arcitemetal?fref=ts

It's been a while since I've had the delight to listen to a debut album as bracing and exhilarating as this one. Opening with the lustrous yet sombre instrumental track 'II' is merely only the calm before the storm ahead of the second track, the riotous 'Removed' turns this album on its head. What manifests during the course of this album isn't just an array of intricately structured anthems but it establishes the band as a robust and vigorous outfit. Sounding like a caustic charged Trivium, these men adequately mirrored the template and may very well create their own stain on the mighty

wall of Metal that a lot of bands desire to reach. Excelling as an acknowledged live band won't be difficult for the guys from Newcastle Upon Tyne as tracks 'The Murder of Crows' 'Sanctuary' and 'For the Night' are the three songs on this record that will undoubtedly prevail to a greater extend on the bands live set. Closing track 'Amonst Ashes' is a fitting swansong to a flawless, epic and energy filled album. Having already amounted a huge following pre release, this record will catapult and ordain the group into newfound territories.

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Avenged Sevenfold Hail To The King Label: Warner Music Reviewer: Jon Seymour

Released: 26 August 2013 Highlight: Coming Home

Website: http://www.avengedsevenfold.com

So it’s finally here, one of the most anticipated albums of this year, and it’s very much a make or break album. The band has admitted to stepping into the unknown, without the influence and direction of Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan. With Arin Ilejay being officially announced as the band’s permanent skinsman earlier this year, this album is their statement to the doubters that they can carry on. So what’s it like?

They are going to split the fan base no matter what they do, and if this is the direction they’re going in, I can only think they’re going to gain more fans. They have produced something worthy of credibility, and more to the point, it’s also very good.

Avenged Sevenfold are one of the biggest among the modern crop of rock/metal bands, and this album is a worthy addition to their catalogue, and Actually, it’s pretty damned good. Is that enough? cements their position ever further. Personally I No? I didn’t think so. OK then, what this album is, was hoping that this was going to be a great is a slab of rock, full of anthemic choruses, and album, and honestly, I believe they’ve achieved neck snapping rhythms. It’s actually a very strong that, just in a different way that I was expecting. album. Maybe it’s not quite as edgy as previous They’ve taken the original essence of Avenged albums, but it’s still razor sharp. Think along the Sevenfold, and expanded on that without lines of it being more a surgical scalpel than a changing it, which is a remarkable achievement. hunting knife, both of them are sharp, but I know which one I’d prefer to have in a fight…. For those that have been put off by their previous albums, I suggest giving this one a listen, as I This album doesn’t feel as raw as the earlier think it could change your mind. They’re a major albums, but it’s still got some power and energy force to be reckoned with in the metal world, and behind it, it seems to me more focused in its after this album, we can only concur that they’re attack, rather than flailing wildly. This isn’t actually not going to be going anywhere anytime soon. a bad thing, as it goes along at a great pace, and actually feels like it has a purpose. The band obviously has a different chemistry, but it works well.

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Five Finger Death Punch

The Wrong Side Of Heaven and The Righteous Sid Of Hell Vol.1 Label: Eleven Seven Music Released: 30 July 2013 Reviewer: Heather Blewett Highlight: Lift Me Up Website: www.fivefingerdeathpunch.com

Five Finger Death Punch have achieved significant commercial success, with three of their previous albums going gold. Their latest offering ‘The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell Vol.1’ (Vol.2 is expected later this year) is a continuation of the FFDP familiar sound, not veering far from the stompy grooves, stocky riffs and macho aggression they consistently offer. I say aggression, it’s more of a I hate my Dad teenage aggression than anything too sinister, reminiscent of the 90’s nu-metal era. With their latest release FFDP get by with a little help from their friends, immersed with collaborations throughout, with names such as Rob Halford (Judas Priest) Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed) Max Cavalera (Soulfly) and Maria Brink (In This Moment) all of which provide a successful input.

songs to date. Like I said unbeatable standard, the rest of the album falls flat in comparison. Watch You Bleed, You, Wrong Side Of Heaven are all a Slipknot/ Stone Sour hybrid, not exactly a negative but there’s only one Corey Taylor and Ivan isn’t him. Burn MF repeats the lyric ‘Burn motherfucker burn’ to the point of tedious exhaustion. FFDP did extremely well off the back of their Bad Company cover, so I wonder what great cover we’ll get for this album? LL Cool J Mama Knock You Out is your answer. While I appreciate any hint of diversity and originality, I’m still trying to un-hear this. There are two tracks for Anywhere But Here with Maria Brink, one featuring, one a fully fledged duet, why? I don’t know. However, the duet version is stunning, Ivan’s and Maria’s vocals make a stunning cohesion.

Opening track Lift Me Up featuring undisputed metal god Rob Halford sets an unbeatable standard for the rest of the album, pounding rhythm, chunky riffing, anthemic chorus and of course the talents of Mr Halford, all combine to create one of FFDP’S finest

For any FFDP fan there is little to dislike about this album, it has everything you’d want and expect, however as a casual listener it’s just mediocre, perfectly listenable but nothing particularly ground breaking.

Godslave In Hell Label: Day One Records/H’Art Reviewer: Lee Walker Website: http://godslave.de/

Hailing from Germany Godslave set about carving open the pits with their mix of old school teutonic infused thrash creating a sound which is similar in places to Tankard and even Gama Bomb. Opening track ‘Here Comes The Crew’ sets the scene with its mix of punching guitars and crashing riffs inviting you to breakout into a full on mosh mode as the thumping pace gets your blood going as the pounding beats take a hold of you and drives you on as track after track hits home in rapid fire succession, occasionally pausing with a quick burst of almost melodic

Released: 27 September 2013 Highlight: Not Saved But Avenged

guitar work in places, before cranking the pace back up. Overall ‘In Hell’ is a good solid thrash album but it sadly doesn’t quite have that killer edge in place just yet, but that said going from this album it is clear that it is only a matter of time before Godslave manage to capture that spark which has so far eluded them.

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Bad For Lazarus BURNT Label: SH!T CHIC Records Reviewer: Lee Walker

Released: 2 September 2013 Highlight: BURNT (Original Version)

Website: https://www.facebook.com/BadforLazarus

Having not really heard of Brighton based noise merchants Bad for Lazarus I was somewhat intrigued when there new single popped up for review. Comprising of the title track ‘BURNT’ (complete with another three interesting remixes of it) and the track ‘Heavy Sugar’ the single is a varied affair and refuses to be pigeonholed into any one category with my best description of the bands sound being experimental which admittedly is a bit of a cop out but it is probably as close as you can get to describing the overall sound of the band.

an infectious bubbling mass of sounds which seem to offset each other with the electro infused music causing the pop punk style lyrics to stand out. ‘Heavy Sugar’ slows the pace down with a more indie sound before the remixes kick in. I have to admit that I’m not a massive fan of remixes at the best of times but I can understand why bands produce them and in this case two of the remixed tracks are ok but as for the rap style ‘Lakey Remix’ the less said the better. Overall ‘BURNT’ is an interesting affair and shows the potential that Bad for Lazarus clearly have, but with the amount of remixes on there it’s too early to make a proper call based upon it.

Opening track ‘BURNT’ is an interesting affair with heavy hints of electro metalers NIN and pop punkers Mindless Self Indulgence deeply engrained within it. Merging both styles to create

Wretched Soul Veronica Label: Dark Lord Records Released: 9 September 2013 Reviewer: Lee Walker Highlight: Veronica Website: http://www.wretchedsoul.net/

Canterbury based metalers Wretched Soul have surprisingly only been around since 2008 and during that time they have managed to create quite a bit of a stir while racking up two successive appearance at the Bloodstock festival. ‘Veronica’ is masterfully created under the watchful gaze of Chris Tsangarides and weighs in at just over 40 minutes and starts off as it means to carry on with its waves of thrash infused punishing death metal grabbing you by the jugular as its mix of vicious guitar riffs are augmented by Chris Simmons ever changing

vocal mix with it alternating between Danni Filthesque screams to clean vocals in the blink of an eye, creating an extra added dimension to the tracks while refusing to allow their sound to be pigeonholed. Overall ‘Veronica’ seems set to continue the rising ascendancy of Wretched Soul and marks them as one of the bands to watch for the future.

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Doll The Ragdoll Diaries Label: Cargo Records Released: 29 July 2013 Reviewer: Lee Walker Highlight: If I Could Website: https://www.facebook.com/dollband

Ottawa based grungesters Doll have actually been around since 2005 and are finally beginning to gain the recognition that they deserve. ‘The Ragdoll Diaries’ was originally released way back in 2009 but it is finally only now being officially released in the UK.

giving them that extra kick to take them to the next level with songs such as ‘FMO’, ‘Plastic World’, ‘Haunting Sally’ and ‘Youth of Today, Hope for Tomorrow’ exemplifying this with the only dud track in there being a cover of Billy Idol’s ‘White Wedding’.

As soon as the opening chords of ‘City That Fun Forgot’ hit you instinctively think back to the likes of L7, Hole, Veruca Salt etc with their mix of angst ridden female vocals and grunge style guitar playing not that it is entirely a bad thing.

Overall ‘The Ragdoll Diaries’ should make people sit up and take notice of Doll, it’s just a shame that it’s taken this long to get to the UK but at least we are getting there.

As ‘The Ragdoll Diaries’ continues you pick up more and more on the punk attitude that is displayed within a lot of the lyrics to the songs

The Charm The Fury A Shade Of My Former Self Label: Listenable Records/Pavement Entertainment Released: 16/17 September 2013 Reviewer: Lee Walker Highlight: A Shade Of My Former Self Website: http://www.thecharmthefury.com/

Not really knowing much about TCTF apart from the fact that there appears to be quite a lot of hype around these guys (and gal) right now I thought I had better sit down and listen to this their debut album. ‘A Shade Of My Former Self’ is an interesting affair merging brutal pounding metalcore with vocals that alternate between post hardcore and clean, leading to songs that are unpredictable in there nature with moments of calm soothing almost melodic segments being offset against brutally destructive bursts of hardcore metal with no two songs sounding alike.

clean female vocals continues throughout the album, and every so often you pick up hints of bands such as Carcer City or Lacuna Coil while successfully avoiding the paint by numbers approach that a lot of metalcore/posthardcore bands seem to follow crating a debut album the result is impressive and while TCTF might not fit into any standard pigionhole right not it is certain that you won’t forget this album anytime soon.

This unique style of merging post hardcore and

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