Edition for true metalfans
#12†30.09.2020
News•Reviews•Interviews•Exclusive
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CREW
Evgeny-Destroyer Editor-in-chief, design https://www.facebook.com/ evgeny.dubovskoy Mail: destroyerr78@mail.ru WhatsApp: +79180242178
Olga «Blackie» Schneider Editor, interviewer, text corrector https://www.facebook.com/ olga.metalheart Mail: olgaschneider.1997@gmail.com Inst:https://www.instagram.com/blackie_metalheart/
https://destroyerr78.wixsite.com/insidethedarkness https://www.facebook.com/InsideTheDarknessMetalZine https://www.instagram.com/inside_the_darkness_webzine https://vk.com/insidethedarknessmetalwebzine https://twitter.com/metal_webzine
Editor’s brief
Andrew Editor, interviewer, text corrector https://www.facebook.com/ andrew.stanton.71216 WhatsApp: 0044 07527 362762
A special thanks to... Helmuth Lehner (Belphegor) for his TOTAL support
...and especially to these people Hails to everyone, eerthlings! for the interviews We simply hope that each of you is standing strong Ralf Hauber (Revel in Flesh) and cold-minded at this time of common madness Alwin Zuur (Berzerker Legion) second wave and we want everyone to remember that Alexey Boganov (Welicoruss) the strongest resistance ever starts in our own minds. Morten Shax (Endezzma) Stay active and creative, support the underground and Andreas and Daniel (Ages) visit concerts that avoided getting cancelled in your Kristel Dawn(Warthrone) region. D. Hellrazor (Lucifera) And now, just take your time and check out what we, as Mr. Fog (Ewigkeit) another underground representatives, came with for you. Majestic Fire (Infernal) In Metal, Jorg August (Eshtadur) Olga Schneider, editor Khaoth (Khors) Yesica Castelo (Quiar) Ishkur (Law of Contagion)
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CONTENT
News from hell..........................................4
Lucifera Revel in Flesh Interview with Interview with Ralf Hauber..................................6 D. Hellrazor.............28 Ewigkeit Berzerker Legion Interview with Mr. Fog ............36 Interview with Infernal Alwin Zuur..............10 Interview with Majestic Fire..........38 Welicoruss Eshtadur Interview with Alexey ÂŤWelicoRussÂť Boganov.....16 Interview with Jorg August........40 Khors Endezzma Interview with Khaoth.........42 Interview with Quiar Morten Shax.......................20 Ages Interview with Yesica Castelo...........44 Interview with Law of Contagion Andreas and Daniel..................24 Interview with Ishkur........46 Warthrone Interview with Kristel Dawn........................26 Best Metal releases..............50
Stories about Metal bands..............74
Inside The Darkness reviews............90
Metalheads are waiting for it............112
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World Metal News
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THREE NEW CEREMONIES ADDED TO THE “DEATH MAGICK OVER EUROPE 2020” TOUR! Diabolical Death Metal troop BELPHEGOR will headline European territory in November. The Totenrituals will kick off on 4th November in Oslo, Norway at Parkteatret and conclude in Graz, Austria at Explosiv Club, 29th November. Helmuth comments: «We can’t wait to go out on tour again and will announce our new live line-up within the next few days. The true essence of BELPHEGOR is found while on stage.» In other news, the band is still working on the new album, which is to be released early 2021. More on this soon.
Death metal supergroup Heads For The Dead dropped a stunner of an album in ‘Serpent’s Curse’ which sent shockwaves through the underground. The band’s masterful blending of classic death metal with horror-inspired elements set them apart from the standard revivalist bands. The combination of Jonny Pettersson (Wombbath, Gods Forsaken, Henry Kane) behind the music and Ralf Hauber (Revel In Flesh) on vocals proved to be extremely effective and both of them put in their experience of decades to create something marvellous. ‘Into the Red’ sees them take things to a different level and also recruiting the services of the legendary drummer Ed Warbie, known for his work in bands like Gorefest and Hail of Bullets, renders their sound flawless. They’ve honed it to make it more cohesive, the horror influence now being an intrinsic part of the music, and there’s undeniable growth in the songwriting that makes them step out of the shadow of the old school death metal peers to carve an identity of their own. The artwork has once again been created by Branca Studio retaining the classic horror aesthetic and as expected there are guest appearances such as from members of Sentient Horror and Gods Forsaken. ‘Into the Red’ raises the bar for old school death metal circa 2020 and it’s ironic how their horror theme fits eerily well into the real life horrors this era is witnessing. It’s time to embrace it all the same. https://headsforthedead.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-red-death-metal BELPHEGOR – NEW ALBUM DELAYED UNTIL EARLY 2021! Helmuth states: «Because of the global pandemic, we must push the release of the still-untitled to early
We
LP 2021.
back
have been
composing this new album since what feels like forever.
Drums have already been recorded Fascination Street Studios in Sweden.
February this year at Since mid-March. Serpenth and I have kept busy by tracking guitars and bass for the new album.» BELPHEGOR will report to you with news on the progress of this album, so keep an eye out! before the outbreak in
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Revel in Flesh - Death/Metal from Germany
Interview with Ralf Hauber
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Interview by Olga Schneider
First of all, thank you for the opportunity to do this interview! Ralf: Big cheerz to the readership of INSIDE THE DARKNESS Zine; it’s a pleasure for us to be featured here. You know, I saw your post on Facebook which appealed not to give up in this situation and think positive, and I would like to express my endless respect for not going out of your mind. What have you been doing during the quarantine?
You
Ralf: Well, it would be a lie to say that there was no frustration level about a complete setback to most things that make life joyable!
have
to
stay
er promotion of our press wise so well received 5th album “The hour of the avenger”, which just came out in December 2019. But what shall we do? It doesn’t help either to freak out when you already see that most people getting nuts on social media, news and everywhere. To me personally working life continued straight away on high stress level, there was no break at all, so it was easy to have at least some structure in life which is at least important to me!
loyal
and
ou!
ort y p p u s o h w e s l to tho
respectfu
Band wise it was a total fist in the face to our well and time - consumingly booked concert schedule, which should have been crucial for the prop-
Did you take this time to get some rest or maybe started composing anything new? Ralf: No rest for the wicked! The band stuff causes a lot of work behind the scenery, like communication, handling social medias, doing the merchandise, handling the shop, coordinating stuff, doing the bureaucracy stuff... mostly stuff that doesn’t rock but needs to be done! Furthermore I always tried ways to safe livegigs or find new options. On the creative sector of course we tried to keep the wheel turning in doing new ideas, lyrics etc., BUT having no real goal (show, new album etc.) is a psychological downer for a band in such a period. Furthermore we all live on longer distance to each other which made meetings even more difficult during the quarantine days. Since the whole world has finally started returning to normal life, what are your further plans? Are you gonna do some tours to promote The Hour of the Avenger? At the moment of writing the whole concert business is still far away from normal due to the registrations that make clubs shows currently nearly impossible (on organization and financial level). We hope that the situation will change for a better in November/ December to safe at least some shows, but to see things for real the road to normal will be long and uncomfortable to all of us. Many shows, including the im-
portant festivals got postponed to 2021, so it all depends on the evolution of the pandemic. In the end METAL is about the LIVE shows - You have to collect the souls with rocking and not with social media posts! Tell us a bit more about your very first show after the total lock-down which took place in Munich. We know that the quantity of people was strongly limited. How did it feel to play in such conditions and generally play any show after such a long kinda lame period? For the band is was psychologically really important to hit the stage again, delivering the show and simply getting the good vibe that things could move again to a better situation! We’ve played the Backstage Event Centre in Munich, an important place for shows in South Germany. They have different venues there and we played the one with (I think) has +/- a capacity of 2.000 people, but due to the registration only 200 were allowed to enter. The audience was forced to sit because of the registration. When leaving the sit for bar/ toilet or whatever the audience had to wear a mask. Sounds weird, especially for Metal, but it had a good vibe since the audience and the band had a really bestial hunger for live performed DEATH METAL :-) Are you thinking about expending your tour area somehow in the near future? What
countries you’ve never been to would you really love to visit? Like most German bands within the Death Metal scenery we have the problem in getting proper shows and bookings outside our country. It’s a sort of curse and problem of the music business as well; I know that the amount of REVEL IN FLESH supporters worldwide has grown heavily with the last two albums, but playing long distance shows are expensive to organize. Thus far we played The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Slovakia, but mostly on single / weekend shows or festivals. Of course we enjoyed it and we would love to expand our map in Metal, so to say! To see things for real: If you like to conquer you need a lot of helping hands and a good spirit to it. Any help is welcome; feel free to contact us for shows. Revel in Flesh was founded in 2011, and since that time there wasn’t any single year when you would avoid releasing anything new. Meanwhile, your sound is getting even tighter and stronger from album to album. What’s the source of your endless inspiration and what helps you to keep and develop the quality of the material? Ralf: To see things easy: You only grow and learn by doing! For a long - time we had the agenda of simply writing, recording (our guitarist has a home studio), keeping the straight gut - feeling to it without over discussing things. 7
Revel in Flesh - Death/Metal from Germany 8
Rather finish something and switching over to the next mission. Well, the result was a constant release flow! Within the last 3 years it became more about the interacting, trying out, we have a new drummer, which helped us a lot to keep the songs more flowing, so I think you could say that we became more picky when it comes to the own stuff. Personally I always think that keeping it spontaneous is more joyful and effective; but to keep it as a group you have to compromise to keep the satisfaction of the union. Before Revel in Flesh was born, you had participated in the equally strong Immortal Rites as a bassist. How did this experience influence Revel in Flesh? Ralf: Basically 90% of the “Deathevokation” album from 2011 dates back to my old band IMMORTAL RITES. There were a lot of life changing influences in the old band back then, so I took my ideas over and realized them on a final recording with Maggesson. I was always more focused on keeping DEATH METAL in the
classical sense, so it ended up that “Deathevokation” was like a pure tribute to the glory of the golden years of that style. Looking back the album had a brilliant vibe (although being far away from perfect (sound, drums etc.)), but it was a there at the right time and the right place when this new wave of DEATH METAL over here started! Was in hard for you personally to take the roll of a vocalist/the frontman of the band after being a bassist before? Ralf: Absolutely! As a bassplayer only you can always hide behind your instrument. The role of a vocalist is always a focus on live shows, especially for the non musician part of the audience - what is the singer doing? What is he saying? Is that voice real etc.? Blah! Blah!
As the vocalist you’re a sort of soul collector to keep the liveshow good and you have to learn to handle that role, which comes only from playing live with all ist good and bad sides! What are the strongest values for you to keep nowadays, when lots of bands turn making music into just a shitty business? Hm, what really helped is that I learned to organize and co - ordinate most of the stuff by myself and to keep the business inside the band. You can achieve a lot if you learn to organize yourself. To me it has been as well always about being a part of the scene in a supportive way, too. I absolutely can NOT (!!!) handle that typical musician show off attitude. You have to stay loyal and respectful to those who support you! You and me are actually from different generations, and you grew up in those times when Metal was something completely new for this world. What non-Extreme Metal bands got you into Metal? Oh! Now you make me feel really old and frustrated, Ha! Seriously back then nobody started with getting into Metal directly with SLAYER. It was always about the challenge to get step by step closer to the realms of extreme music.
For me it was the way with hardrock stuff like Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith, Guns’n’Roses (important band to my generation), Saxon, Iron Maiden, some movie soundtracks before going over to Metallica and getting further into the halls of extreme with Slayer, Sodom (important in Germany!), Kreator etc.! The Death Metal thing came to me in 1993. The discovery process was back then more magical, you didn’t have the internet, so you were more forced to socialize with others to get new music. Furthermore back then you were more an outsider as a Metalhead while nowadays it’s close to “normal”. What do you expect from the end of 2020/the beginning of 2021 regarding activity inside Metal community and stuff like that? Hard to say! It’s gonna be crucial that the live music scenery is getting back to the front before this part of the music economy will face its total decline. We are a band that is more bound to small clubs and the underground
scenery, so I hope that those clubs will survive the ongoing crisis and that the scene people won’t loose their enthusiasm. In the end the community needs to unit to keep the flame burning! Decades before, Scandinavia was kinda Death Metal capital. Now we can notice this
tendency rather in Germany. What can you say about it? I can agree on that the quality of the German Death Metal bands has grown rapidly within the last 10 years, also the amount of band - some with and some with less long - lasting capacity. BUT you don’t have here something like a “classified German style of Death Metal”, which you have for example with bands from Sweden, UK or The Netherlands. German
Thrash Metal will always have more identity due to its pioneers from the 80ies. The problem over here is that the booking market is very flooded and some old bands still have key positions, which makes it harder for newcomers to reach a wider audience. Furthermore we have here as well a lot of HYPE from Bands and a lot of HYPE from Labels. B e f o r e we end, I’d like to say thank you once again and wish you really good luck with everything you’re planning now. What would you like to say to our readers and crew in the end of this interview? Of course! Thanx for this nice and entertaining interview chat! I really enjoyed it. Make sure to support honest & hard working bands. Let’s cross the fingers that this pandemic will soon end. Stay safe & strong! For more infos etc. feel free to check www.revelinflesh.com THE DEATHKULT RAGES ON Cheerz!!!
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Berzerker Legion • Death Metal from Netherlands•Sweden•UK
Interview with Alwin Zuur
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Photo by Christel Janssen Interview by Olga Schneider
- First of all, glad to hear you and hope you’re doing well in these hard times for the whole Metal community. But now, tell us a bit more about the history of Berzerker Legion foundation. How did you and Tomas get the idea to create this band? Did you have any concrete goals and ideas to that moment or it was just an interesting experiment? Berzerker Legion is indeed founded by Tomas and
me. Actually, the first idea goes back to 2012 where I met Tomas (Elofsson)
someday we should try to do something together in music. In the years after not really much happened, but every time when we met somewhere at festivals we kept on talking about that idea. I think around 2015 we started seriously to exchange some music we wrote at home. I send him my riffs and songs and Tomas send his ideas over to me.
er t f a e r e h t s y a lw a e r a s Influence des of metal history. several deca oidable. That’s unav for the first time during a festival where I played with Asphyx and Tomas with Hypocrisy. We started to talk and of course during heavy drinking the best ideas come up. One of those ideas was that
First it was just for fun but in a real short period we finished 3 complete track and our styles and way of writing music fitted so good together. We liked the 3 songs a lot and started serious thinking if we somehow should release it someday. From there we took it all to a next level. The time had come to recruit some professional experienced musicians who shared our thoughts and visions music wise. Berzerker Legion as an official band was a fact now. It just started as 2 friends sharing and experimenting with some music with no future intentions at all, and the last day of January we released our debut album “Obliterate the Weak”. From the beginning till our debut release has been just a natural development, and we all are extremely happy and proud to have seen Berzerker Legion becoming a real band and how great the album turned out. - Is the name connected to the line-up some-
how? Since you gathered such Extreme Metal titans in one band. Its not easy to come up with a band name these days once you have formed
a band. We did a lot of brainstorming and research for that to find a name which was unique and not yet taken. We wanted to express something power-
ful, strong, extreme and aggressive in the band name. Berserker is a perfect word for it. Ancient experienced warriors who fought with wild or uncontrolled ferocity. The word “Berserker” itself commands respect. As experienced artists with a preference of brutal extreme music we thought the word ‘Berserker” was a great choice to take as name or part of a name with such an expression. And as there are 5 of us, we added the word Legion to it. To give it a little own twist we changed the letter S in Berserker for a letter Z, so there it. Berzerker Legion! - What principles did you follow while recruiting musicians for this project? Why did you choose these people? As well Tomas as myself are in the scene for a pretty long time now and with all releases and shows we became pretty experienced. It was only a logical thing to find members who had that same experience as well. Not 11
Berzerker Legion • Death Metal from Netherlands•Sweden•UK
only in studio and recordings but also live on stage. Musicians who know what is going on in that music world. Our vision about Berzerker Legion was one with high expectations and quality, and for that we needed to recruit professionals to complete the band. A drummer without technical boundaries. A vocalist with a creative high range voice, and bass player who knows how to handle and play as well live as studio work. As professional artist we know a lot musicians and we decided to ask James (Vader), Jonny (Wombbath) and Fredrik (Dark Funeral) if they wanted to join us, as besides being very 12
great persons in real live they also had all the necessary experience we wanted to have within the band to make sure we could write and release some top quality death metal. - Since you work with a bunch of other bands at the same time, do you personally have any priority? Or you’re trying to give all the bands you work with the same attention? Berzerker Legion have become very important for us. Seeing this all developing from some simple riff exchanges between Tomas and me to grow out to a full professional band with a very powerful and professional debut release motivated us
very much. We put a lot of time and energy in this release and as far as we concern this is just the beginning of all the great things still to come. Of course we all have our obligations to our main bands. Obligations which do have priority of course. We have been clear about that to each other since we started all this, but this does not mean that we cannot work on Berzerker Legion as well. Like I mentioned before with good communication and organisation a lot is possible. There is enough time left between our main duties to concentrate on Berzerker Legion as well and make it a band that counts within the scene.
Its extra hard these days with the corona restrictions. Sadly we only did one, but very successful, show so far at the House of Metal festival in Umea (Sweden) in February of this year, but we are so ready and eager to play more live shows and we want to do this as much as possible. We want the band to grow and promote “Obliterate The weak” in any way we can. - How did your work with your other bands influence Berzerker Legion? Or you were trying to avoid any impacts? Influences are always there after several decades of metal history. That’s unavoidable. I don’t think that is a big issue as long as you create good catchy interesting music. In our case I think Berzerker Legion cannot be compared to the death doom style of Asphyx or the fast death metal from Vader. It doesn’t bring anything extra if we would sound like one of our main bands. It’s mostly completely different compared to our main bands. We play brutal yet melodic death metal with most can be compared with the old early 90s Gothenburg death style meets the primitive brutal old school death metal but with an own Berzerker Legion twist. However, we did not think
about any influences when we started. We just wrote what we liked and what felt good. Music from the heart. Played with passion. We didn’t look at any hypes or so. It was a natural writing process. I don’t think any of our main bands led us to the music style we have created with Berzerker Legion. - Are you already planning any tours to promote your recent new album? Maybe already next year, when the whole Metal community is going to be somehow especially hungry for concerts? Sadly, the whole corona crisis messed up all plans we had for 2020 to promote our new album. This is not that good when you just have released an album. After the release and the very good reviews we had we knew we had to continue. The album has been received extremely good within the worlds death metal scene, and you have to melt the iron when it’s hot. But with all bookings on hold, venues closing doors and the impossibility to travel stopped the whole progression. We were ready to play the album live and we showed at the House of Metal Fest what people can expect from Berzerker Legion. This one show in Sweden proved as well us as a lot of bookers that we
were totally ready and very hungry to play more. 2020 was a good year for us to do such because our main bands didn’t had such a busy schedule. So we had a lot of opportunities to play. For next year (2021) the availability might be a bit more difficult. Asphyx will release a new album. Hypocrisy probably comes with their new album. Dark Funeral will be more active. So less time for Berzerker Legion to promote album. We did agreed thought that if only one of us is not available we will consider doing important shows with a guest musician as long as it is good for the band’s interest. But even at this moment nothing is sure, and no one knows how this crisis continues. Everybody is careful so its not really possible to plan something. We just have to wait and see what the future brings. Are you already working on anything new for this project? What should we expect from the next album? Well, like I mentioned before we had reserved this year and maybe even next year for full promotion of our debut album. Just enjoy the release of our album and the good times to come travelling and play some amazing shows and festivals worldwide. 13
Berzerker Legion • Death Metal from Netherlands•Sweden•UK
Meeting our fans. Just have a good time all together. Besides that we haven’t e v e n thought about other future plans and haven’t started to work on a new album or new songs yet. As we speak I am very busy with the upcoming Asphyx release, w h i c h now has the full priority and all of my time as deadlines coming soon. But I would love to release a new album with Berzerker Legion in a near future. It’s a (almost forgotten) death metal style we adore to play and now with the base set it would be just great to come up with a follower as strong or maybe even stronger than our debut album. As band or persons we can develop and maybe even improve ourselves, but the music we 14
wrote so far is just our natural way of writing music so the new album would not
be that different from what you can hear on “Obliterate the Weak”. That’s old early 90’s kind of Gothenburg melodic yet brutal death metal style. The thrilling melodies, the epic harmonies and those pounding riffs will all be in our music again. That is Berzerker Legion. No doubt about that. - In the end of this interview, a traditional ques-
tion: what would you like to say to those who’s reading this interview right now and to our crew? Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity in this great magazine to tell the readers a bit more about us. How we developed from just an idea between friends to share some music to a complete motivated band. We hope you all like the record as much as we do ourselves and to meet you somewhere on the road in a near corona free future. In the meantime keep buying music and shirts or whatever to support the bands you like in these difficult times and with that keep this beautiful death metal scene alive. Cheers to you all and stay brutal! WE ARE BERZERKER LEGION!
Berzerker Legion’s Debut album Obliterate the Weak released on January 31st, 2020. You can find it here: https://listenable-records.bandcamp.com/album/obliterate-the-weak https://www.shop-listenable.net/en/368_berzerker-legion https://open.spotify.com/album/43tHDsdd0lrf31xmgLpXvf https://www.deezer.com/ru/album/122343902
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Welicoruss - Symphonic Black Metal from Russia
Interview with Alexey «WelicoRuss» Boganov
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Interview by Andrew Stanton
Hello, and welcome to Inside like to note that I never had of songs. I did this because I the Darkness. a musical education, so these wanted to record a conceptual - Can you tell our readers a were continuous experiments. album and thats why I selected bit about your history, please? In 2002 I recorded the very first the songs to fit together. In fact, Sure. I was an artist since I was demo “Wintermoon Symphony” our style was found in 2005, a child and I was painting with which I recorded at home and when based on the advice of my carving styles, mostly fantasy it was basically result of my friend, I decided to form a band. themes, and I did this until I was experiments with different It was a difficult job because the 15 years old. Then I discovered musicians were hard to heavy music find. Since 2006-2010 is essentially and all Music of Welicoruss we have been actively itual life, changed. After performing in our city ir p s r e n in y m f o y r ia d a a few years I its neighborhood emotions. and d n a s t h g u o have got an and released our debut h t , s e xperienc idea to try e album Wintermoon compose music Symphony on a fairly large label because I was playing guitar styles. This demo spread CD-MAXIMUM and then a bit at the time. When I got throughout the Novosibirsk immediately go on two tours in my first computer, I started to underground very quickly cause Russia - Metal East Invasion do experiments and I started there was nothing like it at the Tour with Sinful, Demogorgon, making arrangements for my time and it got big attention. Apokefale (which are very famous songs: I was so deep in it I Then 2 more demos were in Russia) and later on their left painting and completely recorded with the same name Wintermoon Symphony Russian switched to music. I would but with a different composition Tour, which took more than
15,000 km and covered 16 cities in Russia. It was an experience of indescribable importance and I must say that heavy metal bands from Siberia did not make such bold experiments at the time, therefore we were kind of pioneers in a way. In 2008, we managed to perform at one of the biggest metal festivals in the CIS in Ukraine, Metalheads` Mission 2008, where we performed for the first time side by side with world famous bands such as Samael, Moonspell, Gorgoroth, Cynic, Hate and many others. This event made an even greater shift in our consciousness, because until that moment we have not performed at such venues and in front of so many people. Down the road in 2009, we released the second mini-album Apeiron with the same Moscow label and after a pretty long break EP Kharnha, which became a milestone with strong changes in style and arrangements, which you can then hear on the album Az Esm which we recorded already in Prague in 2013-2014. I made a serious decision to move at the end of 2012 when I realized that
the metal scene in Siberia and in Russia is getting worse and getting more known is becoming more and more difficult and it requires more and more energy. In Prague, already with the new line-up, we started actively touring and cover almost all Europe. In 6 years Welicoruss
managed to play not only more than 400 concerts, but also play at major festivals such as Hellfest, Ragnarok fest, Exit Fest, Wave Gotik Treffen, Made Of Metal fest, Heathen Rock Fest and many others. Thanks to this, we can probably say that we are one of the few Russian groups that have present their work to such wide audience. - Do bands outside of Moscow feel separated from the Russian Metal scene? I think so, the scene in Moscow and St. Petersburg is much
bigger, wider and more diverse, there are much more concert venues and opportunities as well. I think that the musical and technical level is still higher. In our area, everything had to be obtained by hard work, there were not so many original groups, especially those who survived at least the threshold of 5 years. - What do you think of the Russian Black Metal scene? To be honest, now I don’t follow it at all but at the time when I was just starting as a musician, there were bands that I liked. Besides, I’m not a big fan of black metal. It is a style I play but I do not listen to it a lot cause it is quite limited and one-sided style of music in my opinion. - What bands did you listen to growing up? It all started with Metallica. I was just a huge fan of the band and loved them very much. But in parallel with them I listened to Manowar, UDO, Moonspell, Aria, Therion, Tristania, Lacrimosa, Apocalyptica, later came Dimmu Borgir, Soilwork, Gojira, At The Gates, Symphony 17
Welicoruss - Symphonic Black Metal from Russia 18
X, Adagio. Besides metal, I have always listened to a lot different styles such as World, New Age, Drum`n`bass, nordic folk and I can not fortget mention the influence of the outstanding composers Chaikovsky, Mozart, Bach, Beethhoven, Prokofiev, Skriabin and I was influenced greatly as well by the authors of the soundtracks for the films Star Wars, Lord of the rings and Batman. - Do you consider your music Symphonic Black Metal or Black Folk? We have almost nothing from folk music, at least on last album. I present our band as Symphonic Black metal, because this concept is the closest to what we do, but to be honest, it probably sounds more like symphonic Extreme Dark metal, but this name is too long and not “brutal” enough. - Why did you decide to start singing in English this year? The first reason was the fact we are reaching out to the international level, we need people to understand what we are singing about this is really important to me. We also want them to have the
opportunity to learn lyrics and sing with us at concerts and be able to understand what they are singing about. But nevertheless, we do not abandon our native
language behind, there are 2 songs in Russian on the new album and soon other will come. - What are your lyrics about?
That’s a very difficult question. Obviously not about how to destroy infidels, Christians or anybody at all. All lyrics are based around my inner philosophy,
how I see the world around me and all this is presented in the form of epic sagas and legends mixed with progressive and atmospheric textures. Music of Welicoruss is essentially a diary of my inner spiritual life, experiences, thoughts and emotions. - Is Black Metal a dying genre or is it here forever? I don’t think this is a dying genre. Look what’s happening with heavy music right now. It is clearly visible that new sub-genres of black metal, such as atmospheric or post-black, are now at the top and more and more people are listening to it. This style is constantly evolving, it grows in “waves” and I am sure that it will grow much more. Black metal begins to seek into other styles - it is not just a satanic protest against religion in the form of raw played and sounding metal, the music is already very sophisticated, complex and interesting. Many musicians who did not play black metal began to apply its elements in their music. Undoubtedly black metal grew its strong roots in the heavy music family.
- Why is Black Metal ignored by so many magazines? It depends on what kind of black metal. Naturally, if you write to a average rock music store, the chance is that you will not find what you need is big, but in the same time, the same goes to death metal. So I don’t think the magazines are ignoring black metal. It’s just that there are publications that write about rock and metal in general, and there are just some magazines who write about extreme music. Black metal is already quite a common style, so you will not surprise or shock anyone with it. - What can fans expect from your new album?
In the new album Siberian Heathen Horde we tried to use all of our skills we had by that time. Moreover, the concepts and ideas of the songs are even deeper than they were before and they are much more elaborated in my opinion. This is a huge step forward in creativity for us because we have managed to achieve almost the perfect sound which we were trying to achieve for the very long time. Yes, we worked on the album for 5 long years, this is more due to the fact we were nonstop touring, trying to find our place on the scene. For each of us, this album is very personal and we were thinking about each note when we played it on stage for about a year before going to the actual recording
studio and I think it can be heard easily by just listening the album. We recommend you to get this album and get to know us a bit. - Do you have a message for our readers? You probably haven’t heard of our band before, so I hope this little interview will get your attention. We really hope we will meet you at our concerts after the end of the pandemic, but now you have a unique opportunity to simply jump into the world of Siberian Heathen Horde in peace and quiet! We wish you health and always be TRVE!
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Endezzma - Black/Metal from Norway
Interview with Morten Shax
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Interview by Andrew Stanton
Endezzma are one of the really great bands. Andrew Stanton talked to front man Morten about the new album. - Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please? I was for a long time jamming and rehearsing with the guys from the old Norwegian band Kvist, we made a few demos under another name and also got a record deal back in the days. This
was as early as back in 1994 actually. After some years I started up a record company and did some other
Trondr Nefas of Urgehal to join me and getting serious about making music again and that was the birth of Endezzma back in 2006. Together we established a stronghold of hungry Norwegian experienced musicians and made few international appearances around Europe before we released our first epos “ALONE�.
its d e v r a c e v a h l a t e Black M of the e in p s e h t o t in e c pla e. n e c s ic s u m n ia g e w Nor activities and therefore went slow on the band front. But after some years in hibernation I asked my good old childhood friend,
The band’s debut full length album “Erotik Nekrosis” was released in 2012. The very same year tragically marked the death of Trondr Nefas R.I.P. After his death a natural vacuum occurred for the band until I found the new core of the band and could continue the march through new unexplored mystical dark fields. The Arcane Abyss album was released in 2017, the album was very well received by the international media and gave the band a good spell. We recently inked a deal with Dark Essence records for the next 2 full length albums, and the new upcoming album is long done and ready to be thrown upon the world. We are really looking forward to presenting what we have been working on the last two years and can’t wait to get the new monster of an album out!! Beware! What bands do you listen to? I’m genuinely into music as an entity and not that much into this or that band. But I grew up with the tra-
ditional Heavy Metal and Thrash Metal and later on explored the more extreme form of music. But I also sticked with other types of music that holds unique artists that speak for themselves and have a unique expression that gives me depth and the right vibe.
- Your sound is very like early Venom and Voivod. Do you prefer older bands? I don’t know exactly what kind of songs or albums you refer to here, i don’t think our sound is anything close to the mentioned bands, but maybe the vibe and energy could make a resemblance to the above mentioned acts. It’s a good mix though
primitive forces and technical elegance in the bands you mentioned. I’m of course into old acts such as Venom, Bathory and Celtic Frost. They have been great inspirators back in the days. These days we find try not to get us too much inspired directly by any kind of bands or music rather the vibes, energy and moods. The answer on the latter is, no. I do not prefer old bands. I prefer good bands. - How do you describe your music? It should be up the listeners or our audience to describe our music since I genuinely mean that music is like a well written poem, it’s actually what the listeners get out of it that defines the tunes, and music can be interpreted in many different ways. But we like to be defined by the energy and genuinity of what we are doing. Our new album is a very in-depth painting in many ways, we worked so hard and long with the new album and the world we created should be an epic, intense and brutal yet beautiful journey for the listener. 21
Endezzma - Black/Metal from Norway 22
And I hope the audience will understand that our expression and motives are as dangerous as serious… - How big is Black Metal in Norway in 2020? That’s a rather diverse question. How big Black Metal is at the moment I’m not sure of, but Black Metal have carved its place into the spine of the Norwegian music scene and industry and are looked upon just as big and respected as any other musical style. Black Metal is sporadically entering the charts in Norway and the bigger releases are always reviewed in the most relevant Norwegian newspapers and magazines. Black Metal artist frequent on talk shows and other television Celebes TV shows. Last week aired a new tv series at the main Norwegian TV station about the history of Norwegian Black Metal. So I guess it’s rather big.
- You seem to concentrate more on the rhythm guitars more than the blast beats.
It’s not like we sit down and make a plan on what we will focus more on, but yes we focus on melody and atmosphere. The diversity of the music combined with maintaining energy throughout the song is a relevant mantra for us when composing music. We have parts on the new album that really goes fast and I would say the blast beats also really got his focus so to speak. - Is this to make it sound more retro? I do not know if you perhaps refer to older material no when you ask this, but we have no intention of sounding retro. Also its different topics the sound
and the actual music material. I can only speak about the sound on our upcoming new album, here you will find a strong, combine hard punch sound with fine intricate lines. It is mixed and mastered by Tore Stjerna that is known for his work on Watain and Mayhems albums. It is of course always in our interest to bring our own historical identity with us when we compose new music, but never an intention to sound retro. - Does Black Metal get played on the radio in Norway now? There is a Rock and Metal shows airing at the radio stations but Black Metal and Metal in general aint A-listed on the main radio stations to be played frequently throughout the day. I think Satyricons “fuel For Hatred” song was the last Black Metal song that was A-listed on the main radio to be spinned frequently together with other pop music. We have our own rock station anyway where you can hear the latest of the metal releases. - What does Endezzma mean? The name is a rather personal and powerful concept, it is a force more than a name and it represents the energy that drives us through life, and often after life too into death.
- Do you think you can become the next big Black Metal band? That makes it sound like it’s only one big Black Metal band and I think there are many, but I get your point. It is not our goal to become the next big Black Metal band, but since we are working hard with the music and the band, I hope to see the band progress and grow. That will be a good indicator that we are doing the right things. But we will still make and create what we like, not what we think that the world would like to hear. We make the music we burn for and do what our hearts tell us to do. Creating our own mysterious world and characters. If this is something the world could relate to and dig into, well let us see what happens. - Are you planning on touring outside Norway soon?
Yes, we will tour through Europe and North America with the new album. As soon as the virus situation allows it. We are touring with some wellknown act’s, so see you on the
and see you on the road. THIS IS STELLAR DARKNESS … WE ARE ENDEZZMA!!! Thank you for your time. Thank you for the questions.
road maniacs and fire walkers. - Do you have a message for our readers? Watch out for our new videos and songs soon to be dropped. The new album will hit the light soon with monstrous force and diabolus rage!! Check it out 23
Ages - Melodic Black Metal from Sweden
Interview with Andreas and Daniel
Interview by Andrew Stanton
Hello and welcome to Inside the Darkness. Andreas: Well thank you! It’s our pleasure. - Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please? Daniel: Ages was the natural step for me and Andreas in our musical pursuits. We had both played black metal together in the past, but ever since the disbandment of our previous projects, we had always felt a dormant need to continue writing the type of melodic black metal that we grew up listening to and playing in the late 90’s. So, some-
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times in 2011, we got together in the studio and wrote our first to-be Ages single, ‘From the Ashes of Time”. It was initially simply a fun experiment to try our wings and see
songs in the same vein - and consequently formed Ages. Shortly thereafter, Brice Leclercq joined Ages, and provided his excellent bass skills to our first album “The Malefic Miasma”. Alas, since a while back, Brice is no longer part of Ages. He unfortunately moved back to France to pursue other things in life, and the difficulties of being geographically far apart would have made our work too complicated. We parted ways completely amicably however, and we wish Brice only the absolute best in his future endeavours.
y r u x u l a s i m s i l a e d I . d r o f f a n a c l l a t o n where we landed. We were so satisfied with the result, and excited about that reignited spark to write black metal again, that we continued to write
What bands did you like growing up? Daniel: I have listened to a plethora of different types of music growing up, but when it comes to black metal specifically, some of the music that still resonates with me are some of the albums from the mid to late 90’s. Storm of the Light’s Bane by Dissection and Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy) by Dawn to name two. And I’m sure that albums like that have somewhat shaped what kind of black metal I appreciate and write myself, even to this day. Andreas: Satyricon, Immortal, Deicide, Hypocrisy, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid angel to name a few. - Norway is mostly famous for Black Metal. Is it fair to say Sweden is more famous for its Death Metal? Andreas: Some may say that. But it would be a tough project to discount the impact of bands such as Dawn, Dissection, Marduk, Dark Funeral etc. Bands all hailing from Sweden. Sweden is pretty proficient in both departments if you ask me. - What are your lyrics about? Daniel: The common thread throughout most of our lyrics is a disdain and aversion towards organized religion, blind faith, oppression of free will and thought, anti-intellectualism, and superstition. Anti-theism could be considered a general theme clearly permeating our music in terms of lyrical content. - Traditional Death Met-
al seems to be pretty much dead these days, but Melodic Death Metal seems to be still going strong. Do you agree? Andreas: Actually, I wouldn’t know. I keep poor track of the current state of metal. - Some newer Metal heads can’t always tell the difference between Death, Black and Thrash Metal. Why do you think this is? Andreas: I have a hard time relating to this. For one I can’t see why it would matter how newcomers to the metal scene categorize the different genres. Let the kids call things whatever they want. Not being 100% correct all the time is part of growing up. - Does Death and Black Metal get played on the radio in Sweden? Andreas: Not on a regular basis. Sometimes there may be a special on fringe music on national radio, in which a couple of songs get played but seldom on prime time, I guess.. - Is the rivalry between Norway and Sweden still very strong? Andreas: Good question. Difficult to answer though. I have no qualms with Norway. They have fjords. Who can hate a country with fjords? - Why do you think mainstream magazines prefer Punk Pop and Hardcore over Black Metal and Death Metal?
Andreas: My guess would be that at least some mainstream magazines do market research. They sell a product. If people want to read about Punk Pop or Hardcore, that is what is going to be reported on. Idealism is a luxury not all can afford. - What can our readers expect from your new album? Daniel: “Uncrown” is mostly a continuation of our previous works, and a natural progression towards a more refined soundscape. We still have the same musical ambitions and preferences, so listeners will definitely recognize “Uncrown” as our natural next step musically. Perhaps “Uncrown” possesses a slightly more bleak and ominous aura compared to “The Malefic Miasma”, which was at times more grandiose and bombastic. “Uncrown” will still take the listener through a variety of melodic black metal landscapes however, both scaled-down and raw ones, as well as more majestic and atmospheric ones. So hopefully, people will experience “Uncrown” as a journey through many different moods and emotions. - Thank you for your time.
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Warthrone - Black/Death/Metal from United States
Interview with Kristel Dawn
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Interview by Olga Schneider
- First of all, I wanna express our endless gratitude for the chance to do this interview during such a difficult time for the whole world, and for Metal community in particular. However, for many bands it turned to be a great time for composing some new stuff. What about you? How do you feel now? Are you currently working on something new? I definitely miss attending live shows. I miss seeing my
friends, but at this time I like to was founded when both you support the bands I like by buy- and Erik were actively particiing merch and watching their pating in other bands’ life. Was it originally live stream consupposed to be just a side project or you planned a really active development? As we can certs. I am currently see, you’ve reached recomposing and recording a few ally lots of supporters... atmospheric black metal songs Erik was in Dying Fetus and for my solo project Kristel Dawn. Witch-hunt at the time, I was - As we can see, Warthrone playing bass for Dark Purity,
r we e v o is a n o r o C e When th again! s w o h s d n e t t a o plan t
then I joined Witch-hunt on keyboards. In 2004 Warthrone was formed as our main band and soon after we released an ep called “Ghoststorm Eulogy”. - Is Warthrone a 100% studio project or you’re planning to start playing some live shows? If not, what makes you stay away from live performances? At the moment the only members are Erik and I, and we record in our spare time and release cds and vinyl. We also have guest members in different parts of the country/world. We don’t have a full live lineup at this time. - If you would start playing live shows, what would be your main criteria/demands for session musicians? Mainly their performance and reliability. - How do you see the impact of your previous bands on Warthrone? At the same time, what bands inspired you? The variety of symphonic black and death from our previous bands are influences on our current sound. We have inspiration from many styles of bands such as Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Old Man’s Child, Dark Fu-
neral, Marduk, Dissection having a full band to perform live. to brutal death like Canni- - Tell us a bit more about crebal Corpse, Putrid Pile, etc. ating this project. What were - Do you feel any impact of and are the main ideas you are following and try to bring to this world with your music? Each album we have a different theme. On our most recent album “Crown Of The Apocalypse” it is war and post-apocalyptic related. We also have had albums about Ghosts and hauntings. - How do you see the difference between Extreme Metal scene in USA and in Europe? What, in your opinion, is the best area for musicians to develop and why? There are many talented musicians from the USA and Europe, but the scene/festivals are definitely better in Europe. Musicians can develop anywhere if they are dedicated. - What are your plans for the nearest future and what’s gonna be the first the fact that you’re a couple thing you’ll do with Waron the creative process? What throne after all this corona shit? difficulties did you meet so I am going to release Krisfar? Or you can assure that tel Dawn music later this year sometimes it makes things and over fall/winter we will be even easier because you know working on new Warthrone maand understand each other terial. When the Corona is over even better than just bands we plan to attend shows again! mates, friends, whatever? - Our last and traditional quesSince we have been together tion. What would you like to for over 18 years, we do under- say to our readers and crew stand each others ideas much in the end of this interview? easier and know what creative Thanks for all the support!! path we plan to take for each www.warthrone.bandcamp.com song. The only difficulty is not 27
Lucifera - Black/Thrash/Metal from Colombia
Interview with D. Hellrazor
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Interview by Andrew Stanton
Lucifera are legendary in Colombia for all the right reasons. Andrew Stanton talked to his friend D. Hellrazor about the new B-side release. - Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please? Greetings from Colombia to the readers of Inside the Darkness, here, D. HellRazor, Guitarist, Composer and Manager of Lucifera! We had the idea of creating a band with A. Blasfemia
long before we made Lucifera, I met her years ago when we’re studying at the University and I saw her interest and fas-
knew then that I had to do a new project, with my ideas, and despite my little musical knowledge and my precarious instrumental ability (which until now I have), It was in 2008 that we started with Lucifera, Alejandra was totally immersed in Female Metal, we made a series of compilations of only female bands, compiled of 2 or 3 cop-
in e d a m s a al w enre g Black Met e h t before etal. M Colombia k c a l B n as was know cination for Metal music, I had two bands at that time, but with none of them I was able to do what I really wanted, I
ies, only she and I had them and maybe someone we knew, she was in charge of gathering the members who would be part of the band while I was creating the logo and some riffs, for when they were ready to play what I wanted to do, everyone always ask me a question and I hope this time it’s very clear the answer: ¿If from the beginning you made the music and created a lot of Lucifera, why didn’t you play in the band? It was very simple, the band had to be entirely of women, something that had not been seen in my city, less in the Metal music of my region, I didn’t want to attribute the work that was done to my name, it was not my ideal to have the title of ‘’composer or guitarist’’ at that time, I didn’t want to gain fame or recognition, I preferred to be anonymous and make music for passion, I had, for the first time, freedom to create and it was a confusing experience at that time, I was very young and immature, although it was frustrating to do it this way, I was also glad to see how each one of them forged their way, a path that indirectly and without knowing it, we created with Alejandra, we did not know the potential that there was and we did not know how to han-
dle it at that time, everything exploded momentarily and things happened so fast that in less than 2 years we already had 2 international productions, one of them on vinyl, and we had the opportunity to tour in some countries of South America, I could never achieve that with my other projects, it was impossible! Lucifera quickly became a band mentioned and known in many countries, with quite a few offers and a promising future, but as it rise and grow, it suddenly also fell, fleetingly! Each of the members left to give priority to their studies, jobs or personal projects, the members came and went, retaking rehearsals and starting over from scratch every year was a strenuous and too exhausting job, Alejandra told me that if I did not take part permanently in Lucifera, the band would end forever, again I had to decide, continue with Lucifera and relive a dream that was fading, or put an end to it completely, I decided to do the first! After going through many stumbles with many members, we decided Lucifera should change, it was when only Alejandra and I remained (as in the beginning) in charge of the band, It was the best decision we could make, she lives in Ecuador, I in Colombia, she makes the lyrics and records
them in a studio in Quito, I make the music and record the instruments in my home studio in Pasto, Everything works in a balanced way, each one is skilled in his field, we don’t require external opinions or problems with intermittent members, we connect very well with the concept of each track and each production, we do things with time, without hassle, each create the part of the music at the right time, without pressure, everything flows when you create music individually and personally! And so we have worked during all these years, until the flame that ignites the name ‘’Lucifera’’ is inevitably exhausted, everything that has a beginning, has an end! What bands did you like growing up? I always had a very marked influence by European Metal, being Colombian, and as is now convention, the national should be consumed and make music as national as possible, that was not my ideal, I respect many bands in my country, due to their dedication, their compromise with music, even their ideology, but I don’t like national metal, I never had a musical affinity, having this external influence, I wanted to make music influenced by bands of German, Norwegian, English, Swedish nationalities, etc. 29
Lucifera - Black/Thrash/Metal from Colombia 30
They make music in their own language, which generated an immediate interest, it adds my own style and character to the music I composed, I did that since when I was 13 or 14 years old when I started with my first band, and I also had that idea with Lucifera in its beginnings, now things work in a different way, the evolution and musical maturation is reflected in how personal and own you make your music (it also works for life), I don’t need to listen it to do it, I don’t need to spend 10 hours listening to Slayer to create a own song, the unconscious works in ways that we still don’t know and your riffs will always sound similar or equal to some band, that is called influence, since the first Metal riff was made, from now on, everything was a copy, we are not more than the residue of time and memory, everything that should have been done has already been done and everything we do is nothing more than a simple copy! I can also add this, many of the musicians I know have incredible skills in their respective instruments, but their creativity is very limited, that must be why they prefer to make covers o tributes and not create their own music, they prefer to imitate to create! A pity that such incredible musicians don’t have the creativity to make their own music, I don’t general-
ize, but it happens very often! - Why are you releasing an unreleased songs compilation? Every time I have in mind to release an album or new material, I make a certain amount of songs for that job, say, 7, 8, 9, or 10 songs, but in the process of writing, many more songs come out, we go through a process of selection, and each track goes through a filter, we fix the songs that will go in X production and those that will not, the songs that don’t enter the album I discard, I forget them and I never listen or play them again, they are not bad, simply because of their duration, complexity or simplicity, even by simple dismissal, they were not published in past productions/ albums, and I said: Why the fuck not make a record with all these songs that were never officially released? That is why I want to make a record with the B-Sides from each album, it will be 9 tracks (3 B-Sides from each album), I think that eliminating or keeping this material hidden is not a good idea, there is potential in those songs and you can hear the process and evolution in each one of them, the 9 tracks or B-Sides correspond to: Después de la Muerte (2015), Preludio del Mal (2017) and La Cacería de Brujas (2019), we will soon make some previews of this production, it was going to come out this year, but unfortunately we had to
postpone it for the next one! - Is your unreleased music much different from what your fans will expect? It is likely, to be honest, Lucifera’s music doesn’t like a lot of people, I myself don’t define my music within a specific genre, they have cataloged us as Death/ Thrash, Black/Thrash, Thrash/ Black, even in a review that made us a Swedish Webzine, they said our music is Heavy/Speed with Black influence! It depends on each listener how they want to catalog us, for my part, I’m not interested in cataloging the music I make, I make music and I enjoy making it, that’s why some of my compositions like it and others don’t, maybe it’s because I don’t define the genre itself, in other words, what people think or stop thinking is what interests me the least, a good listener will know that what I do has different emotional stages, music is not only copying what you hear, it’s also transmitting what you feel, without this, your music will be hollow and will only be for empty people, easy to manipulate, without conviction, without character, accustomed to the simple and common. You can expect many changes from these unreleased songs, I went through different emotions when I wrote them, there was a huge leap from the songs I did in 2015 to those I did for the last album in 2019, wait a lot and nothing, I will leave it to you. its conception.
- What year did Black Metal start in Colombia? I’m not completely sure, but what I’m sure of, is Black Metal was made in Colombia before the genre was known as ‘’Black Metal’’, I’m talking about the time of the 80’s when in Colombia was made a genre called Ultra Metal, or Anti-Techn i c a l Metal, fast, dirty, d a r k , blasphem o u s , w i l d , heartbreaking, bloody, violent, etc, even this genre, born in a time of extreme violence and blood, a generation shaken by an endless war, gave rise to the Black Metal genre, Øystein Aarseth ‘’Euronymous’’, in his store Helvete, listened it in the early 90’s and mentioned bands like Parabellum, Reencarnación, Nekromantie were a direct influence to create Mayhem, the band that
proclaimed itself as ‘’Black Metal’’ and which made the genre become popular and known worldwide, then, in the mid-90’s, many Colombian bands took up this Norwegian influence and began to make Colombian Black
Metal, but unlike their predecessors, the genre evolved and made mergers between the European essence and South American nostalgia, the result is magnificent. - How have you managed to stay around for so long? Has it been easy? The truth is, despite the constant criticism and spending year after year being the same (long hair, dressed in black, antisocial
and a good-for-nothing) it has been quite easy for me to bear this burden of being a ‘’Metalhead’’, even if I don’t consider myself one! I have seen in these long years how many people who listen, collect, have bands, leave this life and path in the blink of an eye, I’m nobody to blame or criticize them, everyone is free to do with their lives what they want, but as far as I’m concerned, I think there must be a balance, being neutral has helped me a lot to survive every day, I don’t go with any extreme (political, religious, social or musical), and this I learned from my own mistakes, as I said before, evolution and maturation, that’s what it takes to be neutral and lead a simple life. ‘’Those who don’t learn from their past are destined to repeat it’’ Why don’t I consider myself a Metalhead? You are surely wondering that! 31
Lucifera - Black/Thrash/Metal from Colombia 32
Although seen as one, I have a band, long hair and others, I cannot stand the arrogance and hypocrisy of the Metalheads, I don’t want to generalize, but many are as extreme as any religious person or as any politician with any extremist ideology, and that , It doesn’t go with me, his morals are the most fragile and ambiguous, I don’t consider myself a Metalhead because I do not share many of the pre-concepts of being a “Metalhead”, it is a double-edged sword since many will say How is it possible that this man has a band but is not a Metalhead?, It seems as if, by obligation, you should have infinite collections of records, hundreds of band t-shirts, attend every local or national event, unintentionally support every band because they are from your city, treat people like brothers you will never go to know and they will never do anything for you, even, when they have the opportunity, they will speak ill of you or your band and will make a bad name for it, isn’t it extremely similar to the religious and political sphere that we criticize so much? I definitely prefer to get away from all these toxic people and not get at-
tached or join any ‘’brotherhood’’, I have always walked alone and will continue to do so! I prefer it above all! - Colombian Black Metal always seems much easier to listen to. Is this something they do intentionally? I guess, I think the goal is to reach an efficient number of followers and also enter the market in order to popularize your music and in one way or another, sell it! And not only Black Metal genre, every current genre goes through this process, What is the purpose of releasing a record if the goal isn’t to be listened to and sold? The fact that it’s more audible, more acceptable, more generic, already falls on each concept of the band, it’s their decision, Black Metal was always considered the most extreme, aggressive, violent and underground genre of all, but if you make music, someone must listen to it, I don’t think any current band says: Eyyy! I am going to record my music by myself and I will produce it in 1 tape to listen to it by myself alone in my room! So what’s the fucking point in doing it? I work in digital marketing and I know, with all the digital facilities, making you listen and sell your music is extremely easy, then, if this is not the
target of a band that creates, records, produces, invests and plays on stages, what it is? I think that the phrase that many bands use ‘’Spread the plague over the world’’ is given thanks to the fact that your music is listened to and sold, otherwise said ‘’Pest’’ will never leave your room! - How big are European bands in Colombia? Extremely bigger, they have been a direct influence for hundreds of bands, many makes tribute to them, European merchandise sells very well and when a European band announces its presentation in the Country, people attend the event in a massive way, no matter if it is Black, Thrash, Death, Heavy, Power, Gothic, European Metal is of great quality and has thousands of followers in every corner of the country, I am one of them! The few times that I listen to Metal I do it, preferably, with European bands, countries like Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Czech Republic, etc, have the best bands and Metal music (personal concept), I am a big fan of Black Metal that is made in these countries, without detracting from the one that is made in the continent where I live, I believe the European Metal is the purest, outside of ideologies and political positions,
I’m a musician, and the way in which European musicians make their music is incredible, a born talent, magic in each riff and each drum beat, this is what I like about their music, and not only in Metal music, in the traditional sense, they make the best fuse of their roots with pagan music, I have not experienced such a personal and emotional feeling as they do with their songs. It is perfect! - Will you ever tour Europe? We’re going to do it this year, we had planned to travel to Finland, Sweden and Germany, make a short tour and play in some cities in these countries, the current situation damaged these plans and I canceled them! We hope that in the future everything will return to normal and to resume this gig, it would be an honor, to travel, meet and play in these countries to which I have great musical admiration! - Is a Black Metal a respected genre in Colombia? As I think, it’s the most respected! And not only in Colombia but in many countries, as I said before, Black Metal is the genre that still retains all its natural essence, there have many sub genres within this genre, but they don’t affect its purity, in Colombia genres like Heavy, Thrash and Death
have very large and respected representatives worldwide, but Black is a style of music with a mystique different from the others, in introspection, Black Metal generates a deep and true connection with your internal ‘’I’’, I think that it goes beyond a simple musical composition and enters a much more personal aspect, rooted in your imagination, thought and emotion, If a band or a song doesn’t generate this for you, let me tell you that you are listening to something that doesn’t have an emotional weight and value, it is empty, for something this genre takes classical music as the influence of its creation, if you listen to a work like Mozart or Bach and then listen to an album like In the Nightside Eclipse by Emperor, you will realize the musical connection that exists between times and genres, the subconscious is the most powerful weapon that the human has, knowing how to exploit it, you have the ability to make melodies with extreme emotion and feeling, things that are achieved through knowledge and generational learning! I think nobody was born knowing how to play an instrument or knowing music theory, everything is a learning process and stories, culture, mysticism, magic, knowledge, even hatred and
resentment, make a genre like Black Metal be a fantastic work full of emotions and feelings! Very little music manages to wrap so much symbolism in a definitive concept, don’t just listen, investigate and read! Your musical experience will be much more enriching. - Is there much rivalry between Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia? I don’t think there is rivalry, but over time certain discords have been generated between some bands, members or record labels, for example, I know some Colombian bands cannot play in a city in another country due to ideological shits or personal differences, even due to fights between bands and vice versa, the bands and the people that conform up a band are destined to criticism, hatred, envy, not everything is beautiful and peaceful, I know cities where a specific genre prevails, in cities where Black and Death Metal are a priority, A Power or Gothic band will be discredited, even attacked, of course that radicalism was reduced considerably, a few years ago this was, as a rule, a welcome to your city, ‘’Welcome to hell you motherfuckers’’ the band that goes through this will never return to the city where they were kicked and humiliated, but like I said, this happened years ago! 33
Lucifera - Black/Thrash/Metal from Colombia 34
When I had the opportunity to travel to these countries and play in different cities, everything was very normal and calm, although in a city in Perú, a member of my previous band insulted a band that played gothic and the fight was brutal. The organizer stopped the concert and we had to return to the hotel escorted because they wanted to beat us out of the city! Hahaha problems of the work! The empathy that is formed with certain people in different countries is very pleasant, you not only know them for being good musicians, but for being quality people, before being anything, be a good human being, be loyal, be firm, the Honor is very important, and in very few people you will find these exceptional qualities. - Do you ever consider singing in En-
glish to get new fans? We tried, we had the idea to do it for our last album ‘’La Cacería de Brujas’’, orig-
inally it was going to be sung in English, but years ago we make a track called ‘’Upon the Crypts’’ and the truth was not we liked how it sounded, there was no originality, it
was not what it represented us, maybe for other bands it will work and the market will open up and get more fans, but that is not our business, Lucifera has been characterized by singing in Spanish and it will continue to be so, for us, it’s peculiar and exotic to listen to bands in their native language, we want it to be so for you, the Spanish language is one of the most extensive and difficult to learn, but like this as it’s difficult for us to learn a language or to speak two or more languages, it should also be for you, if you want to know what our lyrics are about and what they express, you have to put yourself in the task of learning the language, or at least use a dictionary or translator, we don’t like to be easy and that our foreign listeners don’t have the facility to understand our music, the most brutal thing about this is to investigate, explore, enter and understand the music, the rest, it is easy to listen and understand! We are not going with this idea. We are not going to leave our language to sell more, Lucifera is in Spanish and it will always be like that!
The fact is to break with the paradigm, we know that the world music market is dominated by the English language, everything sounds “good” in English, everyone knows how to speak English, communications, the social environment and the largest network of digital information it is in english! We decided to breathe a moment of this bombardment and do something in our own language, Lucifera in English: Never! Lucifera in Spanish: Always. - What do you think of Deicide’s more realistic take on Satanic music? I think Satan has a different version in each culture, in each region of the planet, religion sold us an idea or image of Satan, that evil infernal demon, with horns, red, and who lives in the depths of the earth on rivers of lava and sinful bodies in eternal agony! What imagination of those who personify these entities! And yes, this image obtained a magnificent result when it comes to selling! Countless bands have taken the image of Satan and incorporated it into their music, the result: masterpieces in Metal World, Deicide is a clear example of how well it’s to talk about this character and mix it into extremely
powerful and powerful music, not to mention Glen Benton, I had the opportunity to meet him personally and his gaze expresses more evil than the lyrics and music he does! Hahahahaha... in short, Metal and Satan music get along very well, the more controversial you generate, the more you sell and the more they will listen to you! It’s very different what happened in Norway in the 90’s and many confuse it with Satanism, sorry! They confused and carried out acts in the name of Satan when the idea was totally different, the fact of preserving your culture and your ancestral roots from an imminent contemporary religious invasion is the most prudent and certain thing to do, total support for these Actions! I guess you know what I’m talking about... - Do you have a message for our readers? Be loyal to those who deserve it, seek your honor and always follow the Rock ‘N Roll path, it will never disappoint you!
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Ewigkeit - Experimental/Black Metal from United Kingdom
Interview with Mr. Fog
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Interview by Andrew Stanton
As far as I’m concerned, James Fogarty is a total genius. Ewigkeit is yet another side project full of talent and intrigue. - Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please? Started releasing music in ‘97 influenced by the Black Metal scene. Started doing my own thing by ‘99, and ended up in my own world by the early 2000’s. I have been there ever since. - What do you think of the current British Black Metal scene? What do you think it n e e d s ? Honestly, I have no connection at all with the UK Black Metal
scene. As an outsider, it seems rather insular and self limiting. - Why do you think so many magazines deny the existence of Black Metal? Do they? It’s like this massive trend compared to when I started listening to this stuff in 93-94. Back then it was
- How do you find the time to release two or three albums a year, and still have time to play in other bands? I strongly believe that you should record EVERYTHING you think of. If that’s a riff, a lyric idea, some artwork... do it. That spark will not c o m e again, and can be improved on. - Why did you decide to change your musical style? I’m not sure I have changed my style. If you are talking XXIII, then i’ve had blatant elements of 70’s rock in my music for almost 20 years. This EP is the most deliberate in that style, but I have a cornucopia of styles in pret-
t of a r a p g in e b o t int hat t t I’m really no u o s n r u t s alway it e s u a c e b , b was. clu it t h g u o h t u at yo it wasn’t wh unheard of still, in a mainstream way. Now I see people wearing Darkthrone shirts in town and don’t bat an eyelid.
ty much every album since 2000. - Why do so many Black Metal bands write songs about space and the cosmos? It’s escapism, a longing for the unknown. The occult imagery of the 90s has given way to the truly terrifying… - How do you describe your music? Metal, with strong elements of 90’s Black Metal, and everything that went beforeand came after. - What bands do you listen to? What bands influenced you before and after your style change? Honestly, I’m more interested in writing than listening. But bands I appreciate are Sabbath, Maiden, Paradise Lost, Emperor, Katatonia, and then they get more obscure after that, so not worth mentioning. - Do you still consider yourself a part of the Black Metal scene? Seriously, there has been no Black Metal scene for a long time in my opinion. it’s a dog eat dog attitude from everyone, and fuck the rest - in music in general. I’m really not into being part of a club, because it always turns out that it wasn’t what you thought it was. - Will you ever go back to making Black Metal? I do make Black Metal! - with Old Forest (in a traditional
sense), with In The Woods (in a progressive sense) and Ewigkeit (in an experimental sense). Sometimes I change the flavour, but never the dish. The last Ewigkeit album ‘DISClose’ was post-Black metal inspired by early 90’s Doom Death and modern metal; what more do you want? I don’t do the face-paint type Black Metal - that’s not what I’m about. I’m about creativity, ideas,
new ways, self-improvement. - What advice would you give new solo Black Metal artists? DON’T SELL YOUR SOUL! Seriously, Get a job. BUT! continue what you are doing musically, and with intensity. Are underground bands just bands magazines choose to ignore? Pretty much. The stench
of money has now even made its way online. Print is dead, but you now have to pay to be on so and so’s playlist on spotify blah blah blah... Just a bunch of self-appointed secenster priests - it’s all bullshit. I don’t fucking care about that. Same cunts, different scenery. - What can fans expect from your new material? I’ll always be doing something - under different guises. If you hear something I did, and like it, you’ll probably hear that in other things I do. Just make sure to follow the different bands & projects! - Do you have a message for our readers? I’m assuming they can make their own mind up. I’m not into a ‘hard sell’ - I’d just tell people to give it a listen (it’s a back catalogue of many colours...); if it’s your thing then “welcome!”. If not, I wish you well on your quest to whatever other noisy rubbish you want to hear... Oh! By the way; you won’t find my Earache Records albums ‘Radio Ixtlan’ (2003) or ‘Conspiritus’ (2005) online, because the label owner is a paranoid, insecure moron. I’ll be dealing with that situation in the next year or two...
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Infernal - True Black/Metal from Colombia
Interview with Majestic Fire
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Interview by Andrew Stanton
Colombia’s Infernal have stayed true to Metal for so long they deserve your respect. Andrew Stanton got to know front man, Majestic Fire a bit more. Hello and welcome to Inside the Darkness. Thanks Andrew for the opportunity in Inside the Darkness. What m u s i c did you listen to while growing up?
A lot of hard Rock until 15 years old. - I heard you wrote a book. How did that go? It was an idea that I had had for a long time and the opportunity was given through a la-
out its 30 years of existence. - Do your lyrics ever get personal? Are you actually involved in the occult? The lyrics are quite personal. I rely a lot for the lyrics on that devil (dark soul) that we carry inside, that side of your personality that leads you to loneliness, to desolation (feeling of sinking), anguish, despair, to those moments that You wander in a maze with no way out.
cked a l s y a w has al l a t e That . M s e r n e g Black r othe r e v o ing, t y s t e i r r e a l t u n i p po akes it m t a h ity. r w o y n l i e g m r a a l is e for d a m s i that it bel from Bogota. It tells a series of stories around the band through-
A reality that people try to avoid, and that is perfect for talking to ourselves and listening to ourselves, that our inner self always has many things to say to us. - Were there Black Metal bands in South America before you? Of course. Even, In Colombia bands like: Maleficarum, Nebiros. In Brazil: Murder Rape. Sabaoth in Paraguay. Etc. - What do you think of bands like Cradle of Filth and Akercocke trying to use controversy to sell albums? It is a sales strategy, which I do not share. A band must motivate its followers by the quality of music, content and presentation. - How big is Black Metal in Colombia? Do you get played on local radio? There is a very strong scene despite the divisions that are seen. Now in black metal there is a great variety of proposals. Our music sounds, but only in underground local radios. - Why do you think mainstream maga-
zines hate Black Metal? Black Metal has always lacked popularity over other genres. That is largely what makes it interesting, that it is made for a minority.
- Are Mayhem and Dimmu Borgir too theatrical? Dimmu Borgir especially that focuses heavily on the visual theme. - What Colombia bands do you listen to these days? Lamentaciones, Felonias, GOC, Cabra Negra, Dantalian, Sadistic Rot, Reptile, Dark Wisdom, etc. - What do you think of Christian Black Metal? It is quite a contradictory position. I am not interested in the genre. - What are the best and worst places to play live in South America? According to my expe-
rience, I think Colombia and Ecuador are quite interesting places to play. Worst places? Humm. I do not know the scenes of other countries, I have never played to know if they are good or bad with respect to concerts. - What can fans expect from your new album? This year we are going to release a split CD with Vitam Et Mortem and there are very good expectations from the public. You know that the band owes a lot to quality and we always give the best in each production. The new themes we have introduced new composition techniques and denser and darker sounds. - Do you have a message for our readers? Keep the burning flame of metal in your souls and wait for new releases and re-releases of Infernal. Thank you for your time. Thanks to you for your space, time and support.
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Eshtadur - Melodic Death/Metal from Colombia
Interview with Jorg August
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Interview by Andrew Stanton
Eshtadur are yet another great band from Colombia. This band have been around for quite a while. Andrew Stanton had a talk with front man Jorg. - Hello and welcome to Inside the Darkness. Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please? Thank you very much for reaching Eshtadur and hello to all the Inside The Darkness followers, I am Jorg, Leader of the band, I began at the age of 15 with Eshtadur, playing drums, then playing other roles, as vocalist and Guitar player, I am a music teacher and a metalhead.
- What bands did you like when growing up? I listened to a lot of Metallica in a tape I had, Master of Puppets, and Heavy Metal bands from the 80’s, Bon Jovi, Joe Lynn Turner, Black Sab-
lished worldwide and our genre is most appreciated in Europe and US. - What are your lyrics about? Many own experiences through darkness, depression, the decay of humanity, the devastation of nature. - Why did you change from Black Metal to Death Metal? Did you influences change? At first, when I formed Eshtadur at my earliest 15 with a group of friends, we had this wish to play darkened Metal, we were following bands like Covenant and the kind, and I was the drummer, the band changed, different members, and I continue as a solo
oice v r u o y e in v e i is l e b t i u o , y s t If ugh o h t ul. r f u t o c y e p s d e n r a d n a e l b a honor bath, Rainbow, Dio. - Why do you choose to sing in English? I think English allows you to catch more cultures, it is estab-
artist, doing all the music, lyrics, etc. I have always liked Death Metal, and wanted to mix both genres. - After you changed your style, why did your lyrics stay similar? My point of view and concept is the same, it is the same reason, and motif for me, why I do music, and why I play metal, is the same for me, but I have never been marked in a single genre or style, I like many variations of music, folk, jazz, classic, that’s why. - The Colombian scene seems to dominate the entire South American scene. Is this just due to the amount of great bands? There are many great, great bands in Colombia, but I don’t think we rule among others in America, there is much metal in Brazil and Chile too, Perú. Very great bands. - What do you think of bands who write songs about rape and gore? It is kind of a theme, and concept, I know many people live this style as a way of going out of reality, but never found someone who really rapes, and eats dead flesh haha, somehow this means more lyrically than literally. - Why do you think so many magazines ignore so many great bands? Because not all the bands acquire the same compromise, there are many bands out there that “think” they are doing it seriously, but
not. I say this, because I have forced myself to sell a TV, or avoid buying some food, for paying my records, and I have seen others paying their beers first, to then pay their rehearsal room, is absurd. And that’s why, we are lost in a kind of stupid
blinding mist, which makes this even harder to achieve. - What do you think of bands who try to be controversial? Trying it is ok I think, if their reasons are noble and true, many bands are lost in their true manners, as I said, if you believe in your voice and your thoughts, it is honorable and respectful. - Is it harder for older bands to get new fans? I think older bands, they get fans so easy, because there are many listeners “poor of own mind and soft, weak of criterion”, so they follow the same bands that everybody is following, without question and without conscious-
ness, of course, that is not the band´s fault, they could be great, but they already have a name out there, the hard thing to do, is to do your own name, when nobody knows how to listen anymore. - Will you ever tour Europe? Yes, absolutely, I did once, I will do twice and many more as possible. What can fans expect from your new album? This album is what I have always wanted to do, a good balance between Black Metal and Death Metal, with obscure passages and very melodic. - Do you have a message for our readers? In these days of massive interchange of data through the internet, it becomes deplorable and diminished our metal music very much, and we have no option but to proceed on this transition, what we can do, is to support good bands, and people out there trying it hard to succeed, I usually never ask someone to buy music, or to ask for support, but there is one thing you can do, you can go and check Eshtadur´s album on any digital platform, without buying anything, you can listen, and you can see if you like it or not, and if you do not like it, just continue with your life, and move on, no problem, but if you like it, give us a share, listen our band as long time as you can, subscribe to our social media, allow us to gain a new fan.
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Khors - Black/Metal from Ukraine
Interview with Khaoth
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Interview by Andrew Stanton
As far as I’m concerned, Where the World Acquires Eternity is a masterpiece. Andrew Stanton got to know more from drummer Khaoth - Hello and welcome to Inside the Darkness. Hi there! Thank you for your interest. - Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please? The band was established in 2004. Since then we’ve passed through many things both bad and good,
lineup changes, recorded and released 7 full lengths, EP and a couple of live albums as well as played some shows. - What bands influenced you? Basically there are
Black Metal bands from 90s as well as some mellow and progressive stuff like Katatonia, Opeth and many many others. - What is the Ukrainian scene like? It is like any other one. Many good and bad bands are here. - Do you feel some people will ignore you just because you don’t come from N o r w a y ? I don’t know. I don’t care honestly. I assume that such
e c a f o t e k i l e l t t ’ t i n l o d s i h orld. I t n i s e l o asshal music w Met too many bands in our playlist. Old and classic bands from European Death Metal scene, classic
a phenomenon takes place, but nothing we can do with this so we prefer to ignore it. - Is it harder making Black Met- a l outside of Norway? I have no idea of how does it feel making Black Metal in Norway, but it is very natural here. We play that we do best. - What are your lyrics and themes about? It is different from album to album. - Can you tell us about the album artwork? It reflects dark and terrible times that our places once experienced. - Even though it’s extreme Black Metal, I found the album strangely relaxing. Is this s o m e t h i n g you did intentionally? This is how we do it. We don’t do things like “we must it to be dark, yet melodic”, this is, again, natural things that are coming out from us, and if we feel it fits our music concept – we develop this music idea further. If it doesn’t fit – we just throw it for some time or it
of bands who goes to someone’s side project. think - What are your album try to be controversial? This is a music business and sales like in Norway? Most likely Zero. some people want to behave like celebrities in this environment. Sometimes people try their best to be more visible and sometimes they just behave like fools. Can’t say I have a definite attitude to this. But of course I don’t like to face assholes in this little Metal music world. - What do you think of the current Black Metal scene? It is oversaturated. Lots of cool bands and releases, and a lot of shit too. Sometimes it’s hard to find a really worthwhile release in a pile of shit. But, to be honest, I don’t listen to Black Metal a lot and it takes a little place in my life that I thought about it. - How do you describe your sound? It is heavy, yet melancholic, melodic. - Do you have a message for our readers? Be safe, well, - The aland happy. bum seemed very epic healthy at times. Sometimes I thought it was a concept album. Was I right? Yes, you are totally right. What do you 43
Quiar - Melodic Black Metal from Argentina
Interview with Yesica Castelo
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Interview by Andrew Stanton
As far as I’m concerned, Where the World Acquires Eternity is a masterpiece. Andrew Stanton got to know more from drummer Khaoth - Can you tell our readers a bit about your story, please? Hello, we tell you that Quiar is a melodic Black Metal band formed in 2014 by Pablo Dello Valle and Yesica Castelo. The first years we dedicated ourselves to composing our own songs and in 2017 we released our first album Sigilo Mortal. Then we began to perform live shows and at the same
time continue to compose new songs. In 2018 we released our second album Infamia Celestial and we also made a covers album that same year called Cadencias De Antaño. In 2019 our fourth album La Apología Fantasma arrives and this year
so we are doing shows online and we are recording a new album of covers that will be released soon. - Judging by your cover songs, I’m guessing you don’t like Black Metal. Is it true? No, that is definitely not so. We love Black Metal, in fact all of our own songs are Melodic Black Metal. What is the Argentinian scene like? At the moment everything is very limited due to the quarantine, but usually the demand for shows that there are every weekend is very pleasant.
e n o y r e v e s e t i t n a u h l a w t e M er t t a m no try you are from. coun 2020, due to the pandemic, we were unable to perform at live shows or get together to compose our own songs,
There are many, many Metal bands and of all genres. If you want to go out and listen to good music, you have many options to choose where to go. Fellow Argentinian’s Dreams in Darkness said the Argentinian scene is different from the rest of South America. What makes it so different? What differs widely is in the number of bands there are, and the large number of places where you can perform live shows. In terms of musical quality, there are great metal bands throughout South America. - Will you ever tour Europe? We would love to, it is an outstanding debt that we have. - What can fans expect from your new album? In our new album of covers that will come out next month, you will be able to remember those songs that you listened to in the years ‘70, ‘80 and ‘90, but in a different version, similar to the music we make of our own authorship. - What covers are on the new album? The cover of the new album
is double, in one you will see a dragon breaking glass and in the other a cobra doing the same. Keeping some details of the cover album that we made in 2018. In fact the name is very similar to that album. - Will you ever do a cover of a Metal song?
Although it is not in our plans, we do not rule it out, we could get to do it for a tribute album of some consecrated band. - When you do covers of pop songs, are you ever afraid fans might not take you seriously? Fortunately not, because the fans already know our way of working, the responsibility with which we do it, and that we have made several albums with songs entirely composed by us, therefore making the pop versions is only an addition to our music, which the
same audience suggested us to do. And to this day we have received good reviews regarding it. Is Chile the biggest rival of Argentina? As for politics and football, you could say yes. But when it comes to music, not at all, many Argentine bands are going to perform shows in Chile, just like Chilean bands come to perform live in our country, Metal unites everyone no matter what country you are from. - What does Quiar mean? Quiar is the rejection we feel towards people who take over something that does not belong to them. - Do you have a message for our readers? First of all we want to thank Andrew for giving us a place in Inside the Darkness, that they have been interested in us from the other side of the world fills us with gratitude. And we say to the readers that they can listen to us on all digital platforms and I hope they like our music despite the Spanish language. Greetings to all and thank you very much!!!
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Law of Contagion - Death Black Metal from Portugal
Interview with Ishkur
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Interview by Andrew Stanton
Hello and welcome to Inside the Darkness. 1. Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please? My personal history isn’t really important or interesting. Law of Contagion was born somewhere in 2019, but has been brewing for some years already in my mind and soul. I wrote “Woeful Litanies from the Nether Realms”
in late 2019, and signed with Moribund Records early 2020, and here we are. 2. What bands did you like growing up?
years, I was really big on traditional Celtic folk music (still am today), then I went through an obligatory new metal phase, while listening to “easy-listening” t h r a s h metal at the same time (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, that kind of thing), and finally I discovered metal for real, with Cannibal Corpse and Cradle of Filth.
genre l a t e M Black the w a n R o e h c h T ed mu d n e p nues e i t d n o c r e t v i e , n yway n a m a elines. e r d i s e mainst h on t e v i r h to t Depends what you consider “growing up” … When I was small, up to my adolescent
From then on I went further into Death Metal and Black Metal, slowly anchoring myself more into Black. 3. How do you compare Law of Contagion to your other bands? Well, it’s a completely different sound from any of my past projects or bands. Most were pretty much black metal through and through, with the exception of Wistful going more into a postrock field. I always was a big fan of old-school D e a t h Metal, and wanted for some years to do something that would join the dark atmosphere of Black Metal to the monolithic heaviness of Death Metal. 4. What is the Portuguese scene like? I suppose it’s like any other metal scene anywhere. Good bands,
bad bands. Good people, shitty people. Some have hidden agendas and are entitled pedantic people, others are hard-working musicians or supporting fans with a sense of community (if you can call it that). Ultimate-
ly humans will behave like humans whatever their scene or group. 5. Why did you choose to make Blackened Death Metal instead of Raw Black Metal? Like I said before, most of my past bands and projects were pure Black
Metal, with some style variations between them. Law of Contagion is a different approach I want to explore, and I feel comfortable doing it at the moment. 6. Why do you think mainstream magazines choose all the most unworthy bands to make big? To be honest, nowadays it sometimes seems like anything that isn’t new and fresh and avant-garde is disregarded as inferior by some of the public. I think it’s more in line with everyone wanting to be “on the forefront” and “on the cutting edge” of everything. Magazines, like any other media, need novelty and shock to grab consumers. So most new metal bands that are propelled to the limelight tend to be fusion or fringe bands, combining metal with some other genre, or doing it in a non-standard way, because that’s what the public seems to want these days. 47
Law of Contagion - Death Black Metal from Portugal 48
This is in no way a testament to their quality, as there are some bands aligned in this approach that are actually pretty good, and able to carve a personal and well-made sound amidst all the gimmicks and flashy avant-gardism. Magazines tend to do exactly the same, even going further. 7. Why do you think some mainstream magazines try to convince their readers some bands are ‘Metal’? Is it just brainwashing readers? I wouldn’t call it brainwashing specifically. It ties into my previous answer. It’s a question of supply and demand. Media has had the tradition of finding bands and promoting them to fans, being the go-to choice for music discovery (at least in the past) and I believe this is just an attempt of keeping relevant in a world where anyone
can find new bands and content easily: find out what people want and try to go beyond that. A lot of bands are fusing metal with other genres, and going “outside the
box” of the genres, and the public seems to enjoy that. Metal magazines need to justify including said bands in their content, so some of them bend over themselves trying to make everything
“metal”. Others just don’t care and talk about whatever they want, metal or not. I can respect that. 8. Do you think your fans will like Law of Contagion? I’m pretty sure some people like it, from the reactions so far. I know it would be “cool” and “trve” to say I don’t care what other people think about what I do, but if so, what would be the point in releasing music publicly? Of course what I do mainly caters to my own taste and vision, but I release it because I believe other people will enjoy it as well. 9. Why do mainstream magazines try to hide Black Metal from its readers? They do? Well, again, I’d say it’s a question of supply and demand. There seems to be more public for crossover/fusion modern or symphonic black metal than for raw Black Metal. Magazines most likely pursue what they believe will secure most readers.
The raw Black Metal genre never depended much on the mainstream anyway, it continues to thrive on the sidelines… 10. What are your lyrics about? Law of Contagion is meant as a way for me to explore the lefthand path and general dark occult. I don’t wish to expose specificities of my personal experience freely, as those are my own, but the thematic core of this project revolves around Luciferianism, demonology, demonolatry, thanatology and other occult gnosis. 11. When it comes to musicians with a lot of bands and side projects, people think it’s just music, music, music all day, every day. Is it like that? Yes and no. Truth be told, even if I had no projects or bands at all, I would be around music all the time, as even when I’m working or commuting I’m al-
ways listening to music. Concerning the making of music, I tend to not work on different projects/bands at the same time, and focus on one at a time. So in the end,
What ends up happening is that odds are over the year I will always be working on something, even if a certain project or band is currently not actively releasing or promoting anything. 12. Why are mainstream magazine so quick to lie to their readers? Not sure what you mean with this. See above answers, maybe they’ll work for this as well. 13. Do you have a message for our readers? Thank you for the support. Keep supporting the underground, stay true to yourself. Check Law of Contagion out and be on the lookout for more soon. A.M.S.G. Thank you for your time.
I might end up working on music every day, but it doesn’t take up more time than if I had only one band, as I schedule everything sequentially. 49
Latest releases
Hecate Symphonic Black Death Metal band from Egypt released the second Fulllength album In Nomine Artem Blackium on August 6th, 2020. Hecate - unique, tight sounding form of Symphonic black metal elements heavily influenced by death metal music mixed with the horrific, dark instruments of modern symphony orchestra.
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‘In Nomine Artem Blackium’ is divided into 2 Disks for a total of 17 tracks; Disk 1 contains the original composition of the tracks while Disk 2 is, for Classical Music Lovers, the Orchestral version of the release containing 8 orchestral album tracks.
Tracklist: 1. Namaah 2. King Ov The Underworld 3. O Apollyon, O Azael 4. In Nomine Artem Blackium 5. Into The Ultimate Void 6. Sons Ov Hecate 7. Surrealistic Ressurction 8. Sorrow 9. Oceans Ov Hell Lineup Lord Mist - Guitars, Bass, Keyboards Adam - Vocals Mohamed Al-Assaal - Drums Sarie - Vocals (Soprano) on tracks (6, 7).
Incantation Death Metal band from United States released the twelfth Fulllength album Sect of Vile Divinities on August 21st, 2020. For over 30 years INCANTATION has consistently remained one of the underground’s most influential and respected artists in the genre. True to form, Sect of Vile Divinities sees the legendary band adhering to the ways of the old school, unleashing twisted, mangled, and utterly disgusting Death Metal once again. A pitch-black mix of unrelenting Death Metal and imposing Funeral Doom, each track on Sect of Vile Divinities is a dirge dedicated to different ancient evils across various cultures. At a point where the world’s most vile converge, tracks such as «Propriation» see the band’s driving riffs and pummeling drums crush the ver y
foundations of religious zealotry, while standouts such as «Entrails of the Hag Queen» and «Fury’s Manifesto» champion no-frills Death Metal in its purest form. Three decades of Death Metal still the funeral procession carries on. With Sect of Vile Divinities, INCANTATION hail a return to form for the genre, and release one of 2020’s most blasphemous and unforgiving titles. Tracklist 1. Ritual Impurity (Seven of the Sky Is One) 2. Propitiation 3. Entrails of the Hag Queen 4. Guardians from the Primeval 5. Black Fathom’s Fire 6. Ignis Fatuus 7. Chant of Formless Dread
8. Shadow-Blade Masters of Tempest and Maelstrom 9. Scribes of the Stygian 10. Unborn Ambrosia 11. Fury’s Manifesto 12. Siege Hive Lineup Sonny Lombardozzi Guitars (lead) John McEntee - Guitars, Vocals Kyle Severn - Drums Chuck Sherwood - Bass
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Latest releases
Ages M e l o d i c Black Metal band from S w e d e n r e l e a s e d the second Full-length album Uncrown on August 21st, 2020. AGES was formed during the harsh Swedish winter of 2011. Ages resealed their first critically acclaimed album “THE MALEFIC MIASMA” in 2015. AGES have since worked fervently to complete their second album;
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and after five long years, “UNCROWN” is finally complete.
Tracklist 1. Burn Them 2. Illicit State 3. Herolds of Enslavement 4. A Hollow Tomb 5. Dominionism 6. Undivine 7. Uncrown 8. The Death of Kings of Old 9. Pyres Lineup Brice Leclercq - Bass Eldhrimnir - Keyboards, Violin, Oud, Programming, Vocals (backing) Hvergelmer - Vocals (lead), Guitarss
Law of Contagion Black/Death Metal from Portugal released the first Full-length album Woeful Litanies from the Nether Realms on August 28th, 2020. From the deeper nether realms of hate, conjuring demons and whispering dark litanies - Black/Death metal from Portugal - Debut album 28/08 Portuguese not-sonewcomer, Ishkur of the Black Death Metal act LAW OF CONTAGION, delivers a massively infectious debut album “Woeful Litanies from the Nether Realms”. Having been involved in the underground for decades recording with multiple well known bands, Ishkur opted to evoke his own pure vision of
Luciferian litanies to sound as the sole member of LAW OF CONTAGION. The result is a superbly dingy and murky Occult Black / Death Metal with utterly rocking rhythm. A mammoth, dark and cavernous production fortifies these essences of “Woeful Litanies from the Nether Realms”, evoking the glory days of Black / Death Metal, when bands and albums were still authentic works of art. Oozing with a grim Old School aura, “Woeful Litanies from the Nether Realms” breaks only to let in cold, shadowy Black Metal melodies or to breathe out ruthlessly vile Death Metal passages. A thick and dense album of Blackened Death Metal in
the classic vein of legendary acts such as Mysitfier, Beherit, Mortuary Drape, Necromantia and “De Mysteriis…” era Mayhem, as evidenced by soon-to-be-classic tracks such as the dynamic “Ov Evil” or the dark thrashing “Cult of the Damned”. Tracklist 1. Heralding the Insane 2. Ov Evil 3. Litany 4. Blood Vindication 5. Ancient Obscenities 6. Cult of the Damned 7. Mors Ultima Ratio Lineup Ishkur - Vocals, All instruments
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Latest releases
Noumena Melodic Death Metal band from Finland released the sixth Full-length album Anima on September 4, 2020. Noumena (est. 1998, Ähtäri, Finland) have offered their distinctive and unique view of Melodic Death Metal on five full-length albums so far. And now they release a new album Anima (on the 4th of September 2020). Rarely there is a better soundtrack at hand for the approaching autumn than this album, lingering amid heavy,
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dark and slow waters. The new album presents the darkest and the most melancholic Noumena so far. Band’s unique style to weave wistful melodies is present once again. The songs offer glimpses of Finnish folk music and old schlager fortified with merciless and heavy base. The distinctive feature of Anima is melancholy and serenity. Anima is a joint creative endeavor of artists from Noumena’s hometown, Ähtäri. Besides songs, cover artwork, promo pictures and music video of Saatto are crafted by Ähtäribred professionals.
Tracklist 1. Kaiku 2. Saatto 3. Murtuneet 4. Seula 5. Ajaton 6. Totuus 7. Anima 8. Joutsen Lineup Hannu Savolainen - Bass Ilkka Unnbom - Drums Ville Lamminaho - Guitars, Mandolin, Vocals Tuukka Tuomela - Guitars Antti Haapanen - Vocals Suvi Uura - Vocals Markus Hirvonen - Guitars, Vocals
Desolator Old School Death Metal band from Sweden released the second Full-length album Sermon of Apathy on September 4, 2020. The then-unnamed Desolator was formed in early 2009 when Joakim, Jonas, and Mille started jamming in Sollentuna. After a few rehearsals, Stefan joined in. The project was originally going in a doom/death direction, but changed into an old school death metal band after some full band rehearsals.
“Sermon of Apathy” is death metal the way it’s supposed to be played; fast, doomy, spooky, melodic, torturous. Gorgeous.» For fans of: Immolation, Morbid Angel, Bloodbath, Vader, Blood Red Throne, Nile.
Tracklist 1. Portal Tomb 2. Adversarial Doctrine 3. Creatures of Habit 4. Methods of Self-Deception 5. The Human Condition 6. Vaticide 7. The Great Law of the Dead Lineup Jonas Bergkvist - Bass, Vocals Stefan Nordström - Guitars, Vocals Joakim Rudemyr - Guitars, Vocals Victor Parri - Drums
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Latest releases
Void Rot Death/Doom Metal band from United States released the first Full-length album Descending Pillars on September 11, 2020. American death-doom titans Void Rot return with their colossal debut full-length LP «Descending Pillars», an imposing sonic monolith of obsidian slow death metal and dismal atmospherics that encases the listener into a monstrous sarcophagus of sound. In its immense forty minutes «Descending Pillars» conjures visions of otherworldly finality and of absurd forms of death and demise taking shape at the edge of a formless and
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implacable dark cosmos. With influences ranging from Grave, to Disembowelment, Incantation and Bolt Thrower, on «Descending Pillars» the Minnesota quartet reestablishes itself as visionary new act with an unparalleled sound and aesthetic of dismally towering proportions, cementing their reputation as one of contemporary death-doom’s most promising and visionary prospects along the ranks of entities like Krypts, Spectral Voice, and Vastum.
Tracklist 1. Descending Pillars 2. Upheaval 3. Liminal Forms 4. Delusions of Flesh 5. Inversion 6. The Weight of a Thousand Suns 7. Monolith (Descending Pillars, Pt. II) Lineup: Craig Clemons - Bass Will Bell - Drums Kent Sklarow - Guitars John Hancock - Guitars, Vocals
S k e l e t a l Remains Death Metal band from United States released the fourth Fulllength album The Entombment of Chaos on September 11, 2020. SKELETAL REMAINS formed as Anthropophagy back in 2011, released two acclaimed albums through German label FDA Rekotz and honed their skills on the road, playing an impressive amount of gigs and tours early on in the band’s career. In 2018, the band took the proverbial next step, releasing their third record, “Devouring Mortality”, on Dark Descent in North America and Century Media internationally.
Having toured with the likes of Obituary, Hatebreed, Municipal Waste, Power Trip, The Black Dahlia Murder, and many more, SKELETAL REMAINS have succeeded in building up a loyal following worldwide and will now excite their supporters once again with a strong sonic statement. Lineup Mike De La O - Guitars Chris Monroy - Guitars, Vocals Noah Young - Bass Pierce Williams - Drums
Tracklist 1. Cosmic Chasm (Intro) 2. Illusive Divinity 3. Congregation of Flesh 4. Synthetic Impulse 5. Tombs of Chaos 6. Enshrined in Agony 7. Dissectasy 8. Torturous Ways to Obliteration 9. Eternal Hatred 10. Unfurling the Casket 11. Stench of Paradise Burning (Disincarnate cover)
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Latest releases
Mortis Mutilati Black Metal band from France released the fifth Full-length album The Fate of Flight 800 on September 11, 2020. Mortis Mutilati is a French black metal band created by Macabre in 2011. After two albums released via Naturmacht Productions, the band started touring a bit everywhere in their home country then self released ‘’The Stench Of Death’’ in 2018,
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allowing the band to reach euopean countries and Mexico. Mortis Mutilati is now about to release their new album ‘’The Fate Of Flight 800’’, recorded by Devo (exMarduk) at Endarker Studios, Sweden.
Tracklist: 1. Road to Nowhere 2. Flames Behind You 3. Deathcrown 4. The Fate of Flight 800 5. The Smoke of Your Corpse 6. Vultures of Steel 7. Rising Souls 8. Ashes Lineup Macabre - Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Cello, Synths Asphodel - Vocals (female) Rokdhan - Guitars Aryth - Drums
Khors Black Metal band from Ukraine released the seventh Full-length album Where the Word Acquires Eternity on September 15, 2020. Khors is a Slavic god of the sun and light. KHORS is one of the most significant bands hailing from Ukraine. Experienced musicians of the Ukrainian underground metal scene created the band in August 2004 in Kharkiv. “Where the Word Acquires Eternity” is a concept album dedicated to the events that took place in Kharkiv in the 30s of the XX century – the times called Renaissance of Ukrainian culture. By that time, in the
end of 1920s, a residential multi-storey house was built by cooperative of writers. Externally the house was built in the shape of the letter С and was named Будинок “Слово” (a House “Word”). In most Slavic languages the word “Слово” means “Word”. A whole galaxy of Ukrainian writers, playwrights, poets, publicists, actors and public figures lived here until mass repressions against Ukrainian cultural figures began in 1933. This tragic page of history is known as the “Executed Renaissance”. Almost all the residents of the House “Slovo” were subjected to repression: some were shot, some were exiled, and some committed suicide.
Lineup Khorus - Bass Khaoth - Drums Jurgis - Guitars, Vocals Andres - Guitars Tracklist 1. Starvation 2. Blissforsaken 3. Crystals of the Fall 4. The Sea of My Soul 5. ...and Life Shall Harvest One’s Past 6. Up the Ladder to a Lance 7. The Mist (Let This Fog Devour a Snow) 8. Beneath the Keen Edge of Time
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Latest releases
Finntroll Blackened Folk Metal band from Finland released the seventh Full-length album Vredesvävd on September 18, 2020. The trolls are back – angrier, hungrier and meaner than ever! “Vredesvävd” (2020) is Finntroll’s seventh full-length, the first in long seven years. The title translates to “Wrath-woven”, which aptly implies what the vigorous,
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unapologetic and illspirited record is all about. Lineup Tundra - Bass, Vocals (backing) Skrymer - Guitars (rhythm), Vocals (backing) Trollhorn - Keyboards, Orchestrations, Guitars, Banjo, Mouth harp, Vocals (backing) Routa - Guitars, Vocals (backing) Vreth - Vocals (lead) Virta - Keyboards MörkÖ - Drums
Tracklist 1. Väktaren 2. Att döda med en sten 3. Ormfolk 4. Grenars väg 5. Forsen 6. Vid häxans härd 7. Myren 8. Stjärnors mjöd 9. Mask 10. Ylaren 11. Outro
Napalm Death Grindcore/Death Metal band from United Kingdom released the sixteenth Full-length album Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism on September 18, 2020. Mark Barney about new album: The main thrust of this album is actually discrimination and dehumanisation that is not an uncommon topic for Napalm. Whatever we write about we try to make it current and specific to the times we are living in, so the types of discrimination and dehumanisation that we are talking about is now being adopted by governments around the world. For example you only have to look across the Atlantic, and I’m always loathed to mention him as it’s a very obvious thing to do, but the way he has marginalised people to suit his own ends it’s typical of the current climate.
Tracklist 1. Fuck the Factoid 2. Backlash Just Because 3. That Curse of Being in Thrall 4. Contagion 5. Joie de ne pas vivre 6. Invigorating Clutch 7. Zero Gravitas Chamber 8. Fluxing of the Muscle 9. Amoral 10. Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism 11. Acting in Gouged Faith 12. A Bellyful of Salt and Spleen
Lineup Shane Embury - Bass Mark «Barney» Greenway - Vocals Mitch Harris - Guitars, Vocals Danny Herrera - Drums
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Latest releases
Varg Melodic Death/Black Metal band from Germany released the seventh Full-length album Zeichen on September 18, 2020. Varg means «wolf» in both Swedish and Old Norwegian. On their authentic masterpiece Zeichen, the Wolves from VARG return to their roots and embark on a journey further down a new road. Forget anything you have seen or heard about them in the past few years
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and embrace the new album as a reboot of a band that never ceased to evolve and has gotten rid of everything superfluous. This seventh full length release marks a new era for the Wolves, haunted by wild battles, death and bloodlust - a resurrection from the fields of pagan metal, pairing razor-sharp melodic death riffs with Freki’s furious vocals. Within the first seconds of the album opener breaking loose, VARG pulls the listener into the year “793” that heralded the ferocious era of the Vikings.
Tracklist: 1. 793 2. Schildwall 3. Auf die Götter 4. Rán 5. Fara til ránar 6. Wildes Heer 7. Feld der Ehre 8. Wanderer 9. Verräter 10. Zeichen Lineup Fenrier - Drums Freki - Guitars, Vocals Morkai - Guitars Garm - Guitars Fylgja - Vocals (female
Raven Throne Atmospheric Black Metal band from Belarus released the seventh Full-length album Viartannie (Chroniki źmiainaj ciemry) on September 18, 2020. Raven Throne is the atmospheric black metal act formed in the northern part of Belarus in the faint year of 2004. Over time, through searches and discoveries, achievements and losses Raven Throne is looking for invisible trails to the mysteries of Non-being. Inspired by the beauty of eternal Winter as before, he continues the endless falling into the Abyss.
Tracklist 1. Zaklaćcie 2. Viartańnie 3. Uładar ściužy 4. Niabačnyja nici zimy 5. Miortvaja spadčyna 6. Spyni serca vosieni 7. U dałoniach zimy
Lineup Chernotur - Guitars War Head - Bass, Vocals, Programming
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Latest releases
Uada Melodic Black Metal band from United States released the third Fulllength album Djinn on September 25, 2020. The band`s third wish «Djinn» builds upon the increasingly ambitious songwriting of its noless-considerable predecessor, but pushes their dazzling artistry into nearly Technicolor landscapes of the Beyond. “Djinn, first inhabitors of this world, the smokeless fire and those we call upon our enemies,
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has gifted us a 60-minute descent into the modern-day possessions of our existence and demise,” state the band, “A duality that can only be known as our third wish.” Tracklist 1. Djinn 2. The Great Mirage 3. No Place Here 4. In the Absence of Matter 5. Forestless 6. Between Two Worlds
Lineup: James Sloan Guitars, Songwriting Jake Superchi - Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards, Songwriting, Lyrics, Arrangements Nate Verschoor - Bass, Songwriting Josiah Babcock Drums, Songwriting
Kataklysm Melodic Death Metal band from Canada released the fourteenth Full-length album Unconquered on September 25, 2020. Thundering with newly fueled power from the shadows and dust of humanity’s crumbling existence, KATAKLYSM return triumphant with their 14th full length studio album: UNCONQUERED. For almost 3 decades, the French-Canadian melodic death metal syndicate has delivered unapologetic waves of powerful sound across the entire globe. As of late, that globe has suffered tremendously, forcing the inspiration of many artists to extinguish, but for KATAKLYSM, the pressure caused a creative spring to burst forth with furious energy.
Themes of fighting back and overcoming the insurmountable seethe through the lyrics and melodies of UNCONQUERED; consistent, sonic reminders of the battles that lead to triumph. Not many bands have achieved what KATAKLYSM has in the span of their long and rigorous career, but what truly makes them stand them apart from the masses is seeing the world through truthful eyes, and creating the perfect musical landscape to describe it. With this new album, KATAKLYSM comes swinging at life with hope, and renewed energy even amidst the world’s current, chaotic state.
Tracklist
1. The Killshot 2. Cut Me Down 3. Underneath the Scars 4. Focused to Destroy You 5. The Way Back Home 6. Stitches 7. Defiant 8. Icarus Falling 9. When It’s Over Lineup Maurizio Iacono - Vocals Jean-François Dagenais Guitars Stéphane Barbe - Bass Olivier Beaudoin - Drums
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Latest releases
Mortum Black Metal band from United States released the third Fulllength album Atlantean Ouroboros on August 1, 2020. Lineup Ominous - Guitars, Bass, Vocals, Lyrics Mystic Yautja Drums, Lyrics Tracklist 1. Atlantean Ouroboros 2. A Spirit Amongst Ruins 3. The Crowned Serpent Rises from the Boiling Sea 4. Macabre Incenses 5. Catacombs of Archaic Doctrines 6. Lost Forever 7. Tidal Waves Dwarf Skyscrapers 8. Mount Shasta
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Megascavenger Death Metal band from Sweden released the fifth Full-length album Songs in the Key of Madness on August 6, 2020. Megascavenger is the brainchild of Swedish Death Metal icon Rogga Johanson, where he blends a heavy and catchy Death Metal in the vein of GRAVE/ ILLDISPOSED with a hint of Gore bands like EXHUMED, IMPETIGO, GHOUL, FRIGHTMARE, BLOOD FREAK... Featuring guest vocals and guitar solos from members of MACHETAZO, CROPSY MANIAC, WOMBBATH, FONDLECORPSE and PAGANIZER. Tracklist 1. They Went Mad 2. The Beckoning of the Rats 3. Laboratory Serenades 4. First We Slay (Then We Gorge) 5. Five Severed Fingers 6. Nothing but the Feet Remains 7. Human Sinkhole 8. A Terrible Tale of Reeking Remains
Nyktophobia Melodic Death Metal band from Germany released the third Full-length album What Lasts Forever on August 7, 2020. Nyctophobia is the fear of the dark/night. Tracklist 1. Once 2. Echoes of the Past 3. Nightwanderer 4. The Appearance of the Seven Suns 5. Yearning from an Uncharted Grave 6. Beyond the Horizon 7. What Lasts Forever 8. The Invocation of Erra 9. Moribund Lineup Michael Tybussek - Guitars Christian Timmer - Drums Tomasz Wisniewski Vocals Ben Bays - Bass Phillip Reuter - Guitars
Vassafor Black/Death Metal band from New Zealand released the third Full-length album To the Death on August 7, 2020. VASSAFOR should need no introduction. For the past decade and a half, since the band’s reactivation with their Demo II in 2005, this New Zealand cult have patiently plied their idiosyncratic craft, pushing the boundaries of black and death metal ever further whilst driving deep into each’s collective core. Any band would kill to write songs as mesmerizing ‘n’ monolithic as the opening 12-minute title track, or the ten-minute self-explanatory «Eyrie,» or especially the 17-minute, likewise self-explanatory closer «Singularity»...and that’s barely half the album. Tracklist 1.To the Death 2. Egregore Rising 3. Eyrie 4. Black Talon 5. The Burning Æthyr 6. Emanation from the Abyss 7. Singularity
Incarnate Deity Symphonic Black/Death Metal band from South Africa released the first Fulllength album Theodicy on August 14, 2020. Incarnate Deity present their new album «Theodicy», a blend of death and black metal with symphonic orchestration aimed for fans of SepticFlesh, Dimmu Borgir, Carach Angren, Fleshgod Apocalypse. This Christian metal project creates epic blackened death metal sounds for both Christian and secular fans alike. Enjoy it! (Mixing and mastering by Allen Purkiss of Dreamlab Studio).
Blasphemous Putrefaction Death Metal band from Germany released the first Full-length album Prelude to Perversion on August 15th, 2020. You just can’t fake it, you know? That special kind of filth and feeling of utter abomination. You can’t. It has to come straight from your guts, like a sudden urge to vomit. Some say call it instinct, others will probably choose blind devotion instead but whatever it is, Blasphemous Putrefaction is death metal incarnated. But deathmetal at its most primal and gnarly, where the riffs are more dragged in the mud screaming than actually performed and where there’s no room for melody nor any other sign of Tracklist normal human feeling. 1. Darkest Night Tracklist 2. Plaguebearer 1. Prelude to Perversion 3. Valley of Dry Bones 2. Necromantic 4. Legionnaire of 3. Blasphemous Ritual Degradation 4. Epidemic 5. Akeldama 5. Sacrifice for the Dead 6. No Quarter 6. Blooddrunk Skeleton 7. Stygian Oppression 7. Leprous and Cancerous 8. Finis Noctis 8. Splattered 9. Return to Chaos Lineup Lineup Zerachiel - guitar, bass, Tar Morion-Drums, Lineup vocals, drums and Noise VK - Guitars, Vocals, Bass orchestration Satanic Death Vulva- BP - Drums Guitars, Vocals
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Latest releases
Lost in the Shadows Black Metal band from Mexico released the third Full-length album Post Mortem on August 15, 2020. Tracklist 1. Angel of Death 2. Revelations from Underworld 3. Obscurity in My Eyes 4. Screams of Pain 5. Coffin Birth 6. Under Moonlight 7. Lost Voices 8. In My Dreams 9. The Last Breath Lineup Dev - Drums, Vocals Lord B. Kephas Vocals, Guitars Helder - Bass Blasphemous Morbid Guitars
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Fjord Melodic Black Metal band from Sweden released the third Full-length album Fara I Viking on August 28, 2020. This is a record that tells the tales from the age of Vikings. Tracklist 1. Fara I Viking 2. Vi hugger med våra svärd 3. Stavbärerska 4. Blot Till Oden 5. Havamål 6. När Valkyrior Rider 7. Jomsvikingar 8. Lindisfarne Anno 9. Ragnarrök II Lineup Archon von Fjord Everything
Skaldr Melodic Black Metal band from United States released the first Full-length album Scythe of Our Errors on August 28, 2020. Tracklist 1. Gathering Night 2. The Arrow of Hate is Drawn 3. Collapsar 4. Dying Blood 5. The Remnants of Our Black Creation 6. To Pierce This Fading Realm 7. The Neverwake 8. Scythe of Our Errors Lineup T.E. - Drums H.H. - Guitars B.D. - Guitars C.V. - Vocals, Bass
Drama Noir Atmospheric Death/ Black Metal band from Greece released the second Full-length album A Necromancy Lore on August 31, 2020. Tracklist 1. Desert Draconids 2. Chaos Melathron 3. Luminous Seduction 4. Devolution in the Curve of Time 5. The Last Incantation 6. Relics of My Enemies 7. Witched Curse (Η κατάρα της ηρούς) 8. Cyber Necromancer of Doom
Lineup Mephisto - Guitars rhythm), Keyboards Yngve - Drums Peisithanatos - Bass Nyctelios - Vocals
(lead,
Arcanum Sanctum Melodic Death Metal band from Russia released the third Full-length album Ad Astra on August 28, 2020. Mixed and mastered by legendary Dan Swanö, this is a journey into the world of Soviet science fiction, a voyage through Space and Time!
Eshtadur Melodic Death Metal band from Colombia released the fourth Fulllength album From the Abyss on September 4, 2020. ESHTADUR – meaning the rebellion of angels, can be most closely likened to bands such as Septic Flesh, Tracklist Behemoth, Fleshgod 1. Wanderers in Space Apocalypse, Carach 2. The Quest Angren, and the like. 3. Pack Rat Like their scene 4. Down to Earth counterparts, the band 5. Ad Astra embodies a deathly 6. A Perfect Place (to melodic atmosphere Hide) that reaches into 7. Solaris realms of darkness and 8. Under the Alien Sky despair through the decay of humanity. It seeks to Lineup rebel, in its darkened Kirill Kulinichev - Bass way, embracing the Roman Rysyev - Guitars abject reality. Vadim Nalivaiko - Guitars, Tracklist Keyboards, Vocal (backing) 1. Lowborn Bastard Ivan Beschastny - Vocals 2. The Adverse Side Nikolay Kondratyev - 3. The Red Door Drums 4. The Fall 5. She the Void 6. All She Wrote 7. Transient Stranger 8. The Oathbreaker 9. The Fear Difusser 10. Disphased Dimension
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Latest releases
Incinerated Death Metal band from Indonesia released the first Full-length album Stellar Abomination on September 1, 2020. INCINERATED brings us to the total Chaos, Death and Destruction, or with other words ‘if you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - for ever’. Tracklist 1. Chaos Infinite 2. Fleshtemple Sanctify 3. Bringer of Phalanx 4. The Acusser 5. Doom Legion 6. Desecration 7. Tongues of Sheol 8. Choshekh 9. Stellar Abomination 10. Cleaveth Eden
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Katavasia Melodic Black Metal band from Greece released the second Full-length album Magnus Venator on September 4, 2020. The word «katavasia» is connected to the Greek word «katavasi», which means descent. The word «katavasia» usually refers to the journey of the human soul, a descent to the underworld. Tracklist 1. Daughters of Darkness 2. The Tyrant 3. Blood Be My Crown 4. Chthonic Oracle 5. Saturnalia Magnus Cult 6. Triumphant Fate 7. Sinistral Covenant 8. Hordes of Oblivion 9. Babylon (Sammu-Rawat)
Cult of Lilith Technical/Melodic Death Metal band from Iceland released the first Full-length album Mara on September 4, 2020. «Necromechanical baroque», that is the province of Cult Of Lilith. A frantic collision of death metal, prog, complex classical structures and any other style they wish to incorporate, their debut album, Mara, is a restless, constantly shifting collection that is as imaginative as it is compulsive. Tracklist 1. Cosmic Maelstrom 2. Purple Tide 3. Enter the Mancubus 4. Atlas 5. Comatose 6. Profeta Paloma 7. Zángano 8. Le soupir du fantome
Maahes Black Metal band from Germany released the first Full-length album Reincarnation on September 18, 2020. The band’s name is derived from the lion-headed god of war in ancient Egyptian mythology. A stone chamber. Smell of mould, sand and age. Darkness, torches, fading artwork on the walls. Steps lead deeper into the stone. 3000km away from the Valley of the Kings, in 2015 a band have set themselves the tasks to merge the atmosphere of ancient Egypt musically into a classic Black Metal fundament. Under the banner of the lionheaded god MAAHES (the lord of darkness, winds and slaughter) they stepped out of the catacombs and with a unique stage show they have already been guests at festivals like the Wolfszeit or the Ragnarök Festival. Tracklist 1. Sacrifice 2. Reincarnation 3. Irreversible 4. Perfection 5. Invincible 6. Master of Black Arts 7. Decisive Strike 8. Idolization 9. Final Chapter of Apocalypse
Marche Funèbre Doom/Death Metal band from Belgium released the fourth Full-length album Einderlicht on September 25, 2020. The new album brings all the elements known from Marche Funèbre: death, black, and doom metal in a unique mix, with strong melodies and a wide vocal approach. Thematically, “Einderlicht” focuses on the strange ability of mankind to deliberately decide to end one’s life.
Lik Death Metal band from Sweden released the third Full-length album Misanthropic Breed on September 25, 2020. Featuring current and former members of Witchery, Katatonia, Bloodbath, Repugnant, and Carnal Forge. Band’s music still revels in all things carnal and disgusting. Tracklist 1. The Tracklist Weird 1. Scarred 2. Decay 2. The Eye of the End 3. Funeral 3. When All Is Said Anthem 4. The Maelstrom Mute 4. Corrosive Survival 5. Deformed 5. Female Fatal to the 6. Einderlicht Flesh 6. Misanthropic Breed Lineup 7. Flesh Frenzy Dennis Lefebvre - Drums 8. Morbid Fascination Peter Egberghs - Guitars 9. Wolves (lead), Vocals (backing) 10. Faces of Death Kurt Blommé - Guitars 11. Becoming (rhythm) Lineup Arne Vandenhoeck - Chris Barkensjö Vocals (lead) Drums, Vocals Boris Iolis - Bass, Vocals Niklas «Nille» Sandin (backing) Guitars Tomas Åkvik Vocals, Guitars Joakim «Myre» Antman - Bass
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Latest releases
Thy Ethos T e c h n i c a l / Progressive Death Metal band from Bangladesh released the first EP Resurgence of Devastation on September 20, 2020. Tracklist 1. Antediluvian Anecdote 2. Erudite Grifter 3. Flaxen Ichor Lineup Ayman Shimul - Bass Idehem Nassah Drums Shahariar Shahed Guitars Eftesam Fahim Vocals
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Dynfari Atmospheric Black Metal band from Iceland released the fifth Full-length album Myrkurs er þörf on September 18, 2020. Having explored more progressive soundscapes in the blend of post-rock and black metal in band’s most recent works, this album marks a return to more DIY, punch and attitude. Tracklist 1. Dauðans dimmu dagar 2. Langar nætur (í botnlausum spíralstiga) 3. Myrkurs er þörf 4. Ég fálma gegnum tómið 5. Svefnlag 6. Ég tortímdi sjálfum mér 7. Peripheral Dreams 8. Of Suicide and Redemption
Mysthicon Black/Death Metal band from Poland released the first Fulllength album Silva - Oculis Corvi on September 23, 2020. Formed in 2015 AD by Vader, Lux Occulta, Hate and Batushka members. Tracklist 1. Arise 2. Blind to My Faith 3. Into the Dark 4. Star Prophet 5. Absorbing the Light of Fools 6. Wolves of Morning Dawn 7. Passing Away (Lux Occulta cover) Lineup Halne Ventis Silvam - Bass, Vocals Antiqui Autem Tonitrum Silvam Drums Nigrum Amnis Silvam - Guitars Cadit Nebula Silvam - Keyboards Oblivioni Tradita Fide Silvam Vocals Aeterna Silvam Incendit - Vocals, Guitars
Abatuar Black/Death Metal band from Panama released the second Full-length album Mortandad on September 25, 2020. Active since 2013 and following the previous album “Perversiones de Muerte Putrefacta”, the side project of the sick mind from Cadaver is now ready to unleash upon feeble-minded bastards a new destructive instalment entitled “Mortandad”, continuing to the legacy of the ultraconservative declaration of Death Metal / Grindcore with clear influences of old school bands such as Napalm Death, Repulsion, Blood and mixing these with the regimental militancy of Proclamation and Black Witchery. The result of this interesting musical symbiosis is “Mortandad”, an album filled not only with the purity of the genres perhaps due to the isolation of the Panamanian scene where they are from, but also soaked with the Central American brutality which they draw their lyrical influences from. Lineup Cadaver - Vocals, Drums
Lethian Dreams Atmospheric Doom Metal band from France released the fourth Full-length album A Shadow of Memories on September 25, 2020. Lethian Dreams came to existence in 2002, from the hands of Carline Van Roos (Remembrance, Aythis) and Matthieu Sachs (Remembrance). The duo writes soaring, emotional songs, inviting the listener to an introspective journey through misty landscapes and melancholic feelings. Over the years, the band released 3 albums and developed a unique style, adding influences from various genres, shoegaze, post-rock, black-metal...
Akral Necrosis Black/Death Metal band from Romania released the third Full-length album The Greater Absence on September 25, 2020. “The Greater Absence” is the outcome of over 3 years’ work and its total length is over an hour, which makes it the longest album produced by the band from Bucharest. The concept develops a narrative thread that follows the actions of a character obsessed with the occult and who discovers that a superficial approach towards the unknown can have unexpected consequences. Tracklist 1. Silent Altar 2. Oldd Mirror Tracklist 3. Intonation 1. Never Be Found 4. In Nightmare Shades 2. Tidal 5. Man in the Cauldron 3. Mist of Memories (album version) 4. You Say 6. Third Curse 5. Only a Past 7. Revamping the Inside 6. Your Silence 8. Plaguebound 7. And Hollow 9. I See the Bright Lights Lineup 10. Damnatio Memoriae Matthieu Sachs - Guitars, Lineup Keyboards, Songwriting Mishu - Bass Carline Van Roos - Vocals, Gabriel - Guitars Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Victor - Guitars Lyrics, Songwriting Octav Necrosis - Vocals Pierre Bourguignon - Drums Philip Philipov - Drums
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Band Links https://www.facebook.com/hecateegypt https://hecateofficial.bandcamp.com https://www.instagram.com/hecate_band https://twitter.com/hecateofficial
We present to you our new experience. We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Hecate Symphonic Black Death Metal band from Egypt.
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Hecate were formed in Cairo, Egypt in 2014. They wanted to create a fusion of Black Metal and Death Metal with dark, gloomy elements. Influenced by Emperor, Septic Flesh, Dissection and Arcturus, they released their first album The Order of the Black Light. The band quickly got a good fan base and gained a lot of respect. The genre is odd - Symphonic Blackened Death Metal. Brutal and haunting. They played the Walls of Death festival in Egypt in 2015. In 2020 they released their second album In Nomine Artem Blackium. The album was greatly received by magazines and fans. I described it as “Deicide meets Blackthorn�. The future is looking very good for Hecate. They have the willingness to experient, not copy. Whether you like them or not, respect is due. Hail Hecate. Line up : Lord Mist - Guitars, Bass, Keyboards Adam - Vocals Mohamed Al-Assaal - Drums
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Band Links https://www.facebook.com/groups/mjodband https://vk.com/mjodband https://mjodband.bandcamp.com/ https://open.spotify.com/artist/2VvutTQd8nuOG6bAH3Jcnp
We present to you our new experience. We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Mjød - Folk/ Viking metal band from Russia.
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Hailing from Moscow, Russia, Mjod (or ‘Mead’) are a Black Folk band. They formed in 2016 and released a few albums and EPs independently. In 2018 they signed to Soundage Productions and released their second album. They became very popular in the Folk Metal circle. They played The Summer Folk Festival twice in 2018 and 2019 in Russia with Aria and Ensiferum. Also in 2019 they played The Kupalskae Kola Festival in Belerus. Influenced by Fintroll and Amon Amarth, they make a Black Folk Metal with bagpipes and flutes played by Randgrid. With lyrics about great battles and warfare, they stay very stereotypical of European Black Folk. It’s hard not to want to join them in battle. Line up : Jørðleifr - Guitars, Vocals, lyrics. Ørm - Guitars. Ranðgrið - Bagpipes. Jøhann - bass. Arngrím - drums
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Band Links https://www.facebook.com/ritual.vampiria https://www.instagram.com/ritualvampiria https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwGDAc-kLOeJko8dCjtHxNA
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We present to you our new experience. We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Ritual Vampiria - Blackened Death Metal band from Mexico.
Ritual Vampiria Hailing from Tampico, Mexico, This Blackened Death Metal band were formed in 2018. Influenced by Nergal and Dark Lunacy, they released their debut EP, ‘8 Sabbats’ in 2019. Their sound is quite slow, but they might speed up on their first album. Their imagery is perfect. Exactly the same as Colombia’s Oreb Zarak, covid 19 cancelled all their plans. They were about to open for Taake and release their first album, but everything was put on hold. I predict by around December/January, Ritual Vampiria will explode onto the Metal scene. Line up: Hades - lead guitar Amy beleth - vocals Fenrir - keyboards Capitanachi - drums Constantino - bass
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Band Links https://www.facebook.com/endezzma https://www.instagram.com/endezzma_official https://open.spotify.com/artist/1tMI70X3jityzJDOgwfP7M
We present to you our new experience. We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Endezzma - Black metal band from Norway.
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The Norwegian band ENDEZZMA was found in 2006 by the front man M.Shax. M.Shax was soon to be joined by another notorious front man; Trondr Nefas of the Norwegian outcasts of Urgehal. Together they established a stronghold of hungry Norwegian experienced musicians and made few international appearances around Europe before they released their highly acclaimed underground epos ALONE, that quickly made them a name in the metal scene as a mean, diabolique force to be reckoned with, a band going their own ways. Endezzma transfer old atmosphere combined with eerie seductive modern compositions into what people want to rate or should rate as 1st class sublime nekro requiems! The bands debut full length album ÂŤErotik NekrosisÂť was released in 2012. The very same year marked the death of Trondr Nefas R.I.P . After his death a natural vaccum occurred for the band until M.Shax found the new core of the band and could continue the march through new unexplored mystical dark fields. In 2017, The Arcane Abyss album was released to exceptional reviews all over the scene, making top scores in the Norwegian metal press such as Metal Hammer as well as international. With the new talented end experienced line up Endezzma also quickly started to make a name as a highly remarkable and intense live act. With their brutal, fierce and yet esthetically mystical approach they prove that they are masters of both arenas. The band are soon to release their third Album; The Archer, Fjord And The Thunder. A album that there is connected high expectations too and will be an album that will make the band stamp a giant footprint in the metal scene with its remarkable strong material and mystical world of stellar darkness and mythical outcasts and characters. The Archer, Fjord And The Thunder album is worked, mixed and masterd by Tore Stjerna in Necromorbus studio Stocholm, Tore Stjerna Is well known for his absolute great work on the late Watain and Mayhem albums. Epic energy will burn the night!! Its time to let the STELLAR DARKNESS shine!!!
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We present to you our new experience. We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Luctus Hydra Black Metal band from Chile.
Band Links https://www.facebook.com/luctus.hydra https://luctushydra.bandcamp.com https://www.youtube.com/user/HydraOficial
Andrew Stanton
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Luctus’ Hydra are a DSBM band from Santiago, Chile. They were formed in 2002 by singer Draco. Their first album was released in 2009 called Screams and Laments From the Deepest of the Soul on Black Crusade Productions. Lyrics about depression and sadness. In 2015 they released their fourth album entitled Brutal Black, this time they took the Raw Black Metal approach with anti-Christian lyrics. They played the Chilean Black Metal Fest 6 times over their career. Influenced by My Dying Bride, Moonspell, Tiamat and Burzum, Luctus’ Hydra have always stayed true to Black Metal. The name Luctus’ Hydra comes from the pain Hydra felt when Heracles cut his heads off. What the future holds for this band is really anyone’s guess. While many bands slow down over the years, this one got faster. An ever changing band and often very unpredictable. Discography 2009 - Screams and Laments From the Deepest of the Soul 2010 - Blasphemous War 2012 - Destroying Your Temple of Lies 2015 - Brutal Black
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We present to you our new experience. We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Decadence - Melodic Thrash Metal band from Sweden. Band Link http://www.decadence.se https://www.facebook.com/decadencesweden https://www.instagram.com/decadencesweden https://open.spotify.com/artist/5IEfhxKvD9imv5cuoSeS9f
Andrew Stanton
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Metal Magazine
Decadence. Decadence formed in 2003 in Stockholm, Sweden. Influenced by Metallica, Death and Kreator, this melodic Thrash Metal band have been entertaining Metalheads for years. The sound is very fast and furious with great energy. In 2005 they released their first self titled album. They were so driven they released their second album the same year called The Creature. It was received well with some great reviews. After constant work, they decided to take a much needed break in 2016. In 2017 they released their 5th studio album entitled Undergrounder. Many times Decadence have refused record deals, because they insist on doing everything independently. A band with their own rules. Sweden is pretty much the home of melodic Metal and Decadence are another great addition. Discography: D ecadence - 2005 T he Creature - 2005 3 rd Stage of Decay - 2006 Chargepoint - 2009 Undergrounder - 2017 Six Tape - 2019
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Band Link https://www.facebook.com/ThyEthos https://thyethos.bandcamp.com/releases https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKwoEA_bMaxrRHTLptOHWYA
We present to you our experience. We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Thy Ethos - Technical/Progressive Death Metal Band from Bangladesh.
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In 2012, guitarist Shahriar Shahed started the idea to create an Extreme Metal band in Rajshahi city. On those days it was quite difficult to run an Extreme Metal band. Then he found Ayman (bassist) & Munna (drummer) and then the practice was started. After years of struggle with lots of ups and downs they found the vocalist and the journey started properly. On September 20th, 2020 the band released ep and now Thy Ethos preparing to release an album. Ayman Shimul about Resurgence of Devastation: «It took almost 3 years for us to record this EP. Each and every day our band tried to make or come up with something so that we don’t keep any gap in all the songs. The recording session went really harsh for us as we are from Bangladesh. It’s hard to get the support, when you are doing Death Metal. Any technical death metal band is our real influensed such as Nile, Obscura, Necrophagist, Ne Obliviscaris, Beyond Creation etc more.» Lineup Ayman Shimul - Bass Idehem Nassah - Drums Shahariar Shahed - Guitars Eftesam Fahim - Vocals
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We present to you our experience. We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Infernal - Black Metal from Colombia.
Band Links https://www.facebook.com/InfernalTCBM https://infernalband.bandcamp.com
Andrew Stanton
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Infernal Infernal formed in 1994 in Medellin, Colombia. One of the bands that started the Black Metal scene in Colombia. Influenced by Rotting Christ, Darkthrone and Master’s Hammer, they are pretty much to Colombia what Mayhem are to Norway. In 1998, they released their first album The New Dawn on Tribulacion Productions. They never really slowed down and stayed fairly prolific, releasing material all the time. Locally they have played gigs with Watain, Rotting Christ, Sabbat and Masacre. This bio could go on for pages and pages and pages, but I only have one page to write it. Over the years, they have established themselves as the godfathers of Colombian noise. Line up Majestic Fire - vocals/guitar War Death - guitar Nerothos - bass Julian Vega - drums
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https://www.facebook.com/sthtpl
Review by Andrew Stanton Straight Hate Black Sheep Parade There’s certainly nothing nice about this one. Ultra fast deep growled vocals combined with high pitched screaming. The drums are heavy and fast stomping. It’s a real mosh pit album. Poland’s Straight Hate make brutal Grindcore for the Grind ?connoisseur. Nothing particularly groundbreaking, but neither are about
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85% of bands. It’s just high-energy, stompin’ Grindcore… Nothing else here. The songs remain very short. 16 songs and only 5 are over 2 minutes long. It’s very extreme and very entertaining. Good pumping energy. That’s kind of it really. Fans of Nap a l m Death and Cannibal C o r p s e will probably wet themselves with this one. The
songs seem to be political from what I can tell. But mostly it’s just ‘roooaaarrr, aaahhhh, bam bam bam bam’. A lot of fun this one to the right sort of listener.
Unfor tunately I didn’t get nor founds Review by Olga Schneider that much information about this project. Anyway, with its modern stuff. Last one is something wish them very good I could never luck with their further understand, and it was experiments. really unexpected to hear mixed with two previous ones. At the same time, everything sounds very harmonious, u n o b t r u s i v e l y. . . Something usual but new at the same time.
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https://www.facebook.com/Moanaaband
Sometimes it’s great to mix your typical music taste with something unexpected, so this time I kinda got another reason for that. The name of this reason is Moanaa, a project from Poland defined as post Metal. I must confess that I have quite limited understanding of this genre, and what I heard on their new EP named Torches, gave me lots of mixed feelings. The whole EP which contains of 3 tracks is generally very calm, even melancholic. Actually it sounds as a mix of several genres: Doom with its mood, A t m o p h e r i c Black with its atmosphere (sorry for tautology) and... Groove/Metalcore
https://www.facebook.com/Shodanband
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Review by Andrew Stanton Shodan - Death, Rule Over us When I was first asked to review this, I almost refused. This isn’t my cup of tea. But the album just explodes. The energy keeps up for the most part. The use of power chords are very good. Very much in the vein of Entombed and Pantera. So obviously, not my
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thing at all. But it is quite good. Maybe I’m just the wrong person to be reviewing it. This is a genre I have avoided for a very long time, and Shodan are no way g o n n a
convert me to it. My biggest problem with these bands are the slow, strained
vocals, but I’m quite enjoying this album. Some good guitar solos and some good drum work. I have no idea what he’s singing ( shouting ) about. I’m not even sure what language it’s in, but who cares? Fans of this kind of music will be in heaven listening to this and probably appreciate a bit more than I do. I hate this kind of music and even I loved it, so fans of this stuff should 100% rush out to buy it. When I first read it, I actually thought they were Japanese, but it turns out they’re from Poland. Shodan are definitely cool.
Review by Andrew Stanton A t times, the guitar work almost reminds me of Celtic Frost. The blast beats are pretty relentless throughout. The vocals just sound like a demon being sick. It never gets pretty or cute. It never slows down. It’s music for Black Metal heads and they’re clearly very proud of it. Black
C ommunion will never appear on MTV, will never play Download festival, will never be interviewed by the NME and quite honestly, I don’t think they care. It’s pretty amazing.
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https://www.facebook.com/Black.Communion.Col
Black Communion Miasmic Monstrosity Colombia’s Black Communion make very fast Blackened Death Metal. Very entertaining with good energy. Very unusual for Colombian bands, they decided to do it all in English. There’s a lot of sounds coming through here Carcass, Reek of Unzen Gas Fumes, Deicide, Inc ant at ion, Lucifera. It has that sound like you’re being welcomed into hell. As a fan of the Colombian scene, I think Black Communion might rank high as one of the great bands. Typical with all Colombian bands, it never gets pretentious. It’s Blackened Death Metal and they’re not trying to be anything else.
https://www.facebook.com/hecateegypt
Review by Andrew Stanton Hecate - In Nomine Artem Blackium Egypt’s Hecate make music I can only describe as Symphonic Blackened Death Metal. The Classical element is definitely very powerful on this album. Sometimes the growls remind me of Glen Benton. It makes me intrigued as to what stuff they listen to. This is what I wished Carach Angren sounded like.
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The music is definitely crushing. Deep growled vocals, crunching guitars and good energetic blast beats. The trumpets play
a big part of this album. The cellos and the sopranos are often used to give it that dark energy feel. They don’t wimp out like Carach Angren. As for the lyrics, I really have no clue, but
all in English. Some of the lyrics seem to be about the cosmos and some about depression ( I’m trying to provide a service, really I am). This is a band I’m glad exist. It is very much Deicide meets Blackthorn. It’s music for very posh Deicide fans. I loved it.
quick to label it Black Review by Andrew Stanton Metal, but it’s definitely Death Metal with all and nothing can really t h e trademarks. All in be understood. Even all, it’s fine. It’s very rare though this is very good to hear a Death Metal try something my only real problem band is the lack of energy. new, so enjoy it while But Incarnate Deity are you can. definitely an interesting band. All the songs stay around the three minute mark, give or take and the songs never get too complicated. A lot of people will be very
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https://www.facebook.com/incarnatedeitySBM
Incarnate Deity Theodicy This was my introduction to any African Metal and it’s really good. I’m not entirely sure what it is. Some kind of symphonic Death Metal maybe. Sometimes it reminds me of Morbid Angel, and then the posh keyboard parts kick in. The energy never really takes off as this is quite slow Death Metal, but it’s ok. According to Metal Archives this is a Christian Death Metal band, but I don’t have a lyric sheet to really comment on this. The vocals are very deep growled
https://www.facebook.com/BlasphemousPutrefaction
Review by Andrew Stanton B l a s p h e m o u s Putrefaction Prelude to Perversion. My first impression of Blasphemous Putrefaction is they are Germany’s answer to Incantation. But at times, the guitars take an almost Morbid Angel turn. This is quite a slow Death Metal release. Slow to mid-paced deep
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growls about gore and zombies. The guitars on this definitely shred. But as I say, very much in the vein of Incantation. Even though the drums create a good energy, the album never really gets going. The album seems to stay the same and only the guitar work seems to change. The vocals seem the same on every track.
After the first song, the album starts to get stale very quickly. The drums and the guitars are really all that makes this album and to be fair, they are pretty amazing. For me personally, it’s too slow and the songs kind of sound the same. Fans of brutal gore Metal will probably appreciate this more than me. I just prefer faster vocals. Despite what I think of this, I’m always glad there are bands that still want to make this kind of music. If I was scoring this out of 5, I would probably give it a 3.
https://www.facebook.com/lawofcontagion
Law of Contagion Woeful L i t a n i e s from the N e t h e r Realms. Another solo project of Alexandre Clément. The biggest p r o b l e m for me personally is the pace, but it’s ok. Similar to M o r b i d Angels ‘The God of Emptiness’, the entire album stays along this slow, doomy style. After the opening track, I thought the album might speed up, but no. Similar to Automb. The guitar work is straight out of the Transilvanian Hunger textbook. The vocals definitely have a very evil sound to them. It’s not shit,
album. I can respect Law of Contagion for staying true to Metal, unlike Marilyn Manson and Fear Factory. It just needs to be faster.
Review by Andrew Stanton but it’s not amazing. Faster growls would have made this perfect. The whole album stays samey. I understand some people prefer it done this way, but the album doesn’t get going. Even though this is Blackened Death Metal, I think some Doom fans would really enjoy this
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https://www.facebook.com/omegadiatribe
Review by Olga Schneider Sometimes, our kind of activity makes us work with things which are completely unexpected and unusual for us. At the same time, it’s always a great chance to look at such things a little bit different. So, this time it was the band named Omega Diatribe, founded in Hungary, and their new album Metanoia. The band can be considered as completely modern,
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since it was founded in 2012, and of course this fact influences the band a lot and actually defines everything. Literally it’s Groove Metal, so the album sounds
just... Modern! Modern regarding everything: sound, arrangements,
vocals, common atmosphere etc. Of course it’s hard to understand when you’re so used to good old Death Metal sound and stuff like that. But if we look at this through the fact that it’s obviously modern stuff, it sounds quite atmospheric, even technical, and actually quite agressive. Lots of modern Groove Metal bands use lots of clean vocal what actually makes it all sound way too sugary. In this case, the dudes avoid it, so it makes them actually remind the listener about the genre’s roots a little bit. Actually, to each their own. Something comes and goes away, something remains the same, and in Metal as well.
https://www.facebook.com/Noumenaband
Okay... Late 2020 will be generally time of releases as it seems, but some days ago I unexpectedly discovered that after quite a long pause, Noumena had released their absolutely expected new album called Anima. This is one of the cases when the name and especially the cover are a perfect visual describtion of the music and can tell you about the album’s essence. This is a true melancholic journey, a great mix of typical «cold» Melodic Death Metal riffs and acoustic guitars. You indeed need a special mood and even atmosphere around you to feel this music... You won’t find any speed smarty stuff here, but indeed get out of reality for a while. I would also like to pay some kind of special
Review by Olga Schneider attention to the lyrics. They’re made in Finish, what isn’t actually something new for these guys, but this time they indeed make probably 50% of the whole atmosphere. Lots of you will agree with me for sure that there is definitely something in lyrics made in little common languages. It always brings some kind of mystery to whole Metal albums. It’s like
you understand nothing, but at t h e same time, the music makes you kinda understand everything, and then you don’t even need any lyrics translation. In conclusion I’d like to say a banal but important thing: Metal is incredibly diversified and versatile, mixable with absolutely everything, and that’s fukken cool! So, here is another confirmation.
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https://www.facebook.com/abyss.deathmetal https://www.facebook.com/BesnaBand
Review by Andrew Stanton Abyss/B esna split CD.
Abyss are a newish Melodic Blackened Death Metal band from Germany. The music is good. Good growls and screeches. Good blast beats and dark energy. Slovakia’s Besna are
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quite different. As far as I’m aware, this is the first Slovakian band I have heard outside of Eurovision. The sound is very good here. Abyss steal the show on this split as far as I’m concerned, but neither are crap. It’s certainly not easy Black Metal to listen to. Definitely a split for the more advanced BM head. Only four songs, and they all go on a bit much for my liking. Both bands go together quite well, but you can definitely tell them apart. Whereas
Abyss add all the energy and brutalness, Besna are more emotional and some beautiful interludes. Most magazines will either ignore this split or just say it’s totally shit, but take it from a genuine Metal head - this has to be in your CD collection.
no idea what they’re about, but from what I can Review by Andrew Stanton tell, they are in English. I doubt this will and not an easy listen, g e t any new fans but so what? This isn’t into this kind of noise supposed to be nice and I also doubt it’s intention, but music. I have heard their more extreme bands if you can stomach it, over the years, but this give it a go. Fans of very has the added extra of a early Napalm Death very poor production… will know what I mean. Nice. This is only a It’s all fairly awful, but people prefer three track EP so I’m some really dragging this that. review out. The songs are short-ish and I have
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https://www.facebook.com/Mountain-Hermit-106113774476210
Mountain Hermit Shattered Dreams This is ridiculously raw and over the top. It has that sort of being drowned in the bath sound. Definitely not for everyone. The dark ambient parts are okay, and it does need them to tone it down a touch. It’s a very rough production from start to finish. Very unrehearsed. If you’re one of those people who can appreciate this kind of music, then enjoy it in all of it’s rough as fuck glory. Italy’s Mountain Hermit are fairly new on the scene, and let’s see how long it lasts. This is what walking through a minefield sounds like ( I imagine ). It’s definitely not nice
https://www.facebook.com/raventhrone.by
Review by Andrew Stanton Raven Throne Viartannie. This album certainly mixes quick, vicious parts with beautiful atmospheric parts very well. At times, this becomes quite an ugly album ( in a good way ). The drummer steals the show for me personally. They’re clearly very talented. This is the first Belerus
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band I ever heard and already I want to check out more bands. The energy stays good throughout and the dark ambient parts are very
impressive. The vocals are very harsh with this band. Glossy magazines will probably
be very quick to find faults that aren’t actually there, but that’s to be expected of dickheads. This is a band that have been around for quite a while and I’m hearing them just now. Black Metal heads are gonna love this. Raven Throne have done everything right with this production. Buy it.
Remains deserve a minute of your time. In Review by Andrew Stanton fact it’s so good, I’m surprised I’ve never heard this band before. sound like he’s got a pillow stuck in his mouth (that we It’s not shit. It’s not the old all love). According to Metal school Death Metal I would Archives, this band write have prefered, but my hat songs about gore and horror, goes off to these guys. It’s all a big mystery what happened but nothing too obvious. I didn’t start writing this to the Californian scene, review until track 3, I’m so full marks for Skeletal now on track 10 (of 11). I’m Remains for keeping it real enjoying it. It’s all been good for the fans. really. For the Death Metal heads reading this, Skeletal
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https://www.facebook.com/SkeletalRemainsDeathMetal
S k e l e t a l Remains The Entombment of Chaos Death Metal certainly isn’t what it used to be. Skeletal Remains are almost like a cross between Obituary and Nocturnus. Right off the bat, I love the guitarist in this band. This is a band that allows their guitarist to show off his stuff… And why not? The album starts off with a deep space intro that is very cool, the album starts properly with raging guitars and blast beats. All the noise for you to enjoy. Good energy, and the songs are okay. The growls are good, deepish. It gets better the more you listen I think. He doesn’t
https://www.facebook.com/voidrot
Review by Andrew Stanton Void Rot Descending Pillars. Minnesota’s Void Rot are very dull. The songs play along at a snails pace, but without emotion. It never gets beautiful. It’s just slow and that’s all. Every minute of the album, just sounds like every other minute. Totally lacking in emotion and variety. It never gets depressing, it’s just boring. For anyone who cares,
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the musicianship is good on this album. Good, deep growls, good drums, good guitars. But the entire
a l b u m just doesn’t get going. I think with some pianos, this would be a better
album. After reading some other peoples reviews, there are some people who actually do find this beautiful, but I’m not hearing what they’re hearing. Compared to Gallhammer, Nocturnal Depression, My Dying Bride or Luctus Hydra, it just lacks that something.
https://www.facebook.com/katavasiaofficial
Katavasia Magnus Venator. There’s certainly some interesting sounds on here. Katavasia are a Greek band, but at times I hear influences of traditional Indian music. Not only that, but the music they create is a bit offbeat. Sometimes they sound like a Black Thrash band, a Black Folk band, a Blackened Death Metal band, a Melodic Black Metal band. They’re certainly not afraid to experiment. Magnus Venator is seriously one for the open minded Metalhead. The musical balance oddly stays good on this album. There’s so many sounds coming through here like Sepultura, Moonspell, Rotting
Review by Andrew Stanton Christ, Sigh, Lucifera, Stratovarius. As for the lyrics, I have no clue, but they are all in English from what I can tell. For fans of easy to listen to Black Metal, this is an album you must own. The sound is good and interesting. Good energy in parts, good guitar work, good songs. It’s not overly extreme. The
whole album just stays enjoyable. When I first heard this and saw the album cover, I was convinced they were Indian. But Katavasia really stand shoulder to shoulder with the Greek legends like Astarte and Rotting Christ.
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https://www.facebook.com/Khorsband
Review by Andrew Stanton Khors - Where the World Acquires Eternity. The opening track ‘Starvation’ is very good. I consider it Blacked Death Metal. Quite atmospheric and melodic in parts. The Ukraines Khors are one of those very serious bands. Some of this is very beautiful and oddly relaxing in parts. There are some bands I hear and it
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confuses me why so-called ‘Metal magazines’ insist on ignoring
them. And Khors are one of them. Up to now it’s been fairly perfect and enjoyable. The use of keyboards are perfect on
this album. The guitars are also very good. The vocals almost remind me of Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell. I’m very close to calling them one of the greatest bands on the planet. It utterly confuses me when some people make a big thing over shit like Marilyn Manson and Limp Bizkit and totally blank bands like this (and still call themselves Metalheads). I’m really struggling to find faults on this album. Khors are a band that do their own thing. No trends are being followed here. I’m in awe at this album. In fact I’m gonna go back and listen to their previous albums. Definitely one of the top 20 greatest Black Metal bands.
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialUADA
Uada - Djinn. America’s Black Metal scene has always been the most highly criticised, but P o r t l a n d ’s Uada might change your mind. Some b e a u t i f u l and melodic guitar work on this one. Gotta love the vocals here. It has a very laid back, enjoyable feel. It’s not overly extreme for the sake of being extreme. It’s very hard to find fault. If you’re looking for total ear-bleeding noise, this isn’t for you. But if you just wanna sit back and chill out, then it’s perfect. For me personally, it goes on a bit, slightly passing the 1 hour mark. But it is very good though. This
Review by Andrew Stanton is one of those bands that write songs about nature and stuff. Some people hate it, but I fail to see what difference it makes. You can’t make out a single word anyway. I’m guessing these guys are highly influenced by a bit of Power Metal. It looks like we have found one of the great
American bands. They w i l l never win a Grammy and I hope they don’t care. I love this album.
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https://dunkelheitprod.bandcamp.com/album/mortandad
Review by Andrew Stanton Abatuar - Mortandad. When I think of Panama, I think of golden sandy beaches and palm trees. What I don’t think of is this sound. Ultra demonic growls, raging rhythm guitars, double kick drum noise. Fans of Mordicus and early Deicide will probably wet themselves when they hear this beauty.
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I’m struggling to believe this singer is human. I’m quite sure this singer is an actual demon. Abatuar is actually a solo project (something else I’m struggling to believe). For one man, they sound like an army of demons. You know where you hear early Deicide and at times it sounds like Glen Benton is singing
backwards, that’s what this is like. On a whole, this is a VERY ugly album. Over time I have often wondered why South American Metal isn’t bigger, and hearing this is just adding to the mystery. This is all in Spanish so I have know idea what he’s singing about, but I can take a good guess. To me this is perfect, but if you hate this kind of stuff, avoid it. But whether you like it or not, it’s only one man, so respect is due. Abatuar is someone I might have to add to my list of heroes.
https://www.facebook.com/officialnapalmdeath
Napalm Death - Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism. All Metalheads have obviously all been Napalm Death fans at one time or other. This current offering is very ste re ot y pi c a l of Napalm Death, it’s exactly what you expect. K e e p i n g Grindcore well and truly in the picture. Good growls, good distorted guitars, good drums, good energy and good songs. ND have always stayed true to Metal, unlike The Prodigy and Mudvayne that passes for Metal these days. The album never bothers to tone down to please the lightweights. Big, ugly music that we expect from these guys.
never fails to amaze me. People constantly argue t h a t Napalm Death aren’t the band they used to be back in the old ‘Scum’ days, but I disagree. Still proving to be a force to be reckoned with. Beyond any shadow of a doubt, one of the most important Metal bands around. Welcome back.
Review by Andrew Stanton How Napalm Death have managed to keep writing new stuff after all these years
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https://www.facebook.com/hilotzofficial
Review by Andrew Stanton Hilotz - Aske Spain’s Hilotz certainly aren’t dull. Good energy and speed. The sound is a sort of a cross between Exodus and Overkill. The rhythm guitarist holds a lot of the musical cards in this band. Power chords delight. It never gets boring. Sometimes they remind me of Accept. Nothing in English here (or from what I can
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tell at least). Language in singing doesn’t matter to me personally, a good song will always be a good song. No i d e a
what t h e songs are about. I admit I haven’t heard a
lot of Spanish bands. But as a fan of South American Metal, I’m surprised how different this is to it. Hilotz are certainly no Slayer or Celtic Frost, but if I’m honest, I wasn’t really expecting it to be. But it’s a very good effort. I think the album goes on a bit, but it’s not shit. Some interesting experimental parts. Basically, just another great band being ignored by the press.
very good. This is a band influenced by all Review by Andrew Stanton the legendary Death Metal bands and they do a very good enough for me, and I often refuse to review job of proving it. I don’t them, but this band have like most modern Death done it to my taste. No Metal bands, I find them idea what language he’s too sophisticated, but singing in, but I often I enjoyed this album. prefer not to know. They kept it simple and Doesn’t matter to me. avoided getting too epic. But now Bolt Thrower Proper Metal. \m/ aren’t with us anymore, Infiltration might fill the gap. By and large, it’s all
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https://www.facebook.com/infiltrationdeath
Infiltration Point Blank Termination R u s s i a ’ s Infiltration have been releasing EPs since 2017, but this year we get their first full length album. It’s very much in the style of Napalm Death, Bolt Thrower and Cannibal Corpse. Mid-paced deep growled vocals, great guitars and fairly brutal. The lead vocals almost remind me of Carcass’ backing vocals. As far as the theme goes, it’s very Bolt Thrower. Nothing nice here. Just a lot of noise about war and armageddon. A lot of newer Death Metal bands, the vocals aren’t growled deep
Upcoming albums
Dark Tranquillity are back with new album, «Moment». It’s been four years since the (Swedish) Grammy-nominated album, «Atoma», but the time between was creative, innovative, and adventurous. The stalwarts welcomed two top-tier guitarists -Christopher Amott (ex-Arch Enemy) and Johan Reinholdz (Nonexist)- while writing a stunning cluster of songs that not only push Dark Tranquillity’s boundaries outward but also strongly typify the Swedes’ sonic fingerprint. Amazing songs like «Phantom Days», «Identical to None», and «Empires Lost to Time» are bright and aggressive, while «The Dark Unbroken», «A Drawn Out Exit», and «In Truth Divided» cast long, cold shadows. Line-up: Anders Jivarp - Drums Mikael Stanne - Vocals Martin Brändström Keyboards Anders Iwers - Bass Johan Reinholdz - Guitars Christopher Amott - Guitars «Moment» will be released on November 20th, 2020.
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True metal originators, Carcass influenced extreme metal all over the globe with early records like “Symphonies of Sickness” (1989) and “Heartwork” (1993). After a seventeen yearalbum sabbatical, critics and fans alike lauded 2013’s “Surgical Steel”, the band’s first record since “Swansong” (1996), and the band’s return to form. Bigger than ever Carcass toured the world for years supporting the album. In the lead up to a new 2021 full length Carcass will be offering the EP “Despicable” on Oct 30. The 4-track collection is made up of songs not featured on the band’s upcoming 2021 full length. Lineup Jeff Walker - Bass, Vocals Bill Steer - Guitars, Vocals Daniel Wilding - Drums Tom Draper - Guitars «Despicable» will be released on October 30th, 2020.
With thirty years of active, nefarious service under their bulletbelts, NECROPHOBIC are undisputed legends of the death and black metal underground. Not just an album of great musical depths, Dawn Of The Damned is immediately recognisable as the most lyrically profound and absorbing record of Necrophobic’s career to date. Buoyed by the ecstatic response to Mark Of The Necrogram, Ramstedt has plundered his innermost thoughts and most revealing past experiences to weave a narrative journey through the outer limits of pitch-black consciousness. Although Necrophobic have always existed in a dark and diabolical lyrical realm, Dawn Of The Damned is unique amongst the band’s records due to its refined parallels between Ramstedt’s personal experiences and the universal forces with which we all battle. The band’s ninth studio album is still a brutal whirlwind of aggression, of course, but something more grimly magical lurks within its subtler textures and ingenious side-steps. Line-up: Joakim Sterner - Drums Anders Strokirk - Vocals Sebastian Ramstedt - Guitars Johan Bergebäck - Guitars Allan Lundholm - Bass Dawn of the Damned will be released on October 9th, 2020.
It is not about avoiding fear of the pitch-black darkness, but to go into the darkness itself. Enter “Utgard”. Enter a record brimful with northern magic. Let all those other bands sing about Thor’s mighty hammer and poor Odin hanging from that tree in miserable weather conditions. ENSLAVED are looking behind the mirror, tracing the origins of the well-known fables of the northern world back into each and every one of us. The unusually rollicking rock’n’roll touch of ‘Urjotun’ or the archaic voice from the deep that is ‘Utgardr’, the raging force of ‘Flight Of Thought And Memory’ or the elegiac final curtain ‘Distant Seasons’ show ENSLAVED more open, more focused and simply more brilliant than ever. Lineup Grutle Kjellson-Vocals & Bass Ivar Bjørnson-Guitars & FX Ice Dale-Guitars Håkon Vinje-Keyboards & Vocals Cato Bekkevold-Drums. “Urjotun” will be released on October 2nd, 2020.
The Finnish Melodic Death Metal legends return with their highly anticipated seventh studio album full of heavy riffs, brutal vocals and hauntingly beautiful melodies! For Fans Of: Children Of Bodom, Ensiferum, Wintersun, In Flames, Soilwork, Wolfheart. After more than 20 years, six highly acclaimed albums and various lineup changes, MORS PRINCIPIUM EST are currently only singer Ville Viljanen, who wrote the somber lyrics and functioned as the main producer, and British guitarist and songwriter Andy Gillion. Guitars and orchestral parts were recorded in Gillion’s home studio, drums and vocals were recorded in the Ansa Studio (Finland) and finally mixed and mastered once again by the sound wizard and longtime friend of the band Thomas “Plec” Johannson in The Panic Room in Sweden. Lineup Ville Viljanen-Vocals (lead) Andy Gillion-Guitars (lead), Programming Lineup Ville Viljanen-Vocals (lead) Andy Gillion-Guitars (lead), Programming. Seven will be released on October 21st, 2020.
Benediction are without a doubt one of the few remaining originals in the death metal scene and have achieved legendary status through various albums over the years. Until today they love what they do and always do their job without compromise - on record and on stage. After more than 30 years in the business and 12 years after their last album «Killing Music», BENEDICTION are now back with one of their best releases and play once again in the Death Metal Champions League. The new album «Scriptures» sounds 100% like BENEDICTION: they blend death metal with a «fuckoff punk rock attitude», heavy metal riffing and a groove that hardly any other band can perform like this. Dave Ingram’s «signature-growls» and powerful lyrics enhance the tonal framework so that you can hear after a few notes that you are listening to Benediction. Lineup Peter Rew-Guitars Darren Brookes-Guitars Dave Ingram-Vocals Dan Bate-Bass Giovanni Durst-Drums Scriptures will be released on October 16th, 2020.
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