#22 Inside the Darkness by Inside The Darkness

Edition for true metalfans

s22 of Trve MetalZines

News•Reviews•Interviews•Exclusive

#22†30.06.2022

CREW

Evgeny-Destroyer Editor-in-chief, design https://www.facebook.com/ evgeny.dubovskoy Mail: destroyerr78@mail.ru WhatsApp: +79181668693

Olga «Blackie» Schneider Editor, interviewer, text corrector, reviewer https://www.facebook.com/ olga.metalheart Mail: olgaschneider.1997@gmail.com Inst:https://www.instagram.com/blackie_metalheart/

Jay Parker - Editor, Interviewer, Reviewer Lorena Delgado - Interviewer, Reviewer Richard Keenahan - Interviewer Kim Kjole - Reviewer 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

Andrew Stanton Editor, interviewer, text corrector corrector, reviewer 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 for the interviews

Unsgaard and Somby (Sarkom) Adara (Agrona) Wayne Dorman (Onslaught) Memphist (Niohoggr) Gerado Suarez (Gersuva) Leonardo Aviles (Murder Hate) Kist (Grond) / Lord Preston (Chovu) Osy Mainty (Osy Mainty) Burkhard Lettner (Wintersbreath) Hails to everyone reading this message! Lord Edgard, Low and Scarlet Summer is on top, and words can’t even describe all the (Damnation Gallery) emotions of realizing that the world is getting back to the normal Alexis Riera (Hand of Flauros) life after all this COVID madness, including Metal concerts and Tregor Russo (Dionisyan) summer festivals getting back to life. Now it’s specially important Umberto and Michele (Urluk) to support your favorite artists, folks. So please appreciate any Blight, Unukalhai, Lesny and opportunity & take from this life any bright moments it can offer. Winterkvlt (Valadier) Thank you for taking your time and supporting us as well! Olga Schneider, editor

Editor’s brief

CONTENT Sarkom Interview with Unsgaard and Somby..........10 Agrona Interview with Adara..........14 Onslaught Interview with Wayne Dorman......18 Niohoggr Interview with Memphist.....24 Gersuva Interview with Gerado Suarez....28 Murder Hate Interview with Leonardo Aviles........32 Grond Interview with Kist....34 Chovu Interview with Lord Preston.............40 Osy Mainty Interview with Osy Mainty.............42

News from hell.................6 Wintersbreath Interview with Burkhard Lettner..............44 Damnation Gallery Interview with Lord Edgard, Low and Scarlet.........48 Hand of Flauros Interview with Alexis Riera......52 Dionisyan Interview with Tregor Russo.......56 Urluk Interview with Umberto and Michele.....60 Valadier Interview with Blight, Unukalhai, Lesny and Winterkvlt......62

Best Metal releases..............66

Stories about Metal bands....................106

Inside The Darkness reviews..............114 GOAT METAL CRUISE 2022/Metal Festival on water in Moscow.....114

Metalheads are waiting for it...132

ATTENTION! AN EDITOR NEEDED. Since our edition is actively growing, we

have

realized that we need more people to our board.

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looking for an editor for reviews, active

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The main thing we demand is being a true Extreme Metal fan. If you’re really one of them, other things simply go by themselves. If you’re open for such kind of work, feel free to contact us: https://www.facebook.com/InsideTheDarknessMetalZine https://www.instagram.com/inside_the_darkness_webzine https://twitter.com/metal_webzine

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Inside the Darkness issues

World Metal News Festival lineup: Friday 1 July 2022 Korn / Carcass / Heilung / Beast In Black / Northern Kings / Mokoma / Eluveitie / Lost Society / Perturbator / Red Fang / Elder / The Night Flight Orchestra / Omnium Gatherum / 1914 / Polymoon / Detset / Shereign / Marianas Rest / The Rivet / Abstrakt / Verikalpa Saturday 2 July 2022 Merciful Fate / Amorphis / Stam1na / Insomnium / Baroness / Jinjer / Soilwork / Blind Channel / Joe Lynn Turner / Oranssi Pazuzu / The Birthday Massacre / Vltimas / Wheel / Bloodred Hourglass / Shape of Despair / Enphin / The Mist from the Mountains / One Morning Left / King Satan / Denominate / Astralion / Amoth Helsinki’s Suvilahti will again witness a metal tribe pilgrimage after a few years break when Tuska, the biggest metal festival in the Nordics, is celebrated from Friday to Sunday, 1st—3rd July. The festival area is open on Friday 1st July and on Saturday 2nd July between 1pm and 1am and on Sunday 3rd July between 2pm and 11pm. Each day the last artist will finish their show 60 minutes before the area closes.

Sunday 3 July 2022 Deftones / Kreator / Devin Townsend / Stratovarius / SymphonyX / The Dark Element / Gloryhammer / High on Fire / Lähiöbotox / Atlas / Humavoid / Edge of Haze / Rebellix / Cryptic Hatred

In Flammen Open Air 2022 lineup:

In Flammen Open Air 2022 July 07 - July 09, 2022 Torgau, Germany

VLTIMAS (US) PARADISE LOST (UK) INCANTATION (US) SAMAEL (CHE) MEMORIAM (UK) SHINING (SWE) STRIGOI (UK) SADISTIC INTENT (US) ORIGIN (US) DOOL (NL) ARCHGOAT (FIN) THE COMMITTEE (BEL) DEMONICAL (SWE) INTERNAL BLEEDING (US) EISREGEN (D) ASAGRAUM (BE) ULTHA (D) SPASM (CZ) BLASPHEMER (ITA) KANONENFIEBER (D) INCARCERATION (BRA/D) ULTAR (RUS) SKANNERS (ITA) SERRABULHO (POR) BÜTCHER (BEL) UNDERTOW (D) BITCHHAMMER (D) KHNVM (BGD/D) BLIZZEN (D) AD CINEREM (D) DAEMONESQUE (D) PANZERKREUZER (D) DEZAZTRE NATURAL (CHL) PURE MASSACRE (D) M.A.D. (D) DEHUMAN REIGN (D)

World Metal News

Wacken Open Air 2022 Hauptstraße 82, 25596 Wacken Schleswig-Holstein - Germany Thursday 4 August > Saturday 6 August 2022 Lineup: Arch Enemy, As I Lay Dying, At The Gates, Auðn, Cadaver, Cattle Decapitation, Belphegor, Gaerea, Kampfar, Mork, Pestilence, Rotting Christ, Vomitory, Crypta, Einherjer, Hate, Hypocrisy, Midnight, Imperium Dekadenz, Moonspell, Nytt Land and many more...

Lineup 1914, Abbath, Aborted, Ad Nauseam, Ahab, Alcest, Amenra, Arcturus, As I Lay Dying, Asphyx, At The Gates, Atari Teenage Riot, Baest, Bell Witch, Benighted, Blood Incantation, Bloodbath, Bloodywood, Butcher Babies, Cannibal Corpse, Carnation, Catte Decapitation, Clutch, Comeback Kid, Conjurer, Cradle Of Filth, Dark Funeral, Darkest Hour, Decapitated, Die Krupps, Dool, Draconis Infernum, Evil Dead, Evoken, Excrementory Grindfuckers, Exhorder, Exhumed, Extinction A.D., Fleshgod Apocalypse, Front Line Assembly, Frontierer, Fueled By Fire, Gaahls Wyrd, God Mother, Hangman’s Chair, Hentai Corporation, Humanity’s Last Breath, Igorrr, Imperial Triumphant, Insomnium, Jinjer, Katatonia, Leprous, Life Of Agony, Lorna Shore, Lost Society, Manes, Mass Infection, Mayhem, MeltBanana, Mercyful Fate, Misery Index, Mors Principium Est, Municipal Waste, Mysticum, Nailed To Obscurity, Necrophobic, Necrot, Nekrogoblikon, Nunslaughter, Onslaught, Oranssi Pazuzu, Ottone Pesante, Pallbearer, Paradise Lost, Pensées Nocturnes, Pentagram, Phlebotomized, Psycroptic, Psykup, Pupil Slicer, Razor, Regarde Les Hommes Tomber, Rings Of Saturn, Rivers Of Nihil, Sacred Reich, Sigh, Skepticism, Skywalker, Slagmaur, Slope, Soen, Sólstafir, Soreption, Static–X, Strigoi, Suffocation, Swallow The Sun, Tallah, Tesseract, The Agonist, The Black Dahlia Murder, The Devil’s Trade, Thy Catafalque, Uada, Undergang, Unearth, Urne, Valkyrja, Venom, Vitriol, Voices, Vola, Winterfylleth.

Brutal Assault 2022 Tuesday 9 August > Saturday 13 August 2022 Fortress Josefov, Czech Republic 150 bands, 5 stages, 5 days.

Sarkom-Black Metal from Norway

Interview with Unsgaard and Somby

Interview by Jay Parker

Hi this is Jay reporting from Bogota Colombia. Today I’m lucky enough to be talking to the diabolical powerhouse of evil, Sarkom from Norway A well established giant of the Scandinavian scene, with a discography to die for. Today I’m talking to vocal-

ist Unsgaard and Somby... 1 Tell us about Sarkom..

The band was formed in Lørenskog, a small suburb right outside Oslo, in 2003. The band was formed as a platform to vent anger and frustration against the weakness called humanity. 2 Describe your music in 5 words.

t s e r e t n i e h t ions in t e g o t d e e IWe nhe new generatrd. of tr to move forwa orde where/why band formed?

was

when/ the

True fucking Norwegian black metal 3 Who is in the current line up? Vocals: Unsgaard Lead Guitars: Galaaen (since 2016) Guitars/Bass: Somby (since 2017) Drums: Malignant (since 2020) 4 Please run us through yur very impressive discography.. album by album... where can our readers buy your stuff? A g g r a v a t i o n of Mind (2006) First full length album, featuring two songs from the demo (2004). Brutal sound, fast paced black metal. Some elements of sax and trumpet. Also includes some guest vocals by Raskolnikov(RIP) Bestial Supremacy (2008) Moving more back to the roots with traditional black metal. Doomsday Elite (2013) This was the first album where we used synth, which is clearly a sign of a band that wanted to evolve. Anti-Cosmic Art (2016) Very varied album - from fast paced classic black metal to more punk-influenced parts and groovy rock. This also contains a cover of Sod-

om’s classic “Sodomy and lust”. In addition to the full length albums we have also released six 7” EPs between 2009 - 2021. These are for

Anti-Cosmic Art is a real masterpiece... tell us about it, when/where was it recorded, what the experience was like... It was recorded in Oslo in

the first time ever available in digital form on most streaming platforms now. 5 Your last album from 2016,

the time period of 2014-2015. The experience was shit and stressful as always. Things rarely happen to go as planned, 11

Sarkom-Black Metal from Norway 12

but somehow we managed to pull it off in the end. Hopefully our next experience will be better, but we’ll see... 6 What inspires the lyrical content in your tracks? Mostly personal experiences with a negative vibe. 7 Tell us about the music writing process who/ how do you do that? We usually write the songs individually. On the last album, I (Unsgaard) wrote all the songs, but I hope this will change in the future. 8 What instruments do you use? Do you drop tunings? The core of the band is the classical black metal instruments; guitars, bass and drums, but every once in a

while we can whip out a sax, trumpet or synth to complete a song. We’ve used drop-D since the beginning. 9 What inspired you to become a Black Metal musician? To be able to reach like-minded people around the world and to be able to express ourselves through dark art. 10 What are sarkom’s plans for the future? I understand you have more new material to come? Our next release will be two songs on a vinyl release. More details about this will come soon. At the moment we are also working on our fifth full length album which we hopefully will start recording this summer.

11 Tell us about your best and worst experiences as a Black Metal musician. Through touring there are many pros and cons, ups and downs. You meet a lot of great people etc. On the other hand you can get pretty exhausted and fed up, like when you’re suddenly find out that the booker fucked up and you don’t have a place to stay for the night etc. 12 Tell us about the current scene there in Norway, we all know it’s infamous reputation as a spawning ground for BM and demons... The scene has been pretty stagnant for a long time. In many ways it’s become more about fashion than

the music and message. It looks like it’s more important to pose on the internet than to create and experience the art of black metal. 13 Tell us a funny story from one of your shows (there is always one hahaha) Nah... Guess you must have been there to under-

black metal these days. I actually rarely listen to music at all. Somby: Kvist For kunsten maa vi evig vike. Raw black metal! 15 What is your opinion on the evolution of BM over the years and where do you think it will go in the future? We touched upon it a cou-

least not in the metal genre. 17 What words of wisdom would you give to any up and coming bands / musicians? Don’t expect anything. Everything you achieve is just a bonus. 18 Would you like to add anything for our readers? As mentioned we have re-

stand the funny side of it... 14 What is your favourite all time BM album and why? Unsgaard: I started listen to black metal when I was around 15 years old, and I guess the albums from that time still are among my favourites, like Darkthrone - Panzerfaust, Burzum - Hvis lyset tar oss... Besides old classics, I don’t listen to that much

ple of questions ago - overall it’s stagnant at best. We need to get the interest of the new generations in order to move forward. If that doesn’t happen the genre is going to fade into oblivion. 16 What modern bands do you listen to? We don’t listen to many modern bands. Actually we can’t think of a single one, at

cently released all our 7” EPs on the digital platforms, so check it out on Spotify, Youtube, Apple music etc. Thanks for reading and your support - we hope to be able to come and play in Colombia some day! -Unsgaard and Somby Tak min bror!!! hail NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL!!!! 666 13

Agrona-Black Metal from the United Kingdom

Interview with Adara

Interview by Olga Schneider

1. First of all, I wanted to express my gratitude for seeing another strong and talented woman take part in another issue of this webzine! How are you doing after such a long time of damn restrictions? Some massive shows are planned as I can see! I’m doing well a f t e r the restrictions. It’s great to have some freedom back and to be back in the stu-

dio with the band. There are some shows booked but this year we want to mainly focus on the recording of

more about your appearance in Agrona. How was it to join a band that had been existing for a while as a new leader? So first of all I joined Agrona, as a vocalist in 2016 because the guys wanted me to do guest vocals on their debut album ‘Realm of the Fallen’ and I basically never left! So for a couple of years I was their secondary vocalist.

a n i r e i p p a I’m mucrhnerh somewhere, dark co om people. away fr the upcoming second album. 2. Now let’s talk about the history of the band as it is nowadays. Tell us a bit

Eventually after some personnel changes in Agrona the primary vocalist Taranis left and I had the opportunity to take over as sole frontwoman. For me it was a big responsibility as I wanted to deliver a really good show and be a good frontwoman. 3. As we can see, Agrona didn’t have any big releases before 2018. Do I understand it right that when you joined the band, that was the first time even when Agrona started some solid activities, such as releasing a LP, starting some concert activities etc? Before I joined, Agrona were working on demos and had played the New Blood stage at Bloodstock Open Air. They were also already working on the first album by the time I joined the band which is why I only appear on two songs (Immaterium and Summoning the Void) but as I said before it wasn’t planned. I really thought that this was

literally just to do guest vocals, but they asked me to join the band as a full member and co-vocalist to Taranis. 4. What difficult i e s

did you meet starting your activity in Agrona and taking the most part of everything happening in the band and with the band as your responsibility? What where the biggest steps you

took for making band kinda alive and more known? The main element that was difficult in the start was very much being one of two vocalists, as sharing this role meant there was less space for both of us to do w h a t we do and to properly express ourselves. When I later took over as sole vocalist I remember mentioning in one interview I had “unleashed the beast”. Pushing the band to be what it is today I have to give credit to our guitarist Aeron first and foremost. Obviously I think all of us have put in a lot of work, and of course I am the frontwoman but I’m actually very shy in my personal life. A lot of the music industry is based on your relationships and contacts, Aeron in particular really excels at this. 15

Agrona-Black Metal from the United Kingdom 16

I’m much happier in a dark corner somewhere, away from people, ha. 5. How do you see the difference between your activity in Agrona and your previous band Wolvencrown? Where do you see more freedom for self-expression and why? Wolvencrown was great experience and I love those guys to bits but m u s i cally I think I’m definitely better suited to Agrona. At the moment w h e r e I am in Agrona, I’m where I want to be. This is where I can have my alter ego as an evil witch who shouts at people and looks like they eat kids! For me the performance is like therapy, just to get it off your chest through screaming. 6. You have an incredibly strong stage look. What was the prototype/

inspiration for it? Does it express a solid part of who you are in everyday life? Or is it something completely different, and you’re one on stage and completely different in life? I just always liked the spiritualism and the folklore, and I think that I’m completely different off stage. On stage I’m

a person who is enjoying the power and wants to be seen, who wants to siphon that energy from the audience and transform it into something bigger and more powerful. Off stage I’m quite reserved and much more introverted, I like to have a decent conver-

sation, but I am definitely not a party animal. I would say I prefer my cat to most people! 7. In my opinion, you’re an incredible example of an Extreme Metal frontwoman who manages to combine feminity and harshness on stage without dragging yourself to the commercial side. What and who do you t a k e inspiration from? Thank you for y o u r k i n d words, I don’t see the point in showi n g off my body or having a sexy c o s tume b e cause I think it’s more about my voice and my presence. Agrona is not that type of band, none of us wants to build our career on my gender, it doesn’t matter who we are, only the music that we create together matters. When I was younger a big one for me was Anorexia Nervosa.

Over the years I’ve also drawn influence from bands such as Blut Aus Nord, Ultar, Grima and Cult of Fire. A really important one is Ihsahn of Emperor though. I also remember at age 14 seeing Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy) and trying to replicate that in my living room, to the confusion of my parents. But despite that, I wouldn’t really call myself a particularly big fan of Arch Enemy, I always really preferred male vocals. 8. Are you currently working with any new material? What should we expect from you this time and how soon if

it’s not a secret? ^^ We’re aiming to start recording our new album in the second half of the year and hopefully it will be released at the end of 2022 or early in 2023. It’ll be a concept album about Welsh folklore. Wales is an ancient place with many varied stories, many of them are very dark and twisted but they are largely unknown outside of Wales. The new album will have a lot of beautiful symphonic melodies but with a twisted harshness and full of blast beats. 9. In the end of this interview, what would you like to say to our readers and crew? First of all, I would like to

say thank you for the interview and your kindness. Keep a close eye on Agrona because the upcoming album will be something very special. Also, if there are any girls dreaming of being on stage, don’t be shy and go for your dreams. Because everyone can do it with a bit of willpower. Don’t listen to people who say you can’t do it, fuck them.

Onslaught - Thrash/Metal from the United Kingdom

Interview with Wayne Dorman

Interview by Richard Keenahan

Today’s Interview is with guitarist Wayne Dorman of one of the UKs, if not the world’s best thrash bands Onslaught. Wayne played in the band’s latest release Generation Antichrist which was released in 2020 on AFM records. Wayne joined the band in 2018 as the lead guitarists whose skills are evident across the albums 9 tracks

Joining Onslaught was a bit of a surprise to me as it sort of came out of the blue. I’d not been active on the music scene for several years at the time (I hadn’t even really played guitar during this time either). I just woke up one day to a message on Face-

and inviting me to audition. - What was it like to join such a legendary band and what were the expectations on you? To be honest, at the time I didn’t really know what to expect but the guys were pretty easy going and helpful in helping me settle in and as I said previously, I’d not played guitar properly for about 5 years so not only had I sold most of my gear off, but my playing was also very rusty so I had to rebuild my abilities and confidence with the instrument from scratch.

a s i y r t s u ind c i s ce u a l m p e h e T v i t peti m o en c h w y r y e l l v a i c espe ting out. , k r o w o t tar s t s u j e r you’

Onslaught - Hi Wayne, would you like to give our readers the low down in how you came to join to Onslaught?

book Messenger from Nige one morning saying that he’d checked out my music on my social media like SoundCloud

I’d say that the hardest part for me was adapting my style to suit the band’s sound as I’m not a natural thrash player and my riffs and licks tended to be “too pretty” for the sound Nige had in mind. - You joined back in 2018 was it straight into writing or did you have live dates to fill to see if you were the right fit for the b a n d ? W h e n I was offered the position in band, I was told that my d e b u t would be on the mainstage of Bloodstock (no pressure!), but also that the band was needing to get right into the studio to write and record Generation Antichrist. It took me a while to find my feet, but I got there in the end. - When and where did you record the album Generation Antichrist? The bulk of the album

was mixed and produced by Daniel Bergstrand, but Generation Antichrist was recorded in a variety of places. I recorded most of my guitar parts in my home studio and sent the raw files to Daniel for reamping. Dave’s lead vocals and my backing vocals were

recorded with Karl Groom at Thin Ice Studios (which was a great experience for me as I’m a huge Threshold and Dragonforce fan). - The album came out mid pandemic was there any thought of postponing the release? Covid took its toll on everyone, it turned everyone’s

world upside down overnight. We were fortunate in as much as we’d finished the album by the time lockdown restrictions came into place, and the album deadline had already been put back due to lineup changes so we decided to press on with the release, which was a bit of a leap of faith as we knew we’d be unable to do a supporting tour but on the other hand we figured that people may find a new album might help distract them from the chaos in the world at the time. - How did the release go down with the fans? Overall, the album was very well received and has opened new doors for us. The single “A Perfect Day to Die” is by far our most popular track. - I’ve seen that you played the US earlier this year, how was it and how has the touring been on this release? As any touring musician will tell you, touring is a strange thing right now. 19

Onslaught - Thrash/Metal from the United Kingdom 20

For example: rather than going over to the US for a couple of weeks and doing a dozen back-to-back shows, we’re finding that we’re playing catch up on the postponed shows with dates seemingly scattered randomly about the diary and it will probably be like this until everyone catches up. On the flip side, we’re finding that opportunities have come our way in the UK where overseas bands have pulled out of shows citing Covid related reasons and we’ve been asked to step in or get bumped up to a more favourable spot on the lineup, so it’s not all doom and gloom! - What are the future plans for Onslaught now that the world is opening up? Like I say, all of us bands are in the same boat with shows right now. We’re starting to see things get back on track, but this will inevitably take time. We have a full dairy this year with many of the major festivals this summer, our stage show has had a major upgrade and we’ve got the band’s 40th anniversary coming up this year and we’ve got something big planned for this (I can’t say any more than this just yet but stay tuned).

History - Can you tell us when you first got into metal and what was the bands or albums that really got you hooked? I come from a long line of musicians, my mother is a

There’s so many but I’d say the most influential was Gary Moore. Anyone who knew me during my time at college (where incidentally I intended to study to become either a Forensic Scientist or Vol-

very talented composer and pianist who taught me a lot in my younger days and my father, whereas he doesn’t play an instrument himself, he has impeccable taste in music and used to have a legendary vinyl record collection that he introduced me to all the greats like Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Gary Moore. Who were those early heroes?

canologist/Geologist) will tell you that I always had my CD player on with various Gary Moore records. - What was your first band? My first band was a very shortlived group with some guys I went to college with (we didn’t even had a name and we only did 2 shows), since then I’ve been in various bands or varying levels of success but Onslaught is definitely the biggest project I’ve been a part of to date.

- Did you have a local scene where you grew up? Yes, I grew up in Birmingham which has a quite the heavy metal lineage with legends like Black Sabbath and Judas Priest coming from the area. Birmingham arguably has one of the best heavy metal scenes in the UK to, so the opportunities to see or join bands were many. Apart from Onslaught do you play in any other bands? Currently Onslaught is my only actual band, though I’m always open to working with other projects. Before joining Onslaught, I was the lead vocalist and guitarist of a NWOBHM type band called “Wrath of the Gods”. I offer my services as a session musician I have done several guest guitar and vocal slots for people. I have also recently started up a YouTube channel called “The Metal Emporium” where I post my own stuff (which is more power and symphonic metal influenced), it’s early days for the channel yet but if you’re interested in hearing what my natural playing style is like, check it out! Any bands you would like to recom-

mend to our readers? Go check out DeathCollector! These are a bit of a super group and if you like your death metal crushingly heavy, you’re going to love these guys! Gear - When did you decide to pick up the guitar? I

f i r s t started playing guitar about 25 years ago after first hearing Gary Moore’s album “The Wild Frontier”. It really sparked something off in me that made me think “I want to do that!”. I got into metal when a good friend gave me a copy of Metallica’s “Black Album” and the rest is history.

What was your first guitar? Like many, I started with the humble beginnings of those entry level Argos classical acoustic guitars. After a year or so of playing this my parents bought me a Blue Westfield Strat Copy that I picked out from a shop called “The Music Makers” in Tamworth, that guitar served me very well until about 2003 where I bought my first “pro guitar” which was a Gibson Les Paul Ebony Standard. - I was and still am a big Adrian Smith and Andrea’s Kisser fan which Is why I play. Jackson’s, did your first guitar heroes influence the guitars you played? I most definitely wear my influences on my sleeve (or more accurately; my guitar strap). One of my biggest heroes currently is the French virtuoso Stéphan Forté who was endorsing Lâg Guitars so naturally I checked this brand out and ended up using the brand for some time. I’m also a huge power metal fan and love bands like Dragonforce, the white Iceman I often use is one of Sam Totman’s Ibanez LA Custom Shops that I managed to get while recording Generation Antichrist. 21

Onslaught - Thrash/Metal from the United Kingdom 22

- What guitars do you play now and why the love for Iceman? I’ve used many brands over the years but lately I’ve moved over to Ibanez as I find their necks just fit me. I collect Iceman, I love the look of them, they have a kind of retro chic to them but also look incredibly “metal” at the same time, plus you don’t see too many Icemen around and I like things that are a little off the beaten track. - What about amps and fx pedals? I’ve never really used much in the way of effects throughout my career, just a good tube amp and some delay is usually enough for me, and I travel as light as I can on the road. My current touring rig is a Line 6 Helix LT into a Seymour Duncan Powerstage 700 into Marshall 1960a Cab, it’s a simple and dependable rig that can be set up quickly and I don’t need to worry about breaking down. When it comes to amps, I really like the Randall stuff, my favourite model being the V2. - Any dream guitars out there you would

love to have? I am lucky to own some real special and one-of-akind guitars, but you know you always need “one more” right? I would love to add a vintage 70s Iceman to the collection. Though one

I’m really after is an Ibanez Destroyer DT400. I’d love another high end Lâg Arkane too, for old times’ sake. I am checking an item

off my bucket list and working with Mark at Hilditch Handmade Guitars to build me a complete custom build, I should be seeing this guitar for the summer. I plan on another of my own designs to be realised with Mark too. - As you’ve progressed as a player who are the players you look up to? There’s so many to mention as I listen to and draw influence from pretty much every genre of music out there but if we’re talking strictly about metal, I’d have to say that some of my biggest influences are players like George Lynch, Stéphan Forté, Jeff Loomis and lately I’ve really gotten into Gus G from Firewind. I like players who have serious technical ability but also a great sense of melody. - Any advice you would like to pass on? The music industry is a very competitive place to work, especially when you’re just starting out. you’ve got to be resilient; you’ve got to work hard and you have to understand that you will taste disappointment far more often than you will success.

This is just the nature of the game and you’ve got to learn to take this in your stride and not let it deter you from your goals. Put your best foot forward and make yourself visible to people as much as you actively seek out opportunities. Most of all; remember to enjoy your journey, it’s very easy to lose sight of what made you want to play music in the first place. Future - What does the future hold for you and Onslaught? There’s a lot going on. We’ve got plenty of

shows lined up. We’ve got the band’s 40th anniversary coming up. Plenty of shows coming up all over, more recording dates, it’s a busy time! - I’ve seen you are part of the Metal4hire website, would you like to explain what it is how you got involved with it? I’ve always been keen on supporting the music scene at all levels and I’ve always offered my services as a session musician and ghost writer, even before joining Onslaught. Doing this sort of work gives me a chance to try something different to my normal

work, which is always fun. Metal4Hire is a great platform where anyone can hire the services of professional musicians (I’ve even seen some of my heroes on there). Though anyone looking to hire me for recording or live work can contact me directly via my social media too. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview, good luck for the future and I hope that Generation Antichrist gets the support it deserves as it’s a killer album.

Niohoggr - Black Metal From Puerto Rico

Interview with Memphist

Interview by Jay Parker

Hi this is Jay reporting from Bogota Colombia. Today I’m lucky enough to be talking to Drako from Puerto Rican band Niohoggr... Hey Drako, thanks for taking the time to talk to our readers...

Niohoggr insights with the legions across the world. Niohoggr was created by me (Memphist). I’m the creator and founder of Niohoggr, the band pillars that were born in Puerto Rico

continued my work in NJ, then NY which is my current location now. Thus, Niohoggr was created by me as a solo Black Metal band due to my personal and specific expecifictions of how I wanted my music and sound to be, which I always wanted it to have a raw and necro sound. The context surrounding Niohoggr is anti christianism, pagan extreme music and the lyrics are strong aspects that can be heard within Niohoggr.

nd a s w e i v s of t n k i c o a p l b e r h a t h i Is s w t h g i s m, s n i i n t a c i e t s p i s r a -Ch i t n a , l meta eness, chaos. extrem

1) Tell us about Niohoggr... when/ where/why/ was the band formed? First, Niohoggr is honored and would like to around thank Jay Parker for grant- 2004. After a trajectory within ing this opportunity to share the black metal scene of PR I

2) Why did you decide to play black metal? Metal has always been my music of choice. But black metal has been and is my solid ground and way of wrathful expression, It identifies me fully. 3) Run us through your releases and tell our readers where they can buy them. Well, Niohoggr’s trajectory has been quite extensive, so far 8 albums have been spawned since Niohoggr began its unholy conquest during the years under my underground Black Metal label Somberwolf Legions, and thus these albums can be acquired on Bandcamp. Here are the names of the albums in order since 2017, The Reckoning of thy Elders , Berserker, Unholy Sonseed, Wrath of the Seidmar, Thy Kings ov Oblivion. Heathen arcana and Ulvekriger are the last end to end albums done in 2022 . But indeed an alliance has been brooded, so let’s see from now, what is to come. 4) Niohoggr is the Dragon that gnawed at the roots of Yggdrasil... are your lyrics inspired by Nordic themes? Tell us about the lyrics you compose… Indeed! Niohoggr thy consumer of unworthy souls. Well as I said, my lyrics and context are into extremism, anti christianism and pagan grounds. Those are subjects really strong on thy lyrics due to my personal views and

practices; reason why I entwine these aspects within my music. 5) Tell us about the music... who writes the guitar and bass parts? Who plays the drums? The songs have some outstanding riffs... Honored for thy brutal complement. Well, all music is performed and recorded by me, mainly I play guitar and vocals but for the

recordings, I play and record everything. For a live performance I gather with members, practice as long as everything is secure and make it happen. In other words there have not been permanent members except when I was living and was

fully active in PR on the black metal scene which I keep representing here in NY. Since I moved to the USA permanently, I stayed alone as a solo black metal band, and used my time to create my independent black metal label Somberwolf Legions and recorded at last my albums. 6) What are your plans for the future? I understand we can expect your first album to be unleashed soon? My future plans are to continue Niohoggr war summons and to keep spreading Niohoggr chaos. Concerning my albums and music right now I’m moving thy new alliance to re-unleash my materials and my first work once more really soon with more empowerment. 7) Tell us about your musical influences...What did you listen to growing up? What bands do you listen to now? Honestly at first I grew up listening to Death Metal “old school’, Obituary, Deicide, Malevolence Creation but years later I began to discover Black Metal and bands that really influenced me, musically and lyrically with their extreme impact and happenings, Dark Funeral, Gorgoroth, Darkthrone, Carpathian Forest and Ragnarok were some of the bands that influenced me to start playing black metal. 25

Niohoggr - Black Metal From Puerto Rico

Thy reason I got more involved and identified with black metal was because I share points of views and aspect insights with black metal, anti Christianism, extremeness, chaos. I was defined mentally and personally with it. About what bands I listen to now, I keep mostly with the first, second wave but indeed keep discovering and supporting new brutal bands that keep raising chaos in black metal as it should be. 8) I know you started out in Puerto Rico, now based in New York... how do the scenes compare? Recommend some good bands from both scenes... Well the scenes are different indeed, Puerto Rico had and has a quite notable Black Metal scene. Here in NY I do know there are brutal black metal bands in the black metal scene and the metal scene in general for as little as I’ve seen so far, it is really talented and the support is unbreakable, a perfect example of how it should be. About PR, in which I know bm bands and shared the stage with them. I can say there are a few bands from the past and new bands as well that I respect and know them personally. Bands like Serpenterium, Necronomic, Sepulchral, Godless and Carpathian wrath among others. Puerto Rico and EEUU. Indeed diverse

countries but nevertheless, both share their blackmetal ways. 9) What are your expectations for the future? What are your long term goals as a musician? My expectations and long term goals as a musician go side

to side. Continuing moving Niohoggr music and keep creating more unholy war songs. 10) What have been your best and worst experiences so far as a BM musician? Best experience was a Black Metal fest on the 2015 in Puerto Rico in which I had the privilege of sharing stage with somes of the BM elite bands of the scene, not without mentioning

the extremities of performance that was performed those nights. Worst experience was my first Niohoggr debut which was a disaster due to an unpleasant moment in the performance due to an unexpected mishap with an ex-member. Obviously I stopped the performance and thus the presentation had to be contained from further chaos. 11) How do you think BM will evolve over the next few years? Do you see it as a healthy scene at the moment? Honestly, in my opinion Black Metal is Black Metal. Evolve? That’s relative depending on the point of view of people. 12) What advice would you give to any young musicians reading this that may be looking to follow in your footsteps down the left hand path to Black Metal Darkness? Never stop aiming the goal and reaching the purpose you want to complete musically speaking. Never lower the sword. 13) Would you like to add anything for our readers? Keep on the brutalness of black metal burning. Thanks for this opportunity Jay Parker and for accepting to be gathered with Niohoggr, also I would like to thank Julian Lopez from Underground Florida for the blasphemous and incorruptible support to Niohoggr. Remain extreme legions! A massive thanks to the Mighty NIohoggr. Hails 666

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- Depressive Black Metal from Mexico Gersuva

Interview with Gerado Suarez

Interview by Andrew Stanton

Zuriel Hernandez on drums. Already today I have released 5 full lenght (Tragic Silence, Ashes, Holy Rain, Too Late For Smile and Made In Pain) a compilation “The Suicide - Can you tell our readers Tape” and a a bit about your history, please? “Gersuva starts in June 2012 as a Depressive Suicidal Black Metal One Man Band project; later a live band was put split with the Colomtogether, currently the line- bian bands Kuntur and Taife. up is Gerardo Suarez (me) In the studio it is a very on vocals and bass, Alejan- personal job, I record all the dro Marin on guitar and instruments and later with Gersuva are a DSBM band from Mexico. Andrew Stanton talked to frontman Gerado Suarez about their new album.

the band we perform live. My personal studio is Satirus Productions which has released every one of Gersuva’s albums, although currently I have also recorded other Mexican bands like Hecate Pagan and Cry Of Doom, promoting Spectrum and Costa Rica Ancient Spheres albums. In Colombia Gersuva’s albums can be found on the Blasphemous Attack label and in Europe and Asia under the Cvlminis label.

s i g n i s o p om it has c f o y a My wpigeonholed, ispanic, -H s. e r not p , k l o e n o t r e v someienF o e s i amb t no

We have been a support band for bands like Inquisition, Horna, Varathron, Asagraum, Mortuary Drape, Consider Suicide, Nebiros, Profanatica and Pseudogod. In addition to touring in several countries in Central and South America such as Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Cuba, Colombia and Peru.” - What bands inspired you to create DSBM? “Darkthrone is a band that got me into Black Metal, but the band that inspired me to do DSBM was Nocturnal Depression. Later bands like Lifelover, Happy Days, Bethlehem and Silencer gave me a broader perspective of the genre. Although my way of composing is not pigeonholed, it has some Folk, pre-Hispanic, ambient noise overtones, I am very experimental in that aspect.” What other Mexican bands should our readers check out? “It’s going to seem very obvious but I totally recommend Hecate Pagan, Cry Of Doom and Spectrum which

are bands from Satirus Productions, they are really good bands. I would also recommend Encarnalium Nosferatum who has a new album and also listen to Tormental

and Dark Matter Mx who are also very brutal bands.” - In your own opinion, what do you think makes DSBM different from Doom Metal? “According to technical definitions both things are the same. For me personally, the DSBM gives me a little more freedom to compose. I mean that I can work with more intense musical atmospheres, include not so usual instrumentation and work with different

musical tempos. Sure, it’s a personal opinion, but that’s how I perceive it.” - What can fans expect from your new album? “Made in Pain” is the first double album I have recorded. The inspiration was due to the loneliness and anxiety that was unleashed in me during these years of the pandemic. I have a very special collaboration with Lizzie Carlsson, a girl from Guatemala who is the vocalist of Witchmoon WM who sings on the title track of the album. My third theme sung in Spanish is “Destinos Separados” my first theme in Italian is “Mi Manchi” and a theme in Mayan language “Ah Puuch” who is known as the god of death. On youtube you can find the song “Fill Yourself With Pain” the video clip shows a little what it’s like to work in the studio as a one man band and put everything together at the end. On the cover you can see a painting of my own called “Crisis”, the album can temporarily only be ordered physically through the Gersuva fanpage on Facebook.” 29

- Depressive Black Metal from Mexico Gersuva 30

- Why do you choose to sing in English? “Personally, I find it easier to compose that way, in English, although I also have songs in the Mayan dialect, in languages such as Spanish, French, Italian and even a song that is half Mayan and half Russian called “Ubey Sebya” I believe that the message should not be in a single language, it should reach every corner of the planet.” - Why are there so many solo artists in the DSBM s c e n e ? “The DSBM is a genre that externalizes the demons and the darkest feelings of a person that are reflected in notes, in screams, in very personal sensations, that is why there are so many projects like this, it’s difficult for two or more people to understand musically what you are feeling, then it is something strongly loaded with thoughts and sentimental voids, incomprehensible for many,

but for others it is a way of identifying and coinciding.” - Are you planning a tour? “At the moment it’s difficult, some countries still have certain restrictions due to the pandemic; we had something planned for 2021 in Asia but it was and is impossible, at least for a few years. At the moment we have fulfilled some commitments that were postponed in the countries of Colombia, Belize and Gua-

temala, but in a few months we hope to have something confirmed for Europe and resume the Asian tour.” - Do you have a message for our readers? “First of all, I greatly appreciate the space provided

in this magazine and secondly to each of the people who take the time to read a little about this project. I hope that soon we can travel to those corners of the world that are missing to deliver the message. “Siempre Firmes en el Culto al Black Metal”

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Murder Hate - Melodic Death/Metal from Colombia

Interview with Leonardo Aviles

Interview by Andrew Stanton

Murder Hate are a really cool Death Metal band from Colombia. Andrew Stanton talked to frontman Leonardo Aviles about the current scene. - Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please? “Murder Hate is a Death Metal band from the coffee region (Col), the band was born in Calarcá in 2010,

we have recorded three full-length albums and one EP. We’ve been making Death

keep the machine running. In our lyrics we like to talk about mythology, literature, social problems, philosophy and more.” - Who are the current line up members? “Leonardo Aviles – Guitar and voices Jhonnatan Sánchez – Bass and voices Nicolás Espinosa – Drums and Voices.”

y b d e c n e u l f n i l l a h t e r a e a D c i We s s a l c f o e v a the w and Nu Metal. Metal Metal for eleven years, along the way new people have joined and others have left, but we always

- What bands did you like growing up? “We are all influenced by the wave of classic Death Metal, Cannibal Corpse, Six feet Under and Deicide. But we also grew up listening to other tunes. We grew up in the Nu Metal boom, so we have a lot of influences from that style of music as well.” What are your l y r i c s about? “Our lyrics talk a b o u t mythology, literature, social problems, philosophy and more. whatever blows our minds, we can talk about the divine comedy and the nine circles of hell like we do in our latest album “Infortunii Ex Nihilo” or about Jekyll and Mr. Hyde like in our “Alter Ego” song.” - Why did you do a cover of Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love”?

“We did that cover because we love Rock and Roll and that song represents a golden age of music. We like the style we gave to the cover, we did it with a lot of strength and respect.” - Why do you wear suits? “It is part of our performance to wear suits, for this last season we decided to use them trying to respect

ready making preparations to start a tour outside.” - Will you ever tour Europe or North America? “We have never been to Europe or North America, but we are making some contacts that could take us on a tour.” - Do you have a message for our readers? “We would like to invite you to join our social networks to listen to our music and take a look at everything that happens in Colombia with the Death Metal community.”

and represent elegance towards the music we make.” - Have you toured much around South America? “We have toured Colombia with our music, we have not yet left our country but we are al33

Grond - Death/Metal from Russia

Interview with Kist

Interview by Olga Schneider

1. First of all, I’d like to say thank you for the opportunity to do this interview. Actually it’s been a while since I planned to do that. How is the band feeling now after all these C O V I D r e s t r i ctions? Were there many c o n c e r t that were postponed without even being announced?

Hi, Olga! Thank you for sometimes after being anyour interest for our band! nounced, sometimes couple COVID was really some- days before the event itself. t h i n g Sometimes it was like at the very beginning of these restrictions we had to refuse to play in St. Petersburg, but couple days crushing for all our con- after that the promoters cert related plans. Lots of had to cancel the event itshows were canceled with- self and postpone it for a out even being announced, year; so the year passed,

live in a s i l a t e M s that ask is to show w o n k d l r o The w w our common t at h t o d o t o y n a , Russia t dying. The best w ’re doing. that it’s no doing well what you is to keep

and couple weeks before that long-waited trip our drummer Kadath got diagnosed with CV. But since I used to play the drums in Grond years ago, we played a show that included lots of old material, and while that show I took both drums and vocals parts. But in general, everything is not that bad. We got able to play some concerts, and that was really cool. 2. You’re currently having some changes in your lineup again. So what was the r e a s o n for Daemorph to leave the band? And of course we’d like to get some more detailed information about your new bassist. Okay, let’s say I can’t say for Daemorph, but it wouldn’t be completely correct to say “he left the band”. February 24 became the day when our world drastically changed.

Each of us sees and feels the consequences of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine so clearly, and these concequences will be lasting really long for sure. Daemorph is a citizen of Ukraine, so he decided to leave our country. We’re supporting our contact, and now everything is fine with him (as fine as possi-

ble in the current situation in fact), but his further participation in Grond has become impossible for him. Of course it’s a big loss for us. Daemorph was not only the bassist, but also one of the band’s composers and the author of all our arts/ album covers. But sometimes life dictates its own

conditions to us, and not always we do like them. But now about the new bassist. It’s Sarghas who has taken this mission. We have already worked with him (also with Daemorph) in the Death Black band named Kadavereich where we had a great experience working together, so the reasons of choosing him are evident. Sarghas is also the vocalist and the bassist of the killer Black M e t al band Gwarloth (as Bonecrushing Apocalypse), he also took part in lots of projects in the past. He’s a great dude and musician, and we’re planning to start recording our new album with him soon. 3. Years ago you rewatched your role in the band as well if I might say so. If years ago you were both the drummer and the vocalist, then now you’re only taking the vocal part. 35

Grond - Death/Metal from Russia 36

How has the feeling of being on stage changed with that? I mean, not only technically (of course it’s easier to do one work than two at the same time), but also mentally. Wasn’t you feeling any mental discomfort for a while, at least cause now you’re 100% in the center of attention? :) Yeah, that’s a really good question. First of all, when we decided to find a new drummer, there wasn’t any rush at all, and the main criterion was the high skill level, way higher than mine. Now, as you can see, we have found such a musician, thanks to the blind gods of chaos! And of course I was thinking a lot on the fact that it’s way harder to play the drums and sing at the same time, and that being a “free” Death Metal singer is nothing more than full relax and pleasure. I was so deadly wrong. There are lots os nuances of being right in front of the audience. Opportunities for vocal expression and for the show are greatly increased, but the responsibility has also increased a lot, and you have to work it out to the fullest. Now, of course, I’m used to it, but at first I didn’t

even know what to do with myself. It felt so easier before, like you should just sit, rape the drums and yell, so you would get away with everything, haha! 4. It’s been a while since you released your latest album, and now you’re actively working on the new one. What should we expect from it? Are you gonna follow your old traditions or are you planning lots of experiments? In August of this year we go into the studio to start recording the new album. I can say with no doubts that musically it’s gonna be different from everything we’ve done before. First of all, this is due to the fact that the main composers are other people now. Also, there was an opinion (both the audition’s and our own) that the last album was a bit messy. This is not surprising, since the gap between composing of some songs was very long (up to several years!), and some songs (Kronos the Devourer and Below the Thunders) took on their final form in just some days before recording. Now we’ve decided to make the new album more structured. By the way, that’s gonna be our first true comceptual album,

and that’s gonna be represented not only through lyrics, but also music wise. It’s not so much about any experiments, but rather about a bit different approach to composing music. Anyway, now all that is just words, it’s a bit hard to take an objective look at what we’re doing. Let’s see what the audience is gonna say. 5. Do you have any plans of promoting the new album abroad, when it gets way wasier to organize some abroad tours? You definitely want to show the whole world that Extreme Metal in Russia is alive, don’t you? So far, we don’t have any specific plans for foreign tours. The situation in our country and in the world in general is not conducive to travel. But we don’t rule out such a possibility. In a word, there is certain wish and aspiration to actively join the Western Metal community, since the world knows that Metal is alive in Russia, now our common task is to show that it’s not dying. The best way to do that is to keep doing well what you’re doing. 6. What can you say about Metal community in Russia generally? What’s changed most of all since you started getting into it, in your opinion?

What changes can you call killer, and what changes are extremely negative? As it seems to me, at the times when we started (the middle of 2000s), underground M e t a l scene in Russia was absolutely numb. There was an impression of some kind of global extinction of Metal organisms at that time. There was a feeling that we were starting some new era. This feeling has intensified over time, due to the fact that the number of truly worthy bands (I can say primarily about Death & Black metal, but not only) started to noticeably increase, and their existence time also grew up, and this fact inevitably led to some healthy competition and the growth of the fan base here in Russia, and, as a result, to some strengthening of Russian Metal com-

munity in general. Then we felt a fresh breeze from the Death metal cemeteries, so we tried to inflate the sails stronger: I started organizing concerts (the first PYRE gig in Moscow, Fac-

es of Death festival with Asphyx, Flashcrawl), the release of the compilation Faces of Death consisting of those Russian Death Metal bands which were the best at that time in our opinion, GROND’s trip to the Netherlands, and so on. After that time, there was a slight decline in the activity of the Death Metal scene, many bands splat up or changed musical directions. And now, as I see it, there is another rise. Lots of great festivals are ap-

pering (Shallow Grave, Metal Over Russia), new bands are getting born and taking root. All the negative changes relate to foreign and domestic politics, but our Metal community is getting stronger, if I may say so. Being an optimist about this is already a lot. 7. Why, in your opinion, our Metal scene is not that popular in the entire world? And what can we do to fix this fucked up situation? First of all our Metal scene is very small compared to the European and American scene. This is an obvious fact. In the West, some traditions, culture and history of the Metal culture has been existing for a very long time. We cannot boast of this. The good thing is that it’s been a while since our Death and Black scene started being able not to parasitize on Western ideas and create something of its own, of course, based on the foundations laid by the luminaries of the genres. 37

Grond - Death/Metal from Russia 38

This is probably the answer to the second question: skill, originality, visual component, perseverance - these qualities help some of our bands to gradually become noticeable on the Western stage, even with huge competition! Competition always motivates to move forward, especially when it comes to Metal underground. If you’re ready to understand and accept the culture, in every sense of the word. 8. Has the availability of everything that is possible in the modern world affected the audience at concerts? If we’re talking about first of all Moscow and St. Petersburg, then for sure, lots of concerts of any kind, instant availability of any kinds of music cannot be here without leaving a trace. As lots of the modern achievements, these also have two sides. As it

seems to me, nowadays the audience at concerts has become way more picky. I used to notice before that lots of people were way less picky regarding concerts and music in general, so the came just to rock. This tendency also strongly depends on the place: the further from the center of the country it is, the less picky the audience is. Since concerts in provin-

cial cities are less frequent, the variety of bands there is less as well (once we went to a small tour in Russia, and I saw it personally). Now the situation is changing for the better (largely due to the activities of some promoters), but, unfortunately, unevenly. For example, everyone

knows about frequent Metal fests in Arkhangelsk organized by Maxim Ice, and Kazan has practically got out of that, although it used to be much louder. I’m not claiming to have a high degree of awareness on these issues! It’s just how I see it now. 9. Last year you took part in the Shallow Grave fest which is famous for its truly extreme conditions. What was the most memorable part of this trip? Do you want to repeat? Or do you rather prefer the big city conditions? I was a part of the audience at Shallow Grave 2020 and went there as a musician in 2021, so I can say that I definitely liked the both times. Best regards to the promoters of this amazing event. There was a lot of interesting stuff, I don’t even know what to highlight: great sound, the way of organization, the location - everything was providing us to ROCK!

And the audience of course. I’ll definitely try hard to visit Shallow Grave this summer. 10. Do you currently have any plans about concerts at least in Moscow and Moscow region while recording the album? The recording is the priority at the moment, and now we don’t have any concert plans. Time will show if the situation changes. 11. What w e r e your main sources of inspiration at the very b e g i n ning and now, after 20 fucking years? How has your att i t u d e changes with the years? My main source of inspiration both at the beginning of the journey and now is the Sea Element, its various aspects. This includes various sea myths, Lovecraft, the fleet and various naval battles, submarines, marine cryptozoology, spirits and

deities of the ocean, various fiction, paleontology. The new album, as I said, is gonna be a concept album. Thematically, it’ll be a symbiosis of two stories: the real history of the military deeds of the German waterman during the First World War, Captain Otto Weddigen, and the events described by Lovecraft in his story named The

readers and crew in the end of this interview ? Thanks for your interest in our band. And thank you for helping to move the rusty colossus of underground Metal music in our country! Together we make the engine of this submarine work! Readers both from Russia and from other countries are strongly advised to immerse themselves in the study of modern Russian Underground Metal music, probably very pleasant discoveries are awaiting! Cheers!

Temple. This sea theme has always interested me, although I try not to get too hung up on the topic. The main thing is doing your stuff with pleasure, and therefore - sincerely. 12. And now the final and traditional question. What can you say to our 39

Chovu-Post-Black Metal from Kenya

Interview with Lord Preston

Interview by Andrew Stanton

Chovu are a cool new Black do and Nairobi, towns in Kenya.” Holocaust, Moonspell, Obituary, Metal band from Kenya. Andrew - What bands did you Bathory, Sarcofago among others.” Stanton talked to Lord Preston like growing up? - Is Black Metal hard to disabout the African Metal scene. “I happen to know influencial cover in Africa? bands for our mem“Africa has a lot of Black - Can you tell our Metal, maybe readers a bit because our about your hiscultures are tory, please? full of voodoo “Hi I’m Chovu and witchvocalist, Lord craft and Preston. Our embracing band is a fourdarkness, in year-old project Kenya Death Metal give or take, we bers which was more common which is why are pioneers of blackened doom are hundreds but I can strongly Chovu took the sword of darkness.” and death in Kenya, we are a highlight Darkthrone, Tool, Car- - What are your lyrics about? five-piece band based in Kajia- pathian Forest, Tsjuder, Toxic “Chovu lyrics are about sor-

d a e d e v i t a n s i u v eaning Cho m Swahili something bad. «Kiovu»

cery, traditional tales, folk tales and mythical stories borrowed from African traditional cultures. We even push an effort to use local and native language.” - What other African bands should our readers check out? “Let’s see African bands to recommend; Irony Destroyed, Seeds of Datura, Overthrust, Raven in Flesh, Osy Mainty, Boiling Point, Last Year’s Tragedy, among others, once you listen to these you’ll find the underground scene here.” - What is your opinion on Satanic bands? “Satanic bands are cool they show rebellion through art, I mean better than using bombs and guns right, Satanic bands open the mind past the moral fence not that a person be trapped to it but to realize the diversity of the world, ure bands should once on a while tease a provocation to expand field of imagination.” - Have you toured much around Africa? Do your live shows go down well? “We are yet to tour outside Kenya, we have been invited to

shows but being underground finances hold us back from achieving, the Metal scene in south of Africa region is godly and active, we did a local tour in Kenya it

was hell on earth, self-funded, we were homeless hungry and stranded in new towns, Metal in Kenya is still growing still something new to a lot of the population, but we are increasing the scene.” What does Chovu mean? Chovu is native dead Swahili meaning Kiovu’’ something bad. Dead languages and traditions are what we are all about, and they are dead for being perceived to be bad.” - How did the collaboration with The Witch happen? “Collaboration with The Witch happened when Jay Pee approached Chovu inbox and had a conversation with me about his label and projects, as time went by we each shared our projects with each other and before we knew it, we were down for a collaboration, The Witch offered a single to collaborate on, Phantoms in the Dark, and after that collaboration, we became brothers in Metal.” - Do you have a message for our readers? “Message for the readers? Chovu is an effort supporting every underground initiative and watching how the march from the darkness leads to the light.” 41

Osy Mainty - Black Metal from Madagascar

Interview with Osy Mainty

Interview by Jay Parker

Hi this is Jay reporting from Bogota Colombia. Today I’m lucky enough to be talking to Osy Mainty from Madagascar. A fast-rising star with a growing following, this is definitely a band for the future... Ca va mon ami! Thanks for talking to our readers...

here in Antananarivo. Back to the days, I was dreaming about a live band but several troubles pushed me to make it a 1 man project.

ous or great. I think the bands that actualy made me love bm were Dimmu Borgir and Dark Funeral but my passion for depressing stuff is a kinda natural. 2. Describe your music in 5 words. This is just my past. 3. I’ve been fortunate to have a preview of the forthcoming album Born Within Disgrace... I can say it is mindblowing... original... terrifying...

f o y t n e l p e v a h but e r We e h d n a b d . l o a d go o m s i the public

1. Tell us about Before Osy Osy Mainty.. when/where/ Mainty I had many other why was the band formed? projects that were mostly I created the project in 2010 into core but nothing seri-

groundbreaking... run us through the album tracks and tell our readers where they can buy it... Ok so 1st fitia poizina is the malagasy for poison-love. It’s a musical summary of my love stories (the kind of story that make you wanna die) i used 4 languages for the lyrics (malagasy, french, english and japanese). My bro also played the lead guitars on it. 2nd resy or defeated. The last minutes of somebody who comited suicide (in music). 3rd satana mpanjaka mahery or great king satan. Anti-religious and anti-constitutional track. (I was baned coz of it) 4 hanaraka anao or following you (into the grave) is the story of somebody who wana die coz they lost the 1 they loved the most. 5 flashing lights is a sorta late party that will be forgoten the following day (but few images remained). 6th coromax is at the same time a sensibilization for protection against covid 19 and a modest requiem for the victims. 7th Suicidal obsession... Do I really have to explain? 8th Born withing disgrace is more in the field of rejection or being rejected. Disability, ugliness, loneliness, self-destruction, adiction, uselessness...

The album is available at Masters Of Kaos Productions. Support the underground. Hail metaleros...\m/... 4. What inspires the lyrical content in your tracks? It’s obvious. Also depends on music. Sometimes, lyrics come first. Most of my lyrics come from real emotions but I also try to talk about something else in order to make it less narcisictic. 5. What inspired you to become a Black Metal musician? I don’t know much. I just love it. 6. What are your plans for the future? I understand you have more material to come? Yeah some material first especialy internet conexion. Them maybe trying to find a scene for Osy Mainty and for what might bm become here. Depends on the public. My job is done. 7. Tell us about your best and worst experiences as a Black Metal musician... My Accident was the worst (but maybe it’s just my mind) and still waiting for the best. 8. Tell us about the scene there in Madagascar... Recommend some bands for our readers. Seth, dark’inside, samara, azazael... We have plenty of good band here but the public is modal. 9. What is your favourite all time BM album and why?

Hard to say. The band who made me dream the most must be Dimmu Borgir but I also love so many other bands IF I HAD TO CHOOSE... In sorte diaboli, spiritual black dimension... 10. What is your opinion on the evolution of BM over the years and where do you think it will go in the future? No one can actualy predict tomorow but according to what we’re living today I’d say atmospheric say will take a huge dimension. Same for electronic or virtual music but it will probably take more time. 11. What modern bands do you listen to? Violet cold, deadspace... 12. What words of wisdom would you give to any up and coming bands / musicians? Ego kills talent and 2 are better than 1 13. Would you like to add anything for our readers? Thx a lot for supporting metal... Hail Merci beaucoup, Osy Mainty!!! 666

Winters Breath-Atmospheric Black Metal from Austria

Interview with Burkhard Lettner

Interview by Jay Parker

Hi this is Jay reporting from Bogota Colombia. Today I’m lucky enough to be talking to Burkhard from one man Austrian Melodic BM sensation Winter’s Breath. Guten Tag Burkhard?? Wie gehts? Hallo Jason, sehr gut gehts – danke! 1. Tell us about WB, where/why/ when was the band formed. Basically, I had the idea to form a band about 20 years ago, at that time I was playing drums and

tried with friends. But we didn’t come together about the style. I already was into black metal as the other guy wanted to be a grunge band. So that didn’t work out and the whole

to try things, but didn’t find the time to do this. And then there was Covid – we had reduced work time for about three months and this was the starting point for Winter’s Breath. With having a lockdown and a lot of time, things s t a r t ed really quickly. And the result was the “Rising Storm EP”. Those where the first songs I have ever written... and I think they have turned out really well.

M B e h t e n k e n c i s h t I erground ive also unds very act ndemic. wa ing the pa dur thing went into a long sleep. After moving to Vienna, I also switched from drums to guitar and I always wanted

2. Describe your music in 5 words. Atmospheric, symphonic, melodic, dark, meaningful. 3. Run us through your discography... tell our readers where they can buy your music. To start with the easy part – the music can be bought at the bands Bandcamp store: https://wintersbreath. bandcamp.com/ and from Masters of Kaos Productions in the near future. Rising Storm: These where the first songs I have ever written. Thematically, I tried to bring in themes from that time and years before. Once I was told, if you don’t have a plan, write something about things in life. Graveyard Symphonies: After the really good feedback from Rising Storm, I wanted to give it a real try. I had still a few ideas left from Rising Storm which formed quickly into songs. Thematically, it is about life and death, meaning of life, what we achieve, what we leave behind. It was also my first try using a broader sound (including orchestra as background). The whole thing was thematically a concept album because every song has a graveyard in it in some way. The funny thing is, I had the cover and the title of the album before there was the first song –

but this helped to keep the focus on the whole thing. Split with BAL Two Worlds: A while after the release of Graveyard, I was contacted by BAL if I would be interested in doing a split with him. I found the idea interesting and great and in a very short time I had two songs for the split. My input: two songs which fit together musically and thematically and work as one story. BAL already had older finished songs and we released this after a short while. Undead EP: After the release of the BAL split, I was asked more than once why the undead only rise on that day (listen to the EP or read the lyrics, than you know what I mean) and what happens next. So, the idea was born to continue the story which was started on the split and release this as EP. The story is not finished with this EP and will continue, but I don’t know if there will be another split or another EP... We will see in the future. Split with Withdraw – Zwei Stimmen: Winter’s Breath was also part of an Austrian Black and Death Metal Sampler having a lot of underground bands on it. At that time, I got to know Daniel from Withdraw and I asked him, if he wanted to do a split. We decided to have the theme “voices” and every-

one had one song for the split. We realized after releasing the album, how good they fit together (we heard the songs from each other the first time, when they were finished) and I think we will do something like that in the future again. The new one: hopefully in autumn. 4. What is the inspiration behind the lyrics? This depends on the idea I basically have. Graveyard Symphonies was all about life and death, and experiences in life. Rising Storm were about things which kept me busy at that time. The undead story came to me by accident – I started writing lyrics and they did go in that direction, so I continued with that. So basically (with the exception of Graveyard), there is no bigger plan in the lyrics before I write them. Most of the time I have an idea for the album, but that changes when I am in the progress of writing lyrics. 5. Tell us about your instruments and the recording process... How does it all come together? As a big fan of Brendon Small (Dethklok, Galaktikon), I have two of his signature guitars from Epiphone. Those are the ones I use on all the albums. When I start recording, I mostly have the idea of a melody or a rhythm. 45

Winters Breath-Atmospheric Black Metal from Austria 46

From that point I try to work around this melody and try combinations with other melodies. This sometimes do work out and I quickly have a basic song, or I delete what I have after 2 minutes. In the meantime, I have learned to not delete everything so quickly and maybe use it later. Drums and Bass are done with ezdrummer and ezbass. For the rest I use both free and paid instrument plugins. 6. Tell us about your future plans with WB... Are you thinking of playing live? That is an interesting question. The first intention was to never release my music, to only do it for me – you see how this has worked out. To be honest, at the moment there are no plans to play live. Winter’s Breath is a one-man band and I want to keep it that way for now. This is easier for me to set the direction of the band

and what is happening. You has it influenced your sound? know, I have a normal day I am a kid of the 90’s – there job and with that the time was Amorphis with Tales from The Thousand Lakes, Samael with Ceremony of Opposites, Tiamat with Wildhoney, Dimmu Borgir with Enthone Darkness Triumphat, Theatre of Tragedy, Paradise Lost,.. to name a few. A lot of bands with a dark tone but also a lot of melody and atmosphere. If you mix all of that together, you find the basic sound of Winter’s Breath. But there are a lot of other bands who did their part as well. 8. What is your favorite album of all time and why? That’s hard to answer, as there are a lot of albums which I like after listening to them for over 20 years. for the band is not always as But one which also brought much as you like. With oth- me through a hard time was er people in, this can be more the “Death EP” from Thy complicate as I want it to be. Serpent. A classic and time7. What music did you lis- less album – listen to it, ten to growing up and how then you know what I mean.

9. Tell us about the scene in Austria... Recommend some local bands for our readers to check out... There is a big underground scene which I only know a little. You can listen to this sampler: https://runningwildproductions.bandcamp. com/album/austrian-metal-news-vol-1 With that you have a great overview of the current underground scene. Very talented musicians and great songs! 10. What is your opinion of the current post-pandemic resurgence in BM? I think the BM underground scene was very active also during the pandemic. There were no live gigs, yes – but in a creative way the scene was very active. There were a few very good albums which came out during that time... 11. What have been the best and worst moments for you as a BM musician so far? The best moment was when the first album was released, and the first feedback came in. This was overwhelming for me – I thought maybe two or three persons listening to the album would be a success, but then they were over thousand in a very short time. The worst moment was,

when realizing that I don’t have an idea of what I am doing. No idea of how to record correctly, mix or master. In the end, everything sounded awful after my tries and that kept me sleepless for days. But you grow and you gain experience over time. 12. What advice would you give to younger musicians that may be looking to follow in your footsteps? Don’t wait, do it. Play around, it is not important to be the best and fastest guitar player (look at me hahaha), as long as you can bring the feeling into the music you want to transport to the listener. Start easy – take a simple drum beat and try to build up a rhythm and when that works out, start building up a melody. Don’t give up, when it doesn’t work out for the first time... but I think you will be impressed what can happen when you try. So never fall into the “I am not good enough” feeling – because you are. 13. Would you like to add anything for our readers? Stay save, stay healthy, be nice to each other and support your local underground. Danke schon mein Freund!!!

Damnation Gallery - Horror Metal from Italy

Interview with Lord Edgard, Low and Scarlet

Interview by Andrew Stanton

Damnation Gallery are quite a quirky band from Italy. A lot of different styles of Metal being played. Andrew Stanton talked to the band about their new album. - Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please? (Lord Edgard) We were born in 2016, from an idea of mine and Low. We came from two different bands, but we had known each other for some time and after

a first attempt to join forces in a project, we managed to realize the intentions with the birth of Damnation Gallery in March 2016. Initially the

to try more extreme solutions. This first four-piece line-up spawned the first EP Transcendence Hymn, which was brought live on November 4 of the same year. The band then underwent a lineup change, first becoming a quintet with the entry of Lord of Plague. Subsequently, there was the defection of the drummer, with the entry of Coroner in a stable plant.

orror H s a s selve r u o our e n i f h e t o d b e W because ng d o n r a t b s a l e a t v e a m age h m i r u o d n music a ype. t t a h t f o n connotatio idea was to play 80s metal, but with the discovery of Scarlet’s vocal potential emerged the need

After Black Stains, the first album, there was copious live activity and interesting collaborations (including Terror Tales, Death SS tribute compilation and a Necrodeath tribute compilation entitled “The Cult of Necrodeath”) and opening concerts for bands such as Pestilence, Death SS, Labyrinth and Necrodeath themselves. Son of the pandemic is instead Broken Time, the last work of the band, which sees a more direct and less “ethereal” turn, with the participation of Steve Sylvester (Death SS) in the videoclip of “The Unnamed” and the behindthe-scenes collaboration of Roberto Falcao (King Diamond) who helped me with excellent advice to produce the album. - Who is in Damnation Gallery? Low: The lineup consists of: Scarlet - vocals Lord Edgard - guitar Lord of Plague - guitar Low - bass and backing vocals Coroner - drums What bands did you like growing up? (Lord Edgard Halliday) I grew up with bands such

as Nevermore, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Necrodeath and Bull-

dozer. Later I fell in love with the bands Hell from the UK and Satan’s Host. (Low) Personally, I grew up with all that was the British heavy scene of the early 80s, so Iron Maiden, Judas Priest,

S a x on and others. I have always listened to a lot of thrash metal while in the Italian context I cannot fail to mention histor-

ical realities such as Death SS, Paul Chain and Extrema. I have always listened to everything without setting myself who knows what limits. Scarlet: I grew up listening to any kind of music or genre or style. I’ ve always listened to hard rock, metal in all its forms and styles, hip hop and pop music. I truly believe that every song, artist or album can find the right way to touch and move your deepest feelings, no matter which kind or style it is. I think all this reflects my singing and my composition and defines the message I try to send as a singer. My favourite bands and artists that really made a difference for me are Death SS, Guns’n’ Roses and… Elisa! - How do you describe your music? Is it Power Metal? (Lord Edgard Halliday) Although each of us has different musical influences and power metal can be part of the tastes of some of us, I would say that it is the least representative genre of our proposal. I think there are more amounts of thrash, black and death in our project. 49

Damnation Gallery - Horror Metal from Italy 50

(Low) I would say no... we define ourselves as Horror metal band because both our music and our image have a strong connotation of that type ... however, our proposal is characterized by the fact that we all have very different and varied influences and tastes, what we do is nothing more than merge them together in a formula that we like to define “ours”. As a result, you will find many heavy influences, thrash death Black and Doom, mixed with what is our personal vision. - Do you find your fans are mostly older Metalheads? (Low) No, there are people who range for every age! - What are your lyrics about? Scarlet: lyrics are written by all of us. Every song is a personal experience, fear, unconfessable feeling of each one of us. Mostly, the story itself is hidden among metaphors, narrative, historical transpositions. - Where did you get the name Damnation Gallery? Scarlet: we would like to bring all our listeners with us through a sort of path, exploring and facing all the obscure parts of human nature. Not only a

path, but something more suffocating, a walk through any pain or secret instinct a person could experience. So, we thought Damnation Gallery could perfectly express the meaning. - Why do so many Italian bands sing in English? (Low) I think for each band it’s a personal choice so I can only answer for what concerns me: personally, within this genre I do not like the type of musicality that my language proposes, nothing more noth-

ing less and hence the choice to use English, although we have Angoscia which is a song written in Italian (moreover among my favorites) but it is to be considered an experiment for us more than the norm. - Your album covers seem very interesting. It’s almost like

they have hidden meanings. (Low) Taking care of the graphic aspect, I can absolutely answer yes. Both on Black Stains and on Broken Time you can find many references to us, to our lyrics and to the message we want to carry on. Obviously not everything is visible, indeed I had a lot of fun hiding everything as much as possible, so that only a careful look can grasp everything he sees. Even the images both in the covers and in the booklet accompany the listener in our world. - Do you have a message for our readers? (Lord Edgard Halliday) In a world devoid of hope, only music remains. Blast your ears to thundering metal sound, thanks for your undisputed support. Low: http://www.facebook. com/damnationgallery http://youtube.com/c/ damnationgallery http://damnationgallery.bandcamp.com Please don’t forget to check us out on our social media accounts and thanks for your support!

Hand of Flauros - Black Metal from the United States

Interview with Alexis Riera

Interview by Jay Parker

Hi this is Jay reporting from Bogota Colombia Today I’m lucky enough to be talking to Alexiso from US band Hand Of Flauros. Hey Alexis, thanks for taking the time o talk to our readers… 1) Tell us about Hand Of Flauros. when/ w h e r e / why/ was he band formed? The hand of flauros project was created with the

idea of contributing to the world of blackmetal something more raw than what it had been doing with remorselss winter, for

Of Flauros was born on March 1, 2022 in DC. 2) Why did you decide to play black metal? I don’t know if I decided it, let’s say that it was emerging, I started playing crust p u n k with the passage of time I was entering the style of death and black and today black metal is a genre

g so n i k l a t p o t ill s w s d n st a a u b j e d n a If th s e selv m e h es t u g f a o e l l h o c c u m heir t f o e r o little m ould be bigger. the scene w that reason it needed another incarnation to do something different, and Hand

where you can experiment and be freer, much more than in death metal or heavy and thrash. 3) Run us through your releases and tell our readers where they can buy them... Right now you can buy a digital copy on bandcamp in the future it may come out in physical format but for now the most direct way to support me is by buying the digital copy. 4) Tell us what inspires your lyrics... What inspires me a lot are the stories of different cultures about how they believed in different manifestations that they considered from another plane of existence and sometimes in the evil of humanity itself. 5) Tell us about the music... who writes the guitar and bass parts? Who plays the drums? The songs have some outstanding riffs... Since this is a oneband, I am the one who writes everything. Many times the idea of inviting some artists that I consider good came up, but I never put it into practice, maybe in the future, thanks for considering my riffs as good.

6) What are your plans for the future? I understand we can expect your first album and a split to be unleashed soon??? Like almost everything I think about in life, it’s not so much that you have plans for the future, but rather that you have short-term goals. Future plans are easy for things to happen and fail. It’s a constant in humanity that leads to frustration, so I try to avoid that. what if I want to make this grow but not only my projects but something bigger as a community of black metal bands with a goal of reaching a goal together. 7) Tell us about your musical influences...What did you listen to growing up? What bands do you listen to now? I started listening to punkrock hc punk until I went to a concert by a band that, although it wasn’t extreme, totally used gultural voices I’ll never forget and that was the kick that made me interested in extreme music. I went from listening to exploited and discharge to listen to Napal Death,

Mayhem, Darktrone, Death, Emperor to name a few and later years I got into prog music as well as progressive rock and extreme progressive metal. Currently I listen to a lot of Deathspell Omega, Leviathan, Blutausnord, Obscura, Beyond Creation. 8) I know you started out in Argentina, now based in DC... how do the scenes compare? Recommend some good bands from both scenes... In Argentina there are a couple of bands and projects that I can highlight psychosphere, eucalyptus, los males del mundo, downfall of nur, huszar. From the United States scene for me there are two classics that influence me a lot Leviathan and Xasthur and from the new that Lamp of Murmuur has come out, the difference is quite a lot in how much local support each scene has in Argentina they do not value much the work of the extreme metal musicians, it’s a shame. 9) What are your expectations for the future? What are your long term goals as a musician? 53

Hand of Flauros - Black Metal from the United States 54

As I mentioned, I try to set myself short-term goals to be able to give material that everyone likes more, and the goal, as I say, is to create a scene with bands that are from various countries because it is necessary, if not, in some regions, metal will be lost. extreme for not having support you can no longer think of individual as some bands usually do. 10) What have been you best and worst expriences so far as a BM musician? The worst experiences as a musician that is a good question, there are several to see how often they want to scam you, how they want to get money at your expense, band colleagues who think you are stupid, event organizers who do anything, ha the list is Long after, the best experiences are when someone who lives in Japan or in Africa or in a country that I didn’t even know existed likes what you do, I recently received a compliment from Jef from Leviathan I think that was a goal accomplished for someone that you consider a direct influence on your sound as

a musician takes the time to listen to your material. 11) How do think BM will evolve over the next few years? Do you see it as a healthy scene at the moment? I see the extreme metal scene that is big and growing but it could be bigger the bands that get to participate in big events or are the main band of shows forget about the bands and projects that were when they started if the bands will stop talking so much of themselves and just a little more of their colleagues the scene would be bigger because it is full of talented musicians. 12) What advice would you give to any young musicians reading this that may be looking to follow in your footsteps down the left hand path to Black Metal Darkness? My recommendation is that they have the will and perseverance, the one who abandons the path has no prize, that the critics listen to them but do not take them personally, they will be able to prosper with their art and that they not be influenced by someone who tells them that black metal has no future. 13) Would you like to add anything for our readers?

That people support underground black metal that they know that we are people who cannot grow without their support, that talent alone is not enough, that the leading role of fans of the style is necessary, they can continue supporting the mainstream bands, they deserve it, but look the other way it’s full of good bands that need them. A massive thanks to the Alexis and Hand Of Flauros Hails 666

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Dionisyan - Atmospheric Doom Death Metal from Italy

Interview with Tregor Russo

Interview by Andrew Stanton

Dionisyan is a cool Doom Metal project from Italy. Andrew Stanton talked to him about his new album, Last Millennium. Hello and welcome to Inside the Darkness. “I made DIONISYAN for the very important influence that Sicily had on all fronts of art, culture, politics, democracy, history and more in the period of Magna Greece, from the eighteenth century to the two hundred before Christ. Surely DIONISYAN are the never life as I love DOOM

METAL especially the extreme one, rich in techniques, complex, intricate and complicated in the compositions. Dionisyan were one of my first most appreciated and internationally recognized

ty thousand copies is the second album Delirium and Madness which came out in 2017, then The first ep Land Of Dreams was instead printed in 2012, while the first album The Mystery of Faith in 2014, both also with excellent international acclaim Inside me, there is a constant catharsis, synonymous with change and at the same time my music also changes. My visionary madness as a multifaceted and whimsical artist can be contagious and intriguing.

d n a t h g i e w o as n y m d Religion h n u o r a e v l o v e r t o . n t s r a doe y m n i r e h t i e n d n a e lif projects. I have composed and arranged all my albums entirely, but the one that has sold more than twen-

In all DIONISYAN Albums I have combined classical music with Progressive Rock and Metal! There are no specific categories, you will see what I will come up with.” - Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please? “I am a Professional Artist, Music Teacher, Composer, Arranger, Singer, Poet, Writer, Actor, Movie Director, Music Producer, Sound Engineer, Artistic Director, Radio Speaker and Photoreporter. In all my Music Productions I have played 6, 7 and 8 string electric guitars, classical guitar, 4 and 5 string bass, drums, keyboards, percussion and various ethnic instruments, having also written all the lyrics and English poems for all the concepts of my Albums. In my productions innovative, original and revolutionary ideas are proposed, amalgamating various genres including Metal, Classical, Jazz Fusion, Progressive Rock, Traditional Middle Eastern, Ethnic, Latin and Folk. My great passion, professionalism, elegance, refinement are the ingredients that distinguish me as an Artist, always ready to experiment and evolve with a very personal style that makes all my works unique in their kind. Yes, I studied in various academies and became

a first-level teacher of music, as well as composer, arranger, orchestrator and opera singer. I love music since I was practically born and from an early age I was a child prodigy, destined to take this path that would lead me to realize my professional career.” What bands did you like growing up? “With all the Bands that made music from the beginning stood out for including atypical instruments to Metal.” - Why is there such a big divide in Doom Metal fans between clean vocals and deep growled vocals? “The Last Millennium’s Third Opera was deliberately written, composed and arranged in polyrhythmic contrapuntal polyphonic, throughout the Album is also the first and the second album a great musical innovation dawns where together with progressive Melodic Death Metal and atmospheric Doom Metal, I combined classical music, music baroque, Gregorian chants, creating a unique masterpiece of its kind, among other things playing all the instruments being a multi-instrumentalist, singing in Clean, Harsh and Growl styles to give a deep identity of my Innovative Music.” - What can fans expect from your new album? “I worked on this last Third Album for a total of two

months, creating the main melodic lines with the seven-string electric guitar, and then writing the other compositions and arrangements for the other musical instruments! For that Third Opera LAST MILLENNIUM my ways of composing music were intricate and complex as always, but Last Millennium is different from the others, over the years I have created my own. style, making it unique for the richness of the details that I put in each of my compositions to make my works very fascinating and mystical at the same time. My way of composing usually follows the realization of a score of the main melodic line of a rhythm guitar, on which I then compose everything else in superimposition. The music gradually and currently mixes Doom Metal and Baroque music, giving the band a good standout. Escaping the commonplace where many bands meet, Dionisyan makes a difference, presenting distinct and refined music.” Are you planning a tour anywhere? “I Played all the Instruments in the Recording Studio, I directed the male Gregorian singers who took part in the recording of Album of which an opera female singer and the little female chorus, alternating their voices and vocal techniques, with a great result. 57

Dionisyan - Atmospheric Doom Death Metal from Italy 58

For the third Opera LAST MILLENNIUM I had decided to propose it as a one-man band, among other things I have always done everything I therefore did not change anything, except for the fact that the sessions were only for doing live concerts. Currently I don’t feel the need to have others in the Band, then one day who knows how to make nice concerts…” - Does religion ever stand in the way of Italian Metal bands? “You know religion has no weight and does not revolve around my life and neither in my art. Yes, in Italy people live in Catholicism but it is completely subjective. Everyone lives religion on the basis of their beliefs, their mentality, the standard of living, the type of rank to which they belong, traditions, customs and so on. certainly I speak of

Christian religion in DIONISYAN because I am fascinated by many aspects that I like to analyze and examine in my

albums, especially in the new third album LAST MILLENNIUM by my DIONISYAN. The Italian bands wrote what they want about religion in a personal way.”

- Do you have a message for our readers? “My first artistic and cultural memories date back to high school, that’s where I started writing without stopping. “I loved French decadence and Italian romanticism. I saw myself again, as a character, in the poignant Foscolo or in the Leopardi complex “. It is a world, that of sensitivity and suffering, which I could no longer do without. An exploit of emotions that leads to an intrinsic change of personality. “I am extremely tormented. Sadness, melancholy and loneliness become my inspiring muses. Elements dealt with, in fact, in my first Two books entitled Catarsi Redentrice, published by La Zisa Edizioni in 2018 and Al Rintoccar dei Sensi Assopiti published by Ex Libris Edizioni in 2020 both in Italy and in Europe, which I dealt with the themes of the contemporary era such as philosophy, spirituality and religion “.

Love is precisely the noblest feeling at the basis of catharsis. “Love is something personal. Knowing how to listen and understand becomes fundamental. Like a flower that must be grown every day“. These and many other Words of mine are found in my first Two Books, in which I have constantly evolved. My Art that is transformed. Mute. I am also the Artist who pulls violent and sanguine music out of the guitar permeated by the poignant and melancholy melody, that is, In August 2021 my new Third Book entitled “Le Ferite Dell’Essere” published by Melqart Communications Editore was released, dealing with themes such as the absence of the ego, mental decline, self-centeredness, decadence and spiritual rebirth, inspired by my life experiences, enriched by some artistic photographs which I was able to rewrite my soul with a pen. Here I wrote aphorisms, long lyrics and thoughts which then became elements of the lyrics of our lifes. While for my books I began to deal with the theme of love. It also deals with the mystery of faith, resurrection, philosophy, psy-

choanalysis and much more “ Thank you for your time. “In the meantime, I want to thank you for having interviewed you and let both my old

t-shirts of new Third Chapter of my DIONISYAN band, entitled LAST MILLENNIUM,” Watch on youtube the first promotional Lyric video “PREDICTIONS” the second promotional Lyric Video “GARDEN OF LOST SHADES”: the First promotional Official Video “SPHERES OF HOURGLASS”: the First promotional Official Video “DISMAL EMPTINESS”: The Lyric Video and Official Video areta ken off upcoming Third Album “Last Millennium” which will be released Worldwide on June 10th 2022 via Decibel Productions. Pre-order “LAST MILLENNIUM” to get limited edition jewel case CDs, postcards and T-Shirts... Stellar production with amazing music compositions and arrangements, melancholy lyrics of the factotum and mastermind TREGOR RUSSO for his Third DIONISYAN’s Metal Opera. At long last, the first song from our upcoming album is finally out!!! Play it loud, and tell us what you think of the song in the comments below...

and my new fans know what I do in my artistic and cultural life. I invite you to buy your copies with the postcards and 59

Urluk - Black Doom Melancholic Metal from Italy

Interview with Umberto and Michele

Interview by Jay Parker

Hi this is Jay reporting from Bogota Colombia for INSIDE THE DARKNESS magazine... Today I’m lucky enough to be talking to the Urluk, mesmerisingly dark Black/Doom Metal from Italy The mighty Urluk... With the debut gem of an EP, Loss, now in circulation, we cannot wait to see what the future holds for this Italian maestro. Welcome, thanks for taking the time to talk to our readers. Thanks to you for the space that you giving us.

1) Tell us about the band. When / Where / Why was Urluk formed? “U.” : Urluk was formed 2 years ago by my mind e by “M.”, to give life to an entity that enclosed the melancholy and emptiness of doom,

“U.” who deals with guitars and lyrics, and “M.” on vocals and drums. 3) Describe your sound in 5 words. Urluk is synonymous with suffering, melancholy, misanthropy, eternity and emptiness, which pushes us to create our own music. 4) Run us through your EP, Loss... ... when and where did you record it and where can our readers get their hands on it?? Run us through each and every track please...

l a t e m k c a l b t a h t e v e i l e d n a Ib e s u r o f d e s u n e e b . s m ha r e t y n a n i n o i t p m u s n co and the ferocity of black metal. 2) Who is in the current line up? The current line-up consist of

“Loss” was recorded in the month of Paris 2022, but it all started two years earlier. Let’s say it was a long gestation. You can find it online in the main channels. 5) What is the lyrical theme behind Urluk? Who writes the lyrics and the music? Do you have a song writing process or does it just come together? “U.” : The concept of the album is the sense of loss. The ruins on the album cover mean a sense of end, of something now forgotten, canceled in decay. It is the sense of man’s existence that now falters and loses its effectiveness day after day. The term Urluk is local dialect and means owl. The bird is the vehicle that sings the end of man. The lyrics are written by “U.”. Normally ideas come individually and are subsequently reasoned together - this applies to music and lyrics. 6) What inspired you to play Black Metal? “M.” :We want to leave our personal mark. Black metal is individuality, and we intend to unleash our primal instincts and turn them into suffering. This is the spirit and meaning of black metal. We do not intend to upset anything it is clear, but if anything, continue its essence. 7) Tell us about your

plans for the future?’ Are you recording new material? Are you planning to tour? We are working on new material. We can already anticipate that it will be a step forward without distorting the soul of Urluk. Within the year there will be a new single consisting of two tracks in 7 ‘’ format. 8) Tell us about Black Metal in Italy... recommend some new up and coming bands from the Italian scene for our readers... “M.” : Black metal in Italy has had and still has great bands that carry the name of our nation up high. I personally know bands like Black Flame, Comando Praetorio, Homselvareg all excellent bands in business for many years that have done well and continue to do well. If we want to talk about pure brutality, I highly recommend Continuum Of Xul. 9) What is your favourite black metal album of all time and why? “U.”.Under a funeral moon by Darkthrone. The period, the sound out of any canon, remains the omnia work of black metal. “M.”Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk by the Emperor. Simply the pinnacle of the genre. 10) What is your own personal opinion of the BM scene at the moment, and how do you imagine it will develop over the next decade?

I believe that black metal has been used for use and consumption in any term. Unfortunately I think, like any resource on this planet, now exhausted, black metal will suffer the same fate. 11) For the musicians reading... tell us about your instruments and equipment... what tunings do you use? “U.” I normally use a 1996 Gibson SG with a metalcore nux pedal, paired with a Fender Deluxe 90 from at least 30 years ago. 12) Tell us your best and worst experiences as a band so far... “M.” I am the first drummer and founder along with A.Th Zorath of Black Oath. Before them I had a band but it didn’t matter. We decided to form Urluk to continue bringing our art to life. 13) Would you like to add anything for our readers??? Stay melancholy. Molte Grazie Urluck Hails 666 from Colombia!!! J

Valadier - Medieval Black Metal from Italy

Hi this is Jay reporting from Bogota Colombia.. Today I’m lucky enough to be talking to the amazing new italian band, Valadier. With a debut medieval-fuelled EP Stronghold Of The Everlasting Pyre available now, this band is certainly turning heads with the mix of meldoies and intelectual, historical BM

Blight: We decided to start the project at the beginning of 2021. Our country was under lockdown due the pandemic emergency, I was going through the darkest period of my life and started to make some demos on

project. We started by making homemade demos of the tracks and a few weeks later the project started to take shape. After recording the first three tracks, Lesny joined the project. 2. Describe your music in 5 words. Lesny: A fierce journey into our roots. 3. Who is in the current line up? Blight: Guitars/Programming Unukalhai: Vocals/Lyrics Lesny: Bass Winterkvlt: Wind Instruments.

ing l e e f a s i l a t Me k c a e l h B t , s r u e g r n o a F e h ke t i l s n o i t o m e p of dee living, the loneliness and in of a p re. u t a n r o Bona Sera f e v o l l V a l a d i e r ! ! the viscera Molte Grazie! my own, 1. Tell us about Valadi- then after a few weeks I made er... when/where/why a proposal to Unukalhai and was the band formed? Winterkvlt to put on a studio

Interview with Blight, Unukalhai, Lesny and Winterkvlt

Interview by Jay Parker

4. Please run us through your very impressive debut... where can our readers buy your stuff? Unukalhai: Our first EP “Stronghold of the Everlasting Pyre” is available for free streaming and download on Bandcamp. It’ll be available soon on mostly all streaming platforms. The physical copies will be relased in a very limited ammount by Black Mass Prayers, an underground italian label. 5. What inspires the lyrical content in your tracks? Unukalhai: Our land has a rich folklore, every stone here has a story to tell. I managed to gather some historical facts happened in the XIV century and mixed them with our local legends. The result was a crossover between a history class and an antrophological tale. 6. Tell us about the music writing process who/ how do you do that? Blight: The process starts like

this: I focus on my hatred and other feelings, then, after i come up with new riffs, i meet up with the rest of the band and we put them together to form the new track. Then we work on the drums,

the bass and in the end on the vocals and the flute. 7. What instruments do you use? Do you drop tunings? Winterkvlt: I play wind in-

truments and in the track “Stronghold of everlasting pyre” I sing a little. The rest of instruments are guitars and drums (Blight), bass (Lesny) and vocals (Unukalhai). Anyway we don’t use any drop tuning but we play in D tune. 8. What inspired you to become a Black Metal musician? Winterkvlt, Unukalhai & Blight: For us black metal is a feeling of deep emotions like the anger, the pain of living, the loneliness and the visceral love for nature. All these emotions inspired us to create this music genre that we enjoy and respect so much. Lesny: For me become a black metal musician was more a challenge, in the beginning, because even if i’v always listened this genre of music i’v never played it. Than it became more a journey into my self and as the others members said, now it’s a way to express and live strong and deep emotions and our strong attachment to nature. 9. What are Valadier’s plans for the future? I understand you have more new material to come? Winterkvlt: Yes, we are working on our next project, it will be a full lenght. 63

Valadier - Medieval Black Metal from Italy 64

10. Tell us about your best and worst experiences so far as a Black Metal musician... Unukalhai (laughing): Actually black metal is all about bad experiences (incidentes, misfortunes and suicidal thoughts..) 11. Tell us about the current scene there in Italy... Recommend some sick new bands for our readers... Winterkvlt: Italian black metal scene is very multifaceted and lively. We have a lot of differents black metal sub genres like atmospheric and pagan. A lots of bands also implements in their music traditional and folkloristic italian music, which gives that atmosphere of epic and ancient. All of this you can find in a band like “Atavicus”, which I ardently recommend. Unukalhai: We call our kind of music “Medieval Black Metal”, but actually trere are plenty of our compatriots that started this subgenre a long time before us. I would like quote an underground and a very underrated band “Dolcinian” that had a huge impact on our sound. I also would like to reccomand some other more recent “medieval” projects like “L’ordre Du

Temple” and “Flamen”. Unukalhai: We still Blight: I agree with what had no shows right now. said Unukalhai, I’d just like 13. What is your favourite all to add a couple of bands time BM album and why? that were important to me Blight: My favourite album of all time is “Where shadows forever reign” from “Dark Funeral” because the rhytm and the riffs match my taste, and I can really relate my emotions to the lyrics and how he sings them, it’s the perfect storm to me. Winterkvlt: Mine is “Blikk av Kald” aka “Hladnovzor” of Branikald. His music makes me feel like as if i were into a long journey through cold darkness. Lesny: My favourite bm albums are “Bergtatt” from Ulver and “Hammerhart” from Bathory. I was simply stunned and captured by the blending between the ruff and visceral sound of the bm and the use of folk instruments and the epic tones of the arrangements. Unukalhai: This is a from the italian scene: “Intought one... Actualchiuvatu” and “Nazgul” ly i have a lot of favourites Lesny: “select all”, but if i have to pick one it “Ctrl+C”, “Ctrl+V”. would definitely be “Folk12. Tell us a funny story from storm of the Azure Nights” one of your shows (there by a russian cult black metis always one hahaha) al band “Temnozor”.

14. What is your opinion on the evolution of BM over the years and where do you think it will go in the future? Blight: Black metal became more accessible through years, but this is not necessary a bad thing. We just think that black metal musicians must care about the past, who came before, and that’s why we enjoy some subgenres like atmospheric black, pagan, dsbm, avantgarde, and even some post black metal artists, while we dislike bands with a commertial sound and immage that try to make the genre more mainstream just to make profit. Unukalhai: We think that black metal scene is strictly related to its underground roots, more bands will be born and experiment with new sounds involving other music genres and creating new ones. 15. What modern bands do you listen to? Lesny: Enslaved, I believe this band has something to say in every step of their career. Unukalhai: I really enjoy the modern sound of french black

metal. I would definitely reccomand bands like Aorlhac, Vehemence and Darkenhold. Blight: Actually I’m enjoying Gorgoroth and Dark Funeral in

folk music and black metal. A real source of inspiration for me. 16. What words of wisdom would you give to any up and coming bands / musicians? Unukalhai: Believe in your music and never surrender to the mainstream! 17. Would you like to add anything for our readers? Unukalhai: Thanks to everyone that care and support our music, we’ll meet someday in the heart of the struggle! Molte Grazie!!! Hail Italian Black Metal!!!

their latest period because I think they evolved with the genre. Winterkvlt: I really love the slavic black metal scene. My favorite bands would be Nokturnal Mortum and Arkona. They create unique sound between 65

Latest releases

Tenebro Death Metal band from Italy released the first Fulllength album L’inizio di un Incubo on May 3, 2022. Tenebro starts back in early 2000’s. After various problems and due to illegal activities of the early lineup which has never officially recorded anything, Il Becchino has been forced to stop immediately the project. But in 2019 the band was reanimated. Tenebro inspired and influenced by

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italian horror cult movies from the 70/80s Lineup Il Becchino - Guitars, Vocals Il Beccamorto - Bass, Guitars, Drum programming

Tracklist: 1. Quella è la Villa 2. Ultima Tomba 3. Necrofilia 4. L’Imbalsamazione Dell’Amore 5. Brucia Strega! 6. I Morti Richiamati in Vita 7. Il Killer del Rasoio 8. Sporca, Lurida, Puttana 9. Orrore Nel Castello del Barone 10. Dèmoni 11. L’inizio di un Incubo

Demonical Death Metal band from Sweden released the seventh Full-length album Mass Destroyer on May 6, 2022. Struck by a burst of inspiration, DEMONICAL indulged in a creative spree immediately after the release of their antecedent offering, «World Domination»; and with expertise worthy of death metal veterans, shaped it into «Mass Destroyer.» Developed in less than two years, the album reflects the energy that spawned its creation, and keeps to the Swede’s HM2beaten track, promising a few twists

along the way. Adorned in an old fashioned attire, «Mass Destroyer» packs a gruesome punch, embodies organic sounding and delivers a truly fiendish experience from wellseasoned old-school deathdealers. Tracklist 1. We Conquer the Throne 2 . S u n

Blackened 3. Fallen Mountain 4. Wrathspawn 5. Dodsmarsch 6. Lifeslave 7. Cemented in Ire 8. By Hatred Bound Lineup Martin Schulman Bass Ronnie Bergerstål Drums Johan Haglund - Guitars (rhythm) Eki Kumpulainen Guitars (lead) Christofer Säterdal Vocals

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Latest releases

Depressed Mode Symphonic Death/Doom Metal band from Finland released the third Fulllength album Decade of Silence on May 6, 2022. Depressed Mode was established in 2005 by composer Otto Salonen. First album «Ghosts Of Devotion» was released in 2007, and received really good reviews throughout the media. The second album «..For Death» released in 2009, was a success, and a step towards more symphonic death/doom metal, with great reviews as well. Otto Salonen begun composing DM’s third album in January 2020. The lineup for the new album consists

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of Otto Salonen, Teemu Heinola, Henri Hakala and Iiro Aittokoski. Veronica Bordacchini from Fleshgod Apocalypse took over the female vocals for the third album.

Tracklist 1. Death Walks Among Us 2. Endless November 3. Dissociation of the Extinguished Mind 4. As the Light Dims 5. Parasites of Mind 6. Kaamos (Land of Winter) 7. Serpents 8. Eternal Darkness 9. Aeternus Lineup Otto Salonen - Vocals, Orchestrations Henri Hakala - Bass Iiro Aittokoski - Drums Teemu Heinola - Guitars Guest musicians: Veronica Bordacchini - Vocals (on track 2,4 & 8) Jarkko Kokko - Lead Guitars (on track 3

Tableau Mort Black Metal band from the United Kingdom released the second Full-length album Visio in Somniis on May 6, 2022. Tableau Mort was established in 2017 by London based Romanian musicians George Topor, Cristian Giurgiu and George Bratosin. They were further joined by Polish bassist Marek Basista, and British Vocalist James Johnson through 2018 and 2019. In late 2019 James left the band and was replaced by Stefano Bassi, but later returned towards the end of 2021. Whilst Tableau Mort could initially be labelled a Black Metal band there is a wide variety of influences that can be heard through the music. Whilst the influence of the

Romanian Orthodox Church is at the front of the bands imagery, the bands members all bring aspects to the sound from Doom to Hardcore. Tracklist 1. Metamorphosis 2. Idolatry 3. Visio in Somniis 4. Blood Echoes 5. Hope Ablaze 6. Their Throats are Open Graves 7. The Fire, The Star

8. Candle in the Darkness Lineup George Topor - Guitars (rhythm), Keyboards George Bratosin - Drums Cristian Giurgiu - Guitars (lead) Marek Basista - Bass James Andrews - Vocals

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Latest releases

I Am the Night Black Metal band from Finland released the first Full-length album While the Gods Are Sleeping on May 6, 2022. I Am The Night is Black Metal rooted in the classic early 90’s tradition, where walls of guitars and synthesizers raise the forces of darkness in a battle against the heavens and burning angels light up the night sky. Brought forth by underground titans of Finnish Metal, Markus

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Vanhala (Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum), Janne Markkanen (ex-Omnium Gatherum), Okko Solanterä (Horizon Ignited) and Waltteri Väyrynen (Paradise Lost, Bodom After Midnight), the band’s origins date back to

the dimly lit subterranean rehearsal rooms of the mid-nineties where the fires of Vanhala and Markkanen’s Black Metal zeal were ignited. Tracklist 1. While the Gods Are Sleeping... 2. Hear Me O’ Unmaker 3. Dawnbearer 4. Ode to the Nightsky 5. I Am the Night 6. The Owl 7. Among the Unseen Ones 8. Holocaust of the Angels

Djevelkult Black Metal band from Norway released the third Full-length album Drep alle guder on May 6, 2022. Djevelkult was first founded as Skadefryd in the summer of 2009 by Dødsherre Xarim, but changed the name to Djevelkult in the summer of 2010. Djevelkult return to earth with their highly anticipated 3rd full-length album! “Drep Alle Guder” shows the true essence of black audio evil!

Tracklist 1. Drep alle guder 2. Dodbringer 3. Den forhatte 4. I kuldens vold 5. The Life Destroyer 6. Voidwalker 7. Fordommelse 8. Perfect Obliterate

Lineup Dodsherre Xarim - Vocals, Guitars Beleth - Guitars E. Brye - Drums Skabb - Bass

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Latest releases

Veiled in Scarlet Melodic Death Metal band from Japan released the fourth Full-length album Reincarnation on May 11, 2022. Veiled in Scarlet - Keija’s (Ex. Serpent drummer) and Hiroki’s (Ex. Serpent Guitarist) Melodic Death Metal band, with huge NeoClassical influences after leaving Serpent, and they play almost in the same style as Serpent did/does.

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Tracklist Disc 1 1. Shadow of Death 2. Cradle of Insanity 3. Lunar Eclipse 4. Devil in a Dream 5. Suicide Diary 6. Clot 06:31 7. Broken Sleep 8. Cage Disc 2 1. xGODx 2. Cannibalistic Dream 3 . S i r e n Night

4. Plastic Arts 5. Angel’s Grave 6. Bloody Gates 7. Sea of the Silence 8. Funeral of Light Lineup Keija - Drums, Keyboards, Bass Izo - Guitars Shin - Vocals

Corpus Christii Black Metal band from Portugal released the ninth Full-length album The Bitter End of Old on May 13, 2022. The Bitter End of Old» is the 9th full length album by the Portuguese Black Metal Legends Corpus Christii. On this opus the band have seem to find a way to surpass all their previous records in production as well on musical approach by a clear mile. A combination of old school black metal tradition with new sought elements that create a blasphemous atmosphere filled with darkness and evil.

The guitars are mesmerizing, filled with heaviness and the right dose of melodies where the bass guitar underlines the heaviness and yet have a clear production together. The drums have their own pattern and stand out by delivering the right punch on the snare and kick, finalized by the exact same punch on the fill sound. And last but not least, the vocals are harsh, hateful and preach pure torment and blasphemy. Lineup Nocturnus Horrendus - All instruments, Vocals J. Goat - Guitars, Bass

Tracklist 1. Amargura 2. The Predominance 3. Unearthly Forgotten Memory 4. Fragmented Chaos Disharmony 5. From Here to Nothing 6. Behind the Shadow 7. To the End, to the Void 8. For I Am All 9. Heinous

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Latest releases

Jungle Rot Death Metal band from the United States released the eleventh Full-length album A Call to Arms on May 13, 2022. Essential for fans of Celtic Frost, Vader, Obituary and S.O.D - Jungle Rot was founded in 1992 and remain a staple name in the Death metal genre. The band’s moniker refers to Jungle rot, an infection of the skin that occurs in tropical climates. Jungle Rot plays an aggressive style of thrash influenced death metal and are known to integrate slow stomp melodies into their speed-thrash style. Most of the lyrical

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subjects deal with war, torture, murder, death, and corruption. Tracklist 1. A Call to Arms 2. Beyond the Grave 3. Genocidal Imperium 4. Asymmetric Warfare 5. Vengeance & Bloodlust

6. Maggot Infested 7. Death Squad 8. Haunting Future 9. Total Extinction 10. Population Suicide Lineup Dave Matrise - Vocals, Guitars James Genenz - Guitars, Bass Geoff Bub - Guitars Spenser Syphers - Drums

Aara Atmospheric Black Metal band from Switzerland released the fourth Full-length album Triade II: Hemera on May 13, 2022. AARA was founded in 2018 by vocalist Fluss and multi-instrumentalist Berg to create art highly influenced by atmospheric Black Metal. Sporting an epic, classical feel, their sweeping compositions aim to take the listener through the darkest alleys of human existence. Based upon the 1820 Gothic novel ‘Melmoth the Wanderer’ by Charles Robert Maturin - and closely connected in style and atmosphere to 2021’s initial instalment «Triade I: Eos» - each of the 6 brutally melodic tracks follows the book’s chronological mid-point narrative in a dazzling critical examination of theism and skepticism through the medium of top-tier Black Metal.

Although conceptually aligned with part one of the trilogy, «Triade II: Hemera» further-advances the AARA sound into realms of progressive extremity: defined once again by the beauteous lead melodies of composer/ guitarist Berg, the record combines a raw violent undertow with subtle rhythmic shifts, left-field riffs/refrains and sublimated vocal savagery interweaving Christian choirs, the Jewish shofar horn and traditional Indian vocal samples into yet another outstanding offering from an unstoppable young band overflowing with ideas and confidence.

Tracklist 1. Phantasmagorie 2. Adonaia’s Elegien 3. Sonne der Nacht 4. Das Dunkel der Welt 5. Strepitus Mundi 6. Mitgift Lineup Berg - All instruments Fluss - Vocals, Lyrics J. - Drums

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Latest releases

Ante-Inferno Black Metal band from the United Kingdom released the second Full-length album Antediluvian Dreamscapes on May 13, 2022. The horror and helplessness of the modern world clashes with the ancient past, and Ante-Inferno bear witness to Antediluvian Dreamscapes as nightmarish as they are vivid and tortuous. The end of all life and the birth of the world are indistinguishable, and all who listen will be morbidly subjected to the harmonious torment of their writhing souls. The hour is come.

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Tracklist 1. A Lullaby to a Dying World 2. Transcendence 3. Celestial Mirage 4. Shadowed Waters 5. Two Score and Ten Souls 6. Beyond the Immemorial Veil 7. Nightmares of the Eschaton

Lineup G.S - Drums K.B - Vocals, Guitars, Bass

Synteleia Black Metal band from Greece released the second Fulllength album The Secret Last Syllable on May 14, 2022. This album it’s nine mystical songs thematically based on the Cthulhu Mythos by H.P. Lovecraft and The Necronomicon Dark and sepulchral atmosphere with continuous scaling; guitars that alternate in fast, medium, and slow tempos with daemonic and often melodic riffing; accompanied by ubiquitous keys and symphonic instruments, featuring angelic female soprano vocals as astral highlights, alternating with

growling male vocals, getting the chords to the extreme; intuitive bass lines and hellish drum blasts erupting from the glorious past, this album is addressed to an occult/ mystical-loving audience. Tracklist 1. Tower of Koth 2. Emblem of Yith 3. Nymph of the Pyramids Pt. 1 - The Reign 4. Nymph of the Pyramids Pt. 2 - The Curse 5. Escaping Atheron 6. Harvest the Forest 7. Into the Abyss - A Passage to

Insanity 8. The Secret Syllable 9. Omega-Alpha

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Lineup Septis - Bass, Songwriting Nyctelios - Vocals, Lyrics Drakon Hesperion Guitars Amdusias - Drums Cronios - Guitars

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Latest releases

Septicflesh Atmospheric/Symphonic Death Metal band from Greece released the eleventh Full-length album Modern Primitive on May 20, 2022. “Modern Primitive” is the new album by SEPTICFLESH who present a stunning combination of symphonic and cinematic music with aggressive yet catchy Death Metal. Picking up on the group’s sonic evolution in the past decades, “Modern Primitive” proves to be more emotional, epic and heavy than ever.

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Tracklist 1. The Collector 2. Hierophant 3. Self-Eater 4. Neuromancer 5. Coming Storm 6. A Desert Throne 7. Modern Primitives 8. Psychohistory 9. A Dreadful Muse

Lineup Spiros Antoniou - Bass, Vocals (harsh) Christos Antoniou - Guitars, Orchestrations Sotiris Vayenas - Guitars, Vocals (clean), Lyrics Kerim «Krimh» Lechner - Drums

Thy Kingdom Will Burn Melodic Death Metal band from Finland released the second Full-length album The Void and the Vengeance on May 20, 2022. Thy Kingdom Will Burn is a Melodic death metal band from Kouvola Finland, formed in 2016. The band came to be when vocalist, guitarist and main songwriter Sami Kujala buried his former band Serpent Sun and started to look for new partners in crime to envision his idea to form a more aggressive death metal-

style band. Tracklist 1. Between Two Worlds 2. Disbelief 3. Veil of Wicked Sky 4. Fortress of Solitude 5. Nothing Remains 6. Barren Land 7. Siren of Doom 8. Serpents 9. Through the Broken Lens Lineup Janne Ruuskanen - Bass Lauri Viren - Drums Sami Kujala - Guitars, Vocals Esa Viren Lead guitar

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Latest releases

Wampyrinacht Black Metal band from Greece released the second Full-length album Night of the Desecration on May 20, 2022. One of the deepest gems of the always-vital Greek black metal scene, WAMPYRINACHT began unholy life back in 1995. Their first demo arrived the next year, followed two years later by an EP released by Melancholy Promotion, the precursor to the infamous ISO666 label. Thereafter, WAMPYRINACHT more or less returned to the crypt, as members drifted off and mainman Necrolord sought to establish a new lineup. Mind you, Necrolord kept busy in

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myriad bands in the meantime - truly, he is one of the most prolific veterans of the Greek underground - but it was not until 2017 when WAMPYRINACHT would return with a new recording. Thankfully, that record bore fruit in full-length form, under the title We Will Be Watching: Les cultes de Satan et les mystères de la mort. A dynamic and dazzling display of canonic Hellenic black metal but infused with a melancholy that was indeed vampyric, We Will Be Watching became a late-days essential of Greek classicism. Night of the Desecration is thus a work steeped in the ancients whilst retaining a freshness of approach that should span generations of black metallers: actual songwriting is king, now more than ever.

Tracklist 1. The Fountain of All Sorrows and Wrath 2. Thorns for my Damnation 3. Night of the Desecration 4. My Angel 5. The Church of Thorns 6. A Wanderer’s Journey... 7. Hammer of the Angels 8. ...Towards the Glimmering Star 9. Of Statues Wrecked and Ruined

Blut aus Nord Atmospheric Black Metal band from France released the fourteenth Full-length album Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses on May 20, 2022. BLUT AUS NORD are creators of a hallucinogenic universe, erasing all preconceived ideas of Black Metal - and extreme music in general. Following up the purported ‘new era’ of melodicism ushered in by 2019’s lauded «Hallucinogen», new work «Disharmonium Undreamable Abysses» finds the leaders-in-perpetuity of Avantgarde Industrialised Black Metal compelled to reassume their

rightful throne, crowning nigh-on 28 years of consistency with seven mesmerising tracks of bleaklymaximalist harmonic unease. Comparable to naught except BLUT AUS NORD, the inimitable leads, eroded melodies and uncanny vocal textures of «Disharmonium» ooze and uncoil, leeching into vast hyperskilled rhythmic structures which traverse seamountains of madness towards lightless echelons far beyond comprehension. The reflexive darkness we all demand. The Order of Outer Sounds.

Tracklist 1. Chants of the Deep Ones 2. Tales of the Old Dreamer 3. Into the Woods 4. Neptune’s Eye 5. That Cannot Be Dreamed 6. Keziah Mason 7. The Apotheosis of the Unnamable

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Latest releases

Trollfest Folk Metal band from Norway released the ninth Full-length album Flamingo Overlord on May 27, 2022. TROLLFEST is the Norwegian folk metal powerhouse that delivers music where everything’s possible. Their lyrics are sung in «trollspråk» which has no grammar and therefore everything is allowed. That also goes for their songs that are full of trolls, drinking and a unique humour that is unlike anything else! Catchy, groovy and with

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an impending danger of seeing Flamingos wherever you walk in life, TROLLFEST’s Flamingo Secrets agents will soon be everywhere. On Flamingo Overlord, TROLLFEST combine their love for music, no matter how diverse, with flamboyance, hilarity, insanity and infectiousness that can only be described as pure K.A.O.S.!

Tracklist: 1. Dance like a Pink Flamingo 2. All Drinks on Me 3. Flamongous 4. Twenty Miles an Hour 5. The Flamingorilla 6. Flamingo Libre 7. Piña Colada 8. Rule the Country 9. The Way You Earn Your Drinks 10. Overlords Have Feelings 11. Bob Venke

Lord Belial Black Metal band from Sweden released the ninth Full-length album Rapture on May 27, 2022. Lord Belial was formed during the second wave of Black Metal in Europe in 1992. Their first album “Kiss the Goat” came out in 1995, somewhat late during the second-wave, but they had already released a couple of demos before. During the years following their debut album Lord Belial has released 8 more studio albums and has been both active and on hold for some of these 30 years of existence. Their last studio album dates back to 2008, being “The Black Curse”, after which Lord Belial remained active as a live band, but was put on hold in 2015. In 2020 Lord Belial decided to reform. And now Lord Belial

has matured to a powerhouse and 9. Alpha and Omega delivered a convincing comeback 10. Lamentations album that will appeal to all fans of Swedish Black Metal, but also Lineup people has lean more towards Micke Backelin - Drums, Bass Death Metal and kill for haunting Niclas Pepa Green - Guitars, melodies. The variation is the Bass strongest point of “Rapture”, going Thomas Backelin - Guitars, from epic doomy atmospheric Vocals, Bass songs to fast and furious blackened attacks, making it a full album experience for sure. Tracklist 1. Legion 2. On a Throne of Souls 3. Rapture of Belial 4. Destruction 5. Belie All Gods 6. Evil Incarnate 7. Lux Luciferi 8. Infinite Darkness and Death

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Cadaveria Black/Gothic Metal band from Italy released the sixth Full-length album Emptiness on May 27, 2022. Cadaveria is the creative alterego of Italian-based metal singer Raffaella Rivarolo, better known by her stage name Cadaveria, one of the first women to hit the extreme metal scene i n the early Nineties. Cadaveria band was founded in 2001 by Cadaveria herself and drummer Marcelo Santos,

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to freely express themselves as musicians and extreme artists. 2021 is a meaningful one for Cadaveria band, as the band celebrate its 20 years of activity. Cadaveria have recently released a series of new singles, that mark the band’s return to the scene after a long pause, during which the singer had to be treated for cancer.

Tracklist 1. The Great Journey 2. Shamanic Path 3. Emptiness 4. The Woman Who Fell to Earth 5. Divination 6. Matryoshcada 7. Silver Rain 8. The Cure 9. Life After 10. La Casa dell’Anima 11. The Sky That Screams Above Us 12. Return - Deine Lakaien cover

Bloodhunter Melodic Death Metal band from Spain released the third Full-length album Knowledge Was the Price on May 27, 2022. BLOODHUNTER is an extreme metal band born in Galician lands (Spain) in 2008 from the hand of sole founding member and main songwriter, DANI ARCOS. After several changes in their lineup and concept, DIVA SATANICA joins the band in 2009, whose guttural vocal assault helped drift the band into more extreme territories.

Tracklist 1. Sharpened Tongues Spitting Venom Inside 2. Knowledge Was the Price 3. A Twist of Fate to Come 4. Medea’s Guidance 5. Never Let It Rest 6. Find Your Inner Fire 7. The Eye of the Serpent 8. Spreading Your Disease 9. Nothing Beyond the Realms of Death 10. A Relentless Force 11. The Forsaken Idol 12. The Hunters 13. Bodom After Midnight

Lineup Dani Arcos - Guitars Diva Satanica - Vocals Daniel Luces - Bass Guillermo Starless Guitars Adrian Perales - Drums

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Latest releases

Urkraft Melodic Death Metal band from Denmark released the fifth Full-length album The True Protagonist on May 27, 2022. URKRAFT was formed in 1995 as one of the first bands in the Danish Metal scene displaying a ”New Nordic” expression with lyrics in their Danish mother tongue revolving around the mystery of time and the evolution of man. The Germanic term ”Urkraft” translates into ”primordial force” and thus the band’s

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name refers to those powers that ultimately represent the dark matter that binds the universe together and lays the foundation for our religions, our wars and our unsettling visions. Lineup Richardt Olsen - Drums Mads Gath - Guitars Jeppe Tander - Bass Thomas Stromvig - Vocals Thomas Birk Guitars

Tracklist 1. Uforskyldte Sår 2. The True Protagonist 3. I Got Blood 4. I Bring Nothing to the Table 5. The Human Resignation 6. The Burden Without a Name 7. Well Intentioned Sons 8. Go, Get Your Bones 9. Changing Manscape 10. Prepare the Flesh 11. We Can’t Recognize

Trolldom Atmospheric Black Metal band from Sweden released the second Full-length album I nattens sken (Genom hemligheternas dunkel) on May 27, 2022. TROLLDOM is a name that goes back many years. While the band’s date of origin is unknown, the first demo, Av gudablod röd..., was released in 2016. That TROLLDOM played authentically vintage secondwave black metal should hardly be surprising considering it came under the banner of Ancient Records. I Nattens Sken is the more overtly cosmic creation of his second-wave sensibilities. The album’s music was written between 2004 and 2008, with the recording taking place in 2018 and the mixing/mastering in 2021. While TROLLDOM’s spectral ‘n’ stargazing style of black metal mysticism remains firm between

the two full-lengths, I Nattens Sken retains a ceaselessly roiling drama steeped in classic definitions of symphonic black metal - meaning, when the idiom was at its peak, roughly around 1996 or ‘97 - and the clarity conveyed within does nothing to damper Swartadauþuz ‘s pitch-black fire. Taken another way, I Nattens Sken’s cover art perfectly illustrates its contents just as its counterpart’s does. Tracklist 1. Under vinternattens dystra fullmane

2. Ondskans svarta broderskap 3. Nattens furste 4. Inom nattens eviga rit 5. Nattmorkrets svarta skugga 6. Vid hans tron morkret vilar 7. Draparen av livets veke 8. Till ruinens svarta rike Lineup Swartadauþuz - Guitars, Bass, Keyboards

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Latest releases

Decapitated Death/Groove Metal band from Poland released the eighth Full-length album Cancer Culture on May 27, 2022. Formed in 1996, Polish Tech Death masters DECAPITATED built a reputation over the years as one of the international leaders of their genre. Over their near 25-year career, DECAPITATED has released eight studio albums, which are considered to be some of the most influential death metal releases of the 21st century. The devoted supporters who traveled to see DECAPITATED on international tours with the

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likes of Lamb Of God, Meshuggah, Soulfly, Fear Factory, and Suffocation over the years will recognize the ever-present pummeling backbone. Longtime fans and newcomers alike will connect to the variety of atmospheric depth throughout Cancer Culture’s ten boundlessly energetic and creative tracks. Cancer Culture is technical and intense, with defiant blast beats, double bass, and speed.

Tracklist 1. From the Nothingness with Love 2. Cancer Culture 3. Just a Cigarette 4. No Cure 5. Hello Death 6. Iconoclast 7. Suicidal Space Programme 8. Locked 9. Hours as Battlegrounds 10. Last Supper

Darkened Death Metal band from Sweden/ United Kingdom/Canada released the second Full-length album The Black Winter on May 27, 2022. As presaged earlier this year by the quick-hitting Mourn the Dying Light EP, DARKENED arrive with their massive second album, The Black Winter. Immediately, their trademark sound is in place - clear & crushing riffs, grooves like a tank, an overall world-eating sensibility - but delve deeper and one will find DARKENED expanding their alreadyconsiderable powers. Most prominently, there’s a surprising amount of atmosphere being explored on The Black Winter, true to its namesake. The resultant spaciousness is somehow just as suffocating as the band’s nowcharacteristic density; whether it’s in the

riffing itself or the very subtle touches of synth underneath, the album certainly bears a unique-yet-unified aspect. From there, melancholic twists and wistful melody are seamlessly integrated into the DARKENED onslaught of sound, which alternately pushes the aggression to murderous levels and the doom to the darkest depths; put another way, everything here sounds HUGE. And credit for that must go to Linus Nirbrant, who handled The Black Winter’s production, as well as mixing & mastering by the Dan Swanö at Unisound - truly, one will not find a clearer yet more crushing death metal record this year!

Tracklist 1. Premonitions 2. Blood 3. Flayed 4. Terminal Lucidity 5. Black Winter 6. Fearful Quandary 7. Swallowed by the World 8. Plague of Despair 9. Regret Lineup Andrew Whale - Drums Hempa Brynolfsson - Guitars Linus Nirbrant - Guitars Gord Olson - Vocals Tobias Cristiansson - Bass

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Latest releases

Heaving Earth Death Metal band from Czechia released the third Fulllength album Darkness of God on May 27, 2022. The name of the band is taken from the Morbid Angel song. The third album by HEAVING EARTH, Darkness of God, sets new benchmarks for versatility and intricate composition in its style, without sacrificing any of the monumental heaviness. It instantly captivates, challenges, and rewards recurrent listening. Now, after a seven-year wait, with a new recording lineup, they have returned with «Darkness

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of God», an album that represents an unprecedented evolution for death metal. «Darkness of God», from the opening doom-infused reverberations and sudden blasting onslaught of «Violent Gospels (Ordination of the Holy Trinity),» to the dizzying lead melodies of instrumental «Earthly Kingdom of God in Ruins,» to the unnerving clean guitar strums at the close of «Woeful Redemption,» is an album that abhors comfort and complacency.

Tracklist 1. Violent Gospels (Ordination of the Holy Trinity) 2. Crossing the Great Divide (Prayer to a Crumbling Shrine) 3. Apologetics (Of Failure and Fall) 4. Forever Deceiving Dismal Gods 5. Cardinal Sin 6. The Lord’s Lamentations 7. Earthly Kingdom of God in Ruins 8. Flesh-Ridden Providence 9. Woeful Redemption

Sleepers’ Guilt Melodic Death Metal band from Luxembourg released the second Full-length album What Remained on June 3, 2022. Sleepers’ Guilt, founded in 2011, are a diversified Melodic Death Metal band from Luxembourg. The five bandmembers, with each one of them providing a very varied musical background, channel together a wide area of musical influences in order to create their very own and distinct music. The band recorded their second full-length album “What Remained” with their new vocalist Sany Faihrmann. Without being a concept album, “What remained” explores the end of humanity and takes the listener on a musical journey into the tides of fate.

Tracklist 1. Posthuman 2. Wrath Of Gods 3. Eye Of The Storm 4. Freedom Undone 5. Ultimate Sin 6. Train Of Thoughts 7. Tides Of Fate 8. Pyre 9. The Remains Lineup Philip «Rio» Ries - Bass Chris T. Ian - Guitars Marc Froehling - Guitars Ben Thuy - Drums Sany - Vocals

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Latest releases

Kreator Thrash Metal band from Germany released the fifteenth Full-length album Hate uber alles on June 10, 2022. World renowned extreme Metal titans KREATOR are back! 5 Years after their incredibly successful “Gods Of Violence” album, the genre-defining band presents their most political effort to date. “Hate uber Alles” is a bold statement against hate and the division of society in today’s world. «Hate uber Alles” features 11 tracks that once again show who’s boss in this game that

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many begin but only few ultimately last in. The crushing frenzy of the title track, the pounding “Strongest Of The Strong” featuring world famous vegan strongman Patrik Baboumian, the nostalgia of “Become Immortal” or the extravaganza of “Midnight Sun” make the band’s new album their most diverse and thrilling so far.

Tracklist 1. Sergio Corbucci Is Dead 2. Hate uber alles 3. Killer of Jesus 4. Crush the Tyrants 5. Strongest of the Strong 6. Become Immortal 7. Conquer and Destroy 8. Midnight Sun 9. Demonic Future 10. Pride Comes Before the Fall 11. Dying Planet

Black Therapy Melodic Death Metal band from Italy released the fourth Fulllength album Onward on June 10, 2022. The band states: this new album was written during the pandemic and we are proud of the outcome. Compared to “Echoes of Dying Memories” this is a more aggressive album, but it still retains the emotionally gripping sound, which can be considered our trademark. We also tried something different on some of the songs and we hope you will enjoy it as much as we do.

7. The Song of My Absence 8. Destroy the Fate 9. A Quiet Place Lineup Lorenzo Carlini - Bass Giuseppe Di Giorgio - Vocals Andrea Mataloni - Guitars, Guitar solo (tracks 2, 5, 7, 9) Davide Celletti - Guitars, Synths, Guitar solo (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5) Francesco Comerci - Drums

Tracklist 1. Onward 2. Blindness 3. Betrey My Ideals 4. Behind the Glass 5. Together 6. At the Gates of Soul

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Latest releases

Paganizer Death Metal band from Sweden released the twelfth Full-length album Beyond the Macabre on June 24, 2022. Paganizer have taken their time to come up with their most mature album till date. They’ve honed their sound, become more expressive, and made their song structures even more elaborate, without diluting any of the qualities that we’ve come to expect from them. There is a flawless combination of tuneful riffs, stomping parts, brisk blasting and some of the best hooks in the genre, underpinned

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by a glorious albeit tasteful sense of melody. Littered with memorable riffs and stirring melodies, the songs are at once pummelling and evocative, ensuring the desired heaviness and managing to leave a lasting impression as well. The stunning Juanjo Castellano artwork lends to the album a mystifying, otherworldly aura that goes perfectly with this album where Rogga Johansson tries to go above and beyond the call of duty and delivers a hard-hitting and poignant masterpiece in this realm of death metal. should enjoy!

Tracklist 1. Down the Path of Decay 2. Left Behind to Rot 3. Meatpacker 4. Sleepwalker 5. Succumb to the Succubus 6. Raving Rhymes of Rot 7. Beyond the Macabre 8. Menschenfresser 9. You Are What You Devour 10. Unpeaceful End

Khold Black Metal band from Norway released the seventh Full-length album Svartsyn on June 24, 2022. After 8 long years, Khold returns with a new studio album! What you get is 10 heavy new tracks, and Khold remains true to their original principle. Down tuned, rough, mid paced, painful. A strong musical backbone and clever musicianship... The groove, the drive and the heavy guitar riffs... Raw and primitive... Old school? Maybe, but yet so much more. The way you know them, the way you want them... The way they always have been and always will be... True to the soul of Norwegian black metal! Khold.

Tracklist 1. Apostel 2. Ødslet blod 3. Evig 4. Skarpretter 5. Helligdom av døde 6. Manngard 7. Dystopi 8. I demonens bok 9. Villvandre 10. Bryt i udåd ut

Lineup Sarke - Drums Rinn - Guitars Gard - Vocals, Guitars Crowbel - Bass

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Latest releases

Serpents Oath Black Metal band from Belgium released the second Full-length album Ascension on June 24, 2022. ‘Live by the rule of Fang and Claw, Survival is the highest Law’ «Ascension» is the second a l bu m by Belgian black metal horde Serpents Oath. A diabolical work of black arts spewing forth

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crushing riffs, pounding drums and terrorizing screams. ‘Yours is my Flesh and my Spirit’. Lineup Draghul - Drums Daenum - Guitars Tes Re Oth Vocals Mørkald - Bass Baelus - Guitars

Tracklist 1. Invocation Pestum 2. Summoning the Ancients 3. Thy Mighty Serpent 4. Invocation Perversum 5. Blasphemy 6. Bring Down the Sun 7. Invocation Maledictum 8. Sworn to the Oath 9. Of Fang and Claw 10. Invocation Infectum 11. Death the Destroyer 12. Blood Moon

Echelon Death Metal band from United Kingdom / Sweden released the third Full-length album Open Wide the Adamantine Gates on June 30, 2022. Death Metal supergroup ECHELON employ the services of David Ingram (ex-BOLT THROWER, URSINNE, DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN, BENEDICTION), Rogga Johansson (PAGANIZER, DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN, EYE OF PURGATORY, Massacre), Johan Berglund (THE GROTESQUERY, ex-Demiurg) and Brynjar (Massacre, Johansson & Speckmann, Crypticus). Expect death metal that is stupendous, old school and fleshed out, emphasizing on crushing British brutality coupled with classic Swedish

melodic sensibilities and riffing power. Echelon is here again with third attack this time with more hate and darkness, a new opus of old school death metal.

Lineup Johan Berglund - Bass Rogga Johansson - Guitars Dave Ingram - Vocals Brynjar - Drums

Tracklist 1. Undefiled Wisdom 2. Open Wide the Adamantine Gates 3. Soul Dealer 4. Of Witches and Wenches 5. The Sins of the Sycophants 6. Into the Trapezoid 7. In the Flesh 8. Diaboli Vindictam 9. Leviathan 10. Temporal Closure

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Latest releases

Rise to the Sky Atmospheric Doom/Death Metal band from Chile released the fifth Full-length album Every Day, a Funeral on May 6, 2022. Tracklist 1. Every Day, a Funeral 2. It’s the End 3. Just Say Goodbye 4. Abandoned 5. Sadness Cries in the Silent Sky 6. I Can See You When I Dream 7. Epilogue Lineup Sergio G. - Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards Emidio Ramos - Drums

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Ash of Ashes Epic Pagan Metal band from Germany released the second Full-length album Traces on May 13, 2022. Formed from the ashes of Hel. Tracklist 1. Beyond White Waters 2. Under the Midnight Sun 3. Into Eternity 4. The Eternal Traveller 5. Evermore 6. Vem kan segla forutan vind 7. A Lion Guards Our Names 8. Southbound 9. To Those Long Forgotten Lineup Morten B. - Vocals Skaldir - Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards

Blasphematory Death Metal band from the United States released the second Full-length album The Lower Catacombs on May 13, 2022. The group was formed in 2018 by Abazagorath founder Chris Warhead and member Joe Aversario after unplanned rehearsals, which eventually led into the writing and recording of a demo titled Depths of the Obscurity. Blasphematory continued to develop their sound, which is largely influenced by timetested American and Swedish styles whilst combining the dark melodic elements of the band’s black metal origins, all of which culminated in the recording of their first fulllength, also titled Depths of the Obscurity. Tracklist 1. Cruciform Shadows 2. Unclean Eulogies 3. Key to the Furnace 4. Perpetual Despair 5. Flooded Graves 6. The Corruption of Saints 7. The Lower Catacombs

Befouled Death Metal band from Norway released the second Full-length album Denying Pulse on May 13, 2022. Henning Haugen started the band as a tribute to the old school death metal scene from the early ‘90s. Tracklist 1. Chapel of Bones 2. Symphony of Torture 3. Apocalypse Comes 4. Rotting Brigade 5. Legacy (of Blood) 6. Baptised in Hate 7. Mummified Alive 8. Y.O.D.O 9. Bow for None Lineup Henning Haugen All instruments, Songwriting Fredrik W. Aas - Vocals, Lyrics

Schismatic Death Metal band from Poland released the third Full-length album The Flame of the Past on May 13, 2022. Tracklist 1. Ancient God 2. Against the Principles 3. Outer Space 4. Perpetual Deception 5. Fate Unknown 6. The Flame of the Past 7. Unleashed 8. Stargaze 9. Wind of Destination 10. Broken Trust Lineup Gerard Niemczyk - Drums Grzegorz Smołoński - Guitars Tomasz Cehak - Bass Marcin Borowiecki - Guitars Marcin Urbaś - Vocals

Horn Pagan Black Metal band from Germany released the ninth Full-length album Verzet on May 16, 2022. Tracklist 1. Pein muss - gerieben als Korn 2. Alpenrekorder 3. Galgenblech 4. Aufstand 5. A Hill to Die On 6. Parole sono pietre 7. Protektor 8. Verzet Lineup Nerrath instruments

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Latest releases

Roraima Atmospheric Black Metal band from Venezuela released the fourth Full-length album Caribay on May 21, 2022. Tracklist 1. Mucubaji 2. El caminante del paramo 3. Pico espejo 4. Gran Mukumbari 5. Caribay 6. Montaña Andina 7. Honor y gloria Lineup Geiver Camacaro - Everything Teresita Rodríguez - Vocals

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Heruka Symphonic Black Metal band from Italy released the third Full-length album Memorie on May 24, 2022. Tracklist 1. Inno 2. Presagi 3. Ad un passo 4. Memorie 5. Indarno 6. Vegetale 7. Inutile attesa 8. Anossia 9. Criogenesi 10. Passacaglia Lineup Adranor - Vocals (backing), Guitars Moha - Guitars Nemuri Shi - Drums Nekrom - Vocals Cruz - Bass

Stiriah Black Metal band from Germany released the third Full-length album ...of Light on May 27, 2022. Tracklist 1. The Emergence of Being 2. Drfting in the Sea of Flames 3. Companion of Light 4. Threatening Shadows 5. Lonely the Moon Is Enthroned 6. My Burden the Last Crown Lineup Cryst - Bass, Vocals Ortok - Drums Esgaroth - Guitars, Vocals Tyrann - Guitars, Vocals

Gjendod

Atmospheric Black Metal band from Norway released the fourth Full-length album I utakt med verden on May 28, 2022 Tracklist 1. Skyggeslakt 2. Urlosning 3. I utakt med verden 4. Oppreisning 5. Mot fred 6. En bismak fra oven 7. Vansynhet 8. Skudd i natta Lineup K - Guitars, Synth KK - Vocals, Drums, Bass

Thrall Black Metal band from Australia released the fourth Full-length album Schisms on May 28, 2022. Having been away from the recording studios for nearly seven years, Melbourne-based blackmetal collective Thrall appeared to be relegated to the fate of “cult act”, especially considering they vanished after releasing their most accomplished and critically lauded album “Aokigahara Jukai”. New album “Schisms” possesses a similar vibe to their previous efforts but can hardly be seen as nostalgic imitation as Thrall also try to keep their songwriting interesting and varied by adding elements of post-rock to the mix. “Schisms” is equally ripping, engaging, and despairing and hopefully will cement Thrall’s position as one of the most interesting and creative bands from the current Australian extreme metal scene. Tracklist 1. Schisms 2. Tyrant 3. Veils 4. Hollow 5. Nihil 6. Abyss 7. Epoch 8. Dust

Hellevaerder Black Metal band from the Netherlands released the first Full-length album In de nevel van afgunst on June 1, 2022. Tracklist 1. Je bent niks waard! 2. Donder dwalen 3. Uit het vuur getrokken 4. In de nevel van afgunst 5. Nieuw licht 6. Gemarteld en verdronken 7. Vergeten, verloren Lineup Daan Bleumink - Drums, Bass Miranda Visser - Vocals Bas Cuperus - Guitars Arjen Kleiss - Guitars

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Latest releases

Neocortex Atmospheric Black Metal band from Germany released the second Full-length album Am Ende des Feuers on June 1, 2022. Tracklist 1. Einklang 2. Fremder Bruder 3. In der Entfremdung 4. Am Ende des Feuers: Teil 1 In Flammen 5. Nothing 06:05 6. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi 7. Am Ende des Feuers: Teil 2 Die Stille der Zweifler 8. Flammenspiel 9. Wie ein karges Lacheln 10. Ausklang

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Wrang Black Metal band from the Netherlands released the second Full-length album De vaendrig on June 3, 2022. Tracklist 1. Doodgeslagen onschuld 2. De vaendrig 3. Jachttijd 4. Voorwaarts! De nacht roept 5. Bestevaer 6. Afgunst 7. Liturgie van zelfhaat Lineup Valr - Drums Galgenvot - Vocals, Guitars Mercur - Bass

Hypermass Melodic Death Metal band from Norway released the first Fulllength album Empyrean on June 3, 2022. Lyrically, the album is a study in misanthropy and extremist thought. There is a rising scent of alienation festering on the fringes of contemporary culture. A restlessness, brewing like a phantom itch on a severed limb. Tracklist 1. The Constant 2. Hivemind 3. The Degenerate Strain 4. Null and Void 5. To Dissect and Serve 6. Behind the Leviathan 7. Equializer 8. Empyrean 9. Motherdome

Hand of Flauros

Black Metal band from the United States released the first Full-length album Hand of Flauros on June 3, 2022. Tracklist 1. Blackstone 2. The Black Moon Falling part 1 3. The Black Moon Falling part 2 4. Grimoire of Despair and Madness 5. In the Name of the Highest and the Power and Strength of Will 6. Everything Ends in an Oniric Torture 7. Lesser Key of Solomon 8. What Is the End Lineup Alexis Riera - Everything

Proditor Bicorni Melodic Death Metal band from Mexico released the second Full-length album Cvltvs Nox on June 6, 2022. Tracklist 1. Solaris Satvrnvs 2. In Nomine Hecate 3. Hiatvs 4. Fvego de Moloch 5. Ama Ushvngal Anna 6. Solaris Satvrnvs

Sacrimonia Symphonic Black Metal band from Poland released the first Full-length album Anthems of Eclipse on June 10, 2022. Established in 2015, the band focuses on creating a bewitching blend of powerful female vocals, melodic, yet razor-sharp riffs and gothic orchestrations.

Tracklist Lineup 1. Distorted Simulacrum Néstor Saavedra - Vocals, 2. Mirror for the Guitars (rhythm) Faceless Guillermo Pérez - Drums 3. Modern Prometheus Jonathan Origel - Bass 4. For the Universe to Javier P. Sánchez - Guitars Shatter 5. Into Darkness My Soul Descends 6. A Storm I Seek 7. Katabasis 8. Eclipse Lineup Jakub Zgorzelski - Guitars, Bass Kamila «Lasaira» GrabowskaDerlatka - Vocals Mariusz Hausenplas Guitars

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Latest releases

Thy Dying Star Black/Doom Metal band from Brazil released the first Fulllength album Ad Finem Omnia on June 12, 2022. Thy Dying Star studied a lot and all of the music productions were made by band. Besides taking care of the drums and vocals recordings, Daniel took care of the mixing. Bruno was in charge of the guitars, bass and keys recordings and mastering process. It was hard but band’s members are very satisfied with the results, mainly because they just used cheap equipment during the whole process and because there is almost 250 kilometers between the duo. Lineup Bruno Bonfim - Guitars, Bass, Keyboards Daniel Sanchez - Vocals, Drums

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Funeral Oppression Depressive Black Metal band from Russia released the second Fulllength album The Eternal Revival on June 13, 2022. The band was formed in November 2013. Main themes of lyrics: death, madness, nihilism, void. Tracklist 1. Intro 2. Just to Live 3. A Crimson Shade 4. Temple of Regrets 5. The Eternal Revival 6. For All Those Gone Lineup Ravenblack - All instruments Void - Vocals

Umbra Conscientia Black Metal band from Germany/Costa Rica released the second Full-length album Nigredine Mundi on June 15, 2022. Emanations hailing from the dark abyss of the one coagulated into Umbra Conscientia in 2018. Manifested in musical form, this is dedicated to the occult gnosis of the soul, death and suffering, carrying the black flame of Lucifer in it’s core. Tracklist 1. Constant Self Sacrifice in Devotion to Darkness 2. Mundo Vult Mori 3. Esto y Solo Esto 4. The Numbing Bloodstreams of Detachment 5. Resonatia Diaboli Lineup A.N.L. - Drums Aether - Vocals, Bass, Guitars, Songwriting F. - Vocals

Corpse Worship Death Metal band from Russia released the second Full-length album Necroresonance on June 20, 2022. Tracklist 1. Graveyard Waltz (Intro) 2. Miraculously Resurrected 3. Twisted in Ecstasy 4. Name on the Tombstone 5. Necroresonance 6. Underworld Rats 7. Cemetery Watcher 8. 1000 Graves 9. Outro Lineup Thanatoliy - Drums Artemiy - Guitars, Bass Theodor Forrest - Vocals, Lyrics

Orgg Black Metal band from Italy released the second Full-length album Dimonios on June 20, 2022. Orgg is a Black Metal band born to bring in music the excruciatingly painful events of the Great White War (Gebirgskrieg in german, Guerra bianca in Italian). Dimonios follows The Great White War, still diving deep into the events of the first world war on the dolomitic front. Dimonios will evolve Orgg’s own black metal style and concept while keeping its roots deep where it all started. Tracklist 1. Intro / 1917 2. A Darker Shade 3. Die Eisstadt 4. Dimonios 5. Feral War 6. Tanna 7. Ashes 8. Aurora 9. A Testament Lineup Osten - Keyboards, Songwriting, Synths Iblis A.G. - Bass Vulak - Guitars L. - Vocals

Perpetual Night Melodic Death Metal band from Spain released the second Full-length album Aconitum on June 24, 2022. The new lineup is ready to finally release their second album “Aconitum” in 2022. The band’s been able to raise the bar again regarding composition, song arrangement, production and artwork. To their already personal dark and melancholic sound, the new songs bring a sharper edge and aggressive speed that will shake the guts and emotions of those who will listen to them. Tracklist 1. Aconitum 2. Rotten Bond 3. Antimatter 4. Hierbas Amargas 5. Stars Hunter 6. Silver Key 7. Redemption 8. Dry Land Lineup Raúl Ríos Beiro - Guitars, Vocals (backing) Carlos Garrido - Bass Luis Rodriguez - Drums Javier Rodríguez - Guitars Leo Gonzalez - Vocals

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Band Links http://www.facebook.com/damnationgallery http://damnationgallery.bandcamp.com http://instagram.com/damnationgallery https://open.spotify.com/artist/6OcaKVOAYVM4eZcwcuTmOF

We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Damnation Gallery - Horror Metal band from Italy.

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Damnation Gallery was founded in the first half of 2016 with the specific intent to merge previous influences of each of the members and to transfer them in a horror metal context so that their music, which blends classic metal with modern one, seasoning it with both parts more extreme both with healthy Doom occult metal, is always accompanied by a visual support of impact. The band, initially made up of Scarlet (vocals), Lord Edgard (guitar), Low (bass) and Naskull (drums), immediately began composing their own music and preparing live performances, always supported by terrifying sets, masks and sets. These efforts gave birth to the first EP titled «Transcendence Hymn». In 2017 Lord of Plague joined the band as second guitarist along with Coroner on drums. With this line-up Damnation Gallery recorded their debut album titled «Black Stains» and released in the first half of 2018. Damnation Gallery took their show around Italy, also performing as opening act for international groups such as Death SS, Pestilence, Necrodeath, Deathless Legacy, Mario «The Black» Di Donato, Nibiru, Bleeding Gods, Vanexa and Labyrinth. The forced stop of live activities in 2020 leads the group to devote themselves to a frantic composition phase that gave birth to the second a l b u m entitled «Broken Time», released in September 2020. Currently Damnation Gallery are busy bringing their masks and their show on any stage that can accommodate their living nightmare and at the same time they are dedicating themselves to the composition of their new upcoming full length.

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Band Links https://www.facebook.com/Dionisyan https://dionisyan.bandcamp.com/releases https://www.instagram.com/dionisyan_official/ https://open.spotify.com/artist/7bDpCv6SKA3XG7Zesna1k6

We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Dionisyan Atmospheric Doom/Death Metal band from Italy.

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Dionisyan came to the fore in 2010 founded by the factotum and mastermind Tregor Russo: (Professional Artist, Music Teacher, Composer, Arranger, Singer, Poet, Writer, Actor, Movie Director, Music Producer, Sound Engineer, Artistic Director, Radio Speaker and Photoreporter) In whole Dionisyan ‘s discography Tregor Russo creates and proposes an innovative, original and revolutionary idea, amalgamating Atmospheric Doom Metal with many various genres including Medieval, Classical, Progressive Rock, Traditional Middle Eastern, Ethnic and Melodic Death Metal, orchestrated in polyrhythmic contrapuntal polyphonic! All the TREGOR RUSSO’ s music compositions and arrangements are technical, complex, intricate and complicated. Dionisyan were one of most appreciated and internationally recognized Melodic Doom Metal projects. Dionisyan’s music from the beginning stood out for including atypical instruments to Metal. The music gradually and currently mixes doom metal and baroque music, giving the band a good standout. Escaping the commonplace where many bands meet, Dionisyan makes a difference, presenting distinct and refined music.

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Band Links https://www.facebook.com/Consumption-103380851501810 https://open.spotify.com/artist/641jq847anEgMZUMGAmI5R

We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Consumption Death Metal band from Sweden.

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Grinding Death metal is not dead yet and it’s future is here in the form of Sweden’s Consumption. They gave us all a nice taste of what was to come on their debut “Recursive Definitions of Suppuration” that received good reviews worldwide, but no one could have expected what was to come. Consumption is a new Swedish band producing crushing Carcass influenced Grind/Death and on “Necrotic Lust” have stepped up to make the album Carcass never made after “Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious”. This project is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Hakan Stuvemark, famous for his works with a huge bunch of extreme Metal bands (and the most notable from that list is Wombbath). And he invited the experienced drummer Jon Skare to complete his band and go for the next level. Consumption’s grinding Death Metal with eerie melodies sound like Carcass in their 90’s prime yet they also have a distinct own touch. And on “Necrotic Lust” they invited Jeff Walker (of Carcass) to join in and Jeff did a killer job on delivering some guest vocals. The overall sound of the album is now upgraded, unpolished yet well produced just like it should be if you deliver high class Death Metal that grinds a bit as well. The array of vocal techniques and the way passages differ in speed and intensity give “ Necrotic Lust” the extra finishing touch.

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Band Links https://www.facebook.com/ImmortalPainOfficial https://www.instagram.com/immortal_pain_official https://open.spotify.com/artist/4tFqlGrjBy2D6FpoS1k3aO

We would like to tell you about musicians and bands not so well known around the world. This is the story of Immortal Pain Melodic Death Metal band from Saudi Arabia.

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Keeping the metal scene alive, Immortal Pain is a Saudi Arabian Melodic Death Metal band from Jeddah. The band was formed back in 2005 by Emad Ashor (Vocalist/ Rhythm Guitarist), Rasheed (Lead Guitarist) and were later joined by Moaiyd Alshammari (Drummer) and Anan Alsabban (Bassist). Their music is a mix between Thrash Metal and Melodic Death Metal and was heavily influenced by bands such as Iron Maiden, Arch Enemy, Kalmah, Metallica and many other iconic groups. The band was heavily active during the prime years of metal music in the Kingdom and continues to perform to their fans to this day. Immortal Pain released a number of demoes over the years and continues to create new music and is releasing their first official single “Unhealed” in May 2022 with additional releases planned for the following months. T his new song is their first release with the Saudi record label: Wall of Sound Dark Mode!

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https://www.facebook.com/blackmetalorgg

Review by Andrew Stanton Orgg - Dimonios. So far, some fairly ordinary Black Metal from Italy. Reminds me of the early days of Black Metal, like Immortal’s “Blizzard Beasts”. The energy is good and the guitars are good for the most part. The vocals stay way too slow. It never gets chaotic. The main issue for me is just the basicness of it. Just very standard Black Metal. It’s nothing I haven’t heard a billion times before. Of course, this is

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w h a t some people are clearly looking for, and that’s fine. But I just need that something extra. It’s just another Black Metal album as far as I’m concerned. Apparently this is a war themed band, but nothing I can make out. If they said it was Satanic I would b e none the wiser. If

you’re someone who is obsessed with Black Metal, then this is for you and probably not really for anyone else. If this is the first Black Metal album you hear, you might appreciate it a bit more. With a bit more ( a lot more ) creative juices, I reckon this band could be one to look out for. Already a great image and some decent energy and musicianship. But for now, they really need to work on it. It’s just a Black Metal album.

https://www.facebook.com/corpuschristii

Corpus Christii - The Bitter End of Old. When the album first started, it just reminded me of Mayhem, but now I’m hearing a lot of different sounds coming through. Way too slow for me personally, but I can definitely hear some real talent with this band. I would say it’s like Mayhem with a few things added to it. T h e musicianship is very good here. The guitar and bass are very good. The blast beats create a good energy. The vocals are also very good ( by Black Metal standards ). Some parts of this I absolutely love to bits, but the slow singing isn’t my thing. I wouldn’t say it’s a n easy listen, but it’s not super heavy. It’s one Black Metal album where the bass player has a lot of work to do. With

Review by Andrew Stanton faster vocals I would have worshiped the speakers. The clean vocal parts of the album are very much in the style of Isengard. Mayhem meets Isengard is a n interesting sound. T o b e honest, I’m

really

n o t

sure about this one. I don’t exactly like it, but I can 100% appreciate it. They definitely have something, and as far as I’m concerned, they deserve a minute of your time. This is one band I will be keeping an eye on in the future. Because they can play and entertain. If I was to give it a mark, I would maybe give it a 3 or a 4 out of 5. Definitely not shit.

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https://www.facebook.com/Demonicalofficial

Demonical - Mass Destroyer. I wouldn’t exactly call it old school Death Metal, but I wouldn’t call it nuschool either. Like a sort of cross between Cadaver and newer Deicide. A lot of it sounds the same to me personally, but it’s good. Good energy and short. I think the shortness is really what makes this. Just blast out cool Death Metal… And why not? One thing I like about this ( or so far at least ), they haven’t tried to be clever. The vocals are an angry growl. He doesn’t sound like he’s got a pillow stuck in his

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Review by Andrew Stanton mouth like Napalm Death. I admit I’ve never heard of this band before, but they have been around for a few years. Apparently they appeared on “A Tribute to Emperor”, but I admit I don’t recall. I’m gonna say right now, if this was longer, maybe 50 minutes, I would have said it was shit.

But the time passes quickly with this one. It’s not amazing by any means, but I’m sure you can enjoy its energy for its 30 minute duration. Just a good Death Metal album really. Far from perfect and very far from just plain shit. My only real issue is a lot of sounding the same, but if you don’t mind that then go for it. It’s one for the serious Death Metalheads. Those people who refuse to hear anything else. I was one once. I would say it’s kind of in between okay and good, but what do I know? You might love it.

Djevelkult - Drep alle guder . Norwegian Black Metal has always taken centre stage and probably always will. Djevelkult are quite a lively band. Sometimes the guitars are very much straight out of the Black Thrash book, but sadly not always. Also, this is quite a short album, which always goes down well. To be honest, I might go as far as to say they don’t really sound Norwegian at all. Not

as chaotic as Germany’s Nocturnal, but it’s okay. It’s not exactly great, but the energy is good. I would say it’s one of those albums that needs a true Black Metalhead listening to it. I know for a fact some Black Metal fans will be

amazed

hearing

this. Long, sharp screeches over the blast beats. It’s nothing amazing, but I am enjoying this in parts. It almost reminds me of early Darkthrone with better guitars. I think its chaotic parts are really what makes this, I just wish they were more often. So there you have it. Norwegian Black Metal in quite a raw form. If you hate Black Metal I doubt this will do much to change your mind, but what do I know? It definitely has some good moments in it.

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https://www.facebook.com/Djevelkult

Review by Andrew Stanton

https://www.facebook.com/tableaumort

Review by Andrew Stanton Tableau Mort Visio in Somniis. Whenever I hear the words ‘British Black Metal’, I quickly start losing interest, but so far I’m quite enjoying this album. Not as good as Bal Sagoth, but it’s very good. A good mix of deep growls and high pitched screeches. Some nice guitar parts. The song writing is okay I suppose. I think what makes this is the good deep growls and then the energy of the high pitched vocals. The vocals get quite fast at

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times. The guitars tend to get a bit melodic at times, but it creates a nice feel. The fast growls over the blast beats are perfect, real quick and vicious. Strangely enough, they don’t actually remind me of anyone. They seem to have their own sound. Of course, I can’t say I have heard every band, but

I have heard a lot. To the casual listener it probably just sounds like another Black Metal band, but there is a lot of good stuff on here. It goes on a bit like, I would say it’s maybe 20 minutes too long, but it is very good if that doesn’t bother you. So, a cool British Black Metal band. Some of the guitar work reminds me of old 70’s Rock, but maybe it’s just me. A band you will be proud to be listening to.

Jungle Rot - A Call to Arms. I don’t think anyone can really argue that America rules the old school Death Metal scene. And old school Death Metal pisses all over these new bands. As far as I’m aware, this is the only band I have ever heard from Wisconsin. Because of the way this singer growls, you can almost make out the lyrics. Unusual for Death Metal. It’s a deep growl, but it has a cleaness (if that makes any sense). It’s hard to describe really. As I listen

I’m reminded of old memories of Death, Obituary, Nocturnal, Incubus and Morbid Angel. It’s really nothing new, but who cares? From what I’m reading here, this band has been around for a while, but appears to have been unsigned for a long time. Fans of old school Death Metal can’t really g o wrong with t h i s

album. It’s been made for people like you, by people like you. It’s very good. It’s not exactly amazing, but it’s short and fun. I like it. I think for a lot of people, the mere mention of the words “old school Death Metal” probably sells it to you. And this won’t disappoint you either. I can’t say it’s better than early Death and early Obituary, that would be a stretch. But as far as I’m concerned, Jungle Rot are very cool. Well done guys.

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https://www.facebook.com/igotjunglerot

Review by Andrew Stanton

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100051054499947

Review by Andrew Stanton Aara - Triade II Hemera. Some super hard to listen to Atmospheric Black Metal from Switzerland. So far, none of this has been an easy listen. Atmospheric Black Metal is always hard to listen to anyway, however, I am a fan of it. But this so far has been a real test for me. It has a

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real relentlessness to it. Even when the female Goth vocals kick in, the music continues as normal. It really would have benefitted from some lighter

songs. I have never heard of this band before, but they look familiar for some reason. When I saw their picture, I was actually expecting something like Arcturus or Bishop of Hexen. I will say their image doesn’t match their sound, at least I don’t think so. I actually love the way they look personally. If you’re looking for a real challenge, then look no further. If you prefer it super extreme, then this is it. But for sad people like me, I just needed more variety in sound. As a veteran Death Metalhead and long-time Black Metalhead, even I’m struggling with this one. It needed 1 or 2 softer sounds to tone the album down a bit. Obviously, some Metalheads are more die hard than me and you will probably love it. But it’s not for me, sorry.

Krisiun albums even though I don’t know this for a fact since I haven’t talked to actual members of Awicha or Jason Parker about it so I can’t carve that

in stone or anything of course. But the symbals on the opening track matched the riff perfectly in terms of sounding like the music wants to pop out your speaker and declare war on the neighbors. Further more mixing of the sound is not too polished but both musically and soundwise seem to catch each other quite well and thus I have to give this release kudos for delivering a well composed split indeed. I have always love the idea of

splits especially when the bands fill each other out which Masters of Kaos productions actually excecute in textbook ways at times I must say being an underground label and all.

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https://www.facebook.com/The-Witch-108091774126489

Awicha/The Witch-a pact between demons. When I finally got myself to sit down and listen to this split album with The Witch, first thing that sprung to mind was the inspiration from early

https://www.facebook.com/awichaofficial

Review by Kim Kjole

https://www.facebook.com/synteleia

Review by Andrew Stanton Synteleia - The Secret Last Syllable. Black Metal from Greece, but so far I think Death Metal is a closer description. So far I would say it’s like Carcass goes Melodic Death Metal. I think a few Black Metalheads would be a bit disappointed by this, it’s very good though. Synteleia writes songs about Cthulhu, so obviously I’m gonna be slightly biased. Some of the guitar work is quite pretty here. Every once in a while I hear

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something that reminds me of Black Metal, but not often. Definitely more Carcass than Emperor. Fans of In Flames will love this. The pace of the album seems to stay around medium speed. It never goes crazy if you know what I mean, but it’s not dull. The Melodic parts of the album give it a really nice sound. Maybe slightly too melodic and pretty for some people, but it’s good. When it comes to its melodic elements, they

really have made an effort. Every now and then we get some female Gothic Metal added into the mix and why not? If you’re one of the Metalheads open to both Black and Death, then you really can’t go wrong here. Definitely NOT Blackened Death Metal. It’s not amazing, but it’s cool. Melodic Death Metal fans will love this to bits. If you’re a Cthulhu cultist, you already know it’s your thing. May they rise.

Review by Andrew Stanton don’t know much about ancient Germany, but do I need to? Some real hardline Black Metalheads might think he has overused the clean vocals, but I disagree t o t a l l y. Fans of this sub genre won’t b e

disappointed at all. It’s just an opinion, but I think Germany makes the best Black Folk, or at least the best Black Folk outside of Scandinavia. Fans of Russia’s Mjod would love this guy. It’s not the best Black Folk album, but how many bad ones have you heard? Probably none. If I was rating this out of 10, I would give it a solid 7 or 8. Just good fun.

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https://www.facebook.com/HornOfficial

Horn - Verzet. Some very enjoyable Black Folk from Germany. A good mix of clean vocals and growls. At times I’m reminded of Isengard, Mjod and Ensiferum. Mostly it’s just an enjoyable listen. It’s not super extreme, just a nice listen. This is a solo artist who has been around for quite a while. He writes songs about history and folklore ( in German ). But when it’s this enjoyable, who cares? I have said a few times that this is the easiest kind of Black Metal to listen to, and this is just more proof. I admit I

https://www.facebook.com/septicfleshband

Review by Andrew Stanton Septicflesh Modern Primitive. One of the great bands in my opinion. As soon as the album begins, the high quality soon kicks in. Absolutely faultless. It almost seems like no matter how good they get, they can always improve. As far as I’m concerned, Septicflesh were legends way back in 1998 when they released A Fallen Temple, and they h a v e just gotten better and b e t t e r

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every time. Not very long ago I reviewed Kimaera’s Imperivm. This is very similar, but without the upper class parts. To be fair, this does have some posh parts like Kimaera. I’m a little over half way and the quality hasn’t dropped once. Just perfect. This is actually quite a short album. A perfect and genius mix of Industrial and Symphonic Metal with a lot of different kinds of vocals. The use of Classical music is total genius on

this album. I think we can safely say, if you can’t appreciate it, you don’t know shit about music. I haven’t found one fault on this yet. 2022 is turning out to be an amazing year for music, especially Metal. I have received a few albums so far that I thought were perfect and this is another one for the list. Just buy it, you deserve it guys.

Lord Belial - Rapture. Sweden’s Lord Belial are back after quite a while. We haven’t heard from them since 2008’s The Black Curse. In certain parts, you will find some fairly easy Black Metal to get into. It’s quite enjoyable in parts. The album just explodes in, it doesn’t bother making you wait. From there on, it seems to just keep it up. So far, I would say it’s like early Darkthrone, but much easier to listen to. It’s not super heavy, but it’s not light weight either. The

song writing and arrangements are very good. The Black Metal haters might be quite surprised by this album. A lot of people proudly hate Black Metal a n d refuse to

give it a chance, but maybe it’s time to pay some attention to it. A lot of cool narration on this, maybe it’s a concept album or something ( I won’t pretend I know ). Obviously I’m very passionate about Black Metal, but even if I wasn’t, I reckon I would still love this. What they are able to do with just three members is pretty amazing. Good songs and good quality... What more is there? It’s a bit long, but it’s very good. Lord Belial are here to entertain you and you deserve it.

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https://www.facebook.com/lordbelialband

Review by Andrew Stanton

https://www.facebook.com/paganizersweden

Paganizer - Beyond The Macabre. As soon as this started it instantly reminded me of Massacre’s From Beyond. Real fucking awesome, old school Death Metal. Of course, it might not be everyone’s thing, but as an old school Death Metalhead, I’m not even gonna bother looking for faults. The album begins awesome and stays awesome. Just proper Metal. At times they remind me of early Morbid Angel. Bands who try to keep old school Death Metal alive always get my respect. This is a genre of Metal I don’t want to die out, so cheers

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Review by Andrew Stanton Paganizer. Because I have no patience for modern Death Metal. I’ve never heard of these guys before, but judging by their discography, they’re a very busy band. I’m a little over halfway and it’s still awesome. Just everything about it spells quality to me. The growls are so perfect throughout. According to my notes, they

write songs about death and gore, but even though it’s all in English, I haven’t really got any of it. But who cares? For people who don’t know me, I’m an old school Death Metalhead turned Black Metalhead, and when I hear bands like this, I get so many memories. For the real Metalheads, you really can’t go wrong with this. It’s just perfect. The last song is a bit slow and ‘doomy’, almost sounds like a different band. But up to that point, it’s totally amazing. Awesome.

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† Hellfest † Wacken Open Air † Tuska † Brutal Assault † Summer Breeze † Rock Fest † Rock Am Ring † Rockest † Download Festival † Resurrection Fest †

Live on stage Reviews

GOAT METAL CRUISE 2022/Metal Festival on water in Moscow, Russia. 28 May 2022. Review and photos by Olga Schneider

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Reviews

Don’t even know what to begin with... First of all I should introduce this event for sure, haha! The name Goat Metal Cruise says everything for itself. Goat Metal bar is the first Metal bar here in Moscow founded in 2018, and the mistress of this bar Alexandra Shreyder

is also the creator of the festival. The story of the event sounds a bit weird itself... Weird and inspired. Everything started with an attempt to organize an early summer gig in a nearest club to the bar, but

decision to try a different place... A completely different one. It turned out to be a huge

vessel with two decks. Spoiler alert: yeah, it was REALLY huge. Of c o u r s e such an announcem e n t intrigued local Metal community, it sounded like some kind of N o r d i c Metal Cruise was

unsuccessful. The lineup should have consisted of certain R u s s i a n Extreme M e t a l bands, so there was an impulsive

in Russia. They announced 5 bands in the lineup: TODESTRIEBE IL PASSÉISME SCUMBACK TEMPLE OF NIHIL. Lots of us have actually seen those bands live 10000+ times before,

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† Hellfest † Wacken Open Air † Tuska † Brutal Assault † Summer Breeze † Rock Fest † Rock Am Ring † Rockest † Download Festival † Resurrection Fest †

Live on stage Reviews

but oh well, who actually cares in this case?! The only thing that sounded not so promising was the weather forecast. It supposed to be raining the whole day and evening. Though this kind of weather always makes you feel that Metal spirit even more intense, the nature decide to organize everything in a completely ossopite way, and that’s killer! So we started our trip in a picturesque area near a local forest and moved through Moscow river to the heart of the city the Red Square and its surroundings. The wind was intense, truly Nordic I would say, but the sun was shining no less intensively, and... It’s even hard to describe what you feel going up to the upper deck and watching all those mighty areas

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around you. Moscow is a city of contrasts: huge natural landscapes, modern

the

skyscrapers, ancient walls of

the oldest part of the city... Totally incredible. And even better in a great company of course! The greatest plus of such an event is not only in its uniqueness, but also in such a simple thing as the ability to unite so many people in one place, and that also means the opportunity to finally see those ones you’ve been planning to meet up with for a long time, but you simply couldn’t find the opportunity. The lower deck was equipped for the concert part, for merch and for some food&drink activities. As I’ve mentioned before, the velles itself was really huge, so there was room for everyone: for those w h o wanted to enjoy the show, for those who needed some kind of break, for those who decided to

Reviews my endless respect to the Goat Metal bar crew... And also my endless gratitude for keeping us all united.

take another look at the whole city, and so on. One of the most pleasant factors was really good sound, for me that was completely unexpected to notice at a place which is actually not destined for Metal gigs at all. That was just what we all needed. First of all, we’re currently surviving a bit weird and hard t i m e s . Secondly, new cool experiences and the hormones of happiness are highly appreciated at any times! Using the opportunity, I want to express

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Upcoming albums

The subterranean slumber of Nile mastermind Karl Sanders’ Eastern-ambient Saurian series finally ceases with the third chapter of his darkly hypnotizing saga, Saurian Apocalypse! The album’s musical and lyrical themes detail the vexing fictional journey of Dr. Eduardo Lucciani, one of very few survivors of mankind’s self-destruction, who descends into madness after discovering the violent horrors occurring at the hands of the Saurian Masters. Emphasized by unique instruments like the baglama saz (Turkish lute), Ancient Egyptian Anubis Sistrum, Dumbek (Middle Eastern goblet drum), glissentar and gongs, the album’s score weaves cinematic auras and deep grooves, accented by the tribal percussive stylings of original Nile drummer Pete Hammoura and returning Saurian vocalist Mike Breazeale. «Saurian Apocalypse» will be released on July 22, 2022.

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The masters of the Brazilian old school death metal KRISIUN are back. After their last album «Scourge of the Enthroned», which was released in 2018, the three Sao Paulo brothers deliver another board-hard and incredibly strong new studio album. On «Mortem Solis» Krisiun convince with precise riffs and hard-hitting sound with the active support of Mark Lewis (production and mix). All three members Moyses, Max, and Alex are brothers. Alex uses his father’s surname, Camargo, whereas his brothers use their mother’s surname, Kolesne. The band was a four-piece for a very short period of time before deciding that they worked better as a three-piece after Mauricio Nogueira left, forming the trio which has stayed constant to this day. Mortem Solis will be released on July 26, 2022.

With “The Devils”, long-running Diabolical Death Metal titans BELPHEGOR unleash their twelfth studio album upon the masses, which proves to be one of the strongest and most elaborate records in the group’s career. Produced at renowned Fascination Studios with Jens Bogren (Kreator, Rotting Christ, At The Gates), “The Devils” sounds absolutely crushing and dynamic, sonically pushing the immense variety of the eight tracks to new heights. Tracklist: 1. The Devils 2. Totentanz - Dance Macabre 3. Glorifizierung des Teufels 4. Damnation – Höllensturz 5. Virtus Asinaria – Prayer 6. Kingdom Of Cold Flesh 7. Ritus Incendium Diabolus 8. Creature Of Fire 9. Blackest Sabbath 1997 (Bonus Track) The Devils will be released on July 29, 2022.

Max Cavalera is without a doubt a busy man, being active with bands like CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, KILLER BE KILLED, GO AHEAD AND DIE, and additionally touring live with his brother Igor to celebrate anniversaries of various SEPULTURA classics. At the dawn of the new millennium, Rolling Stone declared, “Soulfly seem built to last.” More than two decades, countless worldwide tours, and a dozen albums later, that prophecy rings true. Underground icon, extreme metal trailblazer, third world warrior, and leader of a diverse and dedicated tribe, Max Cavalera not only survives but thrives, blasting out riff after killer riff. The same voice, body, and spirit which launched Soulfly in 1997 summons impossibly heavy noise to this day, throwing down ten slabs of monstrous music on Soulfly’s twelfth album, 2022’s „Totem“. ‘Totem’ will be released on August 5, 2022.

The world’s leading Viking Metal band goes on the rampage again. This time «The Great Heathen Army» is on the AMON AMARTH banner. The Great Heathen Army is Amon Amarth’s 12th studio album, and was recorded with Andy Sneap, who worked with the band on 2013’s Deceiver of the Gods and 2016’s Jomsviking. «Overall The Great Heathen Army is one of the heavier albums we’ve made,» says frontman Johann Hegg. «There are some dark and heavy songs that are really powerful and in-your-face, but we obviously have some trademark melodic Amon Amarth songs on there as well, and a few surprises too. It’s a really well-balanced album. It sounds great. Andy Sneap is awesome. It was great to be able to work with him again.» The Great Heathen Army will be released on August 5, 2022.

The wait is over: Arch Enemy are back with the followup to 2017’s ‘Will To Power’, and they’ve never sounded hungrier. ‘Deceivers’ is a collection of the tightest, leanest and, above all, most extreme metal and consists of 11 tracks that will make their fanbase’s mouths water. Each track is relentlessly catchy and mercilessly brutal, and with titles like ‘Deceiver, Deceiver’, ‘House Of Mirrors’, ‘Handshake With Hell’ or ‘Poisoned Arrow’, the Swedish quintet have never sounded better. A huge portion of melodies and a downright overdose of sheer power. ARCH ENEMY are solid as a rock when it comes to «Pure Fucking Metal». The guitar harmonies delivered by one of the greatest axe-duos in this day and age - Michael Amott and Jeff Loomis - in combination with the unmistakable voice of singer Alissa White-Gluz is everything a metal-maniac can ask for. They take no prisoners!“Deceivers” will be released on August 12, 2022.

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#22 Inside the Darkness

Articles inside

Damnation Gallery. Interview with Lord Edgard, Low and Scarlet

Wintersbreath. Interview with Burkhard Lettner

Osy Mainty. Interview with Osy Mainty

Chovu. Interview with Lord Preston

Onslaught. Interview with Wayne Dorman

Gersuva. Interview with Gerado Suarez

Interview with Adara

Niohoggr. Interview with Memphist

Grond. Interview with Kist

Murder Hate. Interview with Leonardo Aviles

Sarkom. Interview with Unsgaard and Somby