Slowly we rot #6

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

You’re now holding in your hands the sixth issue of Slowly We Rot, and I thank you very much for this, your support is highly appreciated and these are not empty words I can assure you; I have in front of me the very last copies of Slowly We Rot #5, which means the interest and demand for it was amazing, hopefully you liked its contents and compilation, too.

In my opinion the sixth issue is the best so far although unfortunately I had no time and not enough material to feature the Romanian Attack section this time (it will be back in the next issue for sure), but “traditional” sections like Merchants of Death, Zine and Music Reviews and Rising Demons are still here and this won’t change anytime soon, plus we are featuring this time a higher amount of material (more interviews and even more reviews). The reviews are again published in my webzine, Pest (www.pestwebzine.com), too, but major part of the interviews are published in Slowly We Rot exclusively.

As you’ll notice, there are a lot of zine reviews (and I wasn’t even able to review them all, so the rest will be featured in SWR#7), which means this underground activity is getting back in shape after years of silence or after years of being ignored. If you want to publish your own zine I encourage you to do so, but do it your own way, write and release a zine you’d gladly read yourself, and if you’ll be happy of the final result I guarantee you’ll find like-minded people (or they will find you) that will support you; hopefully Romania will give a new (printed) fanzine soon, too, but until then, as mentioned in issue 5, I’m both proud and sad at the same time to lead the only Metal Magazine in Romania at the moment.

I want to thank again my friends and contributors: Sonia Fonseca, Chris Forbes, Leslie David and from this issue Heather Williams, hope to have all of them close for many SWR issues to still come, also a bit Thank You to all the bands and labels featured, SWR’s distributors, Wolfy for the compilation cover artwork and basically everyone who supports printed zines even by reposting their activity on social media or sharing their flyers with friends.

Enjoy this new Slowly We Rot issue and see you next time, sometime in Spring 2015!

Front cover: Andreas Heljarmadr (Gra) Compilation cover artwork by Wolven Claws (facebook.com/wolvenclaws666) All reviews, articles and unsigned interviews by Adrian All reviews also published in Pest Webzine at www.pestwebzine.com Slowly We Rot Contact: www.facebook.com/swrzine swrzine@yahoo.com Slowly We Rot Team: Adrian (Romania) – editor – layout/interviews/reviews Leslie David (Hungary) – interviews Sonia Fonseca (Portugal) – interviews Chris Forbes (USA) – interviews Heather Williams (USA) - interviews

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com) Slowly We Rot Compilation CD #6

01. Blodorn - Divine Intervention 02. Dasap - The Ruin Of God 03. de profundis - Ebony And Blood 04. Frostwork -Prophecies Carved Within The Leaves 05. Killrazer - Seven Years 06. Miserable Failure - Hang Them 07. Nerocapra - Mefisto Manna 08. Plagues - Crush The Messiah 09. Serpentrance - The Aphotic Temples 10. Sidious - Obscenity ov Old 11. Skinlepsy - Regressing From The End 12. Solace of Requiem - Soiling The Fields Of Putridity 13. Solem Curse - The Curse Of Breathing 14. Sons of Famine - Nothing And Nowhere 15. Taatsi - A Moonlight Journey Through The Midwinter Forest 16. Terrorfront - Deathreign 40-45 17. Thy Legion - One Eyed Pyramid 18. Winter Deluge - As The Earth Fades Into Obscurity

Slowly We Rot #6 Contents:

23. Terrorghoul Productions 24. Hades 26. Poppy Seed Grinder 3. Editorial 27. Blodorn 4. Amon 27. Dasap 5. Obituary 27-28. de profundis 6-7. Gra 28. Frostwork 8. Rippikoulu 28-29. Killrazer 9. Exciter 29. Miserable Failure 10-11. Nervosa 29. Nerocapra 12-13. Usurper 29. Plagues 14. Sorcery 16-18. Attila Csihar (pt.I) 30. Serpentrance 19. Titus Constantinescu 30. Sidious 30. Skinlepsy 20. Centinex 30-31. Solace of Requiem 21. Kampfar 31. Solemn Curse 22. Cold Raw Records 31. Sons of Famine 22. Metallic Media 31-32. Taatsi 22-23. Psycho Records 32. Terrorfront 32-33. Thy Legion

32-33. Thy Legion 33. Winter Deluge 34-36. Zine Reviews 37-58. Music Reviews

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Greetings Eric, thanks a lot for agreeing to answer my questions! How are you and how's the band lately?

Awesome my friend!!! Saving $$$ to go out and tour!!!!

There are 2 years since the release of "Liar in Wait" how do you see the album now?

Excellent!!!

Amon is better known as being the pre-Deicide band, do you think it will be difficult to separate one from the other?

No!!! You know the difference buy now, my friends!!!

How was it received by the press and listeners?

Awesome!!!

As far as you know were there many Deicide fans switching to Amon?

It is not about switching it is about having something more to listen to, we were limited with Glen, he does not know modes, scales or arpeggios. I had to move on!!! Or Glen take some bass lessons and drop that pick, Steve learn how to blast!!!

Changing the name from Amon to Deicide was purely a Roadrunner Records marketing decision back in 1989, or were there other reasons?

King Diamond had a problem; we changed our name to one of our songs... called Deicide!!!

I'm asking this because you said Amon's music is more brutal while Decide lately In 2004 you and your brother Brian quit Deicide, was it strictly because of the has been a lame band.

Yes they do suck bad!!! We are more technical, we have to have to give the fans more financial issues with Glen Benton? inspiration something to talk about, more We never quit the band I formed!!!! He wanted interesting. more for writing lyrics!!!

The Hoffman brothers are back on track again

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com) and their new and at the same time old band,

Everyone knows you were taking care of the Was this issue settled, have you received your Amon, is here to challenge the throne of Deicide, compositions in Deicide, too, but my question is part of the money from the "Scars..." royalties about the lyrics of Amon, who writes them and after all? also a band they are founders of. Eric was kind He still owes for 9 years and merch money!!!! We what are the main topics? enough to tell us more about this.

I ARRANGE ALL DEICIDE AND AMON, Amon are still in lawsuit. I make $600 every six months is about conspiracy theories, there's inner earth, from Roadrunner / Deicide royalties. Glen has all Deicide merch money and all Scars royalties!!! He never wrote any music besides 3 aliens and many more interesting topics. parts in Trifixtion, that's it!!! I EVEN PLAYED THE BASS ON MY SONGS FOR SCARS...I BOUGHT THAT ASS HOLE A BEAST BASS TO EVEN SHOW UP!!!

What's with the armors?

We have had armor since 1985 my friend!!!

Were there a lot of money to make it worth leaving Deicide, or were there other Is there a concept mixing both your band look and music? reasons, too?

NO MONEY AT ALL!!! IT IS NOT ABOUT THE MONEY... IT IS ABOUT THE Yes it is awesome!!! Interesting, instead of t-shirts and shorts, individualism is what you pay for, something interesting to look at!!!

FANS!!!! Like I said we did not leave the band I formed my friend!!!

Will you stick to the armors or find a different image for the upcoming album?

We will have something different, everything changes.

And since we're talking about money, do you see Amon becoming your only source of income in the future as Deicide was?

NO!!! I have three jobs my friend!!!

Speaking about that, do you have any new tracks, are there plans for a new album for sometime soon?

Yes I have 3 songs so far!!!

Is it all about the money at the moment, or do you still like playing and listening Death Metal?

I saved money for 7 years and did this for the fans, they are awesome!!!!

Could you please tell us a few tracks' titles?

No title tracks as of yet... my friend!!!

How come Glen and Steve kept the name Deicide and not you since you and Brian formed the band?

Drummer issues... whoever was in commerce first gets the name... I EVEN DREW The DEICIDE LOGO!!! AND HIRED THEM!!!

I'm curious how come you signed with the Belarus based label Possession Productions, could you please tell us more? Is it a multiple albums deal, or was it only for the "Liar in Wait" album?

He has limited 1000 copies to sell and he is done!!!

You ended your things with Deicide in 2004, but when was Amon re-formed and why did it take you so much time to release "Liar in Wait"?

Saving $30,000 takes time my friend!!!

Pay for recording, copyright, website, trademark, armor, video and making CDs, shirts, stickers, big money my friend!!!

When will we see Amon touring Europe?

2015!!!

Thanks for your time, if you have any last words for our readers please be my guest.

Thank you to the fans for your endless support!!! AMON - "Liar In Wait" on iTunes and Amazon. Official AMON website http://www.amon.mobi/

A curiosity, is the album title somehow referring to Glen?

No!!! The Necronomicon

June 2014

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we said fuck it, let's go for it.

Hi Trevor, as you can easily guess, it's a massive honor having Obituary finally featured in our magazine. At first please tell me what are your thoughts being interview by a magazine called Slowly We Rot. :) Thank you and what first come to mind is that you must have named your magazine after our first album title. :P I think it is pretty cool to have a magazine named after one of my album titles for sure. Very cool...

Did you take care of all things related to recording, mixing and mastering yourselves? I know it was recorded again in your own Redneck Studios from Gibsonton, Florida, what about the mixing and mastering of it?

We did everything but the mastering. We tracked, edited, mixed and produced everything in our studio.

You had the chance to play a few tracks from the new album live in Europe, how did the public react to them? Are you confident the new material is your heaviest and most cohesive record in 20 years, as stated in its press release? And if so, why?

The fans react live to our new songs as if they have had the new album already. It is a great thing to see when we are playing the new songs. We spent a long time creating these new songs and I definitely think that the new album is our best since the early '90s.

30 years of activity this year (including the Executioner years), was 2014 anyhow special for the band? What makes you keep playing this style of music?

What makes 2014 special for us I think would be that we are finally putting out a new album for the first time in 5 years and that we have a new group of people we are working with that are 110% behind Obituary. It is a great feeling and the new album musically is very exciting.

And a somehow similar question, you just had a long round of festivals on European soil, how was it? What keep you motivated on stage? For a young band reaching new ears and impressing new people is the most important thing live, but Obituary doesn't need to prove anything anymore, you're always playing in front of your fans, so is it all about maintaining a status, or is it something more, too?

What we do as a band is create and play music. The whole reason why music is created is to share it with other people. So, at the end of the day it is all about the live performance of the music. I think this would mostly be true for anyone who plays in a band. We aren't and I don't think we ever were trying to prove anything. We just go out and do what we do and try to give the people the best live performance that we can dish out.

The album will be released in the States together with the start of your new North American tour with Carcass, so the fans will have new merch to buy. Do you plan some new European, Asian and South American tours, too?

We are working on other market tours around the world right now. We have a short European tour in January 2015 and a couple of festivals in Europe are being sorted out as we speak.

The tour with Carcass will get together a band that plays as fast as possible (them), and one that likes to keep things slow and heavy (you), how do you think fans will welcome the other band's music?

I think Carcass and Obituary is a hell of a package. Our 2 bands could not complement You have 2 quite new members in the band, how do you all get together in this line- each other any better. To top it off we are great friends so it is going to be a blast. We up? Are you friends outside of the band, too, or the band has become like a job have never toured with Carcass other than some festivals, so I am personally looking forward to it. where you do your thing and then get back to your "normal" life?

Terry Butler and Ken Andrews were friends of ours way before they were playing in Obituary. This is why we asked them to be in our band. We knew what we could expect I believe the best part of a tour is playing in front of your fans, that's pretty from them and it is a great thing to have them in Obituary. That should pretty much normal, but what about the part you hate the most, what's the most hated activity answer the question. for Obituary while touring? What do you guys do while travelling to make time more interesting? Do “What we do as a band is create and play music. The you still party with the fans after the shows?

The new album, "Inked in Blood", will be out this Probably one of the most hated things on tour would October following a very successful Kickstarter whole reason why music is created is to share it with be, hmmmm, maybe that sometimes you have to share campaign. Who had the idea to start such a other people.

So, at the end of the day it is all about the same toilet backstage with 40 other people campaign and why? Candlelight was not interested throughout the day because there is only one toilet in financing the new release anymore? the live performance of the music.” Trevor Peres backstage. Or, sometimes there is no toilet backstage The Kickstarter campaign idea came up in a meeting and once the show starts you are fucked if you have to with some potential investors that we were trying to work with and it went from there. The idea was to try to fund an album without having a take a shit and the venue is full of 1000 people. :P As far as what we do on tour, we of record label advance money to us and inslave us with a traditional record contract. course party with the fans sometimes and what football and other sports on tv.

Candlelight was way out of the picture when the idea came up and that was by our Sometimes you sit around bored of your ass waiting to do your part. choice.

Who takes care of your website and social media accounts as I've seen they are The deal with Relapse came after the campaign ended, so after the band already frequently updated. How important are they in your band's activity? had all finances to record it. That means the label will invest more in promoting it? They are very important, that is obvious. I personally take care of obituary.cc, Donald does most of the social network stuff. Relapse is now doing some of our social network Is it a one shot only or a multiple albums deal?

Relapse came into the picture as we were talking with distribution and marketing posts as well. companies to help us work the new album. Relapse offered us a partnership where we call all the main shots and decide how to spend money on marketing ideas, etc. We have Getting back to your album cover, I guess you've seen countless Obituary logo future options with Relapse, for sure. tattoos so far, but which was the most demented? What's the most impressive Obituary fans display of devotion you've seen?

I think the cover artwork is based on a brilliant idea, who is the artist behind it? Usually, the best tattoos we see is of the Cause of Death album cover. I remember one time some fan had their Does it portray the entire back covered with devotion your fans have Cause of Death. Pretty towards the band, and so sick... being also closely bound with the Kickstarter Thank you very much campaign, too (the fans for your time and please basically financed the have a final statement new album)?

Andreas Marshall is the for our readers.

Thank you too for the artist and he has done past support and to all the fans cover art for Obituary. The out there in Romania keep idea came from the song it heavy. Oh, by the way, title "Inked in Blood" my grandfather on my when I heard the name of father's side was 100% the song I said to Donald Romanian. My greatand John, "I have an idea grandparents migrated to for a cover with that title.

America when my greatWouldn't it be sick to have grandmother was pregnant a person’s chest with our with my grandfather. So, logo carved out of the we are related. Pretty cool, skin. It would be like a Huh? tattoo inked in blood." So, they gave Andreas the idea and what you see is what September 2014 he came up with. it was a little more brutal than I described in my idea but

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

5

The name Grá comes from a mixture of the Icelandic "grár" and the Swedish "grå", simply meaning "gray", between the worlds of the living and the great beyond. A simple name for a Black Metal band, isn’t it?

Yes, it is simple and holds many meanings. Less is more and it is also timeless. Why complicate things for the sake of complexity? We chose the name because it has it all.

The major content of the lyrical concept is based upon the ancient Scandinavian religion, or rather upon the dark aspects of ancient Scandinavian spirituality. Why was it important to explore this concept?

It is a path that I have been walking for many years now and a way to manifest it in my creations. I am not the kind that reads tons of books and studies things on a academic level. I work and live on gut feeling and to implement it in music is easier for me than for example writing a book on the subject. I would also dare to say that the lyrical content in Grá has somewhat also transformed more and more into including other viewpoints, for example Greek mythology and a wider Germanic perspective. Also leading some roots into a more Satanic approach. All due to where I am at the point of writing the lyrics. There are no simple truths but there are many ways to pay tribute to the eternal darkness. In Sweden we have this proverb "kärt barn har många namn" which would translate to something like "a beloved child has many names". The Devil comes in many shapes and forms and with many names but is in essence the same. The absolute opposition and resistence against the hypocritical rules that man has set up and call "good" or "God".

bass player instead of session guitarists. Maugrim will still play bass on records, he is a fantastic bass player and has a good ear for the prefect bass lines. For this upcoming show we will use Grim Vindkall. He is a multi talented musician and will be a good complement to the line up. We recruit him as a session member since he is a busy person with many projects going. We would of course want him to be on stage with us as many times as possible also in the future but it depends on what his schedule looks like.

more introvert and epic than your previously releases.

It will be a 100% religious and spiritual album without any sidetracks or cutters. Can you tell us a bit more about it?

I think that you get the point pretty good from the answer to the previous question. The fourth chapter will be more abstract and spiritual.

Last year you said that the fourth chapter will be a full-length. Is that really so?

Yes that is correct. We are working on it as we speak.

The last Grá show in Stockholm was filmed with a couple of cameras and you are also working on the When can the fans expect the album to be released?

When it is finished. sound in the background. When is the DVD due?

When it is finished. We have no date set and no deadline In your latest release the artwork was an image to follow. It will be released when it is done and ready. created by Spanish painter José Benlliure y Gil. Are The band is compiling material for the DVD which you an art fan? How important is art after all? Does it will include the full concert, all previous official open people’s minds? videos, some extra material from rehearsals, behind I would not say that I am an art fan but I do like sinister the scenes and so on. Why have you opted to include so and dark paintings. Preferably paintings from a time before this, when we cannot ask the painter why and how much material?

We want to include as much material as possible to make they were thinking. We have to draw our own it a worthy Grá release. This is our first DVD and there is conclusions. no reason to be holding back. We want to sum up the whole history up to this point and it is also a good way to How important is the artwork in a release? sum up the whole Charon concept with songs and videos It is in my opinion extremely important. The artwork is the first impression of an album and if that impression is from each chapter included. bad, it is likely that the listener will apply that on the You have also decided to do a video music and not get into it in the same way. I know that I interview/videography to further explain the Charon react that way when I buy albums. The choice of colors is concept among other things. People can send any also important. questions they would like to have answered in that videography and you will save them and have them Fans seem to be responding very well to your answered in the videography. How did you come up merchandise. Are you considering doing any more news items like the Zip Hoodie but mainly oriented for with this idea?

We see this as a way to answer the most frequently asked girls? questions once and for all. It is like doing that basic Yes, we are very proud of that! We would want to have a interview that we have done many times for fanzines and bigger variety of merchandise but we haven't had the magazines but in our own way. A good introduction of funds to do so yet. The hoodie sold out pretty much the band. We came up with this idea because it is instantly, it was an overwhelming response. We have something that we ourselves would be interested in seeing been talking about a lot of different options but the fact is that a t-shirt is a must to have in the merch booth at the from bands that we have an interest in. gigs so we have made sure that we always have that. And "Necrology of the Witch" was the third of a four that has put aside other kinds of merchandise for the time chapter gospel about leaving this world. The first being. If you have any suggestions about girl oriented chapter was released in 2010 with the "Helfärd" EP, merchandise, please let us know! We are all men in the followed by the "Grá" album in 2011 and then the M- band so we have no clue about what to get, except for CD "Necrology of the Witch". When will the final girlie t-shirts. fourth chapter be released?

When it is finished. We have no date set and no deadline Many of your inspirations come from classic Swedish bands such as Bathory, Dissection, Marduk and to follow. It will be released when it is done and ready.

Ophthalamia, to mention a few. I guess it’s safe to safe Why have you decided to release four chapters today’s metal scene is not much of an influence then?!

What’s your opinion about it? What’s your opinion on dedicated to Charon?

This was something that we decided upon very early today’s metal scene and music in general? when we started up Grá. We wanted the first chapter to No I guess you are right. Inspiration comes mainly from explore the phenomena of death wish and the strong the bands I grew up with and it is still those very same attraction we all have for death, the longing for it and the records that I listen to today. I don't have much of an mental preparations. The second part, which is the full opinion really since I don't actively check out new bands length album, is about the earthly preparations and and such. Too old, too cold, like Darkthrone said it. ceremonies surrounding death. The coffin, the funeral Somehow I also think that to make unique music you can pyre, the sick bed, the tombstone, the dug grave and so not only have the same kind of music as you make on. "Necrology of the Witch" is the third part and yourself as reference. I enjoy Scandinavian folk music for symbolizes the transition, Charon. With this fourth part example and draw some inspiration from there into the blend of Grá. This is in no way something new, the we will bring closure and finally arrive. norwegians did it alot in the 90's and often with great Supposedly the fourth chapter musically will be even success. Who can forget the Storm album, early Ulver,

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

Grá uses Charon from the ancient Greek mythology as a symbol of transition since he was the ferryman of Hades who carried souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. Why is Charon so important to the band?

The name and function of Charon is synonymous with the name Grá in many ways. The road upon which we all shall walk. The transition that we all will have to experience. It felt suitable from the start to let him be the symbol of Grá.

The band has been active this summer with festivals.

How was it? Want to share a special moment/festival with us?

Well this is not really true. We did a gig with Dark Funeral in May as exclusive support for their 20th anniversary show. Other than that we have been working on the new material for the upcoming album. We will play at the Mörkaste Småland festival in late September though alongside bands like Triptykon, Aura Noir, Lord Belial to mention a few. After that we set course for the album again and we have no other confirmed bookings after that gig at this time.

Grá have mainly played in Scandinavia… what are your future plans regarding touring?

We will consider our options after the album is finally out but we would of course want to expand our territory outside of Scandinavia. Basically it depends upon what kinds of deals we can get. We are an underground band and don't have a large financial backup . We know that many of our fans and followers are working hard to get us to their countries but the main issue is as always money.

We are not rich and many arrangers and clubs can not afford to take down a band from Sweden for single shows. It is a bit of a catch 22 really.

You have recruited your old brother Grim Vindkall (Domgård / Snakeskin Angels) to handle the bass on a show. Why have you recruited him considering that you already have Maugrim handling that instrument?

We had to make a decision after we sacked Niantiel from the line up and we decided to go on as a trio. Maugrim is also a very good guitarist so his skills are more needed on the guitar and that left the bass position empty. But we came to the conclusion that it is easier to use a session

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listen to and pay tribute to, what ends up coming from my guitar is, and will always be raw black metal. But my own kind of style.

early Borknagar, early Satyricon, Enslaved, Windir and so on. I am not very fond of the Viking themed lyrics but it is something in the way the music talk that attract me very much when done well. I also draw influences from the older rock music that my fathers’ generation grew up with. So it's not all Ophthalamia and Mayhem but also lots of other different genres and styles. But whatever I

You seem to be very conscious and "worried" about the money spent by your fans so you release a MCD instead of a full-length album because you refuse to include time filler songs. As a music fan was/is it something that annoyed/annoys you when you bought/buy music?

Yes of course! I don't like it when an album is sold at full price and have filler songs, like live recordings and such. Those should be bonus tracks. Or on a separate release. Also I know that bands make rush albums just to release something, be it to get rid of a bad label or for having something to tour with. Everything that you release you will have to live with and you should be proud of every minute of music on your records, if not it should not pass the rehearsal room. I would rather wait another year for an album instead of getting a rushed and inferior product! The "Necrology of the Witch" MCD was originally supposed to be a part of a split album but that never came about so we took our songs, recorded the

Mayhem cover and included the "Towards the river of Styx" track which was originally intended for the upcoming album and made it a really solid and worthwhile MCD. It became the perfect third part of the Charon suite.

What kind of music do you listen to when you’re relaxing?

I like classical piano music like Edvard Grieg or Eric Satie when relaxing. I also like The Doors a lot. Songs like "Riders on the Storm" and "The End" can go on repeat forever on my stereo.

How do you manage playing in more than one band?

What’s your priority?

I am a restless person so when one of the bands are going slow I can put energy on the other and vice versa. Besides from Grá I am also the founder of Cursed 13. But Cursed 13 works slow and there's no rush so we invest time in it whenever we feel inspired to do so and when there is time. It is not live active either in the same way as Grá. I also do some studio work for friends, like mixing and mastering when I have the time for it. I have also been a member of Domgård since 2009 but I don't have the sufficient time for it anymore (I live 500km away from the rest of the guys) so we have agreed to phase in another guitarist, not to slow the band down because of my abscence. I will still contribute with some vocals and such for future recordings but not as an active member.

Domgård will always have a place in my heart but their show must go on and so do mine. I am a musician and I spend all of my free time on music, be it rehearsing, composing, recording or going on stage. It is the path I have chosen and it is what I am passionate about. My priority is to keep holding the devilish banner high and my trade is music.

Please share a final message with our readers. Horns up!

Thank you for your time and interest in Grá! Hail the endless Darkness! Hail Chaos! Hail Satan!

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

7

Interview by Sonia Fonseca September 2014

little bit easier.

Greetings and thanks for taking your time to answer my questions. Let's start with a few insights on your earlier days as a band. Rippikoulu started out as a Punk Metal band which for the year 1990 wasn't unusual, but after a few member changes to decide to adopt Death Metal as genre.

How come? Who was the decisive person that made you switch for a more brutal music?

Hi and thanks for doing this interview. Rippikoulu was a punk metal band at first like you said. The band needed another guitarist and Janne knew me (Olli) and asked me to join the band. So I think I am the reason why we started to play more death metal back in early 90`s. I came to band 1991 if I remember correct and I use to listen more metal than punk. That is how it all started.

A year later, in 1993, you recorded your second demo, Musta Seremonia, one that became a classic in the meantime and also influenced a great deal of Finnish Doom Death Metal bands in the following years.

Please tell us the story of this second demo.

I think we almost lived and slept in our training place years 1992-1994. We had many good songs and we had great time hanging out together. It was easy decision to go to studio and record Musta Seremonia. It all went well and that was made in two days too. I think it was (and still is) very solid and great demo tape.

How do you feel about it now, more than 2 decades after its release? Do you agree the second demo is superior in any aspects to the first demo?

Like I said it is still a great demo. It has some details which are quite good still. And it has an atmosphere which is something I would love to do in all my future coming recordings. I am not sure if it is possible nowadays. Everything is so clean and sharp today. And yes Musta Seremonia is much better done and mixed than our first demo.

I've read that Rippikoulu was the first Finnish Death Metal band to use native language in their lyrics. What made you decide to go for Finnish lyrics? Looking back, do you think that was a good or a bad choice for the band?

That becomes from the punk time. Our lyrics were in Finnish and we had a little bit of name in Finnish metal genre back then. We decided to keep the native language although our music was changed. I think it was right decision. And you are right we were the first death metal band in the whole world singing in Finnish. Now there are lots of them.

If possible, please tell us what happened with Marko Henriksson, your original guitarist.

We have decided that what happened to Marko stays with us. There was nothing big drama tough.

By the way, what does Rippikoulu means? Weren't you afraid foreigners will have a hard time pronouncing / writing your band's name?

Rippikoulu is a good name for a punk band. Is it for death metal band? I don’t know about that. I think it is ok for foreigners because many don’t know the meaning of that name. Rippikoulu means something to do with the confirmation. Most of the time it has been written right.

Was that the main reason to put the band on ice in 1995? Out of curiosity, were you working on any new material when the tragedy happened? Were you preparing a new release? Have you received any offers from labels back then?

Yes it was. We tried to keep going but the band wasn`t the same without Marko. We had couple of new songs back then. I was happy to see them in internet like 10 years ago and I got them from Germany. Marko had traded the rehearsal songs to somebody. I really can’t remember what the situation with the new release back then was.

Valkeakoski is a very small town, how did you guys met? How and where from were you getting new music to listen to, and which bands influenced the birth of Musta Seremonia was re-released by Svart Records, and as far as I know they Rippikoulu?

When Rippikoulu played punk the members was like the best friends and neighbors. wanted to re-release both demos, but you declined. Why? Was Musta Seremonia Like you said Valkeakoski is a small town and when a couple of members changed it remastered or released in its original "form"? wasn’t hard to find someone who liked metal music because we all knew each other They wanted to release Musta Seremonia first. It was a good decision. Svart has told me from some connections. I have known Janne and Anssi since childhood. Here is a that many people have asked them to release our first demo but I think it is not so good bigger town near (Tampere) where we did buy all our LP:s back then. There was some demo and maybe it is better to keep that in its own dark and secret world. Musta good gigs as well. Bands that influenced the birth of Rippikoulu? I think some Finnish Seremonia was perfect and stylish release and releasing first demo AFTER that was impossible. Musta Seremonia was released in original hc punk bands like Rattus. When the music became form. more death metal one of the favorites of us all was My “I would like to say that we are more Dying Bride.

What did the band members do until you decided to doomy and dark than before but the old resurrect the band? And what triggered the How much have you rehearsed until deciding to reunion? record your first demo? Was it recorded in a real Rippikoulu sound is over there.” Olli We did the same things as we do now, lived a normal studio? Who financed it and where was it sold / family life. It was the re-issue of Musta Seremonia in traded back then?

2010 that triggered the reunion.

We had played couple of years before the first demo.

We went to studio just for a fun and we wanted to do a real studio tape. It was a real studio near Valkeakoski and we did that first demo in two days. It was something new You have recently released your first new recording in 21 years, the Ulvaja EP. and real fun. We paid it ourselves. It was something like 150 euros back then. I think we What's the band's line-up recording it? Where have you recorded it? copied the first demo 200 or 250 tapes which we paid too. They were sold everywhere, The line-up is Anssi/vocals, Olli/guitar, Janne/bass and Mikko/drums. Ulvaja was recorded in Dreamhouse Studio Lempäälä just 15 miles away from our hometown. mainly to Finland.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

Can you tell us a few words on each of the 3 featured tracks and their lyrics?

Jää hyvästi kaunis kesä: Long and doomy song. It is a story of loss and a new beginning.

Loputon: Faster and maybe little bit blackish. Lyrically Loputon is a statement of loneliness.

Ulvaja: Doomy ballad.

Lyrics make honor to our families and hometown.

Were you already known in the underground scene by 1992? Was it hard to get gigs in Finland for a band like your coming out of a small city?

Yes we had a little bit of name before 1992. We had some really hard core gigs around Finland. Getting gigs was hard at first but after 1993 and our second demo it became a

How would you describe the new tracks to someone who's already familiar with your previous work?

I would like to say that we are more doomy and dark than before but the old Rippikoulu sound is over there.'

Is this new recording also predicting an upcoming full-length album? What's next for Rippikoulu? Are you maybe planning a tour?

There is no tour or even shows in sight at the moment but we continue working on new songs and I think the full-length album is the next step we take.

July 2014

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We are lucky to have gotten the chance to sit down with Rik Charron, drummer of Canadian thrash legends Exciter.

Let's start with telling people who the members of Exciter are.

Rik: Well let’s see... the way we stand in our current situation, There’s Kenny Winter on vocals. Clammy on bass, Myles Rourke on Guitar and Myself, Rik Charron, on Drums.

At what age did you start playing drums?

Rik: I started playing at the age of 7 and my parents bought my first kit when I was 9 or 10. The drums consisted of a single bass drum, snare, two rack toms and a floor tom, 2 crash cymbals and ride cymbal. To my parent’s grief and test of patience, I practiced several hours day. lol!!

How did you come to be the drummer for Exciter?

Rik: Dan Beeler quit the band back in 1994 if I’m right.

John Ricci, the original guitarist, had auditions and I was one of the candidates. I auditioned twice because he liked the way I played and thought I was the perfect fit for EXCITER because of my aggressive drumming style. So in 1996 it was announced that I was the new drummer of EXCITER. So, what was it like when you found out you were now Exciter's newest drummer?

Rik: I was horrified!! lmao!

Actually, I was amazed that I was the one that the band wanted. It was a great feeling and also an eye opener!!

I was now the drummer of the originators of thrash/speed metal!!! I had to step up and realize that I was now a professional drummer on the world stage. It was alot to take in and it happened very quickly.

right now as side project…not Exciter, I feel Exciter is on hold until further notice, but I’m not sure how the other members feel about it. We posted an official statement on our website Excitermetal.com and facebook stating that John Retired… That was not my idea to write it that way, but was out voted somehow and they posted it saying John retired from the music industry, that was not true and I disagreed with that statement!!! In fact, he just quit!

It was an internal conflict with one of the members that made him decide to leave the band. I know he’ll be back Which Exciter albums did you play on? Which was in some way, I know he will. your favorite?

Rik: I played on the Dark Command, the Blood of And with the departure of John Ricci, you have the Tyrants, the New Testament, Thrash Speed Burn, and arrival of Myles Rourke.

Death Machine. My personal favorite is the Dark Rik: Yes, he's a great guitarist and we feel that he's a good asset and could do the Exciter music justice. We are Command. very confident that the fans would agree to, if given the The fans would be interested in knowing what drum chance. A small history lesson here, Myles was to be Brian Mcfee’s replacement when he left Exciter back equipment you use.

Rik: I have a set of Pearl drums, TRX cymbals (5 crashes, after the “EXCITER” OTT album. We are currently 2 Chinas a set of high hats, and ride), 2 DW bass drum rehearsing and polishing the material from all the albums pedals, Evans drum heads, AHEAD drum sticks. I Need from Heavy Metal Maniac to Death Machine with him to change drum heads every 4 to 5 months because they but like I said in another question, I personally don’t feel start to lose their tone. And I like to experiment with all right about us remaining as Exciter... it just feels wrong! types of drum heads.

Any future albums planned for Exciter?

You recently put out a statement saying John Ricci left Rik: We are currently writing new songs for an upcoming album. And I think it will be a killer album! But I think it Exciter. Why did he leave Exciter?

Rik: Well... this is a sensitive subject. John decided to should actually be under a different name... I really need quit the band because of personal reasons towards the to talk about this issue I’m having concerning keeping it Bass Player, we were not happy with his decision. He told under the Exciter name and releasing it under a different us (and we have the emails from John concerning this) band name all together. that he was quitting and wanted us to continue with Exciter. So that what we were contemplating to do and to What does 2014 and beyond hold for Exciter? keep pounding metal! But personally, I have mixed Rik: Not sure about Exciter, the band is on hold in my feeling concerning the band continuing as Exciter without view. But We intend to put out a new album as soon as John in the band. We’ve been getting support for us possible, not sure if it will be an Exciter album or a new continuing as Exciter and some resentment as well. This project, play shows all over the world. There is talk of a is just a personal feeling, but I think the Cons outweigh possible tour of Europe later this year, but that is still only the Pros on this matter. To me it just doesn’t feel right in the planning and talking stages. playing shows without John or feel like the right thing to do. I’m actually considering the band the way it stands I think the fans would love to know some fun stuff about you guys. What are your hobbies, what was the first cd/album you ever bought, what was the first concert you ever attended, and if you could play with any musician past or present, who would it be?

Kenny Winter: The first album I ever bought was Kiss Alive II. My hobby is animal consumption ha ha.

The first concert I ever attended was Shaun Cassidy in 1978. And if I could play with any musician past or present it would be Cindy Lauper, Toto, Riot (the Thundersteel lineup).

Myles Rourke: The first cd I ever bought was Van Halen II, and Black Sabbaths first album at the same time. The first concert I ever attended was Black Sabbath, the Mob Rules tour. My hobbies are podcasting, computer games, collecting anything and everything, and Rum. The musician that I would like to play with past or present would be Alice Cooper.

Rik: The first Album I bought was Kiss double platinum. The first concert was Kiss Love gun tour back in 1977. My hobbies are Grilling on the Barbeque, reading, repairing cars, jamming with other local musicians, and model making. My dream would be to play a show as the drummer for Overkill, or Destruction.

Clammy: I have no idea what the first cd I bought was because that was 30 years ago, and I can barely remember 30 seconds ago!! The first show I went to was Kiss in 1982. My hobbies are riding my Harley, bacon, boobies, beer/Whiskey, shooting, collecting Marshall amps and cabs.

The musician I would like to play with past or present is Lemmy.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

When and where was your first gig as the new drummer of Exciter?

Rik: Our first gig with me as the drummer was near the end of 1996 in Ottawa Canada at a club called Barrymore's. at that time the band consisted of John Ricci of guitar, Jacques Belanger on vocals and Mark Charron (no relation) on bass.

What has life been like in Exciter?

Crazy? Boring? Wild?

Rik: Boring?? Hell no!! it's never boring in Exciter. We’ve played all over the world, met alot of people and bands. Most of the time it’s a crazy ride.

What are some bands that you guys have toured or played with?

Rik: Man!!! that’s a loaded question... let’s see.. There was Anvil and Flotsam and Jetsam for a European tour. Steel Attack and Black Abyss in Europe as well. there was numerous one off shows all over the world like Sweden Rock, Wacken open air, Keep it true festival, several other festivals across Europe as well like, heavy metal maniacs fest, just to name a few. And festivals across South America, Mexico, the metal cruise called 70000 tons of metal with 42 other bands. A festival called Tiff in Japan and the Noctis fest in Canada. Those are just a few off the top of my head .

Interview by Heather Williams April 2014

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and Latin American and Spiritual Beast, in Japan! We feel very happy about it!

How did you end up getting into music and what were some of the early bands that you heard?

I was born and raised in a metal environment! My parents have always listened to heavy metal, so when it came the time to choose' my path in music, it was a kinda of a natural choice to me! I began listening to Kiss and Iron Maiden, and later on Black Sabbath, Helloween!

Thrash came a little later, when i was a teenager! I guess i just needed something more aggressive to match with that typical rebel teenage behavior! haha Ever since, thrash and death metal becomes my favorite genres in metal!

Were you in any other bands before starting Nervosa?

Yes! I have been in 3 bands before Nervosa, all from different metal styles and all of them all female! I have always had that interest in playing with other girls and so i did since i began playing! But Nervosa is where i found myself, it's what i have always dreamed of: an all-female thrash metal band!

At what age did you pick up an instrument and did you take any sort of lessons and how fast did you pick up on things?

My dad is a bass player, so since i was a kid i was in touch with that instrument! Also i liked drums very much!

I have memories of us 'jamming' together: he with a guitar pretending it was a bass and me with drumsticks beating my grandma's leather couch, what a sound it had! haha But since the first moment i decided to play instrument, i picked up bass as my first option and so i did! I started playing it when i was something around 13, and when i was 15, i already was in my first band! I never had a lot of difficulties in playing bass! I tried to take some lessons, but i quit in the first one, i thought it was too boring, i preferred at that time to learn with the best teachers: my idols! So i would always pick up some of my favorite songs and try to play them with my bass! I learned A LOT this way!

When you’re not doing music related things, does the whole band hang out and do things?

Yeah, sometimes we do stuff like sitting in a pub and drinking something, we make barbecues and short trips! I believe it is good to have a friendly and healthy relationship outside of the band also! We spend a lot of time together because of the band, so sometimes when we're not touring or rehearsing, we also really feel like enjoying our family, other friends we miss!

Now how long had the band been together before you recorded your demo, which came out in 2012?

Looking back, what are your thoughts on this demo nowadays?

As an active band, we have been on the road for almost 3 years, once things really started happening from July 2011 on! I really like this demo, not only because i think it's very well produced for a first band's work, but also because it represents many things to us!! Thanks to that we were really able to get to a lot of people who liked our musical proposal and also because of that we got many important deals who will rule the band’s life for some times, such as a manager, a label and booking agencies! I couldn't feel any happier about it!

Now 2 years later you get picked up by Napalm Records and release "Victim of Yourself", which is a strong release in my opinion. How smooth did the recording process go with this recording?

Actually, Napalm got in touch with us before we released our demo and after we released our first video clip which we planned to work out as a teaser for our music! We are happy they bet on us and on our music and i think 'Victim of Yourself' made both sides really happy and fulfilled!

The recording process was a little messy, because we had some setbacks during it, such as line-up change, health problems and studio problems, but in the end everything came out in a good way and better than we expected! We just took some extra time beyond we were expecting to finish up the recording process, but i think it was worth, once we feel so happy about this album and so does Napalm!

Now the band is based out of Brazil. Do you feel that helps or hurts the band?

I think a little of both, because i love the fact we are Brazilian because i am really proud of the metal scene we have here and also of the way we make music, so it's an honor to me to be a part of such unique metal scene! But in a way, it makes things a little more difficult, especially when it comes to touring, once the hottest tours happens in Europe and North American and it's expensive for us to be taken to there, but it's nothing we can't overcome!

Does it bother you at all being labeled as an all-female band at times? Do you feel that your music should just do the talking?

I don't feel bothered because it is something natural! As metal is a male dominated scene, it's still something new when an all-girl band shows up playing extreme metal, so people get curious about it, so they end up mentioning this all female label, i think it's something we can't help ad when we started the band, we knew it would happen, and to be honest, it also helps a little promoting our job, i won't lie to you. But as you said, in the end of the day, what really matters the most is the music, the metal audience is a very demanding one, so no one stands out just because of a label, but yes because of the music, and if we're having such a cool feedback in our work, i believe it's because of the way we sound! Of course people like us also because we are women but in my opinion is more of a way to support female metal, so in supporting us people see a way of supporting all women to get more involved in metal!

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

Now tell me how the coming together of the band came together. Did you go through many line-up changes before coming to the 3 of you that are in the band now?

When i joined Nervosa, it was only a project, once they didn't have members to be a professional band. Right after i had been kicked out from my previous band, i decided i would look for girls to gather up an all female thrash metal band, and when my quest was almost over, because finding committed girls to play extreme metal is really hard, Prika got in touch with me, so we completed each other! She was what i was looking for and i was what she was looking for! Right after that i joined the band came up with a lot of plans and ideas, and then the band began to move on and act as a professional band! After that, we had 2 line-up changes: we had 2 guitarists in the beginning, now we have just one, and we had a drummer change, all of them i think came for good, because nowadays we really feel complete, the team is exactly what we all wanted :)

How did you end up on Napalm Records and were any other labels interested in the band?

They got interested in us in the very beginning and came to us with a very good proposal! They saw our video after some people overseas started watching and sharing it, then they came to us with a lot of interest! One thing that certainly made us ink the deal with them is the fact that we felt they believed us and our music as much as we did, this was crucial and was exactly what we were looking for! Also they are very flexible and comprehensive! Now, after our debut album is released some labels around the world felt really interested in licensing our album, and some of them are now concrete, such as Die hard in Brazil

Who came up with the band name and logo and does the name Nervosa mean anything?

When i joined Prika's project, the name had already been created, but, of course, i liked it SO MUH, otherwise i would surely suggest another one! To me it was perfect because it had everything a name must have in my opinion: it was aggressive and female, just like the band, easy to understand and pronunciation, so i felt it was perfect! The logo was designed by our former guitarist's boyfriend, who was a designer and helped us with this, creating it based on what we had in mind for a log and suggested him!

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Does the band have any goals for itself at all?

Goals are our main fuel! We are always planning things, and right now what we aim the most is touring everywhere we can, in order to promote our album and take our music to the greatest number of headbangers as possible!

Tell me a little bit about each band member.

That's a tough question, because there are so many things to talk about that i may be lost a little! I'll talk about myself! I'm a metal lover since i was a kid, even though i really appreciate and support other 2 styles I LOVE: blues and souls singers, especially the female ones. I have always been involved in metal, but more in the press: since i as a teenager, i worked for many metal media vehicles, so i have always been interviewing, writing album and gigs reviews, taking pics, hosting tv shows and stuff, but nowadays, especially because of the huge work flux we have in Nervosa, I’m devoted to my radio show i host at UOL, called Heavy Nation, in which we interview many Brazilian and international bands weekly, and we also play many Brazilian bands on that, to promote our underground metal scene. I also have a small audiovisual company, in which we produce low-cost video clips and promo pics the underground bands who can't have the chance to invest a lot of money in their productions; those are

come back your way! You are the only one who can control what's coming your way based on your attitudes. When you do something bad, you have to be responsible for what you did, you had to admit your mistake; you have to face the consequences. If you don't, you can't play the victim's role, because you are nothing but a victim of yourself! As Prika came with the idea for the cover, we were thinking of a name which could match to it, and as I was writing a song that talked about this very same subject, we decided to name it after the title i gave to this song!

the ways i found to do something for metal, especially for my local scene!

What are some of your favorite bands that you have heard over the years?

Tough question!! But i guess some of my favorite would be Iron Maiden, Kiss, Slayer, Nuclear Assault, Death, Morbid Angel, Coroner, etc.

Does the band get to play live a lot and what are some of the bands you have played live shows with?

Has anything crazy ever happened at one of your shows?

We love being on the road and we always do our best to book as many gigs as we can! We have played along many huge Brazilian bands such as Ratos de PorĂŁo, Korzus, Torture Squad, and also with some of our metal heroes, such as Destruction, Exodus, etc. Crazy things are a part of the road, but once we had to start over again a gig, because on the first songs, a lot of things went wrong: Prika fell and her guitar strings blew up, my bass amp stopped working and the drummer played the wrong beat of the songs because he couldn't listen to us! hahaha A complete disaster!

Please plug any websites that you have.

The links where people are the best when it comes to teaching how to play songs can be more updated about us are: with a feeling! Also, because some of my favorite bands www.facebook.om/femalethrash are from there and important metal movements came from www.nervosaofficial.com there, especially one of my favorite ones: the Bay Area thrash scene, oh gosh, i love that! Musically is a very Any last words and horns up for the interview? important like no other, i guess!

Thanks a lot for the opportunity of talking about our music, hope you have enjoyed this as much as we did!

Who came up with the design of your cover and what Keep up the good work; bands need you to help them made you name the album "Victim of Yourself? promote their work! As for everyone who’s reading, keep Prika came with the initial idea and then the both of us supporting metal because you are the main responsible to worked in the whole idea and elements! Then we keep the metal legacy alive!

What do you think of the US? presented that to the artist Andrei Bouzikov, who could I like it and i can't wait to be playing there actually! In perfectly draw what we had in mind! The name has terms of music, it's a very important country to me! everything to do with the cover concept. I believe that Firstly because the blues were born there and that's my each one must be responsible for their own attitudes. If Interview by Chris Forbes favorite music genre along with metal, they were the ones you do bad things, you need to be aware that they must October 2014 responsible for rock and therefore metal to exist, and they

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

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Hi Rick, how are things for you this year? What have you been doing in the latest years?

Things are going great. The latest Scythe album "Subterranean Steel" has been out a little over a year and we're getting ready for some shows in the next few months.

mix in 12 days instead of 14 days so we would have agreed even before he offered to sing. The rest of the band was blown away... local friends couldn't believe it, other bands/industry people were jealous and began shittalking us, but I didn't give a fuck, it is still a highlight of my career!

Let's get right to it: Usurper's first demo lead the band to sign with Metallion's label Head Not Found.

Do you still remember how you got in contact with him and how have you received the offer from a label that was pretty hot at the moment?

Usurper's first demo "Visions from the Gods" was recorded in July 1994, exactly 20 years ago. In less than 6 months we pressed/sold/traded 1,300 copies worldwide.

Usurper vocalist/co-founder General Diabolical Slaughter was responsible for all the tape trading. This was long before the internet was around, so it was all done by printing up quarter page ad's and tape trading and stuff like that. Word of mouth spread and people really seemed to be excited about Usurper. At this time Slayer magazine gave it a pretty positive review then offered us a deal to release the debut CD, "Diabolosis".

Metalion/Head Not Found only wanted to release the first album on CD, so another new label at the time called "Rest In Peace Records" offered to release "Diabolosis" on gatefold vinyl LP. Of course we jumped on this offer too since we were die-hard fans of vinyl, (which at the time kind of disappeared). It wasn't like it is now in 2014, where vinyl records had a resurgence; back then only certain labels still released LP's. So for Usurper we had 2 great, new underground labels releasing our music on both sides of the planet in 2 formats.

And talking about Metal monsters you've also toured with Manowar, which is pretty weird since you were an Extreme Metal band. How did that happen and how did their fanbase react to your set?

That tour was awesome! I have been a huge Manowar fan for years. Yes Usurper is an extreme metal band, but our approach and attitude always was 100% heavy metal!

Earache set that whole thing up. Earache was a big label and had all the connections. They offered it to us and we gladly accepted. The fan base treated us great! Manowar is a weird band in the USA, they are mainstream metal around the globe but in the USA they always had a lot of underground fans. They treated us great, they really took care of us. So it was a killer tour.

Were you in touch with anyone from the Norwegian Black metal scene at the time? What did you think about all that mayhem in the Norwegian scene back then? How have those events influenced your band if anyway at all?

I know General D. Slaughter was in contact with a few bands, but as for myself personally I didn't do the tape trading so I wasn't. I thought it was an interesting time in underground metal for sure. Again, without the internet, you would just read about stuff in magazines and fanzines. I really liked some of the bands because it was very genuine and over the top at the same time. I was never influenced by any of that though. I think Usurper shared some of the same influences as some of the early 90's Scandinavian Black Metal bands, so there were some similar elements and ideas, but never a direct influence for me.

in promoting their own bands.

But then we were starting to get more well known, so we got an offer from Earache and split from Necropolis officially in September 2001.

Necronemesis had King Diamond as guest on the title track, how did that happen? I know you were all fans of King Diamond / Mercyful Fate, how did your local friends react when they heard about this collaboration?

This was a very weird circumstance, but for Usurper there were always weird circumstances with the band. So in 1999 Skeletal Season was released on Necropolis.

Skeletal Season was definitely Usurper's darkest, dreariest, dirtiest album. It was recorded in a shack in a guys backyard all on reel to reel tapes.

Necropolis Records really didn't like that album. The new guys at the label were into the flashier Releapse and Century Media bands, and Skeletal Season sounded nothing like that. So when we were getting ready to go into the studio in March of 2000, Paul from Necropolis said, "There's enough money now where you guys can go to a real studio, so we don't want you guys recording out there again, let's find a better studio".

We were all for this idea. Skeletal Season had some killer songs, but the production was a little muddy. The new stuff was getting to be more streamlined and thrashier so we felt a change would be a good idea. We were obviously huge fans of King Diamond and Mercyful Fate (we recorded 2 covers in the past). So we looked on the back cover Iof what was then the newest King Diamond album at the time; Voodoo as well as the last Mercyful Fate album 9 were both recorded in Texas at Nomad Studios. Then we saw on the Absu album, it said the same thing, "Recorded at Nomad Studios with producer Kol Marshall" So Me and Jon were convinced this is where we wanted to record. All 3 of those releases had a great sound, very clear but still heavy.

We booked the time for March 2000 and then 2 days before we were set to leave Chicago for Texas, the owner of Nomad called me up. He said, "Rick, we have a problem. King Diamond is finishing working on House of God and he needs a couple extra days, can we bump your studio time?" I told him it's not a huge problem, but it is too late to reschedule flights and shit like that... he then said, "Look, if you can give King Diamond 2 extra days, he said he would sing some vocals on your album."

This was surreal for me, I instantly agreed before talking to the rest of the band. I already pictured the part in my head, it was perfect for him! I figured we can record and

2003 saw the band release its first album under Earache Records and probably started the best period in the band's history, right? How was the general atmosphere within the band at that time? Were you planning even bigger things?

The Earache years were the biggest point in our career.

We were headlining shows/tours/fests, we had exposure in big magazines and we were actually starting to make a little cash from the band. Yes we were planning bigger, and bigger things but the wheels eventually fell off the wagon.

What happened in 2007 when the band broke up?

Why did Dan Tyrantor leave the band, and what is that the reason on ending the band?

In 2007 Dan leaving the band wasn't the reason the band broke up, but it was the beginning of the end. The very last show Usurper ever did both myself and Jon Necomancer (bass) did all the vocals. It sounded great, but too many other factors started weighing the band down.

For instance, in 2006 when Cryptobeast was released we toured all over as headliners. People came out to the shows, knew the songs, bought shirts and all that shit. We even headlined day one/main stage of Oslo Norway's "Inferno Fest". The band was bigger than ever, yet our record sales for Cryptobeast were smaller than ever.... little did we realize at the time, the internet became this big thing where people just downloaded albums. Sounds dumb now that we were clueless about this internet thing, but we started out in the tape trading days and never really were an internet band. We didn't realize that the music industry was being turned on its' head. We just couldn't figure out why people knew all our songs, came out to our shows, yet weren't buying the album?

This lead to Earache not wanting to release our next album, yet they didn't officially drop us, so we couldn't sign with another label unless the new label bought out our old contract, (which of course no one would want to do). This lead to frustrations in the band; arguments, resentment and all those negative emotions started to get draining.

I had enough, I was sick of it all. Finally the band just ended in 2007.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

Your second and third album were released by US based Necropolis Records; if I'm correct they did a great job at first pushing the band through good tours, but what happened after the Necronemesis was released that made you leave the label?

I loved the Necropolis years. That label was very cutting edge. Necropolis Records had some very genuine and unique, quality bands on that label. Plus Paul Thind [owner] was a really great guy. He really wanted Usurper to succeed. He really wanted to push Usurper and helped us get on tours. The studio budgets got bigger and bigger for each release and overall it was such a great moment in metal underground during the mid-late 90's.

But unfortunately, all good things somehow come to an end. As Necropolis Records grew, a lot of new people began working there. A lot of these people didn't really give a fuck about Usurper.

The label began splitting into factions. There were some sub-labels, with some sub-par bands, and the overall vibe just changed. The new crew there were less interested in promoting Usurper and more interested

In an interview you mentioned something about 7 tracks being ready for a new album and already rehearsed when you broke up. What happened with those tracks? Are you planning to ever release those tracks? If so as Usurper or as Scythe? Were you the main composer in the band?

Yes, I still have a demo of the 7 songs from 2007 where I recorded all the instruments and did

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As for now, only this one show. We will see how it goes.

If we feel like doing more after this we will. If we feel like doing another album, we will. But for now only one reunion show is planned. Right now we are finalizing the line-up and songs so we are keeping everything top secret.

All I will say is we will only have one guitar, bass, drums and then vocals, like the early Usurper days. But we will play songs from every era including some stuff we never played before. It wasn't really hard to get things going again. The core guys felt like time was right to do something like this.

the vocals. This is how I always write. I was the primary song writer for Usurper and now for Scythe. I write and record 4 track demos then give it to the band to learn. The band would then have enough room to enhance their parts and put their energy into the songs, so by the time the songs are recorded all the band members enhance the original ideas. So it really becomes about the entire band, not just me.

I re-recorded the songs: "Talons of Steel", and "Planet of the Humans" for Scythe. I re-arranged some parts, but those songs were released on the first Scythe album, "Beware the Scythe". I also used some other riffs and ideas for songs on "Subterranean Steel". Yes, I think I will release this 7 song demo either as a digital download album or perhaps tape or a three 7'' collection.

Yes I call it "Metal". I can understand this being a bit of a standard term, but we don't really fit into a specific subgenre either. We have some of the fast elements of classic speed metal, the heaviness of early death metal, the darkness of primitive black metal, the riffiness of NWOBHM, the anthemic qualities of classic Heavy Metal, the hard rockiness of 70's hard rock, yet we don't fit exactly into any of those descriptions either. So we simply call it "metal", but anyone familiar with my work in Usurper will have a good idea what to expect. I like all forms of metal as long as it is done with conviction and quality. I feel there are elements of all forms of metal in Scythe.

What do you miss the most from the Usurper years?

I miss most that era of underground metal. The 90's through the early 2000's were a very great time. The mainstream metal bands like Metallica and Anthrax all cut their hair and tried playing grunge music to sell out and conform to the times. The Nu Metal bands like Limp Bizkitz and Korn, didn't sound like metal to me, with their horrible rap influences. Everywhere people were saying "metal is dead". So a band like Usurper was really unique.

We were bringing back that old spirit of metal. Nowadays lots of bands are influenced by Celtic Frost, Venom, Sodom... when we started out we were one of the only ones paying homage to that era. We were very proud of being metal in an era where even death metal bands were trying to be progressive and modern. We got to release 6 albums and tour the world in an era where the internet was really nothing and in a period of time when leather, spikes and long hair was very unpopular. It was all word of mouth and people actually bought CD's and LP's.

What's the latest CD/vinyl you bought and why?

What's the latest show you attended in the audience and how was it?

This is a great question. I usually don't buy new albums, because I don't want to be influenced by anything current.

I haven't really bought much music since 1999. Mpire of Evil is a new band I like a lot, I bought their CD, even though the guys in the band were members of Venom so they are not really 'new'. Last show I went to as a member How's your live activity with Scythe so far? How of the audience was our label mates Stone Magnum. It come you didn't sign Scythe to Earache, as far as I was a few doom metal bands. It was a small show, but know you had a great relationship in your Usurper very solid. I had a great time, they sounded great. days?

Live shows for Scythe have been great! Scythe shows are What are your plans for the upcoming months? Are a wall of smoke, leather, spikes, weird lights and non-stop you more focused on Scythe or on Usurper? headbanging! As for signing with Earache... I respectfully Scythe is my main priority now. The beauty of Usurper is say, "FUCK NO"! I want to own my music and my songs that now we can do just this one show, or possibly other 100% and you can't do that signing to a big label. What I shows in the future. We rehearse when we feel like it and do now is this: I license my records to various small there is no pressure anymore. We can simply choose labels for various pressing, for various amounts of time, songs from our back catalog of 60+ songs and really just but I retain all publishing rights. I work out a deal where do whatever we want. the band gets paid in product, so we have CD's or LP's to Scythe is much more focused around releasing albums sell at shows, then the label can sell the other agreed and doing shows. We have some regional shows coming amount to re-coup their costs. I will never sign my rights up from August through December, possibly Europe too. to a label again. If this means less opportunities or less We plan on recording a 4 song vinyl only EP in March. exposure, then so be it. The die-hards will always know Anyone who was a fan of Usurper will no doubt enjoy how to find my music. That's the only people I really give Scythe too, yet we are forging our own path. I don't feel like Scythe is second to anyone, we kick maximum ass a fuck about anyways. from start to finish.

During your Usurper years you've toured with a lot of Rick Scythe bands, do you remember any that stood apart from www.scythe.us www.facebook.com/scythe.chicago the rest and why?

Oh man, so many great touring memories. We really www.facebook.com/usurper.chicago busted our asses! We were able to tour 17 different www.youtube.com/scythechicago countries from 1997-2007. Our first US tour in 1997 with www.reverbnation.com/scythechicago Dark Funeral was great. The first time in Europe was www.restinpeacerecords.us amazing in 1998 with Enthroned and Hecate Enthroned.

Of course all the tours in Europe, US and Canada July 2014 supporting Cradle of Filth were good times. Manowar tour kicked ass... but the ones that really stand out were the Cryptobeast tours. We did various headlining mini tours for that album. That is how I foresaw the future of Usurper touring and how I would like to tour again. It was great we had headlining shows in the USA, Mexico, Canada and of course Inferno Fest in Norway.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

Since you did most of the things in Usurper, how come you didn't keep the name and continued with it and instead started Scythe as a project in 2011?

Yeah I got asked this from the time Usurper broke up all the way through today. I legally and ethically could have continued with Usurper. I came up with name, drew the logo, wrote almost every Usurper song, came up with artwork ideas and I was the only member in Usurper from the pre-demo days, through every show and who played on every album. I also legally own the name so I could have easily did what many, many bands do and get all new members and call it Usurper.

It would have been 100% quality, so there were no issues with that. The issue I had was that I didn't want all the baggage and inevitable negative comments from idiots always saying, "I only liked Usurper in the old days".

This type of pre-judging I knew would be inevitable. I knew no matter how kick ass the new albums would be, people would always want to compare it to classic Usurper albums and say, "it's not as good", or even worse, not even listen to the new version of Usurper and already have an opinion.

Starting over isn't easy, but I had so much conviction with these new songs and so much more to say musically, that I didn't fear anything. I figured, I would call the new band "Scythe" since I have used the Scythe name since 1992 in recording credits. This way there was a connection to my past with Usurper, yet it was an entirely new band... the great thing about this decision to not use the name Usurper is this: now getting Usurper together for a reunion, it truly is a reunion with the old guys from Usurper past. Now when I jam with Joe and Jon it feels like Usurper!

I see Scythe's music a bit more epic than Usurper's, but what are the differences in the point of view of their creator? You've always named your music Heavy Metal, but it's much more aggressive actually, so isn’t that misleading for whom never heard your music before?

With Scythe I approach song writing the exact same way as I did with Usurper. The only difference is I want Scythe to be 100% rooted in the ways of old. No modern blast beats, no triggered drums, no digital guitar effects not that those things are negative, it is just I want to do things from a different angle. Also since I do vocals and guitar now I am conscious about the placement of the vocals as I am writing the songs.

Now the band will get back together for a November-only show. Or will that be the only show? What will be the band's line-up for that show and how hard was it to get the guys back together?

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Hi

Ola, how are things in Sorcery's camp lately?

Well everything is going quite well. We have done a couple of interesting gigs recently, especially one with a full-piece symphonic orchestra. At the moment we are writing new material for a new album to follow up on Arrival At Six, hopefully to be released sometime early next year.

Now you're with Xtreem Music and already released a full-length album last year through them. How are you happy with the collaboration so far?

It has worked very well for us. No problem at all. The album seem to have got the attention it needed and people everywhere can get it so I have absolutely no complaints about the collaboration with Xtreem.

How was Arrival at Six received by fans and how are you content of the final result. Is it me or the band got more brutal on this second album in regards to your '90's works?

It was received very well. Of course there are those who don’t understand that there has passes over twenty years since Bloodchilling and have no clue why we don’t sound exactly the same now as we did back then. We have progressed both as musicians and songwriters a lot during the last twenty years. I guess brutality might come with age so you might be right there.

The band was formed in 1986 as a Heavy Thrash act but before recording anything you changed name from Acid Queen to Sorcery and oriented it towards a more aggressive, brutal genre. How old were you back then and what bands influenced the first years of band activity?

We were about fifteen to sixteen years at the time when we formed Sorcery. Out main influences at the time was, apart from the regular Heavy Metal bands, also bands from the two greater Thrash scenes, Germany and USA. Bands like Kreator, Destruction, Sodom as well as early Metallica, Slayer, Exodus and so on.

Your third demo, Unholy Crusade, from 1989, was a real masterpiece for those years. What was Sorcery's status in the scene at the end of the '80's? Galve is not far away from Stockholm, were you playing in the capital often? Who (what bands) were your closest allies back then?

We were very much on the side of the scene actually. We played in Stockholm in 1987 and really never since. Of course we did our fair share of trading and the demo got a decent circulation. We were in contact with some of the guys in Entombed and Grotesque just to mention a few. We didn’t live that far, that´s right but you know. Kids with no work and no money didn’t have the chance to travel down there so often after all.

Your first EP was released by a very promising and extremely active label back then, Thrash Records. Do you remember how you got the deal? What were your aims back then?

We got the deal through the Unholy Crusade demo. I don’t know how they got hold of it but they contacted us and wanted to make an EP with us. Our aim was to get it further and to release a proper album. We sure did have the songs and Thrash Records helped us to bring our music to a larger audience.

For your debut album you changed home from Thrash Records to Underground Records. How come since as far as I know Thrash Records were getting quite some good attention at the time?

We had this deal for one EP with Thrash and I can’t recall that there were any discussions about a second release with them. We were approached by Underground who wanted to make a full length album with us. We agreed and the rest is history.

What's special, in your point of view, about your new album? I mean how would you present it to someone who never heard of the band or its music? What makes you proud when listening to it?

I think it is a very genuine album. We have tried to let it be as simple and dirty as we were in the earlier days. We wanted it to be a proper Sorcery album for the year 2013 and not for 1992 but you should never doubt it was a Sorcery album when you listened to it. It turned out exactly the way we wanted, all the way from the first notes to the last.

Please present the current line-up. What are you doing beside Sorcery?

The line-up today has been together since early 2013 and consists of me, Ola Malmström on vocals, Paul Johansson on guitar. We have both been in the band since 1986 and are the sole founding members that are left. Then we have John Falk on drums and Jacob Wiberg on bass. I work as an electrician while Paul works at a steel factory.

John is in the computer business while Jacob is a setter.

Last year you finally managed to tour the States. How was it? Tell us some facts about the tour.

It was a lot of fun and long travels. We were supposed to do fifteen shows all around the states with the Mexican band Infinitum Obscure as support. We started out in Los Angeles and went up north to Oakland, Portland and Seattle just to travel right across to the eastern side of the US. Played a couple of gigs in the northeast and then headed south to play some shows in Alabama and Texas before we headed back to California for a gig in San Diego. We finished up in Las Vegas. We sadly missed out two shows as we got caught in a blizzard in Wyoming. All in all the tour went great and we loved every second of it. It was really exciting to meet all the people that you had been in contact with for so long and to finally bring the band on tour in the states.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

This album became a cult release in the meantime being released and re-released in multiple formats, and probably loads of bootlegs as well. How do you recall the creation and recording processes of your debut album?

As I mentioned earlier, we had a lot of songs but in the end we decided to skip a bunch of them and wrote the last two songs, Legacy of Blood and By these words, minutes before entering the studio. I actually remember us adding and changing the songs in the studio. The recordings took place in the place to be at the time, Studio Sunlight. We recorded the album in four days and for us to work in a real studio with a guy like Tomas Skogsberg was so different than our earlier studio experiences. He knew what we wanted to do and he had the tools and the ability to make it better than we ever thought it could be.

What happened after the release of this album? Wasn't it the perfect time and place to break through the underground and become a World-known name?

Instead the band stopped releasing studio material and eventually disbanded in 1997.

Well, the album went nowhere at the time. It was only released on vinyl in a time when people just started to buy CD’s. Also there were practically no Promotion or distribution of the album. It wasn’t until the re-releases it started to get a proper distribution and people could get it all over the world. The main reason we didn’t managed to get it together after the album was our endless problems with personnel in the band. Mikael quit first and followed by Fredrik, and then we tried a bunch of new guys who didn’t work out and the years passed by. We actually recorded a demo in 1992 just to be sent out to labels but again the band lost a member here and there and in the end we just stopped to wonder when the next rehearsal should take place. We never sat down and said it was time to quit. It all just faded away.

This year started amazingly with your gig together with an orchestra. Who had this idea and how did it turn out? Are you planning maybe a DVD release of the show?

It was a friend of us who came to me and asked if we were interested in playing a gig together with Gävle Symphonic Orchestra. We should play six of our songs together and we should support Entombed whom also played with the orchestra. After almost one and a half year after we were asked the gig finally took place. I can’t ever imagine that our songs could be more powerful than with a 52 piece orchestra. It was really a once in a lifetime experience and it went really well. We did film the whole thing and there are a very good sound recording that we might use in the future. There are no plans for a DVD but we have talked about releasing the show as a live album.

As far as I know you're currently working on new material. How are things going?

Can you tell us a few song titles that will be featured on the next release? Any surprises we might expect from it?

We have about six song more or less finished. Two of them is at the moment called “The New Armageddon” and “Heavensend” but you know, That can change very fast if something else comes up. I hope that you can expect a worthy follow-up to the Arrival at six album. We still want it to be a Sorcery album that sound Sorcery and nothing else.

We have found our sound and style and we won’t leave it. If you liked the last album you should definitely like the new one.

Thanks a lot for your time and hope to see you on tour soon!

Thank you very much too, Adrian, and I also hope we’ll meet on tour someday as well as everyone else out there.

July 2014

What made you and Paul get back in business after 12 years, in 2009? And why it took so long and 2 demos to get a new record deal?

During the years we spoke from time to time about getting it together but it was always something that made it not to happen. We had other bands and projects at the time and Paul, Mikael and I got together in Outremer for a time before Paul quit and was replaced with Henrik Lindenmo. It was not before I, Henrik and Jocke Olofsson, also in Outremer, sat down and talked about making some genuine Death Metal songs that the reunion was about to happen. As soon as we started to play together we looked back on the old Sorcery songs. My only demand to be able to call the band Sorcery again was to bring back Paul into the band. We are the only ones that have been in the band every single day of the bands existence since the very beginning and I never wanted it to happen without him by my side. It just took one phone call and Paul immediately said yes to join the band again. We started to make a demo in 2009 called Master of the Chains and had some songs for the planned next album written.

But as always in the past, a line-up change was coming our way. Jocke left the band and Henrik disappeared. We brought in John into the band and started to make a bunch of new songs. Recorded a pre-prod demo that we sent out to labels and Xtreem got hold of it and liked what we’ve done.

14

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

“Let‟s destroy it all!”

Part I (part II will be published in Slowly We Rot #7) Recently, you have been to distant places such as the Far East and Australia. However, let‟s start with this: I know that you also visit the North quite often, so how did people react to the sudden suicide of the legendary Dissection frontman up there?

They made a colossal and really successful album long ago, you know. Then the guy went in and out to jail, started to play music again... Then, the next album has been received with mixed emotions: some said it was good, some said it wasn‟t... Then, as if premeditated, a farewell concert and the news about his death...

Well, yeah, that was pretty surprising even for me and it really shocked me since he was a great friend of mine.

So, you knew him personally.

Oh yeah, we played together more than once. I have also performed as a guest sharing the stage with Dissection.

On the Inferno Festival, for instance...

why the sound of the album is so crappy…

Good question.

It wasn‟t meant to be a bitter criticism, just a question...

O.K. The “crappy” sound is a relative thing. I would say that the album sounds differently from the average extreme metal stuff of today. That was exactly our aim: to create a totally different sound and not to give a shit about the “cosmetics” which are so trendy nowadays.

You enter a studio and there is a computer that can polish, cut or insert notes each hundredth of a second and you can waste so many fuckin‟ months with that.

A big, legendary fest, I think.

It sure is and the show was awesome, too. That was the Was there any actual producer with you making this last concert at the Rockefeller. They have played as album? headliners of the third day of the festival. “Elisabeth We were the producers ourselves. Period.

Bathory” was supposed to be the last song. And guess what, I was standing there ready to fuckin‟ play and then As you know, there are people at those bigger record the stage manager told me that the party was over „cause companies who get paid for this. we ran out of time or something. I was like “What the Yeah, right but Mayhem haven‟t used producers like that fuck! Come on, man, give me a break!” The band left the on any of their albums. The sound of “Grand stage and we were supposed to come back to play this very last song but it wasn‟t possible so we started to argue and all that. Then Set came back so While in Germany, England, The Netherlands etc. everyone else came back, too. I was like “O.K., the metal scene started at the late '70s/early '80s let‟s do it.” but they fuckin‟ turned the PA off and Hungary latched on to the metal scene only in the turned the lights on. So, I was standing on the stage mid '80s. The reason of this situation is very and I saw everybody down there. Thousands of people! I was like ”Well, what‟s next?” And simple: politics, communism - do I have to say suddenly the band started to play the song with more? But from that point a really great nothing but the backline on, with acoustic drums underground scene came into being with a lot of and I had no microphone. So I made a microphone bands, fanzines etc. Unfortunately it didn't succeed of my hands and shouted at the top of my voice, in making a name for the Hungarian bands, but together with the audience. It was pretty funny.

That was my last appearance with Dissection. In there is a name that comes to everybody's minds spite of all this, the gig turned out fuckin‟ well, thinking about the Hungarian scene: Tormentor. everyone enjoyed it a lot. It was the first time ever I Yes, they were one of the pioneers of the black sang in such a huge arena with no PA but people metal movement and became an influential, cult told me that they still heard my vocals.

Back to the old school, to the retro and to the roots, that is.

Back to the roots, exactly! The same thing goes to the music, too. Nor the riffis, neither the songs haven‟t been shaped to follow the same modern sound and feeling you can find on the extreme metal albums of today. The feeling is quite often broken in two there and so is the sound. Now, you may say here in Hungary that it sounds like shit but let me tell you that a lot of reviews have been written on this album and there weren‟t that much people complaining about the sound.

Someone even wrote how fuckin‟ great it is that a band finally sounds differently, being totally old school.

Fenriz, however, has gone crazy when he heard the album, I suppose.

Sure. But it was fuckin‟ difficult, as I told you. We didn‟t give a shit about anything, we just recorded the songs and we recognize that it sounded terribly. So afterwards, I was working on the mastering at home for about a week.

Did the other band members leave the job completely up to you?

No. When the mastering was done, we all found that we went a bit too far „cause some parts just couldn‟t be heard at all. Darkthrone, for instance, play rather simple stuff...

Especially on their latest album, which is rather some kind of old school rock n‟roll. ...and this kind of sound is O.K. for rock n‟roll but Mayhem‟s music is so much more diverse than that and these details started to disappear entirely. So, I completed a song at home first, then I sent it around to see if my version can be the final one.

The others agreed, so the whole album became like this. And it was intended in a way, it didn‟t happen accidentally. If you listen to Hellhammer‟s drums, they sound totally differently from the Dimmu Borgir drum sound. So, finally, the kick drum doesn‟t sound like popcorn etc. In my opinion, it‟s rather an ageless sound. But time will tell. I remember when the second Bathory album only got three points in the German Metal Hammer...

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

Must have been an excellent venue from the acoustical point of view.

Yeah, I guess. Ha ha.

So, the death of this guy was quite bizarre and also a shock for both the Northern and the whole European extreme metal scene. For the whole world, actually. I guess many people still cannot understand it and recover from it „cause it happened so suddenly.

Yes and to tell you the truth it shocked me as well. I never thought it could happen.

I guess it‟s because you were close friends.

Yeah, exactly. It was already bizarre when they announced that this was their last concert. Originally, it was meant to be the final European show for that year but it turned out to be the band‟s last gig ever.

act later on. While the Hungarian bands became forgotten, Tormentor and especially Attila himself succeeded in making a name for himself.

He sang on Mayhem's debut "De mysteriis dom satanas", but he also took/takes part in bands/projects, such as Aborym, Korog, Sunn O))))), Keep Of Kalessin etc.

Attila Csihar speaks...

Declaration” rather reminds me of a dentist‟s office.

“Chimera” sounds totally like everyone would expect an album to sound, yet, strangely enough, it sold worse than “Grand Declaration”. Also, people always keep telling us how awesome “Live In Leipzig” and “Deathcrush” sound and how fuckin‟ amazing they are and all that. So, this time we wanted to make a record that doesn‟t serve people. We wanted it to be absolutely different. While everyone is striving to reach fuckin‟ higher, we just said

Haven‟t they recorded any material for a DVD or something?

Oh yes, they have. The concert took place in a huge sport hall. It was in Stockholm, I think, but I haven‟t been there. I saw some footage, though, and it looks amazing: there are flames rising ten meters high, gigantic backdrops and the eleven pointed star of Dissection made from a fuckin‟ huge piece of metal back there. Now, that was awesome.

I think it was recorded by a pretty big crew, so you can expect a DVD.

Although it‟s a fucking great album.

That‟s right. And it has set standards later. That‟s the point in our album, too. It wasn‟t made for only being listened to twice. I think either someone says it sucks and fuckin‟ throws it away or listens to it a few times... ...and really gets into it.

Right. There is this review in a Greek magazine, for instance. In the beginning, it says something like: “Sorry, at first I thought it was just a cool album but after listening to it a couple of times I think it‟s phenomenal. This stuff is ageless.”

That‟s what we call true art, by the way.

Well, I think art is when an individual does something to satisfy his or her own needs, never giving a fuck about what others say. Then time will tell...

That‟s what your career is all about, looking at all that you‟ve done in Mayhem or Tormentor.

Yeah, sort of. I got used to it. As long as Tormentor existed, I have never read a positive review.

And now it‟s a legend.

A legend indeed. But I would kiss the hand or would give a Mayhem CD for free to anyone who could show me just one positive Tormentor review from the 80s.

Speaking of Tormentor, it‟s another question many Hungarian fans have been asking: what is the current situation with the band? I know that every member can be found elsewhere, Machát is in Germany etc. In your opinion, will the band ever be reuinted for a concert? Or perhaps a record company or an agency has already contacted you offering you a huge amount of money to motivate you.

Must have been quite spectacular.

I think so, at least that‟s what they told me. I only saw some pictures but those are really exciting.

About the new Mayhem album, many fans have been wondering

16

It would surely be possible to do something but we already went a bit too far with our last album. It‟s been released in 2000 and everybody was like ”What the hell is this rock n‟roll music?” By the way, if you look at it now, lots of bands just started to play this black n‟roll stuff. And we already referred to it as black n‟roll back then. That‟s how we called this kind of music. Black n‟roll, not black metal. And yes, Machát is abroad and Szigeti doesn‟t care. I mean, I talked to him several times and I still can‟t motivate him. He‟s a mere businessman or something.

Do you mean it‟s not really safe for you to be in this business?

Definitely not safe. And obviously, there is also the chaotic part of it that you just mentioned. Thousands of shows you always have to prepare for...

So, it‟s unlikely a reunion will ever happen. Or is it a “never say never” kind of situation?

Never say never. Back then, we thought about making a mini album as a further development of our sickest ideas of the album, I mean the Hungarian folk music parts. The bear dance, the busó stuff and this kind of lyrical concept. In my opinion, all these topics have a meaning that would fit perfectly to this kind of music.

Luckily, it was easy. When Maniac left, there were already problems with him. He was quite unstable during the last tour. Sometimes he fucked up the shows terribly.

Getting inspiration from folkloric traditions, that is?

Yes. From the bear dance, for instance, which was originally the sign of the bear crossing the constellation of the stars. You can read a lot about it. As for the busó, no need to explain that.

Due to alcohol and drug problems, I presume...

Partly yes. And there were also things from his private life, I think. Family and stuff. It all was too much for him. Besides, he played in the band for ten years...

That tradition has been going on in the town of Mohács for many years, to say farewell to winter.

Yes, exactly.

Could it be he got tired of it or burned out?

Could be. Just think about it. Performing on stage with Mayhem goes with some kind of stress and pressure that I have already felt in the beginning,

Did you ever think about doing this with another project, since that‟s not what Tormentor‟s about? Or you wouldn‟t have time for that?

Well, I would rather say that Tormentor has moved forward in this direction. So, I think it would fit perfectly to further develop the ideas of “Recipe Ferrum” in the three or four tracks of the mini album that I mentioned.

But right now, it seems highly unlikely to me „cause we don‟t have a complete line-up. The old guitarist was more or less O.K. but we had problems with the bassist.

So, I don‟t want to enter into details but the line-up wasn‟t that stable. That‟s why we weren‟t even able to play that stuff live the way we shold have done it and the way we wanted to.

And you lose count of days and months and years, everything melts together, you know...

You‟re on the move every day...

Just like most other bands They arrive to the venue with their van or nightliner, fall asleep punch drunk etc. On the next day, they wake up, no sightseeing in the city at all, just a soundcheck in the venue, they eat and drink something etc. Then they play the concert... And then they start it all over again.

Yeah. You may laugh about it but I will tell you that I changed my way of life because of this. I mean, I didn‟t drink any alcohol since October 2006 and I didn‟t smoke or take any other drugs for about a month. I‟m trying to keep things under control.

Mineral water, gym, fitness, wellness?

Sort of. Plus breathing exercises and stuff – and I‟m quite O.K. with all this. It‟s necessary because I have so much tours, concerts and festival shows with Sunn O))) and Mayhem now, one after another. I need this not to fall into pieces and to stay focused.

You have to be in good shape.

Right. You have to be in good shape and to be on top mentally, too. I have tons of interviews etc. Then in my old days, or when things will get a bit more relaxed, I will return to my pipe, I think. But now I feel that I need to be focused.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

And what is the situation with Saturnus Productions?

Looks like that project is on hiatus for a while. You wanted to run this label „cause there is a demand for old Tormentor stuff to be re-released.

Well, “Anno Domini” has already been released but it‟s true that I haven‟t been investing that much energy in this thing. Saturnus is a real old school label so anyone who might be really interested can find it, although the web site isn‟t that active either.

Yeah, I noticed that. I checked it a few months ago and I didn‟t find it operational.

That‟s exactly why I want to update it a little bit. Besides, we just made a DVD with old Tormentor videos from 1986 and 87 that we have found. From the times before “Anno Domini”, that is.

Wow, you had some recordings from those years?

Yeah, a few. I also got some other recordings from fans.

It‟s not so much, we have only like 20-30 minutes but the feeling is pretty wild. One of the recordings has been made in a small club but I can‟t remember its name...

There was a ten centimeter high stage and stuff. You can see me performing wearing a zombie mask on that recording. The other one was taken at the first 666 Festival in Budapest.

Well, let‟s get back to Mayhem for a little while. It‟s a stupid question but let me ask you this: you are the frontman of the band now. How difficult was it (and I‟m not talking about the Hungarian market but about the European scene and the whole world) to get accepted by the fans of today? I mean, you had to fulfill the role of the former frontman, you know who I‟m talking about...

So, you became straight edge for a while.

Yeah.

too.

I can take

Perhaps it better.

I can understand you perfectly. The parents (my parents, your parents or anyone‟s parents) – the older generation, retired people, that is – cannot understand how is it that a huge rock or pop star or any other celebrity who has lots of money gets hooked on drugs and alcohol. I always explain it like this: having money is one thing, what if he doesn‟t give a shit about that? He spends all his life as a part of a machine. Always on the move, always working. From one place to another, taking all the money just like a bank robber. So he‟s fuckin‟ got everything but it‟s easy to burn out living this way...

Look, it‟s different for me.

I didn‟t mean you.

As for Mayhem, opinions have always been divided, I think. First, there were those death cases and the arguments about what is true and what is not. That‟s how it all started, although Maniac is an early vocalist, he was in the band before me. Then there is all this endless criticism, you know. Furthermore, Mayhem was never the kind of band that satisfies the primal needs of people.

We have always been doing what we think is right.

No compromise!

Right. And many people didn‟t like it. Also, you go on stage and with a band of Mayhem‟s caliber... It isn‟t some kind of paranoia or something like that but once someone threw a Molothov cocktail on the band in Greece.

Really?

Yeah. The guys were sitting there in front of the hotel when a biker passed by and he threw that Molothov coctail. Everything has fuckin‟ got fire, the table-cloth and even someone‟s clothes. So, there is some kind of pressure. Any kind of madman can fuckin‟ appear...

17

But it‟s a great thing. I mean, the older you get the more seriously you take things and you went through a lot of things, so you got more balanced. Besides, you are a family man, so you know that some people are waiting for you...

I think when you use drugs and alcohol, it‟s always a matter of self-control. And it‟s you who must be in control. Don‟t let that stuff take control over you. The only way you can achieve it is by saying no and quitting sometimes. I already did that in the past. I quit one thing but went on with another. For instance, I stopped smoking but kept on drinking. Or vice versa. This time, however, I felt it was high time to stop it all.

Clean head, sober mind.

Relatively. It worked really well in Japan, for instance, „cause I couldn‟t get any drugs there and it sucked.

Japanese people can get really sick without drugs anyway.

Yeah. All I could have got is some garbage for an incredibly high price, so I said “to hell with that”. But I didn‟t really miss it. I just got used to take something before going on stage. After the second gig, however, things have changed completely and I just got a lot more extreme. You see, once you‟re in control, you can get even further. It‟s because you are able to control yourself anytime. But it‟s pretty hard to describe it.

During your career, you have obviously experienced the opposite case as well when musicians were unable to control themselves which led to mental problems and personal differences.

Yes I have. I guess I can take this thing to the extreme myself. In Mayhem, everyone drinks like hell and the guys do other stuff, too, I guess. The rule in Mayhem is that anything goes but it must not be detrimental to the concert.

That‟s a pretty cool rule! So, you quietly hide in a corner of a room with the Bible before the show and get into it?

Ha ha! That‟s going to be a cold day in hell! I usually wipe my ass with the Bible, you know. But to tell you the truth, I party just like anyone else. Actually, that‟s what makes it difficult for me. But I have more energy. I also went out to party in Tokyo all the time, where there are thousands of pubs etc. The guys from Sunn O))) were all knocked out sometimes but they respected the decision I took, too. They even said that they admire me for the self-control that I have. But I took things even further to the extreme: when I partied, I did it really hard but when I stop, I stop totally. That‟s how it works for me.

By the way, do you sympathize with vegetarians? Are you vegetarian yourself?

Yes I still am, for ten years now.

Oh really?

Yes. Wow, I didn‟t know that. But let‟s get back to the music right now. Could you tell me about the time the songwriting process took.

The whole process of writing the music for the album, rehearsing and recording took about one year and a half, I think.

Oh really? Did it take you so long?

Yes. It started when I joined Mayhem in 2005 or December 2004 rather. We started playing in January and we started talking about what the new album should be like. So, we sat down with Balsphemer and started talking about that. He is the songwriter in the band, you know. Since Mayhen has this new line-up, he wrote all the songs by himself. So, we started working on the basic ideas. We wanted the new stuff to be totally inhumane.

Did the other members play any role in the process?

Were there any wars of words?

No, they don‟t really have a say in this thing. I mean, Hellhammer can really channel all his energies behind his drums. He enjoys playing with Blasphemer a lot.

They both are totally into those insane riffs, rhythms and ideas. Necro isn‟t involved either. So, the creation of the album was up to the two of us. Blasphemer was living in Portugal at that time and he is still living there while I‟m here in Hungary...

By the way, do you have any problems because of such distances?

For me, it‟s a good thing that he‟s there in Portugal „cause I don‟t have to be in Norway all the time. We just have to take care about the timing of these trips. The other good thing is the Internet.

And Skype, so that you can talk to each other.

Yes. He is there at his home studio where he records his ideas. Then he sends these over to me, I do my vocal parts at home with my little equipment and send the stuff back to him. So, this is what we were doing for about a year. Then we started to rehearse the songs. By the way, we already played the song called “Wall Of Water” in March 2006 at the Rockefeller show, more than one year before entering the studio. Comparing to the Mayhem average, we rehearsed a lot before this recording process.

That‟s how we spent the whole Summer. We didn‟t even play almost at any festivals. We were only writing and putting these songs together instead. Therefore, we didn‟t waste that much fuckin‟ time in the studio, everyone knew what to do.

You went into the studio with completed stuff, that is.

Yes, exactly. The invested energy has paid off there. That was definitely the way we wanted to do the songs and now we don‟t have any problem playing any of those.

You don‟t have the feeling of hearing a thousand guitars at the same time and all the vocals have been recorded to one track only, too. I recorded the vocals of certain songs at once and we didn‟t change anything afterwards. As for the rest, if I wasn‟t able to do it right for the third time, I fuckin‟ said “to hell with it” „cause I wasn‟t in the mood to stop and go back to the first line and correct things...

So, you didn‟t fiddle around.

Absolutely no fiddling around. In my opinion, if you‟re fiddling around, you can achieve a good production or something but you lose the mental or spiritual aspect of the music. If you can do it at once, with one breath, it has some continuity and perhaps you will be able to transmit a certain feeling. But if you stop, go back and forth all the time it will only be like Hollywood in the end.

For the same reason, didn‟t you think about recording the whole album live?

Now, that would have been a bit too much, ha ha!

That‟s why I‟m asking...

The music is more complex than that. But the sound and the music are more or less live because there wasn‟t that much fiddling aruond. The tracks have been done more or less at one take. We never stopped and returned...

Where have you recorded the album?

In Norway, in a studio called “The Mill”. Otherwise, it‟s a water-mill, and also the studio of Knut from Arcturus.

It‟s a haunted mill, there are UFO observations, energy lines and stuff like that in the area... As for Knut, he has very specific ideas and he fiddles around with everything with his old equipment a million times which makes it sound like a hard rock album in the end. We never gave a shit. We said “fuck it” „cause we wanted a really screwed up sound but we went a bit too far with that as I said. We were struggling with the mastering afterwards. But it‟s a brand new studio and there isn‟t that much stuff that‟s been recorded there. The latest Mayhem CD is probably the first full lenght album Knut has ever done. So, it was pretty much like a pig in a poke. But that‟s exactly what we wanted.

Ha ha!.. Didn‟t you think about any other studio? I believe, there were plenty of requests.

We actually did, but this one was a good solution from the financial point of view.

O.K., I see.

Knut is a good friend etc. Besides, as I already told you, we wanted to do something challenging. Both for ourselves and for the listeners. We didn‟t want to fulfill any expectation whatsoever. On the contrary, we were against all expectations and trends. So that‟s how we chose that studio. Otherwise, the atmosphere was awesome there, everything was quiet and there was no stress. We could work anytime we wanted to. No matter if it was day or night.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com) December 2008

Interview courtesy of Leslie David

18

fun, because of the language barriers. All issues are at the present time completely sold-out, which makes me believe I was inspired when I decided to give it birth.

Some people asked me to restart an internet version of the zine, but I don’t wanna do this. Printed was from its first edition, printed will be until the end. Six years after the latest issue and people still ask me about Balamuc Zine – what a feeling!

And yes, sometimes I still enjoy reading printed zines, but I never been a die-hard collector (except for some of Romanian zines and magazines).

Titus Constantinescu is one of the most dedicated persons involved in the Romanian underground I know, so it’s with great pleasure I present to you our latest chat, enjoy!

Greetings Titus and welcome to Slowly We Rot. Please introduce yourself to our readers.

Greetings! My name is Titus Constantinescu, at the present moment representing www.letsrock.ro (top Romanian website and metal webshop), Metal Under Moonlight (club concerts organizer in Bucharest and around) and Syn Ze Sase Tri manager and booking agent (bloodstained black metal band from Timisoara/Romania). Vegetarian. 35 years old.

What have you been up to lately?

Busy with all these three activities, heh… Yeah, more or less I split myself between those three. Letsrock is my no.

1 priority, my daily job (especially developing the webshop). This year I organized a few Metal Under Moonlight events (with some awesome bands for the first time in Romania). As for Syn Ze Sase Tri, the band reserved this year only to record the 3rd album, scheduled for 2015.

I remember seeing once a video of you playing vocals live with Septic Flesh or Rotting Christ, in Bucharest.

How that happened? How come you never tried to do it in a band?

No, that was Inactive Messiah. Another band from Greece. And was one song only. That was my first and last live show, as a guest vocals, they invited me on stage to play some backing vocals of my favorite song from their set, “My Pleasure”. 5 minutes of glory!

Now serious, you know, I have two reasons. First, I consider you should be professional in what you are doing. And I never considered myself a singer or a musician. Never followed any musical school.

Second, I consider some things are meant to be done only once in a lifetime. And that “moment of glory” was meant to happen in 2005. That was the right moment for that.

During the years you have managed multiple bands, what were your best results? What bands are you working with at the moment?

No, that’s a false impression. I helped many bands, especially those from the Bestial Records rooster, but as a manager I only did this twice: Marsyas (gothic metal band, now dead, who was my first managerial experience but a big disappointment, I was their manager for 2 years) and starting with 2012 I am the manager of Syn Ze Sase Tri, a very original black metal Romanian band. Is easier to grow up one child instead of two or more, isn’t it?!

On the other hand I see no problem to give a hand to some professional bands are asking for it, but without considering myself their manager or booking agent. For the moment I have some plans for some Romanian hordes, as Kistvaen (black metal), Prohod (pagan metal), Whispering Woods (gothic metal), Spinecrusher (thrash metal), this meaning tours and/or some concerts inside and outside the country.

As for the bands from abroad, I will always help Galadriel (dark metal, Slovakia), Perihelion (black, Hungary), Vrani Volosa (pagan, Bulgaria), Sado Sathanas (black, Germany) or Stahlsarg (black, UK), just to name a few.

Frostmoon Eclipse, Over Dead In Over, Prologue of a New Generation (Italy), Haboryn (Venezuela!), Vrani Volosa (Bulgaria), Negura Bunget, Grimegod, L.O.S.T., Tiarra, The Hourglass, Kratos, DinUmbra and a lot of other bands from Romania.

How do you see the Metal scene in Romania at the moment and what are the main differences in regards to what we had 10-15 years ago? How come we are still offering remote names to the outside World while neighbor coutries offer lots and lots of new names interested in promoting themselves? What do we (our scene) still need?

Difficult question. 10-15 years ago was a lot of enthusiasm, big friendships, very few promoters, very very few metal clubs with poor equipment, extremely cheap ticket prices, still a lot of people at the concerts, no matter if was a band from same or another city in the concert. Forget about names from other countries, that was a dream back then.

Today… bands still have the enthusiasm, but developing in the direction of making money someday. If no, the band is stopped at a certain point. We have many promoters (some you can trust, some others rip-off assholes interested for their profit to be as maximum as possible). Venues equipment is 90% still poor, I don’t know why. Entrance tickets are as cheap as before. Many big names from both mainstream and underground have played in Romania, but… attending audience number goes lower and lower years passing by.

The biggest problem for Romanian bands is that they do not have patience to rise the band step by step. They expect huge venues and big money after a few shows only. Many bands have a false image of the metal scene in other countries, considering out there everything is opposite to Romania. This is of course not true. If you are a rockstar in Romania, doesn’t mean you should have same audience (or more) in other countries.

How's the distro working so far? From your experience what do the Romanian metalheads buy mostly?

Romanian bands have the best sales in my distro list. I don’t know why, but many buyers have that “support your local underground” attitude. This is fine! I make a living out of merchandising. I don’t make lot of money; this is for sure not a gold mine.

Most of my clients prefer black metal, death and gothic metal, which is fine, because these are my musical tastes as well. Birds of a feather flock together, isn't it?

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

You started in the '90's as Bestial Records official distributor in Bucharest, how come you decided to work with them and how do you recall those days?

Lovely memories! Yup, the label started in 1997 and I joined the team one year later. Bestial Records was for a decade (1997-2007) the most important Romanian support for extreme metal bands. It turned out to be quite natural for me to work with Bestial as long as 99% of the albums released under this label fitted my own musical tastes. First of all was a real pleasure and a real friendship with Adrian from Bestial, only second was a question of business. The label stopped its activity ten years after due to the decline of interest in heavy metal music after 2008.

Today Bestial Records is still the most important distributor of Romanian CDs, but it doesn’t sign any other bands anymore.

How do you see Bestial Records' role in the formation of Romanian Metal Underground in the '90's and after?

Without mock modesty, the most important role! The best Romanian bands from black metal/ death/ gothic/ doom/ dark ambient scene had their greatest success thanks to their association with Bestial Records name: Negura Bunget, Grimegod, Gothic, God, Makrothumia, Kratos, Avatar, DinUmbra, just to name some of those still active.

Is Balamuc zine still alive? It was a funny but at the same time informative zine, what inspired you to release it and how was the response from the readers?

Do you still enjoy reading printed zines?

The inspiration was to make something original. Is quite easy to get funny situations around you every day, but not very easy in metal scene. And I was fortunate to have backstage access many times and, of course, backstage is totally opposite to what you see on the stage – you can always get delicious backstage stories!

Last issue was out in 2008. Someday I will release a farewell issue, because I still have enough content available. Balamuc zine (“Lunatic Asylum zine” in English) was (is?) the only humoristic zine for Romanian metalfans (because it was written all the time in Romanian language only). In English wouldn’t be same

Thanks a lot for this interview, wish you the best of luck with your activities!

Thank you, Adrian. I am happy you still put faith in the printed format. You know, I am curious about Obituary' reaction to the name of your zine, that would have been at least funny to see their faces. Joking, of course!

Those who wanna check my distribution: www.letsrock.ro/bestial (yep, worldwide delivery, Paypal accepted) My events: www.letsrock.ro/mum My band: www.facebook.com/synzesasetri And my humble Facebook profile: www.facebook.com/balamuc Hare Krishna! Titus

Tell us a bit about your Metal Under Moonlight nights, a concert series that runs now for more than 15 years if I'm correct.

14 for the moment. I started this project in September 30th, 2000. I dropped the idea 3 times and restarted again.

Sometimes is not very easy to organize concerts in this country, for many reasons. That’s why I lost my enthusiasm a few times so far.

On the other hand, right now when replying your interview I have a nice “collection” of 40 Metal Under Moonlight events. Any many other additional events in other cities except Bucharest, which I didn’t count as Metal Under Moonlight.

Metal Under Moonlight was, is and will be underground October 2014 support mainly, that’s why you won’t see too many big names in my portfolio. Still, I am happy I organized first Rotting Christ and Agathodaimon shows ever in Bucharest, the only Pungent Stench gig ever in Romania, the only Romanian shows of Cadaveria so far, first show ever outside Greece for Suicidal Angels, plus a bunch of lovely concerts as Vuolla, Let Me Dream (Finland), Dynfari (Iceland), Womb of Maggots, Ravencult (Greece), Raison D’Etre (Sweden), Eastern Front (UK),

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After a 8-year hiatus, Centinex have come back in full force and their new album will definitely impress old fans and new ones alike. The band has spoken about this special comeback.

First and foremost, do you think your fans have hard feelings towards you disappearing without notice?

You even had a show planned and cancelled at the last minute… what caused the rush in your decision?

No I don’t think so, usually split ups come without any advance-info for outsiders. Things just happen you know… I don’t remember exactly why we didn’t do the last booked show but I’m sure there was some good reason for it.

When Centinex disbanded, some members formed Demonical… why? Did you want to follow a musical line which didn‟t adapt to Centinex anymore?

Yeah exactly. I had everything – band name, logo, music etc - ready for DEMONICAL already several months before CENTINEX split up so the same day I announced the death of CENTINEX I also unleashed the birth of DEMONICAL. I felt that 16 years with CENTINEX was enough, I wanted to start with a blank page and create something new, a new band that would carry on the old spirit that got lost somewhere along the road.

The band disbanded on the 2nd april 2006 but now you‟ve reformed. What made you want to reform the band?

I wanted to create different kind of death compared to the style of DEMONICAL, hence I decided to do it under the CENTINEX banner.

I do always want all my creations to be released on vinyl as well as I think vinyl is the best form for releasing music. The sound is better and more “alive”, you have the big artwork and so on… So we wanted to have a vinyl version but it was Agonia’s suggestion to release it both as black and brown wax. Of course we agreed…

it turned out utterly great and I like it a lot. If other people and media like it as well that’s of course a big bonus but my main goal is to please myself, not others.

In the meantime, you‟ve been active with bands such as Diabolical, Demonical, October Tide and Internment. The need to create music speaks louder than any other thing? Did you have so much free time on your hands that you had to go and reform the band? Don‟t the other bands give you enough work already?

Of all those bands I’m only a member of DEMONICAL so I can only speak for myself… Yeah of course it takes time to play in two bands but with some planning everything works fine and you manage to do it.

I create one kind of death metal with DEMONICAL – this more Swedish sounding style – but I wanted to create different kind of death as well, hence I re-activated CENTINEX. For me personally both bands are totally different in every way but equally important.

The album was recorded at Amplified Studios and mixed & mastered at Garageland Studios by Ronnie Björnström (Aeon) during the spring of 2014. How did the whole recording process go? Was it shorter or longer than you expected?

We used something like 10 days for the actual recording and that was what we had planned. We wanted to record the album smoothly and fast the way it was done in the golden days, you know, just go into the studio, record the tracks without any bullshit, editing or similar.

How easy/difficult will it be to cope with all the bands Yeah the recording was then mixed and mastered by and the responsibilities attached to it?

Ronnie Björnström and he did also do a splendid job, he As I said, it works fine but of course it demands some planning and dedication.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

The new album “Redeeming Filth” is about to be released via Agonia Records. How did the opportunity to ink the deal come up?

When we announced the comeback we received some offers from labels right away but we wanted to record the album first and then decide. So when the album was ready and done we talked again to several labels, got many offers and Agonia had clearly the best one and most suitable for us. So we signed with them, they have been more than great and we are extremely satisfied with everything they have done so far.

Did you inform labels you were back and they sent you some deal proposals or did you just contact the ones which interested you?

I think I informed about 15 labels or something, labels that I thought would be interested and who would suit CENTINEX. I think all labels got back to me, some turned down the offer but in the end we had something like 8 labels to choose from.

Older releases from the band have set the bar way too high… did this expectation weigh on your shoulders when you were preparing the new album?

No not really, we knew it will be a good album and didn’t really think about the bands past.

What are your expectations regarding the new album?

To be honest, I don’t really have any expectations or wishes. The album was something I wanted to do, I think

You have already a few concerts lined up. How excited are you and the other members?

We are very excited. We played our first official comeback show at the Kill Town Death Fest in Copenhagen a few weeks ago and it went great, now we are looking forward to the upcoming battalions.

After all these years is your passion for death metal still the same?

Yes more or less.

“Never change, never give up” you know…

What changed in really took out the best of it and raised the album to a the 8-year hiatus? higher level.

Many things, both on the personal level but also within This will be your ninth album… do you consider this the scene with all these new bands, labels and so on. So it’s hard to make a list and describe everything but yes, as the ninth album or like the first one of a new era?

To be honest, for me it’s more like the first album… or things HAVE changed. A lot! maybe second one, the natural follow up to On the press release Martin stated that “We are “Subconscious Lobotomy”. thrilled to announce that Centinex have inked a deal The album artwork has been created by Romanian with Agonia Records for the release of our new album. artist Costin Chioreanu of Twilight 13 Media (At The We as a band are very much looking forward to this Gates, Arch Enemy, Darkthrone). How important is cooperation as we feel that the label and the people behind it understands our artistic vision and what the art on the cover?

I think it’s important; a bad cover can ruin the album even Centinex anno MMXIV is all about. Influenced and inspired by the early 90‟s classic Florida-scene, if the music is good.

Yeah I have known Costin for almost 10 years and he has „Redeeming Filth‟ picks up the spirit from our 1992done a lot of stuff for DEMONICAL so it was quite debut „Subconscious Lobotomy‟ and leads us back to natural to ask him do the artwork for CENTINEX as well. the golden days of riff-oriented death metal. The An interesting fact is that Costin did the artwork for future looks soaking brutal!”… what is there left to “World Declension”, the CENTINEX album released in say?!

2005 which was the last effort before we split up, and that Well I don’t know, I think the statement speaks for itself was also the first international release he worked with. So and describes the current situation in the CENTINEX by doing the artwork for our new album the circle was camp rather well.

Thanx for your support – see you in hell! kind of closed you know. www.facebook.com/centinexofficial “Redeeming Filth” will be available in: digipack CD, digital format, black vinyl and brown vinyl… why so Interview by Sonia Fonseca many formats and the different colors in vinyl?

October 2014

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also very pleased with the production on the We already have a cover in mind for the next album, and album, and we specifically work with it's gonna be in a similar vein.

Jonas Kjellgren and Peter Tägtgren to get this very sound.

This year was and still is full of festival appearances for Kampfar, but what about touring, any news?

What's different on Djevelmakt in We did our European tour in March/April, and then we're regards to Mare, what are the obvious focusing on festivals for the summer period. In the elements you'd say you improved? Why meantime we are working on different ideas, but there is should the fans like it more than your nothing concrete to be announced as of yet. It's not a great time to be touring, but we still enjoy it very much, so we previous albums?

I don't think people should like one album over the other, expect to be going out a couple of more times before we I think there are great aspects to every Kampfar album. record the next album.

For me, 'Fra Underverdenen' will always be special in a way that no other album can be, just because of the Speaking about that how has been the response from darkness in and behind those songs. Those were not fans in regards to your new tracks? positive times. But as for differences, I'd say Ole is a very Generally very good. I think some people think we're too accomplished song writer who is able to take all our ideas far removed from the old days, but we've had this reaction and incorporate them into the songs he writes, meaning for every album, it's never as good as the old ones, until we have become better at fully exploring every musical the albums have had the time to get under peoples' skins. avenue we think up. Also, Dolk's vocals on the album are These new songs also work really well live, we've played at a new level, it's wild in a way I've never heard from half of the album in a live setting so far, and there is an immense power to them when performed on stage. him.

Hi Ask, thanks for taking your time to talk with us. You're with Kampfar since 2003, do you remember what made you decide to join the band and how come you were invited?

Hi, Adrian. The reason I joined Kampfar was that I was moving to the home town of the band, Fredrikstad. I read this interview where they said that they were back, and they were thinking of getting a drummer for possible live playing. So I got in touch, we rehearsed together a few times and then recorded the first pre-production demo for 'Kvass' after a couple of months. I have to be honest and say that I didn't know Kampfar's music up until then, the black metal I listened to was the more filthy kind, and Kampfar hadn't crossed my path yet. But as I started to spend time with those two first albums I fell in love with Could you please tell us a few words on the lyrical the music, and we soon grew into a strong creative union. concept of Djevelmakt?

The title means "devil power", and it's not as straight Everyone is now acquainted with the band and its forward as it may appear. It deals to a large extent with questions around who are the real devils, and is quite a name, but where does Kampfar comes from?

The name Kampfar means "battle father", it's one of fierce and direct approach to the whole idea of morals and Odin's many names. The band itself grew out of Dolk's who is in charge of right and wrong. A lot of anger went frustration with how the Norwegian black metal world in into the lyrics on the album. As for the two songs I wrote the early '90s became this place of rules and rigid ideas, lyrics for, and sang lead on, those are mainly about death, and decided to just do what he wanted. So after Mock which seems to be a subject that is present in everything I disbanded he started Kampfar, wrote one song and then write. got his brother-in-law to do guitar on the track. This turned into Thomas starting to write together with Dolk, If I'm not wrong, you chose the cover art booklet and they soon did a demo which became the first EP. artwork before writing the lyrics, is that correct? How Would you say Kampfar is more of a Black Metal band or a Pagan Folk Metal band?

This Folk label is something that's been attached to the band for most of its existence, partly because the term the band used to describe themselves in the early days was Norse Pagan Folklore Metal, but also partly because of some of the melodies on the first albums.

Still, it's always been a band with its roots in black metal, but maybe more connected to Bathory than to a lot of the Norwegian bands of the 90s.

“This Folk label is something that's been attached to the band for most of its

How's the collaboration with Indie Recordings so far?

Do you have more albums under contract for them?

We're doing our next album with Indie, and so far it's been a very positive experience. After so many years of labels trying to change things, trying to influence us to be more streamlined, trying to make us do all these things for publicity, we're now on a label that just lets us do what we do 100%. The thing is, we always did that, we just had to fight for it, now it's just happening on its own. We've also been very pleased with their work, and though there will always be conflict when working with labels, these are guys who are also musicians, which helps a lot.

How often do you rehearse nowadays and how does a regular rehearsal looks like? I mean do you work more on new songs or rehearse old ones who you might have forgotten?

We almost never rehearse everyone together, only before tours, really. Ole and I rehearse more steadily, since we have the rehearsal space in town, but we mostly rehearse when we have something concrete to work on. We're also at a level where we can practice on our own and get together just to make the songs gel. I personally rehearse a lot more with my other band Krakow, but we're also always working on something, so it's more of a creative form of jamming together, than rehearsing too much.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com) existence, partly because the term the band used to describe themselves in the early

days was Norse Pagan Folklore Metal, but

also partly because of some of the melodies

Why does the band moved to Bergen and what effects this move have had on the band and its members?

Well, the band has been scattered around since 2006, really. That's when I moved to The Netherlands, and shortly after Dolk moved away from Fredrikstad too, though still living in the Eastern part of Norway. When I moved back to Norway after 5 years I settled in Bergen, and shortly after Ole moved here too, from Trondheim.

As our rehearsal room and our studio are both located in Bergen, we now say that we are based in Bergen, though both Jon and Dolk still live in the East. It's just that the majority of the creative work is being done together here in the west.

on the first albums�Ask

come? And since we're here please also tell us a few words on that amazing piece of artwork.

Some lyrics were in place, but we found the cover pretty early on in the process. The painting was done in 1981 by the Polish artist Zdzislaw Beksinski, an artist we've admired for a long time. When we came across this particular painting we knew we had the right visual representation of the emotions in the album. Nasty and beautiful, with lots of hidden icons. We acquired a second painting of his that was used for the single and is also in the greater artwork of the different editions of the albums, as well as a 1904 painting by J.C. Dollman, named In the interviews I've read with Dolk lately, he seems 'Famine'. to be really happy with the final result of Djevelmakt, how do you feel about your latest album?

I feel very good about the album. It's in some ways been the easiest album to make, of all the ones I ever did, be it with Kampfar or other bands.

That doesn't mean it wasn't hard work, I never practiced this much before a recording, for instance, but everything was so clear from the beginning of the writing process. Since we can record pre-prod demos in Ole's studio we get a very clear idea of what we're working on, as opposed to in the past where a lot of the writing was done in the rehearsal room and we would go in the studio with bigger question marks around how the final songs would sound. I am

21

Speaking about new tracks, are there any new ones yet? Can you share a few new track names with us?

We have written a few sketches so far, some of them are definitely going to end up on the album. No titles yet, though, they're still not at that stage.

When do you usually come up with new tracks? Does it randomly happens or do you guys schedule a particular period when you'll do nothing else than working on new songs?

It's Ole who mainly comes up with the basic framework of a song. He'll maybe add some parts that Jon has sent him, then we do a lot of online discussion, I'll come over and reprogam the drums, Dolk will start coming up with vocal lines which will dictate changed in the structure.

There's no real recipe, though, it just happens the way it happens, in a different way for each song.

Thanks a lot for your answers, please share your last thoughts with our readers.

Thanks and kudos on naming your fanzine after a great album! We have some great friends from your country, like the Dordeduh guys, and we are working together with a great Romanian photographer here in Norway. We hope to come to Romania next year, it's a damned shame we have never made it to your country. -Ask-

July 2014

Merchants of Death wholesale copies of the stuff I liked & then sold them through the mail as a hobby just to finance my own collecting needs, but as the years went by the “hobby” grew into a full-time job. The label currently promotes all “genres” within the Extreme Metal realm: Death, Black, Doom, Gothic, etc.

Please present your label, when and where was it started, who is involved in its activities and what genres are promoted by it.

Cold Raw Records was born in the end of 2012 in Castleford (United Kingdom). I decided to make own label for reissues of a Pontefractum Melancholicum (my own project) releases label. In the end of 2013 I decided to be open for other black metal bands. I am Doctor - one person with all responsibilities for Cold Raw Records. I promote

Tell us a few words on each or the most important releases of your label, and which of them are still available for purchase.

Right now I’m really pushing the new release from Coldblood – they’ve been a staple of the Brazilian Death Metal scene since 1992 & Metallic Media is now proud to offer their latest album of all-new material: “Chronology of Satanic Events” – I think it’s the best album they’ve ever done – it will definitely appeal to fans of bands like Deicide & Krisiun – it’s totally old-school in style but very well-done & polished in all the right places. Other notable artists within the Metallic Media catalog include Moloch, Astarot, Fecund Betrayal, Abysmal Depths + many more. All of our releases are still available through various distros worldwide as well as on Ebay, Amazon, & Discogs.

What are the most important features you look for in a band that is or has the chance to be signed on your label?

There are actually 2 different things I look for – 1. Does the band have a solid following (fans)? If so, then pushing the “brand” won’t be nearly as hard (ha ha). And 2. Is the band doing something “unique” within the Metal genre? Most people still buying CDs these days will not “buy” something that sounds like 1000 other CDs they already have in their collection, instead they tend to pick up things that are “different” & provide a slightly new experience for the listener.

only black metal bands, but not NS black metal.

Tell us a few words on each or the most important releases of your label, and which of them are still available for purchase.

All of my releases are important, but I am extremely proud of make a reissues Zaimus "The Unholy Spells Of Night"EP and Midnattsvrede "Demo 13" Ep. All of my releases are available for purchase (except two first Pontefractum Melancholicum albums.

Available now only for download). All releases I do on CDr as limited edition to 66 copies and sell for symbolic money. Lot of them I spread as a trade.

How can a band get in touch with you? What should bands know before submitting their promos for your consideration?

Metallic Media can be contacted via any of these links: info.metallicmedia@gmail.com, www.metallic-media.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/MetallicMedia, www.MetallicMedia.com Bands should know that our release schedule is usually full up to a year in advance, but if we dig what you’re doing we’ll work with you the best we can in order to make a physical release possible.

What are the most important features you look for in a band that is or has the chance to be signed on your label?

I release bands which I would like to hear and potentially I would like to buy a CD. I'm digging in deep and looking for something special what may kick my ass. I am looking for honest, true, black metal bands.

What's the most important thing in the relationship between you and your bands?

What is your label offering to its bands?

The MOST important part of the relationship between the label & the band is that the band be very aggressive in promoting itself because the label is too busy with pressing, trades, distribution, advertising, etc., so building a fan base unfortunately falls mostly on the band itself. That being said the label IS able to provide worldwide distribution of their product, cover all of the costs associated with pressing & advertising it, + give 10% of the pressed copies directly to the band as a “payment” for their efforts.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

How can a band get in touch with you? What should bands know before submitting their promos for your consideration?

The best ways to contact with Cold Raw Records are: official website www.coldrawrecords.com, facebook page www.facebook.com/ColdRawRecords, or email: coldrawrecords@gmail.com. I promise to answer all the proposals received. I expect a full project of release: music and artwork.

Is there anything you planned with your label and has not yet been completed?

At this point no, it’s clicking along pretty much the way I envisioned it.

What's the most important thing in the relationship between you and your bands?

What is your label offering to its bands?

Cold Raw Records is not a "every day facebook release label". If you are in Cold Raw Records - you are choosen, you are special one I do not offer money for release and I do not take any money from bands. Band gets 5 copies of release, I put advertisement and some information associated with the band on my sites and I send some copies of releases to WebZines with asking for review. I spread releases as a trade... I do not like bands which put one (same) release in many labels.

How does the future looks for your label? Any major projects you would like to share with us?

Yes! In 2014 Metallic Media will be teaming up with Black Plague Records to corelease a lot of great new CDs from bands like Lycanthropy, Adhuk, Solitude Project, Fatal Castration + many more! By pooling our resources we will be able to release more stuff together than either of us could by ourselves.

Is there anything you planned with your label and has not yet been completed?

Time will tell what happens. I never say never. But at the moment everything looks as I would like. I do not do this for money, I do this for pleasure, for my pleasure...

May 2014

How does the future looks for your label? Any major projects you would like to share with us?

Two excellent bands from Spain: Servi Diaboli and Fathomhell very soon, also Moribund / Excrementum Luciferi / Pontefractum Melancholicum split. I hope to hear in this year a new, full length material of Zaimus from Montenegro... and many other kicking ass bands...

Please present your label, when and where was it started, who is involved in its activities and what genres are promoted by it.

Hi there! Thanks for the possibility of presenting my heresy on your zine!

When it comes to the label Wydawnicto Muzyczne PSYCHO, I’m working with them since 2008. It’s our 5th anniversary this year ;) But why since 2008? Because my buddies from THE THORN band recorded their genius album "Hermitage of Non-Divine”, but no one was interested with releasing it. I could not let this great material to waste, so I released it myself, this way starting Wydawnictwo Muzyczne Psycho. When it comes to the genres that we promote, it’s mostly Death and Thrash metal, the stuff that excites me the most.

The main motto of my label is: I only release stuff that I personally enjoy, and not what is popular at the moment. Before all that I co-managed some polish webzine, but since 2009 I’m working on a couple of different projects, so in addition to my label I also manage a paperback magazine "Tribal Convictions” and I play on a bass guitar in Mort Douce. So as you can see, I can’t say that I’m bored ;-)

April 2014

Please present your label, when and where was it started, who is involved in its activities and what genres are promoted by it.

I started Metallic Media back around 2000 just as a mail-order house (then named “Basement Music”) because I was tired of paying too much for CDs through other outlets & then having to wait weeks to get them. I thought, this isn’t rocket science, I bet I could do a distro & do it much better, so I did. I just started buying extra

Tell us a few words on each or the most important releases of your label, and which of them are still available for purchase.

As I said before, for me the album „Hermitage of Non-Divine” is very important, because it’s when it all started. But my other releases are as much important to me, and

22

there are 41 titles out now, on CD’s and tapes. Add to it all the merchandise – shirts, hoodies, patches, pins, you can even buy from me a stylish hat for the coming winter ;-) I also have a great sentiment to the re-releases that I made available for the whole world: Hazael, Borea and Cryptic Tales. I was able to save them from being forgotten and form me it is also a reason to be proud. Every new release with the logo of Wydawnictwo Muzyczne PSYCHO makes me happy. I’m sure that every fan of metal underground can find something interesting in my catalog. And no one can take from me the fact, that it was my label that released debut albums from bands like Swedish Intestinal, Spanish Mass Burial or Costa Rican Insepulto. When it comes to the availability of my releases, on this moment only some single titles are sold out, so relax, everyone wanting a good record will be satisfied!

vinyl records so far and also acted as an entity to organise two shows in Vienna in 2010 and 2011. TGP is run by yours truly, Mr. Terrorghoul.

Here’s a list of all past TGP activities: 2009: Execration (Aut) – Putrid Rehearsal of Death MC (Sold Out), Goat Torment (Bel) – Death Worship MC (Sold Out), Abhorrot (Aut) – The Santvary ov Darkness MC (Sold Out) 2010: Disgusting (Aut) – Promo MMX MC (Sold Out), Live Show: Proclamation (Esp) / Bestial Raids (Pol) / Abhorrot (Aut) / Descending Darkness (Aut) / Disgusting (Aut) 2011: Abhorrot (Aut) – Promo-Tape 2011 MC (Sold Out), Abhorrot (Aut) / Black Feast (Fin) / Unholy Crucifix (USA) / Usurpateur (Can) – Abominations of Darkness MC (Sold Out), Abhorrot (Aut) – Rites of Prehistoric Darkness 7” Ep (Available), Live Show: Truppensturm (Ger) / Bestial Raids (Pol) / Blasphemous, Noise Torment (Ita) / Abhorrot (Aut) 2014: Blood Urn (Aut) - …of Gory sorcery and Death MC (Available)

What are the most important features you look for in a band that is or has the chance to be signed on your label?

For me, it’s all about the music, a bands "way of life” is of secondary importance. As I said before, I only release the records that I readily and often listen to, as a fan of metal genre. I release records which are often unpopular, from bands that are largely unknown, whose level of artistry is often on par, or even higher than that of all this commercial shit that’s forcefully put out before us, by all the colorful music magazines.

Since a record THE THORN to now released material like Chaos Synopsis, Deathstorm or Mass Burial, every single record with Wydawnictwo Muzyczne PSYCHO logo is the work of me and the bands that trusted my humble person with their material. That’s what we should stick to, and remember about ;-)

Tell us a few words on each or the most important releases of your label, and which of them are still available for purchase.

To be honest, there’s no such thing as “most important releases” in the label’s history, as all were equally important to me at the time of their creation. If had to choose one “special” release though, it’d have to be the Abhorrot 7”; simply due to all the more or less interesting aspects of creating a vinyl record.

What are the most important features you look for in a band that is or has the chance to be signed on your label?

I have a pretty elaborate and well refined idea of what I would consider for a release through TGP and that’s what I match potential candidates against. The exact criteria, or “important features” as you put it, are music, visual aesthetics and overall image/atmosph ere a given band evokes.

All of that has to be a coherent incarnation of Darkness and Death to be considered worthy of my time, money and overall effort.

How can a band get in touch with you? What should bands know before submitting their promos for your consideration?

Overall I’m not too restrictive when it comes to the bands that want or would like to contact me. Everyone can try, but with different results. Myself, I’m a fan of old-school European death metal, and such bands are my priority. I also love good thrash metal, I don’t mind stoner metal, doom metal, or black metal. But let me think – Definitely all bands that play ambient or gothic metal are not my interests. This kind of bands should not bother to contact me, because I won’t be interested in working with them.

What's the most important thing in the relationship between you and your bands?

What is your label offering to its bands?

The point of keeping a label like Wydawnictwo Muzyczne Psycho alive lies in a number of sold records. Sadly, these days those numbers are getting lower and it’s hard to cost/profit balance at zero with every single release – so working on such label should be considered a very expensive hobby. Anyways, I don’t feel any pressure with becoming a mainstream label, I can’t afford to sign any stars, and I try to keep clear of bands that try to impose bloated conditions on contracts. I work in the underground, with a very restricted budget, and this doesn’t give you much leeway. But I assure you, that I always try to do everything to make the bands that put their material in my hands happy with the results.

How can a band get in touch with you?

What should bands know before submitting their promos for your consideration?

Via email, using this address: terrorghoul@g mail.com.

Digital submissions will generally be ignored and sent straight to the dephts of the Spam Folder. Other than that, the only thing to know is: if you haven’t heard of any of the bands yet, that TGP has released stuff for in the past, do not bother submitting anything at all. Or past activities and releases should serve more than well as an indication of what kind of Death we deal with.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

Is there anything you planned with your label and has not yet been completed?

There are a couple of those. First of all, I’d like to release something on the best medium for metal music – the vinyl record. Privately I’m a maniac vinyl collector, id I’ve loved this form of media since early 1980! My second dream is to be able to make the distribution of my releases a bit better. Sadly, I haven’t worked on this distribution issue to much, and I would like to be able to release my records all over the world. In spite of that, my records can be bought without any problems in countries such as Mexico, Chile, Finland, Slovakia, Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, Brazil or Czech Republic, so overall it’s not so bad, but it could’ve been better. If anyone would like to help me to make my distribution network better – contact me. Maybe we can figure something out!

How does the future looks for your label? Any major projects you would like to share with us?

When it comes to my future plans, they don’t go that far. I live here and now, from one release to the next. Recently I’ve released #9 Tribal Convictions ’zine, which is available with a professionally mixed tape containing a 60 minute collection of excellent music. In a moment a new record of my band Mort Douce will be released – an old-school death metal, which should find a large range of fans. It should be pointed out, that this year I released such great records as newest album of Brazilian Chaos Synopsis, Mass Burial and amazing debut record from Deathstorm. So 2013 was a very active and abundant year when it comes to various musical experiences! I hope that next year, at least musically, won’t be worse!

How can anyone get in touch with you? Please list your website, webstore and/or social media links.

You can contact me by various means. Today, the best and simplest way is to write me an email. I also enjoy a traditional form of correspondence – written letter. Most of the details, e-mail address and stuff like that you can find on those links: www.wydawnictwopsycho.com, www.facebook.com/pages/WydawnictwoPsycho/139328649458036

What's the most important thing in the relationship between you and your bands?

What is your label offering to its bands?

That’s hard to answer from a label’s point of view; I guess you’d have to ask the bands… As far as my label activity is concerned, I usually offer a quality release on analogue format (MC, vinyl) with a 10-15% share of the total units produced going to the band for their effort.

January 2014

Is there anything you planned with your label and has not yet been completed?

I recently stopped acting as a distro, which of course makes it harder to get my releases to the actual “consumers”. This step was long overdue and is still in transition, as getting rid of all the old stock takes its time.

Please present your label, when and where was it started, who is involved in its activities and what genres are promoted by it.

Terroghoul Productions (TGP) was created in 2009 in Vienna/Austria.

The label focuses on (Blackened) Death Metal, has released MCs and

How does the future looks for your label? Any major projects you would like to share with us?

None at the moment, taking it rather slow these days. As far as the future is concerned, only time will tell – there’s no masterplan and I generally tend to act rather impulsively when it comes to discovering potential future releases or other projects. http://dthcltrtl.net/tg May 2014

23

Hi Jorn, how are you?

How's the band, still a trio?

Hi Adrian, I`m fine thanx!

The band is better than ever, and YES, we are still a trio!

After more than a decade of silence you've decided to get the band back to life. What triggered this reunion, and was it decided before Dark Essence renewed the deal they had with you, or after their suggestion?

Well, HADES has never been laid dead, but we have been inactive for some years forth & back. Mainly because of other projects, kids, family, etc...I have been playing with Dominanz for 5 years, recorded 2 albums, played some live shows, etc... Also with HADES we have been playing some shows, both Europe, and Norway!

I never stopped making HADES songs, but because of different issues, we didn`t officially start recording the new album before recently!! We`ve had dialog with Dark Essence for some years now, and they are very supportive in our actions, etc....It has always been our choice, and no one else’s!

the scene, why wasn't it forgotten all these years?

Well, some does, and some don`t... I don’t really care about that. When HADES was born, a new era in Black Metal was born! Like it, or hate it!

Since I have you here I'll also ask a few questions regarding your earlier years. I'm curious, what made you direct the band towards a Viking / Pagan territory instead of a traditionalist Black Metal?

Well, back then I played in different bands and different styles, like Black Thrash, Death Metal, Black Metal,,,, I was in the search for something special designed for my ego! And then Me & Remi created HADES!

I know you're in the studio at the moment recording a new album. What studio are you using now? Who's going to be the producer? How much time do you plan on spending on recordings and arrangements?

Most guitars and bass will be recorded at my home studio. Drums/vocals/etc will be recorded in another location nearby. It will then be reamped and mixed in Soundsuite Studio in Marseilles. All in all the recording time will be finished within a few months, but first we will release a teaser for our Fans... an EP with 3 songs from the album!

Hopefully the fullenght will be released in March! The producers will be HADES & T. Refsnes!

Your debut demo is more melodic than what was being released in '92 and '93, so how did the Black Metal community received that demo?

It was very well received back then, and still by some people stands like a milestone in the Black Metal history!

What are the tracks you'll feature on it? Were they composed before the band's To me it seems a lot of Norwegian Black Metal bands got a lot of promotion from split-up or now, after you decided to get back in the scene? the church arsons back in the '90's somehow benefiting from your actions. You The songs were written both recently and like 10 years ago! And all the time in always stated you don't regret your actions, but from this point of view do you between! regret unwillingly creating a springboard for other Black Metal bands that were What should we expect from this new album, what are the differences from the not involved in such actions? previous? Any new covers or only tracks of your Well, to put it very easy! I didn`t change in these own? years! I`m still the same motherfucker, but now I have There will only be new songs on this album, and no “I`m still the same motherfucker, but more experience in life! And for me, that means I care covers! There will be a big difference from the previous less than I did back then! What other people did, and album, but you will definitely hear that it`s HADES! now I have more experience in life!” how other bands evolved, and surfed the Black Metal wave into oblivion is their task, and not of my interest!

Please tell us something about its lyrics.

Jorn Tunsberg The lyrics will be dark, cold and honest, like the music!

Were / are you annoyed by the '90's church arsons The topics will not be revealed now. subject after your release from prison? Do you think your imprisonment toughen you or was it a waste of time?

No, but sometimes it gave my family and friends a hard time...For me personally it was Dark Essence will release it, is there any release date scheduled? Why Dark Essence again? a experience of life!

It all depends on us, and when we are ready to deliver the material!

Moving closer to nowadays, what Do you have any plans for the happened after The Pulse of cover artwork already?

Decay that made the band stop its Yes, we do have it all ready, but will activity? Was it planned more like not reveal anything yet! an on hold period rather than a complete demise of the band?

What are your expectations from We went into a new era in our this upcoming album? Are you musical career, and had some looking forward to touring again? different issues and priorities for a Yes, definitely we are! But for a period of time. But still we went to period we will play only exclusive rehearsals together. In the end we shows! And by that I mean, we will had to sit down and find out what to not tour for 3-4 weeks with the same do! The answer for all of us, was setlist! that we will go on! And so we did...

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

Have you read the Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult book?

What's your honest opinion on it?

Yes, I have read it and it`s maybe the most informative book about Black Metal in the world! It`s really well written, and beholds many interesting interviews!

What did you guys do in the meantime? Were you involved in other bands? Are they still active?

I was in Dominanz until recently, when I decided to put all my focus into HADES again! They are still active, and I joined them until the new album was recorded 1 month ago! Janto was playing in Bourbon Flame for some years, they are no longer active! Remi was busy with his work with reptiles, Tv shows, writing a book, etc...

Thank you very much for your time and effort to answer this interview and best of luck with the new album!

Thanx for you from the Horde Of HADES! Look out for the new album from HADES!!!! Sorry for being so brief in the answers.....

Running out of time_:_:_: HAIL HAIL HAIL!!!

Another curiosity of mine: when you walk around in the city do younger metalheads know who you are? Do you feel they respect you as they should? And since we're talking about respect, what would you say Hades brought to

August 2014

24

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

These days the situation is opposite. There is almost no space for Czech bands in big Czech festivals so the national scene is losing. I think there are many good bands in Czech R. but nobody knows about them abroad and over here neither. There is no space for them in big festivals so they are known only by those real metalheads who are visiting little clubs and events.

Hi Yarda, how's the Summer for Poppy Seed Grinder? Please make a short presentation for the ones who were not aware of your band before reading this.

Hi Adrian and all Slowly We Rot readers.

This summer has been very busy for us.

We are just preparing our 3rd album and doing gigs in the same time.

We have just performed in Krhanice Open Air festival which we co-organize and Kaltenbach Open Air in Austria And we are

Your band name, Poppy Seed Grinder, leads to fun related topics, but please tell us what topics do you usually use in your lyrics, do you have any special messages to transmit? And since we're here please tell us about the band name, who and why picked it?

You can ask Eddie more about the lyrics.

EDDIE - Lyrics are mostly about human stupidity and that is very wide topic. Mostly it’s like.... what happens when people do not learn from their errors and shit like that.

The story about our name PSG is quite funny. I was creating the band when I was teenager together with my younger brother. None of us knew any English words back then. We only knew we wanted a band and we want to play death metal or grindcore.

One day we discovered in our parents storage room box from mill for poppy seed with the "Poppy Seed Grinder" written on it. We have decided immediately. The band name is going to be PSG. What it means we found out few years later but didn't bother changing it.

going to perform in Fekal Party in Prague .

You've always had major line-up changes, what's the current line-up and how do you get along with the new members?

This is another new thing this summer. We are right in the middle of changing our PSG. Drummer Dharm and singing bass guitarist Honza are leaving the band and on Friday it was the last performance with those guys in Katlenbach. In the same time we almost managed to finish auditions for their replacement by singer Eddie and drummer Ondra, who are busy practising with the band for the new album and for the performance in Fekal Party. Our last performance in Krhanice festival was special because we performed with our current band members and the new ones where the two singers were singing together some of the songs. We are still busy practicing with the new band members but it looks we are gonna be great team.

How was 2014 for PSG so far in what concerns live gigs, and what else do you plan for the second part of the year? How would you advertise a PSG live show to someone who never saw you live, like me for example, why should I see PSG live?

This year we didn’t play live much. We were preparing new promo CD so we were busy recording and mixing. We performed in few little clubs. We wanted to focus on new album, but then our team changed so that's why I didn't plan any new gigs and refused few offers. We only performed planned gigs. The rest of the time I used for searching of the new band mates and practicing with them.

For those fans who have never seen us live I can say that we enjoy live gigs most of all and we put all our energy in those. Perhaps that's why you are waiting so long for new album. We enjoy playing live so we are barely refusing gigs offers. You can check our profile on YouTube and see us for yourselves.

If I'm correct, you're gearing up for a new album, and this will be your third. This year you released a promo in order to shop around for labels. Any reactions? Why not releasing it under Nice to Eat You Records again? How was and how is your relationship with them?

We are friends with Vladimir from NTEY, but we would like to try our luck abroad.

Due to changes in our band team I haven't contacted any recording studios yet. I was waiting till we are complete and ready in case a deal with some studio comes up. Till today we sent our promo CD to magazines and websites and the reactions are positive for now so I hope that also studios are reading those magazines and websites.

Are you closer to the current Brutal Death scene or to the current Grindcore movement, which one defines PSG better?

We consider ourselves to be Brutal death metal band but fans see us as grindcore. We have the word "grind'' in our name but we are somewhere in between those styles.

How much of this upcoming album is already completed? Could you please tell us a few words on the new tracks?

We have finished nine songs so far so the album is almost finished.

It's going to be typical album of PSG don't expect any changes of genre or step asides. It will be again mix of death metal, HC and grindcore. No slowdowns planned.

Thanks a lot for your time and hope to listen to the new album soon. The ending is yours.

We thank you for nice interview! New PSG album is going to see the world soon and it's going to be worth waiting! For now we have sample of it in our promo CD, which is free to download from our website. Stay Brutal!

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com) August 2014

In 2009 you released a demo, "Reign of Fear", and I guess everyone expected a new album after that, but nothing happened. What if the history repeats itself and the fans will end up with this promo only?

Back then we just wanted to try if we are able to record song ourselves without the need of studio. We liked it so we released Reign Of Fear. But the truth is that there were some team changes for the first time after releasing album Humanophobia which resulted in slowing down of everything. Today our fans don´t need to be worried because the new stuff is ready and I believe that within six months they will be able to listen our new album Poppy Seed Grinder in comfort of their homes.

The band was founded in 1997, you're rapidly approaching 2 decades of activity.

How do you see the band's evolution along all these years? How did PSG's music change during these years?

Recently we celebrated our 15th anniversary so we are still far from 20years. Our most important achievement is that we gradually learned to play and we know what sound we want to have. We are still listening the same music there were no big changes or movements in past few years. But the truth is that I don´t have necessary overview. In any case we are trying to make music to be enjoyable for us to listen to and play at the same time.

Which are PSG's main achievements so far and what are you aiming to at the moment?

I don´t know how far i can judge our achievements. Both of our albums were selling quite good. I judge it by how we enjoyed some moments of our music journey. We had great fun touring around Europe and performing with all that bands we used to listen to as teenagers... At this moment our aim is to record our best album and perform as many gigs as possible to be as close to our fans as possible.

Although it has some of the best Extreme Metal festivals in Europe, to me it seems the scene in Czech Republic toned down a bit lately, at least in regards to the effervescent movement from the end of the '90's - beginning of the '00's. Is that true? How do you see your local Extreme Metal scene at the moment?

In my opinion the difference between '90's and now is for me that back then the organizers were not inviting as many foreign bands as today and logically they let the national bands play more and that made them more famous abroad.

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Rising Demons – Rising Demons – Rising Demons 1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.

How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?

3. Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?

4. What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?

5. Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?

6. What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?

7. What plans do you have for the near future as a band?

8. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?

2.

4. For the moment, with DASAP, I only released 2 Ep's. The 1st one was not so promoted. As I do all by myself, it was hard to do good promotions, but I got a few reviews and feedback was good. Often compared to French band Svart Crown, and I must admit that there is worst compliments! The 2nd Ep has been released in january of this year but I really started to promote it now, so I cannot say for the moment. I'm waiting some reviews, some radio broadcast and I try to send as much as I can demo to webzine, radio and label. We will see. I have to say that I'am really proud of this new Ep. Pierre has done a really great job on the vocals and I really improved my sound in my home studio. I hope people will feel the same.

BLODORN 1. Well, Mickael and Laurent are at the beginning of the project.

I've joined them in 2009 for a new direction more brutal and resulted.

Lately Nicolas whom is a good and a technical guitar player has joined the troop. Blodorn is currently composed of Mickael (Drums) Laurent (Guitars/growl) Nicolas (Guitars) and i (Bass/growl).

5. No live and for the moment it is not planned. I played live for 8 years with SICKBAG, travelling all over Europe, play in great festival like Obscene Extreme or MHM Fest but now things are different. Maybe one day, but there is many other things to do before!

6. I don't know. I try to do something simple, honnest and the way I want. I didn't learn how to sell myself...

3. Buy it, steal it, download it. no matter. As long as Blodorn spreads like scabies that fine! I won't be after people, I‟m no good sponsor.

7. Right now,i'm working on an album. Something around 10 songs. I give myself one year and a half at maximum to do so, so I work hard on song writing to get as much as possible new material. I think the line up will stay like this. I want to continue to work with Pierre even if we are far from each other. I also continue promotion of my last Ep, I also celebrate my 20 years of music recording, and for this occasion, UK based label, Cold Raw Records will release in mid-October "Don't worry it will be worse" with, as bonus tracks, my 2 first demos from 1994 and 1996, and a old song re-recorded this year. I'm happy of this release and the support the guy from Cold Raw give to little band like mine.

4. In 2009 we made a demo of 4 tracks in confidentiality. Definitely because it was not good enough. Then in 2013 we made a selfreleased with only 2 tracks. But feedbacks were rather positive, fucking surprising and encouraging!

8. You can stream all my Ep on dasap.bandcamp.com, If you want to order you can go to dasap.bigcartel.com, or directly to me at undasap@gmail.com. There is also a Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/pages/DASAP/128027027240504

5. So far we have played with Napalm Death, Svart Crown and some others. We rarely played live.

de profundis

2. Every member of our band listen to different kind of music however we all want to express bestiality, disgust and violence through our music. We practice a brutal death metal with destructive tempo, blackened path and french lyrics. Our main influences are bands like AngelCorpse, Arkhon Infaustus, Abhorrence, Immolation, Azarath, Hate Eternal... And i get some inspiration in lyricists like E.A Poe, L.F. Céline, G.Bataille...

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

1. We founded „de profundis‟ in 2000. I met Yzokras in high school and after descovering we both liked metal music, we were hanging around more and more together. I started playing the guitar quite late, when I was 19, but after couple of months I already started writing my own music.

These early songs were inspired by bands like Tiamat, Anathema or My Dying Bride. After discovering black metal, I wrote couple of black metal riffs, which I showed Yzokras, who immediately suggested to form a band. He came up with the name „de profundis‟. As in black metal twomember bands were not unusual, we decided that there would be only two of us as permanent members and the rest of the instruments would be handled by guest musicians. When we had 3-4 decent songs, we started recording a demo, but in the middle of the procedure I decided to move to London and unfortunately we never finished that demo. We reunited again as a band only after 7 years, when I returned to Hungary. In 2008 I put together a small home studio and we started working on couple of old songs and managed to create also some new ones, which led to our first official demo in 2010. Since then we put together our first full-length album with 11 songs, which is going to be released in October.

6. Honestly, they have to be crazy if they ever sign Blodorn. We don't have any structures. We are rather "do it yourself". But our passion for music is real we are trying to musically evolve in order to give the best of ourselves. Regarding human relation we privilege quality and not quantity.

7. An ep we will name "Absolu" is going to come out before the year's end that my wish. And for the rest, nothing is set up by now.

8. You will be able to listen to Blodorn on www.facebook.com/BlodornBand. And contact us if you ever want to get physical copies at blodorn@neuf.fr

DASAP 1.

I

have created DASAP in 2010 and it's the continuation of old solos projects that I started in 1994. Before this time, I played around 8 years in SICKBAG, a French act of crossover grindcore. When SICKBAG split up, it was natural to continue to play music and that's how DASAP was born. I first recorded a 6 titles Ep in 2010, help by a friend of mine (Kevin G) who made vocals.

And at the start of 2014, I released my second Ep "Don't worry it will be worse", with now Pierre D at vocals.

2. We define our music raw, melodic black metal, but I guess you could also use atmospheric. It is raw, as it is based on early 90‟s black metal, but in every song we use melodies, so the listener can easily distinguish the songs from each other. Apart from one song we also use synth and other instruments, which give our music the final atmosphere. At the beginning we were influenced by bands like Ulver, Summoning, Limbonic Art or Darkthrone. In different reviews of our demo there were also other bands mentioned as influences, such as Marduk, Emperor or Bathory, though these bands were not really in the picture, when I was working on the riffs. At the beginning our music was absolutely necro black metal, but later on we brought in more and more melodies, until finally we got to the music we play at the moment.

2. I listen many styles, not only in metal, but I am most influenced by Black, brutal death and grindcore. I also listen to some bands in sludge and ambients. I try to mix all this. It's hard to define for me even if my music is not so complicated but I played brutal Black/death if we must put a label on it.

There are many bands that influenced my work and you don't have enough pages in your zine to quote them all! But my favorites one are the old good ones from 90's, like Burzum, Ulver, Mayhem, Dying Fetus, Napalm Death. I also listen to a lot of Converge, Dillinger Escape Plan, the 1st Cult of Luna. Recently I discovered Svartidaudi and I must admit that it's been a long time I heard to such a good band and album!!!

3. That is an interesting question. If I was a good marketing person, I would say many things now, but I am not one. ? It is hard to talk about my own music as it possibly stirs up completely different feelings in each and every one of you. I believe we managed to create something unique, though the bases of the songs root in early 90‟s black metal, but we composed remarkable melodies to every song. On the album you can find a nice variety of songs from 3 minutes complete blastbeats to the very slow, depressive black

3. I don't know, I'm not a sales representative but what should I say is that I tried to collect all that is good and I like in metal. From Brutality to melody, from melancholy to enlightenment. And I'm devoted to brutal music since 20 years from now, so maybe you should take an ear and you will find a part of you in my music.

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4. In 2008 I released “The Rites of Winter : The First Storm“ as self-release. This sold out quite quickly and had quite a positive public response.

2012 brought “Lore of Winter – Ealdspell “through Wodfrecca Records, this release had mixed reviews due to the sound I wanted to achieve. Basically I think some people just didn‟t get the raw ambience of the album, it was worlds apart from the mainstream that most people knew black metal to be, which was intentional.

In 2014 through UKEM Records “Beyond Bloodied Banners and Haunted Winters Graven” was released along with Crueltys Heart, This I‟m told is down to the last few copies now and so far has had very positive reviews.

Over the years I have also taken part in a handful of compilations and a Burzum tribute album called “Forsvunnet Filosofem “ in which I covered “Dunkelheit”

metal or there are also 3 ambient songs giving the ears some rest. I would also emphasize the lyrics as they play important part in our creation. The lyrics come from Yzokras and they go beyond the avarage black metal lyrics. It is worth to read them while listening to our music as they complete each other.

The album will be worth to be purchased originally, as it comes with a beautiful 12page booklet, which visually also helps to create the right atmosphere for the music.

4. The first (and only) official demo was released in 2010. It is entitled „Haunted By Ill Angels Only‟ and contains 4 songs. I can proudly say that it received only positive reviews. The only thing what people criticized was the sound, but it was recorded in my home studio and that was the best sound we could create at that time. The demo is sold out by now, so we re-released it on a split tape last year. On the other side you can listen to the first demo of our fellow Hungarian black metal band „Velm‟. This tape captured the attention of Dark East Productions and it is going to be released by them on CD later on this year.

In 2011 we released a song „If The Forest Comes Into Leaf‟ on a compilation CD by Fekete Terror Fanzine. This is our most brutal song and got great reviews, especially from the die-hard black metal fans.

In 2012 our brand new song „Indulj el egy úton‟ was released on the „Vas és Vér/Iron And Blood‟ compilation by Hungaryan Records. On this CD there were different traditional, Hungarian martial and folk songs covered by underground extreme metal bands. Our cover was not everybody‟s cup of tea, most people liked it, but also got some negative reviews, especially our first official video, which was shot for this song.

In 2014 we finished our first full-length album, which is waiting to be released at this moment. It contains 11 songs and was recorded and mixed under professional circumstances. You can listen to „Ebony And Blood‟ from this album on the compilation CD of this issue. The album will be released on CD and limited digipak CD

by Dark East Productions together with Nihil Art Records and it will be also available on tape by Neverheard Distro.

5. No. Frostwork isn‟t a live band, and thus far I have no plans for it to be so.

5. They should know that I am very serious in what I do, I create the soundscapes I feel I need to, not what the media dictates or what will apparently sell. Not many labels out there would be interested in that I assume but that‟s ok with me.

6. Within the coming winter months I will begin writing and recording for the next album, I have some ideas already. There are plans in place for a couple of compilation releases and I am contributing a track to a Darkthone tribute album.

8. You can find Frostwork at all the normal soul destroying social media hide outs: www.facebook.com/frostworkofficial, www.reverbnation.com/frostwork, www.youtube.com/user/FROSTWORKuk. You can buy “Beyond Bloodied Banners and Haunted Winters Graven” here www.ukemrecords.co.uk, itunes.apple.com/gb/album/beyond-bloodied-banners-far/id839653568. The earlier releases can be downloaded for free at frostwork.bandcamp.com.

KILLRAZER

5. We do not play live, because of various reasons. The main one is that we live in different countries, so it would be impossible to rehearse. The second one is that „de profundis‟ still has only the two of us as permanent members, so we should find some determined musicians willing to play with us. The third reason is that as much as I would like to interpret our music live, I do not really feel the urge to play in front of 1015 people in some shitty club with horrible sound. I rather work on some music in my studio.

1. Killrazer formed back in 2006 after the breakup of a few different local Sydney bands. We were all frustrated with the way things were being run etc so we decided to ge our own thing going and run it how we wanted to. Since then we have done many, many tours of Australia and New Zealand with bands such as Vader, Sodom, Malevolent Creation, Children Of Bodom, Krisiun, Coroner as well as myself and other members playing back up musicians for Paul Dianno and Blaze Bayley from Iron Maiden as well as Ripper Owens from Judas Priest.

The members are myself Doug Dalton, vocals/guitar, Jimmy Lardner-Brown, Guitar, Zoran Mrakic , Bass and backing vocals. Josh Brazewell has been our drummer for the last few years but has had to leave due to health reasons, so Luke Cook from Aussie legends Mortal Sin will be helping out with our album launch and Krisiun support coming up, then I guess we will see what happens from there. Will be a blast playing with Luke again, seeing as he was our original drummer from way back in the day.

6. It is another marketing question. ? It is hard to say, our music could be very interesting to one person, meanwhile it could be completely ignored by another one. I think our music could catch the attention of people, who like the sound of early 90‟s black metal, but also appreciate some rememberable tones beyond the noise. Our music has its own unique atmosphere, which – together with the lyrics – could take the listener to an interesting emotional journey.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

7. At the moment we wait for the album to be released and we try to promote it in as many media as possible. Hopefully, the release will be followed by couple of lyric videos and maybe we can also arrange a proper video for the album. I started writing songs for the second album, but how it will go, I do not know it, yet.

8. You can listen to our demo on www.facebook.com/deprofundishu or www.soundcloud.com/deprofundishu. You can also find our official video for the song „Indulj el egy úton‟ on YouTube. Our demo CD is sold out, but you might find the tape version on the net somewhere. You can get the „Vas és Vér/Iron and Blood‟ compilation from Hungaryan Records. Our future releases will be available via Dark East Productions, Nihil Art Records and Neverheard Distro or just contact us in any case.

2. Fucking Angry ha ha. we try to get as much anger out in our music as possible.

Aggression and anger is what you will hear or see when we play. Musically where kinda old school Thrash cross Death Metal, kinda like Slayer and Iron Maiden in a streetfight with Morbid Angel and Vader placing bets he he

FROSTWORK

3. To help us continue to get our name out there more and more. We really think if people give us a listen, they will not be disappointed

1. Ave all at SWR! Frostwork started back in 2007, at that point in time it wasn‟t about making a project, I was purely experimenting with my own musical progression. The music and soundscapes I created formed the name for the project. I am the only member of Frostwork, in the early days I wrote, recorded mixed and mastered everything myself.

Later releases have included acoustic guitar sections from a very good friend of mine Azrael, who as well as his own project Hoyland, is also in two other another bands with me called Heathen Deity and Thornland.

4. To date we have our ep from a few years ago, this was very well received. We got lots of radio play from Metal stations, included on some great Metal compilations, and really helped get our name out there. Averaged a 4/5 on all reviews. It is completely sold out now, we are thinking of maybe re-releasing it. Currently we also have our new single out "Salt In The Wound" from our upcoming album "The Burial Begins", hopefully out within the next month. This has been very well received, we put it out just before our national Coroner tour, nearly sold out of that one as well.

5. Yes we play live and tour frequently, whether it‟s the smaller gigs in country towns or bigger national tours or festivals, maybe 25 - 30 gigs per year, we wish it could be more, but Australia is a very small market. But whether its 1000 or 10 people, we still give it our all. Some of the best gigs have been when there is fuck all people there, just get down to business and have fun. But then again playing to couple of thousand, well, that's hard to compete with.

2. Frostwork to me is more like the relentless pulse of winter or a tale of ancient Folklore rather than music, at least this is what I try to achieve. I am using the medium of ambient Black Metal to try and capture the raw emotion and malevolence which is the realm of Frostwork.

I wouldn‟t describe Frostwork as purely a Black Metal project as I believe black metal should be Satanic in its teachings and ideals. Frostwork isn‟t Satanic. It is however antihuman and anti-religion in all its many tainted forms.

In regard to influence, when I am writing and recording a new album I try not to listen to any other bands, I would rather the album progress without influence from such sources.

6. I think we have something unique to us, we aren't just a bunch of new guys on the scene bashing out some rehashed stuff. We have all been in well-known bands and have a ton of experience. Each writer in the band is completely different but it comes together in the end and gets spat out with the same anger and aggression we are known for. We all tour with different bands like myself and Jimmy being part of Blaze Bayley, Paul Dianno and Ripper Owens, Zoran also tours with Assaulter throughout Europe, Jimmy has won Australia's number 1 guitarist poll with Australian Guitar Magazine, Luke who is helping out from Mortal Sin, Australia's biggest ever Metal export, weve got Ripper Owens guest singing on a Judas Priest track on the new album, there‟s lots and lots of reason to check us out, these are just a few. Give us a listen and we'll show you some more

3. If they are looking for something that is more than music, something that is more like a tale of folklore being told. I try to create albums that flow from one track to another not just a song then another song. I have a world of hate and vengeance waiting to be unfolded within Frostwork, the story has only just begun.

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7. Release our new album "The Burial Begins" , play a ton of shows after its release and hopefully get to Europe for some shows.

2.

Primitive metal. Nerocapra is influenced by all the bands that in 80-90 years have flooded distortion, screams and fast extreme music songs ... names? Napalm Death, Slayer, Morbid Angel, Entombed, Carcass, Autopsy etc...

the 8. You can go to www.killrazer.com which will have links to various songs and videos, you can also email through the website to purchase anything as well.

MISERABLE FAILURE

3.

1.

Rom: Miserable Failure is born from 2 persons who decided to play fast and angry music as an outlet from everyday life.

We released a bunch of split cds and an EP via Kaotoxin records, a french label.

Bleu: Our music is our history.

Nerocapra music is played and screamed as they did 25 years ago with the consciousness of the day... pure fucking primitive death nothing else

but present metal & 4. and have attitude lyrics "new technologies" for the recordings...

Currently after 1 demo, 2 albums some concerts, I can say that people appreciated as well as the music, the of the band, from the blackened and sounds to the fact do not use

5. Between the new album and the search for another guitarist, Nerocapra have not could play live for more than a year, in addition to some previously sporadic dates we did a mini tour of northern Italy... finally will begin to do some dates in November 2014...

2. Rom: I would describe it as desperate and disenchanted extreme music, made by the hopeless for the hopeless.

We are influenced by a lots of stuff, from grindcore to punk to hip hop to black metal. Some of our influences may not be evident when listening to our stuff by inspiration can come from anywhere. If I had to name bands that inspires us the most, I'll go for Nasum, Thousands will die, Teitanblood, Pig destroyer and the likes.

Bleu: Hate! Many bands like Insetc Warfare, The Discrets, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Nails, early Misery Index, Anaal Nathraak and many more

6. Nothing of the fact to play metal and do it with sincerity, without thinking about fashions and crap of this type.

7. In addition to doing concerts, the idea is a mini lp or a split between the new 2015/2016 ...new songs, new guitarist...new fuel for Nerocapra 8. You can find 2 "home recorded" videos on youtube and an entire show at the time of "Vox"... for contacts, merchandise etc.: nerocapra@ymail.com, www.facebook.com/nero.capra, www.facebook.com/warhellrecords, www.facebook.com/JustifiedViolenceRecords

3. Rom: They shouldn't.

PLAGUES

4. Rom: We first released a split cd with Infected Society and F Stands For Fuck You, then we released a split with Total Fucking Destruction and four other Kaotoxin bands.

Then we released a 4 track EP called Hope and our last release is a split with Atara. I do not read the reviews that much usually, but from what I read so far, its pretty cool. I sometimes don't understand some arguments, like "The riffs are not understandable" from reviewers from www.whateverdeathmetalreview666fromhellbecausewearerealtoughguys.com.

I guessed that reviewing death metal or grindcore required some decent ears, because I clearly understand what's happening when listening to a Teitanblood, Insect Warfare or Regurgitate cd but apparently our stuff is not understandable... Well, whatever, I'm just a dickhead probably...

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

5. Rom: We do not play live for the moment. Its something we would like to do one day, but not really in the works at that time.

Bleu: We have only played once for a big French radio like a BBC Sessions. We just cancelled our participation in Kaotoxin Fest because our planning was insane, and playing live is not our priority‌ 6. Rom: Why would someone be intereseted in us? I clearly don't know. I'll let my partner do that one because he's clearly the most social guy in the crew.

Bleu: For a new band, many reviews were insane, we donâ€&#x;t know why but if it can help to share our music, this is just perfect.

1. Plagues started out as a two piece recording project a few years ago, later we added another member in order to play live.

2. Beyond the tag of black metal, we really don't have a "style", we just make music that comes naturally to us dark and angry. Similarly all three of us have a lot of different influences, it would be impossible to name them all or pinpoint where they find their way into our music.

3. Our recordings are online to reach a broader range of listeners around the globe. If you like it, you can buy it digitally or order a tape. If you don't like it, we don't care. Plagues is not contingent upon sales or anything like this.

7. Rom: We are currently working on a new EP; its going to be some kind of a new thing for us, try to go beyond simple grindcore and throwing more elements in the mix.

I'd say we are probably 50 % done at the moment. I'm very glad doing this project as its very interesting to work on different things. We are also working on a full lenght album, but slowly, really slowly.

4. We have released two demos - Darkness Reigns & Winter Tomb. We also did a Discharge cover for the Cvltnation Discharge tribute album. There is also another tribute album Cvltnation is putting out, which we contributed 2 covers for. On top of that, we have 4 unreleased songs we recently finished recording and will be putting out our 3rd demo before the years end. From what we've seen at least the first demo was received pretty positively, but we honestly can't say as we don't actively seek out reviews.

8. Rom: Everything regarding buying our stuff and tons of other killer bands happens on www.kaotoxin.com. Give a shot at the site and eshop, you'll probably find something that will make you happy...or suicidal or whatever good extreme music makes you feel like.

Bleu: And also on our bandcamp msrblflr.bandcamp.com and you can find our Merchandise & Tape on my own Underground Label called NEVER DEAD www.customcore.com.

5. Yes, we have played a few shows so far in the New England area with some great underground acts. So far the response has been pretty good, which pleases us since this music is a necessary outlet for us. However, playing live has never been the main focus so a show has to be worthwhile for us to do it.

NEROCAPRA 1. Nerocapra is a project born in 2003 from an idea by Mirco Rizzi and Daniele Brusaschetto, both already active in other musical environments (noise, industrial electronica). driven by the desire to play metal, the metal of the 80 / 90th ... the first death metal ... we record a demo with 4 tracks then present in "Vox Inferi", our first real album was created with the entry into the band of Beppe Mondini, a drummer who was also connected to the metal musically in those years... follow a few concerts in Italy, but soon after, Daniele left the band and Mirco and Beppe decide, however, to give birth to the new album in 2014 called "Mefisto Manna"... today we are preparing for concerts with the help of a new guitarist, Alessandro Battezzati...

6. If any of the listed above are interested in our music, great, get in touch. We're not really interested in making a sales pitch for our work. If someone discovers us and likes it, contact us but we don't actively seek out shit.

7. We have about 15 songs that have been written spanning over the last 3 years or so and plan on recording them in due time. Whether they'll be released as a string of demos or a full length we don't know at this point. In the meantime we'll probably be playing some shows here and there.

8. Stream/download it at: plagues1.bandcamp.com, for tape orders or updates about stuff, our disgrace book: facebook.com/666plagues666

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2. We use to say that we play Brutal Thrash Metal. What does it means? In fact we play Thrash Metal with low tune, aggressive and brutal riffs with lyrics about violence, intolerance, human needs of war, etc. The best way to describe our style: Death/Thrash metal. We are influenced by Sepultura, Machine Head, Death, Napalm Death, Exodus, and others masters of death and thrash old school bands.

SERPENTRANCE 1. Serpentrance have no history at this time.

2. 3. 4. Gates into the sepulchral darkness were open just now.

5. We've never played live but all Serpentrance members have the experience of live rituals.

6. We entered Vault Of Dried Bones

3. Because Skinlepsy is formed by musicians who are dedicated to metal scene for over 25 years, some of us have more than 40 years and we remain firm with the same purpose when we were 16 years old.

We are sincere in our music and our lyrics.

Of course, nowadays it is very difficult for someone to buy a cd of famous bands, what to say about the underground ones. But we believe that metalheads are still the most loyal following that exists, and it is with this loyalty and support that we expect that people buy our album.

and it's enough for us.

7. Our immediate plan is to release a four song tape "The Tarnished Shrines Of Depravation" and split.

8. Two of our songs from forthcoming tape you can listen on Serpentrance & Vault Of Dried Bones facebook pages. Also on homepage of Vault: www.vaultofdriedbones.com

4. The public and the media received our album very well. This album received good reviews around the world and here in Brazil, and this is really very important and motivating. Despite the experience, we are fully aware that we are a new band and we have to strive and work hard to continue in a process of evolution.

5. We just appeared in 2013 with this album, but until that time, we were not performing live. Currently, we have been played a lot and we have some gigs scheduled in important festivals here in Brazil.

6. We are musicians who have living the Brazilian underground for over 30 years, we have a proposal to play death / thrash metal with mixing current influences and pioneering bands of this style. SKINLEPSY, brings influences from heaviest subgenres of metal: aggressive, insane, consistent, brutal! Stay tuned!

SIDIOUS 1. Sidious was formed in 2012 and released a debut EP (2013) „Ascension To The Throne Ov Self‟ with Kaotoxin Records. After various line-up changes including the departure of Void (Vocals) we entered 2014 with a new line up: Isfeth (Vocals/Guitar), Indomitus (Guitar), Baalrath (Bass) and later Khrudd (Drums). We finished preproduction early in the year and began recording the upcoming album in March, working once more with renowned producer Russ Russell (Dimmu Borgir/Napalm Death).

7. With the addition of guitarist Leonardo Melgaço, we are now a quartet that was an important change for live performances but mostly for the songs that we are working to the next album, this is our focus and we hope to release it next year. We would have our album released overseas and do our first tour in Europe soon.

8. You can listen Skinlepsy on www.reverbnation.com/skinlepsy buy our stuff on www.shinigamirecords.com or e-mail: skinlepsy@hotmail.com. You can visit our page on www.metalmedia.com/skinlepsy to know more about the band and like our page on www.facebook.com/skinlepsy.

SOLACE OF REQUIEM 1. Solace Of Requiem was formed back in 2001 from the ashes of our original band, Sarcophagus, as teenagers. The original lineup was separated back in 2005 when our drummer, Luke Downing, decided to put the band away in order to pursue his career. So we got another drummer to fill in for Luke and eventually released another album, Utopia Reborn 2006, with Joe Walmer on the drums.

Joe was eventually replaced by our current drummer, Dave Tedesco, back in 2006/2007. We also had our original guitarist quit the band to spend more time with his family, so we also refilled the guitarist spot a few times, but ultimately settled on Chris Armijo to record our guitars for our third album, The Great Awakening 2010.

Our current guitarist, Richard Gulczynski, joined with us in 2011 when we were on tour with Vomitory and Prostitute Disfigurement throughout Europe. Richard came in to play guitar alongside Chris, for our tour that year. He did a really great job, so when Chris left SOR in 2013, we brought Richard in as our fulltime guitarist. And me, I have been in the band from the very beginning, watching people come and go. I suppose that means I am the one who is a glutton for punishment?!

2. Our style is symphonic blackened death metal with a technical edge. Influences are drawn from across the extreme metal spectrum e.g. Marduk, Emperor, Behemoth, Origin, Decapitated and Dimmu Borgir.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

3. Our art is powerful in meaning and delivery.

4. Our debut EP „Ascension To The Throne Ov Self‟ was released in 2013 and received an excellent response. We were overwhelmed with the positivity of reviewers and fans.

We have since announced the release of our album „Revealed In Profane Splendour‟ for 3 November this year and premiered a single „Obscenity Ov Old‟.

5. We began our live assault this year playing various gigs alongside; Eastern Front, The Infernal Sea and Ethereal. A great highlight for us was playing at Russ Russell‟s first Wrongstock Festival. We‟ve received a great crowd response so far and are pleased to have been confirmed as main support for Anaal Nathrakh in London this November.

6. Both our releases and live performances have received great praise, so far that we have been called „most revered black/death newcomers‟. With the impending release of the album, we are ready to spread blasphemy and fuel the intellectual rebirth of the masses.

7. We plan to spread our name and message as far as possible, continue our live assault and tour in support of the album.

8. Check out the Kaotoxin Records webpage for all the info and of course our official Facebook page.

SKINLEPSY 1. All of us (except the singer) played in a band called Siegrid Ingrid for a long time, when we decided to exit that band and start a new one.

The original lineup were André Gubber – guitar (exPentacrostic, Nervochaos), Sérgio Hernandes guitar, Evandro Jr. – drums (Anthares), Luiz Berenguer – bass and Scream vocalist. The band lived a hiatus of a few years, after recorded a CD demo called "Reign of Chaos " in 2003. Our singer has moved on to other projects and we decided to have a break. Finally we returned in 2011 and began writing for record our debut album which happened in 2012. This album was completed in early 2013 and released in May of that year by Brazilian metal label Shinigami Records.

2. SOR has a very odd style. We have taken the composition of our music to a level few have attempted. We had always taken our music seriously and utilized two guitar voices in a very unique way, but on our latest album, Casting Ruin, we took having two guitar voices to an all new level. By studying the “weaving” process done with binaural audio, I discovered a way of achieving a sort of “motion” inside my music and discovered a way to create a third “center” voice inside the middle of the weaving of the two distinct guitar sounds. We‟ve always written music to where one guitar finishes/begins the musical sentences of the other guitar, but this is much more complex. The two guitar voices not only start and finish each other‟s musical sentences, but they also create the illusion of a third voice, emanating from the center. This is with the composition, so it does affect our sound a great deal, but for the atmosphere of what we create, that is just pure dark and foreboding. We sound like a chaotic, but well-orchestrated, symphony of evil. There is very little to say in the realm of influences. We sound really strange, and there is just no precedents for what we sound like.

3. Well, I don‟t think I can be so bold as to suggest why it‟s better to buy my album, as opposed to another metal artist‟s album. However, I can comment as to why I believe all fans of metal music should support their chosen musical artwork and buy music and merchandise from their favorite bands. Metal fans, especially death and black metal

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fans, have chosen a musical style that is shunned by the mainstream. The style they have chosen proves that they walk a different path. Metalheads aren‟t fooled by the latest pop song or the hottest reality TV show. Metalheads don‟t care about those things and they prefer music to match their way of seeing life. That is why it is important for the fans to support metal by buying albums and merchandise, because the band is just like you are, not in the mainstream! The bands don‟t make a lot of money in metal, not unless the band is huge. In most cases, the bands who play metal do it for the love of music, not the money. There is no “money”. Sometimes, bands can‟t afford the studio and/or blow all their money on the band, and then have to quit because they can‟t afford to play in a band anymore! It‟s sad! That is why you support metal! You support it because it matters!

Spawn (guitars), HornsValder (guitars, drums programming), M.Inhumanity (vocals) and Oigres (bass).

2. Our style can be described as powerful, furious, and very well composed with emotional content. All members have brought certain influences, too many to mention, but a few will be named. We send our gratitude to Abigor, Bathory, Emperor, Morbid Angel, Marduk, to name a few.

4. Our new release, Casting Ruin (2014), is our fourth album. Our first, self-titled album, was released back in 2004. The production of our first album was quite poor, but it had an “old-school” quality to it and so it worked pretty well with the material. Our second album, Utopia Reborn, was made in Germany back in 2006. We were signed to a small German label at the time, so we had a good studio to record in. We also had Andy Classen master our album, which was really cool. That album also had a song which had Bret Hoffmann (Malevolent Creation) as a guest vocalist. It was a good album with a good recording and it had a few more “blackened” parts in it than the previous album had. Our third album, The Great Awakening, was released in 2010. This album hits a little closer to what our newer material sounds like. It‟s very fast, very brutal and complicated as hell. It has a lot of elements of both black and death metal, but is insanely technical. We released the album ourselves in 2010, but we had actually recorded the album and shopped it around to labels a couple of years before we ultimately released it. We got into a long negotiation with a bigger label that ended up screwing us over. But, you live and you learn. . . . Our newest album, Casting Ruin, was released on August 29, 2014, by ViciSolum Productions. It was recorded by Brian Elliot at Mana Studios in Florida, and has an amazing sound! As I mentioned before, we sound very odd, and this album definitely exemplifies that statement. It is just something you have to hear to fully understand what it is. Concerning the feedback, we have received mostly high scores and good write-ups from all of our reviews. There have of course been the occasional person that doesn‟t like it, but they are usually the type that like Slayer, bands that sound like Slayer and think all other bands that don‟t sound just like Slayer, suck. We‟re not old school and we don‟t sound like anything you‟ve ever heard before. So we‟re really odd and most people are loving it. There have been a few exceptions, there always is! But almost all of our press for this album has been overwhelmingly positive.

3. We believe and feel that Solemn Curse will please metal heads thirsts for infernal speed and power with just the right touch of mind numbing despair \m/ You can count on us to offer more refined works in the future with pure focus on music and not image.

No fucking compromise.

4. We have released a self-titled EP in 2012 and then released our full album, "Eruption of Apocalyptic Chaos" in 2014.

5. We enjoy performing live. We see no point in creating music behind a desk and not giving it all to the fans. Solemn Curse will always be an entity that will consume the awe inspiring fans of Black Metal. Our performances are carefully selected to ensure that we gain the most from our shows and efforts. We are hardworking guys and are not rich, nor do we have a "Big" label to back our expenses. With that being said, we choose to play festivals.

6. Solemn Curse doesn't compromise when it comes to our sound, efforts, and music.

We are follow our path and don't care to conform with whatever the trend is in at the moment. We offer our black hearts and soul through our music and its frankly all that we enjoy doing. Music is our life and passion, which is why we give all of ourselves to what you will hear in our recordings. What else could you ask for from any band?

7. Write, record, perform.

8. Visit Exalted Woe Records to get our album or look around on the net, our music is out there.

SONS OF FAMINE

5. We've been a touring band in the United States and in Europe for over 8 years. We play mainly underground stuff, but we‟ve been on some bigger tours. We‟ve supported Vital Remains, Incantation, Resurrection, Vomitory & Prostitute Disfigurement, as I had mentioned above. We also have a European tour with Ulcerate and Wormed planned for this November and December. We‟ll have some more tours being announced soon too, because of supporting the album release, so we‟ll have more tour dates added to our websites soon.

1. Sons of Famine emerged in the winter of 2012. It started with our drummer Garrett Scanlan and myself, getting together to arrange a few parts I had been working on. We didn't have set style or specific rule of genre in mind, we just started writing music that we like, and everything naturally fell in place. As time continued, and our music evolved, we brought in our long time brothers of filth and fury, Matt McClelland and Mike Dooley to complete the line-up. All of us were in a band together in the past, and all of us have played/toured in a variety of bands between then and now.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

6. I think the major points to our band is in the way we compose music, write our lyrics, what our band stands for and what we do about it. The way we compose music is very special. As I said above, we combine two guitar voices in such a way as to create a third guitar voice in the center. The guitars are panned hard left and hard right, so you can actually hear two different songs coming from the left and right speakers. Those two songs make a third song when combined. It‟s a bit trickier than that, but that‟s what it is, in a basic way. Our lyrics are a triple entendre. The lyrics have a literal meaning, taken at face value. They also have a musical meaning, pertaining to the exact musical phrase that is occurring at the time that the lyrics are sung. And lastly, they have a secular meaning. More specifically, they tell about the poison of religion and the detriment caused by its practice. Which brings me perfectly into what we stand for. We stand for a secular world with secular laws made for secular people. It‟s a little too late in our history to be believing in fairytales and to give audience or credibility to this obvious charade. At the price of our continued existence, it must be eradicated. Our obvious and open stance on this issue is not only well represented within our music, but we also put our money where our mouth is. Which brings me to my last point. We donate 10% of our online clothing sales to several children‟s organizations that teach secular values and/or contribute specifically to science, art and/or music education. You can read all about our charity work, lyrics, message and all that stuff on our websites.

2. I guess the easiest way to describe our style would be Black Death, with some old punk influences. We have a wide range of influences, ranging from Impaled Nazarene, Desaster, Mercyful Fate, Immolation, Absu, Judas Priest, Bolt Thrower, Varathron, Asphyx, early Enslaved, early Emperor, early Sigh, Grand Belial's Key, Autopsy, Motorhead, The Exploited, G.B.H......Although we have a wide range of influence that could be heard in our music, we have a unique style that sits well in the black hearts of those who crave speed, fury, filth and mayhem!!

3. We aren't re-inventing the wheel, but we'll give you one hell of a ride!

4. We released our "Alcohol and Razor Blades" 4 song demo in 2013. So far, the response has been great! We've been sending it to a lot of zines for review, and we have sold quite a few through the mail and at shows.

5. We've played about 7-8 shows since April 2013. Chicago is great city for metal, there are a lot of tours that pass through, and we have a lot of great bands here. Our goal is to stay active, eventually we'll start branching out to play shows on the East Coast, and some of the surrounding states.

7. Right now our main goal is to tour for this new album. We will of course be going on the Ulcerate tour this November and December, but we also have a few other tours in the works for 2015. In the next few months things should really start speeding up for the band. We have a lot of promotion for the new album. We have a new music video for Soiling The Fields Of Putridity, which is an artistic statement about religion‟s stranglehold on science, and we have a really cool album trailer too. The tour dates with Ulcerate are posted, we have a free stream of our entire album on our homepage and we are always adding more stuff, so please visit our website for updated info about what‟s next for SOR.

6. The majority of the responses we have received from metal fans, promoters, and zines, was an appreciation for our style, and their relief to hear a band bring a unique yet destructive approach to their writing. We have a high energy and furious live show, and we plan on continuing the madness!!

7. We plan on drinking and raging metal! We'll continue to keep our live assault full force, and we will record 9-10 new songs in March 2015.

8. All of our info can be found on our websites. Remember to checkout our “uncensored” videos, photos, music and merch. 10% of all clothing sales goes to help kids! Check below for our website links. Where you‟ll see our tour dates, discography and everything else you could ever want to forget about SOR. Hail Science!

8. sonsoffamine.bandcamp.com, www.reverbnation.com/sonsoffamine

TAATSI

SOLEMN CURSE

1. The band-members met in the mid-nineties and did some music together in '97-'98, but formed Taatsi in late 2013. "A" also makes music in TKNKNTJ among other bands and "M" has played in Wintermoon.

1. Solemn Curse was founded as a full time band in 2012 in Texas. Our beginnings was forged way before then but as part time musicians, due to everyones busy lifestyles and personal journeys. The time came in early 2012 when everyone was at the right time in life to commit to make Solemn Curse manifest. The original line up then was Shadow

2. Taatsi makes atmospheric Nature Mystical Black Metal in the mid-nineties vein, with a modern twist. Our influences are the early material of bands such as Manes, Strid, Arcturus, Kvist, Thy Serpent, etc.

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6. Terrorfront wants to go live and will go live and it's not one of those projects that releases an EP/DEMO and quit because it didn't reap success at first. Listen to the music I deliver and share it around. If you find it interesting or want to work with Terrorfront feel free to contact: terrorfront.official@gmail.com. I would be glad to work on new releases (album, EP, Split, Compilation) in any kind of format (CD, vinyl, cassette) if people are serious about it.

3. If a metalhead likes the Scandinavian BM-styles of the nineties, may it be due nostalgia or just in general, he or she should find something to like in our music.

4. We have released a demo "Season Of Sacrifice" (cassette and digital) and a full-length "Amidst The Trees" (CD and digital), and the response has been positive.

7. The plans are clear. Write and release as much music as possible and find capable members to go live. At the moment I'm sitting on a lot of material so new releases are just around the corner.

8. You can find Terrorfronts music on youtube, soundcloud, bandcamp and facebook (www.facebook.com/TerrorF) . If you want to buy an EP you can order it on info@matertenebrarum.org or download it on partis.si or bandcamp.

5. We have been asked to play live at a Finnish BM-fest but had to turn the offer down due to lack of sessionmembers to play live, and the lack of interest in playing live in general.

THY LEGION

6. They might be interested in our "past" in the other bands, our involvement in the BMunderground since the early nineties, as well as our modern version of the nature- and folklore-inspired BM which had it's golden age in the nineties.

1. Hailing from Malta, the band was formed during the second month of 2004.

2006 - Thy Legion debuted on stage, supporting Abysmal Torment‟s „Epoch of Methodic Carnage‟ CD launch. The audience was overwhelmed with the band‟s stage presence and the material they were listening to. After a couple of successful local gigs, the band‟s notoriety as one of the most aggressive, if not the most brutal live bands in Malta was immediately cemented.

2007 - The band entered Spinesplitter Studio their first Full Length album. Proudly holding the flag of old-school tunes, self-released „Proclaimer of Chaos‟ is a combination of eight destructive tracks which are fast, aggressive yet flowing at the same time. Later on the same year, the band released their first CD onto an unsuspecting crowd, which was followed by a spate of local and foreign appearances. Thy Legion shared the stage with names such as Purgatory (GER) and Dew Scented (GER).

2008 - the band took part in the 10th Edition of the Black Land festival in Berlin, sharing the stage with bands including Recapture (GER), Spawn (GER), Golem (GER) and Necromorph (GER).

2009 - It was time for Thy Legion to re-enter Spinesplitter Studio to record the album „Venerato Diaboli‟. The six track album is dark and dynamic with black metal rhythms with sharp and energetic death metal melodies.

2010 - Thy Legion self-released „Venerato Diaboli, changing their reputation to a more direct and brutal way of blackened death metal. The band was promoting their album „Venerato Diaboli‟ even outside the Maltese shores. After a few more gigs, the track „Feed Them Bullets‟ got such a positive response from the crowd that it soon became the band‟s anthem. On the 28th of June, Thy Legion were part of the Mediterranean Metal Gathering, alongside For the Godless (MT), Beheaded (MT), and death metal giants Cannibal Corpse (USA). Later on the year, the band released their first official Music Video for „Sadism Through Holy Intervention‟, (produced by Dirty Iris) from the album „Venerato Diaboli‟.

2011 - „Venerato Diaboli‟ was re-released by Satanica Productions and strongly followed by Reviews and interviews from various webzines. Later on in the year, Thy Legion got together with local one-man band Prayer of the Dying, this time releasing the first split between Maltese acts “Into the World‟s Oppression”. This 7” vinyl was released under Nekrogoat Heresy Productions. The Band also took part in the 1st edition of the Malta Death Fest, as well as supporting thrash titans Contradiction (GER). „Venerato Diaboli‟s response did not end there, as the album gave Thy Legion additional opportunities to perform in Germany, this time in Dresden. The band played alongside acts such as Arranged Chaos (GER), Purgatory (GER), and old-school death metal pioneers Master (CZ). After the successful Dresden gig, the band took a break from gigs altogether and focused more on new material for their third album „World Stigmata‟, which would differ from their previous albums.

2012/2013 - Thy Legion entered XIR Mobile Recording Studio to record „World Stigmata‟. After 2 years in the dark, the band resurfaced, this time sharing the stage with Abysmal Torment (MT) and Repugnance (MT). In December, Thy Legion also took part in the They Brought Death and Eternal Doom festival, sharing the stage with names such as Beheaded (MT), Nomad Son (MT), Victims of Creation (MT)

7. We have a full-length amount of songs ready, just waiting for the final touches, songs, and mixes. We have no rush in releasing this stuff since our first full-length just came out.

8. Our stuff is available from our label Forever Plagued Records, or in Europe from Record Shop X and KVLT, as well as from the band. The songs can be streamed in Bandcamp, and we have a Facebook-page for information. foreverplaguedrecords.com, www.recordshopx.com/artist/taatsi, www.kvlt.fi/artist/taatsi, taatsi.bandcamp.com, www.facebook.com/taatsi.band

TERRORFRONT 1. I think it all a started somehow in 2010 when a local black metal band Mora had split up (some of the members still say it‟s unofficial, but they're not making any progress). I met this guy, Uroš, who was behind the band / project and we became good friends and still are. Basically he wanted to leave Mora behind and start something new, so we had this idea of creating a new band. This is important because at that time I didn't play any instrument, nor did I know how to make music and stuff. He was the person who lent me his guitar, showed me some basics and therefore he is a very important person in history of Terrofront. But all those ideas fell in the water and nothing happened, nothing was created. After that I tried to work with few people but none of them were really interested in what I wanted and they didn't contribute to the project which is now known as Terrorfront and the only member at this point is me. The first recordings are dated back to 2012, when I wrote my first song Terror Arise, but all the songs that were recorded in 2012 and 2013 were not released until January 2014 when I got in contact with guys from Mater Tenebrarum records.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

2. Terrorfront‟s style is black metal, but which bands it resembles the most is very hard to tell. The greatest influence on my music is definitely Marduk. They are probably the band that had the biggest impact on what I do, along with Infernal War, Darkthrone, Slavia, Taake, Carpathian Forest and so forth. The style that I play is not "oldschool" black metal at least not by the sound of it, because I see no point in releasing something that would sound like Darkthrone's Under a funeral moon, if you know what I mean. I heard recordings of some of the bands that called themselves "true and kvlt and nekro", but they failed miserably, because that wasn't Darkthrone nekro, that was beyond, that was unlistenable and boring. But don't get me wrong, what guys, for example, from One Tail, One Head do, and they do it in spirit of "oldschool black metal", is just fucking awesome! Terrorfront has this better production which doesn't lack of heaviness and the influences are from everywhere, so let the listeners make their own opinions on what Terrorfront is, but in my eyes it is and always will be black metal.

3. Well metalheads in general should buy records, but it happens too many times these days that they don't buy shit and then they ask themselves: "why don't they release anything new, is the project on hold???". Having a band or a project costs and if you won't buy stuff from little projects / bands, don't expect that they will evolve and provide anything new very often. I can understand that people don't buy stuff they're not familiar with, what really sucks is, that they don't buy the stuff that they are familiar with. If you like Terrorfront, buy, download, share.

2. Some reviewers described our music As direct and brutal way of Death Black Metal.

For the past albums the band was influenced by many Swedish bands such as Dark Funeral, Marduk, Funeral Mist, Setherial amongst others.

4. So far I've released an EP called Terror Arise limited to 250 copies containing 3 songs: Terror Arise, Marionettes of God and Holy Deed Called Genocide through Mater Tenebrarum Records. The song that you hear on the Slowly We Rot compilation is a new song called Deathreign 40-45 and will be released in future work of the project.

Until now there were two Slovenian reviews and one Austrian (metalblaze.at) and I must say that all three were positive. On the other side many are already questioning my beliefs because of the name of the project. Terrorfront is a black metal project that deals with numerous lyrical themes, but not with politics!

3. Well if you are into brutal and aggressive bands you definitely need a thy legion‟s album in your collection 4. We have 3 releases so far. 2 full-length albums – proclaimer of chaos (2007), venerato diaboli (2010) and split “7 inc” - Into the World's Oppression. It depends on the tastes of the individual but over all we had more positive feedback then negative.

5. Yes we play but not that often, we play 3, 4 shows a year. Most of them are local festivals

5. Terrorfront doesn't play live yet, but it is a plan to do so in future. The only gig that I participated in was on 29th August 2014 on a local festival called Breka fest. We performed under the name of Panonnian Black Metal Alliance. This was a one time show with ex-members of Temacnost and Mora, with whom I played my own songs and songs from both above mentioned bands (both split up).

6. Thy legion is not just an ordinary band, we have our own signature. A new album is coming out "World Stigmata" it‟s the best album that we have written so far, so if there are any labels interested in a promo please don‟t hesitate to contact us.

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Andy Woodd sat down and slowly chipped away at mastering it in his spare time and he brought it to an acceptable standard for us to release it. Prior to the release Hildolfr was starting to show a serious lack of commitment so he was booted and after having been in contact and had caught up with Nekasarof I asked if he would consider re joining and he was more than happy to be back in the band.

We released the album in January 2012, played more shows across New Zealand, opened for some well-respected international bands and the rest is history.

7. To find a label that can help us release our upcoming album and to play in some festivals in Europe so we can spread our music as much as possible .

8. People can listen to our music via facebook or youtube also we have an official music video "Sadism Through Holy Intervention". If anyone is interested in buying our albums they can buy direct from us, write a message on our facebook or email us on thylegionmlt@gmail.com

2. Black Metal would be the obvious description of our style I‟d say. We listened to alot of 2nd wave Norwegian black metal bands when we started and I had listened to alot of Thrash Metal bands prior to playing Black Metal. Obviously the influences are always vast and growing but the main ones we were listening to in the beginning was early Immortal, Emperor, Satyricon, Mayhem etc and Seth from France.

WINTER DELUGE 1. We formed in mid 2005 under the name Desecrate. My brother (Autumus) played bass, I did guitar and vocals and a friend of my brother played the drums. This only lasted a few months before we got rid of the drummer and Autumus switched to drums. I had met Nekasarof at high school and after realizing very quickly that we were on the same page I asked him to come and try out for vocals, after a short trial he was asked to join us. Not long after this Nekasarof had suggested that we rename the band Winter Deluge as we had realised how common the name Desecrate was.

In late 2005 we met Destragus and after sharing alot of common interest in music we asked him to join in early 2006. We were looking for a 2nd guitarist so along with Destragus came Incinerus who had played in a band with Destragus previously. We recorded and released “Vehement Visions of Nihilism” in October 2006 and continued to play various shows across New Zealand.

In early 2008 we kicked out Incinerus because his attitude towards the band was lacking. a few months later Nekasarof left but this purely came down to the fact that there was alot of drugs and alcohol around at this time (well more than usual) therefore personalities were starting to crumble so it was best to part ways. We trialed another guitarist and a vocalist for a couple of months but there was no progress so we moved on. I met Exastheras through my girlfriend who had known him for some years so we got drunk at his house listened to great music then I heard him play piano and was set that he would be right for Winter Deluge so I called up Autumus and told him to come and hear this guy play piano. We drank more then asked him to join the band as second guitarist even though we hadn‟t heard him play guitar yet haha. Anyway, Hildolfr stepped in on Vocals not long after that.

In early 2011 we finally stepped into the studio to record our debut full length “As the Earth Fades into Obscurity” the mix was horrible (not in the right way) so our friend

3. Thats up to them to decide, If they like it they can buy if they don‟t then they won‟t buy it.

4. We have an EP “Vehement Visions of Nihilism” and a full length “As the Earth Fades into Obscurity”. It‟s hard to say how it has been recieved, there has been near to no interest in public media, only recently with Frozen Blood Industries on our side I have seen interest start to grow and it has been positive.

5. Yes we are a live band, we have not played beyond New Zealand yet however there are plans for shows abroad next year. At the moment we a laying low and focussing on writing. We try not to play every weekend to the same crowd like alot of bands do because in a small scene your live shows will become stale if you over saturate it, its better to bring something more with each show and only progression over time can help with that.

6. We are not a band who likes to try and convince people why they should like our band, come to shows or buy our albums. We are a band that intend on crafting our music in such a way that satisfies us and allows us to let out what we all need to let out individually, whoever comes across our music or sees us live will be convinced either way by what they hear and if they like it well we know our music speaks for itself and if they don‟t then fuck them, no loss.

7. We plan to begin work on pre prduction for the second full length but only once we are ready to do so and then international shows would be ideal for us.

8. You can order the “As the Earth Fades into Obscurity” LP through Frozen Blood Industries www.frozenbloodindustries.bigcartel.com and the tape cassette featuring the “Vehement Visions of Nihilism” EP as bonus tracks might still be available through Werewolf Promotion (Poland). Otherwise google can do the rest.

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

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Zine Reviews – Zine Reviews – Zine Reviews A Wormhole #multiple / 2011 - 2014 (USA) English, 10 A4 pages I have here 4 copies of A Wormhole, a no-fi (yes, the editor labels it like that) xeroxed zine, cut & paste, very chaotic lay-out, with big to huge fonts, and very hectic content, like a Punk zine, but with more Metal. Interesting approach, but I'm not a fan of this style, sorry. The editor, Worm, seems to be a totally dedicated music maniac, kudos to him. Contact: kworm666@yahoo.com Abysmal Sculptures #9 / 2013 , #10 / 2014(Singapore) English, 32 A4 pages / English, 48 A4 pages I pretty much dislike both the cover artwork and the layout of this zine, both being chaotic as hell, but I love the contents and that's most important. Abysmal Sculptures seems to cover anything since you'll find here interviews with Black and Death Metal bands as well as Punk Rock, but what I enjoyed the most was the interview with my Hungarian friend Balazs about his Neverheard Distro, and also the interview with Sanity Obscure from Singapore, a Progressive Extreme Metal that I dind't know about but I was impressed by while listening to a few track online. There are also plenty of live reports and reviews featured, so it's an impressive read after all but I still don't like the chaotic, minimalist layout. Issue 10 has the same cover and lay-out style, no improvement whatsoever, but features more interviews, more articles, and in essence is a step forward for its editor Al Fahmy, who's also a member of the band Beast Petrify. I would suggest you to support this zine even only for Al Fahmi's dedication and determination, and I hope he will "hire" a good designer for the upcoming issues, the content is too interesting to present in this actual form. Contact: thrashingbeast@yahoo.com Bestial Conspiracy #2 / 2013 (Chile) Spanish, 68 A4 pages Apparently this is only the second issue of Bestial Conspiracy but it sure looks like a well established zine if you ask me: colour, glossy paper, professional layout, well written. And as an original touch this issue features material from the '90's as well as new material, so you'll find interviews with Mayhem (Euronymous), Solitude Aeternus, Immolation, Derketa, Carcass, Pentagram from Chile, and many others, besides bios, reviews, articles most of them written in the '90s with a typewriter and printed now as they were. This gives the reader a surplus of interest.

Great zine!

Contact: bestialconspiracy.webzine@gmail.com

reading BTAIR was an awesome discovery journey accompanied by my friend, YouTube. David's questions are in depth and provoking, but at times their English seems quite sloppy, which is at least strange for a UK based writer, but probably he moved there only recently.

An original idea is to feature absolutely no band pictures and instead fill the empty spaces with lots and lots of pictures and drawings, and to be honest I didn't miss the band pics one bit, so in my opinion it's a great idea, kudos. If you're a zines collector or an underground maniac I suggest you don't miss this zine, it's 100% full of information, and as I said earlier, accompanied by YouTube (it's impossible you'll have all these bands in your collection, trust me!) you'll discover some interesting upcoming bands.

Contact: bythisaxeirulefanzine@gmail.com

but I honestly found it quite boring. sunlessdawn@mourningtheancient.com

Circle of Destruction #18 / 2014 (USA) English, 52 A5 pages Shame on me, this is the first issue of Circle of Destruction I see/read, and also my first encounter with this Black Metal zine although it's a long-time running one. From what I can see from the Editorial this issue seems to be the swansong of Circle of Destruction as the editor seems pretty bored by the whole scene, bored by reviewing anything and even listening to new music, I guess that's why he didn't bother too much with the layout either (simple two columns, only about 5 pics in the whole zine, no backgrounds, no borders, no nothing); he even added an interview (the one Sepulchral Cries) in cut'n'paste layout (that's how he did his previous issues), but I guess that's dated back when he still had interest in doing this. A depressing issue although all interviews are good and informative, but it's always sad to see another editor loosing interest. Contact: codzine@gmail.com

Diovim #7 / 2014 (Lithuania) Lithuanian, 16 A4 pages This Lithuanian zine keeps improving in quality, in layout, print and contents, so this is its best issue to date.

Featuring interviews and articles with/about Hypnos, Esoteric, Asphyx, Godless, Fatal Cliche and others, with excellent layout making use of all available space, I feel sorry I don't understand a thing from it since it's in Lithuanian. I would say Diovim is a combination of US based Autoeroticasphyxium in contents (being inclined to other arts also) and the old Czech Silence Diary zine in layout (the same style). Contact: diovim@mail.ru

Crush the Cross #10 / 2014 (Brazil) Portuguese, 34 A4 pages Here's a celebration of first 10 issues of Cruss the Cross released by Samir Souza, I wish him many, many more. The zine is devoted mostly to Black and Death Metal, as evil and aggressive as possible, it's photocopied and released in a limited print-run, don't know how many copies but they are all hand-numbered. The layout is simple and clean, the contents are in Portuguese, and the zine features interviews with: Incarceration, Deformity B.R., Catacumba (hi Gordoroth!), Disgrace and Terror, Revenge, Zenite and Aggressive Mutilator, plus loads of reviews and a Party San 2013 live report. If you know the language I hope you'll support this zine by buying / trading it! Contact: crushthecross666@yahoo.com.br

Contact:

Devilment #6 / 2013 (UK) English, 88 A5 pages The new issue of Devilment is written in typewriter-like fonts and so it reminds me more and more of the first wave of fanzines and that's pretty cool. Even the pages and the print is like an old newspaper, but the A5 format keep it easy to hold and read. There are only a few band pictures but instead the zine is full of graphics and logos so you don't really miss the band pics. The reviews are pretty long and in depth, and the interviews informative and documented; nice live reports section, too. A very good, original fanzine I recommend. Contact: blackramspellz@hotmail.com

Headbangers #4 / 2014 (Holland) English, 214 A5 pages Here's a new issue of my all times fave zine, a new massive (200+ pages!) compilation of interviews, reviews, articles and live reports covering everything from Glam Rock to Extreme Metal but with a very intense feeling of '80's Hard'n'Heavy and it's style of life.

Headbangers covers real old-school Metal although I wouldn't say it's only dedicated to nostalgics, the new generation have a lot of interesting things to discover in it.

This crazy enthousiast, Marco, the editor of Headbangers, found a few good friends to help him out with the content, and so the zine has now a staff of over 10 persons, and the content is very diverse and at the same time complementary. If you're open minded I strongly recommend you this zine, and I'd suggest you to read it with YouTube in your browser so that you can discover some new and old gems of the scene, I did the same and the experience was awesome. This issue features interviews with bands like: Grave, Mucky Pup, Destroyer, Shrine, Tempter, Enforcer, Gama Bomb, Iron Kobra, Udo, Denial of God, Jag Panzer, Vanguard and many, many others. Contact: headbangerszinemarco@gmail.com

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

Blessed Altar #5 / 2014 (Portugal) English, 52 A5 pages Blessed Altar is a usual entry in this zine review section, War Faust keeps releasing his fanzine regularly and that's impressive. The new issue is limited to 200 handnumbered copies, the layout is similar as until now, the print is good, the contents are mostly abou the Black and Death Metal scene featuring more and less known names from the underground like: Garden of Grief, Moloch (quite boring), Iron Tyrant Records (interesting), Obsecration, Hatevomit (sloppy English), The Sinister Flame (very interesting), Blizzard or Ataxia, a few honest and to the point reviews on audio and printed material, a Lithuanian Death Metal scene report written by the owner of Diovim zine, a funny movie reviews section and an article abou a calstle from the area the editor lives in, article that I'll read only in case I'll ever visit that region.

All in all War Faust continues on the same path he started, he needs your support so go grab this zine asap! Contact: blessedaltar@gmail.com By this Axe I Rule #2 / 2014 (UK) English, 92 A5 pages 2 years after the debut issue, here's David returning with the followup, almost double in number of pages, filled with goodies for underground Extreme Metal worshippers. I have to admit I haven't heard about a lot of bands featured here, so

Der Wehrwolf #4 / 2012 (Germany) English, 80 A5 pages This issue is dedicated to a movement called Mourning the Ancient that involves many forms of expression from music to poetry and photography, but after reading a part of the interview with the founders of MtA I gave up, not at all my cup of tea as I'm interested in music only for the music, not for politics or any other message. One can say the zine has a deifinite NSBM direction, and that's probably true, but it also has some interesting interviews with bands that have nothing political about them. The zine is absolutely jam-packed with contents and there's no waste of space, none, there are not even spaces between questions and answers, and that makes the 80 pages lecture a long-term one! The interviews are ranging from the end of the '90's until recent days (2011-2012 that is), but since they are also touching other aspects of the bands' life (outside of music), you won't get the feeling of outdated. Some bands featured: ABSU, Acheron, Einherjer, Abyssic Hate, Demoncy, Barathrum, Ad Hominem, Demonic Christ, and many others. The zine comes with a compilation featuring MtA songs featuring as guests some known names from the Extreme Metal scene (from Abigor, Theatres des Vampires, Beltane, etc),

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Headsplit #3 / 2014 (USA) English, 72 A4 pages This zine is a great discovery for my collection, a Death Grind type of zine (if you're familiar with this) but one that features some other styles as well, still keeping it Metal to the bone.

Featuring more than 20 good interviews (with bands like Deceased, Rottrevore, Coffins, Nunslaughter, Predator, Nocturnal Breed, Convulse, etc), a metal games section, some reviews, and a section featuring pics with a half-naked chick holding the zine (I like this idea so much I might steal it at some point, haha).

Although the font size is as big as possible I didn't feel the zine might miss something because of it, but that's also due to the awesome Death Metal comic-like artworks (also features a funny metal cartoon about the analog revenge, haha). Highly recommended! Contact: headsplitrecords@yahoo.com Iron Hammer #5 / 2014 (Germany) English, 80 A4 pages Jeff (or Marius, his real name) is back with the fifth edition of his old-school devoted magazine featuring anything from traditional Heavy Metal to ugly, satanic

Black and Death Metal but without any trace of core or modern styles, of course. Jeff is very documented and his interviews are all highly informative and also original, he likes to discover lots of different aspects in a band's life; bands interviewed this time are: Varathron, Domains, Ghast, Vulcano, Scythian, Morbid Funeral and many more. The reviews are very long and in-depth, and the live reports are very entertaining, so all in all Jeff did an excellent job here, definitely recommended! Contact: ironhammer@hotmail.de L'Antre des Damnes #19 / 2013 (France) French, 48 A4 pages It makes perfect sense why I haven't heard about this zine even if it reached 19 issues released so far: it's addressed to French speaking Metal community only and I guess it's only spread over France. L'Antre des Damnes is 100% Black Metal oriented and to a certain degree it reminds me of the old Czech Black Metal zine Eclipse. I find the cover to be very boring and not suggestive of what you'll find inside, the zine is full of violent, brutal, extreme Black Metal. The interviews are long and informative, the reviews are maybe a bit too long for my taste but I know there's plenty of readers who will enjoy them, the livereports are featuring plenty of live photos and I find that a very good addition to the zine, and there's also an interesting article where the editor asked 3 members of Aosoth to say a few words on their fave Metal albums.

Very good zine, comes together with a compilation offered by Hass Weg Productions, great stuff! Contact: malphas.nebulah@laposte.net Marena #1 / 2014 (Serbia) English, 60 A5 pages New zine from this effervescent Serbian scene, Marena was born from the ashes of a local (but still English written) zine that was focusing more on the internal scene, Akrep. Now the editor, Vidoje, decided to cover the movement from foreign lands, too, and although he's decided to cover mostly Folk/Pagan, Heavy Metal and Death Metal bands, Marena won't deny other genres, too.

This debut issue has color covers and black/white pages, small fonts, but as I told Vidoje, too, I think the background is a bit too dark which makes reading difficult, and since the zine has a few blank spaces, I think he should have increased the fonts if not lightened the background. The interviews are great and very informative: Vampir zine (old but very valuable interview with Darko, editor of this Macedonian zine), Moloch (this project is everywhere nowadays...), Troll Bends Fir (seemingly a mainstream Russian Folk Metal band), Sakramentum (young local band), Kuga (Serbian Speed Thrashers), Nadimac (one of the most active Serbian bands), Putrid Blood (excellent up and coming local band), Forgotten (Heavy Doom from Turkey), Munruthel (the longest and most interesting interview of this issue with this controversial act), Annathema (veterans of the Serbian Thrash scene, interviewed by Milan Rakic from Grom Records), and a great exposee of the now legendary Bombarder, in their own words. A great debut from Marena, you should definitely get this zine, it promises to be one of the leading ones in Serbia! Contact: vidojemetal@gmail.com

discover many new names through this zine, but it also features (good) interviews with more well-known bands like Napalm Death (Barney is such a friendly and mature musician and person...) or Denial of God, plus an amazing chat with Odium from Forgotten Path zine, a Cyprian Scene Report, movie, zines and music reviews.

Jam-packed with lots and lots of goodies, horns up and please spend a few bucks to get this zine!

Contact: metalhordezine@gmail.com

to gether the energy and resources to embark in such a venture, too. This debut issue looks like a little zine and features interviews with extreme acts like: Black Devotion, Demonification, Disorder, Discreate, and the mighty Exhumed, plus reviews and bios. Support Leo and his activities, he deserve it!

Contact: reportes999@hotmail.com

Pariah Child / Hell Bent for Metal #1 / 2013 (Ireland) Straight from Ireland 2 zine writers decided to unite their forces under one zine, just like the 3 Polish friends from NecroMortem Tormentor did, and this debut issue has the name of Masters of the Pit. It looks somehow like a new Necroscope zine (being so thick), and the contents remind me a bit of the Dutch Headbangers, so you guessed it right, we have a very good piece of underground literature zine here, and also open-minded, not focusing on one genre only. Really most of the bands interviewed here were unknown to me before, but I'm glad I had the chance to discover them, here are a few: Abysmal Grief, Revelation, Pale Divine, Great Coven, Thomas Hand Metalen #7 / 2014 (Austria) Chastre (ex-drummer of Death SS), Asomvel, Gods English, 16 A5 pages This zine is distributed for free and I'm curious to see how Tower, Ravensire, or Deceptor. If you're into Traditional much it will last this way. It's an amazing little zine with and Majestic Metal (like Heavy, Power, Doom and high quality color print, and the idea behind it is great, but similar), this joint zine will make an amazing read, don't it!

Contact: pariahchild@yahoo.co.uk, running a zine that covers mostly underground Metal and miss moving it for free is definitely not an easy undertaking. hbfmzine@gmail.com Short and to the point (mostly the bands' latest releases Posthuman #5 / 2012 are the main topic) interviews with Morbus Chron, (Hungary) Cruciamentum, Nihilo, Acheron, Pist, Nocturne, Body Hungarian, 64 A4 pages Harvest, and Pierre Tornkvist from Helltrain, The Since I've heard of it Everdawn, Scheitan, plus a few reviews on recent only after my first releases, all this delivered, as I said before, in a very contact with David professional manner, for free (I only paid for the Kudri (Posthuman's shipping). Will make a shitting-session more pleasant for editor) and his distro, I sure, haha. Contact: info@metalmusic.at thought this was a new zine, but it actually NecroMortem reached issue 5, the one Tormentor #1 / 2014 I'm talking about here.

(Poland) This is a zine devoted to English, 42 A4 pages the 3 friends, all fanatic Punk/Grind/Hardcore metalheads, decided to start a new zine, and scene and way of life, so you can easily imagine its genre, here we have the first but unfortunately for me, it's in Hungarian and I can't read issue of NecroMortem a thing in it (did you know Hungarian has the 5th most Tormentor zine, a complex grammar in the World?), so I'll resume to its photocopied, stappled, content and look. Posthuman looks great, it's cut'n'paste simple lay-out zine but with great taste and easy to read, and features focusing on old-school interviews with: Reflections of Internal Rain, Axa Valaha Extreme and Traditional Prod, Lycantrophy, Archagatus, Rabid Dogs, Krampus Metal featuring long and other. If you know Hungarian don't miss this zine, I interviews with: think it's still available from David. Contact: Throneum, Diabolical Messiah, Throneum, Poisoned, and posthumanzine@gmail.com Acrostichon, a few gig reports, music and zine reviews, plus a section of old releases reviews, so all you need Power Thrashing Death #4 / 2012 (Sweden) from such a zine. It's nothing original or outstanding yet, English, 40 A5 pages but knowing these guys I'm sure they will build up an Unfortunately this seems to be the last issue of PTD zine, awesome underground zine out of NMT soon. Contact: and also unfortunately it's my first meeting with it, too.

Since 2013 there are no more updates on their website, knokkelmann@yahoo.com.au, but I still hope its just a hiatus and Henrik will eventually pawlak666@poczta.onet.pl, necroscope1@wp.pl get back to work at some point. It's a great lecture for the Necroscope #27 / 2014 ones of you into short and to the point interviews; with an average of 5 questions per interview Henrik manages to (Poland) touch the essential info, but he's also helped by some very English, 144 A5 pages No SWR issue without a responsive interlocutors. All bands are worthy of new Necroscope review, attention, and Henrik seems to be interested more in the right? And here I have dark, horrifying aspect of this music, so the bands the latest issue of this interviewed are all bout deep dark atmospheres, here are amazing piece of some: Terrorama, Bombs of Hades, Sinister Realm, Altar underground literature of Oblivion, Convent Guilt, Vanhelgd, etc. Very good, from probably THE light read while you drink your morning coffee. Contact: most dedicated fanzine lasgardh_9@hotmail.com editor in Europe at the moment, Adam Stasiak. Putrid Dead #1 / 2014 (Costa Rica) There are not enough English & Spanish, 100 A4 pages words to praise what New zine from Costa Rica focusing, of course, on this guy is doing for Extreme Metal, mostly Black, Death and Grind. I think over 20 years now, he is able to gather and offer so much Charlie uses Google Translate for his English questions, information that you cannot stop wondering if he has time but nonetheless he featured a few interviews in English, for anything else during his daily life. This new issue too, and I think that's a great idea, the answers are not features long and interesting interviews with: Hypnos, altered in any way. Although the layout is quite simple, Chapel of Disease, Necrovorous, Epitaph, Graveyard, the fonts are big and there should have been a more Mort Douce, Morbid Carnage, and many more, plus extensive use of space, I think the first issue of Putrid polish scene overview, plus lots and lots of reviews Dead is definitely a must for zine fanatics, it features everywhere. Killer! Contact: necroscope1@wp.pl chats with: Impetigo (both Steve and Mark), Autopsy, Disgorge, Funerus and a few names from the local scene: Of Darkness Newsletter #1 / 2014 (Costa Rica) Morbid Funeral, Demon Soul Reborn, Ana Tremens English, 20 A5 pages (from my understanding the first lady in Costa Rican Nice to see such newsletters still exist, and is nice to see Extreme Metal), loads of bios, news and articles. Contact: such devotion from the owners of Visceral Vomit Records putriddeadzine@gmail.com

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

Metal Gods #1 / 2013 (Germany) German / English, 64 A4 pages While reading this zine I used its Essential Thrash Albums section as guide for soundtrack, and I'd recommend you do the same for a complete experience.

Jens Hafner released a top-notch debut issue here and his statement is clear, Metal Gods is dedicated to traditional "real" metal only, no exceptions. The mag looks amazing, colored and diverse, printed on heavy glossy paper, with aired layout but still not wasting any space, written in both German and English and featuring intersting interviews with Anvil, Onslaught, Raven, Virus, Lady Beast and others, plus plenty of articles. I'd recommend Metal Gods as a trustworthy guide to nowdays (and not only) Traditional Metal, don't miss this debut issue!

Contact: metalgodsmag@aol.com Metal Horde #14 / 2014 (Portugal) English, 60 A5 pages Nuno keeps releasing zine issue after zine issue and at the moment I'm writing this I know he's preparing to release already the 15th volume of his Metal Horde zine, this guy and his girlfriend (I guess) Ines, are amazing. I'm always glad when I get his zines because first all of them have decent, clean layout, easy to read although the fonts are quite small and the band photos the same, but I guess this way they are not wasting any space, and that's true. You'll

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Sinister Stench #1 / 2014 (UK) English, 36 A4 pages Debut issue of this Black Metal zine featuring interviews with: Dunkelheit, Antinomian, Madrigal, Goat Tyrant, Gates of Carpathia, Absinthropy, Ghast and Wacht, half of them bands I've never heard before, so it was a good ocasion to meet some new names, and honestly it turned out pretty well as almost all are worthy of attention.

There's no doubt Glomor, the editor, is 100% commited to Black Metal and if he continues with this zine he'll do an excellent job. Now the minuses of this issue: the way too bog fonts and wasted space, the layout could have been a lot better, the lack of reviews, and the print-run is only 50 hand-numbered copies, I have some in my Metal Magazines distro if you're interested. But the content makes it well worth your time and money if you're into underground Black Metal.

Contact: sinisterstench@hotmail.co.uk Streetcleaner #23 & #24 / 2014 (Germany) German, 88 A4 pages Great (and cheap as hell, it's only 2 Euro + postage) magazine from Germany professionally printed, with colour covers, lots and lots of material to read but unfortunately for me it's in German, a language I don't know at all. From the looks point of view the zine is very professional, clean lay-out, large fonts but without loosing space, in-depth interviews and reviews, no wonder how come Wolfgang, the editor, reached issue 24. If you know German make sure you order this zine right away, here are some bands featured in these 2 issues I have: Iced Earth, Protector, Goregast, Hekseri, Hate Squad, Nomad, Arven, Mosfet, Chapel of Disease, etc in issue 23 and Manilla Road, Krokus, Kali Yuga, Axecuter, Scarlet Anger, Century Media, and others in issue 24. Contact: wolfgang.schmeer@gmx.de

from there. Contact: feketeterrorzine@gmail.com Tales of the Morbid Butchers newsletter #4 - #9 / 2014 (Hungary) English, 4 A5 pages An old-school type newsletter from Hungary written in English and featuring only 1 interview per edition. In the '90's and beginning of the '00's such newsletters were usually featuring a couple of short interviews and a few reviews, probably a live report also, but the idea is still similar, the newsletter gets distributed for free and whoever gets it can copy and distribute it on his own, too.

Back in the days I remember I used to copy and spread such newsletters, too, as it was a cheap way of getting information around. The interviews of Dr.A (also editor of Hungarian written Fekete Terror zine) are really interesting and mostly focusing on Black Metal bands: Monarchal Chanticle (#4), Warfist (#5), Iron Goat Commando Records (#6), Skuldom (#7), Necroripper (#8) and Morbid Funeral (#9), it was a real pleasure reading these newsletters. Contact: feketeterrorzine@gmail.com Terozin #4 / 2013 (Bulgaria) English, 40 A4 pages Amazing zine coming out of neighboring Bulgaria, Terozin is cut & paste, photocopied, and limited to 150 hand-numbered copies, and I have the last copy, number 150, and I know Medarov is working on the 6th issue at the moment. Terozin is strictly devoted to old-school Metal, especially to what's called nowadays the Bestial Metal scene, and the 4th issue features lots of in-depth interviews printed with small fonts with mostly underground bands playing in vein of the '80's. I'm glad I discovered some new names worthy of attention, especially what seems to be a Bulgarian Death Metal legend, Scapegoat. The layout is killer as well, cut & paste with good taste, easy to read and

like: Master, Benighted, Brutal Truth, Eye of Solitude, Gorod, Izegrim, We All Die (Laughing), Miserable Failure and many more, usually 1 page long chats.

Contact: toxickaos@kaotoxi n.com Tribal Convictions #10 / 2014 (Poland) Polish, 44 A4 pages Robert from Polish Psycho Records is back with a new issue of his old-school Death Metal oriented Tribal Convictions zine and this one is by far his best to date, unfortunately for me written in Polish language. The layout is excellent, cut & paste with good taste and fantastic graphics (one of the best zines around when it comes to graphic design), featuring interviews with Krownn, The Old Crone, Sanctifying Ritual, Weak Aside, bands I haven't heard about until now and the more known Solothus, Krypts, GUC Records, Mythrone Promotions, and Mark Riddick. Great zine! Contact: robert@wydawnictwopsycho.com Unholy Chronicles #2 / 2014 (Germany) English, 44 A4 pages New attack from The Unholy Chronicles, this time on colour photocopies, stappled, and actually looking quite nice, but with the same simple layout (1 column, no graphics). Still what's most important in a zine, the content, is of good quality, Unholy interviewed this time bands (mostly Black Metal): Dunkelnacht, Lelahell, Haiduk, Hatevomit, Paramnesia and others, a bunch of reviews, a live report and a section promoting other zines.

A good but short lecture, I'm sure Unholy will only improve from here. Contact: contact@unholywar.de

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

Subterranean Tenebris #1 / 2013 (Hungary) English, 48 A5 pages Glad to see another English written zine coming out of Hungary as this country has a good tradition in spawning more than decent zines. And S.T. is no exception from the rule, the interviews (Baalberith, Blizzard, Inner Awakening Circle, Vrag / Witcher, Solus, Svoid, Velm and others) are interesting enough, the reviews are long and in-depth, and the lay-out is clean and simple. The only problem I can point out are the fonts used, very small and in conjunction with their type (all capital letters) makes the zine quite hard to get into, hard to read and enjoy. Recommended for fans of Underground Black Metal. Contact: infranoir@gmail.com Tales of the Morbid Butchers #2 / 2013 (Hungary) Hungarian, 92 A4 pages Massive second issue from Dr. Attila and his friend Maniac, their dedication is simply amazing, I only hope they have that many supporters in Hungary to keep them going. Why only in Hungary? Because unfortunately for me this mega-zine is written completely in Hungarian language, so I can only look at its pictures. :| Too bad because it seems highly interesting featuring loads of indepth interviews with underground Black and Death acts and all content in very small fonts, so there's plenty to read over here.

Also they are covering lots of underground Extreme Metal from Hungary, so it's a very good chance to discover some new names

Visceral Vomit #12 / 2014 English & Spanish, 52 A5 pages Released by the same Leo Mora who also releases now Of Darkness newsletter, Visceral Vomit zine has reached its 12th issue, and this one also comes with a free compilation CD to listen while browsing the interviews, bios, articles and reviews featured here. An easy read for fans of underground Extreme Metal (bands interviewed: Arallu, Casus, Cursed Scrolls, Mixomatosis, Loits, Sawhill Sacrifice, Morbid Funeral and 2 labels: Hecatombe Records and Traumatic Records) with short but good interviews, honest reviews and a few articles to without wasting any space. If you're into '80's Extreme discover some more Underground blood. Contact: Metal this is a not-to-miss zine! Contact: terozin@abv.bg demogorgonvv@hotmail.com Toxickaos #1 / 2014 (France) French, 44 A5 pages Excellent new magazine from France released by Nico from Kaotoxin Records in professional way: colour glossy paper, stylish layout, short but informative interviews, short and to the point reviews, a real staff with its own metal top and live reports. And the best thing is it's distributed for free within France, Belgium and Quebec, French-speaking territories, and supports itself entirely from selling adverts, an excellent idea, I hope it will be successful and Toxickaos will continue to be released. This debut issue features interviews with bands

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Witchcraft #6 / 2014 (Germany) And here's the zine of this issue! Stefan Lons decided to get back to work and release the 6th issue of his zine 18 years (!!!) after issue 5 was released, so it seems some things can never be forgotten, including this passion for printed zines. Besides the usual interviews (with Killer Metal Records, Hellbringer, Hatespawn, Magnesium, Imperator - reprint), we also get a fantastic overview on the print fanzines scene listing loads and loads of active and defunct zines from all over the World, then probably the biggest and most in depth feature with Nuclear War Now! Records with details on each of its hundreds of releases, all this on excellent quality, colour paper with carefully delivered layout, plus a huge Celtic Frost logo poster. This is the perfect zine, go grab your copy while they last!

Contact: witchcraftmag@g mx.de

Reviews – Reviews - Reviews 3 DAYS OF SILENCE (Switzerland) - Sodium / Sulphur Selfreleased - 2013 Industrial Electronic Black Metal Switzerland seems to continue offering interesting Extreme Metal acts and 3 Days of Silence proves to be well worth of this country's rare but so very influential tradition, a band founded on the ashes of the Thrash Death Metal act Xicon. This is totally different than Thrash Death Metal though, it's an excellent offer of Industrial Electro Ambient Black Metal, extremely expressive, very rich in orchestration, carefully composed and delivered, a complete debut album from a band that seems to have what it takes. My copy came as white tape wrapped in white cloth, but the album was also released in vinyl and digital format. Music wise just try to imagine a combination of late Tiamat, Mortiis, Samael, although 3 Days of Silence have their own approach. A really, really interesting band, an excellent debut album, close to perfection, and a well-thought general concept; a solid 10 from my part, just to encourage them to keep walking on this path. Recommended, of course! 10 A TEMPERED HEART (Spain) Loneliness and Mournful Lights Art Gates - 2014 - Gothic Metal This quartet from Barcelona is around since 2006 and this is their second full-length album to date, a 12 tracks effort totaling 50 minutes of Gothic Metal. Based mainly on clean male vocals to be the leading element of their music, A Tempered Heart also add a growling backing vocal from time to time and that emphasizes the emotions they try to transmit, so kudos for this choice, but also for the choice of doubling the main vocals, the same band member taking care of all these elements (so of course on live gigs it's another story). Regarding the instrumental part we're dealing with a traditional melodic Gothic Metal, a mix of UK and Finnish influences, with very good melodic guitar leads, powerful riffs, precise rhythm section, and heavy use of keyboards both as leading instrument and in the backgrounds, too. It's an easy listening album, quite classy I'd say, but it's still nothing to be on top of this genre, an album that if you're into this kind of music you'll enjoy for sure, but it won't make a change on the scene. I'd also say it may have an advantage nowadays, at least more than if released a decade ago when we were overwhelmed by such bands, now Gothic Metal seems a more aired scene. 8

more darkness, more depth, the music is straight-forward and unsurprising but enjoyable. If you're into pestilent, ugly, pounding old-school Death Metal you might like this band, but if you're not, I think it's better to avoid it, you won't understand it. 7.5 ACHELOUS (Greece) Al Iskandar Selfreleased - 2014 Epic Heavy Metal Fresh duo from Greece presenting us here their debut demo, a 3 tracks effort totaling 15 minutes of old-school Metal. To some extent this demo reminds me of the beginning of the 2000's Italian scene that was so full of new, uninteresting bands that went nowhere (of course I'm not speaking about all of them, but the major part): the pronunciation is horrible and I have no idea why they haven't chosen their native language, especially since the lyrics are quite clichĂŠ and are bringing nothing new to the scene, the vocals are quite dull, both the male vocals from the first 2 tracks and the female vocals from the third track, the drum-machine is a minus as well, and to end this public slashing, I was also expecting some faster parts, at least here and there, but the whole is slow to midpaced rhythmed, quite boring. I only liked the acoustic guitar insertion from the third track, the guitar leads from the first and second track, and the fact that they have some interesting ideas (unfortunately they are not skilled enough to build on those ideas). It's not an awful demo, but they need much, much more work to become a force...

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AEONLESS (Bulgaria / Finland) - Underearth Horizons Vacula - 2014 - Doom Black Metal Don't judge a book by its cover, I would have had to follow this saying... Looking at this CD's cover and booklet artwork and finding out that the band is actually a project of Georgi Georgiev, a well-known individual in the Bulgarian Black Metal scene (hell, I've also read about him in an Italian book...), I actually thought I was going to listen to something interesting, but I was wrong again.

Aeonless debuts here with a 17 (!!!) tracks album totaling almost 80 minutes of drum machine lead combination of Doom and Black Metal. The extremely generic guitar riffs, the weak production, the synthetic drum parts, the good toned but stifled vocals, and the occasional mistakes in execution make this album a below average release, too bad for the excellent artwork and professional looking CD/booklet, the musical material would have been worthy of a demo at most. Even the atmospheric keyboard A.C.O.D. (France) - Another Path... backgrounds are way too generic to be interesting. Sorry, Selfreleased - 2014 - Extreme Metal First time I meet this French band although they are active no go... 4 since 2006 and have released 2 full-length albums until AK-11 (Australia) - Once now. This EP is made of 5 new tracks with a total playing time of 21 minutes, a blend of everything one could think upon a Time in Europa Selfreleased - 2014 - Black of, on a Thrash Metal backbone though. The band makes Metal use of 2 vocalists, but from my point of view the only Most probably this band is track they do make sense and they are completing each made of Russian natives, or other is the third, Unleash the Fools, track I find the be the at least one of them, the best on this EP. The band has good instrumental skills and lyricist is, since the lyrics of the music is quite catchy and modern enough to capture their debut album are, from the attention of the new generation, too, so I'd see fans of what I can understand, Arch Enemy or Behemoth for example (this for you to get completely in Russian how large is these guys’ range of influence) enjoying this language. Also the album band. Definitely not a boring release, I'd recommend it if title is a clear reference to you're in search for something different, something hard Europe and its troubled past. to label. 7.5 Anyway, AK-11 is a trio formed in Melbourne in ABHORROT (Austria) 2011, a group that seems to Sacrificial Incarnations of follow the path opened by the second wave of Black Metal bands, especially by the Swedish bands. Fast and Perpetual Death Yersinia Pestis - 2014 - aggressive rhythms spiced by good technical and even somehow melodic guitar leads, ferocious vocal lines, Death Metal A new band to my ears, incisive bass lines, and an overall cold and piercing but in fact not a new band at all, Abhorrot was founded atmosphere, that's what you should expect from this band, back in 2007 and this is their second EP, after also 3 and especially from these 10 tracks listed inhere. demos and a 4-ways split, so a band that worked hard so Although it's not a ground-breaking release, this is damn far and kept its underground status and attitude. This EP well composed and executed, and I'd say fans of Marduk is made of 4 tracks totaling almost half an hour of what will enjoy it a lot. I can't help not noticing the excellent they call Ancient Death Metal, or better said decaying, cover artwork by Joachim Luetke who previously worked horrifying, organic, low tuned and fast as hell Death for bands like Dimmu Borgir, Rage, Kreator, Arch Metal, the old way. Except for the excellent idea of Enemy, and also the proof of professionalism and adding classical music as intros, this giving the whole

determination from the band while deciding to hire Alan Douches for mastering the material. Impressive. 8 AKSAYA (France) - Troisieme Guerre Cold Raw - 2013 - Black Death Metal Debut demo from this young French trio founded last year not far away from Paris, Troisieme Guerre is made of 4 tracks totaling 16 minutes of fast and melodic Black Death Metal highlighted by an intelligent guitar work and traditional but at the same time fresh compositions. Even though the band adds plenty of melodic elements in their guitar and bass work (such a good bass line, too), the overall impression is of an extreme, ugly and oppressive music reminding me of the '90's Swedish Black Metal scene. This band has good potential, you should keep an eye on them and even if this demo has a rough, unpolished recordings quality, it's a good way to meet a hope of the nowadays Franch Black Metal scene (I say that while having in mind they were formed only last year and already this debut demo managed to capture my attention). 8 AMON SETHIS (France) Part II - The Final Struggle Doweet - 2014 - Progressive Metal After a first audition, without reading the info material I got together with the disc, I thought I'm dealing here with an Egyptian band, that's how well they manage to immerse and confound themselves in/with the Egyptian culture and mythology, that's amazing. The French Amon Sethis offer us here their second full-length album, a 10 tracks effort totaling almost 70 minutes of Progressive Metal. In my humble opinion they would have better released a 50 minutes masterpiece instead of a 70 minutes album where some of the tracks are not at all at the high level these guys are as musicians and composers, and here I'm not referring to the last track that's 26 minutes (!!!) in length, on the contrary, that's the best track on this album.

The Final Struggle (the final track) is a masterpiece in its own, it's its own world and its own master, way, way better than the previous tracks where I honestly thought they are trying to play Funeral Doom Metal and don't really know how, that's how much repetitive and monotonous some parts are. Amon Sethis' members are amazing instrumentists, but this is a controversial album, at least for me: I hate most of the first 9 tracks on it and really love a couple of the and of course the last track; the band plays an intricate (how else?) form of Progressive Metal highlighted by an excellent vocalists, powerful bass lines, occasional growling vocals and Prog Death Metal influenced parts, atmospheric keyboard backgrounds, frantic drums, catchy guitar riffs and above all an awesome Egypt-inspired lyrics themed concept. Try it yourselves, it definitely deserves a listen. 8

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

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ANIHILATED (UK) iDeviant Killer Metal - 2013 Thrash Metal Ipswich based Anihilated were formed back in 1981 (!!!) and functioned until 1990 when something made them stop their activity only to reunite in 2008 and since then they are storming the Thrash Metal scene. This is their 4th album to date, an 11 tracks effort clocking 46 minutes, and I was certainly not expecting such a brutal, wicked and unrelenting piece of music. Yes, it's old-school to the bone, but it's crafted from that substance that only gets better in time, so their fast-paced, highly catchy and entertaining Thrash Metal is something to look up to. The vocalist sounds like a mixture of Mille Petrozza and Tom Araya, the guitarists are simple but at the same time complex and extremely varied (amazing!) and manage to deliver memorable tunes, and the rhythm section is as tight and powerful as possible, the drummer even adventures into Death Metal territories at times, and the bass lines are so heavy you'll be able to follow them without problems for the whole time if you want. Adding a ballad-like track, although some may say it's an outdated practice, is such a classy move from them. This masterpiece was released in 2013 but as far as I know this quartet of maniacs are already working on their fifth opus, if you're not familiar with their music yet make sure to take your time and at least spin a few tracks on YouTube to make your mind. Also make sure you pay a bit of attention to their lyrics' strong message. 9.5

ANKSUNAMOON / ESPHARES / DOR FEAFAROTH (Russia / France / Russia) - The Mist Dark East - 2013 - Black Metal It's not often I see such a three-way split between Black Metal bands nowadays, although a decade ago they were being released by the ton. This is a 100% Black Metal split between 1 French and 2 Russian bands released by Dark East Productions in CD format with 4 pages booklet featuring lyrics and additional info.

Opening the split is the Russian duo Anksunamoon with 3 track totaling 6 minutes of catchy but unimpressive Black Metal, fast paced and supported by very good sound quality. Nothing to stand out but I can appreciate the traditional and honest approach and delivery.

Esphares from France is a one man band started in 2008 delivering fast paced Black Metal (a la second wave of Scandinavian Black Metal) with quite melodic guitar leads, a bit more variety and good technical skills but awful sound and awful vocals; although they sound ok in this context, they lack of any power, they all seem whispered, it gives you the impression the guy recorded in his bedroom while his parents were sleeping. Well, all in all it's an interesting 13 minutes, and if Mortiferiis improves the sound quality next time we might get a nice treat.

Russian Dor Feafaroth is the only live band on this split, a band founded back in 1999 that released a couple of other splits and EPs but no full-length album so far.

Unfortunately beside the very good, raw and cruel vocal tone, I heard nothing interesting on their tracks; the guitar riffs are few and repetitive, with no identity, the drums seem to be programmed and sound way too synthetic, the rhythms are boring, and that's about it, a disappointment.

6 / 7.5 / 4 ANTI AEON (France) Pentachaos Selfreleased - 2014 Black Metal France is the new Norway when it comes to spawning new dimensions and horizons in Black Metal, so it's always exciting when I get a new Black Metal release from these lands. Anti Aeon doesn't seem to want to change or innovate anything, they are playing a traditional form of second-wave Black Metal with mid-tempo to fast paced rhythms, vicious and hateful vocals, intense drums, and even some occasional slow passages that build up the tension. What I like about this debut album is its organic sound and the guys' ability to deliver lots and lots of different rhythms, structures, and passages in a genre that's usually quite straight-forward, without much deviations. What I don't like is the general mix, the vocals are too in front in regard to the instrumental part and sometimes the whole sounds quite dry. Anti Aeon, although using only the traditional instruments manages to deliver a hateful atmosphere and a complex debut album, there is potential here for a solid group in the near future. 7.5

buy this album don't miss it, this band deserves more Dei, a lot, to me this music is close to a more (much more) symphonic Interitus Dei. This is a Symphonic attention and this release is definitely a collectors' item! Melodic Death Metal with excellent atmospheric keyboards creating an enchanting background, interesting ARCANE NORTH (UK) - Enter the Arcane North and very catchy guitar work, comprehensive vocals, Selfreleased - 2014 - Atmospheric Black Metal Wow, a nice surprise from UK, this one man band's debut powerful rhythm section, and a very entertaining overall EP consists of 3 long tracks totaling half an hour of calm, atmosphere creating a real fairytale for the listener to relaxing but also evil and aggressive Black Metal. At first jump in. The third track, The Cosmogenic Process, or at it clearly reminded me of Burzum, but later on I found out least its beginning reminds me of some other track I've more in Arcane North's music, a combination of what we heard before, but I can't remember which one or at least call Atmospheric Black Metal nowadays with what we which band, it's such a frustrating feeling... Anyway, I used to call Medieval Black Metal back in the end of the have enjoyed this debut album a lot and I'm sure it will '90's - beginning of the '00's, very expressive, very well bring the band to new heights in this over-crowded scene, thought, composed and executed, with no trace of I'd like to see them succeed. 9 synthetic feelings even though it's a one man band, I'd say ASGRAUW (Holland) this Arcane North entrance is a glorious one, one that will certainly bring William a record deal, and already Schijngestalten Selfreleased - 2014 - Black Glorious North Prod. is officially distributing this release, Metal so the premises are great. Back to the music on this EP, Oh man, this is an I'd still strongly recommend it to fans of Burzum or awesome debut album, one Summoning although it's definitely not a copycat. A the best I've listened to this better sound quality would be a must for the next release of year! Asgrauw, although a although this is not bad either. Go grab a copy right away, young band (founded in 2010) sounds impressive in as far as I know they are very limited. 8 studio, their old-school Black Metal heavily inspired by ARCHITECTS OF DISEASE (Poland) - Open the the second wave of Norwegian Black Metal sounds a mature and tight as possible; melodic and traditional Hearts guitar riffs, catchy leads, intensive, almost demented The End of Time - 2013 - Black Metal Young band formed in late 2011 on the ashes of drum lines, hoarse vocals and intelligent compositions.

Iugulatus, Architects of Disease soon regrouped and in a The occasional and subtle keyboards in the background few months entered the studio to record this debut album are an excellent addition to the whole, enhancing this that seems to have been released by the band in 2012 and already cold atmosphere, probably the band should think picked up and re-released by The End of Time Records a of adding a permanent keyboard player to the line-up, at year later. Naming their music as Black Metal is not quite least on this release keyboards didn't make the music less accurate, actually they are mixing all sort of extreme and aggressive or evil, on the contrary. Excellent release, I dark Metal genres on a Black Metal backbone. The love it! 9 drummer and bass player are following mostly Black Metal patterns, the guitarists like to throw in all sorts of ASHES TO ASHES (Italy) - Borderline influences from Doom, to Doom Death, to Black Death Underground Symphony - 2013 - Alternative Metal with lots of twists, and the vocal has his own way of These guys (and a girl) are much more Metal than they singing (better said screaming) with his hoarse, quite look, and their music is much more powerful than the comprehensive vocal tone. All in all the album sounds genre labeling Alternative Metal would suggest, I was pretty curdled, and although the production could have surprised to find in Ashes to Ashes beside the obvious been better (clearer and more polished) that doesn't affect melodic part, also a modern, very aggressive one that the audition experience; an interesting album but without keeps the listener interested from start to finish. This much to stand out of the crowd except maybe for the last debut album was recorded in USA, not a very usual thing track's length, almost 16 minutes... an obsolete to do for an Italian band, but that had an important touch experiment for our times, maybe in the '90's it would have on their sound. In fact it's quite difficult to pinpoint Ashes been welcomed. The good thing about this band, as a to Ashes in terms of influences in both sound and music, conclusion, is that they are not following any specific but I'd say it's a combination of Alternative Metal with lines, they have the potential to come up with original Gothic Metal, Power Metal and even a touch of Metalcore, the whole sounds fresh and highly interesting, things in the future. 7.5 the album has both energetic (filled with breakdowns and ARS MORIENDI even growls) tracks and some more soft and even fit for (France) - La singulière regular noon radio shows. The highlights of this band are definitely the female vocalist, Marta, who besides her noirceur d'un astre angelic and enchanting clean vocals throws in some Archaic Sound - 2014 - Atmospheric Dark Black Metal It seems Arsonist, the man behind this solo project, seems amazing, outstanding screams and growls (in fact at first I to be from Belarus, or at least this third full-length album thought the band has 2 vocalists, her and a guy...), and she was recorded at Wave Hill Records in Belarus, and I also plays the keys part in the band, not to overlook; then highly doubt a French band would chose a Belarussian the classy, technical and very tasteful guitar work that will studio with no prior connections. Anyway, the resulted make you fall in love with this album instantly. There are material is absolutely impressive, and it could very well some tracks that are not at the overall level of this release, rival with the work of French project Pensees Nocturnes, but time will correct those flaws. All in all an excellent it is as complex and as limitless and it will capture and debut album from a new band with impressive potential. drag the listener in its own world, a twisted, shocking, 8.5 dying world. Even if Arsonist isn't using as many ASMODEY (Russia) - Dark instruments as Vaerohn, he manages to create his own identity, to express his ideas in a perfectly comprehensive Spiritual Liberation Dark East - 2013 - Black manner for the listener. We're treated here with 5 long Metal tracks totaling almost 50 minutes of atmospheric, melodic, twisted and crazy Dark Metal with important Hailing from Russia Black Metal influences all over, and excellent work Asmodey were founded highlighted by probably the best bass lines I've heard this in 1994 but as far as I year, by desperate and terrifying vocals, pounding drums know (from Metal Archives) they only released a demo in and catchy guitars, all served on a dark layer of 2010 and this debut album in 2013, so either we're dealing mysterious keyboards, a masterpiece!

Highly with a lazy band or they had numerous line-up changes recommended! 9.5 that made them record so few times. The band plays a fast and melodic Black Metal that reminded me of the ASA-NOIR (Finland) - excellent Swedish scene from the end of the '90's, but they are also adding a few Folk, acoustic elements here and Fall of the Idols WormHoleDeath - 2014 there and that gives the album more flavor, it enriches the - Symphonic Melodic already rich compositional specter. They seem to be all Death Metal skilled musicians and they know how to build up cold and 10 years after their foundation Asa-Noir are attacking the fierceful atmospheres through their Black Metal, I have Metal scene with their debut album out on enjoyed this album a lot, and after spinning it twice I'd say WormHoleDeath, an album that impresses through it's a shame they recorded so few during their career, they professionalism and clear ideas, these guys know exactly could have reached the top of this genre back in the end what they want to accomplish and where they want to '90's - beginning of the '00's. The vocals are also reach, and this album is the first step in this endeavor. extremely good, piercing through the thick instrumental This debut album reminded me of Romanian Interitus avalanche. If you like your Black Metal fast and

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

APOKEFALE (Russia) - Tempus Est Nihil Goat Curse Diaboli / Tribulation / Infinite Fog / Domestic Genocide - 2014 - Black Death Metal Amazing release! Probably this is the first Triple Digipack CD (!!!) release I review; it looks so classy I would buy it even without knowing the it's a digipack with cardboard covers and glossy booklet included too, not to forget the awesome graphic work. I think this band found the perfect way to celebrate their more than a decade long activity so far, this release features all three albums of Apokefale, plus some bonus material made of tracks never recorded or never released before. It's also an excellent way to see their evolution, and my conclusion on their music is: they are continuously searching to improve and modernize their sound but still keeping their Black and Death Metal influences high. The band's music has a lot of groove and it's pretty complex so that labeling it strictly Black Death Metal would be incomplete, they are gathering and delivering influences from a vast area of Metal. These guys are certainly doing exactly what they like, I don't think they are following any trends, so their music is not particularly catchy, but very interesting and would fit well in your collection if you're looking for progressive and/or strange things. If you have a chance to

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aggressive and at the same time melodic and quite polished, if you're into the '90's Swedish Black Metal, you should definitely check this band out, hopefully this album will boost their will and they'll become more active on a discographic level. The only thing I didn't like on this album was the opening track being too long and kind of tiring the listener; try to listen to more tracks, you'll love the album as a whole. 9

impressive bass lines, technical and at times melodic guitar work supported by atmospheric keyboard backgrounds from time to time, but the production is not as professional as this album would have deserved. It sounds different than what we're used to here in Europe, it's quite original, and that's why I would recommend you to give it a try, you might enjoy it a lot or on the contrary, - hate it. 8

dreamy soundscapes, you can relax on this music while meditating or simply enjoying something beautiful. The tracks are pretty diverse so the level of boredom is at a minimum here, and the sound is top quality, so all in all Australasia and their Vertebra album could be a good choice if you're into Post Rock / Post Metal. 8

AVULSED (Spain) Revenant Wars Unholy Prophecies 2013 - Death Metal Cool release by Unholy Prophecies, their first 7"EP released as a statement they are interested in becoming a strong name on the scene.

Spanish Death Metal legends Avulsed were chosen for this release and I guess they happily agreed since there are only 2 tracks featured here, the title track and a cover of Nihilist's "Sentenced to Death". The first track has everything an old-school Death Metal fan expects from its fave deep growls but quite comprehensive, crunchy and catchy guitar riffs, demented solos, double-bass drums and impressive bass lines. The Nihilist cover is spot-on, it's nice to hear this track with a better production than the original. Fans of Avulsed and European Death Metal will enjoy this EP released on white vinyl, but beware it's limited to only 500 hand-numbered copies. 8

ASTARIUM (Russia) Heritage of Warlords Black Metal Cult - 2013 - Black Metal SiN is back with his Astarium project, this time with 2 new releases.

First, this Heritage of Warlords is an EP released as a tribute to the bands that influenced his path so far, including three covers from: Evil, Satanic Warmaster and Graveland, plus a "hidden" track that reminded me of Evol's interludes if you know what I'm talking about. The EP lasts for less than 10 minutes but I have to admit I have enjoyed this one a lot, SiN improved his sound and execution a lot and from my point of view now he starts to create his own way. This EP is limited to 100 handnumbered CD copies and 30 hand-numbered tape copies, but I have a feeling they'll be sold-out pretty soon, so go grab a copy asap, I hope the prices are reasonable as the BAALBERITH (Russia) - Beheaded Bastards Selfreleased - 2014 - Black Death Metal audio material is certainly worth a listen. 8 There are plenty of Baalberith bands out there, and even in Russia there are 2 of them, so here we're dealing with ASTARIUM (Russia) - Atenvx the one hailing from Yoshkar-Ola, a group founded back Metallic Media - 2013 - Symphonic Black Metal And the second new material received from SiN, his in 2007 and has already released 2 full-length albums, so fourth full-length album that continues where Wyrm of not a newcomer, only to my ears. Labeling this promo CD Melancholy left off, with the same Atmospheric, as Black Death Metal is a bit of a stretched statement, but Symphonic type of Black Metal that's becoming like a I'd say that's their biggest influence and probably aim, too, trademark for Astarium. The guitars, the vocals, the although these 3 tracks are quite modern and made me drum-machine, basically everything improved a lot since think the band's intention is to get closer to the Modern my first encounter with this act, but the atmospheres are Metal instead of the Extreme Metal they probably following the same path, that organ-sounding keyboard is followed so far. The brutality, except for the growls and what Astarium has so distinctive in regards to other screamed, but almost comprehensive vocals, lacks almost bands, but I would also mention the strong, wicked completely. The music would fit the Metal collection of a Satanic feeling surrounding this music. If you're listening SOAD or Disturbed fan without problems and that's a to Astarium's music for the first time it might seem good thing such bands still exist, it's not always about strange, but believe me, the improvement is obvious since being the most brutal, or the fastest, or the most technical, its first releases and I'm sure SiN will keep improving his and Baalberith prove (don't know if knowingly and sound (he still uses that synthetic sound he seems to fond willingly or not) they can deliver Metal without boundaries, a Metal that can be easily digested by various of, but now it's very little annoying). 8.5 categories of fans. Still the band has lots of work until reaching a "memorable" or "original" status; yet that's not ATOM (Greece) - Atom Selfreleased - 2013 - impossible. 7 Thrash Death Metal Young Greek quartet from BARBARIAN PROPHECIES (Spain) the city of Thessaloniki - XIII founded in 2009 I think.

WormHoleDeath - 2013 This is their debut demo, a 4 - Black Death Metal tracks effort clocking 17 minutes of '80's It was about time for type Thrash Death Metal, fast paced, primitive, with this hard-working occasional virtuoso displays especially on bass, highly Spanish band to sign influenced by Death, by the first releases of the legendary with a professional label, US band. Although there are plenty of mistakes all over the place and everything seems to have been done on a and here's XIII out on the Italian WormHoleDeath. XIII hurry, without much double-checking, these guys' probably marks the band's 13th year of existence, but it's a potential is enormous, they are very talented musicians complete album made of 13 new tracks totaling more than and I really think they can come up with some very an hour of solid Black Death Metal. The band is capable memorable and influential tunes in the near future. On of delivering mature and well-written tunes as their this debut demo I have to highlight the raspy, original technical capacities allow them to experiment and at the vocal timbre, but also the guitar and bass lines, both same time still keep a straight line. The album is full of sounding unpolished but at the same time somehow very melody and at the same time it's heavy and powerful as it complex and well-thought. A paradoxical full of raw should be, another proof of band's experience. Since my previous encounter with the band was their debut album potential, to keep an eye on, definitely! 8 from 2009, I can say there's a definite improvement in Barbarian Prophecies' music, their music is now more AUSTRALASIA (Italy) - Vertebra diverse, more complex and much more catchy, so I Immortal Frost - 2014 - Ambient Post Metal Not sure why a label that started as Black Metal oriented recommend this album to you too. 8.5 is now moving towards Post Metal / Post Rock, I doubt is BASILISK (Japan) for money, but I can't be sure of that either. The problem is that sooner or later all these Post-something bands will End of Catastrophe Weird Truth - 2013 distance themselves from the scene once promoted them Black Death Metal (Metal) and start believing they are superior, and of I remember this band course they won't give a shit on the label(s) that who from their debut demo back in the end of previously promoted them. I hope that's not the case here the '90's, I have reviewed their demo back then in some with Australasia, I'm just speaking my mind.

Vertebra is made of 10 tracks of cinematic (that's the magazine, but unfortunately I don't remember how they correct word), dreamy music based on instrumental used to sound like. This is their debut album released after structures with only minimal female vocal touches that in more than 15 years of activity, 15 years sprinkled with my humble opinion should be used much more, the girl lots of line-up changes, probably the main cause of this has an excellent, catchy, calm tone that fits this music lack of activity on discographic level. This is a 10 tracks perfectly. There are few reminiscences of Metal, effort clocking 45 minutes of Black Thrash Death Metal especially Black Metal in the guitar riffs and fast highlighted by hoarse but comprehensive vocal singing in drumming, but the rest is pretty much a voyage through Japanese, by an intense rhythm section with some highly

BLACK ANAL GOAT VOMIT (Australia) - Hell Cold Raw - 2013 - Ambient Doom Black Metal My first impression on material wasn't the best possible, that's for sure; the sound quality is extremely poor, the band name is stupid to the core, and the compositions aren't the most impressive either, but I gave it a second chance (spin) and it kinda grew on me, I discovered loads of creepy and interesting elements that could make it worth your while, too. This guy (the band is actually a one man act) likes to mix in different elements in order for the final result to be disgusting, offensive and at the same time atmospheric and dark, so we can hear elements of Ambient, Doom Metal, Noise Grind and of course Black Metal, and even some Post Black Metal guitar leads here and there. At times the guitar riffs seem very interesting but it's a really tough job for the listener to distinguish anything at all. Probably with a decent recording this would have been more interesting, but my impression is that the guy doesn't want any professional recording after all. Recommended if you're into lo-fi raw Black Metal only. 6 BLAZE OF SORROW (Italy) - Fulgida Reminiscenza Sun & Moon - 2014 - Atmospheric Black Metal New EP from this Italian one-man-band, Fulgida Reminiscenza is actually made of a 3 tracks EP recorded in 2010 and never released until now, plus 2 bonus tracks, one of them being a cover of a Death In June track. If you are already familiar with Peter's work you know he's relying a lot on acoustic guitars and atmospheric keyboard passages, but it seems on this EP he used these elements more than usual, apparently he recorded the 2010 tracks in a miserable state of mind and they turned out overly melancholic and nostalgic. You have to wait more than 10 minutes in this EP for the Black Metal elements (drums and electric guitars) to kick in, but that's not necessarily bad for the overall atmosphere. Blaze of Sorrow is again a pleasant audition and I'm sure if you like its previous works you'll like this one too. If you don't know this Italian project you have to know it's a blend of acoustic and semi-acoustic melancholic music with Black Metal and even a pinch of Post Metal, although the Black Metal elements are rare on this particular release. Sun & Moon did a professional and elegant job producing it in form of a digipack EP strictly limited to 500 copies. 8

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

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BLEEDING UTOPIA (Sweden) - Darkest Potency Bleeding Music - 2014 Melodic Death Metal Not sure why they decided to continue on their own (assuming Bleeding Music is their own label though), but Bleeding Utopia certainly didn't lower their standards, and I'd say this new album is more mature and solid than their previous work. Darkest Potency is made of 9 tracks totaling 41 minutes of Melodic Death Metal in the best Swedish tradition, with excellent production, catchy choruses all over, solid rhythm section, melodic guitar leads and powerful riffs, heavy and hoarse but at the same time comprehensive growls, this is a very good album that will hopefully get the exposure and respect it deserves.

The band is now a trio made of David, the vocalist, and Andreas and Joakim, the two guitarists, but they have guests on drums and bass on this material, speaking for myself I felt this album is missing nothing at all, it's as good as it gets in this genre, the only problem is that almost all has been already said in it and Bleeding Utopia are bringing nothing new to the table, not their fault. If you're into Melodic Death Metal make sure you don't miss this release! 9 BODY HARVEST (UK) - Futile Creation Grindhouse Music - 2014 - Death Metal What once was considered Brutal and Technical Death Metal is now considered simply Death Metal, the Brutal and Technical labels have moved way further. Body Harvest, a young act from Bristol, England, are playing exactly that type of Death Metal that was considered the pinnacle of the genre

any vocals at all. For a genre like Doom Metal that doesn't offer so many variables to choose from anyway, departing without a vocal seems to be a bold move, but after spinning this disc for a few times already I'd say it's a good one. The album is made of 2 long tracks (each one clocking more than 20 minutes) of quite simple, repetitive, hypnotic traditional Doom Metal without too much extra sauce on the sides, this is how this genre was programmed back in its days, and kudos for these guys for choosing to deliver such a pure Doom record, I'm sure fanatics will love it, but speaking for myself I kind of missed a few more extra touches like the church bells in BURNING SAVIOURS (Sweden) - Boken om order to aggravate the overall atmosphere, I missed the evil, Satanic feeling in their music. Since it's a debut forbannelsen I Hate - 2013 - Hard Rock album I'd say it's a good start and promising for the future so feel free to give them a listen when you have a chance.

Doom Metal A combination of 7 traditional Doom Metal CORPUS DIAVOLIS (France) and '70's Hard Rock is not something I'm very Entheogenesis Selfreleased - 2013 - Black used to listen to nowadays Metal even if this retro fashion is Impressive band these everywhere. Heavily influenced by French Corpus Diavolis, band like Pentagram, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, they were formed in 2008 Hendrix, and other '70's heroes, Burning Saviors have pretty much did everything by released 3 full-length albums until 2007 when they and stopped most probably because the previous vocalist (who themselves except for an EP released in 2011 by Hass has a Romanian name, btw) left and had to be replaced. Weg Productions. This is their second full-length album From 2011 they started releasing stuff again and here we released again by the band in excellent digipack format have a compilation of their latest singles that can be easily including also a booklet with lyrics and pics; very considered as their fourth full-length as it features 8 tracks professional approach on both image and sound (the and totalizes 38 minutes of playing time. Although the album sound's excellent), although their music reminds music is organic and seems genuine, the Hard Rock me of the '90's. Fast paced, demonic, hateful, technical influences are a bit too much for this time we live in, it and offensive, that's how I would describe Corpus sounds very simplistic and repetitive, and only the good Diavolis' work on Entheogenesis. 12 tracks, more than 50 grooves and inspired guitar leads and solos manage to minutes of playing, quite diversified in composition, avoid boredom. Fans of '70's Rock Metal will probably highly obscure when it comes to atmosphere, I'd enjoy this, but my opinion is that they need more hooks to recommend this album to all Black Metal followers, this is one hell of a solid band and album! 9 be able to become a notable name. 7 back then: unrelenting rhythms, extreme aggression, hoarse, guttural vocals, incomprehensive of course, supported by screams here and there, heavy drums and impressive bass lines, and an overall brutal, menacing atmosphere. The guitar riffs and leads, although quite catchy, are too generic for this style, they are still in search for an identity; also the guitar solos are very enjoyable but too few to have an impact on the listener.

As a debut album Futile Creation proves Body Harvest are a tight combo with straight ideas of where they want to move ahead, so I'd say keep an eye on them. 7.5

CEREMONIAL CASTINGS (USA) - Cthulhu Dark Forest - 2014 - Black Metal What's sad about this review is that the band recently announced its indefinite hiatus, probably disbanded after almost 20 years of raising the Black Metal standards in USA. This is their eight full-length album to date and although it's made of 2 CDs, it's not a double-album, the second CD being made of only 1 track, the keyboard lines of the first CD tracks combined all together. An interesting idea, never saw something similar, although probably it's not an original either. Ceremonial Castings prove once again why they are so respected (or at least they should be) in the USBM scene, this is an amazing release, a masterpiece dragging the listener through eerie, mysterious places and at the same time delivering one of the most brutal and technical traditional Black Metal around, fast, devastating, fierceful, dominant and terrifying; the combination of technical, complex guitar work with uncompromising rhythm section, raw vocals and that heavy, dense, piercing keyboard atmosphere, is fantastic. For the ones of you in search of something original that keeps traditional patterns intact. 10

CRUELTY'S HEART / FROSTWORK (International / UK) Beyond Bloodied Banners Far and Haunted Winters Graven UKEM - 2014 - Pagan Black

band too, take pride in the band's refusal to use keyboards or other effects in order to increase the atmosphere, and that's fine with me, but the problem is the sound on this release is too raw and unpolished in order to be something to stand out from the crowd of similar bands; ok, the album offers some pretty rad and catchy guitar leads and solos, but that's about it, the rest is quite mediocre and at least for me it failed to capture the attention for a complete track although I'm already at the third complete audition. Fans of old-school, organic Doom Death Metal (slow, sorrowful, oppressing, lead by guttural vocals) might enjoy this. 6 CULT OF VAMPYRISM (Italy) - Aporia Mercy Despise / Dark East - 2013 - Gothic Doom Second full-length from this Italian duo featuring a member of Trismegisto, a band I remember being reviewed by me a few years ago. Back then I really liked Trismegisto, but unfortunately I can't say the same about this project. Cult of Vampyrism tries a combination between Gothic Rock and old-school Doom Metal, but the result is far from being as interesting as such a combination suggests, and that's mostly because of the simplistic, amateurish guitar riffs, the type of guitar riffs anyone who just picked up a guitar starts playing (even without knowing anything about handling a guitar). The girls vocal timbre seems really good but unfortunately she sounds bored (or just dissonant?) and not committed to the general idea most of the time. The only good thing, or the only element I liked on this album are the keyboard backgrounds, eerie and mysterious all the time, and maybe also the few male whispers and clean vocals, but without success in the overall impression on the material.

Not my type, not recommended. 4 DAMOKIS (Malaysia) - Grinding Mother Whore Grundar - 2012 - Brutal Death Grind Although the band was founded almost 20 years ago, they managed to release their debut album, this one I'm reviewing here, only in 2012. This 17 tracks full-length lasting for half an hour, crowns the band's career so far, and judging solely by their music I'd say they preferred playing live than recording stuff. Their music doesn't sound like the most polished around, and it seems to be recorded in a who-gives-a-shit mode meaning the quality is quite low and unpretentious, but in the end I guess fans of this genre aren't necessarily looking for good quality recordings but to brutality and shock factor. Unfortunately apart some fast and brutal parts I have expected much more brutality from a release with such an offensive cover, and instead I got something that sounds like a Punk Hardcore band is trying to go Death Grind, the result is disappointing, there's simply not enough power and brutality for this to be a successful album. On the other hand this is much more diverse and complex than most similar releases it's not full speed and chaos, it has its dark moments also, and the movie intros are a good element in adding more diversity. All in all not an album I would recommend someone who wants to get into this genre. 5

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com) Metal / Epic Black Metal Chris Newby is doing a very good job with his UKEM Records, a label devoted to bring out the best of nowadays British Underground Extreme Metal, and so far so good, he managed to release some cool stuff, don't hesitate to check his catalogue.

This split opens with the Danish/British quartet Cruelty's Heart, and this is the first time I hear about them although they are around since 2009 and have a full-length album released in 2012. Their music is a technical, very well produced Black Metal with Pagan orientation, catchy and well executed; fast, pounding drums, incisive bass lines, impressive guitar work on riffs, leads and solos, piercing vocals and an overall entertaining atmosphere, so we're not dealing with a straight-forward Black Metal band, they have more diversity and they seem to be determined to put atmosphere on the first place.

Next is a one man band from UK lead by Dagon. Again an act that has released a full-length album in 2012, and this split is the follow-up, Frostwork's side of this split being made of 8 titles into mid-tempo to fast paced Black Metal made by quite repetitive guitar riffs, cold and desperate shrieks, synthetic but not so annoying drum machine and not impressive bass lines. The impressive part starts with the 5th track, an instrumental acoustic tracks that's the perfect soundscape for the split's cover artwork, a track highlighted also by a fierce, Viking-like voice and lots of dark whispers; then the following track is one of the coldest I've heard this year, that guitar riff is simply freezing cold and damn catchy. Than more acoustic work, and more freezing cold riffs with a distinctive epic atmosphere; I have to admit that after a few spins I liked it a lot, even if I'm not fully convinced by that drum-machine.

Good split, good bands, recommended. 8.5 / 8

CHELATION INTOXICATION (Malaysia) Dismemberment (XVIII) Grundar - 2013 - Brutal Death Metal Debut EP from yet another Malaysian Brutal Death Metal band, probably the most popular style of Extreme Metal in that country since there are so many such bands from there. This is made of 4 tracks + intro + an Encephalopathy cover, and runs into a Slamming Brutal Death Metal with guttural vocals and occasional pig squeals, lots of movie excerpts, groovy rhythms, quite memorable guitar riffs and good diversity among the tracks. The only problem is the weak production, this music needs a blasting sound, but for a debut EP I think Chelation Intoxication did a very good job, fans of Devourment, Vulvectomy, Gutalax will possibly enjoy this material a lot. Excellent cover and booklet artwork, CRYPT OF SILENCE (Ukraine) - Beyond Shades too! 7.5 Solitude - 2014 - Doom Death Metal CLOUDS TASTE SATANIC (USA) - To Sleep Beyond This is the debut album from a band that seems more into the '90's type of Doom Death rather than the nowadays the Earth polished type. Beyond Shades offers only 4 tracks, but Selfreleased - 2014 - Doom Metal It's not every day I come across an instrumental band, and their total playing time is 50 minutes, so none of the that's exactly what CTS is, a quartet deciding to strike the featured titles clocks less than 11 minutes, pretty Metal scene without a lead vocal, or better said without unsurprising for this genre. The label, and I guess the

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DARK PATH (Chile) Forest of Eternal Darkness Cold Raw - 2014 - Black Metal After reviewing an awful release from Cold Raw Records I have to admit my expectations towards this CD were very low especially from a debut demo by a band founded last year. To my surprise these 5 tracks (17 minutes) brought quite some decent Black Metal with a hint of Pagan, a Bathory-like influence on the overall atmosphere. The compositions are simple and generic, but the spirit is there, the old-school Norwegian Black Metal rhythms and patterns completed by Swedish (read Bathory) atmospheres are quite catchy and entertaining. In the meantime, from a duo Dark Path became a quartet leaving only one of the founding members, Darkwolf, to continue carrying the flame. If you don't mind a rehearsal quality (but good nonetheless) recording and you're into old-school fast paced Black Metal with a hint of epic atmospheres, you might try this demo, who knows where the new line-up will take this band in the future. 7 DAYS OF LOSS (Austria) - Our Frail Existence Noisehead - 2014 - Thrash Death Metal Fresh is the first word that comes to my mind after listening to this second full-length album from Days of Loss, a band I haven't heard before even if they were formed in 1996. The guys play a modern and melodic type of Thrash Death Metal, quite easily digestible by a

wider audience but at the same time still powerful and even aggressive at times. You'll be surprised to hear that the whole is built on old-school patterns, it's pretty straight forward Thrash Death Metal like it was forged back in the '90's, but Days of Loss managed to polish the whole thing and the result is surprisingly good. The CD comes in form of a digipack CD including a booklet with lyrics and the artwork is very good, too. As a conclusion Days of Loss are a band we should all know better, they deserve a bit more display and together with this new label deal with Noisehead I think and hope they'll get more exposure. 8.5

a powerful and quite secure rhythm section (still the sound could have been more polished) and ending with a good vocalist that (hopefully) hasn't reached his potential yet, he tries to be as versatile as possible but without much success. The major highlight of this album I'd say are the heavy, oppressive atmospheres it manages to transmit. Recommended to fans of Melodic, Atmospheric mid-tempo Black Metal. 7 DEF/LIGHT (Ukraine) - Transcendevil Metal Scrap - 2013 - Black Death Metal This one seems to be a pretty old Metal band from Ukraine as they were formed in 1995 as RB and went on playing Death Metal until 2001 when they changed moniker to Def/Light which means Defilers of Light; odd names for a Black Death Metal act if you ask me, Def/Light made me think of Def Leppard instead of something brutal and offensive as their music is. But getting to their music I'd say Def/Light plays an Atmospheric and Melodic type of Black Death Metal with prominent and important keyboard lines creating and underlining an epic feeling, and the rest are pretty much straight-forward: an angry and not versatile at all vocal, heavy bass lines, intense druming and quite simple guitar riffs supported here and there by melodic leads. The sound is ok although the guitars are hard to distinguish at times between the high volume keys, bass and vocals.

Interesting album that somehow took my mind to Lux Occulta. Recommended. 8

DEAD BECOMES THE SUN (France) The Last Eclipse Immortal Frost - 2013 - Black Metal Whenever I see a debut EP released by a label I'm thinking the label has to have a mighty trust in the band to release it and purely because of financial reasons; releasing an EP costs basically the same as releasing a full-length, and I'm talking here about CD format, in case of other formats the costs differ, but not here. That's on one hand, and on the other since it's an unknown act we're talking about it becomes pretty tricky to move all copies in a timely manner. Here Immortal Frost put their trust in Dead Becomes The Sun, a one man project from France started in 2012. The Last Eclipse is made of 6 tracks and clocks almost 20 minutes of quite fresh, Shoegaze influenced but still aggressive and very dark Black Metal DEFICIENCY (France) music. Even if the drums are programmed, this didn't - The Prodigal Child bother me at all, and usually it does, and that's a major Fantai'zic - 2013 plus in my books; then the general atmosphere of this EP Melodic Modern Thrash is dark, gloomy, mysterious and somehow keeps the oldschool expressivity intact while still adding loads of Metal melodic touches. Good work, for a debut EP I think it Second full-length from this French quartet, The Prodigal Child impresses at first through its freshness; although the does its job to the max, you should give it a try. 8.5 band plays an old-school style like Thrash Metal, they DEAD SAMARITAN managed to throw in lots of modern stuff from different (Finland) - The Devil genres that are in fashion at the moment and so reinventing somehow this genre. From what I can see I'd Tunes say the band has no boundaries, they do exactly what they Selfreleased - 2014 - Thrash Death Metal After a debut album out on Casket Music in 2012, the like and do it well. The 10 tracks featured here are Finns from Dead Samaritan decided to go ahead by totaling a bit more than an hour of technical, melodic and themselves and release the follow-up on their own efforts. catchy (to a point) Modern Thrash Metal, a genre that I The band was founded back in 2001 and I'm still surprised think might be on "acceptable" list of old-schoolers, too. I they are so little known keeping in mind they have a got a bit bored after a while, but I blame that on my lack female vocalist and usually female fronted bands have of contact with the modern genres, so if you're into much more success than "normal" bands. I guess it was Thrash Metal and not only you can give this band a only bad luck and a poor discography, but it seems they chance, they'll treat you well; professional band, tight have finally decided to giving it all and 2 albums in 3 music (very versatile vocals, precise rhythms section and years is not bad at all. They are playing a pretty solid fabulous guitar work), excellent production, top-notch combination of Thrash and Death Metal, the '90's digipack packaging, all worth your money, believe me. 9 European style with hints of melody here and there and with good technical display. Although it brings nothing DEHYDRATED (Russia) - Zone Beneath the Skin 2012 - Death Metal new to the table and they can't be named as innovative in HeadXplode Second full-length album any way, the music is tight, mature and nice flowing, from this quite active you'll enjoy it for sure, but I still feel there's something Russian band (at the missing in order to make it more memorable, maybe more moment they are touring guitar leads and solos. The music is all good but after a while you feel you've overheard everything and it stops Europe and actually Tomorrow will play in my city, Cluj, being interesting, but by all means, if you're into Thrash too), and that's a massive point in their favor as they Death Metal, especially if you like a raw and brutal should be exposed more to the public. It's my first female vocal in your Metal, give this band a try, it might encounter with their music but it's a very good one, the be right up your alley. I very much like their band plays a healthy and fresh combination of different professionalism and also the excellent cover artwork types of Death Metal, from old-school straight-forward, to groove-infused, to highly technical, and even Gore Grind (simple and effective, will stick to your mind). 7.5 influenced at times, with the essential benefit of an DEADLY CARNAGE excellent production. The band is highlighted by a very versatile, amazing female vocalist and although I'm not a (Italy) - Manthe ATMF - 2014 - Post- fan of such unnatural, forced growls and pig squeals, I can definitely appreciate her availability to give it all her best, Black Doom Metal People will soon get she's really impressive, so hat off. The instrumentists are tired of this Post thing in Metal, I'm sure of this; it's like also top-notch, and even if they seem young, they sound musicians are tired of being considered Metal and are very skilled and calculated. To end this review I'd also trying to escape this label, but at the same time they are like to mention their ability to mix in as much influences trying to be seen, to get a name in the Metal community, as they can and still sound curdled and mature, keeping in this community because the others will always reject the tracks interesting and even catchy. A really good them. It's like Death Metal bands in the '90's tried to get discovery, I recommend this digipack CD to you, too. 9 away releasing shitty albums but got back to their roots when they saw no one else gave a cent on their music. DEMENTIA SANEX (Italy) - Heartworm Anyway, I better not turn this review into a personal point The Path Less Traveled / Drown Within / Don Carlos of view on the whole genre and get to this particular 2013 - Experimental Death Metal Everyone involved in this "business" knows that for a release.

Manthe is Deadly Carnage's third full-length album to label releasing EPs is synonymous with death but here's date, a 7 tracks effort totaling almost 50 minutes of quite three different label joining forces and releasing this 3 atmospheric and emotional Black Metal with influences (!!!) tracks EP from an unknown band which previously from different genres, Doom Metal being named by the released only 1 demo, 4 years ago, and putting their trust band as the main influence although I wouldn't bet on it, in Dementia Senex; this is even released as digipack. That I'd better name Atmospheric Metal as influence. The means the labels are impressed by the band's potential and guitar work is the best on this release, being seconded by most probably the upcoming (if any) album will be

released by one or all of them again. But getting to these 3 tracks (totaling 18 minutes), Dementia Senex likes to blend modern Death Metal with Hardcore influences and not only, and the result is quite difficult to label, but the tracks are nice flowing, catchy, technical and curdled enough to impress the listener, and also they benefit of a good recording sound, so all in all we're dealing with a successful material, I'm sure both fans of Hardcore and Death Metal will appreciate it, it's surprisingly well balanced. 8 DEMONOLATOR (Canada) Occult Incantations of Evil HSP - 2012 - Death Metal As listed on Metal Archives this band is active since 1992 but have no releases except for this debut album (out 2 decades after the band's formation), pretty strange to say the least. The album is released in digipack format, but the booklet is like printed backwards (like looking at it in the mirror), I don't know if this was on purpose, but it's damn stupid; why publishing the lyrics if you can't read them? Passing over that, music-wise the album is made of only 4 tracks but their total playing time is 35 minutes.

Mostly slow paced Death Metal with occasional fast passages, Demonolator's music takes you back to the beginning of the '90's; it's raw, low-tuned, unpolished and sounds like recorded in one take. The vocals are the best part of this album, through their expressiveness they manage to create a decaying, putrefying atmosphere specific only to a few bands of the '90's. If you're into '90's demo tapes this might make your day; although I'm a fan of Finnish Death Metal and this band is somehow following a similar path, I managed to dig and really enjoy it after the second spin so you might want to be patient with them too, it might pay off in the end. 7.5 DEPRAVED PLAGUE (UK) - Systemic Contagion - 2013 Death Metal Previously released by the band in 2012, Systemic got picked up and re-released by the new and ambitious Contagion Records a year later. We're treated with 9 tracks totaling half an hour of quite technical Death Metal. The sound is raw but at the same time clear enough to offer a pleasant audition to the listeners, but at times it feels pretty dry. Back to the execution, the guitarist is the one trying the most on this release, he might seem a step ahead of the band, but that only means there's room for progress. There are no real highlights on Systematic, but traditional Death Metal fans will appreciate the band's honest and brute attitude. 7

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

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DESASTER (Germany) - Live in Bamberg High Roller - 2014 Thrash Death Black Metal Celebrating 25 years of activity, the German legends Desaster recorded 23 of their best tracks to be featured on this live double album, and the result is absolutely devastating, another proof (if there still was any need for it) that Desaster is a proud follower and continuer of Venom's legacy. I was never a die-hard Desaster fanatic, but I have to admit with this new live album they managed to win me over for good, their devotion, their energy and their enthusiasm is absolutely contagious; also the top-notch execution and sound quality are something to praise on this massive release, the listener has the chance to feel like in the audience but at the same time experience the clear production like in the comfort of its home. I have the Double CD version of this release, but it's out on double-vinyl as well, I'd recommend you not to miss it even if you're not a Desaster fan; although I'm generally skeptic towards live albums this one is killer, very inspiring and praiseworthy: excellent sound quality, impressive live display from Desaster, devastating attitude, I can't get enough good words to explain it. DESECRATION (UK) - Cemetery Sickness Metal Age - 2014 - Death Metal The pride and joy of Welsh Death Metal, Desecration, are back with a new album 6 years after the release of the previous full-length, Forensix, so probably that title was like a premonition it would take that long for a new official opus. In good Desecration tradition Cemetery Sickness is clocking around 30 minutes although it features 11 tracks, and I think this is the perfect duration

for this genre, the tracks are short and to the point, without any unnecessary additions, and the band keeps it all interesting and entertaining; growling vocals supported by vicious shrieks from time to time, solid, mid-tempo to fast paced rhythm section, catchy guitar riffs with plenty of grooves, old-school attitude, disgusting lyrics about cemetery sickness, the perfect choice for traditional Death Metal fanatics. Although it brings nothing new or nothing out of the ordinary, it's clear these guys have the experience on their side, and from my point of view this is definitely one of the best traditional Death Metal releases of the year. 9.5 DET VIDAAPNE GAP (Norway) - The Temple of the Mind Archaic Sound - 2013 - Ambient Black Metal Debut demo from this project fronted by Nevresch from Hat, a name you'd probably heard lately since their recent album on Abyss Records was quite well promoted.

Nevresch first released this demo by himself and later got the re-release deal from Archaic Sound so he added an intro and a few more minutes to one of the tracks; The Temple of the Mind as released by Archaic Sound is made of 2 long tracks + intro + outro, totaling 21 minutes of misanthropic, nihilistic, horrifying mix of Ambient, Doom and mid-tempo Black Metal, with influences from Death Metal and even Gothic Rock as well, an expressive piece of music that I would have appreciated much more if I wouldn't knew it was mostly improvised and recorded in one take, and that to me means lack of care for the listener (why should we care about the artist if the artist doesn't give a fuck on us?). Well, it's much better and expressive than most of the stuff around these days so I have to give credit to this talented musician. What I liked the most about this demo were the spooky whispers inspiring death, and the elegant release by Archaic Records ( 3 folds digipack CD including lyrics), fans of Suicidal / Depressive stuff will definitely love it. 8.5 DIABOLIC (USA) City of the Dead (reissue) Repulsive Echo - 2013 -

wave of Scandinavian Black Metal, but the great thing about their music is they add a lot of originality to the whole and in the end you won't be able to pinpoint all their influences. Dimholt prove to have what it takes to a band to actually come up with a style of their own, a Black Metal twist of their own, and that's extremely rare nowadays. Overall the music is aggressive, mostly fastpaced, aired, catchy and follows a very intelligent structure that will hook up both fans of old-school, blasphemic Black Metal and fans of the new breed of this genre. An awesome debut album, I won't be surprised to see this band in the top of Black Metal in short time.

Highly recommended! 9.5

The Sinister Flame - 2014 - Black Death Metal I've read about this album just the other day in an interview with The Sinister Flame's owner and I was struck by how much dedication and trust he puts in this release of his, of how confident he is that Sinister Ceremonies is one of the best releases in this genre nowadays, so obviously that made me curious, I had no idea I had a copy of it in my "to review" stack of material.

So right from the first track the listener is greeted by a cryptic, obscure, evil and old-school (a la '90's) Death Metal with heavy influences from Black Metal on the atmosphere. There's so much variation and at the same time the trio keeps everything catchy and memorable in order for the listener to deeply enjoy their offering. I love the raspy but comprehensive vocals, the guitar solos and excellent leads, and the oppressive atmospheres, a really expressive piece of evil music, quite balanced in compositions without being boring at all but also without giving a definite album hit to pierce the scene with; and I think that's the only gap of this release, not having a track to stand out from the other. Anyway, Sinister Ceremonies is exactly what their label promotes, a masterpiece of our times, so make sure not to miss it! 9

DISGRACE AND TERROR (Brazil) - The Final Sentence Distro Rock - 2013 - Thrash Death Metal Second full-length album from Brazilian Thrash Death Metal act Disgrace and Terror, a trio founded back in 2001. 11 tracks, 48 minutes of mostly fast paced aggressive and old-school Thrash Death Metal with not such a good sound quality but played with extreme passion and devotion, you can actually feel how much they like to play this type of music and that makes their DOOM:VS (Sweden) music more incisive. Delivering what I would call Thrash Metal with Death Metal influences (mostly in part of the Earthless Solitude - 2014 drumming and vocals lines) highlighted by the energy it emanates, short and fast guitar solos, growling vocals, Funeral Doom Death Metal intelligent guitar leads and catchy riffs. Fanatics of old- Solitude Productions managed to secure this classy signing, namely Doom:VS, one man project of Draconian school Thrash Metal will love it. 7.5 founding member Johan Ericson founded a decade ago.

DISHARMONY Doom:VS already released 2 full-length albums on (Greece) - Shades of Firedoom Music, a division of well-known Firebox Records. 6 years after the second material, here's a new Insanity one that from Johan's apologies to Solitude's owners on Noisehead - 2014 Heavy Doom Metal Heavy Doom Metal bands are rare nowadays, or at least I the booklet of this CD I understand was supposed to be rarely stumble upon any of them, so this album was real released way back, a 6 tracks effort that makes all waiting joy to listen to as this is a genre I used to adore in the well worth the waiting. In fact all music on this new '90's, I still do, but you know the saying: out of sight, out album was composed and performed by Johan, except for of mind. I think this album is a swansong for the band, it the main vocals, some of the deepest and creepiest growls was released in 2009 by themselves and re-released this by none other than Saturnus' founding member Thomas year by Noisehead, but in the meantime the band wasn't A.G. Jensen. This is the way to do some deep, personal, active on a discographic level, so this might be their final emotional and involving Funeral Doom Death Metal attempt to get their name out there; my prediction is either music leaving absolutely no space for boredom. This they release a new album within a year or two or the band could have been THE perfect album if Johan would have will never become anything anymore. Back to the album performed more of his touching clean vocals in support of it's made of 8 tracks totaling 50 minutes of skillfully Thomas' growls, and I say this because the instrumental crafted Heavy Doom Metal extremely rich in various part, the production, the cover artwork and even the lyrics influences, different emotions, and multiple ways of (I usually don't pay much attention to this part) are expression, a real joy to listen to. They remind me a lot of perfect, and I'm sure both fans of '90's Doom Death scene Nevermore most probably because of the excellent like me and newer fans of Funeral Doom will embrace vocalist, but Disharmony is in no way a copycat. I'm this new release at once. The melodic, emotional guitar impressed by their technical level but also by their ability leads are supported by a steady but not monotonous layer to come up with catchy, memorable tunes, so if you like of riffs, and a complex rhythm section. Let yourselves fall bands like Nevermore, Sentenced, Type o Negative, into this amazing, bottomless Doom Death well, you'll Paradise Lost or even Mercyful Fate, you should try this feel safe. For my taste this is probably the best album of album, it's definitely not one you'll oversee easily. My 2014 in this genre. 9.5 only objection is actually a fear that the band will call it DOOMED (Germany) quits before managing to continue the work started with this album. 9.5 Our Ruin Silhouettes Solitude - 2014 - Doom DISLOYAL (Slovakia) - Death Metal Although it's a one man band, Doomed seems to be a live Nineth Gate Selfreleased - 2012 - act, too, since Pierre Laube usually gets session musicians Atmospheric Black for his live acts, and that's impressive and gives more trust in this moniker and its ambitions. This is its third fullDeath Metal It's not every day I come across a material I can label as length album and second out on Solitude Productions, and strange nowadays, but this Disloyal fourth full-length I have to say it's a crushing hour of music, 7 tracks of album falls exactly into that category, and that's excellent, traditional Doom Death Metal highlighted by brutal, lowat least for me, once in a while I can say I've listened to tuned guitar riffs, melodic leads and solos, deep guttural something different. This 9 tracks album clocks an hour vocals, intense bass lines and tight drumming, and I also of atmospheric and technical Extreme Metal, a have to mention the crystal clear, awesome production by combination of Black and Death Metal with eerie moods, Pierre himself, probably he should think of making this a intelligent structures, dissonant parts from time to time, real job as I'm sure a lot of similar bands would appreciate and from my point of view highlighted by a great bass and book his work. Ah, and the cover and booklet work and by the expressive effects and keyboard artworks are all done by Pierre, too, so I guess with this backgrounds generating a unique atmosphere and new release he makes a statement and it might be a real something I think is a concept theme for the whole album. milestone for him as an artist, I'm sure a good reaction An experiment not many can afford or have the courage from the listeners will give him more courage to continue to try, and as example this is an album you'll either hate to on this way. What I liked the most about this release were death or understand and appreciate, but you'll have to give the guitar leads and solos, they sound like starting to have it at least a complete spin before making a decision; an own identity, and if developed in the same direction during the first track I thought I would be bored to tears, I'm sure we'll soon say the band has its own identity in but what followed changed my view completely, it's still this scene. If you think you'll like a tough, melodic and not my fave album, but it's definitely one I respect and just a bit melancholic Doom Death Metal with a strong will play again when in need for something strange and approach on the Death side, too, go for it, this is a very original. I haven't heard about the band until now, but I good choice. 8.5 will follow their story from now on, that's for sure.

DRAP (Sweden) - En Naturlig Dod Recommended! 8.5 Embrace My Funeral - 2013 - Punk Crust Grind DOMAINS (Spain) - Sinister Ceremonies

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

Death Metal Released by the band as demo tape in 1997, then as MCD

by Fearless Records, it was about time for this to be rereleased on vinyl especially now than the revival of oldschool Death Metal is booming, so Repulsive Echo issued 500 copies of it including the 3 tracks remastered, a Slayer and a Morbid Angel cover, plus a new track from 2013 recorded specially for this release. So we're dealing with 3 tracks from the finest old-school, brutal, fast, and destructive Death Metal, a real gem for collectors and one of the best demos released in the end of the '90's by a US Death Metal band. Tight as fuck, technical and intricate, dark and atmospheric, ferocious, in a word perfect! DIMAEON (Holland) - Collapse of the Anthropocene Layered Reality - 2013 - Progressive Death Metal Although this is their debut album, Dimaeon are around since 2002 and released a few demos, EPs and splits so far. The band's technical abilities are amazing and this album is abundant of catchy, genius elements sprinkled all over. Collapse of the Anthropocene features 9 tracks totaling a bit more than an hour of Progressive Death Metal, a combination of old-school, modern and lots of progressive, experimental elements. Unfortunately not all parts are as impressive, and the album alternates between amazing, delicious touches and boring, outdated and mediocre parts, but the good news is that the first are more, and better, so the overall impression on this debut album is favorable, I suggest you give it a spin online and decide for yourselves. I'm sure the band can deliver much better and much more mature material, they are really good and inventive musicians. 7

DIMHOLT (Bulgaria) Liberation Funeral Selfreleased - 2014 Black Metal Hailing from the neighbor country of Bulgaria, it's normal I've heard of Dimholt, but I've never had contact with their music so far. I've had very nice surprises from Bulgaria lately so I have to admit each new material I get from this country is an exciting new adventure. Liberation Funeral, the band's debut album, comes after 11 years of existence, so after quite a long wait, and it probably sums up the best of their material so far; 10 tracks totaling an hour of semi-technical, semimelodic Black Metal that reminded me of the second

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Drap was founded in 2013 by its vocalist, Joachim, as an attempt to release an album and then quit; the album would have been dedicated to his mother who passed away 3 years before. This is how this debut album came into being, but I guess the response or simply the members' passion for this music made them decide they will continue. Talking about En Naturlig Dod the album is made of 10 short tracks totaling less than 25 minutes of fast paced Punk Crust Grind with demented, quite original vocals, lots and lots of energy and a lot of rage; there are even some Thrash Black Metal influences here and there, and the production is unpolished but actually very good, very fit for their music. Fans of bestial metal will enjoy this a lot, I have no doubts. Embrace My Funeral released the CD format, the band released it as vinyl, and I think they will also release it as tape if they haven't already, so a wide range of choices here, if you're into brutal Punk Metal you should give it a try. 7 DRIFT OF GENES (Ukraine) - Perverted Memories Eclectic - 2014 - Brutal Death Metal Both the label and band are hailing from a very troubled region nowadays, Donetsk, where even keeping up their regular activities is an act of courage. Drift of Genes are a young duo formed in 2008, and this is their third fulllength album, and second out on Eclectic Productions; 10 tracks totaling 36 minutes of fast paced (how else?) Brutal Death Metal highlighted by the technical but at the same time catchy guitar work (loads of groovy and meaty riffs supported by occasional entertaining leads). The ultra-low tuned vocals are not bad at all either, and the drums, although programmed, are not annoying as would have thought, they are actually spot on and quite natural sounding too, and if I throw on top of that a varied range of rhythms and structures to make the whole diverse and entertaining/unpredictable, you'd be able to easily guess I like the album more than others in this genre so I recommend it to you too. It's not a ground-breaking album or anything like that, but it's a mature and solid release made by serious musicians, if you're into Brutal Death Metal don't miss it. 8.5

writes and plays everything on this new album except for a few guitar solos and the female vocals (naturally, haha), so pretty much a one man band with guests in studio and live. I doubt he can improve Edenian's music by himself and this album is the proof, I don't feel any improvements since its debut, Winter Shades. That's a shame since the band had and by all means still has great potential and this album is a good one, but you can easily feel Edenian can be more than an average band. Well, back to this album, it features 10 tracks totaling more than 70 minutes of melancholic Gothic Doom Metal with mostly male vocals and a few additional female vocals here and there, good guitar riffs and keyboards, but without something to stand DYING OF THE out, something to separate the band from the huge mass of LIGHT (New Zealand) other such bands. The drum programming this time is annoying... 7 - Monolithium Selfreleased - 2013 Industrial Doom Metal EKOVE EFRITS (Iran) - Nowhere Here's a duo from New Zealand whose image Hypnotic Dirge - 2013 - Electronic Ambient Metal portrays a post- Fourth album from this Iranian one-man-band I have apocalyptic, desolate reviewed a couple of times before, but unfortunately an world, so I had high album that starts to dissociate Ekove Efrits from the Black hopes their music would Metal scene and attempts to introduce it in the Alternative follow the same direction Ambient Electro (at times even Trip-Hop) world where and somehow complement their image. And that's exactly I'm sure it will have no chance at all, zero! The melodies what I got, Dying of the Light are an impressively heavy are beautiful again, Count de Efrit knows his way around and catchy Industrial Sludge Doom act capable of the synths, keys and piano, but his clean vocals are attracting some attention on the scene. There are 4 tracks absolutely awful, the attempts to throw in some Black on this EP, 3 of their own and a Shihad cover of Metal elements just to keep in touch with the scene are "Factory"; I honestly enjoy their tracks more than the pathetic and the listeners will feel this. I think this album Shihad cover for the simple fact that I'm not familiar with represents a losing battle for Ekove Efrits, one that will Shihad's music, but also because Dying of the Light's drive away the fans he gathered so far. And the good but music is much heavier and oppressive. At least on the title boring female vocals don't help much either... If you're track, Monolithium, you can really feel an atmosphere into Ambient Electro stuff you might like it, but I hate to similar to the one created in post-apocalyptic movies: see yet another promising Black Metal act going to waste, dirty, hopeless, dusty and rusty. In my books this is an that's why I'm so vehement. 4 excellent band that deserves more attention so take a few minutes of your time and try at least the title track, you ELEGY OF MADNESS (Italy) - Brave Dreams might really love it. Forgot to mention that each and every WormHoleDeath - 2013 - Gothic Progressive Metal track has its own something to surprise the listener, so it's The first time I come across this band's name, although this is not their debut album. I guess the WormHoleDeath impossible to get bored by this EP. 9 deal was a good choice for the band as now if you'll Google Elegy Of Madness you'll find them anywhere, and EA (Russia) - A Etilla Solitude - 2014 - Funeral frankly after listening to this album I think they clearly deserve it, they are an excellent, highly interesting outfit.

Doom Metal Again, like their previous This album, although a bit tough at first and hard to get effort, Ea releases a new into, grows on you track by track and you'll find yourself one track album (their fifth to addicted by the end; it's like Susan Boyle's audition: at date) to deepen their involvement in first you think nothing impressive will come out of it this Funeral Doom style, to have it all even more (honestly that's what I thought during the first track when oppressive and more impenetrable. Except for a few I thought the vocals are way in front of the other barely hearable growls and clean vocals here and there instruments and they really are, but with a purpose), then and a couple of Franciscan choirs, the vocal part is really you discover how unique it is, Elegy of Madness becomes scarse, but on the other hand the guitar leads are present an addictive act by the end of the last track on Brave everywhere and at a moment they become annoying. Dreams. I have only 2 negative comments on this album: Anyway, for a Funeral Doom Metal album this is more the vocals could have been a bit better mixed with the complex and diverse than one would expect, but it still rest, and the lyrics could have been better adjusted to fit walks on traditional paths if I may say so. Good for a the music, but those are not deal-breakers, the album is quiet, relaxing evening dedicated to meditation or great; recommended! 9 reading. 8 ENRAGED (Holland) EDEN KAISER (Spain) - Doomsday Juggernaut It's Your Fear That Cold Raw - 2014 - Black Feeds Their Power Selfreleased - 2012 - Melodic Death Metal Metal Young band from Spain, Holland is one of those countries blessed with very although founded 5 years influential Death Metal bands and implicitly that means ago, Edenkaiser present us their debut EP (although I'd it's a hell of a good nursery for new, young bands that label it a demo) made of 4 tracks + intro. Given the fact benefit of a healthy and competitive environment to grow the band plays a Thrashing Black Metal the old-school in. Enraged is not really a young band, but since this is way, the awful sound quality might not disturb the fans of their debut album although the band was formed back in this genre, but I really think they should have re-recorded 1997, I'd still consider them as newcomers. And I was at least the parts where mistakes in playing their fucking right when I suspected I was about to have a good instruments are obvious. I'm impressed by their audition, Enraged prove to be a mature outfit with straight enthusiasm and (what seems to be) honesty in delivering ideas and excellent technical capabilities to deliver this music, their intentions seem really genuine and the catchy, even memorable tunes and still follow traditional public will appreciate that if they'll keep this path; then I patterns. It's not a perfect album, some riffs are a bit dull, was really impressed by the track Enter Mephisto, a real and sometimes the drums and vocals could have been a hit with simple but very efficient playing and memorable bit more versatile, but the overall impression is great, if choruses. It seems the underground world forgot all about you like '90's European Death Metal, enjoy a bit of memorable choruses, or are they not true enough? The MeloDeath (the incipient type), a bit of groove and a bit band is led by a female vocal but she's as wicked and dirty of technical stuff thrown in together, Enraged might be sounding as possible, don't even think of melodic, gothic exactly what you're looking for. 8 stuff, she's as metal as it gets. Not a bad debut, I'm curious where they'll head to. 6.5 ENTHRONING SILENCE (Italy) EDENIAN (Ukraine) - Rise of the Nephilim Throned upon Ashes of Dusk Dusktone - 2013 - Depressive Black Metal BadMoodMan Music - 2013 - Gothic Doom Metal I met this band's music in 2012 while reviewing their Third studio album from this Italian duo featuring also an debut album and in the meantime it seems Edenian ex-member of better known band Mortuary Drape, became a one-man-show since Max Molodtsov composes, Throned upon Ashes of Dusk is made of 6 long tracks mix of Black and Death Metal. The guitars are flowing from everywhere, all the time, diverse, jaw-dropping, intense guitar riffs, leads, solos and even melodic interludes (everything you can think of in a complete Heavy Metal band), the drums are tighter than a virgin, leading your thoughts to the mathematical precision of fellow countrymen Gojira, the vocals are vicious and razor-sharp, supported from time to time by good clean vocals, and the overall atmosphere is impressive, professional and fresh sounding. Great effort, these guys deserve more attention and credit, go check this album at once. 9.5

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

DRUKNROLL (Russia) - Tochka kipeniya Metal Scrap - 2014 - Melodic Heavy Thrash Metal Not sure how much success this band could have outside Russian speaking territories, but I'm sure in their lands they have a pretty important chance of hitting high levels of the Metal scene with their Russian lyrics, catchy choirs, intricate but at the same time easy to digest compositions, melodic touches and hooks all over. This third album from Russian Druknroll is way better than the previous effort, the band is mature and now able to create memorable tunes for their fans. A mixture of Heavy Thrash with Hard'n'Heavy with a powerful melodic edge, quite a lot of grooves, excellent guitar work, good vocal part, and complex rhythm section, what else to say, I'm impressed by how much I liked this new release from Druknroll. 9 DULCAMARA (Spain) - El antagonista Art Gates - 2014 Melodic Deathcore Death Metal Art Gates continues to bet on local bands and that's a considerable effort I hope they'll be rewarded for sooner or later. Dulcamara were founded back in 2003 and although I haven't heard about them until now they've been a really active band releasing 4 full-length album (including this one) so far. El Antagonista is made of 11 tracks into Modern, Melodic Death Metal with powerful Deathcore and Electro influences. The guitar riffs are heavy and razor-sharp like in Heavy Thrash Metal, the drums are heavy and oppressive as bulldozers, the guitar leads and solos are melodic and fresh, and the vocals sound very dedicated, very angry and expressive convincing the listener this band is professional and mature, capable of building and delivering memorable tunes. I'm really impressed how carefully constructed all this is, an album that will be very appreciated by Spanish speaking fanatics and not only. 9 DUNKELNACHT (France) - Revelatio WormHoleDeath - 2014 - Black Death Metal Wow, here's exactly what I find missing in the Black Metal scene of Today (and even before...), intense, overwhelming and technical guitar work! Lille based DunkelNacht prove to have reached their complete maturity as a band 9 years after their foundation, with this second full-length album, Revelatio, an 11 tracks effort totaling around 45 minutes of technical, melodic, fierceful, expressive, tight and at the same time laid back

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(totaling almost 70 minutes) of Depressive Black Metal.

The compositions are really good, and although they are not technically challenging, the final results are quite entertaining and catchy, but the problem with most of the listeners might be the low quality of the recordings.

Underground fans might find a lot of similarities with Burzum's earlier recordings, maybe with a strong influence from the nowadays Post-Metal scene, especially in those repetitive guitar riffs. I find it a good album, but I also think it could have been much better if recorded in a more professional manner. 7.5 EPISTHEME (Italy) Descending Patterns Selfreleased - 2014 Progressive Metal Italians love Progressive Metal, that's a fact, and it seems Progressive Metal loves the Italians since every year more and more such bands make it to the final tops, and the best thing is they don't necessarily follow the already successful stories like the ones of Ephel Duath, Labyrinth or Vision Divine for example, they are all thrying their luck in bringing something new and original. Not all of them succeed, that's obvious, but their good technical skills allow them to keep trying and improving their abilities and craft. Epistheme presents us here their debut album, a 7 tracks effort totaling almost 40 minutes of Progressive Metal but I wouldn't know whom to compare their music with, I wouldn't also know if to tie this better with the Extreme Metal scene or with the Melodic Metal one, the Italian quintet is gathering influences from all over the place. It's good to see all these influences are channeled properly and this debut album actually sounds like a mature, curdled effort rather than a mix of styles, and that's mostly because of a solid rhythm section that constitutes the backbone of their music, and the vocals (impressive, versatile enough to capture your attention) and guitars are doing their things experimenting and venturing through different territories. In my opinion they would need only a bit more hooks and catchy elements on their next release and I wouldn't be surprised to see this band in the tops, too. Anyway, a worthwhile debut album to present us a new promising name from the Italian scene. 8

traditional Black Metal. Fast paced, atmospheric, a bit epic, cold and razor sharp sounding, Evil's music is really enjoyable although not bringing anything new to the scene. The execution is flawless, the compositions interesting and clever, the production is massive and crystal-clear, so all in all I have nothing to dislike on this album, Evil did a very good job and they deserve some sort of recognition after so many years in the obscure underground, I guess they are very proud of this album and the good thing is they really should be proud of it. 9 EVIL MACHINE (Poland) War in Heaven Arachnophobia - 2013 Thrash Death Metal Except for the vocal, the other guys from Evil Machine are pretty well known at least to followers of Underground Extreme Metal, and that's for being also members in bands like Vader, Dead Infection or Pyorrhoea, and even if I thought this is a pretty new band since War in Heaven is their debut record, the band has been around since 2004, don't know how active though.

We're dealing here with 10 tracks totaling 43 minutes of old-school dirty, raw, hateful and merciless Thrash Death Metal with mostly mid-tempo rhythms and organic sound; not the most original music around, but the album has a steady flow, is quite catchy, atmospheric and manages to transmit what these 4 guys wanted to. I'd recommend it to old-school fanatics only and that's because I think the new generation of extreme metallers will be bored to death by these mid-tempo (only occasionally fast) rhythms; not sure if this band has any future in the nowadays scene though... 7 EVILNESS (France) Unreachable Clarity Selfreleased - 2013 Death Metal This band was founded almost a decade ago but they only managed to release this debut album last year.

Too bad as this music was in fashion about when they started playing, they would have had a bigger impact with this album back then. Evilness plays that type of Technical Death Metal built on twin guitar riffs, melodic leads and a Swiss-clock precision on rhythm section, and at the same time gladly accepting and embracing influences from other genres as Metalcore, Thrash or even Heavy Metal. The album is made of 7 tracks plus 3 of them featured again as instrumental versions probably for fans to enjoy a bit of karaoke, not a bad idea I'd say. If you're into Melodic, Technical and polished Death Metal you might try this out, it will be a pleasant audition although it won't surprise you with anything. In my opinion a band with such technical abilities should try new horizons, not stick to old paths.

7.5

Let the punishment begin! And so it does on this new album from Brazilian sickos Expose Your Hate, their second album to date, released almost 10 years (!) after their debut was. 17 new tracks ranging anywhere from 1 minute to 4 and half minutes in length and all bearing the same mark: speed and destruction. So as you probably imagine by now we're dealing here with a band that's in for raising as much chaos as possible and their fast paced, heavy and expressive Death Grind, supported by social themes in their lyrics and by a good level of composition and execution, will probably satisfy a large chunk of the genre fanatics; old-school, Punk influenced guitar work, prominent bass lines, unrelenting drumming, double vocals (hoarse vocals supported by demented screams), and a couple of short guitar solos (that I loved), that's what you'll get from this new EYH album. Unfortunately it's nothing innovative or impressive enough to stand out from the rest, it's just good. 7.5 EXTREME O.D. (UK) Contaminate Selfreleased - 2013 Groove Metal Third EP for this UK based act, Contaminate features 3 tracks totaling 14 minutes of groovy, catchy, moshfriendly Metal. Releasing as many EPs as possible is what I support nowadays because it keeps your band always fresh in front of the public's eye, it costs less than a fulllength, you can self-release it and give away a ton of copies at shows, it's just good promotion at a fraction of an album's cost. Back to this band, Extreme O.D. or X.O.D. is fronted by a beautiful lady that looks nothing like a metalhead, actually she looks like a Pop star who just met a bunch of tough-looking Metal (or better said Hardcore) guys. But despite her looks, Katie Cairns sounds angry and menacing as hell, her voice really compliments the band's melodic, groovy and at the same time brutal form of Metal, a good match. Madball comes to mind while listening to this band, I'd say they have lots of chances to make a name for themselves, they only have to come up with some more hooks in their tracks and start releasing stuff more frequently. 7

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

EPITIMIA (Russia) (Un)reality Hypnotic Dirge - 2014 Post Black Metal A double-album in digipack format is the latest offering from the Russian outfit named Epitimia. Their fourth fulllength release looks outstanding and I can only imagine how much effort the band and label put in releasing it; a 6 panel digipack complete with a 12 pages booklet featuring all lyrics and awesome artwork, an excellent value for your money, no doubt. Music-wise the band took a step further into broadening their territories, the backbone of their music remaining of Black Metal springs, but now adding many Post Rock/Metal, Shoegaze, Electronic and even Jazz influences to the whole. (Un)reality is impressive through the emotions it transpires, it's involving, complex and if their label promotes it as "Epitimia’s magnum opus" I can only agree with this statement. If you know Epitimia's work or if you don't but you're into Post Black Metal, you shouldn't miss this release, get it while it lasts! 9 EVERDYING (USA) The Journey Ahead Selfreleased - 2014 Black Death Metal One-man band from Chicago, Everdying offers us here its second EP since its inception, in 2002, a pretty lazy project if we'd judge by that, and I wasn't having any major hopes before playing the disc. But once I got to the music I started to wonder where this guy practiced during these more than 12 years and why he hasn't released more stuff; he's a very good musician and composer, the 6 tracks featured here are all very interesting and catchy. From Melodic Death Metal to Black Death and even some Doom Death passages The Journey Ahead is a real journey through various emotions and I'm surprised by the amount of different influences this guy has managed to gather under one "roof", definitely worth a listen. 8

EXULT (Russia) - Edge Noizr - 2014 - Progressive Metal Russian duo made of ex Beheaded Zombie members, a band we've featured before inhere. Guitarist Dmitry and drummer Vladimir are now exploring the Progressive side of Metal more than Beheaded Zombie would have allowed probably. The new project is all made of experimental sonic geometric figures, meaning they have no boundaries when it comes to the territories they try to explore but even if we're treated with very complex, constantly shifting and varied structures, there is still a core of this music, a catchy core of Progressive Metal that so far made me listen to this debut album 4 times and I'm still discovering and enjoying new elements in it. Fans of Progressive Death Metal will love this album, too, as these guys' Death Metal background seems to be still heavily present in their compositions and yet still delivering an easy listening material. The two musicians EXCRUCIATION (Switzerland) - (G)hosts they asked to join as guests did a solid job, too: the bass Auric - 2014 - Doom Death Metal This is a massive discovery for me; I'm proud and happy lines are very heavy and incisive, and the vocals are to have discovered this 3 decades old band while selecting giving this music a perfect path. I'm pleasantly surprised tracks for the 5th Slowly We Rot compilation. by this material and recommend it to you too. 9 Excruciation were founded when Celtic Frost were but for some reason they never made it big, they never got out of FALLEN ARISE (Greece) - Ethereal the underground and they still kept it together. Well, I'd Noisehead - 2013 say normally, they also had a period of silence between 1992 and 2005, but after that they started recording and Symphonic Gothic Metal releasing stuff again. This is their third full-length album Debut album from this pretty young Greek band, Ethereal and it looks and sounds awesome if you're into British is made of 10 tracks and lasts for 52 minutes of Doom Death Metal a la My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost or Symphonic Metal. After a few spins I can say we're the likes. Excruciation's music is slow to mid-tempo dealing with a band that likes to carefully plan and build Doom Death Metal with a weird vocal style that reminds their music as the result is by no means a simple or me of a combination of Jan-Chris de Koeijer's style simplistic album, but I can also say that they are just (Gorefest) and Alexander Krull's (Atrocity), that type of starting to understand and capitalize on their potential. comprehensive, organic growl. The whole album is like a Ethereal flows nicely and the excellent production (mixed journey, to me it felt like it was 20 years ago, I just and mastered by Fotis from Septic Flesh) is the perfect received a new Paradise Lost album and I was going addition to the band's obvious professionalism. through all the tracks over and over again finding all sorts Symphonic Metal fans will enjoy this album although of goodies all over. I'm still a fan of that UK scene, so I what it misses are the catchy parts or better said a few know where my enthusiasm comes from, but nonetheless hooks to transform their tracks into hits. The good thing is I'd recommend you to check this band out, you'll discover the band proves to have high potential of becoming a a very mature, professional outfit that does what it does solid name in the scene; in the meantime you can try this debut album. 8 for the pure passion of it. Hats off and respect! 10

EVIL (Slovakia) - Legenda neskrotných živlov EXPOSE YOUR HATE (Brazil) - Indoctrination of FATAL CLICHE (Italy) - Fatal Cliche Hexencave - 2013 - Black Metal Selfreleased - 2013 - Symphonic Metal After 12 years of activity and lots of demos and splits, this Hate Slovak duo managed to finally release their debut full- Black Hole - 2014 - Death Grind Honestly after 2 tracks from this EP I wanted to take it length album, a 6 tracks effort lasting for 41 minutes of and throw it in the garbage, I wasn't sure if this is a joke

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or if Fatal Cliche are a real, serious band, and let me explain why. For starters the mixing and mastering are awful, if any at all, it feels like everyone is playing a different tune, then the female vocalist's tonality switches from operatic to Power Metal like are hilarious, and to top them the keyboards are thrown so in the background of everything that I thought they really want to mock all styles using this instrument. The only reason I kept following the EP was the lead guitarist who's playing his own tune, totally detached, and he's quite awesome. Well, I kept listening and starting with the third track things awed before. The sound quality is harsh as hell, it's very weird to listen to such Atmospheric music with such a sharp, abrasive and painful sound. No doubt this is the best Firn release to date, and although all 3 I reviewed were released the same year, Attila shows on this debut album his future path (hopefully). The music is repetitive and hypnotic, but at the same time complex and very interesting. I see great potential in this project, so if you're into raw, atmospheric, traditional, or any other type of underground Black Metal you should try Firn's music. 7.5

but if you're looking for something more than nostalgia the album is not boring at all, the production is ok, too, so all in all this is an acceptable release, give it a try. 7 look somewhere else. 6.5

FROM THE VASTLAND (Iran) Temple of Daevas Non Serviam - 2014 Black Metal Sina, the only man behind this moniker, is back with his third full-length album, an 8 tracks effort clocking 45 minutes of Black Metal. I have reviewed From the Vastland's debut album but since then it seems Sina improved a lot especially in recording quality; if on the first album I hated the drum-machine he used, on this one I have doubts if he used real drums or a very good program, but either way the result is excellent, way better than before. The album is full of interesting riffs, catchy mid-tempo to fast paced rhythms, heavy and involving atmospheres, clear and entertaining leads, to sum it up it's a very good release for fans of traditional (second wave of) Black Metal with that specific cold and dark melodic touch. It's not a groundbreaking album, but it's definitely FATHOMHELL one that will offer a good audition time to anyone into traditional Black Metal, the production is very good and (Spain) - KvrX Cold Raw - 2014 - after spinning it a few times I have these words in mind: this is a fair Black Metal album. 8.5 Black Metal Basically a solo project of Ludwigar, Fathomhell started in 2010 and released its debut EP 2 years later, and EP FROZEN OCEAN (Russia) - The Dyson that seems to have been heavily promoted by the artist himself (if you Google it you'll find quite a lot of Swarm Kristallblut - 2014 - Ambient reviews). Probably that made Cold Raw Records offer him a deal, and here's how this second release came to Black Metal life. It's a 2 tracks (+ intro) material that also features the Burzum and probably Ulver are names that first come to first EP as a bonus, the only problem from my point of mind while listening to Frozen Ocean's eight (!!!) fullview being its limitation to only 66 copies. The sound on length album; yes, it's a one man band, probably that's these 2 new tracks improved, at least the guitar sound, but why these such a high amount of released material (not the drum programs didn't, and they are becoming mentioning the EPs and Splits) in such a short time (the annoying after a while (at least to me). The music is bases of this project are in 2005). I think adding Black straight-forward mid tempo to fast paced Black Metal, Metal in the style labeling of this album is a bit too far off Swedish type, with raw, blasphemous vocals, intelligent as there are only a few short parts where something compositions, good guitar riffs, and is quite catchy and resembling to Black Metal is inserted. Frozen Ocean's expressive at the same time. A bit more work on Dark Ambient with a hint of Shoegaze and Electronica execution is needed, and a few more hooks, to make this will successfully manage to take you through the outer band a strong name in the underground, but the basics are World space as Vaarwel (the man behind this project) sees it, I have to give him full credit for this, the album is there, and this is a promising act already. 7.5 very expressive and hypnotic even though most of the FORDARV (Sweden) - time it's made of repetitive structures. There's a thin line between interesting repetitive and boring repetitive and Between the Eternities Nigredo - 2014 - Black although most of the time I'd say Frozen Ocean manages to offer the first, there are tracks that lost my interest in Metal After a well-received EP short time. Try it if you're looking for Space Rock / titled The Echo of Emptiness Metal. 7 and released at the edn of last year, Fordarv are back FUNERAL MOTH (Japan) - Dense Fog with a follow-up full-length album after Weird Truth - 2014 only half a year of waiting. This new album marks also Funeral Doom Metal the expansion of their deal with Nigredo Records (that, Funeral Moth is a beside German Witches Brew, is the only European underground Extreme Metal label lead by a lady) and it perfect name for a band playing this type of music, it suits seems continues where the EP left off. The band sources this Japanese combo to perfection. This is their debut its inspiration from '90's second wave of Black Metal and album, a 4 tracks effort totaling almost 75 minutes of its aim is to start building on those structures and slow, tormenting and obscure Funeral Doom Metal eventually deliver their own original genre. They haven't designed to torture your patience, to bore the hell out of succeeded yet with this debut album, but the foundations you. For my taste this is way too repetitive and are very healthy and hopeful. Fordarv mixes aggressive, uninteresting, but I do appreciate the heavy atmospheres straight-forward Black Metal tonalities with a bit of these guys are creating, the semi-acoustic insertions, and melancholy, a hint of epic ambient touches, but above all, the hopeless, ghoulish growling vocals at times and clean, a very cold, somber, distant atmosphere that will freeze almost whispered vocals at other. Fans of this genre will your blood. I have nothing to object about this album, it's have a lot to chew here, the crystal clear sound, good well thought, well delivered (organic, raw but at the same production and professional 6 panels digipack format are time crystal-clear sound quality and excellent mix & a bonus. 7 master), and apparently honest. 8 GAKTUNGAR (Russia) - Gisturgh Dark East - 2012 - Black Metal FORGOT (Russia) - Doomed to Exile This young Russian band Dark East - 1996 (2013 re-release) - Death Doom Black founded in 2011 released their Metal first two and so far only fullWow, this is really old-school and primitive for nowadays length albums in 2012 and standards; both Forgot demos (Demo 1995 and Doomed probably they are preparing to Exile from 1996) released on the same CD, 9 tracks in a new one this year, it would be almost 50 minutes of playing time. Forgot, like most for young bands at that time started out as a dirty mix of about time. This album features 9 tracks totaling 43 Black (vocals), Death (guitars) and Doom (rhythm minutes of semi-technical and semi-melodic Black Metal section) Metal before crystallizing their own path. The '95 with certain Death Metal and even Pagan (at least on part demo has a rough recording quality, but the one from the of the vocals) influences. The guitars at times remind me following year is recorded in better conditions. Also the of the '90's technical Death Metal movement, the drum music becomes a bit more complex although still slow programmings are annoying to a point when they don't paced, predictable and even boring at times. As a bother anymore, the keyboards are used with discretion nostalgic as I am, I have enjoyed this release and I only to enhance the atmospheres, and the vocals (the remember the feelings while listening to primitive demo Black Metal screams) are not at all on my liking, I tapes, so you might like it too if we have similar tastes, actually find them awful. There's a good deal of diversity,

GRACE DISGRACED (Russia) - The Primal Cause: Womanumental More Hate - 2014 - Technical Death Metal The female-fronted, Moskow based quartet Grace Disgraced are back two years after their debut album and 10 years after their foundation, with a new opus made of 7 long tracks totaling a bit more than 50 minutes of Technical Death Metal heavily influenced by the legendary Death, but at the same time not sticking strictly to that old-school pattern, Grace Disgraced is like a modern continuator of what Death started back in the '80's. If they would only have been from the States, or from Germany for example, their ways would have been much smoother. Anyway, Polina, the beautiful female vocalist of Grace Disgraced proves once again she's one of a kind, her ferocious and offensively brutal vocal timbre perfectly leads this band, but it would be unfair not to mention the fantastic work of her colleagues: the rhythm section is very technical and complex but at the same time groovy and catchy, and the guitars are phenomenal, starting with the memorable riffs up to the fresh, well-crafted leads and solos that will catch your attention for good. Excellent follow-up to their debut album, this is, without a doubt, a step forward for the band, they deserve more attention and I hope they'll get it.

9.5 GRIMWALD (Italy) The Berserker Vacula - 2014 (rerelease) - Ambient Black Metal This is Grimwald's second EP initially released by the band in 2009, and now re-released by Vacula Productions in CD format. The disc features the five initial tracks plus a bonus totaling more than half an hour of quite traditional type of Black Metal with heavy Ambient touches. Unfortunately the sound is not crystal clear, and I say unfortunately because I can (barely) hear some interesting backgrounds created by guitars and keys here and there, backgrounds that if mixed a bit more in front, would have made this release much more interesting. It's not a bad release but it doesn't stand out either. Dark and mysterious mid-tempo to fast paced Black Metal that's well aimed but not there yet. 7

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

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GROWN BELOW (Belgium) - The Other Sight Slow Burn - 2013 Sludge Doom Post Metal Don't remember of another Slow Burn release I have enjoyed as much as I did the second album from this Belgian quartet. Perfectly melting Sludge, Doom and Post Metal elements Grown Below's music will appeal to a large category of listeners. 6 tracks totaling 45 minutes, an awesome journey through the different atmospheres portrayed by these guys, and ranging from calm and serene to mad and chaotic ones. The band's technical abilities are way above average and that allows them to avoid repetitive and uninteresting constructions, everything on this CD seems done according to a wellcrafted plan in order to involve the listener more and more. An excellent album I'd recommend to both oldschoolers and fand of more modern Metal. I've spinned it already 5 times, don't think I ever spinned a Post Metal record that much before... 9.5 HALBERD (Russia) Ruthless Game Metal Scrap - 2013 Thrash Metal Surprisingly good this debut EP by Russian Halberd, it's already the 5th or 6th time I'm spinning it and still enjoying it. The band was founded in 2012 and they already managed to get a deal with Ukrainian Metal Scrap Records. This debut EP is made of 5 tracks of pure, traditional Thrash Metal a la Megadeth I'd say although the band's influences range within the whole Thrash Metal specter so we're not dealing with a copycat. Although young they seem to have the necessary technical abilities to come up with catchy and at the same time interesting tunes and still keep it traditional and old-school. Nothing new for the scene, but definitely an enjoyable EP full of catchy elements, backed up by a crystal-clean sound and excellent production, worth an audition for sure. 8

HEBOIDOPHRENIE (France) - Origin of Madness Selfreleased - 2013 - Death Metal Deathcore Debut album from this young Bordeaux based band founded in 2010, Origin of Madness is made of 9 tracks _ intro + outro totaling almost 40 minutes of groovy and quite catchy mix of Death Metal and Deathcore. The sound is crystal clear so you'll be able to follow each and every instrument in part, and luckily there's quite a lot to follow on guitars and vocals: the guitars are, from my point of view, the best element in Heboidophrenie's music, all riffs are killers, all of them hook you up, and the vocalist is trying his best to be as versatile as possible and on a certain degree he does a good job but the inhales are awful, I can't stand them at all, they have nothing scary or menacing as the genre would require. The drums are programmed and at times sound awfully synthetic and cheap, and that brings down the whole release, but if you can get over that you'll discover a band that's keen to experiment, a band that has the potential to compose some tight stuff, I'd recommend this album just to get a taste of their potential, to get a taste of these solid and involving guitar riffs. The cover and booklet artwork is genius, I love it, the artist taking care of it is a real talent; the albums come is a professional digipack CD format including a 12 pages booklet featuring all lyrics and sick artwork, from this point of view it's well worth your money. 7 HELEGION (France) - Helegion: Ritualis Atavism - 2014 - Black Metal I've said it before but I'll say it again: France is probably the biggest Black Metal exporter nowadays and their labels seem to properly support the signed bands. That's the case of the little but very dedicated label Atavism Records, specialized (at least so far) in releasing Black Metal on tape format. This new band proposed by Atavism, Helegion, offers this new, second, demo tape featuring 6 tracks in more than half an hour of playing.

Ugly, dirty, brutal and ferocious Black Metal ranging from slow, disturbing, vomiting rhythms to fast, devastating and chaotic paced rhythms, good technical display on instruments, not boring in composition (not over-repetitive), quite expressive and at the same time keeping the old-school feeling intact. Not a groundbreaking release, but one that will satisfy the followers of ugly, disturbing Black Metal. 7.5

HERESY OF DREAMS (Spain) Nuestra Ley Es Esta Gateways - 2013 Heavy Metal Another debut, this time from Spain, from a band that was formed back in 2007 but only managed to gather the material for an album now; Heresy of Dreams got a deal with the new sub-label of Art Gates Records, Gateways Prods, a label that seems to be oriented towards Heavy Power Metal - not a bad move by Art Gates I might add. this quintet released a powerful album that will surely get its share of followers amongst Spanish speaking countries, but that's possible to face a bit of reluctance from the rest of the world, Spanish not being among the most Metal languages. The compositions are following traditional patterns, the execution is flawless, the recordings quality is top-notch, and there are plenty of catchy elements to keep your attention high; speaking for myself I love the long guitar solos and the fast paced parts of the album. Good stuff. 8 HORN OF THE RHINO (Spain) - Summoning Deliverance Doomentia - 2014 Sludge Doom Thrash Metal Whoa, this must be one of the heaviest records of the year! Horn of the Rhino, or better known as simply Rhino, are back with their 4th studio album to date, an hour featuring 10 tracks, an assault on all your senses. The ten tracks are so different and at the same time so impressively curdled that you can't but notice how mature these guys' music is and how confortable are they in switching from an influence to another and still keep the same feeling. When you hear Sludge Doom you think of slow paced, heavy as fuck rhythms, and that's applicable in Rhino's case, too, but they are also throwing in a lot of Thrash Metal and even a few Death Metal elements, and that makes this album unique and interesting. Using old-school, traditional patterns they still manage to sound fresh and entertaining to a wider type of audience, what Rhino delivered here is no short of a real masterpiece, an album that's both intense and heavy, and of course catchy as hell. Make sure you don't miss the hidden track listed as the 66th (!) on this record, an acoustic, relaxing and still tense closure to a great release. 10

few clean vocals here and there, supported by a growling (almost comprehensive) male vocalist that adds clean vocals too. The compositions are clearly influenced by the British Doom Death cult bands from the end of the '90's, and I wouldn't say I Miss My Death brings anything new or impressive to the genre but they are good and precise followers of that movement. The music is emotional, rich in atmospheres, and constitutes an easy listening for fans of the genre, but other metalheads I think would find it quite a boring release, these slow to mid-paced rhythms are not for anyone. Anyway, they are skilled musicians and for a debut album the result is more than acceptable.

7.5 IAPETHOS (Finland) - The Entry of the Demons HSP - 2013 - Industrial Black Metal If you're from Finland and if by any chance Studio BoozeFucktory, where Iapethos recorded this debut album, is a real studio (although I highly doubt it), take my advice, avoid it at any costs! The mix and master of this album is disastrous, except for deeply hating the drum-machine sound, I wasn't able to understand much from this album, the vocals are a joke, the guitars are barely hearable, and the only thing I found interesting were the dark atmospheres created by the subtle keyboard backgrounds. If you're into Industrial Black Metal and would like to buy this album you should definitely give it a listen on the net before, not to have surprises after. 4 IMPERIAL SAVAGERY (USA) Imperial Savagery Selfreleased - 2014 - Death Metal Such a perfect name for this band's music and such a perfect cover for this band's name. All things constitute excellent premises for a sick debut album, and that's exactly what we get here: 10 short and effective tracks with most of them being under 3 minutes and totaling even less than half an hour. The music is old-school, '90's type of American fast and brutal Death Metal with savage attitude and quite a lot of technical tricks to make you aware you're dealing with mature musicians here even without looking at their background and despite this being their debut; the band features current or ex members of bands like Lividity, Nachtmystium, Sons of Famine or CorpseVomit. These guys managed to deliver some serious shit through this album, perfectly fit for fans of '90's American Death Metal; the sound is crystal clear although as rough and organic as possible, the vocals are mostly comprehensive offering the possibility to learn the lyrics and sing-along (young fans will definitely enjoy this), the guitars offer tight and aggressive riffs with sharp leads supporting all the time and also adding some chaotic but very cool solos (I actually think they could have added more of these), and the rhythm section is both groovy and brutal. Excellent album, I'm pretty curious what will this album bring for the band in the near future.

9

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

HELL CRUCIFICATOR (Canada) - Evil Never Dies HSP - 2012 - Death Metal Young quintet from the French part of Canada, Hell Crucificator offer us here their debut full-length album, an 8 tracks effort totaling a bit more than half an hour. The band plays a primitive and highly brutal form of Death Metal that made me think of the first life-period of Deicide, Hell Crucificator uses the same low tuned, dark kind of production for their tracks, and the vocals are similar to Benton's as well. The only differences are in the execution speed, the Canadians being mostly fast and hyper-fast paced, and also in composition level they are using more intricate, chaotic structures rather than catchy, nice-flowing, so all in all this is a sick release but recommended only to the ones of you into Armageddonlike primitive Death Metal, there's no trace of melody here (oh well, a couple of short melodic guitar leads here and there, but not affecting the overall impression). 7 HELLHATE (Ukraine) Retsonretap Immortal Frost - 2013 Black Metal Look at the cover artwork and imagine the music you'll get from an album with such a cover... you probably guessed it: ugly, raw, offensive, disgusting, hateful and wicked, it really feels like a horde of little (but not nice or friendly) devils ripping skin and flesh from anything holy. The wicked vocals of Ugrum are a big part of this picture, and the fact that Russian/Ukrainian language sounds as raw and cold as possible is just an addition to the whole disturbing painting. The band brings nothing new to the scene, but their mid-tempo to fast paced Black Metal is as vicious and aggressive as one can imagine. From my point of view this is a very successful debut EP. Recommended.

8.5

HYPERTENSION (Sweden) - Distant Thunders Call StormSpell - 2014 Speed Thrash Death Metal Speed Metal starts to make its way back through all this old-school revival movement nowadays and it's only natural that happens, especially now when there are so much more bands then when this genre was in its prime years. Hypertension are mixing Speed with Thrash and a hint of Death Metal too in order to create a hyper-active, extremely energetic blend of old-school metal. The vocals remind me of Quorton, and the instrumental part reminds me of the '80's German Thrash Metal scene, and their blend is exquisite resulting a dirty, simple but catchy, entertaining and addictive music. If you're a fan of those years when Thrash, Heavy, Death and Black were not so separated by prejudice, the beginning of the '80's, this 9 tracks full-length album could be a very good pick. I only hope they'll add more of those great guitar solos, and maybe add more diversity the next time around, but for a debut album I'd say this is a proof the Swedish trio are headed the right way. In the meantime they have already released a second album... 8.5

MY SHIVER (Italy) Delicate Poison Hypnotic Dirge - 2014 Post Black Metal / Depressive Rock One of the weirdest combinations of genres I've heard lately... In My Shiver mixes Post-Black Metal with Depressive Rock and the result is quite ok although hard to digest. Traces of Black Metal are few and not so important in the whole, there are only a few hoarse shrieks, a few parts with Black Metal guitar riffs and blastbeats, but that's about it, the rest is pretty far from Black Metal and even from Metal so I don't know what will be their niche after all, who will enjoy this album to a point of following the band. I guess open minded persons in search of something new will enjoy this second full-length from in My Shiver, it's an interesting perspective on the Post Black Metal MISS MY DEATH (Ukraine) - In movement, who knows if it will influence other bands or I if it will die here... As far as I'm concerned this is pretty Memories Metal Scrap - 2014 - Gothic original stuff, so worth giving it a try. 8 Doom Death INCARNATED (Poland) Debut album from this young Ukrainian sextet, Try Before Die Selfmadegod - 2014 In Memories is made of Brutal Death Metal 12 tracks and lasts for more than 75 minutes of Respectable name of the playing time. The band uses that Polish underground, Incarnated beauty and the beast combination that was have been around since 1992 (!) and this is their third so populat at the end of the '90's and that's quite rare studio album, a 9 tracks effort totaling 35 minutes of nowadays, at least I rarely review such a band lately. The unrelenting Death Metal. I like the Swedish-like heavylady has a powerful and enchanting operatic voice with ass guitar riffs, but I think the drums sound isn't that

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IN

powerful as it should be, so the whole heaviness and brutality relies on guitars (Dismember-like) and vocals (incomprehensive growls with loads of effects), but that's only my opinion. There are no traces of melody and the music never gets softer, this is a full Death Metal assault from start to finish and if there weren't for those occasional guitar leads to break the monotony, this would have been pretty dull, brutal but dull. All in all it's a good release with a good production but recommended only to those of you who think they'd love a more brutal and faster Swedish Death Metal band without the acoustic or melodic insertions. 7 INFECTION (Peru) - Acrotomophile Mutilator Selfreleased - 2014 - Death Metal 5 years after their debut album Necrokindergarden, the Peruvian combo Infection are back with a follow-up, an album made of 11 tracks totaling a bit more than half an hour, and highlighted by the insane vocal part (the guy seems to sing literally from start to finish - who the fuck remembers all these lyrics? The good thing is they are little comprehensive, so live he has an escape), the technical and somehow progressive guitar lines on both riffs, leads and solos, and the unrelenting rhythm section (also the bass lines are pretty upfront, and that's well built within the whole material). The album misses a soul, it sounds too mathematic, too programmatic, and there are less hooks than I would have expected, but as a display of technical skills Infection are top-notch. Still that's not enough and this album won't stand out in our nowadays overcrowded scene. Anyway, fans of brutal and technical Death Metal should give it a try, Infection deserve a chance, now it's up to them how many fans they convert.

7 INFLIKTED (Sweden) - Inflikted WormHoleDeath - 2014 - Thrash Metal Swedish quartet Inflikted are debuting with a 10 tracks studio album totaling an hour of old-school Thrash Metal heavily influenced by Punk but also by Hard'n'Heavy if you ask me. We're getting a solid dose of mostly fast paced Punk Thrash Metal crefted by some seriously skilled musicians; they manage to mix all those '80's influences and deliver them in a fresh form, and I have to admit it's not of the nowadays I get to hear such a Thrash Metal in its incipient form. The faults of this album, in my point of view, are the dry and too simplistic production (although I know it's what this genre asks for, you'd expect something different nowadays) and the lack of ideas here and there (there are a couple of tracks that are simply boring), but all in all I'd say Inflikted's debut is a promising one and we might hear good things about them in the future. 7

although this might confuse some vinyl aficionados at some point, too. Anyway, the look of this CD is in perfect tone with the music on it: old-school Death Metal, putrid, fast, dirty as hell, heavily influenced by the old Punk/Thrash/Black scenes and also by the Swedish Death Metal movement, too. 11 tracks in a bit more than 30 minutes, not a ground-breaking album, but definitely one that will bring this band a lot of fans that are recently supporting this old-school revival. The vocalist is damn ferocious, insane and makes 75% of this band although the instrumental part is not bad at all either, but the band misses an own path, something original. Hopefully they'll find their own way soon, but until then you should definitely get this album, at least for its vinyl look. 7

back in 1998 and this is their third album as already mentioned, so normally it should offer a mature, deeply curdled mixture of Death and Grind and luckily it does, the 9 tracks featured here are not groundbreaking, they are actually following old-school patterns, but the diversity and the intelligent delivery makes them smooth and entertaining, I'm sure a lot of Grind and Brutal Death fans will enjoy it. Not overly technical but still demonstrating a fair amount of skills from its members, blending fast paced rhythms with some more mid-paced, and having the benefit of a good organic production, this album will get the band's name out there, for sure. Released by Eclectic Prod. in a nice digipack format with 8 pages booklet featuring the track lyrics. 8.5

IRON FIST (USA) Motorpunk Madmen Nightfall / Visceral Vomit - 2013 - Punk Metal I find Motorpunk Madmen o be the perfect title for this release, it gives you an exact idea on what you'll get: a combination of Punk with Motorhead's Metal played by madmen with Hellhammer's attitude, a complete and utter devastation from start to finish. Fast Punk Metal with bestial attitude delivered over 19 tracks, a compilation of previously released material from 2009 to 2011, now released on white tape in cardboard case, including a lyrics sheet, but unfortunately limited to 53 handnumbered copies only. If you like Speed, Punk and dirty Heavy Metal you'll love this drunken combo, there's nothing pretentious here, only straight to your face sonic abuse. 7

KILLCHAIN (Slovakia) - Where Is Your Saviour

Metal Age - 2013 - Death Metal Killchain is a Slovak band founded back in 2005 and this is their third full-length album to date, an 11 tracks effort totaling half an hour of intense, fast paced, and brutal Death Grind with occasional Deathcore influences here and there. Maybe hardcore fans of this genre will find inhere much more than I did, but during the audition, around the 6th or 7th track, I found myself wondering if I'm still listening to the first track, and that means the whole album is pretty monotonous. The production is amazingly professional, everything is loud and clear so you'll be able to enjoy each and every part of this sonic abuse, but the problem, as I said earlier, is the lack of diversity, the lack of ideas. Apart from that they all seem to have good skills as musicians, the vocalists are supporting well one another, the energy and brutality ITER PACTUM (Norway) - Ritual emanated by the music is the right amount for fanatics of Cold Raw - 2014 - Black Metal Iter Pactum is a new one man band founded this year, but this genre, so all in all I wouldn't know if to recommend it a band that has already (at the moment I'm writing this or not. What I enjoyed the most was the excellent review) released 3 EPs and this debut full-length album, production. 6.5 so we're dealing with a highly productive act here. This KORSELD (Sweden) album deserves an extra point from me for recording the drums live, and probably one for a few good ideas on Jordevandring guitars (being them riffs or leads, some are worth your Selfreleased - 2014 - Doom Death Metal time), also from what I managed to understand the guitar The Doom Metal influence comes here from guitar riffs, riffs on the background are interesting too, but that's about leads and solos and from the atmospheric keyboards, but it. I wouldn't name full-length album a material recorded the rest is pretty much slow to mid-tempo Death Metal in such poor conditions, this is a rehearsal demo at most built on old-school patterns and delivered with a shitload (with the obvious rehearsal mistakes included, of course)! of catchy hooks. The drum-machine sound could have At times the music is so chaotic and clumsy that you're been less synthetic, but except for that I like the fact the thinking the guy had no idea what's next so he just band has balls to try whatever floats their boat, you can improvised. Then the vocals: when he tried the high also hear some Bathory-like choirs, some violins and pitched screams he sounds like a choking rooster, and I'm slow-as-illness Doomy passages, and even some groovy not exaggerating in any way! It's fucking awful, it makes drum-beats. All these on Korseld's debut full-length you laugh instead of expressing anything remotely dark. album, a 9 tracks effort lasting for almost 40 minutes.

This is the proof that Norwegians can suck at Black Good debut but I hope next time they will record or at least mix and master in a different place / with different Metal, too. 3 people, the production quality on this one sucks ass, and IUGULATUS (Poland) it's a shame given the fact this band is so creative and intelligent. Curious about their future... 7.5 - Satanic Pride The End of Time - 2013 KUTH (Hungary) - De Ritu - Black Death Metal This band now activates Gentilium Funeral Chants - 2013 under a new moniker, Black Metal Architects of Disease, and they This seems to be already already have a new album under the new name, album an interesting name in that was reviewed by me earlier this year, but since I have the Hungarian received this for a review I can't just ignore it. Satanic underground Black Pride is Iugulatus' second full-length album, a 5 tracks Metal scene as it was effort totaling almost 45 minutes of technical Black Metal founded by two important with Death Metal influences. The problem is they are persons in their scene, Hetonh trying to be as intricate as possible and that leaves a lot of empty spaces where the listener might get bored, all this from Fagyhamu (Black Metal) and Necrosodomy (Death although they seem to be pretty good instrumentists, and Metal). Kuth took the Black Metal path and this is the the rest of their music is tight and interesting featuring first demo to present us their intentions; 4 tracks plus an old-school type guitar riffs, leads and solos, a powerful intro, totaling 22 minutes of fast and uncompromising bass line, good drumming and almost comprehensive traditional Black Metal with Hungarian lyrics. Although it hoarse vocals all combined offering a dark, mysterious has nothing special and brings nothing new to the table, and with a hint of progressive (well, at the '90's standards) this first demo is well built and executed proving the band Extreme Metal. The sound is organic, good enough, but members have solid experience under-belt; enjoyable the mix becomes chaotic at times and you have a hard demo well worth your time if you're into Traditional time understanding what happens. Anyway all in all this Black Metal, I gave it already 3 spins and still it didn't is not a bad album, although Poland has much better manage to bore me. I should also mention it's fine, crystal-clear sound. 8 offerings nowadays. 7

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

INSIDEAD (Greece) - Eleysis Noisehead - 2014 - Heavy Thrash Metal After a debut album released in 2011 on Massacre Records, this Greek combo returns with a 2013 followup out on Noisehead Records this time, a 9 tracks effort totaling more than an hour of Modern Thrash Metal. At first the combination of Thrash and Heavy Metal with Folk elements (mostly on track intros) is the highlight of Insidead, and indeed it sounds interesting and very expressive, a good choice by a band that can afford it (they surely know how to handle their instruments), but diving deeper into this album one might also discover the complexity of the modern/traditional blend, compositions that will satisfy both old-schoolers and the new generation of Thrash Metallers. The sound quality is top-notch, of course, and except for the fact that the tracks might seem a bit too long for this genre, I can say Eleysis is an excellent choice for open-minded metallers who're into melodic leads and solos, powerful and catchy guitar riffs, Slayer-like vocals (with their own identity nonetheless), Folk and Symphonic additions and lots of modern touches. Fresh Thrash Metal! 9 INSULTERS (Spain) - We Are the Plague Unholy Prophecies 2013 - Death Metal Sick-looking release from Unholy Prophecies: vinyl-like CD in 7" vinyl booklet on black/white cardboard, old-school to the bone,

KEVLAR SKIN (Spain) - Transmigrator Eclectic - 2014 - Death Grind Right after the first spin of this third KevlarSkin album I had to check the total playing time as it seemed to me it was over too quickly, and I can assure you that rarely happen, and for my surprise it was 40 minutes, 40 minutes that went away like 10. That's impressive, it means these guys are doing something well. The band was founded

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KVITY ZNEDOLENYKH BEREHIV (Ukraine) - Za nebokray mriy Selfreleased - 2014 - Atmospheric Doom Death Metal Metal Archives says that the band name can roughly be translated as The Flowers of Crestfallen Shores, and with a debut EP titled (as Google Translate says) Over the Horizon of Dreams, I think you can get a pretty clear idea on what kind of music we're treated with here. This is not

type of Heavy Metal; coincidence, of course. This album features 13 tracks in a bit more than 60 minutes playing time, and Lucid Dream manage to deliver a quite technical Hard'n'Heavy with important influences from '70's Hard Rock and Progressive Metal, too. Although I find the tracks to be a bit too long, I do enjoy them a lot, the raw but professional production gives them a nice shape and the band sounds honest, you can almost feel they are near you; I love the vocals, the catchy guitar riffs, the intricate bass and drums, and the fact that although at first the tracks may seem quite hard to get into, in the end I found this album highly addictive and I'll certainly give it a few more spins. Recommended! 9

professional and impressive debut album, a catchy display of melodic but at the same time powerful and progressive piece of Metal fronted by an enchanting female vocalist but actually highlighted by top-notch compositions and highly versatile keyboard lines. I'd say their style is a Melodic Heavy Metal with important influences from both Progressive Metal and Power Metal, a mature and curdled music that was meant for the mainstream. The band are not excluding a reunion at a later date, but at least for now Lyonite is on ice although you can still order this CD from the band, and I really recommend that.

If you ask me this band should definitely get back together and aim for the tops! 9

LUCID DREAMS (Norway) - Lucid Dreams Rockworks - 2013 - Heavy Metal The same day I received this CD, I also received a pack from Italy's Lucid Dream, and at first I thought it was the same band but obviously it was only a coincidence. Lucid Dreams are from Norway's capital, Oslo, and this is their debut album although the band was founded back in 2007.

12 tracks, a bit more than 45 minutes playing time, released in digipack but without including a booklet with lyrics, a feature I find very important for Hard'n'Heavy music. And that's what Lucid Dreams are playing, a US type of Heavy Metal with loads of Hard Rock influences, music so popular in the States during the Hair Metal period. The vocalist is the definite highlight of the band, he captures almost all attention from start to finish although the instrumental part is good as well, except for the keyboard parts I find way too outdated and somehow "from a different movie". I like the traditional patterns the guitars are following and those guitar leads and solos, and the acoustic passages are delicious; the drummer, as a curiosity, was also a member of Trail of Tears and Tristania. As a conclusion if you're into bands like Poison, Motley Crue, and the likes you might find Lucid Dreams' debut very good as audition while you relax or have a few beers with old-time friends. 7.5

MASTABAH (Poland) - I Hate You Selfreleased - 2014 - Death Metal Mastabah are back with their second album 4 years after the release of their debut, and 10 years after the band's foundation; nice way to celebrate a decade. I just read my review of their debut album and it seems I was pretty disgusted by the synthetic sound of the drums back then, and that ruined it all for me. Not sure if or how my taste developed in the meantime, but although their drum parts sound synthetic again, they actually seem to fit better in the whole context and I have enjoyed an already fourth audition of this new album. Mastabah are damn brutal, exceptionally technical and accurate about their compositions, and even catchy I might add. I Hate You oozes of brutality and aggression but not in a nonsense way, everything is cleverly calculated and inserted, and to tell you the truth I'm not feeling bored at all after the fourth audition, it's like I discover new things every time I listen to it and that makes it for me a good release. The few, delicate touches of melody here and there and the occasional groovy riffs add more flavor to a sick album made of 10 tracks. For fans of Brutal Death, Technical Death and Traditional Death, all of them will find something on their taste inhere. 9

LUGBURZ (Poland) - Pure Misanthropy of Death Satanath / Dark East 2013 - Black Metal Lugburz have been around since 1996 but this is only their second full-length album to date so we're dealing with a not so productive band. This new album features 8 tracks (39 minutes) of mostly fast paced, traditional, raw and a bit atmospheric Black Metal well composed and executed.

The sound is organic and unpolished but you'll be able to distinguish all instruments at any time and that's what's important. The music isn't extremely impressive in any way, but that doesn't mean it's low quality, not at all; on the contrary, if you're into ferocious, evil Black Metal and enjoy a bit of keyboards as background (very subtle though) and semi-technical guitars, then Lugburz might - be just what you're looking for. 7.5

MEAT TRAIN (UK) - Flesh Made Man Contagion - 2013 - Death Grind I think this debut album was initially released by the band in digital format (at least on Terrorizer it's still streaming) and got picked up by the young Contagion Records and released in CD format later the same year. The material is made of 13 tracks and lasts for 45 minutes of old-school Death Grind with a hint of Experimental but still keeping it organic and pretty unpolished. The music has both the heaviness and darkness of Death Metal and the craziness and anger of Grindcore, it's an awesome mix which I'm sure will reconcile both groups of fans. The rhythms range from slow, horror-filled, sludgy ones, to fast, double-bass drums lead ones, and what's cooler is the fact that the vocalist, although angry as hell, sounds comprehensive, you can actually understand what he says and probably get into their music more; and also there are lots of hooks, each track offers something different. Great debut album recommended to fans of old-school (but not only) Death Grind. 8.5

a real band, it's actually a one man project started last year, and Za nebokray mriy is its first studio material featuring 2 tracks and lasting for more than 20 minutes of Atmospheric Doom Death Metal. Nothing out of the ordinary or excessively interesting here, but I'd have to give credit to Dmytro Pryymak for not delivering a boring release; the 2 tracks are interesting, emotional and have a pretty good flow and catchiness, so for a debut release it can be an impressive display, it's a good starting point.

The sound is very good, the compositions are not monotonous even if they are following already overused Doom Death patterns and bring nothing new to the table.

Fans of Solitude Productions' releases will certainly find this project interesting, and it's also interesting to see where this guy will go in the future, he's a promise. 7.5 LARACNA (Brazil) Laracna Selfreleased - 2012 Black Metal The second demo released by this one man band from Brazil, is made of only 2 own tracks and a cover of Sepultura's Antichrist. Well, Laracna's music is as primitive and brutal as Sepultura in their early days, but unfortunately this one man band doesn't bring anything interesting to the table, its music is repetitive, simple and at times chaotic, on one hand, and on the other Sabrahmon, the guy behind this project, doesn't have the same technical skills as Sepultura had back in the days either. I'd say Laracna is a brutal, synthetic (lo-fi drum machine used) Black Death Metal with nothing impressive underbelt. Still, all in all it should be a start, it's not something to be ashamed of, I've heard much worse. 5 LEBENSABEND (Russia) - Blood Is Always Nameless Margin Art / Dark East 2013 - Black Death Metal One man band from Russia founded 10 years ago, in 2005, Lebensabend released this second album on Dark East and Margin Art, although its limited to only 500 copies on CD. The 7 tracks featured here display a combination of Black Metal (mainly) and Death Metal (secondary) with a powerful melodic and technical edge.

It's obvious Iblis took his time to compose these 7 tracks and the final result is quite interesting, diverse and not at all ordinary, but in my opinion he should have worked a bit more on curdling everything. The music is highlighted by abrasive, raspy vocals, good sounding drum machine, traditional Black Metal guitar riffs, melodic leads, intense bass lines. The lack of a dark or cold atmosphere will distract most Black Metallers, and the Death Metallers will need more power, so in the end the final result isn't the best around, although Iblis' technical skills would allow him to do much more... 7

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

LEVANIA (Italy) Renascentis WormHoleDeath - 2013 - Gothic Metal A year after the release of their debut album Levania are back with a new studio full-length release and that proves seriousness and dedication, in my books that's a plus in their favor. I have reviewed the first album and wasn't impressed that much, but they've stepped up a bit in the meantime, the band image is more professional and the music is much more solid. The guitar parts are the best element in Levania's music, but I have to appreciate the good approach of the keyboard parts and also most part of the vocals reaching lots of tonalities, from clean, melodic vocals to operatic female vocals, to male whispers and male growls and clean vocals, a broad range, although at some point the vocals sound really awkward (when the girl tries to go higher than her abilities allow and when the guy bets too much on is clean vocals, or when he supports the female vocals with Black Metal like shrieks in the background), but all in all the new album is much better than their debut on compositional level, the next step would be to define their abilities, stick to what they can and try to improve, but I'm sure they have all the chances to succeed. A good taste of Italian Gothic Metal. 8.5 LUCID DREAM (Italy) - The Eleventh Illusion Selfreleased - 2013 - Hard'n'Heavy I've just reviewed Norge Lucid Dreams' debut album and now it's time for Italian Lucid Dream's second full-length album; as the bands' names, the bands' genres are similar too, go figure, both bands play a Hard Rock influenced

LUNA (Ukraine) - Ashes to Ashes Solitude - 2014 Symphonic Funeral Doom Death Metal The guitarist from Amily (also signed with Solitude Productions) decided to start this one-man-band last year and after coming up with one track he concluded this deal with the label and the album is out, consisting of that same track. Weird, isn't it? Yes, but the track is 57 minutes long... The music is a combination of mid-paced Doom Death Metal with Gothic Doom and depressing, heavy Funeral Doom, it differs from part to part so I don't understand why this guy, DeMort, decided to release it all as 1 track. The music is mostly instrumental, or at least that's what the label states, but I gave this disc 2 complete spins and didn't hear the vocals, or I was so immersed in it that I didn't notice them (??)... The music flows naturally and the album seems as a solid piece of melodic and symphonic Doom Metal, the only complaints I have are about the over-stretching of some parts and their too intense repetition, the lack of more incisive vocals and the fact that it could have been an album made of multiple tracks, the music suggests that. 7.5

MIDNATTSVREDE (Norway) - Demo 2013 Cold Raw - 2013 Black Metal What I thought to be a young band was actually founded back in 1994, although for a long period of time, until this demo, it was inactive at least on a discographic level. The band is made of 2 members of Den Saakaldte (a wellknown name in the underground nowadays), one of Kraanium and one who seems fresh to the scene. The demo features 5 tracks of second-wave-like Black Metal based on excellent semi-technical guitar work, organic drums, quite versatile vocals and an overall dark, mysterious atmosphere. To me, as a guy who grew up with the '90's Black Metal, Midnattsvrede seems to be a proud follower and continuer of those patterns, of that Norwegian scene that used to influenced 90% of the scene back then. The semi-acoustic guitar insertions here and there are awesome, too, emphasizing the atmospheres, so from my point of view, this is an excellent demo (glad they called it a demo, not an EP, the sound quality is raw) combining fast, aggressive Black Metal parts with the LYONITE (Holland) - Disguised In Darkness mystery of semi-acoustic guitar parts. They released a Selfreleased - 2012 - Melodic Metal Unfortunately I'm reviewing here the one and only full- follow-up this year, a 6 tracks EP. 8.5 length released by Lyonite as they have sadly disbanded in the meantime this year. Sadly because this was a pretty MORBID FLESH (Spain) - Embedded in the Ossuary good band and Disguised In Darkness proves a Unholy Prophecies - 2014 - Death Metal

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Swedish Death Metal (Stockholm style) from Spain, nothing surprising especially nowadays when the retro movement is in its peak. Morbid Flesh were founded in 2002 as Undertaker, and the good thing about them is they started as Melodic Death Metal and are now playing Swedish Death Metal, still a somehow melodic Death, so they passed the test of time and proved to be honest and dedicated to the genre. The 6 tracks on this EP (totaling 24 minutes) are built on the most precise Swedish tradition a la Entombed / unleashed / Dismember, with low tuned guitars, mid-tempo rhythms supported by frantic (organic) drums, ruthless growls on a somehow comprehensive tone, catchy structures and excellent guitar leads and solos. If they'll add more of those good guitar leads and especially solos they'll reach a much higher statute in the scene. Anyway, a very enjoyable EP complete with perfect production. Recommended! 8 MORBID PEST (Italy) - Loculo D'Orrore Black Tears - 2014 - Black Metal Founded back in 2005, Morbid Pest is the main band of 2 members from Vergine Stuprata - already reviewed here.

The band released its debut album in 2012 and shortly after that they decided to split but as you see that wasn't a definitive decision. This new EP is made of 7 tracks and lasts for almost half an hour of brutal, fast and uncompromising Black Metal with references to Mayhem's work. Released in a DIY kind of digipack, oldschool looking, and limited to only 100 copies, Loculo D'Orrore, brings nothing impressive or outstanding to the scene, but it's done in pure old-school fashion, with honesty and dedication, it's clear this is how Morbid Pest intend to play and sound. Putrid vocals, unrelenting rhythm section, repetitive guitar riffs, and satanic oriented lyrics, this is what Morbid Pest offer us here, now it's your choince. 7 MORGUE (Canada) Flames and Blood Selfreleased - 2010 Black Death Metal One of the best Black Death Metal debut albums I've hear in a while! Although this is released back in 2010, I've only got the chance to listen to it now. This Canadian quintet released with Flames of Blood one memorable piece of Metal, I tell you; each and every track is memorable and has at least one feature to make capture your attention, but overall the band impresses through the vocalist's ferocity (made me think of Czech Avenger), the occasional groovy but at the same time aggressive drumming, the doomy bass lines, and the guitarists' creativity. Great stuff, I'll spin it a bit more and after I'll pass to their second album sent for a review as well. Get your hands on this CD, yes, the sound is a bit dirty and unpolished, but that makes it even more genuine! 9

anything special or catchy (except maybe a riff on the second part of the first track); the drum-programing is awful, the bass and guitar leads are barely hearable. Just one of the countless other similar bands that bring nothing new or interesting to the scene, and since they were formed back in 2004 I seriously doubt they will even improve anything.

Next is Excrementum Luciferi with what seems to be a live-recorded rehearsal although the band is actually one man, Voltov. The drums, surprisingly, are live recorded and that gets a kudos from me, but except for that everything else is too amateurish and lo-fi to be interesting, just another guy screaming his lungs out and playing rhythms as fast as possible with no particular horizon.

Ending this agonizing split is Pontefractum Melancholicum, another one man band with bedroom recordings trying to be the most evil around; unfortunately it only manages to sound stupid. It's some sort of monotone Brutal Black Metal with drumprograming reminding of Gore Grind rather than Black Metal, vocal lines from a guy that seems about to die anytime, and a mediocre guitar work based on 2-3 riffs, nothing interesting.

Sorry but I won't recommend this split either only in case you're a fanatic of the obscure underground limited releases, this is limited to only 66 copies and is pretty cheap too. 2 / 3 / 3

beginner Hard Rock band, I would have liked it better a bit more downtuned, a bit heavier, and since we're talking about things I don't like I'd also say I feel the album has no flow, there are several parts when I lost interest. I would also have to admit there are a few parts when the music is absolutely great, innovative and fresh sounding, but as a whole the album sounds like an intermediary step, something that needs more work. Still an interesting pick, don't hesitate, this band is aiming high, be a witness.

7

NEAR DEATH CONDITION (Switzerland) - Evolving Towards Extinction Unique Leader - 2014 - Brutal Death Metal Haven't heard of this band before, although this is their third full-length album, and the second one on Unique Leader, but since U.L. aren't known for a good promotion (at least in Europe), I'm not surprised at all. The Swiss quartet are as tight as such a band can be, their music on this new album is mature and curdled to the max, I have no idea what else they could have added more in order to make it more appealing to fanatics of this genre (Brutal Death Metal that is), so that makes it a perfect album in my opinion. Of course followers of this genre will possibly find small faults here and there, but for me the 11 tracks are top notch, an excellent combination of traditional ('90's) Brutal Death Metal with more modern Death Metal, mid-tempo to fast paced rhythmed, built on complex structures, heavy walls of sound leaving no empty spaces at all, and the cherry on top of this cake are MURDER RAPE (Brazil) - For Evil I Spill My Blood the atmospheric guitar solos and the excellent (although Evil Horde - 2013 - Black Metal The look and quality of this CD are making it worth your rare) keyboard backgrounds. An excellent band, the money even before getting to the music itself because if second one from Switzerland that blows me away this you already know this band you should know what to month! 10 expect. Murder Rape started as a Doomy act in 1992 but NEMOST (France) - As soon turned to Black Metal, a genre that fits their lyrics and attitude much better. After 2 full-length albums the Ocean Burns Dooweet - 2013 released back in the '90's and one in 2001, Murder Rape Melodic Death Metal had a 12 years long break until 2013 when this new, The Paris based act fourth, album was out on Evil Horde Records (my guess Nemost was founded in is that EHR is owned by a Murder Rape member, but 2005 and this is their that's only a supposition). 9 tracks, almost 40 minutes of second studio album uncompromising Black Metal with intelligent structures, excellent sound quality, the right amount of diversity, and made of 12 tracks and totaling more than an hour. It above all nothing to inspire any lack of honesty from the seems they started out as a Progressive Doom Death band, they really seem to be the real deal: a satanic Metal outfit, and although the Progressive elements are ensemble spreading hate and anger. The good technical still there to a certain degree, the Doom Metal influences quality of Murder Rape's members is undeniable, I are long gone, so what we're dealing here with is a melodic type of Death Metal with progressive elements, suggest you try getting this album in your collection. 9.5 mid-tempo to fast rhythmed, and highlighted by a good NAPALM STORM combination of growls and (very good) clean vocals, (Spain) - Harmless melodic guitar leads, leads of semi-acoustic guitar parts to enhance the dark atmospheres, impressive bass lines and Cruelty WormHoleDeath - 2014 incisive drums. It's an interesting album fit for the ones of you into Metal mixes, into Metal with lot and lots of - Thrash Metal Formed in 2010 as influences. Speaking for myself I have enjoyed the Napalm, the Zaragoza melodic / atmospheric parts the most and if they'll add based quartet changed more catchiness in the aggressive parts too I have no their name in 2013, not doubt they'll be successful. 7.5 long before releasing this debut album. Harmless Cruelty is NEROCAPRA (Italy) - Mefisto made of 11 tracks totaling almost 45 minutes of quite Selfreleased - 2013 - Death Metal traditional mid-tempo to fast paced Thrash Metal with This is a trio founded back in 2003, but if you'll hear their some Heavy and Death influences thrown in here and music you'll bet they are straight from the '80s. I guess there. It's one of those albums you enjoy listening to but this 3 tracks promo is a warm-up for their next album, forget right after the audition, it has no originality, their second to date. So here we have 3 tracks of fast nothing to distinguish the band among the rest. paced old-school Death Metal, the ugly, uncompromising Nonetheless, as I said, it's an album you'll enjoy, the and bestial way with no melodies, no additional sound quality is top notch as WHD used us with so far, instruments or effects to enhance the atmosphere, only the riffs are pretty catchy for fans of Heavy Thrash Metal, pure and simple abrasive Death Metal with Black / Thrash the vocals are raspy but quite comprehensive, the solos, as attitude. It sounds like recorded in their rehearsal place, rare as they are, are enjoyable and bring back memories but you won't have any problem following any of the '80's, the bass lines are well defined and intensive, instrument. Recommended only for the ones of you into and the drums are well played, so as a debut album it old-school, raw, unpolished Death Metal. 7 proves what it's supposed to, that the band is professional and aims high. Now it's time to find an identity. 7 NIHILISTINEN BARBAARISUUS (USA) - Synkka Tuuli NARROW HOUSE (Ukraine) - Thanathonaut Horror Pain Gore Death Solitude - 2014 - Experimental Atmospheric Doom Metal / Infernal Kommando The second full-length album from Narrow House offers 2013 - Ambient Black the listener even more diversity and experiments than Metal their debut. If A Key to Panngrieb was surprising through their addition of violin, this new opus brings in even more With such a name, this band should definitely have a such "unusual" instruments like cello or contrabass, quite strong connection to Finland, and indeed it has, the bold move by the band, but that proves they are aiming at mastermind behind this moniker is from Finland and he originality. The 10 tracks featured here have more started everything back in his homeland. Now I guess he instrumental parts, vocals are pretty scarce but when they moved to teh States and gathered a few other musicians to do appear they don't make a big difference anyway, so I help him out but still I don't think this is a live band yet. guess it was a wise choice after all. To me it seems the Synkka Tuuli is its debut album made of 7 tracks and guitar tone is not what this band needs (just listen to the totaling half an hour of Ambient Black Metal, cold, opening riffs of The Last Retreat, it sounds like a distant, quite spooky and gloomy, so I find the picture on

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

MORGUE (Canada) - Dethroned Selfreleased - 2011 - Black Death Metal Second full-length album from the Canadian Morgue (there are lots and lots of Morgue bands around the world), Dethroned is made of 9 tracks totaling almost 45 minutes of Black Death Metal as on the first, previously reviewed, album, but this time I feel the music is more brutal and less groovy. Unfortunately their music although sounding curdled and quite solid, becomes part of the nowadays Black Death trend trying to be as aggressive and shocking as possible. Well, it gets dull after a while, so I was less impressed by Dethroned than I was by their debut, and still almost 3 years passed since this second album was released, it's about time for a third, I'm curious how that will sound. In conclusion Dethroned is an ok Black Death album, but lacks the catchiness of Flames and Blood. 7.5 MORIBUND / EXCREMENTUM LUCIFERI / PONTEFRACTUM MELANCHOLICUM (USA / USA / UK) - Split Cold Raw - 2014 - Black Metal Three way split released by Cold Raw Records, this young but enthusiastic label that seems to be fixed on supporting Black Metal exclusively. All 3 acts on this split are featured with 2 tracks each, not too much, but enough to understand where they stand.

The first band is Moribund, a two piece from California playing raw, noisy, and fast-paced Black Metal without

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its cover to be the perfect teaser for what you get from its music. Slow, acoustic parts are mixed with fast, uncompromising ones with mysterious keyboard backgrounds and distant shrieks that sound more like ghost whispers than real voices, and cold, misty keyboard driven Ambient parts as well. It's a complete album and even if it's nothing new or original here, it has the right attitude, it inspires the right atmosphere and involves the listener it it's "story", so as far as I'm concerned this is a successful debut for the underground. Released by HPGD Prod. in CD format and Infernal Kommando Rec. in tape format limites to 150 hand-numbered copies, act fast! 8 NIHILISTINEN BARBAARISUUS (USA) Vainamoinen Infernal Kommando - 2014 - Ambient Black Metal Made of only 2 tracks, one of them being instrumental and less than 2 minutes in length, this is more like a Single than a real EP but nowadays such rules are long forgotten, now you can record 2 tracks of 3 minutes each and call that a full-length album, nobody gives a shit.

Well, anyway, as I was saying this is made of only 2 tracks and its total length is 8 and a half minutes, released

by Infernal Kommando in tape format again limited to 150 hand-numbered copies. The instrumental track is on semi-acoustic guitar with soft drums, more like an outro; the other track is mostly fast paced Black Metal with keyboard backgrounds, strong bass lines and poor sound quality vocals, and drum programmings that strange enough are not annoying at all. Not bad stuff, I like the semi-acoustic stuff, but I still prefer the ghostly atmospheres from their debut album. 7 NO DAWN (Norway) Dark Aura WormHoleDeath - 2014 - Melodic Thrash Death Metal 11 years after their foundation, No Dawn managed to finally secure a record deal and release their debut album; by now all of them are in their 30s so don't know if this means a new start for the band or if it's only a milestone that had to be reached, but honestly I hope it's the first. No Dawn, as you might guess it, are a mature act, a band that in recent years managed to secure important dates with Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under, Master and Illdisposed, and I guess consolidated their name in a Norwegian Death Metal scene that's still in the shadow of a much more developed Black Metal movement. This debut album is made of 10 tracks totaling 43 minutes of mid-tempo to fast Thrash Death Metal with plenty of hooks to keep your attention high during the audition. There's nothing new or particularly surprising on this album, but it flows quite smooth and if you're enjoying the 2 before mentioned genres you'll have a good time listening to it. I have enjoyed the subtle and occasional keyboard backgrounds giving the whole a mysterious, oppressive atmosphere, just what a brutal, punishing Death Metal album needs. Good effort, professional delivery, question marks for the future as this might turn into a solid name for the Norwegian scene, or turn to dust in no time. 8

Mortis Humanae / Le Crepuscule du Soir - 2014 - Black Metal Two of the French underground labels that keep Black Metal alive have joined forces and released this debut album of the young band Noctem Cursis founded in 2010.

9 tracks, 45 minutes of playing time, very good production, professional approach, and an excellent cover artwork in perfect harmony with the album title. The music is heavily influenced by the second wave of Scandinavian Black Metal; melodic guitars, epic but cold atmospheres, abrasive (a bit dull) vocals supported by choirs here and there, good rhythm section and subtle but very important keyboard backgrounds, Noctem Cursis prove to be a name to watch out for even if they don't bring anything new to the table. The band managed to create a story and present it properly to the listener, now it's time for the listener to decide if he/she likes it or not, but the delivery is top-notch and should receive at least a chance. 8

simple but highly effective sax appearance on the sixth track. 8 OLD PAGAN (Germany) - MaledictusS Vacula / Narbentage 2014 - Black Metal Now this is more like it, an album from Vacula that actually makes sense releasing! I have enjoyed every minute of these 8 tracks forged by Old Pagan, a band that has been around since 1996 being formed by an ex-member of Pagan Winter, probably many of you will remember this name that had quite an intensive promotion back in the '90's (well, at least I've seen all over the printed media back then). Old Pagan presents us here their third full-length album, a journey into the dark and cold territories of traditional Black Metal (second wave) a la Urgehal or Horna, but without being a copycat; insanely fast, brutal as fuck, blasphemic, organic (great live recorded drums!), demented, a flesh-ripping release that will leave you numb. The mind blowing catchy compositions and the Swiss-clock-like precise execution are backed up by an excellent organic production, so when it comes to unrelenting, uncompromising, traditional Black Metal I think this is my fave release of this year so far! I love it!

10

NOCTURNAL DEPRESSION (France) - Near to the Stars Sun & Moon - 2014 - Depressive Black Metal The second demo from Nocturnal Depression originally released in 2004 by Whispering Night Productions, rerecorded and re-released now by Sun & Moon Records who seems to be the perfect home for these French titans of Depressive Black Metal. The demo is made of 5 long tracks (including a cover of Emperor's "I Am the Black Wizards") lasting for almost 45 minutes. Mostly midtempo rhythms, with a few attempts of going faster or OLTRETOMBA (Italy) even slow things down, and already starting to build up - The Death - Schierati that heavy, depressive, and bleak atmosphere that will later make them famous. I don't like the drums part that con la morte Fistbang - 2014 - Black much but I can appreciate the fact they are recorded live Metal and sound as organic as possible. The sound is excellent, Oltretomba is an Italian and although I haven't heard the initial recording I'm sure this one will give the listener a better idea on where and duo labeling their music as "Retrogarde Metal", although how it all started for Nocturnal Depression, a good piece I'm not sure if they really wanted this or the more correct to add to every Black Metal collection, that's for sure. 7.5 "Retrograde Metal"; probably they wanted to say they are somehow defending the old, retro Metal instead of being NOX INTERITUS (Italy) - proud of retrograding to a simpler, more primitive form of Embrace of No Return Metal. Or maybe it's just a typo and that's it... Anyway, Dark East - 2013 - Black this is their debut album made of 11 tracks totaling 42 minutes of old-school, primitive Thrash Black Metal with Metal As stupid as this may dirty attitude, don't-give-a-fuck approach, organic and have sounded a decade unpolished sound although good enough not to cause any or so ago, nowadays it's problems to the listener, and a good chunk of groove quite refreshing to sprinkled all over, so in current terms it could be labeled stumble upon a full line-up as Black'n'Roll, too. I find part of the elements on this Black Metal band among all these one-man bands, not album very enjoyable (the cruel, vomiting vocals, the that I'd have something against the later, but it's always incisive bass lines and the groovy rhythms) and the rest better when you can have the option of seeing the band quite monotonous (boring and too repetitive guitar riffs live, too, and also when it comes to composition, I think and weak drums) and too simplistic, but for a debut album brainstorming between multiple individuals is almost it shows what the band is capable of and what they aiming always better than the fruits of one man's ideas. Nox at. 7 Interitus are presenting here their debut album, a 10 tracks ORBSEVEN (USA) effort lasting for almost 45 minutes of traditional, semitechnical and fast paced Black Metal, aggressive and .ismos. hateful but at the same time well balanced and well Selfreleased - 2014 - Experimental Metal structured. The sound, although organic, could have been Third studio album from this one-man-band based in better, but that doesn't mean you'll have any problems Texas; .ismos. is made of 7 tracks of Experimental Metal following the music on this album. The music is pretty combining Death, Black and Ambient into a weird, straight-forward offering little space to surprises, but I can avantgarde, sometimes aggressive - sometimes calm highlight the courage of the guitarist to try new territories, music. Zeven, the man behind all this has the required the ferocity of the rhythm section and the impressive technical skills to blend these genres into a curdled, quite Black Metal shrieks, so all in all I have enjoyed this mature sounding whole with major emphasis on creating album, and would put Nox Interitus on my "to keep an dark, haunting atmospheres. Even though he uses drum programings and I usually hate them, in this case they are eye on" list. 7.5 not annoying at all; the Ambient parts are ok but a bit too NYKSTA (Lithuania) - stretched and overused. Zeven proves to be a highly inventive individual, his music is quite original and all in Lieka Tik Sienos Inferna Profundus - all .ismos. made an entertaining audition, quite 2014 - Post Black Metal challenging but also surprisingly nice flowing while Young band that seems to be raised from the ashes of a blending traditional and modern patterns. Recommended defunct act named Dereliction, I've never heard of if you're looking for something different, something quite anyway, so I'll just take Nyksta as a young band founded unique. 9 in 2013. This is their debut album and we get right away where they are heading for: Post-Black Metal; melodic, ORDER TO RUIN (Germany) - The Loss of Distress with lots of repetitive, hypnotic parts, quite soft and Selfreleased - 2014 - Melodic Thrash Death Metal gloomy overall but with its share of aggression, using This young band from Germany founded in 2011 just loads of effects and trying to create heavy atmospheres, released their second full-length album by themselves and that's how I see their music. Good quality on both sound by how determined they look and sound I really hope the and compositions, but with lack of something to stand next one won't be Selfreleased again. Ok, The Loss of out; well, I think the vocalist may be the first that will Distress features 10 tracks in more than 35 minutes of become a highlight for this band in the future, the mostly fast paced Melodic Thrash Death Metal. The two potential is there, they all seem to be able to create guitarists definitely have good skills and they manage to memorable music and this debut album is a nice appetizer create some very catchy and fresh sounding tracks here for what's to hopefully come. What I'll remember after although at times they are following some boring patterns. playing this a couple of times will be the energy and Luckily the album is not at all boring, it involves the crude delivery of the vocal parts and the short and very listener and flows smoothly during the complete audition

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

NOCTEM (Spain) - Exilium Art Gates Records - 2014 - Black Death Metal Noctem is definitely one of the hardest working bands in the European Black Death Metal scene, here's their third studio album released 3 years and numerous live shows after the well-received Oblivion. The band continues to give shape to their Extreme Metal and although it will still be considered as a part of the Behemoth-lead Black Death movement, they have an own identity, part of this being the vocals (sounding like cuffed growls and screams), part their Symphonic interludes and part the melodic guitar leads and solos refreshing the tracks every now and then. I don't see many differences between Oblivion and Exilium, but I'm not even sure if there should have been any in the end; the band is professional to the bone, their music is topnotch quality, their image and dedication are excellent, I see no reason why you'd be excused for missing this new album. And I'm sure Exilium is just another step for Noctem's World domination. 9.5 NOCTEM CURSIS (France) - Nocturnal Frost

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and is nice to hear the members trying to come up with something new or different all the time, no track is similar to the other. The vocalist has a good voice also, he's almost comprehensive in his hoarse vocals, fit for this music and fit for what the scene requires nowadays. The only thing I find annoying is the drum programs that I have to admit are well configured most of the album, but too synthetic at times and I can't stand that. The entire album is entertaining, interesting, diverse, and fresh, recommended! 8 ORDO INFERUS (Sweden) - Invictus Et Aeternus Doomentia - 2014 Death Metal Young band made of mature and experienced musicians former members of bands like Necrophobic, Godhate, Funebrarum or Malfeitor, Ordo Inferus were formed in 2012 and shortly after debuted with a 3 tracks EP. Now it was time for their full-length debut, a new release consisting of 12 tracks and lasting for almost 50 minutes. If this would have been released back in the '90's I'm sure it would have been an instant classic, I see no quality difference between this Ordo Inferus album and any of the classics from Unleashed, Entombed or Grave for example, it's an amazing release featuring everything a fan of the Stockholm sounds would ever need: ugly but comprehensive growls, very catchy, complex and memorable guitar riffs, heavy rhythm section, melodic guitar leads and excellent acoustic interludes, oppressive and dark atmospheres and an excellent story built up by the lyrics talking about the Roman Empire, and perfectly supported by the music. Ah, and also the cover artwork is better than the one from their EP. From my point of view, as a Swedish Death Metal fan that I am, I'd label this album as masterpiece, I could listen to it over and over (and I'll do just that), you shouldn't miss it, too. 10 OUTRE TOMBE (Canada) Demo 2012 HSP - 2012 - Thrash Speed Metal First and so far only release by this Canadian trio that has one of the most memorable band pics I've seen lately: one of the guys seems a teen nerd that can't explain why he's in this picture, one seems a drunken hillbilly skater, and the third is just drunk. Hahaha, so funny. The demo is made of 4 tracks following old-school dirty Thrash Metal patterns with Speed Metal influences all over; fast rhythms section, excellent, raspy vocals, catchy guitar riffs, headbanging friendly music, fun stuff, really worth your 14 minutes. Nowadays, with this old-school revival, if these guys were from Europe they'd have real chances to build a solid name for themselves, but I don't know what chances they have from Canada; anyway, I think they are really playing this music for fun, they seem really genuine Thrash Metal punks. 7.5

Hopefully Pantheon I are currently working on new material and this is just an apetizer of things to come, something to bring the band back in our attention after a 5 years drought on discographic level. This new release is actually a compilation of older, released and unreleased material, tracks that never made it on their albums, but it's also a fine occasion to understand how the band's music and skills evolved during their more than 10 years of activity since the compilation also features some newer material, too. The vocals of Tjalve improved the most, or actually he adapted his vocals to the level of professionalism and complexity of his band mates; if on the first recordings his vocals are clearly rougher than the rest of the instruments and it feels like he's not in the same picture, lately his vocals are much more fit, actually improving the whole and not standing out by themselves as a discordant element. The instrumental part is the same technical Black Metal with plenty of progressive and melodic touches, with a highlight on Julianne's cello work, they actually remind me of the '90's Czech extreme metal scene and its countless flirtations with such instruments in search for the perfect harmony between brutality and melody. Almost 70 minutes of excellent music, a proof of why this band's name is so over there even 5 years after their latest studio release. I have to mention the excellent idea to print in the booklet a few words from present and past members on each track featured here, you have an even better insight on what actually is Pantheon I. Recommended! -

intricate constructions. The compositions are quite curdled making the whole demo flow naturally and the addition of clean, comprehensive and versatile vocals on top of the "normal" Black Metal screams will probably widen the targeted listeners. All in all we get a successful demo, wrapped with good sound quality and released in limited tape edition of 50 hand-numbered copies (I have a feeling this will be re-released in other formats, too). 7.5

PHOBONOID (Italy) Orbita Dusktone - 2013 Industrial Doom Black Metal Phobonoid, debut EP of this one man band from Italy that makes its first statement through it. The 7 tracks material totaling 20 minutes is labeled by Dusktone as Cinematic Black Metal, I'd say it's a combination of Ambient, Industrial, Doom, Funeral Doom, and Post Black Metal as the main genre, but indeed its very expressive, it manages to capture your attention and throw you into a state of standby while you're floating through post-apocalyptic worlds (or outer worlds?). Hammering, slow paced rhythms are often switched to some other fast, mathematically precise but still warm and mesmerizing, and the occasional vocals, that are actually some very deep, and creepy background whispers, are making the whole atmosphere gloomier and more oppressive. It's PANYCHIDA (Czech impressive what this guy can create, in terms of both Republic) - Grief for an music and concept, so it will be a good thing to keep an eye on his future. 9 Idol Paragon / Werewolf / Cursed - 2013 - Pagan POPPY SEED GRINDER (Czech Republic) - Promo Metal Some (most) bands don't 2014 Selfreleased - 2014 - Brutal have a label and these Death Metal guys have three, haha; that says a lot on both the band's 5 years after their Reign potential and the state of the Metal underground at the of Fear demo, Poppy moment, with multiple labels releasing the same album Seed Grinder are back, and also label preferring to re-release old stuff than sign new bands, weird times indeed. Panychida seems to be this time with a 3 tracks promo CD that is supposedly one of the most active Extreme Metal bands in Czech announcing the release of their third full-length album.

Republic, this is their third album to date and their fans Well, since 2009 Yarda, the only remaining founding only had to wait 2 years since their previous material was member changed the whole line-up and PSG became a released, the Woodland Journey EP back in 2011. The trio, but it's still an act strongly connected with both band follows the same paths as on their previous albums, Worlds, the Brutal Death and the Punk Hardcore one. The meaning Pagan Metal; aggressive, hateful and fast paced 3 tracks present us a highly capable unit, three skilled Black Metal combined with Epic, Melodic, Technical and musicians that manage to deliver brutal and technical but mid-paced Pagan / Folk inspired Metal. The addition of at the same time easily accessible and comprehensive traditional instruments, choirs, clean vocals, and music. I'd say the band stepped up a bit since their 2008 narrations made this album more interesting and drifted it album Humanophobia, an album I enjoyed a lot, too. a bit from the path their raw, raspy vocals are heading it Groovy, complex, offensive and heavy, can't wait for the to. As a general impression Grief for an Idol is a very complete album to be released. 8.5 solid release that might win them some more fans along the way, Panychida proves to be a real force to be POSSLUST (Cyprus) - Echoes of Light, Echoes of reckoned, three underground labels releasing this album Darkness Cold Raw - 2014 - Black actually makes sense after the audition, so go grab Metal yourselves a copy. 8.5 This is a one man band from Cyprus started last year; a PARAMNESIA (France) - Paramnesia couple of months after Antoine Morgan started LADLO - 2014 - Black Metal The look of this CD is simply brilliant, one of the best composing under this moniker, he recorded this material looking digipacks I've seen lately, complete with an (8 tracks) for its debut album, and now it was picked by excellent cover artwork and concept; impressing. Cold Raw Records for a physical release. Unfortunately Unfortunately the music is not as impressing as the look, the music on it is way, way below expectations, at least Paramnesia, what seems to be a one-man-band, walks on my expectations knowing some other good releases from Ambient / Shoegaze Black Metal paths, but unfortunately Cold Raw Records; this is made of awful sounding drumdoesn't stand out with anything. Hopefully this is just the machine, chuggy and sloppy guitars sounding more beginning of a fantastic journey, but although well- Gore/Grind than Black Metal actually, sounding really executed and well-thought to combine traditional Black amateurish, and a wannabe Black Metal raw vocal line.

Metal patterns with mesmerizing, hypnotic Shegaze Honestly nothing inhere is worth the labeling "album", it's templates, it only manages to do that without adding only a bad recorded and performed demo, the guy needs something of its own, or at least I can't distinguish to improve a lot on all fronts. Not worth your while. 2 anything original. Now don't get me wrong, if you're into this kind of music you'll certainly enjoy these 2 tracks PRAYER OF THE DYING (Malta) - God's Failed (each clocking more than 20 minutes) and the guy behind Creation Paramnesia or the label don't have anything to be Selfreleased - 2013 - Black Death Metal ashamed of, it's a nice-flowing, interesting release with Martin Ciappara, this fantastic Underground warrior from probably a strong concept behind it, only not enough to be Malta, finally managed to release his 4th full-length groundbreaking as one (or at least me) would expect. 7.5 album, this time with a lot of his friends being featured as special guests, each of the 12 tracks featured has at least 1 PATH OF AMOK (Canada) - Demo 2013 special guest. If you're not familiar with Prayer of the Atramentum - 2013 - Avantgarde Black Metal Dying's music I'd say it's a melodic but at the same time 3 tracks (22 minutes) demo introducing a new Canadian aggressive, underground sounding Black Death Metal one-man-band founded only last year. Calling it with plenty of diversity so you won't be bored; the Avantgarde seems to be a bit stretched, but it's still true rhythms range from doomy, atmospheric and quite that the music we get on this demo tends to distance itself depressive slow paced, to steady and catchy mid-paced, to from traditional Black Metal patterns and push it further fast and assaulting. By "underground sounding" I mean with the aid of doomy, repetitive, hypnotic rhythms and the production is not polished and over-worked as for

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

PAIMONIA (Serbia) Disease Named Humanity Humanity's Plague - 2013 - Black Death Metal Finally this exciting newcomer from Serbian lands managed to sign a record deal and release their debut album; Disease Named Humanity is made of 7 tracks totaling 42 minutes of Black Death Metal, and although the band remained a duo after the departure of 2 other members last year, this album sounds like hell (in a good way!), at least the guitar riffs are some of the most wicked and interesting I've heard in this style. The vocals, although I don't like them particularly, could become a trademark for the band; this type of strangled, hoarse, dying screams are quite interesting. The rhythm section is top-notch as well creating an intensity that will bring you to the verge of claustrophobia. The occasional slow paced, semi-acoustic parts are a real treat for the ears and there's even a short violin part thrown inthere, I love it. Even if this is their debut album, Paimonia proves to be able to become a real candidate for this genre's throne, get this album and decide for yourselves. 9 PANTHEON I (Norway) - From the Abyss They Rise Non Serviam - 2014 - Progressive Black Metal

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example in Behemoth's case, Martin likes to keep things simple and quite old-school, you'll hear that in his compositions, too, for example the bass solo in "The Full Moon" is something I haven't heard in a long, long time.

The whole album is full of these little unexpected elements that make it delicious, it's not boring at all, on the contrary I'd say. Of course there are some negative aspects as well, like the synthetic sound of the drums and the monotone vocals, but all in all this is a successful album so if you're an underground supporter make sure you start supporting this guy and his music, he deserves it.

8.5 PREDATORY VIOLENCE (Germany) - Marked for Death Killer Metal - 2014 - Thrash Metal Almost a decade old now, Predatory Violence releases its fourth studio album to date, and second out on Killer Metal Records. Honestly this is the first time I meet with this band's music, it was a total stranger before so I had no idea what to expect, but reaching their fourth album gave me some guarantees on their quality. After giving this a couple of spins I can say it's not what I expected, the recordings quality are to an '80's standard, they are crystal-clear, don't get me wrong, but they seem to unpolished for these years we live in. Then the guitar riffs are way too simple for these days, the vocals are good but bring nothing impressive to the table, and the drums' synthetic sound becomes annoying after a while. The game saving and I'd say the highlight of Predatory Violence are the guitar leads and solos, they manage to give an acceptable form to this otherwise obsolete record.

If you're a fan of analog, old-school Thrash Metal with (good) rehearsal sound quality this might be for you, but otherwise avoid it. 6 PRIMAL (Poland) Deathzone Quid Est Veritas - 2011 - Black Metal I have no idea what's the point of sending me this CD since the band released 2 more full-length albums since then and on the same record label. Primal is a one man band from Warsaw started in 2008, and this is its debut album, an 8 tracks effort totaling almost 45 minutes (2 of the tracks are actually interludes, to the album is made of 6 actual tracks). Unfortunately I wasn't able to digest almost anything from it, except for a few good guitar leads and solos here and there; the drum-machine becomes annoying after a while, and so are the vocals that sound very promising at first audition, then you just discover there's no deeper dimension to them. The whole becomes really chaotic and with no real horizon at least once per track and that has an awful impact on the listener, I guess PrimalOne, the man behind this moniker, has to decide where he's headed with this project, to start building on that line and definitely stop mixing all genres he listens to, at least on this album he proved he's not capable of a good result. 4

Initially released by the band in 2007, this compilation of demos is now re-released by Vacula and Sturmglanz on CD and I can only congratulate them, this is definitely a band to be heard by more and more Black Metal fanatics over there. The compilation features their first 3 demos entirely, and their part of the split with The Last Twilight from 2007, a fine journey through the band's history and a perfect way for the listeners to understand the band's development along the years. As one might expect, the first demos have a low quality sound, but good enough not to become annoying or to stop you from enjoying them. But from my point of view their part of the 2007 split is what makes this CD worth your money, every penny! This is one of the most interesting traditional Black Metal acts I've heard this year, Profundus Tenebrarum are playing highly fast paced, cold as ice, mysterious and blasphemic Black Metal in a way you won't believe it; the drummer is insane, the guitars are extremely catchy and technical, and the vocals are razorsharp like you never heard before. What an amazing band, I really have to listen to what they've released since then, my appetite for Profundus Tenebrarum is at its peak and I strongly recommend you this band if you like your Black Metal as fast paced as possible and with symphonic type of keyboards to enhance its darkness. PURULENT RITES (Hungary) '13 Neverheard - 2014 - Death Metal Debut demo from this young and seemingly ambitious quartet from Budapest, the '13 demo was released by the band in 2013 then soon picked up by Norwegian Gravplass Propaganda label and released as tape, and now re-released as tape and Pro CDR by the hardworking Neverheard Distro. 4 tracks, 13 minutes of slow to mid-tempo old-school heavy and oppressive Death Metal with low-tuned guitars, zombie-like growls, and good rhythm section. A good debut, recommended for those of you into doomy, lowtuned, horrifying Death Metal, glad to see Hungary bringing up such bands, too. I have enjoyed it although I feel something's missing, either a few more hooks or something of their own, but I guess those will come in time, so I hope to hear again about this band soon. 7

the result is very headbanging friendly and powerful enough to hook some fans. Honestly the only fault I can find on this album is the fact that the tracks are less catchy and less memorable than needed for a complete experience but for a debut album Regions of Sorrow does its job and introduces a band that you should check out in case you're a follower of mid-tempo to fast paced Melodic Deathrash. 8 RAINOVER (Spain) - Transcending the Blue and Drifting into Rebirth WormHoleDeath - 2014 - Gothic Rock Metal Founded back in 2003 as Remembrances, the band changed its name and line-up after releasing their debut album, and it seems the change was positive since they soon managed to secure a deal with Italy based WormHoleDeath Records and here we have their second full-length album to date. Rainover seems to be able to inhale all forms of Gothic Rock and Gothic Metal and exhale their own brand of Gothic Rock/Metal, an original take that sees the band delivering a mix of traditional and modern influences so in the end it's pretty hard to pinpoint this music to a single path. The most important thing is that the music is catchy, inventive and complex, the production is highly professional, and the band benefits from a female voice that's easily at the same level as big names like Anneke van Giersbergen (probably her biggest influence) or Liv Kristine. The band's skilled instrumentists managed to deliver a varied range of tracks, each having its own identity, but still being able to create a solid and complete product that reises its intensity from Gothic Rock at the beginning to Gothic Metal (even using male growls at some point) in the end. One of the best release in this genre for 2014, don't hesitate! 10 RAVENTALE (Ukraine) - Memoires Dark East / Satanath 2013 - Atmospheric Blackened Metal Everyone know Raventale as one of the leading products from the BadMoodMan / Solitude Productions stable, so it was a real surprise when I saw this new official release being out on different labels; although it's not a real album (it's not made of new material but it's a compilation of old tracks, re-recorded), Memoires is still an official release, so I don't know if we should take it as Raventale leaving BMM, or only as a side-release to widen the distributions horizons for its music. Anyway, as I was saying, this is a compilation of old tracks delivering what Raventale used us with: atmospheric, blackened and doomy Metal in its purest form. The selection of songs is excellent, the whole feels like a compact material and the range emotions transmitted through it are varied but at the same time targeted. If you're looking for some good quality, highly entertaining, melancholic and atmospheric music to dress your grief at night, while enjoying a good wine, this is the perfect album, but watch out for the slippery way to sheer depression though. 9

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

PRIMAL (Poland) - Prophetae The End of Time - 2013 - Doom Black Metal 4th full-length album from this Polish one man band started back in 2008, and it's not the latest either, this year the 5th studio album came out already, so we're dealing here with a heavily productive act, hopefully it's not all about quantity and the guy's interested in delivering some quality, too. I've met this project before, when I reviewed its split with Iugulatus and Deep Desolation in 2012, and it seems not much has changed since then, I mean Primal is still playing its own type of macabre, atmospheric, horrifying Black Metal that combines fast paced rhythms with mid-tempo and slow, doomy ones, the drums part are chaotic and dissonant at times but they are blending well with the overall sounds on this release, the vocals are somehow too in the background of the rest so they are used to rather emphasize the ghoulish atmosphere, and the sound is raw, stifled and dark. I'd say Primal is now offering a mixture of Doom and Black Metal, very expressive, recommended for the ones of you in search for scary atmospheres rather than traditional sounds.

Thumbs up for the constancy and bravery to pursue its own path. 8

RAGGRADARH (Bulgaria) - Oris Vacula / Suicide Nihilist - 2014 - Black Metal Even though (or because?) it's a one man band, Raggradarh was very active on discographic level since its foundation in 2005 releasing loads of singles, demos, EPs, splits and including this one, 4 full-length albums, too. 2010 saw the release of 2 of its albums and this one, Oris, was recorded during the same year...

Featuring only 4 tracks, the album clocks almost 50 minutes of raw Black Metal that seems to be recorded live at the rehearsal place; the sound is not total shit but it's not something I would label as fit for an official album. The tracks are too long and the riffs too repetitive and that gives me the impression Erilyne (the man behind Raggradarh) wanted to record a new album at all costs, even if this would be more suitable for another demo. The music is raw, traditional, simple mid-tempo Black Metal with a somehow pagan atmosphere given by the background choirs and some of the guitar leads, but along the way there are many parts where the music doesn't seem to be very inspired, not to say really sloppy (for example the awful guitar leads & bass line from track 4, around minute 5). If you want to give it a try prepare for some unnecessary long tracks (the shortest is 8 minutes and the longest 20...) and for a high probability of getting bored. 5

RAGING AGE (Italy) Regions of Sorrow WormHoleDeath - 2013 - Melodic Death Metal Young band from Bari presenting their debut album already on a solid label as WormHoleDeath, Raging PROFUNDIS TENEBRARUM (Spain) - Hate Decade Age made an impact on me; after a few spins of this debut album I'd say it's quite a mature effort complete with an (Demo Compilation) Vacula / Sturmglanz Black Metal Manufaktur - 2014 (re- excellent production that perfectly fits the band's musical style. The quartet is playing a combination of Melodic release) - Black Metal Death Metal (mainly) with Thrash Metal elements, and

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RESTLESS OBLIVION (Russia) Sands of Time Solitude - 2014 - Doom Death Metal Although this is their debut album, this band was founded back in 2009, so they are not really new on the scene, their productivity wasn't that important at all. Restless Oblivion offer us 7 tracks in almost 55 minutes of emotional, melodic, heavy, expressive and quite complex old-school Doom Death Metal heavily inspired by the '90's UK scene and not only by it. The instrumental part is excellent, the guitars manage to create both some enchanting, soft, melodic atmospheres and some other much more oppressive, dark, with no trace of hope, the rhythm section's work is as important as the guitars, and you'll be able to appreciate both their technical skills and ability to be highly influential in creating these atmospheres, and the vocals are mostly deep, low tuned growls, but with less versatility as I would have liked, there are only a few moments where the vocalist uses clean vocals or Black Metal type of shrieks, and they are not something memorable either, so to sum it up I think the weakest link in Restless Oblivion's music are the vocals, but if you like emotional Doom Death with the lowest possible vocals you'll like this, too. What I mostly like about this album is its ability to "paint" amazing soundscapes and keep the listener's attention high by constantly offering something new. A great gift if you're into the UK Doom Death of the

somber and the distant vocals only make it more intriguing, but the problem comes after a couple of spins when you realize it becomes kind of boring, there's RUNNING DEATH (Germany) - The Call of nothing exciting, nothing to show passion, and this type of Black Metal was previously done again and again by Extinction countless other bands. A decent debut, hope they will Selfreleased - 2012 - Thrash Metal Four young German Thrashers delivering exactly what all improve. 6.5 Thrash Metal fans want: sheer power and aggression, SCUTUM CRUX (UK) - The genuine spirit, catchy riffs and originality! Running Death are currently preparing for their debut album and in the Second Sun Immortal Frost - 2013 meantime they are promoting their 2012 EP, The Call of Black Metal Extinction, consisting of 5 of the best Thrash Metal tracks Debut album released after I've heard in a long time! All of them are heavily 10 years of activity, not addictive and they also benefit of one of the most original sure what happened with voices around, I think I'd be able to distinguish this guy this band before, but they are from hundreds others, and that's what every band is certainly not the most looking for, a voice to make the difference; Simon's productive band around, and after vocals are a combination of Mustaine's, Hatfield's (young), Lemmy's and a good dose of Punk tone and even spinning this disc for a few times I really think they a Bluuurgh... (the Dutch '90's sensation) influence, too, would have had a good chance to be an important name in simply awesome, at times it sounds almost dissonant, but the UK scene if they'd released more material by now. then you discover that's exactly what was intended, and at Anyway, The Second Sun features 8 tracks totaling 38 times it sounds melodic, too. The guitar riffs are catchy as minutes of traditional mid-tempo to fast paced Black hell, the bass is imposing and the drums are precise to the Metal with excellent vocals (reminded me of Samael bone, and I shouldn't forget the excellent backing actually), intelligent constructions, catchy rhythms, good (shouting) vocals creating such a good effect on the guitar work and what seems to be (good) drum listener, but as only fault I find the sound a bit too clear programmings. Not a groundbreaking release, but and polished for this music, maybe throwing in some definitely one to check out if you're into semi-melodic, more dirt wouldn't hurt next time. Can't wait to listen to semi-technical, semi-brutal Black Metal. 8 the full-length, this is an amazing band! 9 SELFMACHINE (Holland) - Broadcast Your Identity SATANCHIST (Czech Republic) - Drtici Kacirskych WormHoleDeath - 2014 - Groove Metal Every now and then when I get across a band with such Pohlavi clean and handsome guys that look like they are just back Hexencave - 2013 - Black Thrash Death Metal I guess the owners of Hexencave were once fans of this from their nice job in a bank or in an electronics store, long time gone Czech band, and that because if you look where is the old spirit of rebellion of Rock and Metal at it objectively without knowing the band (like in my music, but of course there's a place for everyone and I case), you'll find no real values for this material to be re- shouldn't comment on looks. released nowadays. But looking at it as a '92 release (as it Selfmachine is a quintet from Holland founded back in actually is), this is some very impressive collection of 2010 and this is their debut album, an 11 tracks material brutal and fast music to destroy your neighbors. This is totaling 50 minutes of Groove Metal with influences from Satanchist's only official demo, although they released Alternative Metal, Metalcore and even Progressive Metal. several others, and afterwards they changed name to It sounds quite a solid music, more mature than I would Hermaphrodit. 10 tracks, a bit more than 40 minutes have thought, and with real potential to reach high ranks playing time, good sound, music ranging from mid-tempo in the European scene. The compositions are intricate and Thrash Metal to fast and furious Thrash Death Black complex yet still melodic, catchy and quite nice flowing, Metal, a real treat for those times. Nostalgics will find it the vocals are versatile enough to impress, the guitars are tight and inventive as hell, and the rhythm section is re-released on vinyl in limited edition of 300 copies. Swiss-clock-like precise. I hope they'll choose the Progressive Metal direction to explore further, and not the SCARECROW N.W.A. (Austria) - Transgression nowadays obsolete Metalcore one, they have the Noisehead - 2013 - Melodic Death Metal This band is around since 1995, so soon they'll celebrate 2 necessary skills and capabilities to provide memorable decades of activity, pretty impressive, sin't it? material. Good band. 8.5 Transgression is their 5th full-length album to date, an 8 tracks effort totaling a bit more than 50 minutes of quite SEQUOIAN AEQUISON (Russia) - Onomatopoeia melodic and at the same time experimental type of Death Slow Burn - 2014 - Post Doom Metal Metal with good production, very good and interesting Debut album, 4 tracks totaling more than 40 minutes of guitars but unfortunately a very abrasive, almost annoying calm, dreamy and sludgy Post Doom Metal from this vocal whose growls feel very forced, like the guy tries young Russian quartet, all instrumental, without traces of everything to sound brutal but only manages to produce vocals. Honestly I can't see anyone listening to this album burps instead of real growls; his episodic clean vocals are and remembering it or parts of it afterwards, it more a way, way better, he should try them more and leave the soundtrack album than one with its own identity, this is growling to someone else. As I said the guitar work is music that goes hand in hand with something (anything) really good, producing a wide range of delightful riffs and visual, but stand alone is quite faceless although it's leads, and even the solos, although nothing exceptional, interesting to listen, it flows well, it's not monotonous or are enjoyable. The drums sound too synthetic at times, over-repetitive and there's always something more to and the tracks are a bit too long, but except for that discover here and there, but again, among the countless Transgression is a decent new album, fans of Melodic other similar releases this doesn't stand out with anything, Death might enjoy it, but there's need of improvement; if it's enjoyable and forgettable. 7 only all of them would be at the same level as the SERCATI (Italy) - The Rise of the guitarists... 6.5 Nightstalker (Tales of the Fallen SCHATTENTHRON part 2) Selfreleased - 2014 - Melodic (Germany) - Der alte Black Metal Thron, siechend im Not sure if this album was Schatten released by the band Heretic Wisdom - 2014 themselves or by Grom Black Metal Records as I've seen mentioned Maybe because there are so many one man bands on the the internet, but there's no mention about Black Metal scene nowadays that I thought Schattenthron on anywhere on the booklet, so probably is the same, a one man band, but I have to admit it was a the label nice surprise to see this is actually a full line-up band, a it was Selfreleased at first and then picked up by the label quartet actually. It's a young outfit founded last year only, who released its own version later. Anyway, Sercati offer but this is already their debut album. Although it's made us 11 tracks in 45 minutes, a melodic and atmospheric of 3 tracks only, the album lasts for more than half an type of Black Metal with loads of keyboards, clean vocals hour of cold, distant, dark and mysterious Black Metal and semi-acoustic elements, elements that quite frankly without too many flourishments, no keys, no additional make the highlights of this album. Unfortunately the instruments, only the basic stuff. The rhythms range from vocals are horrible, they sound like the guy is a burping slow and repetitive, almost hypnotizing, to more brutal, and choking Donald Duck, and in my opinion they are mid-tempo, too fast and energetic rhythms, but almost all ruining the rest; the music benefits of an organic melodic with fast double-bass drums. The atmosphere is cold, touch and quite technical (even folkish) guitar work, and '90's or into the most recent Draconian type of Doom Death. 8.5

that's promising for the future. The sound is good enough to offer the listener a comfy audition, so if you think you can get over the hilarious vocals and enjoy the instrumental part only, you have plenty of good elements to taste from Sercati. 6 SERPENT WARNING (Finland) - Serpent Warning I Hate - 2014 - Doom Metal 5 years after their foundation, Serpent Warning managed to release their self-titled debut album, a 6 tracks effort totaling 40 minutes of traditional Doom Metal. Heavy and groovy old-school Doom Metal without other influences, the material avoids boredom and is quite catchy for any Doom Metal fan over there. There's not much to surprise the listener, the compositions are quite simple, but the overall impression is good, they seem genuine and so their music flows naturally. Fans of UK traditional Doom Metal will surely enjoy this new Finnish export; make sure you give it a few chances, it will grow on you with each new audition. 7.5 SHADOWCRAFT (Greece) - Principles of Chaos Noisehead - 2013 - Symphonic Black Metal Another debut on Noisehead Records although this band has been around since 2005; this debut album features 11 tracks and clocks 43 minutes of Symphonic Black Metal.

At first your attention is hooked by the band's look and cover artwork: the band's face-paint is excellent, and the cover artwork, even though at first it might seem chaotic, is in perfect connection with the tracks' lyrics and I find that amazing, such attention to details should be appreciated. Then the music, an old-school type of Symphonic Black Metal that will be certainly tasted by fans of this scene in the '90's; mostly fast paced, melodic to the bone, semi-technical, and featuring an excellent keyboard work that takes this album through a myriad of feelings and atmospheres. Actually I'd say the keyboard player is the highlight of this band although the others are spot-on too, but he's capable of turning a good band into a top-quality act, and even if there are only a few parts of this album where he abandons the old-school "keyboard background" patterns and decides to show something more, that's enough for the listener to understand what's needed. As a conclusion the album is a solid slice of Symphonic Black Metal that might impress part of the fans of old Dimmu Borgir among others, I liked it. 8

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

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SHADOWS GROUND (Ukraine) - Mysteria Mystica Calvus Mons Hexencave - 2013 Black Metal Fourth full-length album from this Ukraine based Black Metal band founded in 1998, "Mysteria Mystica Calvus Mons" is made of 8 tracks and lasts for 45 minutes of quite melodic traditional Black Metal. I like the mysterious atmospheres inspired by this release, but musically speaking there's nothing that could surprise or enchant the listener. The guitars are really horrible at times (amateurish riffs and mistakes in execution) and the drums sound becomes really annoying after a while, two of the major elements dragging down this album. On the other hand I like the vocals and part of the riffs, plus the overall atmosphere, but there's still work to do in Shadows Ground. 6

SHATTERED HOPE (Greece) - Waters of Lethe Solitude - 2014 - Funeral Doom Death Holy crap, already 4 years passed since I reviewed these guys' debut album, and I remember not only that album but even their 2007 promo CD; I'm getting old quickly, time is flying away faster and faster... As like for showing me the opposite, Shattered Hope and stubborn in their pursue of the slowest, most oppressing type of Doom Death Metal, hence moving deeper into this area from an Atmospheric Doom Death (their 2010 album) to a nowadays Funeral Doom Death Metal, but one with plenty of variety and good technical displays. I'm pleasantly surprised by how well this album sounds, I'd say it's a consistent improvement from their previous effort. 6 tracks, 80 minutes of playing time, an album I'd recommend to fans of both Funeral Doom Death and Atmospheric Doom Death. Shattered Hope might soon

become a leading act in this genre if they'll keep improving. 9 SICKNESS (Malaysia) Necrosymphonies of Necropsy Grundar - 2013 - Gore Grind Wow, this band is a veteran of the Malay Gore Grind scene being founded 20 years ago, in 1995, amazing longevity for such a band, too bad they weren't very productive so far, and this is a straight proof: Necrosymphonies of Necropsy is their debut album. The sound is a problem, although crystal clear and organic as it should be, it's not powerful enough for this kind of music, or at least that's my opinion, I would have liked a fatter sound for this. The music is interesting and quite diverse, although I don't know if you'd be able to pick a track from the 10 featured to be your fave. It's cool they printed the lyrics (gory lyrics, of course) in the 6 pages booklet, that's a good bonus and an addition in getting into the whole atmosphere. Sick music, sick lyrics, fans of Brutal Death Metal (old-school, underground type of it) and especially fans of Gore Grind will enjoy it, no doubt, for the rest it would only constitute a curiosity, nothing more, it doesn't have the power to reach any general Extreme Metal tops. 7 SIEGE (Italy) - Decay of Flesh Selfreleased - 2014 Death Metal The Italian trio Siege was founded back in 2008 as Thrash Metal act Numb, changing their name to the actual only 3 years later, in 2011. Once with the name change the band also changed direction from Thrash Metal to Death Metal and this is their debut album as a Death Metal outfit. Featuring 14 tracks into almost 45 minutes of playing, Decay of Flesh is a strange mixture of Technical with Brutal Death Metal, with obvious reminiscences from the band's Thrash period.

Unfortunately the drums' awfully synthetic sound and way too "in front" mix, ruins it all for me. I found myself listening to this album only because I really liked the bass lines (the bass player makes 80% of this band) and some (few) guitar leads, but the rest is absolute chaos and I say this not in a good way. The mixing is horrible, there is no flow in their compositions, the guitar riffs are too generic and the vocals have nothing spectacular; I'll stick with only the bass lines, sorry. Not my type of recording, maybe the next one I'll understand better... 5

close-sounding to Amon Amarth too, and the Swedes are pretty much topping the final year results, but it will certainly capture the attention of 30+ years old Metal fans who were keen of the '90's UK Doom Death Metal and especially Paradise Lost I'd say, then on the Gothemburg styled Melodic Death Metal, Spatial is a mix of those and their debut album is a stong statement they are in for the glory. 11 tracks, 10 in English and the last one in Polish, almost 50 minutes in length, released in CD format containing a 12 pages booklet featuring all the lyrics. A nostalgic trip back in the '90's; if this would have been SONS OF FAMINE released on a major label 20 years back I guarantee we'd (USA) - Alcohol and all know the lyrics of at least a song by heart. 9 Razor Blades Selfreleased - 2013 - SPITEHOWLING (Russia) - Born to Die for Evil Dark East - 2013 - Black Metal Black Death Metal Not sure if you're familiar with CorpseVomit (they were This album was previously released in 2002 by Osolon around since 1992 till 2002 and released a full-length Productions on tape, but Dark East Prod. Thought it's a album on Blackened Moon Records), but this band was good idea to re-release it in limited edition (500 copies) founded on its ashes in 2012, and this is their debut demo, CD format. I have never heard of the band before getting a 4 tracks effort clocking almost 15 minutes of punkish, this and I'm not sorry for this either, this is quite an awful thrashing, blackened Death Metal played fast, drunk and album: demo like recording quality, annoying drumdirty as hell. It's quite good actually, very entertaining, machine, and laughable vocals - it sounds like the guy is perfect for headbanging, a real hell-raiser during live gigs, having trouble shitting; I'm used to a lot of vocal types, I have no doubts. Fans of the new wave or retro Metal but this is among the worst. There are some interesting will surely dig this primitive but at the same time well- guitar riffs and leads here and there and that's probably crafted and well delivered piece of angry Metal. The the only element making this album worth your while, but catchy combination of Punk, Thrash, Heavy, Black, the rest is way below mediocre, I have no idea why Dark Death, with a few epic/majestic elements here and there, East decided to re-release it, it seems like a waste of too, will surely entertain you. I only hope this is not just a money... Maybe the owner was once involved in the band project and the 4 members (including Lividity's drummer) or something, otherwise I cannot find an explanation. 3 will aim for a full-length album soon. Until then I warmly STORMNATT (Austria) recommend this debut demo, is one of the best and most honest I've heard this year. 8 Omega Therion Self Mutilation Services - 2014 - Black Metal SOVENGAR (Spain) - Vindicta The Austrian trio et Gloria Art Gates - 2014 - Epic Folk released its third full-length album after 5 years since the previous, which, at its turn, was released almost 5 years Heavy Metal 40 minutes debut album from this Murcia based young after the debut, so this becomes a pretty stable cycle for band that seems to be determined to conquer the World as the band, releasing albums every 5 years. This one is soon as possible. They have a great image, I'd say even made of 7 tracks and lasts for 40 minutes of Scandinavian better than Noctem's (Art Gates' bestselling act), so the inspired Black Metal a la '90's. The highlight are the very first step is successful. Let's move over to the music on catchy guitar riffs (those alone are a reason to check this these 10 tracks; although based on standard Epic Metal band out) supported by some melodic guitar leads that patterns, meaning they are very catchy and stick to your reminded me of the '90's Swedish scene, the rhythm mind almost instantly, the band's gaps are obvious: the section is good enough not to bother the listener but less vocalist has an awesome timbre but he has to work more creative and varied than one might expect, and the vocals on synchronization and even more on fitting the lyrics on are not at all on my liking especially since they are mixed the instrumental part, the guitarists will have to be less too in front of the instruments and are stealing most of the simple and generic and step up a bit, to show some spotlights of this release, ruining the atmospheres the attempts of originality like the keyboard player is doing. guitars create. As an overall impression I'd say the music Apart from that I'd say Sovengar proves to be a fresh new flows well and catches the listener's attention, but it brings band with a mighty potential and I truly believe Art Gates nothing new or exciting to the table and the vocals should found their next big thing here, hopefully a second, more have been less intrusive to complement the instrumental mature full-length will follow-up soon. Sovengar are on part. 7 the right path, they only need to stay focused and give STROSZEK (Italy) - Wild Years of Remorse and their best, keep an eye on them. 7.5 Failures Hypnotic Dirge - 2013 - Acoustic / Alternative Gothic SOVVERSIVO (Italy) - Falling Deep Metal Noisehead - 2013 - Heavy Metal The Italian quartet was founded back in 1998 and so far Well, Gothic Metal is a bit too much of a label for they only changed drummer a few times, the other Stroszek's music, but parts of it are hinting towards a members are the original ones, and that's not so common really melodic Gothic Metal with Alternative and even nowadays. The band shows to be a mature act with well- Country influences. This is a huge release, a double CD crafted music and clear ideas, they are blending Hard release featuring 2 albums, both played on the same Rock and Heavy Metal in a melodic, catchy and quite direction, using mostly guitars and vocals, with episodic fresh whole, with a hint of Progressive too. The final insertions of drums and bass. Stroszek is the one-man result for this second album is top class although not as project of Claudio Alcara from Frostmoon Eclipse, but heavy as I like my Metal. The album is made of 10 tracks this is not linked to Black Metal at all, actually to me it and totalizes 42 minutes of playing time, not too little, not reminds of the softer parts from Lake of Tears' too much, the perfect time to enjoy it and don't get bored. "Headstones". I find the tracks to be a bit stretched I was surprised by the good English pronunciation of the beyond need and the vocals good but quite limited in singer (usually Italian singers playing in English are awful potential, but all in all the 2 CDs are offering an excellent with pronunciation), the good blend of traditional and atmosphere, the perfect production helping a lot in this modern sonorities, and the occasional dark guitar leads. sense. If you're into Melodic Metal with loads of Acoustic Good album, not outstanding but good, worth giving it a passages you should definitely try Stroszek, a very delicate, expressive, emotional and deep music that chance. 7.5 probably offers a good understanding on Claudio's SPATIAL (Poland) - feelings while creating it. 9 Silence Metal Scrap - 2014 - SURUNI (Finland) - Ikuus Sun & Moon - 2014 - Raw Experimental Black Metal Melodic Death Metal Not sure if only because I'm starting to be an old fart, or if Sun & Moon is adventuring into untouched, experimental this is the naked truth, but this Polish band, Spatial, with territories more and more lately and that's only healthy for this album, their debut one, made my day Today. Their a label if they can afford releasing stuff that they have no '90's type Doom-laden Melodic Death Metal based on all idea if will sell 5 or 500 copies of. Suruni is the new sorts of technical and melodic guitar leads and solos, a gamble of the local label, a one man band from Finland cruel and hoarse vocal often sequencing with an excellent and its debut album, an 8 tracks effort released as clean vocal type, could sound boring to the new digipack CD and totaling almost 40 minutes of the generation, although I'm not totally sure since Spatial is strangest experimental music I've heard lately. Basically either, with probably a bit of UK Power Thrash Metal as well. 11 tracks, almost 50 minutes of mid-tempo Heavy Metal based on quite liniar rhythm section, impressive bass lines though, catchy guitar riffs, sharp guitar leads and a fierce, unpolished and raspy vocalist without an original tone but with correct and careful execution.

There's also plenty of melody here, so all in all I'd say Skyconqueror did a very good job with this second album, not something to remain in history as memorable, but definitely not something to overlook either. I like it. 8

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

SIGHTS OF WAR (Canada) - For I Am...

HSP - 2012 - Punk Heavy Black Metal Probably this is one of the last copies of this debut EP as it was limited to only 100 copies and it's already 2 years since it was released. In the meantime the band released their debut album too, on the same label, HSP. Sights of War plays a primitive, dirty, fast paced and organic mixture of Punk, Heavy and Black Metal, or better said a mixture or Punk and Heavy Metal with raw, hoarse Black Metal vocals. Except for the fact they are using the same combination of riffs and beats everyone else was using back in the '80's, and the combination is quite dull, the EP sounds honest and the listeners might appreciate this dedication to the first signs of evil metal music, to the early days when Venom or Hellhammer were shocking the world. Well, unfortunately nowadays it takes much more than this to shock anyone. 6.5 SKYCONQUEROR (Germany) - Under the Pentagram Selfreleased - 2014 Heavy Metal I've been listening this album all day now, a rare thing for me nowadays since I get so much material to review, but something about Skyconqueror caught my attention and kept it for a few hours now, and that even before reading anything about the band, so not little was my surprise when I saw they are actually from Germany and I could've bet my hat they were an American band. Why American? Because their music, its rawness and at the same time melodic approach, and also their decision to go mostly mid-tempo, all of these reminded me of a combination of US and Canadian Heavy Metal scenes a la '80's, and Twisted Tower Dire comes first to my mind although Skyconqueror are not as fast and not as technical

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Suruni is mixing lo-fi, raw Black Metal with soft touches from Jazz, Blues, Ambient, Drone and Doom, all served in a simple form and shape, with raw, rehearsal-type sound and I guess recorded all in one take. At first the whole seemed way too clumsy and unprofessional to even bother, but I have to admit it grew on me and I started to understand that's actually supposed to sound like that.

Ikuus is a highly personal and emotional album, and even the cover artwork is made by Sakari Piisti, the man behind this project. Most of the atmospheres on this release are calm and soft, but the Black Metal touches are there and well inserted in order to keep a certain flow to the whole. Probably you won't like it at first either, but give it a chance and spin this a few more times before deciding (if you're into traditional Black Metal only then avoid at all costs), 4 spins and I'm hooked. 8 SVALBARD (Canada) The Fall HSP - 2013 - Black Metal Although founded back in 2002 and without any major set-backs due to line-up changes (only two members decided to leave the band during all these years), Svalbard only managed to release this debut album in 2013. The quartet offers us 8 tracks into 42 minutes of fast and brutal Black Metal without compromises. The sound is not as good as it should have been, and the compositions are not as complex or even diverse to keep your attention high during the complete audition, but the band impresses through brutality; Svalbard must be one of the most brutal Black Metal bands I've heard this year (although if the album if from last year, sic) and I kind of admire their attempts to add melodic guitar leads and at the same time keep the whole extreme and uncompromising to the bone. Yes, I would have liked a much better production, but the album clearly deserves your attention if you're into cruel and ferocious music. 7.5 SVARTSTORM (Russia) - Scars Instead of Wings NitroAtmosfericum -

sound, is well executed, and follows the patterns of this TETRARCHATE genre to the bone, it won't surprise anyone, probably it (Italy) - Symposium of will fall into mediocrity. 6 the Tetrarchs Selfreleased - 2014 THE GREAT OLD ONES (France) - TekeliHeavy Thrash Metal Debut EP from this young Italian band, Symposium of the Li Ladlo - 2014 - Post Black Tetrarchs features 4 tracks and lasts for 15 minutes, not enough to make a complete and precise opinion on the Metal band's direction, but enough to guess their potential. An amazing follow-up to an amazing debut! The Great Although they used a drum machine that at times Old Ones proves to be highly mature and highly becomes annoying, and although the vocals are not on my determined although founded only 5 years ago. This liking at all (at first I had a hard time determining if the second full-length starts a bit dull, but builds up in tension guy is singing in an extremely Italian accentuated English and catchiness as the tracks unfold for the listener. Post or in pure French...wtf!), I have to say I love most of the Black Metal is a good label for the band, but that doesn't guitar work, some riffs are simply delicious (like the mean they are oblivious to traditional patterns, actually opening riff of the 3rd track); it has it's boring parts and they succeed in bringing to old-school templates a useless repetitive riffs, too, but the major part of the guitar nowadays freshness without becoming too hip or without work, with its Thrash, Heavy and even Power Metal losing the ferocious aggressiveness traditional Black influences, is excellent, and that's what I consider the Metal has. 6 new tracks, almost 55 minutes of hypnotic, band's best asset. The production sucks ass, too, but not catchy, technical and highly expressive Post Black Metal, enough to ruin this disc completely. All in all this EP was I love it! LADLO Productions prove once again they are successful in sparking my interest regarding this band, I'd skilled talent scouters and promoters, a label well worth say if the vocalist starts singing with his natural voice and supporting. 9.5 stops imitating the Thrash Death way, and if they record the next material in a professional studio (or at least use a THE MORNINGSIDE (Russia) - Letters from professional producer), we might get a nice surprise from them. 6 the Empty Towns BadMoodMan - 2014 Modern Melodic Death THE BLACK Metal COFFINS (Brazil) Wow, this third work of Dead Sky Sepulchre Russians The Morningside is Black Hole - 2012 nothing we were used to by their previous albums, the Death Metal The Metal Archives calm, atmospheric Doomy parts are only a hint on this website mentions this one. The quartet decided it's time to try new areas and as a band as split-up, and it seems they have recently conclusion they tried to squeeze as many modern Metal disbanded if that's the case, they have Facebook posts as influences as they could, "Letters..." could be described as recent as May 2014, but there's no official statement about a combination of In Flames, Paradise Lost, Death and this. Anyway, what I have here is their debut album, a 12 even Carcass; plus a heavy, heavy dose of melody all over tracks, 40 minutes long effort released only a year after the place, so all in all it's a very interesting, very the band started. We're dealing with a mostly fast paced, entertaining album delivered by some seriously skilled angry, a bit chaotic but quite catchy mix of Crust and old- musicians, but it's definitely nothing their fans were used school Death Metal with double-bass lead fast drumming, to, so I predict some massive disappointments too. On the shouting vocals, crusty and groovy guitar riffs, occasional other side they can also win some new listeners with this catchy leads that will lead your mind to the mighty album, it's like a rebirth of the band, an attempt to Swedish Death Metal school, and a good, organic, intensify things, the only problem is that this Modern professional sound. As faults I'd name only the Melodic Death Metal scene is so overcrowded nowadays unconvincing guitar solos and the lack of a darker and so very talent filled that it will be a more than atmosphere overall as you are lead to expect by the difficult task for The Morningside to build up their name excellent, creepy intro, but don't worry, they won't ruin from scratch. If you're expecting a new traditional The your audition at all. All in all this is a good album, Morningside album better skip this one, but if you're recommended to all of you who think they can handle interested in some new Modern Death Metal sonorities give this a try, you might enjoy it. 8 such a combination of Crust and Death at a fast pace. 7.5

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

2013 - Melodic Death Metal Have a look at a band picture and you'll say they are a Gothic Metal band for sure, but instead Svartstorm are playing a very melodic, keyboard-driven type of Metal, with Death Metal being just a small influence here, this is far from what the term makes you think of. The occasional growls and the light double bass drums do not make from this a Death Metal release as it's listed on Metal Archives. So here we have their debut album, a 5 tracks effort clocking 22 minutes of Melodic Metal with very upfront keyboards (I used to hear loads of those in East European Gothic Doom bands during the '90's), clen male vocals, diverse and technical guitar work with stress on the Power Metal-like leads, and as I said before, a light drums sound like they don't want to upset or scare anyone. Imagine a mix of Heavy Power Metal with Gothic Metal and a hint (just a hint) of Death Metal, all of these served with plenty of melody, if you think you'd like it don't hesitate to check this band out, although they bring nothing new or exciting to the table, they are pretty professional and this is not a boring release either. 7 TARTHARIA (Russia) - Flashback - X Years in Hell Phantom Pain - 2014 - Black Death Metal Founded in 2002, Tartharia was pretty active on a discographic level so far, as proof standing the 4 fulllength albums and a few demos, but after a somehow unsuccessful collaboration with a label, they decided to form their own label and release everything that would follow by them. This new release is out on Phantom Pain, their own company, again, and it's like an overview on their career as a band so far featuring tracks that were never previously released or versions of released tracks, that seem to be still representative for Tartharia. For the ones of you who are not familiar with the band I'd say Tartharia is a modern and melodic take on Black Death Metal, sometimes chaotic, sometimes experimental and sometimes traditional, but never boring. Their music is easy to follow, catchy and interesting, as a comparison I'd mention a combination of Czech melancholy and melody with Polish experimental tradition, or a mixture of Polish Lux Occulta and Slovak Lunatic Gods. Melodic, experimental and highly intaresting Black Death Metal, definitely worth an audition. 9

THE HOLE (Spain) - A Monument to the End of the World Necromance - 2014 Thrash Death Metal Here's a band from the beautiful Canary Islands, probably one of the very few ones from there, a quartet founded back in 2009. This is their debut full-length album made of 11 tracks and totaling 45 minutes of fast paced, aggressive Thrash Metal with Death Metal influences. "A Monument..." is quite brutal and the band seems to be determined to annihilate everyone and everything, but unfortunately it lacks quite a lot in order to be considered a successful release: the riffs are too generic and simple for these days and age, the drum machine sounds way too synthetic in order to offer a smooth audition, the synchronization between vocals and instruments seems a losing point, too, and finally the vocals are extremely abrasive, but that could also be considered a positive aspect, too. What I liked about this release and band were the determination, the energy and enthusiasm, but there's still plenty of work to do. 6

THE NIGHTSTALKER (Belgium) - The Chronicles of Natural City Wolfshade - 2014 - Dark Ambient Metal This Belgian project has a pretty interesting story behind its foundation; it's the side project of a Sercati member, Serpent, who thought he needed something different than Sercati to continue the story of a character, and this album is actually the second chapter of that story. Sounds and is very interesting and very artistic also, but all this interest ends abruptly when the music starts; if the instrumental part is ok if you're into '90's Dark Metal filled with cathedral organ-like backgrounds all over, the vocals are a disaster, it's the first time when I wasn't able to seriously listen to an album because of this Smeagol-like awful vocal tone. The occasional midi-like keyboard parts and the synthetic drum machine are not helping either... Too bad, there were some guitar and bass parts I liked, but the album in its whole is hilarious, how can someone take this seriously? Not sure what happens with Andry from Vacula (Wolfshade is a sub-label of Vacula) lately but to me it seems he's pissing on his hard-earned name by signing these joke bands. 4

THE HOWLING VOID (USA) - Nightfall Solitude - 2013 - Funeral Doom Metal Fourth studio album from this one-man project, Nightfall features 6 tracks and lasts for more than an hour of monotone, oppressive, desolate music. If you already know this project I'd say the difference from its previous full-length is the decrease in vocal usage, most of the music being delivered instrumentally now. For this genre's standards The Howling Void fits perfectly (monotone, heavy, low-tuned, atmospheric, crawling, and systhematically oppressive), but it doesn't stand out with anything in particular, so although this album has a good

THREE SIXES (USA) Know God, No Peace Universal Sign - 2014 - Industrial Thrash Metal Every once in a while we receive some "weird" promo packs, and this one is one of them: the CD was packed in a box that not only looks like a book, but it has a title, too, Holy Bible. At first I thought we're receiving threats from religious organizations or something, but then I remembered Damien (the band's vocalist) mentioned a "not ordinary" pack he sent. This is the band's second fulllength album and it will be released on the 21st of September, the International Day of Peace, ironically, of course. Damien not only looks like Kreator's Mille

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Petrozza but his voice is also somehow similar to the one of the German legend, but he's very versatile and I'd say he's a strong frontman for this band, an interesting leader if I add on top of that his lyrics, quite sharp and probably even offensive for some, orbiting around anti-religion and anti-politics themes. The instrumental part is varied as well ranging from Industrial Metal to old-school Punk Thrash, Hardcore, even to Nu Metal, a mix that sounds groovy, modern, solid and possibly capable to attract a significant part of the Metal youth, although I'd say it's more oriented to the US market than to the European scene as far as I know the scene here in Europe. A very diverse material with excellent sound quality recordings, professional look and a very strong message, a band you'd probably check out; there is also a hidden track on this CD, the 33rd track (!), don't miss it, it sums up the whole album's message. As for minuses I'd name the lack of 1 or more hit tracks, they all are of similar quality, and the cover of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" that lacks of both catchiness and aggression as Industrial Metal, it's an interesting attempt but at least for me it didn't work.

Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised to see these guys reach mainstream levels in the future... 8 LEGION (Malta) - Proclaimer of Chaos Selfreleased - 2007 Black Death Metal Got 2 CDs from this Malta based band and although both are old, this one is the older, dating back in 2007, and it's their debut, an 8 tracks effort totaling around 35 minutes of Black and Death Metal.

The drum programs are annoying as hell, but the music is good, quite technical and inventive with more emphasis on the Death Metal side rather than Black Metal. The sound is clear but not powerful enough to complement the instruments, the compositions should have been more curdled in order to avoid dead moments, but all in all this is not a debut to be ashamed of; the multiple layers and types of vocals are very good, and the guitar work makes it all worth it, but I'm curious how these guys progressed on the next album. 6.5 THY

Another mysterious one-man-project, this time from Ukraine, Total Angels Violence offers us here their third studio album featuring 7 tracks and totaling 40 minutes.

Since it was my first encounter with this band I had no idea what to expect and after spinning this disc a couple of times I'm still not sure if I like it or hate it. It's as chaotic and brutal as a Grindcore album, as Dark and Horrifying as a Black Metal album and as thrilling and expressive as a horror movie soundtrack, really something different than I'm used to. I still hate the drum machine's synthetic sound and some really generic and boring (although technical) guitar riffs, but the overall judgment is: I'm impressed. Total Angels Violence, although sounding quite a stupid name in my opinion, actually describes what's happening on their music. 7.5 UNSWABBED (France) - Tales from the Nightmares vol.1 Selfreleased - 2014 - Progressive Rock Metal Although they are labeling their music simply as Rock, to me it's closer to Progressive Rock Metal than anything.

This EP last for almost 20 minutes and I have to admit that although this is not at all what we're usually dealing with here at Pest, this is highly interesting stuff. Lead by an excellent vocalist that has more potential than he shows here (it's clear he's not pushing it to the max), the band serves us 5 catchy tunes, and although the EP title might inspire you some terrifying music, this is actually quite cheerful at times, and uplifting at others, with only a few moments of thrills. To me it seems a fresh type of soft Metal perfect for stadium and open air stages, probably they are pretty rad live, too. If you're into this type of music, too, keep an eye on them, the potential is there, we might witness the beginning of a successful journey. Definitely check this EP out! UPYR (Bulgaria) - Altars / Tunnels Selfreleased - 2013 - Doom Black Metal After getting to know Obsidian Sea a couple of years ago through Solitude Productions, here's another exponent of the Bulgarian Doom Metal scene trying to break through the underground. Upyr is a young quintet and this is their debut demo, a 4 tracks effort lasting for 40 minutes, so it's almost like we're listening to a full-length album. It's clear they are still in search for an own style, but the debut is very promising, at least the first 2 tracks are an excellent and interesting blend of Doom and Black Metal, the third track unfortunately bored me to death being based on only a long semi-acoustic repetitive pattern (like Anathema used to do) for more than 10 minutes, and the last track is rehearsal recorded and to me it seems more like Doom Death Metal than Doom Black Metal. So all in all I'll stick to the first 2 tracks and hope that's the band future orientation. Anyway, a very interesting and surprising outfit from Bulgaria to keep an eye on. 7.5

rather than the nowadays over-produced offerings, catchy and entertaining compositions and Swiss clock-like precise execution. My only complaint (if we can call it a complaint) is that they didn't add a booklet with lyrics, that would have been quite mandatory in this case, the album would have had a better impact. Anyway, this Vengeful Ghoul debut album comes after a decade of activity so hopefully it will unleash a beast and the band will start releasing stuff more often, at least this would require an immediate (2015) follow-up, eventually on a solid label, and all cards are in place for winning bet. Go get this album in the meantime. 9 VIKINGORE (Spain) Wolves in the Battlefront Noisehead - 2013 Viking Death Metal I have to admit after the huge success Amon Amarth had with their Viking Death Metal I was expecting a lot more bands to follow their path, but for my surprise I've only heard of a few.

Vikingore debuts with Wolves in the Battlefront, a 9 tracks full-length lasting for a bit more than 40 minutes.

Unfortunately the production is not top-notch as one might expect from a label with such a reputation as Noisehead's, but the biggest problem for this band are the vocals: the growls sound like belches actually and the screams sound like recorded with a PC mic by a guy with the flu, definitely not on my taste. Most of the music doesn't flow as smooth as it should have, at least for now they don't seem like a curdled and mature monolith, but there's still time. There are some good parts as well, but all in all I'm not convinced by this debut album, sorry. 5 VINDORN (Germany) Hrana Sol - 2013 - Black Metal This is one of the 3 projects lead by this musician known as N. This is its first official EP released on both CD and vinyl and features 4 tracks totaling a bit more than 20 minutes of fast paced, atmospheric and somehow desolate Black Metal. There's not much variety or originality, but I have to admit it sounds good, on a stratum of fast-paced, repetitive drums, N. layered some old-school atmospheric guitar riffs and some interesting and mood changing guitar leads here and there, plus a hoarse and comprehensive vocal line that might make the project a bit more distinct. The third track is different from the others by following a mid-tempo (boring) repetitive rhythm, but I like the rest though, so all in all I'd say this is not a waste of time, the production is very good and for a fan of '90's Black Metal I'd say this is a good treat.

Lyrics are in Czech language I think. 7.5

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

THY LEGION (Malta) - Venerato Diaboli Selfreleased - 2010 - Black Death Metal And here's the follow-up effort from Thy Legion, a new album made of only 6 tracks and totaling less than half an hour. The same synthetic drums sound made me think the band didn't go further from their debut album, but I was wrong. This new release is much more curdled (exactly what I felt Proclaimer of Chaos lacked of), more powerful and more aggressive. The guitar work is top-notch again although I'm not convinced by the effects used, the bass lines are more prominent this time, the vocals are rough and demonic, maybe even more terrifying than on their debut, and overall the atmospheres they create are better, darker, more sinister. A short but convincing second album that should have brought at least a record deal for this quintet, but unfortunately apart from a 2011 split with Prayer of the Dying, the band is silent since then. Maybe this sudden promotional strike is preparing us for an upcoming third album... 8.5

TORCHIA (Finland) - oNe Selfreleased - 2013 - Melodic Death Metal Soaring into a genre that was recently a trend in Metal is a bold move especially coming from a land that gave so many important names in Melodic Death Metal, but Torchia seem to believe in their chance and here's the first attempt to attract some attention. oNe is made of 3 tracks and displays a band that wants to play fast, melodic and as technical as possible. the problem is the sound quality is not as crystal-clear as this style demands and the result is pretty dirty; on another topic the guitarists seem to bet too much on overused patterns and they bring no real contributions to the whole. As a debut oNe shows us an enthusiastic quintet that has the technical ability to bring something of their own but even though they are around since 2014 they haven't been able to crystalize their own path yet. 7

VANITY BLVD (Sweden) - Wicked Temptation Noisehead - 2014 - Sleaze Metal I was just blaming Noisehead Records for starting to focus almost exclusively on Core bands lately and here's a huge slap in the face I get, Vanity Blvd are far, far from being a Core band, they are following a trend too, but a trend straight from the '80's: Sleaze / Hair Metal, in their case with female vocals. That's such a breath of, I wouldn't say fresh, but different air, and although Vanity Blvd are not an exceptional outfit their music is honest, easy to digest, diverse, entertaining, perfect to spice up your day. As I see it, it's about time for a Glam / Sleaze revival and if it will happen Vanity Blvd will be an important part of it, for sure, they have all features to make it in this genre, and this album, although not perfect or particularly catchy, is a good step forward for them, it doesn't have any particular faults either. 8

VENGEFUL GHOUL (Turkey) - Timeless Warfare Selfreleased - 2014 Power Thrash Metal Pretty impressive this debut album from Turkish Vengeful Ghoul! 9 tracks totaling an hour, delivering one of the best mixtures of Thrash, Heavy and Power Metal I've heard in a while.

Highlighted by a memorable vocalist ranging somewhere between Nevermore's Warrel Dane and Udo, Emre is the cherry on top of this tasty cake. Even more impressive is TOTAL ANGELS VIOLENCE (Ukraine) - Death to the fact that they are not signed, yet they deliver their goodies in the most professional matter possible: classy Death digipack CD, excellent sound with an organic feeling Dark East - 2012 - Ambient Black Death Metal

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VIRUS (UK) - A New Strain of an Old Disease Killer Metal - 2013 Thrash Metal Another '80's Thrash Metal act revitalizing their career now since Metal is so popular nowadays and I think there's room (and audience) for everyone. Virus recently did an extensive European tour that lasted 2 months, so they are taking the scene by storm, old-school style. The band was put on ice sometime in the early 90's, but resurrected I guess in 2008 and this is their second EP since their come-back. 7 tracks, 25 minutes, fast and organic Thrash Metal that reminds me of D.R.I., and Coke's vocals of Mille Petrozza. Contagious guitar riffs, powerful rhythm section, rebellious vocals, better said a band like in the '80's, so if you are a fan of those days and especially of the Crossover Thrash scene, the new Virus record will be a good treat, believe me. Don't like the last track, a cover of The Proclaimers' "500 Miles", at all, it sounds like they got drunk and are trying to sing this song but are a long way out to nail it; during the choruses the vocals are hilarious, not sure if that was the aim though.

VOODOO GODS (International) - Anticipation for Blood Leveled in Darkness Saturnal - 2014 - Thrash Death Metal Have you heard of Voodoo Gods before? Neither do I, but it seems they've been around even since 2001 although the only other release was an EP from 2008 where Nergal and Mike Browning were invited. Now it's time for some

other great names of the scene to be featured: George Fisher from Cannibal Corpse, David Schankle who was Manowar's guitarist in 1992, Jacek Hiro from Polish Death Metal legends Dies Irae / Sceptic, so we're dealing here with a super group based around drummer Alex Voodoo and vocalist Seth Van de Loo, also known from his work in Centurian and Severe Torture. This is their debut full-length album, an 8 tracks effort highlighted by the excellent guitars work ranging from melodic and technical Power Thrash Metal to energetic and oppressive Death Metal, Swiss-clock precise drums, incisive bass lines, and a brutal double vocal part. Professional musicians delivering professional, entertaining music; a really great surprise was the fantastic bass work of Jean Baudin, a less known or even unknown name, but a very talented musician. Try it even if you're not exactly the Thrash Metal or Death Metal fanatic, you'll most probably find something to like inhere. 9 WALK THROUGH FIRE (Sweden) - Hope is Misery Aesthetic Death - 2014 Sludge Doom Metal The 4 tormented and tormenting Swedes from Walk Through Fire are back with their 3rd fulllength album, 3 years after the previous one which wasn't an outstanding release in any way, I still remember how it failed to impress me. Not sure if now I'm in a better mood or if the band really improved that much, but this time I like the new record more, I find it catchier, or at least part of it is catchier, when they speed up the pace a bit. The slow, primitive parts (still a lot of them) are boring and although the very low tuned bass sounds like a bulldozer, they kind of fail to impress again. The guitars, on the other hand, are delivering a more complex construction and the vocals seem to be more versatile. Anyway, if you decide to give this a try be sure you'll get one of the most doomy and tormenting music you've heard lately, I like it and I can say the band is heading on a good direction. 8

disappointing release that I'm sure will be rated below Urgrund Division / Archaic Sound - 2013 - Atmospheric Depressive Black Metal acceptable by Funeral Doom maniacs. 4.5 After a debut album released in 2012 on Rigorism Productions, Wintercult are now stepping up a bit by WINDBRUCH (Russia) - No Stars, Only Full Dark Hypnotic Dirge - 2014 - Depressive Ambient Black Metal releasing this second studio album on two different labels It seems Hypnotic Dirge starts fishing in East European this time, Urgruns Division and Archaic Sound, as 3 waters, I guess the collaboration with Solitude folders digipack CD. It means people start to believe in Productions had its share of influence on this matter, this duo, and that should be a good signal for them. especially since Ukraine and Russia are so rich in doomy, Unfortunately I was a bit bored by the music they present depressive bands. Windbruch already released a split on on this new release, it starts awesome, with fantastic Hypnotic Dirge and they extended their contract with this potential, but it's slowly becoming monotonous and too second full-length, the first being released by Romanian repetitive to be interesting, bringing nothing new, nothing Sun & Moon Records in 2009. Windbruch seems to out of the ordinary to the table. The album ends in the borrow / mix elements from Funeral Doom, Dark same way it starts: slow to mid-tempo Depressive Black Ambient, Post Black Metal and Depressive Black Metal, Metal with occasional increases in intensity on drums, but and the final result is really oppressive, hope-shattering not enough to reach the climax the listener is lead to and even claustrophobic; it's not the most technically believe will reach. It's like they are preparing you for impressive release, but the atmospheres Windbruch something special that never comes, making this an manages to create are worth your while if you're into the average release in the nowadays so overcrowded Black above mentioned genres. An interesting feature of its Metal scene. 6.5 music is that although all tracks are different one from WITCHER (Hungary) another, the overall album sounds curdled and following a sole idea. 7.5 Boszorkรกnytรกnc / Witchdance Dark East / Mercy WINGS IN MOTION Despise - 2013 - Ambient Black Metal (Greece) - Cyclicity Another Side Records - Joint union between these 2 labels to release Witcher's 2014 - Melodic Death debut demo as full-length album on CD. I have reviewed this material back when it was first released, in 2011, and Metal Here's a nice surprise from Greece, a band founded in my opinion hasn't changed since then, I still like the 2008 but a band that only managed to release their debut melancholic atmospheres created mainly by a '90's type 6 years later; too bad because they seem really enthusiast keyboard on a layer of slow drumming and fast Black and ready to take on the World. This album features 10 Metal riffs; the main part of this 53 minutes album is tracks lasting for 47 minutes of Death Metal, melodic and made of those oppressing keyboards, and when the vocals modern Death Metal with a touch of Progressive. Wings finally kick in the mood is already all built. The sound, in Motion seems to be a quite mature outfit, their music is when all instruments are on, is not as good as a full length Swiss-clock precise all the time to a point when the riffs would require, but when the keys are left alone everything seem inhuman, but at the same time it's epic and majestic, is perfect; the vocals are the most abrasive and it's quite all this by blending a few old-school patterns and obvious they could have done a lot better with a proper polishing them with lots of modern influences. Cyclicity recording. Anyway, even if this material lacks in sound is complex but at the same time easy flowing, as a debut quality, the potential is high, I would recommend you to album I couldn't ask for more from this band, so I'd at least check a track from this album, if you're into '90's suggest to go get a copy of this album, Wings in Motion type melodic and melancholic Ambient Black Metal might become a name we'll all hear much more abou in you'll probably like it. 7.5 the future. 8.5 WOE UNTO ME (Belarus) - A Step into WINTER DELUGE (New Zealand) - As the the Waters of Forgetfulness Earth Fades into Solitude - 2014 Obscurity Funeral Gothic Doom Frozen Blood Industries Metal 2012 - Black Metal Belarus is not Too bad these guys are based in such an isolated part of particularly known for the World because if they were from Europe I'd bet my its Funeral Doom Metal hat they'd be in the top the Black Metal scene by now. exports, but here's a This is their debut album, a 9 tracks effort lasting for young band that seems almost 50 minutes of intensive, aggressive, evil, devastating and technical Black Metal the way only the to have the necessary possibilities to change that, a band most skilled musicians can do. Although most of the whose debut album, the one I'm reviewing now, times the music is blasting fast-paced attacks of fury, the constitutes an impressive statement through both its look complex approach on composition is impressive and (thick 16 pages booklet complete with awesome artworks, makes the album so highly interesting you'll keep a different one for each track, and golden-like disc) and following it till the end and then want more. The it's music. The album is made of only 5 tracks but the production is also very good, so if you're a fan of fast and total duration is 55 minutes, so we're in perfect tone with furious Black Metal with a technical edge, or a fan of '90's this genre's patterns. The music is mostly more complex Swedish Black Metal, don't miss any more time, go grab and more up-tempo than your regular Funeral Doom this album. I hope they are working on a follow-up as it's band, that's why I sensed a high dose of Gothic Doom time for something new since they've released this gem. I influences, but the overall result is interesting, catchy and recommended not only to a narrow slice of Funeral Doom for one love it! 9.5 followers. Melodic, melancholic, oppressive, dark but WINTERBLOOD also serene, I'd say Woe Unto Me managed to deliver an excellent debut, I'd bet on them to be one of the next (Italy) - Anelli Le Crepuscule du Soir - important names to step up on the Doom Metal scene. 8.5 2013 - Dark Ambient WOM (Cyprus) - Poems of I love this A5 format for releases but unfortunately they are usually released in very limited editions, and that's the an Empty Soul Cold Raw - 2014 - Black case for this Winterblood CD, too, released in a limited Metal edition of only 100 copies. Anelli (Italian term for rings) gathers all Winterblood tracks that were previously Limited to only 66 featured only on splits, so it's a collection of 6 long tracks copies, this EP features totaling more than an hour of calm, emotional and catchy 5 tracks totaling 25 Dark Ambient. Winterblood's music is dark, melancholic minutes of playing time, but at the same time hopeful and serene, I'd say it but unfortunately the audition was a huge waste of time. successfully manages to drag you through a world of I'd like to meet one day Doctor, the guy behind Cold Raw despair and solitude, but still showing you the end of the Records and understand why is he signing all these tunnel, the rays of sun (or moon), the hope for a better amateurish bands; the label has some very good releases fate. I'd compare it with a less rhythmic Burzum (the so far, but it also has some ridiculous releases like this Ambient works), the same kind of emotional and catchy one. WOM's music is nothing but simple programmed music. Recommended! 9 drum patterns, amateur guitar riffs (like the ones you play the same day you get your first guitar), awful guitar solos WINTERCULT (Russia) - The Last Winter and childish lyrics (not the meaning behind them, but the

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

WELTSCHMERZ (Holland) - Odium Humani Generis Immortal Frost - 2014 Black Metal Not as young as I thought at first, Weltschmerz was founed in 2009 but this is their debut full-length. Made of 8 tracks and lasting for a bit more than 40 minutes, Odium Humani Generis is a surprising album presenting us a very energetic and extremely promising Dutch band; the guitar riffs are awesome, the vocals (although in need of a pinch of polish) are raw and hateful as they should be, the guitar leads I found to be at least interesting, and the rhythm section is full of energy although the production faults it a bit. Anyway, this seems to be a band that will try to work on a path of their own their technical skills allow such a target for the near future, so if you're searching for a band that keeps it traditional but throws in lots of intelligent compositions you should definitely try Weltschmerz, a band I will keep an eye on. As a minus for this album (of course it's not perfect) I would mention the slow parts, a bit boring at times. Still the good parts prevail in the end. 8

WIJLEN WIJ (Belgium) - Coronachs of the O Solitude - 2014- Funeral Doom Metal After reading the 2 catastrophic reviews on Metal Archives and laughing my ass of after reading this statement "You know you suck when you fuck up Funeral Doom", I thought the two guys writing them were just messing around and it wouldn't be possible for a Solitude release to be as awful as that, but after spinning this CD for a couple of times I have to say I found it pretty disappointing as well, not catastrophic but rather disappointing. Unfortunately the Belgian trio chose to use the most common and at the moment boring / uninspired guitar riffs, drum patterns and vocals they could, the sound is below the standard Solitude Prod. quality and the compositions are trying too much to add as many influences and elements as possible in a whole that is supposed to be monotone and oppressive, and the final impression, or at least my final impression is of a band that has capable musicians but who are unable to form and sound like a group, a band with no real horizons and targets. 5 tracks, more than an hour of playing, but a

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keyboard layer. It sounds ok, but it has nothing to impress, nothing to stand out from the crowd of similar bands; I honestly don't like the drum programming and most of the structures, way too simplistic for this time and age. On the other part I like the vocals' sharp and evil tone, the clear production and the fact that the band gives WORSHIP THE me the impression of being honest, so all in all you have PESTILENCE (Bolivia) nothing to lose by giving them a try, you might like it if you're into old-school underground Black Metal. 6.5 - Condemned to Chaos Selfreleased - 2012 ZLOSLUT (Serbia) Brutal Death Metal Debut demo from this Zloslutni horizont Colombian Brutal Death Donosilac prokletstva, Metal band, Condemned ocaja i smrti Dark Chants - 2013 to Chaos is made of 4 tracks Black Metal totaling 10 minutes. The first thing that strucks you is the Zloslut started in 2010 organic sound of this demo, you can feel the instruments and released quite a like the band is playing in the same room as you are in, that's awesome for 20-30 years ago, but I think that's a bit bunch of materials so far but this is their debut album. I'm outdated for Today's standards, especially in Brutal Death not sure what to think of them: they started with a faceMetal where the majority of the top bands are really using paint image, then switched to blood on their faces during extra-polished productions. Anyway, this is just a demo, live shows and the latest band pics shows them as cool, its purpose is to present the band's capabilities. The guitar normal guys with sunglasses... I don't know what their riffs are quite catchy, the bass lines are powerful and fans/supporters will think of these sudden changes. much emphasized, the drums are intense and well Anyway, at least their music hasn't changed so far, they structured, the guitar leads are awful, and the vocals... I are still a raw, fast and brutal Black Metal outfit inspired don't like this type of vocals, I find them nonsense and not by the Scandinavian scene of the '90's. On the first track menacing at all. A band that has a good base for growing the guitars are losing pace and that sounds absolutely amateurish, and the last (fourth) track can be considered up and maturing their compositions in the near future. 6 as an awfully long and boring outro (semi-acoustic, YMIR'S BLOOD (Finland) - Voluspa: Doom Cold as sloppy, monotone and repetitive guitars for a full 10 minutes track...); the rest, meaning the other 2 tracks, are Stone tight played fast Black Metal although not bringing Archaic Sound - 2014 - Viking Metal Ymir's Blood was founded back in 2012, year that anything new to the table. The vocals and the drums are brought their debut demo, Selfreleased. Now it was top-notch and worth your while, but the rest is mediocre picked up by Archaic Sound and re-released with an at most. 5.5 additional track making it a 4 tracks effort totaling 25 minutes. The band offers us a melodic, repetitive but at Various Artists (USA) - New World Black Metal the same time intricate piece of proto Viking Metal, with Plastik Musik - 2012 - Ambient Death Black Metal organic sound, reminding of Bathory (the major Plastik Musik attacking here with what they name as 4 influence), Mercyful Fate and even Candlemass, a Black spells of apokalyptik madness, a 4 ways Black mixture that has all premises to catch a big chunk of fans Metal split from the USA, each band offering exclusive of the above-mentioned legends. I've listened to this disk tracks for it. for a few days already, at least 3-4 times a day, and I'm Opening the hostilities is Bitter Peace, a two men band still not bored by it, and that in my books means a lot, of from Connecticut between Lance Gifford from Godless course I'd recommend it to you too. It's not a perfect Rising (I'm sure you're more familiar with this moniker) release, but it sounds so genuine, and has such a catchy and a guy called The Many (who's also featured here with effect on the listener, that I can only imagine what this his own project) on bass and vocals. Fast and freezing band is capable of bringing us in the future. I like the fact cold Black Metal with occasional doomy parts and an that besides the slow to mid-paced rhythms they throw in overall apocalyptic atmosphere. Esoterica from some fast, almost Black Metal inspired parts to break the Pennsylvania is next, again a two men band with The possible monotony, and the occasional old-school guitar Many taking care of the bass lines here too, and A. Poole leads are an excellent addition, too. I'd throw in some '70's from Krieg of the rest. Chaotic, fast, devastating and type keyboards and the perfect blend would be there. grinding Black Metal without compromises, a brutal Interesting. organic, entertaining EP released in digipack assault from start to finish highlighted by demented vocals and a sickening, vertiginous atmosphere. Krieg is CD format featuring the English written lyrics, too. 9 next and it's the best known name on this split, a legend of US Black Metal scene featuring here a mid-tempo Black YOLWOLF (Russia) - Thorns-Horns Yar' / Nihil Art / Dark East - 2012 - Pagan Ambient Black Metal track with hints of Shoegaze in the guitar work here and there, and unpolished but still hypnotic track lead by Metal Got this from Dark East, and at first I have to admit I was hoarse background vocals. The Many moves away from skeptical about its potential being yet another one-man- Black Metal and offers a Psychedelic Doom Metal with band among the nowadays so overcrowded Black Metal Black Metal shrieks on the backgrounds, but also some one-man-band scene, but I'm glad my worries were soon clean vocals that reminded me of the Grunge attitude shattered and Thorns-Horns proved to be a very pleasing actually; not my type of stuff, I find the guitar work way material. We're treated with 9 tracks during almost 40 too simplistic. minutes of a fine mix between traditional Black Metal, If you're a fan of US Black Metal I guess this is a must Ambient and Pagan music, supported by an underground have, it benefits of a good production and a nice vinyl but crystal-clear production. Yarovit, the man behind the format release.

Yolwolf moniker, seems to be influenced by the Pagan Black Metal scene of the end '90's / beginning of the Various Artists (Various) - Metal Scrap Compilation 2000's, and so his music is pretty epic, catchy and Vol.7 entertaining although bringing nothing new to the scene. Metal Scrap - 2013 - Metal If you like your Black Metal with a touch of melancholy Wow, great way to celebrate their 2 decades of activity (and enjoy the occasional keyboard-driven interludes) but for Metal Scrap Records; this compilation reached its 7th at the same time fierce and powerful, I suggest you check volume, but I only have this one that celebrates one of the our Yolwolf, speaking for me this was/is a very enjoyable most active and at the same time one of the most professional Ukrainian Metal labels. The 2 discs released album I'll definitely play again. 8.5 in Double Digipack CD format offer us 23 audio tracks ZAIMUS (Montenegro) - and 9 official videos from bands signed by MSR The Unholy Spells of (Hell:On, Infected, Crusher, Majesty of Revival, Druknroll, Cryogenic Implosion, Symphony of Symbols, Night Cold Raw - 2014 - Black Symuran, Ungrace and others), plus an extensive video interview with Anatoliy, the owner of MSR, interview Metal Probably the first Band about his activities and about the state of Ukrainian Metal. from Montenegro I get to review, Zaimus A high class release I'd recommend to anyone who has is a two-piece act founded in 2003. This is the band's already heard about MSR and its releases, but also to debut EP previously released by the band in 2009 then anyone interested in discovering new talent, it comes at a picked up and re-released by Cold Raw Records this year. very cheap price, don't think about it twice.

4 tracks, almost 25 minutes of mid-tempo to fast paced Black Metal, cold and raw but backed by an atmospheric actual lyrics). WOM is a one man band lead by A., but after this audition I'd suggest him to get a real line-up, he has to be banned from playing guitar again; on the other hand his vocals are pretty rad, maybe the only good thing about this EP, not maybe, definitely. Stay away, really! 2

Last minute reviews ARMS OF WAR (Belgium) - Legions of Steel Noizr - 2013 - Melodic Thrash Death Metal Listening to such albums reminds me why I love so much the guitar solos and leads in Metal. Arms of War are a quartet from the capital of Belgium founded in 2010 and this is their debut album, a 9 tracks effort totaling 40 minutes of melodic and technical Thrash Death Metal.

When I say melodic think of long, intricate and at the same time catchy guitar riffs and leads, very expressive and impressive, but don't think of a mellow music, Arms of War are anything but mellow, this material is fast, aggressive, solid and very mature for a debut album; the excellent production helps a lot, too. Catchy guitar riffs, hoarse vocals but comprehensive and not abrasive at all, occasional subtle keyboard backgrounds, heavy bass lines, and above all good compositions and contagious enthusiasm. One of the best Thrash Death Metal albums I've heard lately, I'll spin this some more and that's what I'd suggest you, too. 9.5 FACADA (Brazil) - Nadir Black Hole - 2013 - Death Grindcore Third full-length album released by this band on their 10th anniversary, a 20 tracks effort totaling 25 minutes of extreme violence, a sonic assault on all your senses. Fast and brutal and at the same time carefully structured and delivered so that you can feel all its complexity, an excellent album that will please many fans of Death and Grind, it's hellishly fast, incredibly energetic and it also benefits from a perfect production. The guitar riffs are catchy and well executed, the rhythm section is devastating, and the vocals (double vocals) sound like a pack of rabid dogs aiming at you. For the ones of you who understand Portuguese it's even better, all lyrics are in their native language and I'm sure they are very important in the overall product. Excellent, mature Death Grind band, and probably this is their best effort to date! 9

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

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LELAHELL (Algeria) - Al Insane... The (Re)Birth of Abderrahmane Horror Pain Gore Death - 2014 – Death Metal As far as I know Lelahell is one of the most representative African Extreme Metal bands, and being lead by one of the most known metalheads from over there, Redouane Aouameur, gives them a certain serious image. this is their debut album, a 10 tracks effort clocking 40 minutes of traditional and brutal Death Metal with a few ethnic influences here and there (although i would have liked to hear more of those to be honest). The band plays that Brutal Death Metal that can be labelled as old-school by now, the incipient Brutal Death with (almost) comprehensive growls, traditional twisted guitar riffs and intensive double-bass drumming (although parts of the drum lines seem programed to me, don't know if anyone would be able to paly that fast live). The sound quality is very good yet maintaining a certain DIY feeling. This scene is very overcrowded nowadays, that's why I feel Lelahell could have added a bit more ethnic influences on this album, but the final result is still quite solid and mature for a debut album. 8

STURMTIGER (Denmark) - World at War 1914-1918 Black Plague - 2014 - Black Death Metal They call it War Metal and it's a combination of brutal and obscure sounding Black and Death Metal with topics about the first World war (obvious). After more than 10 years of activity and plenty of demos and EPs underbelt Sturmtiger released this debut full-length album made of 5 studio-recorded tracks plus 2 bonus tracks that were once recorded for their debut EP back in 2007, tracks that offer a more Black Metal approach than the current style.

Speaking of the current style Sturmtiger evolved (yes, although it sounds like it's coming straight from the grave, their music improved a lot since their debut) into a more Death Metal inclined Extreme Metal with putrid, devastating, underground sounds highlighted by very catchy guitar riffs, short but efficient guitar solos, cavernous vocals (it will be impossible to understand anything, but they fit well in the overall music) and an overall (successful) warlike atmosphere that will blow you away. Not for you if you're into polished, professional Metal only, but highly recommended if you're looking for obscure-sounding Death Metal with a hint of Black Metal here and there, too. I'm impressed, and like it a lot! 9

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)

Slowly We Rot (swrzine@yahoo.com)