Dirge Interview

1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
 

Stéphane L. : 2011 has been a very active year. We've released our new album « Elysian Magnetic Fields » in Spring, then we toured eastern Europe, played in different countries such as Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, a lot of roads... And besides those concerts, we even took the time to make a remix for a french band called Picore. So we're currently taking a small rest. Then we'll have some gigs in early 2012 in France and Germany and surely other things to come.

2. How would you describe the musical sound of the new release and how it differs from previous releases?

There is a logical evolution through our discography. We've always tried to make evolve our sound from an album to another and « Elysian Magnetic Fields » results of this process. Obviously, it is still a typical Dirge-sounding album, but in the other hand we've tried to move towards something new (I think every band in the world try to do the same with its music), in comparison with the previous one « Wings Of Lead Over Dormant Seas » (2007), which was very progressive, hypnotic with very long pieces. The tracks on « Elysian Magnetic Fields » are not so long, the structures are less progressive and the songs tend to more melody. Also, the machines are maybe less harsh and corrosive, more ethereal and powerful in the same time. This album represents perfectly what Dirge is about in 2011 after more than 17 years of existence.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the new album?

The Slumber is the figurehead of this album, with all the symbolic that comes with it. This is not a concept album about the sleep in itself, but rather a gathering of impressions, angsts, bliss and a lot of other mixed and paradoxical feelings. To me, this is a really fascinating topic.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?

Although we're not playing a kind of « funeral doom » music, we think this name perfectly fits with our music. And it has always fit, even when, back in 1994, Dirge was playing a more robotic and industrial music. We like the sounding of these 5 letters and the powerfull meaning that hides within.

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

It is difficult to pick one or two shows among others as each of us, musicians can have very different feelings about a same performance. Personnaly, and to talk about recent gigs, I would remain about the the Rock Altitude Festival in Switzerland or our last show in Belgium at Magasin 4. But the quality of a concert depends on so much different elements like the sound on stage, the sound in the venue itself, our own performance, if we're tired etc etc. Plus there are also all the technical aspects of the live thing (amps, guitars...) that can have an impact on our own behaviour, our own concentration on stage if things go wrong. To describe our stage performance in a few words, I'd say : crushing, mesmerizing and intense. According to me, if one of these 3 elements is missing, this won't be a good Dirge set.

6. On a worldwide level how has your new album been recieved by sludge / doommetal / experimental fans?

We really don't know. All the feedbacks that we had have been very enthusiastic, so I think people who aren't impervious to this type of music may love « Elysian Magnetic Fields ». But we're not that famous, the album can be hard to get if you don't know the band, so a lot of potential connoisseur might miss this album. Sadly...

7. Currently you are singed to Division Records, how did you get in contact with this label and how would you describe the support that they have given you so far?

Actually, our new album is a co-production between Division and our own label Blight Records. They bring us their distribution network and help us on several structural points like promotion etc. The contact between us and them was really easy as some of the guys running the label are playing in a drone/doom band called Rorcal with whom we shared many stages. We became friends and when our previous label Equilibre Music stopped all its activities, they asked us to join them. And we did it.

8. What direction do you see the music heading into on future releases?

Impossible to say. The same dynamics will drive the next releases for sure, but the sound itself can change, like it always did. We haven't really started writing new stuffs so I can't tell you ?

9. What are some band or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Godflesh, Neurosis, Pink Floyd are some of our main influences, that's for sure. Each of these bands had have an impact on our way to create music, even though their influence is just the basis of our music. But as each of us in the band always had really different musical tastes and backgrounds, it's difficult to tell which bands Dirge is listening today. To sum up I'd say electronic, industrial, progressive, brutal, doom, atmospheric, cold, even poppy stuffs. From Einstürzende Neubauten to ZZ Top, from Pitschifter to Black Sabbath, from The Cure to Pan Sonic etc.

10.Outside of music what are some of your interests?

Movies, videogames, travels, food, football/soccer (for some of us).

11. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Thank you very much for your support.

Majestic Downfall/The Blood Dance/Chaos Records/2012 CD Review

  Majestic  Downfall  are  a  1  man  band  from  Mexico  that  plays  a  very  melodic  form  of  doom/death  metal  with  a  blackened  edge  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2012  album  "The  Blood  Dance"  which  was released  by  Chaos  Records.

  Drums  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  drumming  with  not  much  in  the  way  of  fast  playing  or  blast  beats,  while the  keyboards  when  they  are  utilized  bring  a  very  dark   and  atmospheric  sound  to  the  music,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  very  dark  tone  with  riffs  that  follow  the  riffing  that  is  coming  out  of  the  guitars  and  at  times  they  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  doom/death  metal  riffs  that  are  very  dark  and  melodic  sounding,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  melodic  sounding  guitar  solos  and  leads,  as  for  the  classical  guitars  when  they  are  utilized  they  use  finger  picking  to  enhance  the  darkness  of  the  music.

 Vocals  range  from  deep  death  metal growls,  high  pitched  screams  that  have  a  black  metal  feeling  to  them  and  clean  singing  vocals,  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  depressive  themes,  as  for  the  production  it has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  to  it.

 In  my opinion  Majestic  Downfall  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  doom/death  metal  band  with  a  blackened  edge  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  style,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The Blood  Dance"  "Majestic  Embrace"  and  "Cronos".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.    

Heirs Interview

1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the bands these days?
Currently we are organizing shows for us to play in Europe next year.

2. How would you describe the musical sound of the EP and how it differs from the full length that came out a year ago.
These new songs have a much stronger melodic resolve. It was touched upon slightly on the album, and since then we have been working on decreasing our reliance on absolute heaviness to pull everything through.

3. Since the music is instrumental what are some of the emotions or feelings that you bring out with your music?
For me, there is no real emotion attached to this. It's not any type of post-rock influenced "journey" that we feel connected to. 

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?
The idea of the name was to hunt and gather musical ideas that have influenced us directly, and to combine them into a cohesive whole.

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
Shows all have different outcomes and I could give a lot of different answers for different reasons. Personally I have enjoyed the shows in areas where you can tell that what you are doing is definitely a new experience for the audience. Our stage performance is something that happens naturally, no one is trying to put on a performance. 

6. Do you have any touring plans for the future?
Yes, lots of touring in 2012. Plenty of Europe, a couple of runs around Australia and some other countries which we are working on.

7. I know that so far the music has been instrumental are there any plans on using a vocalist in the future?
My parents ask this question. It could happen, we could also get a shirtless saxophone player.

8. On a worldwide level how has your music been received by fans of underground music?
Really well so far. We are very happy with how it is being received.

9. Are there any other projects besides this band or is this a full time line up?
We all have a lot of various projects that we work on, besides Heirs. We structure the band so it does not get in the way of anything else in our lives.

10. Currently you are singed to Denovali Records, how did you get in contact with this label and how would you describe the support that they have given you so far?
They contacted us through Myspace, and started releasing our stuff. There has been a tremendous amount of support and we are very grateful.

11. What direction do you see the music heading into on future releases?
That is something none of us know until we start writing and see what comes out. Judging by the new songs, there is quite a militant feel to the new stuff. We are also working a lot closer as a band to find new ways of resolving sections, so they don't fall into the soft/loud way of operating.

12. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
At the moment we are heavily influenced by early 4AD stuff... Cocteau Twins, Dead can Dance, Clan of Xymox.

13. Outside of music what are some of your interests?
We all do a fair bit of traveling. We also like food, all of us are pretty good cooks in one way or another.

14. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
Thanks for the interview, we hope to get over to the US real soon.

The Gardnerz Intervuew

1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

Francisco Martín: We are working on a mini album to be released during 2012. We don't have any specific plan for it other than releasing 4 or 5 songs, and that we will recoding, perhaps, during February or March.

We are looking for a studio where to record the drums and the strings and vocals tracks will be done at the same studios where we tracked for our debut, and for the mix and mastering seems like we've found who we'll be working with but nothing's written in stone so far.

2. How would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the new album?

Wilhelm Lindh: It is Doomy Death Metal basically, with some twists and turns. I have taken inspiration from so many places. Most reviewers that have listed the influences they think we've got have been dead wrong. The album has an old school feeling, but without being a rip off of the old Gods.      

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

Wilhelm Lindh: it is mainly me venting different things. We have some anti-religious songs,"Flaw in the Axiom" and "Maybe it's Time". "Shift in Thought" is about Sweden's sordid past as Sweden has been on the forefront of racial biology long before the Germans. "More or Less" talks about tabloid journalism and my feelings regarding those scum-bags. The lyrics for "Lady in the Grave" were written by our former vocalist and is about what happens when you cut down on care for the insane.          

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?

Wilhelm Lindh: It is my take on some ideas from the pre-socratic philosopher Epicurus, with some elements of Nietzsche. Epicurus talked about his garden, so I thought the gardeners would make a killer name, but besides sounding way to pretentious, it was name already taken and a google search yielded 9 million hits. So I changed it around a bit and added the z as a tribute to my Swedish musical heritage.      

5. Has the band had any opportunities do any live shows and if so what are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

Francisco Martín: So far we haven't played any live shows. We are really longing for it, but first we need to establish our line up before being able to play live.  We expect that when going onstage we'll be able to deliver what we feel about our music, and that way people will be able to feel it as well, as you know, the most sincere the performance the better reaction you get.

6. On the album there was a cover of a Winter song what was the decision behind that cover tune?

Francisco Martín: I'm the one to blame for the covers, and talking specifically on this band, let me tell you that I became a fan of Winter since their debut demo tape as I had the chance to listen to it through a friend of mine who was running a fanzine in the 80's (Violence Fanzine).

I remember getting in contact with the band and later interviewing them for a fanzine (Blasphemer) I was working for, and then buying their debut CD.  I'm really glad to say that I have the very first edition of it, the one that was released by Future Shock Records but then I was looking for years for the LP version that was put out by Nuclear Blast Records but never got the chance to find it, now thankfully Southern Lord Recordings has re-issue the LP edition so I can finally say that I own a piece of Winter vinyl.

About Vulcano, I saw them live in 1987 and they blew my brains off.  Their "Bloody Vengeance" album was one of my favorites for several years but then I stopped listening to them as I didn't like so much what they released after.  Anyway, when thinking about recording a couple of bonus tracks for our "The System Of Nature" album I suggested both tunes to Wilhelm and he agreed as he didn't want to record covers from too "obvious" bands.

I will end up this by saying that I feel very pleased to have the chance to show those two bands through our own versions to a bunch of new fans, fans that perhaps never had a chance to listen to them before and that I'm totally sure that now will get interested on listening to the original versions.

7. On a worldwide level how has your music been received by fans of doom/death metal?

Francisco Martín: So far the feedback has been very good to the point that some times it is a bit overwhelming. We are very thankful of the way everything has turned out as we are conscious that there are thousands of bands out there trying to get their gig out, to get signed and so on so we feel we have been very lucky.  After only a couple of years working we have managed to get signed, to release our debut album as CD and LP, to work with Dan Swanö for the mastering process, to get in contact with lot of fans all over the world, so we can't complain.

8. What is going on with the other projects these days?

Wilhelm Lindh: We are keeping ourselves busy, I play in a Black Metal band called Pandemonium and I also have a acoustic project going. The other guys have different bands as well.

Francisco Martín: I'm also involved with the band Inner Sanctvm and we are just releasing the Itunes version of our second album and the CD release is coming on a couple of months. I'm very proud of what we've achieved with Inner Sanctvm as out of the members of the band we all live in different countries, Heber is in Uruguay, Alvaro in Italy, Anton (also of Lock Up/Pentagram/Criminal) in Spain and myself in Sweden so it wasn't an easy task to come together with this album.

Also I've been involved since a long time with a project called Bells Fright together with Alejandro of Sacramento and David of Avulsed.  We have a few songs ready to be recorded but we are taking almost forever to get ourselves onto that stage.

9. What direction do you see the music heading into on future releases/

Wilhelm Lindh: As for the new songs I have written they are in more or less the same style, maybe a bit slower, some of them anyway, but I have tried to keep it varied as I did on The System of Nature. We keep belting out our hybrid of death and doom, mixing technical riffs with some minimalist stuff.     

10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced the music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Wilhelm Lindh: Some of the biggest influences have been Bolt Thrower, Katatonia, Acheron, Death, Broken Hope, Nile, Slayer. But if you listen closely I think you can hear a lot of Non-Metal influences as well, J.J. Cale  to name one.

Nowadays I mainly listen to music in my car and when I'm cooking, some CD's I have in my car are, Blaze Foley "Live at the Austin Outhouse", Darkthrone "Panzerfaust", Hooded Menace "Never Cross the Dead", Neil Young "Greendale" and John Prine "Sweet Revenge".

Right now I'm rocking out to the Tom Waits "Heartattack and Vine" CD that I bought yesterday.      

11.Outside of music what are some of your interests?

Wilhelm Lindh: I guess that my cats come high up on my list, lately I have been spending a lot of my time reading crime novels. My girlfriend got me hooked on those novels, addictive as hell, I really enjoyed the books by Simon Beckett.

Francisco Martín: Lately I've been trying to set my mind up to create the ultimate Metal News web site in Spanish. With my friend Ignacio Orellana who lives in New York are looking all over several alternatives so we'll soon come with something to say about it further than just the idea or project of it.

12. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview

Wilhelm Lindh: thanks for the time and for those of you who hasn't heard us hit up www.thegardnerz.com and listen to the album there. Keep on Doomin' in the free world.

Rue Interview

RUE interview (answers by Mike Burns)
1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

At this moment taking a little bit of time to regroup, get threw the
holidays and start working on new material.


2. How would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the new
album and how it differs from previous recordings.

Well it's always been obvious with this band that we don't really follow
any "rules" when it comes to song writing. What ever comes out comes out,
with in reason. With Thorns I would say we spent more time and thought
into the writing process, and the recording process. Prior releases
weren't effortless per say, but we evolved as song writers and recording
artists. In the past I would never lay down a track we couldn't do live.
With Thorns we kinda tried new things I guess.


3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with
the new release?

Mainly hate for humanity, ignorant people, past personal shit ect.. ect..


4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?

We wanted a simple name that was easy to remember. The saying "rue the day
you were born" came up in conversation at practice one day, so we rolled
with Rue.


5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how
would you describe your stage performance?

We have played so many shows in so many places with such amazing bands
across the US over the years. And we drink n stuff. Man... that's kinda a
hard one. Also other members of the band I'm sure have different opions of
their best show. So lets just say the good ones have been great, and the
shitty ones were just shit. As far as our live performance, well it's
always loud and full of energy.


6. Do you have any touring plans for the new releases?

We did some east/midwest dates in the few months prior to the release. We
have plans for some things late March/April.


7. You took a long hiatus from releasing new music what where you doing
during that time?

Dealing with line up changes, financial situations, daily life and such.
We never really took any kind of "hiatus" so to speak. We just couldn't
afford to record an album. Plain and simple.


8. Currently you are singed to Shifty Records, how did you get in contact
with that label and how would you describe the support that they have
given you so far?

Shifty is a local guy for us. I met him outside a punk show in Kent prolly
around 99 or 2000. He gave me a Boulder cd he had put out. Then a year or
so later I join up with Sofa king Killer and they had a relationship with
him. That's when I met Corey from Fistula which also had a relationship with
Shifty. Corey and I went on to start Rue and things just kinda fell in
place. He's a great dude. Easy to work with. very D.Y.I. Which allows us to
do what we wanna do when we wanna do it.


9. On a worldwide level how has your new album been received by sludge
metal fans?

So far so good.


10. Are there any other projects besides this band or is this a full time
line up?

We no longer have a full time bass player, but we do have a solid fill in
for now. Our Bass player went on to do Mockingbird full time. I myself
play bass in a 70's style rock band called The Unclean that has a new
record coming out. I also dabble in an experimental doom metal project
called Kreatur. Pronounced Creature. It's pretty much just me and who ever
I choose to play a show. A lot of amps, lights, and fog. Maybe sometimes
to much fog.


11. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

It's hard to say. So far a lot darker.


12. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music
and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Other members like a lot of different things. For me I grew up on hard
core. Black Flag, Minor Threat, Misfits. From there it went to thrash,
like Celtic Frost, DRI. Then death metal, Grind Core ect ect ect. It
finally came back around to good ol loud rock n roll. For the most part I
listen to the same ol shit on my Ipod. The new Rwake album is killer. Got
a Trap Them record from a few years ago I really dig. New Brutal Truth,
good shit.


13. Outside of music what are some of your interests?

I myself am into motorcycles. Street,dirt,track. Sport bikes, American
bikes, British bikes. Chevy trucks on road and off, guns, out doors. I
also enjoy smoking.


14. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Cheers!

Dirge/Elysian Magnetic Fields/Division Records/2011 CD Review

  Dirge  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  very  atmospheric  form  of  sludge  metal  mixed  with  post  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2011  album  "Elysian  Magnetic  Fields"  which  was  released  by  Division  Records.

  Drums  are  all  slow  playing  with  not  much  in  the  way  of  fast  playing  or  blast  beats,  while  the  programming  and  samples  bring  a  very  dark  avant  garde  edge  to  the  music  with  some  church  organs and  keyboards  being  utilized  on  one  song,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it has  a  very  dark  tone  with  riffs  that  follow  the  riffing  that  is  coming  out  of  the  guitars.

  Rhythm  guitars  are  slow  slow  heavy  doom/sludge/metal  riffs  mixed  in  with  a  lot  of  distortion  effects,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  chaotic,  droned  out  and  melodic  sounding  guitar  solos  and  leads  as  for  the  acoustic  guitars  when  they  are  utilized  they  use  full  chords  to  add an  atmospheric  feeling  to  the  music.

  Vocals  are  mostly  clean  singing  vocals  mixed  in  with  some  growls  and  spoken  word  parts,  while  the  lyrics  cover  devastation,  grief,  lost  and  death,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  to  it.

  In  my  opinion  Dirge  are  a  very  good  atmospheric  sludge  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  style,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Obsidian"  "Elysian Magnetic  Fields"  and  "Falling".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Heirs/Hunter/Denovali Records/2011 CD Review

  Heirs  are  a  band  fro  Australia  that  has  had  their  previous  recording  reviewed  in  this  zine  that  plays  a  very  avant  garde  style  of  post  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2011  album  "Hunter"  which  was  released  by  Denovali  Records.

  Drum  programming  is  all  slow  beats,  while  the  synths  bring  a  very  dark  psychedelic  avant  garde  edge  to  the  music,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful  and  heavy  tone  with  riffs  that  dominate  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  which  are  used  very  rarely  are  mostly  slow  distorted  riffs  and  there  are  no  guitar  solos  or  leads  present  on  this  recording,  in  addition  vocals  are  absent  from  this  recording  with  all  of  the  music  being  instrumental.

  Production  on  this  recording  sounds  very  strong,  powerful  and  heavy  and  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  good  recording  from  Heirs  and  if  you  where  a  fan  of  their  previous  recording,  you  will  not  be  disappointed.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Neverland".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Dead/Hardnaked But Dead/FDA Rekotz/2011 CD Review

  Dead  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  has  a  long  history  that  goes  back  to  the  90's  that  plays  a  mixture  of  porn/gore/grind,  death  metal  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2011  album  "Hardnaked  But  Dead"  which  was  reased  by  FDA Rekotz.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  a  good  amount  of  blast  beats  being  thrown  in,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  dark  tone  with  riffs  that  follow  the  riffing  that  is  coming  out  of  the  guitars  and  at  times  they  sound  very  powerful.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  riffs  that  combine  grindcore,  death  and  doom  metal  together  with  some  groove  type  riffing  being  thrown  in  at  times,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  distorted  sounding  death  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads  that  have  a  rock'n'roll  feeling  at  times.

  Vocals  are  a  mixture  of  deep  low  guttural  death  metal  growls  and  high  pitched  grindcore  screams  mixed  in  with  some  samples,  while  the  lyrics  cover  gore,  porn,  violence  and  alcohol,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  heavy  and  raw  sound  but  still  professional  up  to  the  point  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  a  good  album  from  Dead  and  you  can  tell  that  they  have  progressed  a lot  as  musicians  with  this  album  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED   TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Liquor  Store  Goddess"  "Tits"  "A  Beer"  and  "Hardnaked  But  Dead".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

The Sequence Of Prime Interview

1. Can you update us with what is going on with the projects these days?


I would, but then I'd have to kill you. Hahahaha. No in all seriousness, I learned a long time ago too not talk to much about what I'm working on until it is actually done. All people need to know is that yes, I always have new things in the works :)


2. How would you describe the musical sound on your new album, and how did you achieve the sound that you got?


I would describe it as it "Doom-Tinged-Interstellar-Thrash-Grind." But really that's just absurd! When it all boils down it is just metal. I achieved the sound by combining two completely opposite ways of working. On one end of the spectrum, the recording of the guitars, bass and vocals are all approached as simply as possible. I did not cut and splice a bunch of perfected guitar loops together. The vocals were not rehearsed. For the most part these elements are all performed straight through in their entirety with very minimal punching in or correction. And on the other end, the drums, synths and ambient noise elements were all painstakingly programmed beat by beat. It is two entirely different worlds crashing into each other at an extremely high speed.


3. What are some of the lyrical topics and concepts that you explore with the new album?


Nuclear war, pollution, disease, nanotechnology, existentialism, just to name a few.


4. Have you have thought of using other members to do live shows with or work with on an album?


Yes, I think about it quite often! Though it's not realistic for me. I have a demanding profession and my time to work on music is limited and random. If anything I would collaborate with others on a limited studio basis. But touring or gigging at this point in my life is completely out of the question. There's just no possible way it would work with my schedule. I will say that nothing would make me happier than to be able to perform these songs in a live setting at least once or twice some day! I would just have to find the right people.


5. Do you have any other side projects besides this band?


First of all I don't have a band. It's just little ol' me, hahaha. Second, I have lots of different projects at all times, but I do not consider any of them side projects. If I am going to do something then I am going to put everything I have into it. All or nothing!


6. The new album was self released, are you looking for a label and if so what kind of label do you feel would be the best for your kind of music?


I'm not actively looking for a label. I have been writing and releasing music for a long time without ever having a label or endorsement of any sort. I only write music because I love it. That's the way it should be! Of course, I will keep my options open. I'm not going to say, "I'LL NEVER SIGN TO A LABEL!" Because hey, if I really felt something fit me and my vision I would certainly consider it. But it's not the goal. If I were to be in the scenario where I was considering a label I would prefer it to be something like Profound Lore, Nuclear War Now! or Ajna. I really like what they do.


7. How have extreme music fans responded to your new album so far?


So far the response has been pretty incredible. I never expected this level of interest.


8. How would you describe your musical progress over the years and what direction do you see the music heading into on future releases?


I would say that my music has gradually become more focused and thoughtful. I am now to the point where I approach my music exactly how I approach my art. It all revolves around developing a strong concept and finding the best way to execute it. As for the future, I certainly have ideas of where I want to go. But it is too early for me to say anything specific.

9. I heard that you have an interest in science fiction and existentialism, can you tell me more about your interest in those fields?

You have heard correct! I want to make clear though that I am not the type of sci-fi buff people normally think about. I mean, I can't recite the names and races of all the aliens in the Cantina scene in Star Wars, ya know? I can't speak Klingon and I don't dress up and go to conventions. Hahahaha. That's not what I'm interested in at all. I'm into the overall ideas and messages portrayed by authors like Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and H.G. Wells. And the real world transitions from science fiction to science fact.

As for existentialism, it is not just an interest - it is my philosophy. The closest thing I can relate to as far as established philosophies go, that is.


10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music, and also what are you listening to nowadays?


To attempt to narrow things down I would say that some of my key musical influences over the years have been Metallica, Slayer, Overkill, Testament, Ministry, Front Line Assembly, Goblin, Emperor, KMFDM, Samhain, Danzig and Black Sabbath. The most significant album to me is Black Sabbath's "Dehumanizer." That was my first experience with metal and that cassette completely changed my life! Lately I've been listening to a lot of Nightbringer, Triptykon, Deathspell Omega, Today is the Day, Cobalt, Thorns, Teitanblood, Portal and The Crown.


11. Outside of music what are some of your interests?


Visual arts, animation, reading, video games, horror movies and laughing as much as possible!


12. Any final words or thoughts before we close this interview?


Thank you greatly for taking the time to ask me so many thoughtful questions. I really appreciate it! Live, laugh, love and lacerate! Hooaah!

The Sequence Of Prime/The Sequence Of Power/2010 CD Review

The Sequence Of Prime are a 1 man band from Kansas that mixes industrial, thrash, death metal,doom  metal and grindcore together to create an original sound and this is a review of their 2010 album "The Sequence Of Power".

Drums combine slow to mid paced drumming with a lot of fast playing and brutal blast beats with some weird elements being thrown in at times, while the noise effects bring an industrial element to the music, as for the bass playing it has a very strong and powerful sound.

Rhythm guitars combine a lot of different styles together with a lot of thrash riffing that brings in death metal and grindcore influences, while the lead guitars have progressive and psychotic elements in the guitar solos.

Vocals are mostly yelled out vocals that contain alot of aggression with some death metal growls thrown in at times, while the lyrics cover doomsday, pandemic, interstellar and existential types of subjects, as for the production it sounds very professional for a self-released album and you can hear all of the musical instruments that are present on this recording.

In my opinion The Sequence Of Prime are a very original band that brings 80's crossover thrash into 2010 with some modern death metal and grind influences, this is a band worth checking out. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Enlightenment" "Nuclear Winter" "Echohagy" and "Compression". RECOMMENDED BUY.

The Gardnerz/The System Of Nature/Abyss Records/2011 CD Review

  The  Gardnerz  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  plays  a  very  melodic  and  heavy  form  of  doom/death  metal  with  a  black  metal  edge  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2011  album  "The  System  Of  Nature'  which  was  released  by  Abyss  Records.

  Drums  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  drumming  with  not  much  in  the  way  of  fast  playing  or  blast  beats,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  to  it.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  doom/death  metal  riffs  that  are  very  dark  and  melodic sounding,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  dark  and  melodic  sounding  guitar  solos  and  leads    as  for  the  acoustic  guitars  when  they  are  utilized  they  use  finger  picking  and  full  chords  to  give  the  music  a  progressive/folk  music  feeling  to  the  music.

  Vocals  are  mostly  deep  doom/death  metal  growls  mixed  in  with  some  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  and  whispered  vocals  as  well  as  brief  clean  singing,  while  the  lyrics  cover  philosophical  ideas,  religion  and  greed  of  mankind,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  dark,  heavy,  powerful  and  professional  sound  to  it  and  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  The  Gardnerz  are  a  very  good  sounding  progressive  doom/death  metal band  with  a  black  metal  and  melodic  edge  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  style,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Lady  In  The  Grave"  "Incident"  "Flaw  In  The  Axiom"  and  "Servants  Of  The  Warsmen"  which  is  a  Winter  cover.  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Novembers Doom/Aphothic/The End Records/2011 CD Review

   November's  Doom  are  a  band  from  Chicago,  Illinois that  has  a  20  year  long  history  with  s  musical  style  that  I  would  describe  as  being  melodic  and  atmospheric  doom/death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2011  album  "Aphothic"  which  was  released  by  The  End  Records.

Drums  range  from  slow  to  mid paced  drumming  with  some  occasional  fast  playing  and  blast  beats,  while  the  violins  bring  a  very  dark,  tragic  and  atmospheric  sound  to  the  music,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  tone  with  some  heavy  riffing  being  thrown  in.

Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  to  mid paced  doom/death  metal  riffing  with  some  occasional  fast  riffs  and  melodic  parts,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  dark  and  melodic  sounding  guitar  solos,  as  for  the  acoustic  guitars  they  bring  a  very  dark  and  progressive  feel  to  the  music.

Vocals  are  mostly  deep  death  metal  growls  that  have  somewhat  of  a  black  metal  edge  to  them  and  a  great  amount  of  clean  singing  male  and  female  vocals,  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  emotions,  doom  and  symbolism,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  heavy,  professional  and  heavy  sound  to  it.

In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  album  from  November's  Doom  and  if  you  where  a  fan  of  their  previous  recordings,  you  will  not  be  disappointing.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Dead  Host"  "What  Could  Have  Been"  and  "Six  Sides".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Mental Home/Black Art/The End Records/1998 CD Review

Mental Home are a band from Russia that plays an atmospheric form of dark Doom metal that has some black metal influences and this is a review of their classic 1998 album "Black Art" which was released by The End Records.

Drums are mostly slow to midpaced drumming with some ocassional fast playing and little to no blast beats, while the keyboards are very dark and atmospheric sounding, as for the bass playing it follows the riffs coming out of the guitars and they have a very powerful sound at times.

Rhythm guitars are mostly slow to midpaced melodic doom/death riffs, while the lead guitars are very melodic sounding guitar solos that have a very dark and evil feel to them that captures memories of the pagan ancestors and there is a small amount of acoustic and classical guitars being used at times and they have a feeling of meloncholy.

Vocals are a mixture of black metal screams, deep death metal metal growls, clean singing and a small amount of female vocals, while the lyrics touch on Slavic paganism, as for the production on this recording it has a very professional sound and you can hear all of the instruments that are present on this album.

In my opinion Mental home wher a very talented band for their time and if you are fan of atmospheric doom/death with a black metal edge you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Under The Wing (Of Gamayan" "Pagan Freedom" and "Winter Art". RECOMMENDED BUY.

Rest In Disgrace/As Beuty Springs From Mud/2010 EP Review

Rest In Disgrace are a band from Brazil that plays a style that mixes melodic death metal with doom metal and a small amount of black metal and this is a review of their 2010 e.p "As Beauty Springs From Mud".

Drums are a mixture of slow to midpaced beats with some fast playing and blast beats, while the bass playing has a very dark tone that follows the riffs coming out of the guitars and they have a very powerful sound on some songs, as for the pianos when they are utilized they brind a dark, tragic and ambient feel to the music.

Rhythm guitars are mostly melodic death metal riffs that also mix in some doom metal and thrash influences with some softer playing that sounds very progressive, while the lead guitars are mostly melodic guitar solos that have a classic metal feel, as for the accoustic guitars that have a very exotic scales that bring a Vedic feel to the music while maintaining a progressive edge.

Vocals are mostly melodic death metal screams with some deep growls and a black metal edge to the singing and there are spoken word passages used on ocassion as well, while the lyrics touch on Buddhism, Hindu Mythology, Eastern and Western Philosophies, as for the production on this e.p it has a very professional and you can hear all of the instruments that are present on this recording.

In my opinion Rest In Disgrace are a very talented band with an original lyrical approach and id you are a fan of melodic death metal or doom metal you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "The Viel Of Maya" "Unnnamed Feelings-Decension" and "Samsara". RECOMMENDED BUY

The Monolith Deathcult Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?
Oh Yeah! We are The Monolith Deathcult and we are hailing from Holland. We are haling from Holland and exist since 2003. We released 4 albums on different labels( because huhmm..all labels who worked with were doomed to bankruptcy.) In 2005 we decided to broaden our sound with in deathmetal notdone stuff like techno, electronics, synths and other influences which will infuriate the diehard oldschool deathmetalfan. We still played ultra brutal stuff but we used more dynamics. A 40 minute blastbeat isn’t extreme after a few minutes, your ears and brains do not notice the noise as something really extreme. This results in the White Crematorium in 2005. After that album we wrote our best album in my opinion called TRIVMVIRATE(2008). On that album all the different elements of our sound came together. Because of the complexity of the music we decided to use a pop producer from Holland(Guido Aalbers) to mix our next album. Guido worked previously with acts like Muse and Destiny’s Child. We want fresh ears and an other view on our music than a deathmetalproducer. The result was killer and we will use him again on our forthcoming album. In 2009 we discovered that The White Crematorium was sold out. We bought back the mechanical rights and realized that it isn’t TMDC style to do simply a repressing. We re-recorded the album, created new artwork and released the album in the USA through Epitomite Productions and in Europe through twilight-Vertrieb.de.

And here we are now.

2.  Where is the band based out of and what is the metal scene like there?
The band is based out of 4 and sometimes 5 people. We have a traditional setting. 2 guitarplayers, a bassplayer and a drummer. I play guitar and do some vocals together with the bassplayer who is the leadvocal.

Sjoerd Visch – Drums, percussion analog and triggering
Robin Kok – Fretted and fretless bass, vox and howling insanity
Martijn Moes – Unearthly intoxication and high-pitched sqealing
Michiel Dekker(thats me) – Doubtful poet, vox and out-of-tune solo leads
Offline member:
Carsten Altena – Stalin organ, sonic booms and mammoth orchestral stabs. In the past he played live the samples and synths but nowadays we use some laptops for the ochestra’s en industrial sampling. Carsten will appear on the albums as the fifth member

We have a good metalscene here in Holland with a lot of good bands like God Dethroned, Severe Torture, Asphyx, Hail of Bullets, Textures and Deadhead. We also have for such a small country a lot of clubs were metalbands play and we have some huge festivals. Holland is a good country for metal and especially Americans like it here(Ofcourse because of the legal drugs and the red Light Districts you can find in every big city.)

3. How would you describe your musical sound?
As an insult to all people who loved good music

3. What is the meaning behind the band's name?
There is no meaning behinf the name. When we started wo just called ourselves Monolith. After we discovered that there were too many bands using that name we added Deathcult to the name. I read that name in a article about Brittish rockers The Cult who called themselves in the early years The Southern Deathcult. We want a huge and massive name so it became The Monolith Deathcult shortened to TMDC. My bandmates accused me of self-idiolation when they discovered that TMDC also could be The Michiel Dekker Club

4. How would you describe the lyrical content of the music?
Short question, big awnser. 99% of the songs are about historical events. Because of my work as a teacher history. I am fully aware that certain historically accurate matters are quite sensitive in some countries and THAT is were I like to write songs about. We write a lot about the Third Reich, The Soviet union and the radical Islam
Our underlying message is: systematic ideological extermination was/is being carried out on both extremes of the political spectrum, it’s just that people fail to recognize the significance of the fact that 15-year old kids walking around with hammer-and-sickles on their shirts is the same as wearing a swastikashirt.

On The White Crematorium 2.0 is a song called The Cruel Hunters. The Cruel Hunters were the infamous SS-Muslim battalions Handzjar and Skanderberg and they want to exterminate the Jews in the Balkan and Caucasus and when the job is done they want to cleanse the whole world from the sons of Zion. This song was especially written for those who called us Nazi’s because we wrote songs about the cruelty of the Islam. Another cool title is the title of the album. ‘The White Crematorium’ is a sobriquet for Stalin’s labour-prison camps  called the Gulag Archipel. These deathcamps were situated in Kolyma, a place which looked like a barren moon landscape in the extreme cold north of Siberia. Political prisoners called ” enemies of the people of the Soviet union” were forced to dig for gold and minerals under terrible circumstances. The people of the Soviet Union feared Kolyma more than any other region of the Gulag Empire. "Kolyma znaczit smert" was the common phrase whispered at the time, and translates to "Kolyma means death.
As you already noticed, we don’t like the ordinary stuff about blood and gore.

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
For me the best shows we did were in Prague, London and all the shows we did in 2008 with Gorefest on their reuniontour . The stagepeformance is intens but tight. People call us often arrogant because we do not talk to the audience about having a good time and keep metal alive bla bla bla. We let our music do the talking and plaster the crowd against the wall.

6. Do you have any plans to tour the U.S in the future?
We try to work something out, maybe next year. I all depends on if we are booked. I hope they will let us in, because we did once a show(available on You Tube) while dressed up like the Saddam clan.

7.  How has the feedback been to your new album from death metal fans worldwide?
I can’t say it enough, but it isn’t the NEW album. It is a new release. The original 2005 version was sold out and we had the change to redeem the mechanical rights so we decided take the 2005 recordings of The White Crematorium to the higher level of perfection we already stated with TRIVMVIRATE.  For our fans it might be a financial kick in the head but is was for us the perfect cover-up operation to rehabilitate all musical blasphemies and clerical howlers.
We add shiny new vocals without all the hideous grammar mistakes. Colossal Pro Tools editing to restore all goofs. Immense editing on all slips of abominable clerical errors and blasphemous sonic booms on 0.017Khz. We also added our 2002 promo, 2 videoclips and an intense teeth-on –the-dancefloor techno remix of Kindertodeslied.

I just read some reviews who stated that The White Crematorium 2.0 is the follow up of TRIVMVIRATE . That is not true. Yes, it is the next release but it is NOT the new album. We can do better that that. This release was created to fill the gap between TRIVMVIRATE and the new album. We hope that people who like TRIVMVIRATE also check out The White Crematorium 2.0 That album was the blueprint for what we doing now. Second reason was we wanted a USA release. It is a shame that our albums are hard to get there so we wanted The White Crematorium 2.0 released in the USA.

8. Do you have any side projects besides this band, if so who are they and what kind of music do they play?
Not really. I play bass in the Dutch doom band Beyond Belief and I do some producing & session work for Extreme Cold Winter(also dooooooommm) and Temple(Deathmetal in the vein of the first TMDC album The Apotheosis. The mainfocus is on TMDC. I have the freedom to add into the music what I want so I don’t need sideprojects. It is a waste of time and energy.

9. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and what are you listening to nowadays?
The Monolioth Deathcult is a mixture of all music we find interesting. The blueprint is deathmetal because of the grunts. Bands who infleunced me as mainwriter are Strapping Young Lad, Fear Factory, Rammstein, Type O Negative, Cradle of Filth, Nile, Slipknot, My Dying Bride and Laibach. There is much more. Is you can see the focus is on industrial. I believe in a blending of ultrabrutal death/speed/thrash/doom metal with furious industrial passages. Carsten who wrote all the orchestral parts and I are huge fans of soundtracks like Titus, Gladiator, Pirates of the Carrebean. People who check espesially TRIVMVIRATE will regonize the elelemens of all the above mentioned bands and artitsts.

Nowaday I do not listen to much music. Mostly in my car. Yesterdat it was Candlemass and Alice in Chains

10. What role does Occultism play in the music and how would you describe your views on this topic?
Occultism doesn’t play a special role in our music. We have a lot of religious elements in our lyrics. There are lyrics which can be described as occult but not in the satanic way. We have nothing to do we satanism. We prefer lyrics about people who want to be a god like Saddam or Stalin, about people who are talking to an evil entity while they think it is God who is talking to them.  We deal with Islam and Christianity, but also with Brahma and Amon-Ra. There is just one song which mentioned Lord Master Lucifer and that is The Malleus Maleficarum Manusscript, a song about witchcraft in the Dark Ages.

11. What are some of your interests outside of music?
I train twice a week Krav Maga(Israelian Close Combat fighting), I do serval times a week a workout, I read a lot of books(Stephen King, Frederick Forsyth, Tom Clancy etc) and I am a follower of the  Dutch politics. I am a total newsjunkie.

12. Any final words or thoughts?
I like to thank Von from Epitomite Production for giving us the chance tot release an album on USA soil. I am sure that the people of the USA like our music but as always our albums are hard to get there. People who like the White Crematorium 2.0 MUST check out TRIVMVIRATE. Check our website, facebook  and myspace for sounds and merchandise. We hope to see you soon in the USA.

http://www.myspace.com/themonolithdeathcult
http://nl-nl.facebook.com/monolithdeathcult
http://www.monolith-deathcult.com

The Monolith Deathcult/the White Crematorium/Twilight-Vertrieb Records/2010 CD Review

The  Monolith  Deathcult  are  a  band  from  the  Netherlands  that  plays  a  very  brutal form  of  death/doom  metal  with  atmospheric  and  symphonic  elements  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2010  album "the  White  Crematorium  2.0"  which  was  released  by  Twilight-Vertrieb  Records.

Drums  range from  slow, midpaced  to  fast  drumming  with  alot  of  brutal  blast  beats  mixed  in  with  some  synth  elements  that  bring  an  atmospheric/industrial  edge  to  the  music  mixed  in  with  alot  of  samples  while  the  bass  playing  sounds  very  very  powerful  and  heavy  with  riffs  that  range  from  slow  to  fast.

Rhythm  guitars  cover  alot  of  variety  in  the  brutal  death  metal  field  with  a  good  mixture  of  slow, midpaced  and  fast  riffing  that  contains  a  good  amount  of  melody  while  the  lead  guitars  are  atmospheric  and  melodic  sounding  death  metal  guitar  solos  with  a  great  ammount  of  brutality.

Vocals  are  mostly  deep  death  metal  growls  with  some  high  pitched  screams  that  have  a  slight  black  metal  edge  to  them,  while  the  lyrics cover  Nazi's, World  War  II,  Egyptian, Middle  Eastern  and  Summerian  Occultism  with  a  strong  hatred  for Catholism  and  Christianity,  as  for  the  production  it  sounds  very  professional  and  heavy  that  gives  all  of  the  musical  instruments  a  very  brutal  sound.

In  my  opinion  The  Monolith  Deathcult  are  a  very  original  sounding  brutal  death  metal  band  that  has  some very  good, heavy  and  powerful  songs  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  genre  and  looking  for  something  original  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Army  Of  The  Despised"  "Concrete  Sarcophagus"  "The Cruel  Hunters"  and  "The  White  Crematorium.  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Marienbad Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never
heard of you before?
M. Roth: Marienbad was a little town in Czech which was flooded in the mid-60s, a storage lake occured where the village once was. There were always strange things that had happened within this town - and 12 of the villagers decided to stay in their hometown, theyŽve chosen death instead of beinig relocated to a new home. "Opus 1 - Nightfall" tells their story and some other weird and gloomy ones about what happened there over the years. The whole concept was written by myself, Yantit (my collegue in Eisregen for over one and a half decade) joined in and composed all the music, as guests we decided to ask Alan of THE VISION BLEAK and West of HÄMATOM to execute the drum- & bass parts, they were fascinated by the whole thing and played their parts very well.

2. how would you describe the musical sound of the new album?
M.: Because of the grim background we decided to choose very dark, slow and melodic metal to transfer my ideas into listenable music. You can find many different structures on Nightfall, but the whole concept is very depressive, dark and full of surprises.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the new release
explores?
M.: The whole lyrical concept is about the strange people that lived in Marienbad and the final drowning of the whole town which is portraied end of the album in "Wallof Water / Wasserwall". "Under Dam Crest / Unter Dammkrone" deals with the weird feelings even nowadays, when you walk around the storage lake there are always some strange feelings you can not really discribe. It is a very unique situation - and know what IŽm talking about, cause Yantit & me visited it End of 2010...
4. What is the meaning and inspirationbehind the bands name?
M.: Please refer to my answer of question no. 1 for the backgrounds.

5. What are some of the best shows that the group has played so far and
how would you describe your stage performance?
6. Do you have any touring plans for the new release?
M.: IŽm sorry to tell you that Marienbad is planned as a studio act only. We are all very busy with our own acts to play shows (Yantit & I with Eisregen, Alan with The Vision Bleak and West with Hämatom) so that we simply donŽt find enough time to go touring with Marienbad. Perhaps in some future it will be possible, but only time will tell.

7. Your album is released in both German and English, what was the
decision behind putting out the album in 2 seperate langauges?
M.: With our main band Eisregen we always have the little problem that outside German-speaking territorites there is a big problem in understanding what all is about. The lyrical concept always is a very important part for me, and so we decided to include a English-vocalized version as part of a 2CD-set, and so everyone interested in has no longer the problem of understanding. It was nice to make this English version, but of course personally I prefer the German one because its my mother language and the whole concept was written in German before translation.

8. Are there any other projects besides this band or is this a full time
level?
M.: Like mentioned before we all have our main acts to handle and Marienbad is kind of a project we really wanted to do. It costed us over a year of hard work to create this album, and that is much more time many other bands spend on their projects.

9. On a worldwide level how has you music been recieved by gothic/doom
metal fans?
M.: We got some very good reactions, both by press and fans. But itŽs a very special recording, defenitly not for all tastes and there are many people that will never find their way to Marienbad, and this is no problem for me. If you are not willing to put some time and effort in understanding what the whole album is all about you may never find the right path to this little sunken town. /div>

10. What diection do you seethe music heading into on future releases?
M.: I really hope that we can create "Opus 2" one day, there are many possibilities for sequelling the whole story. But nowadays I focus work on the forthcoming Eisregen-album entitled "Rostrot", and so maybe some time after finishing it we will concentrate on the next MB-release.

11. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your
music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
M.: Today IŽm to busy to really listen to ther bands, but the new Macabre and Autopsy-CDs are real great. Old School stuff like that is what I prefer personally, Yantit is very open-minded and listens to much more different styles.

12. Outside of music what are some of your interests?
M.: I am a real movie maniac! I have a very big collection of dvdŽs/blu-rays and IŽm always in search for some old italian cult films. Fulci, Argento, all that kind of sick stuff really fascinates me.I have a Cannibal Holocaust tattoo on my right arm, this should tell enough... ;-)

13. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
M.: If youŽre into dark, slow metal give us a chance and listen to Nightfall - perhaps this one is exactly for you. Thanks for the interview and sorry for the delay in aswering your questions, IŽm very busy the last weeks. Regards Michael nbsp;

Rue/Thorns/Shifty Records/2011 CD Review

  Rue  are  a  band  from  Akron,  Ohio  that  plays  sludge  metal  mixed  with  death  metal  growling  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2011  album  "Thorns"  which  was  released  by  Shifty  Records.

  Drums  are  mostly  slow  to  mid  paced  drumming  with  not  much  in  the  way  of  fast  playing  or  blast  beats ,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  dark,  strong  and  powerful  tone  to  it.

  Rhythm  guitars  are  slow  to  mid  paced  sludge  metal  riffs  that  mixes  in  some  death  metal  heaviness  to it,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  distorted  and  noisy  sounding  guitar  leads.

  Vocals  are  a  mixture  of  deep  death  metal  growls,  high  pitched  sluge  screams  with  some  clean  singing  being  thrown  in  at  times  and  on  the  last  song  there  is  a  brief  spoken  word  passafe,  while  the  lyrics  cover  people  and  drugs,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  dark,  strong,  heavy  and  professional  sound  to  it,  as  for  the  acoustic  guitars  when  they  are  utilized  briefly  they  use  full  chords  to  give  the  music  a  psychedelic  sound.

  In  my  opinion  RUe  are  a  very  good  sounding  sludge  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  style,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECEMMONDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Brown"  "Sadaver" "High  Iron  Blues"  and  "  AWord  Of  Flies"

Marienbad/Werk One-Nachtfall/Massacre Records/2011 CD Review

Marienbad  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  gothic/doom  metal  with  a  black  metal  edge  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2011  album  "Werk  One-Nachtfall"  which  was  released  by  Massacre  Records.

Drums  are  mostly  slow  to  midpaced  playing  with  no  fast  parts  or  blast  beats,  while  the  keyboards  have  a  very  depressive  nd  tragic  feel  to  them,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  very  dark  tone  that  is  kind  of  mixed  down  low  in  the  music  and  seems  to  follow  the  riffing  that  is  coming  out  of  the  guitars  and  at  times  you  can  hear  the  instrument.

Rhythm  guitars  are  mostly  slow  to  midpaced  doom/gothic  metal  riffs  that  also  utilize  a  good  amount  of  melody  and  there  are  little  to  no  guitar  solos  or  leads  present  on  this  recording.

Vocals  are  mostly  clean  singing  gothic  vocals  with  some  high  pitched  black  metal  growls  and  whispers  being  thrown  in  at  times  and  some  spoken  word  passages  being  use  on  one  song,  while  the  lyrics  cover  tradegies,  death  and  suicide  and  there  are  2  versions  of  this  album  one  in  English  and  the  other  one  in  German,  a  for  the  production  it  sounds  very  powerful  and  professional  sounding.

In  my  opinion  Marienbad  are  a  very  good  gothic  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  style,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECEMMONDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Roslins  Curse"  "The  Yellow  Mansion  Of  Suicide"  and  "Under  Dam  Crescent".  RECEMMONDED  BUY.

Heavenwood Interview

Interview by Ricardo Dias ( guitar and ,melodic vocals )







1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?



We have been promoting our 4th new album " Abyss Masterpiece

"released by LISTENABLE RECORDS and it is getting great reviews and

feedback from the press and fans. We have done two SHOWCASES at FNAC in

Portugal and more gigs are coming for the near future. It was a real

hardwork to compose and record this new album so it´s a wonderful

feeling to notice that everyone is really enjoying it from all different

countries and cultures.





2. how would you describe the musical sound of the new album and how

does it differ from previous releases?



This new " Abyss Masterpiece " comparing our previous " Redemption "

is much more darker, we deal on this album with the darkest side of

love, everyone knows love have to faces just like a coin..we decided

to focus on the hardest part, the sad emotions, some kinf of

frustraion, drama and also a very portuguese way of feeling and living

on this world wich is the term " saudade ", it means yearn but in a

very peculiar way. We got inspiration also from the very first

portuguese female poet D.Leonor / Marquesa de Alorna that for many

portuguese is still nowdays a kind of a myth. We did have a lot of

difficulties in exploring or even studying is work from the XVIII

century. It´s funny because i did findo original works scanned and

archived on an american cultural archive on the net rather than

finding it on paper or websites in Portugal..she was a " persona non

grata " for the system in portugal back in the XVIII century. A

revolutionary, a visionaire, a women rights defender once portuguese

women on those days werent aloud to share or express with man her

feelings, poetry, etc. D. Leonor also was the very first to translate

the best poetry and philosophic texts from german, grench and english

to portuguese so i think she deserved this recognition instead of just

work a " clichet " poet and that would be rather easy..but we love

challenges!





3. What are some of the lyrical topics and concepts the new releases explores?



We adapated two poems from D.Leonor for the songs " Leonor " in th

eoriginal title " I´ll Sing a day of sadness " and " Goddess Presiding

Over Solitude ". The rest of the songs are inspired in her capacity of

expressing feelings such as love, anger, hope and criticism regarding

the injustice she passed when she was jailed when she was still a

young child till her mature age for a crime her parents didn´t commit

againt the portuguese state ( a murderer ). D. Leonor developed alone,

by herself, while she was jailed on the CHELAS MONASTARY ( near lisbon

) an amazing capacity for writting feelings she didn´t experienced

such as parental affect, love or passion..most of the times Nature was

her only friend or confident ( as she discribes on the song / poem "

Leonor " ). Even sometimes there is a mistraphoic feeling on he rwords

and thats why we titled the album " Abyss Masterpiece "...she was

capable of going real down her soul/ mind and made the best possible,

fought for her and other rights and made her own justice. We identify

a lot with that and all this aspects works as a metaphor also for the

band personality and history since we started. The " Abyss Masterpiece

" is a huge metaphor.



4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?





HEAVENWOOD is related to our very own world, it´s aconnected with the

legend of the lady ghost Judith Heavenwood, a forest and a special

place where evryone that would pass by would become different after

this travell around.



5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and

how would you describe your stage performance?



We had fantastic experiences just like beeing the first portuguese

band to play on WACKEN OPEN AIR, also touring with ATROCITY, IN

FLAMES, SOLITUDE AETURNUS, LAKE OF TEARS and THEATRE OF TRAGEDY was

great. It´s  a wonderfull when we share also the stage with our old

time friends MOONSPELL as it was last September on the best Club in

Portugal that is know for all bands when touring and comming to

Portugal that is HARD CLUB, it re-open again afert some years cloose

and both bands played on the official re-opening week for a great

night fulll of fans from both bands. Rememberi we had supported CRADLE

OF FILTH on a mini tour in Portugal too many years ago and that was

cool also!





6. What are the touring plans for the new release, any plans to hit

North or South America?



We do hope to play!! We had very good feedback from the press and a

lot of fans have mailing us regarding our new album, moost disvoer the

band with th eprevious album " Redemption " but now with LISTENABLE

RECORDS working perfectly and with passion we have been noticing a lot

of new people very interested and amazed with our music, many said

that we have som e kind of musical charisma, a lot of portuguese

living on the states send their compliments and congrats and are

waiting for the album to be on the american stores, its a kind of

proud too for them, its a question of feeling clooser to their country

in a cultural form..that is a real deep and wonderfull feeling..it´s "

saudade " :)





7. On a worldwide level how has your new release been recieved by

gothic metal fans?



Great, i dont remeber to have for example a negative review, a really

like even when it´s nnot so positive at least be constructive and

rational..it´s hard for a Emo or Thrash 18 year old guy to understand

our music now so perhaps sometimes those kind of feedback i do

understand but i do understand also that this same guy will pick up

our album when he does have 22 or 25 and then he will say to it self "

oohhh now i do understand this stuff, this metaphors, this feelings "

We have fans from all ages but most of HEAVENWOOD fans are ecletic and

they do enjoy metal and good music, most of them are between 25 - 45

and our goal is to get more young metal fans in our music and

words..although " Abyss Masterpiee " is a dark ride into love it have

a message of hope...just listen to our final instrumental track " Her

Lament" it´s a metaphor and it does transmit hope regarding the

feeling you got when listening to it...





8. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?



hmmm.. nice question! We don´t want to predict but hmm..i think we

love to explore the soul so the mysticism, alchemic processes and

metaphors will be again a inspiration...it will depend on the mood of

the band but i´m shure grind core or black metal we will not playu,

that´s not our musical personality.







9. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your

music, and also what are you listening to nowadays?





The classic one from The Cult, Sisters or Fields to the classic Death

Metal stuff..the term gothic i think it´s a rotule to define our dark,

emotiv, dramatism..COnsider us a kind TIM BURTON for the metal music,

or at least we try or would like to be :)



10. Does paganism or Occultism play any role in your music?



on a metpahoric way yes, we do embrace a lot of differente religious

concepts,we´re not extremists defending the road you´re watching in

front of you is one way only and that you will not see any crossroads

some km´s after 1 hour walink on it...no..we are spiritual and i

believe humanity balance and harmony will have to deal with the

balance for Consciouness / spirit and Flesh / Materialism..man is on

the midlle..now the quest is..does man want to be an instrument/ tool

or does he want to be the worker ? Why can´t he be the both ?





11. Outside of music, what are some of your interests?



Reading, watching a lot of seminairs and congress regading Humanity

all kind of expressions for example like Michael Tsarion, i do love to

read Paupus or Alan Kardec and i do feel interest in understanding and

working on my inner capacityes..studying myself wich is very important

for a development. I do beleive we must care of our inner garden first

then we can look at the others garden too afterwards. To many people

live is life without discovering themselfs, without speaking to their

own beeing. I love musical instruments also and work with them so

music is hal of me in life, family is the other half.







12. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?



Thanks for the great interview and i want everyone to check our new

album " Abyss Masterpiece", i know a lot´s will download it but if you

enjoy it you have to buy it, it´s a album to be discovered with time,

to be studied..if you wann be a kind of INDIANA JONES on metal

music...yes this is the one album you have to buy and to listen, read

and understand step by step!

A portuguese musical hug to all and check our official site at

www.heavenwoodclan.co.pt or www.myspace.com/heavenwood