Heavydeath Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and and release of the new album?

Right now we are doing some small-scale promotion. We are also waiting for the CD version to arrive from the manufacturer. Unfortunately, it has become slightly delayed. But LP and MC were released on time. In addition to this, we will try to make a few shows during the next year.
There is also work going on to release a compilation double CD with mostly demo material. It will probably be released next year. Then there is plans for a split 7” with Excruciation next year.
So the machinery rolls on so to speak.

2.Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

First of all, I would say that we are starting to get a good sound that suits our music. Do not think we've got it 100% before but now it feels like the whole sound package suits so to speak. As for the material, it's a mix of new and slightly older songs. But I feel that, on the whole, it feels more varied than previous albums.

3.Over the years you have released a great amount of material, do you spend a great amount of time writing and creating music?

I personally think about and writing music daily. Often I write music in my head when I drive a car or am in the woods. It is not always the right time to sit with the guitar and compose. But it is clearly an ongoing process for me. We are also trying to make some simple demos and so on.

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

In general, there are some thoughts about the fate of our so-called civilization. There are things to see for those who can, for those who want to. There is ancient wisdom to learn from, both the warnings and the knowledge.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Heavydeath'?

It's hard to find a new good band name these days. I tried to find something that suited the music and the lyrics and the first suggestions were in Swedish “Tung Död” or “Den Tunga Döden”. We had some other suggestions too but then the decision was made that it might be best to have a name in English. And HEAVYDEATH it became. Sure, it may sound a bit primitive and too “simple”. But if you "taste the word" a few times, I think it suits.

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

We have not been so active when it comes to performing live. For various reasons. Best best gig so far was the first at Mörkaste Småland Festival 2015 and actually the only one with the entire current line-up without session members. We need to get more experience playing live together, especially with songs from the new album that fits good live. So I really hope we'll be able to get some more gigs in the next year. There is no “big show” or so, but we do what we do and sink into the music and hope the audience will accompany our musical journey in body and mind. A long obscure trip...

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?

No, but I hope, as I said earlier, that we can get our calendars in sync in the next year and that there are some suitable offers from bookers.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your newer material by fans of doom and death metal?

As I see it, we play a rather “narrow” kind of underground music. Nothing for the big mass I think. But so far, I've only seen good response, from loyal fans to new ones. Also saw that some famous musicians have drawn attention to us which of course is nice. We create and play what we like ourselves and of course it's nice to get support and to hear that others like it too.

9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?

I will surely record something with my other bands and projects next year. Nothing is 100% so we'll see what happens. Maybe Runemagick, maybe TFO, maybe Necrocurse, maybe Domedag... Time will tell. Johan is doing some other projects on and off. Daniel is quite busy with Katatonia.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

As I can see and speculate right now, the next phase will go in the same direction as our new album “Sarcophagus In The Sky”.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

I listen to various stuff. But as always, I think what you grow up with is the closest to the music heart. So old classic. Everything from old sabbath to early death metal, black metal and doom metal.
Check my personal website http://nicklas.rudolfsson.net for som current Spotify playlists etc.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

Be with the family, be out in the woods, etc. But the music, primarily composing, is clearly the main interest and a big part of my life.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Thank you very much for the interview. I hope more people want to listen to our new album and support us!

Godless Angel/They Lurk/2017 EP Review

  Godless  Angel  are  a  solo  project  from  Kansas  that  plays  a  progressive  mixture  of  doom,  death,  thrash  and  groove  metal  on  this  recording  and  this  is  a  review  of t heir  self  released  2017  ep  "They  Lurk".

  Clean  guitar  playing  starts  off  the  ep  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  which  also  introduces  death  metal  growls  and  screams  onto  the  recording  along  with  some  melodic  guitar  leads  as  well  as  the  riffs  also  bringing  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  the  slow  riffs  are  heavily  influenced  by  doom  metal.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  while  the  music  also  brings  in  elements  of  thrash  and  groove  metal  as  well  as  some  of  the  vocals  also  taking  an  influence  from  the  later  mention  genre  along  with  all   of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  music  also  gets  very  progressive  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  as  the  ep  progresses  a  brief  use  of  clean  playing  can  also  be  heard  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks a re  long  and  epic  in  length.

   On  this  recording  Godless  Angel  expand  on  their  mixture  of  death, thrash  and  groove  metal  by  adding  in  elements  of  progressive  and  doom  metal, the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  are  a  concept  album  based  on  some  grisly  murders  in  1973 era  of  Overbrook,  Kansas.

   In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Godless  Angel  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  doom,  death,  groove,  progressive  and  thrash  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Barn"  and  "The  Sacrifice".  8  out  of  10. 

 

  

Shadowmaster/Self Titled/Seeing Red Records/2017 CD Review

  Shadowmaster  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2017  album  which  will  be  released  in  December  by  Seeing  Red  Records.

  Spoken  word  samples  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  sludge  and  doom  metal  direction  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  a  great  portion  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  melodies  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  riffing.

  Vocals  are  mostly  angry  yet  high  pitched  screams  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  some  songs  also  bringing  in  psychedelic  elements and  spoken  word  samples  also  return  on  some  of  the  later  tracks  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  acoustic  instrumental  can  be  heard  before  returning  back  to  a  heavier direction  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  slow  musical  style  and  when  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  bring  in  touches  of  stoner  metal

  Shadowmaster  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  mixes  them  together to  create  a  sound  of t heir  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Shadowmaster  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Seven  Witches"  "We  Won't  Be  Alive"  and  "Under  His  Black  Skies".  8  out  of  10. 

Dreamgrave Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Dömötör Gyimesi: Dreamgrave was a project born as a traditional 90s gothic metal band of mine, and founding member Zoltán Tamási. The name stayed, and while I rebuilt the band several times from scratch my musical interest also moved towards a more progressive sound. In the 2012-2016 era - where I date the emergence of the real band known as Dreamgrave to - finally became a solid act.

2.How would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recordings?
Dömötör Gyimesi: our sound marries traditional progressive metal with influences of symphonic, gothic, extreme metal and jazz, featuring female soprano vocals alongside both clean male singing and death metal growls. Doesn't say much, right? We're musical storytellers. I think we definitely have a unique approach of how we use different musical ideas to express the emotional roller-coaster, which I can call the most important objective of Dreamgrave.

3.The band has been around since 2009 but so far has only released a demo, one full length and and an ep, can you tell us a little bit more about the gap in between releases?
Dömötör Gyimesi: though the spine of our debut LP Presentiment was ready years before we released it, it was extremely difficult to find the right people who can participate and play on the record. I really wanted to not become a one-man band. I wanted to do something unique and fresh. The years before 2012 gone wasted in stagnation. That's why we date the start of Dreamgrave to 13th of September, 2012, to the first rehearsal when Marcsi, János and I started to work on Presentiment together.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Dömötör Gyimesi: if you take a closer look on Presentiment or Monuments you'll realize that we always work our ways around a more or less abstract concept, which not just adds an extra layer to the mood and atmosphere to our music, but keeps it open to the listener's imagination. The thoughts we've put into the records are clearly perceptible by taking our physical releases, walking through the texts and lyrics in the booklets and traveling the journey we invite the listener to.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Dreamgrave'/
Dömötör Gyimesi: Dreamgrave is about dancing on a blade’s edge: every human being is driven by high hopes and dreams. The longer one fights for those dreams, for self-definition, pursuing pure happiness the more fragile they become, the more their dreams get vulnerable and at the end even the strongest are able to give up. Dreamgrave is the very place where these crystallized and invaluable efforts remain and tempt forever.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Peter Gilian: to be honest, for us every show has some special vibe to it. Connections born between the audience and us, on a metaphysical level. That's why we can't choose between club concerts or big festival shows, we rock both damn hard! In a couple of months we'll release a live video taken earlier this year in Budapest. That will worth a thousand words.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
Dömötör Gyimesi: we plan two different tours for next year in the EU. Things have changed a bit since we started negotiations with our new label, so fingers crossed!

8.The ep was released on 'Prog Heaven Hungary', Can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
Dömötör Gyimesi: it's Hungary's one and only progressive music label, mainly focusing inland. It's a small DIY label and a concert tour.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of progressive, goth and doom metal?
Péter Gilián: reviews and feedback from both the media and the fans are great! With Monuments we see a much wider audience has started to recognize our music. Of course there are some people who expected more heaviness. They can relax, as the first chapter of the Monuments trilogy we've just released is the softest one of them!

10.Are any of the band members currently involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?
Dömötör Gyimesi: Dreamgrave shares Tomi, our drummer with various killer bands like MYTRA, Niburta and All But One. Peti is also involved in some alternative bands.

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Dömötör Gyimesi: we already have several ideas pinned down for the next chapter in the trilogy. As for now the demos show some more extreme, yet psychedelic direction, and there's an agreement in the band that we'll keep feature new instruments on every record.

12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Dömötör Gyimesi: I don't really know. I'm quite certain that every single album we're listening to and like will somewhat influence the melodies, the structures and the overall feeling of the songs we create. We all are coming from really different musical backgrounds: Marcsi is huge fan of Anneke van Giersbergen, and have black metal roots, but also loves Hungarian folk music and has an academic degree in singing. Tomi is more into modern metal, while Peti would vote here for jazz, whilst Krisztina for classical music and Volbeat! :D Dreamgrave is a damn melting pot, you see? My roots are coming from the late 80s and 90s: early Paradise Lost, Alice Cooper, a lot of hair metal (I love Warrant!) and my favourite guitarist is Eddie Van Halen. Of course we have several common idols, like Opeth, Steven Wilson, The Gathering, Paradise Lost, Katatonia, Anathema. In these days I'm personally really into Leprous for example.

13.What are some of your non musical interests?
Dömötör Gyimesi: Krisztina started to do paintings a couple of months ago and she also studies playing the cello. Marcsi, Tomi and Peti are doing music for a living and they are really into it, I mean they are 100% dedicated for it. My free time is totally consumed by making the band running: doing the management, graphical, video works, composing, and shitloads of teeny-weeny stuff. When I have enough of running the business Krisztina and I are touring Europe with my motorcycle and cornering in the mountains.

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Dömötör Gyimesi: I always try to emphasize how important is to support good and independent bands. It's the ONLY way you can keep metal a fresh and living thing, so keep it up!
Live your dreams with full of your hearts, bury yourself deeply into good music and never give up!

Graceless Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

GRACELESS is an old school death/ doom metal band from Leiden / The Netherlands. Founded by Remco Kreft, best known as guitarist of Soulburn,  in june 2016. GRACELESS was raised out of the ashes of Nailgun Masssacre and Xenomorph.

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

Graceless brings a primitive dark death metal sound that is inspired by bands like Bolt Thrower, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Autopsy, Coffins, Asphyx, Paradise Lost and Black Sabbath


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

Well, it is death metal so the lyrics are about the fun things man do each other. Like: murder, war, rape, torture and religion. But we don’t have one theme. It has to fit te song and it has to be brutal.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Graceless'?

I think it suits the music just fine. We play primitive blunt and simple death metal, and that is Graceless. Apart from that, it just sounds great.

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

Graceless only did 6 shows, we just getting started. But I think the gig with Vallenfyre in Iduna Drachten was the best we did so far. Great venue, great sound. I think Graceless is very solid and convincing live band that always gives a 110%. We like to raise the roof of every fucking venue. Death metal needs to be rough, and a gig is a battlefield for us.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

Yes we do. We have some gigs in our home country in December, and we will be touring in 2018 for sure, to promote Shadowlands. We also play at Schoonebeek Death Fest Open Air 2018.

7.The album was released on 'Raw Skull Recordz', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

Raw Skull is a dutch label from our good friend Rai Wolters. It is totaly dedicated to old school death metal. That fits like a glove! He is a very enthusiastic guy and has a big hard for old school death metal. He signed us without hearing one single song, how’s that for confidence!

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of doom and death metal?

Graceless is just getting started (june 2016) and we haven’t even have our album out yet, but the responses are overwhelming. We got a lot responses on facebook and youtube and we have  the feeling people are really looking forward to our debut album.

9.Are any of the band members currently involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?

Yes they (we) are. I also play in Soulburn with Bob Bagchus, Eric Daniels (both ex Asphyx) and Twan van Geel (Legion of the Damned), Marc has an Iron Maiden tribute band called Iron Laiden and Bjorn has a side project named Master We Perish.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

I really don’t know. But we have set goals; We want to make a record every 2 years, we want to play live a lot and we want to take the band to a next level on every part.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
The bands that infuenes us are the bands we still love to listen to today. Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, Autopsy, Paradise Lost, Obituary. But we also like the classic stuff, like Judas Priest, Dio, Black Sabbath, Maiden. And you got some great new bands too, like: Krypts, Coffins, Temple of Void, Vallenfyre, Skeletal Remains and Death Breath. And you got to listen to Voracious Sourge from my buddy Aad Kloosterwaard (Sinister), that is some brutal shit!

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

River dancing, curling, fly fishing, collecting stamps, shooting ducks, cosplay and watching opera to name a few.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
I hope everybody who loves OSDM finds his, or her, way to our debut album Shadowlands. It is an album where we put in all of our heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears and we are very proud to realse this beast upon mankind. Horns up to all of our friends!

Beyond Forgiveness Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Beyond Forgiveness is a female-fronted symphonic metal band from Colorado, USA.   We are a 4-piece band with Richard Marcus and Greg Witwer on guitars and backing vocals, Sean Rogers on Drums, and Talia Hoit on lead vocals and symphonic orchestration.  The band members have all been friends for quite some time before forming the band, and the guys have also played in other bands together as well.  In 2014, we began writing the songs that ultimately were released on our EP, ‘The Ferryman’s Shore’ with mostly the same lineup that we have currently, although we had a different drummer, Mike Bulach, at the time we recorded the EP.   We also just released our first full length album this month (November, 2017) called ‘The Great Wall’.  We are working to build a growing world-wide audience for all who love the genre of symphonic metal, and are in the beginning stages of writing our next album!

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

We call our music “beautality” because we mix both the beauty and beast vocal style, with Talia’s classically trained vocals alongside death and black metal style male vocals, and also combine beautiful classical orchestrations with heavy guitars and rhythms to create our signature style.  With our mixing engineer, Jarek Musil, we have worked to create in our recordings a lush, complex, captivating, and moving listening experience.

3.  The band has been around since 2009 but waited until 2015 to release any music, can you tell us a little bit more about the earlier years?

The band started with a similar vision for the music to what we do now, although, with a much different lineup of members.  Richard and Greg started the band with some additional other members from their former death metal band, Hells Eden, along with a friend, Lynn Brown, who was a classically trained vocalist.  The sound of the band was different at that time, as there was no symphonic orchestration, only minimal keyboards, and Lynn has more of an alto voice with jazz as well as classical influences.  The band did write a good number of songs, and performed live shows regionally, and eventually began recording an album. The band members were friends with Talia at the time, who was building a studio and beginning to record bands, so we did the tracking of the album in her studio.  The album was never finished with the final mix and master, and the band went other directions before releasing any of it.  However, Rich and Greg never lost the vision for what they wanted to do with the project, however, which led to re-forming the band in 2014 after a few years of the band being on hold.

4. Your lyrics cover fantasy themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in the topic?

We are all fans of fantasy epic stories, such as the Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones, and also the classical influence naturally goes along with a lot of interest in mythology and historical sagas as well.  But whether a fantasy theme, or other theme, the real point of our lyrics is to tell a story through metaphor that dives into the deep emotions that we feel as people.  For example, the song ‘I Will Fight to the End’ is kind of an epic battle theme, but it’s also about spitting in the face of cancer.   Also, ‘The Ferryman’s Shore’ is a story drawing on the mythology of the Ferryman and river Styx, but is really about the fear of being separated from someone you love because of death.   Our song lyrics really get at some deep topics, and are written out of our own personal life experiences, but we try to tell the story and use the metaphors in ways so that our listeners can resonate with the words of the songs given their own life experiences as well.

5.  What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name ‘Beyond Forgiveness’?

Greg was listening to a song one day by another band and the title of the song was ‘Beyond Forgiveness’.  He just thought that would be a really cool band name.  That’s anticlimactic, I know, but that’s really where the name came from.


6.  What are some of the best shows the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Some of our favorite shows that we’ve played were during our tour in Europe in the spring of 2017.  We played at a festival in Switzerland called 6 hours of Synphonia, and the Duesternight in Germany, each event put on by other symphonic metal bands.  We really loved the experience of collaborating with other artists in our genre from around the world.  Otherwise, we are mostly performing regionally in Colorado right now, with shows in a few of the major cities on the front range of the mountains.  We have been very focused on recording with our full length following on the heels of our EP, as well as working on another music video, more than extensive touring.  As far as our stage performance, we have a great time when we play, and try to draw the audience into that experience.  We have a lot of energy and emotion in our music, and have heard from our audience that comes through in our show as well!


7. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

We do have some local shows booked coming up, and are looking at our schedules for a potential regional tour in the U.S.  We all work full time at other jobs right now, and so are just trying to see what will work best, but definitely want to travel as much as we can and get our music out there!  We are also planning to start writing and recording our next album in the near future, and to do a few more music videos as well.

8.  Currently, you are unsigned, are you looking for a table or have received any interest?

We are actively seeking label interest.  Originally, with the release of our EP, we were not looking in that direction, but just wanted to get some of our music out there to open doors for booking shows locally.  The worldwide positive response to the EP was so much more than we ever expected or imagined.  With our recent release, ‘The Great Wall’, we originally intended to release it independently, but did allow a few months to shop it around to labels first.  However, when the final touches were done on the album, we did not want to wait, and went ahead and released it independently as well.  We are definitely interested in partnering with a label because the demand for our music internationally has grown greater than what we have the means to serve independently through distribution and touring support.   We hope to have some more possibilities as we develop our next album.

9. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of symphonic metal?
The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.  To be honest, we had no idea or expectation that our music would be received as well as it has.  When we started, we thought the project might just be a recording project as our own hobby, just doing the music we like to do.  The fact that it has received international attention and opened up doors for us to travel and perform, has been absolutely amazing.  I think starting out, we expected harsher criticism and a much more local interest in our music, and have been really humbled and overwhelmed by the positive response by the fans and critics within the genre.  It has really inspired us to continue creating more music!

10.  Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

For our next album, we are aiming to go in the direction of the more upbeat and driving tempos, and fuller, more epic symphonies, continuing with the beautality of the mixed vocal styles and intense metal and classical combination.  We want to continue to write music that has intense emotion and energy.

11. What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays.

Talia is really influenced by classical music, having studied piano at a classical conservatory.  She listens to a wide variety of genres though, and loves to listen to local artists.  Right now, she has been listening a lot to Thy Shade, after buying a cd from them when they played at our CD release party.

Rich -The true reason I am in a band like this is I heard 1 album Tristania's Beyond the Veil, the minute I heard that album I knew I wanted to play in a band of this style and have been hooked ever since, I also have a deep death metal background with 2 of my favorites being Grave and Illdisposed, I tend to lean more to the European death metal than the American, I have of course grown since this album and can look to Xandria, Epica and Diabolus in Musica as inspiration.
     Currently spinning the last 2 Xandria albums, Sinners Moon and some Project Hate, also the new Broken Hope album.

Greg -my influences lean into a lot of power metal including Hammerfall, Iced Earth, Blind Guardian. Also love Nightwish, Xandria, Epica, Amon Amarth, Immortal and old In Flames
     Currently spinning the new Beast in Black, Xandria, Amon Amarth and Blind GUardian

Sean -Drumming influences include Fredrik Andersson, Gerit Lamm, and Hellhammer along with some classic influences...John Bonham and Keith Moon, I also listen to a lot of Folk metal drummers
     Currently spinning Theater of Dimensions from Xandria is on repeat a lot as well as the newest Amon Amarth album Jomsviking


12.  What are some of your non-musical interests?

We’re all a little different in what we like to do outside of music.  Richard is obsessed with hockey and also likes football, gaming mostly rpg's, Greg is really into photography, computers and graphic design, Sean is interested in politics and history along with computers and hockey, and Talia does a lot of reading and likes the outdoors.

13. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Thank you for taking the time to interview us, and for your interest in our music.  We hope everyone enjoys our new album, ‘The Great Wall’, and we are just getting started.  We hope to have even more new music for you in the near future!  We will also be releasing another music video soon.  Please stay in touch, follow us on social media, and we love to hear from our followers, fans, and critics!

Djinn And Miskatonic/Even Gods Must Die/Transcending Obscurity Records/2018 CD Review

  Djinn  And  Miskatonic  are  a  band  from  India  that  has  had  an  album  reviewed  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  stoner,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  album  "Even  Gods  Must  Die"  which  will  be  released  in  2018  by  Transcending  Obscurity  India.

  Powerful  sounding  bass  leads  along  with  some  acoustic  guitars  start  off  the  album  and  also  gives  the  music  more  of  a  70's  feeling  which  also  takes  the  music  into  more  of  a  heavier  doom  metal  direction  along  with  a  great  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  and  all  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  A  great  amount  of  stoner  metal  elements  can  be  heard  in  the  bands  musical  style  while  the  riffs  also  bring  in  the  heaviness  of  sludge  and  when  clean  vocals  are  utilized  they  give  the  songs  more  of  a  traditional  doom  feeling  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  also  being  utilized  at times  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  grim  screams  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads a re  utilized  they  stick  to  a  very  retro  style  and  as  the  album  progresses  some  of  the  tracks  get  more  psychedelic.

  Djinn  And  Miskatonic  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  their  mixture  of  stoner,  sludge  and  doom  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  witchcraft,  darkness  and  alcohol  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Djinn  And  Miskatonic  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  stoner,  sludge,  and  doom  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Bones  Of  My  Brothers"  and  "Harvest  Of  The  Kings".  8  out  of  10.

  

Rabid Dogs Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?



Hello. At the moment we’re fully focused on the promotion of “Italian Mysteries”: just last weekend we finished to record the first videoclip of the album and in the next weeks will be ready also our new merchandise, that will be shown on our release party of late December.

In the meanwhile, we also started to plan our booking season for all 2018 and we’re working on our new material. It’s a quite busy period ahahha.



2.You have a new album coming out later in November, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?



The new album is absolutely more doom and blues. D-beats and blasbeats are still present but with this album we tainted even more our “grind ‘n’ roll” with stoner rock influences.

It came out naturally: we had no fear to re-think again the whole sound of the band, mixing our grindcore roots with our current listenings and we love what came out.

The sound itself it’s heavier and warmer than the past releases, thanks also to our Orange amplifiers, and we’re really proud of this release, probably our best record ever made.



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



As the title suggest, “Italian Mysteries” talks mostly about Italian past crime chronicles. We shifted our interest from pulp/thriller movies to real facts, many of them not completely clear so far, because sometimes reality overcomes fantasy and there are many terrible real stories to tell of which people ignore or just don’t remember.



4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Rabid Dogs'?



Our moniker is a tribute to “Cani Arrabbiati” movie by Mario Bava, one of our favourite movies ever. A milestone for every pulp addicted, 20 years before Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs”.



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



For sure our live set at Obscene Extreme Fest 2015 was epic: to be on the most important stage in Europe for extreme metal band isn’t something that happens everyday. Also Coyote Brutal Fest in Moscow was great! Don’t know if these were our best shows ever but for sure we enjoyed a lot.

Everytime we go on stage we give everything for our fans and, last but not least, for ourselves: we wanna have fun and involve the audience; we drink and smoke with them, jump, shout, laugh etc in a word… it’s a party!



6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?

                                                                                             

Sure we have! We’re already working on tour plans for all 2018: we wanna bring our new songs everywhere and we’ll do all that we can to tour as much as possible.



7.The new album was released on 'Eclectic Productions', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?



Evgeny from Eclectic Productions proved to be a good friend, serious and sincerely inerested in our band. He was the one who strongest wanted us and if we have our album out just 2 months after the final mastering it’s thank to him. A trustworthy man for a serious label, which always respected our deals, a thing not so taken for granted in the underground scene… unfortunately.



8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of stoner rock and grindcore?



The feedback seems good: at the few concerts taken so far with the new setlist people reacted well.

Of course the die-hard grindcore/punk fans will turn their nose up for the stoner parts but we don’t care at all… we never did to be honest: we play the music we feel, that’s important for us.



9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

I don’t really know. I’d like to say that we’ll get famous and rich but more probably we’ll be searching for food in a rubbish bin.



10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Motorhead, Malignant Tumour, Black Sabbath, Disfear, Fu Manchu, Blooduster, Backyard Babies, Karma To Burn, Truckfighters, The Casualties, Kyuss etc

Nowadays we’re more into stoner/doom, but our love for crust and grindcore is still the same.



11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Cinema and fitness: our hidden dream is to become a band of bodybuilders.



12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Sure man! First of all thank you for this interview, it was funny to have this small chat. Then a big “see you soon” to all our friends all over Europe: check out our website www.rabiddogs.it or our Facebook profile coz there’ll be tasty news out soon!

Rise Of Avernus/Eigengrau/Code666/2018 Full Length Review

 Rise  Of  Avernus  are  a  band  from  Australia  that  plays  a  mixture  of  orchestral,  gothic,  doom and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of t heir  album  "Eigengrau"  which  will  be  released  in  2018  by  Code666.

  A  very  dark,  epic  and  symphonic  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  elements  of  classical  music  which  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  music  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  death  metal  growls.

  Most  of  the  slower  riffing  is  very  heavily  influenced  by  doom  metal  while t he  riffs  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  melody,  when  clean  vocals  are  utilized  they  give  the  songs  more  of  a  goth  feeling  along  with  the  guitar  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  and  when  screams  are  utilized  they  bring  in  a  touch  of  black  metal.

  Spoken  word  parts  also  being  used  briefly  and  when  the  music  finally  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  while  acoustic  guitars  when  they  are  utilized  give  the  songs  more  of  a  progressive  feeling  along  with  some  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Rise  Of  Avernus  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  goth,  progressive  and  orchestral  music  and  mixes  it  with  doom  and  death  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover relationships  and  allegory  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Rise  Of  Avernus  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  progressive,  orchestral,  goth,  doom  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Ad  Infinitum"  "Tempest"  and  "Into  Aetherium".  8  out  of  10.    

Heavydeath/Sarcophagus In The Sky/Aftermath Music/2017 CD Review

  Sweden's  Heavydeath  have  returned  with  a  new  recording  which  continues  the  doom/death  metal  style  of  previous  releases  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  album  "Sarcophagus  In  The  Sky"  which  was  released  by  Aftermath  Music.

  Atmospheric sounding  synths  start off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very  slow  and  heavy  doom  metal  direction  which  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  death  metal  growls  along  with  some  melodic  chants  also  being  utilized  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording.

  Most  of  the  tracks a re  very  long  and  epic  in  length  while  screams  can  also  be  heard  briefly  along  with  the  music  being  rooted  in  the  90's  but  also  maintaining  a  very  modern  vibe  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful sound  to  them  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  either  a  slow  or  mid  tempo  style.

  Heavydeath  creates  another  recording  that remains  true  to  the  doom/death  metal  style  of  previous  releases,  the  production  sounds  very  dark,  heavy  and  old  school while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Heavydeath  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  doom/death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Stone  Speaks  At  Winter"  "Sarcophagus  In  The  Sky"  and  "The  Entity".  8  out  of  10. 

    

Until The Sky Dies Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

I've been recording music - Industrial, Noise and - Metal for over 25 years. I have recorded under As All Die (Martial industrial Noise), Long Winters Stare (Symphonic Dark Doom metal) and Black Depths Grey Waves (Black Noise) . Until the Sky Dies was me wanting to mix Metal, Noise Rock and Avant sounds all in one for the first time. I recorded this with my longtime friend and brother Ryan Michalski we lived on the same street in NJ in the late 1980's. We are working on the next chapter for this band now as well.

2.You have an album coming out in November, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

Yes, Cimmerian Shade is releasing it Worldwide.  I would say its Post Metallic Hardcore with a love of Doom and Electronics

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

The Year Zero Blueprint is a concept piece.  It’s about a world where no one has freewill and everyone serves a purpose. Until one day a child is born with free will and the revolution begins. I would say it about the struggle of Control and Independence within one’s destiny.

4.Also all of the song titles start with Roman numerals, can you tell us a little bit more about this concept?


I didn't use titles because I wanted you to listen and feel free to understand the story in your own vision and not allow titles to cause judgement.


5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Until The Sky Dies'?

Just wanted to have a band name people would not forget and it ties into my other band As All Die which is recording a new album for Aesthetic Death label ..

6.Currently there are only 2 members in the band, are you open to working with other musicians or do you prefer to remain a duo?

We are talking about doing live show with other live members but as far as writing and recording it will be the two of us as it really is my project and a dear friend helps me make it something special.

7.The album is coming out on Cimmerian Shade Recordings, are you happy with the support that they have given you so far?

Hell yes !!! David owner of label gave me the freedom to have it sound as I wanted, the artwork done the way I wanted by amazing friend named Lindsay and got a great PR team with Earsplit getting the world out. He is what a good indie label should be.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of avant garde and extreme metal?

We have had raves by No Clean Singing and Svbterranean and others have hated the album. If you don't make music that causes passion on either side of the spectrum then you have failed. It’s brand new so far but were getting strong press and people have been very supportive.


9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?

As I said ,As All Die is working on new album. I have a Harsh Noise/Power electronics project under my own name of Clint Listing working on a tape release. Ryan Has a band called Cosmic Punch that is a Alt Punk band with some big time Pop influences. Ryan and I are also working on Heavy Punk band called Idiot Robot we recorded two songs and I may never go further.


10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

The next Until the Sky Dies album who knows it comes as it comes I will say we are going to experiment with Noise Rock more I have a love of labels like AmRep, Touch and Go, and  SST. It would be rooted in Doom and Avant Metal as that is what love.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Well, the bands that influenced me are Swans, Melvins, Dolorian, Cop Shoot Cop, Neurosis, Ulver, Paradise Lost, Devin Townsend, Dan Swano, Eyehategod, and Faith No More.

There are a few newer bands that really impress me I write a music zine myself called  The Doorway to. Go there to see what I like and hate lol.

12.What are some of your nonmusical interests?

I'm a DC and Marvel Comic nerd (Lantern Corps, Moon Knight and Iron man ), Sci Fi and  Horror stuff, Love Linux/ Android Computing and My Dog  Grizzly

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Check out  http://thedoorwayto.com  everything I do musically is there. Also remember challenge yourself and create (Music, Art , Writing, Cooking , Building etc) if you don't then you’re not allow to be a critic.

Beyond Forgiveness/The Great Wall/2017 Full Length Review

 Beyond  Forgiveness  are  a  band  from  Colorado  Springs,  Colorado  that  plays  a  very  symphonic form  of  goth  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2017  album  "The  Great  Wall".

  Symphonic  elements  start  off  the  album  and  also  mix  in  with  the  heavier  and  more  melodic  sides  of  the  music  while  death  metal  growls  are  also  used  at  times  along  with  the  riffing  also  mixing  in  doom  metal  influences  and  when  female  vocals  are  utilized  they  give  the  songs  a  more  operatic  feeling.

  A  great  amount  of  goth  metal  elements  can  also  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  along  with  some  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  some  songs  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  acoustic  guitars  and.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  and  as  the  album  progresses  classical orchestras  and  choirs  are  added  onto  the  recording  while grim screams  when  are  utilized  they  add  in  a  touch  of  black  metal  along  with  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  being  heard  when  the  music  speeds  up  briefly  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  on  a  later  track.

  Beyond  Forgiveness  plays  a  musical  style  that  is  mostly  rooted  in  symphonic  and  goth  metal  while  also  bringing  in  the  heaviness  of  death  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  fantasy  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Beyond  Forgiveness  are  a  very  great  sounding  symphonic  goth  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "End  Of  Time"  "Imprisoned"  "Moment  Of  Truth"  and  "I  Will  Fight  Until  The  End".  8  out  of  10.

Lorelei/Shadows Of October/Solitude Productions/2017 CD Review

 Lorelei  are  a  band  from  Russia  that  plays  a  mixture  of  goth,  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  album  "Shadows  Of  October"  which  will  be  released  on  November  24th  by  Solitude  Productions.

  Clean  playing  and  melodic  guitar  leads  start  off  the  album  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  before  adding  in  more  of  a  heavier  doom  metal  direction  and  when  vocals  are  added  onto  the  recording  they  are  mostly  death  metal  growls  and  the  music  is  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  90's.

  When  keyboards  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  tragic,  atmospheric  and  gothic  style  while  some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  along  with  the  riffs  also  bringing  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  when  screams  are  utilized  they  also  add  in  a  touch  of  black  metal  and  when  female  vocals  are  utilized  they  give  the  music  more  of  an  operatic  feeling,  a  couple   of  the  later  tracks  are  instrumentals  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard  and  all  of  the  music  sticks  to  a  very  slow  musical  direction.

  Lorelei  plays  a  musical  style  that  goes  back  to  the  90's  atmospheric  and  gothic  doom/death  metal  style,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Russian  and  cover  dark  and  depressive  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Lorelei  are  a  very  great  sounding  atmospheric  mixture  of  goth,  doom  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Ya  Severniy  Veter"  "I  Teho  Vetly  Shelestyat"  and  "Canticum  Angelorum".  8  out  of  10.

Graceless/Shadowlands/Raw Skull Recordz/2017 Full Length Review

  Graceless  are  a  band from  the  Netherlands  that  plays  an  old  school  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  album  "Shadowlands"  which  will  be  released  in  December  by  Raw  Skull  Recordz.

  A  very  heavy  and  old  school sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  the  music  being  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  90's  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  deep  death  metal  growls  as  well  as  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  being  very  heavily  influenced  by  doom  metal  and  all  of  the  songs  sound  like  they  could  of  easily  been  recorded  and  released  more  than  25  years  ago.

  A  great  amount  of  dark  and  morbid  sounding  melodies can  be  heard  in  the  guitar  riffing  while  the  solos  and  leads  are also  done  in  a  very  dark  yet  melodic  old  school  fashion  along  with  the  songs  also  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard,  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  long  and  epic  in  length  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  clean  guitars can  also  be  heard  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Graceless   plays  a  musical  style  that  goes  back  to  the  early 90's  era  of  doom  and  death  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  old  school  yet  professional  at  the  same  time  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark,  mythological  and  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Graceless  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Shadowlands"  "Sumerian  Flames"  "Die  On  Demand"  and  "When  The  last  Light  Fades".  8  out  of  10.

DeathCrawl Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
The album was just released, officially, about two weeks ago. We played with Weedeater back in September and sold quite a few copies to folks who checked us out then, but otherwise our main focus has been an album release show on November 18th. We’re playing in the near-by college town of Kent, OH at a great space known as the Stone Tavern at Michel’s. Our good friends in goosed and Night Goat are playing as well. We’ll be performing the record front to back and it’s going to be fun.

2.Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ form the stuff you have released in the past?
Acceptable Level Of Misery is our third LP and continues to display the type of heaviness we’re after – a bottom-heavy sludge that draws from many influences (including stoner, doom, noise rock, and grind). In the 10 years we’ve been an active band, we’ve stayed pretty true to our sound. I’d say the lyrics are little more abstract on this record than they were on 2012’s Accelerated Rate Of Decay.

3.This is your first album in 5 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during tat time frame?
My (Jason) wife and I had a couple of kids since 2011 and everything just sort of slowed down. In that five years, we practiced nearly every week and we played a handful of gigs every year (playing with the likes of EyeHateGod, Deafheaven, and Weedeater to name a few). The songs that make up Acceptable Level Of Misery were written over that time and we actually recorded it all back in the summer of 2016. It took us more than a year to finalize lyrics, art, and the mix.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
We tend to tell stories about apocalyptic scenarios: disasters (both natural and man-made), famine, disease, war, etc. We also have a more surreal side with songs like Lichen off our first record or Zenith from Acceptable Level Of Misery, where we let imagination take us to a strange place beyond fiction.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'DeathCrawl'?
Dave and I were working on another project that was destined to fail due to an inability to keep a steady drummer (Dave was on guitar initially). Dave switched to drums to try to at least get an EP recorded out of the ashes and lamented the songs were too fast and/or complicated and that he wished we had written slower songs that sounded like someone crawling to their death. That was it. We scrapped the songs we'd spent about 9 months on and started writing the first DeathCrawl songs. Damon joined shortly thereafter. We tuned low and played slow at first, but it didn't take long for us to start speeding up.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We’re a no-frills live band. We don’t have a fancy light show, or any multimedia aspects. What we do have are the three of us and our amp stacks and drums. Damon plays a full stack, I play through two bass stacks, and Dave built himself a gigantic drum set that barely fits on some stages we’ve played. We push a ton of air and people seem to dig it. As for best shows, we played a really fun dive bar in Wheeling, West Virginia that was a blast because the kids there had a vibrant scene and everyone was into it. We once played a blowout for my birthday where both my bands were on stage at once as we slogged through some heavy covers at a little dive bar in Akron, and that was a ton of fun. Both times we played with Weedeater were great as well as far as crowd response goes. Anytime we’ve been able to share a stage with Bridesmaid from Columbus, OH has been a great time to.  Truthfully, we don’t play a ton of gigs these days and those we do – we make it count. We play with bands we respect and every show since has been a good time. Ohio has a ton of fantastic bands that we’re happy to consider friends.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
It’s almost impossible for us to tour – we’re weekend warriors at best. As for upcoming shows, we have our CD release show on November 18 at the Stone Tavern at Michel’s in Kent, OH, and then we’re playing a party in January along with our good friends in Axioma and some others TBA at Now That’s Class in Cleveland. We say it every year – we’d love to get out of town (Pittsburgh?, Columbus?, Chicago?) in 2018, but only time will tell if we can do it. Our last out-of-town was already more than two years ago, with Battle Axe in Columbus.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of sludge and doom metal?
Response has been good, but it’s hard to get your name out there without a big promotional budget that we just don’t have. We’ve had huge support from The Sludgelord over the years. Aaron runs a great blog over there and has been very kind towards us. Back in the early days of the band, we had some interest from an Israeli label to put out a split, but we wound up self-releasing our contribution after we stopped hearing back from them. I’m not sure it’s much of an indication of popularity, but it didn’t take the Russian hackers long to put up .RAR files of Acceptable Level Of Misery.

9.Are any of the band members currently involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?
I play bass in a heavy rock band called supercorrupter. Dave runs a studio by the name of Bad Back Studios up in Cleveland. He’s worked with the likes of Fistula, Midnight, Gluttons, and Brain Tentacles to name just a few. He’s also playing guitar in a hardcore project that’s still incubating, and he’s the bassist for Cleveland thrash legends Soulless, whom seem to be on hiatus at the moment. Damon doesn’t currently play in any other bands.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We’ll keep writing heavy riffs and figure out some words to scream over them, and then we’ll drag our thousand+ pounds of equipment out to a few clubs a couple of times a year and do it live.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Neurosis, Godflesh, and Crowbar are the obvious influences on us. Other influences are far and wide – anything from Steely Dan to AmRep Noise Rock. As for new releases, I have found a lot to enjoy in 2017, including the new Chelsea Wolfe, Pachinko, and Unsane albums to name a few. I’m really excited to hear the goosed record that’s coming out hopefully soon, and equally excited to hear the new Pillärs record (killer sludge/punk from Cleveland). We try to keep up on new releases – it’s easy to turn into the guy that hasn’t been inspired by an album in over a decade by losing touch with what’s happening out there.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
Sci-Fi/Dystopian cinema/literature, Making (and consuming) beer, old cars and motorcycles.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
We’re sitting on a couple of songs we initially tracked back in 2011 that I hope we finally finish and release for free on Bandcamp in 2018. These tracks were intended for a split that never happened and were forgotten about as we got more focused on recording Acceptable Level Of Misery. Keep an eye on our bandcamp site (http://deathcrawl.bandcamp. com) to grab that once it does become available. Thank you for taking an interest in us spreading the word about DeathCrawl!

Ixion Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?



Hello !  Well, as we do a lot of things by ourselves, the weeks following the recording and mixing were quite busy with the artwork. But since the release, things are not in our hands anymore ! We were waiting for the first feedbacks, and they seems to be very positive, so it makes us very happy of course !
And we already think about the following…



2.Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?



I would say this new album is an extension of our musical universe, on its brightest side.

Our sound is based on a combination of melodic / atmospheric doom metal and ambient / electronic music. And it has also always been enriched with elements from gothic metal, symphonic scores, or celtic music, and marked by the use of different kind of vocals.

For Return, we have developed, at least on some tracks, a more luminous vibe, and also introduced some post-rock and cold-folk shades, with quite a prevalence of clean vocals. This is consistent with the more terrestrial themes on this opus. But our identity is still clearly recognizable, and this is a new journey through vastness !



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



From the beginning of the project, we have chosen to base our artworks and lyrics on science-fiction concepts.  It just perfectly matches this kind of spatial and cold music, and we love to take our listeners on a journey through ethereal worlds !  More precisely it appeals to the “contemplative” side of science-fiction, with space as a main character, huge landscapes, and humanity lost and questioning through the infinity…
We are often inspired by some “hard SF” books, or some films.



4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Ixion'?



Ixion is the name of a planet in the Hyperion saga, and we simply liked this sound !
It is also a real celestial object in the Kuiper belt, numbered 28978…





5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?



Well, we are not a live band at this moment. We would love to play concerts, but we encounter two difficulties. First, it should be quite difficult to build a line-up to reproduce our music in live conditions. Secondly, it would require substantial means to develop a visual show matching our music and our thematics.





7.The new album came out on 'Finisterian Dead End', are you happy with the support the label has given you so far?


We were very happy with the work of the label for the release of our previous album Enfant de la Nuit. It has led us to a new step in terms of recognition. So it was quite natural to team up again with them. And we’re in a trusted relationship with Laurent (the label manager), who lives in Brittany as we do !



8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of atmospheric doom metal?

We have fans all around the world, which is really great, and for several years now, their feedback is really very positive !  Of course, not every doomster likes our music because of this combination with ambient/electronic – but those who are sensitive to this genre tend to love our music. Our audience is probably quite moderate in size, but they are real fans !




9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?



It’s going to be interesting to start with a blank page again ! The tracks on Return come from a sequence of composition in 2012-2014, as for the tracks on Enfant de la Nuit !
But I have already some ideas for the future. Our universe is wide enough to explore its different corners. For example, I consider making a more radical work in terms of coldness, perhaps on an EP.


10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?



Historically, I was influenced by ambient/electronic on one side, and curious about “classic” metal on the other side. Quickly I’ve focused on bands or artists who blend these two approaches, as well as a melodic trend, regardless of whether it was gothic, doom, or prog… So I can mention My Dying Bride, Swallow the Sun, Shape of despair, Paradise Lost, several funeral doom projects, but also Katatonia, Dark Tranquility, or Amorphis for example.
And simultaneously, I stay a huge fan of atmospheric music in the broad sense. I love some artists from post-rock, trip-hop, shoegaze, not forgetting 70’s-80’s electronic music. I would name Sigur Ros, Archive, M83, Klaus Schuzle, JM Jarre, Vangelis, and I’m quite interested by the current synthwave scene.
One point may surprise our listeners : it’s with the post-rock and atmospheric dimension that we feel closer with Yannick, even if he has also some metal roots, and know how to produce it.



11.What are some of your non musical interests?

In the artistic field, I like cinema and books, especially science-fiction as you can imagine !
Otherwise, I like nature, hiking, or gardening.


12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?


Well thank you for your interest, and a huge thanks to our listeners and fans for their support !
We hope that Return will take you to a journey out of time !

Svarthart Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
We are currently focusing on playing as much shows as we can. These days we only play in our own region (Belgium
and The Netherlands). We are also writing a follow-up album to our debut. The first new track "Waiting" has already been released.

2.How would you describe your musical sound?
Doom/death metal with a lot of focus on melody. In the style of early My Dying Bride.

3.The band has been around since 2011 but waited until 2016 to release an album, can you tell us a little bit more about the earlier years?
In the beginning we started as a small project while the band members played in other bands. In the first years we focused on writing and recording some songs. After we had a couple of songs and the sound we were happy about, we started to rehearse them and making a playlist for a few local gigs. During these years we released a small demo with 2 tracks on it. After we did a few shows we started to record a full-length. But we did the recording on a very slow tempo, so we did not have to rush anything.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
We are mainly focusing on the darker and worse things in life. There is always some kind of story behind every song, for example a family member who died, tragic love affairs or just situations which get you down.For us, these darker emotions in life give a lot to express in the lyrics.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Svarthart'?
We wanted our band to have a dutch sounding name. Svarthart is actually more Norwegian sounding than dutch, but it's just an easy sounding name with a little rhyme in it.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We have played a weekend of live shows this year together with French doom band Lying Figures. The shows we did in Antwerpen (Belgium) and Tilburg (The Netherlands) were really amazing. We will always remember them and it was also fun making new friends during these shows.We try to be as doomy as we can during the live shows, with very sober light and headbanging on the faster songs.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
We are planning another weekend next year with another foreign doom band. But we are still organizing, so I can't say anything more yet.

8.Currently the band is getting distribution through 'Sepulchral Silence', are you happy with the support that they have given you so far?
Yes, they do a great job of spreading our music online. It sure helped us to get some more fans because they can get you on streaming services such as Deezer and Spotify. Releasing music as a band only without help from a label is quite difficult these days.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of doom and death metal?
We have not really gone worldwide by ourselves. But at the local shows we played so far, we got some compliments of the fans and have sold records at almost every show we did. Of course doom metal is a smaller genre which not everyone likes, but we just try to improve ourselves every time. And we are still a young band, so we still need to develop and evolve a little further.

10.What is going on with 'Verderf' these days a band that also shares a couple of the same members?
That band is currently on hold, because we lack the time combining multiple bands and work.

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
I think musically we will always keep playing the doom/death metal genre, because it's the music we love the most. We will mainly focus on upgrading our overall sound as a band and keep on improving our melodical skills.

12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
For me it started out with early My Dying Bride, Anathema and Paradise Lost. These bands are the founders of the doom/death metal genre, so of course we pour some musical inspiration out of their albums. But we always add our own elements so we don't sound like a copy of other bands.
Nowadays I listen a lot more to the local doom scene over here, because we have great and talented bands like Officium Triste, Faal and Treurwilg which have all released great stuff to listen to!

13.What are some of your non musical interests?
Just enjoying life as much a I can, spending time with friends and seeing some places of the world.

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
I hope we can remain playing and listening to music for the rest of our lives. And I wish a good health for everyone!

Dreamgrave/Monuments I. The Anxious/Prog Heaven Hungary/2017 EP Review

  Dreamgrave  are  a  band  from  Hungary  that  plays  a  mixture  of  neo-classical,  prog,  goth,  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  ep  "Monuments  I.  The  Anxious"  which  was  released  by  Prog  Heaven  Hungary.

  Acoustic  guitars  start  off  the  ep  along  with  some  goth  style  female  vocals  a  few  seconds  later  while  stringed  instruments  are  also  used  at  times  and  they  also  mix  in  with  the  heavier sections  of  the  songs  which  also  introduces  male  vocals  onto  the  recording  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  bringing  in  more  of  a  melodic  prog  rock  style.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  neo  classical  as  well  as  some  avant  garde  elements  are  also  used  at  times  along  with  some  death metal  growls  also  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  which  also  add  in  a  touch  of  black  metal  at  times  and  most  of  the  music  sticks  to  a  slow  direction  and  also  mixes  in  a  great  amount  of  doom  metal  influences.

  Dreamgrave  plays  a  musical  styles  that takes  prog,  neo-classical,  goth,  doom  and  death  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  melancholy,  personal  feelings  and  disbelief  themes,

  In  my  opinion  Dreamgrave  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of   neo-classical,  prog,  goth,  doom  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Monuments".  8  out  of  10.