Oksennus/Kolme Toista/Nuclear War Now! Productions/2018 CD Review

  Oksennus  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  has  had  music  reviewed  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  very  dark,  cavernous  and  experimental  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "Kolme  Toista"  which  was  released  by  Nuclear  War  Now!  Productions.

  Blast  beats,  fast  riffs  and  death  metal  growls  start  off  the  album  along  with  the  guitar  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  technical  yet  progressive  fashion  while  the  song  is  divided  into  3  different  parts  and  is  40  minutes  in  length  as  well  as  the  band  keeping  the  same  repetitive  riffing  going  on  for  a  few  minutes.


  When  the  music  slows  down  a  great  amount  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  elements  can  be  heard  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along with  some  grim  screams  and  melodic  chants  also  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  as  well  as  the  music  also  getting  very  experimental  and  avant  garde  at  times  and  also  adds  in  a  small  amount  of  piano,  trumpet,  accordion,  harmonica  and  kantele.

  Oksennus  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  their  experimental  and  cavernous  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes. 

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Oksennus  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  experimental,  avant  garde,  doom  and  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  8  out  of  10. 

Maze Of Feelings Interview

Answered: Marcin Warzyński (MW) and (KW) Krzysztof Wieczerzycki.

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

MW:  Me and Krzysztof knew each other couple of years and played together before but those days didn't recorded anything. After two years we meet together again and decided to jam together. We took couple of beers and guitars and started play without any plan. After few months our music was done. We recorded rehearsal with metronome and presented our music to our friend Michał Mularczyk. It was the most important moment because he decided to be our executive producer. From this moment all things went very dynamic because we felt full of energy to go forward with our music.

2.Recently you have released your first album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

KW: The point is that we listen a lot of kinds of metal music. We have a wide point of that. We have a personal favourites but also the same. These influences were impact on music creation process. We knew that we thinking the same about our music and we match together perfectly. Because of that music creation process was a big pleasure. It's quite hard to say about one style because all 7 songs are differ between each other. You can find there a lot of metal styles: doom, death, black, progressive and metal classics influences. Important thing was to release our music with high quality to show all details. We knew where we going.


3.The band has been around since 2014 but waited until 2018 to release an album, can you tell us a little bit more about the first 4 years?

MW: Music creation process was not long but we had to find  right musicians. As we said - Michał Mularczyk gave us a lot of energy. We decided to send our rehearsal to Daray and he went in. Since september 2015 until end of this year drums, guitars and bass were recorded. We recorded whole album at Invent Sound Studio in Bydgoszcz where the Mastermind is Szymon Grodzki knowed as our Music Producer and bass player. On Yanuary 2016 Szymon recorded keyboards and samples which we arrranged together. We have started thinking about vocals.and then Wojciech Diovis Szymański from Mroczna Strefa and official distributor of Solitude Production in Poland have sent to us Mare Infinitum "Alien Monolith God" album. When we lstened this album we felt that Andrey Karpukhin and Ivan Guskov are the vocalists with big potential which could be perfect for us so we sent them our studio stuff.
KW: Yes, and turned out that our music is they pair of boots so they join us. Unreachable work did The Mastermind of voices Andrey Karpukhin who made the lyrics and arranged all vocal lines. Demo voices was created in Moscow but recording process was made at Invent Sound Studio with Szymon and our participation where unreachable duties showed Andrey and Ivan Guskov who presented few kinds of voice from clean to growl. Ivan convinced his colleague Olesya Levina to make female voices. We spend a lot of time on mix and mastering which Szymon made with us during 3 months. We wanted to reach maximum of organic and natural sound which to be the most close to rehearsal sound.
MW: When everything was done we started to looking for label to release this album. It took couple of months too. We was thinking from the beginning about Solitude Production... and finally they signed us. Thank you so much Solitude Production !!! :) 

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

MW: The lyrics are very deep and reflective. You find there a little bit of fiction but most they describe real life. Society problems, terrorism, war victims, drug abuse, social problems and society outstanding. Everybody can find  own history there.
KW: Andrey perfectly match themes of lyrics to emotions which includes the songs.  He created 7 novels. Novels about human's feelings. Lyrics and music taken you to the voyage through the maze of feelings.




5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Maze of Feelings'?

KW: We created our music without any plan. We wanted simply to take ourselves to the voyage through the own feelings.
MW: Yes, just we wanted to use the music to take outside our own emotions. These seven songs created our own maze of feelings.

6.A couple of band members live in Russia while the remaining live in Poland, how does this work out in the recording process?

MW: As we said before Andrey and Ivan prepared demo voices in Moscow but everybody agreed that the best idea is to record vocal lines at Invent Sound with Szymon. It was possible another time thanks to our executive producer Michał Mularczyk.
KW: Voices session was very intensive and creative. We was full charged of ideas and Szymon made them real. It was 5 days of great hard work and funny friendship time.   

7.Has the band done any live shows or has this been a studio project so far?

MW: So far yes but we are the band god damn it 😊 ! We waiting for good circumstances. This is a point. We will be fight for it because our music sounds  live much better. We are pretty sure about it.


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

KW: We are debutants you know so every feedback make us happy. Feedback of doom and death metal fans is really good.  This interview can brings more listeners for example so we really grateful for support from your side. Thanx a lot!



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?

MW: We are focus only on Maze of  Feelings and not participate in other bands. We put all of our energy in this band. Andrey Karpukhin and Ivan Guskov our vocalists have own band sludge/stoner band - Dopehaze. They are very creative musicians and they are involved in many of bands. Andrey participate for example in Abstract Spirit, Comatose Vigil, Rage of Khali, Ivan share the music with Mare Infinitum, Red River Hog. Szymon Grodzki bas player deal with Gnida and Sammath Naur. He is the owner of Invent Sound Studio where we recorded this album. Daray who recorded drums is known from the bands as Dimmu Borgir, Vesania and Vader. 

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

KW: It hard to say because we have wide look on metal music and we mixing many styles but usually we focus on doom, death and black metal influences. We trying to make music through our hearts and feelings. This must be honest music. It depends on flow. 


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?
,
MW: As we said before mainly inspired us doom death and black but we didn't create some limits. We finding inspiration in classic metal sound, progressive styles and we looking for beyond the metal as well. We love music generally but If we talking about metal the absolutely gods are Black Sabbath. 

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

KW: We are breathing the music.
MW: Yes, this is our great passion.


13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
MW & KW: Firstfull we want to thanks for this interview and your attention. Thanks to you more people can find our music.
Metalheads! Please listen the music, have a good life and keep the distance to everything. 

Body Void Interview

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

We've been very busy trying to stay on the road as much as possible. And we've been working hard on new music.

2.In May you have a new album coming out, 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?

We're definitely going for a similar heavy/noisy sludge sound as on our previous album, Ruins, but we tried to flesh out every aspect of that recording. We just wanted everything to be 'more.' Faster, slower, heavier, noisier, etc. The songs are also longer than the ones on Ruins. Our intention was for each song to be an emotional journey of sorts and to have more pronounced peaks and valleys.

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

Mental illness, anxiety, depression, guilt, gender dysphoria, vulnerability, trauma, life and death. 

4.Originally the band was called  'Devoid', what was the cause of the name change and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Body Void'?

The name change was almost purely practical. There are maybe a dozen or more other past and present metal bands with the name Devoid and we wanted to change our name to something no one else had and something a little more thematically relevant. "Body Void" is the name of a track on our 2nd demo. I always loved the title and even before we decided to change our name I thought if we could rename the band we'd use Body Void. The opportunity presented itself before the release of Ruins and we went for it. The name has several different meanings. It's a reference to the feeling of gender dysphoria, but also to the intimate relationship between the human body and the cosmos. I think it has a performative meaning as well that rejects the tendency and social practice of defining and limiting a person by their surface-level characteristics.

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

Our favorite shows tend to be more intimate. We love playing in houses or weird small venues. We played at a tiny breakfast spot in Denver with our friends Oryx last year, which was a blast. We also played a bondage/drag themed wedding in Oakland a couple years ago with a handful of punk bands that was a lot of fun. Live, we try to be loud and overwhelming. Sometimes we succeed I think.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

Yes! We are touring the US in June and July in support of the album.

7.The new album is going to be released through 3 different labels, can you tell us a little bit more about the deal you have worked out with these different labels?

It's mostly just good dudes supporting music they believe in, which we very much appreciate.

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

The feedback has been very kind and encouraging. People from around the world letting us know they dig our music is very surreal and means a lot to us.

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

It still feels like we have a lot of ground to cover. The musical vein we're trying to tap definitely hasn't run dry as of yet. We've been writing and recording at a steady pace and if anything we'd love to release new music more frequently. For right now we're down to just go wherever our interests take us musically. There are some more ambitious projects we have in mind for the future, but we feel like we're in a good spot where we are now.

10.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?

Some of our influences include Khanate, Electric Wizard, Grief, Thou, Pharmakon, Lustmord, and Godspeed! You Black Emperor. We have a background in noise and experimental music as much as punk and metal so those play a large part in our sound as well. Right now I'm listening to the new Vile Creature, Of Feather and Bone, Leechfeast, and Occlith albums as well as some older but still recent stuff from Dakhma, Crawl, and Lingua Ignota. A lot of dark ambient and some indie/folk stuff recently as well.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Writing, art, movies, tv, philosophy, politics, podcasts. All the good stuff.

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

Thank you for your questions!

Zatokrev/Self Titled/Czar Of Bullets/2018 LP Re-Issue Review

  Zatokrev  are  a  band  from  Switzerland  that  has  had  music  reviewed  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  avant  garde, post,  sludge,  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of their  self  titled  2014  album  which  was  re-issued  on  vinyl  by  Czar  of  Bullets  in  2018.

  Harsh  noises  along  with  some  heavy  doom metal  riffing  which  also  captures  the  heaviness  of  sludge  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  angry  screams  a  few  seconds  later  as  well  as  the  riffs  also  bringing  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  and  when  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  an  atmospheric  post  metal  style.

  At  times  the  music  gets  very  experimental  and  avant  garde  while  death  metal  growls  are  also  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with  both  the  riffs  and  leads  also  bringing  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Clean  vocals  are  also  added  onto  some  of  the  tracks  and  as  the  album  progresses  drones  can  also  be  heard  briefly  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  the  music  also  getting  very  atmospheric  at  times  and  all  of  the  music  sticks  to  either  a  slow  or  mid  tempo  style.

  On  this  recording  Zatokrev  took  post,  sludge,  doom  and  death  metal  and  mixed  it  with  some  experimental  and  avant  garde  elements  to create  something  that  was  very  original  for  2004  and  still  can  hold  it  up  to  the  modern  bands  of  2018,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  was  a  very  great sounding  recording  from  Zatokrev  and  if  toy a re  a  fan  of  avant  garde,  post,  sludge,  doom  and  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  re-issue.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS INCLUDE  "Reveal"  and  "Alive".  8  out  of  10.