Contaminated/Pestilential Decay/Crawling Chaos Productions/2014 EP Review

  Contaminated  are  a  1  man  band  from  Australia  that  plays  a  very  dark  and  evil  form  of  doom/death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2014  ep  "Pestilential  Decay"  which  was  released  by  Crawling  Chaos  Productions.

    A  very  dark  and  early  90's  style  death  metal  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  growls  and  blast  beats  as  well  as  slowing  down  and  letting  the  doom  metal  element  dominate  while  also  keeping  around  the  fast  and  brutal  parts.

  On  the  other  tracks  the  music  starts  taking  a  very  raw  approach  to  doom  death  metal  along  with  some  evil  sounding  melodies  and  a  sound  that  is  very  close  to  the  earlier  Incantation  material  an d there  are  only  4  short  tracks  present  on  this  ep  and  non e of  the  tracks  have  any  of  the  newer  sounds  of  the  past  20  years.

  Contaminated  bring  back  the  dark  and  evil  side  of  death/doom  metal  of  the  early  90's  with  this  recording  and  the music  is  very  blasphemous  and  old  school  sounding  along  with  a  92  style  death  metal  production  and  lyrics  that  cover  darkness,  evil  and  death  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Contaminated  are  a  very  great  sounding  dark  and  evil,  old  school  death/doom  metal  project  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Untold  Depths"  and  "Pestilential  Decay".  8  out  of  10.  

Korseld/Jordevandring/2014 CD Review

  Korseld  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  plays   an  atmospheric mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2014  album  "Jordevandring".

  A  dark  and  symphonic  sound  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  more heavy  and  melodic  direction  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  and  blast  beats  and  after  awhile  solos  and  leads  become  a  part  of  the  music.

  As  the  album  progresses  more  melodic  doom  metal  elements  are  added  into  the  recording  and  the  band  slows  down  a  bit  on  the  other  tracks  and  the  music  is  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  90's  doom/death  metal  sound  and  on  some  of  the  tracks  you  can  hear  a  small  amount  of  clean  singing  being  utilized  along  with  powerful  sounding  bass  lines,  on  some  of  the  later  tracks  keyboards  make  a  return  to  the  album  along  with  a  small  amount  of  violins  which  also  bring  a  classical  feeling  to  some  of  the  tracks  while  the  music  mostly  sticks  to  a  very  heavy,  dark  and  atmospheric  direction.

  Korseld  have  a  sound  on  this  album  that  could  easily  be  mistaken  for  an  early  90's  doom/death  metal  record  and  a  very  great  quality  sounding  on  at  that,  along  with  a  very  professional  sounding  production  and  lyrics  that  are  written  in  Swedish  and  cover  dark  and  depressive  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Korseld  are  a  very  great  sounding  atmospheric  doom/death  metal b and  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Mote  Med  Doden"  "Dagen  Da  Kriget  Kom"  "Gryningstid"  and  "Jordevandring".  8  out  of  10.  

Elsewhere Shine/The Wired/2013 Demo Review

  Elsewhere  Shine  are  a  band  from  Serbia  that  plays  an  avant  garde  form  of  gothic/doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2013  demo  "The  Wired".

  A  dark  and  atmospheric  sound  starts  off  the  ep  before  going  into  a  sorrowful  and  acoustic  direction  along  with  female  gothic  vocals  and  after  awhile  keyboards  and  guitar  leads  become  a  part  of  the  music  along  with spoken  word  parts  before  adding  in  the  heaviness  of  metal  which  leads  to  a  mixture  of  melodic  vocals  and  death  metal  growls.

  The  3  tracks  on  this  recording  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  on  the  alter  tracks  ambient  sound s become  a  huge  part  of  the  music  along  with  a  mixture  of  both  clean  and  heavy  parts  which  also  bring  a  poetic  feeling  to  the  music  and  the death  metal  growls  add  an  evil  edge  to  the  recording  when  they  are  utilized..

  Elsewhere  Shine  bring  in  a  very  interesting  sound  with  their  music  with  the  heaviness of  doom/death  metal  mixed in  with  the  keyboards  and  gothic  vocals  along  with  acoustic  guitars  that  bring  a  classical  and  folk  music  feeling  to  the  recording,  the production  sounds  very  professional  and  the  lyrics  cover  poetic  and  mythology  themes.    

  In  my  opinion  Elsewhere  Shine  are  a  very  great  sounding  avant  garde,  gothic  doom/death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  demo.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Sepia".  8  out  of  10.  

Ice Dragon/Tentacle Interview

1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with both ice Dragon and Tentacle these days?

We've been very busy making new material for the next Ice Dragon album. It's some of the best recording we've ever done, but without sounding too sterile and "studio"-ish. Trying to finish up vocals and bells and whistles now, as long as those go smoothly it should be ready in a month or two. I'm taking my time on the mixes, trying new things, weirdo stuff, etc. We have riffs and lyrics kicking around for the next Tentacle project, but realistically I don't know if we'll start working on that until the fall. But you never know, we may get in a bad mood one of these nights and lay something heavy down. 

2.How would you describe the musical sound of both bands and also how do they differ from each other?

Tentacle was meant to be very "doom" from the get go and we're going to keep it that way. We basically wanted to get a little more experimental and psychedelic with Ice Dragon so we figured we'd have Tentacle as our outlet for the heavy downtuned stuff. I wait until I'm in a really shitty mood to do the vocals and I can get out all my aggression. Ice Dragon is meant to be a bit more "rock", not so gloomy doomy, and we do whatever the hell we want, stylistically. 

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explore with both bands?

I guess a lot of the lyrics are the sort of introspective, troubled mind kind of stuff. Why are we here, and why does everything suck so bad, that kind of thing creeps in there a lot. But then there's the nice songs about love and ladies and nature, sometimes you need to have a few of those too. I try to stay away from doing too much of the fantasy stuff in the lyrics, songs about wizards and witches and shit, but they can work well if not done too often and placed right. I'll write four or five songs in a few days and then maybe nothing for a month, or switch to another project with a different theme and try that out for a while instead. It's usually easiest when we already have an overall idea for the album, not necessarily a "concept", but at least a rough idea on what the lyrics should be like. Then I know to go heavy on the moody brooding, or throw in some psychedelic love vibes. 

4.With Tentacle you cover a lot of Lovecraft themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this author?

It doesn't really get any better in terms of creepiness. He has this sort of outcast, outsider feel to everything he does and I really appreciate that as well. There are things he writes about so well that you would think only someone who actually experienced them could do so. And maybe he did. "Pickman's Model" might be slightly autobiographical... who knows. Most people into heavy music dig Lovecraft, and a lot of bands have songs based on works of his. I don't really like the idea of having a song based on one story though, or named specifically after it, so I tried to make my lyrics a bit "inspired by" and not so strict with one story or another. An homage of sorts. 

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the names 'Ice Dragon' and "Tentacle'?

I suppose there really isn't much meaning in either of them. Ice Dragon is one of those names where you tell it to people and they either go "Whoa! That's a killer name" or "Ice Dragon? Are they power metal? Sounds lame". But we've grown into it at this point. The original thought was that it would be cool to find an old record in a thrift store with a name like Ice Dragon on it. I'd be psyched to find that. Tentacle is in keeping with the whole Lovecraftian vibe for that band, pretty straightforward I guess. And it's a one word name that sounds cool and hadn't been taken yet. 

6.What are some of the best shows that you have played with both bands and also how would you describe the stage performance of each project?

Well, Tentacle hasn't actually played any shows yet but we're definitely into the idea and may get around to it soon. Ice Dragon played a lot of shows early on and now we hardly play out at all. The best one we've ever done was at The Middle East Upstairs, which is a club in Cambridge, MA near us. The sound was perfect and we actually had good, working monitors. For once. There's a live version of "Aquageddon" floating around on the nets from that show. We had our drummer out in front and I stood behind him, I'd like to do that again for the next show. 

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

Not really. We've never been much of a live band, and as we get older have less and less interest in it. I'm sure there will a few shows here and there and we'll try our best to make them memorable. 

8.Recently PRC Music has re-issued albums from both bands, what are your thoughts on the final product?

It's amazing to finally have all these albums released, and together all in one place is even better. PRC did a great job on the layouts too. Funny thing is we have so many digital releases and I don't even own an mp3 player. Haha. I have an old flip-phone that only makes calls, and don't have an "i" anything. I still play cd's, records, tapes, you name it. I like the act of picking out an album, opening it up, and inserting into a player. Call me old fashioned. There's a certain "fixed" feeling to it, like you're in it for the whole album. You're not going to skip around and cut songs off halfway through like the kids do nowadays. Anyway, we're very psyched on the releases through PRC, a huge thanks to them for finally getting these out. 

9.With Ice Dragon you have participated on a lot of split albums, out of all the bands you worked with on this splits, which one did you enjoy the most?

Hm. That's a tricky one. The only band that we technically "worked with" was Pilgrim I suppose. I recorded both of our tracks at Ron's Wrecker Service, they came over one weekend and got wasted and we BBQ'd. It was great. I wish every time we did a split we could have the other bands over to hang out. The other two were with bands that don't live near us, Kroh from England, and Fellwoods from Portland OR. The Kroh split came out real cool, Devizes put it out and they did a killer job on the vinyl and layout. The Fellwoods split was supposed to get a release through Svart, but I'm sure what the hell happened there. It's a bummer because that's one of my fav songs of ours and their track rips. Maybe one day someone will release it, the art is insanely cool too. Oh well. 

10.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to both bands by fans of doom, sludge and stoner metal?

We're all amazed at how well it's been received. Especially some of the newer stuff that is more psychedelic and pop/rock sounding, I think our fans have been very open minded to it all, which is really refreshing. Good tunes are good tunes, regardless of genre, but sometimes people get hung up on that. The doom/sludge crowd is definitely into the Tentacle stuff, and we've had some amazing reviews for it. I think if Tentacle wasn't an "Ice Dragon side project" then people would dig it a lot more actually. C'est la vie. 

11.When can we expect new material from each band and also where do you see the projects heading into musically doing the future? 

Ice Dragon should have a new album done in a month or so, roughly. It's a weird one, but it rocks. Probably going to get weirder and more Rock-ish with the ID stuff in the future and heavier with Tentacle. May be a bit longer for something new from Tentacle, but it'll happen this year most likely. 

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

We all love 60's and 70's rock, and a lot of the pop/psych stuff from that era as well. It's funny because basically that's what we're trying to do but it ends up not sounding a whole lot like that stuff because all of our influences get in there and change it around. I have no idea how we even got around to making the Tentacle stuff to be honest, that one still surprises me. I listen to a LOT of different music from different genres and time periods, so it's hard to really pin it down to a few. The other day I was in a bad mood and played all my Napalm Death tapes in a row, then right after listened to the Bee Gees. Haha. 

13.How would you describe your views on Occultism?

I dabble. I'm more into the 70's boobie movie style of occultism, like weird outfits and dancing around to bongo music while someone says cool shit in a deep voice. Candles and witches, magic daggers and spellpouches. Stuff like that. I don't really get the dudes who try to pretend like it's all super serious and worry about pronouncing demon names right or memorizing stuff. Most of those guys have never even been in a fight and live with their moms. Can you imagine if a demon actually materialized in front of them? Haha. Poke Runyon movies are awesome, I love those. And Simon: King of the Witches, he's the kind of occultist I can get behind. 

14.What are some of your non musical interests?

I like messing around with electronics a bit, I've built more than a few oddball music-related things. Synths, pedals, studio stuff. I really like working on old cars, but lately I've been too broke to have a good project. There's nothing like getting into a greasy old jumper, drinking a few beers and turning wrenches. I like the shitty cars that no one wants, crappy old 70's stuff with straight/slant sixes and a dent in the door. That's my style. Movies are kind of a passion of mine as well. I have an insanely huge VHS collection, mostly old stuff, B movies. Joe just gave me both of the Dr. Phibes movies on vhs, that was awesome of him. We got to be extras in a new animated film coming out soon from Gorgonaut too. It's going to be insane. I got to stab one of the directors in the neck and everything. 

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

Always drink upstream from the herd, don't squat with your spurs on, and lettin' the cat outta the bag is a lot easier than puttin' it back in. 

https://www.facebook.com/icedragonofficial

https://www.facebook.com/pages/TENTACLE/325252554174356

HeavyDeath/Post Mortem In Aeternum Tenebrarum/Caligari Records/2014 Demo Review

  HeavyDeath  are  a  duo  from Sweden  that  plays  a  very  old  school  form  of  doom/death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  demo  "Post  Mortem  In  Aeternum  Tenebrarum"  which  was  released  by  Caligari Records.

  A  dark  and  evil  sounding  intro  starts  off  the  demo  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  an  early  90's  doom/death  metal  direction  along  with  some  growls  and  a  good  amount  of  depressing  sounding melodies  which  they  also  bring  into  the  solos  and  leads  they  provide  for  the  demo  along  with  a  small  amount  of  high  pitched  screams.

  The  music  on  the  demo  sound s like  it  could  of  easily  been  released  in  1992  at  the  beginning  of  the  death/doom  genre  and  the  band  also  adds  a  small  amount  of  clean  singing  and  melodic chanting  on  one  of  the  tracks,  and  the  songs  have  a  Swedish  death  metal  feeling  to  them  but  done  in  a  slower  manner  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  long  and  epic  in  length  and one  of  the   all  instrumental  and    also  brings  in  a  spacey  feeling  to  the  demo.

  HeavyDeath  goes  back  20  years  with  their  music  and  brings  doom/death  metal  back  to  its  heavier,  darker  and  raw  roots,  along  with  and  old  school  sounding  production  and  lyrics  that  cover  death  and  gore  themes.

  In  my  opinion  HeavyDeath  are  a  very  great  sounding  doom/death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  demo.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Fathomless  Casket"  and  "Into  the  Heavy  Death".  8  out  of  10.  

  

Memories Of A Dead Man/Ashes Of Joy/Send the Wood Music/Season Of Mist/2014 CD Review

  Memories  Of  A  Deadman  are  a band  from  France  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death,  doom,  dark,  post  metal,  stoner  and  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Ashes  of  Joy"  which  was  released  as  a  joint  effort  between  Send  the  Wood  Music  and  Season  of  Mist.

  A  very  dark  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  a  small  amount  of  melody  which  also  leads  to t he  bass  and  guitar  leads  becoming  a  part  of  the  music  along  with  a  post  doom  metal  feeling  before  adding  in a  mixture  of  growls  and  screams.

  The  album  really  starts  to  find  its  style  on  the  other  tracks  creating  a  doom/death  orientated  form  of  post  metal  along  with  a  heavy  hardcore  influence  and  they  also  bring  in  some  clean  singing  to  brings  in  elements  of  stoner  rock  and  progressive  metal  and  they  also  bring  a  great  amount  of  atmospheric  elements  in  their  music  and  the  band  also  brings  in  a  mixture  of  clean  and  heavy  parts  along  wit h some  long  and  epic  in  length  tracks  as  well  as  adding  psychedelic  touches  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording,  as  the  album  progresses female  vocals  are  added  onto  a  couple  of  the  songs.

  Memories  Of  A   Deadman  create  a  very  interesting  sound  with   their  music  taking  the  heaviness  of  death  and  doom  metal  and  mixing  them  with  the  breakdowns  of  hardcore  as  well  as  the  melody  of  stoner,  post  and  progressive  rock  to  create  their  own  sound  along  with  a  very  professional  sounding  production  and  lyrics  that  cover  dark  and  depressive  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Memories  Of  A  Deadman  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death,  doom,  dark,  post  metal,  stoner  and  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Aurora"  "Wounded  Knee"  "Draft  Of  The  Second"  and  "The  Swans  March".  8  out  of  10.

Brea/Guests Among Clouds/2014 CD Review

 

  Brea  are  a  band  from  Oklahoma  that  plays  a  very  progressive  form  of  sludge  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2014  album  "Guests Among  Clouds".

  A  very  heavy  and  retro  style  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  melodic  vocals  and  prog  metal  elements  and  they  also  bring  in  guitar  leads.  melody  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  after  awhile  death  metal  growls  are  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording.

  When  acoustic  guitars  are  added  into  the  music  the  album  starts  having  a  more  progressive  feeling  to  it  and  you  can  hear  a  great  amount  of  Tool  and  Opeth  influences  on  the  tracks  that  are  present  on  this  recording  but  they  are  mixed  in  wit h a  more  heavy  sludge/doom  metal  sound,  when  the  band  goes  into  some  of  the  cleaner  sections  you  can  hear  some  elements  of  70's  progressive  rock  being  utilized  and  later  on  you  can  hear  psychedelic  and  tribal  elements  while  the  main  focus  is  on  being  very  heavy,  melodic  and  progressive  and  they  also  bring  in  a  couple  of  instrumentals.

  Brea  have  a  very  interesting  sound  with  the  heaviness  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  being  mixed  in  with  the  melody  of  diversity  of  progressive  metal  along  with  a  very  powerful  and  professional  sounding  production  and  lyrics  that  cover  dark  and  philosophical  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Brea  are  a  very  great  sounding  progressive  sludge  metal b and  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Dream  Well"  "Young  One"  and  "Redemption".  8  out  of  10.