Helmut Interview

1.Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?

Helmut is a blues-metal band from Geneva Switzerland. There is Simon on drums, Guillaume on bass, Florian and myself (Sam) on guitar and Peter on vocals. We started in 2006 with almost the same lineup. We had a change on drums in 2010. We released a first EP in 2007 (Mjöllnir), our first album in 2009 (12) and finally our second album «XI IX XI» on september 11th 2011 with the support of HeimatHome Records.

2.  How would you describe your musical sound?

Like a nice fat beef steak. It’s raw, juicy and it’s not adapted to vegetarians. The guitars are based on well known bluesy elements, while the drums and vocals have kept the metal feeling on which our first album was based on. Maybe, it’s simply blues the way it’s supposed to be played in 2012. It has all that power that we like in metal music but it’s very easy to listen to.

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

Pretty much nothing. It’s all in the music. It is very important for us to not be considered as a band with some kind of message. Our purpose is just about having fun, together with the audience. The lyrics are about food and drinks that we like to share, stuff like that. Actually, nothing. The only song that could have a meaning, would be «Karl Lagerfeld». He’s a fascinating character. I’m sure he would be a nice guy to share a drink with.

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

In our minds, Helmut is a stereotypical german tourist on the Costa Brava in Spain. Someone who is fat, burnt by the sun, drinks a lot of beer and disturbs everybody around with his loud and annoying laugh. That’s what our music made us think of, as we were looking for a band name.

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

Our best venue was definitely the Silence Festival 2011 in Kathmandu Nepal. We were lucky to play in front of about 7’000 people in a football stadium. One done, on the «what would you want to experience with music ?» list. We also had a wonderful time in Moudon Switzerland, in a club called The Prison. You know, one of these nights, when everything just flows, great gig. Our stage performance is all about having fun, as I said before. I’m not saying we’re funny, but we don’t pull people down with some obscure mood. Playing music live, is something we enjoy. We just want to share that pleasure with the audience, and I think it’s comes across.

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

Oh yeah, Randy and Olivier, the guys of HeimatHome Records are doing a great job. The record has a good visibility, and promoters in Switzerland get to hear it. We play mostly in Switzerland, but we would definitely want to export ourselves. Not only in Nepal, but also closer, like Germany, France, Italy, Austria and anywhere else where we’d have the opportunity to rock the crowd.

7.  On a worldwide level how has your music been received by fans of underground music?

We get to read reviews from all over the world. I’d say it’s between 6.5 and 10 on 10. Most of the journalists seem to like the record. We know that most of them are musicians too and represent the underground average population in their country. You can tell that they have really listen to the record by reading their reviews, it’s nice. On a more direct level, we get the feeling that the audience at the concerts really has a good time with us. But we only can speak  of Switzerland and Nepal so far.

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

Musically, not really. Nothing relevant so far. It’s everybody’s main musical project. But beside the music, three of us are fathers. All the parents reading this will understand my point. Even if I wanted to get involved in some other band as I am in Helmut, I just wouldn’t have the time.

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

We have started composing new stuff for what could become our 3rd album. It clearly has a link with our second that we just released. Our sound seems to get more personal and the whole efficiency of the musical elements has grown. It’s in same artistic spirit, but it’s just so much better. About half of the songs of «XI IX XI» were composed with our former drummer. Of course, his inputs would take a song into a certain direction. I think that sometimes, we (Florian and I) would have prefered to take songs to other paths, but we just let go, because it’s how it is to play in a band. Compromise. On the other hand, on those new songs, there’s no compromise. We don’t need to, everybody hears it the same way.

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

Our main musical influence is ZZ Top. Their music is so attractive. The songs, the groove, the sound, everything. We also share the taste for Van Halen, Cream, Hendrix and some of these great classics. Regarding the music of nowadays, we enjoy listening to Meshuggah, Mastodon, Gojira, Devin Townsend, Tool, Joss Stone, Christina Aguilera and so many others. It’s hard to think of a list. I discovered a great band recently, Jet. I know, they’ve been around quite a while now, but anyway...

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

That’s a good question. I like to go running. It keeps me mentally balanced, I suppose. I also work half time to spend more time with my two sons. Guillaume and Peter are parents too. Peter is really into video games, especially the ones of which the title includes the word «war». Guillaume likes Golf. Simon is studying to become a psychiatrist, and Florian just loves to drive around with his car. He does that all the time, and sometimes he will stop somewhere random to get some food.

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

I would just like to remind people to the fact that they should really actively support the bands. Especially their local scene. Lots of wonderful dedicated people put together local musical events. Get there. Buy a ticket, buy the CD of a band playing, or a shirt. Nobody will get rich, but these events will be able to survive through this support. If anybody, who’s reading this, is putting together a festival somewhere, and wants to book Helmut, go for it. We’ll be there. 

Darkseed/Astral Darkness Awaits/Massacre Records/2012 Digital Album Review

  Darkseed  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  has  had  a  couple  of  their  albums  reviewed  as  well  as  being  interviewed  by  this  zine  that  plays  a  musical  style  that I  would  describe  as  being  gothic  metal  and this  is  a  review  of  their  2012  digital  album  "Astral  Darkness  Awaiths" which  was  released  by  Massacre  Records.

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

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  gothic  metal  riffs  that  utilize  a  great  amount  of  dark sounding  melodies,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  melodic  sounding  gothic  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads,  as  for  the  classical  guitars  which  are  only  utilized  on  the  last  song  they  use  finger  picking  and  full  chords  to  enhance  the d arkness  that  is  coming  out  of  the  music.

  Vocals  on  this recording  are  mostly clean  singing  with  a  brief  use  of   growls  and screams  as  well  as  some  spoken  word  male  and  female  parts,  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  poetic themes,  as for  the  production  it has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  to  it.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  recording  from  Darkseed  and  if  you  are  a  fan of  this  band,  you  should  check out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Black  Throne"  "Disbeliever"  "Sleep Sleep  Sweatheart"  and  "The  Demon  Within".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Toscrew Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?

Sűd: So we are Toscrew, formed in Budapest in 2004. Started with some cover songs, and we've recorded our first demo in 2007 with our own songs. Since that we've recorded a six-track Ep, a Bathory tribute song and a full-length album (Antiego 2011) which was nominated for as the best debut album in 2011 in Hungary.  After that we've decided to change a little bit, so we invited Pete from the band called Philosopher (also death metal) as a singer/guitarist for making something new. Now we're calling ourselves as a doom metal band with some influences. On the other side we tour around central Europe, we've been to Slovenia/Slovakia/Poland/Romania/Ukraine/Austria/Germany and some other countries are planned. All of our materials are free to download from our site: toscrew.bandcamp.com. Please feel free to do it. 

2. I have noticed that the new ep has a more different direction than the older material, what was the decision behind the style change?

Sűd: yeah, we wanted to do something different, because the black/death underground is really poor at Hungary, we can't talk about a scene even. By the way we got really good reviews for the album Antiego, we wanted to facing new challenge, so that's behind our decision.

3. How would you describe the lyrical content of the newer material and how do you feel that you have progressed as song writers over the years?

Pete:

The lyrical content is pretty diverse. A part of it is just personal stuff, whatever I felt at the moment I wrote it. The other part has a bit of social commentary and "Pete's words of wisdom". Some of them are really easy to "digest" and the message is quite clear (Answer me) and sometimes I get more philosophical (Crawl), where the good part is, that it probably means a bit different to all the people, but makes everyone think. And if you think about it, you use your brain at least for a little while, and my job is pretty much done there :)

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

Sűd: There's nothing special with our name, we used to be friends before we started the band, and this was our  "band name", so we kept it. It symbols our unity.

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

Our newest and best experience is Poland, Just arrived home, and the people really liked us, they're really into this kind of music. But we loved Austria, Slovenia, Romania and Ukraine also, love to travel+meet new people+have gig and party. :) Our stage performance is really simple but heavy as hell, headbanging all the time and shit. 

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

Sűd: For this time we only accept invitations for really important and cool gigs, so we're planning to visit some new places (for example Prague/Czech) and return to the best places where we've ever been to. 

7. Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label and if so what kind of label do you feel that would be a perfect fit for your music?

Sűd: Actually we have a label, which is entitled Five by five records from Canada, they're developing really quick! So hopefully they can provide us soon with everything what a band could ever wish. 

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

Pete: I have several other projects (where I play different instruments). One band could not possibly cover my huge musical appetite. :D But the most serious ones are Toscrew and Philosopher (progressive death metal). As far as I know the guys has no other project going on right now, I'm the one who's persuing the pleasures :D

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

Pete: Most probably we'll stick to this doom kind of stuff because that's what we enjoy doing at the moment. And feedbacks are mostly really positive, so that ensures us that we're going to the right direction.

 Sűd: Agreed! :)

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

Originally we're all into Death metal i can say, so mainly we listens death metal bands. Our all-time favorite is Pantera i must say. My personal favorite is nowadays are: Ghost, Candlemass, Mastodon, Red Fang, Djerv, Sahg, Satyricon, Triptykon and Kypck.

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

Pete is living for the music, making it, recording it and so on. Mátyás (bass) is intrested in making movies, writing, Sűd (guitar) is into reading, networking and traveling and Dávid (drums) likes everything what we're doing, he is a nihilist/hedonist. :) 

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

Thanks for the opportunity and the nice questions, please check out our music at: toscrew.bandcamp.com 
For contact: toscrew666@gmail.com

L' Alba Di Morrigan Interview

1.Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?
We are a trio that loves to range over music: melancholic sounds, powerful breaks, sporadic jazz episodes, "classics" excerpts and texts aimed mainly to reflection on the meaning of being and the possibilities of human knowledge.


2. How would you describe your musical sound?

We are not used to label or describe our sounds. What we can say is that they are certainly thick with emotions and that we do not basically have composition schemes of any kind.


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

The message we wish to offer is basically directed toward a quick awakening of consciousness; "Silence" is a praise clearly inspired by the Zen concept of "silence", "Snowstorm" is a metaphor of the winter of life and the subsequent "rebirth" of everything, "Holy Mountain Pt.1 e 2" is our transposition in music and lyrics of the meaning of the great cinematographic work of A. Jodorowsky, "Lilith" fundamentally deals with human weaknesses, "The essence remains" tells of a man who is through a near-death experience and who re-evaluates his past experiences with different types of logic, or rather "higher" ones. Actually the only song in contrast is "The fairies' circle", a song speaking of the immense charm of the fair sex, a text which is strongly due to a woman to whom I personally owe a lot. I am particularly impressed by the thought you exposed about the "Morrigan world" as a concept of its own, and frankly there we intended to propose something innovative, well-calibrated and original, but still within the range of a few musical references already known.


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

Morrigan represents violence and war, it's the queen of the eros as a hate disseminator and therefore, metaphorically, the Goddess of darkness. The dawn is the moment when darkness fades to make room for lightness. Well, "L'alba di Morrigan” (the dawn of Morrigan) is that short moment of equilibrium between "day" and "night"; the perfect union between the most obscure part of humanity and the most noble; the brief moment in which both harmoniously coexist in a balance without prevailing over one another, stopping, even though just for a few moments, the (ironic) dualism of which man is a slave.


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

So far the show we remember with the maximum affection is the one with the Callisto, great artists and excellent people.


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

We set some tour dates and we will shortly publish all the news about tour planning on our social networks.


7. On a worldwide level how has your music been received by music fans?

I hope fine! But I think time will answer your question. Now we can only wait and work hard!


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

Of course L’alba di Morrigan is our main activity, anyway each one of us occasionally works on other studio and live projects.


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

We must admit that we already wrote several songs, but now our focus is aimed to The Essence Remains and to its launch.


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

We have an extensive background that ranges from the most extreme metal to the softest, a great love for jazz and blues, Celtic music, classical music and experimental progressive and, why not, for electronic music. We mainly love good music, the music that conveys emotion, no matter its genre. Actually metal is more prevailing than generic musical education, but, as I said before, we love all the different branches that music can offer.


11. What role does Paganism and Occultism play in your music and how would you describe your views on these topics?

We have different thoughts on this. Basically I (Ugo) and Alessio are really more sensible on this subject, even though I think the term occultism is in itself misleading, above all due to the wrong meaning people usually give it.


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

Ale loves painting and does exhibitions, and he's really a great chef and loves to read (recently George Martin is among his favorites), and he enjoys writing (in fact he's working on his first novel). Luca is fond of music and I think he's one of the most updated people I have ever known in this matter, he loves art, nature and tranquility (let's say he's the most quiet in the group), and he loves to cook, too, and does it very well.
I read a lot but I prefer reading "esoteric" books, I am very interested in domestic policy, I like martial arts and I practice them, but actually I love almost all sports, and let's say I am the most "restless" of the band; It's maybe strange but I cook for fun, too (we are Italian, aren't we?) and, about common features, all of us love the arts and cinematography and we have a great interest in psychology and human dynamics. Finally, we have plenty of dogs and cats!


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

Thanks for the interview and special thanks to our fans, as they are really giving us much love and support. Hugs to you all!

Catheter/Southwest Doom Violence/Selfmadegod/2012 CD Review

  Catheter  are  a  band  from  Denver,  Colorado  that  has  a  history  dating back  to  the  mid  90's  with  a  musical style  that  I  would  describe  as  being  crust/grindcore  and  with  this  newer  release  they  have  added  some  doom  metal elements  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2012  album  "Southwest  Violence" which  was  released  by  Selfmadegod.

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

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  brutal  gindcore  riffs  that  are  also  heavily  influenced  by  crustcore  and  doom  metal  and  there  are  little  to  no  guitar  solos  or  leads  present  on  this  recording.

  Vocals  range from  deep  death  metal  growls,  high  pitched  grindcore  screams  and  crustcore  style  yelling  along  with  some  spoken  word  samples,  while  the  lyrics  cover  hateful  and  everyday  themes,  as  for the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful  and  heavy  sound  to  it.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  recording  from  Catheter  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  brutal  crust/grindcore  with  a  doom  metal  edge,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Cant  Dream"  "Conspiracy  Control"  "Doom  To  Grind"  and  "In  This  Moment". RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Toscrew/Crawl/2012 Ep Review

  Toscrew  are  a  band  from  Hungary  that  has  a  couple  of  their  releases  reviewed  in  this  zine  which  where  more  in  the  atmospheric  doom/death  metal  vein  but  evolved  more  into  a  traditional  doom  metal/hard  rock  band  with  this  new  recording  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2012  ep  "Crawl".

  Drums  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  drumming  with  not  much  in  the  way  of  fast  playing  or  blast  beats  on  this  recording,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  tone  with  riffs  that  dominate  throughout  this  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  riffs  that  combine  traditional  doom  metal  and  70s  hard  rock  together  along  with  some  melodic  riffing  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  melodic  sounding  guitar  solos  and  leads,  as  for  the  synths  which  are  only  utilized  briefly  on  one  song  they  bring  a  very  dark  and  atmospheric  sound  to  the  music.

  Vocals are  all  clean  singing  vocals  with  none  of  the  death  metal  growls  of  their  older  material  except  for  maybe  a  few  parts,  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  English  this  time  with  themes  that  cover  dark  themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  recording  from  Toscrew  and  while  some  of  their  older  fans  might  not  be  into  this  is  much since  they  changed  their  style  around  a lot,  but  if  you  like  traditional  doom  metal  or  regular  hard  rock  you  will  enjoy  this.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Crawl"  and  "bad  trip".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Toscrew/Antiego/2011 Album Review

  Toscrew  are  a b and  from  Hungary  that  has  had  one  of  their  older  releases  reviewed  in  this  zine  with  a  music  style  that  I  would  describe  as  being  atmospheric  doom/death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2011  album  "Antiego".

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  a  great  amount  of  brutal  sounding  blast  beats  being thrown  into  the  music,  while  the  synths  which  are  not  used  as  much  on  this  release  like  the  last  one,  when they  are  utilized  they  bring  a  very  dark  and  atmospheric  sound  to t he  music,  as f or the  bass  it  has  a  very strong  and  powerful  tone  with  riffs  that  dominate  throughout  the recording  as  well  as  some  acoustic  bass  being  utilized  on  one  song.

  Rhythm  guitars  range from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  riffs  that  combine  death  and  doom  metal  together  along  with  some  dark  sounding  melodies  that  have  a  black  metal  edge  to  them  in  addition  there  is  a  little  bit  more  groove  added  to  the  riffing  on  this  recording,  as  for  the lead  guitars  that  are  very  melodic  sounding  guitar  solos  and  leads,  as  for  the  acoustic  guitars  which  are  only  utilized  on  the  intro,  they  use  finger  picking  to  add  to  the  darkness  of  the  music.

  Vocals  range  from  deep  death/doom  metal  growls  along  with  some  high  pitched  screams  that  have a  black  metal  feeling  to  them,  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Hungarian  and  cover  dark themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a very  dark,  powerful  and  heavy  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  recording  from  Toscrew  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  atmospheric  sounding  doom/death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Idobol"  "Beavatus"  and  "Elenk  Alakban  Mocorog  A  Szerenyseg".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.