Snailking/Samsara/ConSouling Sounds/2012 CD Review

  Snailking  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  plays  a  very  heavy  form  of  sludge/drone/doom  metal  and this  is  a  review  of  their  2012  ep  "Samsara"  which  was  released  by  ConSouling  Sounds.

  Drums  are  all  slow  playing  with  no  fast  drumming  or  blast  beats  being  present  on  this  recording,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  with  heavy  riffing  that  dominates  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  are  all  slow  riffs  that  combine  sludge,  drone  and  doom  metal  together  to  create  a sound  of  their  own  with  some  dark  sounding  melodies  being  thrown  into  the  riffing  at  times,  while  the  lead  guitars  when  they  are  utilized  are  very  dark  sounding  doom  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads.

  Vocals  range  from  aggressive  sounding  clean  singing  doom  metal  vocals  along  with  some  deep  growls,  high  pitched  screams  and  spoken  word  samples,  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  depressing  themes,  as  for  the  production it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy,  dark,  and  professional  sound where  you  can  hear  all   of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording  with  the  songs  being  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  Snailking  are  a  very  great  sounding  hybrid  of  drone,  doom  and  sludge  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK "Samsara".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.  "  

Phlebotomized/Devoted To God, Preach Eternal Gospels/Vic Records/2013 CD COmpilation Review

  Phlebotomized  where  a  band  from t he  Netherlands  that  played  a  very  avant  garde  form  of  doom/death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  compilation  album  "Devoted  To  God,  Preach  Eternal  Gospels"  which  was  released  by  Vic  Records  and  contains  their  early  demo  "Devoted  To  God"  and  mini  album  "Preach  Eternal  Gospels"  which  where  both  released  in  the  early  90's.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  some  blast  beats  being  used  at  times,  while  the  keyboards  bring  a  very  atmospheric,  ambient  and  avant  garde  sound  to  the  recording  along  with  a  brief  use  of  violins,  as for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  very  dark  tone  with  riffs  that  follow  the  riffing  that  are  coming  out  of  the  guitars.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  riffs  that  combine  death  metal  with  doom  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own  with  the  riffing  being  some  of  the  earliest  combinations  of  these  musical  styles  as  well  as  some  dark  sounding  melodies,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  dark  sounding  death  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads,  as  for  the  acoustic  and  classical  guitars  which  are  only  used  briefly  use  finger  picking  and  full  chords  to  enhance  the  dark  atmosphere  of  the  recording.

  Vocals  are  mostly  deep  death/doom  metal  growls  with  some  high  pitched  screams,  clean  singing  and  female  vocals  as  well  as  some  samples,  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  anti  christian  themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful, d ark  and  heavy  sound to  it  with  the  last  3  tracks  being  recorded  live  along  with  some  of  the  songs  being  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  Phlebotomized  where  a  very  great  sounding  avant  garde  doom/death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you should  check  out  this  compilation.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Desecration  Of  Alleged  Christian  History"  "Tragic  Entnaglement"  "Preach  Eternal  Gospels"  and  "Desecration".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

   

Enshine Interview

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

Jari: I started Enshine as a solo project in 2009, and is now mainly driven by myself and Sébastien.
My guess is that it will appeal to those who are into metal but also appreciate the more meditative and trancelike aspects of music. It is a musical expression which can be seen both as an outburst of frustration and aggression but at the same time for relaxation, more often than not combining these at the same time.

2. How would you describe your musical sound?

Jari: We typically build the songs on a heavy foundation of melodic mid tempo metal, with some rock elements, always with a presence of an ambient/atmospheric component, sometimes by keys, sometimes by layering guitar parts. The vocals are mostly aggressive but also stay within the ambience of the soundscapes.
There are also a couple ambient electronic based songs in the mix, for dynamics and variation.

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

Seb: The subjects in Origin are about stillness, out of body experiences, science fiction, and in a general
manner, hope, the overall being written with a dark approach. The true meanings are hidden and can be
interpreted in a more metaphorical way. Each lyric depicts a particular scene that has its own
atmosphere and somehow scenario, opening subjective visions for everyone.

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

Jari: Enshine, while not being a word found in the dictionary but a "constructed" one, has the same
meaning as "illuminate", to illuminate the soul, or to illuminate oneself with knowledge, there
can be many meanings to this and also as some of the lyrics/titles deal with light in different ways
we found this to be a fitting name.

5. The band has members from both France and Sweden, how does the recording process work out?

Jari: We have the possibility to record in my studio here in Sweden, but I have been in France a couple times to work on material also, mostly we work together in short intense periods in either country, rather than sending material over the internet. That makes for some occasional traveling of course but that is always great as we enjoy trying different cheeses from respective country when we visit, as an added bonus.

6. Currently the band is signed to Rain Without End Records, how did you get in contact with this label and how would you describe the support they have given you so far?

Jari: We got in touch with the label via facebook. They liked our material and seemed like cool people to work with and here we are.
I like the freedom of being on a smaller label and also the communication between us is very good and relaxed.

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

Jari: I have mostly seen positive comments so far, of course we will have to wait and see what the reception will really be when reviews start coming in/the album is out, as not many people have heard the full album yet. We seem to have listeners from all parts of the world which is cool!

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

Jari: Seb´s melodic death metal band Fractal Gates released a new album called "Beyond the Self" recently, and he is also working on his solo stuff with Cold Insight. Myself I am mostly just active with my post rock band Seas of Years at the moment, besides Enshine of course. We released our debut EP "Ocean Rift" just a few days ago.

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

Jari: We are experimenting with adding some new elements to the same kind of foundation, still the same style but trying to evolve in a natural way.
As we are writing more together now it will sound a little different but nothing really drastic. The song "Brighter" which can be heard on our youtube page is the first result of us writing anything from scratch together.

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

Jari: Some of the bands that shaped me as a songwriter would be Novembre and Katatonia just to name some similar bands, but also Pink Floyd for example.
In later years inspiration can come from anything, movie scores, some postrock... sometimes I don´t even know as it could be something my ears just pick up randomly. I don´t spend so much time listening to music to be honest as I partially work as a sound engineer and that together with my own projects keeps my ears occupied most of the time. Some interesting bands I have discovered lately though include Sun of the Blind and Revelations of Rain.

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

Jari: Good food and cooking, travelling, beer, woodwork and electronics to name a few things.

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

Jari: Thanks for being the first to both review the album and to interview the band!

Drug Honkey/Ghost In The Fire/Transcending Obscurity/2012 CD Review

  Drug  Honkey  are  a  band  from  New  York  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  with  a  musical  style  I  would  describe  as  being  experimental  sludge/doom  metal  with  death  metal  influences  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2012  album  "Ghost  In  The Fire"  which  was  released  by  Transcending  Obscurity".

  Drums  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  playing  with  no  fast  drumming  or blast  beats  being  present  on  this  recording,  while  the  synths  and  samples  bring  a  very  dark,  experimental  and  industrial  sound  to  the  recording,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  with  heavy  riffing  that  dominates  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  heavy  riffs  that  combine  sludge,  doom  and  death  metal  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  and  there  are  little  to  no  guitar  solos  or  leads  present  on  this  recording.

  Vocals  are  mostly  deep doom/sludge  metal  growls  and  screams  with  some  industrial  style  vocals  and  death  and  black  metal  influences  as  well  as  some  spoken  word  parts,  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes,  as  for  the  production  it has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  dark  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Drug  Honkey  and  if  you  are a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Order  Of  The  Solar  Temple"  "Weight  Of  The World"  "Five  Years  Up"  and  "Twitcher". RECOMMENDED  BUY.      

Teramobil/Multispectral Supercontinuum/2013 EP Review

  Teramobil  are  a  band  from  Montreal,  Quebec,  Canada  that  plays  an    instrumental  mixture  of  technical  death  metal,  doom,  progressive  rock  and  jazz  fusion  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2013  ep  "Multispectral  Supercontinuum".

  Drums  range  from s low,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  some  blast  beats  being  utilized  at  times,  while  the  bass  playing h as  a  very  strong  and powerful  tone  with  heavy  bass  leads  that  dominate  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  riffs  that  combine  technical  death  metal  with  doom,  progressive  rock  and  jazz  fusion  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  progressive  and  technical  death  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads.

  Vocals  and  songwriting  are  all  absent  from t his  recording  with  the  music  being  all  instrumental,  while  the  song  themes  cover  science,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  for  being  a  self  released  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Teramobil  are  a  very  great  sounding hybrid  of  technical  death  metal,  doom,  math  rock,  progressive  and  jazz  fusion  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Temporary  Recompressed  Pride"  and  "Lightbean  Diverge".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Bone Sickness Interview

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

We've been writing a lot of new material and getting our set locked in again for various shows that we've got planned for the next few months. 

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

"Alone In the Grave" definitely has a much "fuller" sound than our previous efforts. We've gone through a number of line up changes since our demo days, so, this record is really true to our current live act.

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

Writing lyrics was a very collaborative effort for this record. We won't get too into the topics, but wewill say that they will dig the listener a little bit deeper into the grave.

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

Our first guitar player, Ben Moore-Maley, came up with the name after watching a no-budget gore flick of the same title. 

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

We had the the privilege of playing Chaos in Tejas, down in Austin, in 2011 and it ruled. Great fest, great bands, Timmy's the man. As far as our stage performance, we don't do anything too special. We just play and people tend to go wild.

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

We're actually planning a tour with Oakland's RUDE in late July/early August. The plan is to make it over to Texas again.

7. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your new album by fans of underground metal?

Everything has been really positive and we've heard a lot of good words. We hope to play our of the country and actually bring our tunes to a wider audience soon.

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

Two of us are in a Seattle-based death/black metal outfit called "Patibulum". Sam plays in the Tacoma-based band "Trepanation", and Rusty, our guitar player, plays in a few jazz groups in the Tacoma/Seattle area.

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

We plan on keeping our sound as raw and real as we possibly can.

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

The songs on the new record were sourced from a lot of different influences. We all listen to a really broad spectrum of music. Rusty is ZZ Top's #1 fan, Mitch loves all aspects of punk/US hardcore and Chase is really into Despise You. Sam's lost almost all touch and listens to Jay-Z constantly.

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

Horror flicks. Grave Robbing.

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

I'd like to dedicate this interview to the "Voices of the Damned and Possessed". RIP Cy Thoth.

__________

The Canyon Observer Interview

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

Nik: We are a five member band from Slovenia that plays Sludge/Post-metal. The band started at the beginning of 2011. So far we have released two EPs, one in 2011 and the other a year later in 2012. Currently we are working on our first full-length album, which will be released around fall 2014.

Band:
Sašo – drums
Nik – bass
Miloš – guitar/vocals
Matic – vocals
Gašper – guitar/vocals

2. How would you describe your musical sound?

Nik: Well it depends which songs you listen to. If it is our first EP you could say it’s quite post-rockyish sounding and for our second EP we tried to bring the sound closer to our “live sound” (we got pretty close this time, but there is still a lot of space for improvement). And if you listen to us playing live we probably sound like some massive avalanche rolling down right towards you. I guess.

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

Matic: The lyrics go through a variety of topics, from psychedelics and self-destruction to perversion and
more psychedelics.

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

Matic: Imagine you are in a canyon, echoes and mass surround you, the era of nature’s destructive power, and you are having sex, on a high dose of mushrooms. Or you can imagine something else, like a canyon, having sex on mushrooms or something

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

Matic: We had quite a few awesome shows, at one point in Bardejev (SK) the crowd picked me up during a show and carried me on their hands while we were finishing a song. That was probably one of my favorite moments because they just did that on their own. But we like to keep the shows massive and dark, keep on playing and just destroy!
Nik: And fog, we use a lot of fog.






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

Nik: Si. This month we are going on a tour to Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria and Italy. Here is the list of places where you will be able to see us :

24. 4. Artklub/TRNAVA/Slovakia
25. 4. Klub Luč/TRENČIN/Slovakia
26. 4. Angels/BARDEJOV/Slovakia
27. 4. Tabačka/KOŠICE/Slovakia
28. 4. Plan B/OSTRAVA/Czech Republic
29. 4. Music Bar Jam/OPAVA/Czech Republic
1. 5. L.K.W./BADEL/Germany
3. 5. Crasspub/CHEMNITZ/Germany
4. 5. Mukuku/KREMSMUNSTER/Austria
5. 5. CSA Arcadia/SCHIO/Italy

7. The new release came out on KAPA records, how did you get in contact with this label and how would you describe the support they have given you so far?

Nik: In 2011 there was a concert for the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s album Nevermind. There were 13 bands each covering a song from Nevermind. One of the bands cancelled the day before the concert so we got their slot. We covered Territorial Pissings and had quite a good concert. Then after a few days we were contacted by KAPA records. Both of our EPs were released on them. The support has been and still is the best and we are very thankful for that.

8. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to the newer material by fans of underground music?

Nik: It was quite positive, we mainly get good feedback about our music.

9. Are there any other musical projects besides this band or is this a full time lien up?

Nik: Almost all of us are playing in other bands as well, but I think this is the main band for most of us. You have Gašper playing at Uroš, Miloš at Elodea, Matic at Gonoba and me in BobenBassPaAnanas. But as I said, I think this band takes most of the time for all of us, and it’s also the most active band.




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

Nik: We don’t know that yet, actually we never know what’s up next (maybe that’s not such a good thing, but that’s how we roll). At the moment we are working on two new songs, which are pretty different from the previous material.  We are planning to release a single or two later this year and you will be able to judge them for yourself.

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

Nik: I listen to a lot of different music, lately not so much sludge/post-metal or anything distortion-wise. At the moment, while writing this, I’m listening to Bonobo, so maybe our next record will be more mellow-ish (not).
As for the bands that influence us, I should mention Cult of Luna, Isis, Ufomammut, Amenra and others. We try not to limit ourselves to certain music genres and just play what sounds best.

12. Outside of music what are your interests?

Nik: Sloths.

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

Matic: Testicles.