Helevorn/Compassion Forlorn/BadMoodMan Music/2014 C Review

  Helevorn  are  a  band  from  Spain  that  plays  a  mixture  of  doom,  gothic  and  death  metal  with  a  touch  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Compassion  Forlorn"  which  was  released  by  BadMoodManMusic.

  Clean  and  soft  guitar  playing  which  are  also  used  on  soem  of  the  other  tracks  as  well  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  synths  a  few  seconds  later  that  also  bring  in  a  good  amount  of  atmosphere  to  the  songs  which  also  leads  to  more  of  a  heavier  and  symphonic  musical  direction  along  with  a  great  amount  of  melody  being  added  into  both  the  solos  and  riffs.

  When  vocals  are  added  into  the  music  they  are  very  deep  sounding  death/doom  metal  growls  along  with  a  decent  amount  of  melodic  clean  singing  vocals  and  the  music  also  brings  in  a  good  mixture  of  both  clean  and  heavy  parts  and  a  good  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  as  the  album  progresses  more  elements  of  gothic  rock  find  their  way  onto  the  recording.

  In  certain  sections  of  the  album  spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard  and  the  music  also  brings  in  a  very  early  90's  style  of  melodic  doom/death  metal  into  the  bands  musical  style  along  with  some  screams  that  have  a  black  metal  feeling  to  them  at  times  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  closer  to  the  end  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars.

  Helevorn  plays  a  style  of  gothic/doom  metal  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  style  along  with  a  great  amount  of  the  melodic  death/doom  metal  sound  and  a  touch  of  black  metal  being  added  into  their  musical  style  to  create  a  very  dark,  melancholic  and  heavy  recording,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Solitude,  Dreams  and  Past  Times  along  with  the  last  2  songs  being  written  in  Spanish.

  In  my  opinion  Hellevorn  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  gothic  doom/death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Inner  Crumble"  "Unified"  and  "I  Am  To  Believe".  8  out  of  10.  

Trigger 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?

T: We were on Tour at Westcoast in the United States of America to play shows with the guys of Catheter and Lovemachine for 17 days at the end of October and beginning of November. We had a lot of great shows in Citys like Seattle, Vegas, Portland, Phoenix, Denver and Salt Lake City. In before we a had lot stress to get our Equipment there, because the Sound of Trigger should be intense and loud. That's why we send a lot our handmade Effects there, that we have the best possiblity to present our first Album in the best way.

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?

T: I think the whole sound of the album is stronger than on the older releases and we practised a lot, to play the new songs more straight to the point than maybe  the older recordings ;) Enrico is also singing now in some songs and we have new kinds of screams in our material. Almost we cranked up the Speed
of the whole music. The complete music could be described as an Inferno of Blasbeats, Disbeats and lot of moving parts combined with an really distorted Basssound destroying yours ears in addition with a screaming and growling voice which is a bit of unique in Grindcore/Power Violence.

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

T: On the newer songs we`re still singing about things which are working in an false way in our society, but also in our scene. We are still no fans from any kind of racism, sexism, (old and new kinds) of facism or patriotism, many songs from our older stuff and also from the new songs are against this themes. Some songs all also against homophobic attitudes or religious insanity which we can`t understand and don`t want to support them in anyway. We also have songs about animal liberation and against the exploitation of animals for any senseless using like clothes, medicine and so. .On the last split Ep with Attack of the mad Axeman we started to write and sing our lyrics in English, so we hope that it`s easier for people to understand the meaning of them, as they were in German.


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

T: Trigger have many meanings. the first coming to everybodys mind is to pull the "Trigger" of a gun, but that's not our point of view of the Band Trigger. We see it a bit more like an conditioned stimulus in an psychological consideration. It's something like the "Trigger-Reactment" when somebody is going to freak really out.

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?

T: Ohh, I think we had a lot of good shows with pretty much great bands and awesome people in the pit. I remember for example about a show in Minsk (Belarus) which was murderous because we played in an empty ware house next to the stairs. The people there we`re making (really!!) party there from the first second on, circlepits and crowdsurfing (also with everyone of us!) and they were all totally friendly and also very thankful that we came there to play. But as I said, this was just one of many awesome shows also on our tour in US and many places, but i think there are to much  over the years to write them all down here :) Our stage performance.. I think the chaos in our music is the chaos that we want to bring out on stage, that`s why we jump down on the floor and scream without microphones sometimes to bring some more energy to the people and having just 20 minutes of violence.


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

T: At the end of december this years we will touring the east of europe and Germany for 13 Days in total again. Of course in the next year we would really love to play some tours to Spain, Italy, UK, France and especially we want to focus on some Festival shows.

7.On your bandcamp page you refer to the band as 'Drum'N'Bass Grind Violence', can you tell us a little bit more about this tag?

T: Drum`N`Bass is just because we never found someone who wants to play guitar at Trigger ;) Grind Violence is because we`re making some kind of old grindcore but also have some typical Powerviolence parts. That`s why we called it Grind Violence to make people know that we`re in the middle of both.

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

T: We wanted to make some kind of grind which has nothing good sounding at all, that means no melodies, no guitar solos or something else, just twenty minutes of noisy fast and brutal shit without a break. Most people who like grindcore liked it because the said we`re sounding like some of the good old grindbands from the 90`s ,but we also had some shows where the people didn`t like our music, cause it's a way to much chaos for them. I remember one show in the past, after two songs the whole concertroom was empty except the organizer and Enrico`s girlfriend :)

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

T: We will keep staying fast and noisy as well ,but we also want to make the music become more rounder and more rich in variety, but staying fast is still the most important thing about the music for itself:)

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?

T: The style of using just a bass guitar we looked up from bands like Godstomper ,Bizarre X or (old) Water Torture. We loved this sound because it was something different than other bands and we still love the dark and noisy sound. But I think we have changed really from our first Sound up today, it's almost a new Sound. Today everyone of us is listening to a bright mass of music, but not everything we`re listening is for being an influence for trigger. Next to some Grind Crust and Powerviolencebands we like Doom and Sludgebands also, some Blackmetal and Postrockbands, but also some Screamo and Punkrockbands.


11.What are some of your non musical interests?

T: We`re organising shows and doing some festival on our own, called the "Killed System Festival". This year we had the third edition of having this festival. Kevin also record some bands in his studio to make sure that young bands have a chance to record something. Enrico is doing a label to help and release stuff of friendly Bands. That's almost a lot with music...


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

T: Thank you for this interview and everyone who helped us to be able for doing shows and releases and made Trigger able to got this interview! Thanks :)

Dawn of Eternity 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?
Well we did play a cupple of shows all over Germany and Chechz Republik and released our first official music clip this October. At the moment we are in the proces of songwriting, arranging and some pre productioning, the next album is planned for some time in the middle of 2015, but we all know how that goes :D

2.Recently you have released you first full length album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the album you had released in 2010?
Well the sound is a mixture of what we have accomplished in the years before and what we have
accomplished since we started taking it more serious. It differs from the EP of 2010 so far, that we have changed a lot since then. In 2010 we were Sara, Johannes and David, playing in the basement of Johannes' parents, we had no real idea of recording, and the process. For the "GUILTY" Album we had become Sara Johannes Sven and Torsten, with a real practise room, weekly sessions and a lot more knowledge.
For our sound, someone once said it is like at first you are being wraped in silk by this voice, and that you get kicked in the ass by the growls and the guitars. It's a mixture our of Gothic, Death, Melodic Metal with several different influences.

3.The band has been around since 2007 but so far their has only been an ep and 1 full length, can you tell us a little bit more about the gap between releases?
The band you can hear on the album "guilty" exists since 2012, before that, we didn't approach the whole thing professional, also in 2007 Sara and Johannes started to make music together, under the name "Buried Alive" what was a form of pre-existence of Dawn of Eternity, "Buried Alive" recorded 6 songs, that should still be on myspace somewhere ;)

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Most of the lyrics are written by Johannes, who is a big fan of german expressionistic-poets and nihilistic-literature, so he takes things that annoy him, personal tragedies sadness, fears etc and tries to put it into a Georg Trakl style.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Dawn of Eternity'?
It may be birth, it may be death, it is yours to choose. The story behind it, Sara wanted to change the name "Buried Alive", and she is always right :D, so we threw in names until one was all right for everyone, and that name turned out to be Dawn of Eternity.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Johannes: The best show so far was in Blatná, Czech Republik, supporting Lord Volture, it was an amazing show, amazing people who really kept a party going, on a work tuesday.
Sara: Can't make a range what was the best so fare. It's allways great!
Our performance are very energetic since we give in everything we can and use full stage's place...
Come and see ;)

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
We have several shows planned, that you can check out on our webpage or facebook, and our plans are, to play as much as possible, you request us, and if it is arrangable we will play it. Also we want to make a new album as mentioned before next year and simply go on and grow...

8.The new album was released on NRT- Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
Well we got to that through two friends from Austria, Major Tom Proll (king size)  and Jana from She Wolf. NRT is a small label but they still have passion and faith in what they do and not just long for the big
money. They really did do a lot for us even though we just joined them in October!

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by the fans of gothic or extreme genres of metal?
As far as we can tell pretty well ;)

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Evanescence is done for, due to a post of Amy Lee, so there is a big gap to fill in the genre of female fronted goth metal.... we will see..... ;)

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?
In the songwriting, you can hear influences of Iron Maiden, In Flames, Tarja, My Dying Bride, Evanescence, System Of A Down and many more. The nex album will show a little more/different influences but it'll still be Dawn of Eternity.
We exclude no type of music, that is based on musical instruments, not that hipster minimal electro crap or disco-dubstep, that shit is amazingly annoying, but we all have a tendency to harder music musical interests?
Sara and Johannes are in University, so besides going to a pub or some concerts, music consumes most of the spare time, other free time activities are working and drinking. Thorsten also loves to repair stuff and ferrets :D

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Yes, we will start a kickstarter project next few weeks for the album 2015 since we're all broke and we'd love you to support us!! Beneath that there's the usual stuff, check out our webpage and facebook, listen to our music, come to our shows and rock on \m/, - Cheers
www.dawnofeternity.de
www.facebook.com/officialdawnofeternity

Formes/Dysphoria Part 1/No Fun Intended Records/2014 CD Review

  Formes  are  a  band  from  the  United  Kingdom  that  plays  a  psychedelic  mixture  of  doom,  sludge,  death  and  post  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Dysphoria  part  one"  which  was  released  by  No  Fun  Intended  Records.

  Spoken  word  parts  start  off  the  album  before  adding  in  blast  beats,  heavy  riffing  and  high  pitched  screams  which  also  leads  up  to  more  of  a  slow  doom/sludge  metal  direction  which  also  keeps  around  the  spoken  word  parts  and  mixes  in  psychedelic  and  post  rock  sounds  along  with  a  good  mixture  of  both  clean  and  heavy  parts.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  at  times  along  with  some  clean  singing  and  slide  guitars  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  music  gets  very  heavy  when  death  metal  growls  are  utilized  in  the  songs.

  A  good  portion  of  the  tracks  are  long  and  epic  in  length  and  at  times  the  music  can  be  very  experimental  and  also  adds  in  small  amounts  of  harsh  noise  into  certain  sections  of  some  of  the  tracks  and  as  the  album  progresses  there  are  a  lot  of  post  rock  elements  being  mixed  in  with  the  heavier  doom/death  metal  sound  of  the  recording  and  one  of  the  later  tracks  brings  in  a  small  amount  of  acoustic  guitars.

  Formes  takes  the  heaviness  of  death,  doom,  sludge  and  post  metal  and  mixes  it  with  psychedelic  rock  to  create  a  sound  that  is  very  original,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Formes  are  a  very  great  sounding  psychedelic  mixture  of   doom,  sludge,  death  and  post  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Tumult"  and  "Dead  Ends".  8  out  of  10.

        

Dreamgrave/Presentiment/2014 Full Length Review

  Dreamgrave  are  a  band  from  Hungary  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death,  doom,  folk,  symphonic  and  progressive  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2014  album  "Presentiment".

  A  very  dark  sounding  drone  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  symphonic  sounds  and  clean  playing  a  few  seconds  later  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  a  very  heavy  and  melodic  direction  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  and  progressive  metal  elements  while  also  keeping  around  the  symphonic  elements.

  When  blast  beats  are  utilized  the  music  has  almost  a  black  metal  feeling  while  the  clean  singing  female  vocals  add  a  gothic  and  operatic  feeling  into  all  of  the  tracks  they  are  utilized  on  and  the  music  at  time s brings  in  a  modern  approach  to  prog  metal  with  both  the  riffs  and  solos  as  well  as  the  keyboards  while  you  can  also  hear  a  bit  of  70's  prog  and  psychedelia  at  times  and  at  times  clean  playing  can  be  heard  in  some  of  the  tracks.

  Most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  there  are  also  some  clean  singing  male  vocals  being  utilized  on  some  of  the  songs  along  with  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  and  on  the  later  tracks  the  lead  guitars  start  bringing  in  more  of  a  depressive  and  melodic  sound  to  the  recording.

  Dreamgrave  plays  a  style  of  doom/death  metal  that  is  very  melodic,  symphonic  and  progressive  sounding  and  they  also  bring  in  elements  of  folk  and  a  good  amount  of  prog  metal  and  rock  elements  to  create  some  very  original  sounding  music,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Dreamgrave  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of   death,  doom,  folk,  symphonic  and  progressive  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Black  Spiral"  "The  Last  Drop  Falls"  and  "It's  Ubiquitous".  8  out  of  10.  

Ghoulgotha/The Deathmass Cloak/Dark Descent Records/2015 CD Review

  Ghoulgotha  are  a  band  from  California  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  album  "The  Deathmass  Cloak"  which  will  be  released  in  2015  by  Dark  Descent  Records.

  A  very  dark  sounding  keyboard  and  distorted  sounds  start  off  the  album  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  a  very  dark  and  melodic  doom/death  metal  direction  along  with  some  growls  and  guitar  leads  that  add  in  depressive  sounding  melodies  and  you  can  hear  a  lot  of  early  90's  death  and  doom  metal  influences  in  the  bands  musical  style.

  High  pitched  screams  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  good  mixture  of  slow  and  mid  paced  parts  while  they  also  bring  in  fast  sections  and  blast  beats  in  some  of  the  tracks  and  as  the  album  progresses  the  band  starts  adding  in  small  amounts  of  clean  playing  into  some  of  the  tracks  while  the  main  focus  remains  on  a  very  heavy  and  dark  doom/death  metal  sound  and  the  last  track  is  11  minutes  in  length  and  also  adds  in  atmospheric  and  experimental  elements.

  Ghoulgotha  plays  a  very  dark  style  of  doom/death  metal  that  is  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  tradition  while  also  having  more  of  an  updated  take  on  the  genre  with  their  music,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  occultism  themes.

   In  my  opinion  Ghoulgotha  are  a  very  great  sounding  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  "Gazing  Into  Melted  Night"  "Saturnal  Rites"  "Citadel  Of  Heathen  Flesh"  and  "Levitate  Within  The  Curse".  8  out  of  10.



  

Nihilo/Dum Spiro Spero/2014 CD Review

  Nihilo  are  a  band  from  Switzerland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  old  school  death  metal,  grindcore,  and  doom  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2014  album  "Dum  Spiro  Spero".

  A  dark  sounding  intro  with  spoken  word  samples  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  more  of  an  old  school  death  metal  direction  which  also  brings  in  a  good  amount  of  blast  beats  and  growling  vocals  as  well  as   adding  in  high  pitched  screams  at  times  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  you  can  hear  hear  a  heavy  grindcore  influence.

  When  solos  and  leads  are  added  into  the  music  they  bring  in  more  of  a  chaotic  death  metal  sound  while  also  having  a  good  amount  of  melody  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  as  the  album  progresses  more  elements  of  doom  metal  are  added  into  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  and  on  one  of  the  tracks  a  small  amount  of  symphonic  sounds  and  acoustic  guitars  are  utilized  and  the  last  track  is  over  20  minutes.

  Nihilo  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  old  school  and  closer  to  the  mid  90's  style  and  they  also  mix  in  grindcore  and  doom  metal  to  make  their  music  have  more  of  a  diverse  sound,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  violence  and  war  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Nihilo  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death  metal,  grindcore  and  doom  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "On  The  Brink"  "Last  Man  Standing"  "Homicidal  Pleasures"  and  "Dum  Spiro  Spero".  8  out  of  10.