Negative Vortex/Tomb Absolute/Caligari Records/2015 Cassette Review

 

   Negative  Vortex  are  a  band  from  Oakland,  California  that  plays  a  very  old  school  form  of  doom/death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  demo  "Tomb  Absolute"  which  was  released  by  Caligari  Records.

  A  very  dark  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  demo  along  with  some  low  end  deep  death  metal  growls  that  also  bring  in  few  pitched  screams  and  the  music  starts  to  speed  up  and  incorporate  more  blast  beats  and  the  riffs  also  use  tremolo  picking  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  Most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  morbid  sounding  melodies  at  times  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  very  dark  and  chaotic  early  90's  sounding  death  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads  and  the  slower  sections  also  bring  in  a  very  heavy  dose  of  doom  metal.

  Negative  Vortex  plays  a  style  of  doom/death  metal  that  is  very  dark  and  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  90's  while  the  death  metal  side  of  their  musical  style  mostly  dominates  the  songs  and  they  also  play  a  bit  more  faster  than  most  bands  in  this  genre,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  death  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Negative  Vortex  are  a  very  great  sounding  doom/death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  cassette.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Chant  For  the  Undertaker"  and  "The  Burning  Orb".  8 out  of  10. 

Phantom Winter Interview

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

Phantom Winter are Andreas (guitar, screams) and Christof (drums) from Omega Massif plus Christian (growls), Martin (bass) and David (guitar). We play some kind of music we like to call „winterdoom“.



Soon you will release your debut-album new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

The sound is a rough and harsh one with a lot of dirt and without shiny effects and super hip sounds. We love it in your face. Listen to it very loud and you will know, what I mean.

3.The band formed out of the ashes of 'Omega massif', what was the decision behind disbanding that group and starting up a new band?

Nine years of Omega Massif was enough. I started Phantom Winter as a sideproject a week before Omega Massif split up so this became my main band. And I am fine with this decision now, even if I was really sad about the death of O.M. Now I have the chance to write the music 100% as I like it, that's a new but also very cool experience.

4.In 'Omega Massif' the music was all instrumental, what was the decision behind using lyrics in the new band?

There is no sense in copying our own band. Omega Massif is gone and was awesome as it was, but Phantom Winter has it's very own style even if you can hear the connection to O.M.

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

„Wintercvlt“ for example is about sheep who follow including some kind of ironic twist with the line „Destroy all cvlts, obey the wintercvlt!“. „Svffer“ is about the german way to accept their Nazi-past and the Holocaust. No one should ever forget, what happened. It is important to remember the Shoa forever. „Corpses Collide“ deals with the progress of becoming an adult. A lot of cool kids become real conservative and stubborn people and it is a reminder to myself, that I try to avoid that. „Finster Wald“ is about NSBM and bands who play with nazi-stuff to be very evil and cool and whatever. Fuck them.

6.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Phantom Winter'?

Christof and I love the word „Phantom“ and we always wanted to do something with it, a song, an album, whatever. So we played a bit around and came up with Phantom Winter and we knew...that's it!

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

Well, haha, we played two shows and both were wonderful because there were a lot of nice people and even from the first to the second show we felt the big progress of becoming a band and playing as a band and that was really important for us.

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

We will play about twenty shows this year including the wonderful VOID-festival, the Stateless-Society-Festival, the Golden Antenna-Summit in Leipzig and a lot of other shows with a lot of friends. We are really looking forward to every single show!

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been so far to your music by fans of sludge and doom metal?

The feedback was awesome. Both of our shows were kinda sold out, the people ordered more than 200 copies in less than one preorder day and the most important thing: a lot of people let us know how they appreciate our work and the development the music made from one band to the other. We are very happy that we seem to have a real fanbase even before our first album came out. Our hope is that we can fulfill the big trust a lot of awesome pepple seem to have in us.

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

Listen to CVLT and you know our musical future. Progression is not our kind of thing.

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?

I am listening to nearly everything but Ragga and Dancehall stuff. The variety of music goes from old Nasum to Napalm Death to a lot of Bossa Nova and Jazz-Stuff to HipHop. I don't care about musical boundaries and I am happy about it. The influence is everywhere.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

My wife and my kids are the center of my life. When I find the time I try to read a lot (lately „What I loved“ - Siri Hustvedt; „Inherent Vice“ - Thomas Pynchon; „Couples“ - John Updike) an I love doing sports and watching American Football. Ah, and I love Scotch Whisky.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thanks for the interest! Check out our music, it's not that bad.

Famishgod/Devourers Of Light/Xtreem Music/2014 CD Review

  Famishgod  are  a  duo from  Spain  that  plays  a  dark  mixture  of  death  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Devourers  Of  Light"  which  was  released  by  Xtreem  Music.

  A  very  dark  sound  along  with  a  small  amount  of  keyboards  start  off  the  album  and  a  few  seconds  later  the  music  starts  going  into  a  heavier  doom  metal  direction  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  and  all  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  very  dark  and  melodic  sounding.

  Clean  and  atmospheric  sounds  are  mixed  in  with  the  heavier  parts  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  the  riffs also  bring  in  melodies  at  times  and  all  of  the  songs  are  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  darker  side  of  90's  doom/death  metal  and  also  use  a  great  amount  of  programmed  beats  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  slow  pace  with  no  fast  parts  ever  used.

  Famishgod  plays  a  style  doom/death  metal  that  is  very  heavy,  dark  and  slow  and  goes  back  to  the  more  underground  style  of  the  90's  but  done  with  more  of   and  updated  take,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  yet  professional  at  the  same  time  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Famishgod  are  a  very  great  sounding  dark  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  "Famish'  "Premature  Grave"  and  "Brightless".  8  out  of  10.

  

Yattai/Fast Music Means Love/Bonobostomp/2015 CD Review

  Yattai  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  mixture  of  grindcore,  crust,  death  metal,  postcore  and  doom  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Fast  Music  Means  Love"  which  was  released  by  Bonobostomp.

  A  very  distorted  sound  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  doom  metal  direction  and  also  adding  in  high  pitched  screams  and  death  metal  growls  and  the  music  does  also  speed  up  quite  a  bit  and  adds  in  brutal  blast  beats  along  with  some  melody  being  utilized  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  As  the  album  progresses  the  music  starts  going  for  more  of  a  grindcore  direction  while  some  of  the  later  tracks  also  bring  in  elements  of  thrash  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  there  are  also  a  few  tracks  that  are  recorded  live  and  while  most  of  the  tracks  stick  to  a  heavy  sound  one  of  the  songs  does  bring  in  a  brief  use  of  clean  playing.

  Yattai  plays  mostly  a  brutal  style  of  grindcore  but  they  also  mix  in  doom  death  metal,  postcore,  thrash  and  crust  to  create  a   sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  powerful  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent  and  hateful  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Yattai  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of   grindcore,  crust,  death  metal,  postcore  and  doom  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Can't  Stand"  "Before  You  Go"  "Evil  Daniel's  Style"  and  "AK-47".  8  out  of  10.   

Valve/Apnee/Wooaaargh/2015 Vinyl Review

  Valve  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge,  doom  metal  and  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Apnee"  which  was  released  by  Wooaaargh.

  A  very  dark,  melodic  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  high  pitched  screams  a  few  seconds  later  and  the  music  starts  mixing  sludge,  doom  metal  and  post  hardcore  together  and  death  metal  growls  can  also  be  heard  at  times  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts.

  Most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  some  of  the  alter  tracks  also  bring  in  a  brief  use  of  reverb  sounds  as  well  as  adding  melodic  guitar  leads  into  some  of  the  songs  and  when  clean  singing  is  used  they  enhance  the  post  metal  elements  that  are  also  a  huge  part  of  the  bands  musical  style  and  as  the  album  progresses  acoustic  and  slide  guitars  can  be  heard  briefly  before  making  a  return  back  to  a  heavier  direction  and  towards  the  end  one  of  the  tracks  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  blast  beats.

  Valve  takes  a  very  dark  and  heavy  style  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with  the  more  melodic  and  post  side  of  hardcore  to  create  their  own  sound  on  this  recording,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  yet  professional  at  the  same  time  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark,  esoteric  and  occult  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Valve  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  sludge,  doom  metal  and  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Lapsit  Ex  Ellis"  and  "777".  8  out  of  10.

   

Link/Chapter IV/Distro-y Records/2015 LP Review

  Link  are  a  band  from  Belgium  that  plays  a  mixture  of  doom  metal,  crust  and  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Chapter  IV"  which  will b e  released  in  April  by  Distro-y  Records.

  A  very  dark  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  and  a  few  seconds  later  melody  and  elements  of  crust  are  added  onto  the  recording  along  with  some  growling  vocals  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  you  can  hear  a  great  amount  of  hardcore  in  the  bands  musical  style.

  When  the  music  slows  down  that  is  when  the  doom  metal  influence  is  the  most  powerful  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  some  of  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  d  beats  and  as  the  album  progresses  they  also  bring  in  a  couple  of  tracks  that  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Link  takes  a  musical  style  that  is  mostly  rooted  in  crust  and  hardcore  and  mixes  it  in  with  doom  metal  and  a  more  extreme  vocal  approach  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  philosophical  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Link  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  doom  metal,  crust  and  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Wasteland"  and  "History  Repeats".  8  out  of  10.

  

Herscher/Self Titled/2015 Full Length Review

  Herscher  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  mixture  of  doom  metal,  sludge  and  noise  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  and  self  released  2015  album.

   A  very  dark,  heavy  and  retro  doom  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  clean  singing  vocals  and  atmospheric  elements  that  gives  the  songs  more  of  a  modern  day  feeling  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  you  can  also  hear  some  spoken  word  parts  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording.

  Aggressive  screams  and  growls  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  on  the  songs  and  there  are  most  of  the tracks  that  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  as  the  album  progresses  more  drones  and  noises  find  their  way  onto  the  recording  along  with  a  couple  of  instrumental  tracks  and  the  songs  also  always  remain  true  to  a  slow,  dark  and  heavy  sound  while  the  last  track  adds  in  more  mid  paced  parts.    

  Herscher  plays  a  style  of  doom  metal  and  sludge  that  is  very  slow,  dark  and  heavy  and  also  brings  in  elements  of  noise,  atmospheric  music  and  melody  to  create  a  sound  of t heir  own,  the  production  sound s very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes  along  with  some  songs  being  written  in  French.

  In  my  opinion  Herscher  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  doom  metal,  sludge  and  doom  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Old  lands"  and  "Electric  Path".  8  out  of  10.