Antagonist Zero/No Tears/Inverse Records/2015 Full Length Review

  Antagonist  Zero  are a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  doom,  death  and  post  metal  and  they  refer  to  the  style  as  'catonic  metal'  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  ep  "No  Tears"  which  was  released  by  Inverse  Records.

  Melodic  guitar  leads  start  off  the  ep  before  going  into  a   heavier  musical  direction  along  with  some death  metal  growls  and  screams  which  have  a  black  metal  tinge  to  them  and  after  awhile  clean  singing  vocals  are  added  into  certain  sections of  the recording  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  All  of  the  songs are  very  long  and epic  in  length  and  the  songs  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  you  can  hear  elements  of  goth  and  post  rock  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  in  a  very  melodic  direction  and  there  is  a  great  amount of  atmosphere  in  the  tracks  and  the  whole  ep  sticks  to  a  slow  musical  direction  and  the  last  2  tracks  are  cover's  of  Jenni  Vartairnen  and  Doom  Vs.

  Antagonist  Zero  plays  a  musical  style  that  combines  doom  metal,  melodic  death  and  post  rock  to  create  an  atmospheric  and  melancholic  style  of  music,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  sorrow  and  destiny  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Antagonist  Zero  are  a  very  great  atmospheric  mixture  of  doom,  melodic  death  and  post  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "No  Tears"  and  "Suru".  8  out  of  10.  

 

Ancient Altar/Dead Earth/Black Voodoo Records/Midnite Collective/2015 Full Length Review

  Ancient  Altar  are  a  band  from  Los  Angeles,  California  that  has  been  featured  before in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  doom  metal,  sludge and  heavy  rock  and this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Dead  Earth"  which  will  be  released  in  September  as  a  joint  effort  between  Black  Vooodoo  Records  and  Midnite  Collective.

  A  very  dark  sounding  drone  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  reverb  noises  and  after  a  minute  the  music  starts  getting  more  heavy  and  melodic  and  goes  for  a  stoner  doom  metal  sound  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  after  awhile  growls  and  screams  start  becoming  a  huge  part  of  the  recording.

  A great  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  bring  in  more  elements  of  70's  hard  rock  and  doom  metal  and  there  is  also  a  small  amount  of  melodic  singing  and  chanting  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  whole  album  sticks  to  a  very  slow  musical  direction  while  clean  playing,  acoustic  guitars  and psychedelic  elements  can  also be  heard  briefly  in  some  of  the  tracks.

  Ancient  Altar  creates another  recording that  takes the  modern  day  heaviness  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with  stoner,  psychedelia  and  70's  rock  elements  and  also  keep everything  slow  in  true  doom  metal  fashion,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  a  concept  album  based upon  war,  corrupt  leaders and  religion  destroying  the  world.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great sounding  recording  from  Ancient  Altar  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  sludge,  stoner and  doom  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Leader, Liar"  and  "Dead Earth".  8  out  of  10.

Cruciform/Atavism + Paradox/Infernal Devastation Records/2015 CD Re-Issue Review

  Cruciform  where  a  band from  Australia  that  where  one  of  the  first  atmospheric  doom/death  metal bands and  this  is a  review  of  their  compilation  which  contains  their  1993  ep  "Atavism"  1995  demo  "Paradox"  and  a  few  live  tracks  and  was  released  by  Infernal  Devastation  Records.

  Symphonic  and  classical  music  sounds  start  off  the  compilation  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  to  get  heavy  and  goes  for  most  of  a  doom/death  metal  direction  along  with  some  growling  vocals  and  leads  and  riffs  that  are also  very  melodic  and  some  of  the  vocals  also  bring  in  a  touch  of  black  metal.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  are  utilized  and  some  of  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  touch  of  thrash  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  powerful  sound  to  them  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  also bring  in  a  small  amount  of clean  playing  and  there  are  also  a  few  tracks  that  are  long  and  epic  in  length and  later  songs  start  incorporating  a  small  amount  of  keyboards  and  clean  playing  along  with  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  and  the  compilation closes  with 3  live  tracks.

  Cruciform  where  ahead  of  their time  playing  a  style  of  doom/death  metal  that  was  also  very  heavy  and  atmospheric  before  breaking  up  years later,  the  production  sounds  very  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  death  and  destruction  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Cruciform  where  a very  great  sounding  atmospheric  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  "Sanctuary"  "Necropolis"  and  "Gutter".  8  out  of  10.  

Diazepam Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Mike: We are Diazepam, a sludge band from Lewiston Idaho. We have been around for a few years now and have recorded two demos, a split CD with Pressor and Soom, and now have just released an album called Chemical Justice. The album can be streamed for free on http://diazepam.bandcamp.com or purchased for a $5 download. Other format release details coming soon.

2.Recently you have released an album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
Mike: I would describe it as heavy and extreme, while still retaining a certain stoner sound. Chemical Justice is bad trip music.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Our lyrics are about evil, hate, depression, drug addiction, anger… stuff like that.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Diazepam'?
Diazepam is a chronically over prescribed drug, Valium. Diazepam can be viewed as one of the drugs that are in the center of our society being a society of drug users and addicts, whether legally or illegally. This societal drug addiction is something we look at through our music. Beyond that, we thought it was a cool sounding word, and there weren’t already a million other bands using the name.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We have had the pleasure of playing with some bands we love, like MDC and Today is the Day, which were a blast. Shows we play with local bands like Rasputin or East Sherman are awesome too.
Our stage performance consists of me playing drums, Matt and Freddie playing guitar and Drew singing while acting like a lunatic. Drew really gets into it and goes into the audience and stuff. It’s hard to describe. You’ll have to just see it some time.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
I think we have a local show coming up at the end of next month. No tour plans right now. We don’t play tons of shows because we live out in the middle of nowhere. We try to play live once every month or two, usually in Spokane Washington.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
Well, originally a label was going to release Chemical Justice but that fell through, so we decided to just put it out ourselves. I think Overkill Records is going to do a cassette release, and we’re going to do on LP. Maybe CD too. If a label came along asking we might do it through them, but we aren’t out there looking really.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of sludge and doom metal?
Feedback has been good! People are listening to Diazepam all over the world and the response has been excellent.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We have been working on some new stuff in a lower tuning. The new riffs are really heavy and direct. It’s sounding pretty cool so far.

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?
We are influenced by Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Eyehategod, Corrupted, the first Iron Monkey album, Bongzilla, Autopsy and many, many others.
I’ve been listening to the New Saturnalia Temple album. Great band! I’ve actually been listening to Seige’s Drop Dead album a lot lately too. Just a lot of random stuff. I listen to a lot of death metal and I really like the most recent Vanhelgd album (and all their stuff).

11.What are some of your non musical interests?
As a band our interests vary, but include pipe smoking, dogs, guns, art, women, tattoos, etc.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thanks for doing this interview! Fans of heavy sludge/doom stuff can check us out at http://diazepam.bandcamp.com

Matalobos Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
We are a melodic doom death band from León, Mexico,  formed by four members that wanted to explore the darkest and saddest side of our minds when we thought of the birth of this band, we have been together for almost 10 months now, and we released an EP in tape and digipack formats.

2.In April you had released an ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
Since I started to listen metal when I was a teenager I always felt that doom metal was something that goes straight to my heart, we feel that it just explores that part of ourselves that none want to show, our true face, so we wanted to achieve a mixture between melancholy and aggression, to have this doom sound but never forgetting the straight energy of death metal.

3.The band was formed in October of 2014 and had its first release 6 months later, do you put a lot of time and effort into writing and creating music?
Of course, we see our music as a job besides of a true passion, we have schedules and we are constantly searching new concepts and new ideas for upcoming songs.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
 I think that we wanted to talk about obscure stuff in our music, themes that must of the people are afraid of deal with, sadness, darkness, melancholy, violence, murder, death.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Matalobos'?
Matalobos, roughly translated from spanish it means “wolves killer or wolfsbane”, it´s actually a colloquial name for a very poisonous plant called “aconite” the toxin can be absorbed through the skin and can kill you in a couple of hours, also it seems some farmers used to use this plant to kill wolves preventing to eat their sheep, if you see some pictures of the plant it´s actually a beauty flower but deadly, so we thought it will be a cool name related to the kind of music we do.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
I think by now, our best show was as a supporting act from an Italian band called “Cadaveria” the show was really good, we always try to put so much energy in our shows, we want people to feel our emotions with each note we play, to give a plus to what they hear in our recordings.

7.Do you have any touring or shown plans for the future?
We are currently planning a tour in October through Mexico with Majestic Downfall and Dies Irae from Mexico too, and we expect to make a tour in Europe next year.

8.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
We are working right now with Inductive Oppression Records from México who kindly offer us to release our EP in physical format, and also we have had contacts with labels around the world to which we are talking about the release of a full length.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of melodic death and doom metal?
It has been pretty good actually, especially in Europe, we never thought that we will be receiving good comments and kind words for our music in this brief time.

10.When can we expect a full length album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We are currently writing songs for the full length, we have 4 songs by now, we have plans to start the recording in September or October of this year, we are mainly focus on reach European audience with our music, due to the genre and the support for this melancholic sound out there, I think the sound of the full length it will be more mature than the EP.

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?
Well of course there is the doom and death genres, but also I´m really into prog rock music, jazz and blues, to mention some bands, it´s really hard because there´s a lot of them, but I can say that Novembre, Daylight Dies, old Katatonia, Rapture, Swallow the Sun and Doom:vs are big part of it.; currently I´m listening to The Pineapple Thief, Klimt 1918 (always) and a lot of Emperor and Dissection.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
Videogames, survival horror games specially, books, women (the mainly cause of our depression hahah jkd), movies, football (I love to play football), and hanging out with Matalobos guys and friends.

13..Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thanks a lot for this interview we are very glad to have the opportunity to talk a little about us, and for the ones reading this, you can look for us in facebook.com/matalobosofficial or matalobos.bandcamp.com or give us a message matalobosofficial@gmail.com Doom on!

Diazepam/Chemical Justice/2015 FUll Length Review

  Diazepam  are  a  band  from  Lewiston,  Idaho  that  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of t heir  self  released  2015  album  "Chemical  Justice".

 A  very  powerful  bass  guitar  sound  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  more  heavy  sludge/doom  metal  direction  that  also  brings  in  stoner  rock  style  melodies  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  when  vocals  are  brought  into  the  music  they  are  high  pitched  sludge  style  screams.

  At times  the  vocals  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  growls  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  remain  true  to  a  dark  and  melodic  old  school  style  of  doom  metal  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  slow  musical  direction  while  being  very  heavy  at  the  same  time  and  some  of  the  riffs  and  leads  also  bring  a  70's  retro  rock  vibe  to  the  recording  and  every  second  on  the  recording  remains  heavy  and  dark.

  Diazepam  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  that  is  very  dark,  slow  and  heavy  and  also  brings  in  a  touch  of  stoner  metal,  the  production  has  a  dark  sound  yet  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion Diazepam  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of sludge  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Doomsday  Prepper"  and  "Methcrush".  8  out  of  10.

Matalobos/Self Titeld/2015 EP Review

  Matalobos  are  a  band  from  Mexico  that  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  and  self  titled 2015  ep.

  A  very  dark and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  after  awhile  melodic  guitar  leads  and  death  metal  growls  are  added  into  the  music  and  all  3  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  music  also  brings  in  elements  of  modern  metal.

  Spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with some  screams  that  almost  have  a  black  metal  feeling  to  them  and  the  band  also  brings  in  a  small  amount  of  classical  guitars  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  clean  singing  and  all of  the  music  sticks  to a  slow  musical  direction.

  Matalobos  plays  a  musical  style  that  is  mostly  rooted  in  doom  metal  and  they  mix  it  in  with  melodic death  metal  to  create  a  sound  of their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  depression  and  murder.

  In  my  opinion  Matalobos  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  melodic  death  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Black  Stone  Walls".  8  out  of  10.