Marianas Rest Interview

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

The band is relatively young, most of us started to play together just a few years ago. We come from a small Finnish town called Kotka located on the shore of the Baltic Sea. The place is known for its paper mills, beautiful parks and, of course, metal bands.

2.So far you have released a demo and a full length, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recordings?

Well, our music is a gloomy mix of different kinds of death metal. There are melodies, growls and slow doomy bits to it. The main thing is the feel of it all. We try to get a got melancholic vibe into the songs.

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

Usually the topics seem to revolve around different kind of nihilistic existential ponderings. Many of us living in the western world are feeling nauseated although technically we have everything we need.
It is easier than ever to be in touch with people and still there is a lot of loneliness. When our basic needs are filled, we tend to lose focus of what is really important.
As a mankind we make mistakes, and thats okay, but we should try to learn from them. Instead we keep repeating them.

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

The inspiration is our lovely Baltic Sea and its depths. It is a variation of ”Marianas Trench”, the deepest place on our planet. That name was already taken at the time we picked our name, so we came up with this. It is supposed to reflect the cold and heavy side to our music, but at the same time its kinda pretty, as the music is supposed to be.

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 haven’t played a lot of shows yet, but hopefully that will change. The best would probably be our record releasing gig at Sam’s Pub in Kotka. The house was packed and the feeling and people were amazing. A night to remember.
On stage we are not as serious as the music is. We are easy going guys who like to have fun. The music is bleak enough, the show doesn’t need to be.

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

We sure have, but we cannot announce them right here. Have to wait until everything is clear.

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

The feedback we received has been invigorating. People seem to like the album very much, which of course is a huge relief for us. We put so much into it that it would really had sucked balls if people had thought it was total crap.

8.Are any of the band members currently involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?

A few of us, yes. Aapo (keyboards) plays melodic death metal in Omnium Gatherum and is currently touring with them in the US. Nico M. (guitars) plays melodic metal in a band called Alcantaria and I also sing in ID: Exorcist.

We have a few side-projects as well: Pekka and the Guns of Love and Romantic Tiger. It would be best, if the world wouldn’t hear about the last two.

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

We hope to refine what we have started. Horror Vacui is just the beginning and it is too early to say where the road will take us.

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 listen to so many different types of music that it is impossible to list everything here. Our bassist has been listening to Top Gun soundtrack a lot lately. A bit too much if you ask me. People are getting suspicious.
Besides the clear death and doom vibes, our music has elements of black metal. Bands devoted to melancholy, such as Sentenced, Katatonia and Paradise Lost, have definitely contributed to the overall mood of the music.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Drinking, scheming, house renovating, moonlight walks and occasional nude runs. We also have a tennis team together. It is called ”Crotch pain boys”.

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

Dont be a fool, buy our album. It is not the best, but probably good enough.

All questions answered by Jaakko Mäntymaa, vocals.

Death Metal Pope/Harvest/2016 EP Review

  Death  Metal  Pope  are  a  band  from  New  York  that  plays  a  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2016  ep  "Harvest".

  A  very  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some  grooves  and  melodies  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  after  awhile  death  metal  growls  are  added  into  the  music  and  the  vocals  also  bring  in  a  clean  singing  stoner  rock  style  at   times  while  the  slow  riffs  are  in  a  doom  metal  direction.

  Acoustic  guitars  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  solo  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  retro  orientated  style  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  briefly  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  along  with  some  elements  of  crust  and  d  beat  while  the  main  focus  is  on  a  slower  style.

  Death  Metal  Pope plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  doom,  stoner,  sludge  and  death  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Death  Metal  Pope  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  stoner,  doom,  sludge  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out t his  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Harvest"  and  "Young  Graves".  8  out  of  10. 

Morality Crisis/Self Titled/Minnesconsin Records/2016 EP Review

  Morality  Crisis  are  a  band  from  Minnesota  that  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge,  grindcore  and  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review of  their  self  titled  2016  ep  which  was  released  by  Minnesconsin  Records.

  War  samples  start  off  the  ep  before  adding  in  reverb  as  well  as  going  into a  very fast  grindcore  direction  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  growling  vocals  and  all  of  the  songs  are  very  short  in  length  while  also  being  very  progressive  and  melodic  at  times  and  you  can  also h ear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording.

  Elements  of  sludge  can  be  heard  in  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  and  high  pitched  screams  are  also  used  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  you  can  also  hear  a  great  amount  of  hardcore  influences  throughout  the  recording  and  melodic  guitar  leads  are  also  used  at  times.

 Morality Crisis  plays  a  music  style  that  takes  sludge,  grind  and  hardcore  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  political  and  war  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Morality  Crisis  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  sludge,  grind  and  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Job  Crisis"  and  "Jupiter  Crisis".  8  out  of  10. 

Maeth/Shrounded Mountain/Minnesconsin Records/2016 CD Review

  Maeth  are  a  band  from  Minnesota  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge,  doom  metal,  psychedelic  and  noise  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Shrouded  Mountain"  which  was  released  by  Minnesconsin  Records.

  Clean  singing  vocals  start  off the  album along  with  a  powerful  bass  guitar  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  takes  the  music  into a  heavier  direction  while  also  introducing  melodic  guitars  onto  the  recording  and  after  awhile  death  metal  growls  and  sludge  style  screams  make  their  presence  known  on  the  album.

  Elements  of  post  and  progressive  rock  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  flutes  and  acoustic  guitars  along  with  some  clean  playing  while  a  good  portion  of  the  songs  are  very  long  and  epic in  length  and  a  great  amount  of  psychedelic  elements  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  samples  and  tribal  beats  while  all  of  the  tracks  stick  to  a  very  slow  musical  direction  and  one  song  is  all  instrumental.

  Maeth  creates  another  recording  that  takes  their  sludge  and  doom  metal  style  and  mixes  it  with  post  rock,  experimental  and  psychedelic  music  to  create  something  very  original,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  goblin  battles,  loss  and  tattered  hope  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Maeth  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  sludge,  doom  metal,  psychedelic  and  noise,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Verne"  and  "Mammoth  God".  8  out  of  10.   

Qaanaaq Interview

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

Of course! This band is the result of the passion for metal and progressive music of three brothers (Luca, Mattia and Nicola Togni). The desire to mix these two genres together led us to Qaanaaq, who sits right in the middle. We started jamming in 2011 as an instrumental band, then in 2012 we were joined by Dario Leidi’s rhythm guitar. It took a little bit more to find the right singer and after a while we found one in Enrico Perico, who also writes all the lyrics and has a more distinct death metal style, with his growl voice that contrasts with the melodies of the keyboards.

2.Recently you have released your first album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

As we were saying, the first thing that you note is the juxtaposition between the melodies of the keyboards and the roughness of the growl voice. We wanted a warm sound, more common in progressive music, even though the compositions are more metal oriented. The songs are long, with different riffs and many changes, and with a horror aura and a sinister vibe other all of them.

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

Our lyrics are usually allegorical, we like to tell stories, sometimes inspired by movies, books, or history, but always with a deepest meaning that can be detected fitting the words to everyday life. When we write, the mood of the song evoke us the tiny pains that apply to everybody, then we try to imagine the same thing in a different place, period or situation. As our music is made on different layers, so the lyrics have to be realized on different levels of sympathy. The effect we want to pass on is a theatrical vision of human condition, filtered by irony and masked as a tale. Consequently Greenland becomes the stage on which we represent our tragicomic vision of life, a chilly land of loneliness despite his name.

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

Qaanaaq is the name of a city in Greenland, one of the northernmost towns in the world. The inspiration came to Nicola and we all liked it, because is a palindrome, and so is graphically pleasing, and also because it represent an isolated and solitary land.

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

One of our favorite shows was when we opened for our friend XPUS and the Swiss death metal band All Life Ends. It was fun and very satisfying! We play a very direct, simple show, like we are as persons: no particular dressing or masks, just us and our instruments, trying to do our best.

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

Nothing planned right now, but we want to organize a release party for the new record and we’re working on it.

7.The album was released on 'Another Side Records', are you happy with the support they have given you so far?

Yes, we are really satisfied by the work of the label and we’re very thankful for it and for all the support that we’re receiving. We sure have reached more people and increased the number of our followers thanks to the label!

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

Our name has just started to circulate. We don’t have a big budget to spend, so we can’t have a big exposure like the big names, but we’re not complaining and we keep working for the band knowing that it’ll be hard. You have to consider that this is not our main job, we’re not that young anymore, so we all have regular jobs and we need to take care of our families. We do this in the free time and sometimes it’s hard, but as long as we’re having fun, we’ll continue. On the other hand, thanks to the internet and facebook, nowadays it is possible to reach a broader exposure with less effort.

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

We don’t know yet actually, because it’s not something that we plan. We don’t have limits or frameworks to follow. We just follow the flow of our feelings, because we like to express ourselves and our emotions of the moment with the music, and so we don’t know now where this will lead us in the future. We don’t have anything planned, usually we start jamming other ideas brought by Luca, Mattia or Dario, and then connect what we think works good together and discard what we think is too weak. There is an idea of what “sounds” as Qaanaaq and what not, but it came naturally and it is something that may change in the future. Recording “Escape…” was a very formative experience, now we are more aware of different details we didn’t know about before and this will definitely help us while writing new songs for a new album.

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?

The main influence for us is Opeth for sure! Then some elements of Ghost. But everything that we listen to can inspire us, from progressive rock to jazz, death and black metal, or also hard rock and blues. It may not be obvious in our songwriting, but we think that the more diverse music you listen to, the less limits you have while trying to express yourself by playing music. We like to discover new music and new bands that inspire us, Karnivool being one of them in recent years. We obviously have different personal tastes, but it is interesting to process and reunite all these different influences while playing together as Qaanaaq.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

We all like to read books and comics, watch movies or listen to podcasts, some of us like to play a sport while others prefer to watch it on television. We’re not party people anymore since we all have family and kids! Having said that, we think that also when speaking of non musical interests you can say that it is good to be open to different things, from a physical to an intellectual level. It is always good to challenge yourself in a sport, or to deepen the knowledge on a specific matter that you like, even better if you can do both since mind and body works together and are influenced one another.

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

First, we want to thank you very much for this interview! Then we thank Another Side Records and especially Anatoliy who is helping us promoting our music with passion and dedication. In the end, we advise your readers to listen to our album because we think it is something original that can satisfy many listeners with different musical tastes.

You can find us on facebook as Qaanaaqmetalband.
Thank you!

Cokegoat/Drugs And Animals/2016 Full Length Review

  Cokegoat  are  a  band  from  Chicago,  Illinois  that  has been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture of  stoner,  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their self  released  2016  album  "Drugs  And  Animals"  which  will  be  released  on  November  25th.

  Acoustic  guitars start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  a  few  seconds  later  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  after  awhile  sludge  style  vocals  make  their  presence  known  in  the  songs  and  the riffs  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  melody.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  hear  the  heaviness  of  doom  metal  and  death  metal  growls  are  also  utilized  at  times  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  blast  beats  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  influences  of  stoner  and  post  metal  and  when  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  and  there  is  also  a  brief   use  of  clean  vocals  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  synths  can  also  be  heard  at  times.

  Cokegoat  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  the  stoner,  doom  and  death  metal  mixture  of their  previous  release,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  life,  death,  the  earth  and  moon  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Cokegoat  and  if  you  are a  fan  of  stoner,  sludge  and  doom  metal, you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Burner"  The  Ruiner"  and  "Kreator  Destroyer".  8  out  of  10.

Marianas Rest/Horror Vacui/Sliptrick Records/2016 CD Review

  Marianas  Rest  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  very  melancholic  and  melodic  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Horror  Vacui"  which  was  released  by  Sliptrick  Records.

  Spoken  word  samples  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier and  melodic  musical  direction  and  the  leads  also  use  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  clean  guitars  are  also  added  in  some  parts  of  the  songs.

  After  awhile  death  metal  growls  are  added  onto  the  recording  while  screams  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  are  very  heavily  influenced  by  doom  metal  and  they  also  mix  in  atmospheric  synths  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs  and  spoken  word  parts  are  also  used  on  the  other  tracks  and  some  of  the songs  are very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  whole  album  sticks  to  either  a  slow  or  mid  paced  musical  direction  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  melodic  singing.

  Marianas  Rest  plays  a  style  of  doom/death  metal  that  is  very  melodic,  atmospheric,  and  melancholic  sounding  and  adding  in  some  of  the  90's  era  in  with  a  more  modern  take  on  the  genre,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  depressive  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Marianas Rest  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  and  melancholic  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Nadir"  "A  Lonely  Place  to  Die"  and  "Vestigial".  8  out  of  10.