Prisoner 639/Throw Me In The Crater/EveryDayHate/2016 Split Ep Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  ep  between  Belgium's  Prisoner  639  and  Netherlands's  Throw  Me  In  The  Crater  which was  released  by  EveryDayHate  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Prisoner  639  a  duo  that  plays  a  very  raw  and  primitive  form  of  power  violence.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  a  very  distorted  drone  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  leads  up  to  bass  and  drums  making  their  presence  known  in  the  song  that  also  brings  in  a  touch  of  sludge  and  after  awhile  the  music  speeds  up  and  brings  in  blast beats  and  growling  vocals  along  with  a  great  amount  of  grindcore  and  power  violence  elements  and  the  track  also  brings  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts,  the  production  sounds  very  raw  while  the  lyrics  cover  angry  themes.

  In  my  opinion Prisoner  639  are  a  very  great  sounding  power  violence  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.

  Next  up  is  Throw  Me  In  The  Crater  a  band  that  plays  a  very  heavy  form  of  sludge.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  drum  beats  and  distorted  amp  sounds  before  going  into a  heavier  sludge  and  doom  metal  direction  and  melodies  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and  after  awhile  screams  are  added  into  the  song  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  melodies  can  also  be  heard  at  times,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  angry  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Throw  Me  in  The  Crater  are  a  very  great  sounding  sludge  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  their  song.

  In  conclusion  I  think  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  power  violence  and  sludge.  8  out  of  10.

Herem/III/Inverse Records/Full Length Review

  Herem  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  stoner,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "III"  which  will  be  released  in  December  by  Inverse  Records.

  Distorted  amp  sounds  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  doom  metal  direction  a  few  seconds  later  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  and  sludge  style  screams  making  their  presence  known  a  few  seconds  later  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Stoner  rock  elements  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  one  track  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  clean  guitars  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  slow  musical  direction and  clean  vocals  are  added  onto  the  last  track.

  Herem  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  sludge,  stoner  and  doom  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Herem  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  stoner,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Snakes  Of  The  Third  Moon"  and  "Edge  of  the  World".  8  out  of  10.    

Matalobos/Arte Macabro/Concetro Records/2016 CD Review

  Matalobos  are  a  band  from  Mexico  that h as  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Arte  Macabro"  which  was  released  by  Concretro  Records.

  Classical  guitar  playing  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  violins  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  leads  up  to  a  more  heavy  and  melodic  musical  direction  that  also  introduces  death  metal  growls  onto  the  recording  and  screams  are  also  used  at  times  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Clean  singing  vocals  can  be  heard  in  the  music  at  times  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  and  a  great  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length and  classical  guitars  are  also  used  on  some  of  the  later  tracks  as  well  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  blast  beats  and  one  track  brings  in  a  small  amount  of  spoken  word  parts  and  the  main  focus  remains  more  on  a  slow  doom  metal  style.

  Matalobos  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  the  melodic  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  from  their  previous  release,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  depression  and  murder themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Matalobos  and  if you  are  a  fan  of  melodic  doom/death  metal,you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Macabre"  and  "Built  By  Souls".  8  out  of  10.  

 

Ghost Of Mary/Oblivaeon/Revalve Records/2016 CD Review

  Ghost  Of  Mary  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  symphonic  mixture  of  goth  and  melodic  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Oblivaeon"  which  will  be  released  in  December  by  Revalve  Records.

  Nature  sounds  start  off  the  album  before  adding  in  goth  style  keyboards  a  few  seconds  later  that  also  have  a  symphonic  edge  to  them  and  stringed  instruments  are  also  used  at  times  and  after  the  intro  acoustic  guitars  are  added  onto  the  recording  along  with  some  clean  singing  vocals  and  all of  the  musical  instruments  sound  very  powerful.

  After  awhile  the  music starts  getting  more  heavy  and  melodic  while  also introducing  death  metal  growls  and  high  pitched  screams  onto  the  recording  while  also  mixing  the  clean  and  symphonic  parts  into  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  use  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  blast  beats  are  also  utilized  at  times.  and  as  the  album  progresses  elements  of  classical  music  can  be  heard  and  they  also  bring  in  an  instrumental  before  going  back  to  vocal  tracks.

  Ghost  Of  Mary plays  a  music  style  that  takes  melodic  death  metal  and  mixes  it  with  goth  and  symphonic  elements  along  with  a  touch  of  doom  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  a  concept  album  based  upon  ;ife  and  death  with  a  metaphysical  touch.

  In  my  opinion  Ghost  Of  Mary  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  goth  and  melodic  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Moon  And  The  True"  "Nothing"  and  "The  End  Is  Only  The  Beginning".  8  out  of  10.  

Ghoulgotha/Ruin/Churning In Vertabrates/Becoming Disease/Blood Harvest Records/2016 7 Inch Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split ep  between  California's  Ghoulgotha  and  California/North  Dakota's  Ruin  called  "Churning  In  Vertabrates/Becoming  Disease"  which  was  released  by  Blood  Harvest  Records  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Ghoulgotha  a  band  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  a  very  dark,  heavy  and  old school  sound  with the  slow  riffing  being  very  heavily  influenced  by  doom  metal  and  after  awhile  death  metal  growls  start  to  make  their  presence  known  and  the  music  is  also  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  and  morbid  sounding  melodies  can  be  heard  and  the  leads  are  also  very  melodic, the  production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  death,  darkness,  and  abstract  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  track  from  Ghoulgotha  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  doom/death  metal,  you  should  check out  their  side  of  the  split.

  Next  up  is  Ruin  another  band  that  plays  an  old  school  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  horror  movie  style  screams  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  along  with  a  great  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  and  after  a  few  seconds  death  metal growls  along  with  some  grim screams  and  doom  metal  elements  also  make  their  presence  known  and  the  riffing  also  goes  into a   mid  paced  direction  after  awhile,  the  production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  occult  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Ruin  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical genre,you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  I  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  doom  and  death  metal.  8 out  of  10.

  http://bloodharvestrecords.bandcamp.com/album/churning-in-vertebraes-becoming-disease-7ep   

MorphiuM/The Blackout/Mass Productions/2016 CD Review

  MorphiuM  are  a  band  from  Spain  that  plays  a  gothic  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "The  Blackout"  which  was  released  by  Mass  Productions.

  Dark  soundscapes  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  heavy  riffing  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  leads  up  to  some  death  metal  growls  making  their  presence  known  on  the  recording  while  goth  style  clean  singing  is  also  used  quite  a  bit  throughout  the r ecoridng  and  the  riffs  also  use  a  great  amount  of  melody.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording h ave  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  female  vocals  are  also  added  into  some  parts  of t he  songs  while  the  keyboards  bring  in  more  elements  of  goth  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style and  some  of  the  riffing  brings  in a   modern  prog  metal  sound  and  black  metal  screams  are  also  utilized  briefly  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  acoustic guitars  as  the  album  progresses  while  a later  track  introduces  nu  metal  style  vocals  onto  the  recording  and when  the  music  speeds  up  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard.

  MorphiuM  plays  a  music  style  that  is  mostly  rooted  in  goth  and  death  metal  while  also  mixing  in  elements  from  black,  doom,  prog  and  nu  metal  to  create  something  very  original,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  madness,  rage,  love  and  society  themes.  

  In  my  opinion  MorphiuM  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  goth  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "What  Lies  Beyond  Words"  "Point  Of  No  Return"  "All  You Are"  and  "Blindfolded".  8  out  of  10.

Death Metal Pope Interview

 

 1.For those that have never heard of you before,can you tell us a little bit about the band?
1. We are three hairy men from Long Island, New York. I play guitar and sing. My name is Father Damn. Marc (our bassist) and I have been friends since a little before Kindergarten and we've been playing music together for about 12 or 13 years. Gusmo convinced us that we should let him play drums and I've been dealing with that ever since.

    2.Recently you have released an ep,how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording
2. It's a pretty varied release, I would say. We label ourselves as a doom band because we don't know how else to describe our music, but there's much more than just doom. There's a lot of Black Sabbath influences without a doubt, but there are some thrashy parts as well - we would like to think that a lot of the riffs and the songs we're presenting to you on the album cover a lot more ground than just one genre of metal.

    3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
3. Losing people you have loved to drug abuse. Struggling with your vices. The realization that all life eventually ends. Spilt milk. That feeling when you have to take a shit but the bathroom is being occupied.

    4.Originally the band was called 'Witchripper', what was the decision behind the name change and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Death Metal Pope'?
4. The name Witchtripper was too serious. Our music is serious, but we don't want the presentation of who we are to be so serious all the time. Death Metal Pope means absolutely nothing. It's a name that I came up with for a joke band when I was 14 and it's stuck in the back of my head ever since. Whether or not you like the name, you're going to remember it.

    5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
5. We really enjoy playing in the Northeastern United States. Massachusetts and New Hampshire in particular have been extremely kind to us. They have a really awesome scene for metal up there where it seems like everyone is involved and everyone is important. You don't see that everywhere.

We don't really do anything out of the ordinary when we play shows. A lot of bands that we play with talk a lot and have crazy light setups. We don't do any of that. For now, we just keep things simple. Maybe one day we will change that. I don't know. At this point in time, keeping things bare bones is refreshing to me. I will probably get bored of that eventually, I don't doubt that at all.


    6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
6. We're on tour right now, actually, and we've been doing a decent amount since July. We will be making our way out West in January, but only as far as Texas, and then back up the Northeast. Eventually I would love to go back to Europe - I've been there with my other band, and it was an amazing experience.
We plan to tour as much as possible until people won't book us anymore.

    7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
7. If a good offer comes to us, we will look into it. I really like doing things myself and I think that given the state of the music industry currently a label is not %100 needed. We have been working with some friends who run a little DIY thing called Aggressive Rhythm. They're nice and they don't tell me what to do, so I like that.


    8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of doom metal?
8. We've gotten some very positive reviews from Europe and elsewhere. I'm not sure how they found us - it seems like discovering new music through Bandcamp and Facebook is incredibly easy in this day and age.

    9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
9. As a band, if you're not expanding and changing, you're stagnating. I love a lot of genres of music and I will be incorporating a lot of them into newer releases going forward, just as I have with Harvest. I have no desire to pigeonhole our music and would like to expand much further out of the world of doom. Maybe by next week we will turn into an EDM band. Who knows?

    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?
10. I try and make songs that flow and progress naturally as opposed to a collection of riffs thrown together. So, in that sense, I get a lot of inspiration in places other than metal music. Bands that you probably wouldn't expect - I listen to Kings of Leon and Band of Horses a lot. Also John Frusciante. Sue me.

I obviously get inspired by metal bands too, and I love Type O Negative. I don't think there was ever or will ever be a band like that again. Black Sabbath, of course, and I love Zakk Wylde's pentatonic style. His leads blow my mind. Anything Scott Wino has been apart of. Lunar Womb might be the greatest album ever made.

    11.What are some of your non musical interests?
11. I love reading and I love movies. Mostly science fiction and horror. A lot of inspiration draws from what I read or what. I'm obsessed with those two genres. Oh, and I also really like to whine and cry like a baby. Temper tantrums are fun. The other guys don't do anything besides sleep and complain.

I think one time Marc went outside for a walk but it didn't seem to catch on. They also eat, too. So I guess sleeping and eating would be their hobbies. I would ask them but they're both asleep with mouths full of twinkies.

    12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
12. Brush your teeth. Eat your vegetables. Call your grandmother. She misses you.