Haram Interview

Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
Hi, at the moment we had the release of the CD and some gig with the new drummer, it was nice, we have been travelling through italy.

2.In April you had released a new album, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
 It’ s completely different, the past was actually much more spacy and trippy, this new work it s much more straight and noisy then the work before, it s something much more instinctive and less intimate, i believe this  was a huge change.The music is still deeply connected to the sound, i mean there is a deep study in creating the chaos we wanna accomplish. So there is a little of order and investigation in the chaos! we've tried to accomplish this result by not adding new gear, actually we’ve simplified a little the rig so we can be more direct and not overthink too much. Sometimes limits are good things!

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you have explored over the years with your music?
The old works were much more about the innerself, the music was much more evocative and spiritual in a kind of way, the lyrics were connected to the music in a way and they were all about the knowledge of the one self, in the Sgretolamento the whole work was inspired by the i ching, The oracle.
In QESC the main focus is the protest, it s music against the consumerism, fascism, omofobia, razism, our government and the new politics against refugees, climate emergency and more.
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Haram'?
Haram it s an arabic word, The meaning is  literally an action against god Will.
It s a name that we love. 

5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover
The art work it s by Alessio Marchetti,  the lead singer of tutti i colori del buio, The love supreme , it s a great guy who did always support the scene, it s a great friend and we like the way he does things.
it s the mix of 2 different images, The first it’s a commercial from the 80s and the second it s the scene of an explosion. The faces on the art cover they express a huge amount of violence and we loved it at first sight

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We have  a huge amount of sounds and noise, I do not recall the best performance, because it’s not our goal to be perfect musician and please the audience. But probably in the last tour, the last date was the best because we’ve improved our interplay during the tour and because playing at Banhnof is always a pleasure with a lot of friends and alcohol
Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
We Will be around the whole mounth of october in italy playing gigs all around.

8.In 2017 you where a part of a split with 'La Deriva', what are your thoughts on the other band that had participated on the recording? /////
That band it s over and we just keep the contact with Luca, The guitar player, He s a local sound guy. We were quite different bands, but we were friends and we wanted to do something together

9.The album was released through a variety of many different labels, can you tell us a little bit more about the labels you have worked with on the new recording?
Well basically all the labels are friends, there some people who did appreciate our work over the years and that did support us so much, and many of them they “own” labels and the did help us out with the release but mainly we wanted them to be part of this, because music it s about sharing and be together. Always.

10.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your recordings by fans of underground music?
Well we do not have this kind of approach, i mean we do not know what a worldwide level is…. We live here and now and we play what we love.

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Well haram has and will always be freestereotypes kind of band, so i do not know, i am sure that we will keep going, going nowhere… As we always did.
We will experiment and try new solutions and find new ways to express ourselves through sounds, that s where we are heading. Our music listening change pretty quickly so we’ve abandoned the idea to be the band with the same sound on every album. We’ve different textures even in the same album but for us it’s not a problem

12.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?
Our new drummer Utku Tavil is a great source of new underground extreme music. He lives half a year in Berlin and coordinates some experimental music festivals so he’s in contact with many interesting bands and project. We like most of all bands like Moe, No Balls, White Suns, Cuntroaches, Urin, Piss, Brainbombs, Puma. Different bands that share the same attitude

13.What are some of your non musical interests?
We try to keep in shape and not get too fat. Two of us practice climbing and the other one is getting fat

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
We’re getting old so it’s getting harder to be in the music scene, but the will to make some noise and make some ear bleed is still alive, even more then in the past. Chaos with some order!

Ulfven Interview

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



 ⁃ We are 4 guys who plays melodic doom/death metal with some black metal elements. It has always been a struggle to explain our style with all these different elements but internally and to friends we call our music Nature Metal, which describes our desired concept, nature and folklore. The band was formed in the late 2017 and we started to work on our debut album very early. Our new bassist and vocalist Jonathan joined the band in Mars 2018. Our first album which we released on the 1st of February this year is a concept album about scandinavian folklore. As previously mentioned It’s a theme through the whole album which we want to explore and internalize as our main ”atmosphere”.





2.So far you have released one full length, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style you went for on the recording?



 ⁃ The plan wasn’t acctually to record a whole album and release it as an album. The idea from the beginning was just to record our tracks just for fun and to learn more how the recording process are and try to do it all by ourselves. Robert, our guitarrist, vocalist and main songwriter had some really good demo tracks and riffs which we put together. When the first track was recorded we sent it to our friend Rickard Törnqvist (Svartkonst) and after we heard his first mix we realised that he was the perfect guy for the job and that everything sounded so much better than we thought it would. From that moment everything became quite exciting for us. We didn’t really focus on any specific genre in the beginning, but we all agreed that it would be quite slow and melodic.



3.Your lyrics cover Scandinavian Folklore themes. can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic?



 ⁃ We wanted a concept and the first song that was completed was about 'Skogsrået' which is a female being, a watcher of the forest, in old folklore.  It woke a strong interest in all of us, so we decided to use that theme.  We have grown up very close to nature and have heard the stories then and then since childhood.



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



 ⁃ 'Ulv' is an old word for wolf and it can also mean werewolf.  We thought it was a name that suited us very well considering what our songs are about. It also sounds ”dense” when you say it, it rolls of the tounge!



5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?



 ⁃ The cover of ’Folklore’ is a photo taken in the woods. Our song ’Nocturnal Watcher’ is about a mytholigical creature in swedish folklore called Kyrkogrimmen, which holds the shape you see in the back of the cover.



6.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 any shows yet so it’s hard to answer that question. When the idea of recording an album emerged, we put all our focus on it. After the release of ’Folklore’, the idea was to play live as much as possible but we went through various things, both as a band and privately, that made us unable to do it. We have a lot of different ideas to further enhance the atmosphere in our performance when we play live. So stay tuned, we’re really hyped, rehearsed and ready for a live show!



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



 ⁃ Yes, we have. Nothing is nailed at the moment, but we will reveal more about that soon.



8.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest/



 ⁃ We are looking for a label at the moment. We have received some offers but we have either not been interested or the other part has stopped replying/drawn themselves out of it. It has been infuriating to say the least!



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



 ⁃ The reactions has been so much better than expected. If the people who like the album is fans of melodic death and doom metal it doesn’t matter as long as people like the music. That said there has been some minor bitter reactions from people who think metal and its genres is some static thing that has to be the same as its origins. Mostly these ”true” metalheads are doom and black metal fans, but we have not given it much thought. One funny comment we got on YouTube was from a true doom fan who said ”The music is great but THE VOCALS SUCK”. We thought it was quite funny.



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



 ⁃ Time will tell. We have a lot of ideas that we want to make real, but it’s really hard to tell what the future will look like, but we will continue the journey with ’Ulfven’ as long as possible. We love doing this.



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?



 - The big ones that have inspired us throughout former bands and this one would probably be Opeth, Bloodbath and Gojira. Others would be bands such as Katatonia and Ereb Altor. Music styles that inspire are mainly black and death metal of course but we listen to a lot of different things internally. Sometimes some of us blast Bloodbath through the speakers one moment only to put on some Modern Pop, RnB and old rock classics in the next. We think it is important to listen to more than just metal because you can easily get stuck in the same patterns, which can kill your creativity. We will not cover Hit Me Baby One More Time anytime soon but a melody or a groove here and there from completely different genres can definitely inspire a brutal metal track.



12.What are some of your non musical interests?



 ⁃ We live very different lives and do very different things outside ’Ulfven’ but music is luckily the main interest. Other than that we enjoy nature, cooking food, hanging out or having a few drinks. Preferably all at once!



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



 - We invite people to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! We post band updates, write some swedish poetry and currently we’re releasing some folklore-inspired artwork made by Sofia Hultqvist. All in our style.

We are currently working on something that we hopefully will reveal later this year, it will be ’Ulfven’ in its essence. A bittersweet, brutal and beautifully dark journey through the unknown. Thank you for having us!

Mourner/Apogee Of Nihility/Satanath Records/More Hate Productions/The End Of Time Records/2019 CD Review

  Mourner  are  a  band  from  Russia  that  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "Apogee  of  Nihility"  which  was  released  as  a  joint  effort  between  Satanath,  The  End  Of  Time  Records  and  More  Hate  Productions.

  Clean  playing  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  and  melodic  musical  direction.  Stringed  instruments  can  also  be  heard  at  times  while  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  are  very  heavily  rooted  in  doom  metal  along  with  the  vocals  being  mostly  death  metal  growls.

  A  great  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  while  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  briefly.  When  screams  are  utilized  they  also  add  in  a  touch  of  black  metal  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  as  the  album  progresses  clean  playing  also  makes  a  brief  return  on  a  couple  of  tracks  and  all  of  the  music  sticks  to  a  slower  direction,  the  album  also  closes  with  an  instrumental.

  Mourner  plays  a  style  of  doom/death  metal  that  is  very  slow,  melancholic,  melodic and  heavy  sounding.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  depressive  themes. 

  In  my  opinion  Mourner  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  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  "The  Scorched  Sun"  "Apogee  Of  Nihility"  and  "Cobweb  Of  Captivity".  8  out  of  10.

  

Rottendawn/Occult/Saturnal Records/2019 CD Review

  Rottendawn  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  doom,  death  and  heavy  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "Occult"  which  will  be  released  in  September  by  Saturnal  Records.

  A  very  fast,  dark  and  old  school  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats.  A  decent  amount  of  melody  can  also  be  heard  in  the  guitar  riffing  while  the  slower  sections  of  the  music  are  very  heavily  rooted  in  doom  metal  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  sound  very powerful.

  Vocals  are  mostly  tortured  death  metal  growls  while  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.  When  synths  are  utilized  they  also  give  the  music  more  of  a  ritualistic  feeling  along  with  the  music  also having  some  influences  from  the  70's,  80's  and  90's  but  still  retaining  a  modern  day  heaviness.

  When  guitar solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  more  of  an  old  school  metal  style  along  with  the  vocals  also  adding  more  of  a  shouting  approach  at  times  and  when  screams a re  utilized  they  add  in  a  touch  of  black  metal  and  as  the  album  progresses  fast  playing  and  blast  beats  also  make  a  brief  return  and  clear  vocals  and  clean  playing  are  added  onto  the  closing  track.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  death  and  occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Rottendawn  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  doom,  death  and  heavy  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Final  Lament"  "Dawn  Dwellers"  and  "Occult".  8  out  of  10.

https://doomedandstoned.com/post/186236816183/rottendawn 

Leather Lung/Lonesome, On'ry And Evil/Magnetic Eye Records/2019 CD Review

  Leather  Lung  are  a  band  from  Boston,  Massachusetts  that  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge,  stoner  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "Lonesome  On'ry  And  Evil"  which  will  be  released  in  August  by  Magnetic  Eye  Records.

  Distorted  drones  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  more  of  a  hard  and  heavy  musical  direction.  Vocals  are  mostly  sludge  style  screams  while  the  riffs  are  more  rooted  in  southern  and  stoner  metal  along  with  some  back  up  shouting  vocals  also  being  used  at  times  and  the  slow  riffs  also  add  in  the  heaviness  of  doom  metal.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  the  solos  and  leads  bring  in  more  of a  70's  rock/metal  style.  The  riffs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  along  with  some  psychedelic  elements  also  being  utilized  at  times  and  one  track  also  adds  in  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  samples  as  well  as  introducing  blues  rock  influences  onto  the  recording,  clean  vocals  can  also  be  heard  briefly  and  all  of  the  music  sticks  to  either  a  slow  or  mid  tempo  direction.

  Leather  Lung  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  stoner,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  satanism,  life,  death  and  drug  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Leather  Lung  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 t his  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Barbed  Wire" "Ain't  Feeling  No  Pain"  and  "Skeleton  Key".  8 out  of  10.

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Haram/Questo E Solo Chaos/Dio Drone/Drown Within Records/Mother Ship Records/Tifone Crew/Toten Schwan Records/2019 CD Review

  Haram  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  mixture  of  drone,  noise,  grindcore,  sludge  and  post  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "Questo  E  Solo  Chaos"  which  was  released  as  a  joint  effort  between  Dio  Drone,  Tifone  Crew,  Drown  Within,  Mother  Ship  and  Toten  Schwan  Records.

  A  very  fast  and  brutal  grindcore  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats.  Vocals  bring  in  more  of  an  aggressive  hardcore  style  as  well  as  adding  in  some  screams  at  times  while  elements  of  noise  core  can  also  be  heard  in  the  faster  sections  of  the  music.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  the  slower  sections  of  the  music  are  very  heavily  rooted  in  sludge  emtal.  Elements  of  harsh  noise  and  drone  can  also  be  heard  at  times  along  with  the  guitar  leads  also  showing  an  influence  of  post  metal,  clean  vocals  can  also  be  heard  at  times  as  well  as  the  music  also  adding  in  touches  of  noise  rock  and  the  songs  also  add  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  Haram  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  drone,  noise,  grindcore,  sludge  and  post  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own.  The  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Italian  and  cover  dark,  hateful  and  oppressive  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Haram  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  drone,  noise,  grindcore,  sludge  and  post  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Terra"  "Solo"  and  "Hopressione".  8  out  of  10.

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Hound The Wolves/Glasghote/2019 Split Album Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  spit  album  between  Portland  Oregon's  Hound  The  Wolves  and  Glasghote  which  will  be  self  released  in  August  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Hound  The  Wolves  a  band  that  plays  a  mixture  of  drone,  psychedelic  and  stoner  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  some  acoustic  guitars  along  with  a  brief  use  of  guitar  slides  and  both  of  their  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  the  music  also  brings  in  a  great  amount  of  psychedelic  elements.

  Clean  vocals  can  also  be  heard  at  times  while  the  heavier  and  slower  sections  of  the  songs  bring  in  elements  of  stoner,  sludge  and  doom  metal  as  well  as  adding  some  atmospheric  sounding  drones  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  all  of  their  music  sticks  to  a  very  slow  direction,  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  occultism,  numerology  and  sacred  geometry  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Hound  The  Wolves  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  drone,  psychedelic  and  stoner  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out t his  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Live  through  the  Day,  Run  Through  the  Note".

  Next  up  is  Glasghote  a  band  that  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  some  slow  yet  heavy  sludge  style  riffing  while  the  vocals  are  angry  yet  high  pitched  sounding  screams.  Elements  of  doom  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  the  music  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  The  riffs  also  add  in  a  small  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  along  with  some  growls  also  being  added  into  the  background  briefly  and  both  of  the  tracks  stick  to  a  slower  musical  direction  as  well as  adding  in  some  distorted  amp  noises  at  times.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  mythology  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Glasghote  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  TRACK  "Eye  of  Ra".

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

  Hound the Wolves

Glasghote

     
 

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