Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Hadal/Painful Shadow/2016 Full Length Review






  Hadal  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of t heir  self  released  2016  album  "Painful  Shadow".

  Clean  guitars  start  off  the  album  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  a  heavier  musical  direction  along  with  all  of t he  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  more  of  a  melodic  yet  depressive  style  and  they  also  use  a  great  mixture  of  both  clean  and  heavy  parts.

  Vocals  start  out  in  more  of  a  clean   singing  direction  while  also  using  death  metal  growls  quite   a bit  throughout  the  recording  while  the  high  pitched  screams  bring  in  a  touch of  black  metal and  some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  you  can  also  hear  a  lot  of  90's  goth  doom/death  influences  throughout  the  recording  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  slow  musical  direction.

  Hadal  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  the  melodic  doom/death  metal  style  of  previous  recordings  while  also  mixing  in  a  touch  of  goth  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  depression,  death,  loss,  grief  and  despair  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from   Hadal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  melodic doom/death  metal,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Painful  Shadow"  "Slow  Violence"  "Nocturnal"  and  "White  Shade".  8  out  of  10.

Live Burial/Forced Back To Life/Dunkelheit Produktionen/2016 CD Review


  Live  Burial  are  a  band  from  the United  Kingdom  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  metal,  doom  and  sludge  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016 album  "Forced Back To Life"  which  will  be  released  in  April  by  Dunkleheit  Produktionen.

  Horror  movie  soundtrack  music  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  atmospheric  synths  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  more  of  an  old  school  death  metal  direction  along  with  some  morbid  sounding  melodies  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  as  well  as  having  screams  and  growls  being  added  onto  the  recording.

  Guitar  solos  and  leads  remain  true  to  an  old  school  death  metal  style  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  music has  a  lot  of  roots  in  the  mid  80's  to  early  90's  and  all  of  the  musical instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  are  very  heavily  influenced  by  doom  and  sludge  metal.

  Live  Burial  plays  an  old  school  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  mid  80's  and  early  90's  while  also  mixing  in  a  touch  of  sludge  and  doom  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  death and  gore  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Live  Burial  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school death  metal  band  with  a  touch  of  sludge  and  doom  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should c heck  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Forced  Back  To  Life"  "Beyond  Death"  and  "Enter  the  Chapel  of  Splatter".  8  out  of  10.   

Oryx Interview


1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

Things have been kind of crazy with us at of late, besides playing shows locally and organizing our record release show here in Denver at Rhinoceropolis on April 23rd. I was also in an accident recently in our band van and it was totaled. Taking care of that has been a huge factor in figuring out how soon we can tour our new album.

2.You have a split coming out in April, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

Our previous album, "Widowmaker", was our debut and almost two years have passed since that album was recorded. Although "Widowmaker" was a major feat for us as a band, we've seen a lot of progress towards solidifying our own sound. Our split with Languish represents a much more straight-forward, no-holds-barred approach.

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

The plague of humanity on the Earth, the sickness of the human condition and the misplaced sense of entitlement that we are the inheritors of the Earth and can therefore destroy it. I gravitate towards trying to imagine the endgame of humanity, where we have exhausted all natural resources and are no longer able to lie to ourselves that the scorched Earth we will leave to our children is some distant fable and are forced to reckon with the gravity of the fucked culture that has been passed on for centuries to our modern day. These topics flood my mind throughout every day and it seemed only natural that they would eventually permeate through my writing with the band.

4.I know that the band was named after an African antelope, how does this fit in with the musical style you play?

The Oryx was a transplant from the African deserts to our home town, Las Cruces, NM for field research and over time without lions in the area to help control population as they do in Africa, they've hence bred like mad and become the popular prey of local hunters. We have always strongly identified with them because of their inability to blend in to their surroundings. They're very strong animals and have been known to impale vehicles with their horns. Their transplantation by humans turned out (of course) to be a short-sighted science experiment which was eventually abandoned. They also have incredible spotting on their faces that almost resembles corpse paint which looks cool as hell. Our musical style is definitely bonded to our identification with the animal primarily in what we write about.

5.Originally the band was from New Mexico and relocated to Colorado, what was the decision behind the move?

We've been drawn to Colorado for some years now, but we finally took the plunge and moved to Denver so that Abbey could pursue her Master's Degree in Social Work. Beyond that we've been stoked on the DIY music scene primarily in Colorado Springs and Denver for years now. There are tons of motivated people here that make up a really amazing community and we love being a part of it.

6.Currently there are only 2  members in the band, are you planning on expanding the line up in the future or do you chose to remain a duo?

Duo por vida!

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

We had a really great time playing with Kylesa in El Paso, TX in November last year and partied all night with them. Really worth it. We also have to give a shout out to the Flux Capacitor in Colorado Springs because every show there feels like the funnest show ever. On stage Abbey and I really lose ourselves in the heaviness and volume. I generally feel like I lose track of time completely and am fully immersed. We tend to take a lot of energy from the response from the crowd and that helps fuel our momentum.

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

As of right now, we have a couple of Denver shows lined up.
April 7th - A Light Among Many record release at Mutiny Cafe
April 23rd - ORYX record release show at Rhinoceropolis
We're booking a summer tour right now, and are working hard to get a new roadworthy band van to replace our totaled van.

9.You have a split coming out with Languish, what are your thoughts on the other band that had participated on the recording?

We were introduced to Languish via North (which shares members) and have been huge fans of everything they've done so it was a quick "YES" when Battleground Records asked us if we would like to put out a split LP with them.

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

We've experienced a lot of enthusiasm from people all over the world via Bandcamp and Facebook. It's an amazing feeling connecting with people over similar interests when you have an ocean dividing you. We have major aspirations to tour ORYX worldwide and get the opportunity to connect with people face to face.

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

We are in the process of working on a new album. THIS NEXT ONE IS GONNA BE REALLY HEAVY.

12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

We've taken a lot of influence from Corrupted, Dystopia, Earth, Pentagram, Eyehategod, Grief, just to name a few. Notable bands on repeat would have to be Yuatja, Elder, Chelsea Wolfe, Fister, Black Cobra, Yob, 908, and a heavy dose of Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly".

13.What are some of your non musical interests?

We love camping and hiking, cooking. We crave travel and try to get on the road as much as possible for any reason. Also I'm currently building effects pedals under the name Nihilist, and that occupies a lot of my time. We're also sort of obsessed with watching Top Chef (bring on the judgement).

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

Hail Satan!

Languish Interview


 1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

Languish has been on a bit of a hiatus, Matt (guitars) suffered a shoulder injury on tour with North in November that lead to us cancelling shows. Now Matt and I are currently again with North and hoping to get back into things for April/May.

> 2.In April you have a new split coming out, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

It's our debut record Extinction but now on vinyl. So it's the same music bu I would describe it as filthy grindcore smothered in crusty doom.

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

Hatred of mankind, the impending fall of our species.

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

Matt and I started the group and wanted a name that represented the angst and existential pointlessness of existence.

> 5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Fast and fucked. Sleep at the Rialto Theatre in Ocober 2015 was amazing.

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

Nothing concrete as North is crazy busy with tour this year, as is Sean's (vox) group Gatecreeper and Ryan's (bass) studio Homewrecker Studios is busier than ever.

> 7.In April you have a split coming out with Oryx, what are your thoughts on the other band that had participated on the recording?

We love Oryx, Matt and I have done a tour and multiple shows with them. We wouldn't have accepted the split if it wasn't Oryx as they are the two sweetest people in the world.

> 8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your recordings by fans of extreme music?

People dig it that we know of. We're not out selling a fuck load of records but we're not getting death threats.

> 9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are part of?

North is on tour right this second as I type this, Matt and I are on a full North American tour with Intronaut followed by a European tour in June. Gatecreeper just had a very successful tour and have a 4 way split coming out, along with a record store day release with YAITW and I think an impending full length. Territory has a few shows coming up too.

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

More and more heaviness. A cloud of excrement rolling through broken glass.

> 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?

Lots of hip hop, neoclassical, ambient. Everything influences us. Not just music. Just look at the fucking world.

> 12.What are some of your non musical interests?

Reading, tv,  the other guys do shit, music is pretty much most of what we do.

> 13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Fuck Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Bernie 2016.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Abysmal Grief/Strange Rites Of Evil/Horror Records/2015 CD Review

 
  Abysmal  Grief  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  gothic  and  occult  form  of  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Strange  Rites  Of  Evil"  which  was  released  by  Horror  Records.

  Church  style  organs  and  choirs  start  off  the  album  and  they  also  mix  in  with  the  heavier  guitars  a  few  seconds  later  giving  the music  more of  a  gothic  doom  metal  feeling  and  after  a  couple  of  minutes  melodic  yet  rough  vocals  are  added  onto  the  recording and  they  also  bring  in  a  touch  of  black  metal  onto  the  recording.

  Most  of  the  songs  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  dark  and  melodic  musical  direction  and  violins  can  also  be  heard  in  the  music  at  times  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  slow musical  direction  and  clean  playing  is  added  onto  the  last  track.

  Abysmal  Grief  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  the  darkest  forms  of  goth  and doom  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with a  black  metal  vocal  approach  to  create  a musical  style  of  their  own,  the production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Divinition,  Occultism,  Funeral  Mysticism  and  Horrr  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Abysmal  Grief  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  goth  and  occult  doom  metal  with  a  touch  of  black  metal   and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE "Strange  Rites  Of  Evil"  and  "Child  Of Darkness".  8  out of  10. 

Pyramido/Vatten/Halo Of Flies/2016 Full Length Review


  Pyramido  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Vatten"  which  will  be  released  in  May  by  Halo  Of  Flies".

  A  very  heavy  and  melodic  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  solos  and  leads  and  after  a  minute  aggressive  sludge  screams  are  added  into  the  music  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  sounding  very  powerful  and  most  of the t racks  are  very  long  and  epic  in length  and  spoken  words  can  also  be  heard  briefly.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  music  also  incorporates  elements  of  stoner  rock  and  doom  metal  along  with  a  touch  of  post  rock  which  is  mostly  used  in  the  guitar  leads  and  the  most  of  the  album  also  sticks  to  a  very  slow  yet  heavy  musical  direction  while  clean  playing  can  be  heard  briefly  on  the  last  track.

  Pyramido  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  the  sludge  and  doom  metal  mixture  of  previous  recordings  while  also  adding  in  a  touch  of  post  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Swedish  and  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Pyramido  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Att  Bida  Sin Tidd"  and  "Aktion".  8  out  of 10.

Monday, March 28, 2016

The Vatican Interview


1# (What's going on these days)         Right now is kind of a regroup, time to re-sharpen the teeth and claws, plan the next attack. Seems like every time we push ourselves into putting together a new recording life tends to push right back, really fucking hard. I've just come to expect that a close friend is going to die, or there's going to be a fire, or one of us is going to jail, or who the fuck knows, but it seems like there's always a general theme of our personal shit hitting the fan whenever we really focus on the project at hand. Right as we were going into the studio for "TGN," we lost Jorge from Barefoot Barnacle, and that just broke our hearts. It hit us hard. We've known that dude forever, just a hilarious and sweet guy, hugely entertaining, been playing shows with them since me and Lincoln first started playing in bands. And "The Trump Card" was no different, shit got real crazy. We lost Hershey ("Hershey Momma") while recording this album, who has been Lincoln's best friends and partner in crime since way before we started The Vatican. She was an old crust punk dog he had rescued and has been by our side for so many outdoor and DIY punk shows, so many people in our community have chilled with in fallen in love with that dog. Turns out she was even older than we knew, she had a great run and went happy, but that loss is heavy in our circle. She was our buddy. She is and will continue to be dearly missed.
Job turmoil, cancer in the family, oh yeah, transients burned down the house next door to my home on New Year's Day! It went up in a blaze at 10am as I was about to take a walk with my daughter, it was insane, I have no idea how it didn't catch mine or any of the other neighbor's houses. It was real close though and pretty damn scary, we had to leave the house. Par for the course though man; at this point I just think that's how life makes sure we REALLY want what we're after in this band. We kept our nose to the grindstone and there was a lot of extra work that went into this release. This was the first time we've put a release on vinyl, and we took the time to do research and check in with people who had more experience than we did. Kris put in a ton of work in on that and I don't think we could have done better than what he was able to come up with, a lot of which came from H-Murder when he recorded us, we learned a lot from that guy. There was extra work for me this time around, more art involved in a record, it was also the first time that the art wasn't already done before the final mix of the music. It was all done after the fact, and I did it in color instead my normal stark black and white stuff, so there were extra steps involved in that. So there was all the "normal" drama, there was a learning curve and a lot of extra work this time around, but we learned a lot and got a lot done in a short time, and we're really happy with the result.
While all this was going on there wasn't nearly as much time left to chill and drink, or play shows, or practice the same two days a week or jam new stuff, all those things you just take for granted when you aren't neck deep in a project. So that's what we're getting back into; it's time to get out there and shove "The Trump Card" in everyone's sweet little, fat little faces.
It's time to uncurl the tentacles a bit, get out of the home town and in front of new crowds of weirdos, and hopefully sell a couple records to them.
#2: (Sound on record / Difference from Previous)         Different people are after different things in a recording, so it should be noted that we are not a dynamic tech metal band, and we're not trying to sound like one. If you listen to only the most crushing technical death metal, play in djent band, or have spent thousands of dollars and hours at school learning to record music "the right way" and that's the kind of standard you judge all heavy music against you're probably not going to have much fun with our band. You'd probably hate us as people, and it's likely that any recording we ever put out is going to sound like shit to you... But opinions are like assholes and that guy is not the only person who listens to records, there's a lot of sets of ears out there and Tech Metal Bro is just not the one we're catering to. Our sound is not incredibly complicated. Can you hear the drums, the guitar, the samples, the vocals? Are they all discernible? That's really it, since the beginning of this band when we were recording ourselves, the first goal is obviously nail your parts, but after that the main focus is for it not to sound like a pile of mud. Then is the pace and the energy of your songs there? Is it adequately captured? If you've been playing your songs over and over at rehearsal and/or shows it should be there, listen to some play-back before you get too far, if it isn't there adjust and try again. We got that early on, so as we've recorded with other people it's really come down to refining the process of making it sound as heavy as it can while still totally sounding like us. Meticulously inspecting and making perfect every last riff, or word, or slap of the drums has never been one of our goals.
I think a lot of bands get stuck in that and it ends up doing a disservice to the music. They spend so much time and money, and mental... stress... trying to make everything perfect that by the time they have something they feel is finally good enough to put out there it doesn't even sound like their fucking band anymore. It sounds like a tissue culture of their band made in petri dish. We are firmly against that. The energy should prevail; we wanted something that feels as close to the energy of the live experience as possible. We went for a mix of that crusty garage vibe with a little bit of modern compression. Each one of those songs is us playing together, one continuous take. We doubled up the guitar track, and doubled up parts of the vocal track on some songs, layered a transition between songs here and there, but there are no punch-ins, no cover ups, nothing like that on any of these tracks. "No replacement of moving parts, just raw energy and heart."
We think that "The Trump Card" is the best job we've ever done at capturing that energy. This record, shit, this band is not for everyone, but you will now have equal opportunity both live and on recording to decide if we sound like shit, haha! Maybe this won't be the best record you hear all year, but it might be the most honest. It sounds pissed, and it fucking sounds like us. It sounds like us playing in front of you... in the dank basement of a punk house on a loud PA with the stench of sweat and weed and stale beer in the air. It sounds hot, and nasty, and uncomfortably close... Like the sweaty hugs you'll get after the show if you stay and party!
And that's really who this record is for... We love "The Great Northern," we made that record for us and some close friends that we collaborate with , not just in A God Or Another but also a handful of other people on the periphery of that record (The concept and title were the best idea we ever stole from Landon Wonser!). It was a celebration of Twin Peaks, the Northwest, and of us just getting weird with our friends. However, "The Trump Card" is a very different record; it is very much a back to our roots, back to basics record. There's some trippy noise and sludgy riffs throughout, like any of our stuff, but there's no long death march of sludge at the end of this one, the noise just kind of keeps things moving. Basically we trimmed the fat. We made this one for all the crusty kids, and grinders, and punks that have been with us and supporting our weird shit since day one and have given us a little niche of our own to call home. Anyone that has ever enjoyed seeing us live is going love this record.
#3 ...OK, I'm combining this with #4 (Lyrics / Band name)         I've gone into where "The Vatican" comes from at length before, so I'll try to keep this as succinct as possible. The three of us, to varying degrees, grew up with some pretty interesting religious indoctrination and came out the other side basically anti-theists, in a pretty similar headspace. We wanted something that could take a clear aim at religion without being too obvious or over the top, something that didn't have to be morbid or directly referencing "God" or "Christ" but could still be kind of moody. I'd been thinking of "The Vatican" for a while before we'd even been jamming. I liked that it sort of acts as a stand-in for the idea of "powers that be." It's a perfect marriage of Church and State, the right and left hand of the mechanism of power that may not always completely control society, but most definitely shapes it. "The Vatican" represents OLD world power, but it also bears a lineage to our world today. The American system of dominance was modeled on the British Empire, and the British system of dominance took its inspiration from the Roman Empire. The Vatican may not be where the concepts of empire, slavery, manipulation, racism, or classism were invented, but it does seem to mark a turning point in history where all of those things started to make the jump to lightspeed and there began a sophisticated, more scientific refinement of man's ability to dominate and exploit other men. It's a wheel that's been turning since long before we were born, a war drum that is likely to keep beating long after we're dead. That evolution of people manipulating people has been a foundational idea since we started, it's where not only the name comes from but where most if not all of my lyrical concepts flow from as well. There's a bit of sci-fi/horror movie shtick and just a dash of old fashioned paranoid conspiracy, but that's just to keep things fun.
From that general concept my lyrics have progressed over time but not really changed drastically. Fear, superstition, and habit have always been used as tools or weapons to manipulate, and not just by "the powers that be." How do we use those same tools on each other; how many ways are we keeping ourselves and everyone else in line? There is some real slavery left in the world, but the vast majority of us live in Slavery Lite, where the shackles are loose and comfortable, and the cage is really big, but the mental/emotional manipulation is incredibly sophisticated... every inmate is a cop, and is also a warden. If the inmates have no will for freedom and have lost all hope of surviving outside of the cage, is it even still a prison? Or is it a zoo? Does history repeat? Does it rhyme? Bigotry, group-think, and religious fervor don't seem to have gone anywhere, they're alive and well today. Even now people are beating the war drums, waging it against everything, including poverty, which is presumably to be just ignored out of existence. They align themselves with their abusers and worship cartoonish demagogues; they invoke murder from the sky with remote control flying robots... and most of us who can read this are living in relative comfort while the beat goes on.
I wonder sometimes if intelligent, reasonable, forward thinking people will one day just simply be out-bred by the ignorant, and the fearful, who are willing to worship any "authority figure" selected for them... What if that day is already here? Would we know? Could we do anything about it, and what would the best strategy be? Thinking too much about that could drive you insane. So I'm just yelling; I don't really have any solutions. This is just the "Mad as Hell" scene from that movie "Network." I'm just making art and praying to Joe Pesci every night that I'm fucking wrong, about everything.
What I can say about the lyrics for "The Trump Card" is that with the exception of the phrase "Comb over, and over, and over" not a single word is about him. None of this had anything to do with him until we decided on the name, and wrote the "title track" right before we hit the studio... and it's not even Trump, it's a cartoon zombie Trump, who's shitty face we made the mascot of our album and it just worked... He's like the rug in "The Big Lebowski," he just really tied the room together. The perfect nightmare leader for the perfect nightmare world, full of nightmare people, illustrated by this group of songs. If that dystopian world were the pyramid, he is the liver-spotted, scabies clustered, leaky brown eye that sits on top of that pyramid.
We thought it would be a good punchline and maybe would lead to a bigger conversation, but as this record was wrapped up and the political circus was ramped up that little joke has gotten a bit awkward. Politics has always been a divisive and cartoonish shit-show, but I think nearly everyone is astonished how that monster has grown and grown as the political climate reaches new heights of weird... So we decide to go right on ahead and make an apathy record, and drop it in the middle of what has turned into a very chaotic and emotionally charged election year. Some people just aren't going to want to hear that shit right now, but I think a lot of those people are still really going to feel this record and identify with that angst, even if they don't know the words. All this occurred to me as I was working on the art for the record. In the current vacuum of people screaming their opinions at each other, maybe my words aren't the most important part of all this, and maybe it's not that important at all. Historically I've provided lyric sheets in almost everything we've put out, and I've taken the time to provide lyrics on Bandcamp for basically every song we have that contains vocals. Anyone could click through and read all of them in probably a lot less time than it takes to read this interview, and they can get a feel of where I'm coming from. I decided this time to stick with the theme of "raw energy and heart" over minute details, and that changed my approach to the lyrics, at least as far as the album layout goes. They will all be available sooner or later but I plan to tease these lyrics out a bit; I'm figuring out more creative ways to put the lyrics out there, and to make it a little more interesting and more personal for anyone that actually gives enough of a shit about my lyrics to start looking.
I felt the best decision was to let the sound and the energy, rather than my rhetoric, speak for the record.
#5: (Best Shows / Describe live performance)     Describing your own live performance is a really interesting concept, I definitely have never been asked that, but I read a lot of interviews and I don't think I've ever seen anyone else asked that either. That seems like it would be hard to do. I feel the best route would be to give a feeling of an answer for the second part of the question by thoroughly answering the first part:
We've had the good fortune, and to some degree good planning, to not have very many shitty shows, so there's a lot of good memories. Even some of the frustrating shows, where set times change last minute, and then start an hour early and none of our crusty friends have showed up yet have still been redeeming. I mean shit, I got to play with Vision Of Disorder on a show like that, hardcore legends, who I thought I'd never even get the chance to see, much less open for. That's a band that made me want to make music; standing in there during their sound check was surreal. Once we got thrown last minute on to the opening slot in front of a crowd who had no idea who we were and spent the first part of the set arms folded, totally judging us... But when you're opening for Skarp and Leftover Crack, on New Year's Eve?! What have you got to complain about?!? Play your fucking heart out!
We've had countless fun times playing outdoors, or in the basement of punk houses. There's a house in Portland we like to play, last time we were there was kind of funny. We know the people that run the house and we know our boys in The Drip who we had meet us down there (Eastern WA grinders on Relapse Records, go check them out!), and we'd been there before, it was always chill... but for whatever reason there was a really awkward vibe going on. Couldn't tell if it was them, or if it was us, but being out of towners seemed to be a major obstacle and conversations just kept falling flat, it was weird. Two, maybe three, people spoke to us for more than 30 seconds. One of them was way rad, turned out to be a bartender at Sizzle Pie, which is one of my favorite places on earth. It's where punk rock and pizza go to make babies, in heaven... and it's a place I refuse to leave Portland without getting a pizza from. OK, so one tight friend was made, but until we played everyone else was really standoff-ish toward us. Who knows? Maybe everyone just had a shitty week at work and was just waiting to go off? Whatever it was, as soon as we started playing it was like somebody flipped the switch, those kids went nuts and moshed through every second of our set. When we were done it looked like the walls were sweating. It was awesome; if that's the way they're going to react to our music, that's worth every awkward second of wondering what the hell is wrong with us, that actually becomes entertaining in its own way.
One of my personal favorites was a battle set we played with our boys NUMB, in Everett, which is this loveable but totally shitty city north of Seattle, with one really rad little bar (Tony's V). It's not abnormal for me to be on the floor most of our set in that place, but that night it was out of necessity. We had both bands' gear set up at the same time, two drumsets on this tiny stage; they play a song, we play a song, just BOOM! BOOM! Nonstop. I've got a pretty sweet buzz going and first song in I manage to break the very tip of my middle finger against a monitor. Didn't know for sure it was broken until after, but it's pretty fucking bloody, and I'm pretty sure I played the whole set in shock... But hardly anyone even noticed that it happened because the bands, the crowd, everyone was just going off! At one point, Mikey (their drummer) dives off the stage right onto me. A song or two later I jumped over the drumset onto him; the whole show was a madhouse. Definitely one of the craziest bar shows I've been a part of. Just an absolute ruckus.
One our favorites as a group is one of our early shows that we still talk about all the time: When we opened for Resistant Culture in the south end of Seattle, in the gnarliest DIY punk venue I'd ever seen at that point, "The Morgue." It's gone, it was on its way out by the time The Vatican started really playing shows, I hear most of it is a walk-in freezer for a Mexican restaurant now... But it was a really rad place that was a home to a lot of good local bands, a lot of whom I didn't really find out about until it was gone; I had heard about it the year before TV started because my buddies Early Graves had played there right when "Goner" came out. It was a special place and I wish we'd have been able to play there more than the one time, but that night the show gods were on our side! We didn't know anyone there except the guy who had asked us to play, and at the last minute we were given a really sweet spot on the bill and a bunch of kids who'd never seen us before started getting DOWN! Resistant Culture were some of the nicest people we'd met, and we made some good friends that night. That neighborhood (Georgetown) turned out to become a place where we always feel at home. Great people down there, some of our best friends and fans are down there all the time. That show is also where we met Jim, the dude behind the Sci-Fi grind band Exogorth (as well as Slugged and others), without whom "The Trump Card" probably wouldn't have happened the way it did. Most of those songs were originally intended to be on a split with those dudes, which is where a lot of that dystopian Sci-Fi vibe comes from. He also introduced us to H-Murder (Old school punk dude, played with Capitalist Casualties and bunch of others) who ended up recording the album for us. Both those dudes have a ton of great bands under their belts and are two of the hardest working motherfuckers out there; we really can't thank them enough for having our back.
We've put in work, but we've also been very lucky. A lot of really good people have been really great to us over the years.
#6 (Touring Plans)         Yeah, you can't count on the internet to do everything for you, you gotta actually put your music in front of people in real life. The internet and the shitty economy and a lot of other factors have changed the way people are able to make and put out music; I guess on the one hand there are not a lot of really great or easy resources available to bands out on the road, but on the other hand the resources that are available are available to everyone, the playing field is pretty well leveled... it might be sparse, but it's level. So you don't necessarily have to ditch your whole life and hop in a van and not come back for months to be taken seriously, but you'd be a fool to think anyone is going to give a shit if in 5 years all you've ever done is play your home town, including yourself. The people in far away places that like your band are not going to fly all the way in to see you, especially if you've never made an effort to see them.
So yeah, it's important to get on the road. We started slowly, but we've been pretty methodical about it. We go east a few days, come back for a while, go south a few days and come back. Instead of hitting the road with our dicks in the wind, stringing together 2 weeks or 2 months of sketchy tour dates in towns where nobody knows who we are, we hit up the bands we know from out of town and focus on lining up 2 or 3 really good solid shows with them, in or on the way to their town. Every time we come back home we take a look at how we can push it the next time, go further, stay out a little longer. When we go out on the road we know the bands we're playing with and the people putting on the show, and not usually because we've already played their city, but because they already played ours. I think that's something that's overlooked about touring, there's a back end to that, and it's stepping up to act like a host for the good bands that come through your home town.
The most well known one to lay this out is probably "American Hardcore" but there's a ton of other documentaries and interviews out there on the internet, including some veterans from our local scene who site "Book Your Own Life" (this DIY manual for touring in the late 90s, I think) explaining this: You gotta make allies with other bands that you like. When they're in your neck of the woods you should be helping them find a place to crash and something to eat, a place they can play that will actually pay them, introduce yourself, get their numbers. Because no clunky random Facebook message is ever going to compare to a human being that you've actually met in real life, that you can pick up the phone and make plans with when your band hits the road, not to mention it's just the right thing to do.
So last year we went down to San Jose; now we'll be playing in Los Angeles in the middle of May. We're heading out to Colorado Springs a couple weeks after that, then we are right back out for our obligatory Portland and Spokane corridor stops. Those places have been very good to us. We've been talking about trying to get to Canada before the end of the Summer, which would be awesome, especially since we'll be able to hit Bellingham on the way, one of the only spots in Washington we've neglected.
If anybody wants us to come out somewhere, hit us up, it all comes down to cost/benefit, if it's not going to keep us from paying the rent back home, we'll get to your city, sooner or later. It would be rad to get out to the UK some time! We always get a good amount of listens over there anytime we put something up on Bandcamp, not sure who they are, but thanks!
#7: (The Great Northern / AGOAO)         How do we feel about A God Or An Other? You mean our boyfriends? Haha, we've been Bromancing the Stone with them since well before we decided to record that split together. I saw them one night by accident, got two dates with similar flyers confused, best mistake I ever made. They blew me away. I introduced myself, next thing I know we were playing a show together and it's been love ever since; if our bands were any closer we'd need a formal ceremony... but that's kind of what "The Great Northern" was. That was a really special split. We made it for us, and it's been a blast watching the different reactions. It got us some newcomers but the weirdness was a little off-putting to some of our existing fanbase, and the best part is the occasional review from obvious black metal dudes who are like "What the fuck is up with the other side of this split?!" Haha.  It's always good to have fans, but I also really enjoy a little hate now and then.  Sometimes it's just more fun to bum people out.  I've been talking to those boys a lot lately, and I don't want to say too much too soon, but you probably haven't heard the last of "The Great Northern." ...Twin Peaks is getting a re-visit... We'll likely be picking that scab again sooner or later.
#8 (Feedback, Internationally)     Oh man, I started to answer this at the end of #6 I guess. But yeah, obviously there's some people listening to us in the UK... by the way thanks to checking us out, this is the first time we've received an interview request from over there, we really appreciate it!
I think we've got some listeners in South America? I know we've sent some merch to Germany and other parts of Europe, so not a huge overwhelming response, but we're always real stoked whenever people check us out. Seriously, anyone in any part of the world that is enjoying what we do and reading this right now, THANK YOU!
#9 (Label Interest)         Not really. We're more in the market of say a "Sugar Daddy." You know, somebody that will just throw money at the band no questions asked. Haha, are record labels even really looking at this kind of stuff? It doesn't seem like there would be much of a return investment on grind... there's not much of "crust market" if you will, being "weird" on top of it really isn't a selling point either. The few record labels that we feel that MAYBE we might actually feel at home with and could possibly establish something mutually beneficial with are DYING, they're struggling not to go belly up.
We've been a DIY band of normal dudes from the beginning, and that's something that our people appreciate about us and identify with. We're always interested in talking to people that run a distro or book really great shows, but we don't need a middle man taking a cut in order to do that. We can meet people, we can make calls and send emails. There are a lot of people with a lot of experience to share, and you'd be amazed what you can find out and what you can get done if you're willing to just be honest, and to do more listening than talking.
#10 (The Future, "musically")     Future music will hopefully be even better music, there are a lot of different styles and flavors of punk and hardcore that we've been influenced by even if we were only dabbling at best. As time has gone by we've been able to figure a lot of that stuff out and that stuff is seeping into the present writing process. So hopefully stuff gets weirder, maybe more of a powerviolence vibe, probably uglier, but maybe also a little more catchy? We don't know, we're just trying to keep the momentum, maintain the intensity captured on this record and push ourselves. We try not to put too many constraints or get attached to any particular expectations. We've been talking about a few more splits, we've talked about a full length, longer than TV 3, who knows? We'll see what happens.

#11: (Influences / What listening to)     The other two guys in the band definitely have their ear more firmly to the ground with heavy music, especially the really underground heavy stuff. They really shape the sound and are constantly schooling me on various kinds of heavy shit, from metal to grind, powerviolence, hardcore, whatever.
We all agree on some fundamental stuff like the Melvins, Botch, Neurosis, Old Man Gloom, Skarp, old noisy hardcore punk like Black Flag and stuff like that. We're fans not only of those bands, but those sometimes successful, but always very small DIY record labels that have supported those bands, Hydrahead probably being the most recognizable/relevant right now. That stuff is always a part of what I listen to, but the longer I've been immersed in making heavy music, and seeing it live all the time, the less I listen to it on my stereo when I'm chilling out, even more so when it comes to keeping up with new stuff... So what I'm listening to day to day, especially recently, has very little if any influence on our sound. More than anything else, I've been listening to "Fever Daydream" by The Black Queen, and "Nabuma Rubberband" by Little Dragon, and those are straight up pop records. I've been listening to Run The Jewels, and Saul Williams and other weird hip hop shit... But what I do know is Dispara put out a brutal split with Argentavis, Great Falls' last record "The Fever Shed" is badass! I just heard a couple tracks off of the Early Graves / Ringworm split that sound sick. Oh, and our local boys, THEORIES are playing that Modified Ghost festival! I am super jealous of anyone going to that show, it is packed to the gills, a who's who of heavy. Dillinger is on it, and I'm an unabashed fanboy. Dead Cross is on that shit too, Dave Lomabardo and dudes from Retox/Locust, a band they threw together in a couple of weeks, I've seen some of the video from their performances, they are just pissed and noisy, I love it!
Kris is listening to Pizza Hi Five, Deterioration, Exhumed, Gag, Noothgrush, Iron Lung, and probably a bunch more I forgot to write down. Lincoln is probably listening to some sweet 80's jams right now and discovering bands in the dark nether-regions of the internet so KVLT that none of us have ever heard of them, and maybe we never will, mostly because you have to pay for it with bitcoins. He also just texted me a picture of a vinyl copy of Dr Dre's "The Chronic" ...so shit's getting pretty serious right now.
#12 (Non-Musical interests)     Movies. We're all part of a generation raised in front of the VCR, but also kind of watched the internet come into existence. Me and Lincoln both still have a ton of VHS to this day. The three of us could talk all damn day about weird movies, and documentaries, and all the crazy conspiracy and "Faces of Death" shit that blew our minds when all that stuff was at our fingers for the first time. Other than that it's kind of hard to say, it doesn't often feel like we've got time for much else, and the stuff we like doing tends to weave itself back into the band. I like to draw, we all like going to shows, and parties, BBQs, adventures in the woods, and road trips... all stuff that we do together more often than not, so it's kind of hard to separate what we do for fun outside of the band. I guess just spending time with the people we love who aren't in the band, as cheesy as that might sound, but we never said we were tough guys.
#13 (Closing Thoughts)     No... Wait. Yes. I don't want to miss an opportunity to say something really dumb upon my exit, so I'm going to go all the way and close this interview with a quote! It might even be a Haiku, but I'm not a literary expert. The Reverend M.J. Keenan once said:
"Buy, buy, buy, my new record. Buy, buy, buy; send my money. Fuck you, buddy."
Amen.

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Do/Tuho/2016 Full Length Review


  Do  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  has  been  featured  before in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  stoner,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2016  album  "Tuho"  which  will  be  released in  April.

  Night  sounds  start  off the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  musical  direction  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  also  mix  in  the  heaviness  of  sludge  and  doom metal  and  after  awhile  growling  and  screaming  vocals  make  their  presence  known  on  the   recording.

  When  solos  and  leads  are  added  into  the  music  they  bring  in  a  very distorted  yet  retro  style  of  stoner  rock  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  some  of  the  riffs  also  bring  in a  decent  amount  of  melody  and  when  melodic  singing  is  utilized  it  gives  the  music  a  70's  doom  metal  feeling  and  as  the  album  progresses clean playing  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of the  recording  and  all  of  the  songs  stick either  to  a  slow  or  mid  paced  musical  direction  while  also  speeding  up  briefly  on  a  track  and  bringing  in  a  small  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats.   while  another  song  brings  acoustic  guitars  onto  the  recording.

  Do  creates  another  recording  that  takes  the  heaviest  styles  of  stoner,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  very  heavy  sounding  album,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  a  mixture  of  Finnish  and  English  and  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Do  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  stoner,  sludge  and  doom  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Everblast  II  (The  Aftermath)"  and  "Forsaken  be  thy  Name".  8  out  of  10.  

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Oryx/Languish/BattlegroundRecords/2016 Split LP Review


  This is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  New  Mexico/Colorado's  and  Arizona's  Languish  which  will  be  released  in  April  by  Battleground  Records and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Oryx  a  band  that  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts out  with  clean  yet  distorted  playing  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  sludge  and  doom  metal  direction  and  after  a  few  seconds  growling  vocals  make  their presence  known  on  the  recording  and  also  give  the  songs  a  touch  of  death  metal  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  You  can  also  hear  dark  sounding  melodies  in  the  music  at  times  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  blast  beats  while  the  guitar  riffing  still  sticks  to  a  very  low  style  and  the  vocals  also  bring  in  traditional  sludge  style  vocals  at  times  and  all  3  of  the  tracks  stick  to  a  heavy  musical  direction,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Oryx  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  "The Singularity".

  Next  up  is  Languish  a  band  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  metal,  crust  and  grind.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts out  with  harsh  noises  before  going  into  a very  dark  and  heavy  sludge  metal  direction  where  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on their  side  of  the  recording  and  the  vocals  are  mostly  death  metal  growls  and  after  awhile  the  music speeds  up  and  brings  in  blast  beats.

  Elements  of  crust  and  grind  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  their  side  of  the  recording  as  well  as  adding  high  pitched  screams  into  some  parts  of  the  songs  and  the  tracks  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  most  of  their  songs  are  very  short  in  length  and  there  whole  side  of t he  split  also  always  remains  heavy,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  apocalyptic  and  misanthropic themes.

  In  my  opinion  languish  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  sludge,  crust,  grindcore  and death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "III"  and  "IX".

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

  

    

Via Vengeance/Harsh Conditions/Battleground Records/2016 CD Review


  Via  Vengeance  are  a  solo  project  from Arizona  that  plays  an  atmospheric  form  of  sludge/doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2016  album  "Harsh  Conditions"  which  was  released by  Battleground  Records.

  A  very  heavy  doom  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with some  growling  vocals  a  few  seconds  later  and  the  drums  also give  the  music  more  of  a  tribal feeling  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  the  heaviness  of  sludge  metal.

  More  traditional  sludge  and  groove  metal  style  vocals  can  be  heard  at  times  and  some  songs  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing  and  acoustic  guitars  along  with  a  few  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  later  on  during  the  recording  a  small  amount  of  pianos  and  female  vocals  are  used  briefly  on a  couple  of  songs  before  making  a  return  back  to  a  heavier  musical  direction  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  slow  style.

  Via  Vengeance  creates  a  sludge/doom  metal  album  that  is  very  slow, dark,  heavy  and  atmospheric,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  a  concept  album  based  upon  the  season  of  winter.

  In  my  opinion  Via  Vengenace  are  a  very  great  sounding  atmospheric  sludge/doom  metal  solo  project  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Expired"  "Winter  Mourning"  "Solitary"  and "Instinct  To  Survive".  8  out  of  10.

Friday, March 25, 2016

Ides/Sun Of The Serpent's Tongue/Vic Records/2016 CD Review


  Ides  are  a  band  from the  Netherlands  that  plays  an  old  school  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Sun  of  The  Serpents  Tongue"  which  will  be  released in  April  by  Vic  Records.

  Melodic  chanting  and  vocals  start  off  the  album  along  with  an  atmospheric  background  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  direction  that is  in  the  doom  metal  direction  and  after  a  couple  of  minutes  death  metal  growls  make  their  presence  known  on  the  recording  and  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's.

  Most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  they  also  mix  keyboards  in  with  the  heavier  sections  in  some  parts  of  the  songs  while  melodies  can  also  be  heard  in  the  guitar  riffing  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound to  them along  with  some  violins  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  one  track  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  choirs  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  low  musical  direction.

  Ides  plays  a  style  of  doom/death  metal  that  is  very  dark,  slow  and  heavy  and  rooted  in  the  90's  style  of  the  genre,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  violent  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Ides  are  a  very  great  sounding  doom/death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Erosion"  and "Survivors  Of  The  Rebellion".  8  out  of  10.  

 

Phlefonyaar Interview


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

Phlefonyaar started many years ago back in the dark times for metal known as the mid nineties. we were a two piece back then as well literally the only two metalheads in this backwater town. Just 2 scraggy kids listening to godflesh and autopsy and black metal. I won't lie, it was mainly an excuse to hang out, drink and cause trouble but we recorded a demo and had some good times this lead onto shows. until recently we have been happy to just release primitive, lo fi, ltd run tape demos for a number of years but it's time to get serious.

2.In February you had released a new ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

it's... slower. I imagine post apocalyptic arcane machinery springing into life. To me at least it's the logical progression from the sound we have been playing. there's always been a certain vibe, and that vibe has not changed. weather were playing primitive death sludge  stuff recorded on a 4 track or hooking up three big muffs and a phaser in a row to a antique amp to play over a drum machine the idea has stayed the same. To make the most dirty, vile and wretched sound possible phlefonyaar has a certain universe it lives in. if people aren't asking "what's wrong with that guy?" Or "what the hell is that?" Im not doing my job properly. He he.

3.This is the first recording to be released in 9 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time span?

Other than attempting to stay out of trouble ive been in a number of bands, some mine some others. we did actually release a demo in the intervening time which had a few of the songs you can hear on the Bandcamp that we did for the Nachtmystium and dark fortress tour we were on. they were very much in the vein of the old style stuff but I wasn't happy with them. They sounded too clean. so I approached this new recording much differently.

4.According to the Metal Archives page the band is listed as death metal or grindcor but the music I have heard is more in the doom or sludge metal style, what was the decision behind going into this musical direction?

I think that listing was pretty accurate for at least the 2nd demo. but bands evolve and metal archives can't update everything. Ive always enjoyed bands were it's just been one guy in the driving seat. I new that if I was going to do this I wanted the sound to be something that would and could be done live by 2 or even 1 person so I sat down and started writing. Also, without wanting to get too pretentious about it I had some personal stuff to work through and these songs let me drive the devils out.

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

I'm a big h.p. Lovecraft and Poe fan so I like my lyrics to be full of esoteric rhetoric and symbolism. I quite often fear for my sanity, so that subject is explored and the occasional sardonic nihilism that most functioning depressives soon learn as a coping mechanism is in there as well. It's not the most positive message but a bit of gallows humour helps to cut through the murk a bit. hell if you can't at least raise a laugh when the worlds crumbling down around your ears what's the point.

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

there is s river of fire in hell called the phlegathon describes it as "a stream of fire, which coils round the earth and flows into the depths of Tartarus." In some books in hell there are tribes that live upon its banks. One of which is the phlefonyaar.

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

I would say the first shows were the most vicious. we had various ideas about how a band should be back then and there was some pretty bad behaviour some of which I look back on with a bit of embarrassment. one of my favourites was on the Nachtmystium  tour in East Germany with dark fortress, we got told we had to leave the tour early after the next show... We were not happy, as is to be expected. so we decided we would have to make an example and we hit the stage like a nailbomb. I didn't even remove my patch vest and jacket just howled like a dog the whole way through. The front row took a big step back and I remember seeing my friend florian from dark fortress grinning at me from the back of the hall. it was a great night in the end.

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

I hope so, it's important to play live and to tour even if your just in a van or your car. I plan to play live. Although we are a 2 piece dave works at a job that means he can't always tour or play shows so then we're back to the one man band option.

I have played as a one man band before and people told me I shouldn't do it as keyboards etc weren't "cool" but anyone who knows me knows not to say that as like most sociopaths it will just make me keener to do it all the more. some guys just like to watch the world burn n'all that stuff I guess.

 Bottom line, im quite comfortable doing it but it does make touring very hard just on expense. and I will say some of the audience rely don't get it. Trust me, and if you don't mind me using an analogy, telling a guy in a black sabbath t shirt that your in a one man doom band and you do it with keyboards and samplers is like telling someone you write erotic fiction for pets... it's wildly unpopular. He he He he.

9.The new ep was self released, are you open toworking with another label again in the future?

actually we have literally just signed to a american label called "swamp metal records" and physical releases are on thee way. I just hope they know what there getting into.

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

actually as far as the release goes so far it's been rely good on the reaction front. occasionally I have to tell people to listen past the first 30 seconds (there's that black sabbath t shirt again)  as a few have had trouble with the ambient elements used but that's there bag and that's fine. this is extreme underground music. Not pop music. It's not for everyone y'know? that's kinda the point. but so far the reaction has been very positive and I'm very grateful.

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

Dave mainly does a grind band called gagging order and another called the wound man

Ex members, Abel is in criminal minds. Mike plays in zompok.

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

hopefully we can expand on the universe we've set up with this new sound. I'd like to push it more make it even more frightening, darker And oppressive but also experiment a bit more as well.  plus do a bigger show, hell.. I want video screens showing clips from mad max and morbidly obese dancing girls in gimp outfits. I wanna be the Mötley Crüe of Vaguely industrial Doom metal.

13.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?

This is Could be a long list if I'm not careful.., godflesh, early pitchshifter, thorns, ministry, sunn((o)), burning witch, nailbomb, dopethrone, buzxov'en, Abominable iron sloth, a perfect circle, pig destroyer, rameses, Leviathan/lurker of chalice, author and punisher, that's just on the top of my stack of CDs next to my stereo.

I also listen to alot of soundtrack music and also Tom waits and nick cave feature heavily.

14.What are some of your non musical interests?

It's a cliche, but films, rely bleak sci fi and westerns being my favourites.

I am not a people person. (Another cliche)  I live out in the sticks so mainly I play with my animals and work on my car, I'm a bit of a gear head and love machines, Lift some weights and box when I can.

 I write and read a LOT of books as well. also I should come clean... I'm a bit of a gamer with an obsession for robots which is rely counter productive for a musician.

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

only to thank you and anyone who's shown any interests in phlefonyaar and say this... people will tell you that you can't do things. They are lying to you. live your art, enjoy your life, learn to kick against the pricks.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Nervous Mothers/Art Of Burning Water/SuperFi Records/2016 Split 7 Inch Review


  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  between  Belgium's  Nervous  Mothers  and  Art  Of  Burning  Water  which  was  released  by  Superfi  Records  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Nervous  Mothers  a  band  that  plays  a  mixture  of  emo,  crust,  grind  and  sludge.

  Their side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  a  very  guitar  sound  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts  and  drum b eats  a  few  seconds  later  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the   recording  as  well  as  a  touch  of  emo  before  going  into  a  very  fast  grindcore  direction  that  uses  high  pitched  screams  and  brutal  blast  beats  and  the  slow  riffs  also  add  in  melodies  and  elements  of  sludge,  the  production sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Nervous  Mothers  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  emo,  crust,  grind  and  sludge  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Born".

  Next  up  is  Art  Of  Burning  Water  a  band  that  plays  noise  rock.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  distorted amp  noises  along  with  some  drum  beats  and  bass  guitars  a  few  seconds  later  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction t hat  utilizes  high  pitched  screams  and  the  drums  also  speed  up a   little bit  at  times  and  the  music  goes  for more  of  a  noise  rock  and  hardcore  style  while  also  being  slow  and  heavy,  the  production  on  their  side  of t he  recording  sounds  very  powerful  while  the  lyrics  cover  angry  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Art  of  Burning  Water  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of   nois  rock  and  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.

  In  conclusion  i  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  I  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  sludge,  grind,  crust,  noise  and  hardcore.  8  out  of  10.   

Birushanah/Makyo/SuperFi Records/2015 Vinyal Review


  Birushanah  are  a  band  from  Japan  that  plays  a  mixture  of  experimental,  tribal,  sludge,  doom  metal  and  post  hardcore  and  this is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Makyo"  which  was  released  by  SuperFi  Records.

 Japanese  folk  music  sounds  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  tribal  beats  a  few  seconds  later  before  adding  in  clean  yet  distorted  guitars  and  after  a  few  minutes  the  music  starts  getting  more  heavy and  melodic  along  with  some aggressive  yet  melodic  vocals   and  the  riffs  mix  in  the  heaviness  of  sludge  metal.

  Most  of  the  tracks a re  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the solos  and  leads  bring  in  more  of  a  melodic  style  when  they  are  utilized  and  the  songs  also  mix  the  tribal  and  heavy  parts  together  which  also  gives  the  recording  more  of  an  experimental  and  avant  garde  feeling  and  there  is  also  a brief  use  of  blast  beats  and  the  music  also  speeds  up  on  the  last  track.

  Birushanah  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  experimental  and  tribal  and  mixes  it  with  doom  and  sludge  metal  along  with a  touch  of  post  hardcore  to  create  a  style  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are written  in Japanese  and  cover  Shintoism  and  Buddhism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Birushanah  are  a  very  great  sounding  experimental  mixture  of  tribal,  sludge,  doom  metal  and  post  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Sharin"  and  "Kagami".  8  out  of  10.  

Soluthus/No King Reigns Eternal/Doomentia/2016 CD Review


  Solothus  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "No  King  Reigns Eternal"  which  was  released  by  Doomentia  Records.

  Bass  guitar  playing  starts off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  along  with  some  dark  sounding melodies  which  also  leads  up  to  growling  vocals  being  brought  onto  the  recording  which  also  takes  the  music  into  more  of  a  doom/death  metal  direction  that  is  very  close  to  the  90's  era  of  the  genre.

  When  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  very  dark,  melodic  and  old  school  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  very long  and  epic  in  length  and  some  songs  also  add  in  mid  paced and  fast sections  along  with a  brief  use  of  blast  beats  and  the  whole  album  also  sticks  to  a  very  heavy  sound  from  beginning  to  ending  of  the  recording  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  sounding  very  powerful.

  Soluthus  plays  a  style of  doom/death  metal  that  is  very  heavy  and  dark  in  the  90's  tradition,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  death,  doom,  dark  fantasy,  occultism  and  sword  &  sorcery  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Soluthus  are  a  very  great  sounding  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  "No  King  Reigns  Eternal"  and  "Towers  In  The  Mist".  8  out  of  10.    

   

Algoma/Chronobot/Dead Beat Media/2016 Split CD Review


  This  is  a  review  of  a split  album  between  Canada's  Algoma  and  Chronobot  which  will  be  released  in  April  by  Dead  beat  Media  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Algoma  a  band  that  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge,  doom  metal  and  noise  rock.

  Their  side  of  the split  starts  out  with  distorted  reverb's  along  with  some  tortured  voices  in  the  background  before going  into  a heavier  musical  direction  along  with  some  aggressive  vocals  and  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  their  side  of  the  recording  while  the  riffing  mixes  in  the  heaviness  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  while  elements  of  noise  rock  are  also  a  very  huge  part  of  the  songs  and  both  of  the  tracks  stick to  a  very  slow  musical  direction  and  the  last track  is  very  long  and epic  in  length,  the  production  on  their  side  of  the  recording  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  death,  despair  and  depressive  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Alogma  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  sludge,  doom  metal  and  noise  rock  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Pthisis".

  Next  up  is  Chronobot  a  band  that  plays  a  band  that  plays  a  mixture  of  stoner,  sludge  and  doom  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  clean  laying  that  is  more  closer  to 70's  rock/metal  along  with  some  psychedelic  sounding  synths  before  adding  in  drums  which  then  takes  the  music  into  a  heavier  sludge/doom  metal  direction  along  with  some  retro  melodies  and  growling  vocals  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  they  also  mix  in  a  lot  of  stoner  rock  elements  and  all  3  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  slow  musical  direction  and  the  last track  brings  in  a  small  amount  of  spoken  vocals,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Weed  and  Space  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Chronobot  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  sludge,doom/death  metal  and  stoner  rock  and  if  you  are  a fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Jerry  Can".

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