Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Heirs/Fowl/Denovali Records/2011 CD Review

Heirs  are  a  band  from Austria  that  plays  an  experimental  and  industrial  style  of  post  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2011  album  "Fowl"  which  will  be  released  by  Denovali  Records.

Drums  are  mostly  slow  drumming  with  no  fast  playing  or  blast  beats,  while  the  effects  have  a  very  ambient  feel  to  them  mixed  in  with  a  small  amount  of  keyboards  that  have  a  tragic  feel  to  them,  as  or  the  bass  playing  it  sounds  very  powerful  with  some  slow  riffing.

Rhythm  guitars  are  very  slow  and  heavy  ambient/drone/doom  metal  riffing  that  has  a  very  depressive  feel  to  them,  and  there  are  no  guitar  solos  or  leads  present  on  the  recording.

Vocals  are  absent  from  the  recording  while  the  sng  titles  are  very  dark,  as  for  the  production  it  has a  very  heavy  and  professional  feel  to  it.

In  my  opinion  Heirs  are  a  very  good  experimental  post  doom  metal  band,  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECEMMONDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Fowl'  "Tyrant"  and  "Mother".  RECEMMONDED  BUY.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

From Oceans To Autumn/Silber Records/2011 EP Review

  From  Oceans  To  Autumn  are  a  band  from  North  Carolina  that  plays  an  instrumental  from  of  post  metal  doom/drone/shoegaze  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2011  ep  "The  Flood  The  Fall"  which  was  released  by  Silber  Records.

  Drums  are  mostly  slow  drumming  with  some fast  playing  and  not  much  in  the  way  of blast  beats,  while  the  synths  have  a  very  dark  ambient  feel  to  them,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  dark  tone  with  riffs  that  follow  the  riffing  that  is  coming  out  of  the  guitars  with  alot  of  shoegaze  style  riffing.

  Rhythm  guitars  are  all  slow  riffs  that  take  influences  from  doo/drone,  progressive  metal,  and  shoegaze  with  some  dark  melodies  being  used  at   times,  and  there  are little  to  no  guitar  solos  or  leads  present  on  his  recording.

  There  are  no  vocals  or  song  lyrics  on  this  recording  but  there  is  some  spoken  word  passages  on  the  2nd  song,  while  the  production  has  a  dark  and  heavy feel  to  it.

  In  my  opinion  From  Oceans  To  Autumn  are  a  very  good  post  metal  band,  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  style,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECEMMONDED  BUY.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Winter/Into Darkness/Southern Lord Records/2011 CD Ee-Issue Review

Winter  where  a  band  from  New  York  that  played  a  style  that  I  would  describe  as  being  experimental  doom/death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  1990  album  "Eternal  Frost"  which  was  originally  released  by  Nuclear  Blast  Records  ad  will  be  re-issued  by  Sothern  Lord  Records  in  2011.

Drums  are  mostly  slow  to  midpaced  drumming  with  no  fast  plying  or  blast  beats,  while  the  synths  have  a  very  dark  ambient  feel  to  them,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  very  heavy  and  distorted  tone  with  some  slow  and  doomy  riffing.

Rhythm  guitars  are  very  slow  and  heavy  doom/death  metal  riffing  that  also  sounds  very  dark  and  at  times they  have a  thrash  feel  to  them   while  the  lead  guitars  are  80's  style  extreme  underground  metal  guitar  leads.

Vocals  are  a  mixture  of  deep  death  metal  growls  that  are  very  easy  to  understand  and  Tom  G  Warrior  style  grunts,  while  the  lyrics  cover  winter,  darkness,  and  the  apocylpse,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  dark,  heavy  and  raw  sound  to  it.

In  my  opinion  Winter  where  a  very  underrated  doom/death  metal  band  for  thie  time  and  if  you  interested  in  hearing  the  original  doom/death  metal  sound,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECEMMONDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Servants  Of  The  Warsmen"  "Destiny"  and  "Into  Darkness".  RECEMMONDED  BUY.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Symphony Of Grief Interview

1. Can you give us a brief history of the band?
The band was founded in 1993 by Andrew Markert Bass/Vocals, John Litchko-Lead Guitar/B.Vocals and Jay Horton- R. Guitar. We released a demo "Infernal Creations" under the name CERBERUS. But soon changed the name of the band to SYMPHONY OF GRIEF as it better suited the sound and the type of music that we play.Latter under the proper name we released a 7" called "Regurgitated Corpses Drowning in Sorrow". Than we did a split 7" with Memorium. That featured "Spectral Voice" and "Immortal Fluids". Than we released the "Our Blessed Conqueror" ep. Not Long after that we disbanded...

2. How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you before?
Bone crushing DOOM from beyond space and time...

3. I have a couple of your old cassetes from the 90's what releases have you put out since that time?
None. The last thing we put out was the "Our Blessed Conqueror" ep in like 93/94 After that the band was no more... Until now.

4. How would you describe your musical progress over the years?
Well having not jammed together in over 16 years I'd say we have not progressed at all. We are exactly the same. Good old Hard Cold Evil DOOM!

5. What are some of the best shows that you have played so far and which crowds would you say are the craziest or best?
North Jersey crowds are pretty fuckin nuts as well as NY and Philly. Mid west crowds are a little more layed back but they love there metal. We had a pretty good slot at the Millwalkee Feast back in 93... It was Killer as we played in front of a huge crowd. and we got a great response.

6. What is the meaning behind the band's name?
It's more like a feeling than a meaning. At the time we were called Cerberus. But we all knew that it was only a temperary name. Than Drew wrote the lyrix for "Ritual Disembowlment" and there's a line that reads "Symphony of Grief". So I said why not call the band that. Jay and Drew agreed and that was that...

7. What are you listening to nowadays and what are some good bands or releases that you would recommend?
I'm currently listening Heaven and Hell "The Devil You Know" This is Dark Depressive and Heavy as Fuck! as Sabbath should be. Also I've been listening to the re-release of Autopsy's Severed Survival. I don't think I have to enlighten anyone on the Greatness of this album. Plus there's two new songs that are Fuckin Killer! Oh Yeah and endless remixes of the new Necrotion. This will also be Killer when it finally comes out.

8. What are your main influences music wise or non music wise?
For me as far as music goes it would have to be Black Sabbath, Venom, Slayer, VoiVod, Celtic Frost, Autopsy, Morbid Angel...I'm also inspired by Art and History and also works of fiction.

9. Does occultism play any role in the music?
Absolutely. Provided it co-insides with the lyrical concept.

10. What are some good books or films that you would recommend?
Any book by Brian Lumley. I really admire film making and I like different films for different reasons I suppose some might be. Excalibur, Star Wars, Alien, The Evil Dead, Heavy Metal I and II, Conan the Barbarian, Life Force, Friday the 13th 1 to 4, The Terminator, Gummo, Ghost Story, Creeping FleshBlah Blah Blah...

11. How does the metal scene in your home state react to your style of doom metal?
Ask me that again in about three months...

12. Any final words?
Thanx for the interview and get the word out Symphony of Grief are on the move...
13. Thanks for the interview?
Thank You! May the 50 Names of Marduk be Praised...
John and Symphony of Grief....

Monday, May 16, 2011

Blaspherian/Infernal Warriors Of Death/Daethgasm Records/2011 CD Review

Blaspherian  are  a  band  from  Houstan,  Texas  that  has  their  previous  album  eviewed  and  also  has  been  interviewed  this  zine  with  a  style  that  I  would  describe  as  being  unholy  death/doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2011  album  "Infernal  Warriors  Of  Death"  which  was  released  by  Dathgasm  Records.

Drums  range  from  slow,  midpaced  to  fast  drumming  with  a  good  amount  of  blast  beats,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  dark  tone  which  is  mixed  down  low  in  the  mix  and  seems  to  follow  the  riffing  that  is  coming  out  of  the  guitars.

Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  midpaced  to  fast  death/doom  metal  riffing  which  is  very  dark  and  eavy  sounding,   while  the  lead  guitars  when  they  utilized  they  are  chaotic  sounding  death  metal  guitar  leads  with  not  that  much  in  the  way  of  solos.

Vocals  are  mostly  deep  death  metal  growls  with  some  ocassional  hig  pitched  screams,  while  the  lyrics  cover  Satanism,  Evil  and  Darkness,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  heavy  and  raw  feel  to  it.

In  my  opinion  this  is  another  release  from  Blaspherian  and  if  you  where  a  fan  of  their  previous  releases,  you  will  not  be  dissapointed.  RECEMMONDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Disgrace  Of  God"  "Sworn  To  Death  And  Evil"  ans"invoking  Abomination".  RECEMMONDED  BUY.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Ebullition Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band and give us a brief history?
The band actually existed in a different form in the early 90's with our current bass player and drummer and they did alot of shows back then and then the band fell apart and then split up until 2008 and got the back started back up then and not too long after that I responded to an add in Guitar Player and then I came up after that and we strated writing songs and then we came across Seth Scheldiner our current vocalist, when we first heard his vocals we where blown away since he had alot of power in his vocals, and then from there we started writing songs and doing shows which led to us recording our first album, during the last 9 or 10 months we write this album that is coming out "Soulless" which we recorded and wrote in less than 9 months, while we where doing that we where actively playing live shows, we are very happy with the way the album came out.

2. How would you compare the new album to the demo that came out in the early 90's?
The material in the early 90's was alot closer to doom metal than death metal, this new album is alot better than anything that Ebullition has done in the past, we have improved and starting writing better stuff and we feel that is better than any of the stuff that we have done in the past?

3.How would you describe the lyrical content of the new album?
We worked together and combined all of the different influences we have as a band, our drummer and bass player have alot of heavy doom metal influences which is kind of the stuff they grow up listening to, I actuall grew up around Tampa, Florida and I was around more death metal bands like Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel, that sort of thing, and with are vocalist Seth he is more into stuff like Fear Factory, and we wanted to take our influences and mix them all together, we dont want to be a band that is just death metal, thrash metal, or doom metal. W like all forms of metal and I think the is why the songs sound the way they do on the new album.

4. Are you currently looking for a record label?
We are in the prcess of right now, we aare working on the different things that the record labels require like getting our music out there and heard, obviously metal is a life form of music, we are working on getting a record contract signed.

5.How would you describe your live shows?
We have evolved alot in the past year, we have added things like fog machines, we are looking back on the history of metal and rock, the shows used to be alot more solid, the shows use to be something that would stick into your head with the atmosphere, we are trying to get of the same props in our show that people will memorize, we are trying to use the proper equipment and equipment maintenance to get a much more quility sound.

6. How have death metal fans worldwide react to your music sound?
We have gotten some pretty good reactions actually from people, for some reason particullary germany, we have gotten good reactions from people in Brazil, Argentenia, but the people that have reacted the best are people in Germany and the U.S.

7. Do any of the band members have any side projects going on other than this band?
No we dont have any side projects going on, there are alot of talented people out there that spend too much time with different projects and we will that takes away too uch energy from them, right now we are trying to put all of our energy into Ebullition and give it our full focus.

8. What is the meaning behind the band's name?
Ebullition means a random emotional outburst.

9. What are some of the bands or musical styles that have influenced your music?
Our drummer and our bass player grew up on doom metal bands like Paradise Lost, our singer is a big fan of Fear Factory and that really shows in his vocal style and then I grew up on death metal bands like Morbid Angel and Hate Eternal, I grew up on the bands that have came from Tampa like Cannibal Corpse.

10. What are some of the newer bands that you listen to?
Right now I am actually listening to alot of older In Flames and recently a band called Brujeria, originally I read about them in some magazines, and the other members listen to alot of 90's style percussion work and that sort of thing.

11. What are some of your interests outside of music?
I can really think of anything right now since we have been spending alot of our effort into the music and album which takes up a huge portion of your life. We all have different things that we are into to, our drummer use to train as a cage fighter and that is definately something that he is still into and he goes to alot of MMA shows and things like that, our vocalist Seth is an avid shark fisherman, he is a total redneck that likes to go onto boats shark fishing which is his main interest and he has gotten our bass player alot into shark fishingand for me I spend most of my time playing guitar, I have served in the military and I have to deal with alot of health problems that I got from a tour in Iraq.

12. Do you have anything else that you want to say before we wrap up this interview?
I would say that as a band we continously are trying to improve on all of the things that we have done, and as good as things have turned out for our new album "Solless" we are trying to make the next one sound much better?

13. Thanks for the interview?
Thanks  alot.

Ebullition/Soulless/2010 CD Review

  Ebullition  are  a  band  from  Florida  that  plays  a  brutal  form  of  doom/death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2010  album  "Soulless"  which  was  released  in  2010.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  midpaced  to  fast  with  some  blast  beats,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  heavy  and  progressive  sounding  sound.

  Rhythm  guitars  are  mostly  slow,  midpaced,  to  fast  death  metal  riffs  that  also  contain  some  doom  metal  influences  as  well  as  a  good  mix  of  melody  and  a  thrashy  edge,   and  there  are  little  to  no  lead  guitars  or  solos  present  on  the  recording.

  Vocals  are  mostly  deep  death  metal  growls  mixed  in  with  some  high  pitched  screams,  while  the  lyrics  cover  hateful  style  themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  heavy  and  raw  feel  to  it.

  In  my  opinion  Ebullition  are  a  very  good  death  metal  with  a  thrashy/doomy  edge  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECEMMONDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Vaporized"  "Human  Transmitters"  "Fallen  Star"  and  "Slaughtered  And  Disposed".  RECEMMONDED  BUY.

Decapitation Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?
Well, we're a band from Sweden that plays death metal and we just released our first demo besides a crappy rehearsal. Is there really more to say?

2. What is the meaning behind the band's name?
Decapitation (from Latin, caput, capita, meaning head) is the separation of the head from the body. That's what Wikipedia says about it.

3. How would you describe your musical sound?
Rotten death metal with a little touch of slower crushing parts, though we're not a death/doom band which some people seem to believe.

4. How would you describe the lyrical content of the music?
It's mostly horror stories rather than gore, some are about classic zombie/horror movies and others are straight from our imagination. For example,
the song The Beyond is about the Lucio Fulci movie with the same name, we actually have the symbol from that movie in the artwork of the demo as well.
I hope someone noticed that before this interview though!

5. Are there any other side projects besides this band if so who are they and what kind of music do they play?
There are! But since nothing has been released yet it's better not to talk about it. They're all within the genre of Metal though.

6. Have you had any oppurtunity to do lany live shows yet, if so what are some of the best live shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
We have done a few live shows. The best one by far is the one where we opened for Necrovation and Portrait in Kristianstad, great gig! I don't really know how to describe our stage performance though,
we go up and do what we do! What more can i say? We don't use any live theatrics and such, since we feel no need for it. But who knows, maybe there will be some in the future?

7. How has your music been recieved so far by extreme death metal fans worldwide?
I have no idea, but it seems to be good so far.

8. How would you describe your musical progress over the years and what direction do you see the music heading into on future releases?
I don't think we've progressed at all since the band started. Sure, we write better songs now but there hasn't been any progress in the sound and the way we play.

9. When I was listening to your music it sounded look a 1991 death metal demo cassette, what kind of equipment did you use to get that raw classic sound?
When we recorded the guitar we used Gibson guitars and Marshall amps. We recorded the demo at our friend Philip Svennefeldt's (Helvetets Port's bassist, Ex-Portrait vocalist) studio Misantropen.
Great guy and he's really good in the studio. You think it's a classic sound? I don't!
10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and what are you listening to nowadays?
We're mostly influenced by Swedish and American death metal i'd say, but there's a lot of other influences, we don't limit ourselves to one genre.
Well, we listen to a lot of different metal to begin with. I mostly listen to Heavy Metal at the moment, though it varies a lot.

11. What are some of your interests outside of music?
For me personally i don't think i have any other interests. Besides playing music that would be collecting music! And i think that goes for all of us really.
Is there a better interest out there?

12. Any final words or thoughts?

We have an upcoming gig in Linköping in early September, everyone who has the possibility should attend, it's gonna be great!
Cheers,
Emil.