Saturday, July 25, 2015

Diazepam Interview


1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Mike: We are Diazepam, a sludge band from Lewiston Idaho. We have been around for a few years now and have recorded two demos, a split CD with Pressor and Soom, and now have just released an album called Chemical Justice. The album can be streamed for free on http://diazepam.bandcamp.com or purchased for a $5 download. Other format release details coming soon.

2.Recently you have released an album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
Mike: I would describe it as heavy and extreme, while still retaining a certain stoner sound. Chemical Justice is bad trip music.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Our lyrics are about evil, hate, depression, drug addiction, anger… stuff like that.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Diazepam'?
Diazepam is a chronically over prescribed drug, Valium. Diazepam can be viewed as one of the drugs that are in the center of our society being a society of drug users and addicts, whether legally or illegally. This societal drug addiction is something we look at through our music. Beyond that, we thought it was a cool sounding word, and there weren’t already a million other bands using the name.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We have had the pleasure of playing with some bands we love, like MDC and Today is the Day, which were a blast. Shows we play with local bands like Rasputin or East Sherman are awesome too.
Our stage performance consists of me playing drums, Matt and Freddie playing guitar and Drew singing while acting like a lunatic. Drew really gets into it and goes into the audience and stuff. It’s hard to describe. You’ll have to just see it some time.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
I think we have a local show coming up at the end of next month. No tour plans right now. We don’t play tons of shows because we live out in the middle of nowhere. We try to play live once every month or two, usually in Spokane Washington.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
Well, originally a label was going to release Chemical Justice but that fell through, so we decided to just put it out ourselves. I think Overkill Records is going to do a cassette release, and we’re going to do on LP. Maybe CD too. If a label came along asking we might do it through them, but we aren’t out there looking really.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of sludge and doom metal?
Feedback has been good! People are listening to Diazepam all over the world and the response has been excellent.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We have been working on some new stuff in a lower tuning. The new riffs are really heavy and direct. It’s sounding pretty cool so far.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
We are influenced by Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Eyehategod, Corrupted, the first Iron Monkey album, Bongzilla, Autopsy and many, many others.
I’ve been listening to the New Saturnalia Temple album. Great band! I’ve actually been listening to Seige’s Drop Dead album a lot lately too. Just a lot of random stuff. I listen to a lot of death metal and I really like the most recent Vanhelgd album (and all their stuff).

11.What are some of your non musical interests?
As a band our interests vary, but include pipe smoking, dogs, guns, art, women, tattoos, etc.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thanks for doing this interview! Fans of heavy sludge/doom stuff can check us out at http://diazepam.bandcamp.com

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Matalobos Interview


1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
We are a melodic doom death band from León, Mexico,  formed by four members that wanted to explore the darkest and saddest side of our minds when we thought of the birth of this band, we have been together for almost 10 months now, and we released an EP in tape and digipack formats.

2.In April you had released an ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
Since I started to listen metal when I was a teenager I always felt that doom metal was something that goes straight to my heart, we feel that it just explores that part of ourselves that none want to show, our true face, so we wanted to achieve a mixture between melancholy and aggression, to have this doom sound but never forgetting the straight energy of death metal.

3.The band was formed in October of 2014 and had its first release 6 months later, do you put a lot of time and effort into writing and creating music?
Of course, we see our music as a job besides of a true passion, we have schedules and we are constantly searching new concepts and new ideas for upcoming songs.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
 I think that we wanted to talk about obscure stuff in our music, themes that must of the people are afraid of deal with, sadness, darkness, melancholy, violence, murder, death.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Matalobos'?
Matalobos, roughly translated from spanish it means “wolves killer or wolfsbane”, it´s actually a colloquial name for a very poisonous plant called “aconite” the toxin can be absorbed through the skin and can kill you in a couple of hours, also it seems some farmers used to use this plant to kill wolves preventing to eat their sheep, if you see some pictures of the plant it´s actually a beauty flower but deadly, so we thought it will be a cool name related to the kind of music we do.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
I think by now, our best show was as a supporting act from an Italian band called “Cadaveria” the show was really good, we always try to put so much energy in our shows, we want people to feel our emotions with each note we play, to give a plus to what they hear in our recordings.

7.Do you have any touring or shown plans for the future?
We are currently planning a tour in October through Mexico with Majestic Downfall and Dies Irae from Mexico too, and we expect to make a tour in Europe next year.

8.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
We are working right now with Inductive Oppression Records from México who kindly offer us to release our EP in physical format, and also we have had contacts with labels around the world to which we are talking about the release of a full length.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of melodic death and doom metal?
It has been pretty good actually, especially in Europe, we never thought that we will be receiving good comments and kind words for our music in this brief time.

10.When can we expect a full length album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We are currently writing songs for the full length, we have 4 songs by now, we have plans to start the recording in September or October of this year, we are mainly focus on reach European audience with our music, due to the genre and the support for this melancholic sound out there, I think the sound of the full length it will be more mature than the EP.

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?
Well of course there is the doom and death genres, but also I´m really into prog rock music, jazz and blues, to mention some bands, it´s really hard because there´s a lot of them, but I can say that Novembre, Daylight Dies, old Katatonia, Rapture, Swallow the Sun and Doom:vs are big part of it.; currently I´m listening to The Pineapple Thief, Klimt 1918 (always) and a lot of Emperor and Dissection.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
Videogames, survival horror games specially, books, women (the mainly cause of our depression hahah jkd), movies, football (I love to play football), and hanging out with Matalobos guys and friends.

13..Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thanks a lot for this interview we are very glad to have the opportunity to talk a little about us, and for the ones reading this, you can look for us in facebook.com/matalobosofficial or matalobos.bandcamp.com or give us a message matalobosofficial@gmail.com Doom on!

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Diazepam/Chemical Justice/2015 FUll Length Review


  Diazepam  are  a  band  from  Lewiston,  Idaho  that  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of t heir  self  released  2015  album  "Chemical  Justice".

 A  very  powerful  bass  guitar  sound  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  more  heavy  sludge/doom  metal  direction  that  also  brings  in  stoner  rock  style  melodies  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  when  vocals  are  brought  into  the  music  they  are  high  pitched  sludge  style  screams.

  At times  the  vocals  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  growls  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  remain  true  to  a  dark  and  melodic  old  school  style  of  doom  metal  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  slow  musical  direction  while  being  very  heavy  at  the  same  time  and  some  of  the  riffs  and  leads  also  bring  a  70's  retro  rock  vibe  to  the  recording  and  every  second  on  the  recording  remains  heavy  and  dark.

  Diazepam  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  that  is  very  dark,  slow  and  heavy  and  also  brings  in  a  touch  of  stoner  metal,  the  production  has  a  dark  sound  yet  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion Diazepam  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  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Doomsday  Prepper"  and  "Methcrush".  8  out  of  10.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Matalobos/Self Titeld/2015 EP Review


  Matalobos  are  a  band  from  Mexico  that  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  and  self  titled 2015  ep.

  A  very  dark and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  after  awhile  melodic  guitar  leads  and  death  metal  growls  are  added  into  the  music  and  all  3  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  music  also  brings  in  elements  of  modern  metal.

  Spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with some  screams  that  almost  have  a  black  metal  feeling  to  them  and  the  band  also  brings  in  a  small  amount  of  classical  guitars  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  clean  singing  and  all of  the  music  sticks  to a  slow  musical  direction.

  Matalobos  plays  a  musical  style  that  is  mostly  rooted  in  doom  metal  and  they  mix  it  in  with  melodic death  metal  to  create  a  sound  of their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  depression  and  murder.

  In  my  opinion  Matalobos  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  melodic  death  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Black  Stone  Walls".  8  out  of  10.

Hateure/Body & Soil/2015 EP Review

Hateure  are  a  band  from  the  Philippines  that  plays a  mixture  of  sludge.  doom  and  post  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2015  ep  "Body  &  Soil".

  Clean  playing  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some  drum  beats  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  after  awhile  the  music  gets  more  heavy  and  melodic and  goes  for  more  of  a  post  metal  sound  and  the  music  also  brings  in  psychedelic  elements  at  times  and  the  first  track  is  all  instrumental.

  On  the  second  track  the  music  starts  adding  in  more  elements  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  when  vocals  are  added  into  the  music  they  are  done  mostly  in  a  growling  fashion  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  stick  mostly  to  a  slow  musical  direction  and  spoken  word  parts  are  also  used  briefly  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  bring  in  elements  of  stoner  rock.

 Hateure  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  the  slowness  and  heaviness  and  mixes  it  in  with t he  melody  of  post  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds very  powerful  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion   Hateure  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture of sludge,  doom  and  post  metal  and  if  you  are a  fan  of  those  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Reptilian  Blues".  8  out  of  10.

   

Friday, July 17, 2015

Bittered/Hubris Aggression/Lost Aparitions Records/2015 CD Review


  Bittered  are  a  band  from  Pennsylvania  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  and  doom  metal  with  a  touch  of  grind  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Hubris  Aggression"  which  was  released  by  Lost  Apparitions  Records.

  A  very  dark sounding  synth  and  nature  sounds  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  spoken  word  samples  and  after  the  intro the  music  goes  for  more  of  a  heavy  doom  metal  sound  along  with  some   sludge  style  screams  and  the  music  also  brings  in  a  lot  of  influences  from  90's  death  metal  and  after  awhile  the  music  starts  adding  in  a  touch  of  grind.

  Most  of  the  music  sticks  to  either  a  slow  or  mid  paced  musical  direction  and  they  also  bring  in  more  death  metal  growls  as  the  album  progresses  while  some  of  the  melodies  have  more  of  an  old  school  feeling  to  them  and  the  spoken  word  samples  that  where  present  on  the  intro also  make  a  return  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  music  also  speeds  up  briefly  and  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  blast  beats  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.    

  Bittered  plays  a  style  of  doom/death  metal  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  90's  and  also  adds  in  sludge  style  vocals  and  grind  and  crust  elements  to  make  their  musical  style  stand  out  a  bit  more,  the  production  sounds  very powerful  while  the  lyrics  cover  political  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Bittered  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  with  a  touch  of  sludge  and grind  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out t his  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "America  Is  Killing  You"  "Mouth  Full  Of  Shit"  and  "Consumed  By  Garbage".  8  out  of  10. 

  

     

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Hanibal Death Machine Interview


1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
1) We started in January 2014, we are 4 friends beside the band. We did like most of the bands : writting songs, playing on stage, recording on studio. Nothing original here but we did it with so much pleasure
2.So far you have released an ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
2) We did this record in the antistatic's studio with David Castel as producer who is known for have produced bands like Psykup, Manimal, Dwail... This record sounds Metal indus but we can hear some Doom's sounds and the singing is more like Black Metal !

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
3) The degeneration of the human being, only link in the food chain to put his own survival in danger because of his progress ! I writte about personal introspection too but a lot of autobiograficals themes !

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Hanibal Death Machine'?
4) We all like Hannibal Lecter, it's a wink to this awesome movie

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
5) We didn't play a lot on stage yet but there is this live for halloween, it was awesome, the audience was disguised, everyone played the game, it was nice to live it !

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
6) So about tours, for now we just started the Birth's promo ( our EP ) but we already have a proposition for a tour in Russia for 15 days. In France, concerts arrive gradually!

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
7) So about the album, its just a matter of budgets. If a label sign us we will release an album but if we still are unsigned, the next release will be an EP !!


8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of industrial and metal?
8) On the global scale our coming is hailed and that is very pleasant by the most of people, everyone seems to like Hanibal Death Machine. The radios that playing our song non-stop, the press who seems to like us, we are pleasantly surprised !!
9.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?
9) We listen Rob Zombie, Marylin Manson, Dope, Static X, Ministry, Killing Joke, Rammstein and a french band : Sidilarsen !!

10.What are some of your non musical interests?
10) We like to cook and we love to join all around a table and savouring the dishes we cooked, we also like sport !

11.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
11) I thank you very much for all your involvement with Hanibal Death Machine, we will meet so many people on tours so I hope we will see you in the flesh !!!

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Godhunter/Destroyer Of Light/Endsville/Battleground Records/Heavy Friends Records/2015 Double12 Inch Vinyl Review


  This  is  a  review  of  a  double  split  album  with  Arizona's  Godhunter  and  Texas's  Destroyer  Of  Light  called  "Endsville"  which  will  be  released  on  July  28th  2015  as a  joint  effort  between  Battleground  Records  and  Heavy  Friends  Records  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Godhunter  a  band  that  has  been  featured before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge  metal  and  psychedelic  rock  on  this  recording.
 
  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  acoustic guitar  playing  which  also returns  on  the  last  track and  after  a  couple  of  minutes  spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard  briefly  before  going  into  more  of  a  psychedelic  sludge  metal  direction  along  with  a  mixture  of  melodic  screaming  vocals  and  growls  and  the  songs  also  add  in  a  touch  of  punk  rock.

   When  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they bring  a  stoner  vibe  to  their  side  of  the  recording  and  at  times  the  vocals  have  more  of  a  hardcore  style  to  them  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  there  are  also  a  few  tracks  that  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  one  of  the  last  stringed  instruments  are  added   into  the  music,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Godhunter  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of t his  band,  you  should  enjoy  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Divided  Skies"  and  "Cassandra  Complex".

  Next  up  is  Destroyer  Of  Light  a  band  that  plays  a  psychedelic  form  of  doom  metal.

  Their  side  of   the  split  starts  off  with  a  very  heavy  old  school  doom  metal sound  and  stoner  style  guitar  leads  as  well  as  some  psychedelic  elements  and  the  vocals  are  in  a  70's clean  singing  direction  and  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  amount  of  melody  in  the  guitar  riffing  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  slow  musical  direction  and  one  track  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  death  metal  growls  while  the  last  song  brings  in  a  small  amount  of  high  pitched  screams,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Destroyer  Of  Light  are  a  very  great  sounding  psychedelic  doom  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Electric  Shadows"  and  "Forever  My  Queen".

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

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Yellowtooth/Crushed by The Wheels Of Progress/Orchestrated Misery Records/2015 CD Review


  Yellowtooth  are  a  band  from  Indiana  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  2015  album  "Crushed by The Wheels Of Progress"  which  will  be  released  on  July  21st  by  Orchestrated  Misery  Records.

  Spoken  word  samples  and  gun  shots  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very  heavy  and  melodic  sludge  metal  direction  along  with  some  aggressive  vocals  that  also  add  a  touch  of  death  and  groove  metal  onto the  recording  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  music  also  brings  in  elements  of  stoner  rock.

  Traces  of  southern  metal  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  give  the  songs  more  of  a  retro  rock  feeling  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  there  are  also  some  songs  that  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  singing  and  the  music  speeds  up  a  bit  on  some  tracks  as  the  album  progresses and  also  adds  in  a  brief  use  of  blast  beats.

  Yellowtooth  continue  the  mixture  of  stoner,  sludge  and  doom  metal  of  previous  recordings  while  also  adding  in  more  touches  of  groove  metal  to  change  their  musical  style  around  a  bit,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  assassins,  drugs  and  human  misery  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Yellowtooth  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  the  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Climbing  the  Mountain"  "Crushed  By  the  Wheels  Of  Progress"  and  "Virginia  Creeper".  8  out  of  10. 

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Crown/Natron/Candlelight Records/2015 CD Review


  Crown  are  a  band  from  France  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Natron  which  will  be  released  in  August  by  Candlelight  Records.

  A  very  dark  sounding  bass  guitar  sound  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very  heavy  sludge  metal  direction  along  with  some  high  pitched  screams  and  there  are  also elements  of  electronic  music  being  utilized  at  times  and  you  can  also  hear  clean  playing  and  melodic  singing  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording.

  Growls  can  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  some  of  the  songs and  they  also  mix  in  a  lot  of  elements  of  doom  metal  and  there  are  also  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  samples and  a  good  portion  of  the  tracks  are  long  and  epic  in  length  and  as  the  album  progresses  the  music speeds  up  at  times  and  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  blast  beats  while  some  of  the  fast  parts  also  bring  in  a  touch  of  black  metal  while  the  main  focus  remains  more  on  a  sludge  and  doom  metal  style.

  Crown  continues  the  sludge  and  doom  metal  mixture  of  previous  recordings  while  also  experimenting  with  newer  elements  to  take  their  sound  to  another  level,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  real life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Crown  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Words  You  Speak  Are  Not  Your  Own"  "Apnea"  and  "Flames".  8  out  of 10.