Monday, February 29, 2016

Hautajaisyo Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
We started the year 2016 by adding a second guitarist for our band. V.Moisanen (from Sinmate band) joined our band and played his first gig with us at 01.01.2016. We have been working on new songs and have made 4 new songs that are ready to play live. This year we are also releasing another video from the first album and are planning to record second album.

2.In October you had released a new album, 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?
Basic of the music is in death metal and we mix some thrash metal elements to our music. You can also find some black metal influnce in our music because 4/5 of us listen to black metal. Our music is depressive, melancholy and aggressive at the same time. We try to keep it simple, but still make some groove in the songs. Its hard to desciribe our stuff and its has been fun to read reviews where people try to make us fit in one genre. We have been using "Melancholy thrash & death metal" to tell people of our musical style. Our bands demo years (As REDEYE) we have made few other big chances.  Me and S.Leinonen are only original members over 10 years ago. From the beginning we were more thrash and punk influnced, but with S.Pirskanen joined the band for the 3 demo we turned our music more to death metal and less punk. Our last ep as REDEYE was called "Violence" and it has lots of similiar elements as Hautajaisyö has. So its has been a evolution of music, as members chance we try to take the music to a next level.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?
Death, despair, misery and life. I write stuff that happens in my life, but in really pessimistic way. Inspiriration of the songs have come from few of my friends divorce, suicides, fear of death, nightmares, mental breakdowns and terminal illness. Some of the lyrics are straight from the source, like "Päänsärkijä" (head breaker) that has final words of my dead friend in the lyrics.

4.Originally the band was known as 'REDEYE', what was the cause of the name change and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Hautajaisyo'?
Well it was a sum of a lot of things.  We had new bassplayer S.Kettunen, we chanced the our tuning of guitars, we chance vocals to finish and new songs were more death metal than before. Finally our record label "Violent Journey Records" quit. We felt that now it was the time to start again from a clean plate. The band name "Hautajaisyö" is taken from a same title song from Horna. It means "funeral night" and with more death related lyrics i thought it would fit our new sound and looks. REDEYE was a great band, but some remember us from our two first demos, that are totally different than newer stuff. So that is the reason for the name chance.

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?
Our stage show is aggressive. Live we give out 666% of ourself and we want that people will remember us after they see us live. But we still have fun on the stage. Best shows we played was this summer at KuopioRock Cock, we played in the official after show there and it was awesome. Lots of people were watching and we got good feedback of the gig. We were playing with our good friends Omniversum. Omniversum vocalisti Tomas sings clean parts in our album so it was fun to get him to do his parts live.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
Well hope so, but now we dont have any gigs ready. Lots of promises but somehow every plan seems to crash. We would love to go outside of finland to tour, but we will also be happy to play few gigs in finland. Well less gigs and more time to make new album ready.

7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death and thrash metal?
Really good! One website named our album one of the best metal albums in 2015. Feedback as been really good and i think people like our stuff more out side of finland that in here. Anyways is great to make music that we love to make and other people like it also.

8.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?
"Uhriristi" (with me and S.Pirskanen & S.Kettunen) released second album a year ago, new material is ready, but we are not rushing to make new album. "Huoraprinssi" (with me on guitar) we just recorded second ep that is coming this summer. Both our guitarist play in "Unjoyful Play" and they are making material this year. My soloproject "Infected Angel Flesh" is releasing first album this summer.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Well the new songs are even more depressive, but with second guitar on board we can make more diverse songs, but still keeping the songs simple and aggressive. So i believe we continue on the path we have taken and just do music that we like, but still try to get some new ideas on board. So dont fear we are not going softer or more "radio friendly"...with the 4 new songs its just the opposite.

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?
There are lots of bands that has influenced us. Not directly to the band but more we as a musicians. And our music is mixed by our favorite styles and bands. We raise our fist to salute Slayer, Bolt Thrower, Ashpyx, Napalm Death, Motörhead, Kreator, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Sotajumala, Horna, Deathchain and many more!

11.What are some of your non musical interests?
Our bas splayer S.Kettunen is a talented photographer and he makes all our promo shoots. S.Pirskanen builds guitar amps and effects, he used his self made amp in our album. I have been writing for reviews, interviews and news for metal zine Kaaoszine.fi for 5 years. S.Leinonen has most metal dog in the world called Eddie. And the usual movies, games and drinking good whiskeys & eating good food. You know enjoying life.

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

First big thanks to you for the review and for this interview. Big hailz to all our supporters! Feel free to join our FB-page and ask us anything.
New material is coming so stay tuned! J.Partanen thanks!

Friday, February 26, 2016

All Out War/Dying Gods/Organized Crime Records/2015 EP Review


  All  Out  War  are  a  band  from  New  York  that  plays  a  very  aggressive  and brutal  form  of  hardcore  with  a  touch  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their 2015  ep  "Dying  Gods"  which  was  released  by  Organized  Crime  Records.

  A  very  hard,  heavy  and  melodic  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some  aggressive  screaming  vocals  that  also  border  on  death  metal  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  before  adding  in  more  of  an  aggressive  New  York  hardcore  style  sound  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  they  also  mix  in shouting  vocals  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  bring  in  an  old  school  extreme  metal  sound  to  the  bands  musical  style  and  there  is also  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  samples  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  some  riffs  also  bring  in  a  touch  of  thrash  and  the  last  track  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  female  vocals.

  All  Out  War  plays  a  musical  style  that  is  mostly  rooted  in  hardcore  but  also  mixes  in  the  aggression  of  thrash  and  heaviness  of  death  metal  which  also  makes  their  music  stand  out  a  bit  more,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  the  corruption  of  organized  religion,  ecocide,  and  the  degradation  and  exploitation  of  the  weak.

  In  my  opinion  All  Out  War  are  a  very  great  sounding  hardcore  band  with  a  touch  of  thrash  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Vengeance  Reigns  Eternal"  and  "God  Is  Dead".  8  out  of  10. 

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Druknroll/The Loop Of All Creation/Metal Scrap Records/2015 EP Review


  Druknroll  are  a  band  from  Russia  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  pays  a  mixture  of  melodic  metal,  hard  rock  and  death  metal and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  ep  "The  loop  of  All  Creation"  which  was  released  by  Metal  Scrap  Records.

  Dark  sounding  keyboards  start  off  the  ep  and  they  use  a  variety  of  many  different  sounding  keys  and  also  mix  in  with  the  heavy  guitars that  kick  in  a  few  seconds  later  and  after  awhile  aggressive  yet  melodic  melodic  vocals  and  death  metal  growls  make  their  presence  known  on  the  recording  and  the  riffs  also  use  a  great  amount  of  melody.

  Elements  of  modern  groove  metal  can  be  heard in  the  bands  musical  style  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  you  can  still  hear  elements  of  traditional  metal  and  hard  rock  in  the  bands  musical  style  and  the  music  sticks  mostly  to  a  mid  paced  direction  while  some  fast  parts  can  be  heard  and  they  close  the  ep  with  a  cover  of  In  Flame's  "Minus".

  Druknroll  continue  the  melodic  metal,  hard  rock  and  death  metal  mixture  of  previous  recordings  while  also  going  into  more of  a  heavier  musical  direction  this  time  around,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Russian  and  cover  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Druknroll  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Minus".  8  out  of  10.  

      

 

Destroyers Of All/Bleak Fragments/Mosher Records/2016 CD Review


 Destroyers  Of  All  are  a  band  from  Portugal  that  plays  a  progressive  mixture  of  death,  thrash and  groove  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016 album  "Bleak  Fragments"  which  will  be  released  in  March  by  Mosher  Records.

  Radio  sounds  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  classical  guitar  playing  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  leads  up  to  a  heavier  musical  direction  that  also  introduces  old  school  metal  style  solos  onto t he  recording  that  also  use  a  good  amount  of  melody  and  after  awhile  the  music  starts  going  for  more  of  a  melodic  thrash  direction.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  the  vocals  are  mostly  death  metal  growls  that  are  very  easy  to  understand  and  back up  gang  shouts  can  also  be  heard  at  times  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  melodic  vocals  and  clean  playing  are  also  added  into  certain sections  of  the  recording.

  When  synths  and  operatic  female  vocals  are  utilized  they  give  the  music  a  very  symphonic  feeling  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  also  mix  in  progressive  elements  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  some  songs  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  spoken  words  and  classical  guitars  also  make  a  return  on  later  songs  and  one  track  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  saxophones.

  Destroyers  Of  All  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  death  metal  and  groove  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with  modern  thrash  and  progressive  metal  and  a  touch  of symphonic  music  to  create  something  very  original  sounding,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  spirituality,  inner  struggles  and  corruption  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Destroyers  Of  All  are  a  very  great  sounding  progressive  mixture  of  death,  thrash  and groove  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Hollow  Words"  "Death  Healer"  "Speed  Of  Mind"  and  "Day  of  Reckoning".  8  out  of  10.         

    

 

Roadkill XIII/Triskaidekaphobia/Satanath Records/Rebirth the Metal Productions/2014 CD Review


  Roadkill  XIII  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death,  thrash  and groove  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "Triskaidekaphobia"  which  was  released  as  a  joint  effort  between  Satanath  Records  and  Rebirth  The  Metal  Productions.

  Dark  sound  effects  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavy  thrash  metal  direction  and  once  the  screams  and  death  metal  growls  are  added  into  the  music  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  in  the  faster  sections  of  the  music  and  the  music  also mixes  in  a  lot of  mid  80's  and  early  90's  influences.

  When  solos  and  leads  are  added  into  the  music  they  remain  very  true  to  an  extreme  death/thrash  metal  direction  and  spoken  word  along  with  movie  samples  can  be  heard  in  the  music  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts and  as  the  album  progresses  the  music starts  incorporating more  old  school  groove  metal  elements  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  one  of  the  tracks  is  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Roadkill  XIII  plays a  musical  style  that  takes  death, thrash  and  groove  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  style  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  hate,  anger,  social criticism  and  horror  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Roadkill  XIII  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death,thrash  and  groove  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Hunt  And  Kill"  "No  Salvation"  and  "Inferno".  8  out  of  10.    

   

Kadar/Essence/Metal Scrap Records/2015 EP Review


  Kadar  are  a  duo  from  Kazakhstan  that  have  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays a  progressive  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review of  their 2015  ep  "Essence"  which  was  released  by  Metal  Scrap  Records.

  an  acoustic  guitar  intro  starts  off  the ep  giving  the  music  more  of  a  progressive  feeling  with  its  mixture  of finger  picking  and  full  chords before  going  into  more  of  a  melodic  and  heavier  thrash  metal  direction  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  demonstrate  a  great  amount  of  melody,  talent  and  skill.

  Elements  of  groove  can  be  heard  in  the  music  at  times  and  the  vocals  are  mostly  death  metal  growls  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  along  with  the  riffs  getting  more  catchy  while  the  music  usually  for  the  most  part  sticks  to  more  of  a  mid  paced  musical  direction  and  the  last  track brings  in  a  touch  of  jazz  and  they  close  with  an  acoustic  outro.

  With  this  recording  Kadar  plays  a  style  of  death/thrash  metal  that  is  still  very  progressive  while  being  more  guitar  driven  this  time  around  and  dropping  the  keyboards  that  where  present  on  previous  recordings,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Kadar  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  progressive  death/thrash  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Night"  and  "Black  Train".  8  out  of  10.

        

  

   

Revolted Masses/Age Of Descent/Inverse Records/2015 CD Review





  Revolted  Masses  are  a  band  from  Greece  that  plays  a  progressive  mixture  of death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Age  Of  Descent"  which  was  released  by  inverse  Records.

  Clean  playing  starts  off  the  album  and  after  a  few  seconds  the  music  starts  going  into more  of  a  heavier  direction  as  well  as  adding  in  aggressive  screams  that  also  have  a  death  of  death  metal  to them  and t he  solos  and  leads  also  mix  in  oriental  style  scales  while  still  being  very  melodic  at  the  same  time. 

  A  lot  of  modern  thrash  elements  can  be  heard  in  the  bands  musical  style  and  growls  are  also  mixed  in  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  whispers  and  spoken  word  parts  while  the  riffs  also  mix  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  and  clean  playing  also  makes  a  return  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  some  songs  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  atmospheric  elements  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  clean  singing.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  tremolo  picking  can  be  heard while  one  track  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  war  samples  and  some  of  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  when  female  vocals  are  brought  into  the  music  briefly it  gives  the  music  more  of  an  esoteric  and  ethnic  feeling  that  also  shows  up  in  the  short  acoustic  instrumental  before  the  music  returns  back  to  a  heavier  direction  on  the  following  tracks. while  some  songs  mix  in  a  little  bit  of  that  exotic  style  which  also  adds  more  of  a  progressive  touch  to  the  bands  musical  style.

  Revolted  Masses  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  the  modern  forms  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with  prog  metal  and  a  touch  of  oriental  music  to  create  a  style  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  political  themes  

  In  my  opinion  Revolted  Masses  are  a  very  great  sounding  progressive  mixture  of  death  and  modern  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Slave  To  the  Media"  "Bloodshed  In  Eden"  "Severed  Aphrodte"  and  "Murder  ex  Machina".  8  out  of  10. 

Resurrection/Betrayed By God/2016 CD Review


  Resurrection  are  a  band  from  Poland  that  plays  a  very  brutal  and  blasphemous  form  of death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2016 album  "Betrayed  By  God".

  A  very  heavy  and  melodic  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  solos and  leads  that  also  use  a  great  amount  of  melody and  once  the  music  speeds up  brutal  blast  beats  and  death  metal  growls  make  their  presence  known  on  the  recording  and  the  music is  very  true  to  the  Poland  tradition  of  the  genre.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  amount of  brutality  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording and  the  music  is  more  rooted  in  the  modern  style  of  the  genre  while  some  old  school  influences  are  still  present  in  the  bands  musical  style  and  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing  is  utilized  on  the  last  track  which  is  also  long  and  epic  in  length

  Resurrection  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  fast,  aggressive,  brutal  and  traditional  sounding,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  anti  religion  and  gore  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Resurrection  are  a  very  great  sounding  brutal  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Medical  Murder"  "Betrayed  By  God" and  "Necropsy".  8  out  of  10.

   

 

Assorted Heap/The Experience Of Horror/Vic Records/2016 CD Re-Issue Review


  Assorted  Heap  where  a  band  from  the  Netherlands  that  played  a  technical  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  1991  album  "The  Experience  Of  Horror"  which  was  re-issued  in  2016  by  Vic  Records.

  A  very  hard  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  melodic  riffing  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  leads  up  to  more  of  a  thrash  metal  style  that  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  early  death  metal  screams  while  the  vocals  also  lean  more  towards  to  the  aggressive  side  of  thrash.

  The  music  sound s very  technical  for  the  era  it  was  released  and  back  up  gang  shouts  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording  and  the  guitar  solos  and  leads  also  bring  in  even  more  of  an  early  death/thrash  metal  style  while  growls  can  also  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  songs  and  some  tracks also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing,  classical  guitars  and  atmospheric sounds  and  throughout  the  recording  you  can  also hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  they  close  with  a  rockabilly  style  outro. 

  Assorted  Heap  played  a  style  of   death  metal  on  this  recording  that  was  still  heavily  rooted  in  thrash  while  also  being  very  technical  for  its  era,  the  production  has  a  very  raw  yet  heavy  sound  while  the  lyrics cover  drugs,  rape  and  crime  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  was  a  very  great  sounding  recording  from  Assorted  Heap  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  early  technical  death/thrash metal,  you  should  check  out  this  re-issue.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Experience  Of  Horror"  "Sold  Out  Souls"  and  "Grave  New  World".  8  out  of  10.

 

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Tantrum/Deverginized/Inverse Records/2014 EP Review





  Tantrum  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  metal,  thrash  and rock'n'roll  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  ep  "Devirginized"  which  was  released  by  Inverse  Records.

  Clean  playing  and  synths  start  off  the  ep  along  with  some melodic  guitar  leads  a  few  seconds  later  that  also  have  a  classic  rock  feeling  to  them  which  also  leads  up  to  a  heavier  thrash  metal  direction  that  also  introduces  death  metal  growls  and  screams  onto t he  recording  and  the  riffs  also  use  a  great  amount  of  melody.

  While  the  music  has  a  lot  of  old  school  influences  the  songs  still  sound  very  modern  and  the  vocals  are  also  very  easy  to  understand  and  some  riffs  also  bring  in  a  touch  of traditional  metal  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.  and  some  of  the  riffs  also  mix  in  groove  and  70's  rock  elements  as  well as  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  groove  metal  style  vocals.    

  Trauma  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  death  metal,  thrash  and  rock  music  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  style  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  real  life  themes.

  In my  opinion  Trauma  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death  metal,  thrash  and  rock'n'roll  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Look  Further"  and  "Cursed  into  Eternity".  8  out  of  10. 


Deviant Process Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
We consider ourselves a progressive death metal band. We have been crafting our sound since 2008 and the band is now about to release its first album "Paroxysm" on PRC Music. After a few lineup changes, an EP and several shows we are ready to deliver what we consider to be our biggest effort since the beginning of this project.

2.How would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recordings?
It's a blend of extreme metal elements through a more progressive kind of song structure. The music is brutal, technical and groovy for the most parts. We focus on originality before brutality while keeping it listenable and interesting.

3.The band has been around since 2008 and so far you have only released an ep and a full length, can you tell us a little bit more about the gaps in between releases?
We are not the kind of band that does one album each year. We take our time and the song writing process can be very long indeed. We all have steady jobs and occupations that take a lot of time as well and we don't want to rush any member of the band. Some of the lineup changes required a lot of practice and adjustments before being back on our feet, so yeah, we are not 100% of the time writing new stuff.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
"Paroxysm" themes goes from religion to self-loathing and mental illness. It's a journey through a tormented soul.

5.Originally the band was known as 'Psychic Pain', what was the decision behind the name change and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Deviant Process'?
When I first started the band, "Psychic Pain" was my first idea. I made a demo alone playing and programming all the music wishing it would interest some musicians in Quebec to make it happen as a real band. Luckily it did, so when I had the inputs of the other guys the name and the kind of symphonic sound I put in the demo was just not working with them so we had to change the name if were to change the sound. We all thought that "Deviant Process" was more suitable to the new sound and the lyrical direction the band was going.

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 really enjoyed the shows we played with Beyond Creation and Archspire in Montreal. The staff and the bands were really nice with us. I was really surprised by the positive feedbacks of the crowd during the show and after our performance as well. For a small band like us it's pretty amazing to have such great comments when it's your first performance in a new venue. There is also this one show in Matane that was just pure insanity from the beginning to the end. The crowd was literally killing themselves in a never ending pit where beer and shoes were flying around haha!

7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?
We have some shows on schedule with "Gorod" that we are very excited to play. We will surely try to play the most we can this summer but no official tour has been planned.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal?
I can't really tell. The album is not available worldwide till March 11th. But locally most of the fans of death metal seems to dig our sound. It's mostly the musical nerds like us who responded most positively to the music we play haha!

9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?
Stephane and Philippe are about to finish the recording of their death grind project "The Aftermath". The band is still active and we will do some shows with them as well really soon. Stephane also plays really sick bass guitar in a punk rock band called "Hate it too". Francois is finishing the production of his black metal band "Superior Enlightenement ". He also released an album with his experimental band "Escarre " last November. They are both unfortunately just studio projects right now. I also play guitar in a studio project called "Solinaris " with different members of the Quebec metal scene. It's a blend of death metal, prog rock and jazz and the first album will be available really soon.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We already started the composition of the second album and it will surely gain in speed and technicality as well. We don't want to change the style too much but the new members of the band are sure to make a difference to the direction the new songs take.

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?
It's mostly bands from Quebec like Augury, Martyr, Gorguts and Cryptopsy that had a huge impact on our sound I think. We also always been fans of the most eclectic and "not so easy to listen" artists like Frank Zappa, King crimson, Allan Holdsworth and many more. So yeah, from death metal to progressive rock passing by jazz and black metal. I personally listen to a lot of Emperor, Meshuggah and Pestilence these days to name a few.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
We all enjoy good craft beer, nature, science and technology. I am myself a hunter, Philippe is a pretty serious homebrewer, he is currently making a beer with the hops Francois harvested last summer and Stephane is really into horror and obscure kind of movies.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
We hope you like the album! Even if you are not into fusion stuff and proggy metal give it a try! Check out PRC Music too they have a lot of great new bands coming up this year. And if you want to browse more of our musical experimentations be sure to follow our other bands!
JD

Hautajaisyo/Self Titled/Inverse Records/2015 Full Length Review


  Hautajaisyo  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  melancholic  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2015  album  which  was  released  by  Inverse  Records.

  Death  metal  growls  start  off  the  album  before  the  music  goes  into  a  faster  direction  that  also  uses  a  lot  of  blast  beats  while  also  keeping  around  the  vocals  and  you  can  also  hear  a  lot  of  morbid  sounding  melodies  in  the  guitar  riffing  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  A  lot  of  thrash  elements  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  the  vocals  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  singing  at  times  which  also  gives  the  music  a  touch of  power  metal  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  the  solos  and  leads  when t hey  are  utilized  bring  in  a  very  melodic  and  depressive  sound  to  the  bands  musical  style  while  some  of  the  riffing  also  brings  in  a  touch  of  speed  metal  and  as  the  album  progresses  back  up  gang  shouts  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  one  song  also  adds  in  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  while  some  of  the  fast  riffs  also  use  tremolo  picking..

  Hautajaisyo  takes  death and  thrash metal  and  mixes  in  with  melancholic  melodies  to  create  a  style  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Finnish  and  cover  melancholy,  desperation,  self  destruction  and  death  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Hautajaisyo  are  a  very  great  sounding  melancholic  death/thrash  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Jokainen  Kuole  Vuorollaan"  "Aamulla  Vainaa"  "Pirun  Pesa"  and  "Taman  Vainajan  tahden".  8  out  of  10.

Ripper/Experiment Of Existence/Unspeakable Axe/Dark Descent Records/2016 CD Review


  Ripper  are  a  band  from  Chile  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Experiment  Of  Existence"  which  will  be  released  in  march  as  a  joint  effort  between  Dark  Descent  and  Unspeakable  Axe  Records.

  A  very  heavy  and  old  school  thrash  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  are  very  powerful  sounding  and  after  awhile old  school  death  metal  growls  and  screams  are  added  into  the  music  and  they  are  done  in  more  of  a  mid  80's  fashion.

  While  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  mid  80's  the  production  gives  the  songs  more  of  a  modern  day  feeling  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  morbid  sounding  melodies  at  times  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  remain  true  to  a  very  old  school  style  of  death/thrash metal  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  horror  movie  samples  and  a  couple  of  instrumental  tracks  with  one  of  them  introducing  clean  playing  to  the  recording  and  the  other  one  being  a  bass  solo  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts. 

  Ripper  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  the  South  American  death/thrash  sound  of  the  mid  80's  and  also  mixes  it  in  with  the  German  style  to  create  some  very  aggressive  and  old  school  sounding  extreme  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  utopia,  personal  struggle,  trauma,  depression  and  hallucinations  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Ripper  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Magnetic  Solar  Storms"  "Stellar  Evolution"  "Neuronal  Unity"  and  "Humanity  Was  Wrong".  8  out  of  10.

Introvert/Intimidasi Perisai Dosa/WAAR Productions/2016 CD Review


  Introvert  are  a  band  from  Indonesia  that  plays  a  very  brutal  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016 album  "/Intimidasi  Perisai  Dosa/"  which  was  released  by  WAAR  Productions.

  War  samples  start  off  the  album  and  after  a minute  the  music  starts  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  musical  direction  along  with  some death  metal  growls  and  blast  beats  making  their  presence  known  on  the recording  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  takes  the  songs  into  more  of  a  brutal  style  and  high  pitched  screams  can  also  be  heard  at  times.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  add  some  melody  onto  the  recording  while  the  riffs  also  get  melodic  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow, mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  one  song  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  synths  and  clean  playing  before  returning  back  to  more  of  a  heavy and  brutal  musical  direction  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Introvert  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  traditional  and  brutla  while  also  having  its  melodic  moments,  the  production  sounds  very  raw  yet  heavy  at  the  same  time  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  their  native  tongue  and  cover  society  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Introvert  are  a  very  great  sounding  brutal  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Neraka  Dunia"  "Bertuah  Serakah"  and  "Reproduksi  Harta  Tak  Berherga".  8  out  of  10.

  

 

Violent X/Chemical Insomnia/2015 Full Length Review


  Violent  X  are  a  band  from  Norway  that  plays a  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2015  album  "Chemical  Insomnia".

  A  very  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  aggressive  vocals  that  are  more  closer  to  thrash  and  the  band  also  plays  more  of  a  modern  style  of  the  genre  and  they  also  mix  in  morbid  sounding  melodies  and  death  metal  growls  into  some  parts  of  the  songs  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  demonstrate  a  great  amount  of  talent  and  skill  while  high  pitched  screams  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  some  of  the  tracks  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of slow, mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  music  is  also  perfectly  balanced  between  both  modern  and  old  school  influences.

  Violent  X  plays  a  musical  style  that  mixes  modern  thrash  and  death  metal  together  to  create  a  very  heavy  sounding  recording,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark,  violent  and  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Violent  X  are  a  very  great  sounding  modern  death/thrash  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Disruptor  Of  Worlds"  "A  Piece  Of  Shit"  "Violent  X'  and  "Disconnect".  8  out  of  10.

           

 

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Mortuary/Nothingless Than Nothingness/Goregeous Productions/2016 CD Review


  Mortuary  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "/Nothingless  Than  Nothingness"  which  was  released by  Goregeous  Productions.

  Hospital  sounds  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  where  you  can  also  hear  all  of the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  along  with  some  old  school  style  extreme  metal  solos  and  death  metal  growls  that  are  very  easy  to  understand  and  the  riffs  also  use  a great  amount  of  melody.

  When  blast  beats  are  utilized  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  you  can  also  hear  a  lot  of  thrash  influences  throughout  the  recording  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  while  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  mid  80's  and  early  90's  the  production  gives  the  songs  more  of  a  modern  day  feeling  and  some of  the  vocals  also bring  in  more  of  an  extreme  thrash  style  and  as  the  album  progresses  more  fast  tremolo  picking  can  be  heard  an  one  track  also  brings  in a  few  seconds  of  clean  playing  and  classical  guitars.

 Mortuary  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  old  school  death  metal  and  the  most  extreme  style  of  thrash  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a very  heavy  and aggressive  musical  style,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  violence  and  misanthropy  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Mortuary  are  a  very  great  sounding  death/thrash  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Only  Dead  Witness"  "Above"  "K"  and  "Kingdom".  8  out  of  10.        

  
 

Rapture/Crimes Against Humanity/Witches Brew/2015 CD Review


  Rapture  are  a  band  from  Greece  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Crimes  Against  Humanity"  which  was  released  by  Witches  Brew.

  A  very  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  sounding  very  powerful  as  well  as  some  leads  and  riffs  that  are  done  in  a  melodic  fashion  and  once  the  high  pitched  screams  kick  in  the  music  goes  into  more  of  an  old  school  death/thrash  metal  direction  that  also  uses  a  a lot  of  blast  beats.

  In  the  vocals  you  can  hear  some  thrash  style  shouting  along  with  some  back  up  gang  shouts  while  death  metal  growls  are  used  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  while  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  mid  80's  and  early  90's  the  production  and  the  aggression  gives  the  music  more  of  a  modern  day  feeling.

  One  of  the  tracks  is  a  cover  of  Death's  "Born  Dead"  which  they  change  around  a  bit  by  adding  in  more  thrash  elements  and  as  the  album  progresses  the  songs  also  start  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and   the  bass  guitar  is  also  used  as  a  lead  instrument  on  some  of  the  songs  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard  and  the  whole  album  also  remains  very  heavy  from  beginning  to  ending  of  the  recording.

  Rapture  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  and  extreme  form  of  thrash  metal  and  mixes  it  with  old  school  death  metal  while  also  adding  in  more  of  a  modern  approach  to  both  genres,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  society,  politics,  violence,  horror,  war  and  psychology themes.

  In  my  opinion  Rapture  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Laboratories  Of  Infection"  "Suicidal  Cannibalism"  "As  Darkness  Falls"  and  "Sadistic  Shredding  Of  Flesh".  8  out  of  10.  

  

 

Nucleus Interview

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

We are a sci-fi themed death metal band from Chicago, IL that has been around since early 2012.



2.How would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recordings?

We are big fans of the 80s/early 90s death metal. For the most part it is straight forward death metal without too many frills, but a little bit if weirdness in it.



3.Your lyrics cover a lot of Science Fiction themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic and also some of the authors that have had an influence on your song writing?

They are the only kind of lyrics it made sense for me to write. I’m a huge science fiction fan, and most of my small amount of free time goes to plowing through science fiction books.  Lyrically most of the songs follow stories or combinations of stories from science fiction books I enjoyed. On our new album “Sentient” specifically there are songs based on books by Frank Herbert, Robert A. Heinlein, Dan Simmons, Peter F Hamilton, Lovecraft, as well as other sci-fi related media. I don’t specifically write music to make it feel like its science fiction related, but luckily I think our musical style fits the theme.



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

I think the way a lot of bands who start playing for fun and never expect to go anywhere do. We threw in a bunch of names that sounded cool and sounded science related and picked our favorite one. Luckily 4 years later I don’t regret the choice.



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’ve ended up on some great shows so far, and some of the best have been playing with bands we in the band are all huge fans of. A few that come to mind are playing with Derketa, Hellwitch, and Warmaster, which were all fantastic shows and had great crowds.
As far as stage performance goes, we try to stay away from throwing on any tacky alien related stuff just because we are sci-fi. We just get on and play death metal, and we get into it as much as we can. Every show we play we feel has gotten better and better.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

We will be playing a release show the day our Album comes out April 15th in Chicago at Livewire Lounge. After that we are booked on two festivals. April 22nd we play Spring Bash fest in Milwaukee, with some awesome bands like Wehrmacht and Heretic. The weekend of September 16th we are playing KC Blackdeath Fest in Kansas City, which with what has so far been announced is shaping up to be a killer fest. We definitely want to start branching out to other states as much as possible once the album is out.



7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal?

I haven’t really run across any very negative feedback yet for any of the Eps we have so far released. The handful of people who have heard promos of the new album so far have all said good things, so I’m feeling pretty confident that people will like it.

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

Our drummer Pat is in another death metal band called Narcotic which just released a full length album called “To The Pyre”. Guitarist Dan has been doing some writing for his grind band Special Delivery. I (Dave) was until fairly recently in a crust band called Nequient, which just released a new EP called Infinite Regress.



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

We will of course keep incorporating new and weird ideas, but for the most part we won’t change too drastically. We are playing the kind of death metal we want to be playing, and have no plans to change too significantly stylistically.



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?

A lot of my favorite bands are from the old school finnish death metal scene. Stuff like Adramelech, Demigod, Demilich, Convulse. Some of my other favorite bands are Atheist, Cianide, Immolation, Incantation, Timeghoul, Asphyx. How much of that shines through the music is hard to tell from my perspective, but those are some of the bands that I feel have influenced my music.


Some of the stuff I’ve spent a lot of time listening to recently have been Chthe’ilist, Emptiness, Krypts, Cruciamentum,  Sadistic Ritual, Cemetery Filth, Undergang, and Vastum.



11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Outside of work and music related things I don’t have too much free time, but I do spend a good amount of time reading. A lot of that is obviously science fiction, but other things too. I just started a new book series which is called the Heechee saga by Frederik Pohl. Currently I’m on the first book called “Gateway”.



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

I hope people enjoy the album, and if you do, pick up a copy through Unspeakable Axe Records!


http://unspeakableaxerecords.com
http://www.facebook.com/unspeakableaxerecords

Cryptic Realms/The Rotten Is Alive/Dark Recollections Productions/2016 EP Review


  Cryptic  Realms  are  an  international  band  with  members  from  U.s,  Greece,  Brazil,  and  Mexico  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  very  old  school  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their 2016  ep  "The  Rotten  is  Still  Alive"  which  was  released  by  Dark  Recollections  in  March.

  Classical  guitars  start  off  the  ep  and  they  utilize  a  great  amount  of finger  picking  and  after  the  glass  breaks  the  intro  ends and  goes  into  a  very  heavy  and  raw  old  school  sound  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  that  are  very  easy  to  understand  and  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  remain  true  to  an  old  school  style  of  death  metal  and  you  can  also h ear  a  good  amount  of  melody  in  some  of  the  riffing  and  when  the  music speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  while  the  music  is  very  heavily  influenced  by  the  Swedish  style  of  the  genre  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  and  screams  on  one  of  the  songs  and  classical  guitars  also  make  a  return  on  the  last  track.    

  Cryptic  Realms  creates  another  recording  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  90's  style  of  death  metal  and  goes  back  to  the  rawer  side  of  the  genre  and  ignoring  any  trends  of  the  last  25  years,  the  production  sound s very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  death,  the  undead  and gore  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Cryptic  Realms  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  old  school  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Begging  To  be  Dead"  and  "Shadows  Disgrace".  8  out  of  10.

   

Pedophile Priests Interview

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

I formed Pedophile Priests band in 2014. I had a lot of new material ready so I could focus  straight ahead on the recordings. I got help from drummer - Lukasz „Lucass“ Krzesiewicz whose ultra fast style of playing was a element which  I needed for those crazy tracks. After recordings in April 2015 former musician of Thy Worshiper and Pineal Gland -  Krystian „Kruszon" Mistarz joined the band as a permanent drummer. In August 2015 we signed record deal with Metal Scrap Records. Later on around November 2015 bassist Krystian Mazur joined the band and in this line up we played already a couple of gigs. Currently we looking for new bass player, playing local gigs and writting brand new material.

2.In November you had released your first album, how wold you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

Old school and modern playing clipped by the same atmosphere. Melody and aggression. Mixture of Death and Thrash metal  bringing what we like the most in genres. Monolitic but every song has own character. We were going into the studio with a vision of dirty retro sound what influenced the final result which is much different that most of death metal productions this days what makes that some people will like it and others don’t.

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

A lyricly album is a journey through dark corners of the human mind pervading the universe. I fell it as a dark cosmic aura and something around us, affect and transforming us. For someone it will be god or ancient astronauts for someone else something completely different. „Peresentiment of Evil“  for an example is saying about evil side of ourselfs which somethimes comes up and pushing good side away. For “Czarne Xięstwo” I was looking for something extraordinary and then I found this sick poem of polish avangarde poet Tadeusz Miciński. I could not write anything more dark and morbid, this lyric is seriuosly fucked up. I placed it straight ahead on the track and it suit perfectly. “Pogański” for an example got the tittle first because of pagan, ethnic sound and atmosphere of the song. I knew that it has to say about our Slavic, pagan roots so I just could not write this in english so it became polish lyric. "Crescent Guided Tributory" is about islamic terrorists...

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

Name "Pedophile Priests" is lack of this what we use to call "policital correctness " is us. We have XXI century and this is still kind of taboo but not for us. They are pedophiles between priests and those of them which are hiding in a cassock - we call pedophile priests. This what they do is evil and fact that they are the priests makes it even more - this make it pure evil and if something is pure evil then it is great name for metal band;) Some people get offended by band name but I don’t care because I get offended by this what those people do and that they still trying to hide it. Is there more disgusting crime that this one against children especially commited by the priests of the god?  This pissing me off so this is why we call our band Pedophile Priests.



5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also howwould you scribe your stage performance?

There was no gig yet when we were 100% happy because how we played but slowly we are getting there;) I am very demanding for ourselfs but I think thats good. I would describe it as classic metal  show with a lot of madness and headbanging. Mixture of fast very fast and some slower songs. And for the dessert cover of old metal gods.



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

Currently we start to work on this. Some local gigs at first and then maybe UK  tour. We playing also in irish elimination for Bloodstock so there is some chance that we will apper over there. Hopefully next step will bring us to Slovakia or Czech Republic, and maybe Poland and Germany either but we do not have any specifics yet.



7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal?

We are receiving good and very good reviews mostly. Two of those were even very enthusiastically. Of course there was some negative one aswell.Generally feedback  by fans of death metal is good whats make me delighted as music we play and way how "Dark Transgression of the Soul"  sound like is a little bit different then this how death metal bands play and sound this days.



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

No, not at the moment. Previously Krystian Mistarz was involved in Thy Worshiper and Pineal Gland and I use to play for Mortis Dei, Puki Mahlu and Lady Maggot but currently we are focus on Pedophile Priests and we working on the new material.



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

Bit slower (max. 190 BPM instead 200 BPM;), with more air in and more transparent . Flow and groove.Variety of vocals starting from growls through dirty and clean singing. Some catchy parts but in the good meaning of word. Lyrically more issues of everyday life insted of transcendental.



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?

I am listening to metal mostly as heavy music is love of my life. Of course I can place in my player music of different genres but there is no many thigs I really enjoy. I like some stuff of Portishead, somethimes some movies soundtracks and jazz, but I don’t really have favorites artist outside metal. Most of the time I like single songs only or just fragments of albums. Some time ago I tried to force myself to listening more of not metal music but I did’t like it so I stoped to do this.



11.What are some of your non musical interests?

I love motorcycles and own few of them. Really like work on them, customizing etc. Currently working on Honda VT600 Shadow bobber/choper project and of course ride them across the Europe.

Also I am into craft beers but music is the most importent in my life so I collecting cd's and appearing on most local gigs.



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

Support the underground because is the most precious place for metal.

Also thank You for interest in Pedophile Priests and Your support.

And finally - stay brutal and fuck the political correctness because remember that Death Metal means

NO COMPROMISES!

Monday, February 22, 2016

Khanus/Rites Of Fire/2016 EP Review


  Khanus  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  an  occult  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2016  ep  "Rites  Of  Fire".

  Clean  playing  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some grim  vocals  that  also  use  melodic  singing  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  use  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and  on  the  second  track  the  music  starts  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  musical  direction  that  also  uses  death  metal  growls.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  the  riffs  also  use  a  lot  of  open  note  tremolo  picking  along  with  the  songs  also  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and some  parts  of  the  songs  also  bring  in  shouting  style  vocals  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  lot  of  90's  influences.

  Khanus  plays  a  style  of  occult  death  metal  that  is  very  original  bringing  in  progressive  structures  and  more  ritualistic  elements  to  create  a  style  of  their  own,  the  production  sound s very  powerful  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  Folklore,  Shamanism,  and  Occultism.

  In  my  opinion  Khanus  are  a  very  great  sounding  occult  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Orgone"  and  "Daughters  Of  Fire".  8  out  of  10. 

Friday, February 19, 2016

Horrific Disease/Outbreak/Satanath Records/Rebirth The Metal Productions/2015 CD Review


  Horrific  Disease  are  a  band  from  Japan  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  metal  and  thrash  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Outbreak"  which  was  released  as  a  joint  effort  between  Satanath  Records  and  Rebirth  The  Metal  Productions.

  Horror  movies  samples  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very heavy thrash  metal  direction  where  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  along  with  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  the  vocals  are  done  in  more  of  a  death  metal  growling  fashion  and  the  music  is  also  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  mid  80's  and  early  90's.

  While  the  music  sounds  very  old  school  the  production  gives  it  more  of  a  modern  style  and  some  of  the  riffs  also  use  a  small  amount  of  melody  and  the  vocals  also  have  more  of  an  understandable  approach  to  them  going  back  to  the  days  when  thrash  was  still  evolving  into  death  metal  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  remain  very  true  to  an  old  school  style  of  extreme  metal  when  they  are  utilized  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  back  up  gang  shouts  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  clean  playing  present  on  on e of  the  tracks.

  Horrific  Disease  goes  back  to  an  era  in  the  mid  80's  when  thrash  was  becoming  more  extreme  and  evolving  into  death  metal  and  they  update  the  style  for  modern  days,  the  production  sounds  very professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark,  violent  and  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Horrific  Disease  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Waste  it  Now"  "Mortal  Bite"  "Hateful  praying"  and  "The  Pissed  Punisher".  8  out  of  10.

Nucleus/Sentinent/Unspeakable Axe Records/2016 CD Review


  Nucleus  are  a  band  from  Chicago,  Illinois  that  plays  a  science  fiction  orientated  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016 album  "Sentinent"  which  will  be  released  in  April  by  Unspeakable  Axe  Records.

  A  heavy  guitar  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  tremolo  picking  and  melodies a  few  seconds  later  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  add  more  of  a  melodic  style  to  the  bands  musical  style  and  after  the  intro  the music  starts  adding  in  more  technical  elements  along  with  some  blast  beats  being  utilized.

  Vocals  are  mostly  deep  death  metal  growls  and  the  music  has a  lot  of  roots  in  the  mid  80's  and  early  90's  era  of  the  genre  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  some  of  the  riffs  have  a  progressive  feeling  to  them  and  throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  one  track  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  high  pitched  screams  and  the  whole  album  also  remains  heavy  from  beginning  to  ending  of  the  recording.

  Nucleus  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  mid  80's and  early  90's  and  also  brings  in  a  little  of  what  was  considered  progressive  or  technical  from  that  era  while  also  having  a  more  raw  approach  to  the  style,  the  production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  are  based  on  the  writings  of  Isaac  Asimov,  Arthur  C.  Clarke  and  Frank  Herbert.

  In  my  opinion  Nucleus  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Dosadi"  "Cube"  and  "Starflyer".  8  out  of  10. 

Wrathrone Interview

Wrathrone -  questions answered by Matti Vehmas

1. Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
W: Our debut album called Born Beneath came out on 22nd of January via Inverse Records and since then we have done several gigs to support it in Finland and there´s more to come. The most part of the year 2015 went in making of the album, although we ended up doing a bands record for one year´s total shows, we are aiming to top that again this year!

2.In January you had released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the ep you had released in 2013?
W: All in all, I think everything on the album is done in much more professional manner than on our previous works, which are self-produced from start to finish. This time we felt that we should do the recordings, mixing and mastering with professionals so the songs wouldn´t suffer from any lacks in that department, as may have somewhat been the case with the EP:s released earlier. We accomplished the strong yet distinguishable sound on the album, it really came out great! There are quite different songs on the album but there is the definite W-sound on them, just the needed variation to keep the interest up!

3.The band has been around since 2008 but so far has only released 1 ep and a full length, can you tell us a little bit more about the gap in between releases?
W: Officially we have released two EP:s before the album, those being 2011´s Burning Hatred and 2013´s Left Unburied. There are also some demo tracks from as far as 2009 that circulate on the internet. So when we take account those, the gaps grow a bit smaller. That being said, our working method for new material is not all that fast, we tend to build new songs bit by bit with no rush so new songs appear when they have been thoroughly tested in rehearsals. Many of the songs on the album we had already played live for some time before recording them, so they were in that sense worked on for a decent while.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the new music?
W: The lyrical concept of our music is quite typical death metal imagery, painting visions of death, war, horror and suffering. Not the most innovative stuff but it fits the music and adds on the aggressive undertone we want to deliver. For us that is the main thing. By this time, lyrics have been written also by quite many people, by me, Mikael and Lauri and also for many songs by a friend of ours, Nina Hurme. So there´s no certain agenda, just the dark and gloomy feel, that´s the spirit of it.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Wrathrone'?
W: You´re one of the few people that have really asked that, cool! Our name dates back to the first half of the year 2009 I think. We sat down with the guys in the band at that time (of current line up me and Lauri remain) and had a long drunken discussion of the name. I recall that all of us had some ideas for the name and we just picked the best ones of them all and finally decided on Wrathrone. It is one of my ideas, quite simple wordplay combining the words "wrath" and "throne". I felt it had and still has a powerful yet evil sound and feel. And yes, I am familiar with Darkthrone but there is no meant similarity.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
W: In 2014 we did a few shows in Germany and one of our best gigs was in Oberhausen, at the famous metal club called Helvete, amazing atmosphere and all-round solid performance. I must say that of the recent shows, the release show in Turku was easily in the top three gigs too, great and loud audience and everyone enjoyed themselves, the band and the crowd! As for the performance, we have done a lot of shows lately and it is clear that we feel at home on stage even more now than before and the show is real aggressive and energetic!

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
W: Yeah we sure do. As I mentioned, we are in the midst of a string of shows in Finland at the moment and in early May we´ll head to the Baltic area once again, it has always been really great for us. We did a small tour there already back in 2013 and we just did two shows in Riga and in Tallinn before christmas. This time we´re also gonna do some shows in Poland on the same tour. It seems that we´ll let some hell loose in Germany too in the autumn. We are always on a lookout for possible shows so everyone, feel free to invite us to play your festival or venue and let´s see what comes of it!

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal?
W: The amount of reviews, interviews and interest has been really encouraging! The album seems to be well received to say the least and the word is spreading! We are grateful for all the interest and promotion we´ve gotten lately. It´s good to realize that we are gaining more ground little by little, that is our goal. We enjoy what we do and if more and more people feel the same way, that´s just great!

9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?
W: Apart from Wrathrone, Mikael and Vili are the most active members, working on other bands and projects. They are both in a band called Sydäntalvi, an atmospheric rock band that is just about to release an album too. Vili has another death metal band too, called Galvanizer that is quite active also. Both have numerous other projects going on too, of which I can´t keep count really :D I think it´s for the most part a good thing, they get to work on different material that also gives Wrathrone some new ideas and variation. It takes some planning to fit all the bands activities to calendar but so far we´ve managed fine. It is clear that Wrathrone is of high priority for all of us and that´s what counts.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
W: At this point I see that we have evolved to the stage and level we feel pretty comfortable, musically speaking. So I think there isn´t gonna be any dramatic changes in our style in the near future. We first started the band to do traditional midtempo death metal and now the true W-sound has been honed close to perfection! It´s a good point to work onwards!

11.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?
W: That´s a tough question for me to answer because we all have quite varied taste in music. There is still clear vibes of the genres household names, Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under, and the likes. Also our music features a lot of melodic elements in the style of early Amorphis and In Flames. Hints of thrash and black metal can also be found. I´m personally really lazy in finding new bands, I listen metal on a fairly wide scale from 70´s Sabbath to the extreme ends. Other guys are a lot more diverse in their taste, and listen a lot more than just metal.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
W: On my part, I tend to read a lot and movies have a special meaning for me too. It´s mostly (surprisingly enough) horror, fantasy and war themed and from there comes a certain influence for my lyrics too. One of the best book series ever written is Stephen King´s The Dark Tower

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
W: Music and specially metal music is best enjoyed on the spot! So everyone, keep supporting live music as much as possible, that´s the core of it! Check out the album and see you guys at the shows!