Friday, December 1, 2017

Frost Giant/The Harlot Star/Transcending Records/2018 CD Review


  Frost  Giant  are  a  band  from  Pennsylvania  that  plays  a  mixture  of  folk,  melodic  black/death  and  hardcore  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  album  "The  Harlot  Star"  which  will  be  released  in  2018  by  Transcending  Records.

  Acoustic  guitars  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  sound  effects  in  the  background  and  after  awhile  heavier  riffs  are  added  into  the  music  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  along  with  some  clean  pagan  vocals  also  being  used  at  times.

  Death  metal  growls  and  black  metal  screams  can  also be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  while  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  along  with  some  symphonic  elements  also  being  used  at  times  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  songs  also  mix  in  elements  of  folk  music  and  hardcore  punk  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  there  are  also  a  couple  of  instrumentals.

  Frost  Giant  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  folk,  melodic  black/death  metal  and  hardcore  punk  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  something  very  original,  the  production  sound s very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Heathenism,  Legends,  Mysticism,  and  Personal  Struggle  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Frost  Giant  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  folk,  melodic  black/death  metal  and  hardcore  punk  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Forgive  Me  Not"  "The  Forgotten  Graves"  and  "Monuments  To  Nothing".  8  out  of  10.   

https://youtu.be/TBeOGMINaqg.

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Lord Shades Interview


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?
Alex : The new album will be released on the 8th of December 2017, we're preparing a French tour in 2018 and a series of shows along 2018 & 2019.

Cyril : Since we're done with the album, we've been looking for partners to promote and distribute it. We've inked a deal with Dooweet Agency which is in charge of promotion and distribution. Meanwhile, we're searching for gigs – at first in France, then we'll be trying to book gigs in Europe and get in touch with several European festivals.
We're preparing a show for the 13th of January that will be the starting point for the live promotion of the new album.

2.Recently you have 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?
Alex : « The Uprising Of Namwell » is our third album and the end of a trilogy.

Cyril : First, with each album we want our sound to evolve. We try to learn from our mistakes on the previous albums. The toughest point with us is that each instrument has to be audible, the amplified ones (bass, guitars, drums) that are the skeleton of our music, but also the traditional ones (acoustic guitar, accordion, African percussions…) as well as the backing vocals – which for this new album have been performed by a real choir, without samples and electronic stuff. Then, once everything is mixed properly, we have to add to it the orchestral samples, the sound effects and the various sonic atmospheres created by our arranger Olivier PERRIN with whom we've been working since our first album, and who delivers a performance which makes us really proud.
The sound of « The Uprising Of Namwell » may be darker than on our previous album, but it's also more straight forward !

3.This is your first album since 2011 can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?
Alex : Yes, and the one before that was in 2008. I'd rather have some time running before starting to write new material, to let our tastes and expectations evolve between two albums. In doing so, in my opinion, a new album is inevitably more mature and different from the one before.

Cyril : Like Alex just said, that lapse of time allows us to put things into perspecvtive about what's been done in the past, and release a Lord Shades album which won't be a copy of the one before.
Between these two albums, we've been achieving some plans like playing at Wacken Open Air and Metal Days. We thank these two festivals for their trust. We also did a special show in France at Rock Metal Camp, which allowed us to play on stage with some of our studio guests. It was very interesting to show the audience something else than the average metal band, and help them discovering the human richness of the band.


4.Your lyrics have a concept involving a fantasy world that was made up by the songwriter, can you tell us a little bit more about it?
Alex : We have created the world and the saga of Lord Shades with the help of Laurent Barbarit, who is our official lyricist. He's been writing all of our lyrics since the beginning of the trilogy, we owe him a lot. The only exception on that new one is the choir singing in Latin, which has been written by Hugot Blanchet and the words in Arab written by Sofiane 2under, which he sings himself on the track « The Awakening ».

Cyril : As a matter of fact, all our lyrics are dealing with heroic fantasy. The story has been created from scratch. Laurent Babarit, our lyricist, wrote all by himself the words and the story after common ideas that we're discussing together during meetings about that topic.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Lord Shades'?
Alex : From the very first chapter of the trilogy, Lord Shades is a ghost locked within his own spell. We can see him sometimes as a dark misty mass, maybe that's one of the reasons why he's called « The Lord Shades ».

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Alex : Many French gigs and festivals have been amazing experiences, with great reception. But I think that Wacken 2012 and Metal Days 2014 still are the most amazing stages we've shared.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
Alex : We're currently working on a co-produced tour for 2018, and looking for festivals in 2018-2019 in order to promote the new album and the whole trilogy as well.

Cyril : The plans for dates and tours are in progress, but it takes time to achieve that. It's hard today to set somehing reliable and serious. We don't want to play gigs that wouldn't be interesting neither for the audience nor for the band. Our goal is to deliver real shows that will transcribe Lord Shades' atmosphere and capture the audience.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of symphonic black and death metal?
Alex : The response to our second album has been excellent ! We've had a lot of positive reviews, and we can't wait to see how this third album will be greeted. We feel like waiting for doomsday !

Cyril : We don't claim to have reached a worldwide level with the second album, but the feedbacks were really good, from the media as well as from the fans.
Maybe this third album will help us reaching more people in various countries. We are currently waiting for feedback.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Alex : Anyway, on stage, in a communion with the numerous guests that we had on each album. The idea is to have much more than 4 people stepping on stage ! We tried it once, and we plan to make it again. Lord Shades really comes alive with those guests !

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?
Alex : Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Mozart, Benighted, Moonsorrow, Endlaved, Morbid Angel, Pink Floyd, Hanggai, Septic Flesh, Tinariwen… Many different things have an influence on us, all of us 4 have multiple and varied tastes.
Recently I discovered Skalmold live, and I went to see my favorite childhood band Helloween on their Pumpkins United tour.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?
Alex : Nature, country, fresh air… Everything that can be inspiring.

Cyril : Wine and good food… We're Gallic !

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Alex : First, huge thanks go to the guests who took part in our albums/demos/gigs, and without whom Lord Shades wouldn't have the same interest.
And last but not least, huge thanks to you !

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Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Guillotine/Self Titled/2017 Full Length Review


Guillotine are  a  band  from Georgia  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of their  self  titled  and  self  released  2017  album.

  A  very  heavy  groove  metal  orientated  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with some  grim  black  metal  screams  a  few  seconds  later  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  after  awhile  death  metal  growls  also  start  to  make  their  presence  known.

  A  small  amount  of  melody  can  also  be  heard  in  the  guitar  riffing  at  times  and  when  the  music  speeds  up a   great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  be  heard  while  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  are  very  heavily  influenced  by  doom  and  sludge  metal  along  with  some  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length  as  well  as  the  songs  also  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  melodic  guitar  leads  can  be  heard  and  the  music  always  remains  heavy.

  Guillotine  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  black,  doom,  southern  style  sludge  and  death  metal and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  time  travel,  ancient  aliens,  inter  dimensional  vampire  gods  and  conspiracy  theory  themes. 

  In  my  opinion  Guillotine  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  sludge,  doom  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Black  Emperor"  "Save  The  Drill"  and  "Not Worth  Saving".  8  out  of  10.

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Monday, November 27, 2017

Hildr Valkyrie Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the solo project since the recording and release of the new album?
First of all thank you for granting me the pleasure to have an interview with you.

For the time, all are in shadows, just few songs in a very primitive form, ideas that needs to bloom into something new. That was caused because my Keyboards in which I composed everything on, has been broken; and this took me some more time than I expected to learn new ways to write music with my midi and pc. Had to be familiar with new technologies that have never involved with and this kept me back by having fast new material for Hildr Valkyrie, but definitely there will be a new album in the main future.

2.Recently you have 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?
I can’t really give you a specific genre for the album as it comes for the music itself, almost all songs have their own personality in which also happened to my previous releases. You can find from Folk (polyphonic) to Viking metal, Black metal, Symphonic metal etc, you can recognize a lot of genres in, so how do we describe the music of Hildr Valkyrie? I simply do it from the themes that my lyrics refer to, so in just two words we can describe it as Heathen Metal.
Now as it comes to the differences between the releases of the past. I can say that still I kept the identity of Hildr Valkyrie, and in the same time my session guitarist Jan Twothousandarrows made the difference by playing a huge role in the nowadays sound of the band, he was free to act as he wanted and recorded the guitars and bass in free will also he added a part of the drum programming as well!  Then my sound producer Patric from WSL studio also put his knowledge to reveal the details of the music in this album and last but not least “time”, yes time that helped me to become a bit better than before, I am not a professional musician, I am self-taught one and time is my best friend in many occasions.

3.This is your first solo release since 2008, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?
Yes, I am a “bit” slow with the releases of Hildr Valkyrie this is true, but as an artist I am not. In the meantime I have done some appearances in V/A either with covers, either with new songs as Hildr Valkyrie and also many, many collaborations with bands I appreciate so much in small or bigger roles. I can name you a few such as with Elffor (Basque/Spain), Emyn Muil (Italy), Helrunar (Germany), Eliwagar (Norway), Celtefog (Hellas), Voluspaa (Norway), Kawir (Hellas), The Wolves of Avalon (UK), Folkearth and Folkodia (International), Meneapneontes (Hellas) and many others that in total we can count around 45 different releases as far in my bio.     

4.A lot of your lyrics are based on Norse Mythology and Paganism, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic?
From little child I was unfriendly with christian religion, something was wrong in my childish little mind, something did not fitted well. Later on I was considering myself as an agnostic. Years passed and found myself pretty close to the Nordic Paganism, I started to study, learning with much passion about Odinism, trying with each possible way to learn as much more I was able to; by reading online books that was not in my mother language and of course not the easiest way to achieve the goal I wanted. In the very beginning I thought I was strange and alone, but this did not bothered me at all because finally I felt complete into my soul. Later on I found European and American Folks from Odinic Rite that gladly accepted me as an equal member to their Religious community even if my blood is not from North Europe and gladly helped me to learn even more.
You see, Traditions of Europe must stay alive, even if you are Hellenes, or Norwegian, or Germanic, or Italian, or Basque, or Slav etc, because this is our Identity and our secure mean to survive cultural into the multiculturalism way of life that the clique of managers (because this is what they exactly are), the “big heads” in which we are (forced to) ruled from, compulsion us to live in deeper in this situation, day by day more and more, without being able to even speak about it; because automatically they point a finger to you screaming about politics. No! It is not about politics; Religion and Traditions are more than this and something complete different topic, it is about our European Cultural Identity. Christianity was and is one of their weapon as this religion itself is multicultural, all Nations under the banner of jehovah and his son yeshua the woodcutter, well no, my Gods are more than just this!
So, let’s go to the conclusion, because this question may never have an end. For me, these topics are not just fashion as for many meant to be, are not just fancy stories with swords and axes to play with, neither I wear my Mjollnir or carry Heathen Symbols on me for fun or any kind of fame or to create a name around my person, this is my living Faith, my Oath.
And by the chance I would like to refer a problem that I am still reading in written articles or dialogs around the net for our Religion, Gods ARE, Gods DO exist, Odhinn IS not was, Thor IS not was, Gods can’t die and you want to call it Paganism in general? You want to call it Heathenism? You want to call it Old Faith? Asatru? Odinism? Hellenism? Nordic? Germanic? Slavic? Ancestral? This is not a dead Religion, we have to make up our minds and think different than the way they we’ve been taught as far from the christian society, and so; our Gods ARE!

5.You have worked both solo and with full bands, which one do you prefer?
Actually the time that I had true rehearsals with bands is a far past for me, far back before the creation of Hildr Valkyrie, just had a small “refresh” of memory of how it is with Kawir before we go on stage because I was called to be their guest (for the Hellenic live in Athens) for the 20th anniversary of the band.
Further more, I can not compare the full bands that they are asking me to join them, with my solo project, of course and I live the process through the first note till “that last little detail” which is needed to be changed, I get the inspiration to write lyrics through the music and sing to give the last touch to the songs, something that I do not enjoy when I get complete songs to sing, but in the end; for me it is the same satisfaction, and to tell you the truth, I feel more responsible to the bands that they trust in me and ask to join them. To my creations, I can find mistakes (no one is perfect) but I care much more if I find mistakes to my guest or session appearances.

6.You have also released a great amount of material with your other musical projects, do you spend a great amount of time writing, performing and recording music?
Well, I never thought of that. You know, I never count the time when I am doing these activities. For me the time stops when I start a recording, when finish and I get up my head it is or dark, or dawn. I forgot completely the time, I am somewhere else, in another cosmos, in another dimension.

7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of viking and folk metal?
Ow, by my own standards of course I am more than happy! I have fans from almost all around the world. I could never imagine that when I first started Hildr Valkyrie. In the beginning I must admit that the enthusiasm of the fans was much more than now, and to be honest, this is my fault because whatever you leave it behind it does leave you too. I should have been a little more active with Hildr Valkyrie, for example to had at least one more album in the meantime to keep the interest of my fans, but Hildr Valkyrie is not the only thing I deal with in my life of course!

8.what is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that you are a part of?
Most of the bands that I have been involved with are active, and as I am learning news from them, they keep on recording new music. Some they will call me again, as my most of collaborations are not just for one album and I’ll be more than happy to give my help again! I also have new proposals for new collaborations and one new born black metal band that we are just started to record our first songs with a very talented Hellenic guitarist and the band name is “Solis in Antris” which means “Alone in the Caves” (you are the first that I announce it)!

9.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician in the future?
I don’t know what future will bring, more collaborations maybe? New bands? I just hope that the Norns will be well favored as possible!

10.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?
The mainly influences in which I never hid, are Falkenbach and Summoning. Two different genres of metal in which I combine them in a special way with my own identity. This is also one of the reasons why I can’t refer to one specific genre for my one-woman band.
At the time, I am listening more to Anglo-Saxon bands such as Winterfylleth, Wodensthrone, Ildra etc but I do not think that this showed up to my music since my skills can not touch these megatheriums!

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

I like photography and photography manipulation, even if I have not the time as I used to. Also with my husband and beloved friends we run an organization under the name of Thyrsos – Oikos of Ethnikoi Hellenes, in which members and friends organize and have active practice by having Rites to the Gods, we have done European meetings with other members of Heathen organizations, we have presented Hellenism within European Heathenism to other countries, street activities such as raising banners and protest, also we run online publications that has to do with Heathenism in all its forms, and I think if you add the daily job for earing my living and music activities is a full life!

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
 I think this was a wonderful interview, one of the few indeed! Thank you for taking time to write these questions and I must thank also and your readers for their patience and interest to read this interview too! 

Haire!

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Friday, November 24, 2017

Cadaveria/Far Away From Conformity/Sleaszy Rider Records/2017 CD Re-Issue Review


  Cadaveria  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a    mixture  of  black  and  gothic  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2004  album  "Far  Away  From  Conformity"  which  was  re-issued  in  2017  by  Sleaszy  Rider  Records.

  Grim  black  metal  screams  along  with  some  heavy  guitar  riffs  start  off  the  album  while  also  using  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  melodic  vocals  are  also  used  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  along  with  some  acoustic  guitars  also  being  added  onto  some  of  the  tracks.

  Whispers  can  also  be  heard  briefly  while all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  along  with  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  bringing  in  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  some  tracks  also  bring  in  acoustic  guitars,  keyboards  and  goth  elements  but  keeping  the  focus  on  more  of  a  heavier  mid  tempo  style  and  also  adding  in  elements  of  traditional  metal  and  they  also  bring  in  a  cover  of  Blondie's  "Call  Me".

  On  this  recording  Cadaveria  brought  into  more  of  a  black  and  heavy  metal  mixture  while  only  having  a  small  touch  of  goth  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  was  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Cadaveria  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  black,  goth,  and  heavy  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  re-issue.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Blood  And  Confusion"  "The  Divine  Rapture"  "Out  Body Experience"  and  "Vox  of  Anti-Time".  8  out  of  10.

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Thursday, November 23, 2017

Antipope Interview

answers by Mikko Myllykangas (vocals, guitars (studio), bass, and songwriting of Antipope)

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?


Hello, thanks for asking! Well, quite recently, we have been focusing on promoting the album mainly through social media, giving interviews and so forth. But as the album was recording over past four years, there has been a lot of stuff going on. The biggest thing was the decision made little over a year ago to wake Antipope from the slumbering state and actually finish our 4th album, which turned out to be “Denial/Survival”. Bandwise, we have also had some changes as Juho, our long-time guitarist decided to leave the band, also a year ago. As we had no live activities planned, we didn’t rush into finding a replacement as I took care of the recording guitars and bass for the album with Antti, our other guitarist, served as a consultant and as an extra pair of ears.

In last December we finally wrapped up the cycle for the previous album, “3 Eyes of Time”, by releasing the music video for the song “White Summer Night”. It’s too bad that video received very little attention at the time of its release, as we were practically in a non-existent state as a band for media. But it’s definitely a nice piece of audiovisuals, absolutely worth checking out!

So it’s been kind of like tying up some loose ends and getting our new album ready for the release. Now that it’s done, were rehearsing as a band again and I’ve also started to work on the next album. I haven’t had such a long break from writing new music since I started to play in a band back in early 90s, so I can tell you that there’s a huge amount of ideas emerging from my subconsciousness…

2.Recently you have 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?
“Denial/Survival” has retained some of our past characteristics but overall, I feel that it is a departure from the previous two albums, House of Harlot (2011) and 3 Eyes of Time (2013). As those albums were written to be a bit less “progressive” than our early work, when I began to write the music that ended up on Denial/Survival back in December 2013 I felt that I wanted to write an album that would be more in line with those 70s prog albums that have songs from many different styles creating an artistic whole. I didn’t think so much about how the songs would turn out on stage as we had no shows planned for the foreseeable future. Well, in the end, I think there are a few nice live songs too!

Obviously, you can find the various styles of metal that have been influential for me, ranging from black metal to progressive death metal and even some radio-friendlish stuff with pop grooves.

While mixing the album, I wanted to make sure that you can actually hear what is being played by different instruments, so I think the general sound also differs from our previous efforts. While the past two records have a kind of a industrial metal undertone with rather uniform sound characteristics throughout the albums, Denial/Survival has more experimenting with different sounds. The rhythm guitar tracks are recorded with active pickups but here and there I used my other guitars that have passive pickups to give the album more organic and dynamic sound. The final lead melody on the album is played with my Ibanez RG505 with DiMarzio Evolutions, which actually had the twentieth anniversary this year. I hadn’t touched that particular guitar in years as I was looking for more aggressive and “modern” sound (well, Evos are pretty aggressive too), so when I was thinking how to finish the album, my old guitar kind of just gave me the melody without much asking.

All in all, I think our new album offers a more nuanced side of Antipope’s music than our previous efforts.


3.This is your first full length since 2013 can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?
Well, originally, back in May 2013, we didn’t plan to take a break but it was more about wrapping up the band stuff for good. We, and me personally, were quite exhausted after writing two EPs and three full-length albums in a space of five years, between 2008 and 2013. Our original drummer, Jyri, died in June 2008 of aortic aneurysm, and as we were in the middle of releasing our first promo EP “Chaosmos”, we wanted to make sure that things would not be stopped because of the tragedy. We found a new drummer rather quickly, and I think Jyri’s death partially installed a certain mode into my thinking that I should do everything to keep the band project going forward. Well, have any obsession for a few years 24/7 and see what happens. Writing music was not the thing that made me want to step away from music and band stuff but the endless struggle to try to book gigs and to promote our music online and any way possible.

As we did almost all by ourselves while having day-jobs and families and other activities, I started to question in my head what’s the point of all this. I also had a PhD thesis to finish, which I did in 2014, so I wanted to be able to focus on my career outside of music. A simple break of one-two years would have been in order, but as none of us had actually had a break from band activities, it felt like an all or nothing solution was the only choice. Of course, and I admit this with more than little shame, it didn’t take long for me to realize that going from one extreme to other (having a band and pushing it with 110% to no band at all) was not really the solution I was looking for. I think it was only after 7 months of our “break-up” that I began to write music for Denial/Survival.

Retrospectively, I think in the end the break from band activities and constant writing new music was a good thing. I had a chance to re-activate my other hobbies, so I went back to practicing kendo (Japanese sword fighting) which I had practiced in the mid-2000s. It was a good experience to get to know the more about the physical side of your being, kind of like re-connect with your body, how it moves, what it can do, and because of being over 30 years old, what it cannot do anymore as well as it used to when you were a teenager. Thanks to being quite competitive by nature, I think I ended up pushing myself too much with kendo also, so nowadays I try to maintain the balance between mental and physical by going for long walks with my dogs, doing yoga and other little bit more mellow stuff.

I think it was during the summer 2016 that I finally felt that I “need” to finish our fourth album and I started to talk about it to other guys in the band. As things seldom go exactly like you planned, Juho decided that it was time for him to leave the band and concentrate fully on other things. Partially, the departure of Juho, who had been in Antipope since 2005, ignited the creative spark after all thinking and talking about ‘maybe we should…maybe’. Those kinds of changes in your social sphere makes you re-evaluate what do you do and why. And what I discovered that the reason why I had had a band since I was 12 years old was that I could write music of my own and have fun playing it with my friends. And that’s what we have been doing for the past year now!

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?
The lyrics on Denial/Survival revolve around what one thinks life is about and what millions of years of evolution have buried inside one’s psyche, and how these two things might collide. In fact, it is about oneness but because of our ideologies, beliefs, and politics people tend to think that whatever is buried in one’s unconsciousness is there only because of nurture and education, and by more education people could be taught not to feel certain unwanted emotions at all.

I think catching yourself from lying to oneself is one of the biggest revelations that people can experience, and that realization is at the core of Denial/Survival. I think it’s a continues struggle to stay awake, so to say, and be honest to oneself. As our previous album ends with the track “The Logic of Self-Discovery”, the present album deals with the difficulties that an individual may experience on the path to self-discovery.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Antipope?
The name Antipope is best understood regarding such concepts as “antimatter” or “antigravity”, as an absence of something, rather than as an opposition against something. The absence in this case is the none-existence of authorities, religious or otherwise. Antipope is not against religion per se, but about the sheep mentality that gives power to those who know how to exploit it. We’re not talking about anarchy either, and I think it’s pretty obvious that as humans are social animals, we do need some kind of a social structure.

Naturally, when you start to question the authorities, it is you who have to provide the answers or at least know where to look for them, when no one is any longer telling you what to do. With it comes great responsibility, as “do what thou wilt” requires quite a lot of premeditation, empathy, and acute self-knowledge, unless you want to end up as a psychological and social train wreck. So, Antipope is a kind of a court jester telling you that there’s no court at all.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
I think our best show was in 2011 Jyrkkärock festivals. Our slot was the first but despite of that there was quite a lot of people watching as I poured a bottle of water over my head (it was a really hot day) while thrashing the stage with my corpse-paint kind of make-up running down my black leather stage wear. Another good one was in Helsinki, where we played the release party gig of “House of Harlot”. The crowd really got into sing-along while we performed “Rapeman” from that album.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
Plans yes, but nothing definite yet.

8.The new album was released on 'TCM Entertainment', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
TCM Entertainmaint is a new name for our own old label “Torture Chamber Music”. We released our first album Desert through Torture Chamber Music back in 2010. While browsing the interweb I found small labels with same name, so I wanted to change our label’s name to more entertainment-business like. We wanted to handle the publication of Denial/Survival by ourselves as I wanted to get it out as soon as possible after the finalization, and only other option could have been to contact some small independent label and see if they would have been interested. But as we had worked with independent label before, we know that we need to do most of the work any way (and pay everything, obviously), I thought that we could put this one out on our own label.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of extreme and progressive metal?
The reviews so far have been generally positive, some even outstandingly positive. As the album presents quite varied set of songs, it’s nice to notice that at least few reviewers have had patience to actually listen to the album and dig a little bit deeper into what we offer. Personally, I didn’t have too high expectations precisely because of the not-so-coherent nature of the album, even though I like it just the way it is. Most of the metal albums are, in my personal opinion, very, very, very repetitive and way too conscious about the expectations of the audience. As an admirer of Frank Zappa, John Zorn, Devin Townsend, and 70s prog rock, I feel that there always should be room for variations and even humour on an album. Luckily for us, out there seems to be people who also feel this way and find Antipope’s music worth of listening.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
As I mentioned previously, I already started to write the songs for the next album. While writing Denial/Survival I discovered some interesting and new musical territories, I feel like I want to explore them a bit more. Right now I feel that I want to write a bit more cohesive album, but you never know! It’s very possible that there’s going to be a few weird tracks there too. But someone recently described Antipope as “progressive extreme metal”, I think I want to explore a bit more what that could mean.

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?
On Denial/Survival, I tried to fuse together quite a lot of different influences. A few years ago, I listened to Muse quite a lot, enjoyed the dramatic qualities of their songs. Also bands such as Primordial and Gojira have been regularly on my playlist recently. Devin Townsend is also someone whose music I listen to constantly, and his production style has had a big impact on how I approach producing vocals on past couple of albums.

Most recently, I’ve listened quite a lot to the latest Steven Wilson album, as well as constantly re-visiting my all-time favorites, Iron Maiden, Cradle of Filth, Nine Inch Nails and Tool. The latest new discovery has been Australians Ne Obliviscaris. Their latest album definitely is not boring and repetitive.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
My day-job naturally fills up whatever free space there is between waking up and going back to sleep together with writing music and keeping the band running. I would say that same goes with the rest of the band, we all have day-jobs and we try to do our best to navigate some time and energy to be put into making music. Personally, I like long walks in nature with my dogs, reading, movies, the usual stuff, really. Quite recently, I tried my hand in online gaming, but I soon found the unrestrained anonymous malice of even casual gamers towards other players too tiresome and both socially and psychologically appalling. Maybe it’s just not my thing. I rather enjoy the company of people who at least try to keep their nature in check.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
To all of you who read this interview, if you haven’t checked out our new album “Denial/Survival”, make sure to do so now. You can find it on Spotify and other online stores, and if you want to support what we do, go to our online store at antipope.bandcamp.com, and follow Antipope on Facebook! (Please forgive me this little moment of self-promotion)

And finally,, I have to say that I really enjoyed your thought provoking questions. I hope you make something out of my ramblings.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Folkodia/Battle Of The Milvian Bridge/Stygian Crypt Productions/2017 CD Review


  Folkodia  are  an  international  band  with  members  from  France,  Italy,  Argentina,  Germany,  United  States,  Greece,  Russia,  Switzerland  and  Monaco  that  play  a  mixture  of  epic  folk  and  viking  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  album "Battle  Of  The  Milvian  Bridge"  which  was  released  by  Stygian  Crypt  Productions.

  Heavy  riffs  and  melodic  guitar  leads  start  off  the  album  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  some  male  and  female  pagan  vocals  being  added  into  the  music  a  few  seconds  later  as  well  as  death  metal  growls  and  black  metal  screams  also  being  utilized  at  times.

  Folk  instruments  are  also  mixed  into  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs  while  the  riffs  also  get  very  melodic  at  times  along  with  one  track  also  bringing  in  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  and  elements  of  power  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  clean  vocals  and  when  the  music  finally  speeds  up a   small  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  some  of  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of acoustic  gutiars.

  Folkodia  plays  a  musical  style  that  mixes  folk  with  melodic  viking  metal  along  with  the  heaviness  of  black  and  death  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while the  lyrics  cover  European  mythology  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Folkodia  are a   very  great  sounding  mixture  of  viking  and  folk  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Battle  Of  The  Milvian  Bridge"  "Battle  Of  Salamis"  "Hussar  Angels"  and  "Red  Rubicon".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.facebook.com/Folkodiaofficial/