Ontborg Interview

BAND: ONTBORG
(Antworten von Ontborg)


1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Our Band is called Ontborg and an all the members are based in South Tyrol, which is situated in the North of Italy. Three of us were part of “Voices Of Decay” for 20 years, and after the split-up we decided to found this new band to take a different direction. Harald on bass guitar completes the lineup, he played with Graveworm for many years and is the same age as we are, so the band chemistry works fantastically.

2.Recently you have released your first full length, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style you went for on the recording?
With this album we would like to pay homage to the sound of the albums we grew up with. We wanted to record a straightforward album, with the spirit of bands like dismember, benediction and dissection. Besides the rawness we tried to keep the songs melodic at the same time, so we think it`s a mix between old school death metal and blackened melodies.

3.The band formed out of the ashes of 'Voices Of Decay', what was the decision behind breaking up the band and forming a new one?
We all felt it was time for change in every way after this long time. We wanted to purify the sound, going back to our roots and restart with new energy and passion.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you have explored so far with the music?
Most of the lyrics don‘t have a special story or background, the focus by writing the lyrics was more set on how they translate the dark feeling and atmosphere of the song.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Ontborg'?
Ontborg is an imaginary name, composed by two swedish words: “ont” means pain and “borg” means castle. The idea behind that, was to convey the feeling of gloom.

6.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
The cover artwork was created by the very talented Juanjo Castellano from Spain. Figuring out how creating the cover was a matter of minutes. We send him 3 covers we liked, mentioned things we don’t like in general on covers, and he came back with that awesome painting! We changed nothing, it was just perfect for our music and he nailed our taste right away.

7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
To be honest, with Ontborg we didn`t play any show until now. With Voices Of Decay we were on stage for many times and we had a lot of shows to remember. Now we decided to record the album first. On the release day of the album we have our first gig, after that some shows are already confirmed and we are looking forward to perform our songs live on stage. We think we are, like with Voices Of Decay, a very energetic band on stage.

8.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
As said before, some gigs are already confirmed, like the “Rock im Ring” Festival in Italy with Bands like Enter Shikari, Eskimo Callboy and Rise Of The Northstar. We ware looking forward to play as much as possible, maybe there will also be the possibility to do a small tour.

9.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
For this album we didn`t look for a records label. We wanted to do all by our self. But for the next album it would be interesting and maybe there will be the possibility if this album is well received.

10.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of melodic black and death metal?
We're getting the first reviews these days, so we are very curious how our sound will be received in the different countries. We must to remember that we are playing a kind of death metal sound that was popular 20 years ago, so we can't say what the reactions will be.

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We have no concrete plans for the next release at this moment. For sure we will stay true to this old school sound, but still try to improve the songwriting and not to repeat ourselves.

12.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?
Our influences are clear to hear, Unleashed, Dismember, Necrophobic, Entombed, Dissection, all the great bands with a Scandinavian sound and unique spirit from the late nineties. Beside these influences every band member hears very different sounds today.

13.What are some of your non musical interests?
Also the non-musical interests of the band members are very different. Lukas runs a recording studio besides his work, Christoph writes books, and Harald is self-employed. 


14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thanks for the interview and interest, and we are looking forward to see some of you somewhere live in front of the stage!

Atlas Entity/Beneath The Cosmic Silence/2019 Full Length Review

  Atlas  Entity  are  a  duo  from  Florida  that  plays  a  very  progressive,  technical  and  melodic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2019  album  "Beneath  the  Cosmic  Silence"  which  will  be  released  in  June.

  Nature  orientated  soundscapes  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  acoustic  guitars  a  few  seconds  later.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  while  all  of  the musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  blast  beats  are  also  brought  into  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs.

  Elements  of  prog  metal  can  also  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  along  with  the  vocals  bringing  in  a  mixture  of  death  metal  growls  and  black  metal  screams.  Clean  vocals  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  while  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  At  times  the  music  also  gets  very  technical  sounding  while  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  melody.  A  couple  of  the  songs  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  music  also  adds  in  some  early  Opeth  and  In  Flames  influences  but  done  in  a  more  modern  style  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  small  amount  of  whispered  vocals  can  also  be  heard.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  nature  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Atlas  Entity  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic,  technical  and  progressive  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  duo.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "In  The  Shadow  of  The  Mountain  Pt.  1"  "Visions  Of  Gold"  and  "Celestial  Noise". 8  out  of  10.

www.atlasentity.com 
facebook.com/atlasentity
atlasentity.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/atlasentity
Atlas Entity Youtube Channel 

  

Decision To Hate 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?

Thogarma: After the recording we split up due to internal problems with each other (extreme music for extreme people, what can I say...?) By 2017, we'd solved all the inconsistencies, played some reunion shows and finally released the long awaited "Anti-Human Art" at the end of 2018.

2.Towards the end of 2018 you had also released a new album, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

Thogarma: Our early stuff was simple Thrash/ Death Metal with a blackened feeling, mostly in the vocals. For me it was the past; the others create the music and I do my madness within the lyrics and vocals. Finally Tim and i are on guitars nowadays, complementing us perfectly, writing the riffs we love. Our drummer is much more involved in the songwriting too as it is standard in common bands I think. He´s a great piano player next to his drum warfare which is helping us a lot creating new songs or regarding the great concept of our actual album.

3.This was also your first release since 2006, can you tell us a little bit more about what was going on during that time frame?

Thogarma: We played a lot of gigs in Germany, Czech Republic, Netherlands... We haven´t released anything in around ten years because we had many line-up changes. I´m not sure if can remember the names of all the guitarists that we have worn out. I don't want to remember some of them either. So the old or remaining guitarist had to train someone new all the time, the writing of new songs usually remained completely on the sidelines... There was a time we were standing there without guitarist... After all I decided to play second but constantly remaining guitar which changed the songwriting a lot too. Luckily we have Tim with us for a very long time now, Matthias on bass and I hope this line-up will be eternal.

4.The new album is a concept album, can you tell us a little bit more about the songwriting?

Cassiel: As Thogarma already told the songwriting process took a long time about 10 years or more due to the numerous line up changes. So a lot of songs developed over that period and there was no concept in the beginning of the recording process. Every song stood for their own and due to the numerous influences of the different songwriters every song has its own character. When we started the recording process I had the idea to frame the songs with classical piano pieces which I wrote specifically for the songs based upon the starting or ending guitar riffs. I think this makes the album outstanding at this time in the present metal scene because no one tried this so far to my knowledge.

5.A lot of the newer lyrics where also inspired by the writings of Dante and The Occult, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in those topics?

Cassiel: Well when i wrote the piano songs we had nine piano pieces and nine metal songs. I thought this was quite a funny thing because it reminded me of the divine comedy of Dante and his nine circles of hell. It was just an accident and not planned at this time. A very diabolical accident if you ask me. The nine circles of hell on the other hand stand for the human mortal sins and when I read Thogarmas lyrics I realized that a lot of these mortal sins are reflected in his lyrics. So thematically the piano pieces represents the nine circles of hell with the human mortal sins and built contemporaneous the bridge between Dante and the lyrics of the songs.

6.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Decision To Hate'?

Thogarma: Name is program. Everything revolves around the theme of hatred towards humanity. It was an old friend´s idea, he was our webmaster and sadly past away a few years ago.

7.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?

Cassiel: The artwork is a painting of Gustave Doré of his Paradise Lost cycle. It shows Lucifer shortly after his banishment from heaven. Doré also created a lot of paintings about Dantes Divine Comedy. I sent the band numerous paintings of Doré from the Divine Comedy but neither of  them was totally satisfying. So we decided to take the Doré painting of the Paradise Lost cycle. I think it fits thematically perfect to the lyrics and the music of the album and especially to the piano pieces. 

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

Thogarma: The Open Hell Fest in Czech Republic together with Dissection and many more in 2005 were great in front of thousands of people, would love to play that one again with todays line-up. In my opinion we had a better sound than Dissection, the sound engineer has known us from a mini tour with Dark Storm (CZ) before... Many great and crazy gigs. Different stage performances, from professional to a bloody massacre using needles, knives and barbed wire. Total dedication, total consecration!!!

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

Thogarma: Due to our job situation (we all are fukking slaves...) we concentrate on shows, touring for weeks is impossible. We were a bit late to apply for open air shows in 2019, doing some gigs in halls and smaller locations and attack in 2020 in open fields.

10.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

Thogarma: Black Metal labels are mourning that we aren´t 100% BM, Death Metal labels are crying that we aren´t old school; if we would sound exactly like all this fukking boring standard stuff with stolen riffs by the old heroes (mainly from Sweden) they would sign us. Woohoo. We won´t change, we won´t want to be restricted. If there would be a fair label, intolerant regarding lyrics but open minded musically, why not...

Cassiel: A lot of people are asking us about the label situation in the band. I think it is very funny because please tell me the benefit having a label in a band with the dimension of Decision to Hate?!? Labels always want to take influence in the process when a band is shaping a concept of a new record,  thematically, lyrically, musically. Without a label we are totally free in what we want to do. DTH doesnt stand for making a lot of money and becoming very famous. That is not our way creating new art.

11.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your newer music by fans of black and death metal?

Thogarma: We get more international attention since we have a bandcamp site, check out https://decisiontohate.bandcamp.com/
Should have gone this path before. At the moment we receive a lot of varying reviews for "Anti-Human Art" - With the large magazines, which expect that one places advertisements with them, the reviews are usually sobering. We don't pay for good reviews. Smaller underground magazines are much more concerned with the music and listen more closely, so there are other results that we can really be satisfied with. Conclusion: Fukk the commerce and support real underground!!!

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

Cassiel: Currently i am the only member who is involved in other band activities. I play drums in a progressive-metal band called Steorrah and a Rock n Roll band called Psycho Dandys. I also create piano music alongside when i have the time for this. Maybe i will create more of this piano stuff in the future, we will see.

Thogarma: I concentrate only on DTH, need good ideas for my main band. Some people are asking and asking and asking... I won´t waste time and riffs for your crap. foad.

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

Thogarma: Actually we are writing the best songs we´ve ever had. We´ll never lose our Black Death Metal roots but "old school" is nothing but an apology for not having own ideas, sorry.

Cassiel: I think the music of DTH is becoming more and more sophisticated. Using the piano was a door to a new direction maybe. I dont know if we want to enlarge this classical piano direction we will see. But i think the new songs will definitely be more away from this „standard“ Black- and Death-Metal style to a point of looking across the edge of a plate.

14.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?

Thogarma: We all have grown up with classic Heavy, Thrash, Death and Black Metal. All the stuff I heard in my youth I am still worshipping now. Many years ago it was our drummer Cassiel who brought me closer to stuff like "Perdition City" from Ulver while I was still only into "Nattens Madrigal" just for example. Our path is open minded intolerant, haha! We have a trip-hop part in our song "I hate myself", somewhere between Arkhon Infaustus and Massive Attack... Crazy but working.

Cassiel: Personally i dont listen to heavy metal that much as i did in the past. I am a music teacher and as a result i got in contact with to a lot of other musical directions. Classical music, electronic music, new age music. I like ambient music very much. The „Blade Runner“ Soundtrack will always be one of my favourites. I think its very good for a band to get influences from other musical directions. Only listen to standard Death-Metal generates music that listens to standard Death-Metal. Its a circle you know. All these „Retro 60er and 70er“ stuff which is very famous at this time didn´t catch me so far along with these „Retro Black- and Death-Metal“ stuff. I like listening to the originals but no one needs 18 year old kids which are playing Black Sabbath or Darkthrone riffs in 2019.
 
15.What are some of your non musical interests?

Thogarma: All within the band are loving nature, we are hiking, mountaineering, doing other stuff there... I took all the pics in the booklet of our new album on my trips to the Alps and the Elbsandsteingebirge, Tim just returned some weeks ago from Saxonia too.

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

Thogarma: Clean the scene! Fukk all those good people bringing lactose intolerance instead of death worship into the wretched remains of our scene, thwarting concerts of great and real dedicated bands... Enter https://www.facebook.com/DecisionToHate for more information.
Thanks for your support and the well-considered questions! No compromise!

Ontborg/Within The Depths Of Oblivion/2019 Full Length Review

  Ontborg  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  melodic  and  blackened  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2019  album  "Within  The  Depths  Of  Oblivion".

  A  very  heavy  and  melodic sound  starts  off  the  album  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats.  The  music  also  incorporates  a  great  amount  of  influences  from  the  90's  era  of  black  and  death  metal  along  with  the  vocals  also  adding  in  a  decent  mixture  of  growls  and  screams.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  while  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  One  song  also  introduces  clean  playing  which  also  returns  on  a  couple  of  later  songs  and  a few  seconds  of  synths  onto  the  recording  as  well  as  the  songs  sounding  like  they  could  of  easily  been  recorded  and  released  20  years  ago,  one  of  the  later  tracks  is  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length. 

  Ontborg  plays  a  musical  style  that  goes  back to  the  90's  era  of  melodic  black  and  death  metal.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while t he  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Ontborg  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  blackened  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Living  Is  A  Torture"  "This  Time"  "No  Memories  Beyond"  and  "Black  garden".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bjkkbtYtic

  

Tyrmfar/Renewal Through Purification/MTAF Recprds/2019 CD Review

  Tyrmfar  are  a  band  from  Switzerland  that  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "Renewal  Through  Purification"  which  will  be  released  in  June  by  MTAF  Records.

  A  very  dark  sounding  intro  starts  off  the  album  which  also  introduces  synths  onto  the  recording  before  going  into  a  very  fast  and  brutal  direction  that  also  utilizes  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats.  Vocals  bring  in  a  mixture  of  black  metal  growls  and  death  metal  growls  along  with  the  riffs  also  utilizing  a  lot  of  melody.

  During  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  you  can  also  hear  a  lot  of  tremolo  picking  in  the  guitar  riffing.  Throughout  the  recording  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  clean  playing  is  also  brought  into  the  music  on  one  track and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  and  as  the  album  progresses  an  instrumental  is  also  added  onto  the  recording.

  Tyrmfar  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  melodic  black  and  brutal  death  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  terror  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Tyrmfar  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  and  brutal  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Of  The  Legions  Of  Eternity"  "No  Hope" "Freedoms  Call"  and  "Humanity's  End".  8  out  of  10.

https://tyrmfar.com



    

Embrace Of Disharmony/De Rervm Natvra/My Kingdom Music/2019 CD Review

  Embrace  Of  Disharmony  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  on  this  recording  plays  an  avant  garde  form  of  dark  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "De  Rervm  Natvra"  which  will  be  released  in  June  by  My  Kingdom  Music.

  Dark  sounding  synths  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts  also  being  used  briefly  which  also  gives  the  music  more  of  a  ritualistic  feeling. At  times  the  songs  also  mix  the  avant  garde  and  heavy  parts  together  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Clean  male  and  female  vocals  can  also  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  while  the  music  also  has  its  symphonic  and  orchestra  moments,  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  along  with  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  also  being  added  into  some  parts  of  the  music.

  During  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  along  with  the  songs  also  adding  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  At  times  the  music  also  gets  very  progressive  and  experimental  sounding  as  well a s  a  great  portion  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Elements  of  goth  can  also  be  heard  on  some  of  the  tracks  as  well  as  some  death  metal  growls  also  being  used  in  some  parts  of  the  recording.  Some  songs  also  add  in  a  small  amount  of  stringed  instruments  and  one  track  also  introduces  acoustic  guitars  onto  the  recording.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark,  poetic  and  mythological  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Embrace  Of  Disharmony  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  avant  garde  dark  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "De  Primordiis  Rervm" "De  Mortalitale  Animae"  and  "De  Formatione  Orbis".  8  out  of  10.

http://facebook.com/EmbraceOfDisharmony  

Vonnis/Bikini Season/Hypertension Records/2019 Full Length Review

  Vonnis  are  a  band  from  Belgium  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  sludge  metal,  grind  and  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "Bikini  Season"  which  will  be  released  in  May  by  Hyptertension  Records.

  A  very  dark  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  while  whispered  vocals  can  also  be  heard  in  the  background  briefly.  Elements  of  harsh  noise  can  also  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  music  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  high  pitched  black  emtal  screams  along  with  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  being  very  heavily  rooted  in  sludge.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  the  solos  and  leads  when  they  are  utilized  are  done  in  a  very  dark  and  melodic  style.  Blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  quite  a  bit  during  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  which  also  captures  the  speed  and  aggression  of  grindcore.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  the  mid  tempo  sections  of  the  songs  bringing  in  elements  of  hardcore.  A  great  portion  of  some  of  the  tracks  are  very  short  in  length  while  tremolo  picking  riffs  can  also  be  heard  during  the  faster  sections  of  the  music  at  times  and  one  track  also  introduces  clean  playing  onto  the  recording.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while t he  lyrics  cover  dark,  occult,  violent  and  angry  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Vonnis  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  sludge  metal,  grind  and  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Into  The  Hive"  "Inside"  "Evil  Again"  and  "H(A)unters". 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTxLhIKPAWQ