Dissension Interview

please direct people to www.facebook.com/dissensionmtl or www.twitter.com/dissensionmtl as band links

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?

Dissension is a five piece band composed of a vocalist/ guitarist, lead guitarist, drummer, bassist and keyboardist- just to be clear so as to not be mistake with an acoustic black metal band hahaha (not that there is anything wrong with that). We also enjoy red beer and long romantic walks along the beach, you know nothing too crazy.

2.How would you describe your musical sound?

 We are a band that likes to experiment with a lot of different sounds and likes to take advantage of metal’s capacity to incorporate and dominate different kinds of music. With that in mind, the many people who have commented on our music see it as a hybrid mix between black, thrash, power and melo-death metal. Now, we are not pretensious enough to claim that our music is unparalleled in the whole cosmos and we don’t fit into any genre. It’s just difficult to place us hahaha. Beyond that, we really like to take the listener to sometimes very epic heights and then to the dark depths. It’s the balance between the two that we like to play on as for us, our songs are like stories, and the music reflects the movements within.  

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

Well thematically we noticed that a lot of our songs deal with death. This is why we chose to name our album after our song Of Time and Chronic Disease. What we are trying to convey with this the idea that in an world that is godless death represents a final and absolute end, that is eternal and dark. Our lyrics then tend to represent this aspect of human reality that eventually death finds all living things and what humans do in the face of that reality. Some despair, some triumph, and some fall into delusion, and it is this very human reality that we like to deal with.

4. The band was originally called Set To Kill, what was the decision behind the name change and how would you say the music evolved since those days?

Well firstly, Set To Kill was somewhat of a retarded band name hahaha. We made it up when we were sixteen and first starting the band. When we had a bit of a lineup change, our bassist stepping down from vocals duties and our rhythm guitar playing taking his place, we also saw that the band was maturing and so we decided for a name change. Also,. There was this shitty emo band named Eyes Set To Kill and well, we hated the affiliation!

5. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name Dissension?

Dissention was a song of ours (however we spelt it with a T) and it was a favoured song of ours at the time so we chose to name ourselves accordingly.  Dissenstion spelt with a T means literally going down. However, when spelt with an S, thus Dissension, it denotes something a little more diabolic as the word dissension means violent disagreement in a political or social sense. For example, an anti-capitalist riot is dissension within the capitalist system. Now, when Satan rebelled against God, this was also a form of dissension, and so in taking on this name we place ourselves in that satanic light. Of course we can go on into a discussion about Satanism and what that means, but the way we like to see it is that you rebel against something, you fight for an idea, even if there is no possibility of victory because winning is not the point, its rather just the fact that you fought despite knowing the inevitable outcome.  And this of course ties back into the reality of death. It’s something we all must face and if you just through in the towel saying, oh well I’m going to die anyways might as l live like shit, then that is defeat. Rather, living in a way that defies death even if it cannot be achieved, that is heroic, And so, with that in mind, we called ourselves Dissension. It’s the dissension against death.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

Well for our sound it’s always best to play in bigger and louder venues. Thus our show at Heavy MTL was definitely one of the most memorable at we had a massive stage, all the  room in the world to run around, a fucking excellent crowd and a great sound to go with it. For a band that’s used to playing bars, a big stage performance is something we had always dreamed of. We also played the Wacken Metal Battle Canada finals in Toronto on another massive stage (the Opera House) and just to see a crowd who had relatively no idea who we were react so well to us was a great honour. Also, as I side not, we loose our fucking minds on stage, falling into somewhat of a religious ecstasy when we play (which sometimes has hilarious consequences), and a microphone attached to a animal skull decorated battle axe sometimes makes an appearance.

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

Those are definitely in the works. Once we play our album release show on September 9^th at Les Founes Electriques (an excellent venue) we plan to do some out of city gigs along with as many shows as we can during the winter with possibly a summer tour. But we shall see.

8.The new album came out on Blk Coq Musik, how did you get in contact with this label and how would you describe the support they have given you so far?

Our glorious manager Pedro Barbossa started Blk Coq records, and he has been with us for several years. So naturally when he created the label, we hoped on. It has only been around for a few months its still in its infancy, but we hope to see its grow and expand into something huge.

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

We haven’t released the full album yet, that will be on September 10^th. We shall see the worldwide feedback then. For nor, our single Of Time and Chronic Disease is released and its getting some great reaction. For a Montreal band, we didn’t expect the positive reaction and support we have thus far been getting. Yet even before this release we have had proposals to go to Europe and what have you, all we need now is the cash to do so. So come support!

10.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

On a music standpoint we already have a shit load of material building for another album. And so the direction is really upwards as we have played a few of these new songs live and they have gotten excellent reactions. We are always trying to incorporate different aspects into our music, but certainly shit will get darker as we grow music wise. We are also all in this for the long haul and we would like to see our band take off in a bigger way.

11.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays? 

Certainly Children of Bodom, Death, Dimmu Borgir are bands we all listen to. However what good about or bands is that each member listens to shit very different from the other so while our Keyboardist and drummr are into a lot of tech-death, our guitarist and vocalist are heavily into black metal while we have a jazz bassist hahah. So the list would be long. But lately, we are all waiting the new Behemoth album, we all like Ghost, Amon Amarth (great new album), the Faceless, Dissection, Watain (not decided on their new album) to name a big few.

12.Outside of music what are some of your interests?

Most of our guys are in school studying various shit. Our lead guitarist Conti is in History, or Keyboardist is a an evil Chemist while our vocalist (me) is studying religion.

13.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Thanks for the chance to have us spill our load the blog! Also our album launches September 10 worldwide, we have a promotional show for it on the 13^th, so if anyways wants to write nasty shit on our facebook and click the fuck you button next to the attend button, it would be very much appreciated!

And of course, we must hail Satan.  

Dissension/Of Time And Chronic Disease/Blk Coq Musik/2013 CD Review

  Dissension  are  a  band  from  Montreal,  Quebec,  Canada  that  plays  a  mixture  of  melodic  death,  black,  thrash  and  power  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "Of  Time  And  Chronic  Disease"  which  was  released  by  Blk  Coq  Musik.

  "Thralls  To  The  Crucified"  begins  with  some heavy  guitar  riffs,  drums  and  symphonic  keyboards  before  going  into  a  faster  direction  and  adding  in  some  blast  beats  which  leads  to  some  melodic  guitar  riffing  and  black  metal  screams  while also  keeping  the  heavy  and  symphonic  elements  and  after  awhile  there  is  a  brief  use  of  melodic  guitar  leads  as  well  which  come  in  and  out  as  some  thrash  influences  being  thrown  into  the  music,  after  awhile  you  can  hear  some  powerful  bass  playing  coming  in  for  a  few  seconds.

  "Graceless  Death"  begins  with  some  thrash  style  guitar  riffs,  drums  and  spoken  word  parts  before  going  into  a  faster  direction  and  adding  in  blast  beats  and  black  metal  screams  which  leads  to some  keyboards  and  melodic  riffing  while  also  remaining  heavy  at  the  same  time  as  well  as  switching  back  and  forth  between  slow  and  fast  parts  and  after  awhile  you  can  hear  some  powerful  bass  playing  which  leads  to  some  melodic  guitar  solos  while  keeping  the  rhythms  and  symphonic  elements  around  which  leads  to  the  music  going  more  into  a  thrash  direction.

  "Blacksteel"  begins  with  some  melodic  guitar  riffing,  powerful  bass  playing  and  drums  setting  up the  mood  for  some  screams  along  with  some  keyboards  and  back  up  shouts  which  leads  to the  song  mixing  in  more  fast  and  heavy  parts  and  after  a  couple of  minutes  there  is  a  brief  use  of  melodic  guitar  solos  along  with  some  prog  style  keyboards  before  going  into  a  more  heavy  direction.

  "Brutality"  starts  off  with  some  heavy  guitar  riffs  and  drums  which  leads  to some  keyboards  and  after  awhile  the  song  goes  into  a  faster  direction  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  screams  while  also  keeping  the  keyboards  around  and  as  the  song  moves  on  melodic  elements  get  mixed  in  with  the  heavy  parts  and  mixes  in  some  guitar  leads  coming  in  and  out as  well  as  the  keyboards  adding  in  prog  elements.

  "Set  To  Kill"  begins  with  some  drums,  keyboards  and  melodic riffing  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  and  adding  in  the  screams  while  also  keeping  melodic  and  symphonic  elements  around and  after  a  couple  of  minutes  guitar  leads  start  kicking  in  briefly  and  mixing  with  the  rhythm  parts.

  "Legacy"  begins  with  some  soft  acoustic  guitar  playing  which  utilizes  both  finger  picking  and  full  chords  which  leads  to  some  drums  and  bass  playing  before  the  heavy,  melodic  guitar  riffs  kick  in  along  some  blast  beats  and  keyboards  setting  up  the  mood  for t he  music  to  get  heavier  and  adding  in  death  metal  growls  and  after  a  few  minutes  it  starts  getting  more  symphonic  and  adds  in  some  black  metal  vocals  along  with  some  powerful  bass  playing  but  remaining  heavy  all  at  the  same  time  and  after  a  few  minutes there  is  a  brief  use  of  guitar  solos  mixing  in  with  the  riffs.

  "Dreamsong  Of  The  Divine"  begins  with  some  keyboards  and  serves  as  an  intro  for  the  next  song.

  "Of  Time  And  Chronic  Disease"  begins  with  some  soft  acoustic  guitar  playing  and keyboards  which  leads  to  some  heavy  guitar  riffs  and drums  while  also  remaining  symphonic  and  adding  in  some  screams  and  after  awhile deep  death  metal  growls  start  kicking  in  and  as  the  song  moves  on  its  goes  into  a  faster  direction  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  guitar  solos  before  going  into  a  slower  direction  with  some  powerful  bass  playing  but  keeping  the  solos  around  which  leads  to  the  music  switching  back  and  forth  between  the  slow  and  fast  parts.

  "Dissention"  begins  with  some  keyboards  and  drums  setting  up  the  mood  for  some  heavy  guitar  riffing  as  well  as  introducing  the  screams  and  melodies  along  with  a  small  amount  of  death  metal  growls  and  after  awhile  the  music  goes  into  a  faster  direction  along  with  some  blast  beats  which  leads  to  some  guitar  solos  shortly after  that  mixing  in  with  the  fast  riffing  and  after  awhile  the  song  goes  into  a  slow  yet  heavy  direction  and  towards  the  end  there  is  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  samples.

  "Apoetheosis" begins  with  heavy  guitar  riffing,  melodic  leads  and  drums  which  lead  to  some  screams  and  after  that  the  music  goes  more  into  a  heavy  and  symphonic  direction  along  with  a  brief  use  of  deep  growls  while  also  keeping  the  screams  around  and  as  the  song  moves  on  guitar  solos  start  kicking  in  for  awhile  and  mixing  with  the  riffing  and  drums  as  well  as  going  into  a  cleaner  direction  along  with  some  powerful  bass  playing  before  getting  heavy  again  and  adding  in  some  symphonic  elements.

 Song  lyrics  cover  the  darker  side  of  nature,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  along  with  some  of  the  songs  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  Dissension a re  a  very  great  sounding  hybrid  of  black,  melodic  death,  symphonic,  thrash  and  power  metal  and   if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Thralls  To  The  Crucified"  "Blacksteel"  "Set  To  Kill"  and  "Apoetheosis".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

 http://youtu.be/MSwsB05TCeI         

Eternal Storm Interview

1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

Daniel: Greetings, first of all, thank you for spending some of your time and attention on the band. About three months ago we released our debut EP 'From the Ashes' and we are busy promoting it, you know, writing to webzines in order to get reviews, answering to interviews, playing shows, looking for a label...at the same time we're working hard writing and rehearsing the new stuff which will be featured in our debut full-length. While we keep on writing new songs we will record a couple of songs for a split CD with some cool bands from our country and a cover song for a tribute CD of a well-known band from Brooklyn we really admire, even though they didn't belong to the same genre we play, so to speak. As you can see, we like to keep ourselves fairly busy ;)

2. How would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the demo and how it differs from the sound you originally went for?

Daniel: The band used to play some kind of melodic/symphonic black metal until Jaime and me joined the band. Then, we started to move towards some more death metal oriented sound and after some time tracing the sketches of the canvas that would become our style we started to breed the melodic extreme metal the band performs nowadays. I guess you could say that our roots come from the early/mid nineties Swedish death and black metal scenes, although there are as well influences hailing from Norwegian black metal bands, Finnish death or doom metal bands, more classic metal bands or even some bands from our country who had a huge influence in our sound.

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

Jaime: We deal mostly with daily issues, feelings and experiences one goes through in our everyday life. Some of them are more personal while other are more sociological.  The thing is we don't write about them in a way it can only have a particularly focused meaning, but rather we go for a more abstract way of writing so everyone can figure out the meaning on their own.

Daniel: Personal growth is a very important subject of the band's ethos but of course, some of them are more personal than others, and ocassionaly some of them can get a bit cryptic. Anyway, we try to introduce a subject or a theme in a rather abstract way so the readers can give the lyrics their own meaning and thus making the whole process a bit more enriching and interactive.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?

Jaime: Well, it’s kind of a cliché name for a metal band, but anyway we like it, haha. It does sound epic, and I think it fits the type of music we play. As for the meaning, I think everyone of us has a different interpretation of it, for me it is a reminder that life is always going on, and you have to face the hardships and enjoy the good things.

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

Jaime: It would be the show we played with Crownless and Somne 2.0, at Caracol, one of the best venues here in our city. There we played for the first time in front of a big and enthusiastic crowd and we really had a blast! I think with every passing gig we have a better stage performance, we try to have a lot of fun up there on stage and be energetic, which is something I believe the audience notices when watching a band playing. We use to go crazy during the final bits of “Boundaries of Serenity”, haha.

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

Jaime: Unfortunately we don’t have any touring plans yet, but it is something we are really looking forward to. All we have now is spared shows from time to time. We are eager to play outside our city, as we still haven’t played in other cities.

Kheryon: Yeah, we are always looking forward for new shows. Now we are trying to play outside Madrid, so… we will see.

Daniel: Touring is a very expensive thing but we really hope we will do one sooner than later. We have a couple of shows in Madrid and in other cities (Barcelona) scheduled for this Fall. If someone wants to see us in their city write an E-Mail to eternalstormofficial@gmail.com and we'll do our best to be there :)

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

Daniel: We've talked with some labels and we were about to signed with a pretty big and famous local label but unfortunately the guy changed his mind in the very last moment so here we are looking again for a label. It's a bit stressing to look for a label after having uploaded the whole album, because I feel as if I was fighting against time, as it's been already three months since 'From the Ashes' was out on Bandcamp and we still haven't reached an agreement with any label and the album could get a bit "old" for them.

8. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of melodic black and death metal?

Jaime: Considering the EP hasn’t been out for a long time, and given we are an underground band, I think it has been quite positive. We’ve received messages from people from all around the globe telling us how much they have loved it, and we feel grateful for that. It’s encouraging!

Kheryon: In a personal way, I’m so satisfied with the feedback. There are people from our country but also from the USA, Poland, Sweden, Australia, Korea writing to us… it’s amazing how Internet can help to spread your art worldwide.

Daniel: Even though we still have to find a label to release it in a proper way and we have to make tons of gigs to promote the album it's already having some great reviews from all over the world: We've been reviewed or we have replied to interviews from places such as the US, England, Ireland, Germany...some of the most important Spanish metal webzines as well, so we feel both grateful and surprised because of the good feedback we're getting...we really want to show you our new stuff!

9. What is going on with the other musical projects these days?

Jaime: I just do stupid shit with my friends, I’m just waiting for the day I become a rockstar and blow the whole world away, while all the pretty horny girls blow my….. my manowar-like fire extinguisher.

Kheryon: I don’t have any other projects, Dani is the crazy one in this way (and in so many others).

Daniel: I used to be in more bands but nowadays my main projects are Eternal Storm and blackened grindcore band called Under Vultures (http://www.facebook.com/undervultures), I've got some small projects as well but nowadays I'm busy with these two bands and some booking agencies and record labels I collaborate with. The busier, the happier.

Luis: I'm a busy man, I have a Progressive Metal band called Distance which has been around for almost ten years and we finally recorded our debut album a couple of months ago. I also have a D-Beat/Crust band called Totëmwolf and I play in a cover band of hard rock tunes as well.

10. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

Jaime: I think we are heading to a more laid-back, atmospheric style. We will certainly keep the blast beats and the aggression, but at the same time we are paying a higher level of attention to the melodies and the songwriting itself, making it more dynamic and, let's say, "ethereal".

Kheryon: I'm completely sure we will end our career playing techno-house. Nah, now being serious, I really don't know. Three years ago I was saying "Eternal Storm won't have synths or acoustic parts" and new songs are more progressive, so I don't know. But I'm sure the path we'll walk will be the path we will want to walk, not following commercial mainstream interests.

Daniel: As Jaime said, we think we're getting into a more atmospheric field. We're introducing more clean guitar parts and we're playing with effects. Keyboards and synthesizers have a more important role in our new songs as well. We're also using new ranges of vocals and now that Lucho is part of the band he's contributing with his tasteful drumming as well, as most of the drums from the EP were already written before he joined, although he contributed with several great arrangements to those songs.

11. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Jaime: Just to name a few, Opeth, Amorphis, Insomnium, In Mourning, In Vain, Alcest... We actually listen to a huge variety of music, not only within the metal genre. Personally I'm crazy about the newest The Fall of Every Season album. Fucking great proggy doom/death with a post-rock vibe!

Kheryon: There are so many bands that influence our music so I couldn't say any… In a personal way I'm so influenced by musicians as Jeff Walker or Seth from Septicflesh. Nowadays I'm listening a lot to the new LPs of In Vain and Fractal Gates, both are amazing albums.

Daniel: We are definitely open-minded individuals. I'd say some of our biggest influences as a band are Opeth, Amorphis, Katatonia, Insomnium, Edge of Sanity, Death, Sentenced, Dissection and the likes. And in a personal side, here is some of the stuff I've been listening to the most during the last couple of days: The 3rd And The Mortal, Priapus, Manes, The Last 3 Lines, Soul Aside, Absvrdist, Jardín De La Croix, Ulcerate, Nahemah, Placebo, Oceansize, Wovenhand...tons of different stuff as you can see!

Luis: yeah I'm a open-minded musician: I listen to all kind of music, from pop to soul, rock, metal rap etc etc One of my biggest influences music-wise is Death and nowadays I'm mostly listening to Karnivool, Misery Signals, Anathema, Rihanna, Textures...

12. Outside of music what are some of your interests?

Jaime: We enjoy reading, watching films, doing sports and having a good time with our beloved ones. We are common people, completely devoid of any unique characteristic that separates us from the billions of souls that have roamed this earth before us. Meaningless existence we have, yet classy.

Kheryon: I love sports and I'm trying to finish my career in Psychology.

Daniel: Some of the stuff I enjoy doing is reading, watching films, going to shows and having some fun with my fellow ones.

Luis: My dogs and my girlfriend, I usually spend my time watching films, reading comic books, playing basketball or football, meeting my friends...

13. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Daniel: Thanks for the interview and kind words! If some of you want to know more of our stuff visit the following url's:

http://www.facebook.com/eternalstormofficial
http://eternalstorm.bandcamp.com

For any questions or suggestions write an E-Mail to eternalstormofficial@gmail.com

Thanks again, support art!
Daniel.