AtroruM/Structurae/Apathia Records/2015 CD Review

  Atrorum  are  a  duo  from  Germany  that  plays  an  avant  garde  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Structurae" which  will  be  released  by  Apathia  Records.

  A  very  heavy and  avant garde  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  classical  influenced keyboards  and  a  few  seconds  later  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  make  their  presence  known  on  the  recording  and  the  riffs  also  use  a  great  amount  of melody  and  after  awhile  folk  instruments  are  added  onto  the  recording.

  Deep  death  metal  growls  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  music  gets  very  experimental  at  times  as  well  as  bringing  clean  singing  into  some  parts  of  the  songs  and  the  music  also  mixes  in  a  lot  of  symphonic  black  metal  elements  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  some  songs  also  bring  in  elements  of  ambient  and  electronic  music  while  some  of  the  riffing  also  adds  in a  touch  of  prog  metal  and  as  the  album  progresses  the music  starts  mixing  in  more  elements  of  jazz  and  spoken  word  samples  as  well  as  male  and  female  choirs  are  also  brought  in  at  times  and  when  the  music  speeds up  briefly  a  small  amount  of blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  very  dark  and  melodic  sounding.

  AtroruM  plays  a  musical  style  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  black  metal  but  also  mixes  in  folk,  experimental  and  avant  garde  music  to  create  a  very  original  sounding  recording,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  German,  English,  French,  Spanish,  Latin  and  Russian  and  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  AtroruM  are  a  very  great  sounding  avant  garde  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Menschsein"  "Amapolas"  and  "Equipartition".  8  out  of  10.

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Perihelion/Zeng/Apathia Records/2015 CD Review

  Perihelion  are  a  band  from  Hungary  that  plays  a  mixture  of  post  rock and  avant  garde  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Zeng"  which  was  released  by  Apathia  Records.

  A  very  dark  and  atmospheric  ambient  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  distorted  guitars  that  also  bring  in  drones  before  going  into  a  very  melodic  post  metal  direction  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  along  with  soem  clean  singing  vocals.

  After  the  vocals  kick  in  the  music  goes  into  a  very  fast  black  metal  direction  that  also  utilizes  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  a  great  amount  of  melodic  guitar  leads along  with  a  touch  of  shoegaze  and  the  music  is  perfectly  balance  between  both  clean  and  heavy  parts  and  you  can  also  hear  a  lot  of  avant  garde  metal  elements  in  the  bands  musical  style  and  in  some  of  the  faster  parts  a  brief  use  of  black  metal  screams  can  be  heard.

  Perihelion  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  the mid  90's  avant  garde  black  metal  style  while  focusing  more  on  a  regular  style  of  singing  and  mixing  it  in  with  a  more  modern  style  of  post  rock  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Hungarian  and  cover  spiritual  and  cosmic  journey  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Perihelion  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  avant  garde  black  metal  and  post  rock  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Tundockles"  "Vegtelen  Kek"  and  "Hajad  Szel".  8  out  of  10. 

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As Light Dies Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new ep?

Many things. This EP was recorded back in 2006 two months after we recorded our first album “A step through the reflection”. The band released 2 albums from then till now. The last one is “TLA vol.1”.

2.You have a new ep coming out at the end of June, 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 assume that you consider that we have recorded this stuff recently, but GEA is old stuff. The other track is one song included in the tribute to Enslaved in which we participate in 2012. Many things changed because the band was another people.

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

This lyrical concept was about the negative influence of mankind over the nature in terms of contamination and in terms of spirituality.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'As Light Dies'?

The meaning is about that all the magic use to happen when the light starts to fade away.

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?

It is really difficult to choose our best show. All the members have different opinions about it. Some shows were special because we played fine, others because the energy of the public, another ones because we did had a good time in the travel, or maybe because we played in a very special show. Our performances are really distant and cold. We use video projections to introduce the song, and also we have some other macabre and highly extreme projections while we are playing the songs.

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

We decided to stop playing because we didn’t have good proposals.

7.On the new ep you had done an Enslaved cover, what was the decision behind doing your own version of one of their songs?

Because Pictonian records offered us to participate in the tribute “Ond: A tribute” released back in 2012. We covered the song we wanted to do.

8.The ep is going to be released on Brutal Arratia Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

Well, it is a recently created label which makes small editions of weird unreleased stuff. GEA EP was never released in 2006, so they offered us to release it now in 2015.They are really young people, they are small yet but they work fine.

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

The reviews are good, but we didn’t noticed any change to our band during these two last years of releases. Maybe we are in the surfeit era, then it is really difficult to stand out over the others.

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

Yes. I (Oscar)’m involved in Garth Arum, Aegri Somnia, Alien Syndrome 777 and other stuff.
Strudle and Maqueda are involved in classic music performance, and Pablo is playing in a surf rock band named Surflamingo.

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

I don’t really want to know. Maybe my vision is not really optimistic.

12.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?

Well, we always like the weird and dark stuff of all ages. Starting with Gesualdo, having in the way Mike Oldfield, and finishing in the most experimental music inside and outside of metal nowadays.

13.What are some of your non-musical interests?

We all really like cinema. Anyone has different opinions about it. Some we like more the auteur cinema, and others gore, B movies and similar. Also I am on writing and Strudle is on painting.

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
We want to thank you very much for this interview. If anybody is interested in our music please check http://aslightdies.bandcamp.com

As Light Dies/Gea/Brutal Arratia Records/2015 EP Review

  As  Light  Dies  are a  band  from  Spain  that  plays  an  avant  garde  form  of  black  metal  along  with  some  elements  of  doom  and  goth  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  ep  "Gea"  which  will  be  released  on  June  26th  by  Brutal  Arratia  Records.

  Dark  avant  garde  sounds  start  off  the  ep  along  with  some ambient  style  synths  a  few  seconds later  and  after  the  intro  violins  are  added  into  the  music  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them and  the  music  also  starts  to  get  more  heavier  along  with  the  heavy  and  atmospheric  parts  being  mixed  in  together.

  When  vocals  are  added  the  music  they  use  both  death  metal  growls  and  black  metal  screams  along  with  the  guitars  adding  in  a  great  amount  of  goth  and  prog  rock  elements  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  are  utilized  and  you  can  also  hear  clean  singing  being  utilized  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording and  half  of  the  songs  are  instrumental  and  they  close  the  ep  with  a  cover  of  Enslaved's  "As  Fire  Swept  Clean  the  Earth".

  As  Light  Dies  plays  a  musical  style  that  is  mostly  rooted  in  the  avant  garde  black  metal  style  but  also  mixes  in  doom,  death,  symphonic  and  goth  elements  to  create  a  musical  style  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  depression, math  and  historical  themes.

  In  my  opinion  As  Light  Dies  are  a  very  great  sounding  avant  garde  black  metal  band and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Gea"  and  "As  Fire  Swept  Clean  the  Earth".  8  out  of  10.

http://www.aslightdies.com
http://aslightdies.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/aslightdies
http://www.twitter.com/aslightdies    

 

The Magik Way/Curve Sternum/Sad Sun Music/2015 CD Review

  The  Magik  Way  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  the  musical  style  moves  away  from  the  avant  garde  black  metal  style  of  previous  recordings  to focus  more  on  an  experimental  and  avant  garde style  of  ritualistic  occult  music  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  'Curve  Sternum"  which  will  be  released  on  May  11th  by Sad  Sun  Music.

  Clock  sounds  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  acoustic  guitars  a  few  seconds  later  and  after  awhile  spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  some  of  the  songs  and  when  synths  are  utilized  they  give  the  recording  more  of  a  gothic  feeling  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound to  them.

  As  the  album  progresses the  music  starts  getting  more  experimental,  avant  garde  and ritualistic  sounding  while  also  adding  in  clean  yet  semi  distorted  guitars  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  good  amount  of  melodic  vocals  and  chants  and  none  of  the  songs  have  the  heaviness  or extreme  metal  elements  of  previous  recordings  but  you  can  hear  some  grim  elements  in  the  vocals  at  times that  are  very  close  to  black  metal.. 

  The  Magik  Way  moves  away  from  the  black  metal  sound  of  previous  recordings  to create  an  album  that  is  more  in  ritualistic,  avant  garde  and  experimental direction  along  with  a  touch  of  neo  folk,  the  production  sound s very  professional  while the  lyrics  are  written  in  Italian  and  cover  Quabilistic,  Occult  and  Esoteric  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  The  Magik  Way  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  ritualistic  occult  music,  you should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "La  Mano  Raccolglie"  "Yod-He-Vau-He"  and  "In  Alto  Come  In  Basso".  8  out  of  10. 

webpage: www.themagikway.com
facebook: www.facebook.com/themagikway

Self Spiller/Worms In The Keys/Varia Records/2015 CD Re-Issue Review

  Self  Spiller  are  an  international  band  with  members  from  the  United  States,  Canada,  Norway  and  Japan  that  plays  a  very  experimental  and  avant  garde  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2012  album  "Worms  In  the  Keys"  which  will  be  re-issued  in  May  of  2015  by  Varia  Records.

  Middle  Eastern  sounds  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  avant  garde  elements  and  a  few  seconds  later  melodic  riffs  and  clean  singing  are  added  onto  the  recording  and  the  music  starts  going  for  more  of  and  experimental  metal  sound  and  they  also  mix  the  ambient  and  heavy  parts  together  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts.

  Video  game  music  samples  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  acoustic  and  classical  guitars  at  times  as  well  as  a  small  amount  of  saxophones  and  a  good  portion  of  the  songs  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  also  add  in  grim  black  metal  screams  into  the  heavier  sections  of  the  music  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  very  dark  and  melodic  and  also  demonstrate  a  great  amount  of  talent  and  skill  and  some  of  the  tracks  also  bring  in  elements  of  noise  and  symphonic  music  and  you  can  also  hear  a  small  amount  of  female  vocals  on  some  of  the  songs

  Self  Spiller  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  post  black  and  avant  garde  metal  and  mixes  them  together  with  more experimental  and  free  form  jazz  elements  to  create  a  a  very  original  sounding  recording,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  covers  the  writings  of  Anthony  Bourain,  Alejandro  Jodorowsky  and  Corman  McCarthy  as  well  as  the  bass  players  own  experiences  with  health,  travel  and  loss  of  home.

In  my  opinion  Self  Spinner  are  a  very  great  sounding  experimental  and  avant  garde  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Folds  Of  Skin  To  Lay"  "Rot  On  Root"  and  "Strong  But  Damaged.  8  out  of  10.

http://www.selfspillerwitk.bandcamp.com 

  

Sigh/Graveward/Candlelight Records/2015 CD Review

  Sigh  are  a  band  from  Japan  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  very  symphonic, experimental  and  avant  garde  from  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Graveward"  which  will  be  released  in  May  by  Candlelight  Records.

  A  melodic  guitar  lead  which  also  dominates  throughout  the  album  and  symphonic  sounds  start  off  the  album  along  with  the  guitars  using  a  lot  of  old  school  metal  riffs  and  after  awhile  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  and  deep  growls  are  added  onto  the  recording  and  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  amount  of  clean  singing  vocals  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording.

  At  times  the  music  can  be  very  avant  garde  and  experimental  and  the  songs  also  mix  in  a  lot  of  traditional  Japanese  music  elements  in  with  the  heavier  parts  and  there  is  also  a  good  mixture  of  both  male  and  female  choir  vocals  present  throughout  the  recording  and  at  times  both  the  solos  and  synths  bring  in  a  heavy  influence  of  70's  psychedelic  and  progressive  rock  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  As  the  album  progresses  Japanese  folk  instruments  can  be  heard  at  times  and  some  of  the  later tracks  also  bring  in  spoken  word  parts  along  with  an  influence  of  noise  music  being  brought  in  at  times  and  the  heavy  parts  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  and  thrash  influences  while  the  saxophones  enhances  the  avant  garde  side  of  the  bands  musical  style  and  they  also  bring  in  a  couple  of  tracks  that  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Sigh  creates  another  album  that  is  still  very  heavily  rooted  in  black  metal  but  just  like  with  previous  efforts  the  music  also  remains  avant,  garde,  symphonic  and  original  sounding  while  the  band  has  gotten  back  a  lot  of  their  heaviness  over  the  years,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  horror  movie  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great sounding  recording  from Sigh and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Graveward"  "The Molesters  Of  My  Soul"  "The  Casket  Burner"  and  "Dwellers  In  Dream".  8  out  of  10.  

http://www.earsplitcompound.com/site/2015/04/17/sigh-legendary-japanese-avant-extreme-metal-quintet-to-release-tenth-studio-album-via-candlelight-next-month-new-tunes-posted/

Omrade Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Bargnatt : Edari is our first release. We are two in this band, I play guitar and vocals
Arsenic : I play drums and keyboards.

2.You have an album coming out in April, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
Bargnatt : Our music is like a picture, every song is a contemplation of a situation or a simple landscape. Like painters, we try to capture an intense moment and  a definition of sadness, light, and human emotion. It's our vision of darkness and beauty, but our songs could be read in different axes, it's not easy to follow all the time our evocation of cold feeling.
Arsenic : for me "Edari" is a journey between past and future; we have chosen old and modern sounds to reach that goal

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Bargnatt : There is different lyrical, sometimes we talk about our experience of hardest life, the abandon sentiment or sometimes about anger and rage of human being. Our lyrics are special and sometimes ironic, the constant of our lyrics is the melancholia, sadness, every song is a short history, a mutilation of fairy tales.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Omrade'?
Bargnatt : Område is very specific field or area of neighborhood.
Arsenic : it can be understand like a friendship too

5.Currently there are only 2 members in the band, are you planning on expanding the line up in the future or do you chose to remain a duo?
Bargnatt : It's an interesting question, we have a lot of great guests on our album, and I think a duo is better for a project like Område. But who knows what the future holds...
Arsenic : we have several great projects for Område, some are in the pipes and they are awesome, it may includes other people but for the moment we go straight.

6.Has the band done any live shows yet or is this strictly a studio project?
Bargnatt : It's not a strictly studio project, but due to other projects, it doesn't let for arsenic and I the time for this, but I would like play our music on stage.
Arsenic : it also depends of the feedbacks we will have on the album, we will see...

7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of metal?
Bargnatt : It's fun, because sometimes metal heads don't understand our music, because we have a lot of inspiration and we listen different kind of music. It's very hard for a pure metal heads to classify Område. It's our goal to do a music, we would like listen with different things, like Manes, Ulver, god is an astronaut, Head control system, Gazpacho, Nordic giant, Dodheismgard, I love the avant garde scene with a metal basis.
Arsenic : honestly the promotion is only at the very beginning, our first review gave us a 8/10 (and it was today :)
We hope they're will be more and more like that; moreover, our first clip "Mótsögn" is acclaimed by the critics; a really good start

8.Are any of the band members also involved with any other bands or musical projects?
Bargnatt : I have a band, but we prefer keeping the secret because now the important matter is Område.
Arsenic : me too, but at this time we want to separate the projects

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Bargnatt : I see Område in a perfect evolution with no restriction. I have a dream play Område's music in a theatre with an orchestra.
Arsenic : Musically, we are exploring new sides, we have to merge our 2 universes, it's sometimes hard but we are now convinced that we did the right choices on "Edari"; the next album could be different but always with our own personality, we will see...

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?
Bargnatt : My first influence is The Doors, I like Ulver, Manes, Dodheimsgard, Paradise Lost, Caspian, Leviathan, Treha Sektori, Gazpacho. And a lot of other bands, the list is very long, I listen all time music.
Arsenic : some many bands, from Soilwork to Queen

11.What are some of your non musical interests?
Bargnatt : I like reading, and writing, poetry and litterature for me are the best inspirations.
Arsenic : I am very busy to create music but i like art in general


12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Bargnatt : I would like to thank you for the great itw, and I take this opportunity to thank our great partners of “Edari” release Francesco from My Kingdom music and our PR agent Christophe Sousa and his team from Dooweet promotion.
Arsenic : we also want to thanks the great guests we had on "Edari" (Asphodel, Guillaume Bideau, Leo Sors, Kriss Mandra, Damien Legret) and our friend Benoit Tillier for the great teaser and clip production

https://www.facebook.com/Omradetheband/

Omrade/Edari/My Kingdom Music/2015 CD Review

  Omrade  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  plays  an  avant  garde  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Edari"  which  will  be  released  in  April  by  My  Kingdom  Music.

  A  very  dark  atmospheric  and  ambient  sound  starts  off  the  album  and  a  few  seconds  later  clean  singing  vocals  are  added  onto  the  recording  along  with  a  small  amount  of  saxophones  and  after  a  few  minutes  black  metal  screams  become  a  huge  part  of  the  music  and  the  synths  also  get  more  symphonic  and  also  add  in  an  influence  on  classical  music.

  Elements  of  industrial  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  along  with some  traces  of  trip  hop  and  electronic  music  and  as  the  album  progresses  acoustic  guitars  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  some  of  the  tracks  along  with  spoken  word  parts  and  female  vocals  being  utilized  at  times  and  there  are  also  a  few  tracks  that  are  long  and epic  in  length  and  the  music  gets  more  progressive  halfway  through  the  recording.

  Omrade  creates  and  album  that  brings in  a  variety  of  many  different  musical  genres  from  black  metal,  avant  garde,  trip  hop,  electronica,  ambient,  industrial  and  post  rock  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  a  mixture  of  Swedish  and  English  and  cover  dark  and  psychotic  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Omrade  are  a  very  great  sounding  avant  garde/post  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Mostsogn"  "Satellite  And  Narrow"  and  "Friendly  herpes".  8  out  of  10.

http://youtu.be/-i5kIREyCKY

Wrathage Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?
Scythe:
Well first of all thanks for the interest and the review, it was great after seven years of absence to read the first DISCIPLINE review \,,/
After the album was finished we of course started looking for labels for possible collaboration on the release and finalising the booklet designs and all the promo materials, shirts etc. and since we're a pretty much do-it-yourself band it all takes it's time to get things done. Also as we're not rehearsing nowadays for live performances we're already planning the next release and choosing the song drafts on which to work on. Also we're in the process of making a music video for the song "Walking to death" from DISCIPLINE.

2.You have a new album coming out in March, 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?
Scythe:

There's a lot of that good old late 90's second wave black metal atmosphere combined with really cool guitar work and Finnish harshness. I think we complicated things a bit too much on Crawlspace antipathy just to make it sound more progressive or unusual, this time we weren't pushing to make everything sound unique or difficult, we just let the music take it's course and let it go where it needed to go and how we enjoyed playing the songs. So I think the song structures have a more constant feeling to them and thus propably a bit more accessible. Also we haven't been that big on guitar solos earlier so now with H.Beast and Viha on the line-up there's a lot of magnificent guitar porn on many of the songs.

3.This is the first album to be released in 7 years, can you tell us a little bit more about the gap between releases?

Scythe:
We have never been really efficient in producing material, we get a lot of ideas and drafts but a lot of good stuff never gets made into a song and released as we can't finalise them. Also this is the first full lenght album we have done and this time we recorded everything by ourselves and that was a learning experience. Next time I think it will go a lot more smoothly, I promise it won't take seven years this time :) There's also some really old stuff on this album, on "Distortion" there is a couple of old D.V Grim riffs from his 1999 song "Into the holocaust" which has never been properly released, I just really thought they went well with the other parts of the song and put the final song together, also "Walking to death" first draft was done in 2003 with a really heavy and slow sluggish touch where as the final version is a whole lot of different than what originally planned.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?
Scythe:
I could give it a go but I'll let Koba who writes all of our lyrics tell you about his take on Black metal and things.

Koba:
For me the reason I work in the medium of Black Metal is that I see BM still, though it's not a new thing anymore, in the frontline of cultural evolution. BM is a force driving progress, since it hasn't stagnated into a doctrine and it continues to challenge new boundries. Of course there was this misunderstanding that true BM is set thing, but that too was challenged. Rebellion is to me what drives humanity forward. This could be traced back to Albert Camus and his collection of essays titled the Rebel (originally in french: le'revoltee). Camus's philosophy of the Absurd is also close to my thinking.

Death in Black Metal is dominant as is Darkness and desolation. They all are imagery and symbols of the soulscape. Death is a part of life as evil, or whatever one decides to call it, is of the whole of being human. Religious and moral hypochrisy is to me appalling, and the cry for death and absolute annihilation is not: it is a real sensation, even if it is infantile and selfish. Most feelings are everything but exulting. This is not how I thought in the beginning or earlier on, but this is how I see it now.

The political aspects are new to BM, but I see it as a natural progress of evolution within BM to take on new areas and enemies. BM has nor a BM artist doesn't need to shout out the hidden death yearns or to showcase a prayer for destruction: destruction and death of the palnet are evident and humanity as a mass is working directly towards those ends. BM can move on to pin point the hypocrisy of polithcs and other codes of human conduct that are as absurd as dogmatized religion. Maybe politicians should come out in the open with their real intentions and the effects of their decisions on the course of all existance. 248 million years ago 99% of all living organisms were annihilated. Politicians have a way to go to achieve this, but they're on the right track.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Wrathage'?
Scythe:
A bunch of immortal angry youngsters from Northern Finland gettin' drunk and playing metal music:) I came up with the name when I was like 16 years old and you know teenagers are always angry at something and it sounded cool so it was chosen as the band name. I think the original work in progress name was a really cheesy and cliche one called "autumnal dusk", it sounded nothing like us and thus wasn't chosen.

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?
Scythe:
The first one is always huge and we were lucky to be opening up for DISMEMBER with DEATHBOUND as our first ever gig so there was a good crowd there and all went really well. However the best ever respond has been in Jalometalli Winterfest 2007 with a lot of young metalheads banging their heads out and a couple of great moshpits emerging occasionally, it was an amazing feeling to perform to that crowd (cheers to everyone who were there \,,/). But what it looks like? I think a Half a dozen good looking fat metalheads from Finland :) HAHAHAAA!!!...\,,/ Well not that fat anymore. We enjoy playing live, I like both the making and performing of the music, however now as we have spread the band all over Finland we're not actively rehearsing and thus propably we'll be releasing new material more frequently.

7.Do you have an any or show plans once the new album is released?
Scythe:
Nothing now, we'll first see how well it is received and whether we receive any good offers, we haven't rehearsed in a couple of years at all so in order to get the live-performance solid we'd have to rehearse quite a lot and that needs a good motivation to get the crew together.

8.On the new album you did a Morbid Angel cover, what was the decision behind doing one of your own versions of their songs?
Scythe:
Actually I was thinking of doing Emperor's "With strenght I burn" but untill that was rehearsed Kuisma had already recorded the drums for the Morbid angel song and since it's a really bad ass song we decided to do our intepretation of it. It was also nice to hear and see H.Beast playing Morbid angel solos \,,/.

9.The new album is coming out on Maa Productions, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
Scythe:
Well there isn't actually a lot to tell, the communication has been limited to facts about the release. But how we came into co-operations is that I noticed them releasing the latest "As light dies" album so I took contact to them and since they were interested in releasing the album and what I had heard from others they seemed to handle their business really well so we took their offer. And what I've heard Japan is one of the few markets nowadays where people are buying more CD's where as pretty much everywhere else the sales are plummetting.

10.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by both fans of black and death metal?
Scythe:
Based on our previous releases I think Sweden hates us:) HAHAHAA!!! (Please someone prove me wrong?) A lot of good feedback mostly, some of the more underground true black metal circles haven't been too fond of our style which can be understood but in overall we're really pleased to see how well people from across the globe have understood our vision of the Metal extreme.


11.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part off?
Scythe:
Kuismahc plays drums in Kalmah which is currently composing new material for the next album and they're doing their first gig in Norway this year at may in Karmøygeddon Festival (http://karmoygeddon.no/).

I have actually been ramping up a new international online collaboration of sorts with some really cool people, stylishly we're doing a kind of a Jazzy-Avantgarde-post-metal-
rock-thingie, a lot of Ved buens ende, Virus and Yurei influences with maybe a hint of Arcturus to accompany the weirdness, really excited to see how people receive that material. This project goes by the name of "Selcouth" and will be made public soon. Currently we have people participating from Finland, France, Spain and Russia.

Also I participated a little on another online collaboration called Hécatombe Humaine with a couple of songs, I think the release will be mosly ambient but I made a couple of metal songs, one in the vein of Cadaver - Necrosis in 280Bpm \,,/. This will be a more underground release.

Tero:
I also play bass in a band called Liverbox.
We are a bunch of old men, (I´m the youngest and I´m 34), playing rock´n´roll. Currently we are mixin our forthcoming Ep, playing gigs and planning the future of the band.

12.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Scythe:
Onwards, there's a lot of new songs already being composed for the next release and no drastic changes on the style anticipated, maybe even better songs \,,/

13.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?
Scythe: The biggest influence over the years is definitely the second wave norwegian black metal from late 90's, grew up on those albums and still listen to them on a regular basis. Currently really excited of the new Dodheimsgard album "A Umbra omega", the one sample song they've released "Aphelion void" is just fantastic piece of art. I try to discover new interesting bands all the time, recently discovered a lot of great French avantgarde metal bands like Spekt, Igorrr, Smohalla, Pryapisme, Stagnant waters and Deathspell omega. Also I've acquired the entire Adversum catalogue - only quality releases there like Yurei, Delirium bound, Alpha obscura, Manimalism etc. I actually made a list of my favourite 2014 releases so I'll share it here:

Bloodway - Sunstone voyager and the clandestine horizon EP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMb5Sf-TaiU

Deconstructing Sequence – Access Code EP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngqgRaMx7co

Bölzer - Soma EP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qYVNcmZyLc

Thantifaxath - Sacred White Noise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w9TbulMd70

Execration - Morbid dimensions
https://www.youtube.com/watch…

Manimalism - Manimalism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbmEtfDBNOI

Mayhem - Esoteric warfare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d7cr-zdm1Y

Kampfar - Djevelmakt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtifXWB3IQQ

Thy darkened shade - Liber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6pqbDMKBt4

Necrophagia - WhiteWorm Cathedral
http://necrophagia.bandcamp.com/album/whiteworm-cathedral

As light dies - TLA vol1.
http://aslightdies.bandcamp.com/track/nemesis

The Deathtrip - Deep drone master
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ijl7crxqkg

Philm - Fire from the evening sun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAoBuFewYMs

14.What are some of your non musical interests?
Scythe: I've been into Ashtanga yoga for a couple of years soon which balances the extreme metal side nicely.

15.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
It feels good to be back! \,,/

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Solefald/World Metal, Kosmopolis Sud/Indie Recordings/2015 CD Review

  Solefald  are  a  band  from  Norway  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  an  avant  garde  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "World  Metal,  Kosmopolis  Sud"  which  was  released  by  Indie  Recordings.

  Keyboards  and  programmed  beats  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  clean  singing  vocals  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts  that  are  done  in  a  grim  fashion  and  a  few  seconds  later  heavy  guitars  are  added  onto  the  recording  which  also  leads  up  to  some  black  metal  screams  and  elements  of  electronic  music.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  a  good  portion  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  at  times  tribal  beats  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with  some  of  the  tracks  also  bringing  in small  amounts  of  acoustic  and  classical  guitars.

  When  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  add  more  of  a  melodic  sound  to  the  songs  they  are  utilized  on  and  some  of  the  tracks  also b ring in  a  small  amount  of  death  metal  growls  and  there  are  a  lot  of  world  music  elements  being  utilized  throughout  the  recording  and  the  album  sticks  to  mostly  a  slow  to  mid  paced  musical  direction  while  also  still  being  very  diverse  all  at  the  same  time  and  one  of  the  tracks  also  brings  in  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats.

  Solefald  creates  an  album  that  is  very  diverse  taking  the  avant  garde  black  metal  sound  of  early  releases  and  expanding  on  it  by  adding  in  a  variety  of  many  different  electronic  and  world  music  elements  to  make  their  musical  style  sound  more  up  to  date  in  2015,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Social  Commentary/Satire,  Stream  of  Consciosness  and  Mythology.

 In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Solefald  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Germanic  Entity"  "Future  Universal  histories"  and  "Oslo  Melancholy".  8  out  of  10.

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Necroart/Lamma Sabactini/Masterpiece Distribution/2014 CD Review

  Necroart  are  a  band  from  Italy  that plays  a  very  avant  garde,  gothic  and  progressive  form  of  melodic  black/death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Lamma  Sabactini"  which  was  released  by  Masterpiece  Distribution.

  A  very  dark  and  epic  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts  and  you  cna  also  hear  elements  of  traditional  Italian  music  in  the  background  and  a  couple  of  minutes  the  music  gets  a  lot  heavier  while  also  incorporating  some  avant  garde  and  prog  elements  into  their  musical  style  and  they  also  add  in  a  good  amount  of  grim  black  metal  screams  and  some  of  the  songs  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

   You  can  hear  a  great  amount  of  melody  being  utilized  in  the  tracks  and  at  time s the  vocals  also  get  more  melodic  while  also  keeping  around  a  very  rough  edge  while  on  later  tracks  they  also  bring  in  a  few  death  metal  growls  and  most  of  the  tracks  stick  to  a  slow  or  mid  paced  musical  direction  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound.

   A  good  amount  of  the  tracks  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  singing  gothic  metal  vocals  along  with  a  touch  of  melodic  doom  metal  while  some  of  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  few  seconds  of  operatic  female  vocals  and  as  the  album  progresses  acoustic  guitars  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording.

  Necroart  plays  a  style  of  music  that  brings  in  the  heaviness  of  melodic  death  and  black  metal  and  they  bring  in  some  avant  garde,  progressive  and  gothic  elements  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark,  poetic  and  occult  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Necroart  are  a  very  great  sounding  avant  garde,  gothic  and  progressive  mixture  of  melodic  death,  black  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Demiurge"  "Joining  The  Maelstrom"  "Of  Ghouls,  Maggots,  and  Werewolves"  and  "Cyanide  And  Mephisto".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=IY4eRctLdQM

Mystical Fullmoon/Chtonian Theogony/Beyond Productions/2014 CD Review

  Mystical  Fullmoon  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  very  avant  garde  and  symphonic  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Chtonian  Theogony"  which  was  released  by  Beyond  Productions.

  Dark  avant  garde  sounds  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts  that  are  also  used  on  some  of  the  other  tracks  as  well  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  more  of  an  orchestrated  style  of  melodic  black  metal  which  also  brings  in  fast  parts,  blast  beats  and  grim  screams  along  with  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

    At  time s the  synths  can  be  very  experimental  sounding  and  a  good  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  added  into  the  music  they  bring  in  a  very  melodic  and  talented  sound  to  the  bands  musical  style  and  as  the  album  progresses  acoustic  guitars  are  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with  a  few  songs  that  are  in  more  of  an  avant  garde  and  experimental  direction  along  with  a  few  tracks  bringing  in  a  small  amount  of  melodic  Gregorian  chants  and  saxophones.

  Mystical  Fullmoon  plays  a  style  of  black  metal  that  is  very  symphonic  while  also  being  melodic,  avant  garde  and  experimental  at  the  same  time  and  you  can  hear  a  great  amount  of  talent,  skill  and  originality  in  their  musical  sound,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  the  writings  of  H.P  Lovecraft,  Esoterism,  and  Dark  Poetry  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Mystical  Fullmoon  are  a  very  great  sounding  symphonic  and  avant  garde  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "An  Outermost  Resonance"  "A  Red  And  Black  Sacrament"  "After  the  Coil"  and  "Dream  brother".  8  out  of  10.

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Unfathomed Of Abyss Interview

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

Unfathomed of Abyss is a studio project that utilizes extreme metal / black metal sounding musical phrases composed in a layered and constantly temporally evolving symphonic framework.


2.Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

It's fucking awesome. But, I'm really not an unbiased source of information on this.


3.This musical project has been around since 2001 but so far this is the first release, can you tell us a little bit more about the delay?

I started writing in 2001, and finished in 2012. Though some of the parts I even wrote in 2000, I had used them to do a concept study in rhythmic ideas tied to tonality that evolved, or echoed with slight changes introduced to repeated elements over time, rather than mindless repeating of parts verbatim for the entire piece. That study that I did on 2001 ended up being the proof of concept for the entire album, which is the final section of “The Malevolence of Existence's Continuation”. I had to insert some parts that mindlessly repeated verbatim though because constantly evolving parts with no opposite can create it’s own type of monotony as well. But in estimating / tallying up the actual time spent working on writing the album, if I omit all the time spent not working on the parts that went into the album (time spent writing other stuff that did not make it on the album, writing other music as an exercise or concept studies, time spent studying classical theory amongst whatever other random things life throws one's way), the writing would have consisted of about a years worth of weekends and evenings, it was just spread out over almost the entire time-frame. Although, it took me a lot longer to write parts at first, than it does now. Recording didn't take forever once I was done writing. Then I spent literally a year re-mixing it with mostly decade's old software and hardware. Most of the time was spent waiting for the geezerly Dell I have to process audio, usually around 10 – 20 minutes per track, multiple times for each song. I had like 20 – 30 mix downs to go through for each song because loading everything up all at once would freeze the software for sure, and occasionally crash the computer and forever corrupt audio files.



4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects that you explore with your music?

“To Unequal the Balance of the Cosmos” is about origins and evolution of life, and that life taking hold of the physics of it's own basis, and a cataclysm that follows when life manipulates it's basis.

“The figment Unadulated” is about the nonexistence, arbitraryness and invented bullshittery of things that exist only in the minds of people; religions, cultures, and really any group of people where the name of that group somehow lasts longer than the people that adopt those made up ways.

“Within The Glory of Other Lights” is about humanity and life in general's need to colonize areas away from Earth, as Earth will be consumed by the Sun eventually when it expands to be a red giant (it's circumference has been estimated by people a lot smarter than me to come to rest roughly along Earth's orbit in around 2 billion years or so, though in around 1 billion years, the increase [occurring right now] in the Sun's luminosity will heat Earth up to the point of being unfit for life). Mars is referred to in the lyrics, however the title suggests other stars besides the one that annoys us in the morning are a worthy goal as well.

“To Nothing” is about a life form that fails to overcome it's subordinance to existence, and then dissolves to existence itself, to molten rock, or vapor perhaps. It however maintains a chance at future evolution to self awareness again, as is true of any of the ingredients for life that may be wandering through the universe right now.

“Within the Void” is about the nonexistent dichotomy purveyed (to annoy people with any sense) by the fake fucks that inhabit Earth, those who pretend that ideas (actually, I'm just talking about traditions, cultural groups and religions) are somehow reality itself, and who purvey that anything observable, testable and otherwise physically real is somehow not real or not useful. So, it's about a habit of travesty that humanity perpetuates upon itself; a fleshy self destruct button.

The Malevolence of Existence's Continuation is about the transience of life, and it's subordinance to Earth.

The way the lyrics are written though, those meanings are hard to glean.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Unfathomed Of Abyss'?

It's a sort of slight of hand way of saying “life”. At least, I wouldn't expect much of it to exist in a universe that largely consists of a relative majority of emptiness.

6.With this musical project you record everything by yourself, are you open to working with a full time band, or do you prefer to work solo?

I couldn't have written this as a collaboration with a band. Nor could I have learned to write this type of stuff if I was spending a lot of free-time practicing playing parts. I did work with two other people on this, and could not have finished it without their help. Kevin Talley did the drums, and Tom Kvålsvoll did the Mastering.

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

There hasn't been any label interest. I may be wrong, but I assume there has to be some sort of touring capability to entice a lot of labels. These days they seem to serve more of a promotional function (it's very easy to self release digitally and physically) as far as I can tell, and opening for some band with a big following that also kicks ass in a live performance is likely a better form of promotion than putting those same band's name in a “sounds similar to...” section of a website. But I'm on the fence about labels anyway.

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

Pretty good actually. It varies wildly though. I have received feedback indicating that the music is just right to people's tastes, and even that it is the type of thing some people look for. I have gotten feedback that indicates some people really expect a more linear and “repeated verbatim” based approach to something labeled with the word “symphonic”, I guess the same people might be seeing the “black metal” in the descriptions I use, and ignoring the “symphonic” part. I use those terms merely because they are the closest descriptive terms that people use to search for any music online. I do not believe that somehow, magically or as in some other type of woo woo type way that my music itself inhabits some mystical state of being by being called this or that. So, it is not this, that, or some other thing. It is what it is. I would call it “fluffy cupcakes” if search terms could be replaced by sounds playing in a person's brain. It would be a lot easier if Amazon could hear those sounds when I search for music to buy, otherwise I have to figure out how people are describing music, which can be bullshit.

9.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician in the future?

I'll be writing more brutally and varied, and more symphonically. There is some new material already written. I'm also interested in getting rid of the use of synthesized sounds as much as possible. So I've got a violin being shipped to me from halfway around the globe as I type this. It's not a far stretch, from guitar to violin. Assuming I can get to the point of being able to record what I write with it, then I'll have to find a viola, cello and double bass as well. All the synth parts were actually written with the real instruments in mind anyway.

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?

Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, old Metallica, Slayer, Mayhem, Arcturus, Emperor, Stravinskiy's The Rite of Spring, almost anything by Alan Hovhaness, Iannis Xenakis, and Vangelis. those are the best examples I can think of now. I prefer modern orchestral styles to classical / boroque, romantic etc eras, dissonant metal, or metal that uses multiple types of scales rather than music that solely relies on the typical overused, ripped of to the point of annoyance western scale. Nowadays I flip constantly between the nu-metal, hard rock, 90's hard / grunge rock, alternative and classical (not the opera one) channels on SiriusXm.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Architecture, stop-motion animation, computer generated visual effects software (Blender is the shit) surreal / fantasy / sci-fi visual artwork, designing things.

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

Just say no to trends.

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Astrum Malum Interview

Interview - ASTRUM MALUM
For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the musical project?
Astrum Malum was created in the autumn of 2014. The first songs were created quite fast since I had a very clear picture of how this project should sound like. The music is done completely with a single software, except for the guitars and vocals. This is how I plan to work in the future as well.

Recently you have released an Ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
 In my view, about half of the music is a combination of quite minimalistic “Neo Classical” sounds combined with electronic Ambient and Industrial sounds. The other half is a combination of Doom, Sludge and Black Metal. In the future I intend to include more Noise and electronics in general, as well as more Symphonic orchestral feelings.

What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explore with your music?
The themes of the Ep deal with the loops and mirror-houses of human consciousness, and on the other hand spiritual death. Very Alchemical and Buddhist actually, although most of the world’s spiritual systems deal with these same topics, ideally.

What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Astrum Malum'?
 The name in Latin means “Evil Star”, at least that’s how I’ve meant it, and is a symbol of basically two things: The human consciousness itself, and the cultures it produces. The project wants to fuse the ancient with the modern, and the destructiveness of Western culture and the spirituality of the East, on some levels.

 With this project you record all of the instruments while you have some help with the lyrics and vocals, are there any plans to hire a full time line up in the future?
 I have had so much bad experiences with working as a “band” with many people in the past, that with this project I try to handle things as much as possible on my own. I am however fortunate to have two individuals co-operating with me with on the Ep with the lyrics, the other one of these also speaking Latin. I hope this will continue in the future as well.

 Recently SisSixSix Music have released your Ep and another recording from one of your other projects. Are you happy with the support they have given you so far?
 Actually Astrum Malum is the only project I have that’s been released by SixSixSix Music. Steve has been very helpful, and has many years of experience in label-work. He’s a pro!

 On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to this musical project by fans of black metal?
 It’s hard to tell, since the Ep has been out for such little time, but there have been a few positive reviews at this point. This is the first interview I’m answering with Astrum Malum.

 What is going on with some of the other musical projects these days that you are involved with?
 I have been doing Black Metal -related music since the mid-nineties, and there have been a lot of small projects, but may main bands at the moment besides Astrum Malum are: Taatsi (creating Nature Mystical Black Metal), and Vinoristi (formerly known as TKNKNTJ, Punk-influenced impetuous Blackened Metal)

Where do you see yourself heading into musically during the future?
With Astrum Malum, I will continue along the paths begun with the Ep, releasing a full-length album in 2015.

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 listen to so many different styles of music, it would be a long answer to list all the things I love, but in the case of Astrum Malum I have (always) wanted to create feelings mixing Dead Can Dance with the Tron: Legacy OST by Daft Punk (if you know what I mean), mixed also of course with Sludgy Black Metal.

How would you describe your views on Satanism, Luciferianism, and Occultism?
The proper nouns Satan and Lucifer mean today in peoples mind quite the different things they originally stand for, but I have been fascinated by the characters in the works of for example Milton, Dante, Bulgakov and Goethe since a kid. I have also quite liked the sense of humour Anton LaVey had. There have been periods in my life when terms like “Luciferian” or “Satanist” have meant a lot to me, but now at the age of 34 these would not be my first choices of words describing myself.
I have been into Ritual Magick, studying different religions and spiritual systems etc. since my early teens, but these days my practice revolves mostly around Yoga, Meditation, and Kabbalah.

 What are some of your non musical interests?
Besides the above-mentioned activities, I am for example into reading psychology and neurology, psychedelic themes, lifting weights and training boxing, as well as raising my daughter.

Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Like I mentioned earlier, this was the first interview I’ve done with Astrum Malum, many thanks for that, and your support in general! The Ep “Nether Knot” is available from SixSixSix Music, and a full-length album will be released by an yet unnamed label in 2015!

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