Consumer/Self Titled/Fresh Outbreak Records/Mother Ship/Impeto Records/Boned Factory/Nut Records/2020 EP Review

  Consumer  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  sludge  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2020  ep  which  will  be  released  in  April  as  a  joint  effort  between  Mother  Ship,  Boned  Factory,  Fresh  Outbreak,  Impeto  and  Nut  Records.

  A  very  slow  and  heavy  sludge  metal  sound  starts  off  the  ep  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.  Death  metal  growls  are  also  used  quite  a  bit  on  the  tracks  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard.

  Black  metal  screams  are  also  utilized  at  times  while  tremolo  picking  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  faster  riffing.  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  all  of  the  tracks  also  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length,  all  of  the  music  also  sticks  to  a  heavier  direction.

  Consumer  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  black,  sludge  and  death  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Consumer  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  sludge  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Witchslayer".  8  out  of  10.

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Golden Blood/Cum, Coke & Blasphemy/Witching Hour Productions/2020 EP Review

  Golden  Blood  is  a  solo  project  from  Austria  that  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  black,  thrash  metal  and  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2020  ep  "Cum,  Coke  &  Blasphemy"  which  will  be  released  on  March  30th  by  Witching  Hour  Productions.

  A  very  dark  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some  melodic  guitar  leads  a  few  seconds  later  while  the  riffs  also  use  a  great  amount  of  melody.  Elements  of  thrash  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  the  guitar  riffing  along  with  the  vocals  being  mostly  angry  sounding  black  metal  screams.

  The  songs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  Swedish  influences  while  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  during  the  faster  sections  of  the  music.  Keyboards  can  also  be  heard  in  the  background  briefly  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  At  times  the  music  also  captures  the  raw  energy  of  punk  rock  as  well  the  recording  having  a  lot  of  roots  in  the  80's  and  90's  era  but  keeping  it  modern  at  the  same  time,  clean  vocals can  also  be  heard  briefly  on  a  couple  of  songs.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  blasphemy  and  drug  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Golden  Blood  is  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  mixture  of  black,  thrash  metal  and  punk  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  solo  project.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Cum,  Coke  &  Blasphemy"  and  "Empress  Of  The  Unholy  Reich".  8  out  of  10.

https://witchinghourproductions.bandcamp.com/album/cum-coke-blasphemy    

Inherently Lost/Our Last Midnight/Entwined Recordings/2020 EP Review

  Inherently  Lost  are  a  band  from  Ohio  that  plays  a  very  melodic  and  symphonic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  ep  "Our  Last  Midnight"  which  will  be  released  on  Entwined  Recordings.

  Symphonic  sounding  keyboards  start  off  the  ep  and  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  music  while  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  at  times.  Clean  female  vocals  are  also  utilized  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  while  also  bringing  in  a  touch  of  gothic  metal  and  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  good  amount  of  melody.

  When  aggressive  vocals  are utilized  they  also  introduce  elements  of  black  and  death  metal  onto  the  recording  while  a  slight  industrial  influence  can  also  be  heard at  times.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them while  one  track  also  introduces  clean  playing  onto  the  recording  and  as  the  ep  progresses  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  briefly  on  a  couple  of  tracks.

 Most  of  the  music  focuses  more  on  a  slow  or  mid  tempo  style  and  they  also  bring  in  a  cover  of  Cradle  Of  Filth's  "Nymphetamine"  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.  The  production  sounds  very  dark  while  the  lyrics  cover  apocalyptic  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Inherently  Lost  are  a  very  decent  symphonic  melodic  and  symphonic  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  "Requiem  For  The  Lost  (Dream)"  "Senseless  Sacrifice"  and  "Carnage  Of  Your  Sins".  7/5  out  of  10.

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V:XII Interview

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

V.XII was created in 2018 and was initially meant to be music for a new Deadwood album. But early on it became quite clear that this was something I wanted to have a moniker of its own, and a project that I will be able to invest more time in than Deadwood. The music itself is a mix of Death Industrial, Ambient, Doom and Black Metal with emphasis on Death Industrial. I have been involved in multiple bands and projects during my years in the sonic arts. Ranging prom primitive Black Metal in Blodulv and Doom/Death in Culted to more experimental industrial sounds in Keplers Odd and Black Ambient/Death Industrial in Deadwood to name a few. And V:XII is a combination of all.

2.Recently you have released a new album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style you went for on the recording?

I wanted to combine the elements of Death Industrial music with the atmosphere of Doom and Black Metal. Using a more beat oriented and structured approach to the tracks then I had done before. Without losing the atmosphere and intensity that I achieved in other projects before V:XII.

3.You are also involved with a few other musical projects, how does the music you do with 'V:XII' differ from the stuff you do with your other bands or groups?

V:XII is, as stated above a more structured and beat oriented creation then my previous efforts doing Death Industrial type of music. Something I think Deadwood lost along the way. And its not by any means Metal based music like Culted even if it draws some influence from genres like Doom and Black. So, it is a whole other entity. This will be my go-to project when doing solo albums from now on.

4.Some of your lyrics touch on Occultism, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic?

I have always been inspired by the occult and the symbolism that comes with it. In my youth I was experimenting with different types and branches of systems out there. Today not so much. But it keeps being a big influence on lyrics be it figurative or not.

5.You also have a few runes on your bandcamp page, how would you describe your interest in runology?

As mentioned above, that was one of the branches that I explored in my youth and it had a deep impact on me. Today its more it is more of a lyrical inspiration then anything else.

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

I had Max Winter (Teratogen) to do the artwork. He usually does designs for metal bands, but I think he did a great job with the layout. I sent him my tracks and the lyrics. And I let him come up with his interpretation of the music. The only part I played was to let him know my preferences and ideas. But he had, creative control over the layout.

7.With this project you record everything by yourself but also have experience working with other musicians, how would you compare the two?

It a whole other thing when one has complete control and don’t have to compromise about anything. Both has its pros and cons though. When recording with other people you get a direct feedback about what you need to re-work and record again, so you always have the opinions of others to fall back on. Good or bad.
But when you have 100% control and no one else’s opinion to take into consideration you get everything exactly the way you want. You can’t blame no one, but yourself if it doesn’t sound good. There´s a lot more pressure to perform at a higher level, there´s nowhere to hide. It´s just you.

8.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of underground metal, experimental, noise and ambient?

The Rom, Rune and Ruin album was just released so I have yet to get proper feedback on that album. But in my opinion, it’s one of my best albums up to date, so I’m very eager to get some proper reviews. But other than that, I think I have had a good response in general for most of my albums. Reviews have been positive for both Culted and Deadwood in the past. Sure, there are always some people that dislike what you do but that’s inevitable. I create music that I myself want to listen to and its an outlet for me. If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it.

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

Culted is working on a new album, if things go according to plan it will be done in summer 2020. I will be recording vocals in the next fem months.

I have started to work on a new V:XII album but it’s on hold until the Culted album is done.

Deadwood is on ice but will most likely be an outlet for more Black Ambient music in the future.

Aum Arrhythmia is working on a new album, but I have no idea when that one will be finished.


10.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician during the future?

Only time will tell.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Too many to bands and genre´s to give you a list but here are three bands that have had a huge impact on me over the years:
Darkthrone
Tool
Brighter Death Now

Some of the records that I have been listening to the last few days are:
Kjellvandertonbruket – Doom Country
Blut Aus Nord-Hallucinogen
Wolfbrigade-The Enemy: Reality
Trepaneringsritualen-Kainskult
Human Impact-S/T

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

I’m good, thanks!

https://vxii.bandcamp.com/

https://culted.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/daniel.jansson.75641

Descent Into Maelstrom/Iconoclasm/Club Inferno Ent,/2020 CD Review

  Descent  Into  Maelstrom  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  has  had  music  reviewed  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  very  melodic  and  progressive  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "Iconoclasm"  which  will  be  released  on  March  25th  by  Club  Inferno  Ent. .

  Acoustic  guitar  playing  starts  off  the  album  while  folk  instruments  can  also  be  heard  briefly  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction.  Vocals  are  a  mixture  of  blackened  metal  screams  and  death  metal  growls  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats.

  The  riffs  also  utilize  a  great  amount  of  melody  while  the  tracks  also  add  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  At  times  the  music  also  gets  very  progressive  sounding  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  also  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  as  well  as  the  songs  also  bringing  in  a  decent  mixture  of  both  old  school  and  modern  influences.

 There  are also  two  instrumental  tracks  presented  on  the  recording  along  with  a  couple  of  the  songs  also  being  long  and  epic  in  length.  As  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  synths  can  also  be  heard  and  acoustic  guitars  also  return  in  some  parts  of  the  music.  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  briefly  on  the  closing  song.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  life,  death,  consciousness  and  dram  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Descent  Into  Maelstrom  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  melodic  and  progressive  black  and  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Misanthrope"  "Forgotten  Wisdom"  and  "The  Portal  Of  The  Elsewhere".  8  out  of  10.

 http://facebook.com/descentintomaelstromband 

  

Mystherium/Zemsta Natury (Revenge of Nature)/War Productions/Werewolf Promotion/2020 CD Review

  Mystherium  are  a  band  from  Poland  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  on  this  recording  plays  a  gothic  and  pagan  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "Zemsta  Natury  (Revenge  Of  Nature)"  which  will  be  released  on  March  20th  as  a  joint  effort  between  War  Productions  and  Werewolf  Promotion.

  A  very  dark,  heavy  and  epic  sounding  intro  starts  off  the  album  while  also  introducing  synths,  spoken  word  parts  and  whispers  onto  the  recording  while  the  heavier  riffs  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  melody.  Most  of  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  era  and  the  vocals  are  done  in  mostly  a  grim  black  metal  style.

  The  synths  also  gives  the  music  more  of  an  epic  and  gothic  atmosphere  while  blast  beats  and  tremolo  picking  can  also  be  heard  when  the  music  speeds  up. Touches  of  classical  music  can  also  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  recording  as  well  as  the  songs  also  adding  in  a  great  amount  of  pagan  metal  elements  and  most  of  the  album  sticks  to  either  a  slow  or  mid  tempo  style,  stringed  instruments  can  also  be  heard  briefly. 

  On  this  recording  Mystherium  plays  a  musical  style  that  goes  back  to  the  90's  era  of  gothic  and  pagan  black  metal.  The  production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Polish  and  cover  Nature  and  Paganism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Mystherium  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  gothic  and  pagan  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Ancestor's  Beliefs  (Wiara  Prozodkow)"  and  "Crows  And  Ravens  (Kruki  i  Wrony)".  8  out  of  10.

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Oath Of Damnation 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?
At the time of writing this, the new album has just been released, so it's early days yet, but we're pretty stoked to finally be unleashing it upon the world! We had actually finished the recording back in June/July of 2019. Since then we've been working with Carlos of Gore House Productions steadily building up promotion for the album release and getting our name out there. We've also been busy rehearsing and gearing up for live shows again as we've been away from the stage for a while now. Our first show coming up is the official album launch here in our home town of Adelaide March 21st. While things are still relatively quiet on the live show front we're already getting stuck into writing new material for the next album. This time it won't take six freaking years, haha!

2.Recently you have released a new album, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
Whereas our first album, 'The Descent' was a much more black metal album atmospherically, 'Fury and Malevolence' still carries that through, but with a much more brutal edge to it. There's certainly more death metal sounding elements this time around, as well as an emphasis on more technical aspects. Overall it's taken what we established with 'The Descent', I feel, to the next level. The songs are stronger, the recording itself is night and day compared to the first album, being a lot clearer and more powerful sounding compared to the first one.

3.This is also your first release since since 2014, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?
It wasn't too long after the release of our first album 'The Descent' that we had to go through a line up change. Our previous vocalist/keyboardist, Formosus decided to call it a day, and we parted ways on friendly terms. He and I still play together in a couple of different projects, actually. We sort of floated in a bit of a limbo for a while really until we made the decision that I take on the vocal duties as well as continuing on bass. That just left us with searching for a keyboard player, and eventually Haemorrh joined to fill the role. With the line up once again secure, we set to work rehearsing the set, writing material for the new album and getting back out there playing shows again. Constantinos, Necromancer and myself also play in another band called Shadow Realm, which during a lot of that time took more of a priority over Oath of Damnation as we were writing and recording an album with that band plus playing quite frequently.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explore with the new album and also how would you describe your progress as songwriters over the years?
Something I like to do with lyrics is take a theme from either a personal or objective point of view and add a great deal of artistic license, ranging from concepts of ancient mythologies, horror themes, history, religion and the occult. Imhullu for instance comes from ancient Sumerian/Babylonian text. 'Imhullu' is the name of a wind weapon that Marduk used to help slay Tiamat as described in the classic tale. 'To Crack the Earth, and Bring Down the Sky' is based on a black magic spell designed to give one control over extreme weather. 'I Curse Thee, 'O Lord!' is a twist on the classic biblical tale of Abraham being commanded by his god to sacrifice his son, Isaac. In the original tale of course, an angel comes down to stay his hand at the last minute, but in our own horrific tale, the deed is carried through in grim fashion. One thing I would avoid though is injecting personal opinions or beliefs into the lyrics. Where we may tackle some subjects related to, say, the occult, or satanic themes as we have done and may continue to do is purely from an outside perspective as an actor in film or theatre would play a demon or sorcerer. With these new batch of songs, compared to those of the last album, I feel we've managed to work a more natural flow and balance between the different genres you can hear in our music compared to that of the last album. Obviously the dominant sounds you can hear are death and black metal in nature, but the shred guitar and progressive elements are there also, and we've been very mindful that none of it feels forced in any way.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Oath Of Damnation'?
It's pretty much meant to be a curse. The idea for the name came from the earliest foundation of the band, which was a concept thought up by our previous singer about the vengeful spirit of Pope Formosus, (who was Pope of the catholic church from 891 to his death in 896 ad) turned dark and wrathful against his former religion. “Curse and damnation be upon ye, who wear the cloth and cross of those that defiled my corpse!” In 897, by the order of his second successor Pope Stephen VI (his immediate successor Pope Boniface VI lasted only fifteen days!), Formosus' body was exhumed and put on trial, sentenced and stripped of his papal title and decrees, buried in a commoner's grave, but then dug up again and thrown in the Tiber river. Ninth Century Papal politics at its finest! With this whole concept, we were thinking very much along the lines of something like out of a horror movie (King Diamond is also a big influence on us when it comes to concepts). An earlier moniker that we were going under was Popecorpse, but we were never really a hundred percent settled with that name, and through the evolution of lyrical and conceptual imaginings, the wrathful spirit Formosus' 'Oath of Damnation' was born, and has since remained.

6.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
The art was done by the mighty Jenglot Hitam, who's done a huge amount of work for a lot of bands out there now, and is an absolute master at his craft! This particular piece I came across on my social media news feed one day. Its image depicting demons and angels engaged in battle with one another instantly jumped out at me and just fit the album title and the song 'With Fire and Malevolence' perfectly, which lyrically, is a war in the heavens type of song. Luckily it was available for purchase, so I snapped it up straight away. We've since commissioned him to produce the artwork that you can find on the lyric video of 'I Curse Thee, 'O Lord!', which turned out a goddamned masterpiece.

7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Two shows I can recall that I really enjoyed playing was with Dead Congregation in Brisbane back in 2016, and opening for Psycroptic and Archspire here in Adelaide. Also the first show we played as Oath of Damnation back in 2012 with Impiety and fellow locals Tzun Tzu and Cauldron Black Ram. Our live show, in line with our earlier concept I mentioned earlier was more theatrical, garbed as dark priests and monks and complete with a lecturn that our previous vocalist used to stand behind and scream forth his sermons. We've toned it down quite a lot visually since then, but stepped it up quite a bit in musical brutality, engaging more with the crowd and bludgeoning their senses like a hammer.

8.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
At the time of writing, our home town album launch is now only a week away, March 21st at Jive bar on Hindley St. The next is April 18th, also in Adelaide and is part of an all day festival called Heavy S.A. Fest, which is a showcase of a variety of metal acts that our state of South Australia has to offer. We're just starting to secure dates for elsewhere around the country. Early days there, but plans are forming. We'd love to get out of Australia and tour anywhere that'll have us, but as we're still relatively unknown, the gameplan is to build up a name for ourselves with this album which I'm confident will help put us more within the global metal community's radar.

9.The new album was released on 'Gore House Productions', how did you get in contact with this label?
Purely by chance. We were still in the process of finalizing the recording, when Constantinos sent a track to a friend of his, Walter Greggs, who is a DJ for Cranium Radio based in the U.S. Walter is also a friend of Carlos, who runs Gore House Productions, and he sent him the track. Carlos got in touch with us almost straight away. We got to talking and could see right off that working together would be mutually beneficial, so here we are! It's obvious to us he works hard for the bands on his label and already he's done a lot to help increase our exposure to new fans out there in the metal world, so much more than we could ever do ourselves.

10.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black and death metal?
So far, particularly with Fury and Malevolence, the feedback has been great. Like I said, it's early days still, but reviews are starting to trickle in, and they've been really positive. We're starting to get a lot of listener feedback from fans of both style also, which has also been so far very positive.

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 of?
Myself, Constantinos and Necromancer also have a band called Shadow Realm, which is more of a fusion of classic heavy metal with thrash/bkack/progressive elements. We've been busy playing a fair amount of shows and have just about finished recording a new EP. On top of that, I play guitar/vocals in a death metal band I've had going for many years now called Beyond Mortal Dreams, and am working towards having a new album out later this year. Haemorrh plays keys in another band called In The Burial, which has recently put out a new album and has also been quite active on the live scene of late. Between us all we keep ourselves quite active musically.

12.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
For now, I see us continuing down the path that Fury and Malevolence has put us on. I feel like we've hit our stride musically, so I'd love to carry on and build on that. Some of the new material that's beginning to emerge is already taking a bit more of a brutal turn, but that's not to say we'll be moving away from our more atmospheric side.

13.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?
For as long as I've been playing in bands, I've always been inspired by death metal styles. With what we produce in Oath of Damnation, we're obviously we're quite driven by both the death and black metal genres, and we do listen to a lot of music that fall in those realms. Of course, other music you really enjoy are gonna influence and rub off you in a sub-conscious way naturally, so I guess you're always gonna hear similarities with other things out there. Collectively we listen to a wide variety of music, from classic metal, to thrash, death, black, prog, even rock, jazz, funk and orchestral music.

14.Does Satanism or Occultism play any role in your music?
Only as I mentioned earlier on, portraying these themes as an actor would play the role of a demon or sorcerer, or any other dark type of role. These concepts are not reflective of any personal spiritual beliefs held by anyone in the band, but are held as a point of interest in a fictional sense.

15.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Just to say thanks for the interview and the opportunity to further spread Oath of Damnation's name and music out amongst the metal hordes at large. To everyone who knows us, or just discovered us, a huge thanks to you all! We really appreciate all your support and we hope to see you on the road one day soon. Until then, play loud and destroy!

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