Oracle Interview

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

We are a melodic blackened death metal band from lower Alabama that prides itself on epic music that incorporates many genres of metal.



2.In 2016 you had released an album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

Diverse with a heavy attention on creating different ways to make the listener either head bang or feel emotions. An adventure and journey that carries you through ups and downs with topics of hatred, uprise, battle and death itself.




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

Ancient gods and goddesses, serpents, war, death, fire and ice all used in metaphors for everyday ailments such as anger, sadness and hatred. We like to leave the lyrics open ended enough that the listener can inject his or her own emotion and life experiences into the songs.




4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Oracle'?

A bringing of music in a grand fashion. The prophecy coming so to speak. To be grand in nature and represent us in a way that allows us to be broad and creative in our music.



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

We have played a lot of great shows. Probably the best was Devil's night which had an artist named Nate the knife create the entire stage. He also produced a very theatrical flow between bands the whole night. This plays right into our hands as our stage show is very energetic and up beat with very little breaks and we keep a pretty set plan in between songs. Many songs even run together to where you don't always know a new song has begun.




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

Of course. We plan to do as many shows as we can and even considering a tour. We currently have 3 or 4 scheduled over the next month or so and just got done doing a couple.




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

If the right situation would reveal itself, we would sign. We have had offers but turned them down as we are able to do so much of oracle on our own.




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

Very well. You just never know if your doing something right or not and the ever growing fan base suggests that we are doing something good.




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

We want to dig deeper into what we've started. Be more creative. More darkened. More insane. More experimental. More epic.



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?

Emperor, Gojira, Amon Amarth, Aborted, Dissection, The Black Dahlia Murder, Dimmu Borgir, Sylosis, Watain, Sepultura, Megadeth and a lot more. All are bands we listen to and that have influenced us greatly.



11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Horror movies, sports, Astronomy, Mythology, Western and Chinese philosophy(Descartes is a favorite), reading Lovecraft and Poe, and playing chess. Favorite video games are Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, and Resident Evil.




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

Keep listening and follow us as we will be making more in the future. We would also like to thank each and every listener out there. Hit us up. Send us a message. Let us know what you think personally. We love to hear from each and everyone no matter how good or bad. We keep an open ear as we are all on the same journey of life and can learn from each other.

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1914 Interview

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

Hi. Right now we planned some gig in Ukraine and EU, we`re announced at the biggest Baltic extreme metal festival - Kilkim Žaibu this summer and signed with big EU booking agency (they will announce us soon) and together we will plan our tour in Europe
And, of course, we’re creating a new songs for upcoming album. Five out of seven planned - almost ready. So I hope we release our second LP at this fall.
Oh, we have found a new drummer, and he is great.


2.How would you describe the musical sound of the current music?

Less metal - more despair and pain)) It slowed down, became monolithic and angrier. I think that new songs received a little bit more of death metal and sludge influence. And it`s heavy as all hell
And it’s neither about politics, nor about propaganda or other bullshit stuff – it’s just war, trenches, fear, hopelessness and endless death around of you

3.With the song lyrics and band name the concept is about World War I, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this war?

Over 10 years ago I went into war archaeology, actually WW1 archeology.  I love this war, this history, uniforms, weapons, armament, stories about battles, and the fate of soldiers. I am a real fan of Great war. Here in Ukraine there were many battles of Great War – Brusilov`s offensive, Carpathian winter operation, Galician battle.
Therefore, I dug up dead soldiers - skeleton, with uniform, weapon, ammo, with all the stuff and wrote songs about their fate, about their silent death. Feelings. His fear.
I’ve always been inspired by this theme. I love films, books, stories, artifacts of this war.
When you dig up a soldier, who died here 100 years ago and laid in the mud – it is a strange feeling. When you look at these bones that were human once, with all human’s stuff - love, feelings, hope, maybe stamp collection, whose parents were waiting at home, you think – why and for what did he die? I had no answer. But all these things inspire me.

4.Recently Mazzar released your 2015 album and 2016 ep as a compilation, what are your thoughts on the final product?

It`s was a really great idea to collaborate with Mazzar and I hope we will keep it going for a long time. They did a huge work to promote us, help us with some gigs, created an awesome merch and actually a fucking great digipack with all our stuff.
Awesome art, awesome product interesting for fans (I hope so)
So I`m really glad that we found each other


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?

Actually the best shows I thinks were gigs in Uzhgorod and Zaxid fest. First – good one oldschool gig in underground club, with a lot of fans, stagediving, slam and all this stuff, Zaxid – biggest UA festival with all sort of music, although we looked a bit weird there, but we found many new fans and played on a big stage with great sound.
About performance – we use a lot of things to create an atmosphere of Great war – sounds of war, hymn samples, sounds of machineguns, etc., speeches between songs about this part of history, old and rare video footage from WW1, use a real working Mosin–Nagant rifle as custom microphone stand. And we do it great, interesting, with expression.


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

Yeah I described it in a first question)


7.Recently you did a cover of Nirvana's "Something In The Way", what was the decision behind doing your own version of this song?

When I was teenager I loved Nirvana and this song. For many peoples this song boring (as a Nirvana)). But for me – it’s about fate, what you cannot change. Maybe later – if there will be any later. So when I read books about battle of Somme – in text I found some soldiers words about tanks (don’t remember exactly, but something like this) – We saw it and it was hell, big, loud, with fire and smoke, something in the way, maybe death. And I remembered it – something in the way, death, battle of Somme. After years it came up from my memory and I said to guys – hey common let’s try do this song like our version about battle of Somme. So we did.


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

I didn't expect such interest from all around the world to our band. A lot of people write us from France, Belguim, USA, Germany about our music with thanks, with greetings.
Album has over two hundreds reviews out of all world so far – from Australia, Iceland, from Brazil, Poland, Germany, Greece, Norway, from Russia and USA and so on. Many thanks from guys that in theme of Historical reenactment, and even French historian, who writes about Great war in metal music, wrote about us and used our texts. It`s awesome I think.

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

My goal is to tell the whole world about Great War, to all metal heads, to all military fans. Tell this part of history to all who can hear it.
How can we do that?
Of course at big festivals in EU and maybe USA, good promotion, via tours and gigs as much as we can, collaboration with big labels like Nuclear blast, Peaceville or Metal blade. And, of course – good music and stories from us. From all dead soldiers of Great War


10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

About music that I listen to and about influence – it will be a long list from Japanese noise to grindcore, from true BM to old school rap, from hardcore punk to industrial, electronic, death, doom, sludge, stoner, post-rock. Actually, I am a big fan of Misfits, Exploited, Paradise lost, Obituary, Asphyx, Merzbow, Einstürzende Neubauten, Black flag and all oldschool hardcore punk, death, true black metal from early 90`s and noise\industrial from 70-80`s. I fucking love japan noise and some british and scandinavian bands like Nordvargr, Dead Voices On Air, Cremation Lily. About now - interesting music for me – atmospheric black or Cascadian post black, some electronic bands like Gost, Carpenter Brut or Zombie Hyperdrive. A lot of awesome music we can have today and it`s great.






11.What are some of your non musical interests?

All simple, first of all for me – books. I am a fan of anthropology, evolutionary biology, paleoanthropology and paleogenetics. So I collected a some good works in this themes. I am a fan of Sci-fi (Asimov, Clarke, Zelazny, Anderson, Simak, Harrison, Bester, Heinlein etc) and have all their books. And of course war memoirs and history books. I fucking love history))
I’m collecting, of course, war archeology and military items, I have a lot of artifacts from Great War.
In addition, aquariums. Actually all our musicians have them and loving it.




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

Something in the way, people, something in the way)) And this is 1914.

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Veliar/Through The Ages/Symbol Of Domination Productions/The Ritual Productions/2016 CD Review

   Veliar  are  a band  from  Russia  that  plays  a  symphonic  and  melodic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review of  their  2016  album  "Through  The  Ages"  which  was  released as  a  joint  effort  between  Symbol  Of  Domination  and  The  Ritual  Productions.

  Symphonic  and  epic  sounding  synths  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  and  melodic  musical  direction  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  the  vocals  also  bring  in  a  mixture  of  metal  screams  and  death  metal  growls  and  they  also  mix  the  symphonic  and  heavy  parts  together.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  back  up  vocals  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and melodic  singing  are  also  added  on  some  of  the  tracks  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  while  the  solos  and  leads  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  some  songs  also  bring  in  some  Finnish  influences  along  with  a  brief  use  of  folk  and  electronic  music  elements  and  some  of  the  faster  riffing  also  brings  in  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking.

   Veliar  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  a  symphonic  form  of  black  metal  and  mixes  it with  melodic  death  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  whilree  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Russian  and  cover  scientific,  nature,  and  historical  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Veliar  are  a  very  great  sounding   symphonic  and  melodic  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  "Sirius"  "Cheating  (In  Fog  Dope)"  "Providec"  and  "Battle  Of  The  Vohza".  8  out  of  10. 

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Satarial/Blessed Brigit/Symbol Of Domination Productions/Death Portal Studio/2016 CD Review

  Satarial  are  a  band  from  Russia  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  on  this  recording  plays  a  mixture  of  pagan,  folk,  and  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Blessed  Brigit"  which  was  released  as  a  joint  effort  between  Symbol  Of  Domination  Productions  and  Death  Portal  Studio.

  Heavy  guitars  and  folk  instruments  start  off  the  album  and  after  awhile  black  metal  screams  along with  pagan  chanting  are  added  onto  the  recording  and  female  vocals  are  also  used  at  times  while  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording.

  At  times  the  vocals  get  very  grim  and  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  amount  of  melody  in  the  guitar  riffing  and  when  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  and  as  the  album  progresses  more  symphonic  elements  are  added  onto  the  recording  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  either  a  slow  or  mid  paced  musical  direction.

  On  this  recording  Satarial  goes  for  more  of  a  folk,  pagan  and  black  metal  mixture  this  time  around,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the lyrics  cover  Celtic  Paganism  and  Occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Satarial  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  folk,  pagan,  and  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Manifest  Of  Paganism"  and  "Formation  Of  The  Moon".  8  out  of  10. 

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Oracle/Beyond Omega/2016 Full Length Review

  Oracle  are  a  band  from  Alabama  that  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2016  album  "Beyond  Omega".

  Dark  sounding  synths  and  drum  beats  start  off  the  album  before  introducing  melodic  yet  technical  guitar  leads  onto  the  recording  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  the  vocals  bring  in  a  mixture  of  death  metal  growls  and  black  metal  screams  while  the  riffs  also use  a  great  amount  of  melody.

  Throughout  the  recording  there  is  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  elements  of  brutal  death  metal  are  also  used  at  times  along  with  some  atmospheric  sounds  and  traces  of  groove  can  also  be  heard in  the  guitar  riffing    and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  sound  very  powerful  and  one  song  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  while  the  last  track  is  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Oracle  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  a  melodic  and  atmospheric  style  of  black  metal  and  mixes  it  with  brutal  and  technical  death  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  perspective  and  metaphor  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Oracle  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  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  "Aeons  Of  Madness"  "Nocturnal  Creatures"  "Tomb  Of  Serpents"  and  "Blood  Stained  Epitaph".  8  out  of  10.

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Noctiferia/Transnatura/Nika Records/2016 CD Review

  Noctiferia  are  a  band  from  Slovenia  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  death  metal,  ethnic  and  experimental and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Transnatura"  which  was  released  by  Nika  Records.

  Powerful  sounding  bass  guitars  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  ethnic  style  female  vocals  and  instruments  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  leads  up  to  black  metal  screams  being  added  onto  the  recording  and  spoken  word  parts  are  also  used  at  times  and  stringed  instruments  are  also  used  in  some  parts  of the  songs.

  Acoustic  guitars  are also  used  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  an   the  music  also  brings  in  a great  amount  of  folk  music  elements  and  also  avoids  using  any  electric  guitars  and  as the  album  progresses  the  music  starts  getting  more  avant  garde  and  experimental and  the  songs  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  diversity  with  some  traces  of  swing,  jazz,  gypsy  and  country.

  Noctiferia  move away  from  the  more  black,  death  and  industrial  metal  style  of  previous  releases  taking  songs  of  these  albums and  making  them  all  acoustic  while  also  adding  in  many  different  musical  styles  to  create  something  very  different,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Eastern  Mysticism  and  political  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Noctiferia  are  a  very  great sounding  mixture  of   black,  death  metal,  ethnic  and  experimental  and  if you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Mara"  "I  Am  You"  "Gaga  People"  and  "Rust".  8  out  of  10.  

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From The Shores/Of Apathy/Metal Scrap Records/2016 CD Review

  From  The  Shores  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  black,  death  metal  and  metalcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album "Of  Apathy"  which  was  released  by  Metal  Scrap  Records.

  A  very  fast,  heavy  and  melodic  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  and  after  awhile  the  brutality  of  death  metal  can  be  heard  and  after  the  intro  growling  vocals  are  added  onto  the  recording  along  with  some  black  metal  screams  also  being  utilized  in  some  parts  of  the  songs.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  the  solos  and  leads  stick  to  a  very  melodic  style  and  some  of  the  riffing  also  brings  in  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  metalcore  influences  can  also  be  heard  at  times  while  the  death  and  black  metal  influence  has  more  dominance.

  As  the  album  progresses  clean  playing  is  added  onto  the  album  along  with  thunder  sounds  also  being  added  onto  a  couple  of  the  tracks  and  their  is  also  a  brief  use  of  synths  along  with  an  instrumental  before  reverting  back  to  vocals  and  the  last  track  is  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  also  mixes  in  a  few  seconds  of  stringed  instruments.

  From  The  Shores  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  melodic  black  metal  and  mixes  it  with  death  metal  and  a  touch  of  metalcore  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  pain  and  death  themes.

  In  my  opinion  From  The  Shores  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  melodic  black,  death  metal  and  metalcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "This  Ain't  Another  Feast  For  Crows"  "Incest  Of  The  Wretched"  "Hourglass"  and  "Weakness  Of  The  Flesh".  8  out  of  10.

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