Frostbitten Kingdom/The Winter War Symphony/WormHoleDeath Records/2014 EP Review

  Frostbitten  Kingdom  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  very  melodic  form  of  blackened  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  ep  "The  Winter  War  Symphony"  which  was  released  by  WormHoleDeath  Records.

  Acoustic  guitars  and  atmospheric sounds  start  off  the  ep  and  you  can  also  hear  elements  of  classical  music  being  added  onto  the  track  and  after  a  couple  of  minutes  heavier  guitars  and  folk  music  elements  are  added  into  the  music  along  with  a  symphonic  background  which  also  leads  up  to  grim  sounding  black  metal  screams  making  their  presence  known  on  the  recording.

  When  solos  and  leads  are  added  into  the  music  they  are  in  more  of  a  melodic  yet  extreme  metal  direction  and  at  times  death  metal  growls  can  he  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  most  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  slow  or  mid  paced  musical  direction.and  on  a  couple  of  the  tracks  a  brief  use  of  clean  playing  is  utilized  and  they  bring  in  a  progressive  touch  to  the  bands  musical  style  and  on  the  last  track  the  music  starts  to  go  for  a  more  faster  direction  along  with  some  blast  beats  beign  added  into  the  song.

  Frostbitten  Kingdom  brings  back  a  90's  style  of  melodic  black  metal  and  also  adds  in  a  great  amount  of  symphonic  elements,  death  metal  influences  and  some  of  the  more  modern  metal  sounds to  create  their  own  musical  style,  the  production  sound s very  dark,  heavy  and  powerful  while  the  lyrics  cover  Fantasy,  Gore  and  War  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Frostbitten  Kingdom  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  blackened  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Warfare  And  Wilderness"  and  "Lucid  Nightmares  Of  barbaric  Brutality".  8  out  of  10.

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In Tormentata Quiete/Cromagia/My Kingdom Music/2014 CD Review

  In  Tormentata  Quiete  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  mixture of  folk,  progressive  and  avant  garde  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Cromagia"  which  will  be  released  on  November  17th  by  My  Kingdom  Music.

  Progressive  style  synths  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  clean  playing  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  slowly  leads  up  to  a  heavier  direction  along  with  a  good  amount  of  melody  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  after  the  intro  there  are  some  elements  of  electronic  music  being  added  into  the  mix.

  When  vocals  are  added  into  the  music  they  start  out  with  some  clean  melodic  singing  along  with  a  good  mixture  of  both  male  and  female  vocals  and  after  awhile  they  start  bringing  in  more  grim  black  metal  screams  and  you  can  also  hear  a  great  amount  of  prog  metal  influences  in  the  bands  musical  sound  along  with  some  violins  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  acoustic  guitars  have  a  very  powerful  sounding  presence  throughout    the  recording.

  At  times  the  music can  be  very  avant  garde  and  experimental  and  every  song  manages  to  sound  different  from  each  other  along  with  a  few  long  and  epic  tracks  as  well  as  a  few  instrumentals  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  bring  in  more  of  a  melodic  sound  to  the  bands  musical  style  and  the  black  metal  influence  gets  even  more  powerful  as  the  album  progresses  and  on  one  of  the  tracks  you  can  also  hear  some  elements  of  death  metal  with  the  growls  and  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats.

  In  Tormentata  Quiete  creates  a  very  interesting  style  with  their  music  taking  the  90's  avant  garde  black  metal  sound  that  a  lot  of  Norwegian  bands  where  doing  back  then  and  adding  in  a  great  amount  of  folk  and  progressive  music  to  give  their  style  more  originality,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Italian  dark  and  melancholic  themes.

  In  my  opinion  In  Tormentata  Quiete  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  progressive,  folk  and  avant  garde  black  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "II  Profumo  del  Blu"  "Verde"  "La  Carezza  del  Giallo"  and  "La  Visione  del  Nero".  8  out  of  10.

web: wwwintormentataquiete.com
facebook: www.facebook.com/intormentataquiete

  

Death Comes Pale/World Grave/Deepsend Records/2014 CD Review

  Death  Comes  Pale  are  a  band  from  Denmark  that  plays  a  very  brutal  and  melodic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "World  Grave"  which  was  released  by  Deepsend  Records.

  Dark  sound  effects  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  semi  clean  distorted  playing  which  slowly  leads  up  to  a  heavier  direction  which  also  uses  a  good  amount  of  melody  before  adding  in  black  metal  screams  and  death  metal  growls  and  at  time s you  can  also  hear  some  blast  beats  being  utilized  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording.

  There  is  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  present  throughout  the  recording  as  well  as  the  perfect  balance  between  melody  and  brutality  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  added into  the  music  they  bring  in  a  very  90's  sounding  melodic  style  of  black/death  metal  to  the  bands  musical  sound  along  with  a  technical  feeling.

  As  the  album  progresses  the  music  starts  getting  slightly  more  atmospheric  as  well  as  adding in  elements  of  modern  death  metal   along  with  a  small  amount  of  spoken  word  parts  being  used  at  times  while  the  main  focus  remains  on  a  very  heavy  and  brutal   sound  and  some  of  the  later  tracks  also  shoe  the  band  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing.

  Death  Comes Pale  plays  a   style  of  blackened  death  metal  that  combines  both  the  brutal  and  melodic  side  of  both  genres  together  to  create  a  very  heavy  sounding  recording t hat also  displays  a  great  amount  of  talent  and  skill,  the  production  sound s very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  political  and  anti  religion  themes.

  In   my  opinion  Death  Comes  Pale  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  and  brutal  blackened  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "World  Grave"  "From  The  Lips  Of  The  Dead"  "Modern  Enslavement"  and  "Silent  Genocide".  8  out  of  10.  

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Usnea/Random Cosmic Violence/Relapse Records/2014 CD Review

    Usnea  are  a  band  from  Portland,  Oregon  that  plays  a  blackened  form  of  funeral  doom/death  metal  with  elements  of  sludge  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Random  Cosmic  Violence"  which  will  be  released  in  November  by  Relapse  Records.

  Dark  sounding  ambient  drones  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  psychedelic  noise  elements  and  after  awhile  the  music  goes  into  a  very  slow  and  heavy  funeral  doom/sludge  metal  direction  along  with  some  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  and  death metal  growls  and  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  in  the  bands  musical  style.

  When  solos  and  leads  are  added  into  the  music  they  bring  in  a  very  dark,  distorted  and  melodic  sound  onto  the  recording  and  after  awhile  spoken  word  ritualistic  parts  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  band  also  brings  in  clean  parts  at  times  and  all  4  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  you  can  hear  a  lot  of  the  90's  doom/death  metal  style  in  the  way  the  band  plays  their  instruments  while  the  sludge  elements  gives  the  album  a  more  up  to  date  feeling.

     On  the  title  track  acoustic  guitars  are  added  into  the  song  and  they  also  add  a  stoner  and  classic  rock  vibe  to  the  music  along  with  some  clean  singing  being  added  in  after  a  few  seconds  and  they  are  only  used  briefly  before  the  music  makes  a  return  back  to  a  heavier  direction  along  with  the  music  speeding  up  at  times  and  adding  in  elements  of  blackened  death  metal  while  the  acoustic  guitars  do  make  a  return  on  the  last  track.

  Usnea  plays  a  very  heavy  style  of  sludge  that  brings  in  the  heaviness  of  funeral  doom,  the  occult  atmosphere  of  black  metal  and  the  darker  side  of  death  metal,  the  production  sound s very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  occultism  and  dystopian  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Usnea  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black  metal,  sludge,  funeral  doom  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Lying  In  Ruin"  and  "Detritus".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.stereogum.com/1716620/stream-usnea-random-cosmic-violence-stereogum-premiere/music/album-stream/

Solefald/Norrnasongen Kosmopol/Indie Recordings/2014 EP Review

  Solefald  are  a  band  from  Norway  that  has  been  around  since  the  90's  and  plays  an  avant  garde form  of  post  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  ep  "Normasongen  Kosmopol"  which  will  be  released  on  October 27th  by  Indie  Recordings.

  Clean  yet  distorted  sounding  guitars  start  off  the  ep  along  with  some  melodic  avant  garde  vocals  that  also  have  a  folk  music  edge  to  them  at  times  and  you  can  also  hear some  violins  in  the  background  which  also  gives  the  music  more  of  a  pagan  atmosphere  and  when  synths  are  added  into  the  music  along  with  some  bass  guitars  they  add  in  psychedelic  elements  to  the  bands  musical  style  and  after  awhile  the  music  starts  to  add  in  more  heaviness..

  A  good portion  of  the  tracks  that  are  present  on  this  ep  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  female  vocals  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  they  also  give  the  music  more  of  an  operatic  feeling  when  they  are  utilized  and  as  the  ep  progresses  the  band  starts  adding  in  elements  from  other  forms  of  synth  or  electronic  music  in  with  their  avant  garde  metal  sound  and  on  the last  2  tracks  Sturmgeist  and  The  Fall  Of  Rome  add  their  contributions  to  the  songs  and  add  in  more  martial  and  neo  folk  elements/

  Solefald  continue  the  avant  garde  approach  of  previous  albums  while  also  cutting  back  on  the  black  metal  parts  to  focus  more  on  a  heavy  and  experimental  sound,  the  production   sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Norwegian  and  cover  Norse  Mythology  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Solefald and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Det  Siste  Landskap"  and  "Norskdom".  8  out  10.

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Maahlas Interview

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

We are quite a new band from Oslo, Norway. Cuno and I are originally from Turkey, but we met here in Oslo. We joined forces a little over a year ago to make Nightmare Years.
Cuno is responsible for almost everything you hear on the record except for the lyrics and the vocals. Its important for me to point out that Cuno also wrote the drums; which were then recorded by a mighty session drummer in Poland.

We are musically always exploring how we can take Metal to new places. This time we really threw in a good mix of black and prog into our Melodic Death Metal style and we believe that we really achieved our vision, compositionally and also production wise.


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

Thats a fun question… Especially because it is a hard one. We have been categorized as Blackened Progressive Musical Death Metal… Its a ridiculously long name for a genre, but we have no better suggestion; so please do come with suggestions :)

That said; even though our music at times is extremely fast, angry and hard hitting, the sound we wanted and achieved has a soft easy on the ears kinda roundness to it…

Cuno and I turned to each other and cringed with quizzical eyebrow lifting when we heard the first mastered track from our chosen mastering studio. It was just too sharp and edgy, very Black Metal. Lots of details were lost and it was far from where we wanted it to be… After some rounds we managed to get our Mastering master understand what we were going for and to soften the sound and deliver all the details we worked so hard to compose, play and mix… It was a process :)


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

I'm very interested in political & world affairs, human nature, conspiracies, history, psychology, sci-fi… And have been writing lyrics and poetry about these topics for a long time. But now, for first time decided to take what I knew was going to be a ridiculously hard task upon me. A concept album.

The story is, in a few words (something VERY difficult for me :) about a possible version of human history and future. Where we are revealed that even the powers that we believe control the world were puppets; and that through controlled manipulations we were guided through our various stages of evolution.
All this is in a science fiction setting where a few characters voice their minds or have discussions or arguments…

All the lyrics plus a quiet long story explanation can be read on our website maahlas.net


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

Mahlas with one “a” means a musical poet, or a “bard” if you will in the Ottaman Turkish.
Cunos wife Elif, who is also amazingly supporting, came up with it and thought using the extra “a” would make it more mystical and we love it… Its actually an original and non cliche band name which is SO hard to come by… All hail Elif! :)


5.Currently there are only 2 members in the band are you planning on expanding the line up in the future, or do you choose to remain a duo?

Since the release of Nightmare Years we have been trying out musicians for the band… I can proudly say that we have now completed the line up and are very soon ready to play live. Which is something we REALLY enjoy and are looking forward to.

Maahlas is:
Vocals: Levent Ultanur
Guitar: Cuneyt Caglayan
Guitar: Robin Berg Pettersen
Bass: Audun Melbye
Drums: Christian Svendsen


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

Of course we would like to get a record deal… Hopefully a good one.
We have been getting real good and encouraging reviews so far. We also have gotten positive response to our music from a couple of the bigger labels but with no record deal as yet. A smaller label did want to sign us but we cordially declined.

A few live shows early 2015 will hopefully put us on the Norwegian music map and pave the way for more people to hear our music. Which will give us the experience as a band and leverage for the labels to see us as a professional and performing band. There are so many one man home projects out there that I totally understand the labels wanting a band to prove their worth as great and consistent live act, as most the money is made from live performances and merchandising now.


7.According to the fb page one of the band members is originally from Turkey but now resides in Norway how would you compare the metal scenes of both countries?

Well, unfortunately they are almost uncomparable…
Norway can proudly boast a whole genre of metal music and bands like Dark Throne, Mayhem, Emperor (and Ihsahn himself), Satyricon, Dimmu Borgir, Shining to name a few. Norway has been and is a very influencial metal scene in the world and hosts the famous Inferno Metal Festival.

Although there are some truly great musicians in Turkey, the culture, economical possibilities, even language and history limit how much they can achieve back at home and reach out to the world… Honestly (and sadly) I know of no other Turkish metal band thats worth mentioning here other than Ominous Grief, which  surprisingly enough had our very own Cuno as the master composer and guitar player :)


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

Although we released the album in the digital media in july we have only recently begun promoting it. And Its been very good indeed. In fact we are very positively surprised at how much great feedback and reviews we are getting.

A few people graced us with 10/10s and mentioned that Nightmare Years was one of the best new releases they encountered in 2014, giving us the encouragement, energy and confidence to push ourselves to the edges of our limits as persons and artists to work on to deliver a great live performance.


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

Actually only our drummer Christian Svendsen is currently involved with another bands… Check out Tsjuder :) He is also å Pyro tech… so, one of my stage dreams might come true with the second album ;)


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

We will still be Maahlas with the same attention to detail in production. We have already started composing for the second album. But its still impossible to say for sure what the music will be like at the end. One thing is for certain; you will definitely not be bored and think man its the same stuff they did before :)


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?

Thats question which really deserves a very long answer… I think I'll update our website with an influences and thanks to our inspirators section at some point… But for now let it suffice to say; Death, Ihsahn, Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Opeth…


12.What are some of your non musical interests?

As a group therapy we do synchronised swimming and origami… Do not quote me on that please :)

Well… we all have full time jobs right now and girlfriends or families. So truly, its music that takes a big chunk out of that pie chart of “free” time. And we have no complaints about that… Its what we LOVE doing… Doesnt mean that we dont have other interests; we do, but time is a very precious commodity :)


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

I do…
Listen to us, follow us contact us, “share” us… And if we happen to be playing anywhere near you, do come to see us… you WILL NOT be disappointed…

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Tellus Terror Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Felipe Borges: We are a band from Brazil – Rio de Janeiro, and we do a mix of Metal styles in our songs throughout our album. We have just released our first album entitled EZ Life DV8 (read as: Easy Life Deviate), which we did work hard for 1 and a half year from creating the songs to record, edit, mix and master, to finally release. We have decided not to do any shows before we have our album released also.

2.Recently you have released your first album, how would you describe the musicla sound that is presented on the recording?
Felipe Borges: The musical sound is something that we can not describe. We know that we do mix some Metal styles through the songs, but is something that each and every person have a different opinion. Mine is that it is just ourselves trying to do something for the public (which is what we do value the most).

3.You label your musical style as M.M.S (mixed Metal Style), can you tell us a little bit more about your desire to mix every genre of metal together and also do you hope this could possibly create a new musical direction for future metal bands?
Felipe Borges: That is correct. I did create this style only to try to explain what we do with the music we create for the people. We do love Death Metal, Black Metal, Thrash Metal, Doom Metal, Gothic Metal, Heavy Metal etc… but we wanted to blend it all to see what happened. As I said, we do it all for the people, and if they think this is good and if they want to use M.M.S. (Mixed Metal Styles) in their bands, it will be a pleasure for us. Without new invents, Human Race would not progress right?

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Felipe Borges: EZ Life DV8 talks about how life and everything happened as per our specimen knows, how it did transformed into our planets and galaxies, how our home was positioned in our galaxy, what we Human Race do with this gift of living here at Tellus (Tellus means planet Earth in Latin Language), we talk about the wonders such as the Equinox where light and Darkness are equal, passing through the Panorama of the end of the times, and getting to the conclusion that everything that we could possibly imagine about ow our world will end it is an Error.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Tellus Terror'?
Felipe Borges: I wanted to have a common name that could allow me to write about things and situations that were commom for every Human Being and living being here at Tellus. So I thought of a name wich was easy to speak, which were global in a way, and were commom independently of everyone´s choices of Religion, politics and commom to every race. For us, everyone have the same value no matter if you are black or white, rich or poor, and Tellus Terror was a perfect fit for this idea (Again, Tellus means Planet Earth in Latin Language)

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Felipe Borges:  We will be playing now here in Brazil with Behemoth on November 08, 2014, and November 09, 2014. These 2 shows together will gather a little bit more than 4 thousand people. That will be awesome. Behemoth is fantastic!!

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
Felipe Borges: We do, but still is soon to say something about it, but we do aim to hit China, Japan, India and South Korea in our actual conversations with a producer. Also we really want to hit EUROPE.

8.You had some big names help produce your first album, how did you get in contact with some of these legendary musicians and producers and also van you tell us a little bit more about their contributions to the recording?
Felipe Borges: When I was thinking about giving our best to the public, I realized that we should seek the best also in everything regarding the process itself. That is why I choose to work with Fredrik Nordstrom, Pat Power and Seth Siro Anton for this album, and the result was great! I did called them and sent some e-mails to explain and discuss our project ideas, and how we would like this to look like.
Seth Siro Anton did create our band Logo and Symbol, and he also did create 100% our EZ Life DV8 album artworks. He is awesome!! I told him “Seth, whatever you think that would be better, do it. We know you are the best”
Fredrik Nordstrom did mix and master our album, and we did send lots of e-mails to listen to each and every track to check on minimal details, it was a very long and extensive process, but the result was great. Fredrik is the Master!
Pat Power, I remember that I did send one picture of our drum to Fredrik Nordstrom, and He showed the picture to Pat Power, and he volunteered to do the drums click corrections in our album, because he liked the size of our drum and the fact that we did use 24 channels to record only the drum. Pat Power is awesome also, and we love this guy!

9.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
Felipe Borges: We are open to hear from the labels, but meanwhile we are working the best way we can by ourselves. Right now we are working on our 2 album, and we intend to record the new album 100% at London-England.

10.What is going on with some of the other musical projects or bands these days that some of the band members are a part of?
Felipe Borges: Everybody disbanded from their other bands, and we are all working only for Tellus Terror

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Felipe Borges: To whatever the public tends to be as long as it is Metal.

12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Felipe Borges: Well, I listen to everything within Rock And Roll and Metal, these days I was listening to New Order, Johnny Winter, Morbid Angel, Agathocles, Marduk, Cradle Of Filth, Septic Flesh, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Soundgarden, Systers of a Mercy, The Offspring, AC/DC, Smashing Pumpkins, Beherit…

13.What are some of your non musical interests?
Felipe Borges: I ride ATV´s (All terrain Vehicles), like racing and doing aerial stunts, I am very good doing barbecue´s (believe me that is true), these days I have been doing stand up paddle a little, I love a good wine and I am fascinated with Video Games

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Felipe Borges: I would like to thank you for the opportunity and space, and also encourage people to know the work that we have been doing for you all. Hope to see you all soon in some GIG´s!!

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