Ethereal/Opus Aethereum/Candlelight Records/2015 CD Review

  Ethereal  are  a  band  from  the  United  Kingdom  that  plays  a  very  symphonic  form  of  black  metal  with  some  elements  of  death  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Opus  Aethereum"  which was released  by  Candlelight  Records.

  A  very  epic  and  symphonic  sound  starts  off  the  album  and  after  a  minute  and  a  half  the  music  gets  a  lot  more  heavier  and  adds  in  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  as  well  as  speeding  up  and  adding  in  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  they  also  mix  the  heavy  and  symphonic  parts  together  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Death  metal  growls  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  a  great  portion  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length  while  the  solos  and  leads  bring  more  of  a  melodic  sound  to  the  songs  when  they  are  utilized.

  Spoken word  parts  can  be  heard  briefly  in  some  of  the  tracks  and  some  of  the  slower  riffs  add  elements  of  doom  metal  onto  the  recording  and  the  riffs  also  use  a  decent  amount  of  melody  and  the  songs  also  go  for  more  of  an  aggressive  style  of  symphonic  black  metal  and  also  bring  in  touches  of  brutal  blackened  death  metal  and  some  of  the  tracks  also  bring  in  a  little  bit  of  clean  parts  that  are  overshadowed  by  the heavier  side  of  the  bands  musical  style.

  Ethereal  plays  a  style  of  black  metal  that  is  very  symphonic and  melodic  and  also  mixes  in  elements  of  death  and  doom  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Darkness,  Hatred  and  Satanism  themes.

  In   my  opinion  Ethereal  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  and  symphonic  black  metal  band  with  elements  of  death  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Nomicon"  "Psalm  Of  The  Deceiver"  and  "Waking  Death".  8  out  of  10. 

www.facebook.com/EtherealDarknessUK

Varang Nord/Fire Of The North/2014 EP Review

  Varang  Nord  are  a  band  from  Latvia  that  plays  a  mixture  of  folk,  viking  and  melodic  black/death  metal  and  this  is a  review  of  their  self  released  2014  ep  "Fire  Of  The  North".

  A  very  hard  and  heavy  viking  metal  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some  synths  being  mixed  in  at  times  which  adds  more  of  a  folk  atmosphere to  the  music  and  when  vocals  are  added  into  the  music  they  are  deep  death  metal growls  and  after  awhile  more  elements  of  folk  are  added  into  the  music.

  As  the  ep  progresses  the  songs  start  bringing  in a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  a  small  amount of  blast  beats  and  clean  singing  viking/folk  metal  vocals  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  some  of  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  touch  of  Swedish  style  melodic  black/death  metal  and  they close  the  ep  with  an  instrumental  track.  

  Varang  Nord  plays  a  musical  style  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  melodic  death  metal  but  also  brings  in  a  heavy  does  of  viking  and  folk  metal  along  with  a  touch  of  black  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording while  the  lyrics  cover  Paganism  themes.   

  In  my  opinion  Varang  Nord  are  a  very  great  sounding  viking/folk  metal  band  with  a  touch  of melodic  black/death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "As  Men  Poured  Ale"  and  "Fires  Of  the  North".  8  out  of  10. 

https://metalscraprecords.bandcamp.com/album/varang-nord-fire-of-the-north

Karma Violens/Skin Of Existence/Roar! Rock Of Angels Records/2015 CD Review

  Karma  Violens  are  a band  from  Greece  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  melodic death,  thrash  metal  and  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album "Skin  Of  Existence"  which  was  released  by  Roar! Rock  Of  Angels  Records.

  A  very  dark,  hard  and  melodic  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  sounding  very  powerful  as  well  as  a  small  amount  of  noises  which  starts  going  into  more  of  a  heavy  direction  which  shows  death  metal  growls  and  black  metal  influences  being  added  onto  the  recording.

  Once  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  are  added  onto  the  recording  and  the  band  also  brings  in  elements  of  metalcore  into  their  musical  style  as  well  as  using  some  black  metal  screams  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  solos  and  leads  the  band  uses  are  very  melodic  and  some  of  the  faster  riffs  bring  thrash  influences  into  the  songs.

  Karma  Violens  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  black  metal, melodic and brutal death  metal  and  mixes  it  with  hardcore  and  thrash  to  create  an  album  that  is  very  heavy  and  diverse,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  world,  creation  and  nature  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Karma  Violens  are  a  very  decent  sounding  mixture  of  black,  melodic  death,  thrash  metal  and  hardcore  and  if you  are  a fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Bloodbath"  "Floating  In  Sadness"  "About  my  Creator"  and  "Dead  Man's  Story". 7/5  out  of  10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu2xW-NKftY      

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

Unhallowed /Enter Damnation/Metal Music Austria/2015 CD Review

 

  Unhallowed  are  a  band  from  Austria  that  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  black  and death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Enter  Damnation"  which  was  released  by  Metal  Music  Austria.

  Epic  sounding  synths  start  off  the  album  and  they  also  bring  in  a  variety  of  many  different  keys  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  going  for  more  of  a  melodic  black  metal  direction  and  after  a  few  seconds  grim  screams  are  added  into  the  music  and  the  music  also  mixes  the  synths  in  with  the  heavier  parts.

  Throughout  the  recording  there  is  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  vocals  also  have  a  melodic  tone  at  times  and  the  music  also  mixes  in  a  great  amount  of  death  metal  elements  and  a  small  amount  of  growls  and  one  of  the  tracks  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts.

  Clean  playing  and  spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  songs  and  the solos  and  leads  also  remain  true  to  a  melodic  musical  direction  and  a  good  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  songs  are  also  in  mostly  a  melodic  mid  90's  black/death  metal  direction  and  some  of  the  tracks  also  mix  in  classic  metal  melodies  into  the  riffs  and  you  can  hear  a  lot  of  Swedish  influences  in  the  bands musical  style  and  some  of  the  tracks  also  bring  in  symphonic  elements  while t he  faster  sections  utilize  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  and  a  couple  of  instrumentals.

  Unhallowed  goes  back  to  the  mid  90's  era  of  melodic  black  and  Swedish  death  metal  and  mixes  the  two  style  together  to  create  the  sound  you  hear  on  the  album,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness, death  and  destruction.

  In  my  opinion  Unhallowed  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Dawnbringer"  "Chalice  Of  Blood"  and  "Blackened  Skies".  8  out  of  10.

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Isenmor Interview

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

Mike Wilson (bass/vocals): Tim came up with the original idea for the band. He suggested that we start a folk metal band that focuses primarily on violins. We started around May of 2014 when we brought on Nick and Miles. Tim, Nick, and I worked on the first three songs which really defined our sound.

Tim Regan (guitar/vocals): PaganFest had just come through, and I was inspired to start my own folk metal band having just seen WINTERHYMN. They are proof that Americans can make some great folk metal. So I put up a few ads and got immediate responses. Clearly I wasn’t the only one who thought this could work. Nick and Miles both responded to the ad, and both of them are impressive violinists. Instead of choosing between the two, we just brought them both on board. The first couple times the band got together, we played “In My Sword I Trust” by ENSIFERUM, but we replaced the two lead guitar parts with violins. It sounded amazing, so that really shaped the songwriting for ISENMOR.


2.Recently you have released an ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

Nick Schneider (violin/vocals): I guess best way to describe it is as a melodic sort of folk metal of the more serious type. We like to use lots of harmonies with multiple instruments and vocals working together. We go back and forth between harsh and clean vocals, so there is plenty of aggression, but it is tempered with cleaner, often melancholy passages.


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

NS: Like any good folk metal band, we have lyrics that cover battle, death, drinking and Germanic history and Mythology. We have put a special emphasis on historical accuracy and referring to the original source manuscripts for reference (like the Eddas, Tacitus' 'Germania' etc.)  We try to cover all Germanic dark age peoples instead of just vikings (as many do), but since there is so much lore about vikings they are hard to avoid. We try our best to include themes in our songs that are still relatable to a modern listener, and try to avoid being corny as much as possible.


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

NS: Isenmor is a compound of the Old English words Isen (Iron) and Mor (moor in modern English, also translates as wasteland). We thought the meaning "Iron Wasteland" evoked the idea of the aftermath of a battle, a wasteland of broken blades, cleaved helms and hewn mail among the dead and dying. On top of that we felt the name by itself sounded very cool and catchy to us. We went with an Old English as a way of connecting to the dark ages in a way that relates to us being from an English-founded country.


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

NS: Our best show so far had to be our most recent one at the Ottobar in Baltimore, MD back in March. We got a great response from the crowd and we played with a lot of energy. Our live performances include a decent amount of historical props and imagery. Since we have a range of fast and slow songs, we try to start strong, bring it down for a bit with some of our somber pieces, and then build back up and end in a frenzy.


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

NS: The release party for our EP is June 19th at Club Orpheus in Baltimore. That'll be your chance to pick-up the EP a couple days early! We'll also be playing Pocono Folk Metal Fest August 1st and Maryland Folk Fest August 22nd.  We haven't got any plans to tour in place at the moment, but we'd like to start playing outside our local area somewhat soon.

TR: We do have some opening slots for some larger folk/pagan bands that we have not yet announced coming up this year as well.


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

NS: We are not actively looking for a label at this point, but we'd be willing to review an offer if anyone is interested in us.


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

NS: So far, all the feedback we have gotten has been great. We haven't reached too many people yet, but the reviews we've gotten on our EP so far have been even better than we were hoping for.

MW: We're pretty young yet, but so far the feedback for our music has been really positive. We've gotten some pretty good reviews by a few online zines. We're pretty stoked about it!


9.When can we expect a full length album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

NS: We have about half of the material for a full length written already, and at the rate we're going we expect to have writing done by this Autumn. Assuming none of our members die in battle, you should expect a full length consisting of entirely new material in mid-late 2016.


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?

NS: Our main influences include Týr, Heidevolk, Eluveitie, and Ensiferum. We've all got a pretty broad and varying taste in metal, and we bring varying ideas from all kinds of subgenres to our music.

TR: Aside from the ones Nick listed, lately I’ve been into Falkenbach’s Asa, Blind Guardian’s new album, Iced Earth’s Plagues of Babylon, and the new Nightwish.

MW: As for myself, I've recently been hooked on Devin Townsend and Green Carnation.


11.Does paganism play any role in your music?

NS: We certainly take the pagan religions of the pre-christian Germanic peoples as an inspiration for the music, theme and imagery of our band, and we do our best to represent them as accurately as possible as they appear in the historical record. We do this, however, as a point of historic interest; no one in our band is a practitioner of any reconstructed or made up modern pagan religion.


12.What are some of your non musical interests?

NS: Beer.

MW: This isn't very in line with folk metal, but I'm a huge tech geek. I'm a software engineer for a living and I play a ton of video games. I love to play with new tech gadgets.

TR: My wife Jenny and I just had a daughter named Arya. If I’m not at work or playing music, I’m being covered in some sort of fluid courtesy of my baby. Though I don’t suppose qualifies as an “interest,” so let’s just say ice hockey, the most metal of all sports.


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

NS: We hope everyone enjoys the EP!

MW: Thanks for having us. We're looking forward to playing live and working toward the first full length!

TR: Grab our Land of the Setting Sun EP wherever it is you get music (iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, Spotify, etc. -- it should be there starting June 21, 2015). Have a drink and spread the word!

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Pavillon Rouge 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?

Mervyn : Many things actually, our guitar player YVH left the band, and we had to search for a new guy to replace him... We have decided to involve a good friend of us, Sly S, who was a huge fan of the band. A couple of weeks after, we were able to perform great gigs thanks to him and it was a kind of rebirh for the band. We made a mini-tour in Netherlands which was a great time, and then we played in Paris for one of the best gigs we had ever made...
Presently, we're working on new tracks for the next album.


2.Recently you have released a new album, 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 would describe it as a kind of cosmic tekno black metal ! Antic mythology and space structures were a great inspiration for us, and I think you can feel it listening each of the tracks. We all listen to different kind of music (any kind of metal, electro, new wave, commercial shits etc...), and we've tried to mix it together in a cosmic atmosphere.
Our first album « Solmeth Pervitine » wasn't so conceptual, it was a kind of compilation of new tracks and 6 years old tracks, without many common points between them... I still love these tracks, but there was not a real coherence in it. Maybe because the members of the band, in those days, didn't really know each others... But after a couple of years, we became a real family, and from this brotherhood was born « Legio Axis Ka ».


3.This is the first album to be released in 4 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?

Actually all of the songs we composed in 2012... a couple of month's after the release of « Solmeth Pervitine ». But it took a very, very long time to record it, mix it, find the cover, and, eventually, find the label to release it. Dooweet Records was motivated to work with us, and we are really glad about it.


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

Roughly, most of the lyrics deal with the search of light and any kind of ecstacy. Here is our main difference with every black metal bands, we don't give a shit about darkness and all the things that come with it... We love black metal, even the « darkest » bands, but we don't want to follow this way for the lyrics, because it would be fake. We are not « dark » people, we don't want darkness in our lives, so why would we talk about black forests, graveyards, old castles and depression ? Most of the bands that talks about it are not « dark » in the real life... And I defintely feel sad for the ones who really are...


5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Pavillon Rouge'?

« Pavillon Rouge », is the name of a track by a new wave french band, Indochine, which wrote my favourite albums in the 80s. This track was about cunnilingus, and it's a totally killer track, from my point of view (many people think I'm crazy because of it). The expression « Pavillon Rouge » is a metaphor, used in asiatic tales, to name the female sex. When I created the band, I thought that it would be a good band name, in order to contrast with classical black metal ones.


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?

Our best gig was definitely the one we made in Gibus, Paris, with Perturbator and our friends Division:Crystal and Styxian Industries. This show was exactly what we had wanted to create since we began to play live : a kind of badass cosmic ceremony, in front of extatic and positive people. Definitely far away from average black metal gig, in which the audience is always trying to look « evil », judging the performance without trying to have a real experience with it. In Paris we've met the audience we had always searched for : enthousiastic, joyful, probably also drugged, and totally familiar with our message.
As for the performance itself, it's difficult to describe it for me because I'm on stage, but I think one could see it as a meeting of punks on a cosmic dancefloor.


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

We'll play on a festival this summer in the south of France, and we'll probably open for Hanzel und Grettel in Paris this autumn. Some other gigs, in France, Italy and Switzerland will soon be confirmed.


8.The new album was released on Swamp Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?


Swamp Record is under a label of Dooweet Record created at the beginning of 2015 dedicated to extreme music bands.



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

For « Solmeth Pervitine », we had some very good feedbacks from USA, Hungary, Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic and Poland, which was really cool.


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

Pavillon Rouge is my only musical project, because in this band I can do whatever I want ! A long time ago I used to play some traditionnal black metal and it's a very bad experience, I'll never do this again ! After that I took part in a minimal electro duo in Hungary, KHK and then GK Agenda,  which was much better, but now I prefer having my own band, cause I feel totally free with it.


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

We already have a couple of tracks ready, and it will definitely be more electro, very catchy and dancy. The beats will be more present, the guitars won't be as important, and yet it will be fucking hostile. Many aggrotech influences in our own style, with a badass rock n roll touch.


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?

We've always been listening to every kind of music, so it will be very long to mention all the bands which had an influence on us. In Black Metal, the bands that influenced me were Emperor, Aborym, Arckanum, Black Lodge, Enslaved and above everything Crystalium. My other heroes were the bands from the 80s, in any kind of music : Indochine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Hanoi Rocks, Depeche Mode, Social Distortion, Vangelis...
And nowadays, I listen a lot to Dope DOD, Faith No More, Combichrist, Psyko Punkz and... Scooter !  As I told, you, I don't care about the genre of music I listen to, as long as it kicks ass. If I find a killer melody in a Britney Spears or Rihanna track, I'm not ashamed of listening to it all day long or playing it in a party...


13.What are some of your non musical interests?

Fitness is my other passion, and it's also my job. And I can tell you that every track I wrote on « Legio Axis Ka » were inspired, in a way or another, by the music I use in fitness classes.
Sport is a kind of religion, for me it's a spiritual experience, that's why we refer a lot to Antiquity, which considerered body and mind as indissociable.
Besides, we're all crazy about parties and everything that comes with it...





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


Thanks for the interview and your support, hope you'll have a great experience with our tracks !




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