Enthean Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
We're actively training our new bassist and preparing for our tour this year! Personally, we've all got bullshit jobs. We only have jobs to put money towards the band! Well, we like to eat occasionally.

2.In May you have a  new album coming out, 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?
The sound is a bit more mature and WAY more professional! We had Mr. Jamie King master the album and he did a killer job! The last thing we released was our demo and Brian mix and mastered it... Neither of us knew how to do much of anything concerning any of it.

3.This is the first release to come out in 3 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time span?
In 2013, I had a bad shoulder injury which prevented me from playing guitar or using my left arm in any way... so 2013 and into 2014 sucked a fat hogs dick. Then, in March and April of 2014, we played a TON of shows and went on a tour around the southeast and east coast of the US. We had a great reception and people dug the shit out of our sound! Our old bassist quit in mid-2015 and we've been looking since then. I do believe we've found the right guy, though.

4.Your lyrics cover some mythological topics, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this subject?
I'm interested in mythology altogether! Not just the stories but how they come to be. So, 'Priests of Annihilation' has a few songs based on the myth of the Christian story (Tones of Desecration, Before You, I Am), and the rest of the songs are mythologized events that have happened in my life except 'Ekpyrosis' which is a pretty cool scientific theory dealing with the cyclic birth/death of the universe.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Enthean'?
"Enthean" means "Divinely inspired". We knew right away that "Enthean" was going to be the band name! We wanted people to be curious as to which deity divinely inspired us... As far as I'm concerned, it's all of them since mythology is a key aspect of our writing.

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?
There have been quite a few at the world famous Ground Zero in Spartanubrg, SC! A few were in Asheville, NC at the Odditorium. One in Astoria, NY and a very memorable but quick one at The West Texas DeathFest put on by one of the guys in Abolishment of Flesh from Texas. I'd describe our stage show as manic... Both Brian and I switch off on vocal duties and leads and sometimes it happens at the same time, so... yeah, manic.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?
We plan to tour in late Summer of this year, so be on the lookout!

8.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
We have had a great deal of interest from smaller labels but most of them want physical copies of the new CD before any one decides. We've gotten a few offers, but we're still looking for a home!

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?
We've had a ton of positive reactions to our music worldwide. A ton of people dig us in Russia, parts of Europe, South America, Australia, and New Zealand. I've sent CD's to fans in all these parts of the world. We've had a few negative reactions... One of them is that we're not "true" black metal, which ya know what? Fuck it. Who gives a shit? We play what we want and whatever comes out is what it's gonna be. We're not trying to please any elitists. I've had one other experience in which people didn't care for us and it was from a guy in a doom band.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Again, we play whatever comes out... With that said, we have some new stuff written that sounds evil as fuck! We also have some very proggy, interesting music we're writing. So, we're still gonna be Enthean, but it's gonna be a different flavor.

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?
Emperor, Death, Pantera, Immortal, Origin, Nile, Cannibal Corpse, AngelCorpse, Krisiun, Nile, Deicide, The Beatles, The Allman Brothers, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Dimmu Borgir, Bach, Beethoven, Segovia, Tarrega... too many to list! Those have all influenced our music... I'm personally listening to Motorhead and Pink Floyd.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
I really like to read. Mythology, History, and science articles are usually my go to reads. I do have quite a few books I'm trying to get through: '11/22/63' by Stephen King and 'Deviant' by Harold Schechter (a book about Ed Gein). I also enjoy cooking a great deal. Mostly Indian food and desserts...

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
I want everyone to check us out at all of our social media outlets and give us a like, love, a tweet, a play, a fuck off, or whatever is going on at any particular site at the time! Do it! Also, thanks to you guys for the interview!

http://enthean.bandcamp.com/album/priests-of-annihilation

Facebook.com/Enthean
Twitter.com/EntheanMetal
Reverbnation.com/Enthean
Soundcloud.com/Enthean

Fister/TEETH/Broken Limbs/2016 Split EP Review

 This  is  a  review  of  a  split  ep  between  Missouri's  Fister  and  California's  TEETH  which  will  be  released  in April  by  Broken  Limbs  and  we  will  start  off  the  ep  with  Fister  a  band  that plays  a  blackened  mixture  sludge,  doom,  stoner  and  death  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  a  very  distorted  sound  before  going  into  a  heavier  sludge/doom  metal  direction  that  also  uses  a  great mixture  of  black  metal  screams  and  death  metal  growls  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  the  track  being  long  and  epic  in  length  and  some  riffs  also  use  a  small  amount  of  melody  along  with  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  dark  and  melodic  fashion,  the  production  on  their  side  of  the  recording  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dying  themes..

  In  my  opinion  Fister  are  a  very  great  sounding  blackened  mixture  of  stoner,  sludge,  doom  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.

 Next  up  is  TEETH  a  band  that  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge,  doom  and  death metal.

  Their  side  of the split  starts  out  with  a  very  heavy  sound  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  and  blast  beats  a  few  seconds  later  while  the slower  riffs  are  more  influenced  by  sludge  and  doom  metal  along  with  a  small  amount  of  melody and  the  songs  also  bring in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  their  side  of  the  recording,  the  production  sounds  very professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Teeth  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  sludge,  doom  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out t his  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "To  Lay  Upon  Blistered Torns".

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  I  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  black,  death,  doom  and  sludge  metal.  8  out  of  10.  

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Enthean/Priests Of Annihilation/2016 CD Review

  Enthean  are  a  band  from  South  Carolina  that  plays  a  progressive  mixture  of  symphonic  black  metal  and technical  death  metal  with  elements  of  thrash,  shred  and  classical  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2016  album  "Priests  Of  Annihilation".

  Symphonic  sounds  and  melodic  guitar leads  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  drum  beats  a  few  seconds  later  before going  into  a  fast  musical  direction  that  uses  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  black  metal  screams  and  there  are  also  death  metal  growls  and  clean  singing  vocals  present  throughout  all  off  the  recording.


  Elements  of  thrash  can  be  heard  in  the  bands  musical  style  while  some  of  the  solos  are  very  technical  and  incorporate  elements  of  shred  and  neo  classical  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  mixing  the symphonic  and  heavy  sounds  together  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  as  the  album  progresses  clean playing  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  music  also  gets  very  progressive  at  times.

  Ethean  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  symphonic  black  metal  and  technical  death  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with  elements  of  prog,  thrash,  shred  and  classical  to  create  a  style  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  reality  and mythology  themes.

  In  my  opinion Ethean  are  a  very  great  sounding  progressive  mixture  of  symphonic  black  and  technical  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Tones  Of  Desecration"  "Ekpyrosis"  and  "Bring  Forth  the  Raven".  8  out  of  10.  

https://enthean.bandcamp.com/album/priests-of-annihilation

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www.facebook.com/Enthean

Cretura/Fall Of The Seventh Golden Star/WormHoleDeath Records/2016 Full Length Review

  Cretura  are  a  band  from  Norway  that  plays  a  mixture  of  symphonic black  metal  and  goth  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Fall  Of  The  Seventh  Golden  Star"  which  will  be  released  in  April  by  WormHoleDeath  Records.

  Choir  vocals  and  spoken  word  parts  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  synths  and  drum  beats  as  well  as  an  atmosphere  of  a  fantasy  film  and  after the  intro  the  music  goes  into  a  very  musical  direction  while  also  adding  in  melodies  and  retaining  all  of  the  symphonic  elements  and  adding  in  female  vocals  which  also   brings  in  more  of  a  goth  metal  feeling.

  Black  metal  screams  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout the  recording  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  death  metal  growls  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful sound  to  them   and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  very long  and  epic  in  length  while  some  of  the  fast  riffs  also  use  a  small  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  one  track  also  introduces  violins  to  the  recording.

  Cretura  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  a  symphonic  form  of  black  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with  melodic  goth  metal  to  create  a  style  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  horror  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Cretura  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  symphonic  black  and  goth  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Reign  Of Terror"  "Funeral  Roses"  "At  The  11th  Hour"  and  "The  Last  Song  Of  The  Earth".  8  out  of  10.   

https://www.facebook.com/Cretura

     

Graves At Sea/The Curse That Is/Relapse Records/2016 CD Review

  Graves  At  Sea  are  a  band  from  the  Western  United  States  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  black  metal,  doom  and  sludge  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "The  Curse  That  Is"  which  will  be  released  in  April  by  Relapse  Records.

  Distorted  drones  start  off  the  album  and  after  a  minute  the  music  gets  more  heavy  and  melodic  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  sounding  very  powerful  and  the  vocals  are  screams  that  are  close  to  black  metal  while  the  riffs  mix  in  the  heaviness  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  When  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  stick  to  more  of  a  dark  and  melodic  sludge/doom  metal  direction  and  acoustic  guitars  along  with  violins  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  you  can  hear  some  70's  influences  but  mixed  in  with  more  of  a  very  modern  and  heavy  sound  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  slow  and  dark  musical  direction  from  beginning  to  ending  of  the  recording  and  they  also  bring  in  a  brief  instrumental  before  returning  back  to  a  heavier  direction  on  the  last  track.

  Graves  At  Sea  creates  a recording  that  takes  black  metal  vocals  and  mixes  it  in  with  the  heavy  style  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  while  also  throwing  in  violins  and  acoustic  guitars  at  times  to  create  another  very  dark  yet  heavy recording, t he  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Witchcraft  and  Darkness.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Graves  At  Sea  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Dead  Eyes"  "This  Mental  Sequence"  and  "Minimum  Slave".  8  out  of  10.

https://gravesatsea.bandcamp.com/

Giant Of The Mountain/The Empty Quarter/Burning Dogma Records/2016 EP Review

  Giant  Of  The  Mountain  are  a  band  from  Texas  that  plays  a  progressive  mixture  of  black,  death,  doom  and  sludge  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their 2016  ep  "The  Empty  Quarter"  which  will  be  released  in  may  by  Burning  Dogma  Records.

  A  very  heavy  sludge  guitar  sound  starts off  the  ep  before  going  into  more  of  a  fast,  melodic  and  technical  direction  that  also  introduces  blast  beats,  death  metal  growls  and  black  metal  screams  onto  the  recording  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  a  great  amount  of  modern  elements.

  Clean  singing  can  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  songs  and  the  songs  also  mix  in  a  lot  of  prog  metal  elements  as  well  as  a  huge  influence  of  melodic  death  and  the  solos  and  leads  the  band  uses  use  of  a  great  amount  of   melody  and  almost  have  a  retro  feeling  at  times  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording.and  some  songs  also  bring in  a  small  amount  of  clean  guitars.

  Giant  Of  The  Mountain  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  melodic  black,  technical  death,  and  mixes  it  with  doom  and  progressive  sludge  metal  to  create  something  very  original,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  H.P  Lovecraft  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Giant  Of  The  Mountain  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  progressive,  black,  death,  doom,  and  sludge  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should c heck  out  this band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Crawl"  and  "Instinct".  8  out  of  10.

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Negative Voice/Cold Redrafted/Hypnotic Dirge Records/2016 Full Length Review

  Negative  Voice  are  a  band  from  Russia  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  with  a  touch  of  doom  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Cold  Redrafted"  which  will  be  released  in  April  by  Hypnotic  Dirge  Records.

  Clean  yet  distorted  playing  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  drum  beats  and  melodic  guitar  leads  making  their presence  known  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  leads  up  to  a  heavier  musical  direction  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording  and  whispers  can  also  be  heard  briefly.

  Clean  singing  can  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  songs  while the  aggressive  vocals  are  mostly  black  metal  screams  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts and  the  music  also  alternates  quite  a bit  between  soft  and  heavy  parts  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  along  with  tremolo  picking  can  be  heard  while  the  songs  are  mostly  slow  or  mid  paced  and  the  music  can  also  get  very  progressive  at  times.

  Negative  Voice  retain  some  of  the  melodic  black/death  elements  of  the  last  album  while  also focusing  more  on  the  progressive,  goth  and  doom  metal  side  this  time  around,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  oblivion  and  desolation  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from Negative Voice  and  if  you  are  into t he  melodic  styles  of  black,  doom  and death  metal,  you  should  check  out this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "City  of  Decaying  Gaze"  "Impasse"  and  "Draft Life".  8  out  of 10.

https://hypnoticdirgerecords.bandcamp.com/album/cold-redrafted