Stortregn/Emptiness Fills The Void/Non Serviam Records/2018 CD Review

  Stortregn  are  a  band  from  Switzerland  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018 album  "Emptiness  Fills  The  Void"  which  will  be  released  in  May  by  Non  Serviam  Records.

  Acoustic  guitar  playing  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  direction  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  while  the  vocals  bring  in  a  mixture  of  black  metal  screams  and  death  metal  growls  along  with  the  music  also  bringing  in  a  great  amount  of  90's  era  Swedish  influences.

  A  great  amount  of  melody  can  also  be  heard  in  the  guitar  riffing  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  along  with  the  songs  also  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  whispers  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

 Some  tracks  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  spoken  word  parts  while  acoustic  guitars  also  make  a  return  on  some  of  the  later  songs  along  with  a  couple  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length  as  well  as  some  of t he  faster  riffing  also  bringing  in  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  instrumental  can  be  heard  before  returning  back  to  vocal  tracks.

  Stortregn  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  their  melodic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  scientific  and  philosophical  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Stortregn  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  melodic  black  and  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Through  The  Dark  Gates"  "Nonexistence"  "The  Eclipsist"  and  "Children  Of  the  Obsidian  Light".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.facebook.com/Stortregn

     

Aethyr/Cruor/Zero Hour Recordings/2015 EP Review

  Aethyr  are  a  band  from  Moscow,  Russia  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  played  a  blackened  mixture  of  drone,  sludge  and  doom  metal  while  this  recording  shows  more  of  a  melodic  black/death  metal  style  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  ep  "Cruor"  which  was  released  by  Zero  Hour  Recordings.

  Distorted  sounding  drones  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  heavy riffing  and  melodic  guitar  leads  a  few  seconds  later  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  when  the  music  speeds  up a   decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  be  heard.

  Vocals  are  mostly  grim  black  metal  screams  while  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  mix  in  elements  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  along  with  the  riffs  also  bringing  in  a  decent  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  as  well  as  some  death  metal  growls  also  being  used  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and fast  parts.

  On  this  recording  Aethyr  goes  into  more  of  a  melodic  blackened  death  metal  direction  while  style  keeping  in  some  elements  of drone,  sludge  and  doom  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Occultism  and  Esoteric  Discipline  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Aethyr  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  melodic  black/death,  sludge  and  doom  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "VI".  8  out  of  10. 

https://aethyr.bandcamp.com/ 

Kamikaze Zombie Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?  Sure, The band started in 2014 With myself (Clint) And Damon, who at the time was the drummer. we just wanted to do something that was different than most of the shit around us at the time. We both grew up with 80's thrash/punk/hardcore and the metal bands of the 90's and we just wanted to make music we wanted to hear. lol

2.In 2017 you had released your first album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording? A Car wreck - just a nasty, heavy sound. I like music to be kind of like a tornado, you don't really know where we are going, you just gotta ride it out.

3.On the album you had a variety of many different metal styles ranging from 80's to modern era, which era of metal do you prefer to the most?  The album was based off of 80's punk/ hardcore and 90's era melvins and metal bands like, White Zombie,Slayer, Crowbar, Pantera, Sepultura Ect. and of course our gigantic love for the New Orleans music scene. Necorphagia was also a big influence. Rest in power - killjoy.

4.Your lyrics cover a lot of horror movie themes, can you tell us a little bit more about the horror films you had explored on the new album?  yeah, so I love movies as you can tell. A lot of our song titles are movie titles. lyrics I use metaphors most of the song are about real life shit, with horror movies and other sifi themes to express the real life emotions in the songs. The song "The Stone Giant"  I used the movie: "Daimajin"  its a japanese horror film from the 60's to its about, a Giant stone statue that guards the gates of hell comes to life to protect japan. I also, used my favorite book "Moby Dick" on this one. Other songs, I use werewolves, Satan, though with Satan- its never about him, just Satan is the great antagonist. 1226 and Death Rides A horse. both are real life monsters. 1226 is about the Chinese Cultural Revolution, that shit is worse than horror movie you could imagine. Death Rides A Horse ( one of my favorite western) is about the Mason Murders. "Manhunter" and "The Story Of Jane Doe" are Mirror's of each other.  Silence of the lamb and ManHunter are the movies I pull from.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Kamikaze Zombie'? It means nothing. That was the point. I wanted a name that was just Weird but cool. Something we could make whatever. KZ was it!! the idea of a Zombie being a kamikaze was absurd to me, I couldn't stop laughing. We originally were going to be "The Crude Mutants" so we kept it to describe or fans and ourselves. So now we are Kamikaze zombie - "the Crude Mutants"  but with Kamikaze Zombie- I really make a conscience effort not to have anything to Kamikaze Japan, I try to steer clear of all of that,shit. lol

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance? Ok, Best shows? Last year at Full Terror Assault 3 was pretty fucking rad!!  We have been lucky enough to play with a lot of the bands we look up too, which RULES. But some of small local shows that just come together can be some of the best.  Stage performance - We are in the works to scale up the stage stuff. we want movies and crazy shit going on the background. We also try to have samples from the albums live. I hate to hear a album then live it's completely different. but, also with us. Steve and Myself,especially. we like the show to be fun and light hearted. I get tired of seeing night after night of dudes coming out beating their chest and all. So we just come out telling jokes and cutting up. keeping it fun. We let the music speak for itself.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future? YES!! we have two tours booked this summer with our friends in HailShot. We are going Cost to Cost. We start in denver, Co and end in Savannah, GA . other than that. We play with Eye Hate God in a few days. We have a couple of festivals we are in the works to play. which will takes us through the rest of the summer. Then come September we hit the road again. Gonna go North after that tour. We come home and start work for our next Album. We start recording back at LedBelly December 2018 and that is our plan for this year.

8.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest? YES!! We are definitely looking. We are in talks with a smaller but very cool label now. but We gotta keep it under the hat for now. One of our major goals is HouseCore Records. that would be a dream come true.But we will see where the road takes us.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of extreme metal?  Actually and quite honestly -surprisingly we have been getting a lot of great feedback from Europe!!! which rules. So I've been trying to push that interest. Who knows? we may get froggie enough to jump across the pound in the next year or so...We will see.

10.What is going on with the other bands or musical projects these days that the drummer is a part of?  Lol I don't really keep up with them. to be honest. I just focus all my time on KZ. everything else, is none of my business.

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?  We have 8- or 9 songs in the works now, for the new album. I can tell you. They are more trashy than this album. but they are also, heavier and lean on grindcore stuff .. but its still very much KZ. We haven't deviate that much from Night Of The Nuberus". But, we will let you guys decide.

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?
Black Flag, Minor Threat, The Bad Brains, Celtic Frost, CrowBar, SuperJoint, Slayer, White Zombie, Pantera,The Melvins, Gwar, Goatwhore, Acid Bath, Suicidal Tendencies, Metallica, The Misfits and about a million others have all influenced us.  Currently There are two bands that I love to death. the Band Child Bite. which I am lucky to call my friends. The have some amazing tunes. I jam their stuff on the daily, A fun fact - Shawn knight of Child Bite, did our album cover. Dude is a super talented dude. The other band I cant seem to get enough of is Us Bastard. I'll jam their album for like a week straight. Just really good shit!! My buds in Against the grain and Hailshot also have great tunes out right now, that are worth checking out.

13.What are some of your non musical interests?  None music.I teach 8 step preying mantis kung fu, I love drawing and then of course horror movies, comic books.I screen print all of our KZ's shirts and Im a massage therapist for my day job.

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts? Yeah, thank you for you time. thanks to all our Crude mutants for their support and check us out at www.kamikazezombie.com - See you on the road.

https://kamikazezombie.bandcamp.com/releases

ClawHammer PR

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Kamikaze Zombie/Night Of The Nuberous/2017 Full Length Review

  Kamikaze  Zombie  are  a  band  from  Birmingham,  Alabama  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  sludge,  thrash  metal  and  crossover  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2017  album  "Night  Of  The  Nuberous".

  A  very  dark  yet  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  horror  movie  samples  also  being  used  at  times  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  along  with  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  being  very  heavily  rooted  in  sludge  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard.

  A  lot  of  80's  era  crossover  and  hardcore  punk  elements  can  also  be  heard  in  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  along  with  a  great  amount  of  thrash  influences  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  grim  black  metal  screams  as  well  as  most  of  the  tracks  being  very  short  in  length  and  throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts,  death  metal  growls  can  also  be  heard  at  times and  when  guitar solos  and  leads  are utilized  they  remain  very  true  to  an  old  school  style  of  metal  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Kamikaze  Zombie  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  black,  death,  sludge,  thrash  metal,  hardcore  punk  and  crossover  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  horror  and  slasher  movie  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Kamikaze  Zombie  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  death,  thrash  metal,  crossover  and  hardcore  punk  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Manhunter"  "In  The  Mouths  Of  Madness"  "Death  Rides  A  Horse"  and  "As  The  Moon  Stares  At  Death".  8  out  of  10.

kamikazezombie.bandcamp.com/album/night-of-the-nuberus

Kanseil/Fulische/Rockshot Records/2018 CD Review

  Kanseil  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  folk  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "Fulische"  which  will  be  released  in  May  by  Rockshot  Records.

  Firewood  burning  along  with  some  folk  instruments  start  off  the  album  while  spoken  word  parts  are  also  used  briefly  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  which  also  introduces  death  metal  growls  and  black  metal  screams  onto  the  recording  as  well  as  the  faster  sections  of t he  songs  bringing  in  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats.

  Folk  music  elements  also  mix  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  music  while  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  along  with  the  clean  vocals  also  adding  in  elements  of  pagan  metal  as  well  as  the  songs  also  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Acoustic  guitars  can  also  be  heard  briefly  while  the  guitar  leads  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  when  they  are  utilized  along  with  spoken  word  parts  also  making  a  return  on  some  of  the  later  tracks  and  one  of  the  songs  is  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  they  also  bring  in  a  folk  music  track  before  returning  back  to  a  heavier  direction  on  later  songs  which  also  introduces  female  vocals  onto  the  recording.

  Kanseil  plays  a  musical  style  that  mixes  folk  and  pagan  metal with  the  heaviness  of  black  and  melodic  death  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Italian  and  cover  the  local  folklore  and  history  of  their  homeland  along  with  some  nature  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Kanseil  are  a  very  great  sounding  folk  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "La  battaglia  del  solstizio"  "Orcolat"  and  "Densiloc".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.facebook.com/Kanseil/
https://twitter.com/KanseilOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/kanseil_official/

Dystersol/The Fifth Age Of Man/WormHoleDeath Records/2018 CD Review

  Dystersol  are  a  band  from  Austria  that  plays  a mixture  of  folk  and  melodic  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "The  Fifth  Age  of  Man"  which  was  released  by  WormHoleDeath  Records.

  Pagan  war  horns  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  and  symphonic  direction  which  also  introduces  grim  black  metal  vocals  onto  the  recording  while  the  music  also  mixes  in  a  great  amount  of  modern  death  metal  elements  in  the  riffs  and  growls  along  with  some  clean  vocals  also  being  used  at  times.

  A  great  amount  of  folk  music  elements  can  be  heard  throughout  the  recording  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  along  with  some  female  vocals  also  being  added  onto  some  of  the  tracks  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  as  well  as  the  songs  also  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  as  the  album  progresses  clean  playing  can  also  be  heard  briefly  on a  couple  of  tracks  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Dystersol  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  folk,  symphonic  black,  melodic  death  and  modern  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  the  five  ages  of  man  as  described  in  Greek  Mythology.

  In  my  opinion  Dystersol  are  a  very  great  sounding  modern  mixture  of  folk,  black  and  melodic  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Fifth  Age  Of  Man"  "Winterking"  "Children  Of  The  Wasteland"  and  "End  Game".  8  out  of 10. 

www.facebook.com/dystersol
www.dystersol.com
www.youtube.com/Dystersol

Hortus Animae Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the release of the live album?

1)      Hi. This album celebrates our 20th anniversary, it was the perfect chance to release something very special, that is live, and on vinyl, which has been our dream in a drawer for many years. It’s been just released so for now we are enjoying the feedback from fans while preparing out 20th anniversary gig that will take place in our hometown, Rimini, Italy on May 18, 2018.


2.How would you describe the musical sound of your current music and also how would you describe your progress over the years as musicians?
2)      We have always been devoted to experimenting different sounds, by integrating diverse influences in our own vision of extreme metal. We stay true to this ideal to this day, even though we have moved towards a more technical and brutal side of our sound. Let’s say in the beginning we sounded a bit more blackish and now we are a little bit more death metal oriented, yet our gothic, progressive and avant-garde remains really vivid.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you have explored over the years with your music?

3)      Lyrics are the representation of a personal path. I have explored many themes over the years but through the prism of my own vision and I have analysed mostly themes related to spirituality, mysticism, abstractionism of the soul, through a study I’ve made of their connection to the human feelings and ways of life.

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

4)      Hortus Animae is Latin for the Garden of the Soul. This moniker fully reflects what previously said not only lyrics-wise but also music-wise. Our music and lyrics make up a scenario where you can go and find shelter and time for rest and reflections.

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?

5)      It’s nearly 20 years that we hit stages and every time it’s a wonderful and magical experience. Our warmest memories go to the gigs we shared with Napalm Death, Ancient, Lacuna Coil, Mortuary Drape, Necrodeath and last but not least the almighty Necronomicon.

Our performances are mostly focused on the music, no frills. There is a big energy  from us to the audience and vice versa. This atmosphere has been fully captured in our live album “Piove Sangue”.

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

6)      Not yet, as said for now we are organizing our 20th anniversary gig, surely other gigs will follow during summer but nothing confirmed so far.

7.On the live album you had also done your own version of Slayer's "Raining Blood" what was the decision behind doing your own version of this song?

7)      Every metalhead on Earth has gone through Slayer and “Raining Blood”, it just seemed the perfect song to end our shows during the Total Metal Over Europe Tour, Pt. II with Necronomicon.

8.Also on the same song you also had some session work from the singer of 'Necronomicon', can you tell us a little bit more about his involvement on the recording?

8)      It was the result of fellowship we developed during the tour and that has culminated with this recording, which was totally unplanned and came spontaneously. It was the very last night and we knew we were going to record a live album there, Freddy came to me and proposed to do “Raining Blood” together, I said “fuck yeah!” and then he just came on the stage for a very fiery version of that song. It’s been awesome.

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

9)      We have a very good welcoming in our home, Italy. But I have to say we also have a loyal fanbase abroad as well. During our 8 years hiatus we kept receiving mails from fans from all over the world and they have played a big role to getting us reunited, beside making music together.


10.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?
10)   Each and every one of us other bands also not related to metal. The bands that are mostly in the metal vein are Desmadre’s Crawling Chaos that play death metal and my solo project Martyr Lucifer where we play gothic.
11)   Right now we are writing new material for the follow up to 2014’s “Secular Music”, we really can’t tell what direction we will fallow as our way to compose is really unpredictable thanks to the fact that we all are musicians coming from different musical backgrounds.

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

12)   I don’t know, if we really have to mention bands, I think I might mention Enslaved, early Opeth but also Cradle of Filth at some point. But just to give you an idea, our vision of music is really personal in the end and we’ve always been extremely open minded and we listen to the most diverse styles of music. This surely contributes to the formation of our sound as well.

13.Does Occultism play any role in your music?

13)   Occultism, yes, it’s important. Not the main thing, though. Mostly spirituality, as said before, with no link to any particular religion. Pagan symbolism plays a big role as well.

14.What are some of your non musical interests?

14)   Even though music is one the leading lines of our lives we all have different interests, like everyone, like movies, reading, some of us are DJs, sometimes I do horse riding, etc.

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

15)   Thank you very much for this interview and we hope we’ll be playing in the US anytime soon. Cheers!



http://hortusanimae.net/

https://www.facebook.com/ HortusAnimae/