Goblinsmoker/Toad King/Sludgelord Records/2018 EP Review

  Goblinsmoker  are  a  band  from  the United Kingdom  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  ep 'Toad  King"  which  will  be  released  in  December  by  Sludgelord  Records.

  Guitar  amp  noises  start  off  the  ep  before  adding  in  some  slow  and  heavy  riffs  that  are  very  heavily  rooted  in  sludge  and  doom  metal  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  as  well  as  all  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Vocals  are  mostly  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  dark  and  melodic  style  along  with  the  music  also  adding  in  a  stoner  metal  edge  at  times  as  well  as  all  of  the  songs  sticking  to  a  very  slow  direction  and  dark  sounding  melodies  can  also  be  heard  briefly.

  Goblinsmoker  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  black,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  a  concept  album  based  upon  The  Toad  King.

  In  my  opinion  Goblinsmoker  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Time  To  Ride".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.facebook.com/Goblinsmoker/

https://thesludgelord.bandcamp.com/album/toad-king

  

Absence Betrayal Interview

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

ENG: The project Absence Betrayal was formed after my main group Escadaia suspended its activities. I (Andrey Baranov - the Author of the project) decided to finish my musical activity and do something else, but after some time the desire to write music took over and I began to compose songs just to throw out my energy. After recording the first song (When the sun goes out), I showed it to a few people who were impressed with my work and convinced me not to give up and release the
album. Absence Betrayal is a solo project of one person.

2.In September you had released your first album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style you went for on this recording?

ENG: In writing music, I never rely on a particular genre, so each composition may differ in its style from the others. The style of this album I call Extreme Metal, I think it is a mistake to say that it is
specifically Death or Black style, I can get a hard song, and lyrical, and maybe even epic.

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

ENG: For the most part this is a philosophical and life themes, but not always.

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

ENG: I was just looking for a beautiful phrase that starts with the letters A and B since these are my initials. Picking up the words for the name of the project I liked the phrase Absence Betrayal, as its
meaning has a great meaning for me.

5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the album cover?

ENG: On the cover is used silhouette of my face.

6.Originally the band was supposed to be a solo project, what was the decision behind adding other members?

ENG: Project as it was solo, so solo and stayed. The composition was recruited once for live performance, but later on I left my old friend and colleague in the Escadaia group, Nikolai Sokolov on the guitar, he will take part in the next concerts and upcoming studio work.

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

ENG: Presentation of the album in the city of Irkutsk.

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

ENG: I have plans to tour Russia to present the album in the first half of 2019. We would also like to present the album in other countries, but it remains only in dreams.

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

ENG: The debut album Emotions was released on the independent Russian label Metal Renaissance. I would like to try to publish the next release on another label that could give substantial support. So yeah, I'm looking for a label.

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

ENG: Globally, at the moment, there are not very many people who have heard my music, but those who have heard have left positive reviews.

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

ENG: Work on the second album has already begun and there are even a few recorded songs that will begin to come out in the form of singles in the 1st quarter of 2019. For the most part, the style remains the same Extreme Metal because it is not possible to specify the style, also on the album there will be several experimental compositions.

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?

ENG: I don't want to answer that question, sorry.

13.What are some of your non musical interests?

ENG: Creating games for computers and phones. This is not my main activity, but I love doing it very much.

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

ENG: Thanks to all those who read this interview! Be always adequate
people!

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Sulphur Aeon/The Scythe of Cosmic Chaos/Van Records/2018 CD Review

  Germany's  Sulphur  Aeon  have  returned  with  a  new  recording  which  continues  the  melodic  blackened  death  metal  style  of  previous  releases  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "The  Scythe  of  Cosmic  Chaos"  which  will  be  released  in  December  by  Van  Records.

  Atmospheric  sounding  synths  and  ritualistic  spoken  word  parts  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  while  clean  vocals  can  also  be  heard  briefly  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  as  well  as  the  riffs  also  adding  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody.

  Vocals  are  mostly  death  metal  growls  along  with  a  few  black  metal  screams  while  the  songs  also  add  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard.

  Sulphur  Aeon  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  the  melodic  blackened  death  metal  style  of  previous  releases,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  based  upon  the  writings  of  H.P  Lovecraft.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Sulphur  Aeon  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  melodic  blackened  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Cult  of  Starry  Wisdom""Sinister  Sea  Sabbath"  and  "Liungs  into  Gills".  8  out  of  10. 

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Heidra/The Blackening Tide/Time To Kill Records/2018 CD Review

  Heidra  are  a  band  from  Denmark  that  plays  a  mixture  of  folk,  viking,  black,  melodic  death  and  power  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "The  Blackening  Tide"  which  was  released  by  Time  To  Kill  Records.

  Acoustic  guitars  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  epic  sounding  synths  a  few  seconds  later  before  adding  in  some  heavy  riffs  and  power  metal  style  vocals  while  black  metal  screams  are  also  utilized  at  times  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Death  metal  growls  are  also  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  along  with  the  songs  also  adding  in  elements  of  folk  music  as  well  as  some  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length and  at  times  the  music  also  gets  very  symphonic  sounding  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard.

  Heidra  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  folk,  viking,  black,  melodic  death  and  power  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  crate  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover Scandinavian  Tales.

  In  my  opinion  Heidra  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  folk,  viking,  black,  melodic  death  and  power  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Dawn""Lady  Of The  Shade"  and  "Hells  Depths".  8 out  of  10.

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Forbidden Rites/Pantheon Arcanum/GrimmDistribution/2018 CD Review

  Forbidden  Rites  are  a  band  with  members  from  Mexico  and  Cyrus  that  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "Pantheon  Arcanum"  which  will  be  released  on  November  7th  by  GrimmDistribution.

  A  very  fast  and  melodic  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  grim  black  metal  screams  as  well as  the  solos  and  leads  also  adding  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  the  music  is  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  Swedish  style.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  the  music  also  adds  in  a  great  amount  of  death  metal  elements  along  with  the  songs  also  bringing  in    great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  as  the  album  progresses  acoustic  guitars  can  also  be heard  briefly  on  a  couple  of  tracks,  some  of  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  small  amount  of  thrash  influences  and  they  close  the  album  with  an  isntruemntal.

  Forbidden  Rites  plays  a  musical  style  that  goes  back  to  the  90's  era  of  Swedish  melodic  black  and  death  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  secret  societies  and  ancestral  occult  knowledge.

  In  my  opinion  Forbidden  Rites  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Human  Mortuary  Landscapes"  "Judgement"  and  "The  Defeat  Of  Man  By  Man".  8  out  of  10.

https://grimmdistribution.bandcamp.com/album/030gd-forbidden-rites-pantheon-arcanum-2018 

Dyrnwyn Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
We are a Pagan Folk Metal band based in Rome, a bunch of friends with two common passions, Roman history and music.

2.Recently you have released your first full length, musically how does it differ from your previous ep and demo?
It is another world completely.  In the mean time as we were composing Sic Transit Gloria Mundi we grew up a lot both as musicians and as people. We learn to communicate and understand each other and this new found complicity and harmony between the members of the band brought us this album and we cannot be more proud of it!

3.Your lyrics cover Paganism and Ancient Roman History, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in these subjects?
We believe that if someone decide to play and compose folk metal he has to talk about his folkloric history and what greater history if not the one about Rome for us that were born and grew up here in the eternal city.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Dyrnwyn'?
This one is actually kind of funny story. We were at the beginning of our musical journey and the direction to take was really blurred and unsure.We all came from different music backgrounds and each of the name we picked represented more ourselves as single people then the band. We fought and we discussed for quiet a few days until exhausted we decided that the first who will propose a name, whatever it would have been, in the next few hours would be the official name. Let’s say that
we’re happy it wasn’t something silly ahahah Dyrnwyn is one of the thirteen tresure of England. Is a black sword which when wielded by a pure of heart will harness the power of fire to his favour but when wielded by someone unworthy it will burn him to ashes.


5.Can you tell us a little bit more abut the artwork that is presented on the album cover?
The name of the album is Sic Transit Gloria Mundi that translated it would be “and that’s how the glory of the world disappeared” . Based on this concept we worked with Gianmarco Colalongo in order to represent it on paper and we can all see the result of this process.

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?
The best show we did until now  are definitely the one with our brothers Atavicus in Rome and in Pescara. The atmosphere and the bond of friendship that binds us just made the concerts , pre, during and post a great experience all around.


7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
Not yet but we’re starting to plan an italian tour really soon followed by some dates in europe, germany, swiss, austria etc.

8.The new album was released on 'Soundage Productions', how did you get in contact with this label?
Our bassist and founding member ,Ivan Cenerini , has a remarkable cd collection and some of them have been bought through the soundage distr

9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your newer music by fans of pagan and folk metal?
It has been really really good. We’ve received some first reviews and are extremely good  8,5/10, plus everyone who listen to the album really enjoys it and send us compliments about it.

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?
Almost all of the band members are involved with other projects: Alessandro Mancini our guitarist and composer is currently on board of other two different projects , Drakens Orden (MelodicDeath) with whom is going to release a full lenght this month  and DragonhammeR (Power Metal) who recruited him as live guitarist.
Ivan Coppola our drummer is part of Ulfhednar  (Black Metal) with whom is taking part in a lot of concert here in Italy. The new found vocalist Thierry Vaccher is the singer of Manner (industrial metal) and Ivan Cenerini and Michelangelo Iacovella as well as Mauro Ricotta (former guitar) are composing for an original Atmospheric Black Metal project call AITA.

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
A balanced mix between Black Metal, Atmospheric Black Metal and Classic Pagan Folk .

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?
Here we need to make a brief list: Falkenbach, Manegarm, Moonsorrow, Draugr, Svartsot, Kawir, Istapp, Saor, Romuvos, Skyforger etc etc…
Nowadays they are pretty much the same with some occasional discoveries but in the same field as the one mentioned before.

13.What are some of your non musical interests?
Kick boxing, MMA, Historical re-enacment, D&D, Hiking, Trekking in nature and DRINKING ahahahah

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
We hope to be able to bring this album everywhere and play as many live show as possible especially out of italy. But to do so we need to ask everyone of you a favor, be curious of new music, give a chance to small names because they might surprise you and if you can, support them as you can. We play and compose our music for all of you out there because we want to connect with you in some way, conveying our emotion and ourselves into our songs and nothing give us more happiness then knowing that you’re there headbanging in your car or at home or down the stage listening to us!

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Fordomth/I.N.D.N.S.L.E/Endless Winter Records/2018 CD Review

  Fordomth  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  sludge  and  funeral  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "I.N.D.N.S.L.E"  which  will  be  released  in  November  by  Endless  Winter  Records.

  Tragic  sounding  keyboards  start  off  the  album  which  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  music  at  times  before  adding  in  some  clean  playing  while  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  along  with  the  riffs  also  bringing  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  sound  very  powerful.

  Vocals  bring  in  a  mixture  of  clean  singing,  guttural  death  metal  growls  and  black  metal screams  while  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  are  very  heavily  rooted  in  funeral  doom  metal  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  as  well  as  one  track  also  introducing  spoken  word  parts  onto  the  recording  and  they  also  give  the  music  more  of  a  poetic  atmosphere,  all  of the  music  sticks  to  a  slower  direction  and  also  captures  the  heaviness  of  sludge  metal  and  as  the  album   progresses  slide  guitars  and  stringed  instruments  can  also  be  heard  briefly.

  Forndomth  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  black,  sludge  and  funeral  doom  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  a  concept  album  covering  based  upon  eternal  damnation,  developed  under  it's  satanic  perspectives.

  In  my  opinion  Forndomth  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  sludge  and  funeral  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Chapter  II  Abyss  Of  Hell"  and  "Chapter  V  I.N.D.S.L.E".  8  out  of  10.

fordomthband@gmail.com
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http://endless-winter.org/
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