Pagan Reign 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?

Greetings! We do not stand still. During our absence on the stage, we have accumulated a large number of new ideas and musical material. Therefore, the immediate future life of the group will be devoted to the implementation of new thematic albums. Album Once Again is timed to the fact of the reincarnation of our group and its awakening from a long lethargic sleep. We can say that our first album after a long lull is a prologue to the following main elements. He is very emotional and sincere, because it reflects our own life and worldview. Thus, the work burns, soon we will publish material on the work on the new album.

2.In December you had also released a new album, musically how does it differ from the stuff that you have released in the past?

Once Again, a deeper, we can say Philosophy album. There are a lot of our personal experiences and reflections on it. Plus, we touched on the subject of the ancient civilization of the Gods - Hyperborea. In the texts there are hints of the extraterrestrial origin of our ancestors:
«Behind the sunlight beyond a white river
Is our stellar cradle».
Similar parallels can be found, for example, in the lyrics of the song - On Fiery Simargl's Wings, etc.
Musically, we have become more thoughtful about both music and its production, and, of course, the performance skills and the number of techniques used in the process of arrangements have increased. But, as on the previous albums, the most important component of our creativity are gorgeous melodies and music in general. Now we are ready to present our unique style to the listener. Pagan Reign is not to be confused with anyone.

3.This is also your first full length since 2006, how do you feel both the pagan and folk metal scenes have evolved during that time frame?

Pagan - folk metal scene for our absence has expanded quite significantly, we can say that it has become a definite trend, but the development has gone towards alleviating the overall sound and primitivization of the melodic component, along with the frequent attribute in the form of a female front singer or alcoholic theme of the lyrics of songs. At the same time, the expansion of the pagan folk metal geography is pleasantly surprising.
One of the reasons for our return to creativity was the surprising fact that since the release of our last album for 2006 (Твердь / Ancient Fortress), no one has ever released anything like it.

4.Your lyrics deal very heavily with Slavic Paganism, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic and also do you have an interest in the other forms of Paganism form different countries and cultures?

Yes, paganism is our worldview, however, we are looking at this topic much more broadly than the desire to "dance around" wooden idols. For us, this is a system of traditional values ​​inherited from our ancestors, thanks to which we have clear guidelines on life. In this regard, we are not opposed to technical progress and do not support people calling for everything to be destroyed and leaving to live in the forest with primitive tools. We are more likely cosmists, and we see the future in man’s knowledge of the universe and its endless spaces in every sense of the word. And we respect the cultural heritage of other nations, especially the Indo-European family, which is common to us. And it is quite natural for a Slav, being, for example, a guest on the lands of Scandinavia, to raise his horn to the glory of Odin.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Pagan Reign'?

This name speaks for itself and reflects our concept both ideologically and musically. This is the dominance of the traditions of the ancestors and our desire to show the triumph and beauty of the ancient heritage.

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

Each element has its own global meaning. If you look at the center of the illustration, you can see the cut of a hazel nut with annual rings. This is the story of the life of Pagan Reign and creativity in general. We have stood the test of time and are ready for rebirth and transformation into something perfect. It is also a reflection of the Tree of Life of the Universe. Sawdust can be seen at the bottom of the illustration, it is a symbol of the fact that over the years we have rejected the husk and created something really valuable and important. The gusli (psaltery) with sounding strings reflect our attitude to the musical traditions of the ancient Slavs (by the way, the gusli made Orey with their own hands). The strings go up and dissolve in cosmic stellar space. Thus, music is the language of our communication with the Archetypes and the Universe. This is magic and a tool for changing the surrounding reality.

7.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 concerts are always held in close dialogue with people who came to listen to us. Therefore, on all shows, we always give all the best and get a huge return. But, despite our rather wide creative arsenal, we always treated the concerts calmly and focused on writing new music. Therefore, new live concerts will begin only after we embody at least half of the musical material that has accumulated during our reincarnation.

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

Yes, such plans exist, but only after the recording and implementation of the next album in 2019.

9.The new album was released on 'Yarko Music Production', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

This is an independent label founded by us together with the group Tverd and currently specializes only in publishing albums and the merch of our formations.

10.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your newer music by fans of folk, pagan and black metal?

Our fans reacted with great joy, and overwhelmingly accepted the new material very well. Some noted that the new album is the most melodious and emotional in the history of the group. Although, how could it be otherwise, if it is a reflection of our personal experiences and euphoria from the realization that we have revived after so many years? The next album will carry a different thematic and emotional charge, respectively, and the music will be different. It will be a real blow of the Slavic Gods. Now our resources and capabilities have increased: we have our own sound and video production, and we are ready to delight our listeners with high-quality music more and faster.

11.Are any of the band members involved with 'Твердь' these days?

Yes, all members of Pagan Reign are the core of the Tverd. We can say that Tverd took over the baton from Pagan Reign for the period of freezing.
Tverd (Твердь) is our side project, which is dedicated to the history of ancient Rus’.

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

At the moment, the main goal is the realization of musical material and the promotion of our music, the creation of video material. In the long run, these are live performances, primarily in Russia and Europe, Japan and North America in the future.

13.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

If you take the Metal in general, it is bands like Carcass, Death, Immortal, In Flames (1994, 1996), Amorphis (1994), Bal-Sagoth, etc. Slavic bands - Nocturnal Mortum and Gods Tower. If you take music as a whole, it’s Russian composers of the «Могучая Кучка» times (The Five, also known as the Mighty Handful and the New Russian School) - Alexander Borodin, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and his follower Alexander Glazunov and others. As well as old folk music and traditions of Russian choral polyphonic singing.

14.What are some of your non musical interests?

What is unique to the metal scene in general is that Vetrodar and Orey are medical doctors! ;)
In general, it is history, nature, science, fantastic works of art.

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

Thank you for your interest in our art.
Stay Pagan! Слава Богам!

Bandcamp

Facebook

Myspace

Official site @ archive.org

Spotify

VKontakte

Tanagra Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?
The recording was a really long process, close to 3 years, and that took a lot of time that'd be spent writing and practicing, but we still played some shows in the meantime, and have continued to write and practice. We're currently working on a couple EP's with a narrower focus on each one, as well as some more general writing for the 3rd album.

2.In April you have a new album coming out, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
While the first album had a relatively narrow focus of European Power Metal with a dash of prog influence, Meridiem is much more full and composed. Not only does it embrace a lot of prog elements (and some black and doom metal elements); but it's just sonically bigger. Lots more synths, multiple guest musicians, heavily layered vocals, and all the extra experience our producer/engineer Sacha has had come to bear on this album. I believe Witness was over 250 tracks by completion.

3.The band started out with more of a power metal style but on the new album mixed in some symphonic black metal influences, what was the decision behind going into this direction?
The previous album had much less influence from Chris since it was mostly written by the time he came on, and he didn't directly write much of the music. Chris's more direct influence on the new album brought with it more doomy, neo-classical, and black metal influences. Additionally; Erich dabbles in this realm so it's an easy sell. It was a semi-conscious decision, inspired by bands like Forefather, Ancient Rites, and Caladan Brood who all have hints of a power metal / black metal hybrid, it became a fun challenge to combine them together with a heavier emphasis on the cleaner parts. It's a relatively rare combination which is surprising, as they actually combine incredibly well. There were quite a few times when we'd come up with an intense riff and Chris would be like "Oh man, I gotta blast over this and we'll have some big choral vocals!" One of the songs Chris took the lead on, Across the Ancient Desert, was very much intentionally putting the black metal aspect front and center as he was experimenting a bit with just how much he could get away with.

4.While you have some black metal elements you also keep your vocals all in a clean style, are you open to experimenting with some harsh vocals or do you prefer to keep the traditional power metal style?
A lot of material for future albums has already been created, and I don't think any of it has a hint of such vocals. I wouldn't close the door entirely on it if it was thematically appropriate for a song, but I have a distinct feeling it won't come up for a while. Though in line with the black metal influence a bit, I do see us drifting a bit more towards the kind of low-choral vocals you'd hear in Caladan Brood and occasional Summoning song as the soaring resonance of that style is beautiful over fast aggressive music.

5.Your lyrics also cover a lot of science fiction and fantasy themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interests in those subjects?
I think everyone but Josh is some form of a nerd if I'm frank. Erich is into all kinds of gaming including 40k and Magic The Gathering; Steve is into a lot of video games, Star Trek and anything involving the concept of time, Tom is a big Board-game and book/science guy who is big into Star Trek; and Chris on top of being a Malazan fanboy and total weeb I'm not sure there's a nerdy thing he would avoid.  For the most part though future references to these subjects will still be using it as a conduit for whatever the message of the song is; it's about capturing and delivering the feeling of the story to the listener rather than saying "Hey, we like that thing that you like!"

6.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Tanagra'?
The first major song of the band (never released, has been torn apart, maybe rehashed in the future) was a very long epic called "At Tanagra"; a reference to a Star Trek episode: Darmok (Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra is the classic phrase). When stewing on possible names for some number of weeks, Scott mentioned Tanagra as a name; and it stuck... Steven once described the meaning: The particular episode, Darmok, which has a theme of coming together to work towards a common goal and working together to create new experiences that exist as a metaphor in history for the future to build upon, and as a band, we try and take in multiple influences to create something new out of, and the name was a reflection of that.

7.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the album cover?
We once again had the pleasure of working with the incredible Gary Tonge, who did the panoramic cover art of our first album as well. This time the process was a little different; rather than Tom describing a specific composition, he just gave Gary some ideas about what kind of atmosphere the new cover should have and listed some elements that should be included. What followed was several weeks of discussions and refinements that resulted in the cover art you see now. We made a conscious choice to go with a completely different color palette compared to the first album and wanted the atmosphere of the cover to reflect the undercurrent of drama and melancholy that permeates this album. The artwork aims to illustrate the album's overarching theme of transition-- A long journey has been made, but there's still a long way to go. The distant temple represents dreams yet unrealized, with many different paths leading there. The album's name means "midday" in Latin. Conceptually, this represents a crucial pivot point in the band's journey, which we feel this album is. Our first album's art depicted a sunrise; this time the sun is high in the sky. There are several significant numbers present in the artwork as well: The two massive columns (this is our second album), the five spires of the temple (five members in the band), the seven monuments in the sky (seven songs on the album), and nine paths through the valley (this one is a bit of a musical joke-- part of what gives this album its overall vibe is the repeated use of ninth chords). Each of these numbers has other significance as well (for example, a total of seven people have been in the band at this point, it's been nine years between the start of the band and the release of this album, and two original members on this album aren't coming back).

8.So far there has been a 4 year gap in between the 2 full  lengths and demo you have released so far, can you tell us a little bit more about it?
Both records took substantially longer to finish than expected. One aspect of Meridiem's delay was an injury that occurred to Tom's voice during tracking a particularly difficult part for us baritones. I don't think the full details are necessary, but it caused a substantial 8-10 month delay. This album also underwent a lot of "debugging"; where we rehashed sections, re-performed parts, rewrote parts, etc. The album definitely ran away from us a little bit. We consistently had this idea of "bigger and more epic" every step of the way so we were always wanting to add more. For example, we decided to have 2 songs with heavy orchestral influence. Well, then the other 5 would feel a little bare, so we decided to write some basic backings to those, but then that quickly turned in to every song have a ton of backings, and then that gave birth to some beautiful melodies where we decided to bring in live musicians. Or at times we'd have an amazing vocal melody and decide "you know what, now we need a 5 part harmony behind that." Things like that happened in every song, and while it really drew the recording process out, the end result is that every song has a huge amount of effort and focus and refinement put into it. Chris always described it like "I've always wanted to do a crazily huge over-produced album, this is awesome!"

Finally, there was a substantial delay in figuring out the logistics of the majority of the cost of the album. Once we made some decisions regarding that we started plotting a lot more points on the calendar to get things done.

9.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 first show was amazing; since the crowd was rather larger than expected due to Josh's local popularity and the intrigue of this new project. There was a particularly good show downtown in a venue called Slabtown ( that no longer exists) but it was packed, we covered a Blind Guardian song, the crowd was happy, we had an encore we weren't prepared for.  The encore ended up being like 20 minutes and the crowd just kept wanting more, it was a good time, but our poor drummer just wanted a beer after that, power metal's tiring. Playing at the first Hyperspace show (in Vancouver BC) was pretty sweet, if nothing else because it was a decent venue and crowd; and they were mostly new ears. The Blaze Bayley show also went well.

Our stage performance is largely focused around delivering a truly accurate rendition of the songs you hear (which can be quite difficult with the parts we write haha) and usually shows some new material that is a year or two out (or more!). We have our drummer plugged into a click track so we can have all of the backing symphonic and synth elements included in our show over the PA as well. It makes for a pretty huge full sound, and if with a good lighting guy and a fog machine, it's quite the experience and not something you usually see/hear live. We try to write many of the choruses or parts to have sing-along style crowd engagement; much like many European power metal bands (such as Blind Guardian.) We want you to have a good time and we want you to hear what you came for. If you want to hear new material you'll be ahead of the curve if you can see us live!

10.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?
Probably not at the moment; but were the album successful enough we could maybe pull it off. It'd definitely be fun to get out there, but as always, things like real life and money get in the way, and this album was quite expensive, so we're trying to catch up with ourselves in affordable ways. Ideas are hatching about how to move forward optimally, but first things first, gotta finish getting this album out there!

11.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
There is a bit of a mixed sentiment on being signed in the band. It's a bit of a tricky proposition these days with how many good tools are out there for self-promotion and how even most signed bands have to pay for their own tours and make most of their money from merch anyways. We're open to hearing all offers though, and we'll shop this album around and see what happens but if there's not a good offer our lawyer signs off on we'll continue being self-funded and self-released.

12.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of metal?
Even on the last album, we had random orders all over the world, from the coldest parts of Russia to Europe, to South America, to Japan, to Polynesia; etc. We've had a nice response in Germany, Canada, the UK, and Denmark in particular, but I think we've mailed CDs to over 20 countries!

13.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
I think we're going to play around with some more focused concepts (both lyrically and audibly) on an EP level. Erich's working on some Bolt Thrower sounding stuff, Chris is working on a 4-part epic based upon a certain character in the Malazan book Memories of Ice that will sound more like Summoning or Caladan Brood, and Steven's working on something that's a bit closer to None of This is Real. Our next full length will most likely be a natural progression from Meridiem though. We're all really happy with the sound on that and want to build upon it as our "main" sound, but we still are having fun dabbling in other soundscapes as well.

One major thing is integrating the vocals earlier in the writing process which has been something we've struggled with getting figured out on the released material. The hope is that they fill more of an instrument's role; and another hope is that it helps with the "debugging" mentioned earlier; that the album will be much more complete before heading into the studio.

14.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?
Erich listens to a lot more symphonic black metal, atmospheric stuff, and dark/synthwave than before; but still runs the gambit from Dio to Melechesh. Chris primarily listens to atmospheric black metal, funeral doom, and uplifting trance as his 3 favorite genres that primarily inspire his writing (we actually have a full-on trance build-up and bass drop on Meridiem if you listen for it!).  Steven's always had a knack for video game music (Megaman, Chrono Trigger, etc) and later found Iron Maiden to be his biggest influence both musically and as a model of how a band should be.  Nowadays he also listens to synthwave and prog.

15.What are some of your non musical interests?
Erich plays a lot of games, paints models, runs D&D sometimes, gardens, hosts BBQs.
Chris is an anime web and video game shut-in, mostly playing Final Fantasy XIV at the moment with some Monster Hunter World on the side. Also on my re-read of Malazan: Book of the Fallen.
Steven plays old video games and goes to Magfest, a video game music festival held once a year to hang with his internet family theshizz.org/fourm.
Tom is currently surviving under a heavy school workload but likes to spend time reading.

Erich and Chris are also both software engineers professionally and dabble in hobby programming from time to time.

16.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
There's lots more to come and the next era of Tanagra already has a lot of cool stuff ready to go. We'd like to thank all of the fans who were patient with us recording this album through the delays (Meridiem! Dropping Feb. 2016!), yourselves for the interview, and your readers for making it this far. It's hard to put in words how excited we are for people to hear this album, we've put a lot of heart and soul into it and unleashing to the world is a huge moment for all of us. We hope everyone enjoys it!

Bandcamp

Facebook

ReverbNation

Twitter

YouTube

Tanagra/Meridiem/2019 Full Length Review

    Tanagra  are  a  band  from  Portland,  Oregon  that  plays  a  mixture  of  progressive  power  metal  and  symphonic  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2019  album  "Meridiem".

  Epic  sounding  synths  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  classical  guitars  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  music  at  times.  A  great  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  while  the  songs  also  mix  in  a  great  amount  of  symphonic  elements.

  Clean  power  metal  vocals a re  also  a  very  huge  part  of  the  recording  while  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  melody.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  brought  into  the  music  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  along  with  the  music  also  mixing  in  a  great  amount  of  progressive  elements.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  elements  of  black  metal  and  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  as  well  as  the  songs  also  adding  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  Stringed  instruments  are  also  added  into  some  parts  of  the  music  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them,  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the recording.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  self  released  while  the  lyrics  cover  science  fiction,  fantasy,  history,  time  and  dreams. 

  In  my  opinion  Tanagra  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  progressive  power  metal  and  symphonic  black  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Meridiem"  "Etheric  Alchemy"  and  "Across  The  Ancient  Desert".  8  out  of  10.

 https://www.metal-rules.com/2019/03/08/portland-power-metal-tanagra-reveals-enticingly-epic-meridiem-off-new-album-via-metal-rules-com/ 

Waste Of Space Orchestra/Syntheosis/Svart Records/2019 CD Review

  Waste  of  Space  Orchestra  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  consists  of  members  from  Oranssi  Pazuzu  and  Dark  Buddha  Rising  that  plays  a  psychedelic  mixture  of  black,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "Syntheosis"  which  will be  released  in  April  by  Svart  Records.

  Avant  garde  style  soundscapes  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  clean  playing  a  few  seconds  later  while  the  music  also  gets  very  experimental  at  times  as  well as  mixing  into  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs.  At  times  the  music  also  gets  very  psychedelic  sounding  mixing  the  60's  sound  with    more  modern  style.

  Elements  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  the  slower  riffing  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  and  grim  black  metal  screams  are  also used  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  tremolo picking  and  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  which  also  expands  on  the  black  metal  influence  that  is  a  very  huge  part  of  the  recording.  Throughout  the  album  you  can  also  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  and  mid  tempo  parts.  Keyboards,  electronics  and  effects  are  also  a  very  huge  part  of  the  tracks.

  Some  of  the  songs  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  as  well  as  the  music  also getting  very  shamanistic  and  ritualistic  sounding  at  times.  As  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  female  vocals  can  also  be  heard  along  with  the  songs  also  getting  more  diverse,  one  track  also  introduces  demonic  vocals  onto  the  recording.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  a  concept album  involving  3  beings  and  their  search  for  knowledge  along  with  some  shamanistic,  occult,  esoteric  and  alien  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Waste  of  Space Orchestra  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  psychedelia,  black,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres, you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Void  Monolith"  "Journey  To  The  Center  Of  Mass"  "Infinite  Gate  Opening"  and  "Syntheosis".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.facebook.com/wasteofspaceorchestra/

The Munsens/Unhanded/Sailor Records/2019 CD Review

  The  Munsens  are  a  band  from  Denver,  Colorado  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  stoner  and  doom  metal  with  some  elements  of  punk  and  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2019  album  "Unhanded"  which  was  released  by  Sailor  Records.

  Clean  guitars  start  off  the  album  while  black  metal  screams  are  also  utilized  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording.  During  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  while  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  are  very  heavily  rooted  in  doom  metal.

  Elements  of  atmospheric  post  black  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  music  while  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  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.

  The  songs  also  mix  in  influences  of  stoner  metal,  punk  and  hardcore  throughout all  of  the  tracks  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.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  greed, mortality.  misanthropy,  religion,  history  and  American  capitalism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  The  Munsens  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  doom  and  stoner  metal  with  some  elements  of  punk  and  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Pitiful"  and  "Rivers  Of  Error".  8  out  of  10.

https://themunsensnj.bandcamp.com/

Norvhar Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band? We are an Epic Folk Metal band from Lausanne, Switzerland. We are 6 musicians and we all have a big experience of stage in others bands. We exist for 2 years now.

2.Recently you have released an ep, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style you went for on the recording? As we are influenced by a lot of bands and styles, we tried to mix our main inspirations to create our own universe. We did a mix between the “drinking songs” part of folk metal and the “epicness” side.

3. A lot of your lyrics are influenced by both Nordic Mythology and the writings of J.R.R Tolkien, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in these topics? In Norvhar all of us have read books of Tolkien and many more fantasy authors.We also have a quite good knowledge of Nordic mythology, so it appeared as a natural way to us to use both of those thematics.

4. Originally the band was called 'Harmoniks', what was the cause of the name change and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name "Norvhar'? We decided to change because Harmoniks has been running for around 10 years. There were no former members in the band anymore, and we chose to change name before our 1st EP, as a “new beginning”. The meaning of “Norvhar” is quite simple actually : we had another band years ago which was called “Nordreign”, and we used the “NOR” particle. We also would like to keep something from Harmoniks so we kept the “HAR”. And finally we thought about the “visual” part of the band’s logo, so we chose to add a “V” in the middle.

5. Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the ep cover? It’s been created and drawn by the swiss designer Agnès Keller, who is a good friend of us. We explained her the ideas and the concept behind “Kauna” and she did this beautiful artwork! This artwork presents the place where the story of Kauna is happening: an old and dark forest, filled with creatures.

6. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance? We played as open act for Finntroll some months ago, it was a really nice show and a killer crowd! By the past we also opened for bands such Tyr, Moonsorrow, Black Messiah. But as far as we are on stage, despite the size of the venue or the number of people in front of us, we do the best show we can. It’s important for us because we have seen too many gigs as spectators with bands playing with sad faces because there were not as many people as they wanted etc.. Our stage performances as always full of fun and smiles, we love to play for people and we try to bring the best ambiance !

7. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future? We will be playing at Lid Ar Morrigan Fest in May, it’s a very nice festival near Nantes. We’ll also play in Lenzburg in June with Morgarten and more. The second half of 2019 will be more interesting.

8. Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest? We have been contacted by a few companies, but for the moment we are not looking for collaboration. We would like to remain the “masters” of our work, and maybe in the future we’ll be looking for a worldwide distributor.

9. On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of folk metal? Very positive! We received reviews and feedbacks from all over the world. We’ve sent CDs to fans in Canada, USA, Mexico, Germany and France for example, and we are also distributed in Japan by a store in Osaka.

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? Some of us are playing in other swiss acts like AM:PM, Peace Is Just A Break, Darkrise, Murge, Mathilde, and our drummer is touring with even more bands. We are very active! We also have founded an association, called SONS OF YMIR, to promote local and international folk metal bands by organizing shows and festivals. We did the 1st edition the 16th of February and we invited Celtachor from Ireland.

11.When can we expect a full length and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future? Actually we have already begun the composing process for the upcoming album, I think we’ll release it in 2020. We don’t want to wait too long, because we would like to climb the ladder a little bit ;)

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? I personally am a huge fan of the old folk metal scene, with acts like Moonsorrow or Finntroll or Ensiferum etc and I am pretty sure that the others feel the same. On a more recent point we all like the work of Equilibrium, especially the “epic” touch they add. The list is very long!

13.What are some of your non musical interests? We all work beside Norvhar, and we practice together our biggest passion : drinking beers and writing epic stuff. But we also are normal human being, so we love different kind of activities of course.

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

Bandcamp

Facebook

Spotify

YouTube

Dreams Of The Drowned/Self Titled/Cult Of Nine Records/2019 Full Length Review

  Dreams  Of  The  Drowned  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  mixture  of  psychedelic  avant  garde  black/gray  metal  and  anarcho  post  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2019  album  which  will  be  released  on  March  20th  by  Cult  Of  Nine  Records.

  Atmospheric  soundscapes  start  off  the  album  and  after  the  first  track  the  music  goes  into  a  heavier  direction.  A  great  amount  of  dissonant  melodies  can  also  be  heard  in  the  guitar  riffing  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  some  clean  avant  garde  style  vocals  also  being   utilized  at  times.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  while  grim  black  metal  screams  are  also  a  very  huge  part  of  the  music,  During  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  Elements  of  post  punk  can  also  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  along  with  the  guitar  solos  and  leads  also  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.  as  well as  some  synths  also  being  utilized  at  times  Some of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length  while  psychedelic  elements  can  also  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  music.

  They  also  bring  in  a  cover  of  Dodheimsgard  "Midnattskogens  Sorte  Kjerne".  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  European  Witchcraft,  atypical  mental  states,  the  feeling  of  loss,  the  forest,  the  will  to  reclaim  long-gone  connexions  and  power  from  within,  and  the  urge  to  properly  name  and  subsequently  confront  power-overs.

  In  my  opinion  Dreams  Of  the  Drowned  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  avant  garde  black/gray  metal,  psychedelic  and  anarcho  post  punk  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Conciliabules"   Real  And  Sound"  and  "Danced".  8  out  of  10.

Bandcamp

Facebook

YouTube