Mazikeen/The Solace Of Death/Satanath Records/Iron, Blood And Death Corporation/2020 CD Review

  Mazikeen  are  a  band  from  Australia  that  has  had  music  reviewed  before  in  this  zine  and  on  this  recording  plays  a  symphonic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "The  Solace  Of  Death"  which  was  released  as  a  joint  effort  between  Satanath  Records  and  Iron,  Blood  And  Death  Corporation.

  Dark  soundscapes  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  drum  beats  and  whispered  vocals  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction.  The  music  also  adds  in  a  great  amount  of  symphonic  elements  while  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  lot  of  melody  and  the  vocals  also  bring  in  a  mixture  of  black  metal  screams  and  death  metal  growls.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  while  a  great  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  while  the  songs  also  add  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  Spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with  the  music  also  being  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  but  modern  at  the  same  time.  Some  tracks  also  add  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  vocals  as  well  as  one  track  also  introducing  classical  guitars  onto  the  recording.

  Harsh  noises  can  also  be  heard  briefly  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  couple  of  instrumentals  can  also  be  heard  and  the  album  closes  with  some  Mayhem,  Dissection,  Dimmu  Borgir  and  Darkthrone  covers  and  re doing Freezing  Moon  and  Transylvanian  Hunger  in  2020  is  completely  useless  and  there  original  material  is  good  enough  to  the  point  where  they  have  no  need  in covering  these  songs.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  destroying  souls,  death  and  darkness  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Mazikeen  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  symphonic  black  and  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Solace  Of  Death"  "Fratricide"  and  "Cerulean  Last  Night".  8  out  of  10.

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Cauldron Black Ram/Slaver/20 Buck Spin/2020 CD Review

  Australia's  Cauldron  Black  Ram  have  returned  with  a  new  recording  which  continues  the  mixture  of  black,  sludge,  doom,  death  and  thrash  metal  from  their  previous  releases  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "Slaver"  which  will  be  released  in  May  by  20  Buck  Spin.

  A  very  slow,  dark,  heavy  and  melodic  doom  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  while  also  capturing  the  heaviness  of  sludge  metal.  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  along  with  some  of  the  faster  riffing  also  mixing  in  elements  of  thrash  metal  and  guttural  death  metal  growls  are  also  utilized  at  times.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  grim  blackened  metal  screams  are  also  utilized  at  times.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  dark  yet  melodic  style  along  with  the  music  also  being  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  but  modern  at  the  same  time.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  couple  of  instrumentals   are  also  added  onto  the  recording,  semi  melodic  vocals  can  also  be  heard  briefly.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  death  and  war  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Cauldron  Black  Ram  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  black,  sludge,  doom,  death  and  thrash  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Flame"  "Graves  Awaiting  Corpses"  and  "The  Pit".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.facebook.com/cauldronblackramofficial

https://cauldronblackram.bigcartel.com    

God Dethroned 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?
Well we did a European tour right on top of the release of the album and we even managed to finish it, because some bands who started a tour a week later couldn’t finish their tours anymore due to the shutdown of countries to contain the corona virus. Now we are waiting for better times like everyone else.

2.Recently you have released a new album, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
On this album we added a lot of additional layers in the music. Especially vocals and keyboards. This created an extra dimension and lifted the atmosphere. We are glad we did this experiment, because at first we discussed if we just keep it basic like we did on the World Ablaze album. The songs themselves were strong enough to do without this, but we had the time to try all these extras, so we did.

3.The band split up for a couple of years, what was the cause of the split and also the decision to reform?
I just needed some time off for myself. I didn’t know if it would be a definite ending or a break, but if i would have called it a break then people would have kept on asking me about shows and stuff. This was something i wasn’t looking forward to at that time, so i decided to quit for real. Then after a couple of years i noticed i missed it and decided to come back.

4.The album title is 'Illuminati', can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in the Illuminati,Freemason's and other secret societies?
I just wanted to add something new to write about, so i looked into the Illuminati. Everybody has heard about this secret society and the mysteries surrounding it. I found out that they were basically fighting for freedom. Wanting to be able to read books that were forbidden at that time and to discuss things that weren’t allowed to discuss about. They infiltrated in certain organisations to blend in. I took this point of view and projected it upon religion.

5.Over the years you have also covered some satanic and demonology topics and made some references to grimoires and the writings of Aliester Crowley, can you tell us a little bit more about how you got interested in occultism and also how has your interest evolved over the years?
It’s just something that i like to read about and especially Aleister Crowley was a big influence. I don’t use this so much in my lyrics though. Mostly i use stories from the bible and turn them into my own earthly view of it and i use some sarcasm to do so.

6.You have also covered some war topics over the years, which past war has the most interest to you?
I’m interested in history generally. I used to visit Ypres a lot in the past, because one of our guitarists used to live there. I got fascinated by seeing all these people from the UK going there every weekend to visit the graves of their relatives who died there during WWI. Then i visited the war memorial sites, museum and so on and decided to write a concept album about it. It was received so well that we ended up doing two more.

7.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
The artwork is done by Michal Xaay Loranc who also did artwork for Nile. He created some really beautiful artwork for us. The cover shows a vortex of souls and fits very well to our music and lyrics on this album.

8.Do you have any touring or show plans for 2020?
We did, but not anymore. Now we have to wait patiently for 2021 to be able to back out on the road again. We have more European tours in the works and also South America and Canada at the moment.

9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your newer music by fans of black and death metal?
The response on the new album is overwhelmingly positive. Many people regard this as one of the best albums in a long time. We also played 4 songs of the new album on tour and although the album was just out since a week, the songs were appreciated a lot by the audience.

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?
Most of those bands are just things on the side and i don’t know that much about it to be honest.

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
That’s too early to tell right now.

12.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?
Can’t say which bands as we try to not get influenced by other bands so much when we are writing new songs, but having loads of melodies in our songs is very important to us. So for me my love for Iron Maiden songs will probably show a little in our music.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts? 
Hope we can go back to normal sooner than later, so we can go back on the road and play!

Cheers, Henri
God Dethroned

 https://www.facebook.com/goddethronedofficial
 https://goddethroned.bandcamp.com
 https://twitter.com/villavampiria

(0)/SkamHam/Napalm Records/2020 Full Length Review

  (0)  are  a  band  from  Denmark  that  plays  a  progressive  mixture  of  post  black,  sludge  metal  and  drone  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "SkamHam"  which  will  be  released  on  April  24th  by  Napalm  Records.

  Clean  playing  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  heavier  riffing  a  few  seconds  later  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.  The  riffs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  as  well  as  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  adding  in  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats.

  Vocals  are  a  mixture  of  black  metal  growls  and  deep  growls  while  the  music  also  adds  in  a  great  amount  of  progressive  and  post  metal  elements.  Elements  of  sludge  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  along  with  clean  playing  also  making  a  return  on  some  of  the  later  tracks.

  A  great  portion  of  the  songs  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  along  with  the  guitar  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  as well  as  the  songs  also  adding  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  tremolo  picking  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  faster  riffing  and  as  the  album   progresses  drones  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording,  the  closing  track  is  also  an  instrumental. The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Danish  and  cover  dark  and  gloomy  themes.

  In  my  opinion  (0"  are  a  very  great  sounding  progressive  mixture  of  post  black,  sludge  metal  and  drone  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Tyndere  end  Hud"  "Rod  Glorie"  and  "SkamHam".  8  out  of  10.

https://youtu.be/42qW87QjajI

    

Koneic Pola/trop/Devoted Art Propaganda/2020 CD Review

  Koneic  Pola  are  a  band  from  Poland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  experimental,  avant  garde  black  metal  and  post  rock  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "trop"  which  will  be  released  on  April  27th  by  Devoted  Art  Propaganda.

  Avant  garde  sounds  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  tribal  style  percussion  a  few  seconds  later  while  the  spoken  word  parts  give  the  recording  more  of a  ritualistic  feeling.  Clean  playing  can  also  be  heard  briefly  as  well  as  some  grim  sounding  black  metal  screams  also  being  utilized  at  times.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  dark  yet  melodic  style  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.  At  times  the  music  also  gets  very  experimental  sounding  along  with  some  tracks  adding  in  violins  and  clarinets.

  Heavy  riffing  can  also  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  album  along  with  the  riffs  also  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  melody  and  elements  of  folk  and  post  rock  are  also  added  into  some  parts  of  the  recording.  When  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  distorted  yet  melodic  style  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  can  also  be  heard,  the  closing  track  is  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length.  The  production  sounds  very  dark  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Polish  and  cover  dream  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Koneic  Pola  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  experimental,  folk,  avant  garde  black  metal  and  post  rock  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Trzeci"  and  "Szosty".  8  out  of  10.

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3xperimental Interview

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

Hi everyone, 3xperimental is an expression of the musical ideas that come to my mind. I have been composing music for more than 15 years, mostly for myself, but eventually felt a desire to share the songs with a larger audience. The feedback has been great so far and it motivates me to keep exploring new ideas.


2.So far you have released 2 albums, musically how do they both differ from each other?

Each album follows a thematic concept, and this is partly reflected in the composition. The first album "Virtual World" tells a near future story, and is perhaps darker and a bit more industrial. The new release "Symphony of Elements" is more orchestral and progressive, with many organic sounds that represent Nature. But the major difference is the production. I learned a lot from the recording of the first album, and was also able to invest more into the second recording (hardware, studio time, sound engineer, ...). This led to a full professional production from start to finish, and overall a much higher quality of sound.


3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you have explored so far with the music?

I think the overall subject of both albums is "Ending Worlds", whether it is on a global or more personal scale. The first album dealt with people who feel (rightly or not) that the world is ending and find refuge in virtual worlds. The new album discusses our place in Nature, and how little we are compared to forces that can end us all. I can already tell that the next album will continue to explore such themes !


4.I have read that you also had 3 concept albums that where never published, can you tell us a little bit more about it?

Some of these concepts were not mature enough to end up in an album, some will need a massive investment and involvement of many other musicians, both are not feasible at the moment. Let's say I have ideas and material for many other albums, and can't wait to get back to writing music, but for now I focus on my energy on the release of "Symphony of Elements" !


5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 3xperimental?

Each song/album is an experiment. I don't want to restrict the music to a specific genre, and I try to introduce structural or melodic elements that may surprise the listener. For instance the whale song in "Water".


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

The artwork was done by Vini Hummel, a very talented artist. I explained to him the concept of the album (natural elements: earth, water, wind, fire) and let him come up with his own interpretation. I think his design is an awesome representation of the forces of Nature.


7.With the exception of a few guests you record most of the music by yourself, are you open to working with a full band or do you prefer to work solo?

I like to work alone on the songwriting, I usually have a very clear vision of what each song should be. I would love, however, to turn the project into a full band and would welcome contributions.


8.You also have a few guests on the album, can you tell us a little bit more about who they are and also their contributions?

My wife recorded the female backing vocals on a few tracks, and I hired another singer to perform the female vocals and opera lines in the song "At the End of the World". They add a lot to the album !


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

I am looking for a label, and some discussion is happening. I hope to receive more interest once "Symphony of Elements" is out.


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

Excellent so far ! Despite almost no promotion for the first album, it got quite a few sales (even physical copies!) in Europe and the USA. The feedback has been very positive and motivating !


11.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician during the future?

I would like the next album to incorporate much more synthesizers so this is definitely a direction I want to explore. I am also looking for session musicians who could support live shows.


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 listen to so many bands, so it's difficult for me to know what really influenced the album. The symphonic elements are certainly reminiscent of when I discovered symphonic metal in the early nineties with bands like After Forever, Rhapsody, or Nightwish. Nowadays I listen mostly darker metal bands like Behemoth, Mgla, The Project Hate. And Evergrey, my all time favourite for sad tunes. My hope is that fans will find many familiar elements in our new album, but also something completely new and exciting.


13.What are some of your non musical interests?

In my non-musical life I am a planetary scientist, so I am very much into space stuff ! I also love scuba diving, and the song "Water" reflects some of that. We should take better care of our oceans !


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

I hope you all will enjoy the album. Don't hesitate to get in touch via Bandcamp or Facebook !

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WOWS/Ver Sacrum/Dio Drone/Shove Records/Coypu Records/Hellbones Records/2020 CD Review

  WOWS  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  mixture  of  post  black,  atmospheric  doom  metal  and  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "Ver  Sacrum"  which  was  released  as  a  joint  effort  between  Dio  Drone,  Shove,  Coypu  and  Hellbones  Records.

  Atmospheric  soundscapes  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  keyboards  a  few  seconds  later  while  whispers  can  also  be  heard  briefly,  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking,  blast  beats  and  black  metal  elements  can  be  heard  as  well  as  some  dissonant  melodies.

  Vocals  are  done  in  mostly  an  angry  hardcore  shouting  style  while  also  mixing  in  some  blackened  touches.  Influences  of  doom  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Most  of  the  songs  stick  to  either  a  slow  or  mid  tempo  direction  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  dark  yet  melodic  style,  clean  playing  is  also  utilized  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  album  as  well  as  one  track  also  introducing  clean  post  metal  style  vocals  into  the  music.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  destruction  emptiness  and  rebirth  themes.

  In  my  opinion  WOWS  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  post  black,  atmospheric  doom  metal  and  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Mythras"  and  "Resurrecturis".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.facebook.com/thewows/  - https://thewows.bandcamp.com/