Ensiferum/Thalassic/Metal Blade Records/2020 CD Review

  Finland's  Ensiferum  have  returned  with  a  new  recording  which  continues  the  epic  folk  metal  style  of  previous  releases  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "Thalassic"  which  will  be  released  in  July  by  Metal  Blade  Records.

  Water  sounds  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  clean  vocals  and  acoustic  guitars  a  few  seconds  later  while  the  music  also  brings  in  some  symphonic  sounding  keyboards  which  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs  at  times  and  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  melody.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  black  metal  screams  and  death  metal  growls  are  also  utilized  at  times.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  along  with  some  tracks  also  adding  in  some  back  up  shouts.

  The  clean  vocals  also  add  in  some  elements  of  pagan  and  power  metal  when  they  are  utilized  along  with  the  songs  also  adding  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  Blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  in  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  as  well  as  some  tracks  also  adding  in  some  folk  instruments  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  history,  myths,  legends  and  heathenism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Ensiferum  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Seafarer's  Dream"  "The  Defence  of  The  Sampo"  "One  With  the  Sea"  and  "Cold  Northland  (Vainamoinen  Part  III".  8  out  of  10.

http://www.facebook.com/Ensiferum
http://www.ensiferum.com
http://www.metalblade.com/ensiferum 
   

Skyfall/Sleeping Forest/Trullpanter Productions/2020 Full Length Review

  Skyfall  are  a  solo  project  from  Sweden  that  plays  an  instrumental,  symphonic  and  orchestral  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2020  album  "Sleeping  Forest"  which  will  be  released  on  June  26th  by  Trullpanter  Productions.

  Stringed  instruments  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  synths  a  few  seconds  later while  the  music  also  mixes  in  a  great  amount  of  symphonic  and  orchestra  elements.  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  along  with  the  riffs  also adding  in  aa  lot  of  melody.

  A  lot  of  the  music  is  also  very  heavily  rooted  in  black  metal  while  the  songs  also  add  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  A  couple  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length  along  with  some  songs  also  showing  an  influence  of  death  metal  as  well  as  the  music  also  having  its  progressive  moments  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  classical  guitars  can  also  be  heard.

  Skyfall  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  black  and  death  metal and  mixes  them  with  symphonic  and  orchestra  elements  to  create  a  sound  of  his  own  as  well  as  keeping  everything  instrumental  and  the  production  also  sounds  very  dark.

  In  my  opinion  Skyfall  are  a  very  great  sounding  instrumental,  symphonic  and  orchestral  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  solo  project.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Awakening"  "Decadence"  "Sleeping  Forest"  and "Desolation".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3HrkDfj8EE  

Inexorum/Moonlit Navigation/Gilead Media/2020 CD Review

  Inexorum  are  a  band  from  Minnesota  that  has  had  music  reviewed  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  melodic  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "Moonlit  Navigation"  which  will  be  released  on  June  26th  by  Gilead  Media.

  A  very  dark  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  while  the  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.  When  the  music  speeds  up a   great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  be  heard  along  with  the  riffs  also  adding  in  a  lot  of  melody  and  the  vocals  also  add  in  a mixture  of  death  metal  growls  and  black  metal  screams.

  Melodic  vocals  can  also  be heard  on  one  of  the  tracks  while  the  songs  also  add  in a   decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  a  couple  of  the  tracks  also  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  As  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  clean  playing,  female  vocals  and  synths  can  also  be  heard  briefly  as  well  as  a  brief  instrumental  but  keeping  the  focus  on  a  heavier  direction  and  they  also  take  the  Swedish  style  of  the  90's  and  update  it  for t he  modern  era.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  struggle  and  grief  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Inexorum  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  melodic  black  and  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Ouroboric  State"  "Chains  Of  Loss"  and  "In  Desperate  Times'.  8  out  of  10.

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The Lightbringer Interview

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

We had an intensive period where we focussed almost exclusively on creating our first and only show for The Lightbringer. To be honest, this challenge undoubtedly surpasses all our expectations! It takes us a good year just to focus on this project. Adapting these songs on stage was not an easy task and finding ways to practice together was even more complex. We had to create the sculptural elements of the set, putting all the pieces together to make sure the visual and the audio just works... Do we regret it? Absolutely not! It was a great experience and we all learn a lot personnally and collectively as a band. This show is on our youtube channel if you want to see the result.

2.You have a new album coming out in July, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

Well, it differs a lot! But at the same time, The Lightbringer vibe is clearly present. This EP is way darker, deeper and more atmospheric than what we have done previously, and I like it a LOT!! I think every album from this project will be different, it will depend on which part of the world we explore and what the story is about. As the albums will come out, I sense it will become harder and harder to define The Lightbringer genre. Some would say that it's bad but to me, I feel that it will become our strenght.

3.The band has been around since 2010 but so far there has only been 3 releases, can you tell us a little bit more about the gap in between releases?

Heptanity took a long time to came out, we put a lot of thoughts into this album and to be honest, we wanted to create a kind of masterpiece with that one! So we became a little too much perfectionnist but it worked to a certain degree. Both me (Simon) and my brother (Olivier) have had big changes in our lives during this time too. For the EP, it is really the building of the show that postponed the release. But if I can rassure you, the writing for the next album is already well advanced, so you should not wait too long!


4.The lyrics on the new album are also a concept album, can you tell us a little bit more about the songwriting?

To me, music has to transport the listener into another world, a mental space where physical reality is no more a thing. With The Lightbringer I try to build this fantasy world with illustrations, a story and an epic soundtrack that drives it all. From The Void To Existence is basically the foundation of this world: a time when the seven primordial spirits awakened from the Void and dreamed a new dimension we call Existence. Heptanity is the continuation of that story: when the seven spirits materializes their Wills to become the gods of their creation. And everything after will be build on that!

For those who want to dig deeper into that story, we offer the illustrated ebooks of all the albums when you subscribe to our newsletter. Think about it!

5.On your facebook page you also mentioned some interest in mythology and cosmogony, can you tell us a little bit more about it?

I think mythology is the greatest source of inspiration for a metal band that want to tell epic stories!!
Mythology is probably the first written record of mankind trying to describe the world with their beliefs, their fears, their condition as human but mostly a record of the insane capabillities of the human imagination to invent godlike stories! Someone who does like metal music must agree with mythology!

6.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'The Lightbringer'?

No one, except Lightbringer (Japan) had use this name back in 2010.... And I really wondered why! There is so much religious and mythological references around the Lightbringer, or Lucifer, or the morning star etc to build a band around!
This name really inspires me, but not for the reasons I have just mentioned. How I see the lightbringer is more like ''those who bear a light inside of them''. I think we all have a talent, something that sets us apart from others and contributes to the world we are all living in. As a bearer of light, you must recognize this unique power, embrace it and improve the world to inspire others and maybe one day, everyone will reaches its full potential and become a bearer of light..... Not so metal I agree! But I think if Lucifer was reading this, he will definitely approve!

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

One of my passion is to create all the artwork of our albums, I want this project to be very personnal and authentic. For this cover, I tried to depict this moment when Existence came to life, and expand through the dimension of the Void. The identity of the mysterious entity on the left will be revealed later! But if you read the Ebook of the album, you will have strong clues about who he really is.

8.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Like I mentioned earlier, we have only done one show and that was in 2019 last year. For the moment, The Lightbringer is more a studio project and these compositions are a real challenge to perform on stage, at least at the level we are right now! There is a lot of stuff going on in these songs and one of my goal is to simplify as most as possible the structure and the arrangements without loosing The Lightbringer signature. A stage performance for us means that it will involve a scenery, costumes, make up and everything necessary to plunge the spectator into another reality. I don't think we will do shows on a regular basis in the future but when we will decide to do one, we will do our best to make it a really special event.

9.On the new album you also done a 'Kitaro' cover, what was the decision behind doing your own version of one of his songs?

Simply because I love Kitaro! When I'm painting I regularly listen to his albums, it's appeasing, inspiring and it's really easy to listen. I just wanted to do my take on this legendary song and to be honest, I felt uncomfortable to transform so much his work. I hope he will pardon me!!! But seriously I think the result is very interesting and a metal version of Caravansary was vital in my opinion!

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

This is something we will consider seriously for the next album, we never tried to get signed but we are  at a point where it could really helps us gaining more visibillity. Having more people discovering what we do is our main challenge right now.

11.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of melodic, atmospheric and extreme metal?

The reaction is good frankly! The reviews are really good, people who are fans really love it. I think we lack visibillity and that's exactly what we need to focus on. A label would be awesomely helpful on that matter.

12.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?

The entire band is also invested in the project of our black metal singer Stan (Sol-Orcus) called Tsar Stangra. This is an interesting bulgarian black metal project with crazy folks elements building the songs. Stan is bulgarian and he takes all his inspiration through that mythology and culture, and it becomes epic very quickly! If you like Arkona and Nokturnal Mortum, you should check this out!

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

We will always have a melodic foundation with a undeniable inspiration towards melodic black metal, melo-death and even power metal at the right times. Our main goal is to tell stories and the melodic wave of the 90's is our way to go! The next album will revisit the Heptanity kind of structure and inspiration, but some pieces will be darker like From The Void To Existence. I will resume the future of the band with these words: Epic, majestic, dark, ethereal and melodic.

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

Bands like Esoctrilihum and Botanist are really doing it right presently in my opinion. Bands who builds a world around their music will always have my greatest support! These bands are really amazing! Some of my biggest influences : the 2 first Septic Flesh albums, Edge Of Sanity, Therion, early Dark Tranquillity, early Cradle Of Filth, many melodic black metal bands...


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

An especially thanks for you guys who took the time to write meaningful questions and plunge into our world! We really appreciate! For all of you who are reading this thing, just listen to this EP  and share your thoughts, your feedback is more than welcome!

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Marthe/Sisters Of Darkness/Caligari Records/2020 EP Review

  Marthe  are  a  solo  project  from  Italy  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  doom  and  heavy  metal  with  some  elements  of  crust,  d  beat  and  gothic  rock  and  this  is  a  review  of  her  2020  ep  "Sisters  Of  Darkness"  which  was  released  by  Caligari  Records.

  Spoken  word  parts  start  off  the  ep  while  also  mixing  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  music  along  with  some  elements  of  doom  metal  in  the  slower  riffs.  Dark  sounding  melodies  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  guitar  riffing  as  well  as  all  of  the  tracks  also  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Vocals  are  mostly  done  in  a  clean  style  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  yet  old  school  style.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  all  of  the  drumming  being  done  on  an  electronic  drum  kit  and  most  of  the  music  is  heavily  rooted  in  the  70's,  80's  and  90's  era.

  The  music  also  mixes  in  a  great  amount  of  traditional  metal  elements  along  with  the  music  also  capturing  the  dark  atmosphere  of  old  school  occult  black  metal.  Some  of  the  clean  vocals  also  add  in  a  touch  of  gothic  rock  as  well  as some  of  the  music  also  showing  some  influences  of  crust  and  d  beat.

  As  the  ep  progresses  a  brief  use  of  synths  can  also  be  heard  and  the  whole  recording  sticks  to  a  slower  direction,  one  track  also  adds  in  a  brief  use  of  grim  screams  and  the  closing  song  also  introduces  clean  playing  onto  the  recording.  The  production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  auto determination,  acceptance  of  life  cycle,  empathy  and  nature  themes. 

  In  my  opinion  Marthe  is  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  doom  and  heavy  metal  with  some  elements  of  gothic  rock,  crust  and  d  beat  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  solo  project.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Sisters  Of  Darkness"  and  "Awake  Arise  Silence".  8  out  of  10.

http://caligarirecords.bandcamp.com/album/sisters-of-darkness

Velkhanos Interview

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

Velkhanos is a band established in 2018 and is set apart by a broad fusion of styles within metal. It is made of Miriam on vocals, Fernando and Pablo on the guitars, Ángel on bass guitar and Jose Antonio on the drums.

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

The style we chose was not to choose any style. We wanted to do whatever we felt like, taking bits and pieces from here and there and knock something different in to shape. We thought: “I like Death, Heavy, Black, Power… Why should I have a different band for each style? So we started working on each track while letting ourselves get carried away, experimenting, looking for a connection between styles… In the end we are very pleased with the album, with rythms from Melodic Death and Black, solos from Heavy and choruses from Power. This might have many dectractors, we are aware of that. The next album will be very different and we think that’s the beauty of it, being able to change (within certain limits) and set labels aside.


3.Some of your lyrics touch on mythological themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this subject?

This album in particular is centered on religion, that’s why there is some mythology in there, although we have tried to steer clear of clichés, avoiding names of gods or beings. The idea was to talk about the relationship between God and human beings. Who created who? Do we try to justify our actions in the name of a greater good? Are our successes or failures the favour or punishment of some deity? Fernando has always been really into literature, history and philosophy.

Our lyrics are based on these concepts, beginning with Bring Me The Fire which is about afterlife, the struggle amongst religions to add another soul to their list; about the Inquisition (The Eye Of God), the search of a god’s compassion through sacrifice (Moloch) or simply telling a tale such as Dagon, H. P. Lovecraft’s work, which also fits the album theme.


4.What are some of the other lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored so far with the music?

For our new álbum we are doing a lot of reading and researching material of historical character, even though we are going to embellish it with rituals and witchcraft. We have a good baseline story to write a great album. We cannot give up much more, but, in general, we have very diverse interests.


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

Velkhanos was the god of fire and nature according to Cretan mythology. We are really passionate about Mediterranean culture and all the blend of civilizations it entailed. Velkhanos, the god, has been present in the great Greek and Roman civilizations, which are precisely the maximum representative of Mediterranean cultural symbiosis. Velkhanos, the band, is a symbiosis of styles within the Metal. This made us relate and also lead us to center our first album on religion.


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

The Cover is the work of Fátima Ruiz, photographer and a great artist. Fernando and Fátima worked for a few days on the concept and the idea materialized. Our cover has the four horsemen of the apocalypse as its context, along with the central figure, the Wrath. This character ends up being a combination of the other four and it’s the liaison between the human being and the gods. The Wrath is both divine and mortal at the same time, ones feel it for the other, reciprocally. Some feel love and some feel hate, but the Wrath is inherent to both. To be honest, we are very happy with the job done.


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

The best shows are the ones yet to come. For “The Wrath”’s tour we are working on a good stage production, with an important visual impact. We want for the audience to dive into the songs and enjoy it as much as they can.

8.The new album was released on 'Art Gates Records', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?


Art Gates Records is a label with years of experience who works with some of the leading bands currently on our country, such as Noctem, In Mute, Irdorath, Leo Jiménez, Morphium, Injector… We are very happy to be able to work with them and they do make things easier for us.



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

We have come across all sorts of reactions, some very good and some not so much. There is people who love changes, blends, growing in the musical sphere and experimenting. On the other hand there is people who are more of a purist who feel this mixtures are almost sacrilege. You cannot please everybody and we would rather do what we enjoy, mix as many styles as we like or elements we like from each of them.

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

We are going to keep working on the path we are currently taking, polishing the mistakes we have made and that we now see from afar. We will do a new album more complex and contundent, with room for experimentation. We will no longer be driven by the wish to release material so it will be and advantage for doing a well rounded job. We already have some tracks and they sound impressive.



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

We like many bands of many different styles, and our favorites don’t even come sound close to what we do, so we would not say we have any models. Which is to say, we don’t plan for the band to sound like the bands we like, we aim to sound in a way we ourselves like in a given moment. It is something hard to explain, but we basically try to stay away from influences. Bands we listen can be as diverse as Iron Maiden, Metallica, Helloween, Gojira, Vhäldemar, Soulitude, Grimah, Amon Amarth, Nightwish, Mgla, Fleshgod, Death… The list is never-ending.


12.What are some of your non musical interests?

We love cinema, literature, food and drink. We often do barbeques to strengthen the bonds between band members. We also like sports such as mountain climbing, horse riding, cycling…


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

We would like for everyone to give the full album a chance, you might not enjoy one track but you will like some other, and for the listener to enjoy all of the work we have put into it. We are looking forward to going out on the road to present our album and giving the audience the best we have.

http://facebook.com/velkhanosmetal
http://instagram.com/velkhanosmetal
http://twitter.com/velkhanos

Cult Of Frey/By The Blood Of Odin: Part 1 - Midgard/UKEM Records/2020 Full Length Review

  Cult  Of  Frey  are  a  duo  from  the  United  Kingdom  that  plays  an  epic  mixture  of  viking  and  folk  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "By  The  Blood  Of  Odin:  Part  1  -  Midgard"which  was  released  by  UKEM  Records.

  Clean  pagan  vocals  and  acoustic  guitars  start  off  the  album  while  the  songs  also  add  in  a decent  amount  of  keyboards  which  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  music.  Most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  while t he  songs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  folk  elements.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  be  heard  which  also  adds  a  black  metal  influence  onto  the  recording.  At  times  the  vocals  also  get  rough  sounding  while  the  riffs  also  add  in a   great  amount  of  melody  along  with  the  guitar  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  some  tracks  also  adding  in  a  small  amount of  nature,  battle  and  ocean  sounds,  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  ti  them  ans  as  the  album  progresses  spoken  word  parts  are  also  added  into  the  music.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Vikings  and  Norse  Paganism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Cult  Of  Frey  are  a  very  great  sounding  epic  mixture  of  viking  and  folk  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "We  Were  Born  of  Odin  (Once  We  Where  Kings  Part  3)"  "Northwind  (Carry  Him  Home)"  and  "Death  In  The  Shield  Wall  (Song  Of  The  Ravens)".  8  out  of  10. 

http://caligarirecords.bandcamp.com/album/demo-15