Gwydion/Self Titled/Art Gates Records/2020 CD Review

 

  Gwydion  are  a  band  from  Portugal  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  very  epic,  atmospheric,  melodic  and  symphonic  mixture  of  folk, Viking, black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2020  album  which will be  released  in  November  by Art Gates  Records.

  Epic  sounding  synths  start  off  the  album  while  also  introducing  symphonic  elements  onto  the  recording  that  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  music  at  times. The  vocals  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  aggressive  shouts  while  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of melody  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  also  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.

  Grim  sounding  black  metal  screams  are  also  added  into  some  parts  of  the  music  while  the  deeper  vocals  also add  in  some  touched  of  death  meta.  Elements  of  folk  music  can  also  be  heard  quite  a  bit throughout  the  recording  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  album  also  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them. 

  When  clean  vocals  are  utilized  they  also  give  the songs  more  of  a  Viking  metal  touch  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts  and  acoustic  guitars  and  clean  plying  also  being  utilized  briefly  as  well  as  one  track  also  introducing  spoken  word  parts  onto  the  recording,  some  of  the  riffing  also  shows  an  influence  of  traditional  metal  and  when  the  music  finally  speeds  up  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  and  female  vocals  are  also  added  on  the  closing  song.  The  production  sounds  very professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Vikings,  Battles,  Iberian  Culture/History,  Mythology  and  Alcohol  themes,

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Gwydion  and  if  you  are  a  dab  of  atmospheric,  melodic  and  symphonic  folk,  Viking,  black  and  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Stand  Alone"  "Battle  Of  Aclud  Ford"  "Ale  Mead  And  Wine"  and  "Hammer  Of  the  Gods".  8out  of  10.

www.gwydion.org/
www.facebook.com/GwydionPT
www.instagram.com/gwydionofficial/

www.twitter.com/GwydionMetal       

Favna Abisal/Argonautas/2020 EP Review

 

  Favna  Abisal  are  a  band  from  Chile  that  plays  an  avant  garde  form  of  post  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2020 ep "Argonatas".

  A  very  dark,  heavy  and  avant  garde  sound  starts  off  the  ep  while  clear  vocals  are  also  added  into  some  parts  of  the  music.  Synths  are  also  mixed  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  music  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  clean  playing  can  also  be  heard  at  times.

  Grim  yet  high pitched  black  metal  screams  are  also  a  very  huge  part  of  the  recording  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  and  tremolo  picking.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  post  metal  style  as  well  as  the  tracks  also  adding  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow  and  mid  tempo  parts,  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length. 

  Favna  Abisal  plays  a  musical  style  that  goes  back  to  the  90'sera  of  avant  garde  black  metal  as  well  as  mixing  in  some  elements  of  post  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own.  The  production  sounds  very professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Spanish  and  cover  Philosophy,  Literature  and  Madness  themes.  

  In  my  opinion  Favna  Abismal  are  a  very  great  sounding  avant  garde  post  black  metal b and  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "El  Ente".  8  out  of  10.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/36q4NvFpb6yjSEQR1m5FTb?si=8yaFdqOkRkm3RLi-WTdxRw  

http://favnaabisal.bandcamp.com   

     

Sacramentum/Finis Malorum/Vic Records/2020 EP Re-Issue Review

 

  Sacramentum  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  plays  a  melodic  and  blackened  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  1990  ep  "Finis  Malorum" which  will  be  re-issued  on  October  30th  by  Vic  Records  and  the  re-issue  also  consists  of  their  1993  demo  "Sedes  Impiorum"  Sepultura,  Mercyful  Fate  covers  and  one  very  early  and  rare  track.

  Melodic  guitar  solos  and  leads  start  off  the  ep  before  going  into  a  very  fast  musical  direction  which  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats.  The  riffs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  along  with  the  vocals  being  mostly  grim  sounding  black  metal  screams  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  the  music  also  mixes  in  the  more  melodic  side  of  Swedish  death  metal.  One  track  also  introduces  clean  playing  into  the  music  along  with  another  song  also  adding  in  a  brief  use  of  whispered  vocals.

  Spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  briefly  along  with  the  cover  songs  also  bringing  in  a  different  style  than  the  original  versions  as  well  as  introducing  some  demonic  growls  onto  the  compilation.  The  intro  on  the  demo  tracks  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  and  the  demo  material  has more  death  metal  elements  than  the  more  recent  material  but  still  very  heavily  influenced  by  black  metal.  some  of  the  songs  also  add  in  a  small  amount  of  classical  guitars.  The  production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the lyrics  cover  dark  fantasy,  paganism,  chaos,  darkness  and  death  themes.    

  In  my  opinion  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  collection  from  Sacramentum  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  melodic  and  blackened  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  compilation.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Travel  With  The  Northern  Winds"  "Pagan  Fire"  "Stormbringer"  and  "Morbid  Humanity". 8out  of  10.

https://www.facebook.com/sacramentumofficial/

      

Aeolian/The Negationist/Black Lion Records/2020 CD Review

 

  Aeolian  are  a  band  from  Spain  that  plays  a  very  melodic  and  blackened  form  of  death  metal  with  some  elements  of  folk  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "The  Negationist"  which  will  be  released  in  November  by  Black  Lion  Records.

   A  very  fast  and  melodic  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats.  Vocals  are  mostly  angry  sounding  blackened  metal  screams  while  the  solos  and  leads  also  add  in  a  lot  of  melody  as  well  as  adding  in  some  touches  of  classic  metal  and  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  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.  When  acoustic  guitars  are  utilized  they  also  bring  elements  of  folk  metal  onto  the  recording  as  well  as  some  clean  chants  also  being  utilized  briefly.

  Some  of  the  heavier  riffing  also  shows  an  influence  of  thrash  metal  along  with  a  later  track  also  introducing  power  metal style vocals  onto  the  album  and  as  the  album   progresses  some  songs  also  add  in  stringed  and  folk  instruments.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  the  damage  earthlings  are  dong  to  their  own  planet.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Aeolian  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  melodic  black, death,  folk,  thrash  and  power  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Momentum"  "Unseen  Enemy"  "The  Flood"  and  "Reborn".  8/5  out  of  10.

http://www.aeolianband.com
https://www.facebook.com/aeolianmetalband 
https://twitter.com/aeolianmetal 
https://www.instagram.com/aeolian_official 
https://www.youtube.com/aeolianofficial 

       

   

Vulgarian/Human Scum/2020 Full Length Review

  Vulgarian  are  a  band  from  Denver,  Colorado  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  sludge  metal  and  hardcore  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2020  album  "Human  Scum"  which  will  be  released  on  October  30th.

  Drum  beats  start  off  the  album  along  with  a  very  powerful  sounding  bass  guitar  a  few  seconds  later  while  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  also  bring  elements  of  sludge  metal  onto  the  recording.  Vocals  are  mostly  angry  sounding  screams  which  also  adds  in  a  touch  of  black  metal  and  dark  sounding  melodies  are  also  added  into  some  of  the  riffing.

  Growls  can  also  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  music while  the  mid  tempo  sections  of  the  songs  also  add  in  the  raw  energy  of  hardcore  punk.  A  couple  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length  along  with  all  of  the  music  also  always  sticks  mostly  to  either  a  slow  or  mid  paced  and  musical  direction  as  well  as  always  remaining  very  heavy  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  fast  playing  and  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard.

  Vulgarian  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  black,  sludge  metal,  crust  and  hardcore  punk  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own.  The  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  anti  racism,  corruption,  police,  state  violence  and    the  overall  erosion  of  human  rights.

  In  my  opinion  Vulgarian  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  sludge  metal,  crust  and  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Human  Scum" "Shithole" and  "Drown  In  A  Swamp".  8 out  of  10.

https://www.facebook.com/vvlgarian 

https://twitter.com/Vvlgarian

https://instagram.com/vvlgarian?igshid=15md9w0aynyyc 

https://vulgarian.bandcamp.com/            

Twisted Mist/Orbios/Music-Records/CD Review

 

  Twisted  Mist  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  pagan  form  of  folk  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album "Orbios"  which  will  be released in  November  by  Music-Records.

  Nature  sounds  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  folk  instruments  a  few  seconds  later  while  tribal  beats  can  also  be  heard  briefly  while  the  folk  elements  also  mix  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs.  The  riffs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  along  a  lot  of t he  vocals  also  being  done  in  a  clean  pagan  style.

  Grim  sounding  black  metal  screams  are  also  utilized  at  times  while  whispered  vocals  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording.  One  of  the  tracks  is  also  an  instrumental  along  with  the  guitar  leads  also  being  done  in  a  melodic  style  when  they  are  used  briefly  as  well  as  some  of  the  tracks  also  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length,  all  of  the  tracks  also  stick  to  either  a  slow  or  mid  tempo  style.

  Twisted  Mist  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  folk  music  and  melodic  pagan  black  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the lyrics  are  written  in  French  and  cover  Paganism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Twisted  Mist  are  a  very  great  sounding  pagan  folk  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Matir"  "Finis  Vitae"  and  "Orbios".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.facebook.com/twistedmist2014/

https://www.instagram.com/twisted.mist/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd-0TeoI8_A&ab_channel=MusicRecordsChannel  

Ancient Thrones Interview

 

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

 

We’re Ancient Thrones from the east coast of Canada in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We play our own brand of blackened death metal with a desire for drowning our listeners in cosmic anguish. If you push play, prepare for a grand sonic journey into the depths of the void that is purgatory.

 

2.You have your first full length coming out in November, musically how does it differ from your previous ep? 

 

Under our old name Abysseral Throne we had released an EP called “Storming the Black Gate”, which we cherish as a learning process for the band. The band today is vastly different with new members and no more clean singing. Dylan our guitarist and main songwriter has a lot more ideas and boundaries he’s looking to push than we did previously. With the line-up change came the desire to showcase more extreme music to match my blackened shrieks and guttural growls. 

 

3.This is also your first released in 4 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?

 

To be honest, a lot of things that were out of our hands prevented this release from coming sooner. Putting out this record has been a slow process, but good things take time, so they say. We wrote the album skeleton in 3 months, then I really planned and took my time with the lyrics. I moved across the country for a little bit to clear my head and to isolate myself to finish the lyrics and story. It was very therapeutic for me to take a break from the heavy subject matter. Once I returned to Halifax, we began recording in the winter of 2019. It’s been grueling to get to where we are today, but we’re excited for everyone to finally hear the record on November 6th!  

 

4.The lyrics on the new recording are also a concept album, can you tell us a little bit more about the story you have covered with this release?

 

It’s a story of pain and loss and overcoming yourself to move forward in life. Sometimes we are in the way of our own happiness and we must dissolve our own attachment to pain to see the light. There’s a lot of metaphors lying within each song, but narratively it’s the journey of a dead man finding peace with his reality and how he’s able to reach acceptance. I was in a very hard place in my life while I was writing the lyrics, and stuck right in the middle of a painful grieving process myself, so I really wanted the record to follow the 5 stages of grief most people go through to find that acceptance. If it helps just one person going through a tough time, I’ve done my job as a writer. 

 

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

 

I went through a few different names before landing on Ancient Thrones. Abyssal Throne, Abysmal Throne. We knew we wanted to keep our initials and not distance ourselves completely from Abysseral Throne. Shortly after I was listening to one of my favorite songs from Wolves in the Throne Room called “Astral Blood” and one of the lyrics mentions “Ancient Thrones”. It was just the sign I needed.

 

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

 

I really wanted a strong visual landscape for the record with no logos or words, and I wanted something that could exist in the universe outside the album, like a glance of what could be happening in our world, while the character of the record is dead. The veiled woman in the water represents the grief we feel, but also represents the character of death in the album. I wanted this figure in a place that was not only beautiful and vibrant but one I had a personal connection to. We shot the cover near a waterfall called Crooked Creek, just outside my hometown in New Brunswick and our friend Mallory geared up and got in that freezing cold river. The emerald green water also plays a strong metaphorical role in the record. 

 

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

 

We love to demolish our audience with crushing guitars, blazing drums, and well thought out tones. I love to see people's faces when we’re done playing, especially when people are surprised that I’m able to drum and do vocals at the same time. We’ve shared the stage with Beyond Creation, The Faceless, Rings of Saturn. Some of the best shows we play are right here in our city, in front of the always hungry east coast crowds. 

 

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

 

We’d love to talk to a label and we’ve never had any real serious talks before. I feel like it’s only a matter of time before someone hears what we’re doing and wants to work with us. We’re definitely open to having a discussion with the right person. 

 

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

 

Reception for the record so far has been stellar, and I’m glad people are making their own interpretations of the material. We really like to dance on the edge of both black metal and death metal, so it’s fun seeing fans trying to lock down our sound.  

 

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

 

With COVID-19, it’s hard to say right now. I hope we’ll be back to touring soon. What I can tell you is we are working on our follow-up record right now, and we should be back in the studio next year if all goes as planned. 

 

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?

 

Skeletonwitch and that blackened thrash sound has been very influential to me, as well as Wolves in the Throne Room, more so for the atmosphere they create. I find I’m able to pull a lot from the listening experience they create. I’ve been listening to the new Phoebe Bridger’s record, “Punisher” on repeat, I think she brings a beautiful darkness for her listener to inhabit while she also mends the soul with her tender voice. I also just got really into Vale of Pnath, who like us have a blackened sound but it’s mixed with a more tech-death style, which is a totally deadly combination. 

 

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

We’re Ancient Thrones from Canada and we’re here to bring you cosmic anguish. Our new concept record “The Veil” is arriving on November 6th to all digital streaming platforms and is also for sale on our Bandcamp  https://ancientthrones.bandcamp.com/.. You can pre-order it now. If you’re a fan of metal in any variety, take the journey with us and welcome the void of oblivion into your soul. Thank you for having us and for these well thought out questions, it was a pleasure speaking with you.