Thursday, February 8, 2018

Grimner/Vanadrottning/Despotz Records/2018 CD Review


  Grimner  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  plays  a mixture  of  viking  and  folk  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "Vanadrottning"  which was  released  by Despotz  Records.

  Drum  beats  along  with  some  epic  and  symphonic  sounding  keyboards  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  melodic  guitar  leads  a  few  seconds  later  as  well  as  some  grim  black  metal  screams  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast beats  can  also  be  heard  and  clean  pagan  vocals  are  also  used  at  times.

  Folk  instruments  can  also  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  while  some  songs  also bring  in  a  small  amount  of  acoustic  guitars  along  with  the  riffs  also  bringing  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts,  death  metal  growls  can  also  be  heard  a  lot  more  as  the  album  progresses  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts.

  Grimner  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  viking  and  folk metal  along  with  some  elements  of  black  and  death  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Swedish  and  cover  Norse  Mythology,  Paganism,  War  and  Drinking  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Grimner  are  a  very  great  sounding  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  "Vanadrottning"  "Kvallningssang"  "Dodens  Dan"  and  "Freja  Vakar".  8  out  of  10.

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Under Siege Interview


1.For those that have never heard of you before,can you tell us a little bit about the band?
1. Under Siege was born during the summer of 2015 when the first songs were outlined by Paolo Giuliani (Vocals) and Daniele Mosca (Guitars). Immediately the two recognized it as a promising project and soon Under Siege became a complete formation, when Gianluca Fiorentini (Guitars), Livio Calabresi (Bass) and Marzio Monticelli (Drums) joined the band. All of them were already actively involved in the local music scene.


2.Recently you have released your first album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
2. Well, although our music can be roughly described as melodic death metal, spiced with glaring folk elements, our sound is quite heterogeneous. It becomes evident for anyone listening to our first album: we like to mix different influences in our songs. You can easily find power, viking, symphonic and atmospherical hints.  Our efforts are focused on building aggressive, solid and imposing sound, without thinking too much about genres and schemes.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
3. Lyrics are one of the things we care the most. It recently became easy to lighly talk about blood, battles or swords, especially for some kind of metal music. But we are not telling fairytales in our songs. We are not fantasizing about dragons, magic or random violent "vikingish" stuff. Battles, invasions, violence and revenge: these are things all of us must face everyday! Even if they assume more subtle forms nowadays. Of course we use metaphors, and evoking images fom a long-lost and distant world... but our call to arms, our cry for courage and pride: they are absolutely real.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Under Siege'?


4. As we already said, we hide metaphorical meanings in almost everything we write. We are all "under siege" one way or another. Our life is under siege. And our values, our future as well. Modern society deprived us of so much: it offers distorted models, and synthetic, empty ideals. We all need to become aware of this attack. But on the other hand, we are called to strike back! We are called to besiege the very enemies that threaten us and fight for what we do believe is right. We must be ready to fall for the very things we consider worth to live for. This is our battle. This is the real siege!

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

5. Every show is different. We like to play near Rome, because we can feel the heat and the enthusiasm of our friends and our people (those dear bastards). But when we have the occasion to play somewhere far from home, and if we can catch the attention and the ears of new folks: that is absolutely awesome! Nothing repays your efforts as a metal band more than looking at complete strangers headbanging, body-slamming and getting absolutely wasted with your music.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
6. We have a couple of good upcoming dates. In March we will open for Skyforger, here in Rome, in the second  edition of Mister Folk Fest, a quite special metal event for this city. But generally speaking playing live is becoming increasingly hard in Italy. Live clubs prefer to host cover-bands, (mostly classic rock bands) because they grant them more visibility than emerging bands. So you can find dozens of "Metallica-tribute" or "Pink Floyd Jam" nights... while good original musicians struggle to play for 50 minutes. Some bands sadly hit the bottom: we know guys that actually paid to play before more notorious bands. It is just disgusting. We hope things work differently abroad. And we are actively searching for shows out of our borders.


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

7. We received some proposals: none satisfying. Some were just absurd attempts to take our money. One of us defined them "wolves and vultures of the music business", ahah! We would be glad to work with a serious and professional label. Hopefully we'll find one. Well... hopefully they'll find us.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of folk and melodic death metal?
8. Most people were shocked because they didn't expect from Italian guys to play Scottish bagpipes or use Gaelic dialect!  Ahah! But overall the feedback has been more than satisfying so far. The album has been self produced and self-published so we are twice as prideful of the results: far above our expectations. We love to find out that people enjoy our music.

9.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?
9. One of our guitar men, Gianluca, is carrying on his other symphonic black metal project: Nazgul Rising. The first album, released in 2014, has been a discrete success, and the second one will be released by the end of this year. The bass player, Livio sings and plays the keyboards in a dark-wave duo: "Raziel, the blacksmiler". They recently begun to perform live. Our drummer, Marzio, has begun to have rehearsal with an hard rock formation: "Hardrunk". Paolo and Daniele are fully engaged in Under Siege


10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
10. Who knows what tomorrow brings! We hope to spread our message and our music as far as we can. Even in this digital era of social networks, web promotion and digital distribution... we still think that the most important thing about music should be playing it live! And of course we want to start  thinking about a second album as soon as we can!


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?

11. Influences from Amon Amarth, Ensiferum, early Turisas, just to name a few, are clearly recognizable in our music. On the other side, when it comes to our individual tastes, we listen to every kind of music, sometimes choosing unexpected genres like progressive metal, blues, traditional celtic music, punk, hard rock. Even classical music sometimes. The way we keep ourselves open-minded helps us composing better songs.

12.Does Paganism play any role in your music?
12. Nice question. Let's just say we find something fascinating in pagan traditions and beliefs. Even if we are not involved in paganism in a religious sense, we recognize in it a spiritual dimension free of any hypocrisy or paradox, that puts in first place the most important thing of all, our mother nature. Paganism is pure, sincere and proud. It is an ancestral voice calling, and sometimes you can hear it clearly even in these modern era. It's hard to explain: it's just in our blood. In all of us.


13.What are some of your non musical interests?
13. We are quite “normal” guys. Some of us are interested in sports and martial arts; some others in informatics and videogames and we also have two bikers in our band. We all love to go out, drinking, feasting and being loud. We like to eat well and we all have a strong relationship to beer, wine and whiskey!

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

14. We hope that everyone who listens to our music will enjoy it and maybe raise a toast to us. Cheers guys! Thank you so much for this interview. Stay metal and keep the siege strong!

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Monday, February 5, 2018

Silent Kingdom 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?

Amir: Hi! The band is currently preparing for some live gigs...Some internal problems within the band are slowing us down but hopefully we will hit the stage very soon.

2.In December you had released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

Amir: Well, I would call it progressive, folk rock but it is really hard to label the music we are doing. I was always a fan of Bosnian prog-rock band Indexi and I wanted somehow to pay my musical due to them. Also, I was always a progressive music fan and loved bands such as Mahavishnu Orchestra, Al Di Meola, Genesis, Chick Corea etc. and that was the music I've been listening to for the last 20 years or so. Silent Kingdom had acoustic songs since the beginning and our EP from 2002 "Whispering nights and majestic winds" is completely acoustic with clean vocals. Right after we recorded "In Search of Eternity" I thought I did everything I could within prog/folk/black metal style we were doing for decade and a half. I didn't want to repeat myself because I love art and the easiest thing for me would be to make something similar to last three records we did. On the other hand these new songs just started to pour out of me and after I wrote the first song I knew where to go next. I thought that this album will give me and the band something to hold on to in the future. It really gave us a musical future. We can develop this style the way we want and even combine it with some of our previous influences...

3.Your earlier material was in more of a black/death metal direction but the music on the new album is in more of a dark and progressive rock style, what was the decision behind the musical change?

Amir: The change of the musical direction wasn't intentional, it just happened. The first song that I wrote is actually the first track on the album, "San o snu" (The dream about the dream). I remember the moment I wrote the first verse along with the music, I thought "this is something really interesting" because I didn't write anything in my mother tongue since "Reflections of fire" album intros. Than the whole album concept opened in front of me and I just started writing. In it's essence, this album is conceptual with the same idea behind all songs. The true art can not be forced and controlled in my opinion so when the spark happens you just have to follow it.

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

Amir: The concept is basically the same: love, hate, fear of oblivion, messages from the past and their meaning in these modern times. Lyrically they are told in different style. At least I like to think they are different. People are born with love yet at the same time hate seems to consume everything that people build. It seems that mountain of love can be destroyed easily with one showel of hate. That is something that is fascinating to me and I tried to explain it to myself first through these lyrics. I don't know if I will ever be able to understand it or if I will ever be able to tell that story in full.

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

Amir: Sead Tafro and I formed the band somewhere in the beginning of 1999 although we had an idea in 1998 and it's funny how clearly I remember the moment when we gave the name to the band. We were talking about where we live, about the history of Bosnia. The more we were talking about those topics the more the picture was forming in my mind and I remember that at one point I said "this is the silent kingdom". The country exists for almost a millennium but nobody outside knows anything about it.

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

Amir: Silent Kingdom was never a live band in the full sense. In these (almost) 20 years we had only 20 or so gigs. In the beginning we had problems finding the musicians in Sarajevo. I must remind that it was the post-war period, just three and a half years after the war and a lot of people fled from the city in that period so it was really hard to find somebody who shares our view of music. Plus black metal was literally unknown here. Somewhere in 2002 we met Edin who was a guitar player but since we couldn't find the bassist he took over that duty. As a three piece we started to rehearse and we even had couple of gigs but we weren't satisfied so we decided to stop with the live gigs until we could find more members, primarily bassist and keyboardist. Later on Edin's brother Emir joined and Amir Cefo came year or so later. The music that we play is very demanding, technically and playing vise so we need a lot of rehearsals. We are all busy with our daily jobs so it takes a lot of talking to get together in a rehearsal room. There are couple of gigs that were really great like the one we had in Sarajevo at the "Path to oblivion" release party or headlining gig we had in Bern, Switzerland.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?

Amir: As I allready wrote, currently we are preparing for some live gigs. We do have some internal problems but I think that we will overcome those and play an album release gig in March.

8.How have your older fans reacted to the musical style of the new album?

Amir: Untill now I only heard the words of praise from majority of old and the new fans. But on the other hand I know that some of our fans do not like this change and I completely understand that. The change was really necessary and if we didn't record this album I'm pretty much sure that the band would split. So I would say that the fans should give this album a chance.

9.Are any of the band members currently involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?

Amir: Well we are all busy with our day to day lives that we hardly have time for some other projects.

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

Amir: I will definitely try to explore the progressive side of our current musical direction and I must say that we do not exclude the distortion or some heavier sounding songs because there is a room for something like that. "Where Secrets Meet" was composed between September 2014 and February 2016. We entered the studio on 30th of August 2016 but the album was released almost a year later. So there is a gap of more than two years from the moment the music is composed and in that period I tried to see what will happen. I must say that I already wrote some new music that sounds more than promissing! I have concept of the album done and now I need to write the songs. Hopefully we will have the new album ready on our 20th anniversary next year. I just have to mention that as the time passes and as I'm getting older my expectations music vise are getting higher and higher so it is really difficult for me at this point to write a song that I'm partially satisfied with. It was always like that but now the stake is so much higher than before.

11.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/

Amir: The bands that I've been always listening to, Gentle Giant, Genesis, Indexi, Smak, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Rainbow etc. I never started buying CD's and all I have at home is a turntable with selected amount of records that are in my possession for more than 20 years and that is the only music I listen to so naturally I get inspired by them all the time.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

Amir: I'm a professional Graphic Designer for 20 years now and that is my main occupation. I love to read historical books but I also love to read Stephen King and Clive Barker.
I also have a wife and two beautiful daughters and I try to spend as much time with them as I can. And there are the comics :) I draw comics and have released 5 or 6 graphic novels.

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

Amir: Thanks for this interesting interview! Keep up the good work on promoting metal because the world is turning to stupid shit hole and we really need something to hold on to!
Cheers to all of our fans!

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Saturday, February 3, 2018

Tengger Cavalry/Cian Bi/Napalm Records/2018 CD Review


  Tengger  Cavalry  are  a  band  originally  from  China  but  now  resides  in  New  York  and  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  with  a  musical  style  that  takes  Mongolian  folk  music  and  mixes  it  with  melodic  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "Cian  Bi"  which  will  be  released  on  February  23rd  by  Napalm  Records.

  Avant  garde  sounds  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  stringed  instruments  a  few  seconds  later  along  with  some  Mongolian  style  shamanistic  chanting  a  few  seconds  alter  which  also  is  mixed  into  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs  a  few  seconds  later  along  with  a  great  amount  of  folk  instruments.

  Vocals  bring  in  a  mixture  of  spoken  yet  shamanistic  chants  and  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  which  also  add  in  touches  of  black  metal  along  with  some  clean  vocals  also  being  used  at  times  while  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  when  the  music  speeds  up  as  well  as  the  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  when  they  are  finally  added  onto  the  recording  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  small  amount  of  electronic  music  elements  can  also  be  heard,  acoustic  guitars  are  also  used  briefly.

  Tengger  Cavalry  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to t heir  mixture  of  Mongolian  folk  music,  melodic  death  and  black  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Tengrism,  Shamanism  and  Mythology  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  album  from  Tengger  Cavalry  and  if  you  are  a fan  of  folk,  melodic  death  and  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Cian-Bi(Fight  Your  Darkness)" "Electric  Shaman"  "The  Old  War"  and  "One  Track_Mind".  8  out  of  10. 


  

Profane Burial/The Rosewater Park Legend/Apathia Records/2018 CD Review


  Profane  Burial  are  a  band  from  Norway  that  plays  a  very  symphonic  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "The  Rosewater Park  Legend" which  will  be  released  in  March  by  Apathia  Records.

  Choir  style  vocals  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  symphonic  elements  which  also  mixes  in  with  the  more  heavier  and  melodic  side  of  the  music  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  along  with  the  vocals  being  mostly  grim  black  metal  screams.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  while  cinematic  elements  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  along  with  most  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  female  vocals  can  also  be  heard  at  times  along  with  a  great  amount  of  orchestral  structures  along  with  the  riffing  also  getting  very  modern  and  technical  in  some  parts  of  the  songs.

  Profane  Burial  plays  a  style  of  black  metal  that  is  very  symphonic,  melodic  and  cinematic  sounding,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  witchcraft  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Profane  Burial  are  a  very  great  sounding  symphonic  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Tower  Bell"  "A  Different  Awakening  (A  Proclamation  By  A  Priest)"  and  "The  Tale  The  Witches  Wrote".  8  out  of  10.

https://profaneburial.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6iqlW3rGU0 (Full album)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWdZ3N95o9s (Live video)
https://www.facebook.com/ProfaneBurial/  

Friday, February 2, 2018

Nest/Metempsychosis/Sludgelord Records/2018 CD Review


  Nest  are  a  duo  from  Kentucky  that  plays  a  blackened  mixture  of  doom  and  sludge  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album "Metempsychosis"  which  will  be  released  in  March  by  Sludgelord  Records.

  A  dark  sounding  intro  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  distorted  drones  before going  into  a  heavier  sludge  direction  which  also  introduces  black  metal  screams  onto  the  recording  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  clean  playing  can  also  be  heard  at  times.

  A  great  amount  of  doom  metal  elements  can  also  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  while  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  along  with  some  growls  also  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  when  guitar  leads  are  finally  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  dark  yet  melodic  fashion  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  one  of  the  tracks  is  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  also  adds  in  elements  of  harsh  noise.

  Nest  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  black,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  mixes  them together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  misanthropic  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Nest  are  a  very  great  sounding  blackened  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Cowardice  Ans  Rashness  Of  Courage"  "Heretic"  and  "Life's  Grief".  8  out  of  10.

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Under Siege/Self Titled/2018 CD Review


  Under  Siege  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  mixture  of  melodic  black/death  and  folk  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  and  self  released  2018  album.

  Bagpipes  start  off  the  album  and  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  songs  while  melodic  chants  are  also  used  briefly  along  with  the  riffs  also  using  a  great  amount  of  melody  as  well  as  some  symphonic  elements  also  being  used  briefly  and  the  vocals  are  mostly  screams  that  add  in  a  touch  of  black  metal.

  Melodic  pagan  vocals  can  also  be  heard  at  times  on  some  of  the  tracks  while  battle  sounds  can  also  be  heard  briefly  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  also  bringing  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  when  acoustic  guitars  are  utilized  they  bring  in  elements  of  folk  music  as  well  as  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  bringing  in  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  While  the  music  also  incorporates  elements  of  death  and  doom  metal  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  along  with the  vocals  also  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  growls  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Under  Siege  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  melodic  black/death metal  and  mixes  it  with  folk  metal  and  some  elements  of  doom  and  power  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while the  lyrics  cover stories  of  courage,  rebellion,  tales  of   lost  worlds,  journeys  to  uncharted  territories  and  drinking  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Under  Siege  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  melodic  black/death  and  folk  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Warrior  I  Am"  "Invaders"  and  "Bright  Star  of  Midnight".  8/5  out  of  10.

http://www.facebook.com/undersiegemetal
http://undersiegemetal.bandcamp.com