Monday, February 1, 2021

Feskarn Interview

 

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


I found inspiration again, after computer crash in 2015 i lost all my music recordings and settings. But in late 2019 i bought a new studiosystem and adds to my music program. I met my girlfriend in 2019 and she gave some inspiration to make me produce music again. And also some new albums by for example Equilibrium or Mumincunt.


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

This album has way better sound quality, deep and even more viking sound to it, the older albums have more raw dirty/trashy sound.


3.This is also your first release since 2014, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?

Sadly my computer crashed in 2015 and i lost all my datafiles for my studio and with that i lost my inspiration. Still i have played mouth harp and jamed for fun at partys etc. Been at festivals to get new inspiration also.



4.Your lyrics cover Viking Mythology, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic?

Historical interested about my ancestors and viking culture, mead and even in urkraft.



5.Before you started playing metal you where doing electronic music, how would you compare the two different genres?


I had an electronic era yes, compared to metal the gabber/hardcore/psytrance have some hardness to it also. But metal has always been my favorite genre since childhood.


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

Feskarn is actually "The fisherman" in Sweden Gothenburg. Also you can say fiskarn, that has the same meaning. But i prefered Feskarn. I always been a fisherman, love the nature and fishing. Also i do magnet fishing today.



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

Per Månsson has taken the main cover picture for the album, i have always liked Raven birds, the birds have some cool mystery to them. Me and my girlfriend has taken most of the pictures and also some other friend. Nature is the true inspiration to the album artwork.


8.With this project you record everything by yourself, are you open to working with other musicians or do you prefer to work solo?


Yes thats right, also my girlfriend joined this album as a guest artist for the song Yggdrasil. I have plans for team up with other musicans, i have one other project called Voldugra, but that is a little on the ice for the moment, but it is Viking music.


9.The new album is coming out on 'Vegvisor Distribution', how would you compare working with this label to your previous label 'Pesttanz Klangschmiede'?


Actually it has the same owner behind it and i have only good things to say to the both, i have a great label manager.



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

Pretty good i must say, i have many fans from Mexico, Germany and even Japan, yeah pretty much from the whole world in a small scale.


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

To keep on record Albums and perhaps do some live events in some form with band or not.


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?

Equilibrium, Ensiferum, Wintersun is some of my favorite bands and inspiration.


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

I will try to deliver even more songs and albums in the future. I have some cool ideas, maybe some humouristic stuff as well.

Sunday, January 31, 2021

Cruentus Interview

 

1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

At the moment we are recording material for our second album. Most of the basis are done, but there are a couple of songs left to record and also most of the vocals. We have not set a date yet for the release but the goal is to have the album finished this year. 


2.In 2020 you had released your first album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical styles that you went for on the recording?

We consider ourselves mainly a death metal band but have always had elements of other metal genres such as thrash, black and heavy. On the album we wanted to create a great mix of these ingredients to achieve variety and not become too repetitive. 


3.The band has been around since 1998 but waited until 2020 to release any music, can you tell us a little bit bit more about the long wait?

From early 2000 until somewhere around 2010, the band wasn’t very active at all. The main reason was that during this time we lived in different parts of Sweden which made it impossible to rehearse on a steady basis. In 2010 this situation had changed, and the interest grew again, but it wasn’t until a couple of years later we really decided to go for it and set up a goal to release an album. From that point on we have been much more committed, and our creativity has steadily grow. This have resulted in a lot of material written, both for the present album and also future albums.


4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the new album?

Some lyrics are observations of the human being and its behavior in different situations and in different states of mind dealing with existential questions etc. It is however not a thematical album so there are other topics as well and most of the lyrics are possible to interpreter in different ways. 


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

It is a Latin word meaning blood-stained or bloodthirsty. If I remember correctly I think I saw that word in a book just around the time the band first started, and I thought it would be a suiting name for a metal band. 


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

It was drawn by William Persson Öberg of Obscenum Art. It’s not really clear what it is. That’s what makes it interesting, that it’s not really defined. It can be viewed as different things. To me it looks like a creature-like being in the process of melting…


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

Since early 2000 the band have consisted of only two members. Before that it was three. In the early days we performed live, but since becoming a duo we have never played any shows. We’ll see in the future if this will change.


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

We are currently unsigned. There has been some interest, but at the moment we have not made any deal.


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

It has been very good actually. I don’t think we would have bothered that much if we would receive some criticism, but of course it’s always nice if people appreciate what you have created. 


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

I think we will always be somewhere around these parts within the metal sphere where we are now. Hopefully we will do everything a little bit better as we progress as a band and as songwriters etc. but genre-wise this is where we belong. 


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?

Our main musical references have always been the old school Scandinavian extreme metal. Bands such as Amorphis, Dismember, Entombed, Edge of Sanity, At The Gates to name a few, have been great inspiration to us, especially in the early days. But we have never tried to copy anything or tried to sound exactly the same as any particular band. To name a few more recent bands that we listen to is for example Vanhelgd, Tribulation, Sweven and Lik.


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

We hope people will enjoy our album. If they do, there is more metal from Cruentus coming probably within this year, so be sure to keep your eyes open. Thanks and greetings from Sweden.


Bandcamp
Facebook
Instagram
Spotify
YouTube

Friday, January 29, 2021

In Tormentata Quiete/Krononota/My Kingdom Music/2021 CD Review

 


  Italy's  In  Tormentata  Quiete  have  returned  with  a  new  recording  which  shows  the  music  going  for  a  progressive  mixture  of  folk  and  avant  garde  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2021  album  "Krononota"  which  will  be  released  in  February  by  My  Kingdom  Music.


  Clean  playing  starts  off  the  album  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also have  a  very  powerful  so8und  to  them.  Keyboards  can  also  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  music  along  with  the  music  also  having  its  progressive  moments  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length.


  Spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  recording  while  while  the  music  also  brings  in  a  great  amount  of  avant  garde  metal  elements.  Some  of  the  tracks  also  add  in  a  small  amount  of  saxophones  along  with  the  music  also  mixing  in  a decent  amount  of  cinematic  atmospheres  and  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  melody.


  Black  metal  screams  are  also  added  on  most  of  the  tracks  along  with  some  clean  female  and  male  vocals  also  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording.  When  acoustic  guitar  and  accordions  are  utilized  they  also  add  in  influences  of  folk  music  onto  the  album  as  well  as  some  tracks  also  adding  in  samples  of  20th  century  era  Italian  music.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Italian  and  cover  conceptual,  philosophical  and  metaphor  themes.


  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  form  In  Tormentata  Quiete  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  folk,  progressive  and  avant  garde  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Urlo  Del  Tempo"  'Lo  Squarda  D'Anteo"  and  "Odor  mediterrano".  8  out  of  10.


http://facebook.com/intormentataquiete


https://youtu.be/18NcF-KwqXM        

Thursday, January 28, 2021

Mephisto/Pentafixion/Wormholedeath Records/2021 CD Review

 


  Mephisto  are  a  band  from  Cuba  that  plays  a  gothic  and  orchestra  orientated  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2021  album  "Pentafixion"  which  will  be  released  in  February  by  Wormholedeath  Records.


  Symphonic  and  orchestra  sounds  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  choir  vocals  which  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  music  at  times.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  the  vocals  are  a  mixture  of  angry  shouts  and high  pitched  sounding  black  metal  screams.


  Melodies  are  also  added  into  some  of  the  guitar  riffing  while  the  music  is  also  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  era.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  along  with  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  adding  in  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  and  elements  of  goth  metal  can  also  be  heard  at  times.


  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  some  tracks  also  adding  in  some  death  metal  growls.  Tremolo  picking  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  faster  riffing  as  well  as  one  of  the  songs  also  introducing  spoken  words  onto  the  album,  some  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length and  as  the  recording  progresses  a  brief  use  of  melodic  vocals  can  also  be  heard.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Occultism,  Apocalyptic  and  Suicide  themes.


  In  my  opinion  Mephisto  are  a  very  great  sounding  gothic  and  symphonic  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Storming  War  Anthems"  "Rebellion"  "Curse  Of  The  Pharaohs"  and  "Burning  Fantoft".  8 out  of  10.


Facebook


https://youtu.be/UtCwRWyUhIw        


    

Vainoa/Pelon Varjo/2021 EP Review

 


  Vainoa  are  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  sludge,  post  metal,  grindcore  and  hardcore  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2021  ep  "Pelon  Varjo".


  A  very  fast  and  aggressive  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some  black  metal  screams  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats,  tremolo  picking  and  grindcore  elements.  The  mid  tempo  sections  of  the  songs  also   mix  in  some  influences  of  post  metal  and  crust  punk.


  All  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  the  music  also  captures  the  raw  energy  of  punk  rock.  Melodies  are  also  added  into  some  of  the  riffing  along  with  some  hardcore  style  shouts  also  being  utilized  at  times  as  well  as  most  of  the  tracks  also  being  very  short  in  length.  When  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  chaotic  style, the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  also  add  in  a  touch  of  sludge  metal  and  synths  can  also  be  heard  briefly  and  the ep  also  closes  with  a  cover  of  Musta  Paraati's  "Metalliset  Kasvot".  


  Vainoa  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  black,  sludge,  post  metal,  grindcore  and  hardcore  punk  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Finnish  and  cover  angry  themes.


  In  my  opinion  Vainoa  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  post,  sludge  metal, g rind  and  hardcore  punk  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Pelon  Varjo"  andf  "Aani  Sen  Menettaneille".  8  out  of  10.


IG: https://www.instagram.com/vainoaband/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/vainoaband

BC: https://vainoayhtye.bandcamp.com/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5Al3rewkwk8zHnPFQGsHLM?si=zfLgb0SrROKKVHLuLUIq5A


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


    

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Hand Of Kalliach Interview

 

Band: Hand of Kalliach

Date: 26/01/2021

Members: John and Sophie Fraser (answering together)

Instruments: John - vocals, guitars and drums, Sophie - vocals and bass



1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the musical project these days?

HoK: Sure, thanks for having us on! We’re currently doing a lot of writing whilst we are still under heavy COVID restrictions in the UK, but we’re definitely making the most of it. We’re working on honing and refining the sounds that people really enjoyed from our release so far, and it’s a challenging but enjoyable process. 


2.In December you had released an ep, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?

HoK: Absolutely! Whilst we are both keen metalheads, we are also into our traditional folk music, which is still quite prominently played across venues in Scotland. With Hand Of Kalliach we wanted to combine the two and blend the passion and energy that you find in both genres, as with a lot of styles of folk metal. In particular, from traditional folk music we lift the heavily melody-driven structures, keys, rhythms and time signatures and adapt them to a melodic death metal base. However, whilst we can appreciate and applaud the use of traditional folk instruments in a lot of contemporary folk metal, in our music we tend to make minimal use of these and instead adapt the traditional melodies and rhythms for distorted guitars instead - for example, the high melody in 'Fathoms' which is one of the more aggressive tracks on the EP is actually the sort of melody you might hear on bagpipes, but we think it works really well adapted for the guitar in a metal track instead. We also use a bit of Scots Gaelic, which is a wonderful language for metal - there are a great number of guttural pronunciations that really lend themselves to the atmosphere when screamed! We’re not the first Scottish folk metal band of course, but we do think we’re doing something a bit different in how we go about it.


3.You refer to your music as being 'Atmospheric Celtic Metal', can you tell us a little bit more about this term?

HoK: Yeah, that’s the description we’ve settled on, after a lot of different reviewers/listeners were describing it variously as melodic/ death/ black/ atmospheric/ folk/ prog metal! In addition to the borrowing of rhythms and keys from Scottish folk, we do use a lot of varying vocal styles, some use of synths and a LOT of different guitar tones and approaches (we don’t actually use keyboards - if you think you hear some in the tracks, it’s almost definitely a heavily-effected guitar), so it’s understandable that we’re blurring a lot of genres. With offsetting of Sophie’s much softer, almost haunting vocals with John’s mix of death/hardcore vocals, we aimed to create a much more atmospheric sound than would otherwise be possible, so really calling it ‘Atmospheric Celtic Metal’ was about as simple as we could manage really!


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

HoK: We do write fairly abstract lyrics, but there is a common theme through them in the EP, closely tied to time, mortality, mythology, history and emotion. That said, we don't think there has to be a single, unambiguous message through songs; our personal view is that songs should first and foremost hold the meaning to the person that listens to them - whilst we do have meanings in mind, that's not to say that's what a listener might hear, or want to hear, or even need to hear when they first play the track.

The landscapes of the islands on the Scottish west coast are a big inspiration though; It is historically a nexus of cultures from Scotland, Ireland, and the Nordic countries, and can be a very wild and stormy place, but at other times extremely serene. The duality of the landscape and environment there is something we have tried to reflect within the broader EP.


5.I know that the band's name comes from Celtic Mythology, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic?

HoK: Yep, you’re right - “Kalliach” is a play on “Cailleach”, which is the name of an ancient Scottish hag god of winter. In Scottish mythology the legend goes that she lives at the bottom of an enormous whirlpool off the coast of Islay, where some of John’s family are from. The story goes she emerges from the whirlpool to usher in winter, and has a lot of malign connotations in folklore; but that said, she is also a creator deity, so the music we make is centred around these dual concepts of benevolence and malevolence, and the history, mythology and land/seascapes of the Scottish islands. But the “ancient god of winter living underneath the huge whirlpool” always sounded pretty metal to John growing up anyway!


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

HoK: Sure, we’ve had quite a lot of interest in the artwork actually. We actually made the artwork ourselves with one of John’s friends, it’s actually white ink in a big tank of water with the lights off! We really wanted to capture the atmospheric vibe of the EP, with reference to seas, space and time, and of course the central focus of an abstract interpretation of a Cailleach-like female deity. 

We really value and appreciate good music artwork, since it’s frequently the only visual cue for the listener as to what you are trying to convey in the music - it should fly a banner for what you and your music is about. Since we were trying to do something with a lot of atmosphere, and a bit different to what might be out there already, we wanted the artwork to be reflective of this. Whilst it took a lot of time to get right we're really happy with the result, and if it prompted some interest then that’s great!


7.Currently there are only 2 members in the band, are you open to expanding the line up or do you prefer to remain a duo?

HoK: For writing, we will probably remain a duo in the short to medium term, purely because with just the two of us we can be very streamlined in writing and recording. We’ve got a battered old acoustic guitar we keep in the living room that we can write a melody on in the morning, and on a good day at the weekend we can even have a rough cut of the track recorded by that night. We can equally change and rewrite things at pace if something isn’t working how we’d want it to. Plus, there’s so much less politics to worry about - if something we’ve written isn’t working, there’s no-one else to offend by scrapping it and starting over!


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

HoK: It’s very early days for us, and we’re wanting to get at least one more release under our belts before we look to get signed, but we have had some initial interest which has been hugely encouraging. 


9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of folk metal?

HoK: We’ve been blown away by how much it is resonating with some of our listeners, particularly for what was effectively a home recording. This was a bit of an “out-there” project trying to blend a lot of styles, and we really didn’t know if anyone would be into it. But to have been picked up by radio stations wanting to play us even before we’d started emailing tracks out was massively humbling. When we got the ‘Band of the Month’ slot on Metal Meyhem Radio’s ‘The Midnight Hour’ in January we were speechless. Reviews across the board so far have been really encouraging, we’ve had solid 8/10 ratings from all scoring reviewers which we are of course delighted about for our first outing. 


10.When can we expect a full length and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

HoK: We are actively writing for a couple of singles that we will definitely be wrapping into a full length hopefully later this year. We definitely want to focus the elements that people really found unique and enjoyable from the EP and expand that out into the LP, and hopefully this will define our sound further. 


11.What are you currently listening to nowadays?

HoK: We have pretty broad tastes between us, covering a lot of metal and rock subgenres but also traditional folk. On the metal side, John is a big fan of technical/melodic death metal with an atmospheric slant, particularly the likes of Fallujah, but he’s been really enjoying a very new nautical black metal project called Thermohaline that is definitely worth checking out! Sophie leans more towards a mix of speed and folk metal tastes, like Primordial, though outside of metal some of her favourite bands are more in the folk/indie space. We think the breadth of styles in our music is probably reflective of these fairly diverse influences. 


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

HoK: Thanks John, we would like to say a massive thanks to all of those that have supported us so far, including writers like yourself - we are incredibly grateful for it and really appreciate those that champion the metal underground. The international metal community has been so welcoming and encouraging, so thank you. If any of your readers want to be kept updated they can follow us on Spotify/Bandcamp and our social media links below and they’ll be the first to know when we’ve got new releases!

Bandcamp
Twitter


Unflesh/Inhumanation/2021 Full Length Review

 


  Unflesh  are  a  band  from  New  Hampshire  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  on  this  recording  plays  a  very  melodic  and  technical  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2021  album  "Inhumanation"  which  will  be  released  in  April.


  Rain  sounds  and  acoustic  guitars  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  and  melodic  musical  direction.  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  while  the  songs  also  get  very  technical  sounding  at  times  and  the  vocals  are  mostly  blackened  metal  screams.


  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  yet  technical  style  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.  Elements  of  death  metal  can  also  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  along  with  the  songs  also  adding  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts,  acoustic  guitars  also  make  a  return  on  some  of  the  later  tracks  and  some  of  the  songs  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length.


  On  this  recording  Unflesh  takes  melodic  black  metal  and  mixes  it  with  technical  death  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  the  concept  of  desensitization  and  losing  one's  humanity  to  speak.


  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Unflesh  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  melodic  and  technical  black  and  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Vast  Forest  of  Impaled  Cadavers"  "Amongst  Horrors  i  Dwell"  and "Dehumanized  Legion":.  8  out  of  10.


https://www.facebook.com/Unflesh/
https://unflesh.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgIPtHYjLDKhEbszA53mY0Q

https://www.instagram.com/unfleshofficial/