Guerra Total/Metalucifer/Forgotten Wisdom Productions/2016 Split CD Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  Columbia's  Guerra  Total  and  Japan's  Metalucifer  which  was  released  by  Forgotten  Wisdom  Productions  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Guerra  Total  a  band  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  speed  and  thrash  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  a  very  heavy  and  old  school  extreme  metal  sound  that  is  more  closer  to  the  first  wave  of black  metal  and  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  use  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  while  the  vocals  have  more  of  an  aggressive  thrash  style  to  them   and  elements  of  speed  metal  can  also  be  heard  at  times.

  Back  up  gang  shouts  can  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  the  songs  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  melodic  and  remain  true  to  an  old  school  style  and  the  music  is  heavily  rooted  in  the  80's  but  with  some  more  modern  technology  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  death  metal  growls  and  power metal  style  screams  and  their  side  of  the  split always  remains  very  true  to  a  very  heavy  and  retro  musical  style  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Guerra  Total  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  first  wave  black  metal,  thrash  and  speed  metal  and  updates  them  for the  modern  day,  the  production  sounds  very  powerful  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics cover  Satanism,  Zombies,  and  Black  Metal  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Guerra  Total  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  thrash  and  speed  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Evil  Headbangers"  and  "Satan's  Army  Of  the  Apocalypse".

  Next  up  is  Metalucifer  a  band  that  plays  a  mixture  of  heavy  and  speed  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  drum  beats  and  a  heavy  old  school  metal  sound  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  vocals  are  more  traditional  metal  style  singing  while  also  having  their  aggressive  moments  and  the  music  sounds  like  it  could  of  easily  been  recorded  and  released  in  the  80's.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  and  also  adds  in  a  touch  of  NWOBHM  and  during  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  elements  of  speed  metal  can  be  heard  and  their  side  of  the  split  also  always  remains  true  to  a  very  hard  and  heavy  musical  direction  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  back  up  gang  shouts.

  Metalucifer  plays  a  musical  style  that  goes  back  to  the  early  80's  style  of  heavy  and  speed metal  and  has  the  vintage  style  of  that  era,  the  production  sounds  very  retro  and  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  heavy  metal  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Metalucifer  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  speed  and  heavy  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Bloody  Countess"  and  "Heavy  Metal  Samurai".

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  I  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  black,  thrash,  speed  and  heavy  metal.  8  out  of  10. 

BANDCAMP

Quintessenz/To The Gallows/Evil Spell Records/2017 CD Review

  Quintessenz  are  a  solo  project  from  Germany  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black  metal,  thrash  and  heavy  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  album  "To  The  Gallows"  which  will  be  released  in  2017  by  Evil  Spell  Records.

  A  very  dark,  heavy  and  melodic  sound  starts  off  the  album  and  also  brings  in  an  80's  first  wave  black  metal  style  and  the  leads  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  morbid  sounding  melodies  and  after  awhile  a  mixture  of  clean  singing  and  grim  screams  as  well  as  a  few  growls  are  added  onto  the  recording.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  while  the  music  is  heavily  rooted  in  the  past  it  still  has  a  modern  feeling  at  times  and  a  few songs  also  bring  in  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars and  nature  sounds

  Throughout  the  recording    you  can  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  elements  of  traditional  metal  and  thrash  are  a  very  huge  part  of  the  recording  and  evil  whispers  can  also  be  heard  on  some  of  the  tracks  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  classic  horror  movie style  keyboards  and  one  track  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  samples  and  some  of the  riffing  also  adds in  a  touch  of  black'n'roll  as  well  as  a  slight  punk  influence  and  tremolo  picking  can  be  heard  in  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs.

  Quintessenz  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  first  and  second  wave  black  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with  thrash  and  heavy  metal  to  create  a  sound  of their  own,  the production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  horror,  fantasy  and  Occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Quintessenz  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  thrash,  and  heavy  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  solo  project.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Of  Majestic  Shores"  "Sounding  The  Funeral  Bell"  "Seth"  and  "Cursed  By  Moonlight".  8/5  out  of  10.

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The Ominous Circle/Apalling Acsension/20 Buck Spin/Osmose Productions/2017 CD Review

  The  Ominous  Circle  are  a  band  from  Portugal  that  plays  a  blackened  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their album  "Apalling  Acsension"  which  will  be  released  in  2017  as  a  joint  effort  between  20  Buck  Spin  and  Osmose  Productions.

  A  very  dark  yet  distorted  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  grim  black  metal  screams  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  leads  up  to  some  death  metal  growls  making  their  presence  known  on  the  recording  and  after  the  intro t he  music  goes  into  a  very  fast  and  brutal  musical  direction  with  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats.

  Some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  dark  and  melodic  fashion  and  atmospheric  elements  are  also  added  on  some  of  the  later  tracks  and  some  of  the  slower  sections  are  very  heavily  influenced  by  doom  metal.

  The  Ominous  Circle  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  dark  and  heavy  while  also  being  very  heavily  influenced  by  black  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  occult,  and  horror  themes.

  In  my  opinion  The  Omninous  Circle  are  a  very  great  sounding  blackened  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "From  Endless  Charms"  "A  Grey  Outcast"  and  "Consecrating  His  Mark".  8/5  out  of  10.   

https://www.facebook.com/theominouscircle

Goat Worship/Blood And Steel/Xtreem Music/2016 CD Review

 Goat  Worship  are  a  band from  Brazil  that  plays  a  black,  thrash  metal  and  crust  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album "Blood  And  Steel"  which  was  released  by  Xtreem  Music.

  Epic  sounding  keyboards  start  off  the  album  and  they  bring  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  classic  war  film  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  a  very  heavy  and  thrash  influenced  musical  direction  along  with  some  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  a  few  seconds  later  and  they  also  add  in  a  touch  of  the  first  wave  style.

  A  great  amount  of  crust  elements  can  be  heard  throughout  the  recording  and  the  music  has  a  lot  of  80's  and  90's  roots  while  also  having  a  more  modern  take  on  the  genre  and  the  songs  also bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  faster  sections  of t he  songs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  and  when  guitar solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  remain  true  to  an  old  school  style  of  extreme  metal  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  morbid  sounding  melodies  and  all of  the  songs  stick  to  a  heavy  musical  style.

  Goat  Worship  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  old  school  black  metal,  thrash  and  crust  punk  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  war,  Norse  Mythology  and  death  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Goat  Worship  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black  metal,  thrash  and  crust  punk  and  if you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical genres,  you  should  check  out  this band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Falklands  War"  "Only  the  Strong  Will  Survive"  and  "Helheim".  8  out  of  10.

https://youtu.be/12PGTjqrdZE

Damnation Gallery/Transcedence Hymn/Masked Dead Records/2016 EP Review

  Damnation  Gallery  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  mixture of  black,  death,  thrash  and  heavy  metal  and  this  is  a  review of  their  2016  ep  "Transcendence  Hymn"  which  was  released  by  Masked  Dead  Records.

  Horror  movie  style keyboards  start  off  the  ep  and  they  also  have  a  symphonic  feeling  to  them  at  times  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  a  heavier  direction  along  with  some  aggressive  female  vocals  that  also  have  a  touch  of  black  metal  to  them  and  the  melodic rififng  is  very  heavily  influenced  by  traditional  metal.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  clean  singing  while  the  music  is  very  heavily  influenced  by  80's  metal  and  death  metal  growls  are  also  used  at  times  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  and  elements  of  thrash  are  also  used  on  a  regular  basis  while  one  songs also  brings  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  guitars  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard.

  Damnation  Gallery  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  black,  death,  thrash and  heavy  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  their  own  style  of  'horror  metal', the  production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  nightmares,  everyday  fears  and  paranoia  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Damnation  Gallery are  a very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  death, thrash and  heavy  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Evil  Extreme"  and  "Transcendence  hymn".  8  out  of  10.   

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Vircolac Interview

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

Jamie: Very little currently to be honest, as our individual “real life” commitments have kept each of us busy since the end of summer and we’ve had little time to get together because of that.. I guess also we’d been preparing for the release of “Demeter” anyway, so there’s been a fair bit of behind the scenes type stuff that had to be done in terms of label contact, mastering, art, etc. In the interim however myself and Brendan have been working on song ideas together in preparation for a full length album so we’ll be back in the rehearsal room probably in the new year to start work on that in earnest.







2.Recently you have released an ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

Jamie: If you want a soundbite I’d go with “Atmospheric Death Metal”. I think we had a chance to push the sort of morbid, nocturnal and dare I say “gothic” elements to the music a little more on this release which was the goal. The speed has been backed off in places a little to allow the personality in the music to come through, and I think we tried to make it a little more dynamic and really have the music carry a mood. I guess I’d explain it to anyone thinking of checking it out to approach it in the way we did – think of it as four chapters in a book, each having its’ own identity but all fitting into the main narrative. But if you want riffs, we’ve got ‘em.



Brendan: While we were in the studio words like dramatic,intense and atmospheric were used a lot between us.

We used these darker tones to guide us through the creation process, always aware of our aim.

There are subtle moments throughout the EP which is quite uncharacteristic of a standard death metal sound,

but we used subtlety as a tool to create the tension and atmosphere we wanted and of-course increase intensity by contrast.

The EP has a very distinct start, middle and end which helps to heighten the drama.

We also draw on our individual influences throughout to add diversity and variety to the sound.







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

Darragh: The first song and title track is centred around the ship Demeter that the Count sails in from Varna to Whitby in the novel Dracula. Given Bram Stoker was  a Dublin man and how much his novel has influenced me personally, I wanted to pay some kind of tribute to him but also, at the same time, write something allegorical. The concept is "death arrives on a ship" and can be applied to the coffin ships that sailed from Ireland to the US during the famine in the mid 19th century or even the arrival of the Conquistadors in South America.



The second track, Charonic Journey, is effectively a meditation on death and rebirth. I've been somewhat fascinated with megalithic tombs and have spent a bit of time researching them and this provided some of the inspiration behind this. The third song, Lascivious Cruelty, is loosely based on Emperor Caligula's reign and his proclivities. It can also be reflected on those in positions of power today, for example Dominic Strauss Kahn and his decadent, opulent, frivolous lifestyle.



The final song, Betwixt the Devil and Witches, is a paean to the eternal allure and wonder of the female form in their beguiling and bewitching ways. It is greatly influenced by the mythology of witchcraft in the woods we may have heard about when we were growing up or passed down through mythology, which is a massive part of folklore here in Ireland and part of oral traditions that stretch back into the pre Christian era.







4.In a couple of interviews you had talked about Celtic Mythology, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic?

Darragh: This I can only assume is related to the Bardo Methodology piece where I mentioned Cu Chulainn. I don't recall mentioning it in any other interview. let me know if you want me to comment on this as well. (addressing this to you Jamie, not the interviewer)



Jamie: I have a hunch here that you might have mistaken “Irish Folklore” with “Celtic Mythology”. We don’t really have anything to do with Celtic mythology at all apart from a couple of members having a personal interest, but we have talked at length in previous interviews about our interest in the darker end of local history in a wider sense (things like the Hellfire Club, Bram Stoker And Le fanu being from here, the crypts and tunnels under Dublin city, old Irish witch tales like Alice Kyteler and Darky Kelly etc). Our drummer was formerly in the “celtic Metal “ band Cruachan for a while but that’s as close as we get to Celtic Mythology. Only death is real baby.









5.I know that the bands name means 'werewolf' in Romanian, how does this name fit in with the music style that you play?

Jamie: I associate old werewolf myths with a combination of bloodthirst and tragedy – the transformation into a feral force of nature, balanced with the inability of the afflicted party to control their transformation and the consequences of it. I think that sums up a couple of the major elements in our music pretty fucking accurately. Violent in some places, melancholic in others. Plus, let's be clear on this: werewolves are just really fucking cool,









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


Jamie: Hah..you could say our stage performance has a hint of the werewolf about it to if you’re looking at it as “transformative” I suppose. I think we definitely approach the stage with a more “rock n’roll” approach to performance than some of our peers and the five of us generally use it as an excuse to let loose and release as much energy to those in attendance as possible, anything can happen on stage with us. None of this standing around with hoods up swathed in dry ice, and I think people are often very pleasantly surprised when they see us because of that. We’d much rather be Metallica in 1986 than Mayhem in 1996 if that makes sense. I think in terms of best shows my personal favourite was Metal Magic in Denmark this year. I think the room was the perfect size, the sound was fantastic and everyone in the crowd was up for it. Such a great weekend overall too.


Brendan: The Dark Arts festival in Galway was pure insanity. The crowd was a blur of bodies, alcohol and glass.

The boundary between floor and stage didn't exist anymore. Equipment was damaged, injuries sustained (by crowd and band),chants, pits, crowd surfing and a complete disregard for all order and sense.The feed of energy from the crowd was indescribable. It was a welcome reminder of the true spirit of heavy metal.Our main objective during live performance is once again to create an atmosphere that is uniquely Vircolac without sacrificing any of the energy.







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

Jamie: Not as many as we’d like currently, and we’ve had to turn down a few things we really wanted to do because of work commitments lately which is massively frustrating. Opening for Asphyx locally in February, then North of the Wall festival in Glasgow and another local festival in April so far. I’d really like to try and do a small tour, even 4 or 5 days next year, as we haven’t done that yet. We’re open to offers for 2017..cough cough..







8.What is going on with 'Invictus Productions', these days?

Darragh: The label continues apace and is entering into it's 18th year of existence next year, which is quite a feat given being located on an island on the periphery of Europe that has a very limited capacity when it comes to underground metal. Currently preparing for two big end of year shows and lining up things for 2017.





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

Jamie: I don’t know really. I’ve seen many positive words but really I can only gauge it by where we get orders for merch from..and in those terms we’ve had an amazing response from all corners of the world, from South America and the Far East to Mainland Europe . It’s an amazing feeling to know people in places like Mexico or Korea are listening to some shitty little band from Dublin. People here are largely not interested in what we're doing outside a handful of folks.




10. Do you have other projects

Brendan: Yes, Bassist Karen is involved in quite a few projects. Disguise, Wizards of Firetop Mountain and Cat Piss Brain rot.

I play in a 70s Rock/ Blues cover band that tour Ireland.



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

 Brendan: We will most likely use the EP as a platform to build from. I can see an expansion of the newer elements that we  have added in Demeter.There are no boundaries when we write so it is very difficult to describe what it might sound like.If you dismiss adventure you dismiss growth. We will incorporate any element as long as its true to our overall vision.

But I can say for sure that it will be strange and dark.


Jamie: I have a bunch of it already written, and outside of what Brendan says, I'm saying nothing else just yet. Wait and see. It's not going to be "Demeter Pt 2", I can assure you of that. Defintely strange, definitely dark.





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

Jamie: The influences on me remain constant: Voivod, Celtic Frost, pretty much everything Peaceville/Deaf records released in the 90s, Immolation, Ceremonium, Decomposed (UK),  Carnage, Divine Eve, Bolt Thrower, Coroner, Morbid Angel, Dark Angel, blah blah blah then maybe the likes of Coil, Swans, Portishead, Bauhaus, the Cure, John Carpenter, and  Christopher Young for atmospherics. My recent listening has mostly been non metal and widely varying so some recent favourites: Egisto Macchi, Clipping, Pact Infernal, The The, Tenro, Bee & Flower, Danny Brown, SURVIVE, Lycia, Chris Connelly/Cocksure, Echo Beds, Intensive Care, Anna Von Hauswolf, The Saints, Nick Cave etc.. I’d like to especially mention an Irish experimental collective called Eordeslajyr’s new album,inspired by the film “Haxan” which is a brilliant, evocative and genuinely chilling piece of work. In terms of metal I’ve really enjoyed Tideless, Slidhr, Unyielding Love, Blood Incantation, Irkallian Oracle, Tomb Mold, Qrixkuor, Taphos, Deiquisitor and Coscradh recently amongst others.



Brendan: As there are five of us we have many influences to draw from. Everything from 70s prog rock, punk, late 80s and early 90s death metal. The strange chord sequences could be attributed to bands like Genesis and Voivod. The expansion to the dual guitar comes from bands like Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Judas Priest.Autopsy, Morbid Angel and Soulside Journey era Darkthrone are a huge influence on the overall sound.Speaking for myself, I have been listening to our label mates Grave Miasma, Vorum and Blood Incantation.The new Bolzer album" Hero" and lots of Pink Floyd, Ulver and Portishead as well. There really are too many bands to name here.




13.How would you describe your views on Occultism?

Jamie: I’ll jump on this grenade for the rest of the band: we have no belief in or association with it whatsoever. I’m the only one as far as I know in the band with any interest in it really, but I’m very clear on the fact that my interest in it is more as someone with an interest in the arcane in general, and I’m certainly not a practitioner. I greatly enjoy reading about certain schools of occultism  but I find little that applies to me or my daily life in there, and as such I can’t help but view a lot of it as fiction – albeit enjoyable fiction – in the same way one would view, say, HP Lovecraft. I enjoy reading about traditional witchcraft (eg Gemma Gary’s “The Black Toad”) and some of the materials published by Ixaxaar, Fall of Man and Theion. There have a been a few books that have struck a chord in a personal or philosophical way with me and I’d recommend Peter Grey’s “Apocalyptic Witchcraft”, “Aghora:At The Left Hand Of God” by Robert E. Svoboda or Ramsey Dukes’ “SSOBTME” as fine pieces of inspiring writing in that regard, and Thomas Karlsson’s “Qabalah, Kliphoth and Goetic Magic” as one of the few books on that end of the scale that makes its’ subject in any way really graspable to non academic types like me. I’m looking forward to reading the upcoming Craig Williams book that Anathema publishing are releasing next year, and I’m going to start reading Richard Gavin’s “The Benighted Path” this evening.  There are flashes of truth in the occult in the same way that there are in many other spiritual outlooks, and I think those are ones that resonate on a deeper level than just being  some mysterious evil dude a la the Order of the Nine Angles or whatever (a lot of whose stuff, much like the likes of Crowley, I see as glorified self help manuals for loners). Vircolac as a band doesn’t embrace the occult as a religious or spiritual thing, but we embrace occult knowledge if you get me – the hidden, arcane and macabre underneath the day to day world.







14.What are some of your non musical interests?

Jamie: Horror movies. I fucking love Horror movies. And their soundtracks. I write for a couple of websites here and there including my own "Destroyed Human" one, largely about either horror films or music. My interest in travel both local and international grows as I get older too.


Brendan: Stand up comedy, movies, books. Music really takes up the majority of my time whether it is listening or playing.





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

Jamie: go watch Lucio Fulci’s “House By The Cemetery” and “The Beyond”. They’ll give you a better understanding of our music than this interview will.


https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-cursed-travails-of-the-demeter-cd

Vircolac/The Cursed Travails of the Dementer/Dark Descent Records/2016 EP Review

 Vircolac  are  a  band  from  Ireland  that  plays  a  blackened  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  ep  "The  Cursed  Travails  Of  The  Dementer"  which  was  released  by  Dark  Descent  Records.

  A  very  dark  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  ep  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  after  awhile  black  metal  screams  are  added  onto  the  recording  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  sound  very  powerful.

  Most  of  the  music  is  heavily  rooted  in  the  mid  80's  and  early  90's  while  also  mixing  in  a  more  modern  approach  and  the  riffs  also  use  a  decent  amount  of  melody  and  death  metal  elements  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  remain  true  to  a  very  dark,  melodic  and  old  school  style  and  some  of  the  faster  riffing  brings  in  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  clean  playing  along  with  keyboards  can  also  be  heard  briefly  in  the  background  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  very long  and  epic  in  length  and  ritualistic  spoken  word  parts  are  added  onto t he  last  track.

  Vircolac  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  old  school  death  metal  and  mixes  it  with  black  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  horror,  death,  macabre  tales, shamanism  and  occultism themes.

  In  my  opinion  Vircolac  are  a  very  great  sounding  blackened  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Charonic  Journey  (Stygian  Revelation)"  and  "Betwixt  the  Devil  And  Witches".  8  out  of  10.

https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-cursed-travails-of-the-demeter-cd

Obscure Evil/Void Fumes/Caligari Records/2016 EP Review

  Obscure  Evil  are  a  band  from  Peru  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  ep  "Void  Fumes"  which  was  released  by  Caligari  Records.

  A  very  distorted  bass  guitar  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some  drum  beats  before  adding  dark  and  melodic  guitar  leads  onto  the  recording  and  after  awhile  thrash  influenced  riffing  and  black  metal  screams  are  added  onto  the  recording  and  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the   80's  while  also having  modern  touch.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  the riffing  also  brings  in  a  decent  amount  of  morbid  sounding  melodies  and  one  of  the  tracks  is  all  instrumental  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  heavy  musical  direction.

  Obscure  Evil  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  first  and  second  wave  black  metal  and  mixes  it  with  thrash  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  Abstractionism,  Satanism,  Black  Metal,  Nietzsche,  and  Nihilism  themes. 

  In  my  opinion  Obscure  Evil  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black  and  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Darkness  Descends  Upon  The  Eternal  Flames  Of  Doom"  and  "Cosmic  Ascension".  8  out  of  10.

https://caligarirecords.bandcamp.com/album/void-fumes     
 

Evocacion/Self Titled/Caligari Records/2016 Cassette Review

  Evocacion  are  a  band  from  Spain  that  plays  a  blackened  form  of  doom/death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2016  album  which  was  released  on  cassette  by  Caligari  Records.

  A  very  dark  yet  melodic  doom  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  a  few  seconds  later  which also  adds in  grim  black  metal  at  times  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  the  guitar  leads  are  also  done  in  a  very  dark  fashion.

  A  great  amount  of  90's  influences can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  there  is also  a  brief  use  of  melodic  yet  ritualistic  chanting  and  some  of the tracks  are  long  and  epic  in  length  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the album  also  remains  very  heavy  from  beginning  to  ending  of  the  recording.

  Evocacion plays  a  musical style  that  takes  90's  doom/death  metal  and  mixes it  with  elements  of black  metal  to  create a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Italian  and  cover  darkness  and  occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Evocacion  are  a  very  great  sounding  blackened  doom/death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  cassette.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Rituales  Sin  Forma"  and  "Irreverencia".  8  out  of  10.

https://caligarirecords.bandcamp.com/album/evocaci-n  

Crucify My Gently/Circles/2016 Full Length Review

  Crucify  Me  Gently  are  a  band  from  Ukraine  that  plays  a  blackened  form  of  deathcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2016  album  "Circles"  which  will  be  released  on  November  29th.

  A  very  fast  and  melodic  sound  along  with  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  aggressive  vocals  that  seem to be  influenced  by  hardcore  and  post  metal  while  death  metal  growls  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording.

  When  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  some  metalcore  elements  in  the  mid  tempo  parts  of  the  songs  and  clean  playing  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  you  can  also  hear  a  great  amount  of  black  metal  influences  throughout  the  album.and  as  the  album  progresses  high  pitched  screams  can  also  be  heard  on  some songs  and  a  couple  of  later  tracks  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  keyboards  as  well  as  a  few  seconds  of  operatic  female  vocals.

  Crucify  Me  Gently  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  black  metal  and  deathcore  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  something  very  original,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark,  occult  and  angry  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Crucify  Me  Gently  are  a  very  great  sounding  blackened  deathcore  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Occultist"  "Out  Of  Time"  "Fame  Will  Fade"  and  "Circles".  8  out  of  10.

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Second To Sun/Blackbound/2016 Full Length Review

  Second  To  Sun  are  a  band  from  Russia  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  an  instrumental  mixture  of   black  metal,  djent  and  Finno-Ugric  folk  music  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2016  album  "Blackbound".

  Nature  sounds  start  off  the  album  and  when  tremolo  picking  is  utilized  it  gives  the  songs  more  of  a  black  metal  feeling  and  atmospheric  synths  are  also  used  at  times  while  clean  playing  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard.

  Most  of  the  tracks  are  instrumental  and  the  mid  tempo  sections  are  very  heavily  influenced  by  djent  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  when  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  which  also  gives  the  songs  more  of  an  ethnic  feeling  and  one  track  brings  in  spoken  word  parts  and  a  later  song  is  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Second  To  Sun  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  instrumental  mixture  of  black  metal  and  djent  of  their  previous  releases  and  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording.

 In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Second  To  Sun  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  instrumental  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Chokk  Kapper"  "Ladoga  Master"  and  "Idemevs".  8  out  of  10.

https://youtu.be/PK8w0UegYhw

Speedwhore/On The Verge Of Dysfunction/Witches Brew/2016 EP Review

  Speedwhore  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  speed  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  ep  "On  The  Verge  Of Dysfunction"  which  was  released  by  Witches  Brew.

  Clean  guitar  playing  starts  off  the  ep  while  also  mixing  in  some  effects  and after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  a  very  fast  thrash  metal  direction  along  with  some  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  and  blast  beats  and  the  riffs  and  solos  also  use  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  there  are  also  some  80's  style  melodic  screams.

  Clean  singing  chants  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  while  the  fast  sections  bring  in  elements  of  speed  metal  you  can  hear  the  influence  of  doom  metal  in  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  and  the  instrumental  also  brings  back  clean  playing  while  the  closing  tracks  return  back  to  a  heavier  direction.

  Speedwhore  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  the  black,  speed  and  thrash  metal  mixture  of  previous  releases,  the  production  sounds  very  powerful  while  the  lyrics  cover  life,  society,  fantasy,  science  fiction  and  metal  themes.  

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Speedwhore  and  if  you  are  a f an  of  black,  thrash  and  speed  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Project  babylon"  and  "Born  To  Speed". 8  out  of  10.

https://witchesbrewthrashes.bandcamp.com/album/on-the-verge-of-dysfunction?utm_source=Promo%2BList&utm_campaign=9c07c83d54-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_11_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b7d3bffdfc-9c07c83d54-159719745

 https://speedwhore.bandcamp.com/

Phosphorus/Devastation/HSP Productions/2016 EP Review

  Phosphorus  are  a  band  from  Quebec,  Canada  that  plays  a  blackened  form  of  death/thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  ep  "Devastation" which  was  released  by  HSP  Productions.

  Thunder  and  rain  sounds  start  off  the  ep  along  with  the  sounds  of  war  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  more  of  a  fast  and  melodic  direction  along  with  soem  blast  beats  and  grim  black  metal  screams and  the  music  also  brings  in  a  great  amount  of  80's  thrash  and  death  metal  elements  along  with  a  touch  of  90's  black  metal.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  throughout  the  recording  you  can  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  when  guitar  leads  are  used  they  are  done  in  a  melodic  fashion  and  growls  can  also  be  heard  in  the  music  at  times  and  the  fast  riffs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  clean  guitars  and  spoken  word  parts  along  with  synths  are  added  onto  the  outro.

  Phosphorus  takes  the  old  school  styles  of  black,  death  and  thrash  metal  and  mixes  them  in  with  a  more  modern  approach  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own, the  production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  devastation  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Phosphorus  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  death  and  thrash  metal  and   if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Devastation-1"  and  "Devastation-III".  8  out  of  10.

 Bandcamp page       

Pentacle/Ancient Death/Vic Records/2016 EP Re-Issue

  Pentacle  are  a  band  from   the  Netherlands  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  blackened  form of  death  metal  and  this  is  a review  of their  2001  ep  "Ancient  Death"  which  will  be  re-issued  in  November  by  Vic  Records.

  A  very dark  and  melodic  sound  starts  off  the ep  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of the  musical  instruments  that are  present on  the  recording  and when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  the  vocals  also  bring  in a  great  amount  of  death  metal  growls  while  black  metal  screams  can  also  be  heard  at  times.

  Throughout  the  recording  there is  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  decent  mixture  of  both  80's  and  90's  influences  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are very  long and  epic  in  length  and  the  slower  riffs also  bring  in  a  touch  of  doom  metal and  they  also  bring  in  covers  of  Mantas's  "Legion  Of  Doom"  and  Death's  "Witch  Of  Hell"  and  one  track  also  brings  in  vocals  from  K.K  Warlust  Of  Destroyer  666  and  the  music  also  remains  very  heavy  from  beginning  to  ending  of  the  recording  and there is  also  a  brief  use  of  melodic  guitars  leads.

  Pentacle  created  another  recording  to  this  era  that  was  very  true  to  their  old  school  death  metal  style  while  still  having  a  touch  of  black  metal,  the  production  sounded  very  professional  for t he  era  it  was  recorded  while  the  lyrics  cover  Occultism,  Warfare  and  Death  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  was  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Pentacle  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  old  school  blackened  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  re-issue. RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Souls  Blood"  and  "Walking  Upon  Damnation's  hand".  8  out  of  10.  

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Witchmaster Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
We are supposed to be getting ready for the upcoming gigs. There's some concerts coming in November, in Poland and UK, with Tortorum from Norway, and Im looking forward to that. Also the split LP with VOIDHANGER is coming out sometime soon, in november/december, and Im also looking forward to that. It'll be out on Third Eye Temple and you better be ready for that.

2.You have a split coming out in December, how would you describe the musical sound of the newer material and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
Its not new at all.  Two of the tracks are unreleased songs from Antichristus recording session, and that was a couple years ago, and the other 3 are live. The interesting thing is, we included a cover of Einsturzende Neubauten, 'Tanz Debil' from their first album. EN is quite an extraordinary choice for WITCHMASTER, given the style. I mea, they are the Venom of Industrial music. I was always really into EN, since I developed a paralell fascinations of Black metal and industrial/noise. This is probably the most experimental thing we did with Witchmaster so far, cosnidering our usually traditional diehard approach

3.Your lyrics have always been on the Satanic side, how would you describe your views on Satanism and Occultism?
 You just answered the question. Witchmaster was always a Satanik Metal band.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Witchmaster'?
 First we had an idea to name the band Witchhammer, like the Sodom track. Then we thought Witchmaster is much better. The master of the witches.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
On our last tour we set razor wire in form of the stage so when people go berserk in the moshpit they jump on the wire resulting in proper bloodbath. A very appropriate response.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
 Yeah, in November we play some gigs in Poland and UK with Tortorum, Thats the band from guys from Thunderbolt, Gorgoroth, and Aeternus as far as I remember. There's gonna be some interesting changes in our line up as well, for the first time Inferno will play guitar instead of drums, and on drums we'll have Daray (Dimmu Borgir, ex Vader). So it sould be exciting. We ordered new roll of razor wire too.

7.On the split you had done a cover of Einsturzende Neubaten's 'Tanz Debil', what was the decision behind doing your own version of this song?
 If you ever listened to Kollaps, that album is absolutely crazy raw. I love it. Thats why I convinced the guys to do it, as an experiment of some sort. It worked out all right.

8.You will be sharing this split with 'Voidhanger', what are your thoughts on the other band that had participated on the recording?
 They are fucking killer. Watch out.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black and thrash metal?
We are in the underground, and I dont really pay much attention to feedback, but theres dedicated witchmaster fans  all over the planet.

10.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?
 Inferno is touring with Behemoth all the time, and also just recorded new Azarath album. Im busy with my experimental projects, and Reyash is still playing in Christ Agony I think.

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
 oldschool black thrash metal

12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
 Bathory, Sodom, old slayer, Kreator, Voivod . also Wolfpack/wolfbrigade.

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

Deezer

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Noise Trail Immersion Interview

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

We're just five 22-24 years old guys who like chaotic and dark music. The band is based in Turin and we started playing together in 2013: since then our main goal has always been to write and play music just for the love of it.This project is something very important for every member of the band and we literally put all our lives on it.

2.You have an album coming out in November, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the ep you had released a couple of years back?

We like to define our style "8-strings blackened chaos": it's a blend of blackened hardcore, math-metal and post-metal. The sound on the new record is really different from the one in the first EP. After releasing the S/T EP, we talked about changing our sound: everyone in the band loves Black Metal and we really wanted not only to introduce a "dark" element in our music, but also to make it the dominant one. So our singer Fabio chose to change the vocal style from the death metal growls that you can listen to in the EP into more hardcore sounding vocals, making them more obscure and raw. The songwriting approach we used for the new record is different: we kept writing using the mathematical structure songs of the EP, but we gave them a different feel, using much more obscure chords and intervals, sometimes almost creepy-sounding. Also, in the EP there was already a post-metal/ambient element, and for the new record we wanted more of that, so we designed some tracks on the new album (Womb and Birth) to be more introspective than the others, in order to show also this side of our musical identity.

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

The lyrics of our songs are often a "stream of consciousness", mostly dealing with subjects like the emptiness that everyone, sooner or later, experiments in life and the lies we tell ourselves when we choose religion as an attempt to give life a sense.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Noise Trail Immersion'?

We don't want this to sound dull, but they're just three words that we thought sounded good together. We'll come up with a fake meaning in the future if necessary.

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

If we had to choose some shows, they would be the Tech Fest in 2014 and the Dissonance Festival in Milan last year. Both awesome festivals!
During our live sets we always try to create a dark ambience: we have a fog machine that we always bring with us for every gig.
Usually we play with no lights, except one strobe and some little light bulbs we put on the guitar pedalboards. Since we started playing live the songs from the new record, we tried really hard to make the show coherent with the black-ish atmosphere of the new music.


6.Do you have any touring or show plans once the album is released?

We're going to do a release show in Turin at the end of November and then we really hope to tour in Europe soon. We're actually starting to organize a tour right now, and we're really looking forward to it.

7.The album is coming out on 'Triton's Orbit', are you happy with the support that they have given you so far?

Yes, we'd like to thank Catia: we're really happy to work with her for promotion and physical distribution! We also want to thank Moment of Collapse Records for taking care of digital distribution!

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of extreme metal?

We really don't know, but that is not really an issue to us. Don't get it wrong, we're incredibly happy when someone from a foreign country sends us a message or posts a comment, but our main goal remains making music just for the sake of it. the more people appreciate our works, the better it is, but there's no problem for us if we don't get a lot of feedback from the scene.

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

At the moment we're writing new music for another full-length album after "Womb" : it's actually half-written by now. The idea is to create a record in which the end of every single track is connected to the start of the following one so that you don't really feel the separation between them and the album seems like just a really long track. Sometimes parts of a song are present in another one. Guitar riffs are going to be a little different: we're working on making the two guitars play always different things in order to experiment new sounds. The black metal influence will be even more present then in "Womb" and tracks will be longer.

10.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?

Some of our favourite artists that may have influenced our sound are Amia Venera Landscape, Deathspell Omega, The Secret, Ulcerate, War From A Harlots Mouth, Gorguts, Cult Of Luna, Converge, Dodecahedron, Krallice, The Arusha Accord, Plebeian Grandstand and so many more.
We also listen to a lot of non-metal music, especially Dark Jazz (for example we love Bohren Und Der CLub Of Gore and The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation) as well as experimental stuff and contemporary classical music. Tim Hecker, Arvo Pärt, Kayo Dot and Arve Henrikssen are some other examples of artists we love.


11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Well, we all love the same kind of movies..Some of them had a big influence on our music as well: the track "Womb" contains a monologue from the movie "Enter The Void" (Gaspar Noè) and the song "Wolves in Plain Clothes" a monologue from the movie "Possession" (Andrzej Zulawski); the official video of the song has also a short excerpt taken from it.
Apart from the movies, three of us are vegetarians/vegans and share a strong interest for the animal liberation issue.


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

We want to thank you for this interview, as well as for the kind review you posted previously on BLACKENEDDEATHMETALZINE.
Also, thanks to everyone who has been following us and supporting our music, we really hope you'll dig the album!

https://www.facebook.com/NoiseTrailImmersion/

Arriver Interview

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

We're getting ready to release our third full-length LP Emeritus.  Meanwhile we're preparing all-new material for a show that will include nothing from it, to include art installations, power-electronic noise, extended repetition of cycling heavy riffs, improvisation, and lots of smoke.  We are constantly creating.

2.Recently you have released a new ep, 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?

It's an LP and it comes out in early December.  We've experimented sonically quite a lot on this one.  As before, we favor cleaner more natural guitar and drum sounds than most metal bands use...the sound of a guitars plugged into amps, of drums in a room, no triggers, no bullshit.  There's a sameness to all those over-processed sounds, and we want nothing to do with it.  Dan S got a baritone guitar and I got a 12-string, and the sounds of those instruments and our process of becoming familiar with what they can do has had a major influence on the sound.  We like to contrast brutality and heaviness with ear candy.  We've set aside the grindcore sections we've had in the past, though I'm sure they'll be back...we've introduced some more textural, psychedelic elements that give us space to stretch out, and as a result the songs are longer and more spacious.  Some of the structures are quite linear, beginning in one place and ending up somewhere else entirely. 

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

Living creative lives.  Building families.  Being engaged with the world around us.  That's who we are.  We have zero interest in living a write-record-release-tour- repeat cycle.  We've all done that before in other bands, and it sucks.  It made me hate music.  Arriver is the antidote to all that, for all of us.  We play music for ourselves, because we are driven to play music.  These guys are my musical family.  We see each other every week, regardless of what else we have going on.  We share in each others triumphs and tragedies.  We've buried a brother together.  Our children play together.  We create and debate and deliberate and refine and we are in no hurry about any of it because hurries are externalities and Arriver exists 100% on Arriver's own terms.

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

Our trademark is long-form multi-song musical narratives; records as books.  Emeritus is about the Chernobyl event and looks at it from human, non-human and post-human perspectives.  It's something we all remember from childhood and it's far more of a world-historical inflection point than most people realize. The events in our songs really happened, and the characters that inhabit them really existed.  We take plenty of liberties but remain grounded in reality because we want our music to reveal truths about humanity and nature that we can't get at with escapist fantasy.  At the core it all, on this record and the others, is a fundamental belief in the strength of the human spirit and its ability to struggle to the last living cell and transcend calamity.  Hope amid hopelessness.   Maybe if we lived in bars and scowled a lot and blacked out every night we'd be satisfied writing songs about demons and disembowelment and the inevitability of fate.

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

The name Arriver was coined by Jason Molina as the name of an imaginary band.  We made it a real one.

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?

We deliver the goods.  We drill our shit as tight as we possibly can so that we can hold our heads high regardless of who we're playing with.  We bombard the audience with riffs and unexpected changes and unusual textures and we blend it all together in a unified whole that is uniquely our own.  We don't pretend to be anyone other than exactly who we are.  The shows we enjoy the most are the ones we play with kindred spirits: not necessarily bands that sound anything like us, but bands who are true to their own idiosyncrasies and weirdnesses, in defiance of paths of least resistance which might make them more scene-popular or easier to take.  We've had some great shows with psych experimentalists like Oneida and Man Forever.  Some of our favorite Chicago metal underground contemporaries to share a stage with have been The Swan King, Arbogast, Beak, Electric Hawk, Den, Anatomy of Habit...there are a ton of amazing, truly original bands in this scene and they don't tend to be the ones that get fawned over.

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

Shows, yes, plenty; not least of which will be our record release show at the Hideout November 19th.  We play regularly in Chicago and nearby.  Touring...if that means piling into the van and driving off to play six weeks of DIY shows for gas money in dives in Shitfuckingsburg, PA and sleep in some kid's pile of dirty laundry, then fuck no.  We've paid those dues already and anyway among four members of Arriver we now have a total of seven children.  It just isn't compatible with the lives we've chosen to live.  We'll go where we can and we'll pursue opportunities that seem like good ones.  We may go to Europe; we all enjoy that quite a lot.

8.The ep was released on 'Scioto Records', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

Scioto is a small label run by a friend of ours attached to a pressing plant in Columbus.  For all intents and purposes, we are putting this record out ourselves.  That way we don't owe anyone anything, who isn't in the band.

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

I know 8 Germans, 5 English, 4 Irish, 3 Spaniards, 2 French, 2 Dutch and a Belgian who think we absolutely rule.  And somehow we have a fan in Ghana.  Beyond that, we'll have to see.

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

We're putting a lot of thought into our sound and the interplay between our instruments.  We have no idea where that where that will lead.  One thing that has been a constant for Arriver is that we are always playing at the outer edge of our capabilities and setting up conceptual challenges for ourselves.

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?

We're all over the place.  Metallically speaking, we all love Gorguts, we all love Carcass, we all love Napalm Death, we all love Meshuggah.  Obituary is a very important band for Arriver, especially “The End Complete" and "Cause of Death".  We all revere Black Sabbath and Led Zep.  We all have the entire canon of Classic Rock memorized down to the last detail.  Rob and I are obsessive fans of a Finnish band called Circle who are kind of a bizarre proto-metal/kraut-rock hybrid.  That, and also Loop who were on the heavier end of the original wave of shoegaze, have what I think is a noticeable imprint on the new record.  Dan S. discovered a Senegalese band called Tal National who are absolutely bewildering.  We dig Tuareg Bluesmen Tinariwen. We haven't really cared much about what the Melvins have done since the mid 90's but their early records loom large over everything we do.  I think you can hear The Jesus Lizard in Rob's bass.  We like a lot of krautrock...Amon Duul II's "Yeti" is incredibly heavy.  Dan and I like ethnic/folky stuff, especially Steeleye Span and are impressed by Heron Oblivion.  Sumac’s new LP is fantastic. We’ve collectively gone down the Yes rabbit hole this year...their episodic, long form things like Close To The Edge are a strong influence on our new material.    Joe and I grew up on Rush and Rush programmed our musical minds.  Dan S. was skeptical but is coming around.  Rob hates Rush eternally.  Aside from that we're quite open-minded about music.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

I'm a printmaker and visual artist; I run Crosshair Silkscreen.  Dan Sullivan owns Navillus Woodworks, a custom fabrication and design-build company.  He also runs a unique arts space called The Franklin out of his back yard, with his wife who is an acclaimed conceptual artist.  Rob and Joe are tech pros and I have no idea what they actually do because my brain flatlines when they start talking about it.  Rob, Dan, and I all read, a lot.  Joe doesn't have time to read because he is busy writing technical manuals about computer programming.  We enjoy the outdoors.  As often as possible, we like to go sweat in a 200-degree sauna and beat each others' bare asses with birch boughs.

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

nein

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