Orbseven/.ismos/2014 Full Length Review

  Orbseven  are  a  1  man  band  from  Texas  that  plays  a  mixture  of  ambient,  experimental,  black  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  self  released  2014  album  ".ismos".

  Melodic  chanting  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  musical  direction  as  well  as  having  some  distorted  spoken  word  parts  and  vocals  being  added  into  the  music  and  after  while  ambient  sounds  start  becoming  more  a  part  of  the  recording  as  well  as  having  acoustic  guitars  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording.


  On  some  of  the  other  songs  you  can  hear  some  psychedelia  being  added  into  the  guitar  work  and  the  vocals  also  start  using  more  of  a  clean  singing  style  while  the  music  also  starts  adding  more  influences  from  post  rock  and  industrial  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  When  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  in  more  of  a  melodic  direction   and  halfway  through  the  album  there  is  are  a  couple  of   instrumental  tracks  which  is  more  in  an  ambient  direction  along with  the  guitars  being  in  a  more  calm  and  soft  manner  and  the  music  reverts  back  to  a  heavier  sound  on  the  following  track  while  also  retaining  the  progressive  feeling  that  is  presented  throughout  the  recording  and  every  song  sounds  very  different  from  each  other.

  Orbseven  creates  a  very  original  sound  with  the  music  being  heavily  rooted  in  experimental  and  ambient  while  adding  some  black  and  death  metal  into  the  heavier  parts  of  the  music  which  also  gives  the  album  a  style  that  has  rarely  been  attempted,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  while  the  lyrics  seem  to  be  more  philosophical  and  science  orientated  in  nature.

  In  my  opinion  Orbseven  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  experimental,  ambient,  black  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should c heck  out  this  project.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Gravity  Room"  "Staircases"  and  "Omniversal".  8  out  of  10.

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Emblazoned/Eucharistiae Sacramentum/Deepsend Records/2014 CD Review

  Emblazoned  are  a  band  from  Wisconsin  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  blackened  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Eucharistiae  Sacrementum"  which  was  released  by  Deepsend  Records.

  A  very  fast,  heavy  and  brutal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  a  mixture  of  black  metal  screams  and  deep  death  metal  growls  and  the  band  also  uses  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  the  slower  sections  bringing  a  doom  metal  feeling  to  the  recording  at  times.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  at  times  you  can  hear  a  small  amount  of  melody  in  the  bands  musical  sound  and  the  band  avoids  any  use  of  guitar  solos  and  leads  to  focus  more  on  a  heavy  and  brutal  sound  and  there  is  never  a  soft  moment  present  anywhere  on  this  recording  and  you  can  hear  a  great  amount  of  90's  black  and  death  metal  influences  in  the  bands  musical  style.

  Emblazoned  remain  true  to  their  blackened  death  metal  sound  from  previous  recordings  creating  an  album  that  is  very  heavy  from  beginning  to  end  of  the  recording,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  death,  afterlife,  hell  and  suffering.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Emblazoned  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Heathenist  Structure"  "Perception"  and  "Divine  Delusion".  8  out  of  10.

Youtube sample song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsSbaFhFEoA

Second sample song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR0PN13rhG4

Deconstructing Sequence Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Tiberius: First of all, thank You having us on Blackened Death Metal Zine and the opportunity to speak about our music. Coming back to Your question, Deconstructing Sequence is a band playing music which we describe as Extreme Progressive Art. This is a hybrid of Death/Black Metal and Progressive/Post Rock Music. It is also a cooperation between two polish black/avant-garde groups- Northwail and Shadows Land. All this results in an unique sound and ideas which break borders and forces the listener to listen to the music several times in order to get the full picture.
Morph: Yeah, we like to have things a bit complicated! We get bored pretty easily with music…

2.So far you have released 2 ep's, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on both recordings and also how do they differ from each other?
Tiberius: That's right. Our first EP "Year One" which we release in 2013 was an experiment, a search for new ideas for making music. After the split up of Northwail we felt we had to refresh the formula and "Year One" gave us much needed freedom and happiness in making music. We always were really into science fiction and used some ideas in Northwail, but with Deconstructing Sequence we created a completely new approach on this matter. After the recordings of the first EP our eyes opened wide, we have seen a huge potential this music brings and created our own style of playing, arranging music. Our new EP "Access Code" shows the whole spectrum of what we want to do and which way will our music develop.
Morph: Basically “Year One” was a testing ground for our ideas. We had a lot of unused ones and our cooperation with Nerexo, who is a superior drummer allowed for some previously unexplored extreme prog areas to be explored. First EP wasn’t perfectly coherent, we wanted to include as much creative output as possible, starting the new project was like releasing from chains, we wanted to try so much new things! A lot of sick breakdowns, rhythm patterns, harmonies. Approaching “Access Code” we had more precise view on what we want to achieve. We have concentrated our efforts on tuning selected elements.

3.2/3rds of the band members where in Northwail, what was the decision behind splitting up the old band and starting up a new one?
Morph: Well… It wasn’t an easy decision in the first place. We were achieving something, our music was great, very satisfactory, evolving towards something very innovative, but internal struggles started to be too serious for us to continue our activity. It was that bad, that I’ve decided to disband the group just after the first show promoting our 2011 album “Cold Season”.

Tiberius: Me and Morph though, felt still very strong to continue Extreme Progressive Art under a new, non black metal name and brought Deconstructing Sequence into life. Also with new drummer J.Nerexo from Shadows Land we gained much needed aggression and whole new way thinking about on drum arrangements. Right now we have a lot of satisfaction with our music and want to see how far we can push it  

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Morph: In Northwail there was no clear lyrical concept, I’ve sung about things going on in my mind at the time with more or less metaphoric shroud. With the new band I wanted something distinct, that will immediately set us apart from other acts. There are not that much sci-fi oriented bands and I was always a great fan of the genre, my stage name comes from Ripley’s main foe – the Xenomorph, so… why not? On Northwail’s 2008 album “Enigma” we had a song called “Shadow Of Oblivion” inspired greatly by 1994 “Stargate” movie. Lyrics were about some ancient godlike creature who comes from the darkest depths of space to kick everyone’s ass!! Well.. at least in general… I really like this song for it’s cold atmosphere, so… why not take it even further? I’ve talked it over with Tiberius and he agreed with the idea. The main lyrical concept of Deconstructing Sequence so far is about a Stellar Fleet leaving devastated and poisoned Earth behind in search for a new homeworld. Opening track of “Year One” – “Departure Of The Stellar Fleet Marks The Year One” is about this very event and is a clear metaphor for us leaving Northwail and starting our own musical journey towards the unknown. After receiving very positive feedback we felt that “We Have The Access Code” and “A Habitable World Is Found”. The latter is the opening track for our EP and is another great utilization of the sci-fi concept. In this one a starship approaches world that seems to be habitable, it gave us opportunity to create a series of dialogue between the mothership and a landing pod… very bizzare, very interesting… Listen for yourself!

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Deconstructing Sequence'?
Tiberius: The name Deconstructing Sequence is a result of looking for something that is gonna to describe the music we play. Listening to our music You get this huge mind-blowing sequence of riffs. This sequence is then deconstructed through odd time signatures and unconventional ideas. The name stands also for mixing Extreme Metal with Progressive/ Post Rock Music. Extreme Metal deconstructed through Post Rock music! How does that sound???!!!
Morph: Yeah and we also wanted it to be hardly catchy and hard to remember, haha!!

6.The band was originally from Poland but now resides in the United Kingdom, what was the decision behind the move?
Tiberius: With Northwail splitting up, in 2012 I decided to emigrate to England and work there and look for new inspirations. Cause most music was done in Taunton/Somerset we decided to have the base there. Although Morph stayed in Szczecin/Poland we knew it won't affect the work on our music. Luckily modern world gives You a lot of possibilities to make music on distance. First it's always the ideas, then arranging and me coming to Poland for recordings. Last part is for J. Nerexo to arrange the drums and record the tracks. We created our own system of work and till now it works very well.

7.has the band been able to do any live shows or is this a studio project?
Tiberius: Cause of the distance between us any live acts cannot take place. This takes three people to gather and practice and for now it's not possible. What I can say now though, is that future shows are possible. Next year I'm going back to Poland and there are plans to start playing rehearsals again!

8.Currently the band is unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
Tiberius: It would be nice to have a label but it's not a must issue for us. Labels in most cases mean having  a pressure of time and we like to have a time freedom. If we feel like releasing a new material and feel it's gonna be good we will do it. In other case we just press delete and wait for the correct moment and ideas. We are more interested in cooperation with distributors an promoters. Currently we cooperate with DEWAR PR and it's going great, we reach more and more listeners and this is our main goal.
Morph: Yeah a major label would make some things easier.. and probably some more difficult. Exposure is the main thing. Being a studio project and not playing live shows means we have to wait some more time to make serious impact.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black and death metal?
Tiberius: The feedback is really good! We are getting more confident on the thought that the world needs our music, that there is a lot of people that are absolutely hungry for this kind of music. The scores in different reviews and the comments give us satisfaction. The best part though is reading or hearing that this music is something that these people didn't hear before. They cannot attach this music to anything they heard. Our recent review on one of the metal webzines says "Deconstructing Sequence sets not only apart from the rest but as a template for others to find inspiration in". What other reward we need???!!! Just Brilliant!!!

10.Are the band members involved with any other musical projects these days?
Tiberius: As for me and Morph there is just Deconstructing Sequence. J.Nerexo is obviously still Shadows Land drummer playing also in projects like Illness and Hell Ov Heaven.

11.When can we expect a full length album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Tiberius: We have plans to release a full length album in end of 2015. Right now we got an hour of riffs and we gonna start working on arrangements very soon. This will be followed by two or three recording sessions next year and J.Nerexo’s working on drum parts. Musically the full length will be a continuation of ideas that we created on "Access Code". Obviously we don't want to do the same music and we demand a lot from ourselves. We have no doubts we will surprise You and probably ourselves as well! Expect nothing else than a waterfall of great ideas!
Morph: The most fun factor of creating our music is pushing our own personal boarders. Very often during recording or composing session we come up with an idea that seems like a total nonsense, after the creative frenzy we calm down thinking “shit, what we have done??!!!”. Hand staggers between “delete” and “save” buttons and something inside tells us that we should take the risk and leave it. So yeah, we will definitely surprise ourselves, let alone our listeners! We don’t know what our future creations will sound like. Will it be more extreme? More progressive? Maybe we’ll eventually end up as a progressive industrial pop group? No, seriously we’ll always stay metal…ish… Whatever it will be, it will sound like Deconstructing Sequence – a starship ejected towards the darkest of space, a comet speeding straight into your head!

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?
Morph: Wow, definitely too much to mention! Deconstructing Sequence is one big cauldron  of ideas, from Akercocke, Aborym, Arcturus, Anathema, God Is An Astronaut, to 80’s synth pop! We are keen on everything that is innovative or atmospheric, be it metal or not. And we are blast beat whores… we listen to everything with insane blasting! Right now I’m fascinated with polish black metal band Odraza, which means Disgust in English. They are creating music with lyrical concepts around alcoholism, lack of prospects in life, numbness and misogyny.. very polish! I’m very glad that our BM scene slowly moves away from forests and devil worshiping… seriously, who believes in this shit anymore?

13.What are some of your non musical interests?
Morph: When I’m not vomiting my guts in front of a microphone or shred the strings I work with environmental protection. I was raised with great respect to natural environment, I believe that we owe to the planet who is our cradle and home, it nourishes us, is the source of life and it should be cared for. If you don’t respect your home, you cannot be a fulfilled man. So remember kids… protect the environment or Captain Planet WILL kill you!
Tiberius: My main interest is guitars. I always spend loads of time on them, trying different settings and listening carefully how they effect the sound. Hopefully one day  I will have a collection of guitars like Karl Sanders from Nile. Recently I also became a huge fan of drinking Rum! Deconstructing Sequence a Extreme Progressive See Shanty? You never know???!!!
Morph: And we always like to have a nice rest at 4:20!

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Morph: Stay open-minded! No great progress can be made without crossing borders fencing you from the places you would like to go, but are too afraid! And for the all young bands out there wanting to make something worthy – don’t try to sound like your idols, they got famous, because they came up with their own idea for music and doing once more the same thing won’t lead anywhere…. it’s always a real shame to see bands that advertise themselves as FAMOUS BAND X sound alikes…. Wanna succeed? Get your own personality, be yourself, be confident about sounds you create. And get a  drummer that can blast over 250bpm and use keyboards!!! No, kidding… just don’t make crappy music, the internet is already full of it. Thank you for bringing us into spotlight! We are glad to have the chance to share our thoughts!

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Dhwesha Interview

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

Greetings comrades! We have been playing a few shows in our city, Bangalore (India) and one recently in the city of Kolkata (India) and are gearing up for a few more shows by the end of this year.

2.You have a new album coming out in September, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the demo you have released in 2012?

Our album ‘Sthoopa’ is a culmination of the music the band has written over a period of 6 years. Most of the songs from our demo ‘Yuddhabhumi’ were re-recorded for ‘Sthoopa’ and in some cases even re-arranged. Some of the songs from the demo are very straight forward and tend to follow song structures similar to heavy metal/thrash metal in the sense that they have a distinct verse and chorus transition while the songs we wrote after the demo which are on the album have a lot of variations in intensity and song writing.

3.Your lyrics cover ancient Indian rituals, magick, mythology, history and warfare, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in these topics?

The idea of writing music about Indian history and mythology started when we visited some of the historical places like Hampi, Halebidu and Badami in the state of Karnataka (India) and this keen interest in medieval Indian history led to the formation of Dhwesha. India is extremely rich in terms of history but we started with what was the closest to us and that being South Indian history and mythology.

Our song ‘Hoy! Sala’ is about how the Hoysala empire got its name which according to the legend talks of a sage who was meditating with his disciple Sala, a lion attacked the sage and he called on his apprentice to strike (Hoy!) the lion. ‘Ugra Narasimha’ is based on a story from ancient Hindu scriptures, of Hiranyakashipu, an ‘asura’ (Demon) who seeks Immortality and during his attempt to kill his son Prahlada for opposing him in his thirst for power, is decapitated by Narasimha (half-human half-lion avatar of Vishnu). These are stories a lot of people in our country are familiar with and as children grew up hearing/reading about. Magick and rituals have always been practiced in parts of India since the ancient times of which some are documented. The song ‘Sabhe’ on the album is a generalized take on this subject about a coven of witches congregating in a forest around a ritual fire.

4.You write all of your lyrics in the Kannadian language, what was the decision behind using this language in your lyrics?

Yes, all our lyrics so far have been in our native language, Kannada. Honestly, the idea of writing in Kannada started as an experiment since were keen on writing about our history/mythology and we tried it with the title track of the demo ‘Yuddhabhumi’. It was received quite well among our friends who encouraged us to continue and eventually we realized that the lyrics being in Kannada fit quite well with our theme and the riffs on the songs.

5.I know that the band name means hatred and revenge in your own language, how do you feel this name fits in with your musical style?

Surprisingly, this is a question we have never been asked before. Though the literal translation of Dhwesha is revenge or hatred in English, in the contexts that the word is used in, in our language Kannada, the meaning is at times more in conjunction with the word ‘Vengeance’. The first song we wrote ‘Yuddhabhumi’ (Translation: Battlefield) is about a warrior slicing through hordes of enemies to avenge his father’s death and based on the theme of this song, the band was named Dhwesha.

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?

Firstly, Trendslaughter Fest II where we played alongside Japanese Black/Thrash legends Abigail and the Canadian Heavy/Doom metal band Cauchemar. Our recent show in the city of Kolkata which is in the eastern part of India was definitely one we will remember for a long time because it was our first show in the city and we had the chance to play alongside great bands like Necrodeity and Armament from the city. With our stage performances, it’s all about the energy and reproducing the music sound-wise to what is on the recorded material with of course the added intensity that a live act brings.

 7.Do you have any touring or show plans, once the new album is released?

 Yes, we are planning on doing shows across India and in the neighboring countries if things work to promote the album once its launched.

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

 The feedback to our music has been positive. We are quite eager to see how the album will be received.

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

 While the demo represents our initial period of growth as a band, I’d say the album reflects on us maturing as song writers. To push ourselves to surpass the previous materials in terms of quality is what Dhwesha will strive for.

 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?

 Mostly early 90s death metal, especially bands like Bolt Thrower, Caducity, initial albums of Amorphis and Sentenced but we always wanted to create a sound of our own amalgamating all our influences and not to sound like one band that our music can be pin-pointed and compared to. A fresh sound is something I always look for in newer bands and I’m sure a lot of people do too. Some of the albums I’ve been mostly listening to in the past few months are:

 MGLA – With Hearts Toward None

Bolzer – Aura

Ketzer – Endzeit Metropolis

Necros Christos – Nine Graves.

 11.What are some of your non musical interests?

 We also like to travel and read.

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

 Thank you for your time!

 Interview answered by: Somesha Sridhara.

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Lurking Evil/The Almighty Hordes of The Undead/Razorback Records/2014 CD Review

  Lurking  Evil  are  a  duo  from  Spain  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black  metal,  punk  and  thrash  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "The  Almighty  Hordes  Of  The  Undead"  which  was  released  by  Razorback  Records.

  Dark  sounding  acoustic  guitars  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  heavy  guitars  a  few  seconds  later  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  an  old  school  black/thrash  metal  direction  along  with  some  high  pitched  screams  as  well  as  a  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  solos  the  band  uses  are  in  a  first  wave  black  metal  musical  direction.    

  You  can  hear  a  lot  of  punk  rock  elements  throughout  the  recording  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  sound  very  powerful  and  the  bands musical  style  goes  for  more  of  an  80's  underground  musical  direction  while  the  vocals  are  more  rooted  in  the  early  90's  black  metal  style  and  you  times  you  can  hear  some  dark  sounding  melodies  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with  some blast  beats  can  be  heard  in  the  music  at  times  and  on  the  9th  track  the  music  starts  having  more  of  a  raw  black  metal  feeling  while  still  keeping  around  the  thrash  elements.

  Lurking  Evil  take  the  first  and  second  waves  of  black  metal  and  combine  them  with  punk  and  thrash  to  create  an  album  that  is  very  heavy,  retro  and  old  school,  the  production  has  a  very  dark,  heavy,  powerful  and  old  school  sound  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  occult  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Lurking  Evil  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black  metal,  punk  and  thrash  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Twins  of  Evil"  "Blood  is  Life"  "The  Dark  Paths  of  The  Other  Side"  and  "Witches  Sabbath".  8/5  out  of  10.

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Solace Of Requiem Interview

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

As soon as we recorded the new album (Casting Ruin) we started searching for a label and manager to help us release the album. That whole process took several months, but we finally managed to secure both of those things. So lately we’ve pretty much just been working our asses off trying to get all the promotional stuff for the album squared away. We made an album trailer as well as a new music video, so we’ve been pretty busy every day since we found a label and manager to help us.

2. You have a new album coming out during the end of August 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?

We took a very long time to think about our sound and song structures while we were still touring for our third album, The Great Awakening. We really tried to accentuate our strong points and omit some of the things we felt were old-hat and/or unimpressive about our prior works. I basically turned into a hermit and ate, slept and shit only music for about a year, once I had discovered what I wanted to do with the new album. We’ve all grown as musicians since our last recording too and my song writing has gotten a lot better. So I’d say our new album is a more refined and less primitive version of our older albums. Yet, different in some ways as well.
As for the sound itself, that is actually difficult to describe. It’s easy to say we are “blackened death metal” or “technical death metal”, but that’s not really a very accurate description of what we play. It also ignores the thing that makes us unique, so I don’t really like to be classified as simply one thing or the other. We play a form of music that takes two entirely different melodies and rhythms (one in the left speaker and one in the right speaker) that create a third melody and rhythm once combined. A lot of the times, those two different rhythms and melodies are almost nonsensical and comprised of seemingly insignificant sounds. It’s like a controlled chaos that produces a middle song that has its own melody, atmosphere and cadence. It’s very involved and complicated stuff, presented in an uncomplicated manner. There’s no band I can compare the sound to. Although it may be cliché to say this, but SOR is just a band you have to hear in order to know what we sound like.

3. Their has only been 4 full length in the past 10 years, can you tell us a little bit more about the gap between releases?

I suppose there were several factors that had contributed to the gaps in our releases. One factor was members. We have had to change around some guitarists in the past, as well as two drummer changes we had made. We never really lost anyone for personal reasons or anything, but we did lose people to families, careers and other opportunities that had presented themselves. Another factor was that it takes a long time for me to completely write a full album. The process to create something this intricate takes about two years to bring through to fruition. I would imagine that another factor has always been money and resources. It’s not the most lucrative of music forms and it requires a very large amount of patience, time, energy and finances to facilitate an album recording and release. When you add all these factors together, it took us more than a little while until we could bring our albums to the public.

4. Your lyrics cover science,  mysticism and religion, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in these topics?

I am a very avid science buff. I spend a considerable amount of time learning about things that most people never really take the time to think about. I’m also a strong advocate of a secular government and secular education. It’s hard to be an intelligent American in 2014 and not be extremely disappointed in the world we all live in. I am ashamed of our policies on many levels as well as ashamed of our educational standards. I am also a father that has watched his children grow up in this environment. So I am very passionate about many things dealing with the topics you mentioned above. I want to not only share my music with people, but to also share my views and opinions. It just so happens that I find myself in a situation to do so and I have taken that opportunity and used my music to field my views. I write my songs to be more like philosophy or poetry, set to its own theme music. I try to teach people things without them knowing they are learning. All of my songs are created as a triple entendre and can be relatable on many levels. I take great pride in what I write and I also take great responsibility when I do so. All of my words not only "mean something”, they all mean three things. ;)

5. The band was originally formed in the 90's but broke up shortly after that, what was the cause of the split and also the decision to reform?

We had our drummer at the time (Luke Downing) move out of state with his family. Our guitarist (Chris Young) and I were going to come with Luke when he moved, but as fate would have it, only I ended up going and Chris stayed behind. I lived with Luke for several months but we never found a replacement for Chris, so we eventually gave up and all went our separate ways.
In 2001, I had started feeling regretful of not trying to take my music career further, so when I finally had deemed enough was enough, I called Chris and asked if he was interested in reforming the band. He and I talked about it a very long time and decided to give it another shot together. We looked around for other drummer but none of them really felt write. But one day we were talking about it and although we had assumed Luke was still living in another state, we decided to look him up to see if perhaps he had moved back to Virginia. To our happy surprise, he had moved back and was attending a local college only a few minutes from where we practiced. So we called him on the phone, Luke said he was interested in playing drums for us and the rest is history.

6. The original line up was known as 'Sarcophagus', what was the decision behind the name change and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Solace Of Requiem'?

There were a few bands that named themselves Sarcophagus, so keeping the name wasn’t an option after we reformed in 2001. It took us a very long time to finally settle on a name we all liked. Chris was the easiest on to please, because he’s just a mellow and easy going guy. But Luke and I went back and forth about it a lot. It wasn’t that Luke had any suggestions, he loved to hate all my ideas! HaHaHaHa Looking back on it now, most of my ideas were stupid. All but one! The only name I ever said that sounded great to us all was Solace Of Requiem. Everyone agreed unanimously and we took that for our name ever since.
The word “solace” means to give consolation to someone in a time of grief. Like if someone in your family dies and you go stay with your friend for a few days to help them through it. You’d be attempting to give them solace. The word Requiem is a piece of music that was written to honor the dead. So in other words, our band name means the comfort from grief you receive from death metal. Which is something I think all metal heads can appreciate! If someone in my family or one of my good friends dies, I find and have found a lot of solace from listening to death metal.

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

I’ll take the last part of the question first and say that our stage performance is very energetic. We are all very good stage performers but we do not wear any costumes. When we play, we wear the same clothes (sometimes different shoes) that we wear on the street. We don’t put on makeup. We don’t wear any matching anything. We just look like guys with epic beards playing the craziest and most brutal shit you’ve ever heard in your life, all while going batshit crazy on stage.
To answer the first part of the question, we’ve had very many shows that were amazing. I really wouldn’t be able to boil it down to only a few shows. We had a lot of fun with Resurrection when we toured with those guys in 2010. We also had the most insane tour we were ever on with Vomitory and Prostitute Disfigurement. We’ve also had a lot of smaller tours that were incredible. Some of them are now very nostalgic to us. Like all of our underground USA tours with our friends Jaundice from Duluth MN. And all of the underground tours we played in Europe with Moshquito (now “Xiom”) from Germany. Those tours were all really great and we will remember them fondly for the rest of our lives. I would never be able to say what shows or cities were the best. All shows are the best! We want to play because we love to play. Every day that you have a show on a tour is a great day!

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

We have tons of stuff in the works but right now we only have one of the several tours confirmed. The confirmed one is with Ulcerate in Europe this November and December. However, we also have another tour we’re trying to put directly before the Ulcerate tour, so we should be adding more dates in Eastern Europe to our November tour schedule very soon. As well as announcing tour dates in different countries of the world other than in Europe. All those announcements will be made on our websites soon.

9. The new album is coming out on ViciSolum Productions, how did you get in contact with this label and also how would you describe the support they have given you so far?

We sent them a press kit and Thomas at ViciSolum responded that he really liked our music and had some interest in signing us to a contract. We had several offers from labels but only a very small few of those offers were able to release the album the way we thought it deserved. One of those labels was ViciSolum. We contacted them several times and worked out a plan and so far we feel it was a very good decision. We are treated more than fairly and Thomas is a very cool and easygoing guy to work with. We have a great relationship and we’re all working toward the same goal. We have no regrets at all about signing with the label we chose.

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

Not too many people have heard our new album yet, as it’s not released to the public yet. But with our older music we’ve always done extremely well. We’ve always had success on our tours and we’ve pretty much gotten to do everything we wanted to do. We toured a lot of places and have seen a lot of things. So although we’ve had our fair share of bad shows due to poor attendance, we’ve always taken the good with the bad. So I would say over the years the majority of our feedback from BM and DM fans all over the world has been very positive. But as I said, you still have to take the good with the bad.

11. Are any of the band members involved with any other musical projects these days?

Yeah, we all do tours with other bands and have side projects we work on. I had a band I sang for in Germany when I lived there for a few years. I did vocals one year and bass + vocals another year for Resurrection from Florida. I have a black metal side project I’m working on now with some guys I know in Europe. Our drummer Dave has a tour he’s doing with Beheaded. And our guitarist Richard toured as the bassist for Decapitated. He also has a band he plays with in his hometown and he's playing a tour in the USA with Single Bullet Theory in a month or so. So we all keep ourselves pretty busy with music.

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

I don’t really anticipate changing that much about our writing procedure. I would like to try and incorporate a few more sounds into our atmospheres. I’d like to do a bit of experimenting with different sounds and see what ideas I can come up with for a future album. Although, I honestly haven’t been thinking all that much about a new album because of Casting Ruin being almost ready for release. I have written quite a few of my ideas down and I already have enough stuff to work on to give me about a half an album’s worth of material, but I won’t actually start my writing process until Casting Ruin gets released. So this is a question I could better answer in about two or three months. However, I can say that all of our albums get better and better. So I anticipate our fifth album to be better than our fourth. As it should be, because if it’s not, then it’s time to quit. HaHaHaHa

13. 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?

My biggest influence in writing comes from the collective memories and experiences with every single piece of music I’ve ever heard in my life. I’ve been a big listener of death metal ever since I was a kid, but I’ve never listened to only one kind of music. My favorite musician is Jerry Cantrell. I love the Wu Tang Clan, Redman and DMX. I am addicted to Franz Listz. I know the words to just about every song that exists in classic rock, alternative and grunge. I was a huge Poison fan as a kid and I really love hair bands. My point is, that I have so many influences in my music that it would be impossible to speculate as to which one is more prevalent. I, like all human beings, am a product of my past. I love all kinds of different styles and genres. So I am a product from all of those things. I never wanted to make a band that sounded like anyone else and I think people will be able to hear that in my work.

14. What are some of your non musical interests?

SCIENCE! I love a good mystery and what could be better than studying the greatest mystery that has ever been studied?! What the hell is reality? Why can we see it? Is my perspective from my own phaneron the same like everyone else’s? Is there any meaning to life at all? Is Necrophagist going to release a new fucking album? HaHa These are the questions that need to be answered and we have people running around being fucking idiots and not only claiming they already know the answers to these great mysteries, but also indoctrinating their children into their madness. It’s bad enough that grown men and women are scientifically illiterate and spewing all this religious nonsense, but now they’re forcing their children into a word filled with hate, bigotry and applause for being ignorant and cruel in the name of some fictional character. Then their damn books tell them that it’s the right way to be and anyone that disagrees with them should be ostracized and sometimes even killed. This behavior is unacceptable and I only wish they could go to an island somewhere and blow themselves up all they want to, but leave me and people like me the fuck out of their arguments. Science is my passion. Learning is my passion. And teaching is definitely my passion. I have other interests in life, but none so important and necessary as science and scientific literacy.

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

Well I pretty much already went on my rant about science and the ignorance of Theism, so I’ll just end with this.... Listen to no one and trust no one. And only trust yourself if you are being honest with yourself. It only takes one person to change the world and it’s time we had more heroes to look up to. You could be that hero. Never underestimate yourself and do everything you can think of to change things for the better. Research what you learn and be sure it’s the truth before you spread it. If you believe in something, make sure it’s accurate before attempting to make others believe it. Especially children! We can take this world back from the people who claim their ownership. All we need is for more people to try!

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to write with you and your audience. Please watch our new music video and checkout our album, Casting Ruin, coming worldwide August 29^th. All of our links are below. Thank you again for your time. HAIL SCIENCE!

HOMEPAGE: http://www.solreq.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/solaceofrequiem
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/solreq
REVERBNATION: http://www.reverbnation.com/solaceofrequiem
GOOGLE PLUS: https://plus.google.com/+Solreq
SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/solaceofrequiem
MYSPACE: http://www.myspace.com/solreq

Dhwesha/Sthoopa/Dunkelheit Produktionen/2014 CD Review

  Dhwesha  are  a  band  from  India  that  plays  a  blackened  form  of  occult  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Sthoopa"  which  will  be  released  by  Dunkelheit  Produktionen  in  September.

  A  very  dark  and  melodic  death  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  and  a  few  seconds  later  growls  are  added  into  the  music  and  the  band  starts  having  more  of  an  early  90's  feeling  to  them  and  the  solos  and  leads  the  band  uses  use  of  a  great  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  and  at  times  you  can  also  hear  black  metal  screams  and  demonic  laughter  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording.

  There  is  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  throughout  the  recording  along  with  a  heavy  influence  from  early  90's  Swedish  death  metal  and  as  the  album  progresses  you  can  hear  acoustic  guitars  and  Indian  ethnic  elements  being  added  into  their  music  at  times  and  a  few  of  the  tracks  are  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Blast  beats  are  very  rarely  utilized  on  the  recording  except  for  the  last  track  with  the  music  focusing  more  on  a  ritualistic  and  melodic  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  occult  but  heavily  rooted  in  the  true  old  school  tradition  all  at  the  same  time  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Dhwesha  takes  an  old  school  style  of  death  metal  and  ads  in  a  more  blackened  and  occult  touch  to  this  genre  while  also  adding  a  bit  of  their  own  culture  into  the  music  to  create  an  original  sounding  album,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics are  written  in  their  native  tongue  and  cover  the  occult  traditions  of  their  own  culture.

  In  my  opinion  Dhwesha  are  a  very  great  sounding  blackened  occult  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Sthopa"  "Hoy !  Sala"  and  "Kapala  ZHaara'.  8/5  out  of  10.

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