Black Sun Brotherhood/God & Beast/Metal Blast Records/2020 CD Review

 

  Black  Sun  Brotherhood  are  a  band  from  a  band  from  Norway  that  plays  an  old  school  mixture  of  black,  death  metal  and  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "God  &  Beast"  which  was  released  by  Metal  Blast  Records.

  Dark  sounding  synths  and  Gregorian  chants  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  musical  direction.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  the  vocals  go  for  more  of  an  80's  black  and  death  metal  vocal  approach  and  the  music  also  mixes  in  elements  of  punk  rock.

  A  lot  of  the  guitar  riffing  also  shows  an  influence  of  thrash  metal  while  the  solos  and  leads  also  remain  true  to  an  old  school  style  of  extreme  metal.  Melodies  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  guitar  riffing  along  with  the  songs  and  chants  also  returning  on  the  later  tracks  which  also  gives  the  music  more  of  a  ritualistic  feeling.  

  The songs  also  take  an  80's  style  and  also  adds  in  a  touch  of  a  modern  sound  and  production  along  with  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  adding  in  a   decent  amount  of  blast  beats.  Clean  vocals  can  also  be  heard  briefly  as  well  as  some  of  the  riffing  also  bringing  in  some  grooves,  one  of  the  later  tracks  is  also  an  instrumental.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Occultism,  Satanism,  Black  Magick  and  Left  Hand  Path  themes.  

  In  my  opinion  Black  Sun  Brotherhood  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  mixture  of  black,  death,  thrash  metal  and  punk  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres, you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Witches  Sabbath"  "Leviathan"  "Love  Is  A  Demon"  and  "Litanies  To  Satan".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.facebook.com/blacksunbrotherhoodnorway
https://blacksunbrotherhood.wordpress.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IeK-N5EMaY&ab_channel=BlackSunBrotherhood-Topic

Archierophant/Kingdom/2020 EP Review

 

  Archierophant  are  a  solo  project  from  the  United  Kingdom  that  plays  an  atmospheric  mixture  of  black  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  selfreelased  2020  ep  "Kingdom".

  Atmospheric  sounding  synths  start  off  the  ep  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  and  melodic  direction.  Elements  of  doom  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  while  spoken  word  samples  can  also  be  heard  briefly  as  well  as  the  vocals  being  mostly  angry  sounding  black  metal  screams.

  A  touch  of  death  metal  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  vocals  while  clean  singing  and  Gregorian  chants  can  also  be  heard  briefly.  Symphonic  elements  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with  all  of  the  drum  beats  being  programmed  as  well  as  all  of  the  tracks  sounding  very  different  from  each  other  and  all  of  the  songs  also  stick  to  a  slower  music  direction.

  Archierophant  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  atmospheric  black  and  doom/death  metal and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  his  own.  The  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  nontheistic  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Archierophant  are  a  very  great  sounding  atmospheric  blackened  doom  metal solo  project  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Hierophant"  and  "Caedes".  8  out  of  10.

Icare/Kaos/Division Records/2020 CD Review

 

   Icare  are  a  band  from  Switzerland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  death  metal  and  grindcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "Kaos"  which  will  be  released  on  October  30th  by  Division  Records.

  A  very  heavy   and  brutal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  a  great  amount  of  death  metal  growls  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  grindcore  elements  and  blast  beats.  High  pitched  black  metal  screams  can  also  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  most  of  the  earlier  tracks  are  very  short  in  length.

  The  songs  also  add  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  tremolo  picking  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  faster  riffing.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  some  of  the  riffing  also  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  melody.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  along  with  one  track  also  introducing  clean  playing  onto  the  recording  as  well  as  the  tracks  also  starting  to  get  more  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  vocals  also  start  getting  more  hardcore  influenced  as  the  album  progresses,  a  couple  of  songs  also  adds  synths  into  the  music and  some  of  the  solos  and  leads  also  add  in  a  touch  of  post  metal.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  French  and  cover  Dystopian,  Science  Fiction  and  Lovecraft  Horror  themes.   

  In  my  opinion  Icare  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  death  metal  and  grindcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Cauchemar"  "Deliquescence,  Decheance"  and  "Le  Dernier  Du  Royaume  Dechu".  8  out  of  10.

https://icare-blackmetal.bandcamp.com  

King Ov Wyrms Interview

 

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

King Ov Wyrms is a project that I’ve been up keeping for a few years now, as I’ve done my time working in Pain Patterns, (ex) Judicator, and some other TBA projects. It’s my outlet of just purely aggressive metal. At times in all of the projects I’ve worked on I’ve hit some point where my original initial direction got set off track ever so slightly, sometimes I’ve intended Pain Patterns songs to be more aggressive but they ended up something different for example. King Ov Wyrms is basically that outlet for me to just focus on that one direction of pure aggression.

2.You have your first full length coming out in November, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical styles you went for on the recording?

It originally grew from my love of early death metal acts like Morbid Angel, Death, Cannibal Corpse, Bloodbath, etc. And how I loved that style of music. Today’s approach towards death metal is totally different in almost every aspect I’d say, its still great but different in stylistic touches. I wanted to take that great sonic approach that modern death metal has and attempt to bring back some of that older songwriting touches that we had on those earlier death metal records which is basically where I came up with the sound, writing direction, and production of Lord Ov Thornes.

3.A lot of your lyrics cover occultism themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in the dark arts?

I’ve always been deeply fascinated with the occult, Satanism, Magick, Wiccan, Pagan beliefs, and really all the differences of religion and spirituality. I feel personally more at peace with my pagan beliefs and spirituality but I did spend my time exploring a lot while I was growing up. I use my understanding of the occult in my own personal motives, I take peace in trying to understand the world around me through the correlations of the elements, I use my understanding of magick to help me place myself mentally, invoking certain mental states through rituals and practice has helped me before with guidance to which I could never achieve in the religious upbringing of Catholicism.

4.What are some of the other lyrical topics and subjects you have explored so far with the music?

With the extremes of the genre I had to pull out material based in the extremes as well. War is a common topic because its just purely violent and even words on the subject immediately paint a visually gruesome image in your mind so its an easy topic for a lot of musicians in the extreme metal genres to conjure up material from. I’m personally a big fan of literature, I grew up reading a lot of books and came across The Inferno at a fairly young age which opened up that door for me to delve into demonology and explore lyrical themes based on that ilk. More from the stems of literature are the songs The Great Sleeper and Ascendance, those are blatantly inspired by Lovecraft. I'm a big Lovecraft fan, the idea of cosmic horror is something I feel I can never get enough of and it truly amazes me how much people have added onto the concepts he presented making the subject this ever growing torrent of mysterious horror.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'King Ov Worms'?

King Ov Wyrms is actually a name brought forth to the project by Reymundo Romero, he was the original bassist and co founder of Pain Patterns. He was a huge part of a lot of my early projects and more or less help set up both of King and Pain. He knew the significance of what I wanted to state with the religious subjects in some of the songs I already wrote and presented King Of Worms from the mocking title given to Jesus Christ “a king of nothing".

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

The artwork for Lord Ov Thornes was done by my dear friend Thomas Carlson. He is this fantastic visionary artist who I’d say has a very unique talent for fantasy. I originally pitched the idea of having just a throne with thorns covering it or a throne with a crown of thorns. He took that very brief description and went overboard with it creating this massive dark ambient environment with (on the full wrap) the dark shadow figure watching the throne in a mist. He gave it this amazingly dark yet in my opinion unique fantasy aspect that really helped set the imagery for the album for myself. He also supplied the logo for King as well so I’d like to say he is going to be a key person for Kings imagery for future work as well.

7.With this project you record everything by yourself but have experience working with other musicians, which one do you prefer?

As a person I purely love to create. I enjoy the endless work flow of being able to write my own songs and take it to the production stage, essentially follow it through to the end. It would be easy to say it’s equally as rewarding working on another musicians music because at the end of the day I get to help someone put together their work of art.

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

I would be interested in taking King that much further with a label should the opportunity arise. I only got an extremely brief opportunity to work under Prosthetic Records with Judicator before we split paths so I can't realistically say I got to see that much of the change. I have yet to make much connection to record labels with either of my projects Pain Patterns or King Ov Wyrms but it is within my interest to move forward with that process when the time comes.

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

From what I’ve seen its all been positive, I honestly thought I’d be getting some push back from people who possibly would draw the line with a part of my career being in Power Metal however it hindered nothing. I have gotten some very kind feedback on the music making “a seamless blend of both black and death metal" which I really enjoyed hearing. There’s also been some very positive reactions towards the production aspect so I’d say on all ends I’m proud of all the feedback.

10.What is going on with your other band 'Pain Patterns' these days?

Pain Patterns is an ever developing project, we have been trying to do what we can while still practicing social distancing but we have been very hard at work with our follow up to The Dawn Collective. I can’t say anything truthfully on a release date at this time but we are about six songs in with another three or four being worked out, of course I’ll be doing the production again so as soon as we finish the writing process we will be making that straight transition into the production. Hopefully in the near future we will be teasing a single off of this release which has been heavily discussed so keep an eye out for that coming soon.

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

I honestly don’t like to look too far ahead in that respect therefore I don’t have much of an idea on it. I realistically like to take my days little by little, right now I’m only trying to focus on King and the release of Lord Ov Thornes and I want to take that wherever it’ll go. After the release I’m going to make sure I give my time back to Pain Patterns and finish our follow up to The Dawn Collective. I have another “symphonic" metal project which I’ve been teasing on my social media accounts which hopefully will be better grounded this next year but that’s my realistic scope of things. It sounds like a lot but to me this is just the next year of work, as long as I can keep creating content I’m content.

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?

I grew up being very influenced by my fathers music choice, he showed me a lot of classic rock growing up like Creedence Clearwater Revival, Pink Floyd, The Eagles, Deep Purple, etc. so that definitely opened up the door to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest for me. When I got into school I started diving more into jazz and classical music as it accompanied my studies and it also was the next challenge for me in comprehension, I figured now that I understood metal music and rock it would be nice to push myself into something unknown. Since my current rotation I’ve been unable to put down my favorite artists Opeth and Ihsahn, Hail Spirit Noir, Panzerfaust and Incandescence have been taking up a lot of my time as well.

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

Just to whoever takes the time to listen to any of my music I truly appreciate it, the response and feedback I’ve received already for Threnody has been phenomenal and I’m excited to release the rest of the album for everyone.

Facebook.com/KingOvWyrms 

Paragon Zero/Omaas/Loud Rage Music/2020 EP Review

 

  Paragon  Zero  are  a  band  from  Hungary  that  has  had  music  reviewed  before  in  this  zine  and  on  this  recording  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  doom  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  ep  "Omaas"  which  was  released  by  Loud  Rage  Music.

  Clean  playing  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts and  drum  beats  a  few  seconds  later.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  elements  of  doom  metal  are  also  added  into  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs.

  Vocals  are  a  mixture  of  death  metal  growls  and  black  metal  screams  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  and  tremolo  picking.  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  good  balance  between  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  the  music  also  adding  in  a  great  amount  of  90's  influences  but  keeping  it  modern  at  the  same  time, the  riffs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  synths  can  also  be  heard  briefly  on  the  closing  track.    

  On  this  recording  Paragon  Zero  expands  on  the  mixture  of  black,  doom  and  death  metal  that  they  had  established  on their  previous  single.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  death  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Paragon  Zero  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  black, doom  and  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Phosphorous  Blaze"  and  "Grey  Feast".  8  out  of  10.

 https://pestrecords.bandcamp.com/album/paragon-zero-omass

      

King Ov Wyrms/Lord Ov Thrones/2020 Full Length Review

 

    King  Ov  Worms  are  a  solo  project  from  Arizona  that  plays  a  blackened  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  self  released  2020  album  "Lord  Ov  Thrones"  which  will  be  released  in  November.

  A  very  dark  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  brutal  sounding  blast  beats.  Vocals  are  mostly  death  metal  growls  along  with  some  black  metal  screams  also  being  utilized  at  times  as  well  as  the  riffs  also  adding  in  a  decent  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies.

  The  songs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  90's  influences  but  also  keeps  it  modern  at  the  same  time  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  old  school  yet  chaotic  style.  The  fast  riffs  also  add  in  a  lot  of  tremolo  picking  along  with  some  of  the  tracks  also  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  whole  album  also  sticks  to  a  heavier musical  direction.

  King  Ov  Worms  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  black  and  death  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  his  own.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Occultism, Blasphemy,  Lovecraftian  and  Horror  themes.

  In  my  opinion  King  Ov  Worms  are  a  very  great  sounding  blackened  death  metal  solo project  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Threnody"  "The  Maggots  That  Crawled  From  The  Wounds"  and  "Ascendance  Of  The  Continual  One".  8  out  of  10.

Facebook.com/KingOvWyrms 

      

  

Kira Interview

 

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

Nameless: Kira was founded in 2015 in the metal basin of Opoczno (central Poland). The originator of the band was Nameless - guitar, music (Nomad, ex-Ethelyn), who invited Groshek - drums (Nomad, Peacemaker) and Mysth - vocals, bass, lyrics (Ethelyn, Deathstorm) to cooperate. In 2017, the album "Ancient Lies" was recorded.

After the recording Mysth was replaced with Hellishdust and Peter. In 2018, the line-up was completed, Cannibal joined on the second guitar and slowly we started working on a new album.

The band Kira unifies musicians with a long musical experience, the entire line-up played in various metal bands (Nomad, Ethelyn, Skullthrone, Abused Majesty, The Growling Stones, Bloodpaint, Egoizm, PeaceMaker, Repossession).

2.You have a new album coming out in October, musically how does it differ from your previous release?

Nameless: The first album was created very quickly, actually the music was somewhat rattled off by me.

The second album is more mature, polished. Some songs are 7 minutes long, the compositions were somehow extended naturally. We also changed our approach slightly. In some tracks, the drums were recorded first and then music was later added to them. Also, the sound of the drums is more juicy, clear and perfectly recorded (in Heinrich House Studio). The guitars' sound very powerful and the whole thing sounds much better than the first album.

3.Some of your lyrics cover Luciferian and Occult themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in the dark arts?

Hellishdust: For me, dark art was a very important thing since I remember. I think if you are following the path of darkness sooner or later you will start looking for some "dark manual", which eventually will guide you through life. So I read a lot, looking for inspiration and you can hear the results at "Peccatum et Blasphemia".

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

Hellishdust: Topics for "Ancient Lies" covers faith, freedom of choice and some Nietzsche's philosophy. When I join Kira I also brought some dark influences with me.

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

Nameless: Kira may be a variation of the Irish name Ciara which is the feminine version of the word Ciar, meaning "black". Kira is also considered to be the female form of the male name Cyrus (from the Greek Kyrios), meaning "lord" or "ruler", therefore Kira is given the meaning of "master, female ruler".

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

Nameless: The cover was created by Michał "Xaay" Loranc, also responsible for doing artworks for such bands as Behemoth, Nomad, Nile, Pestilence. The graphics were supposed to refer to the lyrics. At the front we see a skull immersed in hell's lava, the motives of suffering and the valley of death. In the lower part of the cover, there is a little man who has to face all this madness... Each of us has to face something, so you can identify with this character perfectly. The colours ideally match the whole concept. 

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

Nameless: Well, we only played one show during all these years, because Kira was meant to be a studio project. We played in our city of Opoczno and the reaction of the audience was very good. It was not without complications, as Groshek could not participate in it. At the last minute, we were helped by a drummer from Warsaw, Damian Gwardzik, who played only four rehearsals with us and it was awesome!!!!!

8.The new album is coming out on 'Ossuary Records', how would you compare working with them to your older label 'Tales From Crematoria'?

Nameless: Unfortunately, the promotion from "Tales from crematoria" was limited only to letters and sending records to the west. Although Krzysztof is serving a long sentence in the state prison, he made quite big promotion, as for a person who does not have Internet access!!! We were helped in distribution by Morgul from Putrid Cult, who dealt with selling CDs and T-shirts (thanks a lot!).

The collaboration with Ossuary has been excellent so far! I'm shocked with what Mateusz is doing for Kira at the moment, and we've only been working together for two months now ;)

9.On the new album you also have done a 'Sodom', what was the decision behind doing your own version of one of their songs?

Nameless: I always wanted to do a cover. Sodom was one of the first bands I listened to at the beginning of my contact with metal. Then in the 90s, I saw a music video for this song at "Viva"... and if blew me away!!!

I decided it would be worth doing in my way. I added one riff for the solo and we changed the tempo a bit to a faster one. The vocals were recorded in amazing speed. This song is an instant killer!

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

Nameless: Overall positive, I haven't seen a bad review of it, for the first album under the name of Kira it was ok. Now it's on the metal torrents, so let it circulate among the depths of the Internet ;)

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

Nameless: We are currently recording a new EP. Also, it would be fun to do a tour and put out another full album!

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?

Nameless: For me, Iron Maiden and Slayer were the most influential bands! At the moment I don't listen to any new bands, I often go back to the '80s and '90s. Recently, "Samael - Ceremony Of Opposites" is on repeat inside my player.

Hellishdust: I think all of us are influenced by the '80s/'90s scene as we are not so young anymore and we grew up during those times. I'm a maniac who buy a lot of records. Latest arrivals in my collection include The Rite, Eternal Rot, Void Rot, Black Altar (I had a guilty pleasure to write one of the lyrics for their latest split), Macabre Omen, Convocation, Mgła, Clairvoyance, Death Like Mass... and many many more to come. 

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

Nameless: Thanks for the questions, it was great talking to you!

Hellishdust: Buy music and support the scene and its artists!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KIRANAMELESS

Metal Archives: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Kira/3540428349