ID Interview

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

Armando Collazo- Our name is Id, we're from Austin, Texas, and we play death metal. Jason and I work together and started jamming in late 2010 when we discovered our mutual adoration for extreme music. Sterling came into the fold some months later after a mutual friend of his and Jason's suggested we get in touch with each other. Alex was introduced to Jason and I by Sterling, who initially wanted him to come check out the music the three of us had been working on already and maybe do vocals for us. Turns out Alex played bass too, so he hopped on board and almost three years later, here we are.

2.So far you have released one full length and demo, how would you describe the musical sound that is present on both recordings and also how do they differ from each other?

Armando- To me, the main difference between the demo and the full length is that, having recorded the demo very early on, the demo shows a band still getting comfortable with being a band; whereas on the full length, the songs are a bit more fleshed out. The songs on the demo were mostly written by Jason and I before we even met Alex and Sterling. Save for the songs that are also on the demo, the music on the full length was written and arranged with a lot more input from everybody, which I think made it a little more diverse, a little more dynamic, and that much more exciting for us to play.

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

Armando- Some of the topics we cover lyrically include possessions, dementia, and the end times. There's really no continuous theme or message behind our lyrics, though. Personally, I just enjoy writing cool stories. We definitely write about dark topics, but we try to do it without falling too much into the cliches of typical death metal lyrics.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'ID"?

Armando- The name Id came about when Jason and I realized all the cool, one-word band names were already taken. When trying to name the band, all the death metal sounding names we kept coming up with had way too many words, so none of them really popped. When I started looking for inspiration in philosophy, science, and psychology, the word 'id' just stuck out. In Freudian psychology, the id is the part of the psyche that houses basic needs, impulses, desires, aggressive drives, and acts primarily as a pleasure seeker. It's an intense concept that tries to explain the raw, aggressive, animal side of human nature. We play intense, aggressive music, so it felt like a good fit.

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

Sterling: All of the Rio Grande Valley shows we have played have been kickass. People know how to get down over there.

Alex: I absolutely love gigging in Austin. Houston and most of our home town in the Harlingen have been awesome, but we have gathered some really awesome support from

a scene that most people hadn't much associated with extreme metal in recent years.

Armando- Agreed. My favorite shows are always ones played in small, local venues with our friends in the audience. As far as stage performance, I think we just like to get up there and have fun jamming. Standing in place staring at a fretboard is saved for the practice space haha.

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

Alex: We are currently finishing up the booking process for our first Southwest US tour with our buddies in Blast Perversion from McAllen. Jason had previously worked with them, and they have been with us since our initial inception.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or open to working with one in the future?

Armando- Doing everything ourselves has been working out well so far. It's very satisfying to see positive results come from all the work we've put into the band, from booking shows to recording and releasing the album to getting merch made.

Alex: Thanks to modern conventions, doing things independently but having fans all over the world is actually possible. We wouldn't say no to the potential of label support, but even that has started to lose a lot of credibility over the years with more and more horror stories of rights disputes from up and coming artists.

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

Armando- Feedback has been awesome so far. Unexpectedly so, too, considering we're still so young as a band.

Alex: We have fans that have contacted us from Asia and Europe enjoying the music. As a huge reddit addict, it was awesome posting on r/deathmetal and receive a good response.

9.According to the Metal Archives page a couple of the band members are also involved with a couple of other bands, can you tell us a little bit more about them?

Jason- The craziest thing to think about is that Alex's, Sterling's, and my previous bands performed together a number of times years ago before we ever formally knew each other.

Alex: I can't stay put. It is too much fun to play and record in side projects, but Id is the main gig right now.

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

Armando- We're just going to keep writing music that challenges us as a band and that we enjoy playing together. That's been the mentality since Jason and I first started writing riffs. If it turns out that our jams are catchy and make people headbang, so much the better.

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

Sterling: Monstrosity, Deeds of Flesh, Dave Weckl, and anything with a good drummer. Listening to nowadays? Bat Castle..

Armando- Most of my influences as a guitarist come down to lead players like Marty Friedman, Michael Amott, and Michael Romeo. In the extreme metal world, the music of Decapitated, Carcass, Napalm Death, anything blackened, and anything Swedish really get me in the mood to play more guitar and write more riffs. I pull a lot of inspiration from outside metal as well. Lately I've been jamming recent releases from a lot of Texas bands. Whore of Bethlehem, Clit Eastwood, Bat Castle, Ballgag, and Vex have been putting out awesome material. Celeste, Beastmilk, Hexis, The Secret, Young and in the Way, and the new Gridlink have been in constant rotation as well.

Alex: Steve Harris, SteveDigiorgio, and Jaco are my heroes. Like these other guys, I have just been absorbed with the amazing releases from our fellow Texan bands. Whore of Bethlehem, Vex, Cleric, Oceans of Slumber and Bat Castles last releases have all been stuck in my car.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

Sterling: Dogs. Scrabble. Beer.

Armando- Horror movies, drawing, and cooking.

Alex: I am a huge video game fanatic. The independent development scene is just awesome to check out, and it is something I would consider taking part in down the line.

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

Alex: Thanks for the interview and cheers from Texas.

 

 

Illdisposed/With The Lost Souls On Our Side/Massacre Records 2014 CD Review

  Denmark's  Illdisposed  have  returned  with  a  new  album  that   combines  the  mixture  of  melodic  death  and  groove  metal  sound  of  previous  releases  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "With  The  Lost  Souls  On  Our  Side"  which  was  released  by  Massacre Records.  

  The  music  starts  out  very  heavy  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  and  elements  of  groove  and  after  awhile  the  band  starts  adding  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  into  their  musical  sound  as  well  as  bringing  in  a  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  which  also  leads  up  to  some  brutal  blast  beats  and  high  pitched  screams.

  A  great  amount  of  thrash  influences  can  be  heard  in  the  bands  guitar  riffing  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  added  into  the  music  they  enhance  the  thrash  and  groove  elements  of  the  recording  as  well  as  going  into  a more  melodic  direction  on  the  later  tracks  when  the  music  starts  adding  in  more  melodic  death  metal  traces  and  as  the  album  progresses  spoken  word  samples  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  towards  the  end  of  the  album  one  of  the  songs  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  black  metal  style  riffing  and  vocals.

  Illdisposed  remain  true  to t heir  musical  style  on  this  recording  displaying  a  great  balance  between  heaviness,,  brutality,  groove  and  melody,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  hateful,  dark  and  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Illdisposed  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Going  Down"  "Light  in  The  Dark"  "On  A  Clouded  Morning"  and  "The  Plan".  8  out  of  10.  

ID/Philosofia/2014 CD Review

  ID  are  a  band  from Austin,  Texas  that  plays  a  very  heavy,  brutal,  melodic  and  technical  form  of  death  metal  with  some  black  metal  influences  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2014  album  "Philosofia".

  A  very  heavy,  melodic  and  technical  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  brutality  which  leads  to  a  mixture  of  deep  growls  and  high  pitched  screams  which  bring  a  black  metal  feeling  to  the  recording  and  the  band  also b rings  in  a  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  After  awhile  melodic  guitar  solos  and  leads  become  a  huge  part  of  the  band  musical  style  as  well  as  adding  in  some  influence  from  the  Florida  bands  of  the  early  90's  and  the  band  combines  the  melodic, technical  and  brutal  styles  of  death metal  all  together  and  the  bass  guitars  also  sound  very  powerful  sounding  on  this  recording  and  there  is  never  a  soft  moment  on  this  record  and  the  band  remain  very  heavy  and  brutal  from  beginning  to  end  of  the  album.

  ID  demonstrate  a  great  amount  of  talent  and  skill  with  their  technical  death  metal  sound  and  while  the  music  is  not  all  that  original  the  band  still  pulls  it  off  really  well  and  creates  an  interesting  sounding  album  that  is  very  good  for  this  genre  of  music,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  philosophical  themes.

  In  my  opinion  ID  are  a  very  decent  sounding  technical  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Behold  Your  Majesty"  "Liberate"  and  "Theater  of  Agony".  7/5  out  of  10.

Hate Division/Order Of The Enslaved/Blast Head Records/2014 CD Review

  Hate  Division  are  a  band  from  Nova  Scotia,  Canada  that  plays  a  brutal  and  technical  mixture  of  death  metal  and  grindcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Order  Of  The  Enslaved"  which  was  released  by  Blast  Head  Records.

  A  very  heavy  and  brutal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  a  mixture  of  growls  and  screams  and  after  awhile  the  band  starts  bringing  in  a  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well as  adding  in  some  melodic  guitar  solos  and  leads  and  there  are  also  a  good  amount  of  technical  and  slam  elements  being  added  into  the  bands  musical  style.  

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  album  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  as  the  album  progresses  the  music  starts  getting  more  diverse  while  also always  remaining  true  to  a  brutal  death  metal  sound  and  they  also  add  a  decent  amount  of  melody  into  their  musical  sound  and  a  couple  of  the  later  tracks  adds  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing  that  makes  the  music  sound  a  lot  more  darker  along  with  a  few  instrumentals  before  returning  back  to  a  heavier  sound  on  the  later  tracks.

  Hate  Division  plays  a  very  interesting  and  technical  style  of  death  metal  which  also  mixes  in  the  aggression  of  grindcore  as  well  as  demonstrating  a  great  amount  of  talent  and  skill  on  their  musical  instruments,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  war,  social  injustice  and  political  corruption.

  In  my  opinion  Hate  Division  are  a  very  great  sounding technical  and  brutal  mixture  of  death  metal  and  grindcore  and  if   you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Divine  Reward"  "World  Descending"  "The  God  Species"  and  "Order  Of  The  Enslaved".  8  out  of  10.  

 



    

D.A.M Interview

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

Guilherme de Alvarenga: Hi there  readers from Variety of Death Zine, it´s nice to be here :) , well we are recording the sequence of the Ep Phantasmagoria, the Album “The Awakening” it´s giving a LOT of work but is becoming truly nice. Besides that we are making some tests to complete our line-up.

2.At the end of May you released a new ep, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical direction of the new recording and also how does it differ from the previous full length and ep you had both released in 2013?

Hmm this one is truly hard cause I didn´t thought about a musical direction when I composed the songs(LOL), but the songs were composed in 2009 the same year  the EP Possessed was composed and most part of the songs from “Tales of the Mad King” album and by that time the only thing I was thinking about was to apply the musical composition techniques that I was learning during my Music College course into heavy metal aesthetics so I created lots and lots of songs with some hidden connections between they and when I release each one of those works I organized the songs that are more connected to each other in a certain way. In The EP Phantasmagoria for example we have the Twin Songs: Fear (Lunar Body) and Empty Silence (Solar Body) that were made in the same “shape” and have really close Motif connections, and the songs have some lyric connections about astral projection in general, and as you said very well in your review it has lots of power metal and symphonic metal influences so the songs selected followed that criteria. It differs from the previous works in sonority according to the story, for example in Tales of the Mad King the protagonist was living inside this world of dreams that he discovered in the EP Phantasmagoria that was a dream, so the songs selected were the ones that sounds  more “epic” and “folk” to reflect this fantasy he was living and in the EP Possessed we have a “dark appeal” to the songs cause everything was shadows inside the protagonist’s mind that culminates in his isolation inside the world that he created for himself to live that is the world talked about in Tales. But I  believe the greatest differences in this new release was the addition of more vocal textures, including more clean vocals and the mixing that is sounding more heavier than before.

3.The lyrics cover some occult topics, who would you describe your views on Occultism?

I like a lot to read and occultism can be great as a literature or great as a religion everything depends on what do you believe or what are your intentions. It has lots of metaphors and sometimes if you don´t understand very well the words you can get obsessed and misunderstood it, this leads many guys to make some violent acts believing they are making “magic” or that they are having a spiritual ascension. So I believe occultism gives lots of answers we can´t find normally in life, but it´s not an absolute truth because it depends of our consciousness level. When I was younger I was initiated in a secret order and many things from the story that is being told in D.A.M´s trilogy are related to my own experiences, D.A.M talks about alchemy, and about astral projection for example but I take care to choose my words and don´t give a bad influence to anybody because when you talk about death, or to die, you are talking about physiological death and not real death for example but a young guy can misunderstood it and kill his friend or even himself and that would be a shit!

4.In the beginning the band was a solo project, what was the decision behind forming a full line up?

Well I always had a dream to have a band and to make concerts around the world, but reality in Brazil is not a sweet dream so due to some issues that I will talk later in this interview I could not started D.A.M as a band, in reality D.A.M is only D.A.M because it started as a solo project cause I was running from a “normal band” routine, I was wishing to compose and make things in the way I do in D.A.M. I wrote the EP Possessed for my monograph to conclude the Music College and I truly like the songs so one day I made a decision: “ The songs are so nice I will release they alone, will be nice give life to they”, and when I released the first song it made a huge success and so the EP, it was like a dream so it would be the perfect opportunity to form a full line-up and make awesome concerts playing D.A.M! Sadly we could not find the right persons yet and that is a question that lots of people don´t understand about D.A.M, cause they see name of a person recording the instruments and name of others in the line-up, guys truly get confused and the fact is that D.A.M yet works as a solo project, the guys that are in the line-up are great friends of mine and we are working to turn D.A.M into a real band and they are truly kind to record the songs I wrote everything without giving their opinion and I have more responsibilities than they to compensate that fact, and it will work like that until the End of the trilogy that I wrote( 3 albuns+3 eps as preludes from albums), after that we will need to think about what will be better for us all, but the intention to have a full line up is to make the most awesome concerts for the guys that are enjoying D.A.M!

5.The band has been around since 2009 but waited until 2013 to release any music, can you tell us a little bit more about what was going on during that time?
. In 2009 I was playing with a melodic death metal band called Excaliburn, you can find we playing live some songs that D.A.M recorded such as Avalon, and my intentions were to compose the songs I made in 2009 for Excaliburn to play, but in 2010 the band broke-up and I tried to keep the name and find other guys to play but it didn´t worked, so you can say that D.A.M raised from the Ashes of Excaliburn. By that time I didn´t created a name or a concept nothing I was only thinking in play the songs I composed and better composed everything in the way I want keeping everything like I planned, you know some little structures and connections are truly important in the concept of classical music so if you modify something you truly ruined the whole idea! I said earlier that Brazil is not a sweet dream and well now is the time to talk about that, in 2009 I was reaching to the end of music college, I would finished it in 2010 but in 2009 I got a tendinitis in my right hand and could not make the piano exams, Due to that I could only finish my course in 2011 and my later years in college were truly frustrating and I had no money to record the songs. When I started to work in 2011 and started to save the money I was truly sad about music and I had the conviction to not play anymore. I moved to Belo Horizonte in 2012 to have more musical opportunities and I played lots of different styles to get money and I felt truly frustrated playing things that I dislike just for money, I started to learn playing bass to have fun cause I wanted to play bass first when I started my musical studies, I played in a Paramore cover to get some money and later played in a death metal band called Hell Trucker that was truly funny and I composed some good stuff for they and that somehow made me dream about having a band, playing keyboards and singing again. I saved some money and I found the contact of Vincenzo a truly skilled sound engineer from Italy, so I knew that I could release something with a good mixing quality, my good friend Iz Castro( the guy who recorded all guitars and bass lines in Possessed and in Tales and most part of phantasmagoria´s ones) recorded for me everything like I wrote, so in the end of 2012 EP Possessed was recorded but one problem was left: vocals. I stayed since 2009 without singing due to lots of house changes and work so I tried to practice a little before recording vocals, sadly I was truly anxious and released it with not so good vocals in 2013, so those were some issues I was solving since 2009.

6.I Noticed that when I was listening to the ep it was very well produced for an independent release, can you tell us a little bit more about how you where able to obtain a very professional sound with the new release?

Believe or not we record everything at home! Half the process is about the composition process, so I write all the instruments and always revise and plan some production issues like pans, fades etc to keep the composition quality. The other part is about recording and mixing and is in that part that lots of awesome bands don´t go ahead cause they don´t research how to make a good recording quality including the quality of recording but also the precision while playing the instruments, so when they send the material to someone to mix, even the guy being truly good he can´t make much because the instruments were bad recorded, there´s mistakes in the playing so the quality lowers due to that. We truly control this part to be sure that everything will be well played and we recorded with some cheap audio cards, just to don´t have latency. So you have nice songs composed, everything was played well, there´s no noises in the tracks and then comes the last part and this one is truly important because if you have everything well but can´t hear it very well will sound like shit, we searched a more powerful and heavier sonority for our releases and we found in David from Best plugins the perfect partner to achieve the sonority we wanted, so I can advice  bands to search a great sound engineer to mix their works. Most part of the bands are truly innocence being seduced by guys that have a big studio with lots of equipments that shines but believe me kids, great equipments don´t make a great song but great engineers yes, we were truly luck to found two great engineers (Vincenzo and David) that worked truly nice for us and believe me recording in home and send files to mix by internet REALLY WORKS!

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?

Well D.A.M only made a Jam in an event so I guess this one was the best, it was truly awesome, full of people and guys enjoyed us playing because we made some magic tricks in our instruments (laughs) it´s truly energic the way we play and from previous concerts I made in the past I truly like to interact with guys that are watching the concerts, because all we do is for they, it´s truly nice!

8.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new release?

We can´t make any shows or tour plans without a complete band, some opportunities to play in Japan, Argentina in Europe appeared but we can´t go only the 3 guys and we can´t pay for session musicians yet so we are truly focused in recording the trilogy! Besides that we planned some workshops and clinic shows that are small events and is possible only the 3 playing but the recordings are truly taking our time and we have other jobs, so by now guys will need to await a little longer for a full D.A.M´s concert.

9.Currently the band is unsigned, are you looking for a label or do you feel labels are obsolete these days with the internet taking over music?

Well the good side of a label is that it will make the band appear in some media streams that are truly important to promote the band´s name and give some respect to it, because you know lots of people don´t hear a band because they think “ ok it´s just another shit band”, or they will simple never hear about you, so the label is good for that: promotion. Also having a label gives some credibility to the band to find a good manager, booking and that kind of things that are truly important to a band to make their work in the best way with some dignity. Having a good label would be awesome for us, but we know the reality about labels and for they it´s truly hard to hire a band that is not making any concerts, because when you hire with a label means that your band now is part of a big company and when you deal with a big company you are dealing with music business and they will want the band to play live to sell not only the band´s cds and merchandise but also the other artists from that label. If we could find some label that would take care of the production of the cds and let us working in the Trilogy in peace would be truly great, but I believe it´s just me looking to my own interests so I believe due to the reality I talked to you that we will only have a label when the last work of the Trilogy born to the world! Internet is great I would like to know more about internet promotion but I believe takes much time and I am truly busy with other D.A.M´s issues, luckily we have some good friends that truly help us to promote our songs in youtube, soundcloud, facebook page´s and some other internet stuff, the guys are truly great!

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

It was truly fucking awesome, we have lots of fans from different countries, based in their words I can tell you that they truly like D.A.M, they are truly awesome and a little insane, they made some bullying with the british D.A.M in their last fm page´s(laughs) so they like us and are truly wild and loyal! For a independent band in one year we achieved many things including lots of  cds sold to Japan, Europe, North America and Brazil what truly helps me to keep D.A.M alive and release new works for the guys, and they deserve always the best music I can make because they are truly awesome with D.A.M!

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

Caio plays in a band that plays covers  and Edu works with LOTS of things he likes to be a music manager and organized the Paul Gilbert´s Clinic Show in Belo Horizonte.

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

The songs are technical and full of details, there´s a song with almost 9 minutes so we plan to release it by August/September, but it´s hard to tell when exactly cause needs artwork we are planning to make a physical release with album chart, if everything goes well August/September in digital form and in December the physical format IF we decide to make it physical, it´s too much work and after the release we will start the recording of other EP so it´s hard to tell if we are going to make it in physical format. Well my first idea with D.A.M was to release all the songs that were composed in 2009, but some had lyrics and those lyrics don´t have a connection inside the context of the Story behind the trilogy, also as a composer is truly frustrating release songs from a “distant” past cause I studied hard and improved my techniques and meet many many other bands that gave me great ideas to compose. Most part of the songs are 2009´s so guys can wait the same D.A.M sonority but with some new elements, I believe our next release makes the transition with the sonority of the last chapters of the trilogy and also shows the future of D.A.M because there´s some songs that were composed in this year(2014). We can head anywhere musically, everything depends about the album thematic, the song thematic, sometimes is sad so you will have gothic and depressive influences, sometimes you can hear “modern” and “progressive” things, I try to blend everything I like and turn it into melodic death metal!

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?

There´s many many bands that I like, the most important things are the techniques I learned in the Music College, because they gave me a new way to think and construct the songs, no matter the style I make they are guiding me and giving inspiration. About bands there´s 3 bands that I believed are the ones that “created” the D.A.M´s sonority, those bands are Nightwish,Wintersun and Iron Maiden. Nowadays I listen to many bands even outside metal, one that deserves a special attention is “The Human Abstract” cause in their album “Digital Veil”(2011) I could find some of the same composition techniques that I use to create D.A.M´s songs in 2009 , actually they are the only band besides D.A.M that I know that uses the techniques I am talking about, is truly a masterpiece this album of they and since I liked the fact that they use those techniques too I heard many many many times this album last year and it opened my mind to progressive, Djent,Metalcore and some other modern styles.

14.What are some of your non musical interests?

I Like to read, to sleep, to play games, to watch races, drive in the kart, spend time with girlfriend, spend time with friends at bar,it´s hard to make things not connected to music because I really like to study!

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

I would like to say thanks for this amazing opportunity, it was a nice interview I could talk many things about D.A.M for the first time and it´s a pleasure to share it with you and with the readers. I would like to invite guys to download for free our EP Phantasmagoria and to like us at our facebook page. Thanks a lot John, and to everyone: “The Awakening is coming” Cheers guys and keep metal \m/

Download EP: http://www.mediafire.com/download/i4iuc69dn7i49g4/EP+Phantasmagoria.rar

Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/dametalband

Defilementory/The Dismal Ascension/Torture Music Records/2014 CD Review

  Defilementory  are  a  band  from  Denmark  that  plays  a  very  heavy  and  brutal  form  of  gore/death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "The  Dismal  Ascension"  which  was  released  by  Torture  Music  Records.

  An  acoustic  guitar  intro  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  heavier  guitars  and  blast  beats  being  added  into  as  well  as  some  melodies  and  after  the  intro  the  music  really  starts  going  for  a  more  brutal  death  metal  direction  as  well  as  adding  in  some  growls  and  influences  from  the  mid  90's  style  of  death  metal  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  powerful  sound  that  adds  to  the  brutality  this  band  creates  with  its  musical  style.

  There  are  a  good  amount  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  being  utilized  throughout  the  recording  and  a  couple  of  the  later  tracks  also  add  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing  and  acoustic  guitars  before  returning  back  to  a  heavier  direction  and  there  are  a  small  usage  of  guitar  solos  or  leads   on  the  album  with  all  of  the  music  remaining  very  true  to  a  very  old  school  and  brutal  style  of  death metal  while  the  leads  do  add  a  technical  feeling  to  the  album  when  utilized  and  there  are  also  a  small  amount  of  screams  being  utilized  at  times.

  Defilementory  are  another  band  out  there  that  is  playing  a  very  brutal  style  of  death  metal  and  while  there  is  not  much  in  the  way  of  originality  in  the  bands  musical  style  they  still  demonstrate  a  great  amount  of  talent  and  skill  as  musicians  and  are  very  decent  for  this  style  of  death  metal  they  play,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  gore,  perversion  and  sexual  deviancy  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Defilementory  are  a  very  decent  sounding  brutal  death/gore  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Misanthropic  Emancipation"  "Endless  Abjure"  "Vengeance"  and  "Sovereign".  7/5  out  of  10. 

D.A.M/Phantasmogoria/2014 E.P Review

  D.A.M  are  a  band  from  Brazil  that  plays  a  very  melodic  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2014  ep  "Phantasmogoria".

  A  very  heavy,  melodic  and  technical  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  neo-classical  guitar  leads  and  death  metal  screams  that  also  have  a  black  metal  feeling  to t hem  along  with  some  growls  and  symphonic  sounds  being  utilized  in  the  background  and  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  amount  of  prog  elements  being  used  in  the  bands  musical  style  at  times.

  After  awhile  melodic  power  metal  vocals  are  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with  a  mixture  of  both  clean  and  heavy  parts  and  the  band  also  mixes  in  a  great  amount  of  traditional  metal  elements  with  their  melodic  death  metal  sound  as  well  as  always  having  a  symphonic  feeling  in  each  of  the  tracks  that  are  presented  on  this  ep  and  at  time s the  music  can  get  very  powerful  and  also  add  in  blast  beats.

  D.A.M  takes  the  old  school  European  style  of  melodic  death  metal  and  mixes  it  with  power  metal,  neo  classical  and  symphonic  metal  to  create  the  sound  that  is  presented  on  the  ep,  the production  sounds  very  powerful  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  Occultism  and  the  Dark  Side  Of  The  Mind.

  In  my  opinion  D.A.M  are  a  very  great  sounding  symphonic/melodic  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  e.p.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Phantasmogoria"  and  "End  of  Light".  8  out  of  10.