Across The Burning Sky/The End Is Near/MDD Records/2016 CD Review

  Across  The  Burning  Sky  are  a  band  from  Northern  Europe  that  plays  a  melodic  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "The  End  Is  Near"  which  will  be  released  in  October  by  MDD  Records.

  Epic  sounding  synths start  off  the  album  and  after  the  intro the  music  goes  into  more  of  a  heavier  and  melodic  direction  where  you  can  also h ear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  use  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  during  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard. 

  Vocals  are  mostly  high  pitched  screams  that have  somewhat  of  a  black  metal  feeling  to  them  while  death  metal  growls  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  also  being  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  European  tradition  and  synths  also  make  a  return  later  on  during  the  recording  and  a  later  track  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  and  they  close  the  album  with  a  synth  outro.

  Across  The  Burning  Sky  plays  a  style  of  melodic  death metal  that  goes  back to  the  90's  day  of  the  genre,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  mythological  themes. 

  In  my  opinion  Across  The  Burning  Sky  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Demons  Rising"  "Call  Of  The  Ancient  Gods" "Ashes  to  Ashes"  and  "The  End".  8  out  of  10.  

 

Dead End Finland/Slaves To the Greed/Inverse Records/2016 CD Review

 Dead  End  Finland  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  very  melodic  form  of  death  metal with  elments  of  electronic  music  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Slaves  To  the  Greed"  which  was  released  by  Inverse  Records.

  Atmospheric  sounding  synths  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  elements  of  electronic  music  and  they  also  mix  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  recording and  the  music  also gets  very  symphonic  at  times  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  death  metal  growls  that  are  very  easy  to  understand  while clean  singing  can  also  be  heard  at  times.

  Most  of  the  music  sticks  to  a  mid  paced  musical  direction  and  acoustic  guitars  can  also  be  heard  on  some  of  the  tracks  and  high  pitched  screams  can  be  heard  at  times  along  with  the  riffs  also  bringing  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts.

  Dead  End  Finland  creates a  recording  that  takes  a  very  melodic  and  modern  style  of  death  metal  and  mixes  it  with  electronic  music  to  create  a  sound  of t heir  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  hate,  antagonism, havoc  and  destruction  themes.

 In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Dead  End  Finland  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  melodic  death  metal  and  electronic  music,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Inside  The  Void"  "Nightfall"  "Screaming  Back  To  Hell"  and  "Slaves  to  the  Greed".  8  out  of  10.   

Swine Overlord/Entheogenesis/Gore House Productions/2016 CD Review

  Swine  Overlord  are  a  band  with  members  from  both  New  York  and  New  Jersey  that  plays  a  very brutal  and  progressive form  of  slam  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "Entheogenesis"  which  will  be  released on  September  23rd  by  Gore  House Productions.

  Clean  guitars  start  off the  album  and  after  the  intro  sound  effects  can  also  be  heard  at  times  before  going  into  a heavier  direction  which  also  shows  death  metal growls  and  high  pitched  screams  beign  added  onto  the  recording  and  the  vocals  also  get  very  guttural  at  times  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of t he  musical  instruments  that are present on  this  recording.

  At  times  the  music  can  get  very  progressive  and  the  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  and  when  the  music  speeds  up a   great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  while  the  mid  tempo  sections  are  heavily  influenced  by slam  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  and  classical  guitars are  also  added  on  some  songs  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  samples  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast parts  and  one  song  also  brings  in  pianos.

  Swine  Overlord  takes  a  very  brutal  style  of  slam  death  metal  and  mixes  it  with  progressive  elements  to  create  an  original  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional w gile  the  lyrics  cover  gore,  horror,  and  religion  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Swine  Overlord  are  a very  great  sounding  progressive  slam  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre, you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Severed  From  the  Godhead"  "Procreating  the  Offspring  Of  The  Gods"  "Altars  Of  A  Putrid  Resurrection"  and  "Gazing  Into  the  Shadow's  Maw".  8  out  of  10. 

Foetal Juice/Masters of Absurdity/Grindscene Records/2016 Full Length Review

 Foetal  Juice  are  a  band  from  the  United  Kingdom t hat  have  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  brutal  form  of  gore/death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Masters  Of  Absurdity"  which  was  released  by  Grindscene  Records.

  A  very  heavy  and brutal  sound  starts  off  the  album  and a   great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  while  the  vocals  are  a  mixture  of  death  metal growls  and  high  pitched  screams  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  sound  very  powerful and  a  small  amount  of  melody  can  also  be  heard  in  some  parts  of the  songs.

  Throughout  the  recording  there  is  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  you  can  also  hear  a  lot  of  90's  influences  throughout  the  recording  while  the  production  gives  the  songs  a  more  modern  feeling  and  all  of  the  songs  avoid    using  any  guitar  solos  or  leads  until  towards  the  end  and  the  album  also  remains  very  heavy  and  brutal  from  beginning  to  ending  of t he  recording.

  Foetal  Juice  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  the  old  school  brutal  death/gore  metal  style  of  previous  recordings,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  gore  and  murder  themes. 

Homicidal Raptus/Erotomaniac Hallucinosis/Extreme Metal Music/2016 Full length Review

  Homicidal  Raptus  are  a  solo  project  from  an  unknown  area  which  plays  a style  of  death  metal  that  mixes  the  old  school,  brutal  and  slam  styles  of  the  genre  together  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2016  album  "Erotomaniac  Hallucinos"  which  was  released  by  Extreme  Metal  Music.

  Drum  beats  and  heavy  guitar  riffs  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  high  pitched  screams  and  death  metal  growls  being  added  onto  the  recording  a  few  seconds  later  and  the  music  also  has  a  lot  of  90's  influences  and  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  in  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  and  some  of  the  riffing  also  brings  in  a  small  amount  of  melody.

  Throughout  the  recording  there  is  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts   and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  vocals  also  get  very  guttural  at  times  while  also  mixing  in  elements  of  slam  which  also  makes  the  music  sound  more  modern  and  the  album  also  remains  very  heavy  from  beginning  to  ending  of  the  recording.

  Homicidal  Raptus  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  an  old  school  form  of  death  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with  more  modern  brutal  and  slam  elements  to  create  a  sound  of  his  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics cover  violent,  disgusting  and  gore  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Homicidal  Raptus  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school,   brutal  slam  death  metal  project  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Dismembered  And  Hilariously  Repatched"  "Acid-Disfigured  Justice"  and  "Raped  By  Mutants".  8  out  of  10.      

     

Construct Of Lethe Interview

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


Tony (Guitar, Bass): The release of our EP The Grand Machination is our current focus, but behind the scenes we have a lot going on. Patrick Bonvin, our lead guitarist, is writing solos for a re-release of our debut LP Corpsegod. The album was written with solos in mind, but at the time of the recording we didn't have a lead player. Patrick joined shortly after it was released, and is helping to make it as it was originally intended. Once he's finished, Corpsegod will be remixed and re-released, we're looking for an early 2017 release.



2.You have a new ep coming out in October, 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?


The songs on The Grand Machination are much more straightforward and less technical than Corpsegod. It's a concept album, so it was important to tell the story not only with the lyrics, but the music as well; the changing intensities of the songs and their continuity were something we paid special attention to, as there needs to be an ebb and flow for the EP to make sense as a singular work. The biggest difference has been the addition of Patrick Bonvin and Dave Schmidt as permanent members; what they've contributed is nothing short of game-changing.



3.The lyrics on the new ep where inspired by Mark Twain's "Letters From Earth," can you tell us a little bit more about the songwriting?


Dave's lyrics have always been incredible; they're visceral, vivid and thick with meaning. They're the kind of lyrics that give you an immediate reaction upon reading, and they've only gotten better and more ambitious with time. "Letters from the Earth" is an old story that I read when I was younger and has always stuck with me. The story is powerful in its own right, but I suggested he reimagine it in his own distinct style and allow the story to tell itself over the course of an album, and he did an incredible job.



4.Originally the band was known as 'Bethledeign' then 'Xaoc,' what was the cause of the name changes and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Construct of Lethe'?


Bethledeign was a band that Dave and I were in about 10 years ago, it was more of a melodic/blackened death band. When I joined, I replaced the main songwriter, and the material I wrote was blunt and punishing, much less melodic; this didn't really go over well with the rest of the band, as the drummer and bassist were more interested in playing melodic metalcore type music. They called a meeting and basically split into two; Dave chose to continue making music with me, and so we named the new project Xaoc. As Xaoc we released an EP featuring songs Dave and I had written for Bethledeign, and an unreleased LP of new material. Xaoc disbanded when Dave joined the army.

I could write a book about all the obstacles we've had to overcome to get to the point we're at today, a lot of it not worth dredging up. Suffice it to say that Lethe is the name of a river in Hades--if you wade in it you lose your memory; Construct of Lethe is an entity built on letting go of the past. 



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


We've never played any shows as Construct of Lethe, and as the three of us are all thousands of miles apart from one another, we likely never will.



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


No.



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


We have had interest expressed from a couple small labels, but we've decided to release all of our material through Edgewood Arsenal Records, a label I founded earlier this year to release not only Construct of Lethe albums, but other projects we're involved in as well. We're not opposed to label interest, but because we're so protective of our work and already have our hands in all aspects of creation and production, we don't really see the point in relinquishing control over any of it. Once Edgewood Arsenal gets its legs under it, I will also be looking to expand to working with local (Washington D.C. area) bands.



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


We're pleased to say that the response to Corpsegod was all very positive. What was surprising to me was where the attention was coming from; the majority of the interest we receive is from Europe and South America.



9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?


About six years ago I created Trepan Studio, which has really allowed me to breathe life into the various projects I'm a part of. In addition to Construct of Lethe, I play guitar in a blackened/avant garde/death band called Grethor; I drum in a grind/death band called Pain Tank; I play drums, bass and vocals for a crossover band called Gritfactor; I play guitar and bass in an 80's metal band called Turbo Shokk; I do vocals for a deathgrind band called Dead Hooker, all of which I'm recording and mixing albums for as we speak. I've also got a number of studio-only projects: Mercenary Cop is a band that does metal covers of 80's and 90's pop songs; Defco is a pretty straightforward metal band that I initially started about 20 years ago with a friend when I bought my first guitar; there are many more, but the list would end up seeming unrealistic. I'm actually putting together a compilation of all these other bands that Edgewood Arsenal will release at some point in the future.



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


Construct of Lethe is in an odd position because we have 5 albums worth of material written--some of it new, some of it written in the past while we were in Bethledeign and Xaoc. Something I find great is that each one of our releases will have a different sound than the next. Corpsegod was pretty technical, The Grand Machination is intense with a focus on varied textures and structure, and of our upcoming releases, Architect of the Void is very much rooted in speedy, old school death; Iconography of Suffering will be very dark sounding with a blackened death feel, and the unnamed 5th release will be much more free-flowing, fragmented, jagged death metal. Very heavy, very unhinged...I'm excited about it.



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?


Any band, any song can be an inspiration in that great music can make me excited to play an instrument, excited to create. Personally, it's not the type of situation where I listen to a record and think "that sounds awesome, I need to write material that sounds like that;" if that were the case, Construct of Lethe would sound like KC & The Sunshine Band, Faith No More, and Tears for Fears. I've been playing long enough that for better or worse, I have my own distinct style. I know my abilities and limitations, and do my best to work within them to write catchy, interesting, intense music.

I try to keep up with new metal as much as I can, but there's so much of it that it's tough...that's why I can't fault people for not beating down our doors to hear our material. Lately, I don't really get a chance to listen to much music that I'm not involved in; every spare moment seems to be checking mixes/masters of the projects I'm working on. The first four Danzig albums are always a safe bet for me though, Scarve and Theory in Practice are hard to beat. Just got the new Nails and Gojira records, they're pretty damn good.


12.What are some of your non musical interests?


Tony: I do a lot of illustration, some of my artwork will be featured in The Grand Machination. Other than that...what is there time for? I like playing around with my dog


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


Tony: The Grand Machination will be available on October 7th. Preorders are live at https://constructoflethe. bandcamp.com/album/the-grand- machination, we have three shirt designs and bundles available with each of them. Thanks for the interview.

Sin Of God/Aenigmata/Satanath Records/Murdher Records/2016 CD Review

  Sin  Of  God  are  a  band  from  Hungary  that  plays  a  very  brutal  and  technical  form  of  death  metal  with  elements  of  grindcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Aenigmata"  which  will  be  released  on  September  23rd  as  a  joint  effort  between  Satanath  and  Murdher  Records.

  A  very  distorted  guitar  sound  starts  off  the  album  which  also  gets  heavier  a  few  seconds  later  while  also  adding  in  dark  sounding  melodies and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  the  vocals  bring  in a  mixture  of  death  metal  growls  and  high  pitched   grindcore  screams.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  songs  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  technical  yet melodic  style  and  clean  playing  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  riffing  also  brings  in  technical  elements  at  times  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  and  after  awhile  there  is  a  brief  use  of  classical  guitars.

  Sin  Of  God  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  old  school  and  technical  death  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with  some  grindcore  elements  to  create  a  sound  of t heir  own,  the production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  the  Alchemy  of  Occultism.

  In  my opinion  Sin  Of  God  are  a  very  great  sounding  technical  death  metal  band  with  elements  of grindcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Emerald  Tablet"  "Loss  Leads  Into  Impiety"  "Altered States  of Chaos"  and  "The  Human  Worm".  8  out  of  10.

https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat158-sin-of-god-aenigmata-2016

Detonation Interview

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

Sure! Right now, we're focused on the re-release of 'Reprisal', our 4th full-length album. VIC records offered us a deal to finally give this album the release we feel it deserves. We're very happy with this unexpected offer, and hopefully it will lead to some more activity on our side, since we haven't been very active lately as a band.

2.Your last album was released in 2011 how would you describe the musical style of the current music and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?



The songs on 'Reprisal' are indeed quite different from our earlier releases. Without doubt more straightforward, more brutal and less melodic. There's several reasons why that’s the case. After 'Emission Phase', our 3rd album, and also final release for our previous record company 'Osmose Productions', we were in a difficult situation. Due to circumstances we had to part ways with our founding drummer Thomas, and had to change the line-up of Detonation for this first time since the beginning of the band in 1997. Luckily we found a new drummer almost instantly, Michiel van der Plicht (also God Dethroned and Apophys) and started working on new songs. Things looked promising,  and both Mike and myself took this change as an opportunity to try something different musicwise. I mean, we had been doing the same thing for more than 10 years, and we needed a fresh outlook on our music to keep ourselves motivated. So I decided to lay down the guitar to focus mainly on the vocals. It was a gamble, to be honest. That way we would be able to write more diverse, since I wasn’t restricted to both instruments any longer. And we also wanted to bring more ‘show’ to the stage. Without a guitar I could do that better, we figured. So we got ourselves a new guitar player to fill my shoes (Danny Tunker, - Aborted, Alkaloid, amongst others) and started working from there. It was a fun time, and we actually did several great gigs that year, supporting bands like Entombed, Cynic, to name but a few. But after the recording of 'Reprisal' we kind of became lazy and made some bad decisions. Things went downhill. We did not put enough effort in the band to keep growing. In the end we lost our motivation, although we actually tried to keep things going a couple times. All without success unfortunately.

3.There has been no new music since 2011, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time span?

Well, like I stated in my previous answer, Detonation basically bled to death. We tried everything, but there was no way for us to continue the band at that time. But completely disbanding, and calling it quits felt like a terrible decision, so we simply didn't do that. Mike (Ferguson, founding member together with Koen) and I talked about it, and decided to tell the fans that Detonation was temporarily on hold for the time being. Which was the truth. We just needed to find a way to get a fresh new start. But in the meantime we all started focusing on our individual 'careers', and that made things even more complicated. During the past 5 years Mike and I always stayed in touch and together with new drummer Matthieu Boer (Scenario II, From Earth) we started working on some new tracks every now and then. Slowly, we're getting there. We're really working towards a return. We'll see where this will take us.

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

Detonation lyrics have always been very personal. They often tell stories about daily life struggles and frustrating issues, wrapped in poetic words. On 'Reprisal' we took a way more direct approach, which led to the aggressive tone in the songs. The main theme is that about 'the vigilante', so taking revenge into your own hands, and not wanting to deal with any kind of bullshit any longer. That was a new, but at the time necessary approach for me. This also led to the higher pitch you can hear in my voice on this album. That kind of happened automatically. I guess that particular demon had to be unleashed.

5.Originally the band was known as 'infernal Dream' what was the cause of the name change and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Detonation'?

When ‘Infernal Dream’ was chosen as a name, we still wanted to be a black metal band, and that name suited the vision we had at that time. But within the 1st year of existence our musical style changed. Without intent, we gradually became a melodic death metal band. It was just the style that suited us, and all felt comfortable doing. It gave us the opportunity to put in our more melodic and progressive ideas. So we needed a more suitable name. That turned out to be a difficult task. But after a while we came up with Detonation. There’s no real deeper meaning behind it, just a powerful word that suited the intense, in your face melodic death metal we were aiming at.

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?

Thinking back, it’s hard to pick out the best shows, but we had our fair share of cool gigs. A couple of great tours, supporting Dimension Zero, Decapitated and Gorerotted. But the best shows were probably the ones we did outside of any specific tour. Playing 2 shows in India in 2008 was definitely a highlight for us, but also a couple shows we did in our early existence, when we just released ‘An Epic Defiance’, in our home town Utrecht. In all honestly, we never reached a point in our career where we got to play large festivals for immense crowds, like we are fortunate enough to do nowadays with our other bands. Sometimes that stings, you know, knowing that we could’ve achieved so much more with Detonation, but hell, the future is yet to be written. We’re not dead yet.



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

At the moment, sadly not. But we are thinking about returning to the stage in the near future. Nothing scheduled or planned yet, but don’t be surprised when Detonation starts hitting the stage again in 2017. I hope so.



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

Pretty good, I think ;) Although we’ve always been an outsider in the scene in my opinion, not being Swedish or Finnish that is, like most bands in the genre. Funny thing is that, if you check out our songs on youtube for instance, there are still many people that discover Detonation these days. I guess we never had the distribution we needed, otherwise we could’ve been a bigger fish in the (back then-) completely saturated pond of Melodic Metal. We definitely had our share of bad luck with releases and such.



9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?



Otto started playing bass in Delain, and has been doing that for quite some time now. Mike became guitar player in Picture, and later on God Dethroned (Together with Michiel van der Plicht, who was already their drummer). Mike recently quit Picture and started a new awesome band ‘Lovell’s Blade’ together with some of the other leaving members from Picture. I also had my fair share of new bands the past couple of years. I played bass in Disquiet, amongst others, and recorded an album with them. I also joined death metal band Apophys (Also with Michiel on drums) as guitarist and recorded their debut album with them, which was released by Metal Blade records. But this past year I've been live guitarist for Heidevolk, I left all other projects and bands in the meantime except for Heidevolk, because of multiple reasons. I became father of a beautiful son, and also got my first sci-fi novel published. Talking about a hectic time…It took me some time to realize this, but I’m more than happy with just 1 band nowadays (besides Detonation, which is much more than just a band to me). I want to focus more on my family and my writing, and not spend 5 nights a week in the rehearsal space. Music is still very important to me, but I somehow have to find balance in everything I do.



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

I can’t tell you exactly when, but rest assure there will be another Detonation album in the near future. Could be next year, could be another 3 years. Time will definitely tell, but we already finished a couple great songs. I will start working on lyrics soon, and hopefully early next year we will be able to get together again and transform all our ideas into songs. From what we’ve written so far I can tell you that the songs are a combination of early Detonation and our 3rd album ‘Emission Phase’. It’s definitely more melodic and atmospheric than what we did on ‘Reprisal’.



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

Our influences vary with each individual member, as it has always been within our band. Not only by music, but basically by life itself and everything that makes us the people we are today. Personally, I’m experiencing a ‘classical music’ period, as in Bach, Chopin and Mahler to name but a few. But when I’m driving my car I usually listen to metal, mainly old school bands like Dio or Iron Maiden, but also to the occasional progressive band. Like the Faceless, or another death metal band. Could be Shining, or Pain of Salvation. Whatever suits my mood.



12.What are some of your non musical interests?



I’m a huge sci-fi fanatic, which might not come as a big surprise knowing  that I wrote a sci-fi novel myself. I read books about the different subjects, watch tv-series and documentaries. Investigate things on my own on the web, out of curiosity. Besides that I like reading and writing in general, playing games on my PS4, watch sports or go outside and explore nature. All of these things inspire me in a creative way.



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

Hopefully many of you will take the time to check out ‘Reprisal’. It’s really an album we’ve put our heart and souls into, and I strongly believe it is worth the effort to give a spin. Thanks and keep on rocking! – Koen Romeijn

 

Chine Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
We have continued distributing 'Immanent' as much as possible, and at the same time putting on a couple of shows in Sweden and Denmark. A lot of rehearsing has been going on as well, with focus to make Immanent sound tight and well played live.

2.In July you had released a new album, 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?
This new album is a bit like a blend of our previous two albums, not as technical as 'Betray', nor as basic as 'Repulsive'. We wrote whatever felt good, still maintaining the dark melodic atmosphere.

3.This is the first album to be released in 4 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time span?
One very time consuming issue is the line-up changes, at first our new guitarist Jokke and later vocalist Ola joined. Almost half of Immanent was written when they entered Chine, and we worked a lot with the material together and changed arrangements and lyrics, which improved the album a lot.

4.Some of your lyrics cover dystopian themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic?
For myself the dystopian feeling is very important when writing music. My own personal fascination of the post apocalyptic theme pulls the melodies in these directions, and I like to think that it all fits very well together. The artwork (the Immanent cover is made by the brilliant Axel Torvenius), the emotions you get from the songs, the end of the world that we're bringing upon ourselves, and so on. The topic is very relevant considering the things we do to our planet in an escalating pace. Earth will however survive, but we on the other hand will not.

5.Originally the band was called 'Chaeostribe' what was the decision behind the name change and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Chine'? Chaeostribe felt more like a school project (which it was) both the name and the songs. Since Repulsive was our first "real" album, I felt that the timing to change the name was right. Chine means "backbone from an animal", which is very suiting. When it really matters we all follow our instincts, and we do not differ from animals. Still we like to think that we are so much higher in rank and smarter than them. Chine has also got a nice ring to it in comparison to Chaesotribe.

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?
Unfortunately we haven't been playing that many shows over the years that we have existed. Most of them has been in smaller venues, some times with small, but great crowds, and some times not so great. I can't think of any particular gig that has been exceptional at the moment.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
We are doing a small tour in Spain i February, hopefully some gigs in Europe will add on. Since we do not have any record label nor management, its quite hard to go on tours without having to pay lots of money for it.

8.The new album was self released but the band has worked with labels before in the past, are you open to working with another label again in the future?
We are definitely open to working with labels again. Though one should remember that most of them are desperate as well in these times when people don't buy music, so its really difficult to get signed. If you manage to get a record deal there is also a substantial risk of being screwed by the label.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your newer music by fans of extreme metal?
The response has been very positive, which we are much grateful for.

10.Are any of the band members also involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?
Every member in the band has other projects, from country to punk rock.

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Probably more towards simplifying and  putting more effort into grooves and the whole picture. We feel that we need to prioritize between being able to perform the songs correctly during the shows, and moving/jumping around. We are definitely not one of those bands who stands in one place with our eyes fixed on the fretboards.

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?
Our strength in music writing is the width of our taste in different genres. You can always grab groovy stuff from Pantera and Gojira, melodies and rhythms from Meshuggah, and dream about the gigantic perfect stage show from Rammstein, but we listen to a lot of different genres in Chine as mentioned.   

13.What are some of your non musical interests?
Some of us work out, others goes traveling or stuff like that. Tommy is a real adventurer and has ridden a bike to Spain amongst other things. He also got himself a parachute license a couple of years ago.

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
We would like to thank everyone who supports Chine and helps us to reach more dystopic metalheads.

Re-Armed/The Era Of Pracarity/Saami Records/2016 CD Review

  Finland's  Re-Armed  have  returned  with  a  new  recording  that  continues  the  melodic  death  metal  and  thrash  mixtures  of  previous  recordings  and  this  is  a  review  of  their 2016  album  "The  Era  Of  Pracarity"  which  will  be  released  on  September  30th  by  Saarni  Records.

  Clean  guitar  playing  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  yet  melodic  musical  direction  while  also  mixing  in  elements  of  thrash  which  also  gets  mixed  in  the  screaming  vocal  approach  as  well  along  with  some  back  up  gang  shouts  also  being  used  at  times  while t he  solos  and  leads  are  done  in a   melodic  death  metal  fashion.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  songs  also  bring  in a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  some  of  the  tremolo  picking  also adds  in  touch  of  black  metal  along  with  the  vocals  also  getting  more  aggressive  and  some  songs  also  bring  in  symphonic  elements and  when  guitar  solos and  leads  are  utilized  they  also  remain  very  true  to  a  melodic  direction  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  and  as  the  album  progresses  elements  of  groove  metal  can  be  heard  while  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Re-Armed  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to t he  melodic  death  metal  and  thrash  mixture  of  previous  recordings, t he  production  sounds  very  professional  while t he  lyrics  are  a  concept  album  based  upon  a  dystopian  world.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great sounding  recording  from  Re-Armed  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  melodic death  metal  and  thrash,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Lullaby  Of  Obedience"  "Ivory  Towers"  "Evolve  Cycle"  and  "The  Hunt  Is  On".  8  out  of  10. 

     

Construct Of Lethe/The Grand Machination/2016 EP Review

  Construct  of  Lethe  are  a  band  from  Virginia  that  plays  a  very  old  school  and  technical  form  of  death  metal  with  some  thrash  and  black  metal  elements  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2016  ep  "The  Grand  Machination"  which  will  be  released  in  October.

  Dark  sounds  and  spoken  word  samples  start  off  the  ep  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  where  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  deep  death  metal  growls  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  also  done  in  a  melodic  fashion.

  At  times  the  music  can  be  very  technical and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  black  metal  screams  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  as  the  ep  progresses  elments  of  thrash  can  be  heard.

  Construct  Of  Lethe  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  an  old  school  style  of  death  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with  some  modern  technical  elements  and  influences from  thrash  and  black  metal  to  create  a  sound of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics are  inspired  by  Mark  Twain's  "Letters  From  Earth"  and  his  re-imaging  of  Lucifer's  fall  from  heaven.

  In  my  opinion  Construct  Of  Lethe  are  a  very  great  sounding  technical  and  old  school  style  death  metal  band  with  some  black  and  thrash  metal  elements  and  if  you  are  a  fan of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Lux  In  Tenebris"  and  "The  Grand  Machination".  8  out  of 10.

Faustian Dripfeed Interview

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



We are a new death metal from Stavanger, Norway. The bands consists of myself (guitars,vocals), Mikael (vocals) and Pål (guitars). We are old friends and have played together in other bands before.

To make a short story even shorter: I stared writing the music in 2014 and had Mikael do some vocals on the demo tracks. Earlier this year (2016) Pål wanted to help mix the recorded material in his home studio. He soon found out he also wanted to join the project as a musician so we decided to make it a band. And thus Faustian Dripfeed was officially born. We released our debut, a 5 track EP on the 26th of August this year.



2.In August you had released an ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?



It is groovy and melodic death metal with some black metal references. We try to make our own sound and incorporate brief use of i.e clean vocals and acoustic guitars to keep things interesting.



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



We play death metal so of course we have a lot of songs that involves a murder or two . Apart from that our lyrics deal with the darker sides of the human psyche, but always with a good dose of dark humor. One of our songs, “Chris Hansen BBQ” is a tribute to Chris Hansen’s cunning stunts on “To catch a predator”, exposing and “barbequing” sex offenders on TV.



4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Faustian Dripfeed'?



The word “Faustian” is connected to Goethes character Faust, who made a deal with the devil. To be drip fed is getting fed intravenous. In other words getting a Faustian Dripfeed means; Set aside your morals, let the “devilish” death metal music be pumped directly into your veins and you will gain power and pleasure. Well, something like that..



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



We have not done any live shows yet, but we definitely will! We are looking for a drummer at the moment.



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



No, not at the moment



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



We are prepared to release and promote the EP ourselves, but would of course consider a deal. We are in dialog with a label at the moment actually.



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



I have sent a lot of emails this past week with digital-promos, requesting reviews and air play. We have not gotten too many replies yet, but those who have say they like our sound very much.



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



Our style will be a lot like on the EP. We will continue to play melodic and groovy death metal with some musical twists and turns and a good dose of dark humor. I know this because we are soon finished with the pre-production of our first full-length.



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?

I started listening to Guns n’ Roses, Nirvana and Metallica and went on from there listening to more and more extreme music. I still listen to a lot of the rock bands I grew up with and all the music I listen to inspires me one way or another, whether it’s rock n roll or death metal. Some of my favorite metal bands these days are Cattle Decapitation, Blood Red Throne, Macabre, Aborted and Benighted.

Especially Død and Blood Red Throne has inspired me ever since the release of their debut album “Monument of Death”



11.What are some of your non musical interests?



Besides music I spend most of my time with my kids doing family stuff

Mikael is also the singer in another death metal band called Dawn of Retaliation. He does a lot of painting as well and is actually the artist behind our EP cover.

Pål likes to play golf and travel around the world. I also know he has a secret passion for riding Segways



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



I would like to thank you  for your interest in our music and letting us do this interview. I’d also encourage metalheads out there to check out Faustian Dripfeed.

Stages Of Decomposition/Killing Under Pressure/Gore House Productions/2016 EP Review

  Stages  Of  Decomposition  are  a  band  from  Los  Angeles,  California  that  plays  a  very  brutal  form  of  slam  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  ep  "Killing  Under  Pressure"  which  was  released  by  Gore  House  Productions.

  Spoken  word  samples  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very  fast  and  bruta  direction  that  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  while the  vocals  also  bring  in a  great  mixture  of  high  pitched  screams  and  guttural  death  metal  growls  and  the  mid  paced  sections  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  slam  elements.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  songs  also  bring  in a   great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  some  of  the  vocals  sound  almost  burped  and  you  can  also  hear  some  melodies  in  some  of  the  riffing  and  the  whole  ep  also  remains  very  heavy  and  brutal  from  beginning  to  ending  of  the  recording  and  the  last  track w as  recorded  live.

  Stages  Of  Decomposition  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  brutal  and  slamming  in  the  east  coast  tradition  of  the  genre,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  violence,  gore  and  serial  killers  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Stages  of  Decomposition  are  a  very  great  sounding  brutal  and  slamming  death metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Killing  Under  Possession"  and  "Crawl  Space  burial".  8  out  of  10.

Aephanemer Interview

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

Hello! We are a Melodic Death Metal band from Toulouse, in France. Aephanemer has been created in 2013 and was a solo project until mid-2014. Our first EP called "Know Thyself" has been released in early 2014 and was completely instrumental. Our upcoming album called "Memento Mori" to be released on September 16th will have vocals though :-)

>
> 2.How would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recordings?

Our main influences are scandinavian melodic death metal bands, traditional slavic melodies and classical symphonies, so I guess our sound is a mix between them!

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

We are very interested in some "philosophic" themes like the meaning of human life, its shortness and everything it implies, and our lyrics are mainly based on them. We only wrote lyrics for one album for now, so we might explore more subjects in the future!

>
> 4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Aephanemer'?

In fact, "Aephanemer" is a merge between two french words : "éphémère" (ephemeral) and "fanée" (folded) which are two words related to the autumn season, which is particularly like!

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

I think our best show is the one we gave at Rock Metal Camp Fest a few months ago. The crowd ambiance was awesome, the festival crew was great and very professional, and we benefited from exceptional sound & lights conditions! We have great memories of this day :-)

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

We're playing in our hometown on October 12th and this will be the first "Memento Mori" show. We should announce additional shows in France within a few weeks!

>
> 7.The new album is coming out on 'Primevel Records, how did you get in contact with this label?

In fact, Primeval Records is our own label! We founded it because we wanted to remain independant, and we wanted to give to our new album the best promotional conditions we can. Being signed to a label when you are a little band often means nowadays that you have a very low promotional budget and nobody is really taking care of you. We think this is not very interesting if you know how to promote your little band yourself. Of course, the situation is different for bigger bands, who can benefit from labels experience and promotional support.

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

  We received feedbacks after our first EP which were very good and way better than what we imagined! This EP was instrumental so I thought Melodic Death Metal fans would not be interested, but I was wrong! We also received feedbacks about our new tracks and they are very good as well. We hope melodic death metal fans will enjoy our new album once it is released!

>
> 9.Are any of the band members also involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?

Anthony (bass) and Mickaël (Drums) are playing in a a side-project called "Univertigo". I'm not sure how to describe the band music genre but I would say it is a Melodic Metal project including some electronic elements and focused on Space ambiances and lyrical themes. Mickaël also plays in a melodic metal band called "Simeria".

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

This is a hard question, we evolve as human beings and our music evolves too. I don't plan anything when I'm creating new songs so I have no idea what the future albums will sound like. I don't think our music will change too much, but who knows?

>
> 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?
>

Bands which influenced us : Children Of Bodom, In Flames, Amon Amarth, Dark Tranquillity, Windir, Ensiferum, ... and these are also the bands we listen to nowadays! We also listen to traditional music from different countries (mainly slavic and scandinavian music) and some classical music.

> 12.What are some of your non musical interests?

Well I can't really answer for the rest of the band, but personally I spend most of my free time reading ancient philosophy books and playing video games :-)

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

Thank you for the interview, and we hope our future listeners will enjoy our album as much as you did!

 

Faustian Dripfeed/Between This And Death/2016 EP Review

  Faustian  Dripfeed  are  a  band  from  Norway  that  plays  a  very  melodic  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2016  ep  "Between  This  And  Death".

  Spoken  word  samples  start  off  the  ep  before  going  into  a  heavier  musical  direction  along  with  some  melodies,  blast beats  and  death  metal  growls  and  the  music  also  brings  in  a  lot  of  90's  influences  along  with  some  high  pitched  screams  also  being  used  at  times  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  also  very  melodic.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and fast   parts  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  you  can  also  hear  a  touch  of  black  metal  in  the  bands  musical  style  and  spoken  word  samples  also  make  a  return  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  clean  playing  can  also  be  heard  at  times  along  with  some  modern  metal  elements  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  melodic  singing  and  acoustic  guitars.

  Faustian  Dripfeed  plays  a  style  of  death  metal t hat  is  very  heavy  and  melodi9c  while  also  being  very  diverse  at  times,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  murder  and  violence  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Faustian  Dripfeed  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Murder  Circus"  and  "A World  Of  Emptiness".  8  out  of  10.