Embrace The Dawn/The Effigist/2017 Full Length Review

  Embrace  The  Dawn  are  an  international  band  with  members  from  Australia,  Noraw,  United  States,  Spain  and  Canada  that  plays  a  very  progressive  form  of  death  metal  with  elements  of  technical,  thrash,  symphonic  and  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2017  album  "The  Effigist".

  Atmospheric  soundscapes  start  off  the  album  along  with  a  small  amount  of  spoken  word  parts  while  clean  playing  is  also  utilized  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  as  well  as  mixing  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  music  at  times  and  the  vocals  are  mostly deep  death  metal  growls.

  At  times  black  metal  screams  can  also  be  heard  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  and  technical  fashion  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  elements  of  thrash  can  also  be  heard  at  times  as  well  as  the  riffs  also  bringing  in  a  great  amount  of  melody.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  will  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  as  the  album  progresses  symphonic  elements  as  well  as  clean  vocals  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  as  well  as  the  songs  also  mixing  in  a  great  amount  of  modern  prog  metal  elements.

  Embrace  The  Dawn  plays  a  musical  style  that  is  mostly  rooted  in  progressive  death  metal  while  the  technical,  symphonic,  thrash  and  black  metal  elements  gives  the  songs  more  originality,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  philosophical  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Embrace  The  Dawn  are  a  very  great  sounding  progressive  and  technical death  metal  band  with  elements  of  thrash,  symphonic  and  black  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Cold  Black  Hole"  "The  Tide"  and  "Tartarus".  8 out  of  10.

Walter Fornication Interview

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

Yes, of course. I am a 27 year old Dutch guy and musician.
At the moment I live in a small town close to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Among many things I think, music has always been my passion.

I already wanted to play the drums when I was 3 or 4 years old but, unfortunately, my parents did not want to buy me a drum kit or send me to drumming lessons.
When I was 8 or 9 years old I started playing the piano. That’s basically where my musical journey started.

I think I was 13 or 14 years old when I got my first Metal album which I remember was ‘Life Is Peachy’ by Korn. It was one of the neighbor’s kids that introduced me to it.
And that’s also where my love for Heavy Rock music started.

At age of 14 I took up the acoustic guitar and shortly after the electric guitar after hearing Iron Maiden. I quickly got into bands in high school and music school where I also had my first guitar lessons. Basically, all of these bands I played in at the time were pretty shitty to be honest. I did have a few live shows on stage with these bands however. Meanwhile, I also started songwriting and taught myself how to write drums/percussion.

The last real band I played in was in 2011, in a band called ‘De Grensverleggers’. It was a punk rock band with four members with mainly political, anti-establishment texts in Dutch.

After ‘De Grensverleggers’ broke up I went abroad to do my studies in Germany and Mexico which was a very busy, interesting, but also hectic period in my life that, unfortunately, did not leave me much time or room to be able to really do something with music again.

In 2014, after returning to the Netherlands and completing my studies in International Business, I started auditioning again as a guitar player but, unfortunately, nobody wanted to hire me for several reasons. The same year I also started playing the bass and practicing vocals/grunts. After a while I got so disappointed and frustrated with all the band auditions leading to nowhere that I decided to continue as a solo artist and write, produce and record my own music and that’s where Walter Fornication started in October 2015.

The project I started was originally called DP (DarkPsymaster) Productions which was another nickname I used to have before but then again I had people asking what the initials DP were for. The name Walter Fornication came from a former colleague and musician I was working with in Berlin, Germany. He used to call me Walter Fornication and The Heartbreakers. Which is of course a funny reference to Californication from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers but I think the name kind of stuck with me.

When I first started this project I only wanted to try setting up my own home studio and produce and record some songs for myself. However, I quickly realized it was easier to build a decent recording studio and record songs in a decent quality then I had imagined and that’s when I quickly decided I wanted to release my own demo album in December 2016. And this year’s ‘On A Journey Through Time And Space’ of course.

2.So far you have released a demo and a full length, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recordings?

I think both recordings are quite different to be honest.

A Revolution’s Dawn, the first, ‘demo’ album I released in 2016 is a more thrashy, riff-based kind of album I think.
This album is also very much based on certain riffs and licks I wrote years before but never got to do anything with in other bands.

A Revolution’s Dawn has a more sludgy and Thrash Metal kind of sound I think.
I heard somebody comparing it to the American Death Metal Band Nile as well.

On A Journey Through Time And Space is quite a different kind of album. For this album I used different kinds of amp plugins to create a more ambient, warm, melodic kind of guitar sound. I also added synthesizers to the mix as well of course. At the time I was writing ‘On A Journey Through Time And Space’, I was also listening a lot to Ambient and Synthwave kind of music. The album ‘Somewhere In Time’ from Iron Maiden was also a big influence in making this album.

On A Journey Through Time And Space is also more like a concept album.

It is basically a journey through historical events presented in a non-chronological fashion based on both fictional and non-fictional events with a big cyberpunk and dystopian flavor included.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explore with your music?

A lot.

Sometimes I get my inspiration from fictional topics or subjects. For example, novels such as Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde), Children Of The Night (Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare) or video games (J.C. Denton, Assassin) but most of the time I like to write about non-fiction, life and society itself.

I also like to write about personal stuff, issues I have been going through in my life that are very recognizable to many people I think.
And I like to write about the way I think or feel about certain events that are happening in our society, world nowadays.

Nevertheless, I do not wish to be ‘a moral knight’, telling people how and what they should believe.

I am a very liberal person, if only just in that sense.

I just hope I will inspire people with my lyrics and let them think more critically about certain things.

The song: ‘This War Will Not End’ for example, which appears on the A Revolution’s Dawn album is basically an anti-war song based on The War On Terror and The Invasion of Iraq in 2003, which I very much opposed at that time.

4.On the album you record everything by yourself, how would you compare it to working with full bands?

I think the best part of being a solo artist is the fact that you have got unlimited creativity and freedom. You can try and experiment with everything you want and you don’t need to take into account the wishes of your bandmembers. I think I have done a lot of experimenting as well on both albums.

That is basically the best part.

The worst part is. You kind of have to do everything and find out everything on your own when it comes to songwriting, production, recording etc.
And you do not have direct input from others about your music.

Nevertheless, I think compared to working with full bands, I was able to get more things done and in a smaller amount of time, but it really took me a lot more effort and energy to write, record and produce all the music I wanted.

Then again, I did have some great people who really helped me with Walter Fornication, who did the mixing/mastering and album art for me and maybe I would have had the same issues as well in working with full bands by trying to keep everybody satisfied and occupied with the sound and the release.

5. What were some of the other bands that you were a part of in the past? ;)

The bands I played in before where each very different, one was basically a Nightwish cover band in high school were we did have and played a few own songs. The other was a rock cover band in music school and the real last one a punk rock band with lyrics in Dutch. All these bands, unfortunately, eventually broke up before we really came to a point where we were able to tour and play live on stage or record an album.

6.Currently you are s unsigned are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

Yes. While I had just released ‘A Revolution’s Dawn’, a Polish independent music label already send me a message that they wanted to sign me.
But I don’t think I was ready at that time and I am ready to be signed yet.

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

Mostly positive, although I honestly haven’t received that much feedback yet and I don’t know if all of them feedbackers were really Experimental or Death Metal fans.

Most feedback I received came from my SoundCloud account other Social Media and friends who briefed me about my music. Most negative feedback I received was about the vocals and the quality of some earlier mixes, which I can sometimes understand, haha.

I also got a funny remark from a Tokio Hotel fan who was mad at me for making a parody Death Metal version of Tokio Hotel’s Schrei. So I just told her, if you don’t like Death Metal then just don’t listen to it.

8.On the recordings you play a variety of many different musical instruments, how long have you been working as a musician?

I started playing music with piano lessons at the age of 9 I think.

After that I also picked up the acoustic guitar, electric guitar and bass.

So more or less 18 years I think.

I think it was at age 14 or 15 when I also began with songwriting and playing in bands.

9.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician in the future?

I’m already about to start a new project very soon in which I will collaborate with Eric Mol, the guitar player and former lead singer of ‘Violent Queen’ and keyboard player Johan Seinen.

I will be writing the lyrics for their new album which will probably be about some crazy science fiction story/project involving Artificial Intelligence rockets or satellites exploring the universe.

Maybe I will also compose some music for them and do some vocals on the new album, but I’m not sure about that yet.

At the moment I am also learning/taking courses to become a fully certified software testing engineer. I hope and think I will probably finish these studies in March next year. Afterwards, I hope I will be able to move to the big city again and start a band or write a few songs with a band again and hopefully, also be able to play a few Walter Fornication songs live in the future.

I also think I have got enough ideas and inspiration left for two more Walter Fornication albums in the future, but I’m not sure when I will be making a new album again.

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 think my main influences are in the Old School Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Groove Metal and Thrash Metal area.
Think about bands like Death, Iron Maiden, Kreator, Machine Head, Megadeth, Morbid Angel and Obituary.

Nevertheless, I really try to find and create my own style with Walter Fornication and not just try to imitate a particular artist or genre.

Basically, I like to listen to most Metal genres. I am not that much of a fan though, of the overly happy Power Metal things and the really extreme genres like Brutal Death Metal or Grindcore etc. Which might sound strange because I know many people in the scene who do like to it but for me it just becomes too generic, uninspiring and repetitive after a few songs.

I also listen to a lot of non-Metal music such as music from Video Games, ‘80’s Hard Rock, Darkwave, EDM/Industrial, (Medieval) Folk, Latin, Psychedelic Rock, Punk and sometimes even some Classical Music and Blues as well.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

I really like to travel, see new places and meet new people from different cultural backgrounds.

I also speak four languages (Dutch, English, German and Spanish) on a more or less fluent level and I am a bit proficient in a few others. I have also written a few lyrics, or parts of lyrics in languages other than English.

Moreover, I really like to read and learn a lot about computers and software, history, politics, psychology or science in general, but I am also just a guy who likes to hang out with friends, visit concerts, drink a few beers and watch some crazy underground, cult movies. I also occasionally perform as a writer and poet in the local area where I live.

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

I would just like to say.

I really want to thank the people and the fans who really helped me with Walter Fornication the past two years.

Most importantly, I want to thank my big friend Jur from Y.U.R. Frontal Core Studio who mixed and mastered all the tracks for ‘On A Journey Through Time And Space’ and also remixed all the tracks for A Revolution’s Dawn, the first demo album, which you can find online right now as well.

Without his help, time and effort, the albums wouldn’t have sounded half as great as they do now.

I also want to thank:

Wesley from GFR (Gewoon Fucking Raggen) who made the logo for Walter Fornication and the album art for A Revolution’s Dawn.

Vince from Cavum Scriptorium who made the album art for the second album.

Dimitrios from DrainHope who made the first two official music videos for Walter Fornication.

Cátia from Against PR who let me do this interview.

Thank you guys, couldn’t have done it without you. 😉

Limbsplitter/Chloroform Cocktail/Unmatched Brutality Records/2017 CD Review

  Limbsplitter  are  a  band  from  Ohio  that  plays  a  very  brutal  form  of  gore/death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  album  "Chloroform  Cocktail'  which  will  be  released in  November  by  Unmatched  Brutality  Records.

  Horror  movie  samples  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very  fast  and  brutal  direction  which  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  along  with  the  vocals  being  mostly death  metal  growls  while  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  When  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  remain  true  to  an  old  school  of  death  metal  while  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  the  vocals  also  adding  in  screams  at  times  and  the  music  always  remains  very  heavy  and  brutal  sounding  from  beginning  to  end.

  Limbsplitter  plays  a  style  of  gore/death  metal  that  is  very  brutal  and  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  death,  gore,  porn  and  violence  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Limbsplitter  are  a  very  great  sounding  brutal  and  old  school  gore/death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Bound  For  Defilement"  "Slaughtered  SLut  (Gutted  Fuck)"  and  "My  Skin  Crawls".  8  out  of  10.  

Right To The Void/Lunatio/WormHoleDeath Records/2017 EP Review

  Right  To  The  Void  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  very  modern  and  melodic mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  ep  "Lunatio"  which  will  be  released  in  November  by  WormHoleDeath  Records.

  Clean  playing  starts  off  the  ep   before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  and  screams  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to them  as  well  as  the  riffs  also  using  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  at  times  the  vocals  get  semi  melodic.

  A  great  amount  of  modern  thrash  metal  elements  can  be  heard  in  the  music  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  along  with  clean  playing  also  being  used  at  times  and  one  track  brings  in a  brief  use  of  synths  and  spoken  word  parts.

  Right  To  The  Void  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  melodic death  metal  and  modern  thrash  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of   their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  philosophical  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Right  To  The  Void  are  a  very  great  sounding  modern  and  melodic  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Let  The  Ruins  Fall".  8  out  of  10.    

Ivan Miladinov Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and the musical project?
My name is Ivan Miladinov as the moniker suggests, I`m a 19 year old multi-instrumentalist from Bulgaria.I started playing piano at the age of 6 and that`s where my musical journey started.When I entered highschool I formed my first band where I played keyboards, I played a lot of shows with that band all over the country but became extremely uninterested in it because they weren`t playing my style of music, so I formed this project to express all the music I have composed.


2.So far you have released a demo and a single, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recordings?
When I was 15/16 years old my favourite band was Children Of Bodom, because I was absolutely fascinated how they blended black metal/death metal and power metal in one mix, so I would describe my sound the same way because this band was my MAIN influence.


3.According to the Metal Archives page you have been active since 2012 but waited until 2015 to release any music, can you tell us a little bit more about the earlier years?
Yes, this is because the idea for the project was kinda born when I was still in my previous band, but I was just experimenting in my home studio without releasing anything.


4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explore with your music?
The lyrics deal with depression and hatred, but I never wrote lyrics for the sake of atmosphere and cool words, some of the lyrics in both songs deal directly with the feeling of denial I experienced towards my ex-bandmates who didn`t let my creative flow enter the writing realm of the band.


5.On the recordings you record everything by yourself, are you open to working with other musicians or do you prefer to work alone?
Actually Bob Katsionis from Firewind helped me a lot with this project, because when I composed the songs I did it all on keyboards and at the time had no skill on Guitar/Bass or drums so I asked him to help me with these things as well as the production.I prefer the band setting a lot more but if a person has a clear vision of all the instruments and how should they go I encourage them to do it on their own.


6.Have you also played in any other bands before in this past?
Yes, as I said in the previous questions, It was mainly a cover band though.


7.How did you get in contact with 'Club Inferno Ent'?
I simply sent them the songs and asked them if they would be interested in releasing them, luckily they were!


8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of melodic death metal?
Well, generally people enjoy it a lot and I`m really happy about that.


9.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician in the future?
Right now I`m the drummer of another band and we`re pushing really hard right now, I hope i would be able to tour the world and fulfill all my musical dreams


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?
The bands that influenced my solo project are COB,Wintersun,Ensiferum,Norther,Sonata Arctica,Stratovarius,Naildown and Nightrage. Right now the picture is really different than before, I listen to a lot of Norwegian black metal,classic oldschool death metal and  also modern bands like Gojira and Trivium.One of my biggest musical discoveries is Devin Townsend, when I found out about him I listened to all his records and became obsessed, I even had the pleasure to watch him perform live recently.


11.What are some of your non musical interests?
I like going out on hikes in the nature also sometimes I play video games for relaxation. Actually I don`t do much things outside of the music realm.


12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Yes, listen to metal and make your life free of the MAN!
Hope you can listen to "Soul Finder". Here you can find many of the ways to do it - http://smarturl.it/MILADINOV

Odious Icon/Planet Of Immense Decay/Negative Vibe Records/2017 Full Length Review

  Odious  Icon  are  a  band  from  Norway  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  with  some  black  metal  touches  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  album  "Planet  of  Immense  Decay"  which  will  be  released  on  October  27th  by  Negative  Vibe  Records.

  A  very  fast  and  brutal  sound  start s off  the  album  along  with  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  death metal  growls  and  the  riffs  also  mix  in  a  great  amount  of  thrash  elements  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  hear  a  great mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  the  screams  bring  in  a  touch  of  black  metal  along  with  the  music  also  mixing  in  a  great  amount  of  80's  and  90's  influences  as  well  as  taking  the  old  school  style  into  more  of  a  modern  direction  and  some  of  the  fast  riffs  also  add  in  a  small  amount  of  blackened  style  tremolo  picking  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  finally  utilized  they  remain  very  true  to  an  old  school  style  and  the  music  always  remains  very  heavy  and  brutal.

  Odious  Icon  plays  a  musical style  that  takes  a  brutal  and  old  school  style  of  death  metal  and  mixes  it  with  thrash  and  a  touch  of  black  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  life,  death  and  the  destruction  and  decay  of  mankind.

  In  my  opinion  Odious  Icon  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  with  some  black  metal  touches and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Planet  Of  Immense  Decay"  "Hate"  "Bleed  The  Bastards"  and  "Exsanguination".  8  out  of  10

Cannibal Corpse/Red Before Black/Metal Blade Records/2017 CD Full Length Review

  Cannibal Corpse  have  returned  with  a  new  recording  that  continues  the  brutal  death  metal  sound  that  they  are  known  for  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  album  "Red  Before  Black"  which  will  be  released  in  November  by  Metal  Blade  Records.

  A  very  heavy  and  brutal  sound  starts  off t he  album  along  with  some  blast  beats  a  few  seconds  later  while  the  music  are  mostly  death  metal  growls  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies.

  Most  of  the  music  sticks  to  the  style  the  band  established  in  the  90's  while  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  some  screams  also  being  utilized  at  times  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  remain  very  true  to  an  old  school  style  and  the  music  always  remains  heavy  and  brutal.

  Cannibal  Corpse  creates  another  recording  that  remains true  to  the  brutal  death  metal  style  they  are  known  for,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  gore,  death,  torture,  cannibalism  and  zombie  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Cannibal  Corpse  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Only  One  Will  Die"  "Shedding  My  Human  Skin"  "Scavenger  Consuming  Death"  and  "Hideous  Ichor".  8  out  of  10.