Devast/Apocalyptic Human Extinction/Gore House Productions/2016 CD Review

  Devast  are  a  band  with members  from  Algeria  and  Argentina  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  very  brutal  and  technical  form  of  gore/death  metal  and  this  is  a  review of  their  2016  album  "Apocalyptic  Human  Extinction"  which  was  released  by  Gore  House  Productions.

  A  very  dark  sounding  intro  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  touches  of  noise  and  avant  garde  music  before  going  inno  a  very  fast  and  brutal  direction  that  also  introduces  blast  beats  and  deep  death  metal  growls  onto  the  recording  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  technical  fashion  and  you  can  also  hear  melodies  at  times.

  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  touches  of  grindcore  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and  as  the  album  progresses  elements  of  slam  are  added  into  the  mid  tempo  parts  of  the  tracks  while  the  vocals  also  start  getting  more  guttural.

  Devast  creates  a  recording  that  remains  true  to  the  technical  and  brutal  style  of  death  metal  from  their  previous  release  while  also  showing  some  progress  and  dropping  the  deathcore  elements,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  death,  murder,  extinction  and  apocalyptic  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Devast  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  technical  and  brutal  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Chaotic  Proliferation"  "Chapter  Of  Neverending  Torment"  "Catashropic  beastSpawn"  and  "Apocalyptic  Human  Extinction  III".  8  out  of  10.  

   

Beating Dead Meat/With Full Force/Inverse Records/2016 Full Length Review

  Beating  Dead  Meat  are  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  brutal  and  melodic  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "With  Full  Force"  which  will  be  released  in  December  by  Inverse  Records.

  A  very  hard,  heavy  and  modern  sound  starts  off  the  album  and  the  riffs  also  use  a  great  amount  of  melody and  after  the  intro  high  pitched  screams  are  added  onto  the  recording  and  the  songs  also  mix  in  a  great  amount  of  groove  in t he  riffing  as  well  as  a  great  amount  of  modern  day thrash  metal  influences.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  as  the  album  progresses  the  songs  start  bringing  in  a  decent  mixture of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  only utilized  almost  towards  the  end  and  the  album  remains  heavy  from  beginning  to  ending  of  the  recording  and  they  also  close  the  album  with  a  Pantera  cover.

  Beating  Dead  Meat  plays  a  musical  style  that takes  melodic  death  metal  and  mixes  it  with  a  modern  day  form  of  thrash  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  angry  and  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Beating  Dead  Meat  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  melodic  death  and  modern  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Straight  to  Hell"  "The  Few  And  The  Proud"  "The  Powers  That  Be"  and  "The  Great  Northern  Djentkill".  8  out  of  10. 

Irate Architect Interview

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

We started Irate Architect in 2003. The first step was to give the underground scene our debut single (7" & CD) "Born Blood Portrait" in 2005, which got great reviews, also festivals and labels were interested in us since the output. Then we signed a deal with "War Anthem Records" and released our first full length album (CD) "Visitors" in 2007, afterwards we played more festivals and little tours. In 2010 our drummer Philipp suffered from a disease so Irate Architect paused for a while. In 2013 got back on track and recorded new songs and one coversong for a split with the powerviolence band Yacopsae. The release lately came out in the beginning of 2016 via "Haunted Hotel Records" (NY) as 10", CD or "die hard edition" with a bonus 5" and got a worldwide distribution. Before the release came out our drummer Philipp quit and we found a new talent and friend in Zlatko, together we wrote the brandnew track "Circle of Exile" and created a video for this song (you´ll find it on youtube).

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

The "Born Blood Portrait" output is a raw piece of deathgrind with a groovy punk attitude.

"Visitors" is more technical death metal with a very transparent sound and different bunch of songs and feelings (from fast and brutal to slower and ambient).

The split songs with Yacopsae have a really brutal and modern sound and combine the styles of the previous both outputs with great hooks, atmosphere and song structures.


3.The band has been around since 2003 but so far has only released an ep, full length and a split, can you tell us a little bit more about the gap in between releases?


The gap between the first two outputs (2005 & 2007) is pretty usual. We have done some touring and songwriting, but we were also a bit burnt out. In 2010 we had a long break. After this period we started writing the split stuff from 2013-2014. In 2015 our drummer Philipp quit and we did a restart in the end of 2015 with Zlatko. Now we are motivated as hell and hope to release a new full length album in the end of 2017.


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


The most of the lyrics are personal or fictional short stories and gives enough space for interpretation.
Some stories are bloody or mystical, others are more emotional and with depth.

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

We are irate against the system, mankind, world order, our selfs and putting this aggression into our own architectural wall of sound.

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?

The festival show at Party-San open air was outstanding, Deathfeast open air and many more were also good, but we also love passionate club gigs.
We try to put our personal and musical aggression on stage but with a more serious touch.

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

First we are focusing on songwriting for a new Album. After that we will do the plans for upcoming shows and tours, but request are always welcome.
Right now we have got 2 external requests for festival shows in 2017.


8.All 3 of your releases have came out on different labels, can you tell us a little bit more about the labels you have worked with?

"Third Alliance Records" was the label from our guitarist Jens.

"War Anthem Records" gave us whole musical and conceptional freedom. We have chosen and done all the artwork, layout etc. by ourself. Luckily we got a worldwide distribution of "Visitors" and a great promotional work.

"Haunted Hotel Records" (NY) led by Ralph is a very likeable supporter of the underground scene and gave us whole musical and conceptional freedom too,
so an artist from Hamburg (Sebastian Feld) created the complete split artwork and layout. We have chosen output formats (10", 5", CD), cover songs…


9.Recently you where a part of a split with 'Yacopsae', what are your thoughts on the other band that had participated on the recording?


Yacopsae are longtime friends from our hometown Hamburg, we met them in 2005,
since then we stayed in contact and did also some gigs together. Also the contact to Ralph of "Haunted Hotel Records" was caused by Stoffel of Yacopsae. Furthermore they are very friendly and freaky guys who play a complete unique style of music, a mix of punk, grind, stop motion, aggression and speed as hell, so check them out!!!


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

The feedback was almost entirely great from all around the world but didn´t achieved the big audience yet.

11.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?

Our Guitarist Jens and Bassist Kai have two other projects. One is a instrumental acoustic guitar project called Aenima. The total opposite of Irate Architect. Peaceful, sensitive and unhasty, but very listenable and just great music. The other project is a sludge band. Currently without a name, but they are working on an output. So in the near future, there will be more information to come.
Our drummer Zlatko is involved in a death metal project, which is, at the moment, just a rehearsal room band, but will release some recorded songs in the future.


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

We´ll follow our current path and try to create heavy and unique music to be a serious part of the death metal scene.


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?

All band members brings different influences into our music.
The earlier IA songs were more influenced by punk and grind,
nowadays we are writing more variable death metal songs.

We´re listening to very different styles of music, but with the priority on death metal.
Here´s a small list of some bands we listen to: Suffocation, Cryptopsy, Napalm Death, Satyricon, Entombed, Acid Bath, Grand Magus, Morbid Angel, Rotten Sound, Ulcerate, Gorguts, Origin, Nero di Marte, EyeHateGod, Triptykon, Cro-Mags, The Dwarves, Down, Alice in Chains, Bohren & the Club of Gore, John Grant, Queens of the Stone Age, The Heavy, Portishead, Vitalic...


14.What are some of your non musical interests?

Non musical interest are movies, books, red wine, exhibitions, theater, eating well, art, culture, whisky, museums, concerts, life.


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

Thank you for the interview!
Be who you are, stay tolerant and reflected

Burn Down Eden Interview

1. For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Sure. When Burn Down Eden was founded in 2012, we were four guys trying to do some Death Metal alongside our studies in Dresden. But it was more like meeting to practice which ended up in drinking lots of beer, haha. After a while we´ve had personal changes. Our friend Jakob left the band and part-time bassist William became the lead guitarist. He´s the musical brain in our formation now and a very, very good guitarist. So, as we all wanted to do more melodic stuff, we improved our skills and simultaneously our ambitions grew. That all started in April 2014. At this time we had to write a lot of new stuff, because we were booked for a show in August 2014 as support for Misery Index in Dresden. That was our sword of Damocles! If this show would have been a real disaster, Burn Down Eden wouldn´t exist anymore, haha. But luckily for us, we´ve got lots of good feedback, so we decided to keep things rolling. In December 2014 we hit the studio and recorded the EP "Memoirs of Human Error". It was more kind of a DEMO, because we sent it to a couple of labels, where we found Sliptrick Records as a partner. Playing a couple of shows in 2015 and being always quite productive, we hit the studio again in December 2015 to make the next step and to record our first LP "Ruins of Oblivion"! This was released by the German label 7hard for the German speaking countries and is gonna be released by Sliptrick Records to the rest of the world.

2. So far you have released an ep and a full length, how would you describe the musical sound that is represented on the recordings?
The sound on "Memoirs of Human Error" is pretty rough, but not that bad at all. On "Ruins of Oblivion" we´ve re-amped the guitar and bass signals, so that we´ve had more scope to play with the sound. We have three different ENGL sounds on there. But overproduction is not. We kept a little bit roughness alive. What you hear is what you get, also live! But the most ear-catching change is the voice. Our former vocalist Jules decided to leave the band in September 2015, but in Kai we found a suitable substitute.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
The lyrics are covering a broad variety of topics. From criticism about society like in "Cosmogyral Miscarriage" or "Omnivorous", over to depression and the drug abuse coming along with it to handle the pain like in "Pandemonic Overture", up to hanging out with the guys and drinking tons of beer like in "Sons of Isengrim". We like to tell stories from every point of view. Sometimes we just jump into a serial killer´s mind telling his story ["Kronossphere"], haha. All in all, it´s very figuratively. You have to think about it once or twice to understand the subject matter behind the told story.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Burn Down Eden'?
The ‘Eden’ stands for our superficial, consumeristic society, figuratively. Like the Bible suggests us a place, where every wish comes true, all the commercials try to sell us that consumption is paradise. So, it´s against both hypocrisies, church (whether Christian, Islamic or whatsoever) and capitalism.

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
The show as support for Misery Index was definitely a highlight. As I mentioned earlier, it was our first show with new line-up, new songs and the band´s consistency on the line. Lots of pressure, haha! Apart from that, we had our record release show at Evolution of Metal (a concert series organized by our friends in the band "The Last Hangmen") in Dresden on October 22nd.  That was pretty awesome, too.
Yeah, how to describe your own performance!? That’s a tough one. What we´ve got told is (what you see from in front of the stage) that we have fun and are very passionate in doing this. We try to play with the audience, as long as the licks allow it (haha), but in Kai we also have a lead singer, who´s always doing a great job!

6. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
Yes we have. But unfortunately reality differs with your own imagination. The scene now has changed over the last decade. We´ve all played in different bands before and it was definitely easier to book shows for your band 10 years ago. All the small town venues died out because of the urban sprawl and promoters' won´t pay for a support band which is from 200 km away. Instead they usually charge a fee.
But we´re always in in close collaboration with Fylo [booker of Sliptrick Records], so I think there´s something coming in the near future.

7. Currently the band is signed to 'Sliptrick Records', are you happy with the support that they have given you so far?
I´ve to be honest, we didn´t had the best start at all, but that´s history and all the issues are solved. So, we´re pretty happy now, yes!

8. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of melodic death metal?
Until now it is pretty good. We´re glad that the fans like what we do! We´ve also got great reviews by the German magazine´s RockHard and Legacy. That confirms you in your work and to keep things rolling.

9. Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
I guess we just keep our style…melodically and fast but maybe a bit more deepness at some point! We´re still a very young band and have a lot of space to improve our technical skills, our sound and our songwriting. As I mentioned earlier, we´re quite productive. “Ruins of Oblivion” is recently out of the press shop and our second LP is already in the making. This one is going to be more technical, more extensive and more complex at some point, but still typical “Burn Down Eden”-style.

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?
We´re definitely influenced by At the Gates, Arsis and the old In Flames. I guess you can hear that. But we´re also influenced by lots of 80´s metal. Especially William listens to all the big shredders like Yngwie Malmsteen, Greg howe, Guthrie Govan, Paul Gilbert and Buckethead.
The music we´re listening to nowadays is a wide variety. For me, Vektor is one of the best bands we have right now! Or in times where I like to listen to more Heavy Metal kind of stuff, I always come back to 3 Inches of Blood…it´s a bummer that they´d quit last year. William also likes to listen to some Jazz sometimes. But because of his job he is forced to listen to every kind of music.

11. What are some of your non musical interests?
We really like to drink beer! A lot, haha!!!

12. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Actually, we´d really like to thank all the people who are interested in our sound, what we do and who supported us so far. Hopefully, we will see all of them on a show nearby their hometowns very soon.

Decadawn/Solitary Confinement/2014 CD Review

  Decadawn  are  a  band  from  Montreal,  Quebec,  Canada  that  plays  a  very  melodic  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2014  album  "Solitary  Confinement".

  A  very  hard,  heavy  and  melodic  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  high  pitched  death  metal  screams  a  few  seconds  later  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  use  a  great  amount  of  traditional  metal  style  melodies  and  clean  singing  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording.

  Growls  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and  the  music  also  brings  in  a  great  amount  of  Swedish  influences and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast parts  and  clean  guitars  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  while  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  long  and  epic  in  length and  some  of  the  fast  riffing  also  uses  a decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking.  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  whispers  as  the  album  progresses  while  a  later  track  brings  in  elements  of  electronic  music.

  Decadawn  plays  a  style  of  melodic  death  metal  that  mixes  both  the  old  school and  modern  day  variations  of  the  genre  together,  the  production  sounds  very professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  sadness  and  death  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Decadawn  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Disappear"  "Everblack"  "Until  Dawn"  and  "The  Running  Man".  8  out  of  10.

Lago/Calm Hatchery/Selfmadegod Records/Battleground Records/2016 Split 7 Inch Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  7  inch  between  Arizona's  Lago  and  Poland's  Calm  Hatchery  which  will  be  released  in  December  as  a  joint  effort  between  Selfmadegod  Records  and  battleground  Records  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Lago  a  band  that  has  been  featured before  in  this  zine  and  plays death  metal  with  some  black  metal  influences.

  Their  side  of  the split  starts  off  with a  very  brutal  death  metal  sound  along  with  some  dark  sounding  melodies  and  clean  playing  that  adds  in  a  touch  of  black  metal  and  the  vocals  are  mostly  growls  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  the  solos  and  leads  bring  in  a  Morbid  Angel  influence  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  their  side  of  the  recording,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  track  from  Lago  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  death  metal  with  some  black  metal  elements, you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.

  Next  up is  Calm  Hatchery  another  band  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  brutal  form  of  death  metal.

  There side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  a  very  heavy  and  old  school  sound  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  and  brutal  blast  beats  during  the  faster  sections  of  the  song  and  the  track  also  brings  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the solos  and  leads  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  and  their  is  also  a  brief  use  of  black  metal  screams,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

 In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  track  from  Calm  hatchery  and  if you  are  a  fan  of  brutal  death metal,  you  should  check  out  their  song.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  a  very great  sounding  splits  and  I  would  recommend  it  to  all  death  metal  fans.  8  out  of  10. 

Endless Curse Interview

Answered by Alex (Drums)

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

We – Willi(Guitar,Vocals), Erik(Bass, Vocals) and Alex (Drums) – are Endless Curse from a small village in Upper Swabia in Germany with a preference for brutal music.

2.Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

That's right, we just released our debut album „Slave Breeding Industry“.

In general we would describe our music as Death Metal. But on this record the listener can also find some elements of Black Metal, Hardcore and Grind. We try to write music, which is heavy and fast, just straight in the face with no frills. An important element of Endless Curse are the vocals of Erik and Willi, they make the LP more diversified.
Moreover we are no fans of ultra clean sound, which can be found on many modern productions nowadays. But guys of NekroWerk Studio managed to make the songs sound heavy and a little rough.

3.The band has bee around since 2009 but so far has only put out 2 releases, can you tell us a little bit more about the gap in between releases?

There are several reasons for just 2 releases in 7 years of band history.

We all have full time jobs and Endless Curse is just a big hobby of ours. We spend as much time as possible for music, but there a periods of time, in which we concentrate on other things.
Besides we don't rush to write music, try to concentrate on song details and we also take some time in order to improve our skills.


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

There are 5 songs on the new LP, which are connected lyrically, criticizing the modern world.

The album starts with “We lived in chains”, telling the story of a guy chained up in a dark cell. He is waiting for help from a higher power. But he realizes, that he is the only one, which can help himself. He takes control and responsibility over his life.

“Get Free” is aimed at the work life, which makes us slaves. We are just a product, which can be replaced.

“Listen” is addressed to people in power, sending young man into useless wars.

Our money-grubbing society is covered in “Breathe Greed”.

“False Flag” tells the story of governments, trying to start wars and conflicts using false flag actions. But they didn't think through the consequences, which lead to future attacks against their own society.


Out of topic are the song “I'm too old”, which is an homage to the movie Lethal Weapon and the song “Boiling Blood”, which tells a story of a father, who discovered a demon inside him after his family being killed.

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

There is no big meaning behind our name. We were just hanging out with some beer and someone came up with EC. We liked it and get stuck with it since then. But if you want a meaning:

Our music is a curse, which the listener can't get rid of.

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?

I can't remember to a have “the best show”. A good show is, when at least one guy comes to the merch table after the show, to tell us, that the show was great.

Since we are playing Death Metal, which is fast and full of energy, we also try to perform our shows with a lot of energy. Especially Willi and Erik are animating as much as they can. Another important feature of our shows is to have fun on stage and be natural.

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

At the moment we are promoting our LP via the internet, radio and some shows across the country.

Big touring is not planned so far.

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

We are not specifically looking for a label, but if we would get an offer, which would meet our requirements, we won't say no.

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

Most people and webzines react positive to our new release so far. This is a great appreciation and a big motivation for us.
There are just some people, which are confused, because our looking and name does not correspond to our music. But we take it calmly and use it as a surprise effect.

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

Our music will stay fast and brutal as it is now. But we will try to evolve our sound, write riffs, that more catchy and parts, which might surprise the listener.

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?

The influences change over the years. At the beginning we were more influenced by Metalcore bands. Nowadays we listen to a wider range of metal music. Such as Benighted, Cannibal Corpse, Aborted, Vader, Black Bomb A, Get a Shot, Alestorm, Blink182, Napalm Death, System of Down … just to mention a few.



12.What are some of your non musical interests?

We are doing martial arts, which is a great change and it keeps us fit to play such heavy music. Otherwise we do the same thing every one, hanging out together, drinking beer, visiting concerts …

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

We want to thank VarietyOfDeathZine for this interview. Moreover we thank our fans and supporters around the globe. We really appreciate it. Get our debut release “Slave Breeding Industry” or a T-Shirt at our store. Visit our shows or just get in touch with us.


greetings

Alex