REVIEW "NORTH FROM HERE - THE SENTENCED STORY"

I've read quite a few band biographies, but few have been as interesting and touching as "North from here- The Sentenced Story", written by Matti Riekki, published by Svart Records.

I can still remember my first contact with the band's music. In Rock Hard magazine Germany, "North from here", the band's second album, was celebrated, and so I bought it in the Saturn Cologne at Hansaring (which, by the way, at that time in the distant year 1993 was considered - at least officially - the biggest CD selection in the world). I even remember that I also bought Sadist's "Above the light" and "The jilemnice occultist" by the Czechs from Masters Hammer.

INTERVIEW REXUL

Rexul hailing from Gummersbach in the Bergisches Land region, Germany, recently released a strong debut album (read the review HERE )that should convince every fan of sophisticated death metal with its great mixture of brutality and atmosphere.

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Hello, please introduce Rexul in short form. Who are you, when did the band start, how long did it take you to write and record the album? How were the reactions of the press and your environment so far?

We, Benny and Simon, formed Rexul from the ashes of Diabolical Imperium and Eklipsis in September 2018. In the same month we immediately started writing the first riffs and lyrics; it took us 31 months to write the whole record. So far, the reactions from the press have been good to very good. For some listeners the songs are too long or some riffs or melodies are repeated. For us, the songs were perfect at the moment we recorded them, but we don't know any musician who wouldn't change something in the recording or songwriting afterwards.

INTERVIEW VOMIT SPELL

The name Vomit Spell had been known to me for some time. In fact, I had listened to the demo some time ago, but then lost track of the band again. A mistake, as it now turns out, as the debut album released on FDA Records a few months ago offers great stuff for all fans of dark sounds who know what to do with a dark and intense mixture of death metal and grindcore (read the review of the album HERE) !

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Hey, first tell us something about the band. When was Vomit Spell founded? Did you all know each other before or did you at least partly get to know each other through the band? In which other bands did you play before?

Hi, Markus (guitar) and Jochen (drums) met in 2015 through an ad and first met in a friend's rehearsal room to see if it would fit. The first song was then written and rehearsed in Jochen's gazebo (!!!). Then we rented a room and recruited Philipp (vocals) and Sepp (bass), both buddies. Marco, our second guitarist, joined us shortly before the demo was written. Sepp has left us in the meantime and since then we have been desperately looking for a replacement on bass. Markus used to play in the grindcore band Nyctophobic and since a few years in the crust/metal band Hellknife. Jochen was active in Hafrm, a local hardcore band from Mainz, and the death metal band I am Havoc.

REVIEW VOMIT SPELL "VOMIT SPELL" (ENGLISH)

Vomit Spell from Mainz released their self-titled debut album on FDA Records in October last year, after a first demo was released in 2019. In 2020, this demo was also released officially on CD by FDA Records.

Vomit Spell play a great mixture of death metal and grindcore. I just throw names like Terrorizer, Repulsion, Napalm Death, Carcass or Autopsy into the round. But, to name a band that doesn't belong to this circle of old masters, you can bring the Danes of Undergang into play. So you see, this is not about technique and sophisticated aspects, but Vomit Spell dig deep in the dirt to create these ominous sounds. So on this release, atmosphere and authenticity take centre stage over the course of a good half hour!    

REVIEW VOMIT SPELL "VOMIT SPELL"

Vomit Spell aus Mainz veröffentlichten im Oktober letzten Jahres ihr selbstbetiteltes Debütalbum auf FDA Records, nachdem im Jahr 2019 schon ein erstes Demo veröffentlicht wurde. Dieses gelangte 2020 schlussendlich ebenfalls bei FDA Records nachträglich zu offiziellen Veröffentlichungsehren auf CD.

Vomit Spell spielen eine großartige Mischung aus Death Metal und Grindcore. Ich werfe hier einfach mal Namen wie Terrorizer, Repulsion, Napalm Death, Carcass oder Autopsy in die Runde. Aber, um eine Band zu benennen, die nicht diesem Kreis der alten Meister zugehörig ist, kann man die Dänen von Undergang ins Spiel bringen. Ihr seht also schon, hier geht es nicht um Technik und Schöngeisterei, sondern Vomit Spell wühlen tief im Dreck um diese unheilvollen Klänge zu erschaffen. Auf dieser Veröffentlichung stehen also Atmosphäre und Authentizität im Laufe der guten halben Stunde im Vordergrund!    

REVIEW REXUL "EREBUS...VIRTUOSUS...ALPHA" (ENGLISH)

Rexul from Gummersbach in the beautiful Bergisches Land region released their debut album these days (actually two months ago) on FDA Records, probably Germany's most distinguished death metal label. The two band members S. Milizia and B. Oprea were previously (temporary) active with Diabolical Imperium, who released two albums and were active between 1993 and 2015. It's perhaps due to this history that Rexul did not content themselves with a demo or an EP as their first sign of life, but instead came directly to the public's attention with a complete album.  

REVIEW REXUL "EREBUS...VIRTUOSUS...ALPHA"

Rexul aus Gummersbach im schönen Bergischen Land veröffentlichten dieser Tage (genau genommen schon vor zwei Monaten) ihr Debütalbum auf FDA Records, Deutschlands wohl profiliertestem Death Metal Label. Die beiden Bandmitglieder S. Milizia und B. Oprea waren vorher schon (zeitweise) bei Diabolical Imperium tätig, die zwei Alben veröffentlichten und zwischen 1993 und 2015 tätig waren. Gerade dieser Vorgeschichte ist vielleicht auch geschuldet, dass sich Rexul erst gar nicht mit einem Demo oder einer EP als erstem Lebenszeichen begnügten, sondern direkt mit einem kompletten Album in den Fokus der Öffentlichkeit treten.  

INTERVIEW VERHÄNGNIS (ENGLISH VERSION)

Good things take time  

In October 2020 I discovered more or less by coincident the Bandcamp profile of a band called Verhängnis (the german term for doom or fate), who offered two releases there, a demo and an album. Fascinating, gruff, dragging doomdeath with echoing vocals and expressionistic German lyrics had immediately caught my attention. Associatively, the legendary Australians of Disembowelment came directly to my mind. I wrote to the band to ask if they were interested in an interview and heard nothing for a long time. Then, at the beginning of 2022, I suddenly received a mail out of nowhere that my message must have been hidden deep in the spam folder. Well, almost one and a half years later this interview can take place after all, meanwhile the band also has a second album called "Irrlicht" in their repertoire, which was released in October 2021.

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Hello, please tell us something more about Verhängnis. When exactly and from what occasion followed the formation of Verhängnis?

Hi. First of all, thank you for the invitation to the interview. I'll have to elaborate a bit more. I've been playing in various bands for quite some time and have also been involved in recording technology and music production for a few years now. Together with one of my closest friends, I spontaneously went into the rehearsal room around 2015 and we recorded the demo for our then two-man project Kriegszittern without much prior knowledge, with simple means and a lot of experimentation. Over time, more and more equipment and experience came along and I started working with synthesizers, drum machines and MIDI. Sometime in 2018 I started to combine the two areas and recorded the songs that would later be called "Finsternis" and "Abgrund". I didn't have a fixed idea in which direction it should go and just tried it out. After I tinkered with the two songs every now and then over the next two years, but actually had enough other stuff to do, the pandemic came in 2020 and everything was put on hold for the time being.

INTERVIEW VERHÄNGNIS

Gut Ding will Weile haben  

Im Oktober 2020 entdeckte ich mehr oder weniger zufällig das Bandcamp-Profil einer Band namens Verhängnis, die zwei Veröffentlichungen, ein Demo und ein Album, dort anbot. Faszinierender, grufig-ranziger, schleppender Doomdeath mit hallenden Vocals und expressionistischen deutschen Texten hatte unverzüglich meine Neugier geweckt. Assoziativ kamen mir die legendären Australier von Disembowelment direkt in den Sinn. Ich schrieb die Band an, ob Interesse an einem Interview bestände und hörte erst einmal lange Zeit nichts mehr. Angang 2022 erhielt ich dann plötzlich aus dem Nichts eine Mail, dass meine Nachricht wohl ganz tief im Spamordner versteckt gewesen war. Nun gut, also fast anderthalb Jahre später kann dieses Interview doch noch stattfinden, mittlerweile hat die Band auch ein im Oktober 2021 veröffentlichtes zweites Album namens "Irrlicht" im Repertoire.

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Hallo! Erzähle doch mal bitte etwas mehr zu Verhängnis. Wann genau und aus welchem Anlass heraus folgte die Gründung von Verhängnis?

Hi. Erstmal Danke für die Einladung zum Interview. Da muss ich direkt ein bisschen weiter ausholen. Ich spiele seit längerer Zeit in diversen Bands und beschäftige mich seit einigen Jahren auch mit Aufnahmetechnik und Musikproduktion. Zusammen mit einem meiner engsten Freunde bin ich ungefähr 2015 spontan in den Proberaum gegangen und wir haben ohne große Vorkenntnisse, mit einfachen Mittel und viel Experimentierfreude die Demo für unser damaliges Zwei-Mann-Projekt Kriegszittern aufgenommen. Mit der Zeit kam immer mehr Equipment und Erfahrung dazu und ich hab angefangen mit Synthesizern, Drumcomputern und MIDI zu arbeiten. Irgendwann 2018 hab ich dann angefangen die beiden Bereiche zu verbinden und die Songs aufgenommen, die später einmal Finsternis und Abgrund heißen würden. Ich hatte keine feste Idee in welche Richtung die Sache gehen sollte und hab einfach ausprobiert. Nachdem ich in den nächsten zwei Jahren immer mal wieder an den beiden Songs rumgebastelt hab, aber eigentlich genug anderen Kram zu tun hatte, kam dann 2020 die Pandemie und alles war erstmal auf Eis gelegt.