Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Review Nocturno Culto's Gift of Gods "Recieve"
Thursday, October 16, 2025
Interview Night in Gales (english)
“And then we stood in front of all these unhappy, ultra-angry people, who were now even angrier because their heroes hadn't come and instead they were being served a complete untrue melodic death metal band.”
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Night in Gales, which the band will celebrate with an anniversary concert in November. The band's first release, the “Sylphlike” EP, will also be performed live in its entirety, as it has been completely re-recorded and will be released soon. So there are several good reasons to speak with guitarist and founding member Jens Basten. He has a lot to say, and in addition to the latest news, he also digs deep into the archives to tell old (tour) stories. These include the band's old hometown of Voerde, the numerous side projects and other bands of Night in Gales, musicians, bad business decisions, and militant vegan metalcore. But read for yourself...
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Let's start the interview with an event that took place a long time ago: September 20, 1998, Live Music Hall Cologne. Dismember, Gorgoroth, Children of Bodom, Agathodaimon, and Raise Hell are scheduled to play there as part of a Nuclear Blast festival. Suddenly, a promoter steps onto the stage and tells the audience that Gorgoroth has canceled (I can't remember the reason; there were no internet announcements back then) and that Night in Gales will be stepping in as a last-minute replacement. The whole hall seems to be angry (including me, haha), everyone was waiting for the ultra-evil Gorgoroth and then you came along with your contrasting melodic death metal. Do you remember? How did you experience it as a band? Did you play again later instead of Gorgoroth? I think I read something about that.

Sunday, October 12, 2025
Interview Night in Gales (deutsch)
Die Geburtsstunde von Night in Gales jährt sich dieses Jahr nun bereits zum 30. Mal, was die Band im November mit einem Jubiläumskonzert zelebrieren wird. Dort wird ebenso die erste Veröffentlichung der Band, die "Sylphlike" EP komplett live dargeboten, so wurde diese ja auch komplett neu aufgenommen und wird demnächst veröffentlicht. Es gibt also mehrere gute Gründe, Gitarrist und Gründungsmitglied Jens Basten auf den Zahn zu fühlen. Dieser hat einiges zu erzählen, und neben dem tagesaktuellen Geschehen kramt er auch ganz tief in der Kiste, um alte (Tour-) Geschichten zu erzählen. Dabei geht es auch um die alte Heimatstadt der Band, Voerde, die zahlreichen Nebenprojekte und weitere Bands der Night in Gales - Musiker, falsche Businessentscheidungen und militant-veganen Metalcore. Doch lest selbst...
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Fangen wir doch mal das Interview mit einem lange zurückliegenden Ereignis an: 20.09.1998, Live Music Hall Köln. Dort spielen bzw. sollen im Rahmen eines Nuclear Blast Festivals Dismember, Gorgoroth, Children of Bodom, Agathodaimon und Raise Hell spielen. Plötzlich tritt ein Promoter auf die Bühne, und berichtet dem Publikum, dass Gorgoroth ausfallen (der Grund ist mir entfallen; Internet-Ankündigungen gab es damals ja noch nicht) und dafür kurzzeitig Night in Gales als Ersatz einspringen. Die ganze Halle scheint wütend zu sein (inklusive mir, haha), alle warteten auf die ultrabösen Gorgoroth und dann kamt ihr mit eurem dazu im Kontrast stehendem Melo-Death. Erinnerst Du dich noch? Wie habt ihr als Band das erlebt? Habt ihr später auch noch mal mit anstelle von für Gorgoroth gespielt, ich meine entsprechendes gelesen zu haben?
Ja, das war tatsächlich eine Show der Nuclear Blast Festival - Tour. Gorgoroth waren kurzfristig ausgefallen und wir zum Füllen des Slots von Nuclear Blast kurzerhand draufgebucht worden. Dass wir dann aber als Ersatz für Gorgoroth auch an der Abendkasse und durch Ansagen der Promoter angekündigt wurden, war natürlich irgendwie Kacke. Das war insgesamt schon eine skurrile Situation, denn die waren durch den Image-Hype damals total Kult in der BM-Szene, wir konnten das jedoch überhaupt nicht ernst nehmen. Und dann standen wir vor den ganzen unglücklichen ultrabösen Menschen, die jetzt noch böser waren weil ihre Helden nicht kamen und sie stattdessen nun sogar eine komplette untrue Melodic Death Metal Band serviert bekamen. Naja, wir hatten wie immer trotzdem Spaß, meine ich mich zu erinnern. Wir haben alles mitgenommen. Zur Veröffentlichung von "Nailwork" waren wir dann wenig später mit Gorgoroth auch noch drei Wochen auf gemeinsamer Europatour, haha. Das war echt eine super Sause damals. In zwei Bussen tummelten sich außer uns noch die Leute und Crews von Old Mans Child, Krisiun, Soulreaper und Myrkskog. Viele der Norweger hatten den Sonnenbrand ihres Lebens nach einem Day Off und entsprechender Beach-Party bei St. Tropez und trugen beim Soundcheck am nächsten Tag kühlende Handtücher auf den Köpfen.
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Review Massacra "Signs of the decline"
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
Review Alastis "...and Death smiled"
Monday, October 6, 2025
Review Abysmal "The pillorian Age"
Sunday, October 5, 2025
Review Divine Eve "As the Angels Weep"
Friday, October 3, 2025
Essay: Artificial intelligence leads to decline
Thursday, October 2, 2025
Review Azath "Through a Warren of Shadow"
Thursday, September 25, 2025
Review Runemagick "Last skull of humanity"
Thursday, May 29, 2025
Interview Graceless
"In all the years that I have been playing in bands I have learned one thing, there is nothing more important than having the right group of people around you."
With diligence, perseverance and their fourth album “Icons of Ruin”, Dutch band Graceless have earned themselves a firm place in the Dutch and international scene as well as a place in the hearts of many fans. I spoke to founder, singer and guitarist Remco Kreft about the new album, the band's history, upcoming live activities with Asphyx and Sinister, the importance of a good social structure in the band and about the hopefully soon to be released new album by Soulburn, which also features Graceless' drummer Marc Verhaar alongside Remco.
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Hello, how is the new album "Icons of Ruin" going, what do you think of it now that it's finally out?
This is the best feeling ever! The album was already finished in December last year and we really had to be so patient. It's really a great feeling that we can now share it with everyone. The reviews are also amazing and we are of course super happy with that! We worked so hard on this.
Saturday, May 17, 2025
Review Discography Equinox (Florida, USA)
Thursday, May 15, 2025
Interview Svartsyn
"I rather like the images of bands in the early days who hardly took any pictures and didn't expose themselves as much as they do nowadays on social media and without corpse paint."
Svartsyn are a jewel of Swedish black metal and stand on equal footing with such illustrious names as Arckanum, Sorhin, Grafvitnir, Setherial or Ofermod. Five years after the great “Requiem” album, the band recently released a new album via Norma Evangelium Diaboli. In the interview with Ornias, who has been living in Belgium for several years now, you can find out to what extent this work also closes a circle to the beginnings of the (predecessor) band and why there will be no more live performances by Svartsyn (unfortunately I missed the band in Cologne on the joint tour with Behemoth and Desaster in the distant year 1997). But read for yourself...
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Hello Ornias, welcome to the interview. The new album “Vortex of the destroyer” has been out for a few weeks now, how do you rate the album with a little distance and how have the reactions been so far?
Hello and thanks for getting in touch for the interview. I haven't read that many or seen any reviews. But it seems that people enjoy the album very much. For myself I think the album is very strong but how it stand against all the other albums its too early to say. Since everything is new and fresh I would say in about a year when the recording process and the hard work behind it all is out of the system, than I can judge it a little bit better. But ranking your own albums is hard of course, since every album is taking a piece of flesh from your soul. At least I think all the albums contain high quality material.
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Filmrezension "Des Teufels Bad"
"Und weil ich vor Verdruß recht müde war dieses Lebens, so kam mir in den Sinn, begehe einen Mord." -Zitat zu Filmbeginn
Saturday, March 29, 2025
Filmrezension "Heretic"
Thursday, February 27, 2025
REVIEW CHAOS INCEPTION "VENGEANCE EVANGEL"
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
REVIEW DEINONYCHUS "FATALIST"
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
REVIEW MACERATION "SERPENT DEVOURMENT"
The Danes from Maceration released a very strong comeback album at the end of 2022 with “It never ends...”, after the band had been on ice for years following their 1992 debut album and a 95 promo release. Now, a little more than two years later, the next album by the men around Jakob Schultz, who was also active in the legendary thrash metal outfit Invocator, is already available. “It never ends...” convinced both fans and the press with its great, convincing and catchy old-school tracks (read an interview with Jakob Schultz from last year here ). Appearing once again on the great Danish label Emanzipation Productions, the extraordinary cover artwork once again shows the octopus-like underworld creature typical of Maceration. Like the artwork of the previous album, this cover was also drawn by Ola Larsson, who has once again created a wonderfully atmospheric artwork with a great light pale blue color scheme.
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
REVIEW TOTAL HATE "FORTHCOMING AGE OF THE REAPER"

Friday, February 7, 2025
INTERVIEW MERCYLESS
"For me, people are almost more important than the music .... Before you make music and give concerts, you need people who understand each other and get along."
Mercyless from Mulhouse, close to the German border, are probably one of the big three of French death metal, which also includes Massacra, who we have long since opposed, and Loudblast, who are still active. These bands made the underground happy with their first demos back in the mid or late 80s, soon followed by their respective debut albums, in the case of Mercyless the still great “Abject Offerings” with its iconic cover artwork by the famous Salvador Dali. After two not-so-great albums in the mid/late 90s and a ten-year hiatus, Mercyless have been back in full force since 2011 to present their ominous death metal. Last year, the band debuted on the legendary Osmose label with their outstanding work “Those who reign below”, which I can only warmly recommend to anyone who likes dark and sophisticated death metal. A good reason to talk to founding member, guitarist and vocalist Max Otero about the latest album, the band's history, French death metal, the value of friendship and the band's home town. But enough preamble, now read for yourself.
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Hello Max, greetings from the Rhineland to Mulhouse! How are you and the band? How do you rate your latest album “Those who reign below” and the reactions from fans and the press now that a few months have passed?
Thursday, February 6, 2025
REZENSION HÖRBUCH "HIGHWAY TO HELL" VON DR. MANUEL TRUMMER
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
REVIEW GURKKHAS "A LIFE OF SUFFERING"

Monday, January 20, 2025
INTERVIEW GURKKHAS
"For me, French death metal is made up of three bands: Massacra, Loudblast and Crusher."
Speaking of bands that have been inactive for decades, a few weeks ago I suddenly had the announcement of the reunion of a band in my mailbox that I, like so many others, had long since irrevocably consigned to the eternal hunting grounds of death metal. We're talking about the French Gurkkhas (with one more “k”, named after the Gurkhas, Nepalese soldiers in the service of the British Army and the Indian armed forces, in which they form their own units). They have now released a compilation via Great Dane Records (read the review here), which includes the complete second album as well as parts of the debut, and which I can only warmly recommend to all fans of US-American death metal in particular. I spoke to vocalist Jeff about the two albums released back then at the turn of the millennium as well as about the current and future situation of the band and death metal in France.
Sunday, January 19, 2025
INTERVIEW NOVEMBER GRIEF
"Our sound was finally developed in a way that pleased us, and we all have very fond memories of it. I can’t believe that at the end of this year it will be 30 years since it’s release…"
November Grief from Montreal, Canada, were founded back in 1993 and have been dormant for more than 20 years. Now that the band has been active again since 2020 with a few new members, it made sense to talk to bassist and singer Stéphanie Masson, who was in Wallonia, Belgium, at the time of the interview.
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Hello Stéphanie, how are you? I saw you had a gig recently. Did it go to your satisfaction?
Hello Gerald, I am doing very well thank you. Just arrived from Belgium a few days ago and still a bit jet lagged. Yes, we did show here in Montreal last December 14 and it went very well. It was also our first show at home with our new lead guitarist Rachel, and boy did she deliver the goods that night ! Kudos also go to Simonne and Zack. We had a good flow onstage that evening and the maniacs in the crowd had a good time.