Besprechung -Mørkeskye-Fanzine / Ausgabe 21

Nun also zur Nummer 21 des Mørkeskye, auf dessen Frontcover Abigor vor einem Wasserfall posieren. Nach einem ausführlichem Vorwort unter dem Aspekt von (möglichen) Diskursverschiebungen, geht es schon los mit Broken Pillars aus dem Iran, genauer gesagt aus der Hauptstadt Teheran. Hier besteht die Gefahr für Metal-Musiker, allein durch das Spielen der Musik und Szenezugehörigkeit staatlichen Schikanen und erheblichen Strafen ausgesetzt zu sein.  Eine Situation, die für in westlichen Demokratien aufgewachsene Menschen gleichsam undenkbar und unwirklich erscheint. Ich erinnere mich noch an ein Interview, das ich mit Creative Waste aus Saudi Arabien führte, bei dem ich mir auch nicht ganz sicher war, was und wie detailliert die Musiker antworten können unter dem Aspekt der eigenen Sicherheit bzw. Überwachung. Wie dem nun sei, den Namen Broken Pilllars hatte ich vorher noch nie vernommen; ein interessantes Interview, in dem eben diese staatliche Kontrolle und Bevormundung thematisiert wird, aber auch über das antike Vermächtnis des Irans gesprochen wird, konkret am Beispiel der Ruinen von Persepolis. Mittlerweile haben die beiden Musiker nicht nur die hier als Ausgangspunkt dienende 2-Track EP "Od Pillars & Primordial Myth" veröffentlicht, sondern ein im vergangenen August veröffentlichtes Album namens "Ghosts of the Persian Gulf", welches wie im Interview angekündigt, eher traditionelleren Black Metal-Klängen ähneln wird und folglich geschwindigkeitsmäßig eine ganze Schippe zugelegt hat im Gegensatz zur teils doomigen Debüt-EP, was der Band aber sehr gut zu Gesicht steht. Toller Beginn des Heftes mit einem interessanten Newcomer!

Besprechung -Mørkeskye-Fanzine / Ausgabe 20

Wo fange ich nun am besten an bei meiner ersten Rezension dieses Print-Zines? Namentlich war mir das Mørkeskye schon seit einer gefühlten Ewigkeit, bestimmt aber seit mindestens 20 Jahren ein Begriff, in der Hand hatte ich tatsächlich noch nie ein Exemplar, aus welchen Gründen auch immer, sollte es eben 30 Jahre dauern.

Denn tatsächlich gibt es das Zine seit dem fernen Jahr 1995, Herausgeber Thor Wanzek, teils auch unter der halb-pseudonymsierten Abwandlung seines Namens als Thor Joakimsson bekannt, hat u. a. auch für das Orkus, das Deftone bzw. Legacy (für das ich auch mal sechs Jahre schrieb), das  Hammerheart Fanzine und Avantgarde-Metal.com geschrieben. Zudem veröffentlichte er unter dem Labelnamen Trollmusic einige Werke von Bands wie Gràb, Bald Anders (mit ex-Lunar Aurora-Leuten) und De Arma (mit Andreas Petterson von Armagedda) und weist wohl eine Verbundenheit zu Prophecy Productions auf, was sich auch im so manchem Signing einer Band auf diesem Label nach einer dementsprechenden Empfehlung seitens Thor niederschlug.

Meine Berührungen mit Printzines waren in jüngerer Vergangenheit das Krachmanifest-Zine, ebenfalls mochte ich dessen Quasi-Vorgänger Campaign for Musical Destruction - Zine doch sehr, ansonsten würde ich glatt lügen, wenn ich behaupten würde, dass ich regelmäßiger Leser von Printzines sei, auch wenn man im heutigen Zeitalter die Macher und Macherinnen solcher Publikationen natürlich umso mehr für Ihren Idealismus unterstützen sollte.

Thor, ursprünglich aus dem Sauerland stammend, verschlug es nach Köln und im Kontakt per Messenger stellte sich zu meinem Erstaunen heraus, dass er nun in Brühl, meiner früheren Heimatstadt im Rhein-Erft-Kreis, gelegen vor den Toren Kölns, wohnt. So klein ist also die Welt! Ich kam nun also zu den letzten beiden Ausgaben 20 und 21, wobei hier nun chronologisch zu erst die Nr. 20 besprochen wird, Nr. 22 wird übrigens in wenigen Tagen veröffentlicht und natürlich auch unter die Lupe genommen.

Review Triste Tage "Auf ferner Höhe steht er kahl..."

This time, I'm introducing a band that I stumbled across quite some time ago, but I only just got around to listening to their second album “Auf ferner Höhe steht er kahl...” ("It stands bare on distant heights..."). I'm talking about Triste Tage (Sad or dreary days) from East Frisia, a solo project by Draugr that has been around since 2022, through which he realizes his artistic ambitions. After a first sign of life in the form of an EP in 2022 (the two songs included there were also used on the debut album), the first full-length album “Und die Hörner des Sommers verstummten” ("And the horns of summer fell silent") was released the following year, before its successor recently saw the light of day. So you see that the factotum Draugr, who relied on the support of guest musicians from Convictive, Asarhaddon, and ex-Eïs for vocals and drums on this work, seems to be a busy spirit. 

Review Achathras "A Darkness of the Ancient Past"

Once again, I stumbled more or less by chance across a band on the vastness of the internet that piqued my attention and appealed to me with their music. This time it's Achathras, who released their debut album a few weeks ago—without a prior demo or EP—directly through Cult Never Dies. Achathras surround themselves in the best manner of the golden era of black metal in the 90s with a touch of mystery, although this is actually a clear understatement. Apart from pseudonyms, nothing is known to the public about the three band members, not even the origin of the band is clear. So many unknowns – in today's age of information overload and the need for recognition, this is refreshing. However, the band didn't want to completely abstain from media presence, so they have an Instagram and Facebook account as well as a Bandcamp page. 

Review Alastis "...and Death smiled"

After their debut album “The Just Law” was released in 1992 on the now defunct Norwegian cult label Head Not Found, the Swiss band Alastis released their second album in 1995 on the equally cult French label Adipocere, which also released the debut albums of now well-known and successful bands such as Moonspell and Bethlehem. The first thing that catches the eye is the beautiful, mystical, poison-green cover artwork, which leaves room for speculation and stimulates the imagination.

Review Abysmal "The pillorian Age"

Today, I would like to introduce a genuine, long-forgotten underground gem from the distant year of 1995, namely the only album by the Norwegian band Abysmal, entitled “The Pillorian Age”, which was released on the legendary Italian Avantgarde Music label back then. In fact, I can still remember how I first came into contact with this album. As was customary at the time, people copied albums onto blank audio cassettes, and that's how I came to enjoy this band, which was completely unknown to me at the time.

Review Discography Equinox (Florida, USA)

This time I would like to introduce you to a band that unfortunately never received the attention it deserved and which has long since been shrouded in a gray veil of oblivion. In order to revive the band a little, so to speak, I'd like to do my bit: I'm talking about the US-American Equinox (not to be confused with numerous other metal bands worldwide as well as in the USA with the same name) from sunny Florida, who play great and not quite so US-typical death/black metal, although I would assign the band mainly to the first mentioned subgenre. But more on that later. Over the course of the band's history from 1992-2009, they released two demos, a 7" single, two albums and an EP, featuring musicians who were or are known from such illustrious names as Acheron, Incubus, the Incubus successor band Opprobrium, Possessed, Massacre, Diabolic, Angelcorpse, Amon and Druid Lord. 

At this point, I will limit myself to the two albums and the EP. So let's start with the 1996 debut album "Return to Mystery", which was released on CD by the long-defunct Greek cult label Unisound and re-released on CD and vinyl in 2024 by Dutch Vic Records with a completely new cover artwork that many people consider to be better than the original one. The almost 48-minute album, which consists of nine tracks, begins with ominously dark synthesizer sounds before brute riffs and throaty, screeching vocals kick in. It is maybe these vocals that are responsible as well for the categorization as black metal, and both this and other tracks feature very atmospheric mid-tempo parts accompanied by dark synthesizer sounds in  best Rotting Christ style. In general, the band always varies very well with different tempos, so that the album is highly dynamic. 

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.

REVIEW DEINONYCHUS "FATALIST"

Seven years after their last album “Ode to Acts of Murder, Dystopia and Suicide”, Deinonychus released their new album at the end of last year on Ván Records. Good things take time-so “Fatalist” is another great work that combines all the typical Deinonychus trademarks and should not disappoint any fan of the band. It should be clear that this style-ultra heavy, often tough, slow compositions in the intersection between doom and black metal-won't win any popularity prizes. Consequently, despite nine albums to date and a history stretching back over thirty years, the band is still - at least in comparison to other bands from the black and doom metal genres - an insider's tip and deeply rooted in the underground. But as is so often the case, the most demanding and intense works are to be found there, their depth disqualifies them as offerings for the masses, this applies to metal as well as to popular music, literature or film - as always, exceptions prove the rule.

REZENSION HÖRBUCH "HIGHWAY TO HELL" VON DR. MANUEL TRUMMER

Prof. Dr. Manuel Trummer unterrichtet Vergleichende Kulturwissenschaften an der Universität Regensburg und ist zudem Gitarrist der Heavy Metal / Doom Metal Band Atlantean Kodex, die ja dem geneigtem Leser bekannt sein dürfte. Trummer befasste sich bereits in seiner  Dissertation mit Transformationen und Erscheinungsformen der Traditionsfigur des Teufel in der Rockmusik und ist somit quasi inhaltlich schon seit langer Zeit bestens mit dem Thema seines Buches "Highway to hell - Das Satanische im Heavy Metal" vertraut. Dieses Buch ist der dritte Teil der "Metalbook"- Reihe des Kohlhammer-Verlags, in welcher Sachbücher zu  Themen aus dem Metal-Kosmos erscheinen (Besprechung des ersten Teils der Serie,  Dr. Hartmut Rosas Werk zum Begriff der Resonanz siehe hier).  An dieser Stelle wird allerdings die Hörbuch-Variante besprochen, welche bei CC-live erschienen ist, und es mit vier CDs auf eine Gesamtspielzeit von über fünf Stunden bringt. Besonders schön ist dabei die Gestaltung der CDs in Vinyl-Optik mit einem jeweilig andersfarbigen Label. Claus Vester ist als Sprecher zahlreicher Hörbücher bekannt; u.a. auch als deutsche Stimme von Rychard Rycroft (Master Wolkan) in "Game of Thrones". Als weitere Sprecher fungieren Alexander Wohnhaas (Sänger der Band Megaherz) und der Schauspieler und Sprecher René Oltmanns. Die immer wiederkehrenden Songtexte bzw. Songzitate werden wortgewaltig und ausdrucksstark von Ron Williams wiedergegeben, der als schillernde Figur aus Film, Funk und Fernsehen bekannt ist. 

INTERVIEW DEVISER

"I believe and feel that we have made a second debut with “Evil Summons Evil” and I responsibly declare that the best is yet to come."

The Greek Deviser who have been spreading their musical mischief from the famous Greek scene all over the world since the distant year 1989, have delivered their opus magnum after more than three decades of band history with their 2023 album “Evil summons evil”, released on Hammerheart Records. Anyone who loves aggressive black metal as well as symphonic and melodic-mystical sounds, which are particularly characteristic of the Greek scene, will find a perfect symbiosis of both worlds here. A good reason to talk to founding member Matt Chnaras, singer, guitarist and bassist, about the current album as well as the band's entire history and to take a look into the future. Let's hope we can see the band in Germany in the not too distant future!

INTERVIEW A HOAGASCHT / ARAN (EX-LUNAR AURORA)

 

A few days ago I saw an announcement on a social network about a band called A Hoagascht. There was an immediate connection to Bavarian black metal band Lunar Aurora latest work, and indeed it turned out to be an announcement of a live performance of this exact album. Aran, founding member of Lunar Aurora and composer of the awesome "Hoagascht" album, is the initiator and main driving force behind this issue and answered my questions.

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Hello Aran, I can still remember buying the Lunar Aurora debut “Weltengänger” shortly after it was released at Saturn record store in Cologne. That was almost 30 years ago. And strangely enough, I also remembered that I ordered the farewell album “Hoagascht” online during a visit to Augsburg in 2012. I've long forgotten how I got hold of the other albums... How quickly time flies - is that something you often realize with some regret?

In many situations in life, I actually tend to look ahead. When it comes to Lunar Aurora, many memories become blurred. Some remain, but many things also become vague. In general, I can answer that by saying that I only regret the fast or slow passage of time in a few situations.

INTERVIEW UDÅD

When I listened to Udåd 's debut album, I was immediately hooked. I hadn't been so enchanted by a piece of music for a long time. This piece of raw, dark, but also partly very melancholic black metal is a reminder of long-forgotten times. During the creation of the album, factotum Thomas Eriksen, known as the protagonist behind Norwegian band Mork, was inspired by the 1989 cult movie “Der Todesking” by Jörg Buttgereit from Berlin, who is well-known in horror film circles. So read what Thomas has to say about the making of Udåd's debut album, among other things...

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Hello Thomas, the Udåd debut is really phenomenal, I haven't been so fascinated by a black metal album for a long time. The album also brings back memories. Tell us, when did it first occur to you to release black metal apart from Mork? And how long did it actually take you to write and record the songs?

INTERVIEW MORTEM

"Perhaps it's in our blood!"

Here you can read an interview with the Peruvian underground institution Mortem, who have been haunting the underground since the distant year 1986. Read here what founding member, drummer and vocalist Alvaro Amduscias has to say about the band's beginnings, influences, goals, upcoming gigs and a new Mortem album.

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Hello Alvaro, best regards from the Rhineland in Germany, how are you doing at the moment?

Hi Gerald. Thank you very much for this interview! All good, here in the burning desert of Phoenix, Arizona.

REVIEW SORT VOKTER "FOLKLORIC NECRO METAL"

Sort Vokter, was a band that occupies a special place in the Norwegian black metal scene. Their only release "Folkloric Necro Metal" from 1996 is a special album, a very harsh but also atmospheric one, which exudes a mystical aura. Even the cover artwork, which depicts a forest in twilight, is a good first indication of this. In later re-releases, this was unfortunately replaced by a far less impressive image of an ordinary nocturnal forest landscape. It is important to mention here that Sort Vokter featured a certain Vidar Vaer, better known for his music in his one-man band Ildjarn, one of the most polarising black metal bands of all time, who were rejected or ridiculed by many for their extremely raw, low-fi nosy style, in which an extremely simple guitar accompanied a distorted screeching voice to partially programmed drums. For a few, however, Ildjarn were an important influence, which can be seen not least in the tribute album "Gathered under the banner of strength and anger: A homage to Ildjarn", released in 2004, on which such well-known and illustrious bands as Urfaust, Xasthur, Nachtmystium, Forgotten Tomb, Leviathan and several others express their admiration for Ildjarn in the form of cover versions. 

INTERVIEW WARHAMMER

Here is an old interview with Warhammer that I dug up. I conducted it with singer Volker "Iron Lung" Frerich, who sadly passed away unexpectedly three years ago.  To be honest, I couldn't remember exactly when this interview took place, but Volker's mention of his age in particular makes it clear that it must have been in 2006. The upcoming album we are talking about here is "No Beast so fierce", which was released in 2009. I recently read on the internet that there is a previously unreleased album that the band was probably still working on up until the time of Volker's death. It would be very much to be hoped that this will one day see the light of day in some form or other. With this in mind, I dedicate this interview to the memory of Volker (15.02.1970-12-03-2021) -Rest in peace 

REVIEW DEINONYCHUS "DEINONYCHUS"

Having already reviewed the absolutely outstanding and extraordinary debut album "The Silence of December" by Deinonychus (read here), I'm now taking a look at the self-titled fourth album from the year 2000, released by the long defunct Ars Metalli label. Even the simple but extremely effective cover artwork catches the eye; the band logo and album title are placed in the middle of a blurred white-grey-blue shadowy figure, the outlines could represent anything, it's up to the viewer's imagination. Only when the digipack is unfolded or the back cover is looked at does the entire picture become visible, the silhouette of a person working on a crane or similar in some kind of industrial plant becomes blurred and milky.

REVIEW DEINONYCHUS "THE SILENCE OF DECEMBER"

This is a truly impressive monster of an album, the likes of which are not unleashed on mankind every day. It's about the debut album "The silence of december" by Deinonychus from the Netherlands, released in the distant year 1995. I still remember a review of the album in some magazine in which the reviewer expressed his enthusiasm for these ominous sounds. By the way, if my memory does not deceive me, Behemoth's debut album "Sventevith-Storming near the baltic" was also reviewed in the same issue.

But this is supposed to be about Deinonychus, who were already playing a special role in the second wave of black metal, which was just exploding, as the majority of the acts at that time were increasingly oriented towards Norwegian black metal and were traveling in much faster realms or, under the impression of the success of Cradle of Filth's debut album "The principle of evil made flesh", began to move into more moderate soundscapes, whereby the peak of the sometimes unspeakably Gothic bombast "black metal" would not be reached until a few years later. 

DIE BESTEN, OBSKURSTEN UND THRASHIGSTEN DEATH METAL- VIDEOS PART I

Hier soll um es eine natürlich rein subjektive Auswahl der besten, obskursten, thrashigsten oder anderweitig besonders hervorstechenden Death Metal Clips gehen, alt oder neu. Höchstwahrscheinlich wird bei einigen von Euch die ein oder andere Erinnerung aufploppen oder auch so manche nostalgisch-melancholische Erinnerung wach werden, ganz nach dem Motto: "Als dieses Video bei VIVA Metalla kam, habe ich gerade Abi gemacht " /  "meine erste Freundin kennengelernt und geschwängert" bzw. wahlweise irgendetwas anderes einsetzen. Gerade die alten Videoclips lebten und leben auch heute noch von ihrem teils billigen, leicht dilettantischen Charme, heutzutage hat wahrscheinlich jeder 13-Jährige mit der neuesten App schneller professionellere Ergebnisse. Aber so war damals zu Beginn / Mitte der 90er eben der technische Stand der Dinge, zudem war Death Metal nie als Hochglanzprodukt gedacht. Heutzutage gibt es immer öfters die aus meiner Sicht oftmals vollkommen seelenlosen mit künstlicher Intelligenz erzeugten Clips, die einfach nur langweilen. Aber fangen wir nun an... 

INTERVIEW MIGHTIEST

"Especially the pre-concert evening we planned in a Freiburg brewery was a sensational meeting. A bunch of middle-aged men babbled about the bad old days over a few beers....genius!"
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Mightiest from Freiburg in the legendary Black Forest was founded in 1994 and I always liked the melodic-symphonic aspect of the band, which never became cheesy, which was often the case with many bands in the past. That is a kind of unique selling point, to play melodic-symphonic black metal, which is still rough, hard and unpolished. I can think of Emperor, with whom the band was often compared in the reviews of "Recreation of the shadowlands". Of course in the early interviews Burzum, Darkthrone and Mayhem were mentioned as influences, the early Dimmu Borgir with "For all Tid" or "Stormblast" certainly didn't pass the band without leaving traces, I think.