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!"
--------------------------------------------------

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.

REVIEW ANGUANA "SUMAN"

Anguana is a band that exists since 2017 and was unknown to me until now. They come from Marostica, a town in the Veneto region. Marostica is famous for the live chess game (with actors in "medieval" costumes), which for several decades has been held every two years in the town's piazza surrounded by arcades. It commemorates a legendary game, allegedly played in 1454, for the hand of the castle lord's daughter. The band name, Anguana, is the designation for the water nymphs that appear in the northeast Italian mythology.

INTERVIEW HAMVAK

"Hamvak allowed me to break free from the musical boundaries I had previously felt." 

Hamvak is one of the most promising bands of the German underground. The debut album " Maelstrom of abhorrent incantations" (review here) is a true monster of a musical work that pulls you inevitably and without mercy into the abyss. I spoke with Dávid Vadkerti-Tóth, the factotum and mastermind behind Hamvak.

---------------------------------------

When did you form Hamvak and under what circumstances? According to Metal-Archives Hamvak is the successor band of Solus, who were much more atmospheric. What was the reason for the end of Solus and the beginning with Hamvak? Do you see Hamvak as the successor band of Solus, or did someone just put it down that way at Metal Archives?

REVIEW HAMVAK "MAELSTROM OF ABHORRENT INCANTATIONS"

Out of nowhere I heard about Hamvak (Hungarian for ash), a great one-man band from Stuttgart. The factotum behind the music, Dávid Vadkerti-Tóth, now delivered Hamvak's debut album after releasing a three-track demo back in 2017.

Hmavak's debut album, released by Morbid Chapel Records and Rotten Tomb Records, is the best example of what undiscovered gems the underground has in store. The six, mostly overlong tracks that bring the album to a total playing time of 40 minutes, should delight any fan of gloomy and sophisticated blackened death metal. Like the album title, which, by the way, was visually very appropriately implemented by the cover artwork, the listener feels drawn into a veritable maelstrom, from which there is no escape, because the tracks cause a partly captivating-hypnotic effect.

BERICHT DARK DUNGEON FESTIVAL (ANTHISNES, WALLONIE / BELGIEN)

Da ich ja schon länger ein Interview mit den Freiburgern von Mightiest geplant habe, und diese auf dem Dark Dungeon Festival  (14.-15. April) in der Burg Avouerie in Anthisnes am (Black Metal-) Freitag spielten, bot sich ein Besuch im wallonischen Ort geradezu an. Die tolle Besonderheit an dem zweitägigen Festival ist der Veranstaltungsort, der für die passende räumliche Atmosphäre sorgen soll. Während der Freitag mit drei Black Metal-Bands aufwartete (Räum, Mightiest, Enthroned), spielte am Samstag wohl die internationale crème de la crème der Dungeon Synth-Szene. Leider hielten mich familiäre Verpflichtungen vom Besuch des Dungeon Synth-Tages ab, so dass ich am Samstag morgen wieder die Heimreise antreten musste. Auch wenn ich mich mit dieser Musik nur wenig auskenne und nur einige Mortiis -Alben (als auch sein Nebenprojekt Vond) mein Eigen nenne, hätte mich das Ganze doch sehr interessiert. Headliner des Samstags waren übrigens Depressive Silence aus Freiburg, deren Line-Up - wer hätte es gedacht - natürlich deckungsgleich mit Mightiest ist. 

REVIEW RÄUM "CURSED BY THE CROWN"

At the Dark Dungeon Festival, which took place in a medieval castle in the small town of Anthisnes, the first band I saw were the Belgians from Räum, before Mightiest, one of the best, and unfortunately also most underrated black metal bands in Germany, and finally Enthroned, the Belgian black metal kings, took over. The band name alone struck me as unusual as a German, "Raum", without the umlaut, means room in German. And also purely visually the four musicians didn't look much like black metal. In this respect I guessed a post-black metal act, most of which I honestly find quite boring and stale. Fortunately, however, it behaves differently, Räum play rather very partly very fast, hard, often traditionally designed black metal, which in some moments even reminds of Marduk.

REVIEW NEKRARCHON "GEHINNAM"

Today I would like to present an album that, in my opinion, has unfortunately never received the attention it deserves. We are talking about the only album of the Greek black metal band Nekrarchon. Out of nowhere in 2014 the debut album "Gehinnam" was released by the German label FDA Records, which specializes in old-school death metal, and unusually there was no previous demo, no EP, no split release. Maybe part of the disregard was due to the label, don't get me wrong, FDA Records is an absolutely great label that has only good to top releases across the board, yet black metal in particular is not something you associate directly with this label. But be that as it may, the album named after a ravine near the biblical Judah, in which child sacrifices were made to the god Moloch, is a hidden gem to be discovered.

REVIEW INVOKER "TOWARDS THE PANTHEON OF THE NAMELESS"

I would like to point out here once again a great, unfortunately probably too little noticed album, namely the third Invoker album called "Towards the pantheon of the nameless" released in 2020 by Einheit Produktionen. The band from Saxony-Anhalt presents on this release an absolutely outstanding mixture of death and black metal in the perfect tension between roughness and harshness

INTERVIEW UNGOD / BAXAXAXA

"Black metal has musical and visual aspects. You can't deny that. But these should complement each other and form a unity."

Ungod and Baxaxaxa are two of the oldest veterans of the German black metal scene, both founded in the early 90s. Baxaxaxa, who were revived a few years ago, inspire many fans of the underground with their somewhat untypical and very own mystical version of black metal. With their debut album "Circle of the seven infernal pacts", Ungod set a milestone in the establishment of black metal in Germany and, after a break, subsequently released two good to outstanding albums. A good reason to ask drummer Condemptor, who is a founding member of both formations, a few questions.

INTERVIEW SKOGENS RYMD ART (ALESSIA BRUSCO)

In the vastness of the internet I found the great, atmospheric pictures of Alissa Brusco, who distributes her art under the label "Skogens Rymd Art". But read for yourself what she has to say.

------------------------------

Hello, please tell the readers of the Systematic Desensitization Zine more about yourself. Who are you, what do you do besides painting, where do you live and so on?

INTERVIEW SUMERIAN TOMBS

Sumerian Tombs from the Rhineland have stirred up a lot of dust in the underground with their furious, self-titled debut album. A good reason to ask guitarist K. for some statements.

---------------------------

Tell us something about the founding of the band - how long have you been around and what did you release before the debut album? Did you all know each other before? Who took the initiative? And was there a special initial spark for the foundation of Sumerian Tombs? Maybe in the sense that you heard certain records that inspired you or over a few beers you got the idea to do something together that goes in a certain direction?

REVIEW MIGHTIEST / FUNERAL PROCESSION "OF DEATHFIRES, A TOMB & NIGHT WITHOUT END"

In september, Ván Records released a split release of two veteran German black metal bands. One is Mightiest from the south of Germany, the fabled dark Black Forest, the other is Funeral Procession from East Frisia in Lower Saxony. Both bands were founded in the mid-90s, both have released only one album each besides various EPs and split releases, Mightiest even needed 22 years until the release of their great debut album SinisTerra. But this doesn't have to mean anything, just think about the cult band Sadistic Intent, who haven't released an album since the distant year 1987 until today. Despite this long history and their first-class music, both bands - probably also due to the lack of album releases - could never reach the level of popularity of similarly started bands like Secrets of the moon or Lunar Aurora.

INTERVIEW DESASTER / HIKING WITH INFERNAL

After I had already conducted an interview with Desaster last year in the run-up to the release of "Churches without saints" (see here), one day I had the idea to ask whether there would be interest in presenting some of the most important places and locations in the band's history together. On the one hand, Koblenz is only an hour's drive away from me, on the other hand, I like the region there very much, especially the often wildly romantic area along the Rhine and Moselle with its countless castles and ruins, many of which have bravely defied decay for centuries and let us feel at least a little "touch of medieval darkness". I can only warmly recommend this region for hiking, motorcycling and also cycling! To be more precise, I had in mind a joint visit to these places. When Infernal got in touch and was enthusiastic about the idea, the whole thing slowly took shape. After we had agreed on a car park in the middle of nowhere near Ochtendung as a meeting point, and I bought some Desaster articles - which certainly looked strange when any packages change hands there for cash, an overzealous narcotics officer would certainly have sensed his chance here - we could already start. In short, I got into Infernal's car and we drove a few minutes to go from there to Wernerseck Castle.

INTERVIEW DESASTER / WANDERN MIT INFERNAL

Nachdem ich bereits letztes Jahr ein Interview mit Desaster im Vorfeld zur Veröffentlichung von "Churches without saints" geführt hatte (siehe hier), kam mir eines Tages die Idee, anzufragen, ob Interesse bestände, gemeinsam einen Teil der wichtigsten Orte und Plätze der Bandgeschichte vorzustellen. Zum einen ist Koblenz nur eine Autostunde von mir entfernt, zum anderen mag ich die Region dort sehr, gerade auch die oftmals wildromantische Gegend an Rhein und Mosel mit ihren zahllosen Burgen und Ruinen, die dort zahlreich seit Jahrhunderten mutig dem Verfall trotzen und uns zumindest einen kleinen "Touch of medieval darkness" spüren lassen. Zum Wandern, Motorradfahren und auch Fahrradfahren kann ich diese Region nur wärmstens empfehlen! Genauer gesagt schwebte mir ein gemeinsamer Besuch dieser Plätze vor. Als Infernal sich dann meldete und von dieser Idee begeistert war, nahm das Ganze langsam konkrete Formen an. Nachdem wir als Treffpunkt einen Mitfahrerparkplatz im Nirgendwo bei Ochtendung ausgemacht hatten, und ich noch den einen oder anderen Desaster-Artikel erwarb - was sicherlich sonderbar aussah, wenn dort irgendwelche Päckchen gegen Bares den Besitzer wechseln, ein übereifriger Drogenfahnder hätte hier bestimmt seine Chance gewittert - konnte es auch schon losgehen. Kurzum stieg ich in Infernals Auto um und wir fuhren einige Minuten, um von dort aus zur Burg Wernerseck zu gehen.

INTERVIEW MORTUUS INFRADAEMONI

"Alles ist vergänglich und mündet in der letzten großen Frage, dem ewigen Tod – gleichzeitig ist der Tod aber auch immer eine Tür zu etwas Anderem, Unbekanntem."  

Wie ich bereits in der Besprechung des neuen Albums (Review siehe hier) zum Ausdruck brachte, sind Mortuus Infradaemoni eine ganz besondere Band mit einer tiefschürfenden musikalischen Aura, die nun wirklich nicht alltäglich oder profan ist (um mal einen Querverweis zum Pseudonym eines meiner Interviewpartner zu bringen). Eben genau wie dieses Interview, ich danke der Band für die offenen Worte, die ausführlichen, interessanten musikalischen Empfehlungen und das Wort(ungetüm) des Jahres, siehe die Frage zu den sozialen Medien.

-----------------------------

Hallo, erst einmal Glückwunsch zum starken neuen Album „Inmortuos sum“. Als ich sah, dass Ihr ein neues Album am Start habt, war ich überrascht, ich hatte Mortuus Infradaemoni längst als nicht mehr existent angesehen, ich denke, so ging es einigen. Was passierte nach dem letzten Album „Imis Avernis“ von 2009, daß eine Band nach 13 Jahren noch mal mit einem neuen Album aufwartet ist ja nicht gerade die Regel…