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 "ROTTING WAYS TO MISERY:THE HISTORY OF FINNISH DEATH METAL"

Towards the end of last year, the great book "Rotting Ways to Misery: the history of Finnish death metal" was published via Cult never dies. The book, named after a demo by Sentenced, impresses with well-researched facts and provides deep insights into Finnish death metal, which - in contrast to its Swedish equivalent - never became so popular. A good reason to talk to the two authors Markus Makkonen and Kim Strömsholm. Both have been members of the scene for many years and are known for bands like Hooded Menace, Sadistik Forest and Nerve Saw (Markus) and for their membership in Festerday, ...And Oceans, O or the black pop / electro formation Black Acid World (Kim). Have fun diving into the obscure depths where the rotten, slimy monstrosity of Finnish death metal originated back then and is still wreaking havoc today.  

Hey, first of all congratulations on this great and interesting book. The first thing I would ask you to do is introduce yourselves. Who of you had the idea for this book? Was there some kind of initial spark? Were you already acquainted or friends before or rather only casually acquainted ? And how long did it take from the first idea to the finished book ? 

Hi, my name is Markus Makkonen, co-author of Rotting Ways to Misery. It can be said that we both had the idea for this kind of a book. Both separately. I personally started planning the blueprint for this book around 2015 and collecting materials for it around 2016. Kim got in contact around 2017 and told he was planning a same type of a literary work himself. We quickly decided that instead of two similar books, we'd rather join forces and release a thorough work together. I knew Kim through his music. Went to see ...And Oceans play already in the 90's, but we really did not talk before we started our conversation about the book. Rotting Ways got started as there were so many stories that needed to be told and nobody was writing them down. It took about five years to plan, execute and finish it.   

INTERVIEW DEATH TOLL 80K

This is an interview with Finnish grindcore outfit DEATH TOLL 80K. They released their second album entitled "Step Down" which should be a listening pleasure for all lovers of old school grindcore.Join us on a trip in the deepest Finnish underground...

First of all, please tell us more about the new record "Step Down“. How do you feel about the new record ? What about the  process of writing and recording this album ?

It’s very much the album we wanted to make. Faster, noisier and more out of control than "Harsh Realities", but still having the same type of recognisable songwriting. The oldest songs were written back in 2011 and have appeared on the split with Sete Star Sept and the rest at different points between that and 2016. Now we had a clearer vision of the album as a whole than with "Harsh Realities", so instead of just writing songs we were writing songs for this album. How we write really varies, sometimes a song feels ready the first time we play it together, sometimes it keeps changing from rehearsal to rehearsal. And considering how rarely we’re able to rehearse that can literally take years. Finding time was the most difficult thing about writing and recording the album, it was actually recorded at four or five different sessions in various places during a couple of months. Big thanks for how the record turned out goes to our friend Mikael who recorded and mixed the whole thing, and who really helped us achieve our vision.