Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts

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?

Hi, I'm fine thanks...we were honestly surprised by all the good feedback from fans and the media in general...which is no longer obvious these days with the multitude of releases and bands that occupy the world stage.

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

REVIEW GURKKHAS "A LIFE OF SUFFERING"


Gurkkhas are a French death metal band, named after units of Nepalese soldiers in the service of the British Army and the Indian armed forces, who released two albums around the turn of the millennium (more about the current and earlier band history in the interview with the band, read here). The debut album “Engraved in Blood, Flesh and Souls” was released in 2000 by Massacre Records, and just one year later “A life of suffering” was published by the legendary German label Morbid Records, which has long since ceased to exist. Now, out of nowhere, a compilation of the two albums is being released on the French label Great Dane Records, or rather, the complete “A life of suffering” album plus four further selected tracks from the debut album.

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.

Thursday, April 14, 2022

REVIEW MESSE MORTUAIRE "NOCTURNAL DEMONIC VISITATION"

Messe Mortuaire from Lille, France release their first EP "Nocturnal Demonic Visitation" these days via the busy Greek label Repulsive Echo Records. I heard the band name this day for the first time, but hope to hear more soon from this diabolical death metal band, which is composed of three veterans of the French scene.

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

REVIEW BOVARY "MES RACINES DANS LE DESERT"

Maybe France is not the first country which comes to mind while speaking about Black Metal, nevertheless well known and / or outstanding bands such as Mütiilation, Antaeus, Osculum Infame or Gorgon, Vlad Tepes (and other "Les Légions Noires"-bands) are or were based there. By the way, there is an very interesting documentation called "Bleu Blanc Satan" about French black metal  including deeper insights in the minds of some of the protagonists.

Bovary from France are often labelled as Depressive Black Metal or "DSBM" ("Depressive suicidal black metal"). Let me go back a bit further, to be honest I never was very attracted by the subgenre called Depressive Black metal or bands labelling themselves using the acronym "DSBM". Yes, I like some records by Shining and sometimes I listen to Wigrid (which surprisingly came back from the dead and released a third full length last year), but in general I was relatively bored by the always same mixture of slowly or mid-tempo orientated  black metal combined with pictures and covers of knives cutting into own flesh or people who hung themselves etc. Often "DSBM" was used to cover up the lack of musical abilities and ideas of the bands concerned.