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 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 PENTAGRAM (CHILE) "ETERNAL LIFE OF MADNESS"

The announcement of a new album by Pentagram Chile, the band around the charismatic cosmopolitan Anton Reisenegger, who should also be known from bands like Criminal, Lock Up or Brujeria, came to me out of nowhere. This is only the second album by the band, which was founded back in 1985 and has been on ice for a long time in the meantime, changing its name because of the namesake doomers from the USA around Bobby Liebling and forming the ominous triumvirate of Chilean death metal together with Atomic Aggressor and Sadism.

Just how influential the Chileans have been in the past can be seen from the fact that bands like Dismember have been seen wearing Pentagram shirts on promo photos or Napalm Death have covered “Demoniac Possession”, a track by the South Americans.

INTERVIEW MACERATION

"I think it was just a different time back then. You ended up in a studio and the result was also somewhat coincidental."

Maceration from Denmark released their debut album in 1992. After many years in which the band went dormant, the extremely strong follow-up "It never ends" was released in 2022, exactly thirty years later. In September this year, a new album called "Serpent Devourment" will be released, once again via the energetic Danish death metal label Emanzipation Productions. A good reason to talk to founding member Jakob Schultz, who was also part of Invocators line-up on their legendary debut album "Excursion Demise". 

INTERVIEW DEAD HEAD

"Musicians pretending that they never listen to their own music. It’s a great way to come across as cool, interesting or nonchalant. But frankly I don’t believe them."

This interview with Rob, one of the two Dead Head guitarists, is really worth reading. Quite apart from the fact that Dead Head from the Netherlands are one of the greatest thrash metal bands on this planet and have once again recorded an extremely strong piece of extreme music with their new EP "Shadow Soul", the answers are captivating in their entertaining honesty, self-reflection and above all the fact that someone here simply emphasizes that he is pleased with what he and the band have achieved instead of lamenting what has not been achieved. A very healthy attitude to life that would probably make our planet a better place if everyone thought like this. But enough talk, read for yourself...

REVIEW SUFFERSYSTEM "DISINTEGRATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL"

Suffersystem from the beautiful half-timbered town of Hattingen in the Ruhr area will release their sixth album "Disintegration of the Individual" in mid-March, like its predecessor from 2021, once again via Black Blood Records. The two band members Dirk and Daniel, who are active in other bands such as Defected Decay (read a detailed interview in English here, in German here), False Mutation (who are also releasing a new album in March this year) and - relatively recently - Seeds of Torment, have added a new, fantastic chapter to the history of Suffersystem. The music on the ten tracks, which have a total playing time of 45 minutes, always moves between death and thrash metal, with a clear edge towards death metal.

INTERVIEW MASTER

The release of the strong new Master album "Saints Dispelled" provided a good opportunity to talk to Paul Speckmann about the new release as well as other topics.

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Hello Paul, how are you doing with the new record, is it a kind of relief when a work sees the light of day, people can buy it and you see the reactions? Or are you already totally experienced after all these years, so that it’s just routine? 

Sure it’s a relief when it’s finally released, considering the album was recorded nearly a year ago! Nothing is routine in the world of recording, it’s by far one of the best things in the world! We always have a blast recording! It’s killer to get your thoughts and ideas out on the market! It gives people a chance to read your thoughts on what’s happening in the crazy world around us at this moment. I use this platform to share my thoughts and ideas with the world, obviously not everyone is going to agree with all of them, but at least with a recording contract, it gives you a chance to put things out there!  

REVIEW MASTER "SAINTS DISPELLED"

Master have also honored us with a new album via Hmmerheart Records.The strong predecessor "Vincictive Miscreant" is already six years old, so it's high time for new Master material. Mr. Speckmann and his bandmates once again offer an insanely good mix of death and thrash metal, as only Master can. Even though Master's music is of course not innovative these days, which is not the band's aim at all, you can still recognize the band among legions of death metal bands, and that's pretty much the highest compliment you can pay an extreme metal band, which on a spontaneous consideration on my part only applies to a maximum of two dozen bands. 

REVIEW MESSIAH "CHOIR OF HORRORS"

Messiah's third album "Choir of Horrors" from 1991, released on the legendary Noise Records label, represented a quantum leap for the band after the two predecessors "Hymn to Abramelin" and "Extremely cold weather" and also can be considered as a milestone in extreme music in general. The album, which features a cover artwork that is as atmospheric as it is terrifying, starts with monk chants before the death/thrash sounds kick in. Singer Andy Kaina, who sadly passed away last year, impresses with aggressive yet accentuated and intelligible vocals, while the band varies well between different tempos, especially the dragged out parts work well.

INTERVIEW FROSTSHOCK

"It was the best first year a band could wish for."

The newcomers from Frostshock are currently stirring up the underground with their self-titled debut album (read the review HERE). A good reason to find out more about the band's background and their excellent, explosive death/thrash mixture. The bandmembers, who likeable don't take themselves so deadly serious, are delighted and grateful for the recognition they are currently receiving. But read for yourself.
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INTERVIEW TANKARD (ENGLISH)

„They also only boil with water!“

When the Frankfurt thrashers Tankard  visited the Groove Bar in Cologne-Wahn for the second time towards the end of March, it was a good opportunity for an interview with frontman Gerre. Due to an unforeseen delay, and the fact that both Gerre and myself didn't feel like doing an interview under time pressure, we decided to make a second attempt a few days later via video link. Read here what the likeable frontman has to say about the lyrics of the last album "Pavlov's Dawgs", the Corona pandemic, the social skills of metal fans and his, even after all these decades unbroken enthusiasm for metal and new albums.

INTERVIEW TANKARD

„Die kochen auch nur mit Wasser!“

Als gegen Ende März die Frankfurter Thrasher von Tankard bereits zum zweiten Mal die Groove Bar in Köln-Wahn beehrten, bot sich dies als gute Gelegenheit für ein Interview mit Frontmann Gerre an. Aufgrund einer nicht vorhergesehenen Verzögerung, und der Tatsache, dass sowohl Gerre als auch meine Wenigkeit keine Lust auf ein unter Zeitdruck geführtes Interview verspürten, entschlossen wir uns, das Ganze einige Tage später per Videoschaltung nachzuholen. Lest hier, was der sympathische Frontmann über die Texte des letzten Albums "Pavlov's Dawgs", die Corona-Pandemie, die soziale Kompetenzen von Metal-Fans und seine, auch nach all den Jahrzehnten ungebrochene Begeisterung für Metal und neue Alben, zu sagen hat.

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 MILLE / KREATOR

"Global problems are also difficult to solve at the local level. As long as humanity does not see itself as a world community, it will hardly be possible to carry out rules that effectively counteract climate change."

After I had already conducted an interview with Mille more than five years ago in the run-up to the release of "Gods of violence", the new strong "Hate über alles" album, which this time managed to land at number 2 in the German album charts, offered itself as a good reason to repeat the matter. Since then, a lot has happened in Germany, Europe and globally, just think of the Corona pandemic, the increasingly apparent climate change, the war in Ukraine and also the, at least in the social networks seemingly clearer division of society. I talked about these and other topics with the band leader, who now lives in Berlin.

INTERVIEW MILLE / KREATOR

"Globale Probleme lassen sich auch auf lokaler Ebene nur schwer lösen. Solange sich die Menschheit nicht als Weltgemeinschaft begreift, werden kaum Regeln durchgeführt werden können, die dem Klimawandel effektiv entgegenwirken."

Nachdem ich vor über fünf Jahren im Vorfeld der Veröffentlichung von "Gods of violence" schon einmal ein Interview mit Mille geführt hatte, bot sich das neue starke "Hate über alles" -Album, welches diesmal auf Platz 2 der deutschen Albencharts landen konnte, als guten Grund an, diese Angelegenheit zu wiederholen. Seitdem hat sich vieles in Deutschland, Europa und global getan, man denke nur an die Corona-Pandemie, den immer stärker zu Tage tretenden Klimawandel, der Krieg in der Ukraine und auch die, zumindest in den sozialen Netzwerken scheinbar deutlich werdendere Spaltung der Gesellschaft. Über diese und weitere Themen sprach ich mit dem mittlerweile in Berlin lebenden Bandkopf.

REVIEW PROTECTOR "EXCESSIVE OUTBURST OF DEPRAVITY" (DEUTSCH)

Mit "Excessive Outburst Of Depravity" veröffentlichen Protector, die deutsch-schwedische Band um Martin Missy, dem einzig verbliebenen Mitglied der Originalbesetzung, das vierte Album nach der Reunion im Jahr 2011, diesmal wieder über High Roller Records. Seit der Wiederbelebung der Band sind Protector nun erfreulicherweise einer größeren Anzahl und vor allem einer neuen Generation von Metal-Fans bekannt, dennoch gehören Protector leider zum Club der unterbewertetsten Metal-Bands aller Zeiten. In einer fairen Welt hätten Protector den Status einer Band wie Sodom, aber gut, das ist eine andere Geschichte...  

REVIEW PROTECTOR "EXCESSIVE OUTBURST OF DEPRAVITY"

With "Excessive Outburst Of Depravity" Protector, the German-Swedish band around Martin Missy, the only remaining member of the original line-up, releases the fourth album after the reunion in 2011, this time again via High Roller Records. Since the revival of the band, Protector are now fortunately known to a larger number and especially to a new generation of metal fans, yet Protector unfortunately belong to the club of the most underrated metal bands of all time. In a fair world Protector would have the status of a band like Sodom, but well, that's another story...  

REVIEW MEFISTO "PHOSPHORUS"

The legendary Mefisto, founded in Stockholm in 1984, are at the start with a new work. The new album is called "Phosphorus" and contains ten tracks with a running time of 50 minutes. It will be released on 13 July via GMR Music Group.

After disappearing into oblivion for almost three decades after their foundation, Mefisto have released three albums since then. Especially the last album of 2019, "Octagram" (Bathory had an "Octagon" album, Mefisto and Bathory are, so to speak, the primeval soup of Swedish extreme metal) was appealing, as it was a very dark and heavy work.

INTERVIEW NEKROMANTHEON

Recently I got to know that Nekromantheon release a new album. I like the two predecessors very much, I hereby recommend them again to every lover of thrash metal. The new album "Visions of Trismegistos" takes it up a notch - the band from Kolbotn, Norway never sounded so intense and dark! My questions were answered by Sindre, responsible for bass and backing vocals.

Hey, how are you? What is the situation with the Corona pandemic in Norway at the moment? Has Norway been hit hard, has the economy suffered a lot and have there been harsh cuts in public life such as temporary bans on going out at a certain time or meeting a certain number of people? Here in Germany, the issue has been very politically charged and has also unfortunately divided society somewhat, how is it with you?

Hi. Doing okay. The situation is fucked up, we have been in lockdown for six months, and it’s the second lockdown. The economic situation is terrible, especially for regular people and small businesses who have been affected by the lockdown. I work in the restaurant / bar industry, that have just been thrown overboard by the government. Everything was closed except pharmacies, food-stores etc.  Thanks for nothing. For a long time you were only allowed to have two guests also, but that has chilled out a bit. Looks like we are heading to open up soon, as numbers are much better, and more people are getting vaccinated. Oslo has been hit hardest by the restrictions, which is where I live.  

INTERVIEW DESASTER (DEUTSCH)

Desaster aus Koblenz sind seit gefühlten Äonen eine Institution im Black und Thrash Metal sowie zumindest jedem halbwegs informierten Underground-Kenner ein Begriff, und das wohl mittlerweile weltweit. Nichtsdestotrotz sind die Bandmitglieder immer auf dem Boden geblieben und-so habe ich und bestimmt viele andere auch den Eindruck-verstehen sich immer noch als enthusiastische Fans, die eben auch Musik machen. Diese überaus bescheidene und grundsympathische Art einer Band, die sich selbst nicht superwichtig nimmt, sollte hier doch nochmal Erwähnung finden, da es leider keine Selbstverständlichkeit ist. Wie viele bestimmt wissen, ist gerade das Musikbusiness das beste Pflaster für Narzissten und Egomanen-in meiner jahrelangen Erfahrung musste ich leider die Erfahrung machen, dass es Bands und Musiker gibt, deren Arroganz auf nur einem Bruchteil des Erfolgs einer Band wie Desaster beruht. Diese überaus sympathische Art spiegelt sich auch in den Aussagen von Gitarristen Markus „Infernal“ Kuschke wieder. Wir sprachen über das bald kommende neue Album „Churches without Saints“, das  sich gerade in der Mache befindliche Buchprojekt über die Band und gruselig-lustige Anekdoten aus den goldenen Black Metal 90ern.

Wie sieht es bei Euch im Moment aus, wie ist die Stimmung ? Viele Gigs mussten ja ausfallen bzw. verschoben werden, wann hofft Ihr wieder spielen zu können ? Und was macht das neue Album, wie weit ist da der Prozess bisher ?

Natürlich sind wir heiß darauf, endlich wieder live spielen zu können! Der letzte Gig war im März des letzten Jahres am 6. März in Schweden! Ich denke, vor Mitte des Jahres wird live wohl nichts passieren. Trotzdem ist die Stimmung gut bei uns. Wir sind ja (zum Glück in der jetzigen Krise) keine professionelle Band, sondern haben alle unsere regulären Jobs, die auch mit ein paar Einschränkungen (Odin musste Kurzarbeit machen, aber das kriegt so´n nordischer Gott auch locker weggesteckt!) mehr oder weniger normal weiter gingen. Leid tun mir da echt alle in der Veranstaltungsbranche, deren Existenzen jetzt bedroht sind, da ist echt jetzt und in der nächsten Zeit Solidarität gefragt. Deshalb: wenn das nächste Desaster-Album im Juni rauskommt, kauft lieber die Alben der Kollegen, die das hauptberuflich machen! Ja, das neue Dingen ist fix und fertig, wird "Churches without saints" heißen.