INTERVIEW SLAUGHTERDAY

Slaughterday, the creative duo from Leer in Lower Saxony, Germany, have been delivering high quality old school death metal since 2013. These days their third album called "Ancient Death Triumph" is released, a welcome occasion for a talk with vocalist and drummer Bernd.

Hey, first of all I hope you’re doing well during these unordinary times. Did you have to cancel some of the gigs and / or are some of them postponed to a later date ? Could you play some gigs since the outbreak of corona (or should I better say „outbreak of evil“ ).

Hey Gerald, we are doing well, although the corona situation is really fatiguing these times. Unfortunately, we had to cancel some shows at the end of the year and some festivals got postponed. It feels weird to release an album, knowing that you will not be able to promote it by playing live shows. The postponement of some festivals also put us on hold for the year after next. Until then we will not be the centre of attention anymore so maybe we have to wait for another album release again. Luckily we are not affected jobwise.  

INTERVIEW SOULBURN

Soulburn from the Netherlands released their fourth album called "Noa's D'ark" these days, which should definitely be heard by fans who like Asphyx, Celtic Frost, Pentacle and listeners who like Death / Doom and prefer high quality dark music in general. Apart from that, Soulburn have of course long been a brand in their own right and need no comparison with other bands. Furthermore, l would like to point out that the lyrical concept of the new album perfectly reflects the state of our times, which are characterised by climate catastrophes, pandemics and environmental destruction. But more about this in the interview. Guitarist Eric Daniels answered my questions. 

Hey, how are you doing? How are the reactions concerning the new album?

Hey there, we are doing very well, thank you. The reactions on our new album "Noa’s D’ark" are very overwhelming. People like the new album as much as we do, we see a lot of reponse and it makes us proud and happy to see our fans like our new album very much.  

INTERVIEW DETEST

Detest from Denmark are one of the longest running still active death metal acts in this country. Back in 1994 Detest released their debut album "Dorval" a hidden underground jewel that contains a brilliant mix of death and doom metal. The band disbanded in 1996 and reunited in 2013 and released a new EP called "A moment of love" in 2019. I spoke with guitarist John, the only remaining founding member.

Hello, how are you? When will you be able to play live again, what is the situation regarding Covid-19 in Denmark in general and in your area in particular?  

I am fine and everything is as it should be, we have played two concerts (but it is for an audience that has to sit down). It's a very strange thing, people have to wear masks on their faces when they walk around.

Please introduce the current band members. I think you (John) are the last remaining founding member, aren't you? If you look at the metal archives, there were a lot of line-up changes, what were the
reasons for that ?

Yes, I am the only one left, Simon S. (bass / vocals) Danni H. (drums) and Andreas W. (guitar). All kinds of strange reasons, but as long as Detest is alive, it's fine with me. But it's obviously a bit shitty that a newcomer has to learn it over and over again.  

REVIEW SLAUGHTERDAY "ANCIENT DEATH TRIUMPH"

Slaughterday from Lower Saxony, Germany, will soon release their third album called "Ancient Death Triumph" on FDA Records. And, as you might expect, it's again a very good album, which perfectly sums up the band's previous trademarks and strengths, i.e. dirty, rancid death metal, but which never goes off into the dull.

REVIEW HELVETES JÄVLA SKIT "SATANS JÄVLA HELVETE"

Helvetes Jävla Skit (what means soemthing like "hell's fucking Shit") is a relatively new grindcore band from Lund, Sweden, and these day they release their debut album via also new new label Grind to Death Records.  

INTERVIEW ANCIENT GATE

Here's an interview with Ancient Gate from Argentina, a very interesting band that is deeply rooted in 90ies black metal. Their music contains the perfect mix between rawness, melody, and some subtle symphonic elements. Besides the fact that band leader Ildrac strongly recommends not to visit his country, he has a lot interesting things to tell...

How are you ? What about the situation concerning Covid-19 in Argentina actually ?

Greetings! Here’s Ildrac, from Ancient Gate, listening to some Diamanda Galás while answering your questions. First of all, thanks to your zine for this oportunity and to everyone reading this interview. Regarding this Covid matter, here in Argentina we are still under quarantine. It has extended from March up until now (November). The situation sucks of course. I have even been diagnosed with covid in September (I’m ok now) so you can say that I am more than fed up with this whole situation. I don’t really know how other countries in the world are dealing with this virus, but here it is tearing the economy apart. A lot of people lost their jobs because of the restrictions imposed by the government. And (from a musician’s point of view) it has affected a lot of bands, not being able to rehearse and release stuff. So a cure can’t come soon enough.

INTERVIEW CHRISTIAN KRIEGER (CHAPEL OF DISEASE)

This time I spoke with Christian from Chapel of Disease about the metal scene in Cologne and surroundings, past and present. Being the same age, I remember some things in almost the same way as Christian. By the way, because of his answers I think I found the perfect name for an old school death metal band: Massive Rat Infestation, haha. 

Hey, please tell us who you are: age, your musical socialization, your local origin, and your previous bands and all other relevant stuff you want to share.

Hey Gerald, yes, like you said, I've been playing bass for Chapel Of Disease for over ten years now and so far there's no end in sight. Before that I was active for many years with Grabnebelfürsten, who were able to make a name for themselves nationwide, which the band name was probably not completely innocent of, haha (Indeed, I remember people who weren't into metal in general talking about the band  just because of that spectacular band name). My first "real" band after various school projects was a punk band in the nineties, with which I had enough for at least two or three gigs in local youth centres. In the meantime I am 42 years old and have been musically active for more than 25 years.

I grew up in a small village of 100 souls near Gummersbach, about 40 kilometres east of Cologne. My musical socialization was probably the classic school of metal, starting in 1990 with AC/DC and then quickly moving on via speed and thrash to death and black metal, although I would still call the latter two my musical home. Even though I now have an extremely wide range of musical tastes, even outside of metal, it always feels a bit like coming home with every new good DM/BM record. With mum it still tastes best, haha!