REVIEW FALSE MUTATION "UPON THE THRONE OF BAPHOMET"

When I recently stayed in Hattingen for the interview with Defected Decay, Dirk, one part of this duo, pressed a CD of his other musical playground called False Mutation into my hand. This is the 2019 album called "Upon the throne of baphomet". And what can I say? Fans of dark, vicious sounding and brutal death metal who especially love the US style of bands like Deicide, Defaced Creation, Aeon, Immolation or even the German Purgatory, will be thrilled. Dirk seems to run the whole thing more as a lover's affair for friends and acquaintances, but the songs are far too good to be reserved for a select few. 

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.

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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.

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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 SECOND COMING "DEATH FUCKING METAL" & "WILL NOT ENTER HEAVENS GATE"

During the preparation of the Mightiest story that is yet to come, I had the pleasure of a great promo package that also included two releases by the death metallers from Second Coming. Second Coming are the death metal counterpart to Mightiest due to personal overlaps, whereby the expression "Second Coming" denotes  a Christian belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. But not only the title "Will not enter heavens gate" suggests that we are definitely not dealing with passionate Christians here, haha.

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.