Review Achathras "A Darkness of the Ancient Past"

Once again, I stumbled more or less by chance across a band on the vastness of the internet that piqued my attention and appealed to me with their music. This time it's Achathras, who released their debut album a few weeks ago—without a prior demo or EP—directly through Cult Never Dies. Achathras surround themselves in the best manner of the golden era of black metal in the 90s with a touch of mystery, although this is actually a clear understatement. Apart from pseudonyms, nothing is known to the public about the three band members, not even the origin of the band is clear. So many unknowns – in today's age of information overload and the need for recognition, this is refreshing. However, the band didn't want to completely abstain from media presence, so they have an Instagram and Facebook account as well as a Bandcamp page. 

Review Runemagick "Circle of the dying Sun (Dawn of ashen Realms)"

Runemagick, who have been around since 1990, are still an underground phenomenon and have never really made the leap into the ranks of bigger bands. However, they are all the more popular and respected among a devoted community of fans of doom-laden death metal sounds. Of course, the band's sound has undergone certain changes and differentiations over the decades. Their debut album “The Supreme Force of Eternity,” released on Century Media, was much more closely aligned with regular death metal sounds, which specifically means that the tempo presented there was considerably faster. However, many of the subsequent albums, although significantly slower in tempo, were often more death metal-oriented or maintained a balance between death metal and doom metal elements. However, the last four albums after the band's new beginning in 2017, including the 2018 album “Evoked from Abysmal Sleep,” lean even more heavily toward doom metal, particularly through the increased incorporation of atmospheric, tranquil elements. 

Review Fimbul Winter "What once was"

Fimbul Winter, hailing from the Stockholm metropolitan area, is a band that has been around since 2023 and consists of three-quarters ex-members of Amon Amarth. With “What Once Was,” they now present their debut EP, which features five tracks with a playing time of 24 minutes, released independently by the band.

When former members of a well-known band start something new, or musicians pursue a side project alongside their main activity, they are intuitively compared to their previous or current main activity. This is, in a sense, in the nature of things, and Fimbul Winter (not to be confused with the Norwegian band Fimbulwinter, written as one word, which released the great “Servants of Sorcery” in 1994 with a certain Shagrath in their ranks, later known from Dimmu Borgir) deal openly with this fact and communicate it—and why not, after all, they were part of one of the biggest and most famous death metal bands ever.

Review Degraved "Spectral Realm of Ruin"

For the first time, I came into contact with the guys from Degraved from Seattle, the very city that, even decades after the phenomenon broke out, is still primarily identified with the so-called “grunge” phenomenon, at least among middle-aged people here in Germany.

But let's move on to the great debut album by this band, which first attracted attention in 2020 with the “Exhumned Remnants” demo. This was followed in 2023 by the EP “Whispered Morbidity,” then in 2024 by a split 7“ with their colleagues from Cystic, also from Seattle, and finally, at the beginning of this year, the ”Premonition of Blasphemy" demo, whose three tracks are now also included on the seven-track debut album.

Interview Das letzte Lager

Hassliebe zu Flensburg

Das letzte Lager aus Hamburg spielen tollen, teils groovig-walzenden Death Metal und veröffentlichen nach Ihrem Debütalbum "WürgeEngel"  aus dem Jahr 2022 nun demnächst ihr Zweitwerk namens "Sturm aus Nord". Ein Guter Grund um dem Mastermind der Band, Stefan Frost einige Fragen zu stellen. Insbesondere darf man nach den Ausführungen des Musikers auf das lyrische Konzept der kommenden Veröffentlichung gespannt sein.

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Hallo aus dem Rheinland nach Hamburg! Kläre doch erst einmal die Leser über die Entstehungsgeschichte von Das Letzte Lager auf – das ehemalige als auch das neuere Line-up! Gab es vor dem sozusagen letzten Lager bereits musikalisch bekanntere Aktivitäten, und gab es so etwas wie eine Initialzündung für die Bandgründung?

Hallo Gerald, vielen Dank für die Interviewanfrage. InXen (Drums) und ich, Frost (Stimme, Gitarre, Bass), haben uns 2019 kennengelernt. Ich hatte zu diesem Zeitpunkt bereits einige Jahre nach einem geeigneten Drummer gesucht, bis dato kam keiner für mich so richtig in Frage. Da man als Band viel Zeit miteinander verbringt, ist der menschliche Faktor für mich fast noch ausschlaggebender als die musikalische Finesse. InXen hatte mehrere Jahre pausiert und wollte wieder etwas starten. Wir einigten uns auf Death Metal mit Oldschool-Einschlag, aber mit modernerem Sound. Wir haben uns ziemlich regelmäßig zum Proben getroffen und dann die Songs gemeinsam ausgearbeitet – kein MP3-Hin-und-Her-Geschicke, sondern Treffen, Jammen, Ideen ausarbeiten. Wir hatten in unserer Jugend, in den 90ern, viel Death Metal gehört, also einigten wir uns auf eher midtempolastigen Death Metal mit einigen netten Melodien. Die Initialzündung war für mich, regelmäßig – so wie in meiner Jugend – Death Metal im Proberaum mit einem Freund zu zocken sowie Live-Gigs und professionelle CD-Produktionen zu planen. Das erste Album ist recht schnell entstanden. Wir haben die Ideen alle mit einem alten Zoom-Aufnahmegerät aufgenommen, also quasi unsere Demo, aus der dann später das Album "WürgeEngel" in einer professionellen Aufnahme mit Mix und Master entstanden ist. Wir waren sehr produktiv. Einen geeigneten Bassisten haben wir zu der damaligen Zeit nicht gefunden,  im Studio habe ich den Bass eingespielt. Für unsere Videodrehs hatten wir einen Bassisten dabei, der dann aber leider erkrankte, sodass wir wieder ohne waren. Nach einigen doch sehr ernüchternden Auditions, die sich als reine Zeitverschwendung herausstellten, wollten wir dann auch live als Duo unterwegs sein. Der für das Album eingespielte Bass diente live als Backing-Track – also fetter Sound als Zwei-Mann-Band. Dann kam Corona, und live-technisch lief nichts. Unseren ersten gemeinsamen Gig hatten wir dann im Sommer 2022 auf einem Festival. Es folgten Gigs mit Kanonenfieber, Eisregen, Profanatica etc. 2023 waren wir dann mit zwei befreundeten Bands für zwei Gigs in Sofia und Plovdiv (Bulgarien) unterwegs. 2024 haben wir mit Labelkollegen eine kleine Tour auf die Beine gestellt. InXen stieg bei Das Letzte Lager im Oktober 2024 aus. Wir hatten in dem Jahr viele Gigs gespielt, und er wollte nach dem letzten gemeinsamen Gig komplett die Musik an den Nagel hängen. Er fährt nun lieber in seiner Freizeit voller Stille in Norwegen mit dem Rennrad. Seit diesem Jahr ist Dean als Bassist mit dabei. Den ersten gemeinsamen Gig hatten wir bereits in Köln. 

Review Nocturno Culto's Gift of Gods "Recieve"

In 2013, Ted Skjellum, aka Nocturno Culto, one half of the Norwegian band Darkthrone alongside drummer Fenriz, released a fantastic 4-track EP under the name Gift of Gods, which in my opinion received too little attention. Since then, nothing else has been released under this name, and I hope this was not a result of a lack of recognition. However, this may also have had something to do with the fact that Darkthrone had long since left the pure black metal path at that point, and the protagonist was able to continue exploring his love for traditional metal sounds with his main band; it's precisely these traditional metal sounds that Mr. Skjellum indulges in on this four-track, 25-minute EP in an almost masterful way.

Interview Night in Gales (english)

“And then we stood in front of all these unhappy, ultra-angry people, who were now even angrier because their heroes hadn't come and instead they were being served a complete untrue melodic death metal band.”

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Night in Gales, which the band will celebrate with an anniversary concert in November. The band's first release, the “Sylphlike” EP, will also be performed live in its entirety, as it has been completely re-recorded and will be released soon. So there are several good reasons to speak with guitarist and founding member Jens Basten. He has a lot to say, and in addition to the latest news, he also digs deep into the archives to tell old (tour) stories.  These include the band's old hometown of Voerde, the numerous side projects and other bands of Night in Gales, musicians, bad business decisions, and militant vegan metalcore. But read for yourself...

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Let's start the interview with an event that took place a long time ago: September 20, 1998, Live Music Hall Cologne. Dismember, Gorgoroth, Children of Bodom, Agathodaimon, and Raise Hell are scheduled to play there as part of a Nuclear Blast festival. Suddenly, a promoter steps onto the stage and tells the audience that Gorgoroth has canceled (I can't remember the reason; there were no internet announcements back then) and that Night in Gales will be stepping in as a last-minute replacement. The whole hall seems to be angry (including me, haha), everyone was waiting for the ultra-evil Gorgoroth and then you came along with your contrasting melodic death metal. Do you remember? How did you experience it as a band? Did you play again later instead of Gorgoroth? I think I read something about that.

Yes, it was actually a show on the Nuclear Blast Festival tour. Gorgoroth had canceled at short notice and we were booked in at the last minute to fill the slot for Nuclear Blast. But the fact that we were then announced as the replacement for Gorgoroth at the evening box office and by the promoters was, of course, kind of shitty. It was a bizarre situation overall, because they were totally cult in the black metal scene at the time due to the hype surrounding their image, but we couldn't take it seriously at all. And then we stood in front of all these unhappy, ultra-angry people, who were now even angrier because their heroes weren't coming and instead they were being served a complete untrue melodic death metal band. Well, as always, we still had fun, as far as I can remember. We took everything in stride. Shortly after the release of “Nailwork,” we went on a three-week European tour with Gorgoroth, haha. That was a really great time back then. In addition to us, the people and crews from Old Mans Child, Krisiun, Soulreaper, and Myrkskog were also romping around in two buses. Many of the Norwegians had the sunburn of their lives after a day off and a corresponding beach party in St. Tropez and wore cooling towels on their heads during the soundcheck the next day.