Hey Jason, first of
all, how are you doing ? Some months ago I found your fanzine archive (look here), which is
really great ! So I think you are a very busy man, playing with Misery Index and running this fanzine archive, furthermore you published this book about death
metal history called „Extremity retained-notes from the death metal underground“-so
are you somekind of workaholic ?
Haha, no its just a labor of love; I’ve been dedicated to
metal since I was a kid, and extreme metal since I was a teenager, so although it
takes up most of my spare time, its never a burden. In fact all of my projects
(band related and fanzine archive) are kind of like part-time projects now.
Aside from real work, I do what I can when I can. Lately the fanzine archive
has slowed down a bit, but I have not forgotten it. Once things settle down I
will get back into it more actively. Right now I try to add one zine a month,
and I already have a few hundred in there, so its growing slow and steady (but
probably not as fast as some people would like, I know).
Saturday, August 11, 2018
Thursday, August 2, 2018
REVIEW ELÄNDE "DÖDENS RIKE"
ELÄNDE is a Swedish three-piece black metal band from Gothenburg which exists since 2010. Before the release of their current album named "Dödens rike" they released a demo and an EP.
Most prominent member of this band is for sure Trish, who plays drums in ELÄNDE, I think some people know her through a lot of bands and projects such as DödsÄngel, Djevelkult or Skitliv. Besides ELÄNDE, she actually plays for example in Urarv, an avantgarde black metal band in which Aldrahn, well known through Dodheimsgard /DHG, does vocals and guitars. But enough of that namedropping, I only mentioned this to point out that ELÄNDE consists of well-experienced scenesters and musicians.
Most prominent member of this band is for sure Trish, who plays drums in ELÄNDE, I think some people know her through a lot of bands and projects such as DödsÄngel, Djevelkult or Skitliv. Besides ELÄNDE, she actually plays for example in Urarv, an avantgarde black metal band in which Aldrahn, well known through Dodheimsgard /DHG, does vocals and guitars. But enough of that namedropping, I only mentioned this to point out that ELÄNDE consists of well-experienced scenesters and musicians.
Labels:
Ancient,
Black Metal,
Craneo Negro Records,
Djevelkult,
DödsÄngel,
Elände,
Gothenburg,
Graven,
Skitliv,
Sweden,
Swedish Black Metal,
Throne Of Ahaz,
Urarv
Saturday, July 7, 2018
ROMANIAN SCENE REPORT
To be honest, I don't know much about the (extreme) metal scene of Romania. Like most people involved in extreme metal I have listened to Negura Bunget and Dordeduh and of course I know (very metal related) the story of Dracula (Vlad III Draculea), that lyrically inspired countless metal bands. But after that I have reached the end of my knowledge concerning Romanian metal. Mihai ”Coro” Caraveţeanu of Axa Valahă Productions wrote a really interesting scene report and I can't express how grateful I am for these deep insights !
Hi! First of all I’d like to say I’m honored
that someone invited me over to write about the Romanian metal scene, I did
that several times before in this life, but my last attempt happened more than
a decade ago, when I thought there was still hope that something will change
here for good. As most of you most probably know already, Romania is a country
in the Eastern Europe, with a tragic past, including more than fifty years of
different totalitarian regimes, the longest being the harshest communist regime
behind the Iron Curtain, a dictatorship built on fear and a spiral of silence
that affected and still affects the nation as a whole even three decades after
it was supposedly finished. It happened in the final days of 1989 when the
dictatorship was over, the dictator executed, with his execution broadcasted on
the national television and with more than 1000 collateral victims of the single
bloody revolution from all the social and political movements which happened in
the East around the same time.
ROMANIAN
SCENE REPORT
A
dark letter from the land of Dracula
Labels:
Axa Valaha Productions,
Black Metal,
Bloodway,
Cronos,
Death Metal,
Disinter,
Doom Metal,
Dordeduh,
Gothic,
Grimegod,
Mercy's Dirge,
Negura Bunget,
Psycho Symphony,
Romania,
Sincarnate,
Taine,
Ultimatum
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
REVIEW EKPYROSIS "DEATHTRIPS"
At the Magoth-gig last saturday I met the guy behind The Crawling Chaos Records who sold some stuff on his distro table. We talked about black metal in general and Ildjarn in particular and he advised me a band named EKPYROSIS, whose latest release is published by his label. To be honest, until then only knew the Italian death metal band of the same Name ( I found out that there are some other bands called EKPYROSIS). On their newest release named "Deathtrips", that is only available on tape (limited to 150 handnumbered copies and as digital download here), you can hear six tracks with a duration of 18 minutes. EKPYROSIS are labeled as avant-garde black metal, and I don't totally disagree, but hearing the term avant-garde within a black metal context I think to bands such as newer Dodheimsgard / DHG, Arcturus, Fleurety or Ved Buens Ende, and all these examples sound totally different, much more progressive, more complex and technical.
Friday, June 22, 2018
REVIEW ATROCITY "OKKULT II"
Since "Okkult" and the following EP "Masters of Darkness" Germany's ATROCITY are back on the path of creating more extreme sounds. In my review for the EP (here-review written in German) I looked back at the entire discography, and believe me, I am far away from being an uncritical listener, and yes, there has been some releases by ATROCITY I really didn't like.
Labels:
Atrocity,
Celtic Frost,
Death Metal,
Germany,
Massacre Records,
Therion
Thursday, June 21, 2018
INTERVIEW RUNEMAGICK
Fans had to wait eleven years for the
new Album (release date July 20, 2018) of Swedens death /doom underground
cult act RUNEMAGICK. But let me say first, the new album was worth the wait. Guitarrist and
vocalist Nicklas Rudolfsson answered
my questions.
First of all I have to say that the
new album is really great, but I didn’t expect anything else.What can you tell
us about the process of creating this
album and writing the songs ? When did you start with writing new songs and why
did it take 11 years for the new album ? How would you describe the new album
in your own words , maybe in relation to the prior Runemagick releases as well
?
Always nice to hear that there are
people who like our music. Especially now that it was many years ago we
released something new. Most of the material, both riff arrangements and
lyrics, are written in 2017 and early 2018. Possibly there is some older riff
here and there too.
If I describe the material from my
point of view, I can probably say that it is quite straightforward arrangements
and songs. As for tempo, it is often heavy mid-tempo riffing and drumming the
“Runemagick style” mixed with some heavier doom parts and
some more up-tempo stuff.
I do not know for sure, but I imagine
that if you like any of our previous albums, you should recognize the new
material as well. It may not be so obscure material as on "Envenom"
rather more about "Enter The Realm Of Death" and "Darkness Death
Doom" I suppose.
11 years… time flies. Yes we decided
to start up again in 2017. Before that we can say we had a long break. However,
no quiet break, it has been full of other bands, projects and other activities
in life. Then it has probably also been that inspiration from our side during
that period has been partly gone so to speak. Then you
can say that there was some lack of inspiration too.
Sunday, June 17, 2018
REVIEW DEATHMACE "BLEEDING FRENZY"
Last week I got the debut album called "Bleeding Frenzy" from DEATHMACE. I haven't heard from this band before, but I guess this was a mistake. DEATHMACE from York, England exist since 2009 and play a really great mixture between death and thrash metal.
Labels:
Altar,
Angelcorpse,
Death Metal,
Deathmace,
England,
Malevolent Creation,
Morbid Angel,
Terrorizer,
Thrash Metal,
Vader,
York
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