Naked Whipper Interview

 

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?

1.Nothing new happened since the recordings for the album which is done during second half of 2024,I think everyone who was involved to that did a great job.

2.You have a new album coming out early in 2025, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

2.Musically I have not changed that much, it's natural when having a new line up that sounds a bit different to the releases from first NW aeon but you simply find out it's the typical NW style nowadays.

3.The band also took a long break for almost 30 years, what was the decision behind ending the hiatus and coming out with newer music?

3.I got a long time of abstinence and was not possible for me due to special reasons continuing the band, so the the idea to restart came much more earlier and now we have exactly 3 decades of nothingness since the release of Painstreaks.

4.In the early 90's you where playing a musical style that was very different and also more aggressive and underground then what most bands where playing at the time, do you feel you had an influence on some of the more extreme bands that came out years later?

4.May be you're right with that, but in the past NW was not this much popular than several other bands getting bigger to the years which was more focused to them for extreme influences to younger bands.

5.Some of your lyrics cover Satanic, Occult and Anti Christianity themes, how would you describe your interest in the dark arts?

5.The main thing, especially for the new album, is an antichristian concept, but of course other topics known as disgust, abomination, war, destruction, torture, sadomasochism...will find their way filling the whole construct.

6.What are some of the other lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored so far with the music?

6.Basically let's say to select as much topics you can get out the norm, some even intentional for provocation and shock factor.

7.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Naked Whipper'?

7.There are different opinions about this. One side is focused to the goat, the  whipper, wearing a laincloath and not be naked, got some critics about this, it's simply narrow minded. Imagine the sounds of NW, compared to the rawness and brutality, this is rather the band name for what it stands, the audio is much more important than any kind of pictures and illustrations.

8.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?

8.I was looking for a follower to the Painstreaks cover, a new scene for the whipper, quickly associating having a new album for NW, luckily Chris Moyen did it again after so many years, awesome work.

9.Out of all the shows the band has done so far, which one stands out the most?

9.No doubt it was the Never Surrender Festival we played last year in Berlin.

10.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

10.We hope find together for having some more shows, let's see what happens.

11.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of underground metal?

11.I think we had some good reactions, especially from several parts of USA and South America besides here in Europe and Germany.

12.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

12.For writing new song material it's important having a time distance between the releases, so you'll have a best result for that. It's a mistake to handle quick for releasing something every year, may be you risk to get boring during the years, have a look to the mainstream bands signed to fancy labels,who needs 15 by 20 albums filling up their discography, it's a job and no more passion as it's ought to be.

13.What are some of the bands or musical styles the band members are currently listening to nowadays?

13.For myself I listen to several genres of extreme ,brutal ,weird, avantgarde music, guess the other members having interests in different styles besides the metal thing as well.

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts? 

14.Thanx for your support and interest to NW, best regards and respect.

Further I would like to thank Sonic Incinerator, Sulphur Irae, Cryptic Tormentor and everyone else involved in the work for "Chapel Defilement" to make this album happen.

https://soundcloud.com/iron-bonehead-productions/naked-whipper-the-swinepriest-bedlam

www.instagram.com/naked_whipper_ 

Noctambulist/Noctambulist II: De Droom/These Hands Melt/2025 Full Length Review

 

  Noctambulist  are  a  band  from  the  Netherlands  that  plays  an  atmospheric  form  of  post  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  album  "Noctambulist  II:  De  Droom"  which  will  be  released  in  2025  by  These  Hands  Melt.

  Clean  playing  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  spoken  words  a  few  seconds  later  while  the  songs  also  add  in  elements  of  shoegaze  and  post  punk.  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  be  heard  which  also  gives  the  recording  more  of  a  raw  feeling.

  Harsh  vocals  are  mostly  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  while  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  also  being  done  in  a  more  melodic  post  metal  style.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  the  music  also  having  its  atmospheric  moments.  Clean  singing  is  also  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  album  as  well  as  some  of  the  tracks  also  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Dutch  and  cover  failure,  hope  and  heartbreak  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Noctambulist  are  a  very  decent  sounding  atmospheric  post  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Petrichor"  "Lichteter"  and  "Lang  leve  de  droom'.  7/5  out  of  10.

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Noctambulistband

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noctambulistofficial/ 

Bandcamp: https://noctambulistofficial.bandcamp.com/ 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1k7JWDTAwZRGoGg9rCxU2o?si=OOXFdQs2SP-w1u4S4l2duA 

    

Blood Cult/We're Gonna Take Your Soul/Witches Brew/Illinoisan Thunder/2025 Full Length Review

 

  Blood  Cult  are  a  band  from  Illinois  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  started  out  with  a  musical  style  they  used  to  describe  as  redneck  black  metal  and  over  the  years  have  evolved  into  more  of  a  mixture  of  southern  rock  and  traditional  metal and  this  is  a  review  of  their  album  "We're  Gonna  Take  Your  Soul"  which  will  be  released  in  2025  as  a  joint  effort  between  Witches  Brew  and  Illinoisan  Thunder.

  A  very  dark  yet  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  psychedelic  sounding  keyboards  a  few  seconds  later.  A  lot  of  the  riffing  and  clear  vocals  also  bring  in  elements  of  southern  rock  along  with  some  touches  of  classic  70's  metal  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  remain  true  to  a  more  retro  style.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  some  of  the  riffing  also  shows  an  influence  of  blues  rock.  At  times  the   album  also  gets  very  progressive  sounding  along  with  some  of  the  riffing  also  capturing  the  raw  energy  of  punk  rock  and  most  of  the  album  sticks  to  a  mid  tempo  direction.

  On  this  recording  Blood  Cult  moves  way  from  the  more  black  metal  side  of  their  previous  releases  and  goes  for  more  of  a  mixture  of  traditional  70's  metal  and  southern  rock.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  the  Satanic  Panic  era  of  the  80's  and  early  90's.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  album  from  Blood  Cult  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  classic  metal  and  70's  rock,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Demon  Seed"  "I  Never  Go  Away"  "The  Devil's  Child"  and  "Love".  8  out  of  10.

  https://music.apple.com/us/artist/blood-cult/356149507

https://www.illinoisanthunder.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/bloodcult/

https://www.instagram.com/j.r.preston/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1dw5Didi5MMkiOHS5VmYMI

https://music.apple.com/us/artist/blood-cult/356149507

  

An-Xul/Self Titled/Chaos Records/2024 Full Length Review

 

  An-Xul  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  very   occult  and  satanic  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2024  album  which  was  released  by  Chaos  Records.

  A  very  dark  sounding  ritual  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  clean  playing  before  going  into  a  very  fast  and  raw  black  metal  direction  which  also  utilizes  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats.  Melodies  are  also  added  into  some  of  the  guitar  riffing  and  the  vocals  are  done  in  a  deep  growling  style.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  the  songs  also  add  in  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  A  lot  of  the  music  is  also  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  old  school  era  mixed  in  with  a  more  modern  take  on  the  genre  along  with  some  synths  also  being  utilized  on  a  couple  of  tracks. 

  High  pitched  screams  are  also  added  in  certain  sections  of  the  album  as  well  as  the  recording  also  having  its  atmospheric  moments  along  with  one  song  also  being  an  instrumental.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Satanism,  Occultism  and  The  Destruction  Of  Humanity.  

  In  my  opinion  An-Xul  are  a  very  great  sounding  occult  and  satanic  black  metal  band,  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Descent  Through  A  Ghostly  Maelstrom"  "Follow  The  Left  Hand  Path"  and  :Eternal  Flame". 8  out  of  10.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz-UglVm9sE

https://open.spotify.com/album/4CPbyu9LVlubWtuXcM5cnO  

Morbus Dei Interview

 

Interview – Morbus Dei – Zorn (vocals)

1. For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Hey there. First of all thank you for your interest in our music. Much appreciated! So, actually I have been in another black metal band years ago. I read a post in social media from a guy that he is searching for some musicians. Short story – he is not part of the band anymore but I met all the other guys and here we are. We started to jam and cover some songs to find out if this works. And it worked. Now we are releasing our 2nd album. Lets see what future will bring.

2.You have a new album coming out later in December, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

Hm, not that much I guess. It is normal for a band to evolve but we all have our vision of what we wanna do. We tried to be as brutal and angry as ever. 

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the new album and also how would you describe your progress as songwriters over the years?

On the new album we have a section with 3 songs in which we deal with war in general - especially the Second World War. You could say from the point of view of someone who looks at the events surrounding the German soldiers. But we also deal with the dangers of blind allegiance to authorities, dictatorships and religious beliefs. There is also some criticism of the spiritual leaders of this world and their abuse of their subordinates. And this time we have made a song in which we go back to the roots. Call it punk or call it whatever you want. See for yourself - this time the lyrics can be found in the booklet. The songwriting is much easier now. Mannaz (drums) which is a great guitar player as well, comes up with some riffs. Then him and me are doing some brainstorm. After that we all meet in the rehearsal room and there it is. You can say everyone knows what to do.

4.I know that the bands name means 'the sickness of believe', how does this name fit in with the musical style that you play?

So here I only can talk for myself – I’m listening to black metal since about 1993.  I’m not talking much about it, because I do not care what other people think about or feel with black metal. So for  me I want to do a statement with my art. I’m not into that satan here, satan there thing. I want to punch in face with my music, my lyrics and I want to encourage people to use their fucking brains. So I don’t give a fuck if someone is believing in a god – call it Jesus, Allah, Thor or whatever. But in my opinion it is the most important thing to believe in yourself and never let a religion rule your life.

5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?

I have a few persons around me, who are great in creating art, like digital drawings, pictures, photos etc. I’m not much in the medieval demonic painting thing so we decided to show what the album is titled.Imagine you are in your beloved hometown. A bomb is crushing everything around you. You are laying on the ground, opening your eyes and you look to the sky. This is what „The World Left Behind“ is all about. 

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

We have been in some really cool places and cities like munich, darmstadt, rosenheim etc, Hm, i guess our show is angry, pissed of, brutal and bloody…. Here we are!

7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

We will do a release show on 21st of december in the near of munich. We have some gigs planned in 2025 but nothing to confirm right now. So we would love to play in other countries especially austria, czech republic or poland would be great. We are ready – contact us!!

8.The new album is coming out on 'Ketzer Records', how did you get in contact with this label?

I know him for many years. He is a really cool and hard working guy. And he is genius in connecting bands and musicians together with promoters. So I asked him, send him the songs – and the unholy alliance was born! 

9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black metal?

First of all I have to say that support is always much apreciated but I’m not fishing for compliments, The reaction so far is great. We have incoming mails and pre-order from all over the world. Even from Tazmania. That is awesome. Great reactions from scandinava, usa, ireland as well. 

10.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?

Arbor is playing in „UNRIVALED“ where he does some bavarian clean vocals as well. Mannaz is also the drummer in „VRDRBR“. Guess you can call it depressive black metal. Pain is a great piano player and does music all the time you can say. I am not part of any other projects at the moment. But maybe something is lurking in the dark….

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We do not want to re-invent black metal or doing some post-whatever stuff. MORBUS DEI is what it is. I want to see people with wide open eyes saying „What the fuck was this?“ after the show. No compromise at all!

12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

I am personally listening to bands like Mayhem, Primordial, Watain, Dread Sovereign, Urgehal but also to many other music, like punk rock, irish folk , Johnny Cash and many others. When I do songwriting I try to not listening to music before. Only me , my mind and the song you can say.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Please support bands you like! Go to their shows, buy some merch. Give them a drink! You know – no one can buy his next amp with spotify or other crap. Give them a chance to play at your festival, at your club or wherever.

Thank you for this interview!

https://linktr.ee/morbusdei
https://www.morbus-dei.de
https://www.facebook.com/MorbusDei666
https://www.instagram.com/morbusdei
http://morbusdei.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@morbusdei_blackmetal
https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/3Y3BVrAxVsLaXLsuq7Pc7J

Shining/The Helsinki Tapes/The Sinister Initiative/2024 Compilation Album Review

 

  This  is  a  review  of  a  compilation  from  Sweden's  Shining  which  consists  of  unreleased demo material  which  was  recorded  more  then  20  years  ago which  showed  the  music  going  for  a  raw,  experimental  and  depressive  style  of  black  metal  and  the  album  is  called  "The  Helsinki  Tapes"  and  was  released  by  The  Sinister  Initiative.

  A  very  fast  and  raw  sound  starts  off  the  compilation  along  with  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats.  Melodies  are  also  added  into  a  lot  of  the  guitar  riffing  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  the  vocals  are  a  mixture  of  angry  shouts  and  grim  depressive  black  metal  screams.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  and  clean  playing  is  also  added  on  some  of  the  tracks.

  Clear  vocals  can  also  be  heard  at  times  along  with  the  music  also  having  its  experimental  moments  as  well  as  some  of  the  slower  riffing  also  bringing  in  elements  of  doom  metal,  female  vocals,  spoken  words,  stringed  instruments  and  keyboards  are  also  utilized  briefly.  The  production  sounds  very  dark  and  raw  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  a  mixture  of  English  and  Swedish  and  cover  Suicide,  Depression  and  Negativity  themes.   

  In  my  opinion  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  collection  from  Shining  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  check  out  this  compilation.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Ghastly  Silence"  and  "For  The  God  Below".  8  out  of  10.

  https://youtu.be/w0rekc1SrU8

https://www.shininglegions.com/

https://tsiofficial.bandcamp.com   

  

Salacious Gods/A Chrestomathy Of Blasphemous Supremacy/WolfKult Religion/2024 Compilation Album Review

 

  Salacious  Gods  are  a  band  from  the  Netherlands  that  has  had  music  reviewed  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  very  raw  and  old  school  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2024  compilation  album  "A  Chrestmathy  Of   Blasphemous  Supremacy"  which  was  released  by  WolfKult  Religion.

  A  very  fast  and  raw  sound  starts  off  the  compilation  along  with  a  great  amount  of  blast b eats  and  tremolo  picking.  Melodies  are  also  added  into  a  lot  of  the  guitar  riffing  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  as  well  as  the  music  also  being  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  second  wave  era.

  Throughout  the  compilation  you  can  also  hear  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  a  lot  of  the  tracks  where  also  recorded  live.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  some  of  the  more  recent  material  also  bringing  in  more  of  a  modern  style.

  When  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  more  of  a  melodic  style  along  with  a  couple  of  the  tracks  also  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  synths.  Clean  playing  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  as  well  as  some  of  the  songs  also  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.  some  of  the  older material  also  adds  in  a  small  amount  of  symphonic  touches.  The  production  sounds  very  raw  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  a  mixture  of  Dutch  and  English  and  cover  Occultism,  Philosophy,  Anti  Religion  and  Darkness  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  collection  from  Salacious  Gods  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  raw  and  old  school  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  compilation.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Sulphur,  Mingled  With  Poison"  "Morbid  Revelations  In  Blood  And  Semen"  "Firestorm"  and  "Hexencult".  8/5  out  of  10.

  https://youtu.be/7rwypvf2_qM