Saturday, August 31, 2013

The Nightstalker/Against The Anesthetist/Wolfshade Records/2013 FUll Length Review


  The  Nightstalker  are  a  1  man  band  from  Belgium  that  plays  a  dark  ambient  form  of  black metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2013  album  "Against  The  Anesthetist"  which  was  released  by  Wolfshade  Records.

  "Snow  Falls  On  Natural  City"  begins  with  some  dark  and  evil  sounding  synths  which  leads  to  some  grim  black  metal  vocals  which  also  mix  in  with  the  synths  as  well  as  serving  as  an  intro  for  the  album.

  "Strange  World"  begins  with  some  acoustic  guitar  playing  which  utilizes  full  chords  along  with  a  melodic  and  atmospheric  background  which  leads  to  some  grim  screams  as  well  as  the  guitars  using  more  open  notes  and  finger  picking  and  after  awhile  you  can  hear  some  semi  heavy  guitar  riffs  for  a  few  seconds  before  returning  to  its  more  soft  roots.

  "Am  I  Like  Him"  begins  with  some  heavy  and  melodic  guitar  riffs  which  also  lead  to  some  drum  programming  as  well  as  some  synths  setting  up  the  mood  for  some  vocals  which  combines  with  all  of  the  other  musical  instruments  during  its  3  minutes  of  existence.

  "Without  News  From  Father"  starts  off  with  some  soft  acoustic  guitar  playing  which  utilizes  finger  picking  and  after  a  few  seconds  you  can  hear  some  electric  guitar  sounds  in  the  background  which  lead  to  the  vocals  kicking  in,  as  the  song  moves  on  synths  make  their  presence  known  along  with  some  melodic  guitar  leads.while focusing  more  on  synths  on  vocals.

  "Sad  To  See  You  Again"  begins  with  some  synth  playing  which  leads  to  some  melodic  guitar riffs  as  well  as  the  grim  and  dark  vocals  which  combine  with  the  guitars  and  synths  until  the  song  comes  to  and  end.

  "If  I Never  Felt"  starts  off  with  some  soft  ambient  synths  which  leads  to  the  drum  programming  and  melodic  black  metal  guitar  riffs  which  after  awhile  leads  to  the  black  metal  vocals  as  well  as  switching  back  and  forth  between  synth  and  guitar  parts.

  "Questions"  begin  with  some  soft  acoustic  guitar  playing,  powerful  bass  playing,  drum  programming  and  vocals  which  lead  to  some  synths  getting  mixed  in  and  after  awhile  some  heavy  guitar  riffs  make  their  presence  known  while  also  keeping  around  the  other  musical  instruments.

  "Against  The  Anesthetist"  begins  with  some clean  guitar  playing  which  leads  to  the  drum  programming,  synths,  and  heavy  guitar  riffs  along  with  some  bass  and  grim  vocals  which  also  lead  to  the  riffing  getting  more  melodic  and  towards the  end  the  synths  start  getting  even  more  powerful.

  "An  Escape"  begins  with  some  soft  synth  playing  which  utilizes  a  variety  of  many  different  keys  setting  up  the  mood  for  some  bass,  drums  and  melodic  guitar  playing  which  also  starts  mixing  in  some  power  chords  which  leads  up  to  the  introduction  of  the  vocals  which  mix  in  with  the  other musical  instruments.

  "Some  Blood  In  The  Snow"  begins  with  some  soft  acoustic  guitar  playing  which  utilizes  finger  picking  and  full  chords  along  with  some  dark  sounding  vocals  which  combine  with  some  guitars  and  synths  to  close  the  album.

  Song  lyrics  are  a  concept  album  based  upon  an  angel  known  as  The  Nightstalker  and  his  battle  and  struggles  against  darkness  and  light  from  is  own  point  of  view,  while t he  production  has  a  very  dark  and  heavy  sound.

  In  mt  opinion  The  NightStalker"  is  a  very  great  sounding  dark  ambient/black  metal  solos  artist  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Snow  Falls  On  Natural  City"  "Without  News  From  The  Father"  "Questions"  and  "An  Escape".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.  

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Friday, August 30, 2013

RavenFrost 2013 Interview


1. Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the project since 2010?
A lot has happened since then. I have been improving my little studio more and more. I bought a new bass and switched to other software. Also, Ravenfrost developed from Depressive Black Metal to a mix of DSBM and Doom. The strings are tuned down to hell on the future stuff.

2.You have a new album coming out in 2014 can you tell us a little bit more about it and how you feel you have evolved as  a  musician with the new recording?
I'm very proud of the new record because it cost a lot of time and passion to make it. As usual, I did everything from writing to recording. I had the pleasure to meet some inspiring people and I was able to really find my own style which I have been trying since the beginning in 2006. 
So this is the first full-length album and a milestone for Ravenfrost!

3.The new album has all lyrics in English this time around, what was the decision behind using this language instead of German on all off the newer songs which was used on some  of the older material and also do you have any plans on writing in your native tongue again in the future?
The decision to only write lyrics in English just happened. I did not really plan it or even think about it. It's just what suits the music best in the moment. Maybe I will change that in the future, maybe not. I have considered writing "Einsamkeit II" as a sequel to "Einsamkeit" from the 2009 demo. We will see on the next album.

4.Can you tell us a little bit more about what the song lyrics cover this time around?
"Agonies Of The Past" sums up the concept of the album. I really had a hard time in 2011 because of some very stressful stuff that happened. I had the feeling that I could not live up to my own ambitions and I was totally broke, which ended up in kind of a burn out situation that gave me hell for a few months. So...what I was trying is to turn that into something positive and gain inspiration from it. I always thought that depressive music is the best way to cope with pain and despair. Not to give up but to get over it and move on. And that's what I did. The whole lyrics are centered around the feeling that you get when you're really desperate. Like you're standing on the edge of a cliff and there is no way out.

5.A few years back you did a split with Vintage Flesh, what where your thoughts on the other band that participated?
I still like that split a lot. I had been a fan of those guys and their creepy strange mixture of black metal, doom and horror themes. I also really like the vocals that Ray did for "Vizards To Our Hearts". We are still in contact and Ray from Vintage Flesh (he has a new band called Inverticrux now) did the cover artwork for this album.

6.I noticed that for a while you where using a drummer while doing all off the other musical instruments how did that work out and also are you still using a drummer?
It worked out pretty bad. One of the reasons for creating a one man project is that I did not want to be forced to rely on other people. The whole process of creating the drums went very very slow until I just decided to do everything myself. I'm not working with a drummer at the moment. Maybe I will, if I find someone who is really dedicated.

7.The new album is coming out on Tridoid Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label and how they compare with the other labels you have worked with?
Tridroid Records is a U.S.-based label. So far, it was really nice working with them. I had the chance to have a track on their black metal compilation. After that I asked if they would do a vinly release of the album and they agreed which is a great chance for Ravenfrost. I'm really excited to get my hands on a vinyl version of the album.
I have made a lot of good experiences with labels. Like Victory By Fire, Pest Records, Runenstein Records and lots of others. No rip offs or assholes so far, let's hope that it will stay this way.

8.I remember a few years back you said you have some other musical projects, are they still going on these days?
Unfortunately, Megaera does not exist anymore. But I'm doing bass and vocals in a death metal band called Vintundra. We recorded our first album last fall and I'm really proud of it too. It's death metal mixed with some very interesting elements like oriental parts, acoustics and female vocals.

9.What kind of reaction they you feel you will get once the album hits the stores in 2014?
I think the album will be received very well. I've been getting a lot of positive response from musicians and labels. The only thing that's still unclear is who will do the CD-release in Europe but that will turn out pretty soon.

10.Thanks for your time, any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
Thanks a lot for the interview and review. Check out Tridroid Record's black metal compilation, Inverticrux and Vintundra. And try to get your hands on a copy of "Agonies Of The Past", vinyl, tape or cd.

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Nefarious Ascendency Interview


1.Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?
First I would like to say thank you to OccultBlackMetalZine for their interest in our band! thank you for the great review! Nefarious Ascendency started out as an idea between guitarist BERITH, Vocalist SEMIAZAS, and our good friend Daryl Bunn. We had decided on the name of the band before we started writing music, and we knew we wanted the music to be black metal, with elements of doom. I remember early on Forgotten Tomb was a major inspiration. Nefarious Ascendency to the definition would mean 'evil'or 'villainous' and ASCENDENCY meaning Domination, a governing influence...meaning to us domination of evil, or however one would perceive that. We initally recorded track 4 from the 2008 demo, called "Dead Calm From The Desolation" and then "Summoning Of The Ancients" soon after. On our first demo, it was just daryl and i, i did all of the vocals and guitar tracks and he did the drum programming and synths. On Our 2nd release, "the entirety naught"(2009) was when Semiazas started as our full time vocalist. The recording session was abruptly stopped so we had to release what we had completed in demos. D.B. decided he no longer wanted to be a part of the band and parted ways. Semiazas and Berith set out to find new musicians in order to continue this project. We met keyboardist ISOKNELK late 2009/2010, and asked him if he would like to join N.A. as our keyboardist. on halloween 2010 at a local metal show, we met our drummer DODEN, asked him to join the band, and from that point we started rehearsing and writing material, essentially trying to get to know one another as musicians. We wrote 11 or 12 songs and over the years the songs have evolved in their own way. That is what this new cd on Exalted Woe, The "NEFARIOUS ASCENDENCY" self titled album is. These are most of the first songs written together as a live band. The songs have evolved and probably will continue to... but now that we have released this cd, our number one priority is to start writing new material. With every new song we write we are getting better both as individual musicians and as a band. 

2.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also do you have any touring plans for the album? Right now we have no plans of touring. Unfortunately as a young band getting started, we can barely afford to keep the band alive as is. We rehearse 2 times a week and pay for a rehearsal spot. There aren't all that many black metal shows going on in our area, so we do shows when we can. One or 2 a month, sometimes a month without one. We've played everywhere in FL that we can, that is: daytona beach, cocoa beach, Orlando, tampa, and jacksonville. We would tour if the opportunity arose but right now the band is just focusing writing the next album!

3.The new album came out on Exalted Woe, can you tell us a little bit more about this label? Zac from EXALTED WOE (Zac Dendinger) is a friend of ours here in FL. Exalted Woe are just getting started (like us). When zac offered to release NEFARIOUS ASCENDENCY's first full length, he really took on a giant task. He recorded the album, mixed it, and paid for it to be manufactured! It is a great honor that he is such an awesome person, going out on a limb for us! Hopefully it all works out great and maybe he will release our next album, which we assure you will be of much higher quality musically!

4.Can you tell us a little bit more about your song lyrics and also do you have an interest in the occult?
Semiazas our vocalist has been the sole lyricist. The songs address issues like suicide/depression, Plagues, Vampyrism, worldwide extinction of all life, misanthropy, and Death.We have not written anything specifically about occultism/satanism (yet) but everyone in the band are devout anti-christians. For the most part the band is religion free... but occultism, witchcraft, satanism, demonology are all things that peak our interests in our free time, although we do not necessarily have any type of official affiliation. We are constantly digging into new subjects to cover in our music.

5.What are some of the bands and musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays? We are heavily influenced by bands like Limbonic Art, Arcturus, Emperor, Forgotten Tomb and norweigian black metal like Darkthrone, Mayhem, gorgoroth, enslaved, immortal etc, swedish black metal like marduk and dark funeral. Our drummer DODEN is heavy into blast beat oriented black metal, and keeps it very fast so you can expect our music to stay fast and intense! other black metal bands we like would be Mutiilation, watain, Horna, Moonblood, Nyktalgia, Craft, Absu, Leviathan, Abigor, Akitsa, Judas Iscariot, Satanic Warmaster, Darkestrah,Forgotten Woods, Drudkh, Hate Forest, Lunar Aurora, Blut Aus Nord,make a change kill yourself,Thy Infernal, Pest,Sarcofago, ...etc (the list could go on forever, we do keep up with it all...) Members Of Nefarious Ascendency also enjoy listening to death metal and gore/grind, Doom, industrial on occasion and sometimes we might even listen to some other form of music not at all metal related. Jazz and freestyle improvisational music is interesting to some of us, although not all of it has any influence on NEFARIOUS ASCENDENCY's sound. N.A. writes black metal with some doom undertones. We are putting all of our emphasis on making the next album up to par with "in the nightside eclipse" as a focal point. Allow me to clarify that i mention that album as a career point for that band, and what we want our next release to stand up to. 

6.Outside of music what are some of your interests? Most of the time we are listening to music, working, watching sick gore movies, drinking and smashing shit up, reading into things we find interest in, and studying/taking music theory lessons from ISOKNELK our keyboardist (hahah). When we are not in the band room practicing, we are doing that. 

7.On a worldwide level, how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?
As far as worldwide feedback, we have people from almost every country in the world on our facebook band page! It appears the rest of the world appreciates black metal more than our hometown does that is for sure! we definitely want to thank all of the blogspots that are helping to spread our cloak of evil to the hard to reach places!

8.Thanks for your time, any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview? Hails to OCCULTBLACKMETALZINE for carrying the torch and spreading the word! thanks for the support and for the interview!

Doden,Drummer.I handle alot of networking as well as Semiazas we try to find people from all parts of the country and the world.I have alot of inspiration from the bands i listen to on a daily basis Like Dark Funeral for instance.I like fast tear your face off black metal opposed to slow doomy depressive black metal Iam constantly trying to challenge myself to go faster and be more technical. These are just a few things off the top of my head Berith pretty much nailed everything else in the previous statements. just wanted to add my 2 cents lol


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Augrimmer Interview


1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
We rehearse the songs for our upcoming record. I think that is all.
2.How would you describe the musical sound of the newer music and how it differs from previous releases?
Hard to say since Nothing Ever Was is a very special record which only partly shows our future direction. When you check our previous releases you will realize, that they differ from each other pretty much. Sometimes by mistake and sometimes by purpose. Autumnal Heavens is very obscure and moisty while From the Lone Winters Cold is very archaically basic 90s Black Metal. Nothing Ever Was opened the spectrum in different directions. Though we are still lucky with it it is maybe too much different stuff in one record, so it might be bewildering at certain points. Though it has some dark spires like Coffin Host or the Voice to name some. I would call that record more desolate.
3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the newer music explores?
There are two kinds of lyrics. In the more transparent ones (like f.e. Coffin Host) I utilize certain dark issues to metaphorically transport messages important to me. But the most lyrics are from the second kind and they rather evolve spontaneusly from my subconscious. I use to structurize them afterwards to make the meaning I read into them more clear. But they use to remain abstract and sometimes I can learn from them since they bring me nearer to that part of myself not directly accessable to me.
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?
It is the name of the north wind in a certain fantasy cosmos. It did fit my vision of our music in the beginning but from todays perspective I would not use the name again since it is limiting to me. But who cares...
5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
We have never put a focus on playing much gigs and I don't want to score our performance in any way.
6. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
No. There are no shows planned and we will see when we will play live next time. Our focus right now is on our new record.
7.Recently you put out a split with Grave Desecrator, what are your thoughts on the other band that participated?
Grave Desecrator are a great band driven by great people. They keep the quintessence of what we know as the typical south american extreme metal alive.
8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?
We are a band that seems to be quite overlooked. The reasons may be many. But when we get contacted by metal fans it appears they come from very different countries. The only feedback we get is very positive but one doesn't usually contact bands when he thinks they are shit, right? So we don't have a clue if people don't know us or don't like us, haha
9.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?
I have pretty much stuff already worked out and right now it seems to me that we broaden our style and are more rooted on our basis same time. But since I want to chose the songs for a record a way that they share a similar feeling and complex of themes it might appear that records will differ in atmosphere. The next record for example will be very dark and sad. And I don't mean gothic, right?
10.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
As we began the most significant influences came from norwegian Black Metal. Later it got complemented by stuff like Bathory, Masters Hammer, Rotting Christ, Mercyful Fate and so on.
Personally I use to listen to a very broad spectrum of music. My main passion goes for NWoBHM and Black Metal. Celtic Frost, Bathory and Iron Maiden are maybe my favorite bands. But I love some Wave stuff too or 70s Prog. And don't forget old (Hard) Rock like Blue Oyster Cult or Thin Lizzy. But it has to be at least melancholic or preferably dark. Since music is felt quite subjective that feelings can be found at places you would never expect them.
11.Does Occultism play any role in your music?
It does. But in fact it depends on the interpretation of the word occult. To me it exceedes the spiritual, mythic, transcendental whatever thing. Basically the word means „hidden“ and subsumes everything not directly tangible. That might be things magical or things subconscious and thus physical. The seperation of both is not always easy. People might mistaken magic things as experiencing the subconscious and the other way around. I am mainly interested in the differencies and the similarities of both. I thought I was more progressed on this issue when I was young, but now I feel to be starting on it over again. Exploring the occult seems a life task to me. Who tells you he knows the „truth“ about it is naive, an idiot or a lier.
12.Outside of music what are some of your interests?
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13.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

RavenFrost/Agonies Of The Past/Tridroid Records/2014 Full Length Review


  RavenFrost  are  a  1  man  band  from  Germany  that h as  been  featured  before  in  this  zine with  the  musical  style  this  time  around  being  a  depressive  form  of  black  metal  with  doom  elements  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Agonies  Of  The  Past"  which  will be released  by  Trindoid  Records.

  "What  Doesn't  Kill  You  Makes  You  Weaker"  begins  with  some  melodic  black  metal  guitar  leads  along  with  some  drums  in  the  background  which  lead  to  some  depressive  screams  and  heavier  riffing  while  keeping  around  the  melodic  leads  and  after  awhile  the  music slows  down  and  more  black  metal  style  vocals  start  kicking  in  as  well  as  going  into  a  heavy  black/doom  direction  and  around  a  minute  some  bass  playing  starts  keeping  in  and  out  as  well  as  the  music  utilizing  some  synths  making  the  song  have  a  more  tragic  feeling  to  it  before  going  back  to  its  heavier  roots  and  mixing  some  synths  in  certain  sections  before  going  more  back  into  it and  adding  in  another  melodic  leads.

  "The  Roots  Unearthed"  begins  with  some  dark  atmospheric/ambient  synths  which  leads  to  some  melodic  doom  guitar  leads,  drums,  bass  and  heavy  rhythm  guitar  playing  setting  up  the  mood  for  some  deep  doom/death  growls  and  stays  in  that  direction  for  awhile  before  adding  in  some  black  metal elements  to  the vocals  while  still  focusing  on  melodic  doom  as  well  as  returning  more  towards  synths  and  bass  guitars  for  awhile  as  well  as  adding  in  some  spoken  word  parts  which  also  lead  to  the  song  getting  heavier  again  and  as  times  goes  by  another  melodic  lead  kicks  in  briefly.

  "Under  The Surface"  begins  with  some  heavy  and  dark  guitar  riffing  which  leads  to  grim  depressive  black  metal  vocals  as  well  as  some  melody  getting  into  the  riffing  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  clean  playing   along  with  some  bass  in  the  background  as  well  as  the  song  getting  darker  as  time  moves  by  and  you  can  hear  both  deep  and  high  pitch  elements  in  the  vocals and  towards  the  end  you  can  hear  a  small  amount  of  synths.

  "Melancholic  Maelstrom"  begins  with  some  heavy  and  dark  guitar  riffs  and  drums  which  lead  to  some  grim  sounding  black  metal  screams  kicking  in  as  well as  the  song  utilizing  some  primitive  early  90's  elements  in  the  riffing  for  awhile  before  adding  in  some  melodic  elements  and  deep  growls  which  take  the  song  from  black  to  doom,  as  the  song  moves  on  it  goes  into  a  soft  direction  with  synths  taking  over  and  dominating  before  returning  to  its  primitive  black  metal roots  while  also  mixing  some  of  the  other  elements  together  which  lead  to  some  powerful  bass  playing  being  utilized  with  the  other  instruments.

  'To Envy  The  Nameless  Dead"  begins  with  some  dark  guitar  riffing  which  leads  to  some  drums  as  well  as  adding  in  more  melody  and  heavy  parts  along  with  some  strong  bass  playing  setting  up  the  mood  for  some  grim  screams  and  after  awhile  melodic  leads  start  kicking  in  and  out  at  times  which  lead  to  some  DSBM  elements  as  well  as  the  song  utilizing  more  variety  as  times  moves  by  while  also  bringing  in  some  doom  metal  parts.

  Song  lyrics  are  written  in  English  and  cover  dark  and  depressive  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful  and  dark  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording  along  with  the  songs  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  RavenFrost  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  depressive  black  metal  with  elements  of  doom,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "What  Doesn't  Kill  You  Makes  You  Weaker"  and  "Melancholic  Maelstrom".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

www.ravenfrost.de

Ninkharsag/The Essential Salts Of Human Dust/Ulthar Records/2013 EP Review


  Ninkharsag  are  a  band  from  the  United  Kingdom  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  with  the  music  style  on  this  recording  being  a  very  melodic  and  90's  influenced  style  of  occult  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  ep  "The  Essential Salts  Of  Human  Dust"  which  was  released  by  Ulthar  Records.

  "The  Essential  Salts  Of  Human  Dust"  begins  with  some  heavy  guitar  riffing  and  drums  which  utilize  some  primitive  elements  setting  up  the  mood  for  some  melodic  elements,  screams  and  heavy  bass  playing  which  in  return  takes  the  song  into  a  faster  direction  as  well  as  mixing  in  mid  paced  sections  before  going  into  a  slower  direction.

  "Liber  V  vel  Reguli"  begins  with  some  Swedish  style  black  metal  guitar  riffing  which  leads  to   some  blast  beats  and  screams  as  well  as  mixing  in  mid  paced  sections  that  go  back  to  the  95  area  of  the  genre  along  with  some  powerful  bass  playing  in  the  background  before  reverting  back  to  the  faster  parts  which  then  leads  to  the  song  switching  back  and  forth  between  both  while  also  adding  in  some  melody  in  the  riffing.

  Song  lyrics  cover  Occultism,  Magick  and  Ancient  History,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  dark  sound  where you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Ninkharsag  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  90's  styl  melodic  occult  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Liber  V  vel  Reguli".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

www.facebook.com/ninkharsagblackmetal

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Howling In The Fog Interview


1. Can you tell us a little bit about the Project For Those That have never heard of you before?
Hello to all. The project was born shortly after he began to print the first black metal work, with the other one-man-band project: Dark Paranoia born in 2008 when I was still 15 years old. shortly in after, in March 2010 I decided to create another solo project, always black metal but different, more and more raw as life.
2. How would you describe your musical sound?
My musical sound in this project is very sick and raw. very loud and very introspective. especially the emotional side. I always try to be very instinctive and concentrated to best convey my message to the listener
3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
More themes and texts, there are a periods of life. periods of my life, that I represented into the music.
The words are a medium for telling the periods, spent or the time or the days of the weeks of the minute, the period with negative feelings, bad emotions, and very tragic thoughts all into my mind. and often bad things happened, and bad situations
4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?
I Mean have a creature inside of me. that he needed to shout up to the whole world with absurd rage.. I needed to vent in some sort of mystique and mystery genres called black metal.
5. Currently there is only one member in the band, are there any plans to work with other musicians in the future or do you choose to remain alone?
Into my life i'm a Musician. Music is my Life. and play the bass and i studying and playing jazz and another more kind of music from many years. i'm young but that's my life : i do concert, teaching ,recording, mixing,mastering,and studying into a school of music. and do something another jobs.. and many kinds of genres and this is my SOLO-project. i had many bands in the past, and right now ! where I played various instruments and various genres ! with Dark Paranoia i featured with a drummer Marco from Deadly Carnage. but only in two released. so this is my SOLO project.
6. A while back the project did you Silencer to cover, what was the decision behind doing this cover?
Because is the best depressive black metal song i had ever heard. So sick and twisted.. when I heard this song from the first time i was astonished ! and oh man ! : i will do the cover more sick!
7. Currently you are signed to Razed Soul, how did you get in contact with this label and how would you describe the support they have Given you so far?
i prefer to don't talk about the Music Business
8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of depressive black metal?
Online you will find everything on a variety of sites: facebook, myspace, last fm, ebay youtube, label websites, forum ecc on the web there are a lot numbers of reviews, interviews, photo,videos,and there are all the songs on youtube uploaded by fans. and a very lot of blogspot where you can download all music for free. and many Released( jewel case - tape - Cdr - ecc not mp3 ) being limited to a few copies have already been sold out. Good feedback
9. What is going on with the other musical projects These Days?
This summer I finished a three-year specialization jazz. soon I start to the second years of the Bachelor of Arts.i have a new one man band project with new kind of music,very experimental under my real name. i have two new young bands where we composing e recording new Music. and my old black metal projects that soon will take up! and looking for a jazz bands this october
10. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?
My music is evolving and is changing quickly, and the metal is not the only way that I decided to undertake.but these projects i do not know what i will. I was planning to do at least get out the new album is ready for a year! and revisit a bit with a new sound .. we will see the direction that I have now is not sure the one I had when composing this music now I represent with other sensations, perhaps even deeper and more mature. you can listen right now with my new tracks on Soudncloud!
11. What are some bands or musical styles have influenced your music and That Also what are you listening to nowadays?
I was inspired by listening assiduously about 200 black metal bands of all types! but there are some in particular for example: Nyktalgia, Sterbend, Silencer, Nortt, Xasthur, I'm ia coffin, Velvet Cacoon, Burzum, ColdWorld , etc.
12. Outside of music what are some of your interests?
Girls , Friends , Sport ,Traveling , Drink , Smoke, Read , Nature, Animals , Painting , Tatto , Film , Food , Cooking , Mountain,
13. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
Music is the largest language that may exist. it's up to us to decide how to undertake it, or pick it up.

Ogdru Jahad Interview


 1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?

Hails. First, we are called Ogdru Jahad, not Jihad, hahaha, a lot of other people get that wrong too, I guess the origin of the name is not that well known after all and it would seem a common mistake to think we would have a name dealing with holy war! Anyway, we were formed in 2011 or so, the idea had been there much longer, but we started rehearsing with this line-up in 2011. All band members have been part of the Danish underground for many years, playing in various other bands and such.

2. How would you describe your musical sound?

We aim to play some old school black metal of death, based more on evil and primitive memorable riffs than on a wall of ambience and noise. The sound is still raw and to the point, but I think it is no problem to hear all intruments, riffs and solos etc. We keep most of the songs pretty short and fast, but at the same time we are not afraid to include slow and heavy parts from time to time. Now get me right, it is not blast beats from start to end, so compared to many super fast bands in the black metal or death metal genre, then we are probably a bit more midpaced at most of the time.

3. The song lyrics cover a lot of blasphemous themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your hatred towards christianity and the white light?

Yeah, well speaking for myself personally, to be honest I don't care too much about Christianity as it exist in Denmark right now. Aside from a few hypocrite who like to speak out in social medias and tv, when possible, I don't really get any problems here. The state and church is well seperated and I was never baptized because most of my family don't care about Christianity at all.
What I do have against Christianity (and other religions) is when it comes down to the extremeties and it begins to force rules upon you or work against progress of life and science. I find it concerning when people begin to take the words of the bible as the truth and not just one possible truth, but the only one and ask no questions.
Actually I do like the myth and mysticism concerning many religions and while our lyrics on the first album don't deal too much with the occult origins of Christianity, that is one subject I hope we will go further into in the future and have some lyrics which will deal more with subjects which could relate to lot of the symbolism we had incorporated in our cover and less common blasphemy, hehehe...

4.The bands name comes from the power and evil dieties of the Hellboy comics, which in turn was inspired by the writings of H.P Lovecraft, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in the comics and the writings of Lovecraft?

Yes, that was also something I was writing more about in Sadogoat/Sadomator. I have been very fond of Lovecraft since I was very young and back when I founded Sadogoat (1998 or so) it felt natural to include lyrics with Cthulhu mythos themes in them. As it turned out Sadogoat/mator ended up having a lot of different lyrical subject, which was no problem for me at all, but with Ogdru Jahad we aim to keep a bit more general theme in the lyrics. So I doubt there will be any lyrics about Hellboy universe or completely inspired by Lovecraft. But fear not, since Lovecraft too was inspired by reality (or took his truth from the truth) we might very well be writing stuff with hints to the Cthulhu mythos with themes from Babylonian and Sumerian origins of some of the darker sides of early Christianity and the different proto Christian sects and such.
And about comic books and such, I have no idea if any of the other band members have any interest in such stuff. Well Sod Corpse is a HUGE fan of Prince Valiant and I know he likes Beetle Bailey too and Undiety had some Prince Valiant comics lying around too, but besides that I don't know. Me, I have grown up with a dad who collected comics and his collection was larger than our local library's, so I have been reading and buying comics since I was a kid. For me it has always come second to collecting music and probably also after a few other bad habits, so I don't have a huge collection, but it is growing. Mostly I borrow comics from my dad or loan at the library and such though.

5. I have read that the band was originally supposed to only be a temporary project, what was the decision behind going full time?

Previously I was busy with Sadomator and the other members were busy with Ligfaerd and Blodfest. But since I had recorded the "Scourging the Son of God" EP with Sadogoat back in the days I had many times thought about re-recording the songs, since I was not completely satisfied with how it turned out back then and I also had been working on a couple of similar songs, which never had been recorded. It seemed like Sadomator had taken a path were these old songs would not really fit in anymore, so I was thinking of just re-recording the old songs and record a few new songs in the same style, do an underground tape release, play a few gigs and then carry on with Sadomator. But as things turned out Sadomator was becoming more and more stagnant and I decided to take a break for a while and it seemed like the right time to start up Ogdru Jahad, at the same time Blodfest went on hold and Ligfaerd seems to be in a less active period too. In the end we decided to make more songs and record a full album and see where it would take us. Right now we concentrate on promoting the album, play some gigs and I guess in the near future we will start composing some new tracks for upcoming releases. I don't really think Ogdru Jahad is the main band of any of the members, but at the same time I don't really feel that it has a status of side project, at least not for me.

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

So far we have only played two gigs, the first was supporting Vulcano and Blodfest in Copenhagen, it was pretty good, but we only had few songs and they had not really all been fully developed yet. We had the gig recorded on tape and was spreading 200-300 tapes in the underground previous to our the LP release. Our second gig was at last years Metal Magic Festival (Denmark), the gig was good and the audience seemed to love it, but we had some problems with the sound and we didn't really feel that the sound technician was listening to the same music as us or listening to what we said. I think he was really tired, but it was still too bad that it should have negative influence on our sound and all. Our next gig is Kill Town Death Fest (Denmark) here on friday 30th August, I really think this will be our best gig so far, since we are much better prepared, we have more tracks finished and the album have been out some time, so hopefully some of the audience will know our songs by now. If you want I can write you back about it afterwards?
About stage performance, we don't have any great image, costumes, probs or such, so our performance is mostly just the band playing the songs, banging our heads and hoping the audience enjoy it as much as we do. We might wear some spikes, reversed crucifix's, bulletbelts, leather, corpse paint, hoods or whatever we feel like on the day, there is not really any continuing theme in our looks and performance. We try to keep everything dark and obscure when we take band photos and such, but on the stage it is a bit different, since the music comes first when we perform.

7. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

Not besides Kill Town, which I just told about. We would like to play more gigs, but life is in the way for any major touring. We are mainly interested to play in and around Denmark. Hopefully we will have some gigs in Germany at the end of the year or in 2014. There is many things which is becoming problematic about travelling too far or for many days, some have jobs and family which is hard to work with a touring life and I deal with some mental problems which is making me less and less happy to leave home and be around people for longer periods. Also there is always the money issue, we have all been in music for a long time and non of us really want to play for nothing and get half assed treatment anymore. Not that we are looking for big money or anything, buy paid transport, food and a real bed would do it, but lot of times that is not an option, especially for smaller bands like us.

8.Recently both Ancient Darkness and Iron Bonehead released your recording, how would you describe the support both labels have given you so far?

Great support. Both labels have been supporting our music for years. Iron Bonehead have been releasing Sadomator, Sadogoat, Blodfest, Wolfslair and such stuff which Ogdru Jahad members have been involved in. Ancient Darkness have always supported Sadogoat, Ligfaerd, Wolfslair and Blodfest. So it has been pretty easy to work with both labels.
When we decided to do a full album it felt natural to ask Iron Bonehead to do the vinyl and Ancient Darkness to do the CD version and without hesitation both labels agreed, since then it has been going pretty smooth and we have had all wishes for cover art, merchandise and such fullfilled. So I can only say we are pretty pleased by the support from both labels and if they want to work with us in the future we don't feel no need to search for other labels.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black/death metal?
I think the feedback from fans of the genre have been great! Many people have contacted us and told us how much they like it and more than one has been so bold to call it album of the year (so far), which has surprised me a bit! So I think we must have done something right. Although the album is not selling as fast as expected, but it seems like the sales have not stagnated yet, so I believe the music is spreading more and more day by day.
We have had a lot of not so good raning to terrible reviews too, but that has mainly been by people who are not into this genre in the beginning, so we don't really care about that. After all, already before we released the album, we knew it would not be considered a general masterpiece in the history of metal and the album was always mainly aimed for the true lovers of black/death underground! People like ourselves and the other bands and fans we have been in contact with for years through our underground activities.

10.What is going on with the other musical projects these days?

I mainly concentrate on Ogdru Jahad right now and my tape label Silver Key Records. Sadomator is still active, but it is very slowly coming along and I think I have made 1 or 2 useable riffs since our last album in 2009. Sod is planning upcoming releases with Ligfaerd and hopefully there will be an album and EP in 2014. Undeity and Necronuntius is busy with Phlegm Productions and have been recording a great demo with their new band Deiquisitor, which is still unreleased, but might be out later this year if things go as it should.

11.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

Mainly the same direction as we are going right now, but maybe not 100%, since I made most of the stuff on the first album, lot of it was old and already made before the band formed. So hopefully the other band members will be more active in the song making process. Don't get me wrong, all band members have been active in making our debut album what it is, but most of the basic work was laid out by me and the other members added a bit, edited some, changed this and that and in the end I feel like the final product is a combined band effort. Also we will not aim to make another album which will be a copy of this one, we will try to improve things, go new ways and since the recording process often is a mess it really is hard to know what the final product, of an upcoming album will be, before it is finished.

12. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

I think it would be pretty hard to deny that the main influence to begin with have been stuff like Profanatica, but over the years and along the way I think al lot of different stuff has been picked up and become a part of our musical bagage. I think it would be hard for me to mention everything that has sent me on the path to were I am now musically and since all the members really have been going in lot of different directions and even though we share lot of our musical taste, there is also lot of differences. So it would be impossible to be 100% certain to pick out everything and say it is influenced and inspired by this or that. In the end I really think I had these old songs lying around and when I started composing I was actually listening more to the old songs and as such getting insired by myself and the combining it with my musical evolution over the last many years and so it maybe became different while still being the same. The stuff I listened to mostly while writing the old tracks have not been the same stuff as I mainly listen to now.
People like to compare us to stuff like Beherit, Blasphemy and Black Witchery and I won't deny that it is some of my all time favourites of the genre, but I was honestly not thinking much about these bands when I composed for Ogdru Jahad, for me they are much different then what I was aiming for, but maybe I have had it blasted into my skull for too long and this stuff just shines through. I don't know.
When we mixed the album we aimed to have a more old American underground death/black metal sound, there was always some parts of the American black/death metal scene that seemed to never really reach to Europe and lot of the old underground stuff was really great and interesting in a whole different way than the Norwegian black metal scene or the Swedish death metal scene which was most prevalent in Europe back then, or at least Scandinavia. Not that there wasn't good music in Europe, there have been tons of great bands and there is still loads of brilliant stuff from the 90s and such, which never really got out there.
Ehm, this ended up becoming a longer tale I guess, but to end this question, we tried to fill out a whole in Europe, which we think not so many other bands have been venturing near in these parts. Time will tell if we will be forgotten or remember in 10 years.

13.How would you describe your views on Satanism and Occultism?
It is very interesting subjects and I have been studying the themes for many years, sometimes more active than others. I personally don't call myself satanist, since I don't believe in God or a personified Satan and as such I think Satanism is a product of Christianity. But I do share lot of the believes and such which is generally associated with Satanists and I would say my everyday life is lived according to that. I put myself, my family and friends in the center of importance and don't give a fuck about most of the rest of the world, but generally don't make any trouble as I know it will end up becoming trouble for me. So I don't have any active religion or occult view which I live after and my views on my personal beliefs of religion and society constantly change as I learn and evolve throughout life. I am always interested to learn more hidden secrets and I find them in surprising places.

14.Outside of music what are some of your interests?

Cats, easter and christmas related chocolate, brewing perfect coffee, clogs, collecting Hamtaro figurines, watching Prince Valiant movies, tv series and cartoons, Dick Turpin, making sauce so think that it can stand on its own, researching the history of Næstved Havn, and playing tabble tennis.

15.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Thanks for the support. Cthulhu Fthagn!

Oranssi Pazuzu/Valonielu/Svart Records/20 Buck Spin/2013 CD Review


  Oranssi  Pazuzu  are  a  band from  Finland  that  plays  a  very  psychedelic  and  experimental  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album "Valonielu"  which  was  released  as  a  joint effort  between  Svart  Records  and  20  Buck  Spin.

  "Vino  Verso"  begins  with  some  distorted  effects  which  bring  in  psychedelic  elements  leading  up  to  some  heavy  guitar  riffs  along  with  some  bass  playing,  drums  and  synths  kicking  in  shortly  after  that  and  after  awhile grim  sounding  screams  make  their  presence  known  and  after  awhile  you  can  hear  some  experimental  and  industrial elements  getting  added  in.

  "Tyhia  Tempelli" begins  with  some  drums  which  leads  to  some  powerful  bass  playing  and  avant  garde  sound  effects  from  the  synths  which  leads  to  some  melodic  guitar  leads  in  the  background and  after  awhile  the  grim  screams  start  kicking  in  and  take  the  song  into  a  heavier  direction  before  slowing  down  and  adding  in  some  distorted  amplifier  effects.

  "Uranisula"  begins  with  some  clean  and  soft  guitar  playing  and  after  awhile  the  sound  effects,  drums  and  heavy  bass  guitar  playing  starts  kicking  in  along  with  some  regular  guitars  in  the  background  which  use  some distorted  melodies  setting  up  the  mood  for some  grim  vocals  and  as  the  song  moves  on  it  starts  getting  more  diverse  as  well  as  adding  in  more  psychedelic  elements,  around  the  7  minute  heavy  guitar  riffs  kick  in  along  with  some  dark  melodic  elements.

  "Reikka  Maisemassa"  begins  with  some  experimental  and  psychedelic  sound  effects  which  leads  to some  tribal style  drumming  and  after  awhile  synths  start  kicking  in  and  there  are  no  vocals  or  other  musical  instruments  with t he  song  serving  as  an  instrumental  piece.

  "Olen  Aukaissut  Uudan  Silman"  begins  with  some  heavy  guitar  riffs,  powerful  bass,  drums  and  industrial/psychedelic  synths  setting  up  the  mood  for  some  black  metal  screams   to  kick  in  and  after  awhile  the  song  starts  mixing  in  blast  beats  with  some  weird  sounding  synths  before  going  into  a  more  gothic  direction  as  well  as  mixing  in  some  electronic  music  elements  which  leads  to  the  heavier  parts  getting  mixed  in.

  "Ymprya  On  Viiva  Tomussa"  begins  with  some soft  ambient sounds  which  leads  to  some  powerful  bass  playing  and  psychedelic  parts  as  well  as  some  drum  beats  and  as  the  song  moves  on  it  starts  getting  more  diverse,  around  the  5  minute  mark  some  melodic  sounding  post  metal  guitar  leads  make  their  presence  known  along  with  some  guitar  rhythms  and  space  rock sounds  setting  up  the  mood  for  some  screams  along  with  some  powerful  bass  playing  kicking  in  shortly  after  that  which  start  taking  over  after  a  few  minutes  and  becoming  a  lead  instrument  for  awhile  before  the  rhythm  guitars  start kicking  in  again  along  with  some  more  screams

  Song  lyrics  are  written  in  Finnish  and  cover  cosmology  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  dark  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  along  with  a  couple  of  the  songs being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  Oranssi  Pazuzu  are  a  very  great  sounding  psychedelic  and  experimental  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Vino  Verso"  and  "Olen  Aukaissut  Uudan  Silman".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

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