Membaris/Black Plasma ArmourW.T.C Productions/2025 Full Length Review

 

  Membaris  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  on  this  recording  goes  for  a  very  old  school,  melodic  and  misanthropic  form  o f  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  album  "Black  Plasma  Armour"  which  will  be  released  in  2025  by  W.T.C  Productions.

  A  very  fast  and  raw  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats.  Melodies  are  also  added  into  a  lot  of  the  guitar  riffing  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  as  well  as  most  of  the  tracks  also  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length

   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  tradition  as  well  as  remaining  very  modern  at  the  same  time.

  Clean  playing  and  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  on  a  couple  of  tracks  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  also  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  as  well  as  one  song  also  introducing  clear  vocals  onto  the  album.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  fatalism,  darkness  and  nature  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Membaris  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  old  school,  melodic  and  misanthropic  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Threshold  Of  A  Dystopia"  and  "Onwards  To  The  Last  Blink  Of  Reason".  8  out  of  10.

  www.facebook.com/membarisofficial    

Membaris Interview

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



Kraal: After we had completed the work on Misanthrosophie and the layout was ready we started to rehearse again in 2016. N. (ex - Weird Fate, Avowal) who was playing live guitar for us since the early days in 2004 joined us for the rehearsals. Through him F. (ex - Weird Fate) also joined the band on guitar. He is a highly skilled musician and is enhancing the variability and depth of our music. Since then, we have been playing live again as a complete band.





2.You have a new album coming out during the end of March, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?



K.: Apart from the solos which were composed and played by Stefan (Obscure Infinity) and more chanted passages, the album is not differing too much from the older albums. The production and overall sound is different, because we like all of our recordings to be unique. The ideas for some of the songs on Misanthrosophie even reach back to the time we recorded Grenzgänger and Entartet, but needed some time to grow what they are now.





3.This is also your first release since 2014, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time span?



K.: After we recorded Neon Light Bearer. O. and me started to record some demos for Misanthrosophie. While we share our burning for the same spirit of Black Metal, we are equally critical with the music we create. Because we wrote the album as a duo, we wanted to live out our creativity to the fullest and sort out together what was best for the songs. This took a fair amount of time.





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



K.: As with our previous albums, the lyrics range from misanthropy, Menschenflucht (i.e. “distancing oneself from the human race”) and contempt, to dealing with questions about volition, consciousness, action and epistemology as well as with nature-related topics.

The experiences we make and the knowledge we gain influences the topics and the way we write lyrics. This is somewhat natural I guess.



The songwriting is maybe slightly leaning more towards catchy songs but this might be our impression only... we love chaotic and wild music as well as atmospheric and wide parts. A song can thus have only 5 minutes and another one may need 8-10 minutes to unfold everything it stands for. We were never afraid of longer songs.





5.Some of your earlier lyrics touched on Satanism, do you have an interest in the dark arts?



K.: The satanic parts did more or less vanish in our nowadays lyrics. The larger amount of those older lyrics came from my side as I was exposing myself a lot to LaVey and ritual magic. In the end it is not about dark rituals, candles and sacrifices in the wild nature which count, but much more the way of life one lives. We do not care much about how other people see us. We live our lives the way we want and the most important is that we feel confident and good about it.





6.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Membaris'?



When O. and I founded the band in 1999, we took the name out of a novel, but to be honest I don' t remember its name anymore. Nowadays the name stands for everything we all went through together, for all the time we shared in life and thought.





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



K.: One way to interpret it may be to see a connection to peoples’ thinking and acting in black-and-white only. Living in times of extremes, shades of gray and thus the many possible ways of interpretation seem to be forgotten.

Another way may be to link the cover artwork to title of the album. The virus called humanity is spreading and extinguishes everything. While there are some individuals that promote a peaceful coexistence of humans and nature, we finally have to realize that the human nature is to behave like a cancerous disease.





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



K.: One of the best and most intense shows for sure was in Hofheim, Germany at the Zeremonie der Schatten. It was a very small club there, but the sound and the atmosphere was great! Also the De Mortem et Diabolum festival in Berlin last year was great. We had a very good time with the guys running the festival, the other bands and the show was also pretty sick!

Membaris has to offer a good mixture of fast paced, high energetic outbursts as well as deep atmospheric moments of supreme emotional sensation. We can only recommend to everybody interested to join a Membaris live show!





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



K.: When we are asked to play shows, we usually try to make them happen. At the moment, we plan some single shows throughout the year and a European tour with our mates form Chaos Invocation, Streams of Blood and Sköhsla for the end of 2020. Right now, we are pretty confident that the latter could work out.





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



K.: Even though we run a facebook profile, we are not actively reviewing how other people like our music - most important for us is that we are satisfied with the music we create and we reached the level of expression we were aiming for.





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



K.: We have about 15 songs we need to finish. At the moment, we are very creative while rehearsing and changing parts over and over again to explore the full spectrum of possibilities. From a musical and stylistic point of view, there could be some surprises in the future...

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



K.: We all are fans of the old Setherial, Leviathan, Gorgoroth, Deathspell Omega, Blut aus Nord and many more. Personally I do not listen to much of the newer stuff as I realized that newer music seldomly touches me in a way the old stuff does.

Membaris @ Facebook

Membaris/Misanthrosophie/W.T.C Productions/2020 CD Review

  Membaris  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  very  melodic  and  misanthropic  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2020  album  "Misanthrosophie"  which  will  be  released  in  March  by  W.T.C  Productions.

  A  very  fast  and  raw  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  tremolo  picking.  Vocals  are  mostly  grim  yet  high  pitched  black  emtal  screams  while  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Clear  vocals  are also  utilized  at  times  while  clean  playing  can  also  be  heard  on  a  couple  of  songs  along  with  some  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.  Deep  growls  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  as  well  as  the  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  the  music  also  adding  in  a  good  balance  between  old  school  and  modern  influences  along  with  one  track  also  introducing  spoken  word  parts  onto  the  recording  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  and  synths  can  also  be  heard.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  a  mixture  of  German  and  English  and  cover  fatalism,  nature,  darkness  and  anti  Christianity  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Membaris  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  and  misanthropic  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Nebel  Haras"  "The  Only  Reason  To  Stay"  "Pulsar"  and  "Aus  Tiefen  empor...".  8  out  of  10.

Membaris @ Facebook