Simbelmyne/An Intimate Discourse Regarding Rot And Change/Senseless Life Records/2014 Full Length Review

  Simbelmyne  are  a  1  man  band  from  Oregon  that  plays  an  ambient  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2014  album  "An  Intimate  Discourse  Regarding  Rot  And  Change"  which  was  released  by  Senseless  Life  Records.

  A  very  slow,  depressive  and  melodic  black  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  grim  screams,  sorrowful  guitar  leads  and  powerful  bass  lines  and  the  music  also  speeds  up  at  times  and  adds  in  small  amounts  of  blast  beats  and  some  of  the  tracks  have  an  atmospheric  funeral  doom  metal  feeling  to  them  while  the  music is  a  lot  more  closer  to  the  blacker  side  of  things.

  Once  the  ambient  parts  are  added  into  the  music  they  do  not  take  away  the  heavier  side  of  the  music  like  some  bands  or  artist's  of  this  genre  usually  do  and  guitars  remain  the  main  part  of  the  songs  and  while  the  music  has  its  fast  moment  they  usually  stick  to  a  very  slow,  melodic  and  depressive  direction  as  well  as  getting  more  atmospheric  as  time  goes on  by.

  In  certain  sections  of t he  recording  you  can  hear  some  clean  singing  being  utilized  in  the  background  and  when  synths  are  finally  added  into  the  music  along  with  clean  guitars  they  enhance  the  ambient  qualities  of  the  recording  and  on  some  of  the  later  tracks  you  can  hear  elements  of  melodic,  post  black  metal  in  the  guitar  solos  and  leads and  on  of  the  songs  towards  the  end  utilizes  harsh  noise  and  industrial  elements.

  Simbelmyne  bring  a  new  sound  to  ambient  black  metal  being  more  guitar  than  synth  based  as  well  as  adding  in  a  great  amount  of  dsbm  and  melody  to  create  his  own  sound,  the  production  is  very  dark  and  raw  sounding  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  torture  and  suffering  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Simbelmyne  are  a  very  great  sounding  guitar  driven  depressive  black  metal  project  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Human  Beast"  "Ghost"  "I,  Under  Your  Sky"  and  "And  Even  Suffering  Can  Be  Beautiful".  8  out  of  10.

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Marahkain/Days Of Our Lives/Journey Through Pain And Suffering/Senseless Life Records/2014 Split Album Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  Spain  and  U.K's  Marahkain  and  Gibralter's  Days  of  Our  Lives  called  "Journey  Through  Pain  And  Suffering"  which  was  released  by  Senseless  Life  Records  in  the  year  of  2014  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Marahkan  which  also  had  their  previous  ep  reviewed  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  very  atmospheric  and  diverse  from  of  black  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  up  with  dark  avant  garde  synths  which  also  bring  in  elements  of  classical  and  chamber  music  and  after  the  intro  the  synths  still  have  a  very  powerful  presence  in  the  music  and  they  start  getting  a  lot  more  heavy  and  dark  along  with  some  grim  black  metal  screams.

  The  band  start  playing  a  synth  dominated  form  of  atmospheric  black  metal  along  with  a  good  amount  of  blast  beats  and  mid  90's  elements  as  well  as  bringing   in  a  mixture  of  both  clean  and  heavy  parts  and  as  time  goes  on  by  growls  are  utilized  in  the  vocals  and  the  band  adds  in  death  metal  influences  to  their  black  metal  sound.

  Melody  seems  to  have  a  huge  part  in  the  sound  this  band  creates as  well  as  having  a  couple  of  songs  that  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and   they also  have  a  very  raw  side  to  them  at  time s which  really  shows  on  their  last  track  which  is  an  early  Darkthrone  cover  which  they  also  mix  in  with  their  own  sound.

  Marahkain  continue  the  diverse,  atmospheric  and  melodic  style  of  black  metal  of  their  previous  ep  as  well  as  showing  they  have  become  better  musicians,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  powerful,  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding recording  from  Marahkain  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of atmospheric  black/death  metal,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Lunar  Omen"  and  "The  Whore  In  The  Black  Castle".

  Next  up  is  Days  of  Our  Lives  a  1  man  band  that  plays  a  very  depressive  form  of  black  metal.

  His  side  of  the  split  starts  off  with  some  depressive  sounding  keyboards  and  after  a  minute  the  music  gets  a  lot  of  heavier  and  goes into  a  slow  black  metal  direction  along  with  some  depressive  screams  which  sound  a  little  bit  on  the  deep  side  and  the  music  also  keeps  the  keyboards  around  as  well  as  the  vocals  having  a  melodic  edge  to t hem  at  times.

  You can  hear  a  little bit  of  a  black/doom  influence  being  mixed  in  with  the  depressive  black  metal  sound  and  this  project  only  brings  in  2  songs  that  are  very  long  in  length  and  both  stick  to  a  slow  depressive  black  metal  direction  while  the  second  track  has  a  small  amount  of  spoken  word  parts  being  utilized.

  Days  Of  Our  Lives  has  a  typical  depressive  black  metal  sound  but  uses  a  different  style  of  vocals  to  stand  out  in  this  genre,  the  production  is  very  dark  sounding  and  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  depressive  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Days  of  Our  Lives  are  a  very  great  sounding  depressive  black  metal  project  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  his  side  of  th e split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Disappointment".

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding split  and  I  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  atmospheric  and  depressive  black  metal.  8  out  of  10.

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Marahkain/3540372073
https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Days_of_Our_Lives/3540316874


  

Hjel/Gedanken aus dem Grab/Senseless Life Records/2014 EP Review

  Hjel  are  a  duo  from  Germany  that  plays  a  very  atmospheric  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  ep  "Gedanken aus dem Grab"  which  was  released  by  Senseless  Life  Records.

  Acoustic  guitars  and  spoken  words  start  off  the  ep  and  after  the  brief  intro  the  band  goes  into  a  more  slow  and  melodic  sounding  black  metal  direction  along  with  some  grim  vocals/screams  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  sound  very  powerful  and  the  band  also  has  its  fast  and  raw  moments  along  with  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats.

    As  the  ep  progresses  a  couple  of  long  and  epic  in  length  songs  are  added  onto  the  recording  as  well  as  a  mixture  of  slow  and  mid  paced   and some  fast  parts  while  the  main  focus  is  on  melodic  and  atmospheric  black  metal  and  at  times they  also  bring  in  post  elements  which  are  done  in  a  more  dark  and  less  mainstream  manner.

  In  some  of  the  faster  sections  of  the  music  the  band  starts  adding  in  more  raw  and  old  school  black  metal  elements  along  with  a  small  amount  of  melodic  guitar  leads  and  the  spoken  word  parts  also  make  a  return  briefly,  one  of  the  later  tracks  is  an  instrumental  and  on  the  last  song  there  are some keyboards  being  used  briefly  before  returning  to  a  heavier  direction  while  still  adding  in  the  cleaner  parts  and  bringing  back  to  the  acoustic  guitars.

  Hjel  have  a  very  diverse  atmospheric  black  metal  sound  which  combines  both  modern  and  old  school  sounds  along  with  a  good  amount  of  melody  and  a  small  amount  of  rawness,  the  production  is  very  dark  and  old  school  sounding  while  you  can  still  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  album  and  the  lyrics  are  written  in  German  and  cover  darkness  and  nature  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Hjel  are  a  very  great  sounding  atmospheric  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Leichenmadchen"  and  "Im  Fieber  dieser  Nacht  -  Tote  Menschen".  8  out  of  10.

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Marahkain/The Void/Senseless Life Records/2013 EP Review

  Marahkain  are  a  duo  with  members  from  both  Spain  and  England  that  play  a  very  atmospheric  and  melodic  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  ep  "The  Void"  which  was  released  by  Senseless  Life  Records.

  Atmospheric  sounding  synths  and  bells  start  off  the  ep  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  going  for  a  very  heavy,  fast  and  raw  melodic  black  metal  sound  along  with  some  blast  beats  as  well  as  keeping  the  synths  and  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  guttural  vocals  before  finally  adding  in  the  grim  black  metal  screams.

  The  band  uses  a  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  having  small  traces  of  death  metal  in  their  musical  sound  and  their  songs  go  back  to  the  atmospheric  and  melodic  black  metal  sound s of  the  early  to  mid  90's  bringing  in  a  different  old  school  approach  than  the  bands  that  go  for  the  more  raw  sounds  of  that  era  and  having  the  synth  sound  from  the  time  as  well  instead  of  the  later  style  bands  started  using  with  that  particular musical  instrument.

  As  the  ep  progresses  the  synths  start  adding  in  more  diverse  sounds  which  gives  the  ep  a  more  avant  garde  and  experimental  feeling  as  well  as  evoking  a  great amount  of  darkness  and  in  the  heavier  sections  the  band  also  starts  bringing  in  a  more  raw  black/death  metal  sound  almost  close  to  the  bestial  side  while  the  band  is  in  that category  with  their  sound  being  closer  to  the  more  melodic  side  of  the  genre  and  they  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing  on  a  few  of  the  tracks  before  returning  back  to  a  heavier  direction.

  Once  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  added  into  the  music  they  bring  in  a  very  weird  and  distorted  sounding  atmosphere  to  the  ep,  with  the  intro,  outro  and  5  songs  all  of  the  songs  have  a  very  diverse  sound  to  them  with  the  band  adding  in  more  elements  as  the  ep  progresses  as  well  as  bringing  in  more  powerful  sounding  bass  lines  and  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts.

  Marahkain  create  a  very  diverse  and  original  sound  with  their  music  taking  from  the  melodic,  raw  and  atmospheric  sides  of  black  metal  and  combining  them  together  while  also  having  synths  as  one  of  their  main  instruments  and  the  music  is  also  very  experimental  and  death  metal  influenced  at  times,  the  production  sounds  very powerful  and  powerful  while  the  lyrics  cover  demons,  anti  christian  and  occult  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Marahkain  are  a  very  great  sounding  atmospheric  and  melodic  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Merging"  and  "Hymn  Of  The  Void".  8/5  out  of  10.

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Nocturnal Witch/Summoning Hell/Undercover/Evil Spell Records/2014 CD Review

  Nocturnal  Witch  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  very  raw  form  of  black/thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Summoning  Hell"  which  was  released  as  a  joint  effort  between  Undercover  and  Evil  Spell  Records.

  A  very  slow  and  old  school  black  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  and  after  a  few  seconds  blackened  thrash  style  vocals  are  added  into  the  music  and  the  style  starts  getting  more  fast  and  raw  sounding  along  with  some  blast  beats  as  well  as  capturing  an  underground  80's  metal  atmosphere.

  The  music  on  the  album  starts  getting  more  diverse  on  the  other  tracks  taking  the  early  90's  raw  occult  black  metal  sound  of  Greece  and  mixing  it  in  with  the  80's  German  thrash  and  early  South  American  black ,  death  and  thrash  metal  band  while  also  making  it  have  a  more  modern  feeling  as  well  as  having  black  metal  as  being  the  main  focus  of  the  recording  along  with  a  good  amount  of  evil  sounding  melodies.

  From  beginning  to  end  the  album  keeps  a  very  raw  and  heavy  atmosphere  mostly  sticking  to  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  still  having  its  slow  and  melodic  moments  which  are  also  still  very  heavy  and  raw  and  one  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  the  most  evil  elements  of  mid  80's  black,  death  and  thrash  metal  join  forces  along  with  some  deep  demonic  voices  being  utilized  in  the  background.

  Nocturnal  Witch  bring  a  very  old  school  and  retro  sound  in  with  their  album  showing  the  best  element s of  both  first  and  second  wave  black  metal  as  well  as  mixing  it  in  with  more  underground  sounding  thrash  to  create  a  very  heavy  and  evil  record,  the  production  sounds  very  powerful  and  makes  the  bands  old  school  metal  approach  sound  more  modern  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  evil,  occult,  heavy  metal  and  violent  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Nocturnal  Witch  are  a  very  great  sounding  raw  and  old  school  black/thrash  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Hellfire  Cult"  "Realm  Of  the  Dead"  "Resurrected   Darkness"  and  "Possessed'.  8  out  of  10.

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Morko Interview

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

- Well, the current situation might be best described as deadpan stasis. The two other members of the band left during the final stage of production and release of "Itsensänimeävä" and I'm also quite unkeen on continuing to work under the name Mörkö. So at the moment the actions are narrowed to promoting our albums, hoping to find new listeners.


 2.In October the band released a new album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical direction of the new recording and also how does it differ from your past releases?

- "Itsensänimeävä" is by far our most complex and multilayered release. That is not to say that it is a particularly complex piece of work in any other sense than in comparison to a more primitive edged "III" (2001) and the downright minimalistic "IV"(2008). The direction in which the new album headed early on sprung from an interest towards deeper structures through basic compositional techniques. This awakened a new interest in metal riffing, which had been absent for some while back in 2009 when the making of the album started. "IV" was seemingly a deadend. It would have been difficult, and potentially pretentious, to try and go further in that direction. So, after a year of digestion of ideas an entirely different approach began to form. Basically it was the very original idea of having riffs. Talking about re-inventing the wheel.


 3.The band has been around since the 90's, but so far has only released 3 albums and 2 demo's, can you tell us a little bit more about the gap between releases?

- I think the primary reason for the gaps is that we never wanted to repeat ourselves. We wanted to avoid doing the same album over and over again. This had its pros and cons. Some ideas might have been worth improving or re-exploring. On the other hand there is a sense of a fresh discovery in each album. After all, black metal has always been - in one point of view - a way of stepping outside boundaries of the status quo, being it personal reality or cultural norms. In the time of their making all the albums were genuinely interesting to us. Apparently it took years for new ideas to come. But, there was also other bands in which each of us were involved, exploring other ideas and channeling different aspects.


4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

- The underlying theme of the new album, in one word, is death. Not only fetishizing over the final stages of the organism, but more on an archetypal level. Death as a function of the wheel of life.
Yet it is much more concrete and even carnal in its approach if paired with the quite abstract "horror vacui"-themed "IV", which was mirroring the horrors of the mind at gaze with the absolute. There seems to be some sort of lurking at the threshold going on in these themes. All our thoughts, the on-going stream of words in our head, are already dead, defined. With the relatively recently contacted possibilities of the neocortex we are basically scavenger monkeys in a space ship fighting over the chance of who gets to scratch his ass on the control board instead of learning any of its functions. So, every now and then the monkey gets a glimpse of something from beyond its narrow mechanical perception. To somehow recover from the shock and organize the new areas suddenly opened it may engage in creative activity and digest its experiences into a piece of some cultural formation. But, unfortunately, the "traditional" way is to seek the fastest way back to the mechanic routine and despise everything that reminds of the hideous experience of non-omni-control.


 5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Morko'?

- Mörkö is an ancient Finnish word. It refers to dark, unspoken things in a community. Also often used as a name for vague childhood fears, something oppressive hiding in the dark. Also the bear, the king of the forest, is in some parts of Finland called mörkö. I cannot recall the precise inspiration for the name, we took it to ourselves by the suggestion of H.Talvenmäki in 1999. It seemed proper, even though the word is perhaps most famously used by Tove Jansson in her children's books, which actually have quite a strong atmosphere, by the way. I think this caused some people to hold an attitude against the band. But, it's a shame how shallow taste of their own language many people have. But anyway, the logic behind that attitude has always been a peculiar mystery to me. After all, we are talking about a scene which basically looks up on bands which took their names from Tolkien. And are perhaps one of the most eager marketers of the christian tradition nowadays.


 6.Has the band done any live shows or is this a studio project?

- We haven not done any live shows. I have always sensed some sort of dull dissonance between the rock gig culture and black metal.


7.The new album was distributed by  Ahdistuksen Productions, can you tell us  a little bit more about it?

- Well, Ilkka at Ahdistuksen Aihio kindly offered to distribute and promote the album. And for this, I believe I can speak on behalf of the whole band, we are very thankful to him. 

 8.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

- Our two earlier albums are lacking a proper release and distribution, currently only available on cd-r, so yes, we would be very interested in finding a label to put them out in a proper way. Some offerings to release our two first demos were received some years ago, but we didn't take that chance back then. My view on that is a varying one. Also "Itsensänimeävä" is currently only released as a limited vinyl edition, so putting it simply, all our work is waiting for a proper cd release. And also vinyl releases of "III" and "IV" would be a great thing!


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

- It has been quite varied, mostly positive which is always a good thing. Quite little of entirely negative feedback. What I have heard from listeners or read from reviews the album seems to have made some sort of interesting impact. It appears to be considered somewhat on the "avant-garde" side of the genre, so it seems that our music opens up more easily to the more broad-minded and exploratory listeners of metal and progressive rock.



10.Can you tell us a little bit more about the other musical projects that some of the band members are involved with?

- The two closest bands to Mörkö are Disorder of Deadeight and Jumalhämärä. Disorder of Deadeight was the band we formed with H.Talvenmäki during the hiatus between "III" and "IV". It is tightly entangled in the same process as Mörkö, they are like the different sides of the same coin, to use a bit worn out metaphor. For interested readers, I would like to suggest listening to the album quartet "Voidkollapse/Tunnelvögel", "IV", "Depthsounder", "Itsensänimeävä". They are all quite different, but form some sort of non-linear whole. Also other combinations should be given a try. But, all not-exceedingly open-minded listeners should avoid "Do Wow That Tilt!" at all causes! All releases can be found from Bandcamp.
Of Jumalhämärä's doings I know not much. They have just released a new ep, for which I haven't yet received a chance to hear. I think one track which quite practically binds these bands together is still waiting for a release. I was collaborating with Jumalhämärä a few years ago and we made this systematic atonal track for a Hammer of Hate compilation which has been quite delayed for some reason. 
H. Kivelä is also creating new sounds in Otavan Veret. Their debut album is an astonishing piece of cosmic scale ritual ambient. H.Talvenmäki has been involved with Sink and Armon Kuilu, but I have no information about his level of participation in any of these projects nowadays. Last autumn me and Heikki were borrowed as session musicians on some of the tracks of Johannes Riisitauti's "Orajyvä" -album. That one is a highly recommended piece of black metal from the more genuinely innovative side of the genre. Meanwhile in the batcave, I am continuing my compositional  adventures with a new band called Order of the Living. We are currently producing a new album. Our first work was a short radio-play entitled "Nyarlathotep" and it can be found in Bandcamp. A proper ep release might be appropriate. I have also released a bunch of minimalistic electronic music in Mindset Archive.


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

- Well, like I mentioned in the beginning the current situation of the band is quite defunctional. At the moment I am very sceptical about this line-up gathering around the same table again, but some of us might pick up the name with new ideas in the future, but that is also quite unlikely in the current light of the situation. I have been slowly developing an idea of composing a black metal "string quartet" for electric guitars. I began the writing for the text today!


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?

- The early influences were the quite classic bands like Celtic Frost, Hellhammer, Burzum, Darkthrone, Winter, Skepticism. Later also for example Khanate and Toadliquor made a huge impact. During the time "IV" was made my main influence was just listening to differently tuned fifths and other intervals from electronic organs for hours and hours, those recordings can be found from Mindset Archive, or actually there is a link to the place where you can find them, but anyway. The main influences of "Itsensänimeävä" were some 20th century composers like Ligeti and Penderecki, RIO bands, mainly Univers Zero, and Portal.



 13.What are some of your non musical interests?

- Umm, I might be a bit of a monomaniac when it comes to using ones time. I walk quite a lot since I live some seven kilometres away from the nearby town Jyväskylä. The forest is near and I enjoy going there. I simply attend to silence more and more day by day. I do toss around philosohical and theoretical ideas, but quite often they connect back to music. I do read, music theory, philosophy, novels and some esoteric literature and cook food. Of the other fellows, I cannot really speak on their behalf, since our contacts have been few or non-existant. I hope they are well. 


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

- Thank you for the interview! I hope that people will find our albums and give them some of their precious time. For all music makers and listeners I wish they stay true to their deepest essence and that they dare to continue to explore the possibilities of human condition!

morkomusic.bandcamp.com

disorderofdeadeight.bandcamp.com

Myrrdin/Dungeon Song/2014 EP Review

  Myrrdin  are  a  1  man  band  from  the  United  Kingdom  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  that  plays  a  mixture of  black  albion  metal  and  dungeon  synth  with  the  music  on  this  recording  focusing  on  the  later  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  self  released  ep  "Dungeon  Song"  which  is  also  a  34  minute  long  tack.

  Dark  ambient  synths  start  off  the  recording  and  gives  the  music  a  medieval  and  dungeon feeling  that  evokes  memories  of  old  fantasy  themes  but  done  in  a  more  raw  manner  than  the  soundtracks  for  those  films,  the  synths  also  start  utilizing  a  variety  of   many  different  sounding  keys  as  the  ep  progresses  as  well  as  adding   in  background  nature  sounds  at  times  and  the  song  is  divided  into  3  different  movements  and  also  has  a  neo  classical  feeling  at  times  along  with  some  influences  of  the  early  dungeon  synth  artists  and  Burzum's  later  ambient  albums.

  Myrrdin  brings  in  a  very  great  sounding  approach  to  dungeon  synth  with  the  music  being  all  instrumental  and  serving  as  a  perfect  tribute  to  the  early  Mortiss  album's,  the  production  is  very  dark  and  epic  sounding  with  only  one  track  being  on  the  whole  entire  album.

  in  my  opinion  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  recording  from  Myrrdin  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  dungeon  synth,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  8/5  out  of  10.

Bandcamp