AN NCS INTERVIEW: TILINTETGJORT

 Interviews  1 Response »
May 172023
 


photo by Carl Eek

(The Norwegian black metal band Tilintetgjort made quite an impressive full-length debut in late March of this year with their album In Death I Shall Arise on Dark Essence Records, and followed that the next month with a performance at Inferno Metal Festival in Oslo. It seemed like a good time for Karina Noctum to reach out to the band for an interview — which now follows.)

Tilintetgjort from Oslo bring a fresh approach to the scene by blending their own musical perspectives with the traditional Norwegian Black Metal sound in their solid debut album In Death I Shall Arise. In this interview they gave us we not only talk about their new album, but also get some insights into its recording and production at Chaka Khan Studio (Darkthrone, Nekromantheon).

******

What’s the meaning of the band’s name and why was it chosen?

Tilintetgjort is Norwegian for “Annihilated”, or literally “Made Into Nothing”. We felt it reflected our music very well, this concept of destruction, the way all things must end and die. Something has to disappear for something else to grow. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: THY CATAFALQUE

 Interviews  No Responses »
May 162023
 

(We have been devoted fans of Thy Catafalque for a very long time, and the band’s new album Alföld has only strengthened our ardor [see the review here]. And so today we are very happy to present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Tamás Kátai in advance of the new album’s June 16 release by Season of Mist.)

Thy Catafalque celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. It started as the duo of Tamás Kátai and János Juhász, who were highly enthusiastic towards black metal with an avant-garde edge, and it took just a bit before Thy Catafalque established their own unique blend formed by elements taken from different genres and sub-genres, from extreme metal to electronic and folk music.

Years passed, and the band turned into Tamás’ solo project, but he managed only to sharpen his skills and it seems that he never suffers from a lack of ideas. Alföld is Thy Catafalque’s forthcoming eleventh album. It’s still unique and unpredictable but you can already form an impression about its direction if you check Season of Mist’s Bandcamp and find there three new songs: “A csend hegyei”, “Testen túl”, and “N​é​ma vermek”.

Recorded in Budapest with a dozen guest vocalists and musicians, it turns out to be one of most exciting releases in the metal underground. Tamás reveals a few secrets behind Alföld and the project’s current status. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: OLKOTH

 Interviews  1 Response »
May 152023
 

(The South Carolina black/death metal band Olkoth are awaiting the release of their debut album At The Eye Of Chaos by Everlasting Spew Records on the 26th of May, and today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of the band’s guitarist/vocalist Zach Jeter.)

Everlasting Spew Records has released some great new albums which the NCS crew has covered here. And now it’s the turn of Olkoth.

The band from Columbia, South Carolina was formed in 2017 by Zach Jeter (guitars, vocals) and drummer Apollyon Baphomet (Vance Jeffcoat). Apollyion died of cystic fibrosis the same year, and Zach started to gather a new lineup to keep the band active. The lineup was stable after Demo (2019) and the single Eidolon in the Flames (2021) were released, and now Olkoth consists of Zach, Hunter Ross (guitars), and Alex Rush (bass, vocals). This trio recorded the full-length album At the Eye of Chaos together with guest drummer Krzysztof Klingbein, and the release date is set on the 26th of May.

This embodiment of foul blackened death metal gets closer every day and our duty is to warn you of its unavoidable arrival. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: OAK

 Interviews  No Responses »
May 092023
 

Photo by Catarina Rocha

(In February of this year Season of Mist released a mournful maelstrom of an album by the Portuguese atmospheric death/doom band Oak, and in the following interview Comrade Aleks discussed the accomplishment with Oak drummer Pedro Soares.)

Oak is a Portuguese duet founded in 2018 by drummer Pedro Soares and singing guitarist Guillermo Enriquez. The duet quickly recorded an impressive debut full-length Lone, with the four tracks included in the album sounding at the junction of atmospheric death-doom and funeral doom metal. The name of their new album, Disintegrate, corresponds to the name of the only, forty-five-minute, composition, which oddly enough was represented by two singles – four- and seven-minute excerpts — posted a couple of months before the release.

A one-track doom album is nothing new in itself, but Disintegrate is a brave and ingenious piece, and we made an attempt to dissect it together with Pedro. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CULT OF EIBON

 Interviews  No Responses »
May 042023
 

(In the following interview our Russian contributor Comrade Aleks caught up with songwriter/instrumentalist Nyogtha from the Greek black metal band Cult of Eibon for what turned into a candid discussion about the band’s inspirations. themes, and principles.)

Hellenic black metal is a thing in itself. The genre which was originally associated with the names of Rotting Christ, Varathron, and Necromantia grew and bloomed with the new bands that have kept Tartarus’ dark flames burning. And so Cult of Eibon has done that.

Being forged in Athens in 2015, this band has never stopped exploring the realms of black metal, moving step by step in their own way. The EPs Fullmoon Invocation (2016) and Lycan Twilight Sorcery (2017) led them to the split with another Greek band, Caedes Cruenta, in 2018. The unholy opus magnum Black Flame Dominion (2021) was a milestone of this way, and the last Cult of Eibon release since then was the Necronomical Mirror Divination split with Ceremonial Torture released in December 2022.

One of the Cult’s founders is Nyogtha (guitars, bass, keyboards, vocals) and he’s involved in four more blackened bands, so you can imagine how busy he is. However Nyogtha found time to answer our questions, and I encourage you to take a look at what Cult of Eibon hides. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MMXX

 Interviews  No Responses »
Apr 282023
 

(During the uncertain and unnerving depths of the pandemic lockdown three experienced musicians from different sides of the Atlantic joined forces to create MMXX, and during the last 18 months Candlelight Records has released their debut album and a follow-on EP. These prompted Comrade Aleks to reach out for the following extensive interview, which included all three of the band’s members.)

One of the key US melodic death-doom bands, Daylight Dies, has been silent for nearly ten years. And to my surprise I’ve found the band’s rhythm section, Egan O’Rourke (bass) and Jesse Haff (drums), in the company of Andrea Chiodetti, the former guitarist of the Italian gothic doom band The Foreshadowing. Actually, it was the interview with Mick Moss of Antimatter where I learned about MMXX, as Mick recorded vocals for two songs on MMXX’s album as the guest vocalist.

Andrea, Egan, and Jesse formed this studio project during the Covid quarantine and it resulted in the full-length album Sacred Cargo released in November 2022, where guys were accompanied by ten guest musicians, including violin and cello players. The other eight guests are vocalists, and among them you’ll find not only Mick but also such names as Aaron Stainthorpe (My Dying Bride), Mikko Kotamäki (Swallow the Sun), and more. Together they recorded the inspiring album Sacred Cargo and the following EP The Next Wave came out on the 14th of April.

Andrea, Egan, and Jesse tell the MMXX story tonight. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GRAVES FOR GODS

 Interviews  No Responses »
Apr 262023
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of the Australian death-doom band Graves for Gods, whose debut album was released in 2022 by Sleeping Church Records.)

The new releases appear one after another and sometimes we have to skip something or just don’t see it. I believe that I saw Graves for Gods’ name in 2022 but the year was a mess and I didn’t listen to their album The Oldest Gods, yet the title naturally stuck in my memory.

I took my time and listened to this album. It’s amazing – absolutely grim, monumental yet material. These four huge tracks bring the feeling of comfort as you hear in them something familiar yet still exciting, classic death-doom vibes,”Celebratory Funeral Doom” as they say.

And they are Jak Shadows (guitars, vocals), Matt Spencer (guitars, bass), and Ryan Quarrington (drums). Each of them has a proper background, as all of them played different kinds of heavy stuff in other Australian bands, and each of them is focused now on creating “music for meditation or violence”. Jak and Matt will explain it better than me. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CATACOMB

 Interviews  No Responses »
Apr 192023
 

(In late March of this year Xtreem Music released the monstrous debut album by the French death metal band Catacomb, and today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of the band’s co-founder Ben Bussy.)

Catacomb is such a cool and grim title that Metal-Archives shows us over ten bands with that name, though some of them have been inactive for years. I believe that Catacomb from Toulon, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur was one of the first who chose it.

This death metal crew started to praise the Ancient Ones in 1990 and was a quite active unit of the French death metal underground even though the band went through two splits in 1994 and 2003. However, its founders Ben Bussy (bass, vocals) and Tony (guitars) were able to resurrect the monster once more in 2018, and with the help of Bress (drums) and Ronan Kermarec (guitars) they started to record new stuff.

The result of this returning from the grave are the EP Back to Unknown Kadath (2022) and the fresh and meaty LP When the Stars Are Right from Xtreem Records. It’s mister Bussy who says today: “Ia Cthulhu Fhtagn!!!” Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SPORAE AUTEM YUGGOTH

 Interviews  No Responses »
Apr 182023
 

(On May 19th Personal Records will release the debut album of the Chilean band Sporae Autem Yuggoth, and it had a strong appeal for our friend Comrade Aleks, so he reached out for the following interview of the band.)

The Chilean metal scene hides a lot of secrets, and sometimes I’ve discovered some absolutely killer bands there. Doom bands usually. And Sporae Autem Yuggoth is one such band, which is ready to spread the Word of Death and Doom all over the world with their forthcoming release.

It was founded in Talagante, Santiago in 2019 by Alexis Gutiérrez (bass), Diego Guzman (drums), José Gallardo (guitars), Patricio Araya (vocals), and Juan Drey (guitars). Juan left after the release of the EP The Plague of the Aeons and Luis Morales took the vacant place of the second guitarist. He didn’t get there time, and the full-length album with the creepy title …However It Still Moves was recorded without him, but with Johanna Sánchez on keyboards.

Their death-doom is balanced – it’s old school, but it isn’t obsolete, it’s grim and yet it has its bright moments. As the press release says: “‘Dark as fuck’ is one way of describing However It Still Moves, but ‘bittersweetly beautiful’ is another, depending on what minute of the hour-long album you land on – many movements and many moods, but all dripping into (and reverberating back up from) a bottomless well of despair”.

That sounds true to the matter. I hope that you’ll like the album and this interview with  Sporae Autem Yuggoth‘s collective mind.

(Thanks to Nathan Birk, Suspicious Activities PR, for organizing the interview.) Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ZATEMNO (Затемно)

 Interviews  No Responses »
Apr 142023
 

 

(Comrade Aleks has it right — Затемно (Zatemno) is an out-of-the-ordinary black metal band. Almost everything about the band raises questions, and so Aleks asked many of them in this new interview.)

Russian black metal project Затемно / Zatemno (“After Dark”) appeared in Sergiev Posad in 2011. Back then its members were Vasily Suzdalsky (vocals, guitar, drums, accordion), VVurd (guitar), and Japetus (bass), who left the band in 2018. The accordion is not a typical instrument in this genre, although you might remember two bands that occasionally add it to their arsenal, but Zatemno is an atypical project in itself, even if we’ll leave the accordion behind.

The EP Into The Ashes / Во прах (2016) and the full-length In the Noose / В петле (2019), released by the British label Aesthetic Death, gave many black metal fans something that is now difficult to find – an original concept and non-trivial musical solutions that fit well into the black metal format and ideology without unnecessary antics and pathos. It’s something that’s better to be experienced personally.

Alcoholic delirium as a method of communicating with the other world, the voices of devils pushing for suicide, the gloomy spirit of the Russian hinterland, and black anger were also embodied in Zatemno‘s second album In Hell / В аду (2022). Vasily labels it as “obscurantism and cemetery jazz”, and we had a conversation with him, as I don’t really know what that means. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries