AN NCS INTERVIEW: SPIRITUS MORTIS

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Sep 092022
 

(The Finnish doom legends Spiritus Mortis will release a new album named The Great Seal through Svart Records on September 16th, and at last Comrade Aleks reached out to them for the following wide-ranging interview.)

Spiritus Mortis wasn’t the most active band of the Finnish underground, but objectively it’s the first Finnish traditional doom metal band, that’s the real fact. Starting as Rigor Mortis in 1987, the band got its longer-lasting name in 1988, but the guys released only demos until 2004 when the self-titled debut seaw the light of day. Years passed, but brothers Jussi and Teemu Maijala have remained Spirtius Mortis’ priests since the beginning, carrying the torch of damn true doom metal.

Their 2016 album The Year Is One was recorded with Sami Hynninen (Reverend Bizarre, Opium Warlords, and a dozen more bands you maybe heard about) on vocals… this album was a killer! Honestly, I was wondering what else could they bring here after that masterpiece of glorious doom? Then Sami left the band according to their agreement, the new vocalist Kimmo Perämäki took his place in 2018, and then Markus Kuula replaced Jarkko Seppälä on drums.

All these changes didn’t distract the brothers Maijala from their holy task and Spiritus Mortis’ new album The Great Seal is to be released through Svart Records on September 16th. And that means that now is our turn to support the band. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ELLIOTT’S KEEP

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Sep 052022
 

(Comrade Aleks brings us this interview of guitarist Jonathan from the Texas band Elliott’s Keep, whose formidable fifth album was just released last month and will be available on vinyl through NoSlip Records.)

At first I was attracted by the ascetic artworks of Elliott’s Keep, and by the band’s name itself, and they also performed quite original doom, so it was interesting to know what hides deep in the Keep’s cellar.

We kept on communicating with the band each time they released a new album, and I need to tell you that Elliott’s Keep became only stronger with each new release. How many doom bands with progressive, death, and epic influences do you know in the US? So there’s Ellott’s Keep in Dallas, and you’ll learn the rest from this interview with the band’s guitarist Jonathan, who’s ready to tell the story of their fifth album Vulnerant Omnes released on August 19th. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: IN GRIEF

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Aug 292022
 

 

(Comrade Aleks brings us a very engaging interview with all three members of the Italian death-doom band In Grief, whose excellent debut album will soon be released by Iron Bonehead Productions.)

Sweet heaven! You’ve already read here about the forthcoming release of an album by the Italian death-doom band In Grief on Iron Bonehead Productions, and it’s something! I’m very skeptical towards the “Peaceville Three” definition. Even Peaceville’s chief Hammy speaks against using this term, but what else should I say? In Grief took the best from early Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride, mixed these influences together, added a handful of their own ideas, and that’s it – impressive old school death-doom metal performed at full capacity.

The trio consists of Michele (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Kristian (guitars, drums, keyboards), and Paolo (bass). All of them played in a handful of different bands performing everything from death and grind to black metal and back. So An Eternity of Misery, which will be out on the 2nd of September, is their debut in a wide sense. We had a nice chat with the guys and I welcome you to spend some time together In Grief. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: PUTERAEON

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Aug 192022
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of the formidable Lovecraft-inspired Swedish death metal band Puteraeon, who pride themselves on creepiness, catchiness, and aggression.)

The titles of the first demos recorded by Puteraeon in a short period (2008 – 2009) clearly shows the band’s ideology. The demos Fascination for Mutilation (2008), The Requiem (2008), and The Extraordinary Work of Herbert West (2009) formed the foundation of the first full-length, The Esoteric Order (2011)…

And since then Jonas Lindblood (vocals, guitars), Daniel Vandija (bass), Anders Malmström (drums), and Rune Foss (guitars) have kept on providing us their morbid Swedish death metal with a clear and sharp message of inevitable death, unavoidable legions of zombies, and inescapable cosmic horrors.

The Esoteric Order was only a start for a series of a few more EPs and full-lengths, but there was not much news from the band since the release of their fourth album The Cthulhian Pulse: Call from the Dead City in 2020. To allay our concerns about the band’s fate, we contacted Jonas Lindblood. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HELÉH

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Aug 182022
 

(Our friend Comrade Aleks has an undisguised and widely-known devotion to Doom Metal, and when he discovered this Argentinian band doing it absolutely right, he reached out for an interview which we now present to you.)

Honestly, I don’t know a lot about the Argentinian music scene, and when I discovered Heléh’s debut self-titled album, I was intrigued. The trio from Cordoba provides solid traditional doom metal in the absolutely true old-school vein. They sound really grim and almost epic, so I was literally charmed with their low tunes.

It saddens me always when a good band with high potential has poor exposure, and there’s not much information circulating about Heléh. So we’ve done this interview with Gonzalo Civita (vocals) in order to reveal some facts about the band. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CRUZ

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Aug 172022
 

(We’ve already written enthusiastically about the first music disclosed from a forthcoming second album by the Spanish death/thrash band Cruz, and so it was a very welcome gift to receive Comrade Aleks‘ following interview of the band, via its drummer Xavi.)

Cruz was formed in Barcelona in about 2013. It took some time before these guys made a decision to perform thrashy death metal glorifying the holocaust of ecstasy and freedom in the name of Cosmic Chaos and Lovecraftian Horrors. And even though their first album Culto Abismal (2016) was recorded relatively fast, it took six years to finish the sophomore work Confines de la Cordura, which will see the light in September 2022 according to Nuclear Winter Records’ schedule.

And while we wait until the stars align let’s take a glimpse into the world of Cruz together with the band’s drummer Xavi. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: VOID ROT

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Aug 152022
 

 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of John Hancock, guitarist/vocalist from Minnesota’s Void Rot, who have a new EP out now on the Everlasting Spew label.)

Void Rot from Minneapolis got their portion of praise and positive reviews after the release of their debut album Descending Pillars two years ago. John Hancock (guitars, vocals), Will Bell (drums), Craig Clemons (bass), and Kent Sklarow (guitars) obviously know how to produce macabre and dangerous stuff! Their cyclopic slow death metal or colossal menacing death-doom was damn remarkable indeed, so I couldn’t just pass by their new release Telluric Dismemberment even though it’s just EP.

Here’s our conversation with John Hancock. Come and taste Void Rot with us. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SHROUD OF BEREAVEMENT

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Aug 092022
 

(In late July the doom/death metal band Shroud of Bereavement released its first album in 15 years, and that prompted Comrade Aleks to catch up with the band’s founder, and the man responsible for resurrecting the band, Dan Robinson.)

Shroud of Bereavement! Shroud of Bereavement! Shroud of Bereavement from the darkness that surrounds us! Sorry, but Shroud of Bereavement’s names is very much in line with Paul McCartney’s hit, so I can’t get rid of this melody. Yet to the matter.

Death-doom never was he most popular genre in the States, and yet this band was founded in the most wrong period you could imagine – it was 1995, Kurt Cobain was already no more, but grunge and alternative metal rage on and moved aside most traditional metal bands. Despite this Shroud of Bereavement slowly developed their sound, moving from the demo The Forever Dance (1999) to the single A Rose for a Dying Muse (2001) and further to the self-titled EP (2003) and the debut full-length Alone Besides Her (2007).

The band’s last appearance was another EP While We Mourn (2012) and then they just disappeared from radars until the recent past when Shroud’s founder Dan Robinson started to update its status, sharing information about new recording progress. As a result his new album A Beautiful Winter was released about a week ago. Here’s our interview with Dan. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: TISHINA

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Aug 092022
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Branislav Panić, the man behind the band Тишина (Tishina), whose excellent debut album was released in May 2022.)

It’s always inspiring when bands use their mother tongue in their lyrics or have enough courage to demonstrate their roots, their identity. But that move also builds a barrier sometimes, so there’s a kind of risk if your band’s name is written in Cyrillic, for example.

Тишина / Tishina means “silence” in Serbian, and the band’s founder Branislav Panić gained his first experience playing different sorts of metal in Serbian bands. Then he moved to Canada but the passion towards heavy music can’t be eradicated easily, and soon Тишина / Tishina was born.

Branislav chose to express his interest towards melodic death-doom through his project, and as result we have his first solo album Увод… / Uvod… released just two months ago. And if you dig old good stuff like Katatonia, Saturnus, and so on, then this album will linger in your play-list longer than you expect. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: PARTHIAN

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Jul 292022
 

 

(In this new interview Comrade Aleks spoke with the members of Kansas-based Parthian, whose debut album was released at the beginning of this month.)

Progressive rock and metal seem to be among the most popular instruments used by musicians to describe Cosmic and Lovecraftian Horror. Other musical genres work too, for this Horror is multifaceted and each of its forms could be revealed in different ways. However this Wichita-based progressive / melodic death metal band, Parthian, walks another direction, creating its own mythology on H.P.’s fundament.

Parthian released their concept album Desolation of a Ceaseless Dawn on the first of July, six years after they managed to release their debut EP Perpetual Deconstruction, and we had a talk with the guys. The current line-up consists of Adam Faris (guitars, vocals), D.J.Dixon (drums), and Jacky Patrick (bass), but most of the time it’s Parthian‘s collective mind who answers my questions. Continue reading »

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