AN NCS INTERVIEW: DEAD VOID

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Nov 032022
 

(In mid-September Me Saco Un Ojo and Dark Descent jointly released Volatile Forms, the stunning debut album by the Danish Dead Void. We shared our thoughts about it here, and spurred on by that album, Comrade Aleks participated in the following interview of the band.)

This time I had a kind of technical problem, so to say, and this interview with Copenhagen-based trio Dead Void was complete somewhere in September, around the official release date of their debut album Volatile Forms.

This trio preaches hostile, quite torturous, and nihilistic death-doom metal with an uncompromising approach and a brutal delivery. Cianide, a bit of Asphyx, and so on, you know? Dead Void is a cold and monstrous entity, so I wonder if we need to waste our time trying to add a few more empty words, as you can read this short but good interview and listen to Volatile Forms by the way. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: LICHT DES URTEILS

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Nov 022022
 

(The debut album from Finland’s Licht des Urteils is set for imminent release by Purity Through Fire on November 4th, and to help herald its arrival Comrade Aleks conducted the following interview.)

Licht des Urteils are based in Tampere, Finland. This blasphemous sect has been active since 2019, and for three years they accumulated dark energies from their environment in order to put it all in their first full-length, Uhraamo. They sound evil and dangerous, just as real black metal should be. Licht des Urteils do their dirty job without compromises or doubts, as Flames shouldn’t cease and the Cult shouldn’t die.

But well, enough of empty words, as at the end of the day it’s all about Death and Satan. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: BARABBAS

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Oct 272022
 


photo by Claire Dao

(In this extensive new interview Comrade Aleks connected with guitarist Saint Stéphane from the French doom cult Barabbas, who have a new album headed our way in December.)

I joined the pious congregation of the French band Barabbas after I heard them for the first time on the Doom Metal Front compilation. Their self-titled track from the EP Libérez Barabbas! (2011) was catchy, heavy, and loud. Powerful riffs and expressive vocals by Saint Rodolphe (who sang in French) made me wait for more, and the full-length Messe pour un chien (2014) didn’t disappoint the doom fanatic in me.

But then… eight years with no news from a studio! Et mince! Barabbas took part in both big festivals and smaller shows but, damn, there was nothing new besides one track recorded for a Cathedral tribute! But we, people of strong faith, shouldn’t lose it in any situation! Our patience is to be rewarded with the band’s second full-length La mort appelle tous les vivants which will see the light of day on December 9th through Sleeping Church Records.

I’ve heard a few things from this album and it kills! Join our messe and learn more from this interview with Barabbas’ guitar master Saint Stéphane. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: LACHRIMA CORPHUS DISSOLVENS

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Oct 212022
 

 

(Comrade Aleks made a virtual journey to Bolivia to interview vocalist Antonio Ortiz, founder of the death-doom band Lachrima Corphus Dissolvens, and we have the results of that discussion here for you today.)

I knew nothing about the Bolivian metal scene until I found Lachrima Corphus Dissolvens. They identify their genre as atmospheric death-doom metal though I see there a blend of a few more extreme genres as well, but who needs tags except journalists and labels?

The band was formed in La Paz back in 2003 and their discography is built around one full-length album, The Truth Is Out There (2009), and a dozen other releases like demos, EPs, live albums, and splits.

I guess that it points to Lachrima Corphus Dissolvens’ underground approach and we’ll find out why from this interview with the band’s founder Antonio Ortiz (vocals). And it’s all about “human suffering, nature and universe” as Metal-Archives says. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: NARCOTIC WASTELAND

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Oct 202022
 


Photo Credit – Kenji Tsunami

(Drugs, Nile, touring, addiction, serial killers, Netflix, and narcissism? No topic was off-limits when NCS’s Gonzo recently caught up with guitarist, vocalist, and founder Dallas Toler-Wade and drummer Joe Howard from South Carolina-based death metal act Narcotic Wasteland on the Denver stop of their tour with Accept.)

 

How is touring with Accept going so far?

Dallas Toler-Wade: Good, man. It’s been an opportunity for us to get in front of more people. [Accept] packs houses, I mean – we’ve had like two sold-out shows this week. The Whisky was really close, too. I think there were like ten tickets left.

 

Has this been your biggest tour as a band? Have you felt like you’ve reached that “holy shit, we’re making it” moment?

Joe Howard: A lot of people still just kind of don’t know about us yet, but that’s changing. It’s just been great to see the exposure. At most shows, I’ll know at least five or six people. But these are some big crowds.

DTW: These are definitely some of the biggest crowds we’ve had so far. We did another tour with Malevolent Creation earlier this year and those were some packed houses on that, on their 30 Years of Retribution tour, so that was fun. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DISADAPTIVE

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Oct 192022
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Sergey Naydenov from the Russian old school death metal band Disadaptive, whose new album Apocryphal was released just last month by Svanrenne Music.) 

Here we have an old school death metal act from Russia – Disadaptive. It’s just two men – Sergey Naydenov (guitars, bass) and Dmitry Sokolov (vocals). The band’s story is brief yet the guys demonstrate some determination regarding their favorite genre, as they have recorded two EPs and a full-length album in the course of two years.

That album, entitled Apocryphal, was released during early September by Svanrenne Music and song names like “Mentor from Beyond the Grave”, “Crafted Abomination”, and “No Light from God” will give you a hint regarding the nature of their message. Also you’ll find an Autopsy cover here, and Disadaptive’s inspiration is clearer and sharper than a surgeon’s scalpel.

Sergey answered a few questions from our side and revealed some views on the local death metal scene. Continue reading »

PATINA OF TIME: AN INTERVIEW WITH CARA NEIR

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Oct 172022
 

(Today we present an extensive article by Rob Tamplin that’s part interview with Garry Brents of Cara Neir and Gonemage, and part essay on the fantasy worlds that have taken shape through those projects and the techniques used to bring them to life, along with some meditations on the pluses and minuses of nostalgia.)

If I was reluctant to say Cara Neir is the most exciting band in the US metal underground, it’s only because that would mean putting them in a box. Hell, even the word “band” seems like a loose fit, as there is a communal element to the Texas duo absent from most acts.

On Phantasmal, Garry Brents and Chris Francis’s eighth album together, Cara Neir debut five characters submitted by fans via their Bandcamp page. Over the course of the album, the duo encounters these characters on their quest through a horrifying alternate dimension.

See, Phantasmal is a concept album – just like Tommy or Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds. Although it’s about as far from a pompous rock opera as it’s possible to get. The music, which broadly ranges from noise-rock to electronic powerviolence, is glazed with a frosting of rudimentary 8-bit synths, the kind you last heard when you were playing Castlevania at the arcade in your matching acid-wash denim two-piece, cramming the Dungeon Master’s Guide while blasting Master of Puppets on your Walkman. Which could have been today. It’s 2022, you could be doing some, or all, of those things while reading this. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GUTVOID

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Oct 122022
 

 

(In this new interview Comrade Aleks has an extensive and very interesting conversation with Brendan Dean and Daniel Bonofiglio from the Toronto death metal band Gutvoid, whose debut album has made quite a splash this year.)

Blood Harvest released Gutvoid’s Durance of Lightless Horizons on the 23rd of September, and thus we have a proper reason to introduce you to this death metal band from Toronto.

It was started by Daniel Bonofiglio (guitars, bass) and Brendan Dean (vocals, guitars) in 2019, and then Justin Boehm (bass) and D. W. Lee (drums) joined them in 2020. Together they recorded their first full-length not so long ago, and the tracks’ names sound like the music itself: “In Caverns It Lurks”, “Delivered to the Altar Lich”, “The One Who Dwells Beyond Time”, and so on. Pretty poetic… isn’t it?

And yet I don’t like to review albums and talk about music especially when the authors are willing to talk about it. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MOTHER OF GRAVES

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Oct 102022
 

(Indianapolis-based Mother of Graves are fast approaching the release date set by Wise Blood Records for their powerful debut album Where the Shadows Adorn, and thus the time was right for Comrade Aleks to interview members of the band, resulting in the discussion we present here.)

There aren’t many melodic death-doom bands who have gained real recognition. Swallow the Sun from Finland, Daylight Dies from the States, and October Tide from Sweden are the bigger and most influential bands in this list, though it’s easy to find many more names in different countries. Maybe it’s the “doom” tag which scares potential listeners, even though the genre is quite friendly, even for newcomers: The songs’ tempos usually vary from mid to high, soaring melodies ignite your melancholy, and expressive raging vocals are harsh usually and yet appealing in some way.

However it’s always cool to learn about new bands who are able to strike you down with their very first album. Mother of Graves from Indianapolis does it without visible strenuous effort as their forthcoming debut album Where the Shadows Adorn combines the spirit of old school melodic death-doom  and epic modern production. This release is scheduled for the 14th of October, so there’s time to prepare yourself for it while reading the interview with Chris Morrison (guitars),  Brandon Howe (vocals), and Corey Clark (bass). Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: VOIDOATH

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Oct 062022
 

(Costa Rica’s VoidOath have recently released an album inspired by John Carpenter‘s “The Thing“, and the music is a match for its terrifying concept — deeply unsettling, but so well-made that it’s relentlessly immersive. And today Comrade Aleks has brought us an interview with the band that reveals further insights into their history, their conception of the music, and what may come next.)

Did you see the artwork of VoidOath’s album Ascension Beyond Kokytus? Something familiar, isn’t it? John Carpenter’s The Thing is a cult movie, there’s no doubt, but I don’t remember a band who would build an entire album around this story. Now we have VoidOath and this world seems to be a little bit better place.

VoidOath was founded in San José, Costa Rica four years ago by Allan Salas (bass), Gabriel Ortiz (drums), Jose Rodríguez (guitars), and Christopher G. De Haan (guitars, vocals). Three of them played in different local bands, so VoidOath’s first EP Illumination Through Necromancy was recorded pretty fast, and they had 32 minutes of sludge doom madness ready in 2020.

I don’t know if this release helped the band to spread the word effectively, but the Irish label Cursed Monk Records noticed them and Ascension Beyond Kokytus was released on the 28th of September, preceded by the album premiere and review here at NCS. I think it was Jose with whom we spoke about The Thing, metal, and the underground of Costa Rica.

Continue reading »

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