AN NCS INTERVIEW: EXTREME COLD WINTER

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Oct 132021
 

 

(Comrade Aleks connected with Pim Blankenstein to discuss his band Extreme Cold Winter and the impending release of their debut album World Exit by Hammerheart Records, plus the latest news concerning his main band Officium Triste, the Dutch Doom Days festival, and a lot more.)

I learned about Extreme Cold Winter from Pim Blankenstein some years ago, I think. We’ve done interviews with Pim on a regular basis; it’s almost routine, as it seems that I’m the biggest fan of his main band Officium Triste here in Russia. And in some of these interviews he told about Extreme Cold Winter, the promising doom-death band he takes part in alongside A.J. van Drenth (guitars, bass) and Seth van de Loo (drums).

A.J. played in one of the first Dutch doom-death bands, Beyond Belief, he took part in Asphyx, and now he does deafening deathly noise with Beast of Revelation. Seth played with ten bands or so, and most of the time it was death metal. He even sang in Deicide during their tour in 2007. You see? Serious stuff.

But long story short: the trio proclaimed the start of Extreme Cold Winter in 2009, recorded the EP Paradise Ends Here in 2015, and… and… and I did check from time to time to see if there was some news on their side and didn’t find any. So I was surprised to see in my main box a promo pack with their debut full-length album World Exit some weeks ago. There was no chance to avoid it, so we get in touch with Pim and pretty swiftly this interview was organized. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GARGOYLE

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Oct 112021
 

 

(Comrade Aleks delves into the dark Italian roots of Gargoyle with vocalist/guitarist C. Conqueror. It’s a very extensive, very revealing, and very congenial dialogue, and a tantalizing teaser for the band’s 2021 debut album Hail To the Necrodoom, out now on Sun & Moon Records.)

Gargoyle’s nest is the blessed land of Calabria, the very “toe” of the Italian “boot”. So fed with the Italian past horror stories, local traditions of horror movies, and dark underground music, the beast was born!

Their demo Reborn In Blasphemy (2016) was something promising but the full-length album Hail to the Necrodoom (2021) is something exceptional! This mix of early black, doom, and a bit of death metal has this strong Italian flavour and is simply charming! It’s all about Necromantia, Nosferatu, Nihilism, Night, and Nightmares, embodied in grim and gloom metal.

The names of those who are responsible for this act of wicked insubordination are known well: Krommak (bass, vocals), Malumbra (drums), C. Conqueror (vocals, guitars), and Helkaar (synths, organs). Serious guys… But I was lucky to get in touch with C. Conqueror and in the dead of an unholy October night We managed to do this nice interview. Continue reading »

WAXING LYRICAL: DECLINE OF THE I

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Oct 092021
 

 

(Andy Synn brings us another episode in his series about lyrics in Metal, and today the responses come from A.K. of the French band Decline of the I, whose latest album Johannes was released last spring by Agonia Records.)

I know it’s been a little while since we last published one of these columns – that’s largely because I want the various artists involved to work on them in their own time and without feeling pressured from my end – but the wait has definitely been worth it, as today we’re talking to songwriter, lyricist, and all-round mastermind A.K. of Decline of the I (along with many other bands).

It’s a fascinating piece, mark my words, which touches on the conceptual underpinnings of the group’s first album trilogy, and their next one, as well as the unusual methods involved in composing each record’s vivid yet dreamlike lyrics. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: BLACKDEATH

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Oct 082021
 

 

(Comrade Aleks continues his streak of fascinating interviews with this very extensive one with Para Bellum of the long-running Russian black metal band Blackdeath, whose latest work Also sprach das Chaos is officially being released today.)

Saturn Sector, Fucking Fullmoon Foundation, Satan Macht Frei, and more… Blackdeath have recorded nine full-length albums since the late ’90s and a bunch of smaller releases, and they have done much more for the underground black metal scene besides recording and performing their blasphemous incantations.

Blackdeath’s line-up had just a few minor changes for years and its core since the first day, built by brothers Colonel Para Bellum (aka Dmitry, bass, vocals, lyrics) and Abysslooker (aka Denis, guitars, songwriting), has been accompanied by Polar Maya (drums) since 2007, and it seems like this line-up works in the most productive way one could expect. Being founded in 1995 under the name Draugwath, this band remain one of the most stable and creative black metal acts in Mother Russia’s territory and they prove their status once more with a new tenth album, Also Sprach das Chaos, coming out on the 8th of October via End All Life Productions.

We made this interview with Colonel some time ago but the decision was made to wait for the new album’s official release, and so the day has come. If the words “True Black Metal” mean something for you still, here we go. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SELF HYPNOSIS

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Oct 052021
 

 

(If you’re not fascinated by this interview and eager to give this band’s music a chance, there’s something wrong with you. There, we said it, and mean it. We thank Comrade Aleks and Kris Clayton for the time they devoted to this discussion.)

Kris Clayton, who did some strange things with his experimental doom project Camel of Doom, wasn’t satisfied with the level of its authenticity. Those things weren’t strange enough for him. But believe me or not, his latest Camel of Doom long-play Terrestrial is worthy of listening. However, in order to raise the level of his doom experiments to new heights Kris invited doom death psycho magician Greg Chandler (Esoteric) into his new band Self Hypnosis and a year ago their first album Contagion of Despair saw the light of day.

This album presents a beast of another kind, grotesque sometimes, built of abstract forms and ideas and yet alive, breathing and amusing. Kris and Greg combine in one vessel not only emanations of their own bands, they add more and more, holding the right balance which keeps Contagion of Despair coherent to some degree and exciting.

We do invite you to take a part in a Self Hypnosis séance together with Kris. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: BRODEQUIN

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Oct 042021
 

 

(Karina Noctum brings us this new interview of Jamie Bailey from the Tennessee brutal death metal band Brodequin, whose new EP Perpetuation of Suffering was released at the end of August 2021 by Unmatched Brutality Records.)

I discovered Brodequin pretty early when I started listening to metal as a child because I was pretty impressed by impossibly fast tempos and looked specifically for the most extreme music I could find. It was awesome to get to to see the band live and active again some years ago. Now recently they released their latest EP Perpetuation of Suffering after a long hiatus. The EP has a bit more slammy parts, but just enough, and it’s highly enjoyable. I’m really glad I had the opportunity to interview Jamie Bailey and talk about the EP, his label Unmatched Brutality, and what’s to come for Brodequin.

******

I loved the EP. When did you start writing it?

Thank you! We have been working on a lot of material for about 2 years. These tracks we have had for about a year, maybe a little less. We selected these as we felt they were a good representation of how we’ve been moving in respect to the writing style. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GLOOSH

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Oct 012021
 

 

(Comrade Aleks has again brought us a very interesting conversation with a very engaging personality, and this time it’s George Gabrielyan, the man behind the black metal band Gloosh from Siberian Russia, whose new album is being released today.)

Gloosh means “thick forest” or “backwoods” in Russian, a fitting title for  a black metal band from Siberia, isn’t it? It’s a one-man band / studio project started by George Gabrielyan just two years ago, and there are already one EP and two full-length albums in the Gloosh discography. This black metal has a strong “atmospheric” aspect and the lyrics are written and performed into Russian, though you can find the translations in Metal-Archives or Bandcamp, ‘cause George cares for the band’s followers.

Well, actually the second album named Sylvan Coven is just being released today, and it’s a good reason to interview George. But besides that news, George has much more to tell, as he does play nowadays in two more black metal bands – Eoront and Frozenwoods — so he seems to be the right person to know about a few more subjects, and not only about his own path to the blackened underground but also about the Siberian scene in general. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: LUCIFER

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Sep 302021
 

 

(DJ Jet returns to NCS with the following interview of Johanna Platow Andersson, vocalist of the Swedish/German band Lucifer, whose new album Lucifer IV will be released on October 29th by Century Media. Credit for all photos accompanying the interview goes to Ester Segarra.)

 

Johanna we must start at the beginning back when you were an adolescent. Tell us about your family.

Both my father and step-father were photographers and my mother was very musical. I grew up with a brother, eleven years older than me and was always surrounded by art, books and music. We traveled a lot every year, I guess to compensate for having been locked up behind the iron curtain before we moved from east to west Berlin in 1985 when I was six.

 

What was it like for you as a kid to move  to West Berlin when “The Wall” was still in place?

It was a culture shock but a good one. It made me an outsider at school. It shaped me and made me very adaptable to anything life throws at me. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HEATHEN DEITY

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Sep 282021
 

 

(Comrade Aleks continues an ongoing series of interviews of black metal bands in this discussion with guitarist Azrael of the English black metal band Heathen Deity.)

In order to support the underground Black Metal scene as well as the war against Christianity (if you don’t mind) we offer you this in-depth interview with Heathen Deity, whose long-awaited debut album True English Black Metal was finally out in June 2021. Heathen Deity was active for six years from 1998 to 2004 and then after a ten-year-long break its members re-united in order to deal with deeds started long ago. Thus, after the live album Nottingham Infernal (2019) and The Damnation Tapes compilation (2020) they finally have reached the point when the work was right and all material properly recorded.

Here’s the detailed story of True English Black Metal with an in-depth look at Deity’s cult daily life. The band’s original guitarist Azrael channels Deity’s will patiently and consistently. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: VYRION

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Sep 242021
 

 

(In this extensive and enlightening interview Comrade Aleks checked in with Dale J. Williams, vocalist/guitarist of the fine Australian black metal band Vyrion, whose latest album Nil arrived last year.)

Vyrion’s track premiere… how long ago was it announced here? October 2020? I remember clearly how this black metal song from Australia stuck in my mind with its hard and solid delivery and minimalistic yet expressive artwork. I still believe that the visual side of any album is absolutely important, and Vyrion’s latest album Nil has it.

Also this band is one of the rare kind who prefer bigger concepts behind their stuff than medieval deviltry and church-burning, so I would point to intellectual lyrics as another of Vyrion’s merits. Actually there was no news from the band since the Nil release, and I sent them a message to see if they could answer a few questions for NCS. It’s the band’s founder Dale J Williams (vocals, guitars) who answers our call. Continue reading »

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