AN NCS INTERVIEW: KRANIUM

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Feb 242021
 

 

(This time Comrade Aleks interviews one of the members of the unorthodox Peruvian metal band Kranium, whose roots go back to the early ’90s and whose new album Uma Tullu (which you can stream below) was released on December 1st, 2020.)

Kranium is a legend of the Peruvian underground. The band was formed in 1985 as Murder but since 1986 it’s been known as Kranium. Their early material tended towards savage a thrash/death meta, but years passed, some members left and others joined the band, and their first full-length Testimonios finally was released in 1999. The story behind its making is long and far from easy, as Kranium drew the attention of the Swedish label Plasmatica Records  who promised to fund their recording sessions but had a hard time, and lack of money prolonged recordings for almost three years.

This material appears to be a mix between traditional doom metal with a bit of a raw edge, lyrics in Spanish, and arrangements of traditional Peruvian instruments. I’m surprised that this album is a kind of “lost gem”, forgive me this cliché, and I hope Kranium’s new and authentic-as-always album Uma Tullu (released in December 2020) will reach more listeners all over the world.

The band’s lineup has changed, yet its core remains the same: Eloy Arturo (guitars, songwriting) is one of the founding members, and Mito Espíritu (guitars, wind instruments, charango) has been in the band since 1991 (there was a break for a few years, but it doesn’t make a difference). Dennis Yamazato (drums) has played in Kranium since 2005, and Ian Chang (bass) since 2010. Our current guest Christian Meléndez (vocals, keyboards) is a relatively new member — his experience in Kranium is “just” ten years. But he’s quiet a talkative collocutor, and I’m glad we had this interview. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ENDEZZMA

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Feb 182021
 

 

(In January of this year Dark Essence Records released the highly anticipated third album by the Norwegian black metal band Endezzma, and in this new interview Karina Noctum spoke with the band’s vocalist M. Shax about the production, themes, and artwork of the album.)

This interview with Shax, the vocalist of the Norwegian Black Metal band Endezzma is focused on their latest album, The Archer, Fjord and The Thunder, released back on January 21st. This release is definitely worth checking out if you are fond of the Norwegian BM style as it includes lots of sonic goodies.

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How long did it take for you to write The Archer, Fjord and the Thunder?

We started working on the new album as soon we released The Arcane Abyss. I guess it took two years in the making.  It was an intricate and intense process since this album, sound-wise, is the most multi-layered one we have done. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CONVICTION

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Feb 162021
 

 

(We present Comrade Aleks‘ extensive and extremely interesting interview of Oliver Verron (founder of Temple of Baal) about the French traditional doom band Conviction that he also founded, whose self-titled debut album was released by Argonauta Records in January of this year.)

Once upon a time men from bands like Temple of Baal, Ataraxie, Mourning Dawn and Corrosive Elements gathered together and… it all ended with a traditional doom metal album!

A long story short, but the French Conviction was founded by one of Temple of Baal’s founders, Oliver Verron, back in 2013 and it took some time before he found proper companions who shared his taste for good old doom. What’s Conviction about? How did they avoid all of their extreme metal backgrounds in this band? And what’s the story with the French doom scene?

You’ll find answers to these questions and more in the interview with Oliver. I’ve enjoyed reading this, and I hope you’ll like it too. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: OMINATION

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Feb 122021
 

 

(With pleasure, we present Comrade Aleks’ extensive interview with Fedor Kovalevsky of the Tunisian extreme metal bands Vielikan and Omination, whose critically acclaimed new album NGR was just recently released by Hypnotic Dirge Records.)

This Tunisian funeral doom-death project offers high quality material. Created in around 2016 by Fedor Kovalevsky (who has Ukrainian roots), Omination consistently developed ’til it became the size of a trio consisting of Fedor at the helm and his bandmates from progressive death outfit Vielikan – Zied Kochbati and Nassim Toumi. With a full lineup and the support of Hypnotic Dirge Records, Fedor presents Omination’s second full-length NGR (New Golgotha Repvbliq), which has been out since the 5th of February.

The last times are upon us! So be forewarned! And don’t forget to take a listen to NGR. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: OAKMORD

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Feb 102021
 

 

(In this new interview Comrade Aleks spoke with Sami Rautio and Jürgen Fröhling, former collaborators in My Shameful and current collaborators again in Oakmord, whose debut record will be released on February 15th.)

Sami Rautio (Finland) and Jürgen Fröhling (Germany) collaborated successfully for years running the bleak and painful doom/death project My Shameful. My Shameful was no more since 2015, so Jürgen was able to focus on his doom/sludge band Absent/Minded, and Sami… it seems Sami was occupied with his solo project Kadotettu. However, both of them reunited in order to channel a mix of creativity and negativity through a new collaboration – Oakmord.

As Sami confesses, it is on a different range of emotions, and as musicians they have naturally changed over the years, “grown if that term fits here…” I agree with that, and you can make sure yourself while reading this interview — quite a good interview. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SERTRALINE

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Feb 082021
 

 

(Comrade Aleks has brought us the following interview with the members of the New York band Sertraline, who are at work on a debut album and whose three EPs to date were released last month in a compilation package by Hypnotic Dirge Records.)

I’ve got Sertraline’s new release The Streetlight Was All We Needed from Canadian label Hypnotic Dirge, among a few other releases. This post-black metal band from Buffalo has been active since 2015, and there are three EPs in their discography. The Streetlight Was All We Needed is a sum of those three small recordings – Shade (2017), From Both Our Hands (2019), and These Mills Are Oceans (2019).

Shelly Muehlbauer (guitars), Tom Muehlbauer (vocals), Jason Roman (bass), Jay Zgoda (guitars), Ken Culton (drums), and David Lopian (guitars) are together for all these years, and this interview is a unique situation, as all the band’s members answered together. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: AZARATH

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Feb 012021
 

 

(Here is Karina Noctum‘s interview with vocalist Skullripper of Poland’s Azarath, whose latest (and seventh) album was released on November 27, 2020, by Agonia Records.)

I remember that as a teenager I started listening to Behemoth and I liked Inferno’s drumming so much that I wanted to see what else he had made. I was pretty happy when I found Azarath. with all its rawness, brutality, and intensity. I like it more than Behemoth, actually, and I love the fact they have their own distinct sound. The band became one of my favorites from Poland together with Trauma, Hate, old Decapitated, Lost Soul, and Vader, of course.

The Polish scene has such quality, especially when it comes to Death Metal, that it is one of my favorite musical realms. My first interview with Azarath was distributed in print at Hole in the Sky and that was a long time ago. I’m pretty thankful they still keep playing and releasing albums and that I get to interview them again. This time around I asked about their new album Saint Desecration, in which the band play a technical, aggressive, and pretty fast Death Metal. I really hope to catch a live show in the future as they are absolutely crushing and the sound is super-powerful live. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HAUNTED CENOTAPH

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Jan 262021
 

 

(In this interview Comrade Aleks talked with members of the Polish death/doom band Haunted Cenotaph, whose debut album was digitally released last fall and was released on tape by Redefining Darkness Records in December.)

I don’t remember how I found Haunted Cenotaph over a year ago. Back then they had just a raw self-titled EP with Lovecraftian death-doom from beyond the grave… But a year has passed and the quartet from Rzeszów returned with a debut full-length named Abyssal Menace, which is few levels higher than its predecessor.

Brewhammer (bass), Golem (guitars), Coffin Crawler (vocals), and Abyssal Conqueror (drums) present us quite an entertaining experience through straight old-school stuff with reverence towards Celtic Frost and Asphyx amongst others. Golem, with some help from Coffin Crawler, reveals the history behind Haunted Cenotaph‘s rising. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE (AND AN INTERVIEW): THE AMENTA — “AN EPOCH ELLIPSIS”

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Jan 212021
 

 

In early December we got a big but very welcome surprise when Debemur Morti Productions announced that they would be releasing a new album by the avant-garde Australian death metal band The Amenta (the band’s first full-length in almost eight years), and sprung upon us a video for the album’s first advance track, “Sere Money“. And now we’re springing upon you a video for the album’s second single, “An Epoch Ellipsis“, along with an interview of the The Amenta’s Timothy Pope which focuses on what you’re about to see and hear.

The name of the new album is Revelator, and Debemur Morti has set February 19th as the release date. As DMP rightly reports, it is “the culmination of nearly 20 years’ collective experimentation in nonconformist, dissonant, dynamic and electronically-lacerated Death Metal”. And although we typically resist just copy/pasting promotional texts written by others, the following passage does a very good job as an introduction to the manifold experiences the album presents: Continue reading »

WE ANNOUNCE A NEW PANOPTICON ALBUM AND PREMIERE ITS CLOSING TRACK “KNOW HOPE” (WITH AN INTERVIEW OF AUSTIN LUNN)

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Jan 192021
 

 

In a new year that has already brought an over-sized share of awfulness in very short order, we bring you good tidings: By the coming spring, Panopticon will release a new album, through its steadfast partner Bindrune Recordings.

The name of the album is …and again into the light. It consists of eight songs encompassing 70 minutes of music. And today, in addition to the good news, we’re presenting a video for one of those eight songs. Entitled “Know Hope“, it’s the extensive track that brings this stunning album to a close.

We will have much more to say about the album in the coming days, but for now we’ll provide a brief preview, as well as an interview with Panopticon’s Austin Lunn which sheds further light on what inspired the album, the collaborators who were involved in making the music, and other details that ought to pique your interest (as if you weren’t plenty interested already). Continue reading »

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