AN NCS INTERVIEW: FUNERALOPOLIS

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Apr 222020
 

 

(In this new interview Comrade Aleks spoke with members of the Swiss death/doom band Funeralopolis, whose latest album will be released on April 27th by Memento Mori.)

Despite being named after an Electric Wizard song back in 2009, Funeralopolis perform hard-as-hell death doom on a verge of slowed-down death. And if you’re tired of waiting for a new Asphyx or Autopsy release, you should give a chance to this band of punishers from Switzerland. Especially now, when after being on stage for about 10 years, the guys have recorded a killer full-length album, their first one, …Of Deceit And Utter Madness.

Let’s hope that Memento Mori Records will be able to release it on April 27th as it’s scheduled. Meanwhile we had a cool chat with Sodomator Of The Doomed Venus a.k.a Nico (bass), Chanting Ghoul of Ravenous Redemption a.k.a. Thuri (guitars, vocals), and Invoker of the Ancient Deathtune a.k.a. Pascal (guitars). Be ready for horrors of death and doom! Go! Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: WORM

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Apr 202020
 

 

(In this new interview Comrade Aleks spoke with the principal creator behind the Floridian extreme metal band Worm, whose latest album Gloomlord was released by Iron Bonehead this past January.)

Being born amidst the swamps of Florida as a solo project, Worm was a black metal outfit run by Phantom Slaughter, a.k.a. Wurm. He recorded two demos on his own — The Deep Dark Earth Underlines All (2014) and Nights In Hell (2016), and then he met a like-minded person.

Since 2017 Phantom Slaughter has worked together with Equimanthorn, and their collaboration has resulted in two full-length albums, Evocation Of The Black Marsh (2017) and Gloomlord (2020). Both albums were released by the famous Iron Bonehead Productions and both demonstrate Worm’s tendency towards a new direction – dirty and savage blackened death doom in its most nihilistic form.

How is it there in the Floridian underground? Let’s take a look together with Phantom Slaughter himself. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: JANNE JALOMA (NIGHT CROWNED, DARK FUNERAL)

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Apr 162020
 

 

(In this new installment of Karina Noctum‘s interview series devoted to metal drummers she talked with Janne Jaloma, the drummer of Night Crowned (whose 2020 debut album is out now on the Noble Demon label), Dark Funeral, and Despite.)

In the summer of 2019 I went to a festival called Gamrocken in the middle of nowhere in Sweden. That festival is sadly no more. The 2019 version had an awesome line-up and some unknown bands to me. Out of those bands the one that I liked the most was Night Crowned. I eagerly waited months for their new album Impius Viam to come out, because it’s not like there are lots of bands at that technical level appearing all the time, and the fact they are from Gothenburg was a huge plus, because that scene is just awesome.

I love it when the Swedes play extreme Death Metal. You have acts like The Forsaken, Dimension Zero, Spawn of Possession, Soreption, Hypocrisy, to name a few. So I was really happy to have found Night Crowned to add to that list, and besides, their style is blackened — something that I truly appreciate.

So I had to interview their drummer, Janne Jaloma, who plays in Dark Funeral as well. His drumming is fast, neat, and he doesn’t withhold anything on his latest album. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: FLUISTERAARS

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Apr 132020
 

 

(In this feature our new contributor Mike Johnson spoke with a member of the Dutch duo Fluisteraars (Bob Mollema and Mink Koops), whose new album Bloem is out now via Eisenwald.)

 

You guys clearly try to recreate a certain type of landscape in your sound. Each album evolving little by little. Translated to English (as I am an inept American) the newest release entitled Bloem means “Flower”. I am curious, as this album seems to be a symbol for this project in general. I feel the album starts furiously in a whir of black metal only to bloom into a more true atmospheric and melodic sound similar to that of a flower. Was this possibly a thought behind the album?

It was not a thought from which we made the album. More an unconscious competent choice that felt logical during the making process. Because if our opening track were in the middle it would not be right for us. The placement of the songs on an album apparently contributes a lot to the concept and that is good proof that music can be very narrative. Thank you for the observation. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DAVID MCGRAW (CATTLE DECAPITATION)

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Apr 072020
 

 

(In this new installment of a series devoted to metal drummers, Karina Noctum talked with David McGraw of Cattle Decapitation, and we join Karina in thanking David him for his time and attention.)

Cattle Decapitation is definitely one band that leads the way when it comes to extreme metal. Their blend of Death, Heavy, Grind, and Black Metal with a complex arrangement of progressive riffs and top-notch technique is something I have always admired. So I had to include David McGraw in my series as he is definitely one of the best drummers in the genre.

Due to the pandemic he is currently home and available for drumming coaching while he should be on tour. He took some time to answer my questions, something I’m pretty grateful for. What’s left for us in Europe is to hope their superb tour together with Disentomb, Internal Bleeding, and Gloom will be re-scheduled, but things look certainly gloomy grim here when it comes to shows in the foreseeable future. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MOLASSES BARGE

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Apr 062020
 

 

(On April 10th Argonauta Records will release the second album by Pittsburgh heavy doom rockers Molasses Barge, and this provided a good occasion for Comrade Aleks to catch up with guitarist Justin Gizzi in this exclusive NCS interview.)

As shit continues to hit the fan, it’s hard to predict what will happen next month or even next week, but a new Molasses Barge release is scheduled on the 10th of April by Argonauta Records, and I hope we’ll all be able to support it…

The band was started as a project in 2008 when a few men from the Pittsburgh heavy underground gathered in the name of the Doom Cult. Initially it was Justin Gizzi on guitars, Brian “Butch” Balich on vocals, and Wayne Massey as drummer. Justin played in bunch of bands before, and Brian is well-known as vocalist of such loud acts as Penance and Argus —  should I say that the project had great potential from the start?

However, Molasses Barge rested at pierce for years, but since 2017 they have shown good activity, recording, releasing, and performing live their hard down-tuned stuff with new members. The band’s up-to-date lineup consists of the original trio plus Amy Bianco (bass) and Barry Mull (guitars). Their new work A Grayer Dawn is damn hard and loud down-tuned doom metal, and I believe it fits well these strange times we live in. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SALTAS

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Apr 022020
 

 

(In this new interview for our site Comrade Aleks spoke with both members of the Swedish death/doom band Saltas about their new album, which was released two weeks ago, as well as the status of the members’ other projects.)

Despite this crazy situation all over the world the metal industry still works, and this month, due to the efforts of Nuclear War Now! Productions, the two-man project Saltas of Gothenburg, Sweden has just released their debut full-length Mors Salis: Opus I. This macabre death doom metal straight from the underground catacombs was created by C.J. (vocals, drums) and N.R. (vocals, guitars).

C.J. succeeds in keeping his personality a bit anonymous though N.R. is Leif Nicklas Rudolfsson himself, founder of the Swedish grim bastion of the extreme doom front Runemagick and half a dozen other bands and projects like Domedag, Necrocurse, and The Funeral Orchestra, just to name few. I bet you have a clue what you may expect from Saltas, we’ve talked with both of the band’s’ members. Here you see result of this conversation: Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW (PART 2): DARK FORTRESS (MOREAN)

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Mar 312020
 

 

(Yesterday we presented Part One of an extensive interview Karina Noctum conducted with Morean of Dark Fortress, and today we present the conclusion, again with our thanks to Morean for devoting so much time to the discussion.)

This is the second part of the in-depth interview with Morean from Dark Fortress. While the first part was about composition and creation of music, among other topics, this part is solely devoted to the lyrical themes of Spectres from the Old World, the band’s latest album,  which was released back in February of this year. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW (PART 1): DARK FORTRESS (MOREAN)

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Mar 302020
 

 

(Today we present the first part of an extensive two-part interview that our Norway-based contributor Karina Noctum conducted with Morean of Dark Fortress (and Alkaloid and Noneuclid), and we are grateful to him for devoting so much time and thought in furnishing the answers.)

The latest Dark Fortress album, Spectres from the Old World, released back in February, has gotten good reviews. This is not surprising and it is a natural consequence of the amount of experience the musicians that form part of this band have. Both Ylem and Venereal Dawn are on my playlist of favorite BM albums, and I must say the latest album made it as well, of course. It is not just more of the same though, it has a distinct touch, it stands on its own, and it fulfilled my expectations.

I took the opportunity to interview Morean, who I admire a lot both as a composer and as an excellent, multifaceted metal musician. His musical expertise makes all his bands and contributions truly interesting. In fact one of his orchestrations of the three parts of the Requiem performed by Triptykon and the Dutch Metropole Orkest at Roadburn Festival is coming out soon through Prowling Death Records / Century Media Records. There are many interesting projects and bands surrounding Morean but the focus of the first part of this in-depth interview is going to be Spectres from the Old World, its composition, its music, and other particulars surrounding its release. In the second part of this interview we will deal solely with the lyrical themes, which are complex and very interesting. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: OCEAN CHIEF

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Mar 252020
 

 

(The heavy-hitting Swedish doom band Ocean Chief will release their sixth studio album on April 17th via Argonauta Records, and in this new interview Comrade Aleks talked about it with guitarist Björn Andersson.)

Long-liver of Swedish underground scene, Ocean Chief close toward their twentieth anniversary. Since 2001 this hard crew has driven their ugly and heavy drakkar through sonic tsunamis of sludge, doom, and stoner. I found them with the release of their third album Sten (2013) and was blown away with its massive and thick sound representing the primitive power of the ocean at full capacity. Their next work Universums Härd (2014) was a bit different thing with twice shorter tracks (in comparison with Sten’s 15 – 20-minute huge monsters) and then…

Then Ocean Chief almost disappeared from radars, so I was surprised when I get the promo of their new CD Den Tredje Dagen. I hope that virus panic won’t delay its release and that we’ll witness Ocean Chief’s return on April 27th through Argonauta Records. The band’s guitarist Björn Andersson sheds some light on this work. Continue reading »

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