AN NCS INTERVIEW: PORTA NIGRA

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Oct 262023
 

(In July of this year Soulseller Records released Weltende, a new album by the German extreme metal band Porta Nigra. It led Comrade Aleks to contact the band, and the following interview with guitarist/bassist Gilles deRais  was the result.)

German band Porta Nigra is labeled as “avant-garde black metal”, and it seems to be truth. It was founded in 2010 by Gilles deRais (guitars, bass) and O. (drums, vocals), who recorded two full-length albums as a duo. But sometime after, Porta Nigra turned into the full band, and now they’ve returned come with the fourth full-length album Weltende.

This authentic material has a rich cultural background, rooted in both Belle Époque and Fin de Siècle, so don’t expect an ordinary black metal deviltry from this band. We tried to learn more about Porta Nigra and Weltende from Gilles deRais and in some way we succeeded.

(The interview was initially done for the Spanish magazine This Is Metal, and I’m glad to share its full version here.) Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: NEBELKRÄHE

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Oct 252023
 


photo by Afra Gethöfer Grütz

(Comrade Aleks has brought us an unusually good interview with the thoughtful founder and guitarist of the unusual German black metal band Nebelkrähe, whose first album in 10 years will be released on October 27th by Crawling Chaos.)

NCS readers have already had an in-depth look at Nebelkrähe’s new album ephemer. This German band returns with their third album after a ten-year hiatus, and their sophisticated blackened metal.

There was much said about them in the previous video premiere post and there will be a lot said in this current interview. We spent enough time with Nebelkrähe’s guitarist Morg, and I hope that this interview will not only answer your questions about the band but also will stimulate you to search for more. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: TRIVAX

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Oct 232023
 

photo by Ester Segarra

(Last week we reviewed the new album by Iran-born, UK-based Trivax (recently released by Cult Never Dies), and today we follow that with a wide-ranging interview by Comrade Aleks of the band’s founder Shayan S.)

Trivax was started in April 2009 in Iran by Shayan S. (guitars, vocals) who moved to Birmingham in 2011 and reformed the band with a new lineup there. The first one who joined Shayan back then was the drummer Matthew Croton, as the current bass-player Sully get involved in Trivax in 2018.

While the first album SIN (2016) didn’t have a big impact, it seems that the new full-length blackened death metal manifest Eloah Burns Out will have it. Trivax came fully armed. Their new video “Azrael” is striking and kind of shocking; their performance at the Cosmic Void festival in London got its praise too; and Eloah Burns Out itself, released by Cult Never Dies on September 29th, promises to be one of most authentic extreme albums of 2023.

Let’s take a look at the modern world’s lunacy and satanic magic through the Trivax prism together with Shayan. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ISKANDR

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Oct 172023
 


Photo Credit: Twan Spierings

(At the end of September Eisenwald released Spiritus Sylvestris, an excellent new album by  the Dutch band Iskandr, and that moved Comrade Aleks to get in touch, leading to the following interview with founder Omar K.)

Iskandr was started by multi-instrumentalist Omar K. in around 2016 as his solo black metal project. The solo-project turned into a duo as the drummer Mink Koops joined Omar, and since then they started to work together.

Primordial and natural, Iskandr’s black metal evolved from Heilig land (2016) to Euprosopon (2018), and then from less blackened Vergezicht (2021) to brand new and ethereal Spiritus Sylvestris, which was released on September 29th.

The chain of metamorphoses leads the project to a new form that combines black metal spirit and a deep, in some ways heathen magical, and almost psychedelic, experience. As Omar, the band’s ideologist, says: “I wanted to write a eulogy to the world we have lost; a funeral dirge for the natural world we have left behind and an omen to the world that is to come”.

We caught Omar in the middle of Iskandr’s tour, but he found time to answer a few questions. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: APHOTIC

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Oct 112023
 

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(In this new interview Comrade Aleks engaged in a fascinating discussion with Nicolò Brambilla from the genre-bending Italian metal band Aphotic, whose debut album Abyssgazer was released last spring by Sentient Ruin.)

The chronicles of death-doom know two bands named Aphotic, and both are great in their own way. Aphotic from the US was a short-lived band formed by ex-members of Dusk; sadly, it was split in 2005, leaving just three EPs behind.

Aphotic from Milan was founded in 2020 by ex-members of the death metal act Ekpyrosis: L. Zeit (bass, vocals), F. Abisme (drums), and N. Gazer (vocals, guitars, synth). Their colleague from Fuoco Fatuo, K. Coil (guitars), joined Aphotic in 2022 right in time to take part in the recording of the band’s first album as a guest. Abyssgazer was released through Sentient Ruin Laboratories and Nuclear Winter Records in March 2023.

The band tends towards rather “doomed” death metal with a few influences outside these genres, and Abyssgazer is remarkable with its rich textures, highly intense delivery, and in-depth atmosphere, which fits its concept well. The philosophy of Cosmology is hidden between its lines and manifests itself through the play of celestial lights and ugly shades born from phenomena beyond human understanding.

Nicolò Brambilla aka N. Gazer revealed a lot of interesting facts about Abyssgazer in the current interview. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SULPHUR AEON

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Oct 092023
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ recent interview with members of the German extreme metal band Sulphur Aeon. Their new album Seven Crowns and Seven Seals will be released on October 13th by Ván Records.)

Sulphur Aeon is the one of most productive extreme metal bands among those which spread the ruinous gospel of Lovecraftian cosmic horror and crawling chaos. They’ve treaded their path with absolute dedication, and they’ve provided three quite individual full-length albums since their foundation in 2010.

The band’s new release Seven Crowns and Seven Seals seems to be going off H. P.’s plots, but things aren’t as simple as they seem sometimes, and it’s always interesting to know what lies beneath the surface.

Sulphur Aeon’s members are known mostly just as T. (guitars), M. (vocals), D. (drums), S. (bass), and A. (guitars). So let it be, as the music is what really matters. Though the official release date was set on the 13th of October by Ván Records, we got in touch with Sulphur Aeon almost immediately, and M. along with T. replied. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: NEGATIVE VORTEX

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Oct 062023
 

(Today we present another interview by Comrade Aleks, and this time he spoke with both members of the California-based death metal band Negative Vortex, whose debut album was released earlier this year by Sentient Ruin.)

Negative Vortex is a Brazilian, US-based doomed death metal duo created by M.Feschner (guitars, vocals) and Libra (drums, bass, guitars, keyboards) a few years ago. Both men had years of experience in the extreme metal underground, and Negative Vortex’s full-length album Tomb Absolute is their most focused, matured work.

These nine songs aren’t just a nihilistic, intense, and depressing experience of analyzing modern human society performed in the vein of Autopsy and Celtic Frost, but a thoughtful and complex view of it through the prism of literature and socially important cases.

The songs’ lyrics include excerpts from William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe as well as lines from the last woman executed in Czechoslovakia, Olga Hepnarová’s original letter on “Cease to Exist”.

And last but not least, Tomb Absolute includes a good list of honourable guests, like Kam Lee, Nick Holmes, Vik Whipstriker, Moyses Kolesne, Leon del Muerte, and Caleb Bingham, who left their special mark on the album’s songs.

We have done a pretty good interview with both M.Feschner and Libra for the Spanish magazine This Is Metal, and I’m glad to share its full version here. Continue reading »

REVENANT MARQUIS: AN INTERVIEW BY NEILL JAMESON AND THE PREMIERE OF “ALL THE PLEASURES OF HEAVEN”

 Album Reviews, Interviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Oct 052023
 

(On October 6th Death Prayer Records will release All the Pleasures of Heaven, the final album by the Welsh black metal band Revenant Marquis. Today we are privileged to present an interview by Neill Jameson (of Krieg) with S., the person behind Revenant Marquis, followed by a premiere stream of the new album.)

It becomes difficult, after being involved in a scene for so long, to overcome that jaded, nearly apathetic feeling and truly lose yourself in someone’s music fully. For the last few years I’ve felt this way about Revenant Marquis. Truly unique and disturbing black metal, created alongside an unnerving aesthetic, Revenant Marquis stands as one of the most authentic voices of horror in a cacophony of lesser acts vying for attention.

Manifesting his first recording in 2019, Revenant Marquis has cast a long shadow across twelve public releases, with his newest, All the Pleasures of Heaven being the final, and darkest, spell he has brought to life. Today we have the honor of presenting this record to you as well as the final words from the man himself. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CIRITH UNGOL

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Oct 032023
 


photos by Peter Beste

(Cirith Ungol continue a strong resurgence with a new album set for release on October 20th by Metal Blade Records, and to help pave the way we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of the band’s drummer and co-founder Robert Garven.)

Since being formed in 1971, Cirith Ungol has remained one of most long-running heavy metal bands on Earth. They fought for their place under the sun and recorded four full-length albums during their first two decades, but disappeared almost unnoticed in 1992.

The band’s comeback in 2015 was a blast, but they didn’t just gather to play just a few reunion shows, and the new album Forever Black appeared in 2020. They didn’t waste time during the pandemic, and the EP Half Past Human (2021) came out first.

Now Metal Blade Records will be releasing the band’s new work, Dark Parade.  After all those years the band includes two original members who stood at its foundation in 1971 — Greg Lindstrom (guitars, keyboards) and Robert Garven (drums). Tim Baker (vocals) joined them in 1976, and Jim Barraza (guitars) came to Legions of Chaos in 1988. Jarvis Leatherby (bass) is the youngest member of the band, but he played a significant role in Cirith Ungol’s resurrection in 2015.

The flame of good old and a bit doomy heavy metal shall burn! And Robert Garven himself found some time to speak about Dark Parade and the stories behind him. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CHURCH OF MISERY

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Sep 282023
 

(In June of this year the Japanese doom band Church of Misery released their latest album through Rise Above Records  in a career that began almost 30 years ago. What you’ll find below is Comrade Aleks‘ extensive interview of the band’s founder and still the Church maestro, Tatsu Mikami.)

Being formed back in 1995 Church of Misery remains one of most important Japanese doom metal bands. Twenty-one musicians have passed through the band, and only its founder and ideologist Tatsu Mikami stays in his position of music and lyrics writer as well as bass player.

Church of Misery is known for its tendency to hard rocking and damn heavy doom metal as well as its reputation as a band with songs dedicated to serial killers and maniacs. Their new album Born Under a Mad Sign isn’t an exception, as its songs tell stories of such sick bastards as John Allen Muhammed, Fritz Harmann, Randy Kraft, and so on. It’s the integral part of Church of Misery‘s image, and we were lucky to learn more about Tatsu’s motivation and the new material.

(This interview was originally published in the September issue of the Spanish magazine This Is Metal.) Continue reading »

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