AN NCS INTERVIEW: SULPHUR AEON

 Interviews  1 Response »
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 »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: THE CIRCLE

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Sep 122023
 

(We gave a very favorable review here to the second album by the German band The Circle, which was released last month by AOP Records. Comrade Aleks enjoyed the album too, and that led to the following interview with the band’s composer and guitarist Stanley Robertson.)

Stanley Robertson (guitars) and Alex Wirt (bass) played together in the epic melodic death metal band Vagrant from 2016 to 2020. They both decided to change its name to The Circle and change the style as well, to symphonic black metal.

When Alex left The Circle, Stanley recorded the project’s first album Metamorphosis on his own with guest vocalist Asim Searah in 2021, and then Stanley, Asim and Philipp Wende (drums) recorded the sophomore album Of Awakening as a trio.

The album was released by AOP Records on August 18th, and it was interesting enough to make me want learn more about this band. Hameln’s guitarist Stanley Robertson is here with us tonight.

(We thank Nathan Birk (Suspicious Activities PR) for organizing the interview.) Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: BAXAXAXA

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Sep 072023
 

(On September 1st The Sinister Flame released the second album by the German black metal band Baxaxaxa, and its impending release prompted Comrade Aleks to reach out to the band’s drummer Condemptor for an interview, which we now present today.)

German black metal act Baxaxaxa was formed in Niederwerrn, Bavaria in 1992. The demon after which the band was named didn’t help them much from the start, and Baxaxaxa was disbanded in the very same year after recording the Hellfire demo. And more than strange – Baxaxaxa was resurrected in 2017 by its original drummer Condemptor.

He gathered around himself a few more musicians (partly his colleagues from another black metal outfit, Ungod) and slowly new songs started to appear. The band’s new satanic exercises entitled De Vermis Mysteriis was released on September 1st.

Moreover, Baxaxaxa is going to hit the road and bring some black metal enlightenment to law-abiding citizens of Seattle, Los Angeles, Austin, Ridgewood, and Lombard on the second decade of September. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: FIRES IN THE DISTANCE

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Aug 182023
 


Photo by Matty Thrash

(Today we have another new interview by Comrade Aleks, and this time he talked with the band Fires in the Distance, whose second album saw release in April by Prosthetic Records.)

Melodic death-doom outfit Fires in the Distance was founded in Newington, Connecticut seven years ago. Their debut album Echoes from Deep November (2020) demonstrated the band’s good taste towards dark, melancholic music with natural emotional depth. Prosthetic Records released the band’s second full-length work Air Not Meant for Us on April 28, 2023, and we almost immediately got in touch with the band.

The album is an amazing voyage to the fragile realm of autumnal melancholy and an effective exercise in expressing hidden griefs.  Air Not Meant for Us grants high-level of melodies and drive at the same time, so it’s right to mention the names of those who stand behind the album: Craig Breitsprecher (bass, vocals), Jordan Rippe (drums), Yegor Savonin (guitars, synths), and Kristian Grimaldi (guitars, vocals).

Yet, not everything goes according the plan, and this interview with an anonymous member of the band was unfinished for reasons, speaking diplomatically, beyond our control. The album is worthy of your attention yet, and this interview will help to understand it a bit better. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: THE BLACK HARVEST

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Aug 042023
 

(On this Bandcamp Friday we lead off with a new interview by Comrade Aleks of David Briones, founder of the Chilean death/doom band The Black Harvest, whose newest album (an excellent one) was just released this past March by Australis Records.)

David Briones started his career in Chilean underground with the death metal band Son in Curse. He has performed vocals and guitars there since 2002. He does the same in the death/crust band Rotten Hate and – what’s more important – he runs the death-doom band The Black Harvest.

Technically started in 2004, the band was almost inactive until 2014 when the first demos managed to appear. The band signed a deal with local label Australis Records, and as result the label released two albums – the self-titled debut (2017) and the fresh sophomore work Mortuary Dogma (2023). The new material absorbed all the best from the UK Three legacy, and Paradise Lost’s fans will dig “The Succubi Delight”, a track which represents the band as an official video.

Let’s support this killer band and pay some attention to David’s story of The Black Harvest and things related to the Chilean underground. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: KAAL AKUMA

 Interviews  1 Response »
Aug 012023
 

(In this new interview Comrade Aleks spoke with the Bangladeshi death metal band Kaal Akuma, who have already made a very strong favorable impression with both their 2021 debut album and a new EP released this past April by Nuclear Winter Records.)

Kaal Akuma appeared in one of the March Seen and Heard issues here – the death metal band from Bangladesh with a new EP Turiya released in April by Nuclear Winter Records. Their fierce, savage, and chaotic full-length In the Mouth of Madness (Dunkelheit Produktionen, 2021) didn’t pass unnoticed either, but this band needs wider exposure and so we do what we can.

The last known line-up is Rivoo (vocals, bass), Ah Puch (drums), and Akif (guitars), and this trio surpassed the rawness of uncontrolled anger embodied in the debut and made Turiya not only authentic but a more dangerous and focused entity. Just three tracks grant a 21-minute experience of macabre death and madness. Let’s learn more what Kaal Akuma hide behind these songs.

(We thank Nathan Birk (Suspicious Activities PR) for organizing the interview.) Continue reading »

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