Interviews Archives - Page 72 of 104

AN NCS INTERVIEW: BLACK MEDICINE

Jan 192016

(Comrade Aleks rejoins us with this interview of the vocalist and guitarist of Black Medicine.)

You maybe asked yourself: Where has Comrade Aleks been? Where has he been since New Year’s coming? Was he lost, drunk, and miserable on Red Square in Moscow? Did he freeze to death in snow-covered Saint-Petersburg? There’s no reason for worries dear comrades! I was searching something new for you, something besides new Italian doom metal bands… And you know… I’ve found it.

Welcome Black Medicine! A damned heavy and sludgy doom band from South Korea! They done their dirty deeds since 2005, but their first full-length album Irreversible was released less than a year ago. What’s the hell?!! How did it happen?!! Let’s ask it Lee Myeong-Hee (guitars) and Kim Chang-Yu (vocals). Continue reading »

THE REISSUE OF OPPROBRIUM’S “SERPENT TEMPTATION”: A TRACK-BY-TRACK COMMENTARY BY THE BAND AND FULL-ALBUM STREAM

Interviews 1 Response »

Jan 152016

In the middle of 1982 two young brothers, Moyses M. Howard and Francis M. Howard — moved with their parents from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to New Orleans, Louisiana. It didn’t take long for them to be caught up in the energy of music — joining bands, playing shows… exploring. By 1986 their interests had turned to underground metal, and they formed a band named Incubus with Scott Latour as vocalist. They released a demo in 1987, and then a debut album in 1988 named Serpent Temptation.

A blistering onslaught of death/thrash, the album has been hailed as an underground classic, and it led to a deal with Nuclear Blast, who released the band’s next two albums —Beyond the Unknown (1990) and Discerning Forces (2000) — both of which were recorded by the Howard brothers as a two-piece band, with Francis as vocalist. By the time that third album was released, the band had changed their name to Opprobrium. Eight more years would pass before the band (now based in Tampa) released their fourth album (and most recent to date), Mandatory Evac.

Today, Relapse Records is re-releasing that 1988 classic, Serpent Temptation. It has been remastered for this release by Brad Boatright (Sleep, Obituary, etc.), and it includes four bonus tracks from the band’s 1987 demo, plus an extended booklet. What we’ve got for you on this release date is both a full stream of the remastered album and a track-by-track commentary by the Howard Brothers. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HIGH PRIEST OF SATURN (MERETHE HEGGSET)

Interviews 1 Response »

Jan 132016

(Comrade Aleks presents his interview with Merethe Heggset, vocalist and bassist in the Norwegian band High Priest of Saturn, whose second album will be released next month.)

High Priest of Saturn is from our planet; actually this band was born in Norway about five years ago. Well, they’re from Norway and they don’t play black metal. They did a demo-record in 2011 and stole the heart of Svart Records’ boss, who helped the band with the release of the High Priest of Saturn album in 2013.

The core of the band are Merethe Heggset who sings and plays bass; Andreas Hagen who can easily deal both with guitars and drums; Martin Sivertsen (also Andreas‘ mate in the Resonaut band), also a guitarist; and Ole Kristian, organ player.

I already gave you a hint, but let’s clarify it: High Priest of Saturn perform a bit raw, a bit dirty, but overall psychedelic doom metal with hypnotic female vocals. If you like Acid King, then you need to check it. We had already started this interview with Merethe when suddenly I found a promo version of the band’s new album Son of Earth and Sky in my mail box and it took a bit more time to finish our discussion. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: KEN SORCERON (ABIGAIL WILLIAMS)

Interviews No Responses »

Jan 082016

(Andy Synn posed some questions to Ken Sorceron, vocalist/guitarist for Abigail Williams, whose 2015 album The Accuser was one of our favorite 2015 albums — and here are the answers.)

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Hello Ken, how are you, and how are things in the AW camp?

I’m fine, thanks for asking. The band is good, just gearing up to go out and support Fleshgod Apocalypse in Feb.

How did the recent tour go? (Feel free to embellish with stories of drunken hijinks, drug-induced lunacy, or fine-dining experiences.)

Lots and lots of drug-induced lunacy, that’s for sure. Though it’s pretty hard for a band at our level (low) to operate like that over time, so that era has had to come to an end. Obviously drugs and alcohol will still be around, we aren’t squares or anything, just to a lesser degree from now on. The last two years were pretty insane on that front and we are somewhat lucky to be either alive or not in jail or something at this point.

As far as fine dining goes I’m a big fan of eating in the South and in the Midwest. Eating at all my favorite places around the country or world is pretty much one of the main reasons I still tour. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: WOUNDED GIANT (BOBBY JAMES)

Interviews No Responses »

Jan 042016

(Comrade Aleks somehow snuck into our own backyard and interviewed Bobby James, vocalist/guitarist of Seattle’s Wounded Giant.)

As it seems that I’ve managed to escape from the Italian doom mafia, I had some time to reveal something new for our loyal readers who have enough patience for slow and heavy stuff. Wounded Giant came from Seattle (Hey! Islander! Is it true?!), and they are about slow, dark, heavy, and a bit psychedelic horror doom metal.

Drums are played by Alex Bytnar, bass is played by Dylan A. Rogers, and Bobby James displays fantastic skill singing and playing the guitar at the same time. What does he sing about? About Clive Barker sadistic nightmares, Lovecraftian horrors, and other things that mostly lie between those two mentioned above. So Bobby is here, and he has something to say. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MOON CURSE

Interviews 1 Response »

Dec 302015

(Here we have Comrade Aleks’ interview with bassist Rochelle of Milwaukee’s Moon Curse.)

Moon Curse of Milwaukee, Wisconsin are good for all who love hazy psychedelic doom in particular and quality heavy music in general. That power trio have worked fair and stoically since 2011 and the two full-length albums in their discography are a good result. The second crushing wave of their doom practices is named Spirit Remains, and it saw the light of day on November 30th with the help of Kozmik Artifactz Records.

Matt (guitars, vocals) and Keith (drums, Hammond) are busy gentlemen, but I consider myself lucky because lady Rochelle (bass) has found few minutes of her precious time to deliver to us her story of laying the Moon Curse upon listeners. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CARDINALS FOLLY (MIKKO KÄÄRIÄINEN)

Interviews No Responses »

Dec 282015

(In this interview, Comrade Aleks has a conversation with Mikko Kääriäinen, vocalist/bassist of Finland’s Cardinals Folly.)

As you probably remember, a few days ago we published an interview with Church of Void, a cool Finnish doom metal band. Their vocalist Magus Corvus (a common name in this region) revealed that Church and two other bands plan a dark conspiracy in the name of occult powers, recording a sinister split-album!

So, one of these other bands bears the name Cardinals Folly…. This blasphemous outfit was born in Helsinki in 2004. They play doom metal with an anarchic approach, as some members gained experience playing in black metal bands.

I’ve found this band interesting, as they have their own ideas and proper skills to perform them, successfully following traditional doom metal law. Probably they aren’t perfect, yet remarkable and talented — surely this cult has the power, and this power is dangerous!

Mikko Kääriäinen conducted this interview during a nightmarish and bloody séance, the details of which I would like to miss… Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HALTER (ALEXEY PYSHKIN)

Interviews 2 Responses »

Dec 242015

(Comrade Aleks brings us this interview with Alexey Pyshkin, vocalist of the Russian band Halter.)

In September 2015, Moscow Funeral League released For the Abandoned, the second album of Halter, a Russian death doom band from the city of Yaroslavl. The first Halter full-length Omnipresence of Rat Race did not exactly pass completely unnoticed, but this release for sure should gain much more attention: yours, and mine, my fair readers. Anyway, the new material was recorded in two years since the first album, and the new songs included in this release have shown a considerable growth of the band — you check it and you’ll get it.

What is For The Abandoned good for? Why should one pay attention to this record? We will address these questions to Alexey Pyshkin, the voice of Halter. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CHURCH OF VOID (MAGUS CORVUS)

Interviews 3 Responses »

Dec 212015

(Comrade Aleks introduces us to the Finnish doom band Church of Void through this interview with the group’s vocalist Magus Corvus.)

Last week our patient readers could find an interview with the British doom metal outfit Iron Void on the virtual pages of NCS, and I suppose that it’s right and logical to continue our exploration of doom depths with the Finnish outfit Church of Void.

This band has only one full-length album, Dead Rising, which was released by Svart Records in 2013. It’s a good start for Church – attractive melodies, good riffs and catchy vocal lines… I like it, and I hope that you’ll like it too… But there have been no bells ringing in Church of Void for some time – a split with Lowburn in 2014, a digital single of a Pentagram cover this year… that’s all. So it’s time to find someone who can tell what’s going on there — and that someone is the band’s vocalist Magus Corvus. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GREG ANDERSON (SUNN O))), GOATSNAKE)

Interviews No Responses »

Dec 182015

photo by Peter Best

(NCS contributor Ben Manzella brings us this interview of Greg Anderson, co-founder and mainstay of Sunn O))), Goatsnake, and Southern Lord Records.)

I don’t really know how to introduce this. I feel like I’ve been admiring the work Greg Anderson has been involved with for so long at this point, that this interview was a very surreal experience. As I walked home from my day job, I never could have predicted that I’d be chatting with Greg at all; but this interview is essentially the conversation we had as we discussed the great records he’s been involved with making this year, as well as the shows played, along with what is being planned for next year.

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Ben: With the new Sunn O))) album, Kannon, having been released just last week, as well as a run with Goatsnake to end the year, how has everything been going? What’s the general feeling, a bit exciting or overwhelming?

Greg: It’s been good; it’s been busy, for sure. Besides the Goatsnake release earlier this year, there was a bunch of Sunn O))) shows; so it’s been a time of switching back and forth between Goatsnake and Sunn O))). It’s been really good, really busy; but I’m glad. I didn’t exactly plan for it turn out like this, where both albums were released in the same year, but I’m happy with everything. It’s great. Continue reading »

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