AN NCS INTERVIEW: DAVID GEHLKE

 Interviews  No Responses »
Dec 042025
 


photo by Shane Mayer

(We are thrilled to present Comrade Aleks’ interview of metal journalist David Gehlke —  because it’s such a great discussion with such an experienced, articulate, and humble documenter of metal history. The ultimate focus is his new fully authorized biography of Chuck Schuldiner published by Decibel Books, but the conversation delves into many of Gehlke’s other important works as well.)

David E. Gehlke has been researching the metal underground and its suburban vicinities since 2002, and if you’re old enough, then you may have read his publications in Throat Culture, Snaggletooth and Metal Maniacs. Nowadays he’s better known for his collaboration with Dead Rhetoric and Blabbermouth as well as being the author of a few books. The titles of Damn the Machine – The Story of Noise Records and The Scott Burns Sessions – A Life in Death Metal speak for themselves, and the biographies of Paradise Lost and Obituary were something that needed to be written.

David keeps a good creative pace, and this year he released the authorized biography of Death’s founder – Born Human: The Life and Music of Chuck Schuldiner. We have prepared an extensive interview with David, so without wasting any time, I invite you to join our conversation. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SECOND TO SUN

 Interviews  No Responses »
Nov 202025
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks’ wide-ranging interview of the very busy Russian musician and producer Vladimir Lehtinen, and we’ll let Aleks introduce it.)

Vladimir Lehtinen is a one-man army, as he has managed not only to rule one of the most prolific and exemplary Russian black metal bands, Second to Sun, but also stay as one of the organizers of an annual festival of extreme music known as T’ma Fest (Darkness Fest) and to keep on working as a sound engineer who has mixed and mastered dozens of metal albums.

Second to Sun remains Vladimir’s main outfit, and together with Theodor Borovski (drums) and the Sysoev brothers from cult bands Grima and Ultar, he manages to keep the balance between quality and the quantity of music he produces. The band’s most up-to-date release is the EP Thunderbolt, which you may have heard as it was out in February 2025; yet you need no special reason to make an interview with such a man, as Vladimir, being deeply involved in the underground, has a lot to tell. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ACHATHRAS

 Interviews  2 Responses »
Nov 132025
 

(In September Cult Never Dies released the debut album by the mysterious black metal band Achathras. It impressed our Comrade Aleks (as it did others around here) and he sought an interview, which was granted. As you’ll discover below, it resulted in a very interesting and very articulate discussion.)

Although Cult Never Dies has earned a reputation in the book publishing industry, they couldn’t resist the temptation to support the scene as comprehensively as possible, occasionally releasing and reissuing interesting thematic releases. The debut album of anonymous project Achathras is surprisingly competent and exciting as it sticks to the canons of such iconic ’90s black metal bands as Abigor, Emperor, and Old Man’s Child. The trio consists of Eidolon Drakh, Malefic Orator, and Vorthol, whose identities are hidden.

Their debut A Darkness of the Ancient Past radiates uncompromising determination, controlled aggression, and it’s full of cold melodicism covered with mystic atmosphere. The high quality of this material is explained by the fact that its members are experienced musicians, and no, I didn’t aim to uncover their names, so this interview with Eidolon (probably) is focused mostly on Achathras’ music and spirit in wider sense.

Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CZART

 Interviews  No Responses »
Nov 062025
 

(Not long ago code666 released a concept album by the Polish band Czart that’s rooted in medieval Polish demonology. It attracted the attention of our Comrade Aleks, who succeeded in conducting the following extremely interesting (and undoubtedly controversial) interview with Czart founder Michał Chrościelewski.)

On October 17th code666 presented a debut album Czarty Polskie by the Polish project Czart. The project’s crew is Michał Chrościelewski (probably guitars and something else), Paweł Smarkusz (drums), and Monika (vocals/keyboards), but I’m not sure, as the album and all videos to its songs were made with the help of IA.

Yes, it’s one of Czart’s cornerstones, and it’s ironic as Czart (or “tchort”) means a minor demon in Slavic tradition, and the entire album is based on Czary i czarty polskie oraz wypisy czarnoksięskie (“Polish Witchcraft and Devils, with Sorcery Excerpts”), “a 1924 book by renowned Polish writer Julian Tuwim”. And besides that, Czart is an “audio-visual” project, and almost each track has its own video, and you need to see them first before you judge. Who would use cutting-edge technologies to transfer an atmosphere of ancient deviltry and folklore? Yet here we go.

You see, what a contradiction we meet in starting a talk about Czart? This interview (a damn worthwhile reading thing) shows a deep artistic philosophy behind Czarty Polskie, an album you will talk about even to your colleagues at work. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GREEN CARNATION

 Interviews  No Responses »
Oct 302025
 


Photos by Lars Gunnar Liestøl

(In September Season of Mist released a new album by the Norwegian progressive metal band Green Carnation, the first album in a three-album trilogy. Below you’ll find Comrade Aleks’ interview with the band’s vocalist Kjetil Nordhus, a discussion that delves into both the new album and the status of the ones to come.)

Initially, the name of the Norwegian band Green Carnation was firmly associated with its founder, Terje Vik Skye, better known as Tchort. He already had a reputation for his work with Emperor, and his new project, at the intersection of doom metal and prog rock, broke the mold. A series of successful albums in the 2000s earned Green Carnation a reputation as an artistic, emotional band with a keen eye for good melodies and well-developed ideas, so their departure from the scene in 2007 was not taken lightly.

However, Green Carnation returned ten years ago, and after a long hiatus, they released not just a new album, but the first part of a trilogy—the progressive and melancholic A Dark Poem Part I: The Shores of Melancholia. The band’s vocalist, Kjetil Nordhus, agreed to shed light on some details of this release, and the opportunity was unmissable. However, not everything is ideal in this world, and the interview could have appeared a few weeks earlier, but the situation was out of my hand. So here we go. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: NAEVUS

 Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews  No Responses »
Oct 232025
 

(No secret, our Comrade Aleks favors doom above all other metal, and he shows special warmth for the the long-lived German band Naevus in the interview we now present with their vocalist Uwe Groebel, occasioned by the band’s new album Back Home.)

Thanks to Naevus‘ album Sun Meditation (1998), the band is remembered and revered among the more zealous fans of the European and especially German doom scene, alongside bands like Dawn of Winter and Mirror of Deception. Cathedral frontman Lee Dorian once praised the traditional and surprisingly human Sun Meditation, so the album was released on his own label, Rise Above.

This didn’t prevent Naevus from breaking up, and they only returned to the fold in 2012. Their fresh release Back Home is only the band’s third album, but the foursome has lost neither their dexterity nor their inspiration, so even the nine-year hiatus between this release and its predecessor Heavy Burden hasn’t affected the quality of the material.

Naevus continue to impress with their traditional and melodic heavy doom, which most of all invites comparisons to Trouble as a whole and their vocalist Eric Wagner (may he rest in peace) separately as part of his solo project Blackfinger. But while the voice of Naevus vocalist Uwe Groebel’s truly evokes Wagner’s vulnerability, his humanity, the instrumental side of Back Home is their strong part as well. The album boasts plenty of catchy riffs, haunting vocal melodies, and elegant guitar passages, evenly spaced throughout each song.

Naevus managed to get through all obstacles and recorded the new songs with the same lineup which worked on Sun Meditation a quarter of a century ago: Sven Heimerdinger (bass, vocals), Mathias Strauf (drums), Oliver Grosshans (guitars), and Uwe Groebel (vocals, guitars). And you know what? We done an interview with Uwe recently. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GRILO DO DEMO

 Interviews  No Responses »
Oct 222025
 

(The eyes and ears of Moonsorrow fans should perk up today because of the following interview Comrade Aleks has brought us, the principal subject of which is a new book about the band based on extensive interviews of Moonsorrow’s members. Aleks will introduce the author.)

I hadn’t heard of Grilo do Demo, but Moonsorrow fans are likely familiar with his unofficial and, at the time, fairly detailed biography of the band, which he consistently posted online about fifteen years ago. An enthusiastic journalist, he wrote for a couple of webzines until he met Leo Aragon, who had the idea of ​​making a documentary about Moonsorrow, using that very biography as a basis.

The band was ready to meet him halfway, and the friends and a couple of like-minded individuals traveled to Finland, where they conducted extensive video interviews with the musicians and those involved on the spot. The film’s production stalled at some moment, and you’ll know why from this interview… However, such valuable material, of course, was unlikely to lose its relevance, and the movie’s crew didn’t want to waste the momentum, so over time, they agreed that the footage could supplement Grilo‘s biography. The rest, as they say, is history…

What do we have now? As Cult Never Dies, the publisher, states: Home of the Waves: Conversations with Moonsorrow is a substantial 388-page hardback, featuring a 24-page colour photo gallery and a total of 150 images, most of which have never been seen before. You can pre-order it, and if you’re really into this, here’s the interview with Grilo himself. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: EVOKEN

 Interviews  No Responses »
Oct 162025
 


all photos by Eva Tusquets

(We present our Comrade Aleks’ recent interview with John Paradiso, vocalist/guitarist of the long-running U.S. funeral doom band Evoken, whose first new album in seven years [reviewed here] will be released tomorrow by Profound Lore Records.)

While funereal death-doom has never been (and never will be) a popular genre, there are bands that know how to squeeze the most out of its dry rulebook and present their vision creatively and with a spark. American pioneers of this genre, Evoken, are generally considered to have formed in 1994, although the band had existed under other names since 1992. Of that original lineup, only two remain in Evoken today: Vince Verkay (drums) and John Paradiso (vocals, guitar). However, the rest of the band are no newcomers either: Don Zaros (keyboards), David Wagner (bass), and Chris Molinari (guitar) have been elevating this slow and agonizing funeral doom to the level of true art for over fifteen years.

I respected Evoken, albeit not fanatically, but their latest full-length Mendacium resonated with me, reflecting a lot of things happening in the world right now. And objectively, this moderately original, distinctive, and mature album is interesting not only from an artistic perspective, but also as a metaphor for a deeply ill world. A world in which we still live. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GJALLARHORN’S WRATH

 Interviews  No Responses »
Oct 102025
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Lord Ashler, bassist of the multi-national black metal band Gjallarhorn’s Wrath, whose debut album The Silver Key is out now on Non Serviam Records.)

There was no way to pass by a release with obvious references to Lovecraftian mythology. The Silver Key may not be his coolest story, but as an important part of the Dream Cycle, it remains a landmark in his bibliography. Gjallarhorn’s Wrath is a young international black metal project that has nothing to do with Norse mythology, according to which Gjallarhorn was the golden horn of Heimdall, the guardian of the gods. The sound of this horn is supposed to herald the coming of Ragnarök, but I didn’t encounter anything of the sort in the project’s first album.

Formally, the members of Gjallarhorn’s Wrath live in four different countries, but in reality, the guitarist, bassist, and drummer hail from Spain, where they once played black metal all together. Only vocalist Alex Caron is originally from Canada.

The guys describe their black metal as “symphonic,” and such qualifications always make me wary, but Gjallarhorn’s Wrath successfully avoid all the traps of the unbridled carnival madness that some “symphonized” bands tend to indulge in. Orchestrations are present, they are tasteful, but, as a rule, they fade into the background compared to the guitar, which is naturally the main driving force of the songs, and, despite some theatricality, the project easily switches to the mode of destructive manifestations and, more rarely, reaches the level of infernal cacophony.

We interviewed Gjallarhorn’s Wrath’s bass-player Lord Ashler recently, and you can find it below easily. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: LIGHTS OF VIMANA

 Interviews  1 Response »
Oct 092025
 

(We present Comrade Aleks’ interview of Riccardo Conforti, which focuses on his band Lights of Vimana and their debut album Neopolis, released in June of this year on the Dusktone label.)

Lights of Vimana is a new project of musicians known by a lot of doom fans. It features Jeremy Lewis, current guitarist for Pantheist and Mesmur, and Riccardo Conforti, drummer and keyboardist for the epic Italian project Void of Silence. On vocals is Olmo Lipani, aka Déhà, who has performed with Clouds and… well, he’s got about twenty other active projects and bands, ranging from the ambient drone band Slow to the cutting-edge black metal band Cult of Erinyes.

In short, there are only three members, but they’re all experienced and well-rounded. It’s hard to say who’s in charge in Lights of Vimana, but the rich, cinematic keyboard arrangements evoke similarities between Neopolis and Void of Silence‘s albums, so it seems as if Riccardo deserves credit for the music. On the other hand, the divinely inspired guitar melodies and progressive compositional structures are clearly the work of Lewis. Déhà, as a vocalist, has complete freedom of expression, and the album’s five tracks provide ample space for both growls and clean vocals.

Needless to say, this is a project I couldn’t skip easily, so we got in touch with them in order to shed some light (of Vimana) on Neopolis. Continue reading »

 Older Entries