AN NCS INTERVIEW: DOOMOCRACY

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Dec 142022
 

(The Cretan Epic Doom band Doomocracy have recently released their latest album through No Remorse Records, and that provided a good occasion for Comrade Aleks to arrange the following interview with Doomocracy vocalist Michael Stavrakakis.)

Epic doom is a specific genre. Once Candlemass gave it a twisted and loud birth, nothing remained the same. Candlemass set the high level with the performance of vocalists like Johan Langquist, Messiah Marcolin, and Robert Lowe, so any new band which tried to choose the same path naturally needed a strong vocalist.

Doomocracy was founded in Heraklion, Crete in 2011 and it seems they have one. The band’s lineup has remained the same since it was born: Manolis Sx (bass), Minas Vasilakis (drums), Angelos Tzanis (guitars), Harry Dokos (guitars), and Michael Stavrakakis (vocals). And they succeeded, as according to Doom Chronicles the band turns out to be demanded by European doom metal festivals and just released their third album – Unorthodox.

We discussed Doomocracy’s past and present with Michael and here’s the result of our conversation: Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: AHAB

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Dec 062022
 


Photo by Stefan Heileman

(At last the leviathan Ahab has risen again from the watery depths with a new album that will be released by Napalm Records on January 13th, and we are most happy today to present Comrade Aleks‘ extensive interview with Ahab co-founder Daniel Dorste.)

It’s hard to believe but Ahab was founded 18 years ago. Back then the trio from Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg consisting of Daniel Dorste (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Christian Hector (guitars) and Stephan Adolph (bass) tried to make funeral doom a bit more exciting and added strong nautical lines in their lyrics and, partly, in their music. So naturally their first album The Call of the Wretched Sea (2006) based on Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby Dick was labelled as “nautical doom”.

Ahab strengthened their positions with the second album The Divinity of Oceans (2009), retelling this time the true story of the Whale-Ship Essex, which in November 1820 was sunk in an attack by a sperm whale before the men resorted to cannibalism in order to survive. Such a grim fate… and yet you can’t play funeral doom and develop the same theme eternally, and so the band turned in a more progressive and atmospheric direction with the next album The Giant (2012).

This time Ahab adapted the mysterious novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket written by Edgar Allan Poe, and the plot itself demanded another approach. The Boats of the Glen Carrig (2015) took the band even further to the shores unknown just as it was in William Hope Hodgson‘s novel of the same name.

But then the band sunk to the bottom of the sonic ocean just like some weird fantastic submarine. Seven years have passed and Ahab now returns with The Coral Tombs album, which will see the light of day on the 13th of January through Napalm Records. The band’s sound seems to adopt new influences, even as Ahab’s crew has remained the same since 2008: the band’s founders Christian and Daniel, Cornelius Althammer (drums), and Stephan Wandernoth (bass). It is Daniel who joined our discussion. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MONOLITHE

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Nov 292022
 

(On November 25th the French band Monolithe released Kosmodrom, their latest album in a 20-year career, and in this new interview we present Comrade Aleks‘ discussion with Monolithe multi-instrumentalist Sylvain Bégot.)

Monolithe went their long way from sci-fi influenced funeral doom metal with a unique approach and to their own original melodic death-doom from outer space. Their reputation at first was built around the Monolithe triptych (The Great Clockmaker concept) where each of this series of albums consisted of one huge epic track. The band developed their ideas further and made a step out of funeral doom territories with the next albums.

The lineup is remarkably large, as their masterplan demands a careful and individual approach where each of the band’s members plays his role: Sylvain Bégot (guitars), Benoît Blin (guitars), Olivier Defives (bass), Thibault Faucher (drums), Matthieu Marchand (keyboards), and Rémi Brochard (vocals, guitars).

The new Monolithe album Kosmodrom is a 67-minute-long journey to the brave past of the Soviet Space Program, the times of healthy competitions and high hopes which seem to be lost for us nowadays. This story was told with the universal tongue of death-doom, but some of its parts demand explanations, and Monolithe’s keeper Sylvain Bégot is the one who knows all the secrets behind it. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CAÏNAN DAWN

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Nov 232022
 

(Through a new album released in September by Osmose Productions the French black metal mystics in Caïnan Dawn invite listeners to immerse themselves and drown in watery vastness, and to help guide your way into the depths Comrade Aleks conducted the following interview with the band’s vocalist Heruforod.)

Caïnan Dawn from Chambéry, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes will celebrate their 20th anniversary the very next year, but their discography isn’t as extensive as you might suppose. The band took their time to evolve their ideas and had a four-year long pause after the release of the first demo In Darkness I Reign (2007), hiding in the depths of the French black metal underground.

The first full-length Nibiru saw the light of day only in 2011, and then albums started to appear regularly. Thavmial – in 2014, then F.O.H.A.T. — in 2017, and now after the quarantine-induced break we have something new.

Caïnan Dawn’s fourth album Lagu was released by Osmose Productions in September 2022. This material took the band further from the melodic black metal sound of Nibiru and they have tried their hands on its avant-garde branch. The album’s concept fits perfectly with this updated sound, and Caïnan Dawn’s singing vocalist Heruforod told us the story behind Lagu.

Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MYCELIUM

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Nov 162022
 

(Not long ago we had the thrill of premiering a song from the forthcoming second album by the fungal death metal band Mycelium, and now we have more delights to present through an extremely entertaining interview by Comrade Aleks of the man behind the mushrooms, Greg Edwards.)

And here we have a fantastic death metal project from Glasgow with lyrics telling stories of mushrooms and unspeakable horrors! Greg Edwards ran the black metal one-man band Necronoclast for ten years from 2003 to 2013 but then he had to take a pause and rethink his priorities. As result, Mycelium was born!

Greg started it in 2020 and the first album Scream Bloody Spore was released already in 2021, and now one more year has passed and one more album was recorded! Mycoticism: Disseminating the Propagules is to be revealed to the extreme metal underground on the 25th of November through the Swedish label Blood Harvest. And I hope this interview will pique your interest towards Mycelium and the magic world of deathly dangerous mushrooms. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: INNUMERABLE FORMS

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Nov 082022
 

(We’ve been closely following the progress of the Boston-based death doom band Innumerable Forms for the last six years, straight up through a very enthusiastic review by Andy Synn of the band’s newest album, released by Profound Lore in September, and now Comrade Aleks adds to the attention with this interview of the band’s founder, vocalist, and guitarist, Justin DeTore.)

Honestly, I don’t remember where I learned about this death-doom (with heavy emphasis on its death aspect) band from Boston, but I just couldn’t get past a band with such a name. So when I found their second full-length Philosophical Collapse released on September 16th by Profound Lore Records, I added them to my list of “need-to-interview” bands.

To my surprise my request was answered by the band’s founder Justin DeTore, who played in the heavy/doom metal outfit Magic Circle, which I loved, and also took part in Phil Swanson’s heavy metal bands Sumerlands and Vestal Claret! And I need to tell you that Sumerlands’ debut blew my mind! So that was a pleasant surprise, which turned into pleasant conversation.

You see how it was hard, but I did my best to focus on Innumerable Forms, and we’re close to learning what this name means. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DEAD VOID

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Nov 032022
 

(In mid-September Me Saco Un Ojo and Dark Descent jointly released Volatile Forms, the stunning debut album by the Danish Dead Void. We shared our thoughts about it here, and spurred on by that album, Comrade Aleks participated in the following interview of the band.)

This time I had a kind of technical problem, so to say, and this interview with Copenhagen-based trio Dead Void was complete somewhere in September, around the official release date of their debut album Volatile Forms.

This trio preaches hostile, quite torturous, and nihilistic death-doom metal with an uncompromising approach and a brutal delivery. Cianide, a bit of Asphyx, and so on, you know? Dead Void is a cold and monstrous entity, so I wonder if we need to waste our time trying to add a few more empty words, as you can read this short but good interview and listen to Volatile Forms by the way. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: LICHT DES URTEILS

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Nov 022022
 

(The debut album from Finland’s Licht des Urteils is set for imminent release by Purity Through Fire on November 4th, and to help herald its arrival Comrade Aleks conducted the following interview.)

Licht des Urteils are based in Tampere, Finland. This blasphemous sect has been active since 2019, and for three years they accumulated dark energies from their environment in order to put it all in their first full-length, Uhraamo. They sound evil and dangerous, just as real black metal should be. Licht des Urteils do their dirty job without compromises or doubts, as Flames shouldn’t cease and the Cult shouldn’t die.

But well, enough of empty words, as at the end of the day it’s all about Death and Satan. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: BARABBAS

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Oct 272022
 


photo by Claire Dao

(In this extensive new interview Comrade Aleks connected with guitarist Saint Stéphane from the French doom cult Barabbas, who have a new album headed our way in December.)

I joined the pious congregation of the French band Barabbas after I heard them for the first time on the Doom Metal Front compilation. Their self-titled track from the EP Libérez Barabbas! (2011) was catchy, heavy, and loud. Powerful riffs and expressive vocals by Saint Rodolphe (who sang in French) made me wait for more, and the full-length Messe pour un chien (2014) didn’t disappoint the doom fanatic in me.

But then… eight years with no news from a studio! Et mince! Barabbas took part in both big festivals and smaller shows but, damn, there was nothing new besides one track recorded for a Cathedral tribute! But we, people of strong faith, shouldn’t lose it in any situation! Our patience is to be rewarded with the band’s second full-length La mort appelle tous les vivants which will see the light of day on December 9th through Sleeping Church Records.

I’ve heard a few things from this album and it kills! Join our messe and learn more from this interview with Barabbas’ guitar master Saint Stéphane. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: LACHRIMA CORPHUS DISSOLVENS

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Oct 212022
 

 

(Comrade Aleks made a virtual journey to Bolivia to interview vocalist Antonio Ortiz, founder of the death-doom band Lachrima Corphus Dissolvens, and we have the results of that discussion here for you today.)

I knew nothing about the Bolivian metal scene until I found Lachrima Corphus Dissolvens. They identify their genre as atmospheric death-doom metal though I see there a blend of a few more extreme genres as well, but who needs tags except journalists and labels?

The band was formed in La Paz back in 2003 and their discography is built around one full-length album, The Truth Is Out There (2009), and a dozen other releases like demos, EPs, live albums, and splits.

I guess that it points to Lachrima Corphus Dissolvens’ underground approach and we’ll find out why from this interview with the band’s founder Antonio Ortiz (vocals). And it’s all about “human suffering, nature and universe” as Metal-Archives says. Continue reading »

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