AN NCS INTERVIEW: VOID ROT

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Aug 152022
 

 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of John Hancock, guitarist/vocalist from Minnesota’s Void Rot, who have a new EP out now on the Everlasting Spew label.)

Void Rot from Minneapolis got their portion of praise and positive reviews after the release of their debut album Descending Pillars two years ago. John Hancock (guitars, vocals), Will Bell (drums), Craig Clemons (bass), and Kent Sklarow (guitars) obviously know how to produce macabre and dangerous stuff! Their cyclopic slow death metal or colossal menacing death-doom was damn remarkable indeed, so I couldn’t just pass by their new release Telluric Dismemberment even though it’s just EP.

Here’s our conversation with John Hancock. Come and taste Void Rot with us. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SHROUD OF BEREAVEMENT

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Aug 092022
 

(In late July the doom/death metal band Shroud of Bereavement released its first album in 15 years, and that prompted Comrade Aleks to catch up with the band’s founder, and the man responsible for resurrecting the band, Dan Robinson.)

Shroud of Bereavement! Shroud of Bereavement! Shroud of Bereavement from the darkness that surrounds us! Sorry, but Shroud of Bereavement’s names is very much in line with Paul McCartney’s hit, so I can’t get rid of this melody. Yet to the matter.

Death-doom never was he most popular genre in the States, and yet this band was founded in the most wrong period you could imagine – it was 1995, Kurt Cobain was already no more, but grunge and alternative metal rage on and moved aside most traditional metal bands. Despite this Shroud of Bereavement slowly developed their sound, moving from the demo The Forever Dance (1999) to the single A Rose for a Dying Muse (2001) and further to the self-titled EP (2003) and the debut full-length Alone Besides Her (2007).

The band’s last appearance was another EP While We Mourn (2012) and then they just disappeared from radars until the recent past when Shroud’s founder Dan Robinson started to update its status, sharing information about new recording progress. As a result his new album A Beautiful Winter was released about a week ago. Here’s our interview with Dan. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: TISHINA

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Aug 092022
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Branislav Panić, the man behind the band Тишина (Tishina), whose excellent debut album was released in May 2022.)

It’s always inspiring when bands use their mother tongue in their lyrics or have enough courage to demonstrate their roots, their identity. But that move also builds a barrier sometimes, so there’s a kind of risk if your band’s name is written in Cyrillic, for example.

Тишина / Tishina means “silence” in Serbian, and the band’s founder Branislav Panić gained his first experience playing different sorts of metal in Serbian bands. Then he moved to Canada but the passion towards heavy music can’t be eradicated easily, and soon Тишина / Tishina was born.

Branislav chose to express his interest towards melodic death-doom through his project, and as result we have his first solo album Увод… / Uvod… released just two months ago. And if you dig old good stuff like Katatonia, Saturnus, and so on, then this album will linger in your play-list longer than you expect. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: PARTHIAN

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Jul 292022
 

 

(In this new interview Comrade Aleks spoke with the members of Kansas-based Parthian, whose debut album was released at the beginning of this month.)

Progressive rock and metal seem to be among the most popular instruments used by musicians to describe Cosmic and Lovecraftian Horror. Other musical genres work too, for this Horror is multifaceted and each of its forms could be revealed in different ways. However this Wichita-based progressive / melodic death metal band, Parthian, walks another direction, creating its own mythology on H.P.’s fundament.

Parthian released their concept album Desolation of a Ceaseless Dawn on the first of July, six years after they managed to release their debut EP Perpetual Deconstruction, and we had a talk with the guys. The current line-up consists of Adam Faris (guitars, vocals), D.J.Dixon (drums), and Jacky Patrick (bass), but most of the time it’s Parthian‘s collective mind who answers my questions. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MONASTERIUM

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Jul 272022
 

(Last month the Polish “epic doom” crew Monasterium released their third album, Cold Are The Graves, via Nine Records, and that prompted Comrade Aleks to reach out for the following interview.)

I believe that my colleges here will confirm this simple thing: the best reward for our job here is any support we’re able to provide to the bands we’re talking about. And a good interview is a rewarding experience in itself, so it’s easy to return to some bands I interviewed before when they have news to share. Well, that gives an illusion that life isn’t bad in the end and there’s a bright side after all.

Today Monasterium‘s new album Cold Are the Graves brings this silver lining among dark clouds of daily news. This epic doom metal band from Kraków, Poland keeps on providing heroic and triumphant hymns to obscure memories of our past and fantasy realms for nearly eight years, and despite a relatively short career there are three full-length albums in their discography as well as a good reputation due to their dedicated approach to epic doom as it should be.

One of the band’s merits is its stable lineup, because Tomasz Gurgul (guitars), Michał Strzelecki (vocals), Filip Malinowski (bass) and Maciej Berniak (drums) have played together since 2014 (and three of them played before that in the same band, named Sadman Institute). However two are enough to tell the story of Cold Are the Graves, so here are Tomasz and Michał. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ROTHEADS

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Jun 232022
 

 

(Comrade Aleks has brought us another informative and entertaining interview, this time with guitarist/vocalist Bogdan from the Romanian death metal band Rotheads, who have a new album headed our way next month via the Memento Mori label.)

Not long ago Memento Mori premiered the first track from Rotheads’ second album Slither in Slime, which is set for release on July 25th, but we already have this interview with one of the band’s founders, Bogdan “Spurcăciune”.

This band from Bucharest, Romania shaped its old school and dirty death metal sound through the EP Unfazed by Death (2016) and the full-length Sewer Friends (2018), so naturally Slither in Slime is a more mature and professional work.

Bogdan performs guitars and vocals in Rotheads, and it seems that he’s the one who’s responsible for the band’s aesthetic and concept, so we got in touch with him in order to learn more about the way Rotheads grow and bloom. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ASSUMPTION

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Jun 212022
 

 

(If you haven’t yet heard the new Assumption album Hadean Tides, you’re missing a remarkable experience. Maybe this excellent interview by Comrade Aleks of Giorgio Trombino will give you the push you need.)

Giorgio Trombino (guitars, bass, vocals, synths) and David Lucido (drums) formed the death-doom unit Assumption in 2011, but these guys from Sicily had a rich background already, and I wouldn’t like to waste your time mentioning all of their other bands. I’m just going to tell you – it’s more than ten, you see.

Despite all the genres they explored with other bands Assumption gives them a firm ground for psychedelic experiments on the fields of death-doom in its most twisted, and sometimes extreme, forms. And this is a great opportunity to taste some really sophisticated doom, as Everlasting Spew Records and Sentient Ruin released Assumption’s new album Hadean Tides a month ago. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: PURIFICATION

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Jun 102022
 

(We present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Field Marshall William Purify from the Portland-based doom metal band Purification. You will not be bored.)

I don’t remember where I heard of this band from Portland for the first time, but it was Count Karnstein himself who gave me a kick and reminded of Purification when his own band Cardinals Folly recorded a few songs for a split album with them. So it’s true doom metal time!

Purification was started four years ago and there are already four full-length albums in their discography – Destruction of the Wicked (2019), Perfect Doctrine (2020), Dwell in the House of the Lord Forever (2020), and The Exterminating Angel (2021). Add to this list the new Possessed in the Ritual Grove split and you’ll see how this band is hyperactive.

We’re used to doom bands not hurrying usually, but Purification seems to be a bit unusual, so let’s break some cliches with this interview. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SEPULCHRAL CURSE

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Jun 072022
 

 

(We present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Kari Kankaanpää, vocalist of the Finnish death metal band Sepulchral Curse, whose most recent record Deathbed Sessions was jointly released last month by Personal Records, Transylvanian Recordings, and Lycanthropic Chants.)

There are three Finnish bands which are tightly entwined with each other. So guitarist Aleksi Luukka plays in death-doom band Solothus, the doom/black band Yawning Void, and the death metal act Sepulchral Curse. And I can tell you the same about vocalist Kari Kankaanpää who roars in the same three bands. Previously, Yawning Void’s drummer Tommi Ilmanen performed his duties in Sepulchral Curse too, and now his place is occupied by Johannes Rantala, who was noticed in Yawning Void as well.

It looks like a death metal focused Santa Barbara, but things are easier indeed, and though we did interviews with all three bands previously, now it’s Sepulchral Curse’s turn again because they have a new EP and took part in one compilation which we need to discuss too. Kari Kankaanpää is here to tell everything. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: VOIMATON

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May 252022
 

(Comrade Aleks has a knack for finding people to talk with who have the right spirit and whose conversation is both humble and inspiring, and he’s done it again here with an interview of Pat O’Hara from Chicago-based Voimaton, whose debut album is set for release on June 10th by Personal Records.)

Voimaton is Finnish for “powerless”, but this band from Chicago will knock out the spirit from you with their primal death-doom metal. Well, to tell you the truth, the doom-component doesn’t play an equal role with the death-component, but if you think about Cianide then you may have an impression.

Being founded in 2018 by Dave Tibbets (bass, vocals), Pat O’Hara (drums), and Henry Fordney (guitars), they started with a nameless demo (2019) and two EPs before making the effort to record their first full-length album and here it is! The release of Profane Vestige is scheduled by Personal Records for June 10th. I was lucky to have a talk with Pat, and we discussed everything about Voimaton, so hi Pat! Continue reading »

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