AN NCS INTERVIEW: RYE / ROZH/ РOЖЬ

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Jul 232021
 

 

Comrade Aleks continues his recent excursion into interviews of artists with a bit of black in their veins, and his eloquent correspondent today is the man behind the Russian band Рожь, whose name means “Rye” and whose newest release is Вечное (“Eternity”).

The band’s logo is into English but its Cyrillic original title “Рожь” (which really means “Rye”) could be found everywhere. This one-man band from Russian Karelia was successfully hiding from our radars for a few years, and yet its debut full-length Вечное / Vechnoe (“Eternal”) couldn’t pass unnoticed even though it’s a DIY release.

Black metal, extreme doom metal, and echoes of shamanic folk ambient are entwined in one intensive hymn of death, decay, and cold soil. Dynamic and vivid, this album emits unstoppable waves of energies whose amplitudes vary from nihilistic negative to soaring ethereal tunes.

It’s time to dig out Rye’s roots with its founder Vladimir Frith. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: RUADH

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Jul 202021
 

 

(This is an interview conducted by Comrade Aleks with the man behind the Scottish Celtic/atmospheric black metal band Ruadh, whose latest album Eternal was released earlier this month by Northern Silence Productions.)

If you want to ask someone about the modern black metal scene, I’m the last person you should approach, as I never was a huge fan of shrieks, blast beats, goats, etc. It’s too fast most of the time, and I don’t know how you guys listen to it. But there are bands who attract even my attention with a twist of their ideology or even their music.

Ruadh caught me with the cover art for its third full-length album Eternal, released by Northern Silence on the 9th of July. Joan Llopis Doménech’s painting drew me to Tom Perrett’s music, and look – now I dig both of his first two albums Sovereign (2019) and The Rock of the Clyde (2020) too. That’s a true evidence of art’s magic power! Isn’t it?

If you were searching for new Scottish atmospheric black metal, then you have it, and Tom Perrett has a few things to tell. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FLAME, DEAR FLAME — “THE WOLVES AND THE PRIORESS PART I”

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Jul 062021
 

On July 23rd the Eisenwald label will release Aegis, the debut album of the German band Flame, Dear Flame. Thematically, it is a two-part tale, with each part musically focusing on different aspects of the band’s impressive talents. Because epic doom is one of those ingredients, our friend Comrade Aleks, best known for his doom-metal interviews for us and other publications, shares these thoughts about the album, in the lead-in to our premiere of a song:

“Brunswick, the city where Tijl Uilenspiegel was born, has fed a band who combine the spirit of good old traditional doom and acoustic folk alongside a witch’s charms. Obviously, any doom band with a lady on vocals easily receives the tags “occult” or “mysterious”, and it seems that Flame, Dear Flame aren’t going to be an exception. Down-to-earth riffs, episodic bleak folk-oriented tunes, and the out-of-this-world soaring voice of Maren Lemke distinguish the band from many others.

Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: URFAUST

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Apr 302021
 

 

(In this new interview, Comrade Aleks has brought us a discussion with one of the members of the Dutch band Urfaust, whose latest album was released by Ván Records on April 16th.)

Black metal never was my cup of tea, but there are bands who hold my attention for years, and Urfaust from the Netherlands is one of them. They are able to perform both atmospheric and quite strict raw stuff, but at the end of the day Urfaust has kept its grim individuality (in secrecy) for years.

Performing as a duet since 2003, VRDRBR (drums) and IX (guitars, vocals) seem to be always busy filling their discography with new recordings and even though their up-to-date full-length Teufelsgeist (2020) saw the light of day in November 2020, the band already has a curious new volume – Compilation of Intoxications — released literally a few days ago as I write this. Teufelsgeist is meditative to some degree, an ambient-laden ritual. Why not to talk about it and other Urfaust-related themes?

VRDRBR is here and he has some enlightening things to say. Enjoy, I’m going to keep hydrating! Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ODRADEK ROOM

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Apr 192021
 

 

(Comrade Aleks has brought us another very interesting interview, this time with Artyom Krikhtenko, the main man behind the fascinating Ukrainian band Odradek Room, whose newest album was released not long ago through a division of Solitude Productions.)

Odradek Room (from Mariupol, Ukraine) is one of those rare bands with their own vision and ways of unleashing their creative stream. Named after Franz Kafka’s imaginary creature, they have held on to an abstract emotional doom-death pattern with progressive feeling (and avant-garde edge) for about twelve years. They paint vast canvases of despair and grief in gloomy and violent colours, but this elegant and sometimes complex mix has its play of light and shadow.

Odradek Room’s third full-length album Painted Mind was released about seven weeks ago, and together with the band’s mastermind Artyom Krikhtenko (vocals, guitars, keyboards), we try to explore Odradek’s nature for you. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: WOE UNTO ME

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Apr 052021
 

 

(In this interview Comrade Aleks posed questions to Artem Serdyuk, harsh vocalist and guitarist of the Belarusian band Woe Unto Me, whose new EP, Spiral-Shaped Hopewreck, was released on March 12th by BadMoodMan Music, a division of Solitude Productions.)

Woe Unto Me remains a most creative Belarusian doom band still, despite the social catastrophe which has happened in their country. The band was formed in 2008, and as their debut album A Step into the Waters of Forgetfulness (2014) was without doubt sheer funeral doom of epic scale, the second full-length Among The Lightened Skies The Voidness Flashed (2017) tended toward more complex, multi-layered structures and even avant-garde sound.

Their new EP Spiral-Shaped Hopewreck takes us further in a desperate sonic journey of doom, woe, and lethargy, but how far? The band’s founder and ideologist Artem Serdyuk (harsh vocals, guitars) is here tonight to answer this and other questions. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CARCOLH

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Mar 302021
 

 

(In this new interview Comrade Aleks spoke with Quentin Aberne, guitarist of the French doom band Carcolh, whose second album The Life and Works of Death was released last month by Sleeping Church Records.)

There are few bands with whom we have had close relationships through years despite their status and activity. It’s kind of an exception to the rule indeed. It was 2013 when we did an interview with the Bordeaux-based traditional doom band Marble Chariot for Doom Metal Front magazine, and we’ve kept in touch ’til now even though the band was reincarnated by most of its lineup as Carcolh.

Named after a grotesque mythical mix of tentacled dragon and snail, Carcolh provides pure old and good traditional doom. And as their debut album Rising Sons Of Saturn (2018) tended to be a promising start, the new full-length work The Life And Works Of Death is a full-scale doom invasion, a balm for the mortal wounds of replete doom-eaters.

We had a nice talk with Carcolh’s guitarist Quentin Aberne, and I invite you now to learn more of Carcolh and their ways.

Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SHAMBLES

 Interviews  1 Response »
Mar 252021
 

 

(In this interview Comrade Aleks spoke with Chainarong Meeprasert — bassist, vocalist, and co-founder of the Thai death/doom band Shambles — about the band’s past, present, and future.)

As a tireless doom metal researcher I was surprised when I found that Shambles had been hidden from my radars.

This Bangkok-based gore-thirsty outfit was founded in Thailand back in 1997. The guys tried to express their addiction to Satanism and Darkness through brutal death and black metal, but in the end they chose a path of heavily death-influenced doom metal with huge influences of Incantation and like bands.

After a series of demos and splits Shambles recorded the Realm of Darkness Shrine full-length in 2016. They didn’t stop, and new releases like the Primitive Death Trance EP (2017) and a split with Japanese Anatomia, Abyssal Doom Oriental (2020), followed.

Recently we talked about Shambles’ past, present, and future with one of the band’s founders, Chainarong Meeprasert (bass, vocals). Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ROTTING KINGDOM

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Mar 192021
 

 

(We present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of two members of the superb death-doom unit Rotting Kingdom from Lexington, Kentucky, whose debut album was released one year ago by Godz Ov War Productions.)

A year ago Godz ov War Productions released a debut full-length album A Deep Shade Of Sorrow by the Kentucky-based band Rotting Kingdom. The album got quite a lot of positive feedback, and it seems to have been the obvious reaction to clear and artistic old school doom-death (with a noticeable emphasis on the second). First-class growling, a truly grim sound with lots of weight and melody, and tangible macabre passion mark this material, making the album a remarkable journey into the absolute ruin of Rotting Kingdom.

Brandon Glancy (drums) and Chuck McIntyre (bass) guide us to the Kingdom’s heart. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: NORDICWINTER

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Feb 262021
 

 

(We present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Yves Allaire, the man behind the Quebec black metal band Nordicwinter, whose newest album Sorrow will be released by Hypnotic Dirge on March 26th.)

I’m the wrong person if you need to know something new about black metal, but from time to time some blackened promos hit my mailbox. This time it was Nordicwinter, a Canadian one-man band started by Yves Allaire about 15 years ago. I found its relatively new album Desolation among a few fresh releases from Hypnotic Dirge and was attracted by Nordicwinter’s bleak and atmospheric sound. Also Yves tends towards mid-paced themes with some cold, almost epic melodic lines, and I dig such depressive themes that avoid the faster side of black metal.

The winter is almost done, so let’s keep it here a bit longer with some Canadian black metal. Continue reading »

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