AN NCS INTERVIEW: MICHAEL ERDODY (ACID WITCH / TEMPLE OF VOID)

 Interviews  No Responses »
Dec 212017
 

 

(Comrade Aleks brings us one more interview for 2017, and it’s a big one — an extensive discussion with Detroit-based vocalist/guitarist Michael Erdody, who is a key part of two distincive bands who released excellent albums this year — Acid Witch and Temple of Void.)

 

Michael Erdody is a perfect interlocutor. He plays in a bunch of bands, including two outfits which represent the stronger side of US extreme doom bands and has a lot to tell.

In 2010 he joined a lunatic psychedelic death doom carnival known as Acid Witch; he plays guitar with these monsters, and the release of the band’s third full-length Evil Sound Screamers on October 31st was a big event in the underground metal scene. Besides that, since 2013 he has run the bloodthirsty Temple Of Void, who are well-known for their uncompromising and aggressive death doom works; Michael is responsible for growls in the Temple, and their sophomore album appeared a few months ago on Shadow Kingdom Records.

I’ve tried to shoot two hares with one round and asked Michael about both bands. It took some time but I’m glad to say that he provided answers patiently and in detail. Continue reading »

A DOOMED DESCENT (PART 5): NORILSK, OPHIS, PROCESS OF GUILT

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Dec 192017
 

 

(In the fall of this year we posted a four-part series of reviews by Comrade Aleks, who usually brings us excellent interviews from the manifold realms of doom, and now we have a fifth part, in which Aleks spreads the word about 2017 albums by Norilsk, Ophis, and Process of Guilt.)

 

Autumn 2017 brought three big releases to followers of the extreme doom metal scene. Of course there were many more, but I want you to pay an attention to these three today.

I greatly enjoyed the first album of death-doom Norilsk (Canada) in 2015 and was pretty excited to listen to their second work Le Passage Des Glaciers. The new Ophis (Germany) became a real trial for me with its sick and deranged atmosphere embodied in their own darkest nihilistic way. And Process Of Guilt (Portugal) made another step further from their death-doom roots and have recorded interesting and intensive sludge-focused music. Let me sum up my impressions. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ORDOG

 Interviews  No Responses »
Dec 182017
 

 

(Comrade Aleks conducted the following interview with the two founding members of the Finnish death-doom band Ordog, who are at work on a new album.)

 

There are five bands in the metal scene who work under the name Ordog (which means “devil” in Hungarian), and there’s one death doom band against four others who play (or played) black metal stuff. This Ordog was born in Tornio, a Finnish town placed not far from the Swedish border. The band has been active for 12 years and it has grown from a duo to a five-man-strong crew. Despite anything they have continued to develop, to change, to move further.

Although I at first missed Ordog’s latest effort, The Grand Wall, (it was released almost a year ago), I made the decision to get in touch with the guys and learn how soon they plan to return with new stuff. Aleksi Martikainen (vocals, keyboards) and Valtteri Isometsä (guitars, bass, drums, vocals) were bloody swift and provided me answers in a few days. Hah, The Grand Wall is their fastest album, and not without reason… Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MATALOBOS (EDUARDO RAMÍREZ SANTAMARÍA)

 Interviews  No Responses »
Dec 112017
 

 

(Comrade Aleks brings us this interview of guitarist Eduardo Ramírez Santamaría of the the Mexican band Matalobos.)

 

Here comes Matalobos – the melodic death doom band from Mexico. If you have been missing the early days of Katatonia and patiently waiting for a new Daylight Dies since their last LP, A Frail Becoming, then Matalobos can provide you some dark depressive vibes in a picturesque and pretty heavy vein.

Their debut LP, Arte Macabro, saw the light of the day only one year ago, but the men have prepared some new material – three new tracks released under the title Until Time Has Lost All Meaning welcome you to the realm of death and gloom. The band’s guitarist Eduardo Ramírez Santamaría is our guide through the realms of Matalobos. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DRUID LORD (PETE SLATE)

 Interviews  No Responses »
Nov 282017
 

 

(We are very happy to greet Comrade Aleks, who returns to NCS with an interview of guitarist Pete Slate of the doom/death band Druid Lord, whose new album Grotesque Offerings will be released by Hells Headbangers on January 18, 2018.)

 

Druid Lord from Orlando, Florida have nothing in common with elves, Celtic myths, or forest fairies. Their blood-soaked death/doom metal took form in their LP Hymns For The Wicked seven years ago when two ex-members of Acheron and Equinox – Pete Slate (guitars) and Tony Blakk (vocals, bass) – gathered their energy with Ben Ross (guitars) and Steve Splillers (ex-Equinox drummer).

Three years after Hymns For The Wicked, Druid Lord continued their ominous work recording split-albums and two EPs. But their latest effort Baron Blood saw the light of day in 2013, so I was wondering if we would ever hear new stories of horror and blood from Druid Lord. Here’s a fresh interview with Pete Slate, who’ll tell us not only about a new forthcoming full-length, Grotesque Offering, but also about his obsession with horror movies and about the band’s inner machinery. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HOODED MENACE (LASSE PYYKKÖ)

 Interviews  2 Responses »
Nov 212017
 

 

(Comrade Aleks brings us yet another fascinating interview, and this time a very detailed and in-depth one, with Lasse Pyykkö of Hooded Menace, whose new album will be released in January.)

This year Hooded Menace celebrate their tenth anniversary of spreading darkest death doom in the underground scene. Though some might not tag the band as an “underground” one when their albums have been released on such labels as Relapse Records, Profound Lore, and Season Of Mist.

The last of those labels proclaimed that the new Hooded Menace album, Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed, will be released on January 26, 2018. And if you take a look, you’ll find that the Hooded Menace lineup went through big changes once more, though Lasse Pyykkö remains, as always, its core.

Did these changes influence Hooded Menace’s recognizable sound? How many of the Blind Dead will return from their tombs in the new songs? Lasse gave me answers to these and others questions, I’d like to thank him again for this deep and detailed interview. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: INTO COFFIN

 Interviews  No Responses »
Nov 162017
 

 

(Comrade Aleks brings us another interesting and informative interview, this time with the German band Into Coffin, whose new EP will be released by Terror From Hell digitally and on CD upon the 4th of December.)

For timeless aeons human stared into the night skies and wondered if there were gods or demons living in the eternal depths of the shimmering void. And though humanity reached space – even with just one arm – we’re far from discovering all its secrets.

The German trio Into Coffin proclaimed with their full-length Into A Pyramid Of Doom: only extraterrestrial horror awaits amongst the stars. Their cruel and blackened death doom metal compositions were constructed under the influence of H.P. Lovecraft’s mythology and their own imaginations. The album was released just one year ago (and is on tape from Caligari Records), but Terror From Hell Records are already welcoming you to embrace The Majestic Supremacy Of Chosmic Chaos, the band’s thirty-minute-long EP.

As the label promises, this record “contains slow, heavy bulldozing riffs pairing with the pummelling drumming that create an uncomfortable tension right before the whole thing ruthlessly fall in an abominable ride into the somber blackness”. I’ve tried to puzzled it out with Into Coffin’s collective mind. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: FRAILTY (EDMUNDS VIZLA)

 Interviews  No Responses »
Nov 142017
 

 

(We welcome back Comrade Aleks, freshly returned from the herculean labors that produced his new book, and his interview of Edmunds Vizla, vocalist/guitarist of the band Frailty.)

The Latvian band Frailty was actually founded in 2003, but the debut full-length Lost Lifeless Light appeared on the Russian label Solitude Productions only in 2008. They provided powerful, almost classic death doom metal with the kind of grim, desperate atmosphere that’s reflected in the album’s title; it’s a pretty fair deal.

The sophomore work Melpomene (Arx Prod) was a step further, as the band developed their sound and performed more remarkable stuff with a few individual features such as profound growls, melodic and utterly heavy guitars, and lyrics partly connected with Ancient Greek mythology. For five years there wasn’t news from them, and suddenly I’ve found that Frailty returned in March 2017 with a new album, Ways Of The Dead.

It’s better late than never, so we’ve done the interview with Edmunds Vizla (guitars, vocals) and explored the current mutations of Frailty, who turned in a more extreme, faster, and crueler beast, spreading extraterrestrial Lovecraftian horrors! Continue reading »

DOOM METAL LEXICANUM

 Metal News  No Responses »
Nov 132017
 

 

Regular visitors to our site will recognize the name Comrade Aleks, the Russian writer who brings us such fascinating interviews (and occasionally reviews), focusing on bands within the broad genre of doom. Simply reading his interviews reveals that he has an encyclopedic knowledge of the genre, and so it might not be shocking to learn that he has written… an actual encyclopedia of doom.

And it is a formidable accomplishment — 300,000 words spread across 300 large-format pages and including articles on more than 350 bands (with 400 photos). The name of this tome is Doom Metal Lexicanum, and it will be released on December 1 by Cult Never Dies and Crypt Publications. Continue reading »

A DOOMED DESCENT (PART 4): ODRADEK ROOM, VOKONIS, OLD NIGHT

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 192017
 

 

(We present Part 4 of a series of reviews by our Russian connoisseur of all things doom, Comrade Aleks, and today he shares impressions of, and music from, three more 2017 releases. Go here to check out Part 1, here for Part 2, and here for Part 3.)

Some say that Black Sabbath or Pentagram are the only real doom bands, some add that you shouldn’t forget Candlemass and Cathedral, then another one reminds us about My Dying Bride or Esoteric. Doom takes many forms.

It takes the form of Kafkian surrealistic mind journeys as Odradek Room show it. It may reveal itself through straight primordial riffs decorated with psycho or prog influences, as Vokonis preach. And it may appear in the melancholic tunes of Old Night. You never know… So choose your own doom. Here you will find three new aspects of the Doom Cult. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries