AN NCS INTERVIEW: MARCHE FUNÈBRE

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Oct 112019
 

 

(Comrade Aleks has been a busy interviewer, and we have his second one in as many days, with this conversation he had with members of the Belgian doom-death metal band Marche Funèbre.)

Marche Funèbre is one of representatives of Old World doom death scene who shows good stability, releasing strong works and naturally progressing from album to album. Their debut To Drown (2011) wasn’t an album of the year, but their development on Roots Of Grief (2013) is something you couldn’t miss. Since 2017 they’ve continue to work at a good pace: a third full-length, Into The Arms Of Darkness appeared in 2017, followed by splits with A Thousand Sufferings (2017) and Eye Of Solitude (2018), alongside killer EP Death Wish Woman (2018).

Marche Funèbre is one of the very rare European bands who managed to play a tour in the USA, and as they performed a gig in my home city of Saint Petersburg less than two weeks ago, I saw it as a right time to interview them. Arne Vandenhoeck (vocals), with some help from Kurt Blommé (guitars), are ready to tell a few things about doom, death, and being happy in misery. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: PALADIN

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Oct 102019
 

 

(The following conversation is Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Louis, vocalist/bassist of the Quebec death/doom band Paladin, whose debut album was released last month.)

Paladin is a brutal death-doom metal project started by Louis a.k.a. Napalm Holocaust (vocals, bass) from Canadian thrash band Survival Instinct. Louis performs stuff in the vein of Asphyx, Autopsy, and Rippikoulu together with his colleague Will (guitars) and busy maniac N.C. (drums), who has experience in quite extreme yet obscure local metal bands. They’ve been working together in Paladin for about two years, and Vrid (bass) joined them not long ago.

Their debut album Purification Du Mal just saw the light of day on the 20th of September due to the  efforts of PRC Music. As you see the artwork, you may think it’s some Christian stuff, but don’t be fooled, that’s an opposite thing. Louis isn’t a very talkative guy, but he has managed to uncover a few things about Paladin for us. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: PROFETUS

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Oct 042019
 

 

(This time Comrade Aleks brings us a revealing interview of Anssi Mäkinen, guitarist/vocalist of the Finnish funeral doom band Profetus, whose latest album will be released by Avantgarde Music and Weird Truth Productions on October 11th.)

Finnish funeral doom metal is a kind of trademark. In all ways you may be sure that a band from Suomi will grant you a massive overwhelming experience of utter desolation and cosmic loneliness. Such is Profetus, who started in Tampere 13 years ago.

Through Coronation Of The Black Sun (2009), …To Open The Passages In Dusk (2012), and now The Sadness Of Time Passing, the band has raised its ghostly sonic monolith built of down-to-earth burial riffs, immense guttural growls, and majestic and noble melody in its modest keyboards parts.

The Sadness of Time Passing will be out on Avantgarde Music on the 11th of October, and as Anssi Mäkinen (guitars, vocals) is the only Profetus member left from the original lineup, we spoke with him of the band’s past, present, and a bit of its future. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MARTYRDOOM

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Oct 022019
 

 

(Comrade Aleks has brought us this interview of the up-and-coming Polish band Martyrdoom, whose debut album was released in 2017 by Memento Mori.)

As many of the brutal death-doom scene veterans are not hastening to grind us with new full-length albums, and there haven’t been new albums from Asphyx, Autopsy, and Cianide for a while (okay, the last one is going to return with the EP Unhumanized later this autumn), it’s good to take a listen to some of those guys who try to keep the old school vibe of the ’90s alive. Martyrdoom from Warsaw is one of those bands.

Formed in 2010, they released a straightforward grim demo, Twisted Perversions (yep, pretty primitive), in 2013, and a more sophisticated full-length work Grievous Psychosis saw the light of day in 2017. The album has its charm, so I was wondering when they planned to return with a sophomore album… Thus we organized this conversation with one of Martyrdoom’s founders, Grzegorz Młynarczyk (guitars). Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: EXCRUCIATION

 Interviews  1 Response »
Sep 062019
 

 

(Our Russian friend Comrade Aleks returns to NCS with this new interview of Eugenio Meccariello, vocalist of the long-running Swiss band Excruciation, whose latest release (via Auric Records) is a substantial compilation of rare songs that have been produced since their reunion in 2005.)

Originally formed in Zurich in 1984, Excruciation seems to be one of first death-doom bands. They did some successful experiments ’til the late ’80s and gained a reputation with a bunch of demos and the Last Judgement EP in 1987. They almost recorded a full-length album, but the band was split up in 1991. Who could expect that Excruciation would return in 2005 with new material, and with all original members in the lineup? However, their reunion EP Arise did lead them to a series of new releases including four full-length albums and nearly a dozen shorter recordings.

The band’s fresh compilation [e]met sums up Excruciation’s non-album legacy, and this 16-song collection will give you a pretty good impression about their way into this crude, heavy, and yet emotional doom-death metal. Excruciation’s vocalist Eugenio Meccariello sheds light on [e]met and the band’s current status. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: COLLAPSE OF LIGHT

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Jun 252019
 

 

(Our Russian friend Comrade Aleks has reappeared at our humble abode, this time with a new interview in which he picks the brain of Carlos D’Agua, vocalist of the part-Portuguese, part-Finnish band Collapse of Light.)

Collapse Of Light is an international atmospheric doom/death project started in 2010 by three ex-members of local doom/death act Before The Rain (Carlos D’Agua (vocals), Carlos Monteiro (guitars), Gonçalo Brito (guitars)) and vocalist Natalie Koskinen (Shape Of Despair and Depressed Mode, amongst others). They weren’t fast, and their debut full-length album Each Failing Step appeared only in 2018.

This impressive material needs some development, which I hope to find on their sophomore album… Being a fan of its soothing depressive vibe I’ve contacted Carlos D’Agua and learnt few things about the band. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: INSANITY REIGNS SUPREME (TES RE OTH)

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Jun 062019
 

 

(In  this new interview our Russian friend Comrade Aleks talks with vocalist Tes Re Oth of the Belgian extreme metal band Insanity Reigns Supreme, exploring the band’s evolution in sound since the late ’80s and how their evolution will continue on the next album.)

Started in 1989, this Belgian band went a long way from good old doom-death metal to something more sinister and heavy. I would say “blackened death metal”, yet that’s not exactly that they do. Back then they had taken the band’s name from a song by the UK-based death-metal/grindcore/doom band Prophecy Of Doom, and slowly worked on their own identity. All of their four albums have their distinctive features: The first one, …And Darkness Drowned The Land Divine, tends to classic death-doom; Prophecy Of Doom represents a more rigid apocalyptic side of the same themes; and the third, Occultus Insanus Damnatus, shows the band’s interest in a more aggressive and infernal death metal sound, which was fully discovered on Unorthodox.

Insanity Reigns Supreme ideologist and vocalist Tes Re Oth will help us to learn more about their occult vibes. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DORMANTH

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May 212019
 

 

(Comrade Aleks returns to NCS today with a new interview, and this time his guest is Óscar Del Val of the resurgent Spanish band Dormanth.)

Born in 1993, this Spanish band has always balanced on a verge of death and death-doom metal, giving preference to fast, direct, and aggressive stuff. Dormanth split up in 1996, having only one demo, a split, and a full-length album in their discography, but one of the band’s founders, Óscar Del Val (guitars, vocals), decided to return the band back to life in 2015, and suddenly has succeeded in recording one EP and two full-length albums with a new lineup.

Base Record Production will release a new EP, Abyss, on May 27th, so I got in touch with Óscar to learn more about Dormanth’s past and present. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: LAPSUS DEI (RODRIGO POBLETE)

 Interviews  3 Responses »
Mar 152019
 


Photo by Cristian Carvallo

 

(Our Russian friend Comrade Aleks brings us a new interview, this time with Rodrigo Poblete, guitarist/vocalist and a founding member of the Chilean band Lapsus Dei.)

Starting as a melodic death-doom band in 1998, the Chilean group Lapsus Dei went through some transformations during their career, and now the band stand on the threshold of a new metamorphosis.

Their discography isn’t that huge for a band who have celebrated their 20th anniversary –- two EPs, three full-length albums, and a split album with Officium Triste — but this initially anti-clerical doom is damned expressive and too strong to pass it by. So let me introduce you to the band’s only remaining original member — Rodrigo Poblete (guitars, vocals). Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: OWL (CHRISTIAN KOLF)

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Feb 122019
 

 

(Comrade Aleks is back! And he brings with him this interview of Christian Kolf from the German band Owl, whose most recent album, Nights In Distortion, was released last fall by Temple of Torturous.)

Owl is the Bonn-based project of Christian Kolf (vocals, guitars, synth) who created it together with Patrick Schroeder (drums, percussion) in 2010 in order to explore death-doom territory that he hadn’t crossed yet in his progressive death-doom band Valborg. Christian is pretty prolific. He also played atmospheric progressive sludge in Woburn House, some prog metal in Island, not not long ago he joined the black metal crew Absolutum, and he gained some experience in a few other acts as well.

Owl’s a strange creature, more so that owls seem to be. Their first two full-lengths, Owl (2011) and You Are The Moon, I Am The Night (2013), were experiments in the field of pretty proggy death-doom metal with quite complex and aggressive compositions, and the following EPs — Into The Absolute (2014), The Last Walk (2014), Aeon Cult (2015), and Orion Fenix (2018), show Owl’s development in another direction. The latest result of the band’s inner changes is the Night In Distortion album (Temple Of Torturous, 2018). It’s tagged as ambient doom metal, and this description is partly close to the matter.

I was impressed by this material and got in touch with Christian to ask him a few questions about Owl’s past, present, and future. Continue reading »

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