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The Gates of Slumber – Bottom of the Earth

Matt Coe
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The Gates of Slumber – Bottom of the Earth

Photo: Marshall Kreeb

Sometimes the passage of time allows older bands to resurrect new feelings of what they’ve accomplished in the scene. Take the case of Indiana-based doom metal outfit The Gates of Slumber. Formed in 1998, the band would release numerous demos, EPs and five full lengths before the unfortunate passing of bassist Jason McCash in 2014 saw the band grind to a halt. In 2019 a German metal festival Hell Over Hammaburg would reach out to see if the group would reunite for their 2020 edition. A reunion tour would follow until the COVID pandemic once again halted proceedings – enough to start the songwriting efforts on a new studio record.

The self-titled album finally has been released – another outstanding effort of pure doom metal excellence. Possibly achieving the band’s best sound to date, most will be swept away by the heaviness and foreboding atmosphere present in all the tracks. We reached out to bassist Steve Janiak to catch us up on his arrival in the group, the work behind the record, thoughts on the simpler cover art, memories around his favorite albums and festival experiences, a great Uber-related story he heard during his days as a driver, what success means these days, plus future plans with all of his bands including Apostle of Solitude and Devil to Pay.

Dead Rhetoric: Even though you officially joined The Gates of Slumber in 2019, your activities with the band date back to the mixing / recording of the 2002 Sabbath Witch demo. Do you feel like things have come full circle being in the group now, and how do you feel about the evolution of their discography over the years?

Steve Janiak: That’s a great question. At the time they recorded that demo, I was pretty good friends with the drummer Chris (Gordon), he knew that I had a Roland 24-track or maybe 16-track recorder that I used for my bands at the time. He wanted to record a demo; he talked me into coming out to his buddy’s house to record it because that’s where they practiced. I brought basically whatever microphones I had, recorded it. We did it kind of live, recorded the vocals after it, mixed it, and I had no idea that they were going to have this long, illustrious career. They were friends of mine, another local band, and we have quite the history in Indiana of being band buddies. And then they went on to bigger things and that was pretty amazing.

Their lineup shifted, and the sound would shift slightly with the different lineups too. There’s a lot of moving parts there. I don’t want say they have a Spinal Tap-ish thing, but they’ve had some drastic shifts. I’m very fortunate to be able to play with these guys now. We are all older and life’s not the same through the rose-colored glasses of the younger musicians that we were. Everything is a little more laid back, realistic, how much more fun can we have before we can’t play anymore, if that makes sense. I pinch myself to be able to play with these guys, to play bass which I’ve never really done. My first time playing a bass in front of a crowd was the first day of the tour in 2020.

I can see the long arc though. They were very doom, then they got a little more metal, and then it got more doom, more bleak, and things ended when a lot of tragedy happened. When they decided to pick the band back up, I just happened to be at the right place at the right time to be asked at all. What we’ve done with the new material is some of the best stuff I’ve ever been a part of. People are responding really well to it, and we hope that trend continues. Fans can be fickle, but when a band goes away for as long as they have, there’s a lot of excitement when the first new material comes out. I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds.

Dead Rhetoric: The Gates of Slumber self-titled album is the latest studio record for the band – and the band’s first recording since the reunion took place back in 2019. Following the festival and touring excursions, how did the songwriting and recording process evolve – as I understand that the pandemic did slow down the writing process a bit?

Janiak: Yeah. I joined them, they had already been playing together for a couple of months, maybe. I know they were trying to relearn the old songs, which they hadn’t played in a long time. In the midst of some of that frustration, they started to spit out some new ideas. Chuck had a new song that turned into “Embrace the Lie”, Karl came up with “Full Moon Fever”, so by the time I showed up with a bass, they already had a couple of new ideas. After a few practices I had nailed down some of the songs they wanted to do for the tour, and then they presented me with the new ideas. We were always doing this together. This is funny to think about now but there was talk in 2019 of taking these songs, going into the studio real fast, and put out an album before we do the reunion tour. Which is hilarious because we didn’t get them done in time, this album took so long that it’s a miracle it happened.

The pandemic definitely didn’t help. During the shutdown we didn’t do a lot of rehearsing. We felt like we couldn’t until it was safe to do so. We worked through it. We had a Patreon where people joined for a few dollars a month, and they would get new songs as they were developed in raw versions. We did some improv doom metal, and some of those songs are still waiting to be plucked from the ether as it were. We have other new songs. We figured we had about 35-36 minutes, and that was going to be good. We knocked them out, we thought the flow was good, and then it was a waiting process for when we could finally get into the studio. That didn’t happen until September of 2023. Once we get in there, it was pretty fast – we recorded it in two or three weekends. Everything was done, and we sat on it, it was mastered. We didn’t know when it was going to come out, there was a split with some of the people at the label of Svart. That was another wrench, they paid for it – so had they decided not to put it out, we would have had to buy it back. They decided they wanted to go with it, and then we put the artwork together.

It’s all good. We’ve had a lot of time to forget that we recorded it. So far, the response has been really good, and we are very happy.

Dead Rhetoric: Where do you see the album sitting in the discography of their output – as you said previously, you are aware of the many style shifts they’ve made with other lineups over the years?

Janiak: That’s really hard to say. They have some epic songs. On some of their earlier recordings, the production is not as crisp or as modern sounding. It’s hard for me to compare the actual albums. The other thing too, if the styles are slightly different, you might be more down for some faster gallops, I don’t know. Sometimes you want to go straight to the bottom of the earth with the doom. I don’t know where it fits. I probably won’t be able to tell you until we have another album out, you know what I mean? It’s some of the best material I’ve been a part of, the vibe is always there, Karl’s solos are on fire, and I love Chuck’s drumming. I have some big shoes to fill on bass, Jason McCash was a monster on his instrument and kind of the driving force of the band. I want to be in the sphere of his creativity and honor that in a way. I try to bring what I can bring, play the bass, and fill those gaps.

Dead Rhetoric: How do you approach the bass in this power trio format compared to your work as a guitarist in Apostle of Solitude and Devil to Pay? Have you always been a musician that enjoys exploring different styles and genres to satisfy your musical tastes and creativity?

Janiak: I would say yes. I like pop, rock, heavy metal, and a little bit of country. I’ve always been in hard rock related bands. As the bass is not my native instrument, I’m always learning. You can write a really good riff on the bass, but it’s going to have a different underflow than the guitar riff. I’m trying to follow along, other times I embellish to make more of a musical line in there. Other times I need to hold back. Because I sing and play, that’s a distinct point of interest for me. Playing the bass and singing is easier than playing the guitar and singing. I’m not really sure why. The guys were okay with me doing some harmonies, and that turned into here’s a song I wrote, the lyrics, this is how it goes, and Karl sang it for a while. The song “We Are Perdition”, I didn’t really want to sing lead on it at first, because I thought I don’t want people to hear Devil to Pay. I’m not trying to step in and be ‘hey – look at me’. The more we went on, the more we tried it. I sing the verses, Karl puts his lead part in on the chorus, we sing harmony with that.

When we did the tour in 2020, there were parts where I could sing (the songs) under Karl and give him a broader base of vocals. It worked well. At some point we may have a live release from that tour, I know I recorded all the shows on 24-track. Maybe someday you’ll hear the old The Gates of Slumber with me on bass singing backup, we’ll see.

Dead Rhetoric: What do you enjoy most about the doom metal style, and the sound you explore with The Gates of Slumber?

Janiak: I enjoy the songcraft the most. Doom metal is an ethereal thing. It’s not easy to really define it. It could be doom metal and plodding, doom metal and sorrowful, doom metal and aggressive. There are a lot of people that use doom to call things doom, and you are in the linguistic nightmare of a genre argument that will probably go on forever on the internet. As far as this album, outside of “Full Moon Fever”, the rest of the songs have a certain menace, there’s a bitterness there. I’m not sure exactly how to articulate it. I feel like we came real close to that vision of despair and anger, if that makes sense.

Dead Rhetoric: What are your thoughts on the cover art this time around?

Janiak: Me personally, I probably would do something different. I didn’t have any ideas, Chuck and Karl both made this determination to do this fully embossed black logo on a black background cover. They had that idea when they started the band, and it never came to fruition. When they got the band back together, I remember saying what are we going to do with the artwork. They said they were going to do the black-on-black theme. When you get the vinyl copy, the logo will be embossed and popped up. It doesn’t translate into the digital version. It’s such a drastic change for The Gates of Slumber that some people are not 100% sure what is going on. They need some creature being vanquished, or a barbarian, and I get it. With the reboot of the band, we are saying we are still here.

Dead Rhetoric: What do you consider three of the best albums personally that continue to inspire you currently – they can be metal-related or otherwise? And what’s your favorite concert / festival memory, witnessing the show as a member of the audience – plus what made that show so special to you?

Janiak: There are so many albums that inspire me. I end up going back to the albums I first listened to in high school when I first got into music and lost my mind. The first Danzig LP, the Masters of Reality album by that band, Louder Than Love – Soundgarden. I could go on for days. Those were all related, heavy guitar stuff. Rick Rubin’s production on the Trouble self-titled effort, that’s another great album and huge influence on me. Even if at the time I didn’t really know what doom metal really meant. I was a late bloomer to Black Sabbath – I didn’t have an older brother with a closet full of records. I didn’t get into too much heavy stuff until the metal appeared on MTV. I was more into ZZ Top, AC/DC, and John Mellencamp when I was a kid. Once I saw my first concert, that was it, I blew all my money on cassettes, going to record stores and stare at the covers for hours.

My favorite memory of going to a festival – I’ve been to a lot of them. My wife and I over the past few years have gone to the Desert Festival events. We went to New York this year, Berlin last year, and London the year before that. We went to Psycho Las Vegas, Planet Desert Rock last year. All the doom fests, Maryland Doom Fest is a great one. Stoner Hands of Doom from way back in the day. I went to that fest in 2002 in Mason, Arizona. That really blew my mind wide open. I met the guys from Unida, I saw Eternal Asylum from Japan at that festival. Liz Buckingham was still in Sourvein at the time, there was so much going on in the underground scene at that time.

Being at all these festivals, I realized the underground was so much more than all the stuff on the radio or the internet. Stonerrock.com was a big resource for me. It changed my life.

Dead Rhetoric: I’ve read in a previous interview that you are an Uber driver to gain flexible income (and I’m sure to spend more time on music). What are some of the strangest things you’ve seen happen, or what’s one incident/ situation that maybe surprised you in the long run?

Janiak: To be clear, I stopped doing the Uber thing because of the pandemic. I couldn’t deal with the idea of people getting in and out of my car when there was a pandemic going on. My experience at Uber driving was okay. Most of the experiences were okay. I would ask all of my passengers what their craziest Uber story was, or what they had heard of. I had a large Rolodex of stories in my brain at the time, that has all slowly faded away outside of the really crazy ones.

I did have a woman tell me a story about a driver she had on the East Coast, what his craziest story was. This guy had picked up a guy at the end of a bar scene closing, three in the morning. He wanted to go to this other bar – they go there, and he needed to go to another bar. He pulls a gun out and forces this guy into the bar to drink with him. The guy orders a round, the bar is still open even though it’s past closing hours. He’s talking and the threat is there – and then he forgets and goes to the bathroom. When he goes to the bathroom the driver runs to the bartender and tells him to call the cops. By the time he comes back out, the cops come, and he’s arrested. I’m glad that never happened to me.

Dead Rhetoric: How do you define success these days? Would you say that definition has changed from your early days as a musician to where you are today?

Janiak: Yeah, definitely it’s changed. When you are young and dumb, you have the whole world in your sight. When you get older you learn what’s really important, friends and family. It’s a little less dire. There’s no great urgency. To be able to still make music and release it even if we are doing it locally or putting it on the internet, we can still reach people and make that connection. There will be people that get it and understand where you are coming from, to get out of it what you are putting into it. That’s more or less my version of success these days. I never had the expectation of massive, crazy success, but I keep the window open. I’m ready for whatever life brings me, the music brings me. I want to play guitar every day and make more progress every day, every week with the material. I’m not going to be around forever, and there’s a lot of stuff I want to get out.

I’m fortunate to be able to play with all the people I play with. Being in three bands is not easy. I don’t think I’d change a thing, really. I hope to be able to contribute as much as I can.

Dead Rhetoric: What would surprise people the most to learn about Steve the person away from your activities as a musician – and in what areas do you think you’ve grown the most personally over the past say three to five years?

Janiak: What people might be most surprised to know is that when I clean the house or do the dishes, I like to listen to oldies. I have a 500-song playlist that I listen to and sing oldies at the top of my lungs. I realized the Misfits put out an album of oldies – and I didn’t realize that until the other night. I listened to them butcher some of my favorites. Nobody wants to hear me sing oldies – just me in my house. If you walked by the house, and heard me singing Neil Sadaka, you might think I’m crazy.

I’ve learned a little more patience. I have more empathy than I did previously. Some of that comes from having cats. When I was younger, I didn’t really have as much of a connection with them as I do now. Life is more precious.

Dead Rhetoric: What’s on the horizon for The Gates of Slumber or any of your other band activities over the next twelve months or so?

Janiak: The Gates, we will do as much promotion for this album as we can. We’ll probably record another video or two. We have an EP of songs already written and ready to record. We will do a split with another unnamed band, and another record down the road. We are in talks to re-release the first two or three The Gates of Slumber albums on vinyl and CD. Apostle of Solitude has a bunch of new songs, and they are almost finished, and ready to record at the beginning of 2025 plus get back to Europe to tour in the fall. Devil to Pay has a new bass player and a new drummer, we debuted those guys in August. We have songs to hammer out, and we are in the jamming process. Maybe next year we’ll be able to get around to getting something recorded. That is keeping my plate full, I wouldn’t be happy if it wasn’t.

The Gates of Slumber on Facebook

The Gates of Slumber on Instagram

Pestilent Hex – Sorceries of Sanguine & Shadow (Debemur Morti Productions)

Daniel Barkasi
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Pestilent Hex – Sorceries of Sanguine & Shadow (Debemur Morti Productions)

There are many factors that need to go right to execute a quality album. As we’ve seen many times over, an extremely high level of talent does not always equal a quality record. When it comes to the Finnish black metal project Pestilent Hex, the talent is obviously overflowing. The duo of Lauri Laaksonen (Desolate Shrine, Convocation, Ordinance) and Matti Mäkelä (Corpsessed, Tyranny, Profetus, Tormentor Tyrant) obviously have a ton going for them. Their other projects speak for themselves, with both being masters at the death and doom genres. Here, they’re out to tackle black metal that harkens towards the early 90s second wave bands that leaned in a melodic and symphonic aesthetic. Debut full-length The Ashen Abhorrence mirrored that era closely; swelling symphonic arrangements, icy tonality, and an epic sort of atmosphere that reminds of the early days of Dimmu Borgir and Emperor.

With Sorceries of Sanguine & Shadow, that influence remains ever present, however, the project has evolved into more of a monster of its own design. Remaining are the lush keyboard sections, but in a little more focused manner, while the overall tone has taken a more twisted, darker form. After an intro that’s certainly influenced by “The Moonlight Sonata” to set the stage, “Sciomancy and Sortilege” swells with keys, accompanied by a nifty lead that speeds toward a riff of deliciously infectious quality. As mentioned previously, the expected pieces are there, but the pacing is more varied, and the arrangements more cutting and bold. The most memorable portion of this opening salvo is when the twosome slows proceedings down, letting the impressive rhythms take center stage, tearing through the mix and cutting the listener to pieces.

“Through the Mirrors Beyond” continues the differentiation in feel and pace, shredding away as Mäkelä’s harrowing shriek provides ample terror. He utilizes his deeper death metal growl to a degree here as well, showing that side of his voicings that we know so well from other projects. Keyboard arrangements are consistently present, but aren’t constant and are somewhat more subdued, allowing Laaksonen’s precise instrumentation to shine. He’s an accomplished master of many styles, and his writing and performance here can go toe-to-toe with any currently wading in blackened waters and beyond. Again opting for a longer song format, this choice serves what Pestilent Hex has concocted, given that each of the six main tracks are far from predictable or safe. “Of Hexcraft and Laws Three-fold” is an outright crusher, with a specifically excellent drum performance via Laaksonen, layered between melodies from soaring to razor-sharp.

Speaking of melodies, “Spectral Voyage” sets a melancholic tone to provide a cloudy, tense affair. Don’t fret; there’s plenty of bite in this track, brandishing numerous moments that are amongst the more aggressive on Sorceries of Sanguine & Shadow. Opting to close with the most ambitious composition, “Sanguine Gnosis” is chilling in aura, ceding ample breathing room for the unsettling atmospheric shroud to engulf. Select sections are nearly a blackened doom sensibility, balanced by ferocious, galloping segments that conveys an air of sheer brutality. Add the pipe organ interlude at around the six minute mark for maximum creepiness, followed by a voracious and decisive final stretch to tie everything together.

Notable are the production choices, opting for a robust, full sound profile that accentuates Pestilent Hex’s individual instrumentation and range of vocal offerings while not allowing any single piece to overshadow what’s going on around it. This was also courtesy of Laaksonen (all but the vocals, which were completed by Mäkelä, with full mastering completed by the prolific Dave Otero). Even the savage cover art was a Laaksonen special – what is it that this guy can’t do? Give this man all the flowers. Hell, he’s probably a seasoned gardener, too. Look out, Tuomas Saukkonen.

If a craving for that mid-90s symphonic black metal sound is itching away, Pestilent Hex have that covered at minimum, though stating solely that would be grossly unfair. Sorceries of Sanguine & Shadow boasts clever songwriting, slithering smoothly in many unexpected directions, rewarding the listener with a searing black metal record with plenty to uncover. This is the sort of album that only gets better with repeated spins, of which we’ll be indulging in plenty more. Pestilent Hex have iterated off of everything The Ashen Abhorrence did well, added fresh perspectives and new avenues to explore, and turned up the nastiness level. The resulting Sorceries of Sanguine & Shadow amounts to a top draw record that’s sure to please black metal hordes of many persuasions.

Pestilent Hex on Facebook

Neckbreakker – Within the Viscera (Nuclear Blast)

Matt Coe
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Neckbreakker – Within the Viscera (Nuclear Blast)

Originating in 2020 and together for a few years under another name Nakkeknaekker, this Danish group smartly changed to a more English friendly (and discernible) Neckbreakker. They’ve made the rounds in the underground – so much so that Nuclear Blast scooped them up and now we have the debut album Within the Viscera on the streets. And what a potent slab of death-oriented groove metal you’ll hear come barreling across your favored listening device as these nine tracks pack a sledgehammer punch worth their weight in memorable hooks, transitions, and arrangements that you rarely hear at this point in the release calendar.

It’s fair to say that these lads appreciate everything from Morbid Angel and Suffocation to The Haunted, Lamb of God, and Machine Head when it comes to the sonic display, attention to deeper detail, and pounding conviction present. Credit guitarists Joakim Kaspersen and Johan Lundvig next to the energetic tempo mastery of drummer Anton Bregendorf for keeping the musical components tight next to some sick tremolo runs or heavier rhythm/groove interaction. It’s hard not to be swept away by the tornado-like swirls against a darker, tribal-like passage from “Shackled to a Corpse” – where the frantic, Machine Head-ish breakdown pummels you into a convulsed puddle scraping bodies off the floor. Or the crunchy roller coaster riffage throughout the longest track “Unholy Inquisition” – it’s 6:46 timeframe taking people through oddly shaped death parts, progressive double kick-fueled supplementation, before the mid-tempo transitional maneuvers once again encourage body movement of the largest kind no matter what size stage they play upon. Guitar feedback next to bassist Sebastian Knoblauch’s deliberate note plucking signals the opening sequence of finale “Face Splitting Madness” before the stunted, progressively energetic proceeding flow forth. It’s another highlight, especially when you take in the lower, forceful delivery of singer Christoffer Kofoed – his measured abilities and diverse outlook conjures elements of vocalists from bands like Napalm Death and Decapitated.

Thick production values keep the album moving along at a brisk pace – Neckbreakker possess all the ideal elements to take this debut record Within the Viscera into a solid global template to build a successful career out of. The younger brigade keeps metal alive and thriving, and those into any aspect of extreme or groove metal would be wise to invest copious amounts of time, energy, and resources for this group.

Neckbreakker on Facebook

Starchaser – Voyage for the Great Unknown

Matt Coe
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Starchaser – Voyage for the Great Unknown

Photo: Soile Siirtola

We have plenty of readers on this site that appreciate a mix of classic heavy metal and melodic / power-oriented styles. With members from acts like Tad Morose, Wolf and M.ill.ion among others, Swedish act Starchaser are a relative newcomer that contains decades of seasoned musicians in its ranks. Their latest album Into the Great Unknown keeps the catchy anthems flowing on all fronts – especially for those who appreciate early Europe, Deep Purple, and Tony Martin-era Black Sabbath taken into heavier or sometimes more symphonic directions. We spoke with guitarist Kenneth Jonsson and vocalist Ulrich Carlsson about the work behind this record, their smooth songwriting process, lessons learned from previous bands that move forward into this band, favorite albums, as well as a peak into possible gigs down the line for the group.

Dead Rhetoric: Into the Great Unknown is the second album for Starchaser. You established yourselves and your sound in 2022 with the self-titled debut – where do you see the major differences in how the band has evolved with this release in comparison to that first effort?

Kenneth Jonsson: I think first of all, the first album was the first album – we didn’t really know what to expect. When we released the album, and when we recorded all the songs, we noticed that people liked it a lot and we got really good reviews. We were just trying to take it from there. We did discuss, Ulrich and I, how we could make the melodies better and how we can make the songs for the next album more likeable. We worked harder on the melodies, the hooks, the chords.

Ulrich Carlsson: I think you are right. For the first album, we talked about doing this for a long time and there was finally the time for it to just write some songs. For the second album, it was more like trying to continue what we started. See if we could evolve and do stuff better than the first time.

Jonsson: Also, a big difference from the first album – the music on that album was pretty much written on my piano. We had some talks and I tried to write more with my guitar on the second album, to make it more riffable. That’s another development, I think. There are more riffs going on with the second album.

Dead Rhetoric: What do you enjoy most in the collaborative process between you and Ulrich as songwriters? Are you very critical of the finer details to get the best performances out of each other in the end to the benefit of these songs?

Jonsson: We have a high ceiling; we can speak to each other easily. If I think the melody should go a different way, I tell him, and he tries that. If it makes it better, we go that way – and if it doesn’t, we go another way. We can speak very freely to each other without worrying about stepping on anyone’s toes. No friction whatsoever in the process of writing songs. Things go very fast. I can send my (songs) to Ulrich and he sends things back very fast, in a couple of days, and we have a song. There’s never waiting, everything goes smoothly and very quickly.

Dead Rhetoric: Is it easier for you Ulrich to develop the lyrics and melodies after Kenneth gives you a full piece of music – or are there times you have things prepared in advance and you match it up to what’s there?

Carlsson: I would say both I think. Usually, he sends a lot of music, different riffs, and longer or shorter bits of songs. I go into my studio, focus on one song, turn on the microphone and get some feelings, where is the song going? I look to my lyrics then or write something down just to help me. You just sing something. Either it works or it doesn’t – you have to feel that flow, this sounds right, or it isn’t going the right way. Sometimes I phone up Kenneth and tell him I need more music, and then I start recording three or four more ideas. It’s a good process, I think.

The lyrics, when you feel the idea is going the right way, it comes by itself, in a way. You know where it’s supposed to go. You never know – I have tons of lyrics lying around, thinking about where this or that could work. Some of them are short, some of them are longer. Depending on where things are going, it’s an interesting process of course. You have to not put too much time into it – it’s not going to go anywhere. You feel when you are on the right track – at least I do.

Dead Rhetoric: I understand how you want to keep things fresh to capture the spontaneous moments. Do you feel sometimes if you spend too much time on a certain idea, it can water things down and lessen the impact you wanted?

Carlsson: Yes, absolutely.

Jonsson: Sometimes I can send him stuff, and he is doing this perfect verse thing, but at the chorus it doesn’t happen because he doesn’t get the right feeling for that part. It happens two or three times where I had to redo the chorus to make it complete in a song, and to make the chorus fit the verses. That’s also something we’ve been working on, maybe that chorus needs to have a stronger musical component.

Dead Rhetoric: Was it an easy decision to figure out which singles to premiere from the record?

Jonsson: No! (laughs).

Carlsson: The record company had their thoughts about which songs we should premiere. I think we thought along most of the same lines as they did.

Jonsson: For example, we chose “Battalion of Heroes”, and Frontiers had another song in mind. That’s the cool thing – there’s no friction. We can speak about things and still agree even if we have different thoughts.

Carlsson: (These are) my eighth and ninth albums I’ve done in the music business during my time. It’s never been this easy, so far.

Dead Rhetoric: What is your approach when it comes to the lead guitar aspects for Starchaser? Do you go in with pre-planned aspects or do you prefer to be more spontaneous in capturing the best breaks to fit the specific needs of the song?

Jonsson: It depends. Sometimes I have this worked out idea that I want to record, and then I record it, and it pretty much stays the same. And sometimes when I send a song to Ulrich, I may have an intro riff, a verse, and a chorus but I don’t have a lead break. When Ulrich is doing the chorus, then I can go from his idea into a middle part that fits with his vocals. Try to work with a smooth transition. I love it when I get the opportunity to get back to the piano, those kinds of parts can be very symphonic and melodic, and I develop it from there. Sometimes I send complete songs to Ulrich, and they stay the same – others I need to work on more.

Carlsson: Sometimes you change what you play on the guitar because of what I’m singing. You like what I am doing, so you change it.

Jonsson: Yeah, to make it fit. That’s the beauty when you have two people working together, you can fit your stuff with your partner in writing, you can fit the pieces together. We listen to each other, and the thing that I think is very cool is we think a lot of things in the same way. I can build off of things, it’s very natural. When you get a riff, he makes the melodies and he’s doing it as I’m very often hearing it in my head before he actually does it. That goes for both albums, and that’s a cool thing. I’ve never been in a band or constellation before that has been so smooth before.

Carlsson: And the third part comes in. When you and I have a piece of the song, everyone else in the band takes their instruments and approaches into it, which makes things grow even more. If you compare it with the demos that we do, and then they play, it’s fantastic what that can do to a song as well.

Jonsson: It wouldn’t sound the same if Johan the drummer was replaced or Örjan the bass player was replaced, it would sound different, and I wouldn’t want that. All the guys in Starchaser are contributing with their abilities. And this makes the end product sound like Starchaser.

Carlsson: Everyone has grown into their roles – from the first album to the second. They contribute to the band thing – they feel more confident and comfortable.

Jonsson: Johan played like a king on the first album – his drumming is brilliant. This time I noticed when I was putting all the files together and start mixing it, I noticed that he did a lot more on his own. I played the drums on the demos in a certain way, but he went from that to something of his own. That happened a lot more on the second album than on the first album. His drumming is shaping this album more than on the first album, and that’s exactly what I want as well. I am confident that this makes the album magical, and he succeeded.

Dead Rhetoric: What do you believe you learned most during your time with Tad Morose and M.ill.ion that you’ve been able to apply moving forward for Starchaser?

Jonsson: One thing I learned when I was coming into Tad Morose, it was a bit special. That was a band that I listened to when I was growing up, as well. I started to play in Tad Morose, and I learned so much. One thing that is important, have a beer, relax, don’t take things too seriously – just play your guitar, and no one is going to judge you anyway. That’s what I try to do now as well when I start writing my own songs. I play and see what comes out – if it’s good, it’s good – and if it’s not, it’s cool as well. We were touring a lot, all the basic things, make sure you are prepared when you are up for live shows, check on your equipment, which was very important to learn from Tad Morose.

Carlsson: Which is an interesting thing for me. We started this together; this is our baby. In M.ill.ion, I didn’t write that many songs. This is another thing. Music-wise, this is something else as well. This is more me as a singer as well. Of course, as long as you play in different bands, you have experience, all the stuff you’ve done. Which is good to have with you. Having our own studios, we don’t live next door to each other – it’s a twelve-hour drive to see each other. We work like this whenever we can, work for an hour or a whole day, that’s different than any project I’ve ever been involved with before.

Dead Rhetoric: How do you feel being a part of the Frontiers Music roster – do you believe they have proper understanding of pushing Starchaser to the right audiences due to their strong promotional staff and seasoned knowledge of various melodic hard rock / metal styles?

Jonsson: It’s hard to answer. Frontiers is mainly an AOR, melodic rock label – and we are more metal. I think it’s cool that Frontiers actually took us in, and we can see their efforts. They are trying to promote us as best as they can. They do a good job, and we try to do our job, hopefully. I hope it will establish Starchaser even further. Yes, we are getting a lot of fans, and that’s thanks to Frontiers as well.

Carlsson: It’s always hard or difficult with a new band – even if we’ve been in different bands before this. It’s a new band thing. We’ve proven that now.

Dead Rhetoric: What would you consider three of the most important albums (metal or otherwise) that helped fuel your passion for music?

Carlsson: That’s a difficult question. We talked about this recently as a band, having a beer and talking about music. For me, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath – Black Sabbath, a major impact on me. Looking at the album, I was in my older brother’s room when he was out, going through his albums, I put it on. The first riff, my God, I was blown away. I would say – Operation: Mindcrime by Queensrÿche. For a lot of people, it’s an important album. Putting my headphones on and listening to that album for the first time, I don’t know how to explain it. It was like a movie and everything at the same time. And then I would have to say Ronnie James Dio – Holy Diver. That was something that blew me away.

Jonsson: I have a slightly different kind of background with music. What comes up, it changes day to day. One album that I think in particular is Queen – Sheer Heart Attack. I love Queen, that has shaped me as a guitar player. Anything with Steve Morse as well – the Dixie Dregs, Steve Morse Band, and the first album with Deep Purple he did Purpendicular. I had to stop my car when I heard the guitar solo in “Ted the Mechanic” for the first time. And I would have to say Philip Glass is probably my biggest inspiration when it comes to music. He is a guy who can paint pictures with one color or make a complete album with three notes, and it doesn’t sound the same. The Hours, the movie I didn’t really like, but his music is the reason why I’ve seen that movie ten times. I listen to the music, it’s magic. He’s one of a kind.

Dead Rhetoric: What’s on the horizon for Starchaser over the next twelve months to support this release? Has work begun behind the scenes on the third album – and if so, where do you see the initial ideas and songwriting going compared to the first two releases?

Carlsson: I just called Kenneth a couple of weeks ago and said I’ve started some ideas with lyrics. I have never had this many lyrics finished as I have right now. I don’t know where things are going for the next album, but that’s a good start for me. We talked about this; we need to start thinking about the next album. It’s a long process before you have those songs that you need done. Sometimes it takes more time.

Jonsson: I have a few riffs in the studio recorded now, so I’m onto it! (laughs). My intention is to start working in the same way. We want to develop things production-wise even further, to make things sound better. I want to work more on that aspect, the first two albums were great. We are recording a video this past weekend, we sat down and spoke with everyone in the band. We want to get some gigs going on, some festival spots. We want to bring Starchaser out more live.

Carlsson: We are also encouraging the other guys to bring in material next time as well. It would be interesting to see what the other guys could bring in, if they want to.

Starchaser on Facebook

Vana – Trial & Terror (Rebellion Records)

Katarina McGinn
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Vana – Trial & Terror (Rebellion Records)

One of the latest examples of how the metal genre is creatively opening some borders, Vana is a New Zealand-based singer who has gained a notable following on social media platforms such as Twitch and TikTok. She has released a number of singles since 2022, and Trial & Terror is her newest EP and compiles some of her recent singles from 2024 along with one brand new song. Merging together a multitude of influences and sounds, Vana has created something that seems to transcend genre boundaries in the most entertaining way possible.

The six songs that make up Trial & Terror each hit some different beats, but all coming in hard under the modern metal tag. “Ragdoll” starts things off with flirtatious electronics, near-industrial pounding, and moments of chaotic merger between pop, metal, and rock elements. Vana’s vocals move between nightmarish screams to childish nursery rhyme delivery and hits stops at almost every imaginable place between. “Beg!” continues down similarly moody and sensual routes, cranking up the mystique and cranking it up from brooding below the surface to bubbling up to the surface, leading to a chorus that easily sinks its claws into the listener. “Harlequin!” moves in more creepy, carnival direction to start, later implementing more pop-elements and perverting them into sinister hooks as it builds up to a tumultuous boil of bizarre elements.

“Playboi” takes the biggest swerve, with hip hop beats and upbeat dance elements colliding with moments of wall-of-sound industrial rhythms and downtuned riffs swirled together with unhinged screams and a brutal breakdown. The only non-single track, “Noxious,” weaponizes the driving industrial elements with a futuristic hammering of massive riffs, and couples it with arguably the EP’s strongest, pop-driven chorus. The EP ends by cranking up it’s sex appeal to the highest levels, with a queer take on the biblical forbidden fruit tale. An electronically laced, visceral cut that feels as heavy on the riffs as it does electronics – all with Vana leading the way with confident, sensual singing and feral screams providing perhaps the strongest evidence of how she can blend multiple genres together and come out with something that feels unique and fresh.

Trial & Terror is a unique vision of alternative pop/metal that twists and slithers it’s way into something greater than the sum of its parts. It borders on the psychotic at times, in it’s attempt to overwhelm your senses in the best possible ways, and comes together as something full of charismatic energy, potent sex appeal, and visceral heaviness. Vana is onto something that has a wide variety of appeal, particularly to an audience that looks beyond simple genre boundaries.

Vana on Instagram
Vana official website

Mystery Blue – Night Demon (Massacre Records)

Matt Coe
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Mystery Blue – Night Demon (Massacre Records)

Another early entry in the European heavy metal brigade, French act Mystery Blue originally hit the scene in 1978 – releasing a series of demos and two albums during the 1980s before fading away in 1989. Returning to the scene in the mid-90s, only guitarist Frenzy Philippon remains from those original days. The ninth studio album Night Demon illustrates a sound that continues to parade a classic, traditional metal template with soaring, dramatic vocal lines, catchy/pounding rhythms, as well as solid, in the pocket tempos with the right fluctuation for speedy or transitional elevation of excitement.

Foundational components like anthem-style power chords carry the hook workload, as a slower, marching composition like the title track contains instant appeal qualities – allowing the bass / drum passages of Julien Ted Weibel and Vince Koehler to shine in the verses as Nathalie Geyer drives her vocal melodies to heights normally reserved for seasoned veterans like Ronnie James Dio or Rob Halford (check out the glass shattering final note of the song). Powerful “Painkiller”-esque drumming gets “Pandemic Metal Virus” off to a resounding start, the riffs tasty while the pace shifts across fist banging to conventional metal landscapes – the guitar work between Francis and fellow guitarist Erik Lothaire delightful, especially when building out the dual harmony licks. Although “Where Metal Rules” seems to open as a tranquil, piano-oriented ballad, once again the quintet shift gears into more of a mid-tempo Accept arrangement, the lyrics depicting the social chemistry, beer imbibing, and friendships built enjoy heavy metal at our favorite clubs live.

“Undertakers” is tough as steel – the supplementary guest vocal support of Andreas Babuschkin perfect next to Nathalie’s multi-octave projection as the music becomes one titanic force to crush listeners under its sonic avalanche. Beyond the twelve original tracks, the record ends with Mystery Blue taking on another Accept staple in “Restless and Wild” – the vocal snarl and gallop-oriented main riff still in place, but unfortunately the lack of strong backing vocals renders their version a few steps below the potency that the original executes. Another drawback for consistent playback lies in the production realm. There are times where the drum tone has a bit more of that digital / typewriter-like presence that flattens the impact of certain songs, where this scribe feels that maybe a more on the floor, natural vibe could have been beneficial to the final sound.

Mystery Blue possess a lot of the tools necessary to captivate followers of traditional heavy metal – you just wish the consistency, and tenacity, would reach a touch higher on Night Demon than they achieve. Ardent old-timers will don their leather or battle-vest denim and enjoy this most.

Mystery Blue official website

Mystery Blue on Facebook

The Spirit – Death’s Salvation

Matt Coe
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The Spirit – Death’s Salvation

When it comes to serving up an organic blackened death metal style, there’s plenty to enjoy in the discography of German band The Spirit. You’ll hear elements of progressive rock sitting next to this aural extreme assault – combining influences from multiple decades. The latest album Songs Against Humanity possesses this authenticity you rarely hear from bands in the current scene – as guitarist, bassist, vocalist and main songwriter Matthias Trautes explains at length during our talk. You’ll learn more about the stylistic differences in the new album compared to their last record, his critical take on his own songwriting, concerns over social media and political corruption that have worsened humanity over the last ten to fifteen years, thoughts on AOP Records and the band Rush, plus honest views on the state of the extreme metal scene today in his eyes plus future plans.

Dead Rhetoric: What are some of your earliest memories surrounding music growing up in childhood? At what point did you start listening to heavier forms of music – and eventually gain the desire to pick up an instrument and start performing in your own bands?

Matthias Trautes: I can’t name you one moment – but it was the music that was in my house. The music that my parents were listening to. One of the memories I have is Pink Floyd, because my dad is a huge Pink Floyd fan, so there was always Pink Floyd running in the house. Especially on Sundays in the car, there was always Pink Floyd. With the heavy stuff, there was not one moment. Like many other people, I have an older brother, so whatever he was listening to, I was listening to. When he started enjoying punk, I ended up going in the punk direction. When he went into metal, I went into metal as well. It can be something good to have an older sibling – not always, but especially when it’s a brother it can be something good.

Picking the guitar up, on New Year’s Eve in 2000. We have a channel in Germany, and they have a show on New Year’s Eve called Pop Around the Clock and they play 24 hours of live shows. This was long before YouTube, and I wanted to record an AC/DC show. I thought they were cool music, so I recorded this on a VHS tape. And then before that there was Deep Purple – so they were showing a lot of hard rock shows. I recorded that as well. I watched AC/DC once, and the Deep Purple show around at least one hundred times. It looked like it was one of the last shows with Ritchie Blackmore, and it’s awesome. This show changed my life completely – I fell in love with the band. Especially with what he could do with the guitar, and I wanted to play guitar, this was something for me.

Dead Rhetoric: Did you take any formal lessons or basically just pick things up by ear?

Trautes: I had some lessons in the beginning. I know the basics. In this case, I was always the worst musician in the band when it comes to theory. Our drummer, he’s a drum teacher – Stanley Robertson, our live guitarist, he’s a guitar teacher. In the past we also had one of the best bassists in Europe, Linus Klausenitzer. They will talk about stuff, and I have no idea what they were talking about – I just grab the guitar and play. I’m not interested in the rest. It’s strange when you talk to someone like Linus – he couldn’t understand how I write the music. I hear the melody in my head – and I can’t understand how he is writing music not with feeling, it’s just like mathematics. That’s a very big difference in how you can write music.

Dead Rhetoric: Do you believe this helps The Spirit stand out as a group, because you don’t think as much from technique or theory but writing more from a feeling and emotional standpoint?

Trautes: It doesn’t matter if you know theory or not, but emotions are important. I don’t know if we stick out but what I try to do with the music is not to use a single weak riff. Especially when you have time pressure and the studio time is coming close, if you are not done with the songwriting, don’t just take this riff because of the time pressure. You spend hours every day on things, and sometimes you can’t get forward for inspiration. Don’t take just anything because you want to continue. Just wait until good stuff comes, and then continue. It can be quite hard. That’s the main point I think why we have strong songs. Especially in the case of the guitar work.

Dead Rhetoric: Is it harder to be self-critical of your own creativity – to say this is not good enough to try harder again?

Trautes: That’s just a learning process. When you’ve recorded a bunch of albums, you know how it works. You are getting better to not lean into the temptation. Now, this makes a difference between a good record and a great record. These times when you say no, just continue and wait until something better comes. I don’t save riffs on my phone or the computer – I just work on the song that I’m working on right now. You can get lazy by taking other riffs and I don’t think that’s good for the songwriting process.

Dead Rhetoric: Songs Against Humanity is the fourth studio album for The Spirit. How did you see this set of material developing as far as the songwriting and recording sessions went? And where does this record sit in the discography of the group in terms of differences or similarities to previous output?

Trautes: With the previous album, Of Clarity and Galactic Structures, we went into more (of a) experimental rock direction. With this record, I didn’t want to do this anymore. There are still elements of this style in there, but it’s not the main focus. Here I wanted to write good riffs, good songs, catchy ones, more straightforward and in your face. It is a bit easier and more accessible than the previous one. I love prog music when I’m listening to it the hundredth time like a Tool record, I still hear something new. That’s what I wanted to do with the last record.

Dead Rhetoric: Were there any songs on this record that were harder to develop from the demo stage to what we hear on the final recordings?

Trautes: No, not really. What I usually don’t do is when I am done with a song, I don’t change anything anymore. Because if you continuously change stuff, usually you make it worse. I know a lot of people that do this, the song is actually done, and they change stuff here and there. “Death Is My Salvation” was the first song I wrote for this album, the longest track on the album and I was never 100% happy with it. One year later, when most of the other album was done, I started working on it again. I had a bit more distance to it – and I had to see what annoys me, what wasn’t 100% complete to me. I changed a few things – I sent things to Manuel, and we met together in the rehearsal room the next day, and he thought the song was okay. I said now the song is really good. It was exactly what we needed to change. This time it benefitted the song, and I am happy it ended this way.

Dead Rhetoric: The cover art from Eliran Kantor is another striking piece – your second time working with this famed artist. What’s the process like from inception to the final cover we see – and what do you enjoy most about his skills that benefit The Spirit in expressing the visual aspects of your music?

Trautes: He has a very specific style that he is doing. You can immediately tell if it’s cover work that’s done by him, no one looks like the style that he has. He is working with a lot of bands, but there are many artworks from different bands that always look the same. I want to stand out a little bit. He is a great artist and it’s easy to work with him. I give him nothing specific, but I tell him what I don’t want – some vague ideas, and he is doing his magic. There is not so much (input) from my side. I give him some input that I wanted things a bit brighter this time – the last (album) was quite dark, which fit with the overall lyrical theme of the album. The music this time is more in your face, so I wanted the cover art to reflect that. I wanted brighter colors, and when you see the album artwork you say yes, he did that.

Dead Rhetoric: What do you enjoy most regarding the extreme metal style that you express through this band? Are there specific aspects on the lyrical and musical front that are essential components to make The Spirit special and different?

Trautes: I don’t think anything in our music or the lyrics in general makes us special or different. Nowadays there are way too many bands – especially when you look at the over 55 years of the genre since the first Black Sabbath record. There is too much stuff out there. Lyrics – we like to talk about two topics. The universe and what is going on out there, I’m interested in astronomy and all this kind of stuff. The other topic is the human scum here on planet Earth. It’s like the two topics that you never run out of input. We all know there are two things are infinite – the universe and human stupidity. Those two will deliver forever enough lyrics for me to write stuff for The Spirit.

Dead Rhetoric: How would you assess The Spirit in terms of live performances that may differ from what people hear on your records? What have been some of the standout or more memorable moments to date when it comes to your live shows over the years?

Trautes: When it’s a good live show, when we have a proper sound, and a good audience, there’s always another layer on top of it compared to the studio albums. There are these emotions, sending energy back and forth to the audience, that’s quite important for us. It gives another layer to the music. We try to be as close to the studio sound as possible, of course there are a lot of things that can happen in a small venue with a shitty PA. I’m really happy that people tell us that we sound live like we do on the record, and that we get as close to the sound as the records.

Memorable shows – the first things that come to my mind are not good memories, you know? We just played four album release shows – we played in Stuttgart, the first show in a very small venue, but it was sold out weeks before. The sound on stage was not good at all, but the audience was wild, there was such a great energy there. When the people go nuts, you get more into a punk rock mode to give people a good time and give the people what they want. There are good shows, there are shows you go through. A lot of things can happen. We just announced the Bloodstock Festival in the UK, that will be our biggest show we’ve ever played next year, I’m really looking forward to that.

Dead Rhetoric: You mentioned in a recent interview I saw online the fact that in your opinion many changes have occurred in the Western world over the past ten to fifteen years that have created a lot of turmoil and strife across humanity. What do you think are some of the significant factors that have taken place that cause you to worry about the state of the world we are currently dealing with?

Trautes: There are way, way too many reasons for this. The first two that come to mind – social media, which makes the people dumber and dumber, and puts them against each other in a way that is quite terrifying. And another thing is especially in the Western World, politicians are corrupt as fuck nowadays. When they point the fingers at countries like Russia, China, we are on the same way here. We are on the same path that other countries have been ten years ago. When I look here in Germany, there are criminals in our government. And nothing happens. They do stuff that makes them criminals, but the thing is nobody has to fear any consequences. Everyone is doing what they want. If I worked in a company and did a bad job, then I get fired. And when I get out and do a crime, I should be punished. And the same rules should be there for politicians as well.

In general, for people on the streets, people get stabbed out there and people get free the same night. Law and order are completely out of control here. These are the first things that come to my mind. Politicians would know their consequences if they did their job right. We would have completely different governments. It doesn’t matter which party – left right, up down, black or white – they are all together. If nobody gets punished, then they can all benefit from things. I see this more and more every day. Then after a ten-year break you look back and you see how it was back then – people think it could be worse. I can think about the time when things were different, and people go – damn, what’s happened here? At a larger scale – everything is different. Everyone realizes the big changes that have occurred. I see quite a bleak future.

Dead Rhetoric: How do you feel about AOP Records as a label and how they work with The Spirit in terms of their efforts to expand the following of the band?

Trautes: When we left Nuclear Blast, we had quite a few options – even some well-known labels. I prefer to be a big band on a small label then a small band on a big label. When you are a small band on a big label, you are just a number, you know. Of course it has benefits – you can reach more people. With a small label, it’s more personal. The owner of AOP Records became a very close personal friend of mine. Especially now with this release we talk almost every day on the phone. I don’t know if we would have become much bigger if we had stayed with a bigger label. There are benefits on big labels but also in some parts they are not that good. What is important for you, and what is better for the band? I didn’t regret it for a single day that we signed with AOP Records. We made a new contract with them; the old contract was done, and I signed a new (one) because why change a winning system.

The music industry, most people are lazy, wrong. To find people you can trust and rely on, that’s the most important thing. When you have people like this, hold tight to them, because you can’t do it alone.

Dead Rhetoric: I know that you love the band, Rush. What do you enjoy most about their sound, have you ever gotten the chance to take in a show live during their career, and what would you say are one or two essential albums that motivate you most from their discography?

Trautes: I can’t tell what it is in Rush. There is so much – if you compare the first three records and then look at the change they did with 2112. Up to Moving Pictures, then the 80s albums they went completely nuts into the synth sounds and electric drum kits. The quality of the music in general – it’s outstanding. I saw them twice – in Frankfurt on their last European tour. And in 2011, the Time Machine tour, when they played the whole Moving Pictures album and then some other cuts afterwards. It was my top three concerts of all time. The sound – when these three musicians without backing tracks can create a wall of sound, it’s incredible. They played for over three hours. One of the greatest bands that has every existed. They were an awesome live band.

When Neil passed away, I was very sad. It’s always sad when musicians die from bands you love. In this case, that was a tough one.

Dead Rhetoric: How do you see the state of extreme metal music in today’s global scene? What aspects excite you, and what changes (if any) would you like to make for the greater good of all parties involved?

Trautes: That’s a tough question for me. I’m not into the extreme metal scene nowadays. I may be a bit bored. That’s why I started The Spirit. I wasn’t happy with the albums coming out. There are still good records coming out, but I miss the number of high-quality albums that are coming out. In the 90s what came out in black and death metal, it was crazy. Just name one year, and I can tell you twenty great albums that came out. Nowadays, everything sounds the same, a copy of a copy. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We don’t do that either. There are not many bands that come to my mind that have something completely new. Children of Bodom did something – their first album was something that no one else had heard before. It becomes more difficult to come up with something new. Just make something good, a good record – it can be a straight forward heavy metal record in the vein of Iron Maiden, or a death metal record in the vein of Bolt Thrower. It just needs good songs, an honest sound, and feeling.

That’s what I’m missing, completely. There are albums coming out, maybe I’m just a grumpy older dude. I hope this will change; I would like it to be different, but I know this will not change anymore. Not with the amount of stuff that is coming out every day.

Dead Rhetoric: What’s on the horizon for anything related to The Spirit (or other musical activities) over the next year or so to support the new album?

Trautes: The same as always. Play as many live shows as we can. We have more announcements coming forward, more tours and festivals to come. We are not a social media band, we don’t have a circus on stage, it’s just about the music for us. We gain new fans when we play live, and that’s the most important thing for us. We want to play live as much as possible and bring the music to the people.

The Spirit on Facebook

The Spirit on Instagram

HANABIE. – Bucchigiri Tokyo (Sony Music)

Katarina McGinn
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HANABIE. – Bucchigiri Tokyo (Sony Music)

Rapidly gaining worldwide recognition after their second album, last year’s Reborn Superstar, HANABIE. have been sprinkling in new singles since then among stops from the touring circuit, two of which have made their way onto their new EP, Bucchigiri Tokyo. A five song EP (six if you count the short ‘bonus’ track) with a central concept centering on Japanese culture, it represents the next evolution of HANABIE., and one that should justly continue to propel them forward to the front of the scene.

Opening with the title track, the first thing that sticks out is how riff-centered it is. A buzzing, thick line of riffing leads the way, with the electronic portion of the band’s sound taking a backseat (in comparison to some of their more recent material). It results in the song having a visceral edge to it, and it feels custom-made to put into the band’s live repertoire, elevating itself with a very catchy yet still stomping chorus featuring Matsuri’s clean vocals. “Metamorphose!” continues the mostly guitar-centric approach with galloping thrash tempos, only slightly slowing down for a more bouncy chorus that utilizes both Yukina and Matsuri in a way that allows them to play off each other effectively. The first song that was debuted from the EP, “OTAKU Lovely Densetsu” ramps up more of an electronic presence than the songs before it, and brings a mixture of what has made HANABIE. such a memorable group. The riffs (and frantic drumming) hit hard, the energy swings from snarling to soaring, and the overall vibe is that one that draws the listener in with how fun it is.

“GAMBLER” offers a few moments of restraint with it’s opening, but don’t expect it to last for long. The music does carry a unique and an almost traditional Japanese feel at times that’s carried by the guitarwork until it gradually escalates. The chorus also sits on the more melodic side of things, giving Matsuri her finest chance to shine vocally, and it’s still packed with heavy, rolling grooves that pick up to thrashing territory as Yukina drops some menacing roars. The end of the track has an effective repeated riff that is bound to leave listeners with a sore neck. Arguably the most upbeat song on the EP, “Ito Okashi My Type,” cranks up some of the electronics and sampling a bit, capturing that more energetic and playful feeling that HANABIE. can weaponize on a moment’s notice. The hooks are massive, with danceable grooves and melodies colliding with frantic heaviness in the best possible way, while Yukina fires off everything from rapid-fire rap vocals to screams.

The EP closes with a ‘bonus’ surprise, giving drummer Chika the spotlight, much in the same fashion that “ME, The Ultimate Invader of the Universe” did for bassist Hettsu. A swirling, electronic-laden trip with dance beats and sounds floating around Chika’s vocals (including a chanted spelling out of her beloved “ice cream”), “Guilty Time” is nothing if a not a thoroughly entertaining send-off that will likely stick in your head at the end of a listening session as much as the other tracks.

HANABIE. continue to evolve their unique and genre-mashing friendly take on heavy music and explore new directions while maintaining their core essence. Bucchigiri Tokyo reinforces the idea that the band is onto something fresh and innovative, and they have the drive to make a name for themselves in the global circuit. Tired of the same ole thing? Let HANABIE. win you over with their slurry of explosive metalcore riffing, vicious roars, jpop and anime-inspired melodies, all laced with danceable modern electronics. Explosive mayhem at its most kawaii.

HANABIE. official website
HANABIE. on Instagram
HANABIE. on X
HANABIE. on Facebook

Necronomicon Ex Mortis – The Mother of Death (Self-Released)

Matt Coe
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Necronomicon Ex Mortis – The Mother of Death (Self-Released)

There’s something to be said for a frequent release schedule in the current here today, gone tomorrow music industry – especially if you have the talent, ambition, and ability to issue quality material. Such is the case for Chicago, Illinois-area outfit Necronomicon Ex Mortis. The Mother of Death as the latest five-song EP comes hot on the heels of this past summer’s fine You and Your Friends Are Dead: Game Over EP, showcasing the quintet’s diverse approach to melodic death metal that infuses elements of thrash, shred / technical prowess, as well as old school aspects taken to a modern edge.

Opener “Trick Or Treat” wastes no time in obliteration mode as far as the twin melodic guitar riffs and thunderous double kick plus entertaining fill spots, the transitional sequences providing ample opportunity for a sick, sophisticated lead break before the charging riff parade returns. These gentlemen always figure out a way to intertwine American style death with some Scandinavian flair – yet injecting key melodic runs that seep back to classic Priest/Maiden-like tricks as you’ll hear during the otherwise fairly frantic highlight “Infestation”. The instrumental “Itchy Tasty” gives off an old Resident Evil – horror vibe, where the bass and guitar work allure the aural landscape in this jazzy, progressive state of mind while also calming emotional before the final track “Salem’s Lot” ends the record in chugging death metal form, the raspy vocals conjuring up scenes from the infamous Stephen King novel (and movie adaptation) that stands up as well today as it did during its late 70s origins. Many will get a bit of a blackened meets Edge of Sanity vibe during the speedier sections of this arrangement, while the leads from Manuel Barbara will floor the schooled axe players of the metal brigade.

The intersection of acts like The Black Dahlia Murder, At the Gates, and Arsis next to those technical, thrash, and old school influences puts Necronomicon Ex Mortis in great position to capture a wide array of followers, underground or above. Keeping on a solid release schedule with four EP’s over the past two years, The Mother of Death could vault the band into the eyes of record label executives who can sense a buzz swirling about though this five-piece.

Necronomicon Ex Mortis official website

Necronomicon Ex Mortis on Facebook

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