…cal classic rock ballad with the same freshness. It just came together really easily. No one came in with a blueprint of how we needed to make the record. That said, Frontiers said, we love classic rock so I said that we shouldn’t just make ‘another one.’ We wanted to make sure it wasn’t the same old, same old. While it’s a classic rock record, there are elements that are current in terms of lyrical content, the melodies are strong, and it’s got a…
…ing to reunite in 2002, they’ve released three more records and significantly changed members, as guitarist Jürgen ‘Scholli’ Scholz is the lone early survivor – the rest of the current lineup going back to 2009. A significant uptick with veteran credibility occurred in 2016, as Sodom guitarist Frank Blackfire joined the band – bringing you up to speed for the sixth studio record Bestia Immundis. Referencing the ‘unclean beast’ which is the Latin t…
…to learn about that! I want to make pink mittens with “666” on it. I’m really ambitious about making this a thing. Dead Rhetoric: You can make your own stage gear. Wessels: Yeah, exactly. We can sell it as merch! Westerholt: Knitted sweaters made by Charlotte for sale [laughs] Wessels: We could finally be rich [laughter]! Westerholt: I’m very boring, I’m not doing anything at the moment. Just sitting in my living room. In general, a weird thing I…
…st in the lead up to Horizonless’ release was exactly what remains most outwardly striking now: the cover art. Being completely unfamiliar with the band but knowing they trafficked in funeral doom, it admittedly took me longer than I care to admit to actually indulge the album as a listening experience. When I did I knew immediately that I had been a fool to wait. The cover art is indicative what I found within – a misery strongly conveyed, so muc…
…unique, and if he succeeds you have the chance to succeed, but this is really, really rare. Or, you learn that it’s only listening to everyone and then you can succeed as a band. Sometimes you have to face the fact that people aren’t cut out to be in a touring band- and don’t want to play live as much as possible. If this was the failure of Overtures, we lacked in talking to each other. I learned how to talk to others thanks to this huge failure….
…ng I think is wrong. That seems to be a strange attitude nowadays. Especially towards bigger bands. People go, ‘you can’t do that, you’re an idiot’ and blah, blah, blah. Slipknot, whoever it is. You don’t get a say in what these people do! Who told you that you do? Things like Blabbermouth – people go nuts. It’s cool to be passionate about something. For example, people trying to tell bands what they should be doing. You don’t get a say on that. B…
…elodic/melancholic moments keeps things moving ahead. “Once Upon a Time in Russia” and “Raida” perfectly close on these feelings – ramping up the symphonics and giving the aggression something to play off of without ruining the atmosphere. Second to Sun have been doing well for themselves by continuing to advance themselves and try new things with each new outing. Legacy is no different, and the augmented aggression suits the band’s vibe, giving t…
…“Mad Jack” unfortunately guilty parties of this musical maneuver, fortunately only in spurts as to not fully lose momentum. The lead breaks possess a bit of neoclassical, circular edge to elevate the main arrangements – and the transitions can hit these groove measures that like Jungle Rot or Sepultura elevate pits or audiences to rage. When it comes to the death aspects, there’s a mid-tempo, down-tuned nature to the riffs and speedier transitions…
…here, no matter the ‘heaviness’ with which they are expressed. Notable early was the news that the album would release in two forms: the original design completely in the band’s native Swedish and a second version in the fanbase-familiar English. My personal preference certainly falls with the Swedish as while the English version is largely identical, it carries an air of being unnecessary. The reason for releasing it is understandable: most of t…
…/vocalist Thomas Wouters had left the band following the recording (and sadly lost his battle with cancer afterwards), so this will mark the end of an era for Bodyfarm. But it’s a strong note to go out on. Just like the band’s previous releases, it’s quite hard to listen to Dreadlord without really getting into it. Bodyfarm knows exactly what buttons to push with the old school death metal, and they really go all in. While the band is full-throttl…
…World” and “Black Heart” illustrate that magic of how they can simultaneously get you moving while providing a powerful message. Some of this of course provided by Mina Caputo’s soaring vocals, but also some undeniable hooks that creep out regularly, such as grunge-laden bounce of “Empty Hole” or punchy yet downtrodden “Stone.” The story itself pulls in four segments outside of the music (“Prelude”/”Then”/”Now”/”When”), that effectively wrap into…
…t play in Ukraine-based White Ward’s sound. Black metal winds swirl violently in warm washes of jazz playing out in the urban sprawl of overlapping streetlights and fog. Love Exchange Failure is no small listen but let’s go back a bit and provide some background. My introduction to the band came during a very long drive from Rhode Island to South Carolina in the summer of 2017. Somewhere in the pales of North Carolina the band’s debut album Futili…
…e the listeners get out of White Mantis, and how are you able to consistently deliver speedy material and develop memorable, distinct tracks without becoming an aural whitewash so to speak? Pletz: First of all we make music for our own sake and see it as a kind of medium to bundle and unfold our creativity. Mostly this is not possible at work and therefore a good way to retain the inner equilibrium. Thus it is not our primary goal to go down well…
…al mixing of the album. The title should be a spearhead of the album, both lyrically and musically. In a few words, it’s difficult to find that spearhead. All of us all like titles that have different layers, that you can put under different scopes and twist/turn them. I don’t want to make a traffic sign, so to speak. I want something that will hold a little more. True North, as a fundamental term, comes from navigation. The true north is the cons…
…each other to a few days later being the complete opposite. We get extremely good news and everyone is in high spirits. There’s been a lot of those moments, a lot of those up and downs. There’s been a lot of drunken moments too [laughs]. There’s just a real family feeling in the band. Dead Rhetoric: What are your other interests outside of the music realm? Psarakis: I have two dogs, so they take up a lot of my time. The second I sit down to do so…
…(2016 was a whirlwind) and thus came into Will of the Primordial with fairly neutral expectations. Grima is a two-piece (brothers, at that) from Russia (the Siberian portion!) and forest worship is the central tenet of the band’s drive. Spiritual brethren with the likes of Soar, Panopticon, and almost any band that’s carried the ‘Cascadian’ banner over the last decade. Musically it’s what you’d expect- black metal with atmosphere through its use…
…rded everything, he had to learn how to use all the equipment, all the software, he really took the time to do all that. It just took a while to learn that aspect of it – a mix of things that delayed it. We are all extremely happy with how (the album) came out. We were humbled by the response from the people that have been listening to it, this is amazing. We’ve been hearing these songs for a while now because it’s taken a while to record it, and…
…ch fun.’” Dead Rhetoric: Where would you like to see the band move, musically, as you continue forward at this point? Schmid: Fuck, we’re around for more than 25 years, it would be nice to get a little sip of success. Dead Rhetoric: What are some cherished memories you have from the band, either from touring or studio-work? Schmid: I’ve visited so many great countries, in China the great wall and forbidden city, I’ve gone to Iceland to shoot a vid…
…lly like never before, these are thriving times for Destruction. Consistently delivering blistering thrash to the metal hordes, their catalog contains gems from the early Infernal Overkill/ Eternal Devastation days on through to their latest efforts like Under Attack and this year’s Born to Perish. Now expanding the lineup to a quartet and welcoming drummer Randy Black and second guitarist Damir Eskic – the new record contains more twin harmonies,…
…tar activities during “Ratcatcher” gain devil horns salutes, but there really isn’t anything weak out of these ten tracks. Possibly the engagement of more historic Destruction material for 2017’s Thrash Anthems II record put more fire into the songwriting and performances for Born to Perish. It’s another prime example of thrash done the right way – and should gain wide acceptance from Destruction maniacs young and old. http://www.youtube.com/watch…
…for me, but for artists in general. It’s a great way to keep your record alive. It keeps you in the news. I always view things like what I would have liked as a kid: could you imagine if your favorite band back in the day released a new video every month? I would have lost my mind! I wouldn’t even know how to comprehend that. So I think it’s a really good tool when you use it that way. Dead Rhetoric: With the focus on video, did you feel it was i…
…and we were like, ‘Wow!’. Dead Rhetoric: Where did you want to come across lyrically with this record? Nick: There is no specific bucket with regards to the lyrics this time. I look out of my window and see what goes on around me, get inspired from that. Also – I read a lot of books, either stories or serious books. I read some poems – as an example, the song “Order of Death” is a poem itself. I got influence from the poem -somebody is dying and t…
…ill finding their direction and foothold for songwriting. Incorporating a narrative news reporter for the closer “Public Enemy” which showcases the band at a more frantic/punk-like pacing in segments, The Order of Genocide tightly delivers Sabotage in a tidy 16-minute framework. Hopefully the band will use this as a stepping-stone to develop their own take on their influences – as there is plenty of promise and potential to harness. Sabotage on Fa…
…n already at the time of composition like somebody who fought during World War I or lived through World War I standing there as if the last shot had been fired on the 11th of November, thinking back over the past four years. In that case, the atmosphere of the conflict really gets intertwined with the music. Dead Rhetoric: When it comes to the organ swing part in “The Red Baron” – did that come first, or was that an idea that developed as you fles…
…used our activity upon the composition and recording phases, as we are mainly a live band. This time we totally changed our minds and did everything in a short time… unfortunately, our producer took too much time to mix and release the album, and this slowed our job down. The second difference was the recording session, because I worked harder on the voices and choirs than ever before. We also edited riffs and this work was really new to us, as we…
…e still connections with the early material. When we are writing we are fully aware of the Diamond Head legacy, certain songs like “Am I Evil” are a big part of the Diamond Head history. It would be lovely to write another “Am I Evil”, we would like to write something even better, or hopefully as good. I try not to become too far away from the style, we’ve done that on the last album and this album and it’s really worked. It’s not that we are too…
…ntly despairing) digressions make for a listen that is dense but consistently rewarding. Bass is a peculiar instrument within the band historically, serving a sonic and structural role mirroring Type O Negative far more than contemporaries within black metal and that remains the case here. “1523” , a downtempo midpoint in the pendulum-swing of the album’s momentum, is made possible by the cavernous (and synth-like) tone the bass provides. Those sa…
…about world issues, but it does genuinely concern me that a man as obviously mentally deficient as Donald Trump can become the most powerful man in the world, that tells me a lot about how many people think and I can’t say I’m a fan. As far as issues, probably climate change. It is threatening everything we know and love, and not enough people care about it. Dead Rhetoric: What are your thoughts on social media and platforms like Facebook, Instag…
…n there are the heavier tracks, such as “Lie, Cry, or Die,” that occasionally crank up the riffs a bit and incorporate some growls to solidify the more gothic atmosphere. Thankfully they don’t use them in each track, and avoid the clichéd beauty and the beast vocals – instead offering tasteful augmentations to songs like “Pour Vous.” That’s where the real beauty lies in Remains – that sense of understanding the inherent darkness in the gothic meta…
…nd intuitive as a person? JB: The short answer is that that’s what’s in my lyrics. My lyrics are an extension of all my life experiences. Whether it’s books I’ve read, movies I’ve seen, comic books I’ve read – nature experiences that I’ve had, all fantasies, emotions, and feelings. My lyrics are a reflection of all that. For me as a person- nature has always been a very strong fascination. Nature has a big place in our music as a whole. Any partic…
