Perversion/Pillars Of The Enlightened/Blast Head Records/2013 CD Review

  Perversion  are  a  band  from  the  United  Arab  Emirates  that  plays  a  mixture  of  brutal  death  metal  and  thrash  and  this  is  a  review  of   their  2013  album  "Pillars  Of  The  Enlightened"  which  was  released  by  Blast  Head  Records.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  a  great  amount  of  brutal  sounding  blast  beats  being  thrown  into  the  music,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  dark  tone  with  riffs  that  follow  the  riffing  that  are  coming  out  of  the  guitars.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  death  metal  riffs  that  are  very  heavy  and  brutal  sounding  with  some  thrash  influences  being  thrown  into  the  riffing  at  times,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  dark  and  melodic  sounding  death  metal  guitar  solos  and leads.

  Vocals  are  all  deep  death  metal  growls,  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  violent,  hateful  and  gore  themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy,  brutal  and  professional  sound  to  it.

  In  my  opinion  Perversion  are  a  very  great  sounding  hybrid  of  brutal  death  metal  and  thrash  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Aging  The  Unbirthed"  "Subconscious  Mutation"  and  "Ones  Of  The  Beyond".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.  

Aruna Azura Interview

Q1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?

A1. Our band was formed in June, 2009 by  by the members of different local bands. We’d all been the perticipants of various local formations for that moment but we wanted to try something new. As a result, we decided to express ourselves through implementation of Technical Progressive Death Metal act. Then we saw that it was good and agreed to continue together :)

Q2. How would you describe your musical sound?

A2. Just metal :) That’ll be a hyperbole if I say our sound is unique but sometimes i think that’s sick enough: we’ve mixed Technical Progressive Death Metal with some elements of Classical Heavy, some notes of fusion etc. We don’t cause ouselves intentionally, just make what we want, free and easy.

Q3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

A3. Lyrics are chain of stories about civilization that went a wrong path of consumption, stupidity and greed and as a result harvested all the consequences one may imagine: wars, horrible epidemics, starvation, voilence outbreaks and so on. Those stories are innuendo for all of us as we see the same tendentions nowadays.

Q4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?

A4. The name of our band (Aruna Azure in the very beginning by the way) was a figment of our guitar player, Max War-M. The main idea was about distant human-like beings living in another galaxy. They destroyed themselves one day, and humanity is repeating their path nowadays. My function was just to make a coherent chain of happenings and classify them in short stories that became a base for lyrics.

Q5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

A5. Really best shows are ahead, I’m sure. Our stage performance is a dialog with audience and detached immersion into alloy of melodies and some visual affirmations. We always do our best to let people know that thay see a really good band which may tell them a lot. Certainly, we let all the energy, all the fury and sadness explode during the show. Maybe there’s no magic behind our tunes at all but nobody stays indifferent as well.

Q6. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

A6. We’ve got some plans to show our album alive around September or maybe October 2013. But details will be clear a bit later.

Q7. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of extreme metal?

A7. There’ll always be three basic options for evaluation: “Positive”, “Negative” and “Neutral”. Fortunately or not but I may say that Aruna Azura is warmly accepted by audience principally. There are some parallels and comparsions of course but that’s a necessary evil for rather young band like ours.

Q8. Are there any other musical projects besides this band or is this a full time line up?

A8. There are other musical projects where we participate (eg. The Unhallowed and Deva Obida) which are all-sufficient and full-featured bands. Nevertheless, there’s nothing to lose for Aruna Azura in time or line up aspects. So, our band is  fully armed along with that.

Q9. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

A9. Our future direction and style may become a surprise for ourselves. We’ve never tried to adhere to rules of making music according to some canons, just do what we like. By the way, we’ve started a preproduction recording process for our next release not so long ago. In my opinion that’s something different from our debut album.

Q10.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

A10. Well, there’s a really great range of names and styles that i’m listening to nowadays so i can itemize them across several pages :) But I guess I may specialize some of them: Black Sabbath (kinda trend, yep? :), Megadeth, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Motley Crue, Paradise Lost etc. made our course one day. Nowadays we prefer to listen to different styles, not only metal at all. There are so many talanted musicians regardless of what they play, from flamenko up to grindcore, from lounge up to the most dark waves of powernoise, IDM, drum’n’bass and industrial. I just may say one thing: almost every day I find something new, something special and I’m really pleased that music goes on and never stops it’s evolution.

Q11.Outside of music what are some of your interests?

A11. Frankly speaking, music is not the only one in our lives. We’ve all got regular jobs and other interests of course, such as winter sports: our region lets us enjoy skiing and snowboarding for almost 5 months a year. We’re not sedentary beings. Especially our drummer, Alex T.Age, he’s a real travelling fan. Also I’m in process of writing a novel and who knows maybe one day that stuff will say hello to a world.

Q12.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

A12. I’d like to say to everyone reading this message: just be fair with yourselves, remember who you are. Realize every moment of your life is special and remeber: we aint got 1000 years to live so some mistakes may be irrevesible. Love music like it loves you. Stay tuned!

Armaroth Interview

1.Can you tell us a little bit about the band for Those That have never heard of you before?

Hi! We're Armaroth from Kranj, Slovenia and we have recently released our first record, False Vision EP. False Vision is a 20 minute record That introduces you to our view on how things are. With this EP, we're making our way into the death metal scene in Europe and Abroad. Our story which began almost five years ago, but the members and the image of the band has changed a lot since the Beginning. Our perception of art and our composing skills have changed  dramatically  through These Years Now we are working on our performance and new brutal material.

2.How Would you describe your musical sound?

Raw, straight-forward and brutal. It reflects us and reality. A bit like toxic green if you like to think in colors. 

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

We're talking about the wrong direction That modern man is headed to. The terrifying part about it is That the majority is not aware of the situation, but the situation is too serious to be silent about it and do nothing. The lyrics address general issues usuall, but we always think about specific events That define our wicked society. We think about Palestine, Which is in great suffering Because of the greedy imperialist politics of you know who.We think about Victims of corruption all over the world and we stand by Those That stand up and resist. Like Turkey and Brazil at the moment. In other words, we write about stupidity and blindness of the worldwide population.

4.What is the Meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?
Just some juvenile bullshit, That we came up with years ago. And it sounds cool to us.

5.What are some of the best shows That the band has played so far and how Would you describe your stage performance?

The best stages and shows are yet to come for us. So far, we have played only domestic clubs and festivals, but we have Higher Ambitions for the future. The best gigs happened in Kranj, our home city, where the fans are totally nuts and we love them. Some other remote towns where the local scenes are small, but very connected and supportive.

6th Do you have any touring show or plans for the future?

Absolutely. Nothing in Particular is Planned out yet, but stay tuned! We will prepare some theatrical madness to get Armaroth shows that even Higher Level.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or received any interest?

Armaroth is a team of independent artists, and That is what we want to be in the future.Labels are just another useless partner, That cloud your relationship with fans and media.You have to be creative on demand, and then They Want Their share for that. As far as we Will Be Able to keep everything under control, we will dictate future for ourselves. We have nothing against a fair deal thou (haha dildo) Because there's a bunch of work That Could labels do for us.

8th On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal?

It's been great! It has just been one month since the release, so feedback is only starting to develop, but so far we got nothing but positive feedback. There were some great reviews written, and the interest started to develop. The reception was good Also in Slovenia.

9.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

When False Vision was done and we Listened to it, it was natural to us, That that's the basic sound That we want to work on. Future is only going to be better and we will hopefully deliver something fresh into (death) metal. We're inspired by many different styles of music and art outside of metal, so the next releases will include some fresh experimenting with the sound.

10th What are some bands or musical styles That Have Influenced Your Music And also what are you listening to nowadays?

Every member has some personal preferences, but we all Grew up with the classic artists of death metal, Especially from Florida, Netherlands, Sweden, New York etc. We watch movies, read books, go see Wicked performances and smoke weed to relax and find inspiration.

11.Outside of music what are some of your Interests?

Partying and good mosh on a quality concert. Chilling, jamming, drinking beer. All the usual stuff That keeps you going on this fucked up planet.

12.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Thanks for support, spread the word about Armaroth, stay tuned and people medicate, medicate.

Desolator Interview

1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

Yeah we just released our debut album, Unearthly Monument, through Hellthrasher Productions and we are going to play as many shows as possible during the summer and the rest of the year to promote it. We are already working on new songs as well. So there is alot going on right now.  

2. How would you describe the musical sound of the new album and how it differs from previous recordings?

I think Unearthly Monument sounds very raw and honest, it almost sounds like a live recording at times. I always thought our songs sounded more brutal and had more energy to them when we played live than they ever did on our previous demo recordings and we have finally managed to capture that power and aggression with these new recordings. This has the advantage that when you see us live we will sound very much like we do on the album, I always hated bands that sounded awesome on an album and then sounded totally different live.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the new release explores?

Most of the songs deal with classic death metal topics such as war, death, violence, zombies, satanism and some H.P Lovecraft Cthulhu mythology on top of that. You could say that it is cliché stuff but death metal cannot have lyrics about love or happiness, it needs to have lyrics that are both as sinister and powerful as the music is.
 
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?

The word desolator derives from the words desolation and desolated. Desolation means a complete state of emptiness or destruction and desolated is when something has been layed to waste or been destroyed. Hence desolator would be that which causes the destruction, which lays to waste. I came up with that name early on for the band because it sounded brutal and very death metal and the others agreed on it. One could also see it as a cool metaphor for what our music sounds like.

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

That is a though question since we had many great shows the last year. But I have to mention the latest show we did on the 28th of June together with our friends in the bands Obscyria, Phidion and Corrosive Carcass in connection with the album release. The audience smeared themselves with blood and lots of people came up on stage and it was just crazy, a perfect death metal show!

6. Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?

No touring plans so far but we have many shows booked for the rest of the year. The biggest one I would say is the first show abroad at the Matanza Festival in Palma de Mallorca, Spain in August. There Desolator will be playing alongside great bands such as Insision and Tormention. But we always want to play more shows at new places so if any promotor reads this then contact us!

7. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to the new album by fans of old school death metal?

The feedback have been good so far from reviwers, friends and fans alike. Of course I love the album just for the simple fact that it is our first real album but I am confident that we have created exactly what we aimed to do, a solid and brutal death metal album, notihing more and nothing less.

8. What is going on with the other musical projects these days?

Well we just finished recording what is going to be Ending Quest's debut album and we will start mixing that in the near future so hopefully we will have that out before the end of the year and Stefan is constantly writing more material for Soliloquium so I am pretty sure there is a new release in the making for that project as well.

9.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

I read in a review of Unearthly Monument that the reviewer didn't think we had developed that much from previous releases. What many people might not understand is that this album has been two years in the making and all these songs were finished back in 2011. We have also re-recorded many songs that are several years old from back when we first started the band. Within that time we have never stopped writing new material and we already have a couple of new songs ready and we are constantly working on new stuff. I think many will be surprised the next time we release something as we have in my opinion made a big step towards finding a sound of our own.

10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

We are moving in a new direction that is more technical and perhaps a little more modern in the sense that we have left most of the thrash metal influences behind us and are even more brutal. Immolation have been a big inspiration but there will always be that inflence from the classic death metal acts such as Death, Autopsy, Morbid Angel, Bolt Thrower, Vader and Asphyx. We want to find a sound of our own but it is not like we will change genre or anything, Desolator will always play brutal and powerful death metal.  

11.Outside of music what are some of your interests?

I have two passions in my life, metal and martial arts. I have been training Karate for 16 years and I am a 3rd Dan black belt and a teacher at a karate dojo in my hometown so that takes up almost as much of my time as the music does. What time I have left I want to spend with my family.

12.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Stay brutal, keep supporting death metal and buy our album!

Aruna Azara/A Story Of A Worlds Betrayal/Metal Scrap Records/2013 CD Review

  Aruna  Azara  are  a  band  from  Russia  that  plays  a  very  progressive  and  technical  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "A  Story  Of  A  Worlds  Betrayal"  which  was  released  by  Metal  Scrap  Records.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  some  blast  beats  being  utilized  at  times,  while  the  bass  playing has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  with  heavy  riffing  that  dominates  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  riffs  that  combine  progressive  and  technical  death  metal  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own  with  some  thrash,  jazz  and  funk  influences  along  with  some  melody  being  thrown  into  the  riffing,  while  lead  guitars  are  very  technical  sounding  death  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads,  as  for  the  acoustic  guitars  when  they  are  utilized  use  finger  picking  to  add  some  progressive  sounding  elements  to t he  album.

  Vocals  range  from  deep  death  metal  growls,  high  pitched  screams,  clean  singing,  whispers  and  some  spoken  word  parts,  while  the  lyrics  cover  philosophical  themes,  as  for t he  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording  with  some  of  the  songs  being  long  and  epic  in  length.  

  In  my  opinion  Azura  Azara  are  a  very  great  sounding  progressive  and  technical  death  metal  band and  if  you  are  a  fan  of t his  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Rites"  "Substance"  and  "Azure  Sun".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Desolator/Unearthly Movement/Hellthrasher Productions/2013 CD Review

  Desolator  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  plays  a  very  old  school  form  of  Swedish  style  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "Unearthly  Movement"  which  was  released  by  Hellthrasher  Productions.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  a  good  amount  of  blast  beats  being  thrown  into  the  music,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  dark  tone  with  riffs  that  follow  the  riffing that  are  coming  out  of  the  guitars  and  at  times  they  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them,  as  for  the  synths  they  are  only  used  on  the  last  song  and  they  bring  a  very  dark  and  evil  sound  to  the  album.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  Swedish  style  death  metal  riffs  that  are  very  heavy  and  old  school  sounding  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  soft  and  clean  playing,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  melodic  and  old  school  sounding  death  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads.

  Vocals  range  from  deep  death  metal  growls  to  high  pitched  screams,  while  the  lyrics  cover  violence,  death  and  anti  religion  themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  old  school  sound  to  it.

  In  my  opinion  Desolator  are   a  very  great  sounding  old  school  Swedish  style  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Thy  Flesh  Consumed"  "Mass  Human  Pyre"  "Second  Killing  Of  Christ"  and  "Antimortem  Autopsy".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Armaroth/False Vision/2013 EP Review

  Armaroth  are  a  band  from  Slovenia  that plays a  very  heavy  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2013  ep  "False  Vision".

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  some  blast  beats  being  utilized  at  times,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  dark  tone  with  riffs  that  follow  the  riffing  that  are  coming  out  of  the  guitars  and  at  times  they  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  death  metal  riffs  that  are  very  heavy  and  dark  sounding  with  some  melody  being  thrown  into  the  riffing,  while  the  lead  guitars  which  are  only  used  briefly  are  very  old  school  sounding  death  metal  guitar  solos  and  leads.

  Vocals  are  mostly  deep  death  metal  growls  with  some  high  pitched  screams  being  utilized  at  times,  while  the  lyrics  cover  capitalism,  corruption  and  slavery,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  for  being  a  self  released  recording  and  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  ep.

  In  my  opinion  Armaroth  are  a  very  great  sounding  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Modern  Man"  and  "Labyrinth  Of  Greeed".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.