Shrapnel Storm/We Come In Peace/2013 EP Review

  Shrapnel  Storm  are  a  band  from  Finland  that plays  an  old  school  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2013  ep  "We  Come  In  Peace".

  "Detracked"  opens  up  with  old  school  death  metal   guitar  riffs  and  drums  and  a  few  seconds  alter  growls  and  screams  make  their  way  into  the  song  and  the  music  sticks  to  mostly  a  slow  and  mid  paced  direction.

  "Deathroller"  begins  with  some  slow  death  metal  guitar  riffs  and  drums  and  a  few  seconds  alter  growls  and  screams  make  their  way  into  the  song  as  well  as  the  guitar  riffing  utilizing  some  melody.

  Song  lyrics  cover  death  theme,s  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  heavy  and  old  school  sound  for  being  a  self  released  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Shrapnel  Storm  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  style  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Detracked".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

    

The Beyond Interview

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

Hello everyone and thanks for this interview! We are The Beyond from Italy and we play death metal. At the moment we are busy in promoting our first EP "Decaying Death" and are working on new songs. At the moment two of them are ready and have been already played live, and another couple is on the works. And obviously we are looking for a label and working hard to find new live gigs.

2.How would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the ep?

"Decaying Death" presents a sound which is a synthesis of both American and European death metal: in it you can find morbid guitar riffs, adrenalinic accelerations with blast beats and slow-downs. The songs pay tribute to bands like Napslm Death, Terrorizer, Morbid Angel, Obituary, Death and Autopsy.

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

Our drummer Corrado is the lyricist of the band: his lyrics take inspiration from reality and from literature and express great criticism towards society and humanity in general. We can't really predict which topics the new songs will deal with, so far we a new song called "Social Surgery" about Cesare Lombroso and another one entitled "Crawling Worms", which can be taken as a strong disapproval to many aspects of human race.

4.I know that the band was named after an old Italian horror film, what was it that interested you about this movie and made you decide to use it as a band name?

Our monicker is inspired by the Lucio Fulci masterpiece "The Beyond" ("E tu vivrai nel terrore - l'aldilà" in Italian): we are all great fans of this great director, one of the forefathers of splatter and gore and this movie is a mix of gore and supernatural phenomena, with incredibly realistic special effects for that time. What we particularly appreciate about it is the fact that there is no happy ending, there is no space for hope. We thought it would be perfect for a death metal band.

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

Since we started our band activity, we have played a certain amount of shows, both inside and outside our region which is Trentino - Alto Adige, where there are no places left to play live. We would say that one of the best gigs we have had so far was in Naturns together with Blood Edition: we didn't play as good as we wanted, but the aftershow was a great party and we had a lot of fun with the guys! In addition, we recently played in Riva Del Garda at Lochness Pub and despite the location was very small the response was great and we really enjoyed seeing all the people in front moshing and headbanging. We can't really say we go wild while playing, we just concentrate on playing well and let our music instigate the audience.

6.DO you have any touring or show plans for the future?

We don't have any tour planned, but we always are on the lookout for new gigs, especially outside our region and hopefully outside Italy, as we live near the Austrian border. It is quite difficult but we keep on searching and don't get discouraged.

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

Like every band, our goal is to release a full-length album through a label, so we are looking for one that could produce us and release our material. We have had some proposals, mainly from very small labels, but we are taking our time and, most important, we are looking for a deal that could be worth for us: for us it is important to be supported by promoting the band and hopefully receive a financial help fot the recordings, even if we know it is very hard. We will see, meanwhile we keep on searching..

8.Are there any other musical projects besides this band?

Our drummer Corrado plays in a thrash metal band called Final Fright (https://www.facebook.com/FinalFright?fref=ts), which is releasing a new EP soon. Our bass player Moreno and our guitarist Federico play in Battering Ram (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Battering-Ram/81819442456), a metal cover band. As far as our singer Michel and our other guitarist Michele is concerned, The Beyond is their only band.

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

 The response has been great so far! Most reviews have been positive about "Decaying Death" and also the fans appreciated it, both in Italy and the rest of the world. We have done several interviews and during the live gigs people enjoyed the songs and showed us their support by headbanging and moshing! For us it is great to see such emotional involvement, and we all hope that more and more people could know us and like our music.

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

The new material we have we might say that is an evolution of the style of our first Ep. We started from those songs and tried to find a more personal sound incorporating into it some more grind influences. We are also working to differentiate a bit more the riffs played by the two guitars. That is the style we are going to follow for the material we are writing for our next release.

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

The influences for our new material are pretty much the same that inspired the writing of our EP: old school death metal in the vein of the bands we mantioned above.
The musical taste of the members of the band is quite different and goes over the boundaries of the metal genere, but the thing that we have in common is that we are all big fans of death, thrash and sludge. Between the bands that we are listening to in those days there are some very cool italian bands like Viscera/// and Psychofagist, with whom we had the pleasure to play some time ago.

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

We all have different intrestes, but another thing that we all have in common in addition to music is the passion for exploitation movies, vintage horror movies in particular. The horror movies that you see nowdays are mostly standardised and flat if compared to those that came out in the seventies. Those where really creepy and scarry movies that used to deal with extreme subjects. 
Ah, I was almost forgetting our main passion, the one that we share for beer!

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

We would like to thank you for this interview, we hope that your readers will enjoy it as much as we did answering your question! If you are interested in The Beyond you can find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBeyondDeathMetal?ref=hlour page is constantly updated with news, pics, live and all the stuff you need to know about us! In addition, you can listen to "Decaying Death" for free on our Bandcamp page:http://thebeyonddeathmetal.bandcamp.com/
Cheers!

Agony Face Interview

1. For those that have never heard of you before can you tell us a little bit about the band?
We started playing music back in 2004, when we were still kids, but there was a lot of passion, for music and for our instruments, so we decided to keep it seriously and start to make some special music, a kind of music different from all those death metal bands. After some years, we recorded our first album, and from then on we’ve never stopped playing with passion!

2.The band calls itself Surrealistic Death Metal, can you tell us a little bit more about your musical; song?
Like the surreal art, our music needs a deep “look” to understand it. Our songs exhort the audience to think, that’s it. You can listen to our music superficially or you can go deep and explore the extended worlds of music, images, and dreams.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Our lyrics are full of philosophical concepts, surreal stuff and literature. The main subject that we treat is the human kind, in his form, nature, conscience.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name Agony Face?
There isn’t a particular meaning behind our name, as we told we were just kids and we took a cool death metal band name. After these years, we can say that “Agony Face” is appropriate to our art.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band ha splayed so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
We had the opportunity to play with some of the greatest death metal band of all time like Suffocation and Origin, but we also played with Fleshgod Apocalypse and Sodom!
Our stage performance is a crucial point to understand our music. On stage, we have UV lights and fluorescent make up on our faces, and we want to make a theatrical show.

6. Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
There will be an album release party on December 7th in Milan, and then we’ll make some other shows!

7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal?
Thanks to the social networks we’re having a great feedback by fans all around the world, even in countries that we never heard before!

8.The new album came out on My Kingdom Music, do you feel that they have done a lot on getting your name out there heard?
My Kingdom Music has done a fantastic job, even more than we expected, and we are thankful to the label!

9.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?
On future releases we’ll keep high our surrealistic stile, it’ll be more schizophrenic and stunning than ever!

10.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Every one of us likes different kind of music, but all of us loves death metal bands like Death, Cynic, Atheist and progressive rock bands like Yes, Rush, Jethro Tull., and of course those incredible italian progressive band: AreA, PFM, Banco del mutuo soccorso.
Nowadays we’re listening to new music, in particular new progressive metal bands, and looking on the internet, there’s a lot of great bands!

11.Outside of music what are some of your interests?
We have different interests, but we like to stay in contact with Art in all of his shades, we like to watch movies and argue about it, going to the concert, read books, but also take a ride with the motorcycle, climb mountains, everything interesting!

12.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
If you like music but most of all, if you like to question yourself about what you listen, what you see, what you think, about anything, then listen to our music, we’re trying to be no more bunnies towards the top hat of an illusionist.

The Beyond/Decaying Death/2013 EP Review

  The  Beyond  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  very  old  school  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2013  ep  "Decaying  Death".

  "Decaying  Death"  which  is  the  title  track  and  also  the  first  song  on  the  ep  begins  with  heavy  and  brutal  old  school  death  metal  guitar  riffs  and  drums  which  also  utilize  blast  beat  and  you  can  hear  melody  in  the  guitars  and  then  the  music  slows  down  and  adds  in  deep  growls  and  then  alternating  between  fast  and  slow  parts.

  "Crime  And  Punishment"  opens  up  with  heavy  guitar  riffs  and  drums  and  then  the  music  goes  into  a  faster  direction  along  with  blast  beats  and  melodic  guitar  riffing  which  also  leads  to  growls  and  then  the  song  alternates  between  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  'Tortured  Till  Redemption"  begins  with  slow  and  melodic  old  school  death  metal  guitar  riffs  before  adding  in  bass  and  drums  and  then  getting  heavier  which  also  leads  to  the  growls  kicking  in  and  the  song  alternates  between  mid  paced  and  slow  parts.

  "Mass  Lobotomy"  which  is  the  last  song  opens  up  with  heavy  and  melodic  guitar  and  bass  riffs  along  with  drums  and  a  few  seconds  later  growls  kick  in  and  later  on  the  music  goes  into  a  faster  direction  along  with  some  blast  beats.

  Song  lyrics  cover  death,  dying  and  torture  themes,  while  the production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  sol  school  sound  for  being  a  self  released  recording.

  In  my  opinion  The  Beyond  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  death  metal b and  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical genre,  you  should check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Decaying  Death"  and  "Mass  Lobotomy".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.  

J.J. Hrubovcak/Death Metal Christmas - Hellish Renditions Of Christmas Classics/2013 EP Review

  J.J  Hrubovcak  is  a  solo  artist  from  Florida  that  has  played  in  a  lot  of  established  bands  and  with  his  solos  work  he  combines  brutal  death  metal  with  Christmas  music  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  self  released  2013  ep  "Hellish  Renditions  Of  Christmas  Classics".

  "Unrest  For  Melancholy  Men  (God  Rest Ye  Merry  Gentlemen)"  which  is  the  first  song  on  the ep  opens  up  with  heavy  and  brutal  sounding  death  metal  guitar  riffs  before  adding  in  growls  and  blast  beats  from  the  drums  and  you  can  hear  some  christmas  melodies  in  the  guitar  riffing  and  towards  the  end  there  is  a  brief  use  of  guitar  solos  and  leads  being  utilized  along  with  some  high  pitched  screams.

  "Earthen  Kings  (We  Three  Kings)"  starts  up  with  heavy  guitar  riffs  and  drums  along  with  death  metal  growls  and  then  the  music  starts  adding  in  melody  along  with  a  small  amount  of  screams  which  also  leads  up  to  guitar  solos  and  leads  kicking  in  and  the  song  sticks  to  a  mid  paced  direction.

  "Nutcracker:  Dance  Of  The  Sugar  Plum  Fairy"  begins  with  christmas  music  sounds  and  a  few  seconds  alter  heavy  and  melodic  guitar  riffs  kick  in  as  well  as  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  which  also  leads  up  to  solos  and  leads  and  you  can  also  hear  the  bass  guitars  in  certain  sections  of  the  song.

  "Greenseekers"  opens  up with  heavy  and  melodic  guitar  riffs  along  with  drums  which  also  utilize  some  blast  beats  along  with  some  powerful  bass  guitars  in  the  background  and  a  minute  alter  guitar  solos  and  leads  kick  in.

 "O  Come,  O  Come,  Azrael  (O  Come,  O,  Come,  Emmanuel)" which  is  also  the  last  song  on  the  ep  begins  with  distorted  guitar  effects  and  leads  along  with  death  metal  growls  and  screams  a  few  seconds  later  as  well  as  melodic  guitar  riffing  and you  can  also  hear  bass  guitars  in  the  background.

  Song  lyrics  cover  a  concept  on  the  angel  Azrael,  a  story  about  his  childhood  up  to  the  time  he  betrays  humanity,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  for  being  a  self  released  recording.

  In  my  opinion  J.J  Hrubovcak  is  a  very  great  sounding  artist  and  if  you  are  looking  for  something  original  in  death  meta,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Unrest  For  Melancholy  Men  (God  Rest Ye  Merry  Gentlemen)"  and  "O  Come,  O  Come,  Azrael  (O  Come,  O,  Come,  Emmanuel)".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

            

Derogatory Interview

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

1. We are a death metal band based out of los angeles california, we released a demo somewhere around 2011 and began recording our debut album above all else once we were together for about 10 months, the album will be released under FDA rekotz.

2.How would you describe your musical sound?

 2. for me personally i would describe the sound to be dark, heavy, brutal, old school, and also melodic at some points.

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

3. each individual song on the album has its own subject i will elaborate on a few of the topics, they consist of time and its inevitable to escape from an we all must learn to accept that, another track is about the fear of death and preserving your self to see more years of life, the title track of the album "above all else" is about an individual in roman mythology times who wishes to rise the level of the demigods, an another track entitled "to escape what is now" is about a vision of what can be once life has pass.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name Derogatory?

4. The definition of the name derogatory stands for how we have no interest on peoples opinions or satisfaction and will write the music we feel is satisfying to us, the members.

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

5. It is hard to say what some of the best shows are since there are many great shows we have played with great fans attending

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

6. as of right now there is no set tour dates but hopefully soon in 2014 we will tour for our debut.

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

7. the response has been great everyone always has great things to say about the music an want to hear more from the band

8.Are there any other musical projects besides this band?

8. No there are no other projects.

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

9. a more deep sound with lyrics everyone will be able to relate to about life, love, the quest for happyness we all seek but have yet to find

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

10. necrophagist, obscura, beyond creation, gorguts, death , control denied, cynic, atheist, carcass

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

 hanging out with close friends and smoking marijuana

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

12. thank you for sharing your interest in derogatory and hopefully you will enjoy the album once its released

Agony Face/CLX Stormy Quibblings/My Kingdom Music/`2013 CD Review

  Agony  Face  are a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  musical  style  they  describe  as  being  surrealistic  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "CLX  Stormy  Quiblings"  which  was  released  by  My  Kingdom  Music.

  "XVI  -  The  Sublimation" which  is  also  the  first  song  on  the  album  starts  up  with  nature  sounds  before  adding  in  drums  and  melodic  guitar  riffs  along  with  some  high  pitched  screams  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  along  with  blast  beats  and  deep  growls  as   well  as  technical  guitar  riffing  and  halfway  through  the  song  there  are  some  heavy  bass  guitars  and  guitar  leads  being  utilized  as  well  as  more  blast  beats.

  "XVIII  -  Into The  Keyhole"  starts  up  with  clock  noises    before  adding  in blast  beats,  melodic  guitar  and  bass  riffs  along  with  screams  and  a  few  seconds  alter  blast  beats  kick  in  along  with  progressive  metal  guitar  leads  which  also  lead  up  to  growls  being  utilized.

  "XIV  -  Ice,  Smoke  And  Horses"  begins  with  blast  beats,  deep  growls  and  blast  beats  before  adding  in  brutal  guitar  riffs  which  also  utilize  melody  and  technical  elements  and  a  few  seconds  alter  the  music  starts  adding   in  mid  paced  sections  along  with  a  brief  use  of  clean  playing  and  you  can  also  heat  the  bass  guitars  which  also  leads  to  the  music  getting  heavy  again  along  with  guitar  solos  and  leads  and  halfway  through  the  song  there  is  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  for  a  few  seconds  as  well  as  coming  in  and  out  and  psychedelic  sounds  are  also  added  in  for  a  few  seconds.

 "XV  -  What?  Chimera!"  opens  up  with  heavy  and  technical  sounding  guitar  and  bass  riffs  along  with  drums  and  high  pitched  screams  and  a  few  seconds  alter  blast  beats  start  coming  in  and  out  before  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  pianos  for  only  a  couple  of  seconds  before  getting  heavy  again  along  with  growls  and  guitar  solos  and  the  song  alternates  between  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  psychedelic  elements.

  "CLX  _  Quibblings"  comes  in  with  avant  garde  sound  effects  and  a  few  seconds  alter  acoustic  guitars  and  synths  kick  in  along  with  bass  guitars  which  also  leads  up  to  drums  a  few  seconds  later  and  towards  the  end  distorted  spoken  word  parts  come  in  as  well  as  a  guitar  solo.

  'XI  -  Sophisticated  Telescopes"  kicks  in  with  melodic  guitar  leads  before  adding  in  drums,  bass  and  rhythm  guitars  which  also  bring  in  technical  and  progressive  elements  and  after  a  minute  growls,  screams  and  blast  beats  kick  in.

  "XVII  -  Golden  Waterfalls  part  IX"  makes  it  way  in  with  synths,  drums  and  screams  before  adding  into  technical  and  heavy  guitar  and  bass  riffs  as  well  as  blast  beats  an d   a  few  seconds  alter  guitar  solos  start  coming  in  and  out.

  "XVII  -  Golden  Waterfalls  Part  Vi"  is  introduced  with  blast  beats,  heavy  and  technical  guitar  riffs  along  with  screams  before  going  into  a  faster  direction  and  also  utilizes  a  small  amount  of  mid  paced  sections  at  times.

  "XII -  To  (t)rust  the  T(rust)"  which  is  also  the  last  song  begins  with  blast  beats,  heavy  guitar  riffs  and  screams  and  sticking  to  a  mid  paced  direction along  with  a  small  amount  of  growls  before  adding  in  technical  guitar  leads  and  you  can  also  hear  bass  guitars  in  certain  sections  and  the  song  ads  in  progressive  rock  elements  towards  the  end

  Song  lyrics  cover  surrealism  and  philosophy  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Agony  Face  are  a  very  great  sounding  progressive,  technical  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "XVI  -  The  Sublimation"  "XV  -  What?  Chimera!"  "XI  -  Sophisticated  Telescopes"  and  "XII -  To  (t)rust  the  T(rust).  RECOMMENDED  BUY.