Karnivore/In The Halls Of the Wicked/Lake Of Fire Productions/2014 CD Review

  Karnivore  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "In  The  halls  Of  the  Wicked"  which  was  released  by  Lake  Of  Fire  Productions.

  The  album  starts  out  with  sounds  of  wind  along  with  dark  sounding  synths and  after  a  few  seconds  the  music  goes  into  a  fast,  melodic  and  heavy  direction  along  with  blast  beats  and  a  mixture  of  growls  and  screams  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  you  can  also  hear  leads  and  solos  in  the  music.

  As  the  album  continues  you  can  hear  more  old  school  Swedish  metal  and  thrash  influences  being  added  into  the  music  along  with  some  parts  that  bring  in  a  good  amount  of  brutality  as  well  as  having  some  early  90's  technical  death  metal  elements  and  on  the  last  track  there  is  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  samples.

  With  this  album  Karnivore  take  the  old  school  Swedish  death  metal  sound  and  mix  it  in  with  thrash  and  a  good  amount  of  melody  to  create  a  very  interesting  album  that  has  the  best  elements  of  the  early  90's.

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

  In  my  opinion  Karnivore  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  old  school  Swedish  death  metal  and  thrash  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Feast  Upon  The  Living"  "An  Era  Of  Decay"  and  "Mr  Gein".  8  out  of  10.  

Apocophrex Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

1.       The band was formed in 2013 by Justin (guitars, mixing, programming), and Pete (vocals, lyrics, artwork). Apocrophex is an internet collaboration between the two.

2.Recently you have released a new ep, can you tell us a little bit more about your musical sound?

2.      Justin- I like to use a lot of sweeping arpeggios , tapping harmonics, and just mess around with different things to get the overall sound that I’m looking for. The goal is to keep it interesting and progressive without losing the brutality along the way. After I’ve written the bones of a song I always try to make sure that it has that relentless momentum that will drive the listener into an uncontrollable windmill headbang!

 

3.Can you tell us a little bit more about the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

2.      Justin- I like to use a lot of sweeping arpeggios , tapping harmonics, and just mess around with different things to get the overall sound that I’m looking for. The goal is to keep it interesting and progressive without losing the brutality along the way. After I’ve written the bones of a song I always try to make sure that it has that relentless momentum that will drive the listener into an uncontrollable windmill headbang!

 

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Apocrophex'?

4.       Justin- Apocrophex comes from the word Apocrypha when means “secret, or obscure” it also means “to hide away”. I felt that it went well with the subject matter and Pete came up with a great logo and so Apocrophex was born.

 

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

5.       Justin- Well, all performing has been done in my spare bedroom mostly in my boxers, so I can’t comment on the stage performance, but my bedroom performance is off the charts ;)

Pete- Being that we live in different area of the country there will be no live shows for quite some time. 

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

6.       Justin- As of now we do not have any plans to tour but of course we are always open to the possibility and I hope we are able to at some point.

 

7.The ep came out on Manicidic Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

7.      Pete- I own and operate Manicidic Records so it seemed like a great way to help gain some exposure to our project. Manicidic Records was founded in 2005 and we currently have 32 releases to date. Bands like Danny Tanner, So I Shot Myself and Gukurahundi have really helped to establish us in the extreme metal scene. Our new sub-label Manicidic BLACK was just founded this year in 2014 and our goal is to release free digital split and EP releases for emerging black metal artists. 

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

8.       Pete- The 'Wheels Within Wheels' EP has only been live for a couple of weeks now but the response has been outstanding so far. 

 

9.When can we expect a full length album and also what musical direction do you see the band heading into in the future?

9.       Justin- I think we should have the full length out later this year. If things go smoothly I don’t see that being an issue. I’d like to say earlier but 2014 is the goal. As for the sound there are many more layers to the full length and I would say a greater sophistication overall. The EP is a great snapshot of what we are all about but there is only so much you can showcase in 5 minutes!

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

10.   Justin- I’m old school, my brain is hardwired from the early death metal days 89’-92’. That laid the foundation for me and I’ve found things I like along the way but nothing as good as the old Florida / New York scene. Some of those bands along the way would be Despised Icon, Benighted, Deranged, Necrophagist, Decapitated, Immolation, to name a few.

Pete- I too am obsessed with the early death metal scene, mainly the Finnish bands of the 90's most recently; Demilich, Depravity, Demigod, Rippikoulu etc. My other musical loves include most genres of black metal, most recently atmospheric black metal by the likes of Panopticon, Drukne, WITTR, Ifing etc. Also mid 90's-early 00's NJ Hardcore; One 4 One, NJ Bloodline, For The Love Of, Shattered Realm etc.

11.What are some of your interests outside of music?

11.   Justin- Discovering new beers I’ve never had before that make me stumble around giddy as a school girl drooling with delight! And that endless pursuit of brewing your own beer that will one day win you a gold medal in a major beer competition. Stay thirsty.

Pete- Same here, however, beer truly pays the bills for me! The growing craft beer market is ever changing and morphing into something bigger and better. Its a full time job in and of itself to just stay on top of whats happening! I wouldnt want to be involved in another professional industry. 

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

12.   Justin- I just want to thank the fans that have shown us such awesome support during our short existence. The response has been great so far

Pyrrhon/The Mother Of Virtues/Relapse Records/2014 CD Review

  Pyrrhon  are  a  band  from  New  York  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  with  a  musical  style  i  would  describe  as being  brutal,  progressive  and  technical  sounding  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "The  Mother  of  Virtues"  which  will  be  released  by  Relapse  Records.

  The  album  starts  out  with  a  very  fast,  heavy,  brutal  and  technical  sound  along  with  blast  beats,  screams  and  growls  as  well  as  bringing  in  a  mixture  of  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  As  the  album  progresses  the  music  gets  more  progressive  and  experimental  while  not  straying  too  far  away  from  their  brutal  sound  and  they  seem  to  have  a  little bit  more  black  metal  influences  this  time  around  and  at  times  they  also  bring  in  clean  playing  along  with  a  great  amount  of  psychedelic  and  jazz  elements  and  they  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  guitar  solos  and  leads  on  this  recording  and  at  time s the  vocals  also  having  an  aggressive  industrial/noise  rock  feeling  to  them.

  With  this  album  Pyrrhon  get  a  lot  more  progressive  and  experimental  with  their  music  while  still  keeping  around  their  death  metal  roots  and  I  would  considering  this  recording  as  being psychedelic,  technical  death  metal.

  Song  lyrics  cover  dark  and  demented  storytelling,  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  as  well  as  some  of  the  songs  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Pyrrhon  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  progressive  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "White  Flag"  "Eternity  In  A  Breath"  "Invisible  Injury"  and  "The  Mother  Of  Virtues".  8  out  of  10.  

Blood Mortized/The Demon, The Angel, The Disease/Chaos Records/2013 CD Review

  Blood  Mortized  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  with  a  style  i  would  describe  as  being  old  school  Swedish  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "The  Demon,  The  Angel,  The  Disease"  which  was  released  by  Chaos  Records.

  The  album  starts  out  with  sound  effects  and  spoken  word  samples  before  going  into  a  more  fast  old  school  Swedish  death  metal  sound  along  with  melody,  blast  beats  and  growls  as  well  as  bringing  in  a  mixture  of  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  screams  which  also  leads  up  to  solos.

  The  band  also  bring  their  old  school  death  metal  sound  to  the  other  tracks  as  well  as  well  as  adding  in  slower  sections  during  certain  parts  of  the  recording  and  at  times  they  also  bring in  more  brutal  sounds  in  some  of  the  songs  and  on  one  of  the  tracks  they  bring  in  a  few  seconds  of  Gregorian  chants  and  synths  before returning  to  a  more  fast  and  brutal  direction  and  on  the  last  song  they  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  acoustic  gutiars.

  With  this  album  Blood  Mortized  stick  to  the  old  school  Swedish  death  metal  sound  that  they  are  known  for  and  remain  in  the  early  90's  direction  and  while  they  bring  in   nothing  new  or  original  the  songs  are  are  still  very  heavy  sounding  and  well  executed.  

  Song  lyrics  cover  horror,  gore,  satanic  and  dystopian  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy,  old  school  and  professional  sound  along  with  the  bass  guitars  being  mixed  down  low  in  the  mix.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Blood  Mortized  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  old  school  Swedish  style  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Bastard"  "Dysphoria  Dystopia"  "Blessed  Are  the  Dead"  and  "The  Demon,  The  Angel,  The  Disease".  8  out  of  10.

   

  

Minus One World Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band? -Well, we are just bunch of guys from small town of Salo, Finland who shared interest in thrash/death metal and thought it would be cool to form a band. Six years has passed and still going!

2.A few months back you had released a new ep, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical direction of the new recording and also how does it differ from your previous demo's? -Recording process for our upcoming EP "Super Electric Cancer Machine" is almost done and in my opinion there is slightly more groove on the riffing. Otherwise we stayed true to our earlier songs.

3.Can you tell us a little bit more about the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music? -There is basically two categories where you can put my lyrics: Topics that inspire me and topics that pisses me off. For example the song "Empire Strikes Back" and song from upcoming EP "Heisenberg Rises" are just results of watching a lot of Star Wars and Breaking Bad. Then there are songs like "Kallo Halki Maahan" and upcoming song "Super Electric Cancer Machine". "Kallo Halki Maahan" (Roughly translated "Skull Smashed To The Ground") is about drunken assholes who wander around town at the weekends and try to pick a fights with random guys for no other reason than to boost their large ego. "Super Electric Cancer Machine" is about peoples obsession for brand new smartphones and other useless toys that do nothing but decreases their quality of life.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Minus One World'? -Well, one very hungover morning we decided to play some Super Mario Bros on NES. Ville showed us a bug on the game that leads you to level called "world -1". It's basically a water-level that starts over when you reach the finishing point. The existence of such a horrible level was so brutal that we decided to take it as a bands name.

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? -In my opinion the best show we had this far was at the local bar where we warmed-up for a finnish band called "Mokoma" which is a pretty big deal in finland. At our gigs we try to just have fun and try not to take thing too seriously. I personally hate when bands just stand on the stage and try to play their songs with minimal mistakes and with the same tempo they played them on their albums. Thats why we jump around at the stage and the crowd, play fast, improvise a little etc. Just trying to have a good time and wish that the audience haves too.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future? -Not really, it would be cool thought to have a tour with some other band.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest? -We probably send few of our EP:s to some record companies but we don't really search one activally. In modern times with internet you don't necessarily need a record label behind you unless you try to make bunch of money with your music which is not our main goal. Altought it would be nice.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death and thrash metal? -We have found out that mostly germans and south-americans enjoy our music from foreign countries. Don't know why, maybe they have taste for good music.

9.When can we expect a full length album where do you see the band heading into musically during the future? -We are still a small band so EP per year is a pretty good ratio for now. Can't really tell about the future, hopefully we still make death/thrash metal instead of growing up and starting to make lame radio friendly rock music.

10.What are some bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays? -Ville makes mostly our songs so I can't really give you 100% accurate answer but mostly we are influenced by old school thrash, death and speed metal. Bands like Sodom, Whiplash, Anthrax etc... Maybe little heavy metal too like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Mostly we listen to metal and punk music but we tend to listen to all kinds of music that are just good. For example I just happen to listen Oingo Boingo while I answer these questions.

11.What are some of your interests outside of music? -Alcohol and all kinds of nerdy stuff like video games, movies etc.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts? -Keep supporting real metal and remember to drink beer!

-Jasu and other guys from Minus One World

Minus One World/Sewage/2014 EP Review

  Minus  One  World  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2014  ep  "Sewage".

  The  ep  starts  out  with  a  very  fast,  heavy  and  old  school  death/thrash  metal  sound  along  with  growls  and  blast  beats  a  few  seconds  later  and  after  awhile  melody  and  high  pitched  screams  are  added  into  the  recording  before  adding  in  solos  and  leads.

  As  the  ep  continues  the  band  sticks  to  its  old  school  mixture  of  thrash  and  death  metal  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  a  mixture  of  slow  and  fast  parts.

  Minus  One  World  play  some  very  well  executed  death/thrash  metal  with  this  recording  bringing  in  a  mixture  of  modern  and  old  school  influences  along  with  a  good  amount  of  melody  to  create  a  very  interesting  sounding  ep.

  Song  lyrics  are  written  in  a  mixture  of  Finnish  and  English  and  cover  violent  and  everyday  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and professional  sound  for  being  a  self  released  recording  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  ep.

  In  my  opinion  Minus  One  World  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Target"  adn  "Sewage".  8  out  of  10.

Apocrophex/Wheels Within Wheels/Manicidic Records/2014 EP Review

  Apocrophex  are  a  band  from  New  Jersey  that  plays  a  very  heavy  and  technical  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  ep  "Wheels  Within  Wheels"  which  was  released  by  Manicidic  Records.

  The  ep  starts  out  with  a  very  fast,  heavy  and  brutal  sound  along  with  growls,  blast  beats  and  technical  guitar  leads  as  well  as  bringing  in  a  mixture  of  slow  and  fast  parts  along  with  some  screams  and  on  the following  track  they  add  some  melody  to  their  brutal  and  technical  sound  as  well  as  bringing  in  mid  paced  sections  along  with  a  small  amount  of  rough  vocals  that  almost  have  a  melodic  tone  to  them.


  With  this  ep  Apocrophex  stick  to  a  very  heavy  and  brutal  sound  while  having  a  great  amount  of  technical  sounding  guitar  leads  and  they  have  a  great  balance  with  the  way  they  mix  brutality  and  heaviness  with  talent  and  skill.

  Song  lyrics  cover  philosophical  and  metaphysical  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  to  it.

  In  my  opinion  Apocrophex  are  a  very  great  sounding  heavy,  brutal  and  technical  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Halos  Of  Light".  8  out  of  10.