Druknroll/Boiling Point/Metal Scrap Records/2014 CD Review

  Druknroll  are  a  band  from  Ukraine  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  that  plays  a  very  symphonic  form  of  metal  with  traces  of  thrash  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Boiling Point"  which  was  released  by  Metal  Scrap  Records.

  The  album  starts  out  with  clean  guitars  and  symphonic  sounds  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  then  thrash  style  vocals  and  back  ups  start  to  kick  in  along  with  some  melodic  singing  and  riffing  and  after  awhile  hard  rock  style  solos  become  a  part  of  the  recording.

  On  the  following  track  acoustic  guitars  are  brought  in  to  create  a  power  ballad  along  with  some  psychedelic  sounds  as  well  as  the  bass  guitars  adding  in  more  power  and  as  the  album  moves  on  there  is  a  brief  use  of  Japanese  folk  instruments  before  going  into  a  more  heavy  and  modern  thrash  direction  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  and  the  band  still  keep  the  melodic  vocals  and  symphonic  parts.

  As  the  album  progresses  the  music  starts  going  for  more  of  a  symphonic  hard  rock/metal  sound  along  with  the  heaviness  of  thrash  and  death  metal  as  well  as  bringing  a  modern  style  to  all  of  the  genres  they  combine  and  the  acoustic  guitars  and  psychedelic  sounds  also  make  their  return  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  towards  the  end  the  death  metal  elements  start  to  get  even  more  heavier  while  the  music  keeps  its  hard  and  melodic  sound  along  with  some  traces  of  alternative  rock  in  the  softer  parts.

  Druknroll  remain  true  to  their  symphonic  and  melodic  sound  with  this  recording  while  also  keeping  the  death,  groove  and  thrash  metal  element s of  their  previous  release  as  well  as  bringing  in  small  amounts  of  psychedelic  and  alternative  rock  which  sounds  great  with  a  professional  sounding  production  and  lyrics  that  cover  everyday  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Druknroll  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  symphonic  and  melodic  metal  mixed  in  with  thrash  and  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Rage"  "In  the  Power  Of  Depth"  "Tenth  Night"  and  "Saturation".  8  out  of  10.

  

Sabbatory Interview

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

 

Well, our debut album is almost out. It's called Endless Asphyxiating Gloom. We're playing a fest in Montreal this summer which we are all looking forward to. Besides that, writing new material and trying to link up with some other black and death bands.

2.Recently you have recorded a new album can you tell us a little bit more about the musical sound of the new recording and also how does it differ from the demo you had released in 2012?

The album is seven songs of pure death metal. There are fast parts, slow parts, melodic parts and every thing in between. I think there is something for everybody on it. We just went for an honest production where you could actually hear the riffs and what was going on with every instrument. Something which cannot be said for a lot of the so called "heavy" music out these days. The demo was recorded and mixed within about two hours and the album was recorded over several days and took over a year to get the way we wanted it, so you can probably see how they will differ in sound.

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

The lyrics span a few different subjects. All dark, disturbing and extremely morbid of course. The album has a theme of misanthropy. I'll let you judge what they are about for yourselves, but definitely no tree hugging or political garbage that's for sure.

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

Nick came up with it. This was before I knew about that Abhorer record, though I think it was just a coincidental thing.

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?

We have a great time every time we play. I guess our biggest show was opening for Napalm Death a couple years ago.  Playing live for me is all about playing riffs and head banging. You can't beat that feeling up on a stage.

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

Not much touring this summer except for Rrroooaaarrr in Montreal this August. We we going to play some shows along the way to and from that I believe.

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

We're really pleased with the reactions so far. Looking forward to having our album available for distribution so everyone can hear it.

8.What is going on with the other musical projects these days that some of the band members are involved with?

Dan is involved in Archagathus and a hundred other things I couldn't even fit onto this page. Me and Marshal are involved in a couple of those those things as well. My main focus is of course on Sabbatory.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Well we are in the process of writing the next album and I can say for sure that the things you like about our first one will definitely still be there on the second one. We're spending a lot of time perfecting the most important parts (the riffs) before the songs are put together so it will be more intense and mature in my opinion. 

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

 I think it's obvious when you hear us - Unleashed, Cancer, Morgoth, Obituary and Merciless are all really big influences for sure. I try and channel old black metal like Ildjarn and Paragon Belial as well. Lately I have been listening to a lot of newer bands who are doing it right. Torture Rack, Warpvomit and Rude to name a few.

11.How would you describe your views on Occultism?

Without trying to seem like a total dickhead, I don't think that's something I want to discuss here.

12.What are some of your non musical interests? 

Well, we are all massive drinkers, so usually anything that can be encompassed in that. 

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

Thank you for the interview and thanks to everyone for all the support, we are just getting started. SUPPORT REAL DEATH METAL

Sabbatory: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sabbatory/302276589803917

Unspeakable Axe: http://unspeakableaxerecords.com
Dark Descent: http://www.darkdescentrecords.com

 

Morbid Flesh/Embedded In The Ossuary/Unholy Prophcies/2014 CD Review

  Morbid  Flesh  are  a  band  from  Spain  that  plays  a  dark  and  old  school  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Embedded  In  The  Ossuary"  which  was  released  by  Unholy  Prophecies.

  The  album  starts  out  with  a  slow,  dark,  heavy  and  melodic  sound  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts  and  atmospheric  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  leads  up  to  guitar  solos  becoming  a  part  of  the  recording  and  on  the  second  track  the  music  goes  into  a  fast  old  school  death  metal  direction  along  with  screams  and  growls  while  also  having  a  good  amount  of  melody.

  After  awhile  the  band  brings  in  a  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  which  bring  in  a  heavy  early  90's  Swedish  death  metal  feeling  to  the  recording  and  the  band  avoids  bringing  blast  beats  onto  the  album  which  also  enhances  the  dark  atmosphere  of  the  songs  that  are  present  on  the  album  and  at  time s you  can  hear  some  evil  sounding  synths  in  the  background  on  a  couple  of  the  tracks.

  Morbid  Flesh  are  another  band  that  plays  tribute  to  the  Swedish  death  metal scene  of  the  early  90's  and  while  it  is  not  completely  original  it  is  still  very  great  quality  sounding  death  metal  along  with  a  raw  yet  heavy  production  and  lyrics  that  cover  dark  and  occult  themes.  

  In  my  opinion  Morbid  Flesh  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album>  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Charnel  House"  and  "Summoning  The  Sorcery  Of  Death".  8  out  of  10.       

Ferium Interview

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

Tiran Ezra - Vox

Elram Boxer - Guitar

Yoni Biton - Bass

Guy Goldenberg - Guitar

Ron Amar - Drums

We are a Death Metal band from Israel, we've been existing in the current line-up for about 3 years now.

Have opened for the biggest acts to appear in Israel such as (Gojira, Aborted)

And have toured EU with The Agonist & Threat Signal, and we are now in the process of releasing our Debut Album "Reflections".

2.How would you describe your musical sound?

Tiran: Very aggressive, we've created our own sound through various stages of songwriting.

Elram:  It all came down to being as direct and as angry as possible, that's where we get our muse.

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

Tiran: Once you read a few lines you can easily understand we're dealing with day-to-day subjects here, the lyrics are there for anyone who can relate of course, but it really is an outlet for me the most, I don't write for anybody else, we don't look for a catchy chorus, if somebody finds comfort in the words I scream then I did my job as a songwriter.

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

Tiran: It is a transformation of the word "Ferrum" which means Iron in the Periodic Table of Elements, it came to me & Guy during physics class when we were 16  that it could be a great name for a band, and it just stuck!

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

Elram: Our stage presence had always been noticeable, we usually attracted a lot of attention from crowds, lately we started getting really comfortable on stages so we make the crowd feel like they are our best friends and in a sort of rehearsal.

Tiran:  A really tight rehearsal!!

Elram: Really good shows that we did lately were definitely the Gojira opener slot in Israel, a full house sold out, 1,100 people, and the show at the Rock N' Roll arena in Italy, beautiful comfortable stage!

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

Tiran: We are currently looking into some autumn dates in Europe, and we are releasing the album in Israel in May, this year is just starting for us!

7.The new album came out on Transcend Music, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

The label is based in the UK, and the Founder Rob Ferguson has worked with many big acts before (Iron Maiden, Robbie Williams), the fact that the artist management chose us to be legitimate for the label of such great acts (Oh, Sleeper, Yashin, Liferuiner) means a lot to us.

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

Tiran: The reactions are always overwhelming, it's always nice to see people from across the globe who actually like what you're doing no matter you are from, I think the best example for that is our Luxembourgish crowd, we were there once to open for our dear brothers Scarred on their release show, and since then we came back once, after our tour with The Agonist, to see a club almost completely full (70-90 peeps, very nice in a place you practically don't know!) which really blew us away, I think we get more support there then Israel haha

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Tiran:I think if you take the album "5ive" from Five's release in 2000 and listen to a few...

Elram: Nahhh

Were going to focus more on epic riffs, to have a more memorable approach to them, already have enough material for around two albums.

Tiran: And of course advance musically & technically, and maybe write a couple of 90's pop hits.

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

Elram: I don't think there is any band that we actually say their name out loud while we write the music, but every person is free to hear what he hears in our music for themselves.

Tiran: We had people tell us we sound like Mastodon even... So yeah! Haha.

I personally get a lot of motivation from singers like Whitechapel's Phil Bozeman, and Textures' ex-Eric Kalsbeek.

Ron's feel is more jazzy, and Yoni on bass just has a big set of basketballs & Jazzbass which is pretty much enough when you have to sound massive.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Elram: Doggggiiieeessss

Tiran: I love art, tattoos, photoshop etc'

Ron: Porn!

Guy: Gaming, I am a retired WoW addict..! Glory to the Forsaken

Yoni: I have a sports car, I love sport cars

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

We'd like to thank you guys for taking interest in us, keep supporting new and coming bands!

It means the world to us!

Cheers!

Http://www.facebook.com/FeriumIsrael

Http://www.feriumband.com

Http://www.youtube.com/Feriumband

Gluttony/Beyond the Veil Of Flesh/Vic Records/2014 CD Review

  Gluttony  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  plays  a  very  old  school  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Beyond  The  Veil  Of  Flesh"  which  will  be  released  by  Vic  Records.

  The  album starts  out  with  a  very  fast,  heavy  and  old  school  death  metal  sound  along  with  some  growls  and  after  awhile  melody  and  high  pitched  screams  are  added  into  the  recording  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  sounding  very  powerful  and  after  awhile  the  band  start  mixing  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  together.

  After  awhile  blast  beats  are  added  into  the  music  and  the  album  really  starts  capturing  the  92  era  Swedish  death  metal  sound  and  there  is  also  a  good  amount  of  melody  presented  in  the  recording  and  at  times  slower  parts  are  added  into  the  recording  and  all  of  the  songs  that  are  present  on  this  recording  avoid  all  modern  trends.

  Gluttony  are  another  band  that  plays  an  old  school  form  of  Swedish  death  metal  and  never  add  in  modern  sounds  and  while  it  is  not  original  it  still  has  a  true  death  metal  feeling  to  it  along  with  an  old  school  yet  professional  production  and  lyrics  that  cover  zombies  and  gore  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Gluttony  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  album>  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Revenant"  "Raise  the  Dead"  and  "On  The  Stab".  8  out  of  10.  

Ferium/Reflections/Transcend Music/2014 CD Review

  Ferium  are  a  band  from  Israel  that  plays  death  metal  mixed  with  metalcore  and   groove  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Reflections"  which  was  released  by  Transcend  Music.

  The  album  starts  out  with  a  very  heavy  sound  and  a  few  seconds  later  spoken  word  parts  are  added  into  the  recording  before  adding  in  more  aggressive  vocals  along  with  screams  and  growls  and  after  awhile  groove  metal,  djent,  and  hardcore  elements  are  added  into  the  music.

  When  we  get  more  into  the  album  melody  is  brought  into  the  music  along  with  all  of  the  musicla  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  music  sticks  mostly  to  a  slow  or  mid  paced  direction  but  there  is  a  brief  use  of  fast  parts  and  blast  beats  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with  a  small  amount  of  guitar  solos  and  leads.

   On  this  album  Ferium  takes  death  and  groove  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with  djent  and  metalcore  to  create  a  very  heavy  and  modern  sound  along  with  a  good  amount  of  melody  and  while  it  is  not  all  that  original  in  sound  it  is  still  very  well  executed.

  Song  lyrics  cover  personal  struggle,  relationship  problems,  and  the  day  in-day  out  struggles  of  a  mundane  existence,  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  Ferium  are  a  very  decent  sounding  mixture  of  death  metal,  groove,  djent  and  metalcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "By  the  Book"  "Mirror"  "Change  Of  Winds"  and  "Reflections".  7/5  out  of  10.      

Sabbatory/Endless Asphyxiating Gloom/Unspeakable Axe/2014 CD Review

  Sabbatory  are  a  band  from  Manitoba,  Canada  that  plays  an  old  school  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Endless  Asphyxiating  gloom"  which  was  released  by  Unspeakable  Axe  Records.

  The  album  starts  out  with  a  very  fast,  heavy  and  old  school  death  metal  sound  along  with  some  growling  vocals  and  you  can  also  hear  elements  of  thrash  in  the  recording  as  well  as  some  blast  beats  and  screams  and  after  awhile  mid  paced  sections,  solos  and  leads  make  their  way  onto  the  album  along  with  a  small  amount  of  melody.

  When  we  get  more  into  the  album  all  of  the  musical  instruments  start  sounding  very  powerful  and  the  band  also  sticks  to  a  more  mid  80's  style  of  death  metal  as  well  as  ignoring  all  trends  and  genres  for  the  past  20  years  as  well  as  slowing  down  during  certain  parts  of  the  recording.

  With  this  recording  Sabbatory  go  back  to  the  death  metal  era  of  87-91  and  mixes  in  some  thrash  elements  and  melody  to  create  an  album  that  pays  homage  to  the  death  metal  legends  of  the  past.

  Song  lyrics  cover  Death,  Suicide,  and  Occult  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  Sabbatory  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  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Being,  Thy  Eternal  Perplexor"  "Infantasy"  and  "Orbiting  Obscuron".  8  out  of  10.