Kruor/Nightmares/2014 Full Length Album Review

  Kruor  are  a  band  from Finland  that  plays  a  very  old  school  and  brutal  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2014  album  "Nightmares".

  A  very  heavy  and  brutal  death  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  growling  vocals  and  high  pitched  screams  kicking  in  a  few  seconds  alter  and  you  can  also  hear  a  lot  of  morbid  sounding  melodies  in  the  bands  musical  style  which  also  brings  in  a  heavy  Morbid  Angel  influence  at  times  and  after  awhile  the  music  starts  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  Blast  beats  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  lot  of  influences  from  90's  death  metal  but  done  with  a  production  that  gives  the  music  more  of  a  modern  day  feeling  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  bring  in  more  of  a  dark  and  melodic  sound  to  the  bands  musical  style  and  there  are  also  some  grim  spoken  word  parts  being  utilized  on  a  couple  of  tracks.

  Kruor  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  dark,  brutal  and  old  school  sounding,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  occult,  and  horror  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Kruor  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  "In  The  Summoning"  "Witch  Trials"  "We  Are  Abomination"  and  "Night  Of  Torment".  8  out  of  10.

    

Disgrace/True Enemy/Closed Casket Archives/2015 CD Review

  Disgrace  are  a  band  from  California  that  plays  a  mixture  of  hardcore  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "True  Enemy"  which  will  be  released  in  march  by  Closed  Casket  Activities.

  Distorted  sounds  start  off  the  album  before  going  for  more  of  an  old  school  death  metal  direction  along  with  vocals  that  combine  growls  and  aggressive  hardcore  style  vocals  together  and  the  music  also  mixes  in  a  great  amount  of  breakdowns  from  the  later  mentioned  genre  as  well  and  while  the  music  sounds  very  90's  orientated  the  production  gives  the  songs  more  of  a  modern  day  feeling.

  At  times  you  can  hear  a  decent  amount  of  melody  coming  out  of  the  guitar  riffs  and  the  songs  also  stick  to  mostly  a  slow  to  mid  paced  musical  direction  while  there  are  a  small  amount  of  fast  parts  and  a  brief  use  of  blast  blast  beats  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

   When  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  which  are  very  rarely  they  bring  in  even  more  of  an  early  90's  extreme  metal  sound  to  the  bands  musical  style  and  some  of  the  alter  tracks  also  bring  in  more  modern  metalcore  elements  at  times  and  there  is  also  a  brief  instrumental  that  introduces  acoustic  guitars  to  the  recording  while  the  remaining  tracks  show  the  music  returning  back  to  a  heavier  musical  direction  and  the  last  song  also  brings  in  a  small  amount  of  melodic  vocals  which  also  gives  the  recording  a  touch  of  groove  metal.

  Disgrace  takes  the  early  90's  styles  of  hardcore  and  death  metal  and  mix  them  together  with  a  touch  of  modern  metalcore  which  also  gives  their  musical  style  more  of  an  up  to  date  feeling,  the  production  has  a  very  professional  sound  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  violent  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Disgrace  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death  metal  and  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "True  Enemy"  "Uncreation"  "The  Wall"  and  "The  Dawn".  8  out  of  10. 

Sewercide/Severing The Mortal Coil/Infernal Devastation Records/2015 EP Review

  Sewercide  are  a  band  from Australia  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  "Severing  The  Mortal  Coil"  which  was  released  by  Infernal  Devastation  Records.

  A  very  heavy  and  old  school  thrash  metal  sound  starts  off  the  ep  and  after  awhile  the  music  starts  to  speed  up  a  bit  add  in  blast  beats  and  80's  style  death  metal  and  the  music  also  brings  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  solos  and  leads  the  band  uses  also  remain  true  to  an  80's  style  of  death/thrash  metal  

  All  of  the  songs  sound  like  they  could  of  easily  been  recorded  and  released  in  the  mid  80's  and  some  of  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  melody  and  all  of  the  music  sticks  a  very  raw  raw  and  old  school  death/thrash  sound  from  beginning  and  there  is  never  a  soft  or  weak  moment  present  on  any  of  the  tracks  while  one  song  does  bring  in  the sound  of  a  horror  movie  soundtrack  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Sewercide  plays  a  style  of  death/thrash  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  80's  and  also  has  a  great  amount  of  raw  aggression  being  presented  in  all  of  their  songs,  the  production  sounds  very  old  school  yet  professional  at  the  same  time  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent  and  dark  themes.  

  In  my  opinion  Sewercide  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  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  "Rituals  Of  Ceremonial  Sickness"  and  "Exist  In  Punishment".  8  out  of  10.

Sepulchral Curse Interview

For those who have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
We are a four-piece assault squad formed in 2013, from the western shores of Finland, where the city of Turku is acting as our headquarters. Sepulchral Curse is the name, and the individuals behind this abomination are Jaakko Riihimäki (guitars), Kari Kankaanpää (vocals), Niilas Nissilä (bass guitar), and finally me, Tommi Ilmanen (drums). Old school Death Metal with some hints from other forms of music is our main weapon, and total world domination is our goal. At the moment we have recorded only one EP, and played a handful of gigs, but new acts of terror and propaganda are under planning.

In December you had released an EP, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
As hinted above, the music on “A Birth in Death” has its foundations strongly in late 80’s and early 90’s Death Metal, but there surely is some Black and Thrash Metal stylized riffs and melodies to be heard. In other words I would describe the EP as a perfect soundtrack to set somebody on fire, then smash their bones with a hammer and finally feed their remains to a pack of filthy rats. Or maybe one should imagine how it would feel to get hit by a truck?

What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explore with your music?
It really depends on the fact who has written the lyrics. Kari writes more about the “basic” topics of this genre; death, war and so on. You know, fictional grotesque stories. I think that the lyrics he wrote for this EP are printed in the booklet, and maybe they are somewhere in the internet, so I encourage you to read them to get the idea. I myself have written lyrics for a couple of new songs, and they are based on some morbid visions and fucked up nightmares I’ve seen about desolation of mankind brought by obscure, malevolent deities and beings. As a writer I’m heavily inspired by occult and satanic texts and teachings, as well as by horror. And by horror I do not mean movies or such, but rather all the things that humans fear, find terrifying and grim, or experience as something that shouldn’t exist at all. But as you might know by now, we do not write about partying, drinking and breaking up with girls. We leave those topics to pop stars and other wimps.

What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name “Sepulchral Curse”?
Before our group had a name, or even single rehearsals, we had a couple of songs already written and we really wanted a name that would characterize perfectly our music and sound (to come). At the time I was thinking that I’d like our name to describe something ancient, otherworldly and so evil, that its true name would be forgotten long time ago by the living things on Earth. Something so hard to understand that there are only few words to portray it. Then, somewhere behind the walls of consciousness, came “Sepulchral Curse” and when I presented the name to others they accepted it without hesitating.

What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
I think that I’m not too far from the truth if I say that our best gig was here in our home town in May 2014, when we were playing at this small bar Portti. The atmosphere was so intense and full of energy that you were almost able to feel it on your skin. Our playing was sharp, yet aggressive, and the audience shared our madness without questioning. It was just perfect. Our stage performance in general is kind of simple; no props, banners, light shows, trampolines (fuck you Dragonforce!) or visuals behind our backs. Just violent bursts energy and dedication, and fair amount of sweat. Although I have to admit that I’m very fascinated about the idea to experiment with some abstract visuals or videos and to combine those with our music. Something to consider in the future!

Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
Touring must wait, but some random single shows are coming. Let us talk about that tour in the future when there are more people aware of us and more material released!

The EP was released on Chaos and Hell Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
They are a small label from Greece, founded in 2012, “A Birth in Death” being the seventh release by them. The cooperation between us is working nicely and everything has gone as planned. They do their job with passion, and deserve to be noticed by all true metal-maniacs.

On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of Death Metal?
Oh hell… I think that Kari could be able to give you a better answer considering the topic. But as far as I now (or think I know) the most of our fans come from central Europe or South-America. But generally speaking the feedback has been positive all around the globe. Only truly negative comments have been spoken our fellow countrymen, hah. But what can you do; most of the people here only like to listen “metal” played in radio, which in reality is just bad pop music disguised by distorted guitars and harsh vocals.
What is going on with some of the other bands these days that some of the band members are a part off?
Jaakko isn’t playing in other bands right now. Kari is doing vocals in a Death/Doom Metal band called Solothus, and I think that they are focusing on new material at this very moment. I myself have this solo project; Gambanteinn, a frantic piece of Black/Thrash Metal. This small label, Fettered Redwoods, is releasing Gambanteinn’s debut EP as a cassette in the near future, so watch out for that! I have also this other project, which Niilas is participating too, but I think it’s better to talk about that when we have recorded something.

When can we expect a full length album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We are actually composing and rehearsing new material for a full length! Currently we have two complete songs, and two under construction. If all goes as planned, nothing awful comes across and the stars are aligned right, then the full length should come out at the end of this year. At the moment it seems that we are expanding out from the pen of old school-sound. Of course our musical basis is there, but there sure are more elements from other genres in the new compositions. I think that there are more influences from classical Scandinavian Black Metal-albums. These four new pieces we have at our hands are much darker and somehow introvert, so to speak. They feel somehow more intimate than the older songs. Genereally speaking it is hard (of not impossible) to foretell where our musical path is going when more songs are made, but I’m pretty sure that the listener will always able to tell that “Yeah, this sure is Sepulchral Curse”. You know, we have our sound and we are not going to lose it.

What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
I think that nowadays we do not wittingly take influences from the music we are listening, compared to that how the composing process worked when we young. Then you would listen to a band and think “This is something I want to do or try to do”. But today it is something that happens at our sub-conscious levels; you just grab your instrument, play and almost accidentally create something. I know that this is a cliché, but what can you do? It is the truth. When Jaakko and Kari were talking about forming this band, they talked that they’d like to do something that sounds old school Death Metal, something like Autopsy, Dismember and Nunslaughter have done, but that’s about it when we are talking about bands that have influenced us in a direct way. I’m not sure what music the other guys are listening to these days, expect that Jaakko (and me too!) likes Perturbator very much, hah. I have myself listened to bands and artists like …and Oceans, Havoc Unit, King Dude, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Kauan, Hans Zimmer, Chelsea Wolfe and Svartidauði. And of course Nobuo Uematsu, who is my all-time favorite composer ever.

How could you describe your views on occultism?
This is a topic I can’t talk about on behalf of others, but something that I can almost definitely say is that we do not share our views or believe in same things. Let’s just say that I have my own occult/spiritual dogmas and perspectives on things, and all you need to know about them is to be found in the music and lyrics I make.

What are some of your non musical interests?
As said before, all kinds of occult/satanic/spiritual texts and writings, horror literature and macabre poetry. I’m also a big fan of old horror/gore/exploitation films! Psychology is a topic I’m interested in; especially all the studies considering the behavior and mindset of murderers, psychopaths, sadists and rapists. It is interesting how people act when they are totally fucked up. That and the writings about why humans experience fear, hate and other extreme emotions are very fascinating. Quality rum and whiskey is also more than fine with me, hah!

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

Monsterworks/The Existential Codex/Eat, Lead & Die Music/2015 CD Review

  Canada's  Monsterworks  returns  with  a  new  album  that  continues  the  mixture  of  progressive,  thrash,  power  and  death  metal  of  previous  recordings  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "The  Existential  Codex"  which  will  be  released  on  February  27th  by  Eat,  Lead  &  Die  Music.

  A  very  heavy  prog  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  high  pitched  screams  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  you  can  also  hear  a  trace  of  70's  rock  in  the  bands  musical  style  along  with  some  clean  singing  being  utilized  at  times  and  a  good  portion  of  the  tracks  are  long  and  epic  in  length.

  When  solos  are  utilized  they  bring  in  a  very  old  school  heavy  metal/hard  rock  sound  to  the  bands  musical  style  and  as  the  album  progresses  element s of  groove  metal  can  be  heard  at  times  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  there  are  also  a  few  tracks  that  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  acoustic  guitars  along  with  a  small  amount  of  violins.

  Some  of  the  tracks  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  and  while  some  of  the  songs  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  classic  rock  elements  the  album  still  sound s very  modern  and  some  of t he  high  vocals  bring  a  King  Diamond  influence  to  the  recording  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  being  utilized  on  one  of  the  tracks.

  Monsterworks  creates  another  recording  that  has  the  heaviness  of  thrash  and death  metal  along  with  the  melody  of  power  metal  which  they  also  mix  in  with  progressive  and  classic  rock  on  this  recording  to  create  something  very  original  sounding,  the  production  sound s very  professional  while  the  lyric s cove r philosophical  and  existentialism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Monsterworks  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Ripple  Effect"  and  "Tapping  The  Void".  8  out  of  10.    

Void Creation Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Void Creation was founded in Vienna in 2006 by ex-members of Diabolica and Saviour and Seeds of Sorrow. The active Line-up was completed in 2008. In all this years we played a lot of gigs also supporting bands like Nile, Misery Index, Dew-Scented, Possessed, Nervecell, Melechesh, Inhumate or Cataract. An absolute higlight for the band was the Wacken Open Air appearence in 2010 and our first record “Mind Control” from 2011. Live Void Creation guarantee hurting necks.

2.In March you have your first full length coming out, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the ep you had released in 2011?
Well, you can hear oldschool Thrash as well as you can hear modern Death Metal or Grindcore on “Deadnology”. The songwriting is more complex, faster and brutal than on our first release “Mind Control”.

3.The band has been around since 2006 but so far has only had 2 releases, can you tell us a little bit more about the gaps between recordings?
At the beginning we had some line up changes until Piz finally joined in 2008. Then we worked on new material which leads to our first album “Mind Control” 2011. The years after we used to define our style and grow together as band. It took us some time to find an inner consense. We also played a lot of gigs in this time to establish us as a well known live band. Finally we recorded “Deadnology” in 2014.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
The lyrics are mostly about what we think about our lifes as human beings and what happens in this society. so it is just a reflection of ourselves. Most of the lyrics are pretty apocalyptic. But if you want to draw a realistic picture of society you have no other choice anyway.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Void Creation'?
This oxymeron combines the contradictory terms from the process of creation and the meaningless of the void which gives an idea of the existence and the actions of todays mankind.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band ha splayed over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
One of our best shows was definitley the Wacken Open Air appearence in 2010. There was a great audience but the crew was brilliant. Over the years we establish ourselves as a well known live band. We want to bring as much energy to the audience as possible, so our stage performance is quite intense. Headbanging, moving around, band members crashing involuntarily into one another...such stuff. Better to play one or two false tones than to have a boring stage performance. Besides that, from the first chord on, we can’t stand staying still anyway.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?
On 11th of April we will have our release show in Vienna with Entrail. We want to play as much as we can in and outside austria, also on festivals. But nothing special is planned by now.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death and thrash metal?
We are a band that is focusing on the music, not on the marketing , so we didnt get much feedback worldwide. its more important for us to get feedback after a show and these feedback made us proud everytime. We probably have a very oldschool approach - just getting on stage and giving people a good time. And we seem to be pretty good at that.  Nonetheless now that we are working together with our label MMA, we look forward to be promoted worldwide.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
There probably won’t be big surprises. Of course there’s always room to increase technical skills, write better songs and be more brutal. So, maybe that’s our future: Raising Void Creation to a higher level.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Alex: Metal hit my life at the late 80´s so main influences are old school Thrash bands like Slayer, Megadeth, Kreator .. and Death Metal like Possessed, Morbid Angel and that stuff. Nowadays I also love Stoner/Doom like Jack Frost, St. Vitus or Garcia.
We are also influenced by the 90’s metal bands like Pantera or Machine Head and modern Death Metal and Grind bands. Some bands we listen today are Nile, Gojira, Misery Index, Devil Driver, Napalm Death, Faith No More, Joe Bonamassa, Anathema, ...

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
Some of us likes cooking, and we do sports like cycling or mountain climbing. Alex loves to race on his R6 motorcycle, Berna loves good movies, good books and spending her time with her two adorable and crazy cats. Berni is a huge fan of computer games while Gilli loves to smoke fine cigars drinking and collecting cognac and rum. Piz is also interested in politics and growing vegs.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thanks for the interview. Enjoy our new album and stay tuned \m/

Disrupted/Heavy Death/Apocalyptic Productions/2015 EP Review

  Disrupted  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  plays  an  old  school  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  ep  "Heavy  Death"  which  will  be released  in  March  by  Apocalyptic  Productions.

  A  very  raw  and  old  school  Swedish  death  metal  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  growling  vocals  as  well  as  the  band  utilizing  a  great  amount  of  morbid  sounding  melodies  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  music  can  also  be  very  brutal  at  times.

  All  of  the  songs  sound  like  they  could  of  easily  been  recorded  and  released  during  the  90's  and  all  of  the  tracks  avoid  any  modern  elements  and  also  stay  away  from  using  any  solos  and  leads  to  create  a  very  heavy  style  of  death  metal  and  there  is  never  a  soft  or  weak  moment  ever  present  on  any  of  the  tracks.

  Disrupted  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  90's  tradition  and  they  have  more  of  a  raw  approach  to t his  genre,  the  production  sound s very  raw,  heavy  and  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  death  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Disrupted  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  Swedish  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  D"  and  "Urge!".  8  out  of  10.