Disgrace Interview

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


Disgrace is a metal/hardcore band from all over Southern California. We started in 2011 and put out a 12" called Songs of Suffering in 2012 and a split 7" with Harness in 2013.


2.You have an album coming out in March, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?


We turned up the death metal aspect of the band a little more and aimed for extremity more than catchiness this time around. It still retains our hardcore sound though and we'll never lose that.


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


They range from self-deprecation, to the pseudo-political themes.


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


As said before some songs are about self deprecation and that suits the band. We also wanted to have a "Dis" name like a punk band.


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


Playing at home is always great, and the gig we played in Melbourne was very memorable. There's footage of that on Vimeo I think. We try to play tight and sound good rather than go crazy or anything like that.


6.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?


We just announced an east coast tour in April with God's Hate, and we will do a mainland European tour early this summer.


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


I think both have something to connect to, although we lean far more toward the hardcore side. I don't think metal people have had much experience with us yet other than maybe skipping over our record in the metal section of a record store.


8.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that  some of the band members are a part off?


Twitching Tongues and NAILS are writing albums, Forced Order and God's Hate currently recording albums.


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


It's possible that we head more into the metal territory, but we'll never lose our hardcore edge.


10.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?


Everybody in the band is influenced by different things, but we all listen to similar stuff when it comes to metal/hardcore. Personally I've been listening to a lot of Japanese hardcore and Finnish death metal.


11.What are some of your non musical interests?


We all have 3 or more bands, it's pretty much all we do.


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


New Blacklisted is great. New Convulse is great. New All Out War is great. We love Japan.

Whorion/The Reign Of The 7th Sector/Inverse Records/2015 Full Length Review

  Whorion  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  very  symphonic  and  technical  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "The  Reign Of  The  7th  Sector"  which  will  be  released  in  April  by  Inverse  Records.

  A  very  modern,  heavy  and  brutal  death  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  growling  vocals  before  adding  in  blast  beats  and  symphonic  sounds  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  bring  more  of  a  technical  side  to  the  bands  musical  style.

  High  pitched  screams  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and on  some  of  the  later  tracks  the  riffs  also  start  getting  more  technical  and  at  times  you  can  also  hear  some  spoken  word  samples  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  amount  of  melody  being  utilized  in  the  guitar  riffing  at  times  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  symphonic instrumental  is  added  onto  the  recording  before  making  a  return  back  to  a  more  heavy  and  brutal  direction  on  the  following  tracks  as  well  as  adding  in a  couple  of  songs  that  are  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Whorion  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  modern,  brutal  and  technical  sounding  and  also  adds  in  a  great  amount  of  symphonic  elements  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  science  fiction  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Whorion  are  a  very  great  sounding  technical  and  symphonic  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Flesh  Of  Gods"  "Forbidden  Light"  and  "Arrival  of  Coloss".  8  out  of  10.

    

Infected Chaos Interview

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

Infected Chaos was formed mid 2013 from the remnants of Chaosreign. As the string fraction consisting of Matt (git), Martin (git) and Flo (bass) remained, the line-up was completed by drummer Christoph who also plays in Austrian Thrash Metal band Preterior and vocalist Christian, former Breßack. We´re from Southern Germany and Northern Austria.
We recorded our debut “The Wake of Ares” from summer 2013 until early 2014 all by ourselves while mixing and mastering was done by Christoph Brandes in renowned Iguana Studios who delivered a fantastic job.

2.You have your first album coming out later this month, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

It´s just classical, crushing death metal with catchy leads and no technical ballast. Straight to your face! The sound quality is naturally but clear. Outstanding work by Christoph. Thanks once more for that!

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

Most songs deal with the world as it is today. The masses are repressed and punished by some kind of an “elite” that´s just working for its own profit. Greed determines the way the world turns nowadays. But there´s also resistance against it. And that´s one way to interpret the album title. The ancient god of war is summoned to grant strength in those hard times. The other songs deal with typical death metal issues like death and desperation. Just find out for yourself.

4.In the album title you had 'Ares', and on the album you had a song called IO, the God Of War, do the band members have a huge interest in Mythology'?

I (Christian) would not use the term “religious” for any of my bandmates. But I do have a certain interest in different, ancient cultures and there beliefs and rituals, especially for greek mythology. But as said before, Ares is used in a symbolic way here. I had to deal with an awful situation in private life and had to find my inner strength. That was the first time, Ares came to my mind and a good friend of mine suggested to let him also appear in the title of our album as a statement: “Here I am! I´m back and I´m strong!”. And then I realized I could also use him for the whole concept of the album.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Infected Chaos'?

We were just looking for a cool sounding name that can easily be remembered. And as a bonus it also relates to the former name Chaosreign. But it was never an option to simply use that name because we´re a new band with other individuals in it.

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

As it´s very hard to play shows here because the scene is very small I definitely have to mention our second gig we played in Aalen (Ger) at Rock It Club. We opened for legendary Possessed! What a fucking honour!!! Our second gig and that´s with some of the godfather´s of Death Metal!!! It was overwhelming although the audience could have been bigger. But Mille (owner of Rock It) treated us great and the guys of Possessed were also very cool!
We don´t think a lot when we go on stage. Just sinking into the music and letting your inner beast take possession of yourself. I would describe us as very energetic. Just come to our shows and judge by yourself.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the album is released?

On March 27th, the day the album will finally be released, we will be playing a gig in Ehrwald (A) with two local bands and we are confirmed for the Aaargh!-Festival in Leutkirch/Germany which will take place from june 11th to 13th. We will be opening on Friday. It´s a small but therefore very familiar festival I can only recommend.
But we´re always hungry to enter a stage, so bookers, feel free to contact us!

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

Since the album has not been released yet, there´s not so much feedback until now. Finnish Underground Zine “TheTrueBringerOfDeath” reviewed our album and we got fantastic 8/10. But otherwise there are not that much comments so far. I guess one problem is the social media. People get access to so much new music everyday and thus many just is heard and forgotten. The key to stay in people´s minds is the live experience. Total explosion, blast to your face, exhausted band, exhausted crowd... That´s the metal way!

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

At the moment we´re writing songs for our second album. Our goal is a release in the middle of 2016. And we hope to play a lot of live shows because that´s why we´re doing all this. And we are very happy to have found an eager partner with MetalMusic Austria that can help us to push the band to the next level.

10.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 would have to lie if I didn´t mention the swedish death metal explosion in the 90ies... But I think we got a more modern approach to it, especially the way it sounds. But we really don´t think like “oh, let´s do a song that sounds like early Dismember” or something like that. We just grab our instruments and let it happen. If it´s brutal and we like it, it´s fine. I also can hear some swedish black metal influences in our sound.
I for myself listen mainly to the old masters but am also open for new stuff as long as there´s no “core” in it. It´s fantastic to see the German Death Metal scene explode at the moment, spitting great new bands out almost everyday.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

I just try to keep healthy so I can keep up growling and screaming as long as possible. And I´m very interested in literature and old cultures, which also reflects on my style of writing lyrics... So I got no other interest than music, if you want so...

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Get your asses up, go to the shows and support the underground! That´s where metal is made, that´s why it can live! We all are the scene! Cheers!

Psychomancer/Inject The Worms/Orchestrated Misery Recordings/2015 EP Review

  Psychomancer  are  a  band  from Indiana  that  plays  a  brutal  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  ep  "Inject  The  Worms"  which  will  be  released  in  April  by  Orchestrated  Misery  Recordings.

  A  very  heavy  and  brutal  death  metal  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some  growling  vocals  and  the  music  also  brings  in  melodies  along  with  a  decent  amount  of  90's  influences  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  adding  spoken  word  parts  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  the  faster  sections  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  and  the  songs  also  add  a  great  amount  of  groove  into  the  riffs  and  one  of  the  tracks  is  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  before  making  a  return  back  to  a  heavier  musical  direction  while  there  is  a  brief  use  of  melodic  chants.

  Psychomancer  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  diverse  taking  the  brutal,  old  school  and  groove  styles  of  the  genre  and  combining  them  together  along  with  a  touch  of  thrash  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  death,  pain,  suffering  and  killing.

  In  my  opinion  Psychomancer  are  a  very  great  sounding  brutal  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Just  Another  Victim"  and  "Chant  Of  The  War  Demons".  8  out  of  10.
     

Cognitive Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album? man we have been super busy. aside from already being 3 song's into our next cd, we've  did  a few tours in the us out west to chicago and down south to south carolina.  we have a big 3 week  coast to coast US tour in june with still birth and powerfist placenta,which inculdes las vegas deathfest and colorado gutfest, as well as some east coast fests such as NJ deathfest, obnoxious noise fest, and pray for death fest. in august we get to travel to colombia, and in november we head to puerto rico to support dehumanized. really fucking excited!

2.A few months back you had released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past? right off the bat the addition of jorel on vocals and art on bass is the most obvious difference from our first ep. i would like to think the music is more varied and we tried alot of new things, especially with songs like oceanic erosion being n acoustic interlude, and affliction humanity being a straight forward groove instrumental. we really cant wait to show off our new stuff we have been working on!

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music? alot of different topics, from drugs,  to mankind's extinction, to mankind's laziness to change our ways, and even alien lifeforms. its all over the board.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Cognitive'? we wanted to keep a simple name, but have it represent thought provoking, as we try to convey with our music as well. it seemed fitting!

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? man, we have so many!  playing at the TLA with between the buried and me was sick, so was a sold out show with cattle decapitation in philly. a killer tour with wormed, condemned and infernal revulsion we did on the east coast was very memorable as well. we had a killer gig in raleigh, north carolina that was just awesome, as well as a sick gig in chicago that the crowd response was nothing short of amazing. any chance to play our music live were grateful for! as for our live performance, we have always prided our selves in our stage presence, head banging, wild flailing , running into the crowd,  were all about!  the gig in chicago was reviewed and the review of us spoke very highly of our live performance, made us more than happy to read!

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future? after all the touring i listed we STILL have stuff   haha, we are really looking forward to our august tour with artificial brain, and a few other things i cant let out the bag yet sadly

7.According to the Metal Archives page the band is signed to Pathologically Explicit Recordings, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?   yes, technically now we are free agents and we are looking for  a new label/ but pathologically explicit has been nothing but good to us. they have some killer brutal band son there such as cumbeast, viscera trail , and insatanity. we have no complaints with them and what they did for us

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of brutal and technical death metal? honestly, its been overwhelmingly great. all the review shave said nothing but positive things! and the fans in the brutal community have been nothing short of amazing. for a band like us who  are a brutal band but we dip into other styles and genres from time to time, its nerve wracking at times because some fans are so picky and only want slams, or only want blast beats, so when we do a long solo, or drop into a melodic part, or an off-time ion dissonance riff, some people usually write that stuff off right away, but everybody seems to love that we do it, which make sus just as happy as making music we love writing ourselves!

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future? we really wanna take this as far as we can, we really wanna get to Europe , and a dream of ours is to go to Australia and japan.  we just wanna push ourselves musically and write good songs and have a good time.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?  as far as influences it would for sure be cephalic carnage,death, morbid angel, meshuggah, ion dissonance, cryptopsy, suffocation, decapitated, despised icon, abominable putridity, wormed and the faceless.  

as far as listening to now a days, been jamming alot of animosity, beneath the massacre, suffocation, and misery index. honestly though, nothing dropped my jaw like the new job for a cowboy album! a masterpiece in my opinion.

11.What are some of your non musical interests? out side of playing music, and booking bands,  i myself (rob), love playing video games. fucking love them. i used to be really into bmx, but i gave it up so i didn tget injured and not be able to play music any more. other than that, just good times with friends is a very high priority of mine. im simple as fuck haha

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
thank you for the time, thanks to everybody who has been supporting us.  keep the scene alive and come out to live shows! and buy bands merch. and speaking of merch you can check ours out at....


http://njcognitive.bigcartel.com/products


https://www.facebook.com/Cognitivenj

Sotajumala Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?

We have done a few gigs in Finland including the biggest cities like Helsinki and Turku. Audience have been fucking amazing so we are looking forward the festival gigs during this summer.

2.Recently you have released a new album how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

We are very pleased with the outcome of the new album. It turned out just like it we had it on our mind before the studio. I think it's combination of our older stuff which makes it very well balanced album and it gives a great overlook what the band sounds these days. Catchy riffs, intense drumming and fierce vocals, that's pretty much it.

3.This is the first album to be released in 5 years can you tell us a little bit more about a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?

We had some label issues, not having any kind of deal even we were promised one. So we needed to think what to do next about the new album and with the band. Frustration came along, personal life and work issues and motivation within the band was in serious downward spiral... Then we decided not to do any kind rash decisions, just take it easy and look what comes up. We also decided to release the new album by ourselves so we didn't want fuck it up by rushing any important decisions. And I'm very gladly we did that because to final result sound pretty fucking good.

4.What i some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?

Mainly it's about death in different kind of forms influenced with anti-religion aspects. Also war is part of it but not in dominating way like the older records had. Good old destruction and death hits the spot every time so why want to change it :D

5.I know that the band is named after the Finnish god of war, does anybody in the band have an interest in Finnish mythology and paganism?

Of course mythology from your own country is always interesting but we don't mix that with Sotajumala stuff. Normal everyday life horrors are more our style.

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

I consider Sotajumala an excellent live band. We love to play live and every gig I'll do everything for the show, even though my body will be killing me the next day. I really don't like to be in studio so playing live is the best thing I know.

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

Only Finnish festivals at this point. Steelfest, Nummirock, Jalometalli and Tuska Open Air. Hopefully somekind of european tour happens someday or some festivals outside of Finland.

8.The album was released on your label are you open to working with any label again in the future or do you prefer the DIY method?

We are always open for any new ideas so nothing is out of the question. Because we had the label issues we decided to release this album by ourselves. You never know what happens in the future.

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

Really good. We do our music for ourselves with minimum compromises so of course it's great to hear that other people like it too. I basicly don't care if the feedback is bad or good if it 's genuine and comes straight from heart. Be prefer honesty than fake compliments and bullshit.

10.What is going on with some of the other musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part off?

Well, I play guitar in Horna and bass in Hoath. Timo is doing session drums for Wintersun while Kai Hahto is with Nightwish and he also plays drums for other death metal band Crippler. Maybe some other session stuff also, can't keep up with all of those :D

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

Excellent gigs and new songs. No rush or pressure, everything comes when the time is right, also a new album.

12.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?

Main influences for Sotajumala are quite obvious. Classic Death metal bands from the states like Morbid Angel, Obituary, Deicide and Cannibal Corpse.
I mainly listen to Black Metal with some punk like Misfits and GG Allin along with it. Don't really know about the other guys...

13.What are some of your non musical interests?

I'm a professional cook so I love good food and making it. Maybe also some drinks now and then, so mainly food and drinks. And of course good music along makes those even better!

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

Thanks for the interview and support! Check the new album and enjoy! Cheers!

-Mynni / Sotajumala-

Apophys/Prime Incursion/Metal Blade Records/2015 CD Review

  Apophys  are  a  band  from  the  Netherlands  that  plays  a  very  brutal  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Prime  Incursion"  which  will  be  released  in  April  by  Metal  Blade  Records.

  A  very  fast  and  brutal  death  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  growling  vocals  and  blast  beats  and  you  can  also  hear  some  morbid  sounding  melodies  in  the  bands  musical  style  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  very  dark  and  melodic  sounding.

  Most  of  the  music  is  in  a  modern  death  metal  direction  while  you  can  hear  a  bit  of  90's  influences  at  times  and  as  the  album  progresses  spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  while  some  songs  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  synths  and  clean  playing  to  give  the  music  more  of  a  sci-fi  atmosphere  while  the  main  focus  remains  on  a  brutal  style  of  death  metal.

  Apophys  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  modern  and  brutal  sounding,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  science  fiction  and  the  end  of  the  world  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Apophys  are  a  very  great  sounding  modern  and  brutal  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Dimensional  Odyssey"  "The  Antidote"  "The  Final  Step"  and  "The  Red  Planet".  8  out  of  10.