Nucleus Interview

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

We are a sci-fi themed death metal band from Chicago, IL that has been around since early 2012.



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

We are big fans of the 80s/early 90s death metal. For the most part it is straight forward death metal without too many frills, but a little bit if weirdness in it.



3.Your lyrics cover a lot of Science Fiction themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic and also some of the authors that have had an influence on your song writing?

They are the only kind of lyrics it made sense for me to write. I’m a huge science fiction fan, and most of my small amount of free time goes to plowing through science fiction books.  Lyrically most of the songs follow stories or combinations of stories from science fiction books I enjoyed. On our new album “Sentient” specifically there are songs based on books by Frank Herbert, Robert A. Heinlein, Dan Simmons, Peter F Hamilton, Lovecraft, as well as other sci-fi related media. I don’t specifically write music to make it feel like its science fiction related, but luckily I think our musical style fits the theme.



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

I think the way a lot of bands who start playing for fun and never expect to go anywhere do. We threw in a bunch of names that sounded cool and sounded science related and picked our favorite one. Luckily 4 years later I don’t regret the choice.



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

We’ve ended up on some great shows so far, and some of the best have been playing with bands we in the band are all huge fans of. A few that come to mind are playing with Derketa, Hellwitch, and Warmaster, which were all fantastic shows and had great crowds.
As far as stage performance goes, we try to stay away from throwing on any tacky alien related stuff just because we are sci-fi. We just get on and play death metal, and we get into it as much as we can. Every show we play we feel has gotten better and better.

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

We will be playing a release show the day our Album comes out April 15th in Chicago at Livewire Lounge. After that we are booked on two festivals. April 22nd we play Spring Bash fest in Milwaukee, with some awesome bands like Wehrmacht and Heretic. The weekend of September 16th we are playing KC Blackdeath Fest in Kansas City, which with what has so far been announced is shaping up to be a killer fest. We definitely want to start branching out to other states as much as possible once the album is out.



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

I haven’t really run across any very negative feedback yet for any of the Eps we have so far released. The handful of people who have heard promos of the new album so far have all said good things, so I’m feeling pretty confident that people will like it.

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 of?

Our drummer Pat is in another death metal band called Narcotic which just released a full length album called “To The Pyre”. Guitarist Dan has been doing some writing for his grind band Special Delivery. I (Dave) was until fairly recently in a crust band called Nequient, which just released a new EP called Infinite Regress.



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

We will of course keep incorporating new and weird ideas, but for the most part we won’t change too drastically. We are playing the kind of death metal we want to be playing, and have no plans to change too significantly stylistically.



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?

A lot of my favorite bands are from the old school finnish death metal scene. Stuff like Adramelech, Demigod, Demilich, Convulse. Some of my other favorite bands are Atheist, Cianide, Immolation, Incantation, Timeghoul, Asphyx. How much of that shines through the music is hard to tell from my perspective, but those are some of the bands that I feel have influenced my music.


Some of the stuff I’ve spent a lot of time listening to recently have been Chthe’ilist, Emptiness, Krypts, Cruciamentum,  Sadistic Ritual, Cemetery Filth, Undergang, and Vastum.



11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Outside of work and music related things I don’t have too much free time, but I do spend a good amount of time reading. A lot of that is obviously science fiction, but other things too. I just started a new book series which is called the Heechee saga by Frederik Pohl. Currently I’m on the first book called “Gateway”.



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

I hope people enjoy the album, and if you do, pick up a copy through Unspeakable Axe Records!


http://unspeakableaxerecords.com
http://www.facebook.com/unspeakableaxerecords

Cryptic Realms/The Rotten Is Alive/Dark Recollections Productions/2016 EP Review

  Cryptic  Realms  are  an  international  band  with  members  from  U.s,  Greece,  Brazil,  and  Mexico  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  very  old  school  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their 2016  ep  "The  Rotten  is  Still  Alive"  which  was  released  by  Dark  Recollections  in  March.

  Classical  guitars  start  off  the  ep  and  they  utilize  a  great  amount  of finger  picking  and  after  the  glass  breaks  the  intro  ends and  goes  into  a  very  heavy  and  raw  old  school  sound  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  that  are  very  easy  to  understand  and  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  remain  true  to  an  old  school  style  of  death  metal  and  you  can  also h ear  a  good  amount  of  melody  in  some  of  the  riffing  and  when  the  music speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  while  the  music  is  very  heavily  influenced  by  the  Swedish  style  of  the  genre  and  the  songs  also  bring  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  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  and  screams  on  one  of  the  songs  and  classical  guitars  also  make  a  return  on  the  last  track.    

  Cryptic  Realms  creates  another  recording  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  90's  style  of  death  metal  and  goes  back  to  the  rawer  side  of  the  genre  and  ignoring  any  trends  of  the  last  25  years,  the  production  sound s very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  death,  the  undead  and gore  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Cryptic  Realms  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  old  school  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Begging  To  be  Dead"  and  "Shadows  Disgrace".  8  out  of  10.

   

Pedophile Priests Interview

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

I formed Pedophile Priests band in 2014. I had a lot of new material ready so I could focus  straight ahead on the recordings. I got help from drummer - Lukasz „Lucass“ Krzesiewicz whose ultra fast style of playing was a element which  I needed for those crazy tracks. After recordings in April 2015 former musician of Thy Worshiper and Pineal Gland -  Krystian „Kruszon" Mistarz joined the band as a permanent drummer. In August 2015 we signed record deal with Metal Scrap Records. Later on around November 2015 bassist Krystian Mazur joined the band and in this line up we played already a couple of gigs. Currently we looking for new bass player, playing local gigs and writting brand new material.

2.In November you had released your first album, how wold you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

Old school and modern playing clipped by the same atmosphere. Melody and aggression. Mixture of Death and Thrash metal  bringing what we like the most in genres. Monolitic but every song has own character. We were going into the studio with a vision of dirty retro sound what influenced the final result which is much different that most of death metal productions this days what makes that some people will like it and others don’t.

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

A lyricly album is a journey through dark corners of the human mind pervading the universe. I fell it as a dark cosmic aura and something around us, affect and transforming us. For someone it will be god or ancient astronauts for someone else something completely different. „Peresentiment of Evil“  for an example is saying about evil side of ourselfs which somethimes comes up and pushing good side away. For “Czarne Xięstwo” I was looking for something extraordinary and then I found this sick poem of polish avangarde poet Tadeusz Miciński. I could not write anything more dark and morbid, this lyric is seriuosly fucked up. I placed it straight ahead on the track and it suit perfectly. “Pogański” for an example got the tittle first because of pagan, ethnic sound and atmosphere of the song. I knew that it has to say about our Slavic, pagan roots so I just could not write this in english so it became polish lyric. "Crescent Guided Tributory" is about islamic terrorists...

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

Name "Pedophile Priests" is lack of this what we use to call "policital correctness " is us. We have XXI century and this is still kind of taboo but not for us. They are pedophiles between priests and those of them which are hiding in a cassock - we call pedophile priests. This what they do is evil and fact that they are the priests makes it even more - this make it pure evil and if something is pure evil then it is great name for metal band;) Some people get offended by band name but I don’t care because I get offended by this what those people do and that they still trying to hide it. Is there more disgusting crime that this one against children especially commited by the priests of the god?  This pissing me off so this is why we call our band Pedophile Priests.



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

There was no gig yet when we were 100% happy because how we played but slowly we are getting there;) I am very demanding for ourselfs but I think thats good. I would describe it as classic metal  show with a lot of madness and headbanging. Mixture of fast very fast and some slower songs. And for the dessert cover of old metal gods.



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

Currently we start to work on this. Some local gigs at first and then maybe UK  tour. We playing also in irish elimination for Bloodstock so there is some chance that we will apper over there. Hopefully next step will bring us to Slovakia or Czech Republic, and maybe Poland and Germany either but we do not have any specifics yet.



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

We are receiving good and very good reviews mostly. Two of those were even very enthusiastically. Of course there was some negative one aswell.Generally feedback  by fans of death metal is good whats make me delighted as music we play and way how "Dark Transgression of the Soul"  sound like is a little bit different then this how death metal bands play and sound this days.



8.Are any of the band members also involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?

No, not at the moment. Previously Krystian Mistarz was involved in Thy Worshiper and Pineal Gland and I use to play for Mortis Dei, Puki Mahlu and Lady Maggot but currently we are focus on Pedophile Priests and we working on the new material.



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

Bit slower (max. 190 BPM instead 200 BPM;), with more air in and more transparent . Flow and groove.Variety of vocals starting from growls through dirty and clean singing. Some catchy parts but in the good meaning of word. Lyrically more issues of everyday life insted of transcendental.



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 am listening to metal mostly as heavy music is love of my life. Of course I can place in my player music of different genres but there is no many thigs I really enjoy. I like some stuff of Portishead, somethimes some movies soundtracks and jazz, but I don’t really have favorites artist outside metal. Most of the time I like single songs only or just fragments of albums. Some time ago I tried to force myself to listening more of not metal music but I did’t like it so I stoped to do this.



11.What are some of your non musical interests?

I love motorcycles and own few of them. Really like work on them, customizing etc. Currently working on Honda VT600 Shadow bobber/choper project and of course ride them across the Europe.

Also I am into craft beers but music is the most importent in my life so I collecting cd's and appearing on most local gigs.



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

Support the underground because is the most precious place for metal.

Also thank You for interest in Pedophile Priests and Your support.

And finally - stay brutal and fuck the political correctness because remember that Death Metal means

NO COMPROMISES!

Khanus/Rites Of Fire/2016 EP Review

  Khanus  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  an  occult  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2016  ep  "Rites  Of  Fire".

  Clean  playing  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some grim  vocals  that  also  use  melodic  singing  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  use  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and  on  the  second  track  the  music  starts  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  musical  direction  that  also  uses  death  metal  growls.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  the  riffs  also  use  a  lot  of  open  note  tremolo  picking  along  with  the  songs  also  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and some  parts  of  the  songs  also  bring  in  shouting  style  vocals  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  lot  of  90's  influences.

  Khanus  plays  a  style  of  occult  death  metal  that  is  very  original  bringing  in  progressive  structures  and  more  ritualistic  elements  to  create  a  style  of  their  own,  the  production  sound s very  powerful  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  Folklore,  Shamanism,  and  Occultism.

  In  my  opinion  Khanus  are  a  very  great  sounding  occult  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Orgone"  and  "Daughters  Of  Fire".  8  out  of  10. 

Horrific Disease/Outbreak/Satanath Records/Rebirth The Metal Productions/2015 CD Review

  Horrific  Disease  are  a  band  from  Japan  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  metal  and  thrash  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Outbreak"  which  was  released  as  a  joint  effort  between  Satanath  Records  and  Rebirth  The  Metal  Productions.

  Horror  movies  samples  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very heavy thrash  metal  direction  where  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  along  with  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  the  vocals  are  done  in  more  of  a  death  metal  growling  fashion  and  the  music  is  also  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  mid  80's  and  early  90's.

  While  the  music  sounds  very  old  school  the  production  gives  it  more  of  a  modern  style  and  some  of  the  riffs  also  use  a  small  amount  of  melody  and  the  vocals  also  have  more  of  an  understandable  approach  to  them  going  back  to  the  days  when  thrash  was  still  evolving  into  death  metal  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  remain  very  true  to  an  old  school  style  of  extreme  metal  when  they  are  utilized  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  back  up  gang  shouts  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  clean  playing  present  on  on e of  the  tracks.

  Horrific  Disease  goes  back  to  an  era  in  the  mid  80's  when  thrash  was  becoming  more  extreme  and  evolving  into  death  metal  and  they  update  the  style  for  modern  days,  the  production  sounds  very professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark,  violent  and  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Horrific  Disease  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  "Waste  it  Now"  "Mortal  Bite"  "Hateful  praying"  and  "The  Pissed  Punisher".  8  out  of  10.

Nucleus/Sentinent/Unspeakable Axe Records/2016 CD Review

  Nucleus  are  a  band  from  Chicago,  Illinois  that  plays  a  science  fiction  orientated  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016 album  "Sentinent"  which  will  be  released  in  April  by  Unspeakable  Axe  Records.

  A  heavy  guitar  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  tremolo  picking  and  melodies a  few  seconds  later  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  add  more  of  a  melodic  style  to  the  bands  musical  style  and  after  the  intro  the music  starts  adding  in  more  technical  elements  along  with  some  blast  beats  being  utilized.

  Vocals  are  mostly  deep  death  metal  growls  and  the  music  has a  lot  of  roots  in  the  mid  80's  and  early  90's  era  of  the  genre  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  some  of  the  riffs  have  a  progressive  feeling  to  them  and  throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  one  track  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  high  pitched  screams  and  the  whole  album  also  remains  heavy  from  beginning  to  ending  of  the  recording.

  Nucleus  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  mid  80's and  early  90's  and  also  brings  in  a  little  of  what  was  considered  progressive  or  technical  from  that  era  while  also  having  a  more  raw  approach  to  the  style,  the  production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  are  based  on  the  writings  of  Isaac  Asimov,  Arthur  C.  Clarke  and  Frank  Herbert.

  In  my  opinion  Nucleus  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  "Dosadi"  "Cube"  and  "Starflyer".  8  out  of  10. 

Wrathrone Interview

Wrathrone -  questions answered by Matti Vehmas

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?
W: Our debut album called Born Beneath came out on 22nd of January via Inverse Records and since then we have done several gigs to support it in Finland and there´s more to come. The most part of the year 2015 went in making of the album, although we ended up doing a bands record for one year´s total shows, we are aiming to top that again this year!

2.In January 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 ep you had released in 2013?
W: All in all, I think everything on the album is done in much more professional manner than on our previous works, which are self-produced from start to finish. This time we felt that we should do the recordings, mixing and mastering with professionals so the songs wouldn´t suffer from any lacks in that department, as may have somewhat been the case with the EP:s released earlier. We accomplished the strong yet distinguishable sound on the album, it really came out great! There are quite different songs on the album but there is the definite W-sound on them, just the needed variation to keep the interest up!

3.The band has been around since 2008 but so far has only released 1 ep and a full length, can you tell us a little bit more about the gap in between releases?
W: Officially we have released two EP:s before the album, those being 2011´s Burning Hatred and 2013´s Left Unburied. There are also some demo tracks from as far as 2009 that circulate on the internet. So when we take account those, the gaps grow a bit smaller. That being said, our working method for new material is not all that fast, we tend to build new songs bit by bit with no rush so new songs appear when they have been thoroughly tested in rehearsals. Many of the songs on the album we had already played live for some time before recording them, so they were in that sense worked on for a decent while.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the new music?
W: The lyrical concept of our music is quite typical death metal imagery, painting visions of death, war, horror and suffering. Not the most innovative stuff but it fits the music and adds on the aggressive undertone we want to deliver. For us that is the main thing. By this time, lyrics have been written also by quite many people, by me, Mikael and Lauri and also for many songs by a friend of ours, Nina Hurme. So there´s no certain agenda, just the dark and gloomy feel, that´s the spirit of it.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Wrathrone'?
W: You´re one of the few people that have really asked that, cool! Our name dates back to the first half of the year 2009 I think. We sat down with the guys in the band at that time (of current line up me and Lauri remain) and had a long drunken discussion of the name. I recall that all of us had some ideas for the name and we just picked the best ones of them all and finally decided on Wrathrone. It is one of my ideas, quite simple wordplay combining the words "wrath" and "throne". I felt it had and still has a powerful yet evil sound and feel. And yes, I am familiar with Darkthrone but there is no meant similarity.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
W: In 2014 we did a few shows in Germany and one of our best gigs was in Oberhausen, at the famous metal club called Helvete, amazing atmosphere and all-round solid performance. I must say that of the recent shows, the release show in Turku was easily in the top three gigs too, great and loud audience and everyone enjoyed themselves, the band and the crowd! As for the performance, we have done a lot of shows lately and it is clear that we feel at home on stage even more now than before and the show is real aggressive and energetic!

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
W: Yeah we sure do. As I mentioned, we are in the midst of a string of shows in Finland at the moment and in early May we´ll head to the Baltic area once again, it has always been really great for us. We did a small tour there already back in 2013 and we just did two shows in Riga and in Tallinn before christmas. This time we´re also gonna do some shows in Poland on the same tour. It seems that we´ll let some hell loose in Germany too in the autumn. We are always on a lookout for possible shows so everyone, feel free to invite us to play your festival or venue and let´s see what comes of it!

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal?
W: The amount of reviews, interviews and interest has been really encouraging! The album seems to be well received to say the least and the word is spreading! We are grateful for all the interest and promotion we´ve gotten lately. It´s good to realize that we are gaining more ground little by little, that is our goal. We enjoy what we do and if more and more people feel the same way, that´s just great!

9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?
W: Apart from Wrathrone, Mikael and Vili are the most active members, working on other bands and projects. They are both in a band called Sydäntalvi, an atmospheric rock band that is just about to release an album too. Vili has another death metal band too, called Galvanizer that is quite active also. Both have numerous other projects going on too, of which I can´t keep count really :D I think it´s for the most part a good thing, they get to work on different material that also gives Wrathrone some new ideas and variation. It takes some planning to fit all the bands activities to calendar but so far we´ve managed fine. It is clear that Wrathrone is of high priority for all of us and that´s what counts.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
W: At this point I see that we have evolved to the stage and level we feel pretty comfortable, musically speaking. So I think there isn´t gonna be any dramatic changes in our style in the near future. We first started the band to do traditional midtempo death metal and now the true W-sound has been honed close to perfection! It´s a good point to work onwards!

11.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?
W: That´s a tough question for me to answer because we all have quite varied taste in music. There is still clear vibes of the genres household names, Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under, and the likes. Also our music features a lot of melodic elements in the style of early Amorphis and In Flames. Hints of thrash and black metal can also be found. I´m personally really lazy in finding new bands, I listen metal on a fairly wide scale from 70´s Sabbath to the extreme ends. Other guys are a lot more diverse in their taste, and listen a lot more than just metal.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
W: On my part, I tend to read a lot and movies have a special meaning for me too. It´s mostly (surprisingly enough) horror, fantasy and war themed and from there comes a certain influence for my lyrics too. One of the best book series ever written is Stephen King´s The Dark Tower

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
W: Music and specially metal music is best enjoyed on the spot! So everyone, keep supporting live music as much as possible, that´s the core of it! Check out the album and see you guys at the shows!