Rotten Repugnancy/Harbringers Of The Last Judgemenet/CDN Records/2015 CD Review

  Rotting  Repugnancy  are  a  band from  the  United  Kingdom  that  plays  a  brutal  form  of death  metal  with  a  touch  of thrash  and this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Harbringers Of The Last Judgemenet"  which  was  released  by  CDN  Records.

  Distorted  guitar  solos  and  leads  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  which  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  dark  sounding  melodies  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  after  awhile  death  metal  growls  make  their  presence  known  on  the  recording.

  A  lot  of  old  school  death  and  thrash  metal  elements  can  be  hear d in  the  bands  musical  style  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and fast  parts  and  high  pitched s creams  can  be  heard  in some  parts  of t he  songs  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  while  the  music  is  rooted  in  the  mid  80's  and early  80's  it  still  mixes  in  a  lot  of  the  more  modern  and  brutal  sound  and  on  the  last  track  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing  and  spoken  words  are  added  into  the  music

  Rotting  Repugnancy  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  mixes  both  the  old  school  and  more  modern  brutal  style  together  with  a  touch  of  thrash  which  makes  the  music  stand  out  a  lot  more,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  doom,  blasphemy and  gore  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Rotten Repugnancy  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  brutal  and  old  school  death  metal  with  a  touch  of  thrash  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Desert  Storm"  "Hollowed  Beast"  and  "Godless  World". 8  out  of  10.   

 

Slave One/Disclosed Diotropic Principles/Dolerum Records/2016CD Review

  Slave  One  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  very  progressive  and  technical  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review of  their  2016  album  "Disclosed  Dioptropic  Principles"  which  will  be  released  on  March  25th  by  Dolorem  Records.

  Melodic chants, atmospheric sounds,  tribal  beats  and  exotic  female  vocals  start  off  the  album  and  also mix  in  with  the  heavier  sound  a  few  seconds  later  along  with  all  of t he  musical  instruments  sounding  very  powerful  and  you  can  also h ear  a  lot  of  prog  elements  in  the  bands  musical  style  and  the  vocals  are  mostly  death  metal  growls.

 Spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard  briefly  while  some  of  the  riffs  get  very  melodic  at  times  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  added  into  the  music  they  bring  in  more  of  a  technical  style  to the  bands  musical  style  and  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  when the  music  speeds  up  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  some  songs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  clean  playing  and  some  songs  also  shows  the  music  getting  a  little bit  more  experimental  while  also  adding in  some  traces  of  Hindu  music  and  spoken  word  parts.

  Slave  One  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  progressive  and  technical  sounding  while  the  band  also  has  more  of  an  original  approach  to  the  genre,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while t he  lyrics  cover  philosophical,  esoteric  and  metaphysical  themes.

 In  my  opinion  Slave  One  are  a  very  great  sounding  progressive  and  technical  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Antikythera  Mechanism"  "For  Shiva  Whispered the  Universe"  and  "Degenesis".  8  out  of  10.

  

  

   

Ferium/Behind The Black Eyes/2016 CD Review

  Ferium  are  a  band  from  Israel  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  death,  groove  metal and  metalcore  and  this  is  a  review of  their  self  released  2016  album  "Behind  The  Black  Eyes".

  Clean yet  distorted  playing  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  sound  very  powerful  and  thy  also  add  in  metalcore  style  aggressive  vocals  and  death  metal  growls  and  you can  also  hear  some  melodies  being  mixed  in  with  the  guitar  riffing  and  they  alos  add  in  more  of  a  modern  groove  metal  style  at  times.

  When  guitar  leads  are  added  into  the  music  they  give  the  songs  more  of a  technical  edge  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  clean  playing  also  makes  a  return  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with  one  of  the  tracks  being  all  instrumental  while  a  couple  of songs  also  bring  in  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  before  returning  back  to  a  heavier  musical  direction  and  the  last  track  is  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Ferium  creates  another  recording  that  takes  groove  and  metalcore  and  mixes  it  in with  the  heaviness  of  death  metal  while  also  being  very  modern  at  the  same  time,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  are  a  concept  album  based  upon  personal  relationships.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Ferium  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  death, groove  metal  and  metalcore,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Power  Is  All  That  Matters"  "Losing  The  Grip"  and  "A  Free  Man".  7/5  out  of  10.

 

Valgrind 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?
"Speech of the Flame" is finally out, so we only have to concentrate on promoting it in the best way possible. We already played at the "Speech of the the Flame" release party and tested the new songs on stage. We are now looking forward to play more gigs to present the new album properly.


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?
Of course we did not change the main characteristics of our sound, but this time we approached the songwriting in a different way. The first album was written solely by Massimiliano, while "Speech of the Flame" has been a more collective effort. The songs have more impact and the structures are a little bit more straightforward. At the same time we created more complex solos and harmonies, I think Massimo and Massimiliano really did their best on this one.


3.This is your first album in 4 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?
We were forced to make some line-up changes, Massimo and Gianmarco were recruited just after the release of "Morning will come no more" and they had to learn the old tracks in order to be ready for the live performances. Once we stabilized the band we started working on the new material. After we created and recorded it we had some problems with the previous label and everything was delayed. We were lucky to enter in the Lord of the Flies recs rooster, Cristian was a fan of the band and immediately showed the will to release the album as soon as he could.


4.The lyrics cover the darkest side of ancient Mediterranean civilities, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in those topics?
This time we wanted a main lyrical  theme and Massimiliano suggested the ancient Greek and Mikenes cultures. These civilities were part of our history and their myths permeated all the Mediterranean cultures. We are Italian so we can still breath this legacy, specially in the south where the band was founded 20 years ago. Me and Massimiliano wrote all the lyrics, I think they fit the music perfectly.


5.The bands name from Norse Mythology, are the band members also interested in Paganism?
Not really, the band name has been chosen in 1995 by a guy who is not even in the band anymore. I think it represents the power of the band's sound very well but it's not really related to our thematic anymore.


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?
To be honest I would say that the most recent shows are the best. We have improved dramatically in terms of cohesion and our live performances are getting better all the times. Our shows are definitely simple and based only on the brutality and darkness of the music.


7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
We have a couple of show in italy planned on may, we will confirm them as soon as possible. It would be great to visit some European countries again, we played in Germany and Sweden in the past and it was a blast. Anyone who is interested in arranging something can contact us at paintingtheabyss@gmail.com


8.The album was released 'Lord Of The Flies Records' can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
It is a new label runned by scene veteran Cristian Colonna. He released only quality material so far and we trusted him immediately. He was a fan of the band since the release of our first album, it's great when you find a label where you are not only a number among others.


9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal?
So far our music has been well reviewed and received everywhere. Anyway "Speech of the flame" has just been released, so we are curious to read the comments. I hope that we can build a bigger fan base and start making some serious tour to bring our music everywhere.


10.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the other band members are a part of?
Me and Massimo play in Hateful, a Death Metal band with a more Technical twist. We have played For the first time outside of Italy this year in January. We are currently working on a third album and trying to organize another minitour in Europe. Gianmarco, the drummer is busy with the hardcore Italian legends Raw Power and also Massimiliano works with a couple of local bands. We are busy guys eheh.



11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We definitely don't want to repeat ourselves. With this new album you can hear a strong progression in terms of songwriting and with the next album we hope to do the same. I think it will be a balanced mix of killer riffs and dark, majestic melodies.  We already have a couple of new songs to rehearse and I am sure we are going in the right direction!


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?
Since day one we were voracious listeners of the early nineties Florida Death Metal. Massimiliano is a Morbid Angel, Pestilence and Death addicted (just like myself) and we grew up with that sounds in our mind. Having said that there are more external influences like Classic metal, Doom and some Black Metal stuff here and there. Vocally speaking I tried to make "Speech of the Flame" more diverse  using different vocal styles from song to song. I always loved "Blessed are the Sick" vocal approach, where each song has it's own "pitch".




13.What are some of your non musical interests?
I am a painter and decorator, so I'd say everything related to visual arts is my main interest together with music. You can check a selection of my works at www.facebook.com/danielelupidiartist .


14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thanks for the interview! We recently released a video clip for "Tyrants" , you can check our facebook page www.facebook.com/valgrindband. We can't wait to see you guys on the road. Thanks for the support!!!

Rapture Interview

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

Well first of all hello, and thanks for the interview offer. Currently we are very busy composing new material and practicing. We have a lot of new songs, and a future release is in the talks right now. At the same time we are organizing live gigs all over Greece!


2.In October you had released your first full length, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from your previous 2 ep's?

Well, our album is quite different from our previous releases. We have managed to push things a little further, by combining all of our influences and composing material that sounds extreme, raw and oldschool at the same time. Our music sounds like 80’s and early 90s thrash, death thrash and death metal.


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

We mostly write lyrics about gore, Psychopathy, madness and in general, the dark pages and events of human history. We like to bring in the light the worst cases of dehumanization. Our influence comes from horror movies and books, history and the world all around us.


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

The name was inspired by the Morbid Angel song of the same title. Nothing more, nothing less. We just liked it and the name stuck hahaha.


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

Some of the best gigs have been our performance at Metal From Hellas festival (November 2015), Iron Force live (organized by us, June 2015) and Supporting the Greek Death Metal Legends Death Courier (January 2015). Our shows are just like extreme metal shows are supposed to be. Violent and Straightforward. We play as brutal as we can, inspiring the audience below to tear down the venues.


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

As mentioned above, a lot of things are under organization right now. We are talking with bands all over Greece, in order to organize a mini Greek Tour.


7.So far you have done cover's of Death's "Crystal Mountain" and "Born Dead", what was the decision behind doing your own versions of these songs?

Death has always been a big influence for all four of us. Their music, their lyrics and their attitude is something that we consider the ideal for an oldschool extreme band. For this reasons we decided to cover some of their songs.


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

The feedback is very positive –judging from the reviews we get- and people seem to expect even more for us. That’s the reason we practice a lot and we focus so much on producing new material which will take our musical personality a step further.


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

Of Course! Apostolos also plays lead guitar in Endless Recovery and our Drummer George also plays in a new-born band called Boneyard. However Rapture is our number one priority in music and dedication.


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

As we have already mentioned a lot of new material is ready and even more is under production. The new stuff is even more brutal and fast and a bit more complex and technical. You could say we pushed everything a bit higher.


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?

Our influences are way to many to be written down. Each of us have his own musical taste. However there are some bands that we all like, and we consider them our biggest influences. Bands like Sadus, Demolition Hammer, Dark Angel, Sarcofago, Merciless, Massacra, Slayer, Num Skull, have affected our sound and songwriting to a great degree. Besides that we all like oldschool heavy and speed metal from classic bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden to more underground like Savage Grace and Piledriver, Black metal, Punk and Oldschool Rock. There are also a lot of new bands that we admire. They play many genres but all of them are oldschool. Some of them are: Nekromantheon, Deathhammer, Antichrist, Gouge, Enforcer, Black Trip, Abyssus, Sacral Rage, Dead Congregation, Convixion, Demolition Train.


12.What are some of your non musical interests?

Well all of us have busy lives. I (Apostolos) study History And Archeology, Nikitas studies Chemical Engineering, Stamatis studies Computer Technologies and Giorgos has 1 and a half years of school ahead of him!


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

Thank you once more. As the mighty Razor say: We spit on those who choose to pose, we thrash with all the rest.

The Beast Of Nod/Arrival/2016 EP Review

  The  Beast  Of  Nod  are  a band  from  Boston,  Massachusetts  that  plays  a very  progressive  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of their  self  released  2016  ep  "Arrival".

  A  very  heavy  and  technical  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some  progressive  structures  and  after  awhile  it  mixes  in  with  the  brutal  style  that  also  utilizes  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  which  come  out  when  the  music  speeds  up  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  When  vocals  are  used  in  the  music  they  are  mostly  death  metal  growls  along  with  a  few  high  pitched  screams  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow, mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  guitar  solos  and  leads  also  bring  in  more  of  a  technical  melodic  style when  they  are  utilized  and  the  music  also  brings  in  a  great  amount  of  modern  elements  while  old  school  influences  are  still  present  in t he  songs.

  The  Beast  Of  Nod  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  takes  the  brutal,  technical  and  progressive  parts  of t he  more  modern  style  and  mixes  it  with  the  old  school  style  of  the  genre  to  create  a  very  heavy  yet  diverse  recording,  the  production  sound s very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  a  comic  book  universe  of  their  own  along  with  soem  scientific  facts.

  In  my  opinion  The  Beast  Of  Nod  are  a  very  great  sounding  technical  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Cephalopd  Of  Doom"  and  "Ascension".  8  out  of  10.

       

Resurrection Interview

Answers were given by Dawid Piechociński on behalf of whole band

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

We are just bunch of guys, who were connected by love to very heavy music, and we wanted to create something on our own. That's how Resurrection was created. We had some personal changes in the past. At the beginning we were trio. Then we replaced our first drummer with Krzysztof Klingbein, beacause we wanted to play faster. After some time we added Roman Brzeziński as guitarist, because Michał Badowski wanted some company (laugh) and Igor Bohuszyński as vocalist, because our bass player Dawid Piechociński wanted to focus on playing and not singing. Before „Betrayed By God” we recorded 4-track demo „Death is Necessary”, but it sounds more like thrash metal than death metal and doesn't describe us as well as our long play.

2.How would you describe your musical sound?

For me it's death metal with some melodic rhythms in it that derived from ours thrash origins, but I don't like categorize music, if I listen to it and enjoying it, that means it's good.

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

Our lyrics are about war, religion and human weakness. We just want to write about things, which are interesting for us. We can’t hide scepticism and our point of view for some things.


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

You know, nowadays there is no more hype on metal music like in the 80s. When we started in our hometown, there weren't so many bands. We wanted to influence people to start playing. Some kind of „resurrection” to heavy music. And we think, we succeeded, there's a lot of bands right now.

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 only played on local scenes near our hometown. We also played few open-air gigs. Every show is different and it's hard to choose the best. We just do furious headbaning on stage and look people moshing in front of us. It's very exciting and drives us to playing faster and heavier.

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

We are planning to do small tour in Poland. We would love to go abroad, but we don't have contacts and money to do this.


7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

For now we are happy to release our album. In the future we for sure want to sign a contract. We want deliver our music to as many people as we can.

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

We received some feedback from other countries than Poland, from France, Czech Republic and Great Britain for example. All were positive and motivated us to composing our music. Also reviews are giving us high notes, so we think people likes our songs.

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

We want to try something more technical with crushing breakdowns and heavy riffs, but we still have to wait and see how it develops.

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?

Whole band loves to listen to Decapitated and I think this shaped our style. Except that we are listening to bands like Vader, Meshuggah, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Cannibal Corpse and some Machine Head. It's a mix of heavy and technical bands and I think that can be heard in our songs.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

We like partying and drinking a lot of beer and vodka (laugh). We are still studying, so it's taking a lot of our free time. But we all like basketball (except of Krzysztof, who is „professional” footballer). Most of our free time we spend with our friends, just hanging around.


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

We want to thank all people who were supporting us. We hope „Betrayed By God” isn't our last album and you will hear us again in the future with even more powerful compositions. Stay tuned!