Darkrypt/Delirious Excursion/Transcending Obscurity India/2016 CD Review

  Darkrypt are  a  band  from  India  that  plays  a  very  old  school  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016 album  "Delirious  Excursion"  which  will  be  released  in October  by  Transcending  Obscurity  India.

  Clean  guitar  playing  starts  off  the  album  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  more  of  a  heavier  and  melodic  musical  direction  and  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted in  the  early  90's  style  of  European  death  metal  and  after  awhile  growls  make  their  presence  known  on  the  recording  and  the  faster  sections  also  use  a  decent  amount of  blast  beats.

  High  pitched  screams  can  be  heard  in  the  music  at  times  and  the  solos  stick  to  more  of  a  melodic  style  while  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  and  there is  also  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  and  they also  bring  in  an  instrumental  and  some  of  the  fast  riffs  also  utilize  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo picking.

  Darkrypt  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  old  school and  rooted  in  the  early  90's  European  style,  the production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and gore  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Darkrypt  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  style  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Dark  Crypt"  "Cryptic  Illusions"  and  "The  inducer".  8  out  of  10. 

Blasphemer/Ritual Theophagy/Comatose Music/2016 CD Review

   Blasphemer  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  very  brutal  and technical  form  of  death  metal and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Ritual  Theophagy"  which will  be  released  in  October  by  Comatose  Music.

  Spoken  word  samples  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very  fast  and  brutal  direction t hat  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  blast beats  and  a  few  seconds  later  death  metal  growls  and  high  pitched  screams  make  their  presence  known  on  the  recording  and  you  can  also  hear  some  melody  and  groove  in  the  riffs.

  At  times  the  music  can  be  very  technical  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  guitar  leads  remain  very  true  to  a  traditional  death  metal  style  and  spoken  word  parts  also  make  a  return  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along with  a  brief  use  of  horror  movie  samples  while  the  main  focus  remains  more  on  a  heavy  and  brutal  style.

  Blasphemer  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  has  some  old  school  elements  while  also  being  very  technical  and  adding  in  the  modern  day  brutality,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  blasphemy,  evil,  and  anti  religion  themes.

 In  my  opinion  Blasphemer  are  a  very  great  sounding  technical  and  brutal  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Suicide  For  Satan" "Worship  In  The  Void"  "Obscuring  The  Holy Light"  and  "I  Deny".  8  out  of  10.

Cryptic Shift/Beyond The Celestial Realms/Nightbreaker Productions/2016 EP Review

  Cryptic  Shift  are  a  band  from  the United Kingdom  that  plays  a  progressive  mixture  of  death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of t heir  2016  ep  "Beyond  the  Celestial  Realms"  which  was  released  by  Nightbreaker  Productions.

  A  sci-fi  orientated   atmosphere  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some  clean  guitars  a  few  seconds  later  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  more  of  an  old  school  thrash  metal  direction  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  the  music  goes  for  a  mid  80's  style  which  is  more  closer  to  the  death  metal  style  when  it  was  still  evolving  out  of  thrash  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  some  of  the  tracks  which  gives  the  music  more  of  a  progressive  feeling  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  yet  technical  style  and  the  vocals  also  mix  in  screams at  times.

  Cryptic  Shift  plays  a  musical  style  that  goes  back  to t he  mid  80's  mixing  both  the  death  and  thrash  metal  styles  of  that  era  with  some  progressive  structures,  the  production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  science  fiction,  war  and  perception  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Cryptic  Shift  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  and  progressive  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  "Voyage  Through  Dimesnsions"  and  "Glacial  Reclamation".  8  out  of  10. 

 

Sacramental Blood/Ternion Demonarchy/Ghastly Music/Miner Records/Rebirth The Metal Productions/2016 Full Length Review

  Sacramental  Blood  are  a  band  from  Serbia  that  plays  a  very  brutal  form  of  death  metal  and this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Ternion  Deomarchy"  which  was  released  as  a  joint  effort  between  Ghastly  Music,  Miner  Records,  and  Rebirth  The  Metal  Productions.

  A  very  heavy  and  brutal  sound  starts  off  the  album  as  well  as  speeding  up  and  bringing  in  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  melodies  at  times  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  death  metal  growls  with  some screams.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  solos  and  leads  bring  in  an  old  school  style  of  death  metal  and  you  can  also  hear  a  lot  of  90's  influences  in  the  bands  musical  style  while  also  sounding  very  modern  at  the  same time  and  there  is  also  a  couple  of brief  instrumentals  which  also  uses  a  decent  amount  of  classical  guitars  before  making  a return  back  to  a  heavier  direction  as  well  as  a  few  seconds  of  spoken  word  parts  on  one  of  the  tracks.

  Sacramental  Blood  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  style  but  then  with  a  more  modern  day  brutality,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  death  and  gore  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Sacramental  Blood  are  a  very  great  sounding brutal  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Demonized"  "Nearest  To  The  God"  and  "Livid  Deaths  Descend".  8  out  of  10. 

Harm/The Evil/Final Gate Records/2016 CD Review

  Harm  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  very  old  school  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "The  Evil"  which  was  released  by  Final  Gate  Records.

  A  very  dark  yet  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  after  awhile  death  metal  growls  make  their presence  known  in  the  music  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  90's  style  of  the  genre.

  While  the  music  is  rooted  in  the  old  school  style  the  production  makes  the  music  sound  more  modern  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  also  done  in  a  very  traditional  death  metal  style  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  also  utilizing  melodic  riffing  at  times  and  some  songs  also  bring  in  80's  influences  and  the  whole  album  also  remains  very  heavy  from  beginning  to  ending  of  the  recording.

 Harm  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  takes  the  80's  and  90's  styles  and  gives  them  a more  modern  twist,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the lyrics  cover war,  death  and  anti  religion  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Harm  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  "Vlad  the  Impaler"  "The  Evil"  "Gutted  Like  A  Dear"  and  "Panzer  Apocalypse".  8 out  of  10.    

 

Archetype Interview

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


Archetype is on a quest to deliver as much "in your face" metal as we can possibly achieve. Raw energy, complex structures, an "all over the place" feel all in the name of the greatness and powerful cathartic force that is metal.

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 ?

The musical sound that is presented on the recording is that of a brick in your face. It differs from the stuff we released in the past because we never released anything else. It has for objective to go beyond the standards of metal music: the song structures are often a sequence of motivic transformations of a single idea; kinda like cells mutating into something bigger, evolving and building up into a climax that breaks loose into a heavy “in your face” riff. It had to sound organic, dirty and gritty, yet absolutely clear. This was the challenge of Ann Ton-Ihn, who recorded/mixed the album, and we’re pretty happy with the final result !

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

Anger, arrogance, megalomania, inner struggles

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

The word Archetype in itself is a philosophical concept referring to "pure forms" that embodies the "fundamental characteristics" of a thing. Like a inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, that is universally regarded as such. Since we aim to do nothing less than "pure in your face metal", we thought the name embodied that idea.

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

Our very first show was something special, our first show with guitarist Jan-Kristöfr had a special flavor too, so was our album release show. Shows in Quebec city were great to, for once we had great soundmen there !!! :p

Our stage performance is pretty eccentric, we love to move, run, jump, raise middle fingers and wreck havoc like a bunch of teenagers trying to transform into Super Sayans. We take time to rehearse our stage performance, the windmill headbangs are synchronized, the choreographed elements are prepared in advance and we beat ourselves to have as much energy as possible.

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

We have a show scheduled for Trailer Trash Fest 2016 in Beloeil. Next we'll be focusing on looking for a new guitarist to replace our parting one.

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

We sent copies to labels but nobody has shown interest yet.

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

On one hand we got praise for our originality, refreshing sound and "demented in your face" attitude. On the other we got criticism for playing total nonsense, acting like spoiled brats and being "bad musicians with a lot of determination". All in all, seems like we’re succeeding in our mission: making people react.

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

During the future... the band is musically heading toward a brickwall that will disintegrate out of sheer anger. The next album will be a more common effort, the first one being exclusively composed by Pash-Khaal, Jan-Kristöfr will join creative forces and both have already started to work on new material. They elaborated a concept revolving around a megalomaniac thirst for complete, utter divine destruction.

We’ll be experimenting a bunch of things to broaden our sound. We’ll look into Québec’s traditional music and rythms for an inch of folk inspiration, write more lyrics before starting to write music so we can follow the text as guideline, we’ll look into balinese gamelan for some rythmical approaches, maybe a cover of the 2nd movement of the 8th String Quartet by Shostakovich arranged for metal band. We’d like a french song or two to honor our native language and culture of Québec. Lots of interesting things to look forward to, we’ll see if we’re up to the challenge of playing all of this “Vite que le tabarnak” (As fast as fucking shit).

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 ?

Influences are broad... Strapping Young Lad's crazy arrogance has always left a really strong impression on me (Pash-Khaal), especially City and Alien. That's something I tried to capture while writing our first album.

Mirrorthrone's long and complex song structure, without losing aggressiveness and violence (especially in the Carriers of Dust album) has also left a big mark. I admire how Vladimir Cochet meticulously crafts his music giving it a really personal and unique feel, we find this in his other projects to; Weeping Birth's Anosognosic Industry of the I's complete carnage is also one that left a mark.

Outside of this I could refer to Martyr's and Decapitated's tricky rythms, Judas Priest's over the topness, Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk by Emperor. Crisix and Vektor's "new wave of thrash" are also a big reference for me.

Some classical influences to. Sonata in B my Franz Liszt, 11th and 14th symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich, Manfred Symphony by Tchaïkovsky and Te Deum by Penderecki are good examples.

These are all regular listens for me (Pash-Khaal).

11.What are some of your non musical interests ?

Videogames, politics, classical music, movies, cooking...

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

"GET DOWN THERE AND SUCK MY BUDDIES BALLZ"  -Devin Townsend

Blacksheep Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
First of all I would like to say hi to you and “TheTrueBringerOfDeathZine” readers. As you probably know, since the start of 2016 we have a new drummer, Herman “Herzu” Heidel and thus we have reformed Blacksheep. Since then we were mainly into rehearsing and adding a new approach to the rhythm parts. There is not much live activity in the summer, we use this time to strengthen the bond between us. We have released a new single, called “Gunsmoke”, that can be watched here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CLabCWK90g. We are currently developing a video for this track.

2.You have a new album coming out later this year, how would you describe
the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it
differ from the album you had released in 2014?
We already started to work on some new material, but I trust is too early to say that there will be a new album this year. In may, we released a new single called “Gunsmoke” and there you can find a hint about the musical direction that we follow. I think that the main difference from the material released in 2014 is the fact that now we are working together to bring out the best from the songs, unlike in 2014 when it was one man’s idea. I think is it very important to collaborate with the right persons and to share mainly the same musical vision, but from different points of view. That’s the main thing that we achieved from the beginning of Blacksheep as a band.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with
the music?
We deal mainly with social and personal issues. To be fair, I never covered this area before, I was not interested to bring out this kind of subjects, but it came naturally when Blacksheep started to take form. Mainly we speak about globalisation, fencing of the individual freedom, lack of opportunities, manipulation of the individuals things that are not recent, but are happening way before we even started to notice them, things that go unseen day by day, but turn out to be very obvious when you take a step back. From here to each individual’s personal drama is just a step and everyone lives it alone in a full crowd since people are mainly focused to pay attention to simple things that distract them daily and gives them false comfort.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Blacksheep"?
I trust that the name speaks for itself, it bears the meaning known to all. I found that suitable for the direction that the band took since the beginning. I found that name funny and meaningful. Ij just came to me, I didn’t do any research, not even to find out if another band already has or had this name, I simply didn’t gave a fuck, I really like this name. J

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 really like to be on the stage, I can tell you that. J Every show for us was important and the best at its time. We enjoyed playing at Rockstadt Extreme Fest, Metalhead Meeting Fest, Posada Rock, Rockstadt Club, Question Mark and so on an so forth. We were very fortunate to have the chance to share the stage with great foreign and local bands that we respect. The stage performance is mainly focused on energy, trying to find the most direct connection with the audience, to deliver the message in the strongest and straightforward way.


6.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?
We’ll see abut that when the material will be out. At this moment we are mainly busy rehearsing, writing new songs, prepairing for the autumn ahead. J In the summer there is less activity, since people is mostly interested in spending their holidays. We have a few shows in the autumn and we will complete the list as we go.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received
any interest?
We didn’t payed too much effort finding a label to be honest. We received interest from local promoters and organisers but at this time our main goals is to keep rehearsing, writing new stuff, play the shows, recording new songs and maybe a videoclip. I think the most important thing for us right now is to make us heard (and seen).

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of
death metal?
The feedback that we received was positive, we are happy to see that people still are keen to the oldschool music, the straightforward message, that “rock/metal” attitude of party, booze and rock’n’roll. An interesting facts is that the people from South America are very interested in our music, they really love this combination of rock, heavy metal, hard rock and growled vocals, we received dozens of messages. On local plan is the same, we have a good feedback, people love to express themselves at the concerts on our music, which is I reckon very appropriate for that.
Even though nowadays metal music entered the sphere of shallow consumerism as is treated as a product that is always at hand and there is an questionable affinity for what is most recent in terms of music, there is still a strong interest in things built to last.

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?
I am glad you asked this question. All the guys except me are involved in another projects, with different musical styles J. For example our drummer “Herzu” is playing with his other band Breathelast and they did accomplished a lot (more on http://www.breathelast.com) , Andrei Costan in playing with Psychogod and they released an album called “Destroy to create – Create to destroy”, you can find more about on http://www.psychogod.ro/. But probably the most versatile and more implicated in other projects is Silviu Ruta, our bass player. He is playing with a successful Romanian hip-hop act called Macanache (https://www.facebook.com/MACANACHEINTERZIS/), but also with Shesdead – alternative/psychedelic (https://www.facebook.com/shesdeadromania/) and also a cover band called Fling. (https://www.facebook.com/flingband/). I am not involved with another bands, but I still find that pleasure to compose and record music by myself at home.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
The main thing that we have accomplished musically is that we managed to develop a style of our own and that’s important to us. On short term I see the band recording a diversified material, but with Blacksheep mark all over it.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influenceon your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Really nowadays I listen very much to Spiritual Beggars, Helloween and Scorpions J. As influence I will not refer to a band, but to a “habit” that was very present in the 90’, that almost each death metal album had “that one track” that either was a cover after a heavy metal band played in a death metal style, either a song written different from the rest of the album, with a more melodic approach, mid tempo and so on. That used to be the third or the last track of the album J.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
I like to travel a lot, to find new places, new food according to the specific of the area. Some sort of culinary tourism, I dare say. And that is leading me to my next hobby that is cooking J. I also like football and wine tasting, or according to the case getting wasted J. And, then is the almighty whisky.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
I would like to thank you for the opportunity to express some of our points of view and to salute all your readers. Thank you guys, you rule!