Ade/Carthago Delenda Est/Xtreem Music/2016 CD Review

  Ade  are  a  band  from Italy that  has  been  featured  before  in  this zine  and  plays  a  very  brutal  form  of  death  metal  with  some  folk elements  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Carthago  Delenda  Est"  which  was  released  by  Xtreem  Music.

  A  very  dark  and  medieval  sound  starts  off  the  album  bringing  in  the   atmosphere  of  an  epic movie  along  with  some  folk music  elements  and  after  awhile  the  music  starts  going  into a  heavier  musical  direction  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  while  the  vocals  are  death  metal  growls.   

  Throughout  the  recording  there  is a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and when  guitar solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  yet melodic  fashion  and  they  also mix  in  the  folk  elements  in  with  the  heavier  parts  at  times  and  some  songs  also  bring  in  elements  of  modern  metal  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  female  vocals  and  high pitched  screams  can  also  be  heard on  some  tracks  and  there  is  also a   brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts. 

  Ade  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  the  epic  death  metal  style  of  previous  recordings  while  also  adding  more  folk  elements  this  time  around,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Ancient  Rome.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Ade  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  epic  death  metal,  you  should  check  out this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Across  The  Wolf's  Blood"  "Dark  Days  Of  Rome"  and  "Sowing  Salt".  8  out  of  10.

Decomposed/Wither/Chaos Records/2016 CD Review

  Decomposed  are  a  band  from  Sweden  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  album  "Wither"  which will  be  released  in  October  by  Chaos  Records.

 Death  metal  growls  and  heavy  guitars  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  morbid  sounding melodies  also  being  utilized  at  times  and  after  awhile  death  metal  growls  also  start  making  their presence  known  on  the  recording and  the  guitar  solos  are  also  very  melodic  and  they  also  stick  to  an  old  school  style. 

  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  and  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  while  also  having  more  of  an  up  to  date  take  on  the  genre  and  some  tracks  also  bring  in  a  brief  use  of clean  guitars  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  one  of  the  tracks  is  very  long  and  epic  in length.

  Decomposed  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  the  old  school  Swedish  style  of  death  metal  from the  previous  release,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Decomposed  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  old  school  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "By  Nothingness  Crowned"  "Submerged"  and  "Into  Nothing".  8  out  of  10.   

First Fragment Interview

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

We are First Fragment, a metal band that formed in Quebec, Canada back in 2007 as a trio - myself on Lead Guitar / Vocals, David AB on Lead Vocals and Gabriel Brault-Pilon on Rhythm Guitar. After releasing a few demos and an EP in the 3 years that followed, we eventually found a drummer and a bass player and we played numerous gigs with a full line-up. We started recording our debut album Dasein in mid 2013 but the project was put on hiatus after our former drummer left the band. We finally found Troy Fullerton of Severed Savior to record session drums on the album and we signed with Unique Leader Records shortly after so they could release our long overdue album. Dasein was released on May 20th through Unique Leader Records and we found our full-time drummer Samuel Santiago (ex Gorod) after the album was completed. We are now writing our 2nd album and we're doing a few small tours this year.

2.In May you had your first full length coming out, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

An unusual, yet coherent mixture of technical death metal, power/neoclassical metal and flamenco. We play highly aggressive and relentless music, but our riffs are often easy to understand as they follow very simple
chord progressions despite of how complex they seem to sound at first. Combine that with omnipresent neoclassical shredding, some jazzy parts, inhumanly fast (but occasionally groovy) drum work, bass work in the vein of Watchtower and Augury and dual vocals entirely sung in french and you have Dasein. It's a very over the top album, and some people might find it "all over the place", but all the true shred junkies out there will find something in this album they'll like for sure.

3.This is your first release in 6 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time span?

I'll just give you the short version. We had line-up problems and suffered from a long hiatus during these years, and there were a few minor delays after the album was fully finished back in summer 2015. It would take me too long to talk about everything that has happened in these 6 years. We're glad this nightmare is over. We can now focus on other things.

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

Dasein is a conceptual album. The story behind it is so detailed and complex that our vocalist is currently writing a book about it. Even regular liner notes (like NILE does) wouldn't be sufficient. His lyrics are very personal and very abstract. He writes using rhymes and enigmatic poetry. It's safe to say that only him truly knows the meaning behind each sentence as each reveal a different ocurrance or event of the story taking place within the song. Every song is connected together as a whole as if they were chapters from a book.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'First Fragment'?

It was just a working title that stuck. There is no specific meaning behind 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?

We played some of our best shows just this last month, including Quebec City that had one of the best crowds we ever played to. Our stage presence isn't necessarily as lively or bouncy as say, a slam death metal/deathcore band because we constantly have to focus on performing our already extremely challenging material as flawlessly as possible (even if it's impossible to be 100% perfect). But our performances are often extremely intense and are always an all-out assault on your senses. People like it, or they don't. There is no in-between. We don't do compromises with our music. People get hurt, necks get sore, and people often leave with bruises, but they all leave the venue satisfied.

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

We did a small tour in July and we have another short tour coming this fall. We're also doing a few dates with The Black Dahlia Murder in October.

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

Heh, it was okay. The fans who were waiting for the album since 2010 were all extremely satisfied, and Dasein definitely turned some heads as almost all of the reviews we've had were overwhelmingly positive. Although we have garnered the respect of many artists and bands we love, we're still relatively obscure in our own scene. I mean, we're the only Québécois metal band to EVER release an album that's all composed in french on an American label, and almost no one from here has taken notice of that even though people here all circle-jerk over the same few francophone metal bands because they sing in french. We don't have THAT many fans in our own country compared to other areas in the world. Doesn't mean we'll stop working our asses off though. We'll continue working hard on our music so that in a few years, every technical death metal fan in the world will know about us and will either respect us or hate us.

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 have been extremely active with my other projects. I play in Chthe'ilist, Serocs, Zealotry and Atramentus. 3 of these bands released full-length albums with label support in the past 9 months with the addition of First Fragment's Dasein with Unique Leader Records. Samuel has done session work with various other projects in the meanwhile and Vincent is playing shows and putting out albums with his other two bands Bisbâyé & Golden Python.

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

In a few years, we'll be doing exactly what we're doing now, but better and better. No compromises, no core, no trends, not ever betraying our roots. Only neoclassical death metal is real. We won't change our way of doing things for anyone, EVER.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

We are greatly influenced by Technical Death Metal, 80's power/neoclassical metal, video game music and Baroque/Romantic era classical music and some Flamenco. From Joey Tafolla and Apocrypha to Spawn of Possession, N. Paganini and Paco De Lucia. And F-ZERO X.

When it comes to the music that I listen to on a daily basis, I mainly stick to 80's heavy/power/speed metal, Epic Doom Metal and Funeral Doom. I listen to some black metal bands like Grand Belial's Key and Kataxu once in a while too. I am a huge 90's death metal geek as well.

Speaking of which, my current playlist for the night is :

Utumno - Across the Horizon
Crystal Age - Far Beyond Divine Horizons
Grotesque - In the embrace of evil
Scald - Will of the gods is great power

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

Movies, video games, hanging out with my friends, etc. Nothing special. I'm a very ordinary person. But music is my life and my greatest passion.

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

Thank you very much for thinking of us for the interview (and sorry for the immense delay!!)

Dementia 13/Ways of Enclosure/Caverna Abismal Records/2016 Cassette Review

Dementia  13  are  a  band  from  Portugal  that  plays  an  old  school  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of t heir  2016  album  "Ways  Of  Enclosure"  which  will  be  released  on  cassette  in  September  by  Caverna  Abismal  Records.

  Spoken  word  samples  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  melodies  at  times  and  the music  is  also  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  90'   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  on  the  recording.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard and  the  guitar  solos  and  leads  also  remain  true  to  an  old  school  style  of  death  metal  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts and  all  of  the  songs  also  sound  like  they  could  of  easily  been  recorded  and  released  25  years  ago  and  horror  movie  samples  are  also  a  very  huge  part  of  the  songs.and  they  also  bring in  an instrumental  version  of  the  'Halloween'  theme  while the  remaining  songs  do  have vocals  but  there  is  also  another  instrumental  that  also  brings  in  a  brief use  of  clean  guitars  and  violins  and  the  last  song  is  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Dementia  13  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  traditional  and  old  school  in the  early  90's  tradition,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  horror  movies,  serial  killers,  gore and  cinema  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Dementia  13  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  cassette.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Orgy  Of  Bloodshed"  "Only Whores  Die  Young"  and  "Dawn  Of  Chaos".  8  out  of  10.  

Blasphemer Interview

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

After recording the album we are focusing on promotion, interviews and soon we will have a super cool pre-order package with exclusive cover artwork, guitar pics, t-shirts.From December we will start rehearsing to unleash Ritual Theophagy live in 2017. A set list, including songs taken from the new album as
well as from On the Inexistence of God and Devouring Deception is ready yet.

2.You have a new album coming out in October, 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?

Ritual Theophagy represents a turning point within our musical production, though our trademark is still clearly recognizable. As for the previous releases technical skills were often pushed to the limit (just because this is how we are used to play music) and no concessions were made to musical trends.Blasphemer has never been a wanna-be mainstream band and it is still deep rooted in the underground.On the other hand our arrangement skills evolved into a more mature form, focusing mostly on songwriting, achieving a new balance between brutality and blackened atmospheres (that were almost missing in the
previous full-length and ep), being able to deliver better structured songs.

3.This is the first album to be released in 6 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time span?

Since 2010, right after the releasing of Devouring Deception, Blasphemer suffered line-up problems. We kept playing show with different members until 2013 but the frequent changes didn’t allowed us to create music with a solid line up and finally discouraged us to the point that me and Paolo were about to give up and disband Blasphemer once and for all. Moreover at that time we were having  troubles with the present members and we quit playing for a while. Finally we decide to build up a new line up, hoping that it would have brought Blasphemer back to life but the fact is that we couldn’t find a drummer. Musician we get in touch with, were asking for money and crazy conditions we couldn’t neither afford nor understand. We felt
clearly that the good days were behind us and, as it always happen, the great support we had in the scene almost disappeared. Moreover we felt that the Death Metal scene itself was changing, turning into
something that we couldn’t recognize anymore, something we were not part of. After 1 year spent searching without success a drummer in our country, we were literally sick of it (I have to say that we never asked Davide Billia about it, because we knew he were extreme busy with his various projects and now I know he would have helped us. Well, it went this way: we missed a chance!). One evening I was drinking whiskey with Paolo and told him I was reckoning to record what we composed in the meanwhile, at least just guitars, then and only then we would have tried once again to find a drummer in order to complete the album. He agreed immediately, we were probably drunk. So, some days later I went to Clod’s place and asked
him to join us in what seemed to be an impossible task. Of course he agreed, as I expected. At that time we just had 6 songs finished and a bunch of sketches. On July 2014 I entered the studios, recorded everything, composing what was missing during the recording session. We had 12 songs tracked and they were actually pretty good. At the end of the year me and Clod took care of the drums, writing its parts with a drum machine while Paolo started composing the vocal lines. It took a long time because we were really busy in our personal life. For example we could work for one entire night, quitting for a couple of weeks and then another night was spent on the album. However we finished and so we had to think seriously who could record the drums. We were brought back once again to the starting point: it was really frustrating and several times we were about to quit everything but we held on and moved forward anyway.
Since in the past we had better feedback in the USA (we actually started working with Eddy Hoffmann who recorded a raw version of I Deny which was awesome, but then he had to quit due to personal reason
such as luck of time, a new born son etc.) we decided to extend the research worldwide. We met in a bar and in front of some beers we all agreed that the one and only person we wanted to work with was our
favorite drummer ever. We were afraid that he would have declined but he had nothing to lose, so the day after I sent an E-Mail to Mr. Darren Cesca and…suddenly he was in! We were overexcited and the news
brought a new, unexpected and powerfull energy to the whole project. The impossible task was going to be realized. Darren refused the drum parts we had written and never listened to them, since we wanted to compose them by his own, from the very start. After a while we received the first sketch and we all thought: “Damn! That’s exactly what we were looking for!”.Darren did a great job and he is one of the most talented and professional artist I ever worked with. It has been a pleasure and an honor for me to have the chance to work with such an amazing drummer. Furthermore I put a lot of effort and passion in composing and playing
our stuff: I remember my cell-phone was always on and (due to time-difference) I received messages from him in the middle of the night, asking about lyrics, artwork, and everything related to the album. I couldn’t be more satisfied than this. The drums arrangement took a while and wasn’t easy cause me and Darren
never played together, we speak different languages etc. but it worked and worked so good! Once the drums were recorded we had to arrange all the vocals once again, changing lyrics here and there as well because a lot had been changed; plus we started writing the bass parts that Clod recorded on
the basis of the drum parts. This is the crazy story of how Ritual Theophagy was born. After a long
hiatus Blasphemer had a new album and looking back at all the troubles we went through, I still can’t believe it is real.

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

Concerning the themes of the lyrics, we remained faithful to our Anti-Christian approach. I wrote down all the titles but the lyrics were mostly written by Paolo. I tried to write some ideas but they were way too conceptual and didn’t fit the music, its intensity and the whole mood of the album. Instead, Paolo has a no-compromise attitude, he just doesn’t give a fuck about offending people, so-called values and institutions, so he was the right person to express in words what we were with our instruments. Anti-Christian Extremism, for example, is the perfect epitome of Paolo’ style and I love the way it’s echoing early Deicide’s lyrics.

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

At the time me and Paolo started Blasphemer we just wanted to play straight anti-christian Death Metal in the vein of Deicide, one of our favorite bands and actually things ain’t changed. The band name come
from a Deicide song “Blaspherereion” that we adapted to Blasphemer. I still remember, back in the days during the late 90’s I met Paolo in a small park in our hometown, where we were used to go drinking and
talking about music. We sat on a bench drinking the worst low quality beer of the world, it was warm and tasted like rotting organs, delivered a strong, instant headache but, you know, we were the weird
guys with long hair and black clothes in a small town, so drinking that shit was part of the game and it seemed to ass so badass! Well, we were young and we cared only about music. We were looking for
band’s name and when Paolo came out with Blasphemer we agreed immediately: it had to be our band’s name!

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?

Our best performances took place during the Comatour 2011, cause we were damn tight at that time. Nonetheless I remember lots of good shows we played and the main common thing of our shows was the
ferocity and intensity we created live. The 4 vocals attack, the fast riffing, the crazy blasting…well, it was almost noise but risen from the depth of hell!

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

Definitely yes. We are going to bring Ritual Theophagy on stage. We are discussing right now with a super talented drummer about it. We’ll start rehearsing later this year but I think we won’t play live shows
before 2017.

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

Feedback has always been great and faithful. As I told you before, we are not a mainstream band and we never will but though the long hiatus our fans are still there, asking for more brutality. Indonesia and USA
are our best audience. Europe is cool, has the biggest festivals and crowds, but somehow here people follow trends more than elsewhere. Nowadays our style of Death Metal isn’t very popular in Europe,metalheads here seem to dislike ultra-guttural voices, weird riffs and no-compromise blasting brutality. Luckily there are die hard brutal fans that still make shows possible.

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 read a couple of days ago that Darren is going to record the new Deeds Of Flesh album and I can’t wait to listen his amazing drumming within the context of such big band, that represents a milestone in
brutal death metal. Paolo recently recorded 2 songs on the Vacuus demo, which is very fucking good and Clod is working on the drums for the new Modus Delicti album. I play also in Beheaded (pretty awesome for me, since I always loved this band!) and later this year the new album Beast Incarnate will be released via Unique Leader.

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

Honestly I don’t know. I went through too many troubles and I know from my experience that long time prediction are impossible. I can tell you that we would like to record a new concept EP against any
kind of religion. Against religion itself. I have some stuff written, we’ll see how and when.

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?

I could name tons of bands that directly or indirectly influenced our music, but this doesn’t mean that it sounds similar to one of them. Deicide, Morbid Angel, Broken Hope, Deeds of Flesh have always played
a big role in our music but if I should reach a total of 10 bands in my death metal pantheon I must add Incantation, Immolation, Obituary, Infernal Torment, Gorgasm and the mighty Dead Congregation.
Recently I am listening a lot of Inquisition, The Chasm, Disma and Coffins as well as King Diamond and Motorhead of course!

12.Does Satanism or Occultism play any role in your music?

Occultism is a trend nowadays (it seems that cryptic signs on Cds are more popular than pussy) but personally I don’t give a fuck about it. I hate every form of cult and occultism as well as Satanism seem to me like an hybrid form of religious, superstitious and irrational devotion, something that I detest. You can say that Ritual Theophagy is full of satanic issues, praise, etc. but I want to highlight that all reference to Satan in the album are metaphoric. Satan represents in our album the mere symbol of the opposition to god, religion, cult, church and similar shit. Moreover it has an aesthetical value and role within the entire concept.


13.What are some of your non musical interests?

I have tons of interests outside music, from philosophy (especially the german philosophy of the 18th century) and literature (especially the german one of the XIX and XX). I don’t collect human skulls or WW2 relics, I do have several horror movies but not that much and honestlyI prefer spaghetti western and porn!

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

First of all, thank you very much for the interview. Second, and to all the death metal fans out there: check the new album out and be prepared for a sonic annihilation! Final words…well I remember the verse of a Deicide song about it: “ gofuck your god, will be my final words!”
www.facebook.com/blasphemerbrutal
www.comatosemusic.com

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.