AN NCS INTERVIEW: RUNE “BLASPHEMER” ERIKSEN (VLTIMAS, EARTH ELECTRIC, AURA NOIR)

 Interviews  7 Responses »
Jul 182019
 

 

(Our Norway-based contributor Karina Noctum scored a coup with this interview of Rune “Blasphemer” Eriksen at the recent Tons of Rock festival in Oslo, where Blasphemer performed with his band Vltimas, which also includes David Vincent and Flo Mounier (their debut album Something Wicked Marches In was released by Season of Mist this past March). Blasphemer has left his mark on the history of metal through the music of such bands as Mayhem and Aura Noir, and more recently with Vltimas and Earth Electric. This interview touches on all these experiences, and what the future holds for him. All photos accompanying this interview were made by Andrea Chirulescu.)

 

How did the idea of forming Vltimas originate?

I’ve been playing so much extreme metal for so many years that it was always a mission of mine to form a band that I could call my little baby. Something that I created from the start, because with Mayhem, I didn’t start it; I joined Mayhem. The same with Aura Noir, I just joined them.

So it was something that was on my to-do list, you know. Starting something from scratch and building something up from the ground. So when I quit Mayhem I was thinking about it, but at the time I just thought I had to take a break from extreme metal, from Black Metal, so I did not pursue it. I did other styles within metal instead. Continue reading »

DEATH COMES IN THREES: A SELECTION OF SOME KILLER BLACK METAL

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
May 042018
 

 

(Here are brief reviews by TheMadIsraeli of three 2018 black metal albums that have caught his ear.)

I’ve been busy with life, but it doesn’t mean my metal consumption has slowed down.  Let’s talk about some killer black metal that’s come out this year thus far. While the number of great black metal albums this year has been smaller than in 2017 in my mind, what has come around is top-tier and I’ve picked a pretty diverse selection of three very good records.

INFESTUM

Infestum are long-running, but for those still unaware, this Belarusian band play a style of riffy, technical, tight, and concise black metal in the vein of say, Keep Of Kalessin or Old Man’s Child, with a hint of Vader. Les Rites De Passage is a fantastic record with some diverse song-writing thanks to a very Khonsu-esque sense of industrial inclusions. The riffs of Infestum are top-notch, with a pristine sense of phrasing and drama combined with a very esoteric style of melody that I quite enjoy and vocals that definitely will bring ex-KOK vocalist Thebon to mind. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: AURA NOIR (APOLLYON)

 Interviews  4 Responses »
Mar 152018
 

 

(Our Norway-based correspondent Karina Noctum brings us this interview of Apollyon from the Norwegian black/thrash band Aura Noir, whose new album Aura Noire will be released on April 27th through Indie Recordings.)

 

How do you innovate and keep your sound current while dealing with an old-school sound?

We are just doing what feels natural to us. Also we are mixing ourselves this time to be sure it doesn’t sound too flashy.

 

I attended the Party.San gig last year and there were some sound problems. Besides technical problems, how do those kind of incidents affect the mood while you’re playing live? Do you need to be in a particular mindset to perform your best?

We have a different sound on stage than the sound you hear in the crowd. So it can sound shit to us but good to you or the other way around. For us it is more inspiring to have a good sound on stage obviously. If we cannot hear what we are playing it will of course affect our performance and maybe we will look less confident/inspired. It’s a never-ending worry of course, and can become less worrying by bringing your own soundguy/stage monitor guy… loads of crew. But of course all this costs money so mostly we just use the local crew/sound people. Some of them are good.. .some are not. And some misunderstand how we want to sound. The dream would be to be able to be your own sound technician every night, but that is physically difficult. Continue reading »

INCINERATION FEST 2015

 Concert Reviews  6 Responses »
May 162015
 

 

(Our man Andy Synn was lucky enough to attend the second annual Incineration Festival in the UK and turns in this report, with videos.)

Let me preface this review with a quick round of thanks to the people who made the festival, and my presence there, possible.

My main thanks go out to Daniel of London Metal Monthly (for whom I also write on a semi-regular basis these days) for arranging my press pass and feeding my ever-expanding ego (though at no point did I have to utter the immortal words “do you know who I am?”… which was a shame).

I also want to thank Steve and Stephen for dealing with the masses of people queuing for wristbands and for sorting my access on the day itself, as well as for all their work behind the scenes in booking the bands, venues, crew, and everything else that must have gone into a mammoth undertaking.

However, they, along with Nimai, are only the names I know of the people who were involved. For an undertaking this big – one that’s only in its second year no less – there must have been a host of other helpers and organisers working alongside them. And although I don’t know their names, I thank them as well. Continue reading »

AURA NOIR: “FED TO THE FLAMES”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Mar 062012
 

I’ve written before that thrash is one of my least favorite genres of metal. It’s not that all thrash puts me off, but for some reason the thrash bands who really get me excited tend to be fewer and farther between than bands in certain other metal genres. I think part of the lack of attraction is the traditional vocal style. I like thrash riffing, but not thrash screaming.

What I’m discovering, however, is that black thrash tends to hit my sweet spot, particularly when it’s especially filthy and infernal. I like the ugly, glass-scraping vocals; I like the tremolo drilling; I like the dirty distortion. While we’re on that subject, I also like what I’m hearing from the new album by Norway’s Aura Noir.

They were formed in 1993 by Aggressor (also in Virus) and Apollyon (also a member of Immortal) with the goal of incorporating influences from bands such as Slayer, Sodom, and Kreator into black metal. Their first official release was the Dreams Like Deserts EP in 1994. Later joined by guitarist Blasphemer, (ex-Mayhem guitarist Rune Eriksen, who now also leads his own band Ava Inferi), they’ve created four full-length albums, though the last one (Hades Rise) is now four years old.

The next album, Out To Die, is scheduled for release on March 23 through Indie Recordings. Today Terrorizer premiered a song from the album called “Fed To the Flames”, which follows an earlier premiere by Brooklyn Vegan of a track called “Abaddon”. You can hear both of them after the jump. Continue reading »