AN NCS INTERVIEW: JORDAN WHITEMAN (AND “THE UNLIKELY STORY OF DUNGEON SYNTH”)

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Feb 122025
 


photo by Betsy Whiteman

(In this interview with writer Jordan Whiteman, Comrade Aleks delved deeply into the story behind Whiteman‘s recently published book about the history of dungeon synth, and the passion required to make the book a reality. Like the book, the discussion is essential reading for any fan of the subgenre, and for anyone interested in exploring it for the first time.)

Released in December 2024 by Cult Never Dies, the book The Unlikely Story of Dungeon Synth became a good extension of the publishing house’s black-metal-oriented catalogue. It’s not something you would expect probably, but this subgenre, as a development of majestic synth-driven soundscapes accompanying a lot of black metal albums, has its history, its ethos, and influence too.

This well-written and well-illustrated book brightened up this January, so I decided to take a look behind the curtain and discover more of Dungeon Synth and its origin with the book’s author, Jordan Whiteman. Continue reading »

An NCS INTERVIEW: ADE

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Feb 112025
 

(In mid-March Time To Kill Records will release a new album by the Roman death metal band Ade, and that drew our Comrade Aleks into a very interesting discussion with the band’s founder Fabius and its vocalist Diocletianus. The interview provides excellent insights into the band’s ambitions and techniques, and of course the new album as well.)

For seventeen years the Italian band Ade has performed their own Ancient Roman Death Metal. It may sound ambitious, but they truly do their best to pave their own way, choosing original themes for their albums and integrating folk instruments in their riffs and mountain-splitting melodies.

They already had album dedicated to the Punic Wars (Carthago Delenda Est, 2016), and there’s the album Spartacus (2013) dedicated to the riot of Spartacus himself, for example. But the new album’s title Supplicium could be translated as “suffering”, and the idea behind it is a bit difficult to interpret.

This interview with the Ade’s founder Fabius (guitars) and his bandmate Diocletianus (vocals) will shed some light on the band’s history and the story of Suffering as well. Time To Kill Records is going to release the album on March 14th, but we just needed to forewarn you as soon as possible! Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: REGICIDE

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Feb 102025
 

(This is Comrade Aleks‘ extensive interview with the very thoughtful and articulate Vitaly “Gravementor” Galkin, one of the two members of the band Regicide from Siberian Russia, whose debut album Eternal Siege was released last October.)

Formed as a quartet in June 2016 by guitarist/vocalist Vitaly “Gravementor” Galkin, bassist Pavel Mor, drummer Alexander Sunz, and guitarist Michael, Regicide was one of the very few (or maybe only) sludge’n’stoner bands in the Siberian city of Yekaterinburg. Their live album Live at Doomsday Haze Vol. 4 passed almost unnoticed back in 2021, and somehow the quartet turned into a duo, but Vitaly together with Stanislav Zhdanovsky (drums, cymbals, percussion) managed to focus and record the full-length album Eternal Siege.

And in spite of all my stereotypes regarding the genre’s primitivism, we had a very constructive conversation with Vitaly. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ZEIT DER DUNKELHEIT

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Feb 042025
 

(Comrade Aleks was intrigued by the unusual combination of features that have been presented in the music of the UK medieval black metal band Zeit der Dunkelheit, and so he reached out to its sole recording member Jim Kakes, and the following interview was the result.)

Zeit der Dunkelheit is a medieval black metal project from London, UK. Run by Jim Kakes alone, the project appeared suddenly in 2024: The EP Das Ende der Zeit was released first, then a series of digital singles followed, and as the culmination of this blitzkrieg the full-length debut Die letzten Tage was released.

Despite the album’s message (the Last days are upon us!) and its black metal core, the overall impression of the material is quite energetic due to its strong bias towards folk tunes. Although Die letzten Tage reflects the world plunging into darkness and ultimate death, the liberation of death is celebrated “in an optimistic tone”. And that’s kind of a controversial approach, so Jim himself may explain it better. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ATARAXIE

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Jan 312025
 


photo by Ben Redcatcity

(Last fall we had the privilege and pleasure of premiering and reviewing a full stream of Le Déclin, a new album by the veteran French band Ataraxie. Today it’s an equal pleasure to present an extremely interesting and topical interview by our Comrade Aleks with two founders and key members of the band.)

They’ve played extreme death-doom since 2000; they have three guitarists in the lineup; they are Ataraxie, and their fifth album Le Déclin was released in October 2024. The band demonstrate a high level of stability, as their new material consists of four tracks with a total duration around 80 minutes. It means that Ataraxie keep on holding to their old patterns and mix both slow and crushing funeral doom riffs with bloodthirsty death metal slaughter and merciless blast beasts. These elements help to make an emphasis on the band’s nihilistic manifest against the foulness of humanity corrupted to the core.

Honestly, it’s a familiar picture to Ataraxie’s fans, because its founders Jonathan Théry (bass, vocals), Pierre Sénécal (drums), and Frédéric Patte-Brasseur (guitars) are still here. And their companions Hugo Gaspar (guitars) and Julien Payan (guitars) aren’t rookies either; they’ve spread these bleak vibes of doom and damnation for the entire decade.

But these guys not only know how to perform such painful, agonizing music, but also how to represent it precisely in a verbal way. And in the end, this interview with Jonathan and Frédéric is something I’m proud of.

Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SACRIFICE

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Jan 222025
 


photo by Kelly Clark Fotography

(On February 21st Cursed Blessings Records and High Roller Records will release Volume Six, a new album by the ’80s-era Canadian thrash metal band Sacrifice — their first one in 16 years and with their original lineup intact. Yesterday we published Wil Cifer’s review, and today we bring you Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Sacrifice vocalist/guitarist Rob Urbinati.)

It’s always cool to know that there are veterans of the metal scene who keeps its fire burning, who are able to give it hot and strong. Sacrifice is one such band.

They started in 1984 as one of the first Canadian thrash/speed bands and evolving at the same time as bands like Anvil, Exciter, and Razor did. Torment in Fire (1986), Forward to Termination (1987), Soldiers of Misfortune (1990), and Apocalypse Inside (1993) left their impact on the world’s scene, but Sacrifice disbanded in 1993 on the peak of their activity, as one may say.

The band returned in 2006 in its original lineup, and they keep on rocking until today. Scott Watts (bass), Joe Rico (guitars), Gus Pynn (drums), and Rob Urbinati (guitars, vocals) haven’t forgotten how to do aggressive, technical, and highly tense metal. Their new album Volume Six easily proves it, as well as this interview. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CAPILLA ARDIENTE

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Jan 142025
 

(Last October the Chilean doom band Capilla Ardiente released their newest album, and it led our Comrade Aleks to conduct an interview with one of the founding members, Claudio Botarro Neira, last fall. Due to our own delays while focusing on year-end traditions, we are late in publishing their very good discussion, but now we do.)

Chilean epic doom band Capilla Ardiente was founded in 2006, and since then its crew gained a proper reputation releasing rare yet remarkable albums. Each of the band’s members is occupied with different tasks and different bands, so each album of Capilla Ardiente is something you need to wait for.

Claudio Botarro Neira (bass), Felipe Plaza Kutzbach (vocals), Francisco Aguirre (drums), Julio Bуrquez (guitar), and Igor Leiva (guitar) know how to play any kind of metal, but the new Capilla Ardiente album Where Gods Live and Men Die released by High Roller Records in October 2024 is a four-song-long epic journey, or rather pilgrimage, to the peaks of doom metal. We got in touch with Claudio, and here’s the interview we conducted. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: BLACKDEATH

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Jan 092025
 

(We like to think that we’ve never published a “bad” interview, but of course some are better than others. The one below that Comrade Aleks brought us from his discussion with Para Bellum from the Russian band Blackdeath is one of the best ever. You’ll see.)

If we take into account the pre-Blackdeath projects Draugwath and Black Draugwath, then it’s easy to count that the band will reach its 30th anniversary in 2025.

For almost three decades, brothers Para Bellum (vocals, bass) and Abysslooker (guitars) keep on producing their own black metal with absolute dedication and some tendency to experiment, remaining one of the oldest Russian bands in this genre. With Maya on drums since 2007, this time Blackdeath enlisted the support of the second guitarist Der Nukleare Herjann (better known as Arjan Peeks), who spread the heathen malice through the Netherlands bands Cultus, Heimdalls Wacht, Uuntar, and more.

Naturally, an enhanced lineup produced the recording of a different kind, and the band’s eleventh album Mortui incedere possunt proves its firm position in the black metal underground. Even though Blackdeath never dealt with Lovecraftian beliefs directly, the interview with Para Bellum turned out great. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MONOLITHE

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Jan 062025
 

(Last November Hammerheart Records released the fantastic tenth album by the ever-intriguing French band Monolithe, and that led our Comrade Aleks into an interview with the band’s new vocalist/guitarist Quentin Verdier — a very good one that you’ll find below.)

The Parisian long-running doom band Monolithe continues its mission to explore the boundaries of the genre and this time they’ve turned to the theme of futuristic noir. They have already recorded a series of albums loosely based on the work of Stanley Kubrick, the Soviet cosmic program, and their own fantasies. Now they approach the cultural and philosophical legacy of Blade Runner and The Matrix.

Monolithe’s lineup went through some changes shortly before the album’s recording, but the founding members Sylvain Begot (guitars, keyboards, programming) and Benoit Blin (guitar) are still at the helm. Their tenth full-length Black Hole District ​​consists of ten tracks: five instrumentals exactly one minute each interspersed with five ten-minute long compositions. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: THE GREAT OLD ONES

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Dec 122024
 


Photos by ©Daphnea Doto / Solweig Wood

(We proudly present Comrade Aleks‘ excellent interview with Benjamin Guerry from the French band The Great Old Ones, whose new album is set for release in January by Season of Mist.)

As you noticed, there were almost zero interviews with Lovecraft-influenced bands in the previous two months. Hard times for those who follow the Cult, indeed! But the patient ones will be rewarded, as Season of Mist proclaimed that the fifth release of French black metal heroes The Great Old Ones, Kadath, will be released on January 24th!

Fifteen years of boiling activity, four full-length albums behind, a damn lot of live rituals served – the band has solid luggage and this entire experience was reworked and channeled through a concept album based on Lovercaft’s most psychedelic and bizarre Dream Cycle.

Benjamin Guerry (guitars, vocals) is the only founding member who stood at the dawn of The Great Old Ones and who remains its mastermind; it was sheer luck that we’ve caught him and got the interview done in the most operative way. Continue reading »

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