AN NCS INTERVIEW: JOSÉ LUIS CANO BARRÓN

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Nov 152024
 

(In the following interview, Comrade Aleks presents a very interesting discussion with Mexican writer José Luis Cano Barrón, the founder of Under Fire Records and the author of numerous books about metal. The main focus of this conversation (but not the only one) is his book about Bathory and Quorthon, an English translation of which has been released this year by Pagan Records.)

Bathory is one of the most influential extreme metal bands of the past, as Quorthon, its constitutor, was one of the first to lay the foundation for the black metal genre, and he was the one and only who formed the rules of viking metal. Almost each album he recorded differs from another, but even the most controversial of his releases, like those two he did in the mid-’90s, got recognition.

Quorthon passed away twenty years ago on February 17, 2004, and it felt terribly wrong that there weren’t books about his career and Bathory’s history. Yet, it’s easy to understand why, because he always avoided revealing details of his personal life and preferred to work alone, so there weren’t many evidences that could help to recreate some episodes of his life accurately.

Long story short: Pagan Records released an English-language edition of José Luis Cano Barrón’s book From Hades to Valhalla… BATHORY – The Epic Story. And I couldn’t ignore it, so here we have José, who not only shared his look at Bathory’s story, but also revealed some of his plans, which may excite other bookworms like me. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ANTE-INFERNO

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Nov 122024
 

(On November 22nd Vendetta Records will release a new album by the UK black metal band Ante-Inferno. Probably intrigued by certain Lovecraftian imagery hovering around the album, our interviewer Comrade Aleks reached out to the band’s lyricist, vocalist, and guitarist Kai, and that led to an excellent discussion, which we now present below.)

Founded in Scarborough, 2017, Ante-Inferno have performed their black metal almost without stop, and there’s just a normal two-year-long break between their second album Antediluvian Dreamscapes and the new one – Death’s Soliloquy.

This is a sort of concept album based on traditional black metal sound with atmospheric touches and a depressive message of self-destruction. Vendetta Records has scheduled Death’s Soliloquy for release on November 22nd, and the interview we’ve done with Kai (vocals, guitars) should shed some light on this grim dramatic work. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GÖDEN

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Nov 112024
 

(Delayed by both external events and our editor’s foot-dragging, we finally present our Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Stephen Flam, an original member of the seminal NYC band Winter and a founder of Göden, whose second album Vale of the Fallen (the main subject of the interview) was released by Svart Records last May.)

About thirty-five years ago, the heavy, rusty, clanking Winter thundered through the New York City underground. Over time, the young trio, making sloppy death-doom, entered the pantheon of genre pioneers whose names are known mostly to doom-heads, but then the band simply fell apart after their first album Into Darkness (1990).

Winter’s guitarist Stephen Flam returned with two confederates as Göden in 2020: Betty (“Vas”) Lakkas aka Nxyta (Goddess of Night) on vocals and Tony Pinnisi aka The Prophet of Goden on keyboards. With the new album Vale of the Fallen, Göden continued this year the direction they took on their debut, Beyond Darkness (2020): unusual, but uncomfortable and categorically gloomy post-apocalyptic doom with hoarse female vocals. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: THE GATES OF SLUMBER

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Nov 052024
 


photo by Marshall Kreeb

(Indiana-based doom metal behemoths The Gates of Slumber have revived and return with a new self-titled album that’s set for release on November 29th via Svart Records. Our Comrade Aleks needed to find out more, and the band’s founder Karl Simon graciously took his questions.)

There are the bands who are long inactive, and after some time checking their profiles on social medias or metal-archives in hope of finding any new information, you just give up. The same was true for me with The Gates of Slumber. I loved the heroic doom metal they played in the first album …the Awakening (2004); Suffer No Guilt (2006) was a blast; and I still listen to other albums too – especially Hymns of Blood and Thunder (2009).

Karl Simon (guitars, vocals) disbanded The Gates of Slumber in 2013 only to form Wretch, which didn’t last long. So Karl’s last official full-length was Wretch’s self-titled debut released in 2016, and I was surprised when Svart Records announced that a new The Gates of Slumber album would be released on November 29th.

Of course, it was a natural necessity to learn the album’s background, and the result of my curiousity is this interview with Karl. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: FOR CENTURIES

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Oct 252024
 

(Here we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Ivan Bloodhunter, founder and vocalist of the Mexican Epic Doom band For Centuries.)

Epic doom metal from Mexico is a really rare thing, and it’s good to have such an opportunity and to talk with For Centuries from Guadalajara about their first full-length album Before the Eyes of Doom (Per Sæcula Sæculorum). This band was founded in 2017, so their underground career is relatively short, yet the material which fills Before the Eyes of Doom is absolutely worthy of listening for fans of traditional and, yes, quite epic doom metal.

For Centuries rely on the classical sound of good old doom metal with lyrics based on medieval prejudices and stories of the deviltry. As you see, the vibe is already very old school, so you know what to expect from them. However, I’ve always preferred interviews over reviews, because this way it is easier to discover what the authors put into their music, much better than trying to interpret it yourself.

Today I invite you to make a trip to the Mexican underground with Ivan Bloodhunter, the band’s vocalist and founder. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GOLGOTHA

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Oct 182024
 

(Earlier this year we helped introduce to the public the newest album by the long-running Spanish death-doom metal band Golgotha, and today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview with its leader Vicente Javier Payá Galindo.)

NCS readers already read the in-depth text about Golgotha’s newest album Spreading the Wings of Hope, or at least you should. Anyway I’d like to remind you about this oldest Spanish death-doom band once more and invite you to read the interview with its founder Vicente Javier Payá Galindo, the guitarist and the author of music and partly the lyrics. Maybe it’ll help to understand the motivation of Golgotha’s members better, maybe you’ll dig the album after that. Who knows? Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: KAM LEE (MASSACRE)

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Oct 152024
 

(Our Comrade Aleks is best-known at our site for interviewing musicians in the genres of doom and black metal, but he dived deep into the molten core of death metal with this interview of the legendary Kam Lee. Maybe it was the shared love of Lovecraft that created the connection?)

Kam Lee doesn’t need a special introduction. Being one of the most prolific American death metal vocalists, he started with Mantas and Death in 1983, and performed with a lot of bands including Bone Gnawer, Massacre, The Grotesquery, and many more. Lovecraftian horrors, horror movies and related cultural influences were the fundament of his lyrics for almost 40 years and became a trademark of the bands in which he was involved, as well as his primordial growl.

His return to Massacre in 2019 opened a new chapter in the band’s career, as Kam, with the help of Mike Borders (bass) and ultra-prolific Rogga Johansson (guitars), breathed new life into the old entity. The most recent demonstration of their fruitful collaboration is the Necrolution album, which will be released by Agonia Records on November 8th. I’m grateful to Kam for his patience and this great interview we managed to do. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: INTAGLIO

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Oct 102024
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Evgeny Semenov, founder and principal of the Russian funeral doom band Intaglio (whose latest album we premiered and reviewed here) and a founder and owner of Solitude Productions. The interview focuses on both of those subjects, and more.)

Intaglio is one of very first funeral doom bands founded in Russia. They and Comatose Vigil released debut albums in 2005, and only Вой / Voy could challenge their birthright, but its demo recorded in 1991 wasn’t officially published until 2012.

Although Intaglio’s self-titled first album was almost unnoticed in the world underground, it was also one of the releases by Solitude Productions, the Russian doom-oriented label which has gained its reputation with years of fair and selfless work in the name of Doom. By accident, Evgeny Semenov, one of Intaglio’s founders, who performs guitars, bass, and programming, also is one of Solitude’s owners.

As everything about funeral doom is damn slow, here we are to discuss with Evgeny the band’s latest album II, released in 2021. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: AVERNUS

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Oct 072024
 


Photography by Gene Ambo

(In mid-September we had the privilege of premiering Grievances, the comeback album of the Chicago doom band Avernus, a few days before its release by M-Theory Audio. And now our Comrade Aleks presents an extensive interview he also conducted in September with Avernus members Rick McCoy and James Genenz.)

Avernus from Chicago is considered one of the first bands to consciously mix influences of gothic rock and death-doom, as they did it in the early ’90s. Working on a series of demos and singles helped them digest this experience and come to the most effective expression of these ideas in the full-length release …of the Fallen (1997), which fans still remember with warmth.

Seventeen years have passed since then. The band managed to break up, re-form, and gradually record the second album Grievances. The line-up of Avernus has undergone minimal changes since 1993, and the latest “newcomer” is guitarist James Genenz (also Jungle Rot), who joined the guys in 1998. Other men are Rick Yifrach (drums), Rick McCoy (vocals, guitars, keyboards), and Erik Kikke (guitars).

An old horse does not spoil the furrow, as we say here, and in Grievances Avernus do not copy themselves, essentially moving along the path of melodic and atmospheric death-doom. It is curious, but in general the material is close to the fresh album of other luminaries of the scene – Officium Triste rather than to …of the Fallen. The similarity lies in the general tendency towards magnificent guitar melodies (there are three guitarists in Avernus), towards concentrated-in-power riffs, and in Rick McCoy‘s thunderous growl. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: OCTOPLOID

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Sep 202024
 


L-R: Mikko Pietinen (drums, percussion), Olli-Pekka Laine (bass, keyboards, backing vocals), Peter Salonen (guitars) – photo by Päivi Leino

(Below you will find Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Finnish musician Olli-Pekka Laine, with a focus on his band Octoploid‘s July 2024 debut album Beyond the Aeons, but touching upon other topics as well, incuding Amorphis and Barren Earth.)

Olli-Pekka Laine is a multitalented musician. He’s well-known, as he composed half of Amorphis’ legendary albums Tales from The Thousand Lakes (1994) and Elegy (1996), and later he practiced his progressive vision in the “dream-team” band Barren Earth.

The last one tended toward progressive and melodic death-doom metal too, a kind of direction which Olli always choses instinctively. But since Barren Earth is inactive, and Olli writes not too much for Amorphis, he naturally collected a good number of interesting ideas which ended in this solo-project, Octoploid.

Well, we say “solo”, but Octoploid’s lineup includes Olli’s buddy from Mannhai, Mikko Pietinen (drums), Kim Rantala (keyboards), who did an enormous input in Elegy, and young talent Peter Salonen (guitars).

And let’s not forget those honorable guests who took part in the recording of Octoploid’s debut Beyond the Aeons, released by Reigning Phoenix Music in July 2024. A few of Amorphis’ men can be found on this album, as well as Hamferð’s frontman Jón Aldará, Mikko Kotamäki from Swallow the Sun, Mannhai’s Ilkka Laaksomaa, and more. So if you’re ready for “70’s death metal”, let’s not waste any time before getting into this interview. Continue reading »

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