AN NCS INTERVIEW: DEATH RACER

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Sep 062024
 

(Here is another interview by Comrade Aleks, this time a discussion with drummer Niki Louder from the Austrian band Death Racer.)

Dying Victims Productions released the debut album of Linz-based blackened speed metal band Death Racer in late July, and I reached out to prepare an interview in support of the release. The official press-release for “their long-awaited debut album, From Gravel to Grave” is informative:

“From Gravel to Grave presents Death Racer as an all-pistons-pumping runaway racecar, chassis gleaming but torched black with exhaust underneath, its very construction pushing the outer limits of safety before all the screws fall loose and a fiery wreck ensues. For sure, it’s not difficult to spot the Austrians’ influences, and they wouldn’t have it any other way – they are transparent as they are thorough, to circle back to the earliest point – so therefore, there’s the obligatory “High Speed Metal” of classic Razor as well as the comparable grit & grime of equally old, raw metal like earliest Slayer, Exciter, Bathory, Hungary’s Tormentor, Bulldozer, true-metal Darkthrone, cult NWOBHM, Violent Force, and of course, erudite Teutonic thrash”.

But if you want to learn more, then you can sort out a few more things from the interview below. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DESTRUCTION OF ORION

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Aug 302024
 

(Comrade Aleks has brought us an interview with an unusual creative artist, whose debut album released in late July is a very unusual accomplishment. You’ll find out just how unusual by reading the good discussion below — and of course we hope you’ll immerse yourself in the music too.)

Funeral doom never was popular because of its specific features, like monotony and a quite limited palette of self-expression, but still there are exceptions; there are bands and projects which can offer something new.

Bulgarian Destruction of Orion is one of them. It is the solo project of Tehina Spasova who performs all instruments on her first album Decreasing Brightness. Oh, and she performed all growling vocals on her own too, so that’s notable – a funeral doom band with a lady on vocals. But, moreover, the concept behind Destruction of Orion is worth of mentioning too.

As Tehina states, the project’s name is related to the constellation’s impending doom and at the same time, it’s about a self-destructive personality. All of her songs deal both with the physical process of dying stars and poetic interpretations of inner turmoil and disintegration, something you can easily read between the lines. So let me introduce Tehina and Destruction of Orion through this interview. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: THE ETERNAL

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Aug 292024
 


photo by AJ Savolainen

(We present Comrade Aleks‘ extensive and informative interview of Mark Kelson — co-founder, guitarist, and vocalist of The Eternal, whose new album was released in June by Reigning Phoenix Music.)

The Eternal was born from the remains of one of the first Australian death-doom bands, Cryptal Darkness, and Skinwalker is the seventh full-length in The Eternal’s career. It was released in June by Reigning Phoenix Music, and I need to tell you that since the release of their last album Waiting for the Endless Dawn (2018), the line-up of the band has changed dramatically.

I don’t know how, but The Eternal’s founder Mark Kelson (vocals, guitars) and his bandmate Richie Poate (guitars) lured the rhythm section of Amorphis – Jan Rechberger (drums) and Niklas Etelävuori (bass) – into the lineup. Also the vocalist and keyboardist of Amorphis are listed as guests, and this is, of course, something out of the ordinary!

The doom component of Skinwalker is minimized, and Mark and his comrades play their heavy gothic metal quite briskly, weaving patterns of airy melodies and delivering melancholic vocal parts almost without looking back at their death-doom past. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: STILLBORN

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Aug 262024
 

(The Swedish band Stillborn trace their roots to 1984, and in June of this year, 40 years later, the original lineup brought forth a new album named Netherworlds. That was cause enough for Comrade Aleks to organize the following interview with the band’s vocalist and bassist Kari Hokkanen. Credit for all the accompanying photos goes to Bosse Melin.)

The Swedish gothic doom band Stillborn turns forty this year, and no matter what anyone says about “gothic doom”, classifying every other album of Paradise Lost, Theatre of Tragedy, or My Dying Bride as part of this genre, it was these Swedes who technically discovered it.

It was Stillborn who, in their debut album Necrospirituals (1989), mixed Black Sabbath riffs, without bringing them to the scale of Candlemass, with horror aesthetics and a deep low voice in the style of Fields of the Nephilim and Sisters of Mercy.

Having recorded three notable full-lengths, Stillborn broke up in 1996, and then they were remembered only in connection with Messiah Marcolin’s attempt to return to the scene under the name Colossus, and also thanks to Paradise Lost, who recorded a cover of Stillborn’s hit “Albino Flogged in Black” as a bonus to One Second. Entombed did the same in 2004, and they didn’t hesitate to make a video for the song.

The song turned out to be so influential that Stillborn themselves have now recorded its sequel, “Albino Flogged in Blue.” Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: VOID MOON

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Aug 192024
 

(In June of this year Personal Records released a new album by the Swedish doom metal band Void Moon. Our Comrade Aleks became a fan of it, and that led to the following discussion between him and Void Moon‘s Peter Svensson. As you’ll see, it’s a very good conversation and goes off in lots of interestng directions.)

Peter Svensson (bass, guitar) is involved in about 15 projects and bands, playing both heavy and death metal. Not all of these formations are active, but it is worth keeping in mind the number. In a good half of these bands, he is accompanied by Marcus Rosenqvist (vocals, drums).

It is almost funny, but Marcus has been drumming in Void Moon since 2014, yet his talent as a vocalist was fully discovered only by the third album, The Autumn Throne (2020), so Dreams Inside the Sun is his second full-length as a frontman.

This time, the duo have prepared nine tracks, and I got the impression that this material is lighter and more melodic than what we heard on the previous work. And this is not just a guess: Peter officially stated that he does not want to repeat himself, and promised that the new album will be different, more powerful, and more positive.

Formally operating with the standard techniques of traditional doom metal, relying on dense riffs and a low tuning, Void Moon, without breaking the laws of the genre, take from it what positives they can, and equip Dreams Inside the Sun with a truly positive charge. They are not pioneers, because such bands existed before, but there are not many of them. I invite you to check out this interview with Peter. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DECEASED

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Aug 162024
 


Photo Credit: Thirdxposurephotography

(Looking forward to the impending August 30 release of a new album by Deceased, Comrade Aleks reached out to the band’s co-founder Kingsley “King” Fowley for an interview, and that resulted in a very engaging and wide-ranging discussion, which you can now read below.)

The legendary Deceased returns with a new full-length album, though “return” is a wrong word, because they’ve kept an active pace since 1985 and (almost) never stop. The band’s lineup is pretty steady and the new album Children of the Morgue was recorded by Deceased founder Kingsley “King” Fowley (vocals), Les Snyder (bass) who joined the crew in 1988, Mike Smith (guitars) who’s been in the lineup since 1990, Shane Fuegel (guitars) since 2006, and “youngest” member Amos Rifkin (drums) who had to replace untimely departed Dave “Scarface” Castillo in 2019.

The crew prepared an album full of driving death and thrash metal hits, proving to be damn heavy, alive, and creative despite the band’s respectable age. And we were honoured to interview Kingsley himself, a most friendly and communicative death metal undertaker. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MOON INCARNATE

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Aug 082024
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ excellent discussion with Christian Kolff and Matin Vasari, with the focus being on their band Moon Incarnate, whose debut album was released earlier this year by Iron Bonehead Productions.)

The death-doom coalition Moon Incarnate was created by experienced members of the German underground: Christian Kolff (guitar, bass, synths), the leader of the prog death-doom act Valborg and five other projects of different directions, as well as Matin Vasari (vocals, synths) from the death metal band Beyondition.

Hymns to the Moon is seven small fantasies on the theme of death-doom of the ’90s, the fruit of love for the legacy of The British Three, Tiamat, Katatonia, Samael, as well and others like them. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SCALD

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Aug 062024
 

(The comeback album of the Russian epic doom band Scald has been out for 10 days, and to help celebrate the event we’re publishing Comrade Aleks‘ interview with Scald bassist and lyricist Velingor, which occurred not long before the release.)

Scald was a unique and short-lived phenomenon on the Russian scene in the ’90s. The band gathered in Yaroslavl in 1993, but disbanded in 1997 after the tragic death of vocalist Agyl. Scald‘s first and only full-length album, Will of Gods Is a Great Power, was released posthumously on tapes, but it was only in the 2000s, after its release on CD, that the band began to get recognition and reach fans abroad. Their truly epic doom metal with Viking influences in the vein of Bathory sounded expressive, talented, and powerful.

Scald was revived in 2019 on sheer enthusiasm for a single performance at the German Hammer of Doom festival, when Chilean vocalist Felipe Plaza Kutzbach, who lives now in Sweden, volunteered to perform as Scald’s frontman. Felipe sings in two epic doom bands, Capilla Ardiente and Procession, and thrashes with Deströyer 666. He has a wealth of experience, gifted by the [heathen] gods.

With all the difficulties that exist today for international cooperation and adjusted for the covid period, the release of a new Scald album in itself is a real success. That new album, Ancient Doom Metal, picks up where Will of Gods Is a Great Power stopped years ago. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: OFFICIUM TRISTE

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Aug 052024
 

(Last week we had the privilege of premiering a powerfully moving song named “Anna’s Woe” from the tremendous new album by the Dutch band Officium Triste, and now we follow that with Comrade Aleks‘ interview of the band’s steadfast vocalist Pim Blankenstein, a discussion that includes insights into that song we premiered, among many other subjects.)

One of the oldest bands on the scene of Netherlands is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this year with the release of a new album Hortus Venenum. Officium Triste have consistently and slowly continued to improve their art of death-doom since 1994, and it must be said that the band somehow manages to develop and grow without going beyond the genre’s borders.

Their sixth album The Death of Gaia (2019) turned out to be the best one in their discography, and now it seems that Hortus Venenum surpasses it predecessor. While Transcending Obscurity Records prepares different sorts of the album’s physical releases for September 6th, Hortus Venenum could be found online almost everywhere – an unfortunate sign of our times.

We discussed all of these things with the band’s original vocalist Pim Blankenstein. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ROGGA JOHANSSON (HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY)

 Interviews  1 Response »
Jul 242024
 


Rogga, photo by Jacob Johansson

(We present the following interview of Rogga Johansson by our Comrade Aleks. The initial focus is on the latest album from House by the Cemetary, released by Pulverised Records in May, but of course the discussion branches off into many other topics too.)

Rogga Johansson is a paranormally hyperactive Swedish guitarist and vocalist who started to conquer the metal underground with the death metal band Terminal Grip in 1994. I could fill the entire foreword just counting the bands and projects where he took part or which he keeps on running. But it seems that his most crucial band is Paganizer, the successor of Terminal Grip which has provided death metal since 1998 and produced twelve full-length albums and a good bunch of smaller releases.

However tonight we focus on the international death metal (of course!) project House by the Cemetary which he runs together with American vocalist Mike Hrubovcak (ex-Monstrosity, Azure Emote, ex-Vile, etc).

Their third album The Mortuary Hauntings was released in May 2024 by Pulverised Records, and if you missed it somehow, this interview with Rogga will close that gap. If you dig stuff with titles such as “Cadavers Emerge”, “The Realm of the Cursed” and “Opening the Gates of Hell”, this will please your tastes. Continue reading »

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