AN NCS INTERVIEW: MALSTEN

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Apr 222024
 


photo by Hedda Winroth

(We present Comrade Aleks‘ very entertaining interview with members of the Swedish band Malsten, whose latest album-length tale of horror was released last month by Svart Records.)

Formed back in 2018, Malsten chose to follow the path of doom, and I’d tell you that they moved pretty fast, having released their first album The Haunting of Silvåkra Mill already in 2020. Four songs, totaling 42 minutes, told a story of bloodshed, evil, horror, and madness in a pretty traditional doom metal manner. The thing about this album was that it’s a concept album with a kind of open ending.

Malsten continued the tale of the Grinder at Silvåkra Mill with two singles, Entr’acte (2022) and Path of the Nix (2024), and as all good things move towards their end, so this story does. Their second album, The Haunting of Silvåkra Mill – Rites of Passage, saw the light of day on March 15this year  with the help of Svart Records, and here we are talking with the band about this and that.

Be ready to learn more about grim ways of [folk] horror doom from this quite in-depth and entertaining interview. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: PANTHEIST

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Apr 192024
 

(In March of this year Pantheist released a new album-length EP, and Comrade Aleks found it tremendously good, and he reached out to conduct the following excellent interview with Pantheist‘s Kostas Panagiotu.)

For the past 24 years Pantheist has provided us with the one of most thoughtful and intelligent examples of doom metal in almost every form. They started with funeral doom in the days of O Solitude (2003), they turned to sophisticated death-doom on Amartia (2005), and further on the band moved towards things even more melodic and progressive.

Pantheist’s previous full-length album Closer to God saw the light of day in 2021, and this year the band returns with the 50-minute-long EP Kings Must Die. What’s good there? Believe me, that’s an album that’s worth listening to. And I believe this interview with the Pantheist’s founding member Kostas Panagiotu (vocals, keyboards) will only prove this statement. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HAUNTOLOGIST

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Apr 162024
 


photo credit: Kuba Leszko

(No Solace released Hauntologist‘s long-gestating debut album in early January of this year, and it has made a memorable impression on a lot of listeners, including Comrade Aleks, who follows up the album with this interview of The Fall.)

How many times was Hauntologist mentioned here? And yet it’s not enough. The debut album of this Polish experimental black metal duo entitled Hollow saw the light of day in January, and you can’t ignore it. Not only because it’s a project of two of Mgła’s members – The Fall (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Darkside (drums). This nihilistic and dissonant yet experimental black metal projects precisely our urban misery; it lacks a traditional blackened aesthetic but it’s functional, striking, and highly atmospheric.

Hauntologist is the best example of modern days black metal with an artistic approach and an in-depth, personal message. It was good to learn a bit more about Hollow from The Fall himself first-hand. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CEMETERY OF SCREAM

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Apr 122024
 

(Following some delays on our part, today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview with guitarist Marcin Piwowarczyk from the Polish band Cemetery of Scream, who trace their birth to the ancient year of 1992 and still go strong.)

I’m a long-time Cemetery of Scream fan. I remember those innocent days when me and my buddy shouted out the lyrics of “Anxiety”, their best-known song from the first album Melancholy, at a local graveyard. I remember how I watched and appreciated the metamorphosis the band went through from death-doom to… to some experiments within the genre that could be classified as “gothic”. And though I knew that those times, those vibes, won’t return and the band have changed too much, I awaited their new material.

There was a huge break since the release of their last album Frozen Images. It saw the light of day in 2009, and I knew that new songs were already prepared in around 2016. So what happened? It took too much time, yet here they are.

Sleaszy Rider Records released Cemetery of Scream’s sixth album Oceans in November 2023, and here we are with the band’s original guitarist Marcin Piwowarczyk. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT

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Apr 102024
 

(Last week we forced Andy Synn to listen to and review The Monolith Deathcult‘s new album, and this week we forced Comrade Aleks to interview TMDC‘s Robin Kok, and although we can’t affirm that Aleks got away unscathed, he did provide us the interview… below….)

The Dutch band The Monolith Deathcult began its underground career more than twenty years ago with quite brutal and moderately unbridled death metal, which over time was symphonized, electrified, industrialized, and decorated with various, often unexpected, samples. It sounds scary, but, for example, one of The Monolith’s past hits “Fist of Stalin” gained an exorbitant number of plays on streaming services, and on YouTube the views of this video amount to almost a hundred thousand, which is not bad.

As the years go by, The Monolith has changed within the framework of the formula discovered by its members, but the composition of the group has remained unchanged for many years: Michiel Dekker (guitar, vocals), Carsten Altena (keyboards, orchestrations, guitar, vocals) and Robin Kok (growls, bass). If we take into account the band’s tendencies towards electronic sound, then we can assume that their drums are programmed, but for several years now the invariably professional guest drummer Frank Schilperoort has been working in this position. He also worked with The Monolith Deathcult on the new album, released in April by Human Detonator Records, The Demon Who Makes Trophies of Men, which we spoke with Robin Kok personally about. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: WHO DIES IN SIBERIAN SLUSH

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Apr 052024
 

(We present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of E.S. from the Russian band Who Dies In Siberian Slush, whose latest album was released on the last day of 2023 by Solitude Productions.)

Who Dies In Siberian Slush is probably the longest-running active death-doom band in Russia. It was formed in 2003, but the first album Bitterness of the Years That Are Lost was released only in 2010. They developed a kind of their own aesthetic as they also used lyrics with Russian cultural references, like a poem by Nicolay Gumilev in one song or a dedication to the painter of tragic fate Boris Kustodiev in another, but at the end of the day, it’s “death-doom with trombone and Russian lyrics”.

The most up-to-date album Uroki Smireniya / Lessons of Humility is the personal and grim monolog of the band’s founder and the only original member, E.S. Here’s his interview. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CORAX B.M.

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Mar 272024
 

(The debut album of the Greek black metal band Corax B.M., released this past January, drew the attention of Comrade Aleks, and that led to the following friendly discussion he had with the band’s two founders.)

Corax B.M. isn’t the most original band name in the metal world, but sometimes it’s better to keep things simple and straight. As the band’s story is, for example.

Corax (guitars, vocals), Énnea (vocals), Morker (drums), and Peisithanatos (bass) started the band in Athens, 2021. Some of them had an experience of performing heavy or extreme music before, some didn’t, that wasn’t an obstacle, and the EP Spread the Occult appeared in 2022. Those four tracks already pointed the direction the band had chosen to follow, and it was performed more accurately and sharper in the Pagana full-length (2024, The Circle Music).

Corax B. M. switched from occultism to heathenism very naturally, and the band’s approach to black metal with a well-known Hellenic touch helped them to create a remarkable piece of dark art. It’s mysterious, ominous, and evil to some degree, just as Hellenic black metal should be. We discussed Pagana and the band’s current plans with Corax and Morker. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: KALT VINDUR

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Mar 262024
 


Photos by Lu Kox

(Today, after a bit of a delay that’s our fault, we publish an interview by Comrade Aleks of guitarist Artur Szydło from the Polish metal band Kalt Vindur, whose new album released in January was reviewed here by our Andy Synn and is well worth your time.)

The Icelandic words “kalt vindur” translate as “cold wind”, and as you can imagine, it’s the most fitting name for a black metal band. Indeed, Kalt Vindur performs a sort of progressive and a bit “doomed” black metal, but they are based in Poland, not in Iceland. It doesn’t make their music less expressive, as the band’s third album Magna Mater is one of most remarkable releases I’ve heard in this year yet.

This 35-minute-long work was released by The Circle Music in January, so I suggest for you this interview with Artur Szydło (guitars) in case you skipped the release. At least watch the videos attached to the text; they transfer Kalt Vindur’s updated message clearly enough.

Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SPIRITUAL VOID

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Mar 252024
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview with bassist Mat from the German doom band Spiritual Void, whose latest album Wayfare saw release last summer.)

As we interviewed Iron Void, why don’t we do the same for Spiritual Void?

This doom metal trio is located somewhere in the Lake Constance area, at the northern foot of the Alps in Germany. That explains why the band prefers themes related to Nature in the artworks and lyrics of their albums White Mountain (2017) and Wayfare (2023). Spiritual Void’s members weren’t involved in any other bands before, so for Mat (bass), Schlunsky (drums), and Rob (guitars, vocals), Wayfare was only the second album in an entire career, so to speak.

And yet this material is remarkably solid, loud, and mournful, as any traditional doom metal album should be. Now come and taste it, while reading this interview with Mat.

Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HAMFERÐ

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Mar 222024
 

(Today Metal Blade is releasing a new album from the Faroe Islands-based death/doom band Hamferð, and to help celebrate the event we’re sharing Comrade Aleks‘ recent interview with Hamferð guitarist Theodor Kapnas.)

Wow! Time flies by! It seems that the last interview we did with Hamferð here happened in 2014. Back then we discussed with the band’s vocalist Jón Aldará the debut album Evst, but I believe there was another interview a few years later, though my memory sometimes fails me. However, it’s March 2024, and Hamferð’s third full-length work Men Guðs hond er sterk is ready to be released on March 22nd.

Metal Blade Records presented two new tracks “Ábær” and “Hvølja” recently, and the album promises to be another gorgeous monument of epic Nordic death-doom, with Faroese lyrics of course. The band’s sound evolved a bit as far as it could be heard, but there’s always something worth talking about with such a man as Theodor Kapnas, Hamferð’s guitarist. Continue reading »

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