AN NCS INTERVIEW: LUCIFER

 Interviews  1 Response »
Sep 302021
 

 

(DJ Jet returns to NCS with the following interview of Johanna Platow Andersson, vocalist of the Swedish/German band Lucifer, whose new album Lucifer IV will be released on October 29th by Century Media. Credit for all photos accompanying the interview goes to Ester Segarra.)

 

Johanna we must start at the beginning back when you were an adolescent. Tell us about your family.

Both my father and step-father were photographers and my mother was very musical. I grew up with a brother, eleven years older than me and was always surrounded by art, books and music. We traveled a lot every year, I guess to compensate for having been locked up behind the iron curtain before we moved from east to west Berlin in 1985 when I was six.

 

What was it like for you as a kid to move  to West Berlin when “The Wall” was still in place?

It was a culture shock but a good one. It made me an outsider at school. It shaped me and made me very adaptable to anything life throws at me. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: VARMIA

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Mar 152021
 

 

(We present DJ Jet‘s fascinating interview of Lasota, vocalist and guitarist of the Polish pagan metal band Varmia, whose new album bal Lada (recorded under very unusual conditions, as you will learn) was released on March 12th by M-Theory Audio.)

When forming the band in 2016 what was your mission or vision for this band?

Hi. Well the goal at the time was very simple. I had the album written and it had to be recorded. The concept was to do it live in a makeshift studio to avoid the “usual studio” vibe. So we ended up in an old barn that we rented for two weeks. After that I started to think how to release the album and that it would be great to play these songs live. Everything went together smoothly and people seemed to like it. So we put it out, settled as a band, and started to play the shows.

I always felt that this would be far more than just a single shot “project” (hate this term). Varmia appeared to me as a beast that needs to be fed. So we have been feeding it since 2016 now. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: NADER SADEK (WITH KARL SANDERS AND DEREK RODDY)

 Interviews  4 Responses »
Nov 172020
 

 

EDITOR’S NOTE: On November 20 the Egyptian metal artist Nader Sadek will release a remarkable EP named The Serapeum, which grew out of a collaboration in Egypt among Sadek, Karl Sanders (Nile), Derek Roddy (Serpents Rise), and Mahmud Gecekusu (Perversion).

The music on the EP also includes contributions by bassists Ben “Barby” Claus (Gorod) and Dominic “Forest” Lapointe (Augury) and vocalists Morean (Dark Fortress) and Shaun LaCanne (Putrid Pile), as well as Alex Zubair (Nephelium) creating eastern harmonies and drones, and Nancy Mounir adding theremin hauntings to the mix. Sadek himself recorded the vocals inside the inner chamber of Dahshur’s “Red Pyramid” (the pyramid of Snefru).

We will have the pleasure of premiering a full stream of the EP on November 19th. And today we’re presenting an interview about the EP that DJ Jet conducted with Nader Sadek, as well as a few questions she posed to Karl Sanders and Derek Roddy, and their answers. The circumstances in which the interview was conducted were unusual, and perhaps in time they will be revealed when and if it is safe to do so. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DAVE INGRAM (BENEDICTION)

 Interviews  1 Response »
Oct 192020
 

 

(Last Friday, the 16th of October, Nuclear Blast released Scriptures, the first Benediction album since 2008, with Dave Ingram back behind the mic. And it is thus very good timing that DJ Jet has brought us this interview with the man himself.)

Dave, you have such an extensive career in death metal stemming back to the golden ages of the genre, having been in Benediction, then Bolt Thrower, and many other bands since then, and now back in front of Benediction today. What were the early days like in Benediction and Bolt Thrower?

Hey there, my dear friend. Thanks so much for the interview!

Right, jumping straight into it I can say that “back in the day” there was no internet to help facilitate self-promotion. You really had to work for things and have patience, since snail mail took a while. There were way more phone calls back then. I can remember standing around inside the one rehearsal studio we were at in early 1993. We were playing pool, and awaiting a phone call from the record label (Nuclear Blast) to let them know we were going to re-sign with them. While we waited, in walked Robert Plant and asked if he could use the phone. We explained the situation and he fully understood, saying he would come back later. One of us (I forget who) said to him, “You were great in Whitesnake.” He left with a confused look on his face. That’s just one example of what life was like back then. It was always fun, and it still is today! Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: INCANTATION

 Interviews  1 Response »
Oct 142020
 

 

DJ Jet has brought us the following extensive interview of John McEntee (and Chuck Sherwood) of death metal legends Incantation, whose latest album (their eleventh), Sect of Vile Divinities, was released in August of this year by Relapse Records. Settle in, and prepare for a wide-ranging discussion of the band’s past, present, and future, and the new album (with lots of details that will appeal to gear-heads as well as listeners).

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John you formed Incantation back in 1989 in NYC back when Death Metal was relatively in its first stages. What influenced you to want to start incantation and what death metal bands were you listening to at that time?

 In the mid ’80s I really started diving deeper into the underground metal world of tape trading and fanzines. In 1986 I joined my first real original underground band called Revenant. That time really had a big impact on me as a musician and person. I learned so much from my time in Revenant about underground music and also on how to promote a band worldwide and locally. With all this promotion I started to learn about new bands, more extreme bands from around the world that I couldn’t find in the local music store. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: KATAKLYSM (MAURIZIO IACONO)

 Interviews  1 Response »
Aug 052020
 

 

We present an audio stream of DJ Jet‘s lively telephone interview with Maurizio Iacono, frontman of the renowned Kataklysm. Their new album Unconquered will be released by Nuclear Blast on September 25th.

The interview covers such subjects as the effect of the pandemic on Kataklysm and the band’s plans for the release and promotion of the new album,  its impact on the activities of other bands for whom Maurizio provides management services, and of course his insights into the music, lyrics, and artwork of this fiery new album and how it became a reality (as well as the status of work on the next Ex Deo record).

After the interview, also check out the video for the first single for the album, a track named “The Killshot“. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CARACH ANGREN (SEREGOR)

 Interviews  3 Responses »
Jul 302020
 

 

(On June 26th Season of Mist released Franckensteina Strataemontanus, a new album by the Dutch symphonic horror metal band Carach Angren, and in this new interview DJ Jet caught up with guitarist/vocalist Seregor to discuss the album and many other topics of interest.)

 

Seregor, please give us a little history about Carach Angren, on how this band came about and what you wished to express through it.

Good day, we are a horror metal act from the southern parts of the Netherlands. Founded in 2003, we started off as a side project when we were active in former trash/blackmetal act “Vaultage”. As soon as this band seized to exist Carach Angren became fully operational as a three-headed formation and that machine never stopped roaring, going and growing. Ardek and I always had a distinct taste of how this band should sound, feel and look. Fast, high, blasts, low, complex, full, symphonic, emotional etc. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: RALF SCHEEPERS (PRIMAL FEAR)

 Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews  1 Response »
Jul 232020
 

 

(On July 24th — tomorrow — Nuclear Blast will release Metal Commando, the new 13th album by the German power metal band Primal Fear, and in anticipation of the release DJ Jet interviewed the band’s co-founder and frontman Ralf Scheepers — which we now present.)

 

Hi Ralf this is Jet of No Clean Singing how are you doing today?

-I’m good, thanks how are you? Thanks for having me here.

 

So Ralf you started Primal Fear back in 1997 — what were the early days like for the band?

-Feeling very fresh haha. So the early days were somehow like being very excited about doing something new, and as we came from different bands, like Sinner existed of course and I came from Gamma Ray, so for me it was just an initial start point to somehow continue my career with a new band. That was just amazing for me. So yeah it felt really good to write music again, to write heavy metal again the way we love it, it’s just great. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CRIMSON MOON

 Interviews  No Responses »
Jun 252020
 

 

Today we welcome a new contributor to NCS who goes by the name Jet. She has been a DJ and administrator at Metal Messiah Radio as well as staff interviewer for Sick Drummer Magazine and ViaOmega Magazine. Today she has brought us an interview of multi-instrumentalist Scorpios Androctonus, the founder of the black metal band Crimson Moon which has been located in Germany since 1998. The band’s latest album, Mors Vincit Omnia, was released last year by Debemur Morti Productions. Continue reading »