(In March of this year Emanzipation Productions released a new album by the long-running Brazilian death metal band Nervochaos, and more recently our Norway-based interviewer Karina Noctum was able to catch up with the band’s drummer Eduardo Lane to discuss the album and many other topics in the interview we now present.)
Nervochaos released their latest album Chthonic Wrath back in late March and then embarked on a European tour with their fierce discharge of Death and Thrash metal.
(We present here an interview by our Norway-based contributor Karina Noctum of Steffen Kummerer, a member of Obscura and leader of the German band Thulcandra, whose newest album was released last month by Napalm Records.)
Thulcandra have released one of the best and most beautiful melodic black metal albums this year so far. Hail the Abyss is a display of excellent musicianship and top-notch composition that pays attention to the details. The sound is a tribute to Scandinavian melodic and symphonic black metal while at the same exploring other tempos and structures that make it even more interesting.
In this interview Steffen Kummerer not only talks about his new release, but also gives us some Obscura updates. Continue reading »
(Karina Noctum has brought us the following interview with two members of the Norwegian band Drott, whose fascinating new album was released not long ago on the label of By Norse Music.)
Drott’s latest album, Troll, left me with the impression of having listened to something unique, and that does not happen too often in the metal world, quite frankly. Drott have an eclectic blend of musical influences. Some of the songs are framed in what can be a pretty dark and cold Norwegian atmosphere, which is something I cherish as a black metal fan. You could not have expected otherwise from a band that features Ivar Thormodsæter (Ulver), Arve Isdal (Enslaved) and Matias Monsen.
In this interview we get interesting insights from Arve and Matias. At the time of this interview the album was set to be released on May 19th, and is out now.
photo by Carl Eek
(The Norwegian black metal band Tilintetgjort made quite an impressive full-length debut in late March of this year with their album In Death I Shall Arise on Dark Essence Records, and followed that the next month with a performance at Inferno Metal Festival in Oslo. It seemed like a good time for Karina Noctum to reach out to the band for an interview — which now follows.)
Tilintetgjort from Oslo bring a fresh approach to the scene by blending their own musical perspectives with the traditional Norwegian Black Metal sound in their solid debut album In Death I Shall Arise. In this interview they gave us we not only talk about their new album, but also get some insights into its recording and production at Chaka Khan Studio (Darkthrone, Nekromantheon).
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What’s the meaning of the band’s name and why was it chosen?
Tilintetgjort is Norwegian for “Annihilated”, or literally “Made Into Nothing”. We felt it reflected our music very well, this concept of destruction, the way all things must end and die. Something has to disappear for something else to grow. Continue reading »
(We present Karina Noctum‘s interview of Anders Eek, co-founder and drummer of the Norwegian band Funeral, on the occasion of the band’s 30th anniversary concert in Oslo in April 2022. The interview is accompanied and followed by a selection of the many wonderful photos of the event made by Andrea Chirulescu.)
On the 12th of April, the Norwegian doom metal band Funeral marked their 30th anniversary with a special concert in the 18th-century Jakob Culture Church in Oslo. The mournful atmosphere of the music befitted the surroundings perfectly, making the concert unforgettable. I took the opportunity to interview Anders Eek (drums) and asked about the band’s early days, as well as the anniversary concert and what’s to come for the band in the future. Continue reading »
(Below our Norway-based contributor Karina Noctum presents her own year-end list of eleven 2021 favorites.)
This year started with lots of Thrash and now it ends just the same. The damper mood with lots of restrictions and lots of cancelled or postponed concerts and festivals does not allow for anything too dark nor cold at the moment. So this list is quite biased in the sense that it highly favors rhythmic virtuosity, old school sound, and non-monotonous riffing for the most part. Also I’m not going to include commercial bands that have been mentioned a thousand times already. Continue reading »
(Karina Noctum brings us this new interview of Jamie Bailey from the Tennessee brutal death metal band Brodequin, whose new EP Perpetuation of Suffering was released at the end of August 2021 by Unmatched Brutality Records.)
I discovered Brodequin pretty early when I started listening to metal as a child because I was pretty impressed by impossibly fast tempos and looked specifically for the most extreme music I could find. It was awesome to get to to see the band live and active again some years ago. Now recently they released their latest EP Perpetuation of Suffering after a long hiatus. The EP has a bit more slammy parts, but just enough, and it’s highly enjoyable. I’m really glad I had the opportunity to interview Jamie Bailey and talk about the EP, his label Unmatched Brutality, and what’s to come for Brodequin.
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I loved the EP. When did you start writing it?
Thank you! We have been working on a lot of material for about 2 years. These tracks we have had for about a year, maybe a little less. We selected these as we felt they were a good representation of how we’ve been moving in respect to the writing style. Continue reading »
(Karina Noctum brings us this new interview with the vocalist/lyricist of the Norwegian black metal band Ulvehyrde, whose excellent debut album was released last month on the Dusktone label.)
Ulvehyrde started in 2018 and they have recently released their first album, called Englemakersken. The band attracted my attention because they have a cold-tempered sound leaning toward Western Norwegian BM style, while at the same time infusing the necessary groove to keep it interesting.
Naturally, I had to find out more about them, so I talked to Sorath Northgrove, who also plays in Vulture Lord and Hagl. Continue reading »
photo by Ville Ruusunen
(Karina Noctum has brought us the following interview of Goat Aggressor, a veteran drummer and member of the Finnish black metal band Malum, whose fourth album, Devil’s Creation, was just released by Purity Through Fire.)
In this interview with Finnish drummer Goat Aggressor we talked about his most recent release with the band Malum. The band offer a melodious harmonic sound with well-structured songs. Devil’s Creation is another gem for all those who like the Scandinavian underground. Continue reading »
(We present Karina Noctum‘s new interview of drummer extraordinaire Derek Roddy.)
It was time to catch up with Derek Roddy (Serpents Rise, Nader Sadek, Malevolent Creation, Nile, Hate Eternal). We talked about drumming, but also more about his band Serpents Rise and the making of Nader Sadek’s latest EP The Serapeum (premiered in part and reviewed at NCS here), which was a collaboration with Karl Sanders (Nile) and Morean (Dark Fortress), among others — as well as other interesting endeavours. Continue reading »