(Another months is in the history books, and so it’s time for KevinP to name the releases from last month that most impressed him.)
May has been the most ecletic month of the year so far. Interesting and all over the map (as you’ll see below). I guess that’s why it took me more time than usual to decide on the final pecking order. I went back and forth a few times, even shuffled albums in and out. Damn you metal for making me THINK 😉
Anyways, here we go… Continue reading »
(KevinP brings us this “Get To the Point” interview with Calvin Robertshaw, guitarist of My Dying Bride, who have a new album coming later this year.)
K: I’m not going to rehash ancient history too much. I’d rather focus on the here and now, plus the future. Buuuut, you’ve been away since 1998 and as soon as they announce Hamish’s departure, they announce your return. I gotta assume you’ve kept in touch over the years or had previous talks of rejoining the fold?
C: Yes, after leaving, I stepped away from music completely for a couple of years before they approached me and asked me to tour manage. That lasted for 3-4 years before the birth of my son. We’ve always kept in touch since then. I’ve been with Andy’s sister for 17 years.
Andy initially approached me in 2013 about the possibility of filling in for Hamish at a couple of shows. But nothing ever came of that, until mid 2014, when I was asked about rejoining full time. Continue reading »
(We’re nearing the end of the month, and that means it’s time for KevinP to name the releases this month that most impressed him.)
We’re a quarter of the way through 2015 already. This month was stacked to the gills with quality releases, the best yet. Even though they didn’t make my Top 5, I feel obliged to mention Infernal War, Macabre Omen, Tribulation, Haar, and Kommandant, which are all worthy of your time. But now, on to the creme de la creme.
5. Abjvration – The Unquenchable Pyre
This was a last-minute entry and pushed one of the bands mentioned above off this list. Think Portal, if they transformed into a Finnish doomy death metal band. Sure, that makes no sense. But does this band being absolutely terrifying and hailing from France make sense? They are so kvlt, they’re not even listed on Metal Archives and have only a few hundred Facebook likes. Continue reading »
Editor’s Note: KevinP and I are sharing this post, even though he doesn’t know he’s having to share it with me. In the first part you’ll find another installment in his “Get To the Point” interview series, in which he puts a handful of questions to Lioc F., the main man behind the multinational industrial/death/drone/doom band Autokrator. And after the interview, I have a few thoughts about Autokrator’s self-titled debut album, which was released digitally earlier this year and is due for physical release by Iron Bonehead on May 29.
“GET TO THE POINT”
K: Since you are a fairly new band, (formed in 2014) and I know nothing about your origins, please tell us about Autokrator?
L: Autokrator was born out of the ashes of my former project, N.K.V.D. I wanted to turn on a death-drone side for years, still with industrial influences, so I created Autokrator. And I recorded the album with musicians I was in connection with. Continue reading »
(KevinP puts five questions to Liam Millward, composer/guitarist/bassist/mandolin-player/backing-vocalist of Theoktony from the UK, whose new album you can stream in full at the end of this post.)
K: Cliff notes history lesson: You started as Pulverized in 2001, released one album in 2002, changed the band’s name to Theoktony in 2005, released a debut album in 2008. It’s now 2015 and you are about to release your sophomore effort, Loss, via Dissected Records. Tell us about it.
L: Loss was actually written a couple of years ago, its just taken a while to pull together and record. Musically, I tried to keep with the original modus operandi of Theoktony, to just write and see where it took me. I try not to restrict myself to a genre. Lyrically, I took inspiration from recent history and tried to stay on point, deal with ‘Loss’ in general, whether that be of faith, sanity, or life.
K: Who’s responsible for what on this album? (Writing, playing, producing, etc,)
L: On vocals we have Anthony Jody Myers; drums were played by Anil Carrier; guitars, bass, mandolin and samples were all by myself. As far as writing is concerned, all music and lyrics were written by myself, with the exception of the drums for the songs “Apostate” and “Eritrea”, which were written by Anil. I also produced the album, so if you hate it, I guess I’m to blame. Haha! Continue reading »
(In this latest installment of his “Get To the Point” series, KevinP poses 6 questions to Nataliia Androsova vocalist of Endlesshade from Ukraine.)
K: What made you choose death/doom as your style?
N: I used to listen to the music of such bands as Saturnus, Doom:Vs, Celtic Frost, Ea, Fallen, etc. I said “used to”, ’cause my tastes have changed a little. Now I mostly listen to post black, hardcore, and electronic music.
K: Even though your debut album, Wolf Will Swallow the Sun, has just been released through Naturmacht Productions, this was many years in the making, correct?
N: It took about a year to gather material and about half a year to record it. The main problem was that Michael and I couldn’t find musicians to record all the stuff. Continue reading »
(Here’s the latest installment of KevinP’s series in which he runs down his list of the best releases from the preceding month.)
The French are weird (but we knew that, so it’s not really weird). Dark Descent Records just came up a little short. Ever realize the island country of Cyprus had metal bands? Let’s eat some Vegemite and sauerkraut. And the Greeks have returned to the countdown. Now, let’s get on with it.
5. Corpo-Mente – Corpo-Mente
If you are a fan of Gautier Serre and the thoroughly warped Igorrr, you may have heard of this side project of his. Featuring the lush operatic vocals of Laure Le Prunenec (Öxxö Xööx, Rïcïnn), it’s much more, shall we say, “tame”. It’s a classical journey of baroque, trip-hop, and acoustique. It’s by no means a metal album, but that doesn’t stop it from being one hell of a piece of art.
https://blood-music.bandcamp.com/album/corpo-mente Continue reading »
(In this latest installment of his “Get To the Point” series, KevinP poses 5 questions to drummer Craig Smilowski of Philadelphia’s Rellik, whose debut album Spiraling Infinite Chaos was released last week by Horror Pain Gore Death Productions.)
K: The band has been around since 1987, but never released any material until 2004. Now, 11 years later, you are finally getting to your debut LP. What the hell took so long?
C: Well, as far as a full-length goes it’s just the way things turned out. The band were all working different schedules and writing/rehearsing when possible. And had quite a few member changes along the way. Now with this established line-up, we have plenty of ideas coming in, which makes for better song writing. Continue reading »
(In this latest installment of his “Get To the Point” series, KevinP poses 5 questions to Stephan Gebédi, guitarist of Thanatos and Hail of Bullets.)
K: Be honest with me here. Does Thanatos flying under the radar all these years annoy you in any way?
S: Well I would be lying if I said that it has never annoyed me, ’cause we had loads of bad luck and deals with shitty record labels that did us more bad than good. But on the other hand I know we made a lot of bad decisions ourselves as well, especially in the early days. Not everyone in the band was serious enough about taking the band to another level, so we’re too blame as well.
And maybe I should not have disbanded in 1992 when I grew tired of all the record label bullshit and irresponsible behavior of certain band members, and maybe I should have just kicked them out and recruited new band members. But at that moment I was sick and tired of all the lineup changes in the past. Continue reading »
(In this new installment of KevinP’s interview series, he talks with Mika Lammassaari, guitarist of Finland’s Mors Subita, who have a new album named Degeneration coming out soon — and we’ve also got the official lyric video for the new album’s first single, “End Complete“.)
K: So it’s been 4 years since the release of your debut album, Human Waste Compression, fill us in on what’s going on?
M: To be quite honest, the last 4 years have been just a mere glimpse, it´s gone past so fast. During this time we´ve toured with Mors Subita and written the new album, obviously. Unfortunately, we also had a couple changes in the line-up, so that has caused a few grey hairs.
All in all it´s been a lot of great moments and we´re more than excited to be releasing the successor to HWC. Right now, we´re doing the final prepping for the release of the new album and rehearsing a lot with the band. Continue reading »