GET TO THE POINT: CRAIG SMILOWSKI (RELLIK)

 Interviews  5 Responses »
Mar 262015
 

 

(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 »

SEEN AND HEARD: ENDLESSHADE, PROCESS BLACK, RELLIK, THEORIES OF THE APOCALYPSE

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Feb 222015
 

 

Happy goddamn Sunday to one and all. I’m working on a THAT’S METAL! post this morning. It’s going to take me about an hour and a half to finish it. So I thought I’d leave a musical interlude for you before I resume toiling away on that other piece (which I may post tomorrow if not today). As the tag says, what follows truly is random fucking music — these are the last seven songs I listened to last night and this morning, presented in alphabetical order by band name. They’re all new, they’re all good.

ENDLESSHADE

KevinP tagged me (and about 100 other people) on a Facebook link to two songs by this Ukrainian doom/death band. Both songs are drawn from the band’s forthcoming debut album, Wolf Will Swallow the Sun, which will be released by Naturmacht Productions on February 22 (and can be ordered here). The first track is “Post Mortem” and the second is “Edge”.

These are long songs, in the eight-to-nine minute range. They create an atmosphere that’s both ethereal and crushing, both mystical and tangibly powerful, hypnotic and harrowing. The forlorn, keyboard-enhanced melodies are sweeping and memorable, while the riffs are titanic. The harsh vocals are gargantuan and vividly impassioned; the clean vocals are sombre and sorrowful — and both are impeccably performed by a woman (Natalia Androsova). Truly compelling music… Continue reading »