While the majority of black metal acts tend to stumble into the familiar trap of trying to be too “kvlt” and mimic everything Darkthrone and Burzum had created in the early ‘90s, Hangatyr fall more in line with fellow countrymen Unlight where their take on the music is more thrashy mixed with some of the classic early Swedish death bands like vintage At the Gates.

Elemente, the quartet’s second full-length release, sports a clean enough production where every instrument is heard clearly, though the album is raw enough that the music has retained plenty of bite throughout the final mix. While the guitar duo of Ali and Tele probably won’t ever be confused with Sherman/Denner or Hanneman/King, they do a splendid job of honing their skills into a collection of songs that each are strong enough to stand on their own feet.

There aren’t any mesmerizing guitar solos scattered all over the place and neither Ali nor Tele ever try to get to fancy with their axemanship; their skill sets anchored by the steady drumming of Micha. Like his stringed bandmates, Micha never goes overboard into trying to create a song within the song. He blasts when he needs to, pours on the double bass when called upon and his fills and rolls pop in and out right on cue. The two sides play off each other beautifully and one side always complements the other.

While front man Silvio isn’t a carbon copy of every other singer within the black metal genre, his raspy, tortured voice isn’t wholly unique, either. Placed in the same stylistic category as the likes of Blaspherion (Unlight), Nag (Tsjuder) and many others, Silvio is more than serviceable in that he doesn’t detract from the songs at all but he doesn’t add anything earth-shattering to it, either. His gnarled vocals perfectly suit the aggression and dark overtones Hangatyr’s sound, though he won’t be mistaken for Ihsahn anytime soon.

While the album is solid from start to finish, the two standout tracks are “Zersetzung” and “Die Sprache der Zwolf”. The sooner is a whirlwind of blistering speed and crushing hooks mixed betwixt enchanting melodies; the latter a perfect blend of blackened death and brooding, mournful acoustics. “Grimmfrost” is also another gem on the release, its more straightforward attack simply barrels over the listener.

All in all, Elemente is a high quality black metal album. For those who fancy their metal plowing through a blizzard in a desolate European forest, this is one of the finest albums of the year thus far. Hangatyr is onto something with their somewhat fresh take on a tired genre, so those who enjoy torches and corpse paint should have already scooped this one up.

From the obvious leaders Vader and Behemoth, the Land of the Fields has given the metal world such acts as Ass to Mouth, Decapitated, Morbid Execution, Squash Bowels, and Dead Infection to name just a few. Add to the list Northern Plague, a group of new dudes who have just released their debut full-length Manifesto.

Sporting a raucous blend of death and black metal, Northern Plague is here to rip the listener to shreds with their savage riffing and no-frills approach to a genre of metal that at times has been pushed to its limits. With Northern Plague, though, their assault never grows stale. While each of the eight tracks on Manifesto tends to follow the same blueprint of blast/roll/double bass behind scorching riffs and catchy hooks, they never fall into the pattern copy-paste-repeat.

Similar in approach to the likes of Aura Noir (though not as punk-infused), Unlight and at times Tsjuder, Northern Plague waste little time in getting down to business, which is sheer destruction. Whether it’s in the form of a slow, crippling, crusher of a song like the title track or a rampaging storm of brutality like “Reign Mother War”, Northern Plague pull no punches. Guitarist Janus never tries to get too fancy on any of the passages; his riffs are deliberate and powerful, most notably during the various ebbs and flows of “Divide Et Impera” and arguably the album’s highlight “Let the World Burn”.

Backing up Janus is the chaotic drumming of Damyen, a monster behind the kit who is all over the place, though he is always in total control of his madness. Though the overall sound of his drums are a tad thin at times for these ears, the mayhem is captured nicely in the final mix. Also, Damyen thankfully never relies solely on blasts or double bass; his battery of the skins is with a varied approach, which always keeps the music fresh and interesting.

Sporting a largely remarkable overall production, Manifesto explodes out of the speakers with sonic vitriol. Thankfully the team at Hertz Studio (Behemoth, Decapitated, Hate) didn’t strip down the nastiness too much at the control panel; Manifesto is a nasty little beast of ferocity. However, as gritty as the album is, it’s not an inaudible mess like the “trve” black metal albums are “supposed” to sound. No, Manifesto is clean and polished, but it’s not overdone to where it sounds like something that came with the Pro Tools startup kit.

Northern Plague is relatively new to the scene (they released an EP Blizzard of the North in 2011), but they already have a powerful sound in one corner and talent to create actual songs in the other. Combined, the blood red sky is the limit for these Poles. If Manifesto, their debut album, already sounds this good, there’s no reason these cats can’t eventually be tossed into the conversation with the most established acts – Vader and Behemoth – as the best band between the borders of Germany and Ukraine.

The Cradle of Filth comparisons have always been legitimate because unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past 20 years, nobody can make a claim to the contrary. However, over the years Chthonic have grown leaps and bounds as musicians and have made a habit of unleashing glorious albums throughout the years. The band continues to get better and better with each passing release (for the most part) and it’s safe to say that with Bú-Tik, Chthonic has reached their creative zenith.

Their seventh full-length release, Bú-Tik is a dynamic listen from start to finish. Chthonic has maintained their heavily-influenced-by-Cradle-of-Filth sound but they’ve incorporated so many newer elements to their sound that is almost wholly unique, one that is essentially their own. There are the typical vicious black metal riffs and blasts, but Chthonic has also added even more of a thrashy sound to their structures, much more so than on previous releases.

But what has always made Chthonic stand way out in front of their brethren is that they’ve always incorporated plenty of Asian/Eastern folk influences into their songs. Keyboards and the erhu have always played a major part in their art, but sometimes the folk instruments and passages tended to sound a little tacked on or forced into the songs. On Bú-Tik, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Everything ebbs and flows smoothly and their transitions from sheer savagery to beautiful, dramatic orchestrations are seamless and organic. And unlike in the past, Doris Yeh’s voice isn’t thrown into the mix for what seems like necessity; on Bú-Tik her vocals are placed within each song with such ease it’s almost as if the songs were written around them.

While every song on Bú-Tik is powerful, “Sail Into the Sunset’s Fire” and “Rage of My Sword” are the absolute highlights, each demonstrating how far Chthonic has come as musicians, artists and visionaries. The former kicks off with a more modern Iron Maiden riff, but it quickly switches to a catchy, monster of a thrasher before expertly transforming into a mix of majestic, sweeping black metal. But the latter is without question the keystone of the entire album. A song loaded with ferocious and complex drumming, thrashy black riffs and an underlying atmosphere of both torment and triumph, “Rage of My Sword” is among the finest tracks that Chthonic has ever recorded.

Production-wise, Bú-Tik hits all the right spots and brings every instrument to the forefront when it needs to. While the drums aren’t quite as thunderous as they probably could/should be, they are powerful enough on all fronts. The guitars have that abrasive, blackish tinge to them but they are also polished just enough where it’s not a swirling mess of noise. Bú-Tik is a very clean sounding album, but it thankfully is raw enough to sound fierce; the music hasn’t lost any of its bite whatsoever in the final mix.

Though Bú-Tik is not a perfect album (some of the riffs in “Between Silence and Death” and “Set Fire to the Island” are a bit too metalcore-ish for these tastes), it’s easily the best collection of songs that Chthonic has ever created. It’s a pleasure to listen to each time out and it never grows stale at any point. Chthonic got in, got it done, and got out before they could add any unnecessary tracks, something more bands need to do. Bú-Tik ends before you know it and before you even realize what you’re doing, you’ve already hit the “repeat” button to spin it again.

Chthonic has been slowly emerging from out behind Cradle of Filth’s shadows for years and with Bú-Tik, it’s safe to say that they now have their own sound. So, instead of hearing them and saying, “Ah, this sounds just like Cradle…” more people will hopefully be hearing other bands and saying, “Ah, this sounds just like Chthonic…” Yeah, Bú-Tik is that good.

Rocking only five songs, Ghoul kills it with terrific renditions of some obscure classics from years past. The EP kicks things off with a wicked version of GWAR’s vintage classic “Americanized” complete with guest vocals by none other than GWAR mainman Oderus Urungus. From there, the trio rips into a sinister rendition of Fearless Iranians From Hell’s “Blow Up the Embassy”, a punishing cover of “E.M.S.&D.” from Willful Neglect, followed by a solid take on “Propaganda Control” from N.O.T.A., and then capping off the release with their version of Dayglo Abortions’ “Proud to be Creepsylvanian”.

Obviously, EPs that clock in at under ten minutes that are filled with only cover songs don’t need to be extrapolated on too much. Intermediate Level Hardcore seems to be just keeping Ghoul busy until they unleash their next full-length release. Luckily for all who will listen, this EP isn’t filled with crummy live versions or throwaway B-sides. Instead, it’s a fun and vicious short player that won’t disappoint anybody, considering who Ghoul are and what they’ve always done.

Read on to see what the mastermind behind the crushing and catchy riffs – and mountain-pummeling pipes – of one of the future’s brightest bands had to say:

TeethOfTheDivine: Morgengrau has been around for three years and your debut full-length album Extrinsic Pathway just came out a few months ago. It’s an excellent listen from start to finish; a solid chunk of old school death metal. What are your thoughts on the album since its creation?

Erika Tandy: I’m immensely pleased; the reception of the album exceeded my expectations greatly. I feel like we succeeded in our goal to make a contribution to the genre. When you endeavor in writing music for the first time, especially in a genre you love but have never performed, the results are certainly unpredictable. We’re proud of the release and are working hard on promotion so others can discover and enjoy it.

Take us through the creation of the album. Where did the song ideas come from and how challenging was it to finally get it completed?

Looking back, writing was very free-flowing. For the first time in almost 20 years I was doing something totally different with music – rather than just singing, I was playing guitar and writing from scratch. There were no preconceived notions about what the tunes should sound like – I was just churning out riffs fueled by the enthusiasm. Assembly was instinctual. If a riff or structure made me want to bang my head, it was a winner.

During that process, the band was in that golden formative phase where everything we did was new and fun. You play your first shows, have your little road trips, your hang out sessions after practice, etc. You learn about each other as people and creative forces. All that creates fuel for the raw energy you find in so many new bands.

Towards the end of the writing phase, I became more reflective on what we were doing – that’s where “Polymorphic Communion” came from. You can hear the greater level of planning in that track. It set the new standard for everything that will come on album #2.

The studio was hard, though. I’ve talked about it in other interviews. We didn’t have a lot of experience recording songs from the ground up. My level of scrutiny on the music was high – I wanted to be satisfied with this album and not make the same mistakes I had made on others. I have a bad habit of “good enough-ing” stuff once I get frustrated or tired. I also felt very responsible to the others to ensure the album came out good, since this was their first pro-studio experience. It’s all about patience, detail and the willingness to admit a performance could have been better even after you’ve played a part 50 times. You have to be willing to play that 51^st take. Our engineer at Amplitude Media, Kris, helped us tremendously and kept me from losing my shit when my frustration levels (with myself) were at max.

All in all, we learned a lot. We know better how to approach recording next time and we know what worked for us and what didn’t. I certainly have a more realistic perception of what kind of effort will be needed. Knowing that going in will make the next rough patches easier to tolerate. We’re a better band for the whole experience. And I’ll admit I’m now firmly in the throes of sophomore album writing difficulty – because now I have something I have to beat.

Some of the members of Morgengrau have been in other bands like Hod, Autumn Tears, Humut Tabal, etc. How different has it been in terms of experiences and creating music for Morgengrau compared to the other bands?

I can only speak for myself. In my other bands, I was the vocalist who would make an occasional suggestion around music. When it was time to write the melody lines and lyrics, the song structures were already well-baked. I had freedom but not a huge amount. My level of participation was out of alignment with how I conducted the rest of my life; in those endeavors I didn’t lead, where in everything else I led. After some time, I realized that’s why I would get so frustrated. I’ve got a type A personality and I like to control trajectories – that’s essentially what I do for a living – so I was subverting my natural tendencies. I also kept ending up in bands that weren’t the type of music I truly wanted to make. Were these bad choices? Not at the time. I believed firmly in everything I endeavored in and gave everything my best effort, but the misalignment of taste made for continuous dissatisfaction.

It took a long time for me to admit to myself that 1) I love death metal more than anything; 2) I needed to get back to playing guitar; and 3) I needed to start my own band, rather than joining other existing groups. Once I admitted those three things, Morgengrau came together easily and we’ve been rolling along ever since. No arguing, no bitching, everyone’s responsible, we like what we’re doing and enjoy being together. I always leave practice exhilarated and happy. It’s all good.

When listening to Extrinsic Pathway, the obvious influences immediately spring to mind. There are many elements of early Pestilence, Asphyx, Comecon, Sepultura (obviously, with the “Inner Self” cover), Bolt Thrower, and others all over the album, which is understandable considering how great those bands’ early albums are. Was that a conscious decision on the entire band to write songs in that vein, or is that something that just happened to be birthed as you were all writing?

Those bands are deeply rooted in my inner soundtrack. So many of the awesome albums of the early 90s were created by kids who hadn’t yet reached their peak playing and composing capacity – and that’s why those albums were so good! They were simple, raw, lawless and rule-less, written and played fueled by passion rather than musical theory or the latest industry pressure. So many bands lose that fire, that simplistic approach, become overthought and stiff. They get all up in their heads about what they’re doing and it kills it.

My goal is to keep a firm grip on that primal rawness while maintaining flow and the buildup and release of tension. Everything should have its place and there should be no fluff. If it doesn’t add value to the feel or the theme, it goes. No chaff.

Like those aforementioned bands, Morgengrau write death songs that are actual songs. They all have a point and direction and the riffs are memorable. That’s something that many of the newer bands and the overwhelming majority of the super brutal bands lack, which is the ability to write actual songs. I’ll assume that is arguably the most crucial element when the four of you are in writing mode.

It was. I really thought hard about the structure and did my best to keep the songs short and sensible. For a few, I actually told myself “You will not use more than 4 riffs and go over 4 minutes.” Sometimes it’s fun to give yourself a limit and see what you can do. Constraints can really focus creativity.

I like songs that are complete thoughts, not ones that wander vastly far afield from where they began. A lot of death metal suffers from that – all of us know about the never-ending riff salad. Kind of a close subject for me right now, as I’m working on a tune that isn’t wanting to repeat any of its parts. This one is definitely different compared to the songs on Extrinsic. I’m struggling to discover what the resolution of the tune will be, some way to tie it back. That’s why it takes me so long to write some songs – they have to feel complete, finished – not just end. I hate songs that leave you feeling like you fell off a cliff. Yes, everybody, I have a hard time with Battles in the North. I admit it!

Another bonus about Extrinsic Pathway is the classic production. It’s dirty and raw like it should be, though the final mix is clean enough where the instruments are all audible. That was the charm of the early 1990’s death metal and, again, it’s something that is lacking in the majority of the newer releases that are simply too clean. Again, was that a decision you all made?

This was also very conscious. We didn’t want the overly-compressed, super-hot production found on so many albums today. It took me a while to figure out what some reviewers were on about saying the sound is “muddy”. I don’t think it sounds muddy at all – I think it sounds organic – but I guess that equates to mud in this day and age. The perception is fascinating to me and it’s where the generation gap in metal shows itself. I’m old school. I want my music to breathe.  I don’t need to be hyperstimulated every second of every song. Not everything needs to be quantized perfectly. The human brain needs variation, something to latch onto.  There is grand power in dropping out all the tracks to let a single melody or riff stand alone. That’s dynamics. In our instant gratification, super-size everything, max volume, too xtreme culture, I can see why some listeners don’t get it. Their loss.

While “Inner Self” is a classic song from Sepultura’s Beneath the Remains album, why did you four choose to cover that one over the thousands of other killer tracks from that era?

“Inner Self” ended up being a special song for Jake, who really had his coming of age while we were writing and recording the album. We had a lot of fun recording it and now we’re sick to death of it and don’t play it any more [laughs]

There has been an influx of classic, old-school sounding death metal bands popping up all over the place. What are your thoughts on this and do you think the resurgence of this particular genre of metal will ultimately hurt or help you?

It’s fantastic. Nothing but good. The old school sound was lost for a while and a lot of younger fans are getting back into it. Everything old is new again and all that. DM is a powerful, emotive form of extreme metal which can be stretched in many directions without losing its essential nature. Tons of creativity out there, in all countries. Makes for some great festivals.

Back “in the day” it was quite shocking to a degree when a woman was in an extreme metal band. Even though Jo Bench has always been in Bolt Thrower, it always seemed sort of taboo whenever a woman was in a band like yours. Over the years, though, there has been a much higher number of metal bands sporting female members who aren’t just the pretty face/voice like Tristania, Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, etc. Quality bands like Funerus, Fuck the Facts, Haemorrhage, Embodied Torment, Menstruary and several others all feature women in their ranks and they aren’t the typical “chick in metal band” sort of bands. When people find out that Morgengrau has two women in the band and that one of them is the vocalist/guitarist and the other is the drummer, is there surprise? If so, is it annoying to you and/or Reba, considering how far women in extreme metal have come over the years?

Most of the surprise comes from other women when I tell them how much I truly do not care for the “women in metal” subject. I don’t want to be given a pass, or judged against a different scale. I don’t need a grade curve. I want my work and performance to be judged on merit and against my peers. Reba feels the same. Women are so used to being treated with privilege in all aspects of society, and this constant questioning about “how does it feel to be a female in metal” is an extension of that. Being female doesn’t make me special or worthy of attention. Having created a decent album that people want to hear does.

Your vocal approach is reminiscent of early Martin van Drunen and Max Cavalera, at least to me when I listen. Are those two a huge influence on your style or is that just how your natural death voice comes out?

Martin is one of my biggest vocal heroes. His rabid werewolf howl is wholly unique.  He bellows and his voice cracks in a lot of places – there’s no preciousness in his performances – and I love it. He’s just raw. Ross from Immolation is a bit of an influence as well – I like his diction and the way he finishes phrases. Then there’s the part of me that loves how freaking possessed and demonic it sounds when you blend low roars with higher screams – the “Deicide principle” as I think of it – so we made sure to work that into the album in plenty of places.

There are plenty of times when people get rowdy at metal shows. For you and Reba, has there ever been a situation where some drunken hooligan has heckled you two because of who you are?

Not with this band. It doesn’t even come up.

Though there have been several terrific and successful bands from Texas over the years (Pantera, Absu, Rigor Mortis, Solitude Aeturnus, Dead Horse, Hod and countless others), Texas isn’t really known as a true scene across the States. It’s always the Florida death metal, Bay Area thrash, New York hardcore, etc. Why do you think this is?

I disagree. Texas has made huge contributions to metal and continues to maintain a very strong scene. San Antonio and Houston frequently have the best turnouts for tour packages that roll through. Austin hasn’t been much of a contender since The Backroom and Emo’s closed – most mid-sized roadshows skip us now, which is unfortunate, but for many years we were known for killer turnouts as well. We do have a small but talented death metal community in this state. If we’re not known as a scene I think it’s because Texas is far away from both coasts, so people forget we’re here. Texas’ sheer size and distance between cities also lends a sense of dilution. If you shrank the state to the size of the Bay Area, we’d have an incredibly concentrated scene. It would be crazy!

What are the immediate plans for Morgengrau moving forward? Obviously it’s unlikely you’ll all be able to make millions off of death metal because that’s a sad fact of the scene. What are the plans on touring, new material, etc?

Honestly, if we were making millions off this music, it wouldn’t be worth the media it was printed on. Can you imagine the fuckwits who would be buying it? I’d rather sell 1000 copies to 1000 fans who appreciate and understand it, than 1,000,000 to dipshits in pegged jeans with front-brushed hair who’ll use it for a coaster after 6 months. 

As I mentioned earlier, I’m in writing mode now. Reba and I just had a good session improvising riffs last weekend.  But it’s up to slow-ass me to assemble everything, and we all know that’s going to take ages. Perhaps recording next summer with an album in the fall or winter. I’d really like to get a label for this next one, so we’ll see.

We recently got back from playing in NYC at the Martyrdoom II fest. That was our first out-of-state appearance. It went over very well. We’re looking into some central US/West Coast opportunities and then we want to get the band over to Europe. Because of our personal responsibilities, only short tours are possible, but that just means we need to be very strategic in our choices.

Where did you all come up with the name “Morgengrau” for the band?

In the difficult search for a unique band name, after pouring over medical dictionaries, Latin demonology books, and Encyclopedia Metallum, I stumbled across the word “Morgengrau” in an old German song. I wasn’t looking for band names that day – I was just checking out a tune a music colleague told me about. The selection was fairly instantaneous; it just fit.

Outside of Morgengrau, what do the four members do for a living?

Normal stuff. Nick and Jake are the youngest – Nick is finishing college and is desperate to move out of the gulag (more commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley). Jake works a variety of short-term contract jobs at various tech/education companies and spends the rest of his time playing his bass in the dark because he doesn’t want to spend money on electricity. Reba is building her career as a laboratory technician – she works really hard and has a lot of interesting stories about lab samples and infectious diseases. I manage a global technical team at a major corporation, spend most of my time dreaming about the apocalypse and fussing over my beloved cat, Pandora.

Thanks for your time. You can freely add whatever you like to this interview.

Thank you for the interview! All of us in Morgengrau appreciate the support and encourage anyone interested in learning more about our brand of old school death metal to visit our Facebook, Reverbnation and Bandcamp pages. Support the Old School! Hail Metal, Hail Death!

http://morgengrau.bandcamp.com/album/extrinsic-pathway

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Morgengrau/112541632142818

http://www.reverbnation.com/morgengrau

With their fourth full-length about to be unfurled onto the metal world in a matter of days, it appears as though the NYC trio might be breaking out of their cocoons and into the (storm of) light. Nations to Flames is loaded with everything a fan of doom/post-rock/metal would kill for: heavy, chugging riffs; rolling drums; an ominous atmosphere; and catchy hooks all over the place. While it may not be the reinvention of the proverbial wheel, A Storm of Light has clearly created their finest collection of songs to date.

With a sound that is reminiscent of the aforementioned acts, A Storm of Light also sports a quasi Ministry mood as well, but mostly in the vocals department. Not that Dominic Seita or Josh Graham are the second coming of Al Jourgensen, but oftentimes throughout the album, their delivery has subtle nods to the crazed industrial pioneer. Couple that with an ever-present sense of dread that oozes from the instruments and what you have is a splendid slab of haunting, memorable tracks; the album never grows stale.

“You Are the Hunted” best demonstrates the songwriting skills of the band, as the backing chants of, “you are the hunted” are expertly coalesced with catchy, yet foreboding riffs. Easily the standout track of the album, “You Are the Hunted” is one that should bewitch patrons in the live setting. But as powerful as that gem is, A Storm of Light also bedazzle the listener with the addictive “Omen” and the mesmerizing “Dead Flags”, two songs that will inevitably stick in many an ear after repeated listens.

All in all, Nations to Flames is one of the more surprising releases of 2013 thus far considering how overlooked A Storm of Light has been over the years. With an album as strong as this one, hopefully that will change in the coming months. While it likely won’t wind up on many year-end best-of lists considering how spectacular of a year it’s been for metal, Nations to Flames will most likely receive it’s fair share of honorable mentions when it’s all said and done. Definitely worth checking out, this is.

Watain has always been a band that has ever so slightly pushed the envelope of black metal with their abrasive music, that part we already know. From their much more vicious and savage beginnings of their The Essence of Black Purity EP up into their “breakout” album (if such an album exists in black metal) Lawless Darkness, Watain wrote music of the darkest orders. Some have labeled them one of a handful of “true” black metal bands, but even as they expanded upon their sound on the aforementioned Lawless Darkness, they were still hailed as a modern day Emperor.

However, just like the mighty Norwegians alienated virtually an entire legion of fans with their unremarkable Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise, Watain will inevitably find themselves under the microscope of the “kvlt” purists who will loathe The Wild Hunt. While it still harnesses the power of their trademark blackened metal roots, it is hands down their most exploratory and experimental record to date. But unlike the disregarded final Emperor album and the late, great Dissection’s Reinkaos release, The Wild Hunt actually has taken Watain in a new direction and, dare it be written, might be their strongest album to date.

True, some of the songs aren’t vicious like the moody, passive “They Rode On”, the very technical, almost Prometheus…-sounding “Black Flames March”, the catchy and groovy “All That May Bleed”, and the emotional and passionate title track. However, it’s songs like these that give The Wild Hunt that much more flavor, that much more power. The vintage ferocity of Watain is still all over the album such as the vile “De Profundis”, the blistering “Sleepless Evil”, and the punishing “Outlaw”. But when those trademark tracks are nestled between the more daring and adventurous passages of the album, everything is impacted tenfold.

Nobody likes it when one of his or her favorite bands changes overnight and releases an pile of fecal matter. The metal world saw it with the unfortunate Swansong from Carcass, the horrendous Illud Divinum Insanus from Morbid Angel and the atrocious transformation of the once-mighty Metallica. Incorrectly, some people have tossed The Wild Hunt into the bargain bin, but the reality is that it couldn’t be further from the truth.

The Wild Hunt is a creative, forward-thinking album that slays from the opening salvos of “Night Vision” all the way until the closing seconds of “Holocaust Dawn”. It’s that rare album of when an outside-the-boxing thinking band challenges themselves more than they ever have in the past, birthing an intelligent, breathtaking colossus. As much as it is a brand new era of Watain for how bipolar the album is, The Wild Hunt is still classic Watain through and through. While it might not be their finest hour in terms of sheer number of solitary classics contained within, it is without question their most important album and much better suited as a full listen.

Whether one is a person to admit it or not, it grows boring whenever a band doesn’t change anything about their sound (Fear Factory, Suffocation, Obituary, etc). However, when an incredible band as talented as Watain expand their horizons more and more with each passing release, it’s usually always a breath of fresh air. Albums that challenge the listener are typically the most enjoyable ones to digest. With The Wild Hunt, Watain not only challenged themselves, they’ve also challenged all to open their minds enough to fully explore the mesmerizing, haunting evil that has been harnessed on each of the eleven songs on the album.

Thankfully we are treated to another killer chapter in the GWAR legacy in the form of Battle Maximus, the band’s 13^th full-length album. And, in keeping with tradition, every song on the record is classic GWAR: loads of punk-infused thrash riffs, often hilarious lyrics, and a mixture of catchier-than-crabs hooks and crushing heaviness. Whether it’s the groove-laden “Nothing Left Alive” or the punishing “I, Bonesnapper”, GWAR has left no stone unturned in their quest for world domination. Which, when you look at it from any angle, is what GWAR has always done.

Battle Maximus is loaded with eventual GWAR classics like the two aforementioned tracks as well as the brooding “They Swallowed the Sun”, the thunderous “Torture” and the lighter, entertaining “Triumph of the Pig Children”, which is arguably among the catchiest tunes these space savages have ever recorded. Over the years, GWAR has also recorded a few softer, almost emotional ditties along the way and their latest release is no different: “Falling” fills that hole perfectly.

There were some fears that GWAR might have been crippled by the unfortunate and tragic death of Cory Smoot (Flattus Maximus), the man that Oderus Urungus has heralded many a time as the virtual savior of the band’s musical direction. Thankfully for the legion of GWAR freaks the world over, Brent Purgason fills the massive shoes almost perfectly in the form of Pustulus Maximus. Though his trademark sound is much more barbaric and vicious in Antietam 1862, his blackish thrash style has been wrangled in quite a bit to where it’s classic GWAR through and through. Though there are subtle nuances that differentiate the two Maximuses, you’d be hard-pressed not to envision Pustulus not being in the band for years. Also worth noting is the fact that this is also the first album to feature a new version of Beefcake the Mighty, this time filled by the human Jamison Land.

The only real drawback to the album is the final mix. While it’s not a horrendous mix by any means, the drums are a bit too clicky and the guitars aren’t as monstrous as they’ve been in years past. Battle Maximus is still heavier than Gor-Gor’s bloodied hulking form, but methinks the finished product could’ve come out with a more abrasive, punishing sound. With that said, it’s a minor gripe that can be overlooked because the album as a whole is still what virtually every GWAR fan craves. Is it as spectacular as their one-two punch of near perfection in the form of Scumdogs of the Universe and America Must be Destroyed? No, not quite. Then again GWAR might not ever be able to recreate the magic harnessed on those two gems. However, Battle Maximus fits nicely alongside GWAR’s other classics Lust in Space, This Toilet Earth, War Party and Beyond Hell.

GWAR is back and in murderous form with Battle Maximus. It’s a well thought-out album, one that is loaded with future staples that will eventually serve as background music to the bloody, gory killing spree that is a GWAR concert. If you are someone who has never “gotten” GWAR or loathes what they do, then your ears weren’t meant for this album anyway. But if you consider yourself a GWAR junkie, then Battle Maximus is everything you can expect and more. Now it’s time for the hard part: waiting impatiently for them to come through town on tour.

As it is, Fejd plug away with their less metallic/more folk approach and they just keep getting better and better with each release. With Nagelfar, the band has hit their creative stride as the album is stellar from start to finish. As with each of the three previous albums from their catalogue, Fejd focus almost exclusively on creating as authentic a folk sound as possible, making the overall feel almost non-metal.

Though the group plays plenty of drums, guitars and bass, the overwhelming majority of their output is in the acoustic vein. With that said, Fejd also fuse instruments like the Jew’s harp, Swedish bagpipes, recorder, bouzouki, willow-pipe and moraharpa, making for an eclectic mix of acoustic metal and as-traditional-as-can-be folk music. Naturally, the lyrics are all sung in their native Swedish, adding even more relevance to their art.

Each of the nine songs on Nagelfar follow a similar blueprint of slower, melodic passages backed by a constantly haunting underbelly, though it’s not the sort of creepy, ominous type. Instead, the atmosphere that just oozes organically from the music is haunting in the sense of that almost indescribable feeling of dark serenity while walking through a dense fog. Yes, it sounds beyond cheesy and cliché, but that’s the sort of underlying vibe each of the tracks boasts.

While there isn’t a weak song in the bunch, the two standout tracks are easily the infectious, remarkable “Den Skimrande” and the brooding “Fjarrskadaren”. Both passages ebb and flow seamlessly between sweeping melodies and a sense of urgency both musically and vocally, though neither track ever truly reach their zeniths, making whatever the crescendo builds to seem that much more elusive. However, the charm within each is that neither song feels incomplete. Rather, they instantly make the listener want more, of the unobtainable closure that makes them even more inviting with each listen.

Naturally, something like Nagelfar from a band like Fejd is not for everybody. Those who fancy themselves fans of Scandinavian folk music (not folk metal, but folk music) should instantly latch onto this. The metalheads out there who aren’t too stubborn or “kvlt”, those who are always in search of something unique, have probably already found the splendor of Fejd’s music. If not, it’s highly recommended that those of that ilk seek out this album and then work backwards.

In 2010 the band released Rubicon, the first album to feature Marieangela Demurtas in front of the mic. Though some within the scene heralded the album as the perfect next step in the band’s career, many long-time Tristania fans crushed it. Most felt Demurtas’ presence left a lot to be desired and that the band took a step backward in their musical progress.

In the opinion of some, that couldn’t have been further from the truth and the evolution of the musicians within Tristania, both as performances and composers, has been proven again on Darkest White. The band’s seventh full-length release, Darkest White sees Tristania opt for an even more diverse sound then ever before. Whether the sextet rampage with a vicious, incendiary attack like album opener “Number”, the gloriously depressing “Scarling”, the more vintage Paradise Lost-esque gloomy delivery of the excellent “Himmelfall” or everything else in between, Tristania never trip over themselves.

The band has always been keen on employing various tempos and influences within their musical output, but Darkest White has a much more worldly feel than any of their other previous albums. However, that’s not to say that Tristania has strayed very far from the core sound that made them stand out from the quickly-growing female-featured gothic metal genre of the early 2000’s. They still display the splendid atmosphere of melancholy through the music itself and even when Demurtas and company opt for a more grandiose or even cheery feel, the music still has that magnetic brooding vibe, as if darkness is always creeping around the corner to envelope the listener.

As always in the past, Tristania sometimes breaks loose with a more poppy/commercial song from time to time, and that trend continues with “Requiem”, by far the most accessible track of the album. In an odd sort of twist, the song, when it’s not hitting the more metallic overtones towards the end, actually comes off similar to some of the more serious The Cranberries songs of the ‘90s, though it is subtle.

One thing that has always made Tristania one of the best bands of this particular subgenre of metal is that none its female vocalists ever stole the thunder from everybody else in the band, something even the most successful groups of this ilk are too guilty of (Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, etc). Like on Rubicon, Demurtas fits the role perfectly as the soothing counterpart to Kjetil Nordhus and Anders Hoyvik Hidle; the rest of the band filling out the remainder of the pie superbly without being cast behind the glitz and glam of those fronting the band.

Darkest White is a terrific album from start to finish, and it further magnifies the strength of the band in the present day. There have been several key members coming in and out of the band over the years, but Tristania has never fallen victim to the pitfalls of said departures. If the fans of the band didn’t have their fears erased with the magnificent Rubicon three years ago, they should be extinguished on Darkest White, easily one of the band’s finest outings.

How is that even possible, considering how well they play live and how stellar their music is? Goatwhore has always written some of the most vicious-yet-catchy blackened metal and every time they release a new album, the critics typically give them glowing reviews.

Goatwhore is also an act that is constantly on the road and playing gigs whenever and wherever, yet they somehow still are relegated to near obscurity, at least that’s how it seems every time I’ve seen them live. With so many songs that are filled to the rim with memorable hooks and savage riffs, these guys should be huge (at least in metal terms).

In any event, Goatwhore swung back through Las Vegas and tore apart the Cheyenne Saloon like they’ve done before. This time was no different, though there were a few more people in the ol’ saloon than before, so hopefully that means their reputation is finally starting to circulate. But regardless of the crowd size (being in a 21+ bar certainly has hampered the amount of attendees), the New Orleans veterans laid waste to the place and never looked back.

After a few local opening bands played their hearts out, anchored by the incredibly talented Tyrants of Torment, Denver thrashers Havok took to the stage and burned through a surprisingly short set of only eight songs. After some technical difficulties during the opening song “Covering Fire”, Havok got things rolling into high gear.

Havok played an arsenal of some of their best tracks like “Point of No Return” and “Scumbag in Disguise” as well as two new songs from their upcoming new album: “I Am the State” and title track “Unnatural Selection”. Though their set was rather brief, Havok did a well enough job to set the stage for Goatwhore.

When Goatwhore took the stage, it was well past midnight, but it didn’t matter to anybody in attendance. Though their sound was a bit muffled compared to the other times I’ve seen them at the Cheyenne Saloon or abroad, they still were tight and devastating.

After opener “Collapsing in Eternal Worth”, the NOLA boys followed it up with the scorching “When Steel and Bone Meet” and the pulverizing “Parasitic Scriptures of the Sacred Word.” Goatwhore wasn’t finished at that point, though, as the devilish fiends incinerated the crowd with a virtual best-of from their entire catalogue.

After set highlight “Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult” about halfway through the performance, Goatwhore pulled no punches until they ceased operations with the savage “Apocalyptic Havoc.” When it was all said and done, Goatwhore once again proved they are one of the best live acts going today. Hopefully at some point enough people will wake up to the notion of how superb a band they are and start packing the house whenever they come through town.

Goatwhore’s  Setlist:

1 Collapse in Eternal Worth

2 When Steel and Bone Meet

3 Parasitic Scriptures of the Sacred Word

4 The All-Destroying

5 Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult

6 Nocturnal Holocaust

7 Baptized in a Storm of Swords

8 Sky Inferno

9 In Deathless Tradition

10 Judgement of the Bleeding Crown

11 An End to Nothing

12 Apocalyptic Havoc

(no encore)

Havok’s setlist:

1 Covering Fire (Dave’s amp blew a fuse 2 mins.… more)

2 Point of No Return

3 Scumbag in Disguise

4 Cradle to the Grave

5 I Am the State

6 Unnatural Selection

7 D.O.A.

8 Time Is Up

http://www.goatwhore.net/

http://havokband.com/

Closed-minded metalheads or younger, less experienced kids might instantly lash out at the various artists for being phony or only doing it for show, but the bottom line is that metal, like all other forms of music, is entertainment. Most death metal bands sing about slaughtered hordes of people, severing limbs, monsters ripping innocent people to shreds, etc. Obviously, it’s all for show because the members of the various bands aren’t actually serial killers or witnesses to things only found in horror movies. The dudes in Macabre aren’t exactly hiding bodies under their cement. And the majority of the “real” Satanic bands are really just a bunch of dorks trying to scare people or to get attention.

However, when a band comes around who is genuine in their beliefs and actually tries to do something to change the world, it has to be commended and appreciated. Much is the case with Israel’s Orphaned Land, a band that actually stands for something and does everything they can to make their beliefs a reality. In this case, as has always been the case with them, is to try and somehow unite the people of the world through peace, to educate people that fighting over religion or land or anything else is incredibly counterproductive.

Like U2 back in the ‘80s through today, Orphaned Land has always been about expressing their views and then trying to actually do something about it. To make matters even better for the quintet, they are actually an incredible collection of musicians who have yet to deliver a mediocre album.

Enter All Is One, the band’s fifth full-length release, and all remains splendid in the Orphaned Land camp. They still fuse Middle Eastern folk into their metal, but they’ve grown a bit softer, more melodic over the years. But by soft, it’s not to be taken that they’ve gotten weak by any means. In fact, their music is arguably as powerful, if not more so, than ever before. The guys take a long time to deliver the goods (five albums in 20 years of existence is Tool-like) but when they do their fans needn’t worry about anything less than what should be expected.

Case in point is the title track, which opens the album. By far the strongest passage on the album and arguably the best of their entire career, “All Is One” bursts out of the speakers with such a tremendous hook – musically and vocally – and the arrangement is as powerful as anything released this year. It’s like classic Middle Eastern folk cranked to overdrive via a metal vessel. It’s near perfection, the only downside is that album is essentially downhill from there.

However, that’s not to say that the rest of the songs on All Is One don’t stack up. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Even though nothing else on the album is as remarkable as its title track, Orphaned Land roll out eventual classics “The Simple Man”, “Brother” and “Freedom”, each could eventually wind up on a best-of album.

Orphaned Land may not be the greatest band to ever grace our collective ears with their brilliance, but in all actuality their viewpoints and attempts to make this often terrible world a better, more peaceful place is more important than some cheesy black metal chump declaring war against Christianity or some gore band puking about a rotted corpse coming to life and murdering an entire village of nuns. No, Orphaned Land have more balls than virtually every other metal band combined because they actually stand up for what they believe, they play “life” metal and they do it in one of the most hostile, violent areas of the entire globe. But more importantly, they are damn good at what they do and All Is One is one of the best albums of 2013.

Though the EP is a tiny amount of raging mayhem, the task of obliterating everything in sight is accomplished because the songs – five originals and a Napalm Death cover (“Unchallenged Hate”) – are a scathing mix of savage grindcore and groovy death metal. Similar to what the aforementioned Napalm Death were doing back on their Words from the Exit Wounds, Inside the Torn Apart and Diatribes releases, Grot toe the line nicely between the two genres. The Irish lads also switch tempos smoothly; one second they are hammering away with reckless abandon and then in the blink of an eye the gears shift into a more streamlined, hook-laden death metal assault.

There a few drawbacks to I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, though. For starters, the production is a bit too polished and clean for this type of pulverizing metal. The drums sometimes are a bit too clicky and the guitars, while barbaric and raucous, have a wooden sound to them. Similar to how Six feet Under’s Warpath and Deicide’s Serpents of the Light suffer from a muffled/wooden guitar tone, the songs on I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream suffer greatly because of this. It’s a shame, too, because the riffs are powerful as all hell, but the sheer venom of the instrument has been sucked away in the studio. The other drawback is that the EP ends too soon, but that’s more of a greedy gripe than anything.

In the end, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is solid, if not perfect. Hopefully when the trio gets around to cranking out their debut full-length, they can retain much of the raw nastiness with their instruments. Death metal and grindcore is fine when the production is clean, but it absolutely has to be nasty as well. These guys certainly have what it takes to launch grenades into the listener’s ears, but here’s hoping they leave some of that glorious abrasiveness in the final mix next time out. Still, it’s a fine start to what will hopefully be a lucrative career.

Oftentimes a newer band when playing live isn’t as clean or tight as they are on their album(s). But with you guys, you sound as though you’ve been touring for decades. With how crisp and precise your set was, I’ll assume that you all practice as much as possible.

James Luna: Actually, I wish we did rehearse more because we’d be more comfortable (on stage). To be honest, we actually rehearsed the set once before yesterday, which was the first show of the tour. We thought we were a little rusty tonight, but if you say we sounded good, then I guess we’re doing something right (laughs).

Considering you guys are still a newer band and you’re all young dudes, do you still get nervous before you hit the stage?

I usually do but, I don’t know, I guess I kind of gotten used to it. It’s like this rush of energy and adrenaline and I think I associate that with nervousness.

Is there anything you do beforehand to calm your nerves a little bit?

I try and stretch and do some vocal warm-ups and if I have some time. I’ll try and do some yoga to calm myself down. It really depends on the day because I’m usually at the merch tables beforehand and if I get caught up with the merch, I’ll just run up and do the show.

Your voice was very clear tonight. Do you sometimes take extra precautions before the show, like drinking warm water, not talking as much, etc?

I try to do the warm water thing but they had cold water up onstage, which seemed to work just fine. I try and take every precaution as possible and lately I haven’t been drinking (alcohol), either, which has really been helping my voice. Before I used to get totally hammered, not know what was going on, singing the wrong lyrics, go into the wrong song. Yeah… it was awful.

Throughout the years, the overwhelming majority of the newer, younger bands would sound terrible live. You knew they needed a ton of practice. But recently I’ve noticed that a growing percentage of young, new bands sound terrific onstage. Why do you think this is? Is it the technology, the kids learning and playing at a much younger age than before?

I think a lot of the young kids are hungrier and more focused to the point where it kind of forces them into that level (of professionalism).

This is the Metal Alliance Tour with Anthrax and Exodus and a host of others. This has to be the pinnacle of your career up to this point, right?

I think associating our names with the bands on this tour is leaps and bounds from where we were before. I think it’s a great next step for us, absolutely.

Do you feel as though Holy Grail is ready for the next step, to headline a major tour across the country or even Europe?

(Laughs) I don’t think so. I think we’re far from there. I’ve seen a lot of friends in other bands try and do that and it’s rough out there. That’s why packages like this work out really well. I can see us doing like a 200-300 capacity room tour where we headline, but nothing this big (yet). We did one of those with Cauldron, our buddies from Toronto, with our last album and I think we’re going to do something like this for this album’s cycle.

Why do you think you’re not ready as a band for a major tour? Is it a lack of enough material or is it a confidence issue?

People just don’t know about us yet.

A tour such as this will certainly assist in getting you guys more exposure. Before this interview started, you guys were being swarmed by fans and you told me that you didn’t expect this kind of reaction. Has today so far been the best night in terms of fan reaction?

This was amazing. A lot of people had never heard of us before and after a couple of songs were really into it. A lot of them bought merch. It was great. Last night was similar, too. It was an awesome reaction.

When Holy Grail first came out, some critics claimed that you were nothing more than a ripoff of what was big in the ‘80s. When you read or heard these criticisms, did it bother you guys? Also, do you think you’ve gotten past that stuff and are now taken more seriously as a legitimate classic metal band?

I get what they’re saying but I try not to read too much press. Everybody has their own opinion and they try to put their own thing in it. Sometimes it’ll be totally contradictory to what they rate it. I think it was Decibel Magazine – maybe it was AllMusic – they gave us a pretty good rating but if you read the review, it sounds like they’re talking smack on us. It’s really funny.

Are you guys at the point to where you can read the crowd immediately whether they are into you or not? Obviously if you’re getting things thrown at you the crowd hates you, but what about a crowd that isn’t very lively? Those are probably the hardest crowds to read.

I’ve kind of gotten accustomed to not seeing if the audience is not into us or not. Subconsciously you just kind of know if they’re into you or not where the energy in the room picks up. But I kind of have gotten comfortable with just performing to the max. We’ve played a lot of bar shows where we’re just performing to the bar. We’ve just gotten used to playing where the crowd is not into us or they’re just “there.” We notice when the energy is there or isn’t, but we still try and give it 110% every time out no matter what. If the crowd is lifeless, it makes us go harder and crazier just to try and get something out of them. That’s usually how it works.

What was the worst show you guys have ever played?

Oh man… (thinks for a while). There was a show we played in Farmington, New Mexico and the club had just lost their liquor license. All these people showed up and were really pissed and they were booing us. They were so mad, were booing us and then it turned into this really weird night, but that’s a whole another conversation (laughs). That was probably the weirdest, worst show ever.

There are always hecklers and hooligans at every show. What is the worst thing that ever happened to you while onstage?

There’ve been times where I’ve eaten shit and fallen over onstage. Not with Holy Grail, but in a previous band where I got on this riser and then fell off. It was like a twelve-foot riser and I just fell right off it. I didn’t get knocked out but I certainly felt it. I think the band then went into a long guitar solo or something – I don’t remember all the details – and when I gathered myself, I went back onstage and finished the show.

Aside from playing in front of a packed house, what are the best perks about being on tour?

I think it depends on what level you’re at as a band.

At Holy Grail’s level; you guys.

It started to trickle in where fans would bring us gifts and stuff. I’m the only vegan in the band and some people have picked up on this and have brought me special vegan treats. In Seattle, there were these kids who really liked us and their mom drove them to the show. She actually baked us a Holy Grail cake with icing and our logo on it. It was phenomenal! Cool little things like that are the best. Just yesterday, somebody drew sketches of every band member and gave it to us. It was awesome.

When these fans bring you food, are you suspicious that it might be spiked with poisons or laxatives?

I guess that can happen (laughs) but I give people the benefit of the doubt.

What about the chicks? Is Holy Grail at the level where the girls are throwing themselves at you and trying to sneak onto your bus or van?

(Laughs) There are still a lot of dudes at our shows but once in a blue moon there are girls that will trickle in. But they’re not the bring-home-to-mom types, that’s for sure.

What is the craziest thing a fan has ever done to or for the band?

We played this show in Oklahoma City. Our tour was on the East Coast, at least it was starting there, and we played a couple of pickup shows along the way there. Well, they changed the venue at the last minute so we wound up playing at this brewery (laughs). It was called the Belle Isle Brewery. It’s kind of like a T.G.I.Friday’s place and we had to wait until the football game was over before we could start our set. The other band didn’t make it so we were the only band. The people who were watching the football game stayed and watched us but they actually went crazy and bought tons and tons of merch from us; more than we could ever imagine. They bought like 3,4,5 CDs each and a bunch of shirts. It was crazy. These guys were totally jazzed on the band and invited us to their house. This one guy was like, You guys should just stay at my house and I’m going to leave. I’ll just stay at a friend’s house! So we partied there and then he was like All right guys, I’m out of here! Just leave it unlocked. We were all like, What the hell is going on?! He didn’t care if we ate his fridge full of food or anything. So we stayed there but we were afraid that he was going to bring friends in the middle of the night and, like, slaughter us or something. It was totally bizarre.

Did you guys drink all his liquor and trash his house?

It was already pretty trashed, but we did drink all his liquor.

Have you guys been “rockstarred” by any of the bigger bands on this tour yet?

We’ve been lucky where everybody has been pretty awesome so far on this tour. It seems that in metal so far, everyone’s pretty grounded. There’s not a lot of egos that I’ve noticed.

Once this tour wraps up, what are the immediate plans of Holy Grail?

James Luna: We are waiting for a couple of things that aren’t confirmed yet so I really can’t say. But we do plan to get over to Europe in August or September. We got picked up by Nuclear Blast, which pretty much runs all of Europe in metal and they’re trying to get us over there and get the word out.

*It was recently announced that Holy Grail will headline a US tour from June 19 thru July 26; Anti-Mortem will act as the main support band.*

http://holygrailofficial.com/

While many bands lurking in this sub genre of metal tend to go overboard with either the fretwork or the melodies, Phalgeron instead infuse their brilliant musicianship with a rather dummied-down approach. This in turn makes each track on Cosmic Cataclysms much easier to digest, thus leaving a longer lasting affect on the listener. This is made most abundant on the standout track “Tyrant Lizard King”, easily one of the more catchy songs of the past year. Though the trio doesn’t follow the simplified verse/chorus/verse rock-pop approach, their technical prowess and ability to write actual songs stands head and shoulders above their contemporaries.

Drummer Ian Rinn is silky smooth behind the kit and while he can be as ferocious as anybody when it comes to blasts, he opts to instead play a more pedestrian style of sonic battery. Like the great skinsmen King Fowley and Dave Lombardo, Rinn makes a point to hit all the toms and is prone to load up on the fills and rolls rather than just blasting away with reckless abandon. Also, he tends to stick to a simple single bass rhythm most of the time; when he unloads the ferocity it’s much, much more fierce, a talent not many of today’s younger drummers possess. Lane Storli (bass) and Tyler Splurgis (guitars) swap their harsh vocals equally, making that killer yin/yang style patented by Bill Steer and Jeff Walker so many years ago. While Storli’s bass sits in the back seat most of the time (this isn’t Atheist, after all), Splurgis shreds with conviction and his solos are crisp and well-thought out.

Production-wise the album is superb. It’s clean to the point where everything is clear and smooth, though the band was able to retain enough of the raw energy and venom within the music. Cosmic Cataclysms was produced and mixed nicely where it has that clean dirtiness to it, something that more bands should opt for these days.

In the end, Cosmic Cataclysms is a remarkable debut full-length for a young band. While they did release a four-song EP Extreme Pillaging back in 2008 while they were still located in the Los Angeles area, Phalgeron has taken their sweet time to release a proper debut. It was the right decision because Cosmic Cataclysms is a kickass slab of epic thrashy black death. Scoop this up without hesitation.

It’s about seven hours before the show tonight. You guys have been doing this almost 30 years but even after thousands of shows, do you ever get nervous before you hit the stage?

Dave Brockie/Oderus Urungus: Ha! No, no, no! This is a way of life for us. Nervousness? No, no, no. There’s no nervousness. We’ve done so many fucking shows at this point that it’s just second nature for us. We just go out there and do it. Doing normal things in life is far more difficult than playing GWAR shows. Everybody else does that stuff. We just show up at the club, we walk onstage, they hand us guitars, we play the show, we walk off the stage, and then it’s over. It’s easy. 

What about when you come to a city you’ve never before played, or one you rarely ever play? Do you ever get a vibe of this could be a shitty show for us?

Yeah, shit like that will happen from time to time, especially in the weirder, more out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere places. Sometimes we’ll hear things about the local police setting up dragnets or local officials will send out their law enforcement agents to come to the venue to inspect our props and make sure our dicks aren’t hanging out. And of course they are. Then we’ll tell them that we will change our show to appease their idiotic laws, but when the show starts we ignore it all and do what we want anyway. They never stick around the see the entire show, anyway. GWAR sets its own agenda pretty much anywhere it goes.

After all these years that nonsense still happens?

Oh yeah. Well, it’s not as much as it used to but every now and again you’ll run into something like that. Places like Boise, Idaho and I believe it was Sioux Falls, too. That place is out in the middle of nowhere and you wouldn’t believe how backwards they really are. It’s still comforting to know that we still have the power to shock people because after you’ve been doing it for so long, how do you keep upping the ante where people are like – gasp! – but we’re still doing it. People keep getting pissed off about it.

Walking through the venue here, all the walls are covered with the plastic tarps, per the norm. I remember around ten or so years ago you guys came through Vegas with the Misfits.

Oh yeah! That was such a great tour!

The show was at the Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel, but the managers of the Joint didn’t want GWAR to do what you normally do and you guys pulled out.

We didn’t play?! 

Nope. There was an issue with GWAR and the Joint.

That’s right! I forgot about that night! Of course it was the venue that made it sound like we didn’t want to play. What happened was basically they told us that they didn’t want us to squirt any blood around. We told them that that was an integral part of a GWAR show and the fans will be extremely upset. We told them we’d tarp the walls but things just sort of fell through at that point. That was a long-ass time ago and it’s straining my memory bank [laughs]! God damn, the Misfits tour. That was fucking years ago!

Many of the fans were pissed and because a large portion of the crowd showed up to see GWAR instead of the Misfits, they/we got refunds.

You were all mad and got refunds [laughs]. They actually gave you a refund?

Yeah. A full refund because there were so many people there to only see GWAR.

That’s fucking great! I had no idea they gave refunds.

Yet you guys came back through Vegas a year or two later and played the Joint with your typical GWAR show.

Yeah. It was some idiotic promoter who didn’t know what he was doing, no doubt.

With that said, what does GWAR have to go through in order to play a venue you’ve never played? How do you convince the venue managers/owners to allow you to play? Is there some sort of protocol or a ton of hoops to jump through?

They want us to play there. We have a booking agency that handles everything and they call them and say we’ll give you X amount of dollars to play here. They want it to happen; it’s not like we have to convince these people to play at their club. They need the business. They need people to come in and buy the tickets and they especially need people to spend money at the bar. That’s especially what GWAR fans do very well. GWAR fans like to be drunk as shit and the clubs owners know this. They know their club is going to get fucking trashed but they’re going to do it anyway because they need to make the money.

Does GWAR have to carry extra insurance because of how your shows are?

No, no, no. We have the basic insurance that covers the band members for any catastrophic loss of limb or life, but there’s never any extra insurance. Well, occasionally we may need to get some extra insurance when we’re flying to Europe or something like that, but generally no.

Considering how crazy the typical GWAR fan is, they are always trying to get onstage with you guys, at least I’ve seen that many times. When the whole thing happened when Dimebag got murdered, did that make GWAR more conscious of what’s going on? Did you tighten your own security or make you more leery of the crowd?

No. We didn’t change anything. If that shit’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. If some maniac wants to lurk in the backroom and then pull out a gun and start shooting people, chances are they he’s going to be able to do that. I’m sure it made the club owners much more security-conscious and there are more stringent procedures at the door. They tend to pat people down much more and you’ll see some metal detectors from time to time at the clubs. I think there definitely was some fallout from what happened to Dimebag but a lot of that is bullshit.

If society was really serious about protecting the people, they wouldn’t make it so easy for someone to own firearms. The guy who killed Dimebag and the others was discharged from the Marine Corps, dishonorably I believe, for acting like a fucking psychopath. When the Marine Corps discharges you for acting like a psychopath, there’s obviously something wrong with you [laughs]. However, he had no problem obtaining a firearm, legally or illegally. There’s really nothing we can do about it and we’re not going to go through life being afraid of what could happen. We just go through life as fearless as possible and go forth and if something like that happens, well, your place is certainly set permanently in the annals of rock & roll history. It’d be nice if it happened much later in your career but what happened to Dimebag was just so fucked up. He was right in the prime of his career. Ugh…

We were actually on tour when it happened. We were a couple of days behind Damageplan/ they were a few days ahead of us. We were scheduled to meet him at this guitar factory – we had met him before – but it was supposed to be this thing where we were going to work on this guitar together. It was just such a fucked up thing. We were actually onstage when we heard about it. We were right in the middle of a show in Denver in front of, like, 1200 people. I felt like I had the responsibility to break it to the crowd and it was really fucked up. We took our costumes off and played the encore in just our underwear. It just seemed like the proper thing to do at the time. I’m not quite sure why [chuckles] but, [groans] it was a bad night, man.

If you can, take us through the events that unfolded when you found out.

Our tour manager, Eddie (Oertell), the guy who doesn’t seem to know his own name [much laughter ensues {side note: when I walked into the dressing room area before I sat down with Dave, I introduced myself to Eddie and asked if he was, in fact, Eddie who set up the interview. He said, “no, are you…- I mean, yes I’m Eddie. Are you Mike?” Dave was standing at the table and witnessed the brief, comical conversation}]. He obviously wanted us to know what was going on. I was up onstage and he was on the side of the stage, motioning to me. I knew something was up because he’s usually out by the soundboard. When I got off the stage, he told me and I was just devastated.

We had just left the stage and were getting ready for the encore. So we got out of costume as a tribute to him. I informed the crowd as to what happened and we did our encore. It was horrible. People, I could tell, were already starting to find out. I could tell by the looks on their faces because they were getting texts and phone calls. It was just so fucked up. Word was slowly getting out and then I guess I confirmed it to those who didn’t know. They knew that if we were coming out with our costumes off, something was up. People believed it because I guess my delivery of the news was pretty convincing. They knew I wasn’t kidding around like I would normally do onstage.

Everyone kind of knows exactly what they were doing the night Dime got shot. It was kind of the metal/punk scene’s own 9/11, if you will. We all remember what we were doing when we heard that news.

You’ve been asked this many times before, but how long do you expect to keep GWAR going? Almost 30 years is a long time, yet GWAR is still going strong after all these years.

I’ve said a million times that GWAR is a band that can literally last forever because they are characters and we have more of a Broadway show kind of attitude about it. I would love to one day hand down the moniker of Son of Oderus to a talented enough recipient. The band and the business keep getting stronger and we’ve kind of outlived that period where the first ten years of a band’s existence usually determines whether a band will keep playing or not. You’re either going to crash and burn gloriously or you’re going to be able to continue to do it. We made it through those years and we’re kind of reaping the glory of it. Not just with the touring but lots of other stuff as far as art, writing, making music, being in films and television shows, doing horror conventions. There’s just a nonstop amount of stuff that we can do. We could work every single week, seven days a week if we wanted to. That 25-year career has really exploded in our faces these past few years. We’re getting a whole new level of respect and business. I think we can do this forever as long as I can keep finding people to come in here and do this. I still got a lot of the guys from the original core that formed GWAR. I know that we (the individuals) are not going to last forever and it’s hard to see the future. But right now it’s going strong and it’s getting bigger and bigger and I’m going to keep doing this as long as I can. When it’s time to move on to something else, I hope I know.

Considering all GWAR has done with the music, the tours, the art, the BBQ sauce, the action figures, the videos, the comic books, etc. Is there anything that GWAR wants to do but for whatever reason just hasn’t been able to?

Oh yeah – a video game. Either a console game or a computer game, there has to be some sort of game at some point on GWAR. We’ve had a lot of people get in contact with us about it and we’ve talked about it, but it’s never gotten anywhere. I know these things cost a lot of money to produce, but maybe one day it’ll happen.

Another thing would be a really good full-length feature film about GWAR and what it’s all about. That would be really awesome. But once again, the budget doesn’t really exist for such a thing so we’ll see what happens.

Would the movie be a feature film where you guys are all acting through a story or would it be more like a full documentary on GWAR, but with you guys all playing yourselves?

It’d be a full-length feature film on GWAR. The beginnings of GWAR, GWAR in outer space, GWAR coming to Earth, our struggles here on Earth, becoming a heavy metal band, and then into the future. That would be an amazing movie or a series of movies.

The new album GWAR is working on: is it still called Mad at the Sun and what’s the status on that?

Oh no, that was just a working title. The new album has a title but [laughs] I’m not allowed to tell anybody yet. It actually has a real title now and we just recorded it at Slave Pit Studios. It’s being mixed by Glen Robinson who also did America Must Be Destroyed and War Party as well as some Voivod stuff and a million other great albums. We’re all done with it and it’s in the hands of the mix gods now. It’s fucking amazing and it’ll be out in September, I think, right after our GWAR-B-Q in August. And then we’ll hit the road again after that.

Talk about Brent Purgason/Pustulous Maximus. How has his transition into GWAR been over this past year and a half and what has he brought to the table for the next GWAR record? Obviously his human form in Antietam 1862 is different from what GWAR typically does.

He’s got his own style, definitely. He’s very aggro… Brent can play just as fast as Cory (Smoot) but we never really wanted to simply replace Cory’s style. Cory had his own thing and it was folly to try to emulate that. We wanted to use Cory’s style to inspire you but find a person who would take that sound in a natural progression and Brent totally does that. He’s got his own style where it’s a little dirtier but it’s just as fast.

The story is Pustulous is a member of the Maximus tribe, as was Flattus, and they all happened to play guitars. Pustulous and Flattus were rivals as to who played the baddest guitars over the years. They (the Maximus Tribe) were all called to Earth when Flattus made his journey to the stars and all the Maximuses staged the Battle of Maximus for the right to dominate the new position in GWAR’s band. After a mighty battle, Pustulous emerged supreme and the rest is history. He’s been completed accepted by the fans; they all love him.

Brent was one of the first guys we auditioned and we came back to him. He was a real good friend of Cory’s and he’s a Richmond homeboy. He’s part of the family already. Somehow we took that rigorously awful experience and turned it into something good. The new version of the band is – it’s not the same band – but it definitely rocks the fucking ass so we’ll see what happens.

I’ll assume time has been a terrific healer for you all, but how is everybody doing these days since Cory passed away?

Yeah it has. Everybody is doing a lot better now. At the end of this year it’ll already be two years since Cory died. I’m amazed at how we’ve all (coped) with it and it would have killed a lesser band. But instead we were able to find a new guitar player, move forward, and record a new album. On the new album, I think a lot of people will be able to see what we all went through in using the GWAR characters in a metaphorical way. I think people will kind of be able to understand the struggles we had there. I was really amazed with these guys in the band and really amazed with our fans. We got a lot of strength from them and we were able to keep it going. It finally feels that now, after all that time spent mourning and healing, I feel that we are able to step back out into the light now and good things are going to start happening again.

Over the years GWAR has slaughtered virtually everybody of importance or fame. Mike Tyson, Presidents Bush, Clinton and Obama, Hitler… You name them and GWAR has killed them. Has there ever been a time where you or somebody else in the band turned down an idea or said something like, dude that’s going too far. We can’t do that!

The only time we did was when we were in England on our European tour. It was when Princess Di died in that fucking car crash. The guys in the band wanted to do some sort of Princess Di thing that night while we were still in England. They were like we gotta fucking do something right now! Let’s throw something together, man! Now, my mom is from England and my dad is from Scotland so I knew much better than the rest of the guys how much people loved Lady Di. Even GWAR fans, to a certain extent (know that). But I guess I was the one that chickened out and cautioned against it [laughs]. It was that night or the next day and I was like dudes we would be really asking for trouble if we did this. But looking back, I’m like why were you such a fucking pussy, bro?!

Yeah, but with you guys being in the UK at the time, if GWAR did something who knows what would have happened to you?

Oh yeah! Our bus would have flipped over, rocks would have been thrown at us, people would have used torches and set fire to us and everything else. Or we could have gone to jail. It could have been really, really bad. The people of England were really pissed and we would have given them a perfect target to unleash their anger on. That was the only time; everything else (ideas) has been completely fine.

GWAR set the standard a long time ago with the costumes, the crazy stage show, etc. Over the years there have been the likes of Green Jellö, Slipknot, Mudvayne, etc. who have the masks, the stage show, the craziness. With that said and considering the success some of those bands have had, has it become more difficult over the years to stay relevant?

Not at all. A lot of bands are far more successful than us anyway. They sell more records, have bigger tours and whatever, so it’s really not a competition. If you’re going to judge it as a competition in terms of how much money we make, then they’ve won. GWAR has always been about doing the kind of performance, the kind of art that we’ve always wanted to do. We’ve never set out to be – and I don’t know if any of these other bands have – set out to be a “hit rock & roll band” or whatever. What other bands do doesn’t really have an impact on what we do.

What GWAR did and what we’ve always done is that theatrical rock thing where a lot of other bands weren’t doing it. So when bands like Slipknot and Marilyn Manson and Ghost can come around years later and take it to the next level, we were a part of that chain. But no one in my mind has really touched what GWAR has done. GWAR fulfills this certain niche because GWAR is basically a comedy act, you know? We are trying to make people laugh at the most heinous shit out there. So I don’t think anybody tries to do what we do at the level that we do and nobody works as hard at getting the message out there as us. There’s really nothing you can really compare GWAR with. There are bands that have elements of what we do, but we’re pretty much a singular monstrosity.

Back when you started GWAR, did you ever envision staying around this long and achieving the sort of stature and success that you have?

No, not at all. We started out basically as a joke band in Richmond, Virginia. We did it just for fun but then it rapidly started to explode but now nothing surprises me anymore. A long time ago it blew all the preconceptions of what I thought GWAR could do. I’m constantly surprised at what we can do as artists and musicians. The future is wide open and it can go anywhere from here.

How many celebrities – actors, non-metal musicians, athletes – have you found out to be GWAR fans?

Ah, not too many. John Cusack used to hang out with us and we have a couple of football star friends. I think a lot of people know about GWAR but don’t necessarily know us. We’re just a bunch of Richmond rednecks; we don’t really know too many famous people.

When you’re performing, what is the most annoying: instrument malfunction, the fake blood/jizz not squirting out properly, or one of the slaves/victims forgetting to come onstage when he’s supposed to?

Oh, when the piss or the jizz doesn’t come out, or when we knock the dude’s head off and the blood doesn’t squirt out, that’s the most annoying. They do the best job they can but when something like that happens, I’ll go backstage and start yelling at everybody. [laughs] It’s terrible.

What about when one of the slaves or victims forgets to come onstage at a specific time?

Yeah that’s annoying as fuck, but those things are going to happen because it’s such a chaotic performance. But you just got to roll with it and I’ve gotten really good at improv-ing over the years.

How much pressure do you put on those guys?

We run a pretty loose ship, really. We expect so much from our people that we try to give them as much freedom as possible. And we give them as much responsibility and initiative as they can handle. It seems to function pretty well. I’m not sure how we do it because there’s no real chain of command and I don’t ride people. I learned a long time ago that you don’t really get a lot out of people by yelling at them. Everybody takes care of each other; we’re like a big, weird dysfunctional family and we all have each other’s backs. It’s our little pirate ship and we all take care of each other.

How often do people try to get hired on to help GWAR on tour?

Oh, all the time.

How many times do people contact you? Is it hundreds a week?

Oh no, it’s more like ten to twenty a month. Something like that. But constantly we’re reviewing resumes because we want to check these guys out and occasionally, sure, they’ll wind up working for GWAR.

How do these people even apply? Do they send you videos of them being crazy? Do they come to the Slave Pit? How does that application process work?

Everything. It’s so easy now with the Internet and all the technology. People will send us pictures of work they’ve been doing, shit like that. But we’ve got so many people working for us now that we generally don’t hire new people. Generally if we can get people to work for free, we’ll hire them.

How often does Lordi pay GWAR royalties?

[laughs loudly] They should be doing that all the time [laughs]. We’ve gone back and forth with Lordi all the time. They were going to open up for GWAR over here and we were going to open up for them over there (Europe) and every night Lordi and Oderus were going to fight but we never got it sorted out. They were too wimpy.

On a serious note; are you guys cool with Lordi?

Oh yeah, we have no problem with them. Once again, there’s a band that kind of has elements of GWAR in it, but it’s just like we have elements of KISS and Alice Cooper in us. They (Cooper and KISS) inspired us. We are all members of the same tribe but we’ve just taken it to a more underground, more fucked up level.

Autopsy, Carcass, Atheist, Black Sabbath… All these great old bands are reforming all over the place. So when is X-Cops going to reunite?

[gives a sly smile] There are rumors that there might be an X-Cops performance at this year’s GWAR-B-Q and if that happens, the possibility of an album and a tour are strong.

Talk about the GWAR-B-Q. This is the fourth year you’ve done it and you’ve got some solid bands like Municipal Waste, Corrosion of Conformity and Pig Destroyer, among others.

It’s going to be awesome. Every year it gets bigger. We have our own barbeque sauce – GWAR-B-Q Sauce – and we have our own beer – Impaled Ale – and we’ve become quite the corporate merchandising powerhouse. We’ve been prostituting ourselves at every level. So, yeah, last year’s GWAR-B-Q had about 2000 people and this year we expect about twice that. It just gets bigger and bigger every year and to see these things like Bonnaroo and Coachella become these institutions of music, I don’t see why the GWAR-B-Q can’t do the same thing.

If it became big enough, do you envision seeing it becoming a travelling GWAR-B-Q?

Oh yeah! We are already getting offers to bring the GWAR-B-Q to different cities and I can definitely see that happening. I’ll tell you this: I can also see the GWAR Bar happening here in Las Vegas, too. A bar that is also a museum of all things GWAR. That’d be so cool.

It’s funny because bands like Iron Maiden, Slayer, Anthrax, Opeth and countless others have released various items like blankets, model airplanes, beers, shot glasses, socks and so many other things. When these bands do it, a large chunk of the metal community cries out that they are becoming too corporate and/or are just money-hungry posers. However, whenever GWAR releases something that is not a video or album, it’s always cool. Everybody loves it and supports it. Why do you think this is?

[laughs] I don’t know. I think it’s because people see how dedicated we are to what we’re doing. There’s no doubt that when you see GWAR in action, the people in those costumes are serious and they’re going through hell. You have be half crazy to want to do that to yourself. I don’t know! For some reason we get unlimited cool points from people. We can get away with murder but it doesn’t matter. Whatever we do, people are cool with it. I think when people look at what we’ve done over the years, they’re like GWAR, a long time ago you proved that you were for real. You go ahead and do whatever the fuck you want!

http://www.gwar.net

Jungle Rot is back and better than ever with Terror Regime. Would you agree with that statement?

James Genenz: Oh yeah, absolutely. We’ve never been 100% before and we’re 110% now. It’s full-on now; there isn’t any weak links or anything now.

With that said, do you think Terror Regime is the best Jungle Rot album ever?

Of course. I think anybody who makes music is going to try and write better stuff each time out. But we’re not trying to really, like, top ourselves or anything. It’s kind of like a natural progression. We’re not doing anything really different than we have before. We’re just writing the same way we have before; just getting together and jamming, you know? We didn’t try top ourselves but it’s definitely better (than what we’ve done). Production-wise it’s better, the songs are catchy, they’re faster, I think it’s a lot darker.

As always, you’ve stuck to the core Jungle Rot formula of simple, meat-and-potatoes American death metal. You’ve never deviated from that while many of your peers have. Why is that?

We have a little bit here and there but it’s never too drastic of a change. When Dave (Matrise; vocals, guitars) started Jungle Rot, those first two albums had a ton of Slayer-type solos but then they kind of fizzled out in the middle years on Dead and Buried  and Fueled by Hate. On Fueled by Hate, there’s no solos at all. Then with having Geoff (Bub; guitars) in the band after those first few albums and playing together and feeling each other out, of course some new outside influences are going to creep its way in there. We’re all new to the band. Well, eight years isn’t exactly new but it’s new enough considering the band has been around for a long time. But we each bring new little pieces to (the table). There are a little bit more melodies and harmonies, some solos are back in there a little bit, the music’s a little bit more thrashier, which goes back to the roots of the band. It started out as a thrash band and we’ve always been a thrash band with a death metal feel.

That’s true. There have been subtle nuances made throughout the years but Jungle Rot has never done anything out of left field that made the listener go whoa! Where the hell did that come from? You’ve always maintained that core Jungle Rot sound. Why haven’t you guys ever tried something just to see how it sounded?

Right. I don’t know, really. I guess it’s because we all play in different bands as well? I just don’t know. That’s kind of what Jungle Rot is and always has been and I don’t think anybody in the band wants to make a mockery of it. If I wanted to do something goofy, I’ve got other bands where I can do that in (laughs). I play in a doom band where I can get that doom stuff out of me. I play in a grind band where I can get all the grind stuff out of me. I don’t need to bring those things over to Jungle Rot just to fuck with Jungle Rot’s style. I think that’s what fans of Jungle Rot like, is that we’re always going to be Jungle Rot. Even the new fans who are just now finding out about us, they are like Holy fuck! This is exactly what I’ve been looking for! It seems to be filling some sort of niche. Some people say it’s a small niche but it’s a growing niche. I don’t know, I guess that’s just what we do. We’re Jungle Rot and we play Jungle Rot music. If you want to be all experimental with your sound and all, god bless ya, but that’s just not Jungle Rot. Even though I listen to tons of different music all the time, with Jungle Rot we stick with what got us here and we’re not going to deviate from that at all. We don’t see the point.

That’s one thing that makes bands like Deceased, Cianide, Grave, Unleashed and some others so great: When they release an album you know it’s going to be almost just like the one that came before it but with a few added things here and there.

Right. Exactly.

When bands like Entombed a few times – and especially Morbid Angel with their last record – come out and completely alter their sound, what do you think of it?

I can’t even fathom the new Morbid Angel album. It’s just god-awful. I don’t want anything to do with it. That’s another thing, too; the insincerity behind it. They just wanted to come out and shock people to make some money. There was no sincerity with it at all, like Altars of Madness and that’s what really pissed me off about it. Entombed, on the other hand, they’re still awesome. They’re still great guys and they still very much support death metal and I would still call them a death metal band. Yeah, they’re a little crusty, but I like that. They’re still true and even though they’ve changed over the years, they’re still awesome. They’re not trying to be, you know, Dave Vincent. I respect them because they experimented with their sound and even though it didn’t always work, they didn’t just admit they fucked up and go back to their old ways. They kept molding and fucking with things along the way without making no sense. But the Morbid Angel thing was just way too out there. It was just so way out of left field and that’s what you were just talking about. I can’t just ever possibly seeing somebody who likes Altars of Madness or Blessed Are the Sick being even remotely interested in that record at all. If they would have come out with an album like Altars of Madness, it would have blown up. They should have just stuck to their guns and their roots.

It’s one thing if it’s a band like Amorphis that always changes their sound from the beginning…

Yeah. Even with Morbid Angel and how each album kind of sounded alike, there were these differences because of Trey’s riffing. He was just out of control and everything he did was so unique and so new and everything he wrote was weird, it was still death metal, you know? But when he brought in all that techno shit, I don’t know. You can like what you like, but why feel the need to when every time you hear something new, I have to put that into my band!  Why?! I don’t even see how it could ever work or even try to make it work. They have their band, this was their sound when they started, so why not do it naturally? Just because you heard fucking bongos it doesn’t mean you have to put it into your music. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.

Back to you guys and the new record. It’s got a good production; it’s very clean and you can hear everything clearly. Some people might gripe that it’s a little bit too polished or too clean. What are thoughts on if/when those gripes come out?

I think the last one, Kill on Command, was a little bit more polished than this only because I’ve spent so much time with these records that I can tell the difference. The new one we recorded rather raw. The kick drums sound a bit more natural this time around. But again, this is Jungle Rot. It’s not bestial death or black metal, you know? If we played like that we’d probably record like that. We play really clean and our guitars aren’t over-driven. They’re mid-range like a thrash band and it’s always clean with us. Our music doesn’t drown in distortion because that doesn’t make sense for us. I like the raw productions. I personally love those types of albums, but I would never want to hear something like Metallica with Necro production (chuckles).

One thing Jungle Rot has always done was create catchy songs. On Terror Regime, these songs might be the catchiest, grooviest songs you’ve ever done for an entire album. Is that something is difficult for you guys?

It’s actually easy for us. A lot of these bands sit down and seem to try and out-shred the band that just came out with their shredding album, who was trying to out-shred the previous band with their shredding album. We don’t try to do that at all. We come up with a  couple of good riffs and see which ones work the best, which ones are the catchiest and then build off it. We don’t create songs with 40 riffs in them. That’s cool for some bands and again; I like all kinds of music. With Jungle Rot, I don’t know, we like to keep things simple and catchy like verse/chorus/verse/chorus with some solos. Kind of like old Slayer in a way, old thrash. We like having solid song structure with our music, not 40 riffs in a song and not repeating one riff twice.

Some people might say that our music all sounds the same and that all the songs are all along the same (blueprint). But, to me, a lot of those crazy tech death bands all sound the same, too. With us, you can tell the difference between our songs. If you listened to it a few times and then you pop in one of our records in the middle of a song, you’ll know what song it is right away. With those crazy tech bands, if you put in a song halfway through, you’ll have to wait a while to get past all that crazy noodling in order to hear that one juicy part that gives it away as to what song you’re hearing. We just want people to remember our songs so when they come see us live, they’ll know what we’re playing because it’s so easy to get into.

Why did you guys choose to the D.R.I. cover “I Don’t Need Society”?

It’s one of those things where we’re travelling a lot and we have our iPods on and whatnot. We’re always listening to music and one day that song popped on and we were like, we should cover that. It’s a good song so let’s cover it. Some of us were like That’s crazy because it’s a punk song! But we thought about it and decided to make it our own in a way and because it’s an awesome song. D.R.I. is awesome, so why not? So we figured it out, worked it out and there it is. It was just something fun to do and it was sort of out of left field. If you wanted something out of left field, that was out of left field (laughs).

When I saw that on the tracklisting, I was a bit surprised because I didn’t expect a D.R.I. cover on a Jungle Rot album. I think it turned out well.

I think so, too. It stays true to the original but at the same time it sounds like Jungle Rot.

Ever since the beginning, Jungle Rot has always released nothing but quality death metal records, yet you guys have never achieved the sort of level of prestige or accolades as the other, more popular bands. Why do you think that is?

Bad timing, maybe? Jungle Rot came out around the time when the first true explosion of death metal was tapering off. Maybe it was bad choices of record labels, too? That doesn’t help. They didn’t do enough or good enough promotions or they didn’t press enough copies of the albums. To be honest with you I think it was just bad luck and bad decisions but we’ve persevered. The band just keeps going and going and it’s not always about success; a lot of it is just wanting that respect. We just don’t respect those bands that turned their backs on death metal ten years ago and tried their hand at nu metal or something. Now with Maryland Death Fest, all these bands want to come back all of a sudden and want to play death metal again. They’re like Oh we support the underground 100% and we support death metal! It blows my mind that people are fooled by it, it really does. It simply blows my mind that these fans are all excited about these reunions, a new album, new tours and all, but they don’t realize that these same bands turned their backs on you. They basically said that they were cooler than you and tried to move on, but now that they see that the music is pretty cool after all, they want to come back. We’ve never done that. We’ve never sacrificed anything for any trends or followed any trends. We just do what we do and that’s the mindset of the band and I don’t think anybody really respects that and it’s sad. All these fucking reunions going on? Oh, what a big fucking reunion! Yay! Well, where the fuck were you five, ten years ago when I was going to local shows supporting all the bands? You were hiding out because you were too cool for death metal but now you want to come back, right? It irks me, man.

And with these reunions, there are now a ton of new, young bands leading the way with the retro movement of death, thrash, black, etc. It’s all over the place.

Yeah. It’s all over the place.

What are your thoughts on these new bands coming up and do you like most of them?

James Genenz: I like all kinds of bands, I truly do. And I’ll never say a band really sucks. It’s in the eye of the beholder, really, and if I don’t like it I just don’t have to listen to it. With these young kids that are doing it now, I just hope they’re doing it for the right reasons and not just trying to fit into a clique or something. If you really do like the old death metal bands and you appreciate it and you really want to be a part of it, then definitely support it because that’s where it came from. Bands that are still doing it, like us, deserve that respect, you know? Bands are going to pop up constantly and there’s nothing you can do about it. I just hope that when a band does it, it’s sincere. If you want to sound like Autopsy, that’s great, but be sincere about it. Don’t say that you’re not trying to sound like Autopsy because you clearly are. You can tell when a band is insincere about it. When all those retro thrash bands came out, you know which ones weren’t sincere about the music because those bands made one record and then disappeared once the retro thrash thing died down.

With this whole retro death metal thing going on, do you think it will inevitably help or hurt Jungle Rot?

I would certainly hope it would (help us). I would like to see some respect there for us. It’d be like you like these guys but not us, even though we’ve been around this whole time? Would we have to disappear and then come back ten years later to cash in on this? What, is that the key to success these days? (Laughs) I hope it helps us. I know there are a lot of young kids starting to get into us a lot. There are a lot of young kids at our shows, there are some good, young bands out there, and they seem to be into us. I certainly hope it helps us because I don’t think death metal will ever truly go away. It’ll keep resurfacing and recycling itself in the underground.

What are Jungle Rot’s plans for the next year or so?

We’re trying to secure another tour in July and then hopefully get over to Europe for some summer festivals. I don’t know, maybe another US tour before or after Europe, maybe like in September or October. And then after that, during the winter, we’ll probably sit down and write some more. We don’t usually tour in the winter so we’ll probably start writing material for the next album. It’s really coming out of us easily so hopefully we’ll have another album in a year or year-and-a-half.

http://www.jungle-rot.com/

On the heels of 2011’s ferocious Legion Helvete, label Season of Mist thought it a good idea to reissue one of Tsjuder’s earlier creations Desert Northern Hell. Originally released in 2004, the band’s third full-length is as vicious as ever on the reissue. In fact, the sound is virtually identical as it was almost a decade ago, but SoM was kind enough to tack on a quartet of four live songs as well as the Norwegian Apocalypse DVD from 2006 (though I didn’t receive said DVD for this review…bummer).

The album itself still scorches with nasty songs like opener “Malignant Coronation”, the slower, crushing “Ghoul”, the awesome “Unholy Paragon” a kickass cover of Bathory’s “Sacrifice” and highlight “Helvete”. The only real drawback to the songs is that some of them are a little too similar to one another when the trio blasts away at blistering speeds, an Achilles’ heel of the vast majority of BM bands. Time hasn’t changed this take on Desert Northern Hell.

In all, Desert Northern Hell is an album that should have always been in the collection of any fiend of black metal. If you are reading this and haven’t yet jammed to this wicked little beast, scoop it up. Tsjuder’s thrashy brand of black metal is a welcome treat to those tired of the noisy “kvlt” kids or the horrendous Cascadian trend that unfortunately has ballooned like Aretha Franklin’s waistline.

If you couldn’t tell, I dig Mustasch and their latest full-length Sounds Like Hell, Looks Like Heaven. Right from the start the music radiates from the speaker in classic rock/metal form, the kind that is best to crank up while putting back a few beers with the boys. “Speed Metal” is a raucous little number, a speedy passage that sets up the mood for what will transpire over the next 35 minutes.

“It’s Never Too Late”, “Your Father Must be Proud of You” and “I Don’t Hate You” all flaunt their muscles as each ebbs and flows the way great hard rock/metal should. Catchy riffs, memorable choruses, and a perfect “live” sound comprise virtually every minute of every song, resulting in an album that unfortunately seems to end too soon.

A ton of thought went into SLH, LLH and it just sounds like the Swedes have the time of their lives when performing, though it’s most evident on album highlight “The Challenger.” With supremely infectious rhythms and a kickass main riff, it’s got “instant classic” written all over it, one that will assuredly slay in the live setting. The song is so finely constructed it can easily be a radio hit. The same can be said about “It’s Never Too Late” as well, but since there’s no auto tuning, rapping, or the same sentence repeated over and over, that’s unlikely to happen.

Sounds Like Hell, Looks Like Hell is a splendid album. It’s heavy enough to kick some ass, but it’s not even close to anything resembling black or death metal. There aren’t any added studio dynamics to make shitty songs seem better. There aren’t any dizzying musical arrangements. There aren’t any mirrors, though there likely is a ton of smoke. There’s nothing cheap about this album; it’s just a meat and potatoes kickass slab of metal & roll.

Sporting an eerie, chilly production that adds to the ominous atmosphere throughout the album, Meadows of Nostalgia is somewhat of a throwback to what made the black metal scene of the ‘90s so popular. Vespasian (guitars, bass, drums, keyboards) and Horaz (vocals, guitars, keyboards) concocted a superb mix of ravaging speed and slower, haunting passages. Harkening to Carpathian Forest at times as well as Tsjuder (and a host of others), Imperium Dekadenz play a style of black metal that is as diverse as it is lethal.

Luckily the duo doesn’t simply blast away for every second of every song and even better, they haven’t fallen victim to the tedious and boring Cascadian style of BM that has unfortunately taken the metal world by storm. Rather, the two masterminds clearly have taken their time in creating memorable, contrasting sounds throughout the album. Whether it’s the melodic, brooding “Memoria”, the sweeping “Ave Danuvi” or the somewhat majestic “Der Unweg”, Imperium Dekadenz don’t rely on one sound that works and copy-and-paste it throughout the entire album.

Naturally, Imperium Dekadenz hasn’t reinvented the wheel with anything written on Meadows of Nostalgia. But what they lack in sheer originality they more than make up for with passionate songwriting and an open-minded, honest approach to a genre of metal that has been played to death since the scene exploded twenty years ago. And with the three years in between releases, Vespasian and Horaz have used that time well to craft more focused, more thoughtful songs than ever before.

Imperium Dekadenz have always released quality black metal throughout their almost decade of existence, but they haven’t ever created an album as diverse and passionate as Meadows of Nostalgia. It’s not the second coming of Tara, Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, or Storm of the Light’s Bane, but it doesn’t need to be. Meadows of Nostalgia is superb from start to finish and it’s loaded with songs that are strong enough to stand on their own two legs, though the album is a much more powerful listen when ingested as a whole. Here’s hoping these German dudes don’t wait another three years before unfurling album number five.

Your debut album Blessed He with Boils is sensational. It flew under the radar late last year but hopefully now you’re getting more exposure. I’ll assume you and the rest of Xanthochroid are satisfied with how it turned out.

Sam Meador: Oh yeah, definitely. This is the happiest we have been with any of our recordings, that’s for sure. The reviews we’ve been getting are awesome, too; more than we expected.

When you guys were creating the album, did you all know at the time that it was going to turn out that powerful? Or did it kind of hit you all towards the end of the recording process?

I think it was a little bit of both. I wrote most of the music and all of the lyrics, so I had this vision in my head. So I knew it would turn out good, but it’s definitely thanks to the rest of the band – and especially Matt (Earl) our drummer for doing all the sound engineering – that it did. But when it was all actually realized (at the end), we were all blown away. I think our guitarists (David Bodenhoefer and Brent Vallefuoco), who were also helping us all along during the whole process, but when the whole thing was done, that’s what they experienced. They were blown away. They were like, what the hell did we just make?! [laughs]

Considering you are the mastermind of the band where you write the music and lyrics, is it a policy of your way or the highway? Or are you receptive to the other members’ ideas?

There’s definitely some give and take within the band, but I think our producer, Matt, is more the one who is like, No! I want it this way! Or No! I want it that way! I’ve got the actual music, the composition of the songs, figured out. But when it comes time to entering the studio, we’re talking about the production. We’ll talk about certain instruments we want to use, like a certain type of percussion in certain points, stuff like that. But as far as the actual music itself, no, that’s not going to change much. With that being said, our guitarists and our bassist (Bryan Huizenga) – who only joined the band a few months ago – we haven’t had them in the band for very much time. Hopefully we will start incorporating everybody’s ideas.

Do you all tend to work easily together?

Yeah. We definitely hit our stride, especially with this album. There’s not much conflict in that everybody knows what we want it to sound like.

Xanthochroid is a new band and you’re all young, yet you sound like a band that has been around for a long time. Your sound is smooth and focused, like a mature, veteran band. With that said, how long have each of you been playing instruments and creating music?

Well I have suddenly become the oldest member of the band [laughs] at 23. No, wait, our bassist Bryan is 25 so he’s the oldest. Our drummer Matt is 20; and our guitarists David and Brent are still only 17.

17?

[laughs] Yeah. They’ll both be turning 18 (this month) so we’re looking forward to that. So yeah, it’s pretty amazing. Especially Brent; the kid’s a genius. He’s got his own side projects and he’s been doing this about as long as any of us have. I’ve been playing since I was nine; I started playing piano then. I really got into guitar when I was 14. Matt’s been playing drums since he was 12 or so. I can’t speak for the other guys because I honestly don’t know how long they’ve been playing. It’s all been since we were children, though.

I’m much older than you guys and when I was a kid, most of the new bands that were just starting out just didn’t sound refined at all. They couldn’t really play their instruments so well and it usually took most bands a few albums before they hit their stride in terms of ability. But with you and a many new, young bands coming up these days, there is a lot of talented “kids” who really know how to play extremely well. Do you think it’s a matter of the technological world we live in where every tool needed to learn at everybody’s fingertips, or is it something else?

That’s a good question and I do think about that from time to time. I experienced the same thing when I was going to go to college. My piano teacher had told me that he had gotten into Chapman, a prestigious school with a great music program. He played this Bach piece that I had been playing since I was 14 (and gotten in). By the time I got to college, if I would have played that same Bach piece to get in, I would have been laughed at. So, things have definitely changed not only in the popular world and in metal, but also in the classical world, too. I think it’s because the standard has been set so high with all these amazing players. I think it goes back to the 1980’s with guys like Yngwie Malmsteen and Jason Becker and Steve Vai… these guys who came around and just blew people away and it created a higher standard. And then with technology now, kids can get it all on YouTube and that’s just as good as any music teacher or college education can give you.

One thing a lot of these young talents lack, though, is the ability to harness their talents and create actual songs, the kind that stick in your head. With Xanthochroid, you guys have that ability. Why do you think it’s so hard for a lot of these technical, skilled players to write actual songs, and does that ability come natural for you?

I’ve studied musical compositions my entire musical life and I’ve been writing music since I was 15. Everybody always told me they liked listening to me play so I think I’ve always had a natural ability to write. I think that’s why everybody who writes music does that; they have a natural ability. Well, at least I hope they do. But for me, I like to dissect why something sticks in my head and why I like this progression over the other progression and things like that. Those are things I apply to the music I compose and I hope I always do.

So far all of Xanthochroid’s songs are very complex compositions like a classic symphony. Do you have it in your blood to ever sit down and write an extremely simple, catchy pop-driven song, or do your compositions have to be complex because that’s the only way you’re comfortable playing?

That’s a very good question. I have to do the complex stuff when I’m writing my own music. If you’ve seen any of the guitar stuff I do, the percussive guitar, I’ll take pop songs and make them much more complicated. [laughs] It’s really hard for me to do the opposite. But that’s a good question!

Why do you think that is? Do the basic arrangements bore you to tears and you need a challenge or do you just not have the ability to keep things simple?

It’s just, I don’t know… [thinks for a while] It has to be satisfying to me. If something’s too simple for me, I’m going to want more. It’s just got to be satisfying for me to listen to. It’s hard to explain, I guess.

The overall sound of Xanthochroid is diverse. I can pick up a wide variety of different bands’ sound within your sound. I’ll assume each member has an eclectic taste in music. What do you guys listen?

Sam Meador: The only thing we listen to, the entire band, the only thing we listen to is Alien Ant Farm.

[laughs loudly] Yeah I bet. I’m sure you all sit around listening to their version of “Smooth Criminal” all day, every day.

Yeah, exactly! On a serious note, my biggest influences in terms of metal are Opeth, Emperor, Wintersun and Moonsorrow. Those are my biggest influences because there are lots of progressive and symphonic elements. Really, all of my musical compositions and composition ideas have been inspired by Moonsorrow. Have you heard of them?

Of course. Moonsorrow is great. V: Hävitetty is one of my all-time favorite albums.

Yeah. They are obviously one of my favorite bands ever. So awesome. Matt is also huge into Wintersun but he started out with more brutal death metal stuff and you can really hear that in his drumming. We are all into a lot of the same bands but he showed me bands like Fleshgod Apocalypse and he’s really into Nile. But, really, we’re all kind of into the same stuff. We all really like The Faceless, too; they’re really huge for us. Bryan’s into a lot of metalcore stuff, but also a lot of real brutal stuff as well like Textures and bands like that.

What about non-metal?

Oh, we all do. I listen to folk music and acoustic stuff. I listen to this band Sun Kil Moon and I get a lot of acoustic inspiration from them. There’s this great folk band called In Gowan Ring and there’s this band from England that I like a lot called I Like Trains, they’re kind of like a post-rock, depressive stuff.

You also mentioned Emperor as a huge influence. When you do your harsh vocals, they sound quite a bit like Isahn. Is that a deliberate move on your part or is that a subconscious move because he and Emperor are such big influences?

I’m definitely not trying to sound like him but I am complimented when I hear people say I do sound like him. That was the style of vocals that I was able to produce. I feel as though I can annunciate very well when I do that and it’s very expressive. I like Shagrath, I like Isahn, but my favorite metal vocalist is definitely Mikael Åkerfeldt. He’s awesome; you just can’t beat that. But, really, I feel that I draw more inspiration from Dissection from their last album Reinkaos. I don’t know, the vocals were really clear and so well articulated and I just find it more expressive, that style of vocals. It’s just what I’m able to do. If I sound like Ihsahn, I sound like Ihsahn [laughs].

Speaking of Dissection and Jon Nödtveidt, he’s got to be the biggest waste of talent in the history of metal. What are your thoughts on him and his suicide?

I definitely have an opinion on Jon Nödtveidt. I listened to The Somberlain and that really turned me onto Dissection. They’re brilliant. Melodic black metal is stuff that I really like. But yeah, he’s an interesting subject [chuckles]. He was so extreme into his ideologies that he ended up killing himself [laughs]. But I’m really into Reinkaos. I know everybody hated it but it’s a really well thought-out concept album from start to finish. The songs are simple and everything but they’re so catchy. He thought it was his crowing achievement and I have to respect that, I guess.

How well does Xanthochroid’s sound translate into the live setting?

We’ve been working on that a lot, especially with Blessed He with Boils. We had to incorporate to symphonic and orchestral elements on backing tracks mostly because there’s just too much going on for me to play. On keyboards, it’s physically impossible because the bass parts are too low and the violin parts are too high, so we had to incorporate the backing tracks for the live setting. But I do play all the keyboards and the acoustic guitar (in the studio). But we have been working on our live sound a lot and we’re just trying to make it sound like the record and play it as well as we can.

What are your plans for touring for the immediate future?

We’re trying to get a West Coast tour together for the summer. We’re planning on going up the California coast and into Oregon and Washington and I don’t know, maybe go a little east to Las Vegas and Phoenix.

According to my research, a Xanthochroid is someone with light complexion and light hair. Is there some sort of light complexion/light hair thing to go along with the ideologies of the music? What’s the basis behind the selection of that word for the band’s name?

I saw that word when I was 15 and it was a word that stuck out to me. I thought it sounded pretty cool and looked cool. We have our own little back story and world that I’ve created and we’ve developed. In our story, Xanthochroid is a person. He’s sort of the king of the northern realm. Maybe he would have light complexion and light hair, but it’s nothing concerning the ideology or races or anything like that.

How long have you been creating this lore, these stories and worlds and characters to coincide with the music? Is this all from you or does the entire band contribute to the story?

The whole band is on board now. I sort of came up with the idea about three years ago when we were recording our first EP, the Iced, in Extremis EP. That was done with a drum machine and the recording was not very good… But anyway, that was an idea that I hashed back then and I’ve been working it out in my head ever since. We plan on releasing some sort of comic book-type of things to fill in all the gaps of the back story. But everybody in the band is into it. It’s something as a band we want to promote and explain that this is part of what we are.

Aside from the band, what do you all do?

I’m a music teacher. I teach piano and guitar and whatever else I can, even ukulele lessons. Matt is also a music teacher and we work together in a small store in Dana Point. I also do private lessons and I try to pick up music gigs as I go, like playing piano for dinner parties and stuff. So Matt and I make a living doing music. It’s a meager living, but it’s a living. Brent is a videographer and musician as well and he’s interning at a studio. David is in high school [laughs] so that’s his occupation right now. Bryan just moved down from Northern California and he’s actually Brent’s cousin and they’re living together right now while he figures his situation out.

Considering how diverse your lives and schedules are right now, do you foresee any conflicts regarding touring?

This point right now would be the time to do it because in the future, you never know. Yes we do have diverse interests and schedules but right now would be the perfect time to do it. We’d love to be able to get onto a big tour package and tour all around the country.

Realistically, what are your expectations and goals that you’d like to achieve with Xanthochroid within the next five to ten years?

Definitely we want to get out there and tour as much as possible. A lot of our aspirations are with those gigantic European festivals. We all are dying to play those huge shows like Wacken and the others. I’ve got some ideas for the next couple of albums so I think we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing. Hopefully it catches on and we get on some big tours and get our name out there as a prominent band in metal.

I know it’s way too soon since Blessed He with Boils just came out a few months ago, but do you have material already written for the follow-up?

We’ve already got quite a bit of material written for that but we won’t be recording that anytime soon. We’ve got other stuff going on. We want to promote this album as much as we can. When we decided to release this one, I found out that the worst time to release an album was in December and I was like …shit. Oh well, I thought it was the right time at the time, but at least it’s out there and people are starting to find it.

http://www.xanthofficial.com/

The band was formed in 2006 by Rene McDonald Hill (guitars, keyboards) and Alan Buchan (guitars, vocals) and they released a demo in ’08. However, it wasn’t until recently that they unfurled their debut full-length upon the world. Taking their time has certainly paid off because as it stands right now, The Giants of Auld is easily among the best releases of 2013 thus far. Granted, it’s only mid-May but there is going to have to be a massive influx of brilliant releases from this point forward to push this infectious little beast out of the top ten.

After a moody instrumental intro (“The Piper O’ Dundee”), Cnoc An Tursa roar into action with the explosive “The Lion of Scotland”, a monstrous and crushing way to kick start the album. Cnoc An Tursa thankfully don’t put all their eggs into one basket because the colossal numbers keep coming: the somewhat thrashy “Bannockburn” precedes the mighty Maiden-esque “Hail Land of My Fathers”, the keyboard-laden “Ettrick Forest in November” and the vintage Dimmu Borgir-esque “The Culloden Moor”. However, none of the songs on the album are as anywhere near as powerful as “The Spellbound Knight” with its chilling choral intro, beautiful melodies and majestic, anthemic lead riff. Already one of the leaders for song of the year, “The Spellbound Knight” is everything a fan of folk-inspired metal could ever ask for.

Production-wise The Giants of Auld is as clean and pearly as it needs to be. Every instrument can be heard clearly and while the drums are a tad bit too quiet and relegated to the background just a pinch (they need to be thunderous and in your face!), the final mix is superb. The record’s intense and abrasive all the while being melodic and smooth, a trait too few albums sport these days. And while Buchan’s vocals are a bit too metalcore in certain spots, he’s definitely not a weak frontman in the least.

Though Cnoc An Tursa hasn’t reinvented the wheel with The Giants of Auld – folk-inspired metal is nothing new – they hone their craft better than the overwhelming majority of their peers in the genre. The reason is because they don’t rely solely on being a folk metal band. Rather, they incorporate elements of their roots when the songs ask for them, creating a much more organic feel to the songs. The entire folk metal scene became bloated a few years ago, but when a band as powerful as Cnoc An Tursa comes around, it alleviates a lot of the stomach cramps left by the many also-rans.

Moonsorrow, Crimfall, Amorphis (obviously), Winterfylleth and a few others are the leaders of the genre; that part is virtually non-debatable. However, if these Scotsmen keep up what they’ve accomplished on The Giants of Auld, they will fit right in with the elite of the scene and the forerunners from the neighboring countries will undoubtedly be peering over their collective shoulders. Get this album.

While there is still plenty of Black Dahlia Murder/Heaven Shall Burn metalcore elements scattered throughout the album, Neaera has expanded upon their sound and added a few Dissection-esque arrangements (a few spots on “Back to the Soul” and “Black Tomb” are examples of this) and has infused a little bit more of a groovier element to the mix.

Still, even with the subtle tweaks mentioned above, it’s still the same Neaera through and through, so fans of the band need not be jostled when reading this. The expected pearly clean production is in store and the band’s breakdowns are bountiful throughout the album. The only drawback within the music, something that has plagued the band from the start, is that too many of the songs on the release sound too similar to the ones surrounding it. Neaera tend to stick to their own formula of quasi blasts/thrashy riffs/moshable breakdowns throughout the album (the title track, “Decolonize the Mind” and “Ascend to Chaos” all follow an almost identical structure).

Another minor hiccup is that the production is a bit too polished because the guitars are thinned out a little too much and the drums come off as a teensy too pitter-pattered in the final mix. While it’s not as sterile as too many of the albums popping out these days, had those focal instruments been able to sound more alive and ferocious, it would have served Ours is the Storm well. Still, it’s a minor gripe and a dirtier, nastier production is just a matter of preference.

In the end, fans of Neaera will likely devour this album from start to finish. They aren’t reinventing the wheel anytime soon and on Ours is the Storm, they’ve smartly stuck to what got them signed to a major label in the first place. Neaera has added a few subtle things here and there, enough for those who truly love these guys to pick up on them. Like everything else they’ve releases up to this point, Ours is the Storm is a solid release of quality melodic death/metalcore.

With metalcore, one of the most annoying subgenres in all of metal, every word is shouted at the top of the vocalist’s lungs, most sentences are broken up with singular word shouts, and the voice tends to always become lost/too hoarse by the end of each sentence. Also, the guitarists follow the exact same riff instruction manual and all go for the dramatic breakdown at the exact same time as everybody else.

Why? Don’t any of these bands ever want to buck the trend and be, I don’t know, different?

Usually the music from these bands is actually somewhat decent if not entirely original. There are plenty of talented guitarists and drummers in the bloated metalcore scene; some of these kids actually know how to fire off some deadly combos. But like a sizeable chunk of the thrash scene in the ‘80s, the music is murdered by the vocalists.

Unfortunately for Canada’s  Orchid’s Curse, they fall into the same lethal trap as the trillion or so bands of this ilk that have come before them. Though the kids will likely go bananas over this one, Words is nothing that has already been done to death. Their second full length release,  Orchid’s Curse do nothing to alter the image of metalcore that was popularized by the likes of A Bullet for My Valentine, As I Lay Dying, Lamb of God, All the Remains, et al. On the plus side,  Orchid’s Curse follows the metalcore blueprint to the T and has stayed within the lines perfectly, so at least they are good students.

There’s really not much to add to this review because there’s really no point in describing the songs other than this: it’s typical metalcore. Obviously the same criticism could be and should be thrown at every single cookie cutter death metal band and all the cheesy “kvlt” black metal acts, but at least those bands try to replicate good bands. Bands like Orchid’s Curse and their legion of brethren all try to copy A Bullet for My Valentine, As I Lay Dying, Lamb of God, All that Remains, et al. That’s a terrible starting point.

Though absolutely nothing on At the Caves of Eternal is remotely unique, it doesn’t mean the album – or Zombiefication for that matter – are just a bogus rip-off of everything that was created and released in the early 1990’s. They know how to shred the listener’s eardrums with savage and simple death metal, just the way it ought to be. Overflowing with nods to early Entombed/Grave/Dismember and host of others, At the Caves of Eternal is a treat to hear because of how smooth and deadly it is.

The nine songs on the album are all easily constructed; there are no finesse-laden frills here. They follow the simple blueprint of what made the glory days of Scandinavian (and some American) death metal so, uh, glorious “back in the day.” Easy riffs, simplistic drum patterns, and Petrov-esque vocals make everything about Zombiefication fun.

They don’t try to pretend they are anything else than a couple of dudes who love this particular style of metal and enjoy creating it. With a nasty production that sounds like it rolled right out of 1993, the record is a grimy, dirty, kickass ripper that seems to end too soon. And while this scribe typically loathes programmed drums, the ones heard on At the Caves of Eternal sound as organic and lively as any other heard before (if there is a human drummer behind the tracks, the liner notes of the promo don’t specify as such).

Is Zombiefication or anything they release going to ever be considered original or something that will reinvent the wheel? So far, the answer is a resounding “no” but that doesn’t matter. Unlike the majority of the newer bands playing this style of retro death metal, Zombiefication do a superb job of recreating a lost time in metal that was so precious to many. With Dismember disbanded and Entombed playing a much more rock-laden style of metal for years now, there’s no reason why Zombiefication can’t carry on the old school Swedish sound with their music, even if they are from Mexico.