If we had to make a list of the most prolific and multi-faceted artists of this decade, Bruce Lamont would certainly be on the top ten. Not only the Chicago-resident musician have been pushing the boundaries of extreme music with his inventive band Yakuza for the last ten years, he’s also member of the industrial project Circle of Animals and a Led Zeppelin’s cover group, plus he also collaborates with a number of artists like Minsk on a regular basis. “Feral Songs for the Epic Decline” is Bruce’s first solo effort and just to clarify a few things first, it’s not a metal record. It’s an ambitious and intricate piece of work that is partially shamanic, partially krautrock, partially industrial and overly experimental. Imagine tribal drums, moog synthesizers, reeds, acoustic guitars, ritual chanting, saxophones and a multitude of electronic effects all creating an atmosphere that invokes the spirits of artists like Can, Doors, Soft Machine and Cluster among others. It’s a record that demands time and patience for the rather layered ambiences to sink in. This not music you could easily listen to at the comfort of your home, while sirens and cars are honking outside of the window. The shamanic nature of Lamont’s music is better suited for a wild ride thru the desert or better yet the soundtrack to some fevered hallucinations induced by the ingestion of illicit substances. (7/10)
As long as you’re not a teeny pop artist, what better way to start and end an album than with nine minute songs. This is exactly how the new OMNIUM GATHERUM album "New World Shadows" plays out. The album offers a unique interpretation of what heavy metal can be, and they pull it off very well. This band is yet another reason that I love Finland and their metal-friendly culture. The first track, “Everfields”, offers up exactly what a typical metal song is not. The vocals performed by Jukka Pelkonen remain heavy and thick while the music takes multiple twists and turns from quick double bass patterns, to clean keyboard parts, to soaring guitar leads – all while keeping the heavy vocals on top of them. There is so much emotion pouring from this song ranging from the folk sounding percussive breakdowns to the truly heavy, heavy parts. In addition to having epic compositions, OMNIUM GATHERUM also know how to break your face with good old fashioned heavy metal. Tracks like “Ego” and “Nova Flame” have the tearing guitar riffs that bond all forms of metal. Guitar player Markus Vanhala offers up an array of crushing riffs as well as melodic leads that will melt your ears. A track worth noting for its uniqueness is “An Infinite Mind” which has it all from heavy guitars, to effect laden verses, and more mainstream sounding parts all while maintaining a solid dose of heaviness. The vocals compliment the music so well with the signature thick growls to whispered layers on top of the music. The hook in this song is certainly the interesting guitar work that will leave you coming back for seconds. "New World Shadows" by OMNIUM GATHERUM is a very diverse, epic, and hard hitting album that takes the listener through multiple auditory landscapes. There are elements of several different metal genres which will intrigue listeners of all metal sounds. The guitar work is especially impressive as it does not stick to any particular sound in metal. While still having a cohesive sound, Vanhala uses his axe to pummel your head and serenade you to sleep at the same time. This album is a very solid effort that is surely to recruit new fans and keep old fans happy. (8.5/10)
If the name Kill the Client has any significance to you, then you’ll know exactly what to expect from their fourth full-length record “Set for Extinction”. Packed to overload with ferocious and downright intense riffs and savage vocal manifestos, the Texan’s first work for Relapse Records is a monster record that will make fans of brutal and skull-crushing grind weep with joy. This album grabs you by the balls right from the start and rarely let’s go until it finishes. Even when the band’s relentless assault is punctuated by a more mid-paced, groovy riffing, Kill the Client sounds completely lethal and set out to inflict maximum aural damage. Crucial players in the grindcore scene, Kill the Client just keep getting better and more deadly with each new release, so there’s very little to be said about them that hasn’t already been stated before. Perhaps I should add that no matter what they’ll do from now on, Kill the Client deserve to get their name imprinted in the grindcore Olympus right next to Napalm Death, Brutal Truth, Nasum and Agathocles. (8.5/10)
Rotten Sound. What can I say. This was one of the first grind bands that I got into a long while back. Their sound is aggressive and straightforward grinding with hardcore punk elements thrown into the mix. This is the style I have gotten used to when I hear a Rotten Sound album and "Cursed" did not let me down in the slightest way. From the opening track ("Alone"), a force field of grinding fury hits you dead in the face like nuclear fallout. Aside from straight up grindcore, Rotten Sound also pull a killer hardcore punk sound out of that evil little hat of theirs. Tracks like "Choose" and "Hollow" show this sound to work out quite well. Rotten Sound keep my attention more than some grind bands because all of their songs are not just a few seconds long (see "You Suffer" by Napalm Death and "Greenbleeder" by Total Fucking Destruction). Yes, short tracks like this do get the point across pretty quickly, but sometime I need more variety. Rotten Sound manage to grind out damn near 3:00 of pure madness with what seems like ease. Amazing, melodic riffing floods this album as the stringsmen commit to pleasing the listeners ears. The drumming is absolutely fantastic. Complex and heavy, when it's necessary, mid-paced d-beat styled. Keijo's vocals are unbelievably powerful. The dude has a serious set of pipes on him. He enunciates his screams very well so that every word comes across and is instantly soaked into the listeners brain. I know that I have been giving a lot of 10/10s lately, but I cannot help it. The albums coming out in 2011 have been blowing my mind. Rotten Sound, I believe have topped anything they've ever done. I think this album is absolutely extraordinary. Definitely worthy of a perfect score. (10/10)
In a recent interview for this humble webzine, Cough’s guitarist and vocalist David Cisco confessed that their newest album “Ritual Abuse” was written during a time the band was facing a lot of personal problems and living in miserable conditions. I don’t find it hard to believe ‘cause this second record, first for Relapse Records sounds genuinely desperate and grieving as if the Virginia’s four-piece struggled thru all sorts of unimaginable trials and tribulations. Hypnotic and harsh in equal measure, “Ritual Abuse” is a spellbinding doom-metal journey with little incursions into dark psychedelia, and the overall atmosphere is vaguely reminiscent of acts like Yob and Electric Wizard. Guitarists David Cisco and Brandon Marcey pound gargantuan riffs with a disturbing intensity, while the vocals of Cisco and bass player Parker Chandler oscillate between anguished, caustic screams and a clean tortured whine. Some of their monolithic power chords also show an epic quality not too far removed from a traditional doom-metal act like Candlemass. Each and every song on “Ritual Abuse” is awash with an atmosphere of despair and grief, even the mournful, melodically-driven “Crooked Spine”, a song that might be considered a bit atypical in Cough’s discography reflects that mood. Producer Sanford Parker, member of Minsk, uses his analogue synthesizer-sounds to great effect, adding nuances of psychedelia to broaden Cough’s sound a little bit. These subtle touches really enhance what’s an otherwise strong and disconcerting doom record. (8/10)
At Our Heels offer up a type of music that I could only previously dream about. A mixture of pure, pissed off hardcore prowess with a tinge of melancholic depression. I first heard of this band from the MetalSucks blog in which Vince Neilstein stated in his title, "Good Metal Is At Our Heels." That could not be more true. Everything about this band's monstrous sound drives me absolutely mad. Their music ranges from aggressive straight up hardcore in nature ("Unholy", "Sink With Me") to slow and sludgy ("Graves", "Nom Sum Qualis Eram"). At Our Heels have been sited as "Blackened Hardcore" and I think that name suits this band perfectly. I actually cannot think of another way to describe them. Regardless of how much hardcore metal or punk influences lie with this bands overall sound, there are hints of droning doom that will send a shiver down your spine. The stringsmen shred melodic hardcore and mix it up with misanthropic droning doom metal. Nothing is sacred as these men execute every chord perfectly. The drumming is outstanding to say the least. Complex drumming does not make up every bit of his act as some bands of this time tend to do. During tracks like "Graves," simplistic drumming makes the track come across more epic and evil than one would expect. It's mind-blowing. The vocals are similar to your typical 2000's era hardcore band's screams, but there is so much emotion and aggression behind this guys voice that you can feel every word like a cold blade against your temple. Everything about this band tickles my hardcore-loving fancy and I am proud to say that At Our Heels gets a perfect 10 from me. Amazing work guys! (10/10)
Ross Gnarly A full 977-word review of “Misanthropy And Godlessness” can be found at Ross’ blog American Aftermath.
Something tells me that Serpent Throne members own more than just one Black Sabbath record. Not that “White Summer, Black Winter” sounds like an outrageous plagiarism of the mighty Sabbath, Serpent Throne do have some distinguishable traits, however these nine songs definitely have some Iron Man DNA in them as if they were written by the bastard offsprings of Iommi, Buttler, Ward with groupies, conceived at the backstage of California Jam. There’s no Ozzy, Hughes or Dio though, Serpent Throne are purely instrumental. That means the guitars assume a main role, and man! Guitarists Demian Fenton and Don Argott engage in some remarkable and contagious guitar work. The interplay between the two is enthralling, constantly tossing out wickedly infectious riffs and soaring leads that occasionally exude a NWOBHM feel. It must be said that, unlike most instrumental rock, “White Summer, Black Winter” hardly falls into a jam-like ambient, these songs actually rock. Had Serpent Throne fallen from the cosmos into the little planet we call Earth somewhere between the late 70’s and early 80’s it is safe to bet that they’d be stars on VH1 Classic Rock Nights show. Classic stuff, in both meanings of the word! (8/10)
There is a problem that I usually run into while attempting to review grindcore albums. That problem is that, with songs so short, I often cannot express myself enough to create a valid review. I believe that I have solved that problem while reviewing Total Fucking Destruction's latest grind offering, “Hater”. Ranging in song lengths of almost 3:00 ("Time Theft") all the way down to 4 seconds ("If 9 Became 6", "Greenbleeder"), “Hater” kept my attention without letting me down for a second. Richard Hoak's superior drumming and vocal ability cannot go without noting how amazing he is. From his multi-pitched screams and growls to his Tom Araya-esque yelling, he soars out of my headphones flying at supersonic speed. Hoak's vocal ability cannot just go without stating his ability to enunciate perfectly. The way he spurts "human is the bastard!" on the albums closing track absolutely blew my mind. The guitarists become a beast as they unleash a melodic melee of grinding riffs. On this album, it is clear that these dudes can shred, playing in styles from hard rock, to thrash to grindcore and on. So all in all, I fucking loved this grindcore masterpiece just as much, if not more than any of Total Fucking Destruction's previous releases and I will continue to love their blend of grinding goodness. In closing, I have to say I was definitely not a Hater for Total Fucking Destruction's “Hater”. I gladly give this album a perfect 10 and place it on the pedestal of amazing grind records. (10/10)
Ross Gnarly A full 1.453-word review of “Hater” can be found at Ross’ blog American Aftermath.
Consisting of bassist/vocalist Parker Chandler, guitarist/vocalist David Cisco, guitarist Brandon Marcey and drummer Joseph Arcaro, Cough is a doom-collective from Virginia whose music deeply embodies the terms anguish and suffering. Their second album and first for Relapse Records “Ritual Abuse” once again jolts the spirit with their lugubrious songs blending slow-grieving riffs with tormented vocals. In the e-mail interview below, David Cisco discusses the troubled times Cough have crossed before the recordings of “Ritual Abuse” and more.
How was the writing process for the new record like? Was there any extra pressure given it was the first record issued by Relapse and consequently would attain a bigger exposure?
“We didn't begin writing ‘Ritual Abuse’ with Relapse in mind. We intended to outdo our previous work since we lost our singer. The writing process was gruelling however. It seems we wrote songs between hospital visits.”
What were your first reactions when Relapse approached the band with a record deal?
“Well, we all felt a great relief. We put the entire recording fund up front ourselves and luckily Relapse bailed us out.”
How has it been working with Relapse? Have you noticed a surge in interest in the band since then?
“It's been great so far. Their promotion is incredible and we've seen the impact of that on the road. We just got off a 5 week full US tour and it was very difficult keeping merchandise to sell.”
I know that “Ritual Abuse” follows the band’s debut record “Sigillum Luciferi” released thru Forcefield Records in 2008, yet the information regarding the band’s genesis and prior endeavours is scarce, do you care to tell us how did Cough started?
“When Cough formed we were all much younger and happier. We were listening to bands like Cavity, Goatsnake and the Melvins and we wanted to be the heaviest band in Richmond. I think you can really hear those influences on the ‘Kingdom’ EP. We never thought it would become the monster it is today.”
The new album was released in October and since then Cough already embarked on some tours. Now that you have a little distance from the new songs, do you have any new feelings about them, how’s it working out live?
“We normally include ‘Northern Plague’ in the set but that's it for now. We've talked about playing ‘Killing Fields’ again but it gets tricky when you lose a member. I think we've progressed musically since then and it's easier just to move forward.”
The most immediate song on the record and possible your entire discography may very well be “Crooked Spine” where a dark and sorrowful atmosphere contrasts with soothing vocal melodies. Sounds like your very own Black Sabbath’s “Solitude”, that was a different and new approach for you guys right?
“That song was written on acoustic and was never meant to be a Cough song. Joey heard me playing it in my room one day and persuaded me to bring it to practice. So we tweaked it, gave it a little Sabbath treatment and there you go. I like how drugged out it turned out to be."
Why did you call it “Ritual Abuse”? When you were writing the lyrics for the album, was there an underlying theme that you were calling back for every song?
“The title is a reflection of the writing process which I've already hinted at. We lived in a filthy, unheated warehouse during the winter of 08. Some of us were unemployed and the climate drove us nearly insane, some closer than others. Most of the lyrics on ‘Ritual Abuse’ are about the experience there.”
Hailing from North Carolina, Horseback is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Jenks Miller, best known in indie and americana circuits for his work in bands like Mount Moriah, Un Deux Trois, In the Year of the Pig and Bellafea. Recently picked up by Relapse Records, Miller’s second full effort under the name of Horseback “The Invisible Mountain” was originally released on Utech in 2009 and presents us a sound that is intriguing, creepy and almost cinematographic. In fact, it could be the ideal soundtrack for some bizarre western movie signed by a partnership between John Carpenter and Sergio Leone, or better yet that outrageous and violent western “El Topo” by Alejandro Jodorowsky, the Chilean director who Miller recently admitted in various interviews to be an important influence for Horseback. Opening track “Invokation” sets the mood for this 38-minutes, four-track record with repetitive, simple riffs and harmonies that exude an 80’s obscure and hypnotic feeling throughout. It’s impressive how Miller can perpetuate a single monochromatic riff throughout a whole song without sounding dull or uninteresting. The bass-driven “Tyrant Symmetry” offers more the same, while the title theme falls somewhere between a less bluesy/folk Earth and Iron Butterfly’s psychedelic ambient. One of the most defining characteristic of Horseback are the vocals, the lo-fi shrieks of Miller places them close to black-metal standards, like some evil demon trapped in the desert wilderness instead of a Norse forest. Last song “Hatecloud Dissolving into Nothing″ offers a very different side to Horseback though, an ambient noise song that nods at acts like Tangerine Dream and Boards of Canada. All in all, “The Invisible Mountain” is a must have for those of you who like their music wicked, bizarre and cinematographic. (8/10)
Summing up “Engage the Mechanicality” in a few words is a fairly easy task. It’s modern death-metal by numbers. While you can’t fault the execution, which is tighter than a mosquito’s asshole, Diskreet’s full-length debut sounds tepid and mechanical as its title implies. It’s a typical death-metal release crafted for the MySpace generation, offering a lot of fretboard pyrotechnics, some slick breakdowns, a bulk of merciless riffs and some deep growls, but nothing that comes close to a truly crushing and mesmerizing song. The scene is so crowded with bands executing this super-technical, down-tuned, stripped from a single emotion death-metal thing that only a sadist would consider tolerating for more than once. If you’re one of those masochists who can’t ever get tired of acts like Whitechapel, Carnifex, Job for a Cowboy, Suicide Silence, Annotations of an Autopsy, Oceano, Despised Icon, Through the Eyes of the Dead, Trigger the Bloodshed, Impending Doom, Knights Of The Abyss and Beneath the Massacre then “Engage the Mechanicality” is definitely suitable for your record collection. (5/10)
Pombagira, as some of you with an interest in Afro-Brazilian religious beliefs might recognise, is the name of a female entity or spirit from Quimbanda that manifests and encompasses female beauty, sexuality, and desire. What most of you don’t know yet is that Pombagira is also the name of a psychedelic-doom duo divided between London-UK and Sacramento-US that just recently issued their third full-length record called “Baron Citadel”. It seems rather odd for an act plying such miserable and gargantuan sound to pick a name that portrays the female sexuality in such lustful manner. Was it consensual choice at first?
“Carolyn and I knew an Afro-Brazilian or Afro-Caribbean religious name was what we needed for the band. We found the attributes of Pombagira fitted neatly into what we wanted to say about the band. Depicted as a female devil, her role within the Quimbanda movement is to protect the downtrodden. We loved the idea of using a name that reflected our interests in the everyday life experiences of people throughout Brazil and the Caribbean. The destitute negotiate their lives according to the guidance they receive from spirits like Pombagira. This relationship reflects the inspiration we fill when writing our music. While the ritualised and religious aspects to our music are self evident, the essence being found in our compositional style as well as lyrical content indicates our ongoing fascination with the invisible world.”
The Afro-Caribbean religions and the occult play any sort of role in the lyrical imagery of the band as well?
“Absolutely. Spiritual experiences I have had in Haiti, England and Nepal have informed every aspect of our lyrics. I have been witness to many spiritual interventions. I have been present when people have been possessed in both Haiti and Nepal. I have discussed matters of personal importance with the spirits. From shamans in Nepal to Voodoo priests in Haiti I have seen authentic visitations by spirits, watched while they re-affirm the need to remember the ancestors, awed at the extra-human abilities of the possessed. I have been guided into the graveyard in Haiti and have been introduced to the Baron and keeper of the cemetery. These experiences inform the riff and the lyrical content.”
Comprised by Carolyn on drums and Pete on guitar and vocals, who also function as a married couple, Pombagira started out as a four-piece in 2007 with members of Blood Island Raiders and Ramesses on board. What were the circumstances that led to the current formation as a duo?
“In short it was despair. For the longest time we wanted a bass player, we did everything we could to find one. We even went as far as putting up adverts in London. The last bass player we had in the band was a guy called Mark. He was such a lovely guy but he didn’t dedicate enough time in his personal life to learning and rehearsing the songs that combined with him always turning up late to rehearsals drove us slowly insane with frustration. This all came to a head when we went to record Baron Citadel the first time around and it transpired he still didn’t really know the songs even after intensively rehearsing the songs. It kind of fell apart from there with him, we ended up asking ourselves why we needed a bass player because we have all of this equipment we could use. As soon as the decision was made we never looked back. It worked on so many levels, we didn’t need to consult someone else about whether they could tour, we didn’t need to teach someone else our songs.”
Is that a permanent situation or will you eventually might consider adding another guitarist or bassist in the future?
“It is a permanent situation. We would consider collaborations or having a guest guitarist. But how many people have an equivalent collection of amps…there aren’t many.”
The first time I’ve listened to “Baron Citadel” I was really impressed with the way the guitars are tuned, really, really low, it’s something that's almost halfway between a guitar and bass. Is that an essential part of your music?
“Yes the tone of the guitar is of utmost importance. It is something that we strive to improve by getting hold of other vintage amps. We are very happy with our set up at the moment but we are always on the hunt for new amps that might add more colour to our sound.”
So how would you define “Baron Citadel” to those who never listened to Pombagira before? The music is slow and painful sounding yet there is a subtle sense of mysticism and psychedelic as well.
“I think you have already done a good job describing our music. I would say Pombagira is more than just about the music, but about the idea, the lyrics, the tone, the heaviness. We ask people to join us on a psychedelic journey into the realm of the occult.”
The band has been pretty active in the live circuit this year, you’ve just come back from a European tour with Eagle Twin, which had a date in Portugal in Oporto. What has been your favourite moment live so far?
“Yes that’s right we have been extremely active this year. We had some amazing experiences on the road one of which was the show we played in Porto on a boat. Other highlights would be Geneva where people were actually requesting songs from previous releases. Nuremberg was also really great fun, and we have some very firm friends down there. Maybe our favourite moment would have to be playing in Geneva, there were so many people, most of whom seemed to be there to see us rather than Eagle Twin, sold a lot of merch, and got to drink lots of shots. We had a fantastic time. I would say though that the tour we did at the beginning of September when we went out to the continent on our own was the best touring experience have ever had. The Eagle Twin tour was a bit of a let down in comparison for many different reasons. But let’s face it, being on the road is always going to be better than trying to hold down a regular job which ever way you look at it.”
Don’t be fooled by the title of the album, it doesn’t reflect the hate-fuelled black-metal sound peddled by this Philadelphia band. It seems that every exterior sign of “Quietly, Undramatically” is a bit misleading. In the album’s inlay card there’s a statement that says Woe is “satanic black-metal, hatred is our heart”, yet save for some inverted crosses spotted on the front-cover, the band doesn’t exactly portray an image of a band devoted to Old Nick. Woe doesn’t hear cosmetics, spikes or other artefacts, their lyrics are more thoughtful and philosophical than the usual “hate God, hail Satan” thing and it’s only on second theme “The Road From Recovery” that they fully reveal their hateful impetus, offering thunderous blast beats paired with a malignant amount of raucous riffs. So by now, you should interiorize that we are not before the average black-metal act adherent to the dark side. Anyone familiar with the band’s history will know that Woe started out as one-man bedroom black-metal act centred on guitarist and vocalist Chris Grigg, yet for this second album Woe morphed into a full fleshed band featuring members of Absu, Woods of Ypres, the Green Evening Requiem, and as consequence this new record sounds more expansive than previous work “A Spell for the Death of Man”. While said work was absolutely relentless and spiteful from start to finish, “Quietly, Undramatically” shows a more multifaceted and mature craft, shifting into a more textured and melodic style on some occasions that masterfully counterbalances their full-blooded mood. There are moments of near-brilliance here, like the title theme which flirts with prog-intricacies and introduces some clean vocals by Grigg for first time in their career, the epic “Full Circle” that lasts for full 13 minutes and displays some rather tasteful and serpentine riffs. This is prime U.S. black-metal overflowing with a malevolent impetus that should please both the conservative and liberal fans of the genre. (8/10)
On the first theme from her debut album "Little Immaculate White Fox", Pearl sings that she’s a rock child and if we pay attention to her genealogical tree we notice that she was indeed a child raised around the rock culture as her dad is none other than Michael Lee Aday, ridiculously known as Meat Loaf. Thankfully, Pearl doesn’t indulge in the same wimpy and sugar-sweet rock ballads as her dad, opting instead for a more energetic and powerful rock sound that reveal some affinities with acts like Blind Melon, Molly Hatchet, Buckcherry, Black Stone Cherry and Mötley Crüe. Surrounded by top notch musicians including her husband Scott Ian from Anthrax, Pearl have written a solid rock album that even though it doesn’t add nothing new, possesses enough swagger and skill to warrant repeated listens. Songs like “Rock Child”, “Broken White” and “Check Out Charlie” show a flair for soaring hooks and infectious riffs, while others like “Mama”, “My Heart Isn’t In It” and “Worth Defending” percolate a southern-bluesy vibe that marries well with Pearl’s soulful voice. Overall, "Little Immaculate White Fox" is a fine hard-rock album, but it’s nothing more than fine and if 80’s rock music with a bluesy edge is your thing, then there’s definitely something here you’d like. (6.8/10)
Italy's The Secret is surely one of the most bewitching, uncompromising and feral bands I have come across in the last few years. Their third full-length effort “Solve et Coagula” marks the beginning of a partnership with Southern Lord and sees the Italian four-piece thrust and pillage their way thru twelve new tracks, all seething with the fury of a starving and enraged pit bull. The Secret are furious and show no signs of benevolence. I guess it’s imperative to ask, who dared to piss in your cornflakes?
“There are too many reasons to be pissed at the moment, politics, religion, cultural downfall, the country we live is moving towards self disintegration day after day and I really see no easy solution to this. This band wants to be a kind of outlet for all the negative inputs we're bombarded with every day by the media. Spitting out our disgust has probably no affect on the whole situation, but at least is an honest response to this.”
“Solve et Coagula” follows up your second recording for the defunct Goodfellow records “Disintoxication” and initial listens reveal that it’s a more ferocious and direct record. What were your goals for the new record in comparison to previous works?
“This time we wanted to write a much more straightforward album and we tried to pay more attention to song writing and to the flow of the songs so we ended up using simple and more classic song structures. Our previous work is more complex, but right after the recording of "Disintoxication" we immediately felt we put too many ideas in every song and the result was kind of weird and left us dissatisfied. After those recordings we played live on a regular basis and we realized that the kind of music on "Solve et Coagula" is what we're doing best. Fast, dark, short heavy songs.”
One of the most compelling aspects of “Solve et Coagula” is the way the songs evolve from slow-droning doom to a savagely fast blend of grind and black-metal so naturally. The Secret has an identity and a sound all of their own that’s extremely difficult to place in one category. If you had to underline a specific genre for The Secret what would it be?
“Honestly we don't really care much about labels. We're definitely a band with a strong hardcore/punk background and we're proud of it but our music is basically a mix of grind, hardcore and metal.”
What are your musical influences? What are the bands that shaped you guys as musicians?
“I listened to tons of early 90's black metal when I was a kid, I was seriously into early Immortal, Darkthrone, Burzum, "Nemesis Divina" era Satyricon and some death metal like Entombed. Then I started going to hardcore shows when I was 16 and I discovered a completely new world. I'm really into Scandinavian music; a lot of grind/crust/death metal stuff.”
On the record, the production is raw and brutal, but still manages to preserve a deep aura of darkness about the whole thing, which sounds perfect for The Secret’s music. I guess that you’re quite pleased with the work of Converge’s guitarist and renowned producer Kurt Ballou?
“Working with Kurt was absolutely a great experience and I really hope to have the chance to work again with him in the future. He made us feel comfortable and did a great job of finding the right sound for our songs. He's a person who is easy to deal with and was respectful of the choices that the band made.”
What are your personal and professional thoughts on Kurt Ballou, and from your experience what are the specific hallmarks of his productions that makes him so sought after?
“I think that Kurt's best quality is his willingness to find the right sound for every band he works with, and not employ the same ideas for every project he works on. I like his view on heavy music and I don't really like overproduced metal records with computer drums and everything. I like to listen to a band playing for real, even if sometimes it means that their record is not gonna sound perfect.”
What is your current favourite theme from the new album and why?
“My favourite song is probably "Where it Ends". It was the first song we wrote for this album and in some very random way it sums up most of the things we wanted to say in just 50 seconds. That song created a new aesthetic for our music and I really like the lyrics of that song.”
So what’s “1968” about? It’s the year that Vietnam War breaks off and it’s also the year that Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy are murdered.
“1968 has been a year of big cultural and political turmoil here in Europe. A lot of things changed that year, it's been pretty much a new page in our cultural history and brought young European people new hopes for a new way of living free from formality and more traditional mindset of the past. It's been pretty much a big illusion of change since a lot of things really degenerated in '69, summer of love transmuted in the summer of death and all the correlated events happened in Europe and in the States. We wanted to try to speak about that moment, still free from disillusion and defeat. It's funny how most of the people who started that revolution have become part of the main cause of the horrible political situation we're now living in our country. Anyway, we still think it's been an undeniable moment of true downfall of dogmas that will always remain important.”
The Latin title of the album means “dissolve and coagulate” and is one of the maxims of alchemy. Is there a common lyrical theme running through “Solve et Coagula”, some of the titles suggest topics that are rooted in reality and daily life, is that right?
“Solve et Coagula is a call for necessary destruction to start something from new from its foundations. The common lyrical theme is pretty much the loss of faith in everything, politics, religion, social system, people in general. No teachings, it's just an emotional reaction this world.”
What is the metal and hardcore scene like in Italy, are there any new bands worthy of mention?
“Italy is absolutely not known for its strong heavy music culture and background but there are some good bands around. I think that things could be much better if our national media would start paying more attention to what is happening here, as opposed to covering bands only after American labels and media promote them.”
The Body - All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood
Incorporating influences raging from sludge to industrial and noise, The Body weaves a twisted and bizarre amalgamation of sounds that transports listeners into some creepy and terrifyingly disturbing nightmare. Their fevered mash of macabre electronic effects, ghastly drone riffs, tribal drums, dissonant noise, anguished shrieks and ritual chanting puts The Body’s second recording “All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood” in a category of their own, extremely difficult to grasp. It’s far from an immediate record and time should be invested in order to appreciate and get a decent notion of what the Rhode Island’s duo have crafted here. The album opens with a seven-minute choral singing that wouldn’t sound out of place in some Japanese horror flick, before a monolithic drone riff bursts forth along with a thunderous clatter of toms and cymbals, and anguished, almost out-of-breath shrieks. “All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood” is filled with weird moments like this, the looped drums and industrial atmosphere in “A Curse”, the alien and ritualistic chanting in “Empty Hearth” and the spoken samples flowing over a dissonant wall of sound in “Song Of Sarin The Brave”. The album is not without its faults and sometimes looses its way by trying too hard to be irreverent and noxious, but ends up coming across like a clumsy and pretentious amalgam of everything the band could put their hands at. But on the overall, The Body’s music is menacing and dreadful, ideal to light up some candles in one of those stormy nights and invoke some Sumerian demons or engage in some Voodoo ritual. (7/10)
To some of Scratch the Surface’s readership, Oblique Rain’s name may be immediately recognizable as one of the acts we personally pointed out as one of the brightest hopes for 2010. Although things haven’t quite lifted off quite like we predicted, their second full-length work “October Dawn” remains to this day as one of the best exercises in urban melancholia we’ve heard lately. Below, bass player Guilherme Lapa shares his views on the album’s conception, the reactions it garnered and their third album, which is shaping up as you read this.
Now that you have a certain emotional distance from your second work given it was released a few months ago, how does Oblique Rain see “October Dawn” in terms of sound and song-writing? Would you change some things if you had the chance to rerecord it today?
“Well, after all this time obviously we already have a more distant vision from the product. We still think it’s a good album, with a bulk of good riffs so to say, but perhaps it should have been more mature. And that, for us, is revealed in some songs. That also happens because we demand a lot from ourselves and from what we release. In terms of sound, I think the whole aesthetic that Daniel chose for the album adjusts in perfectly, given that although it’s a record that dwells in melancholy, the riffs are quite in-your-face. On the other hand, there’s a part of Oblique Rain that’s more subtle, which I think made ‘Isohyet’ so especial and was relegated to second place in ‘October Dawn’. Overall, we think that it’s an excellent album, with two special participations with extraordinary moments that made the record even stronger. We hope to finally obtain something that makes all the five of us completely satisfied on the next work, which is something extremely difficult.”
The record was extremely well received in Portugal and foreign countries. Were you expecting such great reactions from the worldwide press?
“Sincerely we had some expectations, mostly because the reactions people had to ‘Isohyet’, which also made our responsibility even bigger. Our idea also was to avoid the sound from stagnating and in this sense evolve in some way, which ended up happening… If it was something people were expecting? I do not know… but it was the most natural way. We don’t have the habit of seating around, waiting for the reviews to fall in, but clearly we feel very overwhelmed with the reception the album had, and continues to have. Perhaps the greatest victory of ‘October Dawn’ was the fact it reached a few more niches outside Portugal, because we have the perfect conscience that even though Portugal has quality works, there won’t be enough public for all.”
I don’t know if you had the chance to read some the opinions from critics regarding the album, but there’s a tendency to compare your music with the sound of Katatonia. Do you agree with this reference?
“In the first place, I think that all the reviews that were made for ‘October Dawn’, mentioned those influences only as a way to give readers and possible listeners some guidance on what type of music they’ll find when they listen to Oblique Rain. We don’t have the notion that those references were made in some way to diminish the value of our work. By the way, if that happened it was only a very few times, and they’re opinions as any others, which we give the importance they deserve. All in all, this type of comparison doesn’t make any confusion to us neither we see a problem in that. The nature of the melodies we use and types of feelings sometimes cross with each other, therefore it’s normal that there’re some similarities. The way Jonas Renske sings is very distinctive, which means that anyone approaching a similar tone could also come close to being accused of plagiarism. But that’s something that everyone in this business understands perfectly and has to be prepared for. Even though, the proximity with Katatonia makes sense, even for us, to be mentioned, it should rest there. The ambition that we have for Oblique Rain in terms of sound is completely different and even bigger.”
Besides Katatonia, there’s another reference often mentioned which is Opeth, perhaps due to your forays into progressive music. Do you agree?
“It has been usual! It’s a band we all have as a reference and already built their individual traces. So it’s natural that there are elements that remind them. But this happens with all the bands we know. And if those influences aren’t from our time, it is very easy to look at alternative sounds with all the musical knowledge that everyone has access nowadays. By the way, the most recent album of Opeth is loaded with these older references, as Mikael himself said.”
“October Dawn” seems to be a record shrouded with emotional feelings heavily melancholic and somber. Is it a reflex of your thoughts at the time? Was it difficult to transpose those feelings into your music?
“Only the other day we talked with each other about that and in fact it was not an easy period for none of us due to various reasons, work, health… Perhaps that’s why the album turned out so hard and so dark. But these are also characteristics for which we have some affection and therefore Oblique Rain will always walk with a foot in each one of them.”
What have you been up to lately? There isn’t a lot of activity from the band regarding live performances.
“Unfortunately, for professional reasons it has been extremely difficult to conciliate everything as we’d like. Anyway, right now we’re at the stage of writing our third work where we aim to give a breath of fresh air to the band’s sound and above all we want to look at the final result and think that we didn’t leave any small detail to chance. But it has been a process without rushes, besides we cannot work faster than this, and without pressures. We are very satisfied with the work made so far and fortunately, we’re full of ideas. Let’s see what comes out.”
More recently, a new member entered the core of Oblique Rain, namely drummer Marcelo Aires who is now replacing Daniel Cardoso. What did Oblique Rain gained with this new entrance?
“Marcelo breathes music and is an outstanding drummer. With time he’ll become an amazing musician and we’re here to help in whatever way we can. Meanwhile, he’s giving a hand and a foot, helping to create new aesthetics in contrast to what we were used to. He’s youngster full of ideas and for the first time we have the chance to work with a full-time drummer, which allow us to reach new standards in terms of song writing. So far we gained a lot with his presence, considering we lost Daniel, who is an excellent drummer and a great guy, but could only be with us partially, but we gained Marcelo who is fantastic, as friend and as musician, and has more time for us.”
If we had to make a list of the most prolific and multi-faceted artists of this decade, Bruce Lamont would certainly be on the top ten. Not only the Chicago-resident musician have been pushing the boundaries of extreme music with his inventive band Yakuza for the last ten years, he’s also member of the industrial project Circle of Animals and a Led Zeppelin’s cover group, plus he also collaborates with a number of artists like Minsk on a regular basis.
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