Iron Lamb are something of a super-group featuring members with a vast experience in the Swedish death-metal scene with their involvement in prominent bands such as General Surgery, Repugnant and Dismember. Yet, their first record “The Original Sin” is so much different from what these guys have done in the past and is deeply rooted in d-beat and punk rock, and that to me was a bit shocking at first. I guess with your background in death-metal and the involvement of Pulverised Records I was expecting well, more Swedish death-metal. We asked bassist and author of the notorious "Swedish Death Metal" book, Daniel Ekeroth, if he gets similar reactions from other people who listen to Iron Lamb for the first time?

Well, abroad people tend to know more about our history within death metal bands. In Sweden, however, the majority are also familiar with our work within punk and rock in bands such as Diskonto, Crash Diet, Bombstrike and Subvision. I guess you can say that most of our previous bands have been pretty rooted within specific genres, whereas we are not too concerned about rules in Iron Lamb. We just make music we like now, be it metal or punk. If the riffs are good and the song rocks, we don’t care if it’s labelled punk or metal. It’s only rock n roll, and that’s the way we like it!

And how did Iron Lamb come together? What was the spark that ignited the whole thing?

I know Grga, Johan and Tomas had been talking for years about starting a rock n roll band, and I guess it finally happened in early 2009. Soon after, they lured me into joining the band, I actually turned it down at first but since I had locked myself out of the apartment I had nothing better to do than turn up at their rehearsal place! When I heard the first songs I was hooked, so I just joined on spot. Later Jens came into the horde, and completed the line-up. I guess we all feel a lot more freedom in this band than with our former groups; we can just do what the hell we want.

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There’s no shortage of old-school death metal lately, and with bands like Entrails and Mr. Death emulating the corrosive sound of Sunlight death metal with surprising results, it’s also nice to listen to a band like Sweden’s Bastard Priest, whose Entombed-styled riffs are combined with a punk/crust twist that for the most part sounds utterly vile.

“Ghouls of the Endless Night” captures the naïve and primitive vibe of the early 90’s Swedish death metal perfectly, without trying to alter it or updated it any way. It’s brutal and straight ahead, delivering vicious riffs and furious drumming with incessant savagery, plus the raw sounding production of former Dismember drummer Fred Estby really emphasis the old-school vibe of the record quite well.

Of course, it’s nowhere near the brilliance of the leaders of the whole old-school brigade, but hey Bastard Priest probably don’t care about that, as they're obviously genuine followers of the style and sound like they’re having a blast here. (6.5/10)

Byrant Thomas

Band info: www.facebook.com/bastardpriestsweden

Label info: www.pulverised.net

It may be their first release ever, but Finland’s Fleshred show on “Bloodtorn” that they have already mastered all the essential aspects of great and extreme death metal. This is amazingly heavy stuff, containing brutal riffs, thunderous, relentless drumming and harsh, guttural vocals. The Finns shred like pros and seem to have all the chops and abilities that bands like Hypocrisy and Vader are continually lauded for.

“Total War” opens the hostilities with brute force, precise blast-beats and a fierce, solid riffing, while following track “Merciless Words” sees Fleshred switching up from ludicrously fast blasts to a mid-tempo pace with guitarists Jani Hentila and Paavo Mikkola churning out some catchy, groove-filled death metal.

This masterful level of dynamics is what really sets “Bloodtorn” apart from the myriad of current death metal releases; slower grooves are paired with rabid tempos to create a nasty and well-balanced body of work that satisfies on every conceivable level.

Considering this is the band’s first effort and what a great accomplishment “Bloodtorn” is, you can be sure that we’ll be hearing a lot of positive things from this Finnish combo in the near future. (7.8/10)

Byrant Thomas

Band info: www.fleshred.com

Label info: www.violentjourneyrecords.com

As a long time Lacuna Coil fan, I have been looking forward to this album since its announcement. This excitement was tampered however, with a bit of trepidation as I wasn’t a huge fan off their previous album Shallow Life. This trepidation was unfounded however as for me this sees Lacuna Coil back at their best, and may be their best album yet.

Listening through it seems like they have expanded their sound, now encompassing influences from other popular female fronted bands such as Within Temptation and the Annette fronted Nightwish whilst still putting their own darker twist on the music.

Christina is on top form with her vocals as always with her soaring melodies cutting right through and providing a very enjoyable listen. This is also the best I’ve heard Andrea, with his vocals taking a larger part in this album. The band had mentioned that this album was going be heavier and darker than their previous efforts and they weren’t wrong, this is definitely the heaviest I have ever heard them and they do this much better than their lighter songs.

My favourite songs are “Kill the Light” and their cover of REM’s “Losing my Religion”. These songs showcase Lacuna Coil’s extreme talent; especially the latter as they have taken a good rock song and have made it into something that is entirely something darker and heavily put their own twist on it.

This is a brilliant album with very few flaws, I would recommend it to everyone. (9/10)

James Merrett

Band info: www.lacunacoil.it

Label info: www.centurymedia.com

Somewhere between Meshuggah-styled assaults and Devin Townsend’s symphonic elegance, you'll find France’s Outcast.

Their third full-length album “Awaken the Reason” is as outrageously chaotic as it is delightfully mesmerising and sees the French quintet manipulating a wide range influences with tremendous grace and technical aplomb. The chaotic, but equally delightful “Spin Angular Momenta” just might be the most faithful example of their well-balanced and intriguing sound. Starting with frenzied bursts of technical brilliance that venture on Meshuggah territory, highlighted by a superb and exceptional enthralling guitar solo, then towards the end the guitars sway into a melodic and alluring approach coupled with some angelic female vocals that reminds the wonderful performance of Anneke van Giersbergen on records like “Addicted”. Textures is also a good reference point, which makes perfect sense considering it was guitarist Jochem Jacobs that mixed this record at SplitSecond Sound Studio.

Employing poly-rhythmic, crunching guitar riffs, complicated and thundering drum patterns, furious grunts, dazzling ambiences and ravishing melodies, “Awaken the Reason” has it all for anyone longing for experimental, extreme and progressive metal.

Some call this Djent, others Prog-Metal, but it doesn’t matter the classification you want to dump on it because there’s no denying that “Awaken the Reason” is one of the best records you’ll likely hear in 2012. (8.2/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.outcast.fr

Label info: www.listenable.net

Norway has produced some seriously innovative and weird music over the last two decades. For every five acts crawling out the deep and dense Norwegian forests and resorting to cult black metal methods, there is always a group of musicians clearly bound to take a leftfield road, making music that not only is entirely their own, but it’s also challenging and irreverent. This bizarre pedigree of vanguard musicians is vast and goes from The Third and The Mortal to In the Woods, from Ulver to Red Harvest.

And the well hasn’t run dry yet as a young Norwegian collective known as The Konsortium, definitely gravitate toward the more irreverent end of this spectrum, twisting a harsh black metal with some progressive overtones and epic melodies.

There’s precious little information about the band available, its members have deliberately made an effort to hide their identities behind masks and pseudonyms. With the exception of Teloch from Mayhem/Nidingr that plays guitar and Erlend Hjelvik from Kvelertak that lends his voice to some songs, no one knows who’s involved with band, although rumours suggest that they’re all prominent figures of the Norwegian metal scene.

Guitarist and founder, simply known as One discusses the genesis of the group, their self-titled debut release and the volatile nature of their music.

Does this decision to keep your identities secret means that you prefer the music to do all the talking or are there other motifs?

No, that’s correct. But I have to add that there’s nothing mandatory about this – just look at Teloch or Ording, they have chosen to do otherwise.

Will you ever reveal the real people behind the masks?

Well, as I said, some of the members go by their birth or artist names, so anyone can find out who they are. As for myself, I prefer to stay as much in the background as possible. Privacy is an underrated thing.

How do you wish The Konsortium to be perceived, a super-group, a side-project or a bunch of kindred spirits bound to craft some irreverent metal music like the name suggests?

Definitely the latter! It’s more than a mere project, and we are not a “super group” as such. Teloch has some fame to his name of course, but what matters are his skills, not how many followers he has on Twitter.

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Eisregen are German, sing in German and most likely will only appeal to a German audience. Who else would tolerate a somewhat cheesy, melodic and atmospheric black-metal record peppered with some industrial-sounding elements that can be best described as Dimmu Borgir-meets-Ramstein?

There’s nothing really astounding, or even engaging about “Rostrot”, the record overflows with atmospheric keyboards, stale melodies and some theatrical passages that sound rather daffy. The album starts with “Erlösung”, a spooky piano-driven theme accompanied by the spoken works of Mr. Roth, he who is responsible for all vocalisations, then sways into some bland and symphonic black metal with “Schakal: Ode an die Streubombe”, while the goth-industrial elements offered on “Madenreich” reminds me of German’s biggest exports behind Volkswagens, Ramstein.

If you're into this kind of thing, then you will find this to be palatable and sweet as Swiss chocolate. Well if you’re into this, most likely you eat sausages for breakfast, drink Kölsch beer and never miss a Die Mannschaft game. (4.8/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.fleischhaus.de

Label info: www.massacre-records.de

Arkansas-based death metallers Vore have returned with “Gravehammer”, their first full-length album in seven years. Yet despite the long hiatus, not much as changed within the band, their music continues to be brutal, direct and rooted in old-school aesthetics. The band’s primary focus was always more on creating mid-paced, brutal, chugging riffs that could crush the eardrums of listeners, rather than engaging in a ceaseless show-off of speed and virtuosity. That said, “Gravehammer” is a great accomplishment, providing aggression in abundance. 

Album opener, “The Cruelest Construct” features that traditional, raw death style those long-time Vore listeners crave, offering a massive chugging guitar groove and pounding, hammering rhythms, along with Page Townsley’s deep, gurgled gutturals. “Doomwhore” surges with a steady, militaristic rhythm that sounds like a demonic march, while the riffing ranges from a slow-punishing groove to some brutal and visceral death metal.

The band's less-is-more approach to song writing, as well as their infectious, well-structured death metal sound, makes of “Gravehammer” a rather captivating and triumphant return. Well Done! (7.4/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.vore.org

Following an acrimonious split with Dimmu Borgir, ICS Vortex aka Simen Hestnæs didn’t sit around feeling sorry for himself and decided to roll up his sleeves and start working on a number of projects that have been laying dormant for the last few years like Arcturus and Lamented Souls, plus he rejoined Borknagar and even had time to create his first solo effort.

Recently issued by Century Media, “Storm Seeker” might surprise a few people as ICS Vortex probes more emotional, progressive territory and lets his creative spark get more expansive than ever before. The progressive and hard-rock style contrasts heavily with ICS Vortex previous endeavours, yet the ambitious instrumentation and dazzling songcraft proves that the musician’s name holds up pretty well on its own. ICS Vortex discusses the making of the album and his future plans.

Now that the Dimmu Borgir chapter is closed, Hestanes says that the relationships between him and his former band members are pretty much broken and there’s no chance of collaborating with them again, ICS Vortex is determined to give a new lease of life to some of his long lost, but highly missed projects like Arcturus and Lamented Souls and to finally to commit to tape some ideas that have gestating in his mind for quite some time.

“I had these songs in the back of my mind for quite some time now. I had a lot of material laying around in minidiscs, tapes and hard discs and I started collecting the material and produce it. There’s stuff that goes back to 2001, songs that wouldn’t fit in any of my other projects or bands. Songs like ‘Blackmobile’ had been finished for a long time, I think I first jammed that song with Nicholas Barker and the other guys on our first tour with Dimmu Borgir in 2001 I believe. I’ve just added the clean vocals and it turned out quite better that I thought it would.”

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Made up of former and current members of Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Dark Flood and Catamenia, Finland’s Mors Subita show a lot of promise with their debut full-length release “Human Waste Compression”.

Meticulously crafted and intensely delivered, this record finds the Finns fleshing out a fiercer and rougher sound than what they did in the aforementioned acts by blending the no-holds-barred and scathing thrash chugs of Darkane and Dew-Scented with the more melodic and infectious side of Soilwork and Carnal Forge. The band's style is a combination of death metal and thrash but the technicality of the guitar work is definitely what makes this album shine. The intense, rabid riffs and blistering leads of Mika Lammassaari and Tero Piltonen deliver a furious aural onslaught that’s only slightly diminished in the record’s softer moments, as in the more progressive and emotionally-driven “Entrance of Sickness”.

“One Million Flies” is one the fastest on the record and contains some relentless blasts merged with scathing chugs, impressive guitar solo shredding and rabid vocals that sound like someone who’s having a really lousy, shitty day. “Glance of Fear” offers more of the same, but reveals a bit more melody in the guitar work.

Mors Subita has really concocted something of high calibre in their first effort and if they continue improving in the future, they will eventually ascend into the big league with no sweet. (8/10)

Luca Niero

Band info: www.morssubita.com

Label info: www.violentjourneyrecords.com

Read full issue here.

Horror Movies and Music. These are normally things people assume would go hand in hand, and sometimes, they go absolutely perfectly, like Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie and Murderdolls. Sometimes it can go very badly like much of the entire Horror Punk scene. Thankfully, Zombie Inc. fall into the former category and their brand of Horror Death Metal is a kick that a dying scene really needs right now.

With sound-bites from old horror flicks accompanying some old school death metal styling’s, this is one bizarre combo that is not to be missed. With songs such as We Must Eat! And Planet Zombie, we are left under no illusions where this music is going. Brutal American Death Metal accompanied by horror lyrics.

My only problem with this album is that it is mostly a gimmick, and that runs fast pretty quickly. There is very little variation so the music can become very stale very quickly unless you are a huge fan of Death Metal, then the gimmick lasts a little longer.

Overall this is a good album, which runs out of steam fast. If you’re a fan of death metal, pick this up as it is an amusing take on death metal, but if you only have a passing interest, you won’t get much from this. (7/10)

James Merrett

Band info: www.myspace.com/zombieinc666

Label info: www.massacre-records.de

Read full issue here.

Since the release of their debut ‘Polars’ in 2003, Holland’s Textures have been gradually building a strong reputation as one of the most challenging and skilful acts in the metal scene, which now culminates in their most recent release ‘Dualism’. A record that marks a few firsts for the band, it’s the first album featuring new vocalist Daniel De Jongh and new keyboard player Uri Dijk, and it’s their first effort for Nuclear Blast, following three records on Listenable Records. Scratch the Surface communes with drummer Stef Broks to find more about Dualism.

First of all, I want to congratulate you on the new album, “Dualism” is an amazing record and in my opinion it’s your best work to date. Is the band happy with the final outcome?

“Yes definitely. It took a lot of time and effort to craft this record into the shape that we wanted. Right in the middle of the writing process our former singer Eric and former keyboard player Richard decided to quit the band. Luckily for us there was a guy available in Holland who could match up to Eric's vocal skills.

So, for three years we worked our asses of, built a new rehearsal space, built a new studio and finally here it is, ‘Dualism’. This is Textures 2011, stronger than ever.”

Have you got high hopes for this album?

“We have a new label, the big-shot Nuclear Blast and we have the same booking agent as Devin Townsend, Meshuggah and Dillinger Escape Plan so hell yeah we have high hopes. Together with our management they’re pushing Textures to a maximum. One of the first results is this US tour with Periphery and all the interviews we have to do over here. It's amazing.

Our new video-clip already ended up in some charts and probably in Holland and Great Britain the album will hit the charts as well. We never could have dreamed about that.”

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