NERVOSA - Album Preview

Brazilian Thrash Metal band NERVOSA offers you the chance to preview all the songs from their upcoming debult album "Victim of Yourself" soon to be released via Napalm Records. Thrash til death!!!

OMNIPRESENT REALM OF DEATH...III

Church of San Bernardino Alle Ossa

Chiesa di San Bernardino Alle Ossa, Milan, Italy

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi...

OLD FUNERAL - OUR CONDOLENCES

Soulseller Records will release OLD FUNERAL´s "Our Condolences" compilation as a double picture Lp set. Limited to 500 copies in a gatefold cover and fully printed double sided inserts as with the previous (sold out) black and white vinyl editions. Additional images are placed on the picture discs themselves! Cult release!!

AT THE GATES RETURNS!

AT THE GATES are working on a comeback studio album! "At War With Reality" is expected to be released by the end of 2014 via Century Media Records.   The album will be the band´s fifth full lenght and will be recorded with the line up of their classic fourth album "Slaughter Of the Soul" released in 1995!

25 YEARS SINCE THE DEATH OF SALVADOR DALÍ

Ressurrection Of The Flesh

1940 Oil on canvas

private collection

DEATHRONATION debut LP news!!!

DEATHRONATION reveals cover artwork and tracklist of the debut full lenght LP "Hallow The Dead" soon to be released! Worship Death!!

Tracklist:

Deathchant Assyria

Spiritual Relief

Ghostwhipper

Beg For Your God

Church Of Salvation

Steelpanther's Fist 

Realm Of Shadows 

Age Of Whoros

INTERVIEW with OBLITERATION

NORWEGIAN BAND OBLITERATION CREATED A MONUMENTAL ALBUM LAST YEAR. "BLACK DEATH HORIZON" RELEASED THROUGH INDIE RECORDINGS/AND RELAPSE RECORDS (U.S.) WAS IN MY OPINION AMONG THE TOP TEN OF ALL METAL RELEASES. THESE YOUNG AND TALENTED MUSICIANS ARE OLD SCHOOL BUT AT HE SAME TIME THEIR MUSIC IS A (BLACK) BREATH OF FRESH AIR. READ WHAT SINDRE SOLEM (VOCALS/GUITAR) HAS TO TELL ABOUT OBLITERATION. 

How do you feel after the release of Black Death Horizon,  would you say it is your best album so far concerning song structures and production?

We feel very good, but sound wise it did not turn out the way I thought it was going to be. But it's good that accidental stuff happen in the process.  As for the songwriting and the material in general, especially the lyrics, I think it's the best we have done, next to the tracks : A spawn of a dying kind and the worm that gnaws in the night. We put more thought and I think more of our selves, our soul and blood into the songs this time around. It's more genuine feelings and atmospheres, not so much "influenced by" etc. 

The reactions so far have been more than positive, and you have been nominated for Norwegian  Grammy , how important is for a band like Obliteration to be nominated?

Haha, it's not important to us at all. But it is important for the metal scene in Norway that a band like us, that sound raw and hateful with a "non-professional" production, no business bullshit get's nominated and get press. It shows the kids that there are other, more honest forms of metal than Dimmu Borgir and all the junk. We were nominated and WON a Grammy for best metal album last year with my other band NEKROMANTHEON. It was sweet. The award show was yesterday btw [Jan 18th -ed], and Kvelertak won.

You have been on your first European tour, the SEPULCHRAL RITES tour with Degial  and Deathronation, how was the experience? Any show that you remember specially?

It was great! it was a lot of hard work, but it was a lot of fun. We got pretty close with the Degial guys, great band and supreme people. It was a stone cold death metal tour. The best shows were Ljubiana/Slovenia, Krakow/Poland, Berlin/Germany and Gothenburg/Sweden. 

Do you have any funny or crazy moments of the tour that you´d like to share?

When this dude at a bar in Krakow tried to convince us that he was an american tourist, but he was just a polish pimp, and his "girlfriend" and other female friend were hitting on the Degial guys. H.Death from Degial exposed him though "SHOW ME YOUR PASSPORT"!! It was extremely funny. Meeting the DROWNED guys at our Berlin show was also very cool.

Ok, how would you define your style? do you agree to be labelled as old school death metal?

Well, better to be called old school death metal than most other things, but I would not agree that we are 100 per cent old school death metal. We worship the old ways of recording and dealing with sound, no fancy plug ins, pedals or triggers, and we crave an organic and analog product that sounds raw, dirty and alive.  But we try to make music that in one way or another are our own. We want to grow and move forward, not just playing homage to the old goods. We want to become GODS of our own. To accomplish this, one have to look further into the abyss and further into your mind. We are also into so many different styles of music that it has to make its mark on what we do somehow also.  We are not strict death metal at all, but we are strictly evil. 

Would you say that after 3 full lengths and 2 EPs you are a mature band or still you have to improve in certain things, if so, on which ones? 

We always have to move forward, progress or regress and improve. We can never be satisfied or comfortable, then we would lose the edge that makes us interesting. And I don't feel mature or experienced, I'm just angry. Our sound and way of writing songs will evolve and "improve" til the day we die. 

Personally I find the cover artwork of the album distinctive and weird, same as the artwork of your predecessor album Nekropsalms, unusual and intelligent use of art, far from the “standard death metal art”, so how do you choose the artwork?

t was our drummer, RKV who did the artwork, and it's just his perception of how the album should look. I feel that the artwork has to reflect the music, and it has to be inspired by the music, or the other way around in order to fit. I'm a fan of untraditional art and weird shirt that challenges your mind. 

Can you give us some words about the lyrics in BDH? What themes do you find lyrically inspiring?

The end of the world, Satan, Esoteric doctrine, black magic, coldness, the art of death and hate. 

What bands Influenced you and inspired you to play this style of music?

As stated earlier, we tried not to directly inspired by bands this time around, more focus on atmospheres, attitude and feeling. Trying to make sounds to the lyrics etc. But we listen to a vast selection of bands, as long as they are raw, soulful and has a edge, something unique, then everything from Leonard Cohen to Burzum can be inspiring. But, roughly said, Autopsy, Darkthrone, Mayhem, Magma, Black Sabbath, VON, Repulsion, Necrovore, Possessed and mutilator plus sooo much more psych, black death, doom, thrash, Kraut and hard rock and punk inspires us.  

How often do you rehearse? And how much time do you spend listening to music? Ipod,vinyl or CD?

Like once a week. Sometimes less, sometimes more. It depends if we have a tour or shows coming up, or if we are busy with other things. I listen to music everyday, on my ipod, through spotify on my pc, but mostly vinyl. I only buy vinyl. (yesss! the way it should be hehe!- ed)

Do you think in the past it was difficult for death metal bands in Norway receiving attention due to the massive interest in the Norwegian black metal scene? Would you say that things have changed and that today is the same for a death or black metal band?

Njaaa, maybe. But the good death metal bands were in the same scene as the black metal bands anyway. But people outside of Norway only expect black metal or avant garde stuff, so I guess it is a bit harder to make it.. But I think people recognise that quality music can come from anywhere.

Besides Obliteration, you and Arild play in Nekromantheon. Can you give us a brief description about the situation and the future of Nekromantheon?

We are writing our next album as we speak. We are playing some selected shows, but we try to focus to finish our third album as soon as possible. 

What is the strangest place and the most shocking place where you have been?

Hehe, I guess when we played in Dubai with NEKROMANTHEON, and Baltimore with both bands. It was pretty strange and shocking in it's own way. 

The next steps for Obliteration will be…

We are playing in Finland and India in February (12th, 15th and 16th), and we are going on a USA tour in March from 12th of march, to the 22nd. We are playing some festivals this summer, and we'll see, maybe another european tour after the summer. Then we need to  start to write again. But we might take a small break and focus on NEKROMANTHEON for a bit around the release of the next nekro album. 

Thanks very much for your time, end this interview the way you want.

Thanks for the interview, listen to Black magic, Swallowed and Mare, and keep supporting the underground movement of obscure and mid blowing arts.

THE GALLERY...

Death and the Maiden [Sculpture]

1905-1912 Elna Borch

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark.

THE END IS NEAR!!!...

 

SADISM presents new single!

Listen to "The Oracle" first single from SADISM upcoming LP "THE OCULARIS DOMINATION" to be released on March 1st. through Australis records. Grrrreat!

INTERVIEW with KÖRGULL THE EXTERMINATOR

KÖRGULL THE EXTERMINATOR ARE BATTLING FIERCELY AND WITHOUT REST SINCE 2004. WITH TWO RELEASES IN 2013 AND ALL THAT IS YET TO COME THEY SEEM TO HAVE AN UNQUENCHABLE THIRST FOR CONQUEST...   

What motivated you to form a band like Körgul The Exterminatorl?, did you had clear from the start that you wanted to play this style of music?

Joe- I started K.T.E. As a side-project apart from my main one man band Akerbeltz because I wanted to do something different, I had this songs composed and I thought that they weren't the style I wanted for Akerbeltz or some of my other side-projects and in fact they didn't sound like Black Metal in the way I understand it, so I decided the four tracks where very good and deserved a band name...

Körgull The Exterminator  as band name, is a perfect homage to a great band and a great song, how did you came up with this idea and what was the first reaction of the rest of the members?

Joe- At the beginning I was the only member, so no one could say nothing about the name (he,he). Since I first heard Voivod I wanted to be in a band called Korgüll the exterminator but nobody I played with did seem to like the name, so this decision was finally in my hand and I didn't doubt in using the name; it was an homage to the band, and I also changed the “¨” and put it in top of the O as an homage to Motörhead.

The band was born in 2004 but you didn´t record anything until 2008, were you focused in rehearsing and playing live during that period?

Joe-That was quite funny, I had this guitar player that was all interested in the project and I showed him the songs and he was all excited about it and when I said I was ready to record the tracks he sought of disappeared.... So I found another “great” guitar player, he was also very excited and we were going to be something in the history of metal and so and so.... I recorded the drum part and when I went to give him the tracks in audio he didn't fucking come! I had to go about 80Km. With my son that was only a toddler and he only had to get the bloody tube and the bastard didn't dare to come!

I was very pissed about this and decided that K.T.E. Would not exist in the end, so I kept the tracks and carried on with my one man band doing all my things; after four years I sought of jumped out of the drawer and became the band I always dreamed about!

Your first release was the split 7" with Morbid Yell in 2008, what memories do you have of that recording?

Mark- Well, drum parts were recorded three or so years before… And also Joe guitar parts, as He was also playing one of the guitars in that release. I rehearsed with him a couple of times and learned the four songs of that split before recording them on our own rehearsal room. That was my first recording ever so I remember I was a bit nervous, hehe. Anyway it was a very “cold” recording session as we were only supposed to record that tracks and fuck up the band. During rehearsals some new tunes were coming and we ended up rehearsing new stuff every fucking week. That’s when we became a real band with Steel’s addition as bass duties.

After the 7" debut, you have been releasing  material every year, would you say that is it important for you to be active and creative?

Mark- The debut was a CD Split actually, hehehe (yes indeed! I don´t know why I´m always thinking about vinyl hehe! -ed) We rehearse every fucking weekend so we are always playing new stuff Joe and I work at home and constantly creating new songs… Only if we have a lot of gigs coming on we use to stop new stuff and concentrate on rehearsing set-list ones. Anyway we don’t have any kind of pressure to make new songs so we never get anxious about coming up with something new. The day we think new stuff isn’t good enough or don’t feel creative we’ll take things more calm. We don’t want to release anything we don’t believe it’s good!

How many  gigs have you played so far? any concert that you remember for a special reason?

Mark- Wow… Don’t fucking know man! Haha Maybe 50 or 60… Can’t remember! There has been really good show experiences, like playing Live Evil fest in London and other shows outwards our country. But also we have great memories here at home, Barcelona, specially one with Cruel Force and Nocturnal where crowd was fucking crazy or specially the three we have done in Madrid. People there always has a great response with us! Also I must admit that there has been a huge amount of shows that I was so extremely drunk that I can remember anything!!! There is one that I can even remember going up onstage… But people told us it was a great show so I’ll have to believe it… haha 

How was the experience of recording a live album (War Over Genova), do you think live albums are important to show the band´s live strength and energy? 

Joel- I think that live albums are quite old school and that people nowadays don't have the guts to release them because they depend too much on technology, so that's another battle we have won.

Lilith, when I listened to your voice for the first time it reminded me of Sabina from Holy Moses, not saying that you sound alike, but it reminded me that rough and raw style of singing, far from the more guttural “Angela Gossow style" that most of the female death metal  singers try to reach nowadays ( except for a few ones) Do you agree?. Which female and/or male  voices have inspired you to sing this way?

Lilith- To tell the truth, the singers that have inspired me to sing this way are Chronos, Becerra or Quorthon.  I do admire singers such as Cadaveria (Opera IX), Wendy O'Williams, Lory (Nuclear Death) or Noctuaria (Nebrus).

I think that nowadays most singers (male and female) try to sing gutural. The problem is that singing that way they loose strength and feeling, and they all sound the same. There is actually a music academy in Barcelona that teach classes of gutural singing!!!! (que cojjjones!!!, I mean, what the ffffuck!!!??? - ed)

You have worked with black metal bands, Akerbeltz, Harridan and Beheaded Lamb, and you played drums for the latest two. What´s your opinion about nowadays black metal scene? Do you miss playing drums?

Litith- Actually I also played drums in Akerbeltz, in Countess and Enkidu. I do miss playing drums but it wasn't my choice to give up playing drums, it's due to tendinitis. I also had to give up playing bass guitar.  The true Black metal flame burnt during the 90's, because it was fresh, new and full of energy. Nowadays there are still good bands but they've lost the black flame. You had to live the 90's to understand it.(yeah I Know what you mean, I have the same feeling too. -ed)

Is there any chance to see you recording with them again? Are those bands still active?

Lilith- Akerbeltz is still active but I don't collaborate any longer and all the other bands are long dead.

Let´s speak about your latest releases, Metal Fist Destroyer was released early this year, how was the reaction in the international scene compared to 2010s War of the Voivodes?

Mark- It’s still soon but everybody seems to think it’s our best release up to date!!! We are proud of every fucking one, but this one has been the one with more effort behind. Musicwise I can’t really see any important differences with our previous stuff. Maybe it’s a bit more elaborated but the essence keeps the same. We have the formula and we know what we want so don’t expect any changes in the future.

Now you just released 4 new songs in the shape of a split album with Graveyard. What can you tell about this songs?

Mark- We recorded them in the same sessions while Metal Fist Destroyer and were composed exactly at the same time so it continues with our sound. You can find a couple of new songs, one Graveyard cover (as the did also one of ours) and a song that has become some kind of “classic” in our shows from our first Split completely re-recorded with the sound we have nowadays. Really cool release with a brother band!

Tell me how this idea of a split LP was developed, how was the contact with Doomentia records?

Mark- Graveyard and us are really close friends, as bands but also in a personal way so as far as I remember we came up with the idea of making a Split together during a drunkard party… We also came with the idea of covering each other band and making it something special. Lukas from Doomentia had worked in the past with Graveyard and also will work with us in the near future so we have with him a constant relation via e-mail. We asked him about the idea and he was completely excited about it. 

Mark,  you also play guitars in Graveyard, so it must be cool for you to be on the LP with both bands.

Mark- Yeah, I’m with them from last year and half and I can say I’m really happy with that as I was a “fan” (and friend) of that bastards from the very beginning. The fact is that when we came up with the idea of the Split and took the picture and all of that I didn’t know I would end up playing with them! Hahaha And Also Javi Bastard from Graveyard plays nowadays the bass with Körgull The Exterminator, so it seems that Split was some kind of premonition!!! hahaha

Besides K.T.E.  and Graveyard you also recorded guitar on the demo “Flagellator” of the Italian band Infektor, are you still involved with them?  How do you manage to work with three bands?

Mark- Well Infektor is a cool project I have with Cris from Italian band Satanika. I composed a bunch of songs for that project and it has to be unleashed this 2.014. It really don’t take any of my time nowadays so I can concentrate on Körgull and Graveyard. It’s not difficult to work with both of us as we schedule activities thinking of all the rest of the members! Everybody is playing in more than a band so it isn’t different with me.

How important is the lyrical side for the band? What message do you want to express through the songs?

Mark- Lilith’s the one behind the major part of the lyrics, but also Joe has written three or four. Lyricwise we use them as a complement for our music. It keeps on with the violence we play, and believe that Lilith is able to write some of the most violent lyrics I’ve heard… Don’t look any message through them, just violence!

Is there any new band that has impressed you lately and you would recommend?

Joe- I  have to mention Nebrus, I'm quite impressed about them, they are very dark and fast and there's a female singer in the style of Cadaveria from Opera IX....

Please name at least 5 or more of your all time fave albums.

Joe- Welcome to Hell, the return, Pure holocaust, De mysteriis dom sathanas,To megatherion and Nefarious dismal orations.

Lilith- Seven churches, Raining blood, Welcome to hell, Transilvanina hunger and Blood, fire, death.

Mark- Impossible to answer… But Running Wild’s Death or Glory would be the first one! haha

Have you ever imagined yourself playing in the 80s? imagine this… World War III Festival …Voivod, Celtic Frost, Possessed, Destruction, Nasty Savage and...Körgull The Exterminator!!!

Joe- It would have been very good... But we also have some very powerful bands nowadays and we are proud to share the stage with them, I mean, not only the old bands are the good ones....

What´s the strangest place and the most shocking place you have been?

Joe- For me the most shocking place was playing at the Puerto Hurraco in BCN, it was a squat house and I had to get into this door sideways because my shoulders didn't fit in, I loved it!

Ok, so what are the next steps for the band and what do you expect for 2014!

Mark- We’re now preparing a special underground release recorded again in our rehearsal room ready to be released at first as a very limited tape.  It’ll be a split with Akerbeltz where every band will play two new songs and then cover the two songs of the other completely adapted in each other style… hahaha Freak! We’re also coming up with new shit for our fourth full-length to record it hopefully at the fall of the year…  Also we’re near to announce that Doomentia Records will release our second full-length “War Of The Voivodes” on vinyl on a special double LP with four songs professionally recorded live and a couple of covers as bonus tracks. You’re the first one to know about it! haha (Cool hehe! -ed)

Would you like to add anything to end this interview?

Mark- Thank you very much for your support, man… And to all your readers keep your ears into Metal Fist Destroyer! We’re Körgull The Exterminator… and we are here to stay!!!!

Now you know, this metal beast takeS no prisosers!!  To the Death!!!

BLACK VOMIT RECORDS/MYSTIFIER good (Evil) news!

BLACK VOMIT RECORDS will reissue the first two Cult albums of the Brazilian diabolic force known as MYSTIFIER.  In co-operation with the band the label will re-release "Wicca" and "Göetia" presented  on LP format. As the press release says..."For sure, two of the most evil sounding records ever recorded in the history pf black metal, carrying the occult aura and blasphemous felling of the early ´90s." As true as Evil!

Cult Releases from FLOGA RECORDS!

Hail vinyl maniacs! FLOGA RECORDS have available two (among many others) cult releases for you. Co released with Hell´s Fire fire records is THOU ART LORD´s "Orgia Daemonicum" is available for first time on vinyl. 300xBlack and 200x Red splattered copies

Another Cult one is the reissue of MASACRE (Col) "Requiem" available again after 22 years. Originally released though Osmose Productions. Now available 350xBlack and 150xWhite copies with heavy gatefold and printed inner sleeve!!!

 

New SABBAT/MORDANT split 7"

TO THE DEATH RECORDS have released a split 7" from SABBAT and MORDANT.  "Swedish Demon Slaught" limited x 500 copies (100 handnumbered copies on black vinyl + patch, 200 copies on red vinyl and 200 copies on grey vinyl). More info here:https://tothedeathrecords.bandcamp.com/ 

THE GALLERY...

The Fall Of The Damned

ca. 1620 Peter Paul Rubens

Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany

Oil on canvas