Ignivomous Interview

Ignivomous are one of Australias' most crushing death metal bands. I recently had a chat with their frontman Jael, here's what he had to say...



Wayde:
Hey Jael! How’s things in Melbourne today? Let’s start off with a bit of background info about Ignivomous for the uninitiated. Who’s in the band? How long have you guys been around? What have you released so far? And so on…

Jael:
G’day Wayde. Melbourne in the dead of winter is its usual dreary self, cold and grey haha.
OK, Ignivomous has been around since 2006. The current lineup comprises of myself on Bass and vocals, Chris Volcano on drums, Sean Hinds and Matt Johnson on Guitars. Since we started we have released the Path of Attrition demo, the Eroded void of salvation 7”, a split 7” with Tzun Tzu and the Death Transmutation full length. An unreleased alternative version of the track from the Tzun Tzu split appears on the NWN fest LP, and we are just about to release a CD version of all the demo/EP/split tracks with some unreleased materiel as none of that has been available on CD in the past. In that time we’ve played fairly frequently across Australia and appeared at the first NWN! Fest in Berlin. We are off to the U.S in December to play Rites of Darkness III which is a pretty exciting prospect.

Wayde:
That compilation CD sounds interesting, will it be released on Nuclear War Now! as all your releases thus far have been, or will you be releasing it through another label? When will it be out? Speaking of NWN, how long have you been with the label and what has the bands general experience been working with this label?

Jael:
Yeah, the compilation CD will be out through NWN!, as will the new album once its done. Our experience working with Yosuke has been 100% positive – zero bullshit, he just releases stuff he likes and does a great job as far as the packaging and presentation, which as someone with a strong interest in graphic design I’ve always been really impressed with. Its a very good working relationship – anyone who’s been in a band signed to a label can tell you some of the horror stories that come up from time to time, and our members have seen a few (Abominator and their terrible run with Osmose and Necropolis spring to mind). But its about as good as you could wish for – we write some songs, say we’ll be ready to record in however many months, the budget comes through, we record then we work on the layout. No stress, no pressure about the marketing or whatever. As an artist its nice to be trusted – the subtext is “we picked you up because we love your stuff – if we tried to influence you, it wouldn’t be what it is, so here is some money to record, make a killer album then we’ll ensure that the package is nicely put together”. We were approached by the label rather than the other way around. When we had recorded the demo we pressed up 500 cassettes and they sold really fast. We were really very lucky as an unknown band that we had contacts in the scene who traded them and sent them off to bands and labels they were in contact with . Within 3 months we had sold the whole print run and were fielding offers from several labels. We picked NWN! Because we had good friends in bands on their roster and as I said before we had always been very impressed with the kind of layouts they do. In the underground, they are really one of the top 3 labels. The other offers were good too, and I still talk to and trade with the guys who run those labels, but I think we made the right decision. Possibly a case of “right time, right place” – in 2006 when the demo came out it was one of the very first of what became a fairly big wave of bands playing in the “Dark Death Metal” style these days the market is saturated in a way it wasn’t only a few years ago.

Wayde:
It’s really good to hear of a band that is as satisfied with their label as you are.
Speaking of the “dark death metal” style that seems to be pretty popular these days; how do you think this “movement” started off? What influences Ignivomous to play such a raw and ugly style of death metal? Are there any bands within this style that you think stand out from the over-saturated crowd?



Jael:
I think probably there were a number of other people out there who had the same ideas we did – that Death Metal had become really saturated with fairly shit bands playing either very technical but soulless music or Neanderthal slam bullshit. Our motivation was simply that we liked evil Death Metal and we thought that it’s viable to have a heavy as fuck sound with a dark aesthetic. I wouldn’t describe our sound as “Blackened death metal” as that raises a certain set of assumptions, but it’s not far from the truth. As for bands that stand out in this environment, I would mention Dead Congregation, Grave Miasma, Prosanctus Inferi, Father Befouled and Embrace of thorns off the top of my head.

Wayde:
I think it’s great to have so many modern bands playing this style of death metal, even if it is getting a bit overdone. The bands you mentioned are a good example of how it should be done!
What are your views on Australian metal and the Aussie “scene” as a whole? What bands are you into? What are your thoughts on the lack of a centralized “hub” for Australian metal? Evil Invaders III was a great weekend, do you think there should be more “gatherings” such as this, or would you prefer it if it happened less often but with a decent amount of quality bands?

Jael:
I think the Australian scene is in a really good state of health at the moment. I'm very much into a lot of the Aussie underground acts - Portal, Impetuous Ritual, Grave Upheaval, Tzun Tzu, Cauldron Black Ram, Stargazer, G.O.T.H, Order of Orias, Erebus Enthroned, d.USK...could go on and on. The lack of a centralized hub is a good thing I think as it stops too much of a homogenized sound/scene developing - divided we stand! While all of the Aus/NZ bands may share certain stylistic characteristics, they don’t sound mych like each other at all, which is a good thing I think. Keeps everything challenging and vibrant rather than just copying each other. Evil Invaders was III was indeed an epic weekend - I certainly didn’t get much sleep as you can probably attest to with those thin fleapit motel walls haha! I don’t think its all that feasible to do something like that often - I travel interstate to go to gigs fairly frequently anyway as do a fair few people I know, so people get around regardless of large-scale events



Wayde:
Haha! That motel was indeed a classic, and what a messy weekend it was! I agree with your stance on the current “scene”, it’s good to be widespread yet still have the more subtle stylistic similarities there, it makes for a very interesting musical climate over here.
Speaking of Australian metal in general, I’m interested to know; what bands have you and the other Ignivomous members been involved with in the past? Are you or any of the guys involved in any “side-projects” or other bands currently?

Jael:
We've all been involved in other things over the years - Chris has been in god knows how many bands (Abominator, D666, Urgrund, etc). Sean used to be in Earth and Cryptal Darkness and I was formerly in Accursed. Right at the moment we are not doing any other projects as Urgrund's future is now uncertain given that Botlthorn moved to Germany.

Wayde:
So you’re all what you could call “seasoned musicians” eh? It’s always good to have a group of experienced guys focusing on the one project, rather than all over the place with side bands etc.
What plans for Ignivomous are coming up in the near future? I know you’re releasing all of the demo, split and EP tracks on a compilation CD as you mentioned earlier, but is there any chance of a new demo, split, EP or full length any time soon? Aside from Rites of Darkness III in December do you have any other upcoming tours or major shows? Is there any other relevant news coming from the Ignivomous camp?

Jael:
It’s a busy time right at the moment. We've written the next full-length, so we are in the stage of getting tight to play it all and recording demo versions so that we can work out the solos and vocals. Its shaping up to be a monster- less of the long meandering complicated songs and more "knife to your neck" immediate and violent songwriting. All the elements are there, the odd timing, the doom sections, the blasts, but it’s a bit more concise. I'm sure it’s a common and natural reaction that the second album reacts against the first. Although if it comes down to it, we did an albums worth of tracks on the demo and EP's. But whatever - you write a certain way when you are doing EP's - one direct song and one experimental one, on the album, that balance pointed more towards the long, strange tracks. On the next one it’s pointing back the other way, although there is still the 9 min closing track.

Other than ROD III we'd like to get back to Europe next year. Touring is always hard for us, money problems and study timetables and all the rest. Ideally what we would like to do is get on a tour with a more established act for 2 weeks or so, but we'll have to see.

Wayde:
Well I’m definitely looking forward to the new album and will be anxiously awaiting its release!
What does the word Ignivomous mean, and why was it chosen as the band name? Are there any central themes or ideologies prominent in Ignivomous’s lyrics? Or do you just write lyrics to fit the song you’re working on at the time?

Jael:
Ignivomous means "to vomit fire". The exact reasons for choosing the name lie within the labyrinthine recesses of Volcano's mind, but I think it suits. We don’t have any over-arching lyrical theme, but certain ones seem to repeat which relate to ideas around the unstable nature of what we perceive as reality.



Wayde:
Is there a song you’re most proud of writing? What is your favourite Ignivomous song to play and/or listen to? My current fave is “A Weak God Withers” off the “Eroded Void of Salvation” EP.

Jael:
"A Weak god", "Psychic Murder" and "The alchemy of suffering" are probably my 3 favorites out of our recorded songs. I'm more inclined towards the slower and doomier parts of our sound I think. That said, there are some of our recorded songs that we've never played live for different reasons, so I can’t comment about how they might work. The covers we've done we always picked because they are simple, high-energy songs, so they are always a lot of fun to whip out (Dr.Offals infamous pleura incising necropsy by Necrotomy and World Eater by Bolt Thrower. We were planning on playing "Pain divine" at EI3 but we had to cut the set a bit short because we were running over time)

Wayde:
While on a similar subject; what bands directly influence Ignivomous? And what do you and the other blokes generally listen to day-to-day?

Jael:
I'd say the direct influences would be fairly easy to pick - dark, swampy, dissonant Death Metal bands like Immolation, Incantation,Demigod, The Chasm etc as well as stuff like Beherit and Blasphemy. Day to day we all have fairly eclectic tastes. Sean's into all sorts of metal from Megadeth right through to Agorophobic nosebleed. Chris listens to heaps of blasting war metal plus 70's prog rock. I'm into a lot of noise and experimental stuff, everything from 70's Krautrock through to power electronics. Lots of psych-folk, neo-folk/martial and singer-songwriter stuff as well. While its a long-running in-joke among us that whenever someone starts describing any new music someone will pipe up with "if it doesn’t sound like old Beherit its shit", that’s more a mockery of the internet-toughguys we come across than how we are. If you're seriously into music your curiosity will draw you towards all sorts of stuff.

Wayde:
What are some of the ups and downs you have experienced over the years playing in metal bands? Do you have any interesting and/or funny stories you might like to share?

Jael:
Plenty of both, I guess. Playing in Berlin with some of my favourite bands was definitely a highlight. The lows are the same stuff everyone who's done it for a while will describe - being tired and broke, getting ripped off - its a long way to the top as the song goes! Most of the best stories relate to drunken idiocy and our odd sense of humour. One that springs to mind was the time we were hanging out at the hostel in Germany with the guys from Revenge, Proclamation etc. Volcano wanders in and says "There was this dog outside and it was barking at me. But I couldn’t understand what it said ‘cause I don’t speak German". It was one of the most hysterically funny things I'd ever seen - these staunch guys utterly dumbfounded by the wit and wisdom of Volcano haha. To this day I'm not entirely certain if he was serious or not. Other than that the need to protect the innocent prevents me from sharing the more lurid adventures.

Wayde:
Haha! Classic…
I’d like to thank you for conducting this interview, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Do you have any last words to add, or anything else you would like to cover?

Jael:
Indeed, always a pleasure. Keep an eye out for a formal announcement re the new album over the next couple of months and never stop the madness!

Disma-Towards the Megalith

Disma, for those of you who've been living under a rock and listening to metalcore for the last couple years, are something of an underground death metal supergroup, and one of the frontrunners of the “new wave of old school death metal” we’ve been experiencing for the last couple years. Featuring members of both elder gods Incantation and the new kings of sepulchral obscurity Funebrarum, they’ve generated quite a lot of buzz since the release of their 2009 demo Vault of Membros. Their full length debut Towards the Megalith has been burdened with so much hype in the last couple months that it couldn’t have been anything other than a triumph of death or an embarrassing disappointment. After a couple listens, I am definitely gravitating towards the former camp.

Detractors will probably complain that this sounds too much like Funebrarum or Incantation, but I would say the opposite; there is inevitably influence and parallel to both progenitor bands present, but I must applaud Disma’s ability to maintain their own identity. The earth shaking howl of Craig Pillard is instantly recognizable, but this isn’t more of the Incantation worship ala Father Befouled that’s become so popular lately. More primal than Funebrarum and more aggressive than Incantation, Disma play their own brand of doom-touched death metal. In places Disma even remind me of Finnish death cults Convulse and Demigod in the way they sling their sordid, swampy, riffs.

Speaking of riffs, there are a lot of them here, and they kick ass! Disma hit my musical g-spot with their ability to unearth megalithic, groovy, downright fuckin’ creepy riffs, which vary from blasting diabolical tremolo picking to slower but equally evil doom riffs. They’re never too technical or even especially innovative, but they’re memorable and constantly conjure up pure evil atmosphere. I caught myself headbanging more than once listening to this! The production is also impressive, very clear but tainted with a subtle coat of filth.

If you’re into real death metal, this is a must. Buy it now from Dark Descent records or, like me, wait for the vinyl release! A round of applause for Disma and their Megalith.

4.5/5

To introduce myself, if I may...

Hello witching metal readers! My name is Samuel, and I've been recruited by Vagabond to help out around here. Like him, I worship heavy metal and have a permanent boner for old school death and war metal, so if that's what you're into, I'm sure we can be friends! Now, on to my first review...

Arisen From the Crypt Monthly Special #3: Conqueror – War. Cult. Supremacy.

Alright folks! Time for part III of my monthly special, where I dig up something cult as fuck and draw your attention to it. Prepare to have your head pummeled into oblivion by the most brutal band I have ever heard. Notice I said brutal, not BR00T4L, so please, if you are a false, don’t read any further…



Conqueror formed way back in 1992 and featured J. Read (Blood Revolt, Revenge, Black Witchery, Axis of Advance, Cremation, Kerasphorus, Arkhon Infaustus) on drums and vocals and R. Förster (Blasphemy, Domini Inferi, Revenge, Godless North) on the axe.

They played the most unrelenting war metal ever recorded. Constant blast beats, insane vocals that make your average black metal vocalist sound like Madonna and extremely fast distorted riffs all over the place are what to expect here, although it’s best to go into a release like this with no expectations, because whatever you’re expecting will be wrong.

In all honesty, this is the most savage album I have ever laid ears on. Most people who listen to “War. Cult. Supremacy.” will hear nothing but mush and noise, but the ones who actually “get it” will hear complete, utter primitivism and barbarity. This release is an audio war against humanity. No one is safe.

I have no other words for this. Get your hands on this any way you can and prepare to have your perspective on “music” changed forever.

5/5

Vanhelgd – Church of Death

2011 has been a great year for death metal, with great albums coming from all over the place. Bands such as Blessed Offal, Kerasphorus, Innsmouth, Horrid, Blaspherian and Disma have all put out killer releases, and as you can tell when listening to each of the aforementioned bands; there is plenty of variety within the realm of “new-old-school-death-metal”.



Vanhelgd hail from Sweden and were formed a couple of years ago (2007 to be exact). Since forming they have put out one full length (2008) and an EP (2010). “Church of Death” is the title of their second full length, released in April 2011. Heed my warning people; this is NOT your typical Swedish death metal…

So, a band from Sweden that doesn’t turn up the HM-2 pedal and assault you with hard-hitting riffs and constant d-beats? Not very common now, is it? Vanhelgd takes a very different (yet familiar at the same time) approach to old-school death metal. Influences from Dissection’s dark melodies, Asphyx and Hail of Bullets’s militant pummeling and Bolt Thrower’s slow tempos. The guitar tone is untypical, yet still very death. The vocalist is a near dead-ringer for Martin Van Drunen. The bass is reasonably audible and does its job and the drumming is rather varied.

“Church of Death” is one of the most varied death metal albums I have heard in a long time and I personally can not find a single flaw on this release in terms of the songs, although to my ears, there is something a bit off about the production, but that could be just me. My favourite track is the very dark closer “Alone With the Dead” and I consider every other song to be equal to each other in terms of greatness. There really is not a single boring moment here, this album will take you on a dark, yet brief, journey to the depths of hell. Get your arse over to Nuclear War Now!’s webshop and buy it.

4/5

Blessed Offal - Blessed Offal

Blessed Offal is an upcoming death metal band from Boston, heavily influenced by Aussie death/doom legends diSEMBOWELMENT, they play raw, ugly and slow-yet-chaotic death metal not for the faint of heart.

This 5 song EP begins with the crushing “Bottomless Grave” which instantly gives you an idea of what Blessed Offal are all about; dark and intense death metal that ranges from slow dirges to chaotic speeds. Only a false could not be sucked in by this immense track.

The rest of the EP (which could almost be a full-length, as it runs for just over 30minutes) follows the same dark path, sucking you deep down into the depths of insanity. I realize the whole “dark death metal” thing is getting a bit overdone now, but Blessed Offal can not be missed. As mentioned at the beginning of this review; they follow a more diSEMBOWLMENT influenced template rather than the standard Incantation worship most bands have going on, which makes for some crushing death metal.

Get your hands on this at all costs and prepare to have your soul drained.

5/5 BUY IT

Kerasphorus - Necronaut

A lot of you will remember the first release of Pete Helmkamp’s latest recording project last year; the intense “Cloven Hooves at the Holocaust Dawn”, which was the best release of 2010 in my humble opinion. Sadly, this band has since come to an end, and their second and final release “Necronaut” has been released posthumously on Nuclear War Now! back in May this year.



The first track on this 2 song EP “Locust Nexus” really picks up where “Cloven Hooves…” left off with hard-hitting riffs, speedy drums and Pete’s signature rasp all working together to create some of the most intense black/death metal I have ever heard. The more mid-paced sections are just as unrelenting as the chaotic parts and everything flows together perfectly, creating one hell of a ride.

The second track “Through the Spiral Void” starts off with a short, slower, almost droning intro before the vocals and drums come in, still at a slower pace until at about roughly one minute in things start speeding up and settling into the sound Kerasphorus are known for once again. There is only one word that can describe this band… relentless.

It’s unfortunate to see such a great band come to an end after two short releases, but at least they went out with a bang. Kerasphorus will not be forgotten. Buy this.

5/5

Interview with Stuart Prickett.

Stuart Prickett is a guitarist from Sydney who has been playing in metal bands since the early 90s. I had a bit of a chat with him about his past, present and future...



Wayde:
Greetings Stu! Let’s just start off with a brief run-down of what you’ve done musically in the past (bands you’ve played in, releases you’ve played on and anything else relevant) and what you’re up to these days.
Stu:
Hey Wayde! Ok I'll try to keep it brief as there's a lot of stuff! Basically I started playing in metal bands while at school around 1990 that really went nowhere until I started a band called Detruncation who did a fair bit of gigging around Sydney in 93/94, we did a couple of unreleased demos before splitting. I then formed Elysium in 1994, we did a number of demos and an album before changing the name to Stone Wings and doing a few more releases, but that has been in hiatus for quite some time now. I have also been involved in a few other projects over the years, Of Grief Everlasting (doom band that did 3 demos), Decayed Divinity, Bludgeoner (did 2 MCDs) and Corpsickle (so far have done 2 demo's, a split CD, 1 album and the second is nearly done). Also played guitar for Backyard Mortuary for quite a few years now, we have a full length on the way, but the band is pretty much over and The Slow Death which is a doom recording project that is near completing the 2nd full length now. Finally I just joined Mournful Congregation as well. Sorry if that’s a bit disjointed, it's all overlapping haha.

Wayde:
You’ve certainly accomplished quite a lot in the last 20 years with your music! Let’s talk a bit about the releases you’re currently working on. You just mentioned a new The Slow Death album is in the works, what can you tell me about that?

Stu:
It's much along the lines of the first album for whoever has heard that, the main difference being we had a real drummer play on this one (Yonn, from Backyard Mortuary/Nazxul etc). It's 5 songs of epic death/doom male and female vocals, about 70 minutes long. We have been working on it for about 2 years slowly so it will be a relief to finally finish it and start the next one which is 75% written already musically. We should have the CD out towards the end of the year though.

Wayde:
Cool! I’m looking forward to this, the first one was great. What can you tell us about the Backyard Mortuary album you also mentioned? Also; you say that the band is pretty much over, does that mean after the album there won’t be any more releases and/or shows by Backyard Mortuary?

Stu:
I'm not sure what is happening with the Backyard Mortuary CD to be honest, I know the actual recording part was finished around April, and now Dave (guitarist) is mixing it, so I don't know how that is going or who is releasing it or anything haha, all I know is we did 8 songs for it. We are talking about doing a farewell gig early next year once Chris (vocals) gets back from South America, but I think that will be the end of the band. It's really up to Chris and Dave as it's their band but I'd be surprised if anything else happens with it, but time will tell.

Wayde:
That’s a shame! It’ll be very unfortunate to see such a killer band come to an end if that’s the case. What about Corpsickle, are you guys working on more material? If so, is there any info you can share about what’s going on there?

Stu:
Yes, it is a shame but I had no say in it haha. Corpsickle is something I am undecided on at the moment, we have a new full length that's 95% completed, but I haven't been doing anything new with it and it will be some time before we gig again if ever, I need to see how I feel about it after a break for a while. On another note, I forgot to say in my first answer that I have started a new death metal band as my kind of “replacement” for BM, which has ex Bludgeoner/Grenade/Backyard Mortuary guys which I'm sure will start gigging next year.



Wayde:
Well, it will be interesting to see where you go with Corpsickle. Here’s hoping things turn out well for the band!
This new death metal band sounds cool. Would you mind providing some info about it? Who exactly is in the band, and how did this band come to be? What are the bands influences and what sort of direction are you taking with the music? Have you got much material written yet? Are there any plans for a release?

Stu:
We've only just started writing with the new band and are only beginning to jam together in a couple of weeks so it's real early days. The lineup is Karkuss (ex-Bludgeoner on vocals), Yonn (Backyard Mortuary on drums), Dan (Corpsickle/ex Bludgeoner on bass), Ben (ex Grenade on guitar) and myself on guitar. Our influences are European death metal such as Bolt Thrower and Asphyx etc but as I said it's early days so we'll have to see how it turns out. It came about when I knew Backyard was coming to an end and I still wanted to play death metal! No plans for releases, definitely won't be anything this year, but next year if things turn out we'll do something.

Wayde:
Excellent! It will be interesting to see how this goes, keep me posted!
You mentioned earlier that you have recently joined Mournful Congregation on guitar duties. This must be very exciting for you, because if I recall correctly, they’re one of your favourite acts! How did this opportunity come about for you? Will you be a “full” member of the band, or simply a “live” or “session” member?

Stu:
Yes, is very exciting for me, at the moment I am just playing live and they have just finished recording the new album so it'll be quite some time before anything else is recorded so we'll see what happens. I have been mates with all the guys from MC for a long time, Damon I've known for about 15 years now and Adrian and Justin over a decade, so when Petch decided he couldn't commit to touring anymore they asked me to do it and I immediately said yes, even though to rehearse I must fly to Adelaide, but they are my favourite Australian band, so it's worth the effort I think.

Wayde:
I think a lot of people would kill to be in your position, joining your favourite band is the kind of thing that happens in movies! Haha.
While on the subject of Australian metal, what is your general view on the Aussie metal “scene” as a “scene veteran” (God I feel dirty using the word scene so much, ha!) so to speak? What Australian bands are you into? What are your thoughts on there being no “central hub” for Australian metal, do you think it’s a good or a bad thing that bands are so spread apart? Would you like to see more “gatherings” such as the recent Evil Invaders, Armageddon and Black Conjuration festivals?



Stu:
For me there's not a whole lot in the Australian metal 'scene' that interests me a whole lot at present, I could probably count the number of bands that still exist that I like on my hands but we've had some totally killer bands in the past that easily equal any overseas bands in my opinion like Cruciform, Misery, Armoured Angel, Disembowelment etc. Cauldron Black Ram, Stargazer, Portal, D.usk, Assaulter, are some of my favourite current Aussie bands. I think it's good that there's no central hub as bands get a better chance to get their own identity. I love the good fests like Evil Invaders etc but if they happened more often I think it would lose the appeal, they work when they have great line ups like EI did but if it happened all the time and with lesser quality bands it would make things less of an event I think.

Wayde:
I think you’ve raised a pretty good point with it being a good thing that there is no real “hub” for Aussie metal. Especially when you think of some overseas scenes such as (obvious example here! Haha) the San Francisco Bay Area which has been plagued with clone bands from the beginning. I’d much rather have a variety of bands spread all over the country than a bunch of clone bands all in the one city!

What made you decide to start playing guitar all those years ago? What are your influences, musical and non-musical? What made you want to play death and doom metal type music? What do you pollute your stereo and ears with on a day-to-day basis?

Stu:
I'm not sure what made me want to start but I'd always liked guitars since I was really young but didn't manage to get one before I was about 14. My influences are many and have changed over the years, these days I wouldn't say any one thing influences me, I've been writing long enough to have my own kind of style. Anything that had some sort of feeling would have been influential though. With Death metal for me I love playing it live, I really like the energy and aggression, and with Doom I love the feeling and heaviness, it's my favourite style, so I guess that made me gravitate towards playing it. I love playing downtuned heavy guitars, and though I listen to a lot of other stuff, this is what I love to play. Stuff on my stereo varies like most people, my favourite bands are Iron Maiden and Dio, so I listen to that and a lot of older metal stuff but also a lot of doom and death metal, a lot of thrash, bits of black metal and grind. On the other side of things, I love Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree and also have a thing for alternative female singer/songwriters like Tina Dico, Charlotte Martin, stuff like that.

Wayde:
Is there anything outside of music that influences the music you write, such as films, literature, history and so on?

Stu:
For the most part I'd have to say no, except for lyrically with Corpsickle, which is heavily influenced by horror movies and novels.



Wayde:
Since you’ve been playing in bands for so long, I’m sure you’ve had a lot of ups and downs, low-points and high-points, what would some of these be?

Stu:
Yeah there will always be high and low points. Low points would be bands splitting, backstabbings, a few bad gigs, being fucked over by a few labels, but that happens to all bands I guess, high points for me would probably the excellent reaction I’ve got from the Stone Wings and Slow Death albums since they are the bands I’ve put the most effort into.

Wayde:
What advice would you give to any young musicians out there just picking up their instruments and getting started out with their bands?

Stu:
I would advise them to play what they really want to play and not something to try to fit into a trend as there's little chance that you'll make it far in Australia. Prepare to be cult haha.

Wayde:
Wise words indeed mate! Haha. Well, I’d like to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to ramble with me! Any last words?

Stu:
Buy some Evoken albums. Haha.

Erebus Enthroned – Night’s Black Angel

Erebus Enthroned are a black metal band from Sydney. Formed in 2006, they have been steadily getting their name out there with the 2007 release of their debut demo, a split with fellow Aussie black metal horde Nekros Mantia in ’09 and they also took part in a compilation entitled “Tlat De-Pur Anuta” alongside bands such as Ofermod, Nefandus, Glorior Belli, Sanguinary Misanthropia etc. Tomorrow, on August 12, 2011 they unleash their debut full length album “Night’s Black Angel” on the world…



The band have a pretty unique sound. I can hear obvious influences from more “melodic” bands such as Dissection and Watain as well as hints of black/death a la Destroyer 666 and a sense of “epicness” that is present throughout the album, all in all though, this is a pretty “traditional” black metal album with some cool extras thrown in. They took their time on this release and it really shows.

The production is crystal clear and you can hear everything that’s going on, and there’s a lot going on! The songs are full of twists and turns, headbanging catchy as hell riffs, venomous vocals, interesting drum patterns, and actual audible bass, which is a rare thing for underground black metal. I really can’t find a fault with the sound here at all.

My favourite track is the opening song “Enthroning the Harbinger of Death”, but every track is stellar and can not be skipped. This album is miles ahead of what most black metal bands are currently doing.

For fans of; Funeral Mist, Watain and Antaeus.

5/5. Black metal album of the year, so far, in my opinion.

Assaulter Interview

I happened to meet S. Berserker from Assaulter at Evil Invaders III. During a brief drunken chat, he agreed to an interview....



Wayde:
G’day mate! How’s it going today? Fully recovered from Evil Invaders III?

S. Berserker:
Well, due to my ridiculous delay in answering these questions, I'd say that yes, I'm more than fully recovered now.

Wayde:
Before we get too deeply focused on the killer new Assaulter release, could you give myself and the readers a bit of a run down on what you’ve done in the past up until recently? Basically just; what bands you’ve been in aside from Assaulter, what you’ve released up until this point etc. etc.

S. Berserker:
Well, prior to Assaulter I played for a few years with D'666. It wasn't 'til a few years later that I started Assaulter. Thus far, with Assaulter, we've released the following:
• 'Proselytiser' - Demo 2005
• 'Omnipotent' - Demo 2006
• 'Subservience' - 7" 2008 (Iron Bonehead Productions)
• 'Salvation Like Destruction' - 2008 (Pulverised Records/High Roller Records/Iron Bonehead Productions)
• 'Beware the Wounded Beast' - Split 7" with Trench Hell 2009 (Iron Bonehead Productions)
• 'Boundless!' - 2011 (Poison Tongue/Metal Blade/High Roller Records)

Wayde:
What was it like playing with Destroyer 666 back in the early 2000’s? Did you play on any if their releases, if so, which ones? Did you have some great experiences back then?

S. Berserker:
It was great. Like a whirlwind. I think when I'd joined, you could definitely see that the band was on the verge of breaking out of Australia. 'Phoenix Rising' had just been recorded, and there was the talk that the band needed to get overseas, to which we were all in agreement with. And there laid the strength in the idea - We all wanted to, and were committed to the idea of moving to Europe. I think essentially we all had the same goals and it meant a communal decision, and well, the proof is there. The opportunities came in spades and the name spread. As far as recordings go, I was involved in 2 7"s and the 'Cold Steel' LP. Great times and they're still great mates.

Wayde:
Moving on from D666, when did you form Assaulter? Was it more of a one/two man band at first, or have you always been a three-piece? What are some of the bands influences? What elements go into writing an Assaulter song?

S. Berserker
Assaulter came to be, really, with the release of the first demo 'Proselytiser'. It was just me, and a session drummer, and to be honest, it was not a very well thought out demo - But it did turn out better than I'd expected so I decided to run with it and TRY and form a band. A proper, working band. As it turns out, we've rarely had a solid line-up after all these years, but that's just how the dice has been rolled. Music wise, influences are fairly varied and there's no blue print per sé - Basically we tend to shake up influences from primitive Death Metal, Thrash and straight up Heavy Metal. There are other influences too. Songs have skeletons, which are broken, re-arranged, smashed, shattered and pieced together again.

Wayde:
While on the subject of influences etc, I’d like to know, what are some of your favourite bands? What do you blast from your speakers on a day to day basis?

S. Berserker:
All time favourites would be Metallica, Sodom, Mercyful Fate, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Megadeth, Judas Priest amongst others. Lately you'll hear anything from Danzig, Dropkick Murphys, Grand Magus, Nifelheim, Dead Can Dance, Primordial, Trench Hell, Rose Tattoo, Stellamara, The Devil's Blood, Ghost, Irfan, Necröfuck etc. etc. etc.

Wayde:
What’s the story behind the doomed headless angel that features on the artwork for every Assaulter release? I’m guessing it carries some symbolism relating to iconoclasm? Would that be correct, or is there more to it?

S. Berserker:
Yeah, on one side of the coin, you're right. Iconoclasm. I remember being in the ruins of Ayutthaya in Thailand and one of the main temples had had most of the Buddha statues beheaded by what I believe were either the invading Burmese or Khmers in the 18th Century. Very powerful. So I got the idea from that - The ultimate blasphemy. As well as that, it represents absolute power by a faceless Iron Fist - Akin to the idea of Big Brother in Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty Four', or, more obviously, mankind's favourite prick, 'God'. By the way, we dropped the 'Headless Angel' thing for 'Boundless'.

Wayde:
I noticed there was a big progression from “Salvation Like Destruction” to “Boundless”. The music seems a lot more influenced by German thrash metal and Mercyful Fate, as well as a lot of straight up heavy metal (I get an 80’s metal vibe in a long of the more midpace moments) rather than old-school black metal a la Dissection which I heard more of in the first album, and there are some obvious middle eastern influences used as well as more melody than on Salvation. Was this a natural progression, or did you intend to move towards this type of sound?

S. Berserker:
A natural progression, whilst purposely trying to expand. If that makes any sense? There is certainly a lot of mid-paced fare on 'Salvation…', and some of those HM styled riffs, but we wanted to draw them out more for 'Boundless' and allow for more room for Hellfinder's leads, which to me, are a strength of the band. Basically we wanted to concentrate on our strengths and strip back the songs in attack and scope. No matter how you look at it, we released our strongest album by a long shot and the next LP will be even stronger. Forward, onward.

Wayde:
What song would you say that you’re most proud of writing? What’s your favourite Assaulter tune? My favourite off the first album is “Between Gods and Men”, classic track! Off the second it has to be “Perpetual War”.



S. Berserker:
Ha! 'Between God and Men' is originally from the first demo - The only song worth revisiting from that I think. Well, I do like the style of the more sprawling songs we have, and the song I'm personally happiest with is 'Slave to King'. It came out great, and it's due to songs like this and 'Between Gods…' and 'The Eternal Soldier' and 'Glory Alone' that I get frustrated with the simple 'Thrash' tag - Consider these amongst the faster songs and it's pretty obvious that we have some varied ideas. There'll be more of this avenue in the future……

Wayde:
What are your thoughts on Australian metal? What bands are you into? Do you think we have a pretty solid “scene” over here?

S. Berserker:
Yeah, for sure, it's definitely gaining an (un)healthy stride again! Just look at the Evil Invaders Festival in June - What a great collection of killer fuckin' bands! It's a shame no one really gives a shit outside the circle, but glory to those in the know! Would be great to get a tonne of our bands overseas and get them kicking in the teeth of the European and American audiences!

Wayde:
My neck is still wrecked after seeing you guys at Evil Invaders III the other night, are there any plans for more gigs in NSW? What about Aussie gigs in general? Any plans for international tours?

S. Berserker:
Beware of the 'Under The Axe' tour coming to the East Coast in December with Canberra thrashers Hellbringer. Next stop 2012 - Europe. Fuck!

Wayde:
What are some memorable and/or funny stories from your musical career that you’d like to share? I’d imagine you’ve had some great times over the years!

S. Berserker:
Mate, too many to mention. Drinking with Judas Priest in Austria was most fucking fantastic. It was a large festival (bill-wise), with around 4000 people there, Motorhead, Judas Priest, Savatage, Enslaved, Behemoth and a tonnes of others - Had a killer weekend, hard partying and raising hell and then to top it all off, we end up sinking cold cans with Priest out the back. Barely anyone else about. Was killer. Then there was a festival in Sweden - 2HEAVY4U - Put simply, that was chaos. Drinking, fighting, playing, carrying on and any other manner of shit (literally) and compounded by me being hit by a car in a paddock whilst I slept. That's the theory anyway………. Assaulter will have a tonne of stories in the near future I'm sure.

Wayde:
Alright, well I think that’s it for this interview, thanks a lot for the chat mate! Any last words?

S. Berserker:
Aye, cheers for your support. Always appreciated. EVERYONE get to the UNDER THE AXE tour in either Brissy, Sydney or Melbourne in December and cut loose. Really cut loose.

Rituals of the Oak Interview

Rituals of the Oak are an impressive up and coming doom metal band from Sydney who have put out a couple of releases so far and are working towards their second full length effort. I had a deep and informative talk with their frontwoman Sabine about their past, present and future (and freeballing)...



Wayde:
Hey Sabine! How are you doing today? Let’s start things off with a bit of background info about Rituals of the Oak, if you don’t mind? How and when was the band formed? Who’s in Rituals…? And any other relevant info we should know!

Sabine:
Hey mate! I'm great, cheers! I hope you're having a rockin' day!
Rituals of the Oak started in 2008 by Shane Linfoot (guitars) and Matthew Shriffer (drums). I joined later in 2008 after their singer Mike left as he was more interested in prog/power metal than doom. The original bass player, Nathaniel Smith, eventually left the band in 2010 and we have since recruited Dale Harrison and his mad Rickenbacker.
We are based in Sydney and play doom metal in the vein of Candlemass, Pentagram, Warning, Solitude Aeturnus etc. In terms of releases, we put out a demo in April 2009 which fetched us a deal with Eyes Like Snow/ Northern Silence in Germany. Our debut album "Hour of Judgement" came out in November 2009 and we recently released a 3 way split in June 2011 with our label mates Apostle of Solitude and The Flight of Sleipnir.
It's been an awesome few years so far and things are actually going well for us; we have some exciting times to look forward to over the next 12 months which we can't wait to share with everyone!

Wayde:
It sounds like it’s been a great couple of years for the band so far!
What bands have you and the guys been involved with in the past (if any?) and are any members involved in other projects currently? Do these past musical ventures effect and/or influence Rituals of the Oak?

Sabine:
I have been personally a doom metal freak for over a decade but have been involved in other aspects of the genre in the past. It wasn't until Rituals of the Oak that I found myself doing exactly what I wanted to do. I sang in a few different bands growing up in Lebanon, the latest being Kimaera, a gothic/doom band from Beirut. I have then joined the ranks of Lycanthia, another gothic/doom metal from Sydney, after I moved to Australia in 2005. Their former singer/keyboardist Mandy Andresen had left the band and I took over those duties for the next 3 years. I eventually left in 2008 because I wanted to pursue a more traditional path, and Rituals of the Oak happened to need a singer around the same time. So that's that!
Shane and Matt were previously playing progressive heavy metal in Transcending Mortality and eventually ended up disbanding it and forming Rituals of the Oak. Dale formerly played bass in The Amenta and is currently in The Herd, a Sydney based Hip Hop band, as well as Rituals.
I don't believe any of our former musical endeavours have influenced Rituals much, but as far as the inspiration behind the band goes that's entirely attributed to the bands I had listed earlier, which many of us had listened to and loved for years.


Wayde:
That’s a pretty broad musical background for a band like this, isn’t it!
So what directly influences Rituals, musically and non-musically? What do you guys generally enjoy listening to on a daily basis?

Sabine:
We listen to everything actually! A lot of metal, 70's rock, 60's psych, hardcore, crust, punk, funk, hip hop... And that's on a daily basis. Matt, Shane and myself share a terrace and we have a mad set up in the lounge room where all of our furniture point at the record player (instead of a TV set) and you can trust there's always something spinning on that thing. Despite our broad musical tastes the first few releases we put out were purely doom metal. I can now actually say that you'll start to hear more "other" influences in our future releases. For example, we're currenly working on a song, which would be on the band's third album, that sounds like Type O' Negative. Another song is starting to sound a bit Warning-esque. We're basically keeping an open mind when it comes to music.
As for non-musical influences, we draw a lot of inspiration from a bunch of authors, philosophers and poets such as Oscar Wilde, Friedrich Nietzsche, Baudelaire, De Maupassant and others, not to mention booze and chronic, which are essential for the band's creative juices. Heh!

Wayde:
It’s always good to have plenty of variety in your listening! That’s a killer living room set up.
How did you get into this type of music? What made you want to play/sing doom metal? When did you first decide to become a vocalist? Did you have formal training or self-teach? And do you play any other instruments?



Sabine:
I was given Iron Maiden's first album by my cousin on cassette when I was 11 and that was that! I remember ditching school with a friend when I was 12 years old and going on a cassette hunt to find "Kill 'em All" and "Ride the Lightning" haha! Metal was of course black listed in Lebanon at the time so it was incredibly difficult to find anything but somehow we got by. I was 15 when I first heard My Dying Bride's "Turn Loose the Swans" and I just fell in love with the all aspects of the genre from the slow paced music to the heartfelt lyrical content etc. That has led me to discover bands like Solstice, Reverend Bizarre, While Heaven Wept etc and I have been hooked ever since!

I have basically been singing ever since I can remember. I didn't really receive any formal training so all my techniques are self taught. I also taught myself to play guitars and keyboard, but I haven't touched either instrument in at least 12 months... mostly due to laziness.

Wayde:
What are your thoughts on the Sydney metal scene, and the Australian metal scene at large? What bands are you into? Do you think we have a good “scene” over here? Is it a good or bad thing that there’s no “central hub” so to speak, for Australian metal, in your opinion?

Sabine:
I'm sort of new-ish to the Australian metal scene being fresh off the boat and all hah, this said, I discovered a few Australian bands, worthy of a mention here, in the last 6 years I've been living in Sydney. I love some Australian black/thrash bands such as Gospel of the Horns, Trench Hell, Shackles, Stargazer etc. Another Australian band that absolutely blew me away at Evil Invaders III was Portal (that was the first time I'd ever seen them live). I also try to catch Raven Black Night and The Loving Tongue every time they come out to Sydney. Unfortunately the doom metal scene in Australia is almost non-existent; there are plenty of gothic/doom acts around Australia but very few doom bands in the traditional sense and these are scattered all over the country.

I had heard from many people that the '90s was the best era for Australian metal; of course I wouldn't really know that myself since I was still ducking shrapnel in Lebanon at that time, but I believe we have somewhat managed to find good local gigs to attend every once in awhile without the existence of a "central hub" for Australian metal, especially as of late where we have people like Hushy to thank for the recent resurgence of great gigs in Sydney. In a nutshell, I really enjoy many Australian acts, old (a la Buffalo) and current. I just wish we had more promoters organizing more international gigs.

Wayde:
So let’s talk a bit about the bands debut album “Hour of Judgement”. When and where were the songs written? When, how and where were they recorded? How would you describe the sound and style that you guys achieved with this album? Is the band, as a whole, satisfied with it?

Sabine:
A big chunk of the material on “Hour of Judgement” was written in 2008 before I even joined the band. Shane is responsible for the music composition whilst the lyrics were written by Matt, Shane and their old singer Mike. By the time I joined the band, they had already most of the 1st album written and ready to be recorded. We then recorded the demo and picked up a deal offered to us by Eyes Like Snow in Germany who put out some great doom albums.

“Hour of Judgement” was recorded in June 2009. The live recordings (drums, bass and first guitars) as well as second guitars were recorded at Soundcheck studios in Belmore, where we used to rehearse. Vocals and mixing were done at our friend, Andy Troy’s home studio in Ashfield and the mastering was done by Rick O’Neil at Turtle Rock. Eyes Like Snow released it in November 2009.

“Hour of Judgement” is purely a doom metal album influenced by the music of bands we all love and respect like Solstice, Solitude Aeturnus, Pentagram etc. What I really liked about the album is that the songs are all different in their own way, musically and lyrically and the album as a whole doesn’t put the listeners’ attention span to the test. For example, the lyrics in the title track “Hour of Judgement” depict the roman invasion of the Celtics and Druids in England who had to resort to extreme measures such as human sacrifice and even cannibalism in a bid to the Gods to bring the invasion to an end. “Standing in the House of Suffering” is based on Edgar Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Spell of Doom” is based on our personal experiences with doom metal. The songs also vary musically where you could come across some heavy riffage, slow morose melodies and even instrumental bits at times. All in all, we are very proud of “Hour of Judgement” and consider it the perfect debut album which opened a lot of doors to the band and given us exposure on a local and international level.



Wayde:
What can you tell me about your contribution to the 3-way split with Apostle of Solitude and The Flight of Sleipnir? Do you see it as a sort of “progression” from the material on the debut, or is it similar in style? What is the song about? Where and how was this one recorded?

Sabine:
Both The Apostle of Solitude and The Flight of Sleipnir contributed two tracks each to the release while we chose to record one 18 minute track entitled “Hallward”, based on Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. The story is narrated by a painter Basil Hallward who was hired by a young man called Dorian Gray to paint a portrait of the latter. Gray becomes completely consumed by beauty thinking it’s the only worthwhile aspect of life. He ends up selling his soul to ensure the portrait Hallward painted would age instead of himself, which of course leads to his demise.
“Hallward” was written in 2009 by Shane and Matt (who wrote the lyrics for the song) in 2009. In essence, we found Hallward to be a unique song we wrote, a song we couldn’t really fit on our second album: it is crushingly slow, repetietive (in a good way of course) and long and as such we decided to release it on its own. Hallward was recorded and mixed in mid 2010 at Tradis Studio in Marrickville and mastered by Rick O’Neil.

I don’t think this track is a progression for the band given that we won’t be writing similar songs in the future because we like to mix things up. This said, even if we don’t consider the style Hallward was written in to be the direction the band is taking going forth, we absolutely love the shit of that track, especially the last 20 seconds!

Wayde:
Interesting… that’s a lot of backstory for one song!
I understand Rituals is working on material for a second album. Has much of the album been written so far? Is there any idea as to when it will be released? What kinds of themes are present on the already written songs? Are there any particular musical directions or progressions planned or do you guys write what feels “natural” and see how it turns out?

Sabine:
I absolutely love the story behind Hallward, being a huge fan of Oscar Wilde and all!
The second album is entirely written and recorded! We are currently in the last stages of mixing before sending the tracks to Rick for mastering. We are expecting it to be out on Eyes Like Snow late 2011.

I believe album number 2 is the perfect follow up to Hour of Judgement, similar in essence and in terms of influences but different altogether! The new album is also comprised of 5 songs. Shane wrote the music and Matt and I handled the lyric writing; these were influenced by different literary stories and historical references as well as personal experiences with themes including pagan rituals, madness, war and tyranny etc. You hit the nail on the head here with regards to our writing process: we indeed write what comes naturally to us. Sometimes we’d be jamming and Shane would come up with a mad riff and we just go with it! All of the songs are subject to tweaking and perfecting later on but fundamentally we write what feels and comes natural to us. I can honestly say that I don’t know what direction the band will ultimately take… You never know, we might end up playing funk Bootsy Collins style! Hah!

Wayde:
What plans are in motion to promote the album? Any plans to tour or play shows in support of it? What about merchandising; shirts, patches, g-strings, etc. etc.? What’s coming up in the near future for you guys?

Sabine:
There’s a lot of exciting stuff happening in the Oak camp over the next year. The new album is expected to come out later in 2011 and I believe we will be planning a couple of gigs early next year to promote it in Australia. We are also planning some overseas adventures which I can’t talk about freely as of yet! Everything will be revealed in due time!

The label has been great at promoting our releases overseas so we will be handling the album promotion within Australia. We haven’t really discussed merchandise for the new release with the label yet but I am sure they’ll be printing shirts and patches to include with the die-hard edition. We don’t really plan on printing any g-strings seeing how we are strong believers in free balling!



Wayde:
Well this is all very exciting news! I’m a bit disappointed about the lack of g-strings, but I also enjoy freeballing!
Being in a band, I’m sure you’ve experienced plenty of ups and downs, what are some of the positive and negative experiences you’ve had? Do you have any funny and/or interesting stories you would like to share?

Sabine:
Haha! The freeballer general over there!

We definitely had some good times over the last few years, the best of which were had in Europe in 2010. We played Doom Shall Rise in Goppingen in Germany alongside some amazing bands like 40 Watt Sun, Garden of Worm, Mourning Beloveth, Jex Thoth etc. The only downer for me was that I had contracted a bloody flu a couple of days earlier and was absolutely ruined on the first night. Luckily we weren't playing until the next day and I decided to obliterate myself with alcohol before I got on stage in an attempt to kill the germs. And that kinda worked, except that I was plastered! We played, and I survived, a set of 5 songs and the reaction was nothing short of overwhelming! We had quite a great time at DSR and met some mad people and made awesome friends! I would go back as soon as possible!

I guess we haven't had any major issues or problems in the band, and hopefully we never will! We also rarely ever play live so that sort of eliminates the chances of technical issues occurring and fucking shit up! heh.

Wayde:
Well, it seems we’ve just about covered everything here! Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer my questions, I hope you enjoyed this interview as much as I did!
Any famous last words, Sabine?

Sabine:
Cheers to you for the interesting questions! I very much enjoyed talking to you! Nothing famous, just a thought: how awesome is Funkadelic's Maggot Brain?