BCD –Split Album

If you are someone afraid or reluctant to face your deepest fears through aural provocation than staying away from the BCD split release is probably your wisest move this year but if staring into the unknown and dealing with infernal incitement sounds like it is for you than this surprising and uncomfortable release might just be your gateway to invigorating adventure…or insanity.

The release features four bands which instigate primal and sonic hostility upon the senses to spark intimate, exhausting, and imaginative violating atrocities. It is not an easy listen, and to be honest at times leaves you wondering why you stood before its malevolence as you lay whimpering in your molten synapses and emotional debris, but throughout the trio of Dethcentrik, Corkscrew No 4453556, Imperfect, and B.A.M.H. offer more than enough rewarding enterprise and vitriolic temptation to want to suffer and feast on its menace again and again.

B.A.M.H. open up the release with the excellent haunting tones of Eternal Sin. The band is an electrogrind project from Texas around founder Kolton Primeaux and as their contribution here shows it is a project which uses ambiences in tandem with sonic destruction. The track starts with a discord teased piano invitation, its presence offering a sepia coloured atmosphere of old and sinister suggestion. It is soon speared by a caustic sonic lance of sound which opens up a fissure for a rasping harsh wind of melodic distress and concentrated rhythmic primal assault to lay out their caustic declarations. It is a viciously snarling encounter from this point on which is unrelenting in its ravenous chewing until its departure.

The following Zero Day walks the same portentous scenery as its predecessor, unveiling more of the distorted reality before crushing it under a tsunami of treacherous and carnivorous rhythmic hatred and sonic entrapment. It is painful and disorientating but like a drug tantalises thoughts and visions to make a play for clarity. Imagine Eraserhead the movie on LSD and you get an idea of what the invention of B.A.M.H. entails. The rest of their offerings bring their own individual bedlam with Raping Your Corpse featuring Nolon Lawrence especially standing out with its great guttural swinish vocals gnawing on the ear.

Imperfect, the electronica alias of Californian Adam Davis, offers just the one song in the corrosive electronic shape of The Wanderer and features BAMH within its blistered squall of sound. It is a song which leaves an undecided view on its intensive embrace, the stark harmonic mix of vocals with their acid burn of a touch and the equally scathing sounds working well in their own right but together make an uneasy union but maybe that is the intention. It is hard to tell and say if it was enjoyed or not but certainly it offers enough to want to check out more.

Next up Corkscrew No 4453556 bring something different again to the release starting with Fatal Armpit Job. The band started by Zabuba Nevresky in 2009 and basing their songs on Hermeticism, creates what is self-penned as experimental guttural dancecore, and after standing eye to eye with their opening track alone it is the perfect description of the pummelling confrontation. Nintendo electro spots poke the ear first as gently concussive beats and infectious dance seeded enticement explores the senses. It is soon overturned and swept aside as resonating predatory yawning leviathans of noise and intensity lay heavily upon the senses before just as quickly leaving themselves to allow the opening dance to end things off. The destructive middle part of the track reminds of the band The Devilzwork which is never a bad thing and leaves an appetite open for the following N.D.A.L. and Symphony of Ditto’s Carnage. The first emerges from a warning siren to ravage and torment with again a sonic tempest of synapse diseasing invention whilst the second is a caustic aftermath of what came before taking over the now exploitable wasteland beyond the ear. Both are mere breaths in length but add to an impressive experience provided by the band.

Dethcentrik is an industrial metal band which was formed in Colorado in 2009 by vocalist Stefan “Død Beverte” Klein, and guitarists Justin Torres and Michael Glass. Line-up changes were rife in the band and led to the project being put on hiatus before returning in 2011 with guitarist Gunner “Jackie T” Harkey alongside Klein. With an ever evolving sound since returning, the band hits this split with a wall of intensive destruction in their first track The Beast Escapes. It is a furious sonic hug which obliterates any peace still left in the air as its heart, the beast, explores avenues to freedom, eventually settling upon a more restrained but no less intrusive wrap of malevolence. Like previous tracks it has no mercy for the ear just as equally neither has the following Visitors, its own haunting danger and temptation coursing with sinister portents and threatening breath, though the danger is behind a constant sonic veil. Through the initially brutal and then suffocating Airlock and Factory Ghosts the band lay out more expanses of post-apocalyptic like scarring whilst closing track The Machine Continues To Churn is a final lingering savage ambience leaving deeper fears and provocative shadows.

Released by Død Incarnate Records this is definitely not a release for everyone but driven by extreme invention and creativity honed into a ferocious diversity brought my raging artistic minds, this split has plenty of rewards for those daring to face its turmoil.

http://www.deathincarnaterecords.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Dethcentrik

http://www.facebook.com/corkskrewno

7.5/10

RingMaster 23/05/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Defeat – [Seek Help]

Our first introduction to UK electro/industrial duo Defeat came with their impressive Outbursts! EP, a release which marked the band as having the promise to be a prominent part not only national but the European industrial scene. Since that the release anticipation for their debut album has been keen to say the least but even that hunger fell short in expectation when finally feeling the might of [Seek Help]. The eleven track album is immense, a sinister and sizzling beast which whilst thrilling and igniting thoughts and passion still provides evidence that there is plenty more still to be discovered within the band.

Taking inspiration in the sound and area of music stalked by the likes of Nitzer Ebb, 242, Depeche Mode, and NIN, the pair of Anthony Matthews (Vocals) and Gary Walker (Synthetics) firmly gripped the imagination with their sounds and debut release, the album though shows the band has since taken a major leap forward not only in sound and composition but confidence and stature. Two school friends who from meeting were writing songs together, Walker and Matthews have realised the brewing strength and flavoursome imagination first indicated on Outbursts!, with [Seek Help], the album title incidentally the name of their first venture together, confronting the ear with enterprise and compelling provocative mastery. Seek Help the project, existed from 1992 to 95 with the duo playing several gigs before it came to an end, with Defeat  emerging from its ashes with a new intent and flavour to the already existing and subsequently reworked songs. The EP, released as the album through Static Distortion Records, thrust Defeat to wide attention but the suspicion is that their album will see them on the fullest lips of attention.

The Hertfordshire based pair draw the listener into the album with In Vestri Genua Descendamus, a brief piece of dawning epic toned ambience and grandeur heralding vocal harmonies offering religious whispers upon air of cavernous magnificence whilst a seductive falsehood deviously leads right into the hungry jaws of Fear. The track flexes its muscles with a slowly opening swagger, melodic caresses firmly igniting the senses whilst the shadowed more rapacious spine of the introduction intimidates and seduces with equal voracity. Settling into an even pace with the wonderfully raw vocals of Matthews stalking the ear and prowling the lyrical venom, the track ignites emotive connections and flames of passion especially with its sonic eruptions around the chorus and the returning breath of church bred provocation. It is a stunning  track which sets up the rest of the album perfectly though also puts the following songs under pressure such its early benchmark.

Not that Ripcord and Defeat struggle in that respect, both songs offering individual stances with full unity in their contagion. The first of the two initially sizes up the listener with predatory concentration, the pulsating dark shards of electro probing testing the waters before opening up its grip for the emotive ambience and shadowed breeze of the song to envelope ear and thought. With Matthews gently pressing forward the menace of the narrative within the evocative sounds of Walker, thoughts of Fad Gadget easily invade, the conjuring of dark beauty here as impacting and irresistible as in the hands of Frank Tovey. The track soon announces it is one which will not settle in one corner and explodes with a fiery caustic rub to further the danger and malevolence brewing within the shadows, whilst the Tubeway Army sonic teasing which breaks out also only enhances the adventure and pleasure. The following track raps on the ear with thumping sinews whilst a scintillating abrasion threatens to break free, its taunts and grazes within the coarse groove at play challenging the nerve whilst similarly grained vocals leave no atom untested. It is an uncompromising mix of beauty and beast like sonics, a ferocity lurking with rabid intensity just waiting its chance to feed but held in check by the potent melodic toxin pervading the track.

    [Seek Help] does nothing but further impress as the likes of the toxic, lyrically and musically, Revenge, the brooding Tear Me Apart, and the insidious Wish You Dead, unleash their imaginative magnetic poison emotionally and excellence sonically. Though the latter pair do not quite rise to the heights set in place before them there is only the fullest satisfaction and hunger bred from their offerings whilst the outstanding Pedestal soon has the album touching the highest bar again. An industrial scourge honed into an immersive restraint of melodic and electro temptation, the track plays with passions and limbs like a satanic puppeteer, its control and insatiable fascination impossible to resist or not devour greedily.

Both Coffin and Cry At Your Funeral lay an appetising and inflammatory impression deep within inciting and stimulating thoughts and emotions before leaving closing song, the smouldering Scar,  to waltz off with the last ounce of passion yet to be submitted towards the release. Released June 22nd, [Seek Help] is an album which sets the previous thought that Defeat ‘will become a major player in their genre’ in stone making it now a towering undeniable declaration.

www.defeatmusic.com

8.5/10

RingMaster 16/05/2013

 

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Machine Rox – Activate Your Anger

© Alex Cooke Photography

After struggling to catch a breath after the riotous, energetic and overwhelmingly exhausting Activate Your Anger EP from UK industrial/electro band Machine Rox, you can only sit back with a satiated hungry appetite and contemplate basking immediately again in the feast of satisfying sounds. Like that favourite meal you may constantly choose in a restaurant, the release is a familiar and arguably unadventurous encounter for the palate, but one which brings the deepest and fullest senses ravaging pleasure.

Machine Rox began in 2007 as the solo project of Richard Kaltenhauser (aka Richard K), a member of industrial bands Meat Machine and Global Noise Attack (who supported the likes of Rammstein, Napalm Death, and Covenant). His ideas and sounds blended the potent essences of electro, industrial, and ebm with a corrosive metallic guitar bred attack for as subsequent releases show an impacting and incendiary brawl of a magnetic encounter. The arrival of Aga in 2010 on backing vocals and keyboards brought the project into a band stance with two years later joining Aga and Richard (electronics, vocals, guitars), drummer Nuj Farrow and guitarist Valerian Oproiu added their presence for the live aspect of the band. Since then Machine Rox has supported bands such as Leaetherstrip, V2A, and Deviant UK, and played numerous successful and acclaimed shows and festivals. Activate Your Anger follows a quartet of well received EPs which has increased their stature rapidly but with the new Static Distortion Label EP and its increased aggression, intensity, and contagious energy, expectations are of this being a trigger point to even greater awareness.

The London based band immediately coats the ear in a static cursed electro rub instantly joined by heavy caustic riffs, predatory beats, and burning sonics as opener Move Your Body (Until You Die) winds up its lethal dance. A thumping pulse driven rampage with devilment and rhythmic belligerence in tow is an easy persuasion especially with the dual vocals of Richard and Aga offering a devil and angel seduction. Whether from the acidic melodic venom of the guitar or the bewitching wantonness of the electro spotlights and their spearing shafts of warmth, the track is an unrelenting tempest which incites a full engagement and compliance to its irresistible call.

The following Night Riots is not just content to follow in the wake of its compelling predecessor without making its own contagious declaration on the ear which it does by initially provoking and caging the senses in commanding and synapse resonating throaty beats. Hitting the primal target which leads again to capitulation before the forceful and greedy energy as well as the infectious temptation beckoning and grinning from every note and corner of the track, the band without quite matching the potency of the first track holds the passions in its grasp and takes them on an invigorating irresistible ride.

Next Nothing steps up to offer a snarl to the release which reminds of Ghost In The Static, its bruising and scuzzy sound and intensive sinews the most imposing and threatening part of the EP. It like all the songs has hooks which deep root themselves in the listener for the most potent contagion though up against the following Where You Are still looks like a novice in that department. Taking centre stage with an instantaneous swagger and impossibly catchy lure, the new song is an intoxicating hypnotist with sparking crystalline seduction and an authoritative cogent rhythmic web which enslaves the senses and passions. Virulently infectious with a presence which is like Dead Or Alive meets Hanzel und Gretyl with Marilyn Manson and Angelspit in close attention, the track is electro manna for which there is no defence.

Bringing the release to an equally riveting and explosive conclusion is firstly Time To Survive, the track bringing back a thicker muscular wall of sound to further tease and exploit the now brewed ardour towards it with insidiously entrancing sonic enticement and ravenous heavy duty rapaciousness, and finally a remixed version of Next Nothing. Though Activate Your Anger does not offer anything dramatically new, it and Machine Rox unleash a tempestuous energy exploding experience which few recently have rivalled.

http://www.machinerox.com/

8.5/10

RingMaster 28/04/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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WVM – The End Is Only The Beginning

    The End Is Only The Beginning is the upcoming album from multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, performer, programmer, and visual artist WVM and also the EP which is an appetizer to the imminent album. We are taking a look at the five track EP and it has to be said that the album simply cannot come soon enough. Bringing together a stirring and enthralling mix of industrial, metal, gothic rock, and fiery electro, WVM has created a sound and release in The End Is Only The Beginning which incites only the hungriest appetite and passion. It is a tremendous force of invention and invigorating creativity which is as accomplished and as happy to caress and seduce as it is to ravage and violate, both extremes greedily welcomed when fused together this impressively.

The EP we assume is the recording debut of the Los Angeles based artist, but is a release showing the craft and touch one would expect of someone well-endowed in experience and know how on how to bring the strongest potency to his armoury. Whether his history is one of numerous endeavours or actually is his first appearance in any form, the stature of the songwriting and its stunning realisation is immense. Mixed by Sean Beavan (Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson), whose private studio Blue Room Studio WVM was given access to for the recording of the vocals, the EP can be best described across its length as Nine Inch Nails meets Gary Numan and The The with additional flames from Marilyn Mansion, Depeche Mode, and Fear Factory, individual tracks offering different permutations.

The opening pair of tracks on the EP immediately exploits the appetite for muscular enterprise and resourceful melodic persuasion with expressive and riveting creativity. When Universes Collide, one of three tracks featuring Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle) on drums, instantly chews on the ear with raptorial riffs and exhausting rhythms before expanding its sinews to allow the emergence of scintillating electronic washes and equally excellent vocals, the tones of WVM clean and expressive yet with a steel to match the forceful sounds. Into its stride the track is a mountainous march of epic atmospheres and impacting intensity which engages an anthemic breath to its incendiary presence. It is an adrenaline coursing encounter in contrast to the slower more deliberate prowl of The Echoing, though both tracks are equal in their potent impact and invention. The melodic and vocal embrace of the track has a smouldering heat to their contact whilst the heavy stance of the track alongside a Ultravox like electro inducement, consumes with a weight which devours and rewards with mutual greed.

The outstanding Black Sun makes its entrance upon electro affected vocals and a brewing ambience which is warm yet provocative of something larger to come. What does rip from its expanse is a thrilling weave of electronic elegance and ingenuity forged to a heavy rock spine complete with metallic lures and hooks. Across its sizzling twisting invention and unpredictably shifting stances, the track reminds of John Foxx era Ultravox with the ravenous energy of Pitchshifter and further magnetic sonic temptation of Celldweller, whilst the guest appearance of Chris Vrenna (Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Tweaker) on drums only drives its vigour deeper.

For A Better Tomorrow steers its presence towards electro pop with a definite eighties lilt, though again the rhythms and vein of the song still holds intimidation and weight to charge up the desires of any metal favouring fan, the beats of Freese showing no interest in taking it easy on the listener. The melodic caress of the synths is bewitching and with the compelling menace courting its charms, the likes of Trent Reznor, Numan, or even Thomas Dolby spring to mind.

Closing song Escapism, again with Freese adding intense bone to the sublime industrial encircling of the senses, roams around and preys on the passions with the strongest NIN influenced presence on the release whilst aligning those flavours to its own carnivorous snarl and persistent sonic taunt. It is an exceptional end to a tremendous EP in quality and endeavour. WVM is on the path to great things one can only surmise with this outstanding release whilst the full album of The End Is Only The Beginning cannot come soon enough.

https://www.facebook.com/WVMOfficial

http://www.wvmmusic.com/

9/10

RingMaster 15/03/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Dogfight Sox: Flux EP

    If you are looking for something different and intriguing but also a release which will test your thoughts and maybe even musical boundaries then take a listen to the Flux EP from German electro punks Dogfight Sox. Their five track release is equally inventive and bewildering, inviting and threatening, imaginative and creatively distorted but for the whole fully captivating.

Formed in September 2011, the Nürnberg duo of Crimson (guitars, vocals) and Indigo (programming, vocals) has taken no time in making their mark. Bringing a dramatic fusion of industrial, electro punk, psyche rock, and hiphop coated in invasive ambiences, the pair saw 2012 offer them a big year. From releasing their debut album Lunatic Fairytales and winning a band contest to performing at Weinturm Open Air alongside the likes of Dendemann, Käptn Peng, and Talco, playing the Danke-Festival, and lastly releasing this EP, it has been a massive twelve months sure to continue into 2013.

Released through Dungeon Recordings, Flux soon has thoughts and senses agitated and magnetised with opening track Konichiwa Bitches! A flourish of electronic teasing is accompanied by pulsating forceful pulses and blistered beats to wake up the ear before harsher guitar rubs leave their acidic touch alongside the rapped vocals. It is a provocative prowl and declaration which shifts between incendiary menace and total absorption, persistently a blend of both for the main. It is a sonic world within a song, the mini soundscape harsh or melodically resplendent with caustic atmospheres or warm whispers bringing their distinct voices to the intent and sound of the compelling song. Like a mix of Shrikes, The Karma Party, and Celldweller the track is an exciting and inciting impressive start.

The following Templum engages with native chants and calls whilst a guitar courts the heavy beats, the initial contact again riveting and posing questions within thoughts which though arguably never answered are easily satisfied by the continually startling sounds and imagination. Like its predecessor the song is unpredictable and intent on stretching its and your limits with sure craft, sonic contagion, and provocative confrontation.

From the arguably easier accessibility of the first two songs, the release tests and stretches patience and creative walls even further starting with the acerbic Sunfall. The track is a furnace of burning sonics, explosive intensity, and vocal malevolence forged into a squall of corrosion though throughout the song startles with slight-of-hand electro spikes and taunts.

Songs Of Distant Earth and The Intergalactic Chimpanzee Frenzee completes the concord of imagination and stimulation aggravation, the first a reflective reserved piece of design with elegant synths caresses, sonic manipulation, and fiery inducements. It once more brings impressive diversity to the release whilst refusing to give the listener an easy ride, something which would leave only dissatisfaction, the testing pose of each track as essential as their sounds and rewarding to the listener. The final song was the only low point on the release though it still has a senses busting charm which leaves one unsure. A seemingly tongue in cheek track which is best described as Kottonmouth Kings does industrial, it is hard to take the track too seriously due to the vocals which is a shame as musically the band again creates something invigorating, even  though it does throw everything in but the kitchen sink.

Flux is a convincing and pleasing release which impresses far more than it antagonises, though even those moments have their worth. Dogfight Sox is a band creating fresh inventive storms within industrial/punk electro and set to create even stronger tempest of creativity ahead.

https://www.facebook.com/Dogfightsox

Grab the EP as a free download @

http://dungeon.bandcamp.com/album/flux-ep

8/10

RingMaster 07/03/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Moving Mountains: Various

    From Juggernaut Services, Moving Mountains is a compilation all industrial, harsh electro, and EBM fans needs to know about and welcome with greedy open arms. The release brings some of the best underground artists and sounds into the light whilst simultaneously showing that the above genres have never been healthier and more vibrant at their still to be discovered cores.

Formed by music writer and co-editor of Brutal Resonance magazine Nick Quarm in the summer of 2012, Juggernaut Services has swiftly built up a formidable reputation for its work in supporting and helping new and struggling artists get their creative sounds further in the world. The management and promotion company provides bands with know-how and support to help overcome and succeed against the challenges the emerging artist within the industrial and electro scene encounters. In a short time the company has earned a strong name for itself and with first release Moving Mountains, has put some of their impressive clients under keen focus.

The album brings together the darker more heavily aggressive artists working with Juggernaut Services, and an impressive collection of artists it is. Offering a wide soundscape ranging the full length of industrial and harsh electro shadows, the fifteen track album is a constant incitement to the senses and pleasure for the passions. Generally any compilation has dips across its length due to personal tastes when covering an eclectic expanse of flavours but Moving Mountains is one riveting ride from first synth coaxing to its last lingering touch, impressively supporting the earlier statement of the status of underground music.

The release opens with One For You, One For Me 2010, a previously unreleased track from US industrial band nolongerhuman. Emerging from a dawning horizon of emotive ambience the track brings sampled female vocals into a gradually squeezing wrap of brewing intensity and resonating beats. Into its stride the song opens up its doors to a full prowl of agitated melody soaked energy and simmering heat which simultaneously brings its own distinct shadows into the heart of the elegant yet sinister encounter. It is an impressive start soon surpassed by the following Tactical Module track Dead Zone and then Teenage America from Cease2xist. From the UK, both projects have had great recent success with releases, the first with the Dead Zone EP from which this track is taken and the second with the album You Are Expendable which has given the two songs (Tonight the other)from the band on the album. Dead Zone is a seductive scourge with malicious shadows driven by the insidious rabid tones of guest vocalist on the Michael Davis project, Osmar Diaz from Mexican industrial act Acrophilic Project. It is a compelling scarring matched by Teenage America, a virulent song of destructive mesmeric resonance from Dayve Yates and his solo project which feasts on the dissidence and antagonism within us all.

As the dangerous temptation of All Gone Awry from San Jose duo RetConStruct and the fermenting brilliance of Halloween from Polish electro/industrial band Controlled Collapse encroaches upon the senses the album already is making the greatest persuasion of its purpose and the depth of important sounds around. Each track on the album inspires a richness of impressed and excited responses to rifle through thoughts and emotions, the likes of Warsickle with their two stirring instrumentals and a sensational track from Plastic Noose as well as equally incendiary second songs from RetConStruct and nolongerhuman fully impacting rewards.

Further highlights which suck the breath away from the senses come through the two industrial metal tempests from Eschaton Hive, a second restless intrusion from Controlled Collapse and the corrosive grandeur of the blistering force Tapewyrm. Zombie Attack Plan and Want.Need.Have from Eschaton Hive ravage the listener with caustic elegance and irresistible sonic teasing united in contagious brawls which send its victims into rapture whilst gnawing on their synapses. The band takes top honours on the release though seriously challenged throughout with the addiction causing This Nightmare from Controlled Collapse and the acid burn of Insomnia from industrial noise conspirers Tapewyrm with its rasping sonic licking of the senses violations of the highest order.

Moving Mountains leaves the clearest indication of the freshness and force within industrial driven music right now whilst offering up some of the finest new invention from the most imaginative emerging bands, and as a Name Your Price purchase it is an invitation impossible to refuse.

http://music.juggernautservices.com/album/moving-mountains

Tracklisting

1. nolongerhuman – One For You, One For Me 2010*

2. Tactical Module – Dead Zone

3. Cease2xist – Teenage America

4. RetConStruct – All Gone Awry

5.Controlled Collapse – Halloween

6. Warsickle – Help From Outer Space

7. Eschaton Hive – Zombie Attack Plan

8. RetConStruct – The Maelstrom

9.Warsickle – Call For Help

10. Tapewyrm – Insomnia

11. Cease2xist – Tonight

12. Controlled Collapse – This Nightmare

13. Plastic Noose – Zu Allen

14. Eschaton Hive – Want.Need.Have

15. nolongerhuman – Transcend Humanity

9/10

RingMaster 07/03/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Calming Cyclones: Various

     Accompanying their Moving Mountains compilation album, Juggernaut Services and its founder Nick Quarm have released a second album of artists working with the management and promotion company. Calming Cyclones brings together tracks and bands which reap the rewards of and flourish within calmer melodic areas of industrial/electro. Consisting of sixteen tracks the album is a warm and refreshing further evidence of the passion and powerful imagination and creativity within underground electronic music right now, something which has maybe always been the case but now with the likes of Juggernaut has an emerging voice to be heard by.

     Made up of tracks from ten artists, with some offering two entries, the album offers the dancefloor and emotions a vibrant alternative to unleash its passions to, a collection of new artists for which invention and original thought is as instinctive as breathing. The album opens with Burning Down from XP8, a duo from Italy, who also closes the release with the track Trip remixed by Cutoff:Sky. The song is a riveting expanse of golden electro kisses with an acidic heat coursing through the elegance but also offers a sinister intimidation across its embrace which is startling and unforgettable. Infectious and virulent to feet and passions, the track is a potent opening statement for the album, soon ably backed up by UK band MiXE1. The solo project of Michael Evans, the band engages and seduces the ear with the delicious embrace of Breathe, a song which smothers the senses in warmth and melodic mastery brought through emotive radiance. Originally released on the EP Module 01 via Static Distortion Records, the track like the first holds a menace deep within its heart which snarls from within the dazzling depths. Evans also offers a second song in the even more impressive electro tease of This Is Not Goodbye from Module 02, the song a union of extremes and unpredictability offering a NIN/ Celldweller meets Sonic Syndicate treat.

Another band which ignites the fullest rapture on the album is Oklahoma based electronic band, Pittersplatter who firstly with Necrotech enthrals and deliciously contaminates the senses with explosive cyber spawn melodies and an exhausting soundscape before returning again later to equal strength and addictive allurement with Mummies And Music Boxes and its invidious sonic theatrics.

Throughout its rich breadth the album continues to enchant and raise shadows with craft and enterprise. The album like its sister release has  impressive consistency in quality, imagination, and depth to all the tracks featured. Most single compilations waver within personal tastes but the pair from Juggernaut Services ignites the passions with every minute of their declarations. The likes of Manchester, UK band Cortex Defect with their two slices of future pop, Bliss Of Surrender and Heart Of Dust (Club Mix), the twin goth/darkwave offerings Messiah and Songs Made Of Solitude And Pain from Belarus band Kaltherzig, and Washington DC Retrogramme all cast their diverse and emotive sonic instigations upon the listener bringing the fullest rewards. The last of the three is a trio of musicians who create a tapestry of synthpop, darkwave, and ambience into a mesmeric and enveloping atmospheric encounter with a pop lit heart and electro voice. On Calming Cyclones their songs 911 For Locals and Heaven Is Closer Than You Think entice and infuse the most open of emotions and pleasure.

The likes of Revenant Cult from Australia and Canadians Psykkle with their dark electro continue the shifting infection upon the album whilst Scottish misanthropes Plastic Noose ensure the album ends on an elevated pinnacle in the sonic sedition Road To Perdition immediately backed up by Tactical Module and the Cortex Defect Remix of Dead Zone.

As with its companion compilation, Calming Cyclones in its own unique and distinct presence leaves the previously hidden shadows of industrial/electro underground with all it glorious detours an openly lit invitation, something which to ignore would be irresponsible to the passions.

Get the Name Your Price purchase @ http://music.juggernautservices.com/album/calming-cyclones

8/10

Tracklisting:

1. XP8 – Burning Down

2. MiXE1 – Breathe

3. Pittersplatter – Necrotech

4. Cortex Defect – Bliss Of Surrender

5. Kaltherzig – Messiah

6. Retrogramme – 911 For Locals

7. Revenant Cult – Spectral Heresy

8. MiXE1 – This Is Not Goodbye

9. Cortex Defect – Heart Of Dust (Club Mix)

10. Pittersplatter – Mummies And Music Boxes

11. Retrogramme – Heaven Is Closer Than You Think

12. Kaltherzig – Songs Made Of Solitude And Pain

13. Psykkle – City Of Nodes (Revenant Cult Remix)

14. Plastic Noose – Road To Perdition

15. Tactical Module – Dead Zone (Cortex Defect Remix)

16. XP8 – Trip (Remixed By Cutoff:Sky)

RingMaster 07/03/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Desolation Yes!: Out of Orbit

Reaping the essences of electro, pop, punk, and rock with many other fiery whispers of sound in the mix, Scottish / Slovakian band Desolation Yes! has released their new album, a collection of songs which rampage with a hunger and instinctive need to provoke and confront. Out of Orbit is a release which perfectly satisfies with infectious enterprise and compelling energy, though at times it struggles to truly ignite the passions. Upon it though the band is experimenting and stretching their diversity with open imagination which is never a bad thing.

The Glasgow based quartet found an escalation in interest in 2008 when the band began working on their debut album, CyberNation with Scottish independent record label Neon Tetra Records, which was released in 2010. The singles Templeton/Instinct (2007) and Future Pop (2008), which subsequently appeared on the album, found a strong reception and soon found extensive radio play to set up the album release as well as a wealth of impressive reviews whilst the band shared stages with the likes of The Whip, Crystal Castles, Alec Empire, Howling Bells, NoMeansNo, Simian Mobile Disco, Jubilee, and Mortiis. 2011 saw the current line-up of Paul Elliott (vocals/synth/programming), Jagged (guitar/programming), Miro Cuba (drummer/percussionist/synth), and Shisho (bass), begin work on Out of Orbit which easily gives evidence of the time and thought the band put into it.

The album explodes with a bang in the ear through opener Shivers and the following Atrophy, both sinewy charges of electro rock with industrial and pop teasing. The opening song initiates contact with electro pulses and taunts before stretching into a rampant surge of bulging basslines and coarse riffs loaded with the expressive vocals of Elliott. The song brings restraint to its charge at times to allow a breath to be taken before the high tempo riot resumes but by its end the listener is found breathless and enthused about the prospects of the album ahead. The following Atrophy unleashes a more electro voice though throughout the guitars and bass add a snarl and bite to the synth driven wash whilst the beats of Cuba resonate with power across bone and senses. Both songs have an over powering feel of Wall Of Voodoo about them, in sound and in inventive use of aural colours.

From such an impressive start maybe a drop in intensity and temptation was to be expected and despite the likes of One and Silence being accomplished and satisfying songs they do suffer alongside their predecessors. It was a tall order to contend with and the first with its slight Placebo/ Stan Ridgway tasting stroll and the second with its emotive lure both are pale in comparison though as stand-alone songs find a firmer hold.

Repent with its Axis Mundi like mischief and industrial/trance like rock and frantic gait lifts things once more though lyrically it passed by only raising an eyebrow at its lyrical intent. Musically the song is an urgent and forceful agitator to get the pulse rate up once again, if still adrift from previous heights, and is soon backed up by the growl of Radio. From this moment the album slips in a punk attitude vocally and bite musically which fully grabs a returning intensive attention and appetite.

Army Of Flesh is an intriguing soundscape of militant drums and dramatic keys with image evoking cinematic samples filling its suggestive air. It is an excellent track which firstly exposes further diversity in the song writing and imagination of the band whilst its climactic vocal repeat of the title offers a Theatre Of Hate inspiration which in turn ignites thoughts and emotions in the listener.

Hitting the dancefloor with a brewing tempest of electro pop and thick imposing ambience, Psychoelectrical coats the senses in a testing expanse of industrial/synth rock with rich rewards showering from its melodic skies and burly veins whilst the closing pair of Tech and America ensures the release departs with a couple of challenging and provoking slices of punk electro power.

Desolation Yes! and Out of Orbit leave strong satisfaction and enjoyment behind if also a sense it missed an opportunity to exploit greater heights and fires within the listener. Very worthy of checking out though followed by multiple returns

www.desolationyes.com

7/10

RingMaster 04/03/2013

Theatre Of Hate

Dark corners and caustic intent: an interview with Varicella

A maelstrom of ravenous intensity and demonic caustic caresses, the debut EP from US industrial band Varicella has brought an uncompromising destructive start to the year. Released through the impressive emerging underground label Bluntface Records, We Belong Dead was a predator of old school eighties style industrial which experimented with and pushed brawling sonic boundaries. Taking the opportunity to find out more about the project through founder Chris Bollinger and guitarist Chris Pasquarelli, we looked at the release, the origins of the band and horror movies…

Welcome to The RingMaster Review and thanks for talking with us.

Varicella – Thank you! And thanks for giving us the chance to talk with you! We appreciate the opportunity.

For the uninitiated, tell us about Varicella, its beginnings, and the inspiration for the project.

Chris Bollinger – Well this is going to be a “really” long story, and I will try to shorten it as best I can, LOL. Varicella is at the moment, a two person industrial/metal/electronic dance music/experimental band. And when I say at the moment, I mean, that we did have a bassist who also did some synth work. He was responsible for a decent amount of what the band sounds like now. But sadly, we had to let him go from the band, and that’s all I’m going to say about that. We do hope to add a live bassist and drummer at some point, but it is hard finding the right people who fit and so forth.

As for the beginnings of the band, well as it states in our BIO on Facebook or Reverbnation, I started the project back in 2008. I’ve always wanted to do an industrial type of band, even when I was in high school back in 2000/2001. I just never found anyone that was on the same page as me or liked what I liked. But anyway, I started this in 2008 and did a few things wrote a few songs, some are on our We Belong Dead EP actually. We just updated them. Then I had to put it on hold because of to many people coming and going. I mean, I think I went through 4 or 5 guitarists until I found Chris Pasquarelli. I posted several ads online and for about 2 years, I never got an answer or I did but their style didn’t fit my style, or they wanted to do the more aggrotech / terror EBM style of industrial and I don’t want to do that. So it was a super long time between people. And during that our old bassist answered one of my ads. We talked and began to work together over the internet with a site called Soundcloud. At the time he was working a job that was 3rd shift overnight and I work a standard 9 to 5 type of job. So our schedules were completely opposite. But I’m determined to do this so things got done! LOL. Then as I mentioned above I found Chris Pasquarelli, through Facebook no less, LOL. We both were clicking like on each other’s posts or comments, and then somehow he saw I did music and said we should jam. I was really impressed with him. That was last April and he’s been in the band ever since that first jam. Yes, he’s that good!

As for the inspiration, I’d have to say just my love of the old 80’s and early 90s industrial, bands such as Ministry, KMFDM, Skinny Puppy, and Frontline Assembly. And then on top of that I love White Zombie and Nine Inch Nails, and thrash metal type of bands like Slayer, Testament, Megadeth, Pantera and other hard rock or punk bands like Alice in Chains, Danzig, Tool, Filter, Misfits and The Ramones. So, I just wanted to do something that was in the vein of those bands/artists but not a direct rip off. I wanted to make heavy dance music. Songs that have a heavy dance beat that’ll make the girls shake their asses to it, but at the same time it has a thrash metal guitar part or groove to the guitars that’ll make the dudes head bang to it. Hopefully that makes sense to anyone out there. LOL.

What was it about music which you felt was missing and leaving you cold as a listener as well as a musician, when starting Varicella?

Chris B. – Pretty much as I said above, everyone was making the all synth based aggrotech / terror EBM type of industrial, and I didn’t want to do that. I have nothing against it and I like most of it. I listen to Combichrist, Psyclon Nine, Imperative Reaction, Wumpscut and other various bands that have that sound. It’s just not the type of music that I wanted to do personally. And I think that made it harder to find a guitarist too, because that style is really popular right now. The style we do is not popular. Which does make things harder but at the same time, we can transcend a few genres of music and play with different types of bands. Which I find pretty cool! LOL.

Chris Pasquarelli – When I joined Varicella last April I liked the music, but I wanted to make it heavier and more edgy. Most of the songs had basic plug-in computer guitars which the typical computer programs use and I liked it but I didn’t like how noticeable it was that it was not recorded by real guitars as opposed to computer guitars. Within the last 9 months I’ve been in the band I can say that I am really happy with the overall sound our music has with my added guitar and bass tracks.

Was this music in general or more the industrial/electro genre you did not find a connection with?

Chris B. – I’d say yes, mostly in the industrial/electronic genre, but I’ve been a little bored with the rock and metal genre too. Not much is catching my attention in the rock and metal genre. There are a few “really” good bands in the all of those genres, but you have to weed through thousands of copies or clone bands to find the 4 or 5 good ones. It’s tough.

How do you feel about the scene and music now we stand in 2013?

Chris B. – Pretty much the same. Some things have gotten better. Like, it’s easier to spot the better bands versus what I call the “bedroom” bands. These are people that just sit in their homes, make and release music, but never play a live show. Ever! There were a massive amount of them back in 2007 to 2009. Maybe even before that. I’m not 100% sure. But now, it’s about 99% easier to weed through and see those types of bands. And I’m not knocking those people. Some make very good music. I probably own some, LOL. But it’s just not what I want to do. I want to actually see the fans and talk to them and so forth, not sit in my bedroom and stare at a computer monitor.

What are the biggest influences which inspires your sound?

Chris B. – Ministry, mostly the early stuff, Twitch, The Land of Rape and Honey, The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste and Psalm 69. Those 4 albums blew my mind and still amaze me. I can’t believe Al and Paul did what they did at that time. It’s amazing! KMFDM, almost anything they do is great! Same goes for Skinny Puppy. Got to love Ohgr too! And then White Zombie, La Sex and Astro Creep are two great albums that shaped my teenage years!

Chris P. -  Behemoth, Deicide, At The Gates, Cannibal Corpse, Cradle Of Filth, Children Of Bodom, Burzum, Darkthrone, Death, The Black Dahlia Murder, Cryptopsy, Anorexia Nervosa, Nine Inch Nails, Orgy, Deadsy, Psyclon Nine, Dimmu Borgir, Marilyn Manson, Static x, Old Mans Child, SOAD and many more!  As far as my sound goes I’m influenced by many bands, I just try to make the heaviest guitar and bass lines too fit our songs.

The early days were unsettled for the band I believe, through line-up problems? Was this the reason for Varicella going on hiatus or actually at the time was it the end of the band? 

Chris B. – They were. And I think I quit about 4 or 5 times. Gave up and stopped all together type of quitting. I was just really frustrated, and things were going nowhere. As I said, it was about 2 years before I found Chris Pasquarelli on guitar

Varicella reformed/re-emerged in 2011, what was the spark that made that the time to bring the project back to active life?

Chris B. – Skinny Puppy. Skinny Puppy came out with a new album called “HanDover” back in late 2011. Also Ohgr released another one of his solo albums early in 2011, called “undeveloped”. And I just said, fuck it, these are super good, I need to get my shit together, and get this project going! Especially “HanDover”! It’s over a year later and that album is still constantly on my iPod.

Chris P. – I was still in high school when I joined and I was in several other projects at the time when I joined Varicella. I’ve been serious about music for most of my life And I felt frustrated with a lot of the people I jammed with at the time because no one else was as into the band thing as I was until I joined Varicella, so I was really excited to be a part of a band which was serious about their music.

 Back to influences/inspirations, which predominantly spark and shape your songs and lyrics, the areas which ignite your ideas?

Chris B. – Movies, mostly horror and sci-fi movies. TV shows, comics and/or graphic novels. You wouldn’t think it, but Doctor Who is another spark that started two songs lyric wise. And one song music and lyrics, called “The Sound of Four”. And then there are some ideas that come from real life experiences. Like the song “Obsessed with flesh”.  The lyrics in that song can be applied to anything where a person feels they are being used and/or abused. But the major theme of that song comes from a person I wanted to date, but she didn’t want a steady boyfriend or a relationship. So we were just friends with benefits. After a few months of that she all the sudden stops talking to me. I can’t get a hold of her. She doesn’t want to hang out let alone do other stuff. Then a few weeks go by, and I find out she’s in a relationship and that’s why she just dropped me. I was fairly pissed off, and felt a little used. Same goes for the song “All Hail”, that’s sort of my views on brutal honesty with a little jab a religion. I’m a brutally honest person and a straight shooter. I just think we all spend too much time putting up a front or wearing a mask for certain people. It’s ridiculous.

Chris P. – As far as our music goes guitar and bass wise, I kind of do a Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Static X guitar and bass meets extreme metal vibe. For example in our song Mind Fucked I wrote a melodic guitar rhythm that a stripper could dance to, and metal heads could throw down too and fuck each other up in the mosh pits too as well. This has been a huge influence in writing for me, and I’m not exaggerating at all. Every time I right new material For Varicella I always keep Strippers and mosh pits in mind.

You have just released your We Belong Dead EP via Bluntface Records; does this contain all new tracks or material with seeds and feet from the earlier presence of the band as well?

Chris B. – A little bit of both actually. The songs Obsessed with Flesh, All Hail were written back around 2008. Of course they were updated to match the other songs that were new, specifically the song Obsessed with Flesh. There’s this sort of machine type sound going on with the guitars. That’s from the way Chris Pasquarelli plays the song. He bends the strings a certain way at a certain time to get that specific sound. That’s all him! So if we had a different guitarist that didn’t play it that way, it wouldn’t sound that way.

How long did the EP take to create and how far did it or songs evolve from the initial ideas?

Chris B. – It didn’t take too long actually. Most of the blue print was laid out in 2008. We just updated some things here and there as I said. We started working on these songs in late 2011 and finished in the fall of 2012. Obsessed and All Hail didn’t change much. Chris Pasquarelli just added his own style to them. The Sound of Four came together very quickly! Music and the lyrics. I think it was done in only a few months. We Belong Dead went through a few changes. LOL. The original idea came from our old bassist Tim. I just sort of took the synth sound, and remixed it adding in other elements. I went through about 4 versions of that song until we hit on a verse / chorus / verse pattern. But it didn’t become what it is now until Chris Pasquarelli joined, and added the guitar riff that grooves over top the synth part in the verses.

There is a cinematic feels to your tracks on We Belong Dead, a visual ambience beyond the lovely corruption of sound and breath. Obviously it has seeds in the influences to songs you mentioned earlier but has it been a natural result of your personal interests or something you have crafted intentionally?

Chris B. – Thank you very much. I would say this is not intentional, at least on a conscious level. I mean, I try to create songs that have multiple meanings on multiple levels to them. This is why I like to add in certain Movie or TV show samples. They help me to tell the story of the song better. Or they reference things in my lyrics.

What are your hopes for the EP in relation to opening up future opportunities for the band and is there a particular moment or track on the release which is Varicella at its purest, where its heart is most open?

Chris B. – Well first and foremost this EP is a stepping stone to our full length release that’ll be out something later this year, probably fall or winter of 2013. We also hope this EP will help us get any attention to tour or play more shows. We’d love to do a tour! Even if it is just a small 2 or 4 week local tour. Of course a bigger 2 month or more tour would be great too!

Varicella at its purest? Not sure. Obsessed with flesh is pretty personal. As I mention above, that one involves a bad relationship with a girl. The Sound of Four is about feeling like you don’t exist in this world, so maybe those two songs. They might not sound like it, but most of my lyrics are real and from the heart.

Chris P. – I’m hoping this EP will open more doors for Varicella by getting us more fans and shows etc. I agree with Chris I think Obsessed with flesh is pretty out there in terms of being us at our purest.

How did you and Bluntface link up and what have been the benefits already from their support and presence?

Chris B. – Johnny from Virus Cycle had an open call for bands on his compilation last summer. From there, I saw that Otto was doing another compilation through the Bluntface site. Otto remembered our song and dug our sound, and a few months ago he sent me an email. He said the label was expanding, and asked if we wanted to join up with him. It seemed like a really good offer that we didn’t want to pass up. So we agreed.

There have been a huge amount of benefits! We’ve had internet radio air play. The review of our EP from you guys, and a few other interviews, and we did a “live” on air interview on 13SRadio.com. We also have another one that we’re doing at the end of this month. Everything Otto said he would do for us, he’s doing! So we’re extremely happy.

How are you managing to promote the EP and are there live shows happening or planned?

Chris B. – We’ve been promoting it on the various social media networks, Reverbnation, Facebook, Twitter, and a few other sites. We’ve been playing shows since last October when we opened for My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Left Spine Down, and Panzer Division. Left Spine Down said we were loud and they liked our cover of Ministry’s Burning Inside. Since then, we’ve had a show every month, except for December, we played two that month. We’re taking February off to write and record some songs for the full length album. And we’re playing a show on March 23rd in Philadelphia at Motel Hell. Details are on our Facebook page

There are plenty of opinions from artists within industrial and its plethora of varied corners which say there is a current curse of backbiting and disrespect within the genre between musicians and those involved, how have you found the situation personally?

Chris B. – There are a few bands and people, not exclusively in the industrial/electronic music genre, that have been disrespectful to us. It does bother me at times, because it’s usually from bands/artists that think they’re bigger than they are, but they’re not. They have this ego trip and they act like you’re beneath them. It’s sad actually. And we try to not be like that. If you’re cool with me, then I’m cool with you, simple as that. But that’s just how it is, and it’s the same with the movie business. Everyone’s two faced. It doesn’t matter if you’re a local band or a huge touring band. You will run into a few that are like that.

Is there anything, band or releases, which have captured your imaginations recently and added extra flavour to your thoughts and ideas for your next compositions?

Chris B. – Wow, good question. Not too many “newer” bands. There are some bands that have been around for a little bit that are releasing newer albums. Dawn of Ashes, KMFDM, Skinny Puppy, Alice in Chains, Megadeth and Filter. I’m a pretty big Filter fan. Their last album “The Trouble with Angels” was really great! Still listening to that. Testament just released a very good album. Frontline Assembly and Tweaker also just put out newer albums. Even though FLA is more of a soundtrack, it’s still very good. Been listening to the “Tron Legacy” score by Daft Punk off and on for a few weeks. All of those keep my imagination going. Especially the “Tron Legacy” score. That CD just amazes me! It’s really good!

What is next creatively for Varicella?

Chris B. – We are currently working on our full length album. It will be all the songs from the EP plus about 5 or 7 more originals and maybe 2 or 3 remix songs.

Many thanks for sparing time to chat with us, any last thoughts you would like to share?

Chris B. – Thank you for giving us this opportunity. We appreciate it very much! Last thoughts…just check us out on Facebook or Reverbnation. Go to the Bluntface Records site and check out all the great bands there! If you haven’t already, please download our “We Belong Dead” EP. And thanks to everyone who’s helped and supported us along the way!

Finally, you said horror movies are big elements in your personal loves, so give us three films which are engrained in your passions to the extent you know lines off by heart.

Chris B. – 1) The Evil Dead films and Army of Darkness. Classics in my book and Army of Darkness just has so many great quotable line! 2) Almost all of the John Carpenter films, even the movies that are not horror movies. The Thing, Halloween, Prince of Darkness, Escape from NY, Big Trouble in Little China, In the Mouth of Madness, and Christine are some of my favourites of his. 3) Hellraiser 1 and 2. Those movies together feel like one really long awesome movie.

Chris P. – I’m right on board with Chris Bollinger’s horror movie tastes especially with the Hellraiser and Evil Dead Series. Some of my favourite horror movie quotes are Evil Dead 2’s “groovy” right after Bruce Campbell put a chainsaw where his possessed hand used to be, The priest’s quote “I kick ass for the lord” right before he fights zombies in the grave yard with his bare hands in Dead Alive and Lastly Chop tops “Oww my plate! My brain is burning nom flashback NOM FLASHBACK!!!!!!” from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.

Read the review of We Belong Dead EP @ http://ringmasterreviewintroduces.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/varicella-we-belong-dead/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Varicella/310239362321042?fref=ts

http://www.bluntfacerecords.com

The RingMaster Review 26/02/2013

RingMaster 26/02/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

Returning to play – An interview with Fredrik Croona.

This month sees the debut album from Swedish harsh EBM/industrial/dark electro band Cynical Existence unveiled, a release which ignites further the already blazing passion inspired for the one man project of Fredrik Croona as forged by his previous two EPs.  The founder and one half of the excellent aggrotech/industrial act Project Rotten and former vocalist of dark electro/industrial band Menschdefekt, Fredrik with his first album Come Out And Play ventures further in to the darkest corners of the human condition through his own personally inspired and emotive experiences and thoughts to provoke and evoke. Grabbing the opportunity to talk with the man again and ask about his new imaginative and melodically abrasive dark engagement we asked him about the release and more…

Hi Fredrik and welcome back to The RingMaster Review. It has been a year since we last talked with you how has the time treated you personally and with Cynical Existence?

Thanks Pete, Wow…really? Time flies when you’re having fun eh? I’ve been keeping active that’s for sure, working on new stuff and playing around quite a bit. I can’t really complain, 2012 was a pretty damn good year and I hope 2013 will be even better.

You are about to release your excellent debut album Come Out And Play in February, how are the emotions as the date it is unleashed draws closer?

I am eager that’s for sure, and I really hate to wait. It will drive me crazy one day, that’s for sure. And it’s not close enough! Damnit, I want it out now! But to be honest, it’s exciting to be able to watch what you’ve been working on for quite a few months become something physical (yes, I already have a few CDs here at my place).

After the well-received responses and acclaim garnered by your previous EPs, A Familiar Kind Of Pain and Ruined Portrait, are the emotions different in regard to Come Out And Play this time around?

I have no idea, haven’t gotten any reviews of the album yet, besides yours of course and you really seemed to enjoy it. I’m hoping that when I do get other reviews and opinions from people they will enjoy it. Well I actually lied, because a few people have heard my teasers and really seem to be digging it haha.

How would you say your songwriting and sounds  have evolved between your first release and the new album and certainly the stuff you are working on now?

In the beginning I don’t think I evolved that much to be honest, I just kept working and working and working on new stuff every f*cking day and basically shooting out tracks. When I started out I could make a track in one day more or less, but the more I actually worked and played around the longer it took to make a track. Now it can take me 3-4 days to complete the music alone (if not even longer sometimes). And when it comes to sound it always depends on what I am listening to at the moment.

Come Out And Play has a stronger intensity and investigates deeper shadows than the EPs, is that fair to say?

Yes, mainly because the album focuses more on my own life and my experiences throughout it. Sure the older tracks are also connected to me in most cases, but this one holds more feelings and I try to express them through my music and vocals. What I can say now thought is that my new stuff is even more personal and deep than the debut.

Again the album is borne of your personal experiences and thoughts then?

Every track I make is more or less personal in its own way and holds a story of its own. What I want to do in the future is actually make a “concept album“ with every track linked to specific events of my personal life. Even thought everything might be personal, there’s still some fiction in there.

How difficult is it to interpret your feelings and thoughts into your music and do you attempt to get the listener to feel exactly what you are revealing or just to feel something?

It’s not really hard at all, since basically as soon as the lyrics are connected with a track and the vocals are on there the song changes from “just another track” to song that actually has a meaning to me. I write music for myself and if I can manage to deliver a message or get the listener to understand what I’m trying to express it’s all great. But in the long run I still focus on making something I feel strongly for.

Where do you start when writing songs?

Hell if I know lol. I just start with whatever comes to mind.

Are you a writer who once a track is finished can leave it alone or someone who has to keep nibbling away at it? I ask as you are known for some great remixes of other artist’s music so wonder if it also applies to your own creations unofficially

It depends, sometimes I throw a track over to a friend to see what they think of it and then maybe we’ll bounce it between each other every time I change something and in some cases I just work on it and feel that it’s ready and well that’s that. And about remixes, I have no idea what you mean since I’ve only made about 3 remixes so far. I hate remixes, it’s boring as hell.

The album also includes a couple of tracks from the earlier A Familiar Kind Of Pain, both songs Paradox and Insecure two of our persistent favourites. Why the inclusion and have you tweaked or revisited them creatively for the album?

Those are two of my first and best tracks ever, so why not? They will rip the dance floors apart! And about changing anything about them, I don’t think I actually did. The album has after all been ready for a few months now.

Do you have any particular moment or track on the album which makes you the proudest or gives you a personal tingle?

I’m broken which is reworked by Pre Emptive Strike 01 is probably the best track in both terms of music and vocals, since it’s very personal to me. Other than that track GDI is fun, and I wonder how many of the listeners will actually manage to figure out what inspired me to create it and where the samples are from.

What is the next step for Cynical Existence after the album, possible live performances?

Going straight forward! Going to work on my second album and get that done and then I’m going to play a few shows in the US this spring, hopefully I might get some more interesting ones. We’ll see what happens.

Could you bring us up to date with your other band Project Rotten? What has been happening in that area of your work over recent months?

We’ve been busy working with the new album that’s been in the works for almost 2 years and then of course we have a new EP coming out tomorrow (1st of February)! So it’s been a busy time and this year will probably also be really busy, hopefully.

Is it still challenging to juggle the two bands or have you found a more relaxed working schedule between the two?

It’s not challenging at all really, I mean I just do vocals and lyrics and Kettil makes the music and the production. So basically he sends me a new track when it’s ready and I create my magic and BAM it’s done. So it’s very laid back.

How different is the buzz between working and releasing something which is created and performed by just you and working with another creative force in Kettil for Project Rotten?

Project Rotten is obviously a lot bigger than Cynical Existence since we’ve been around longer , so I guess PR’s fanbase is bigger and well then it’s pretty obvious that you hear more from the fans on that side than on CE’s side. Naturally I hope that CE’s fanbase will grow even bigger and expand a lot these coming few months. I have to show people how awesome I can be.

Many thanks for sharing time with us again Fredrik and good luck with the new album.

Thank you and hope you will enjoy it even more after a few more listenings.

Would you like to leave with your personal favourite tracks from both Cynical Existence and Project Rotten?

Do I have to? LOL, just kidding. With PR I’d go for a new track called In Total Control and Club Death.

With CE I would go with I’m Broken and GDI

Read the review of Come Out And Play @ http://ringmasterreviewintroduces.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/cynical-existence-come-out-and-play/

https://www.facebook.com/cynical.existence.official

The RingMaster Review 01/02/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright