High Moonlight Interview

From São Paulo, Brazil, High Moonlight recently gave us the pleasure to talk about and get to the heart of its unique sound…

Hello and thanks for taking time out to talk with us.

Can you first introduce the band and give us some background to how it all started?

The band High Moonlight was formed in the late 90s among some friends of the school. All we wanted was to play a good old rock in roll as high as possible, that’s what united us in the beginning. The grunge scene was high at the time, bands like Nirvana, Alice and others dominated the rock scene of the time, we did not like that sound and we wanted to play the good old Heavy / Rock of all time.

We heard Dio, Sabbath, AC / DC, Rainbow … so they were the bands that inspired us. At first we were just a trio, guitar, bass and drums. Like all bands, we used to play several covers of bands we used to sing (Uriah Heep, Dio, Rainbow), but the goal was always their own songs.

Have you been or are involved in other bands?

No, I’ve never been involved with other bands. My focus has always been High Moonlight.

What inspired the band name?

I have always enjoyed mystical, magical, supernatural and related things. That was precisely what I wanted to address in my lyrics. And the moon is a very mystical symbol, both for wizards, enchanted beings, wolves and Lycans, so I chose it as the name of my band and added the word “High” to magnify it even more. High Moonlight is a tribute to this historical and mysterious symbol that is the moon and all the mystical beings that exist or existed and are part of our history.

Do the same ideas and intention still drive the band from when it was fresh-faced or have they evolved over time?

Yes. I still preserve the same principles, the same ideals and the same goals since when I decided to take the music and the band seriously. The initial change was in relation to the members that have been changing over the years.

Since your early days, how would you say your sound has evolved?

At first I made heavy metal with a mix of progressive, the songs were longer. Over time, I have been refining my playing technique and understanding the type of sound I wanted to play. Today my music comes down to an authentic heavy metal and a lot of quality and good taste. All my songs revolve around many original and creative riffs.

Has it been more of an organic movement of sound or more you deliberately wanting to try new things?

No. My sound is defined and based on heavy rock or simply heavy metal, some call it Hard rock but I do not consider it that way.

You have already mentioned some inspirations; are there any in particular which have impacted not only on the band’s music but your personal approach and ideas to creating and playing music?

At first I listened a lot to Rainbow and Ronnie James Dio. This did not impact my sound but it always helped me a lot when composing, because I always wrote or composed my songs wondering what it would be like to have Dio, as a vocalist that is, singing my songs. Blackmore also showed me how to create things out of the ordinary inside Rock n Roll.

Is there a particular process to your songwriting?

First I create the riffs, then I compose the whole song and then I write the lyrics on top of what I just played. Nothing too complicated or different. This is my creative process.

Where do you, more often than not, draw the inspirations to the lyrical side of your songs?

I do not hear much heavy metal when I’m in the process of writing. Instead I prefer to listen to Eastern culture or classical music.

Could you give us some background to your latest release?

Our first EP that is available (for now) only on SoundCloud and as a demo, is a compilation of seven compositions that define well the High Moonlight, both sonorous and thematic. It is a Heavy Metal / Rock n Roll of the best quality possible and really innovative. It’s a way of telling people that it’s still possible to make quality music and good taste and that Heavy Metal, Rock n Roll still has a lot of firewood to burn, you can believe!!! I’m sure that after hearing “Arcturians”, “Storm” or “Inovaya” for example, many will say, “Dude, what’s this sound ?! I’ve never heard anything like it” or else: “Rock is still alive, that’s very good!!!”You can be sure!

Give us some insight to the themes and premise behind the songs.

The lyrics deal with mystical themes, conspiracies and adventures. The sound is based on creative riffs with great melodies and beautiful guitars solos. Worth checking out, yes!

Do you go into the studio with songs pretty much in their final state or prefer to develop them as you record?

Yes. I’m already in the studio with the songs developed in their final stage, practically defined.

Tell us about the live side to the band, presumably a favourite aspect of the band?

Simply play and do shows. This is the living side that motivates us to move on. We do not play for money or fame, we just like to play and period.

It is not easy for any new band to make an impact regionally let alone nationally and further afield. How have you found it?

I do not intend to please anyone with my music. Touch, compose and record for personal satisfaction. That’s what keeps me going as a musician. I’m happy when people share the same musical tastes that I hear and hear, sing and praise the band.

My space as a band is still searching and it is through communication vehicles like this that things happen little by little. Whenever I can try to spread my work around the world anyway, I just need people to pay attention to what I’m talking about and start listening to my songs so they can know and evaluate the work.

How has the internet and social media impacted on the band to date? Do you see it as something destined to become a negative from a positive as the band grows and hopefully gets increasing success or is it more that bands struggling with it are lacking the knowledge and desire to keep it working to their advantage?

I think that ended with creativity in general. But unfortunately it was the way that humanity resolved then I followed what? We need to adjust to these new conditions if we want to play our songs, there is no other way, but this for me is only degrading music in general.

Once again a big thanks for sharing time with us; anything you would like to add or reveal for the readers?

I thank you for the opportunity of this interview and I hope that people who read this can give a check on my work. I’ll leave the link here:

https://www.facebook.com/High-moonlight-1969283040044628/

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-478894939

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9zSetoGXolPDAtl9eM5PWw

Pete RingMaster 12/04/2019

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Owl Company – Iris

Courting the richest essences of metal and heavy rock for a roar which resonates like an invigorating air clearing storm, Brazilian rockers Owl Company have just released their new album. A thirteen track anthemic holler, Iris has an eye on the intimate and worldly explored through sounds which are equally as broad as they are inwardly nurtured; it all resulting in a record which simply thrilled and impressed at every turn.

From São Paulo, the foundations for Owl Company began when vocalist Enrico Minelli and guitarist Felipe Ruiz began writing together, the pair soon bringing in drummer Thiago Biasoli. 2017 saw the release of debut album, Horizon, and the recruitment of guitarist Bruno Solera and bassist Fabio Yamamoto. A flame of attention upon the band was soon burning bright, Owl Company touring the US, and only intensified by the release of their single Pieces which led to them signing with Eclipse Records earlier this year. Now the band is poised to strike internationally with the release of the Matt Wallace (Maroon 5, Faith No More) mixed and Paul Logus (Stone Sour, Pop Evil) mastered Iris.

It opens up with the breath-taking One Last Time. Instantly the great bearish growl of Minelli is melodically snarling in the hug of voracious riffs and tenacious rhythms. A break in its trespass brings spicy grooves and a magnetic swagger bred in a collusion of melodic metal and heavy hard rock. As each song proves, there is an array of flavours entangled in the band’s rousing sound, each spicing united in open craft and hearty endeavour.

It is a thumping start to the album more than backed by the following Boogie Man, the track unleashing its groove from the first second and never relinquishing its lusty grip thereon in. From the earthy grumble of the bass to the voracious enterprise of the guitars, the song is a masterfully animated incitement; Minelli’s tones the ringleader to its anthemic prowess as it grabbed best track honours.

Next up, Rise brings a calmer proposition but one just as earnest in its heart and captivating in its layered dynamics building small crescendos which erupt in emotive intensity. As with all tracks, there is drama in every note and syllable which compels attention, its successor, Antagonist, just one echo in that respect. The band’s new single, it initially badgers and harries the senses before twisting into a flirtatious trespass full of unpredictability turns and stirring imagination. In a clutch of seconds it can stalk and prey on ears and within another few hug its victim with melodic caresses as it proves itself another major peak within the album.

The previous and lead single from Iris is the next,  Shattered Dreams igniting ears and appetite with its own tapestry of styles and textures in an inviting web bordering battlefield of enterprise while Dawn of Days in turn provides a mellower but still fiery offering with Minelli imperial, in a Rasputin way, within the enthralling wiry net of grooves and melody cast by Ruiz and Solera. The big swinging beats of Biasoli as ever provide an imposingly arousing incitement as Yamamoto’s bass springs a sweet spot hitting groove to complete the track’s manipulative persuasion.

Through the big boned, contagious southern rock lined enticement of Broken Paradigm and the predacious emotionally strained lures of Disconnected, the album’s hand only tightens on praise and enjoyment while Forbidden Ground stirs another eddy of full pleasure with its deviously grooved, Clutch-esque bellow. All three hit the spot with the third another pinnacle in an encounter proving an addictive encounter.

The Other Side soon shows that Owl Company are just as adept at emotion woven balladry, the song a tantalising croon with a great mercurial character to its volatile landscape; one especially blossoming on the craft of bass and voice.  Maybe not as immediately striking as those before it, the track only grows by the listen rising to be another big moment within Iris.

The final trio of Shades, with its enlivening dynamics, the intimately reflecting Doors, and the impassioned Angel bring the release to a powerful and stirring close, the final track especially bewitching. Each adds a new shade to the creative palette of Iris and all as rousing in their singularly individual ways as the earlier vociferous anthems.

Among a host of truly impressive and more importantly thrilling encounters to escape 2018, Iris ranks with the very best and Owl Company will soon have to deal with being under the biggest spotlights. Something you can only see them grabbing with eager hands.

Iris is out now through Eclipse Records across most stores.

https://www.facebook.com/owlcoband/

Pete RingMaster 16/11/2018

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Erudite Stoner – Self Titled

There has been quite a few ear seducing instrumental albums over the past year or so but it is hard to remember any as charming yet emotively striking as the self-titled debut album from Erudite Stoner. A one man acoustic based project from Brazil, the band creates music which simply immerses the imagination in beauty and suggestive intrigue. Nothing is imposing and no elements forced, but sound and album provide the paint for a myriad of mental pictures and emotive explorations.

Erudite Stoner is the creation of Matheus Novaes, a guitarist leaning on inspirations from the like of Alcest, Agalloch, Gustavo Santaolalla, and Ulver for his first album. Weaving the potent scents of post-rock, shoegaze, doom, and classical guitar into his sound, the Erudite Stoner freely and so often sublimely caresses ears and strokes the imagination across nine tracks of aural majesty. The pieces of music are the perfect length, never too long and over pushing their persuasive limits but equally never too short and leaving the conjuring of imagery adrift. Together tracks create a seduction hard to get enough of and easy to drift away with time and time again.

The release opens with Spiritual Deliverance, a piece of music initially wrapped in nature’s lonely hug whilst sharing melodic melancholy. A warmth and escape from that harsher climate subsequently surrounds ears, the embrace of acoustic and electric guitar as gentle and descriptive as it is at times dramatically tenacious. It is a bewitching start to the album which continues in the similarly melancholic Alienist. Darker hues line the track’s scenic tempting of melody and tone though, essences flirting with thoughts like shadows in the shade of a lonely yet mesmeric day.

Through the emotive fascination of Ride to Nowhere with its sultrily melodic calm and the elegant theatre of Far Away From City Walls, imaginative interpretation and pleasure only increases. The second provokes thoughts of innocent smiling children within depressing and oppressing landscapes; a superb merger of contrasting shades of sound and emotion skilfully woven before the riveting majesty of There is No Home sends the listener into new and quaint but equally cosmopolitan lands.

The song, as with the craft and skill of Novaes, easily inspires praise, their tempting and composing creating the most inspiring and engrossing moment yet within the release though it still gets eclipse by emerging favourite Waiting For the Storm. Listening to the track is like its title’s suggestion with a melodic peace initially romancing ears and attention while around it slightly darker essences are glimpsed and eventfully felt in a dynamic and deliciously intensive finale. The piece is simply irresistible, a rousing companion for ears and thoughts.

The pair of Sand Path and Roads to Somewhere continues to keep both those aspects busy, each providing their own individual and tempting palette of melody and emotive expressive for the listener to wrap themselves in before the brief and folkishly intimate Left Behind brings the thoroughly enjoyable and bewitching adventure to a close.

Erudite Stoner, band and album, is a proposition of sheer beauty which it is hard to imagine anyone failing to be easily touched and seduced by. Go treat yourselves is our sole recommendation.

The Erudite Stoner album is out now @ https://eruditestoner.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.facebook.com/Erudite-Stoner-784870508325321/?fref=ts

Pete RingMaster 19/04/2016

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

For more exploration of the independent and promotional services check out http://www.zykotika.com

Pathologic Noise – Gore Aberration

It has been twelve years since the release of their debut album, a period where Brazilian death metallers Pathologic Noise, certainly outside of their homeland’s underground scene, has been a big miss for some and, easy to suspect, a secret to a great many more. We can tell you what consumed the band’s creativity since that release but however the band spent the time, musically they have honed and re-energised their striking style of splatter death metal to invigorating effect. Evidence comes with second full- length Gore Aberration, a carnivorous violation of a savaging as thick in addictiveness as it is brutality.

Bred in Belo Horizonte, Pathologic Noise emerged in 1992 and took little time in making their mark upon the local and in turn Brazilian underground scene. First impressions and successes were reinforced by a trio of demos between 1995 and 2001, with debut album Sodomy and Delight on Flesh awakening broader attention and appetites with its release in 2003. As mentioned earlier, the time for the band between that well-received release and Gore Aberration is a mystery but fair to say it was well spent as Pathologic Noise return more creatively vicious, sonically bloodied, and intrusively potent. Major surprises are maybe a lesser factor within their latest album, yet there is stirring freshness oozing from every raw pore of its virulent contagion, which alone helps make Gore Aberration one of the most enjoyable genre releases this year.

     The release opens with Never Ending Blood’n Hate, and an immediate entanglement of spicy grooves aligned to barbarous rhythms. Driven by a ravenous intensity and intent, the track is an uncompromising proposition, especially once the insidious vocal presence, led by bassist Tchescko Suppurator, lays its great toxic tones on the reins of the punishing incitement. With searing enterprise further spun from the guitars of César Pessoa and Claydson Melo, the opener sets the scene and tone of the album whilst igniting the imagination and a quickly greedy appetite.

It is a thrilling start matched by the even heavier footed and predatory Sexual Murder. Rhythmically though drummer L. Muratchas is a more considered protagonist, only unleashing his full venom once the guitars spew tendrils of heavy metal resourcefulness and sonic drama. It is the full-on chewing of the senses through riffs where the song excels especially but fair to say that every second is a thickly enticing lure, emulated and intensified by Pathologic Metal Vision. Again riffs and very often grooves too, descend and nag the senses and psyche like a drill bit on flesh, the merciless torrent of rhythmic barbarity working like a psychotic jackhammer simultaneously. It is a merger reaping havoc across the whole of Gore Aberration and especially torrential and pleasing on the third track.

Master of Suffering flings an infection of rock ‘n’ roll at ears straight way within its instant tempest of sound and attitude, that virulence twisted into a sonic stalking and vocal causticity soon after. The track persistently evolves as an array of imaginative ideas throw temptation into the mix, leading to a great bedlamic but skilfully ordered stomp that employs all ingredients again and again to rousing success.

That psychotic tapestry of sound is never far from the surface of any song within Gore Aberration, always bubbling near if not on the surface as in Bloody Deliriums, a carnal furor firing up an incendiary violation littered with rabid grooves and crippling rhythms, Bass and drums maybe at their most primal and savage here but equally in the following Lights on the Dark Sky. The track is physical and emotional rabidity, a corrosive onslaught but equally a scavenger feeding on bruised senses and through grooves which prey on the imagination as tempestuous rhythms ebb and flow in uncompromising hostility whilst a vocal trespass roams the violent maze of sound with demonic intent.

Pathologic Noise never lower their animus of sound and emotion with the album closing just as sadistic and punishingly insatiable as it had been up to the point of closing pair, Calling with the Deads and War Lust (Queen of Carnal Pleasures), and as cruelly catchy. The first of the final pair roams the senses with a piercing sonic resourcefulness and a wanton rhythmic and riff loaded premise as wild as it is nastily concentrated whilst its successor simply smothers the listener in suffocating intensity amidst a brutal scourge of sound, both tracks thrilling ears and inciting thick pleasure.

Spewing a sound easy to liken to bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, and Morbid Angel, as many have, Pathologic Noise might not be re-inventing the wheel with Gore Aberration but certainly shows all how great and hungry death metal can really get the body and passions going.

Gore Aberration is released November 2^nd via Greyhaze Records and available at https://pathologicnoise.bandcamp.com or http://store.greyhazerecords.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=376

https://www.facebook.com/pathologicnoise/

Pete RingMaster 02/11/2015

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

For more exploration of the independent and promotional services check out http://www.zykotika.com/