Eryn Non Dae. – Abandon Of The Self

May21

Can it really be approaching six years since French metallers Eryn Non Dae. left us and so many others drooling over their last album Meliora. It was a release which continues to lure and led us at the time to boldly suggest that extreme and progressive metal had a band which would “continually stretch the wide genres to impressive heights.” At last they have released its successor in the invasive shape of Abandon Of The Self; an encounter which more than justifies our claim.

Since the release of Meliora, unsurprisingly there have been a fair few bands and releases which have offered similar striking propositions. Many have pushed the boundaries of genres which are never slow in exploring new trespasses and adventures anyway. Abandon Of The Self now steps forward to join that collection of inspiring encounters, and we dare to say from the very frontline of the triumphant wave.

Formed in 2001, as The End, the Toulouse hailing quintet released their debut album, Hydra Lernaïa, through Metal Blade in 2009. It was a spark to attention and an already well brewed reputation the band had nurtured through their live presence and earlier EP. Meliora brought a whole new plateau of sound and imagination with its unveiling in 2012 which Abandon Of The Self has now escalated with its atmospheric drama and sonic invention.

Once again Eryn Non Dae. linked up with Mobo for the recording, mixing and mastering of Abandon Of The Self and swiftly gripped attention and the imagination with opener Astral. It looms in from a distance, static distortion shimmering in its air as a rhythmic shuffle soon infests ears and incites even keener attention. The raw throated scowl of vocalist Mathieu Nogues erupts against the track’s swing, the guitars of Franck Quintin and Yann Servanin gathering their wiry lures to subsequently wind around the pulsating surge of the growing trespass. Calm, clean vocals rise within the brewing tempest, conflicting atmospheres colluding rather than battling around the intrigue and voracity of the song. The rolling beats of Julien Rufié unite with the rhythmic grumble of Mickaël André’s bass to magnetically entice but it is the layers of contrasting textures and the immersive breath of the track which really pulls the listener in.

The compelling start to the album is thickened by the menace lined flirtation of Stellar. Nogues vocally walks through atmospheric intimation; his tones and expression becoming more intense as guitars weave a captivating almost feral aurora of sound as again rhythms court the predacious climate with their manipulative swing. It is a truly magnetic soundscape for ears to embrace and the imagination to explore, the band’s own lyrical and physical suggestion equally sparking fresh ventures in thoughts even as the senses increasingly cower before the brewing celestial storm.

Omni similarly sees Nogues with an initially controlled and provocative presence within a kaleidoscope of melodic and sonic wiring around the ever infectious craft of André and Rufié. Though inescapably invasive and disturbing, the ambient winds cast by Quintin and Servanin are tantalising, hinting and probing the psyche whilst allowing the volatility in the song’s heart and atmosphere to increasingly infest their mercurial weave. As with all songs and the album, every listen unveils new melancholic aspects, rapacious shadows, and dark depths to feast upon but equally a radiance which only draws you back time and time again.

The following Eclipse has a bubbling urgency to its predatory rock ‘n’ roll which arouses the senses just as potently as the atmospheric ferocity and seduction which entangles via the guitars. Every corner of the song and band unleash a compelling statement of emotion and enticement, again lust and fear hand in hand as submission to its evocative inferno was swift and inescapable before the epic flight of Halo invades and consumes, driven by further outstanding rhythmic engineering of song and the senses it manipulates. Getting lost in its soundscape was easy, immersing in its angst and emotional turbulence similarly certain, every moment of its ten minutes plus a refreshing intrusion of body and psyche.

The album closes with firstly Fragment, a pulsating inferno of intensity and untethered dissonance from voice to melodic toxicity and rhythmic incitement, and finally through the apocalyptic realm of Abyss. As with all tracks, the pair escort, no drag the listener through soundscapes which never settle and never allow predictability or an absence of adventure confront ears, the latter especially monstrous yet majestic as ire and fury merge with monolithic beauty and ravenous passion.

Though Abandon Of The Self made an immediate rich and irresistible impact, it was with time that is really gripped and thrilled as those dark corners and skilled layers were further exposed. The band describes their album as “a trip into the depths of the soul”, its press release, “a beast of a release!” We can only endorse both and suggest Eryn Non Dae. have not only sprung their finest moment yet but one of the year’s essential listens.

Abandon Of The Self is out now via Debemur Morti Productions; available @ https://erynnondae.bandcamp.com/ or https://erynnondae.bandcamp.com/album/abandon-of-the-self

https://www.erynnondae.com/ http://www.facebook.com/ERYNNONDAEofficial/

Pete RingMaster 21/05/2018

Kill The Unicorn – Prism

Nov8

The final few words on the press release for Prism, the debut album from Swiss metallers Kill The Unicorn declares that they “are a band to get excited about!” Greedily listening to the eleven track web of sound and intrigue yet one more time to continue concentrated attention it really is impossible to disagree.

Launching from a bed of metalcore ferocity, the album is a kaleidoscope of trespass and suggestion embracing everything from hardcore to groove metal and progressive to post metal whilst fusing an array of funky and jazzy bred psychosis with some classic 8-bit sound mischief. The result is a release which devours and seduces with violence and unpredictability like a deranged dervish; one which is a little unhinged, slightly uncontrolled, and persistently sending ears and imagination to lustful places.

Hailing from Lucerne, Kill The Unicorn emerged in 2014 and took little time in stirring up attention through their live presence which has subsequently seen them share stages with the likes of Promethee, Ghost Iris, Vola, Science of Sleep, Walking Dead on Broadway, Voice of Ruin and many more. 2015 saw the release of a three track demo, an encounter laying the seeds and hints of things to come; the joys and intrigues to be now heard and explored within Prism.

Recorded with producer Aljoscha Sieg (Nasty, Eskimo Callboy, Vitja), Prism hits the ground running with opener Motoko Kusanagi. As the guitar joins an initial 8-bit fingering, a tempest gathers behind, swiftly unleashing its voracious force as rhythms fly and riffs bite. Vocalist Pipo Thalmann is quickly there in the midst growling as a delicious hook and similarly tasty grooves entwine the aggression before the already intensive beats of drummer Matteo Leuthold raise their rabidity and pummel the senses. Already a fusion of metal is at fevered play, expectations are taken to the cleaners by the subsequent twists and turns though the band has still yet to dip into their boldest enterprise hindsight revels. The track is pure bait with the guitars of Ziggy Lebon and Raphael Zumstein as predatory as they are creative conjurors.

The vocal dexterity already suggested within the opener is pushed again within its proper successor, Ode To Spot. Unleashed after the Sinclair-esque loading of Dreams In 56k, riffs and rhythms sink their claws and teeth into eager flesh, the track savaging and gnawing the listener before suddenly turning on its head with a funk/progressive shuffle. Thalmann mixes his throat scuffed squalls with clean vocal and similarly off-kilter expression to match the sounds twisting around him; all the time the bass of Marc Sommerhalder grumbling with bestial discord though eventually even it has to join the swing before a death nurtured storm descends. Like Horse The Band in league with Pryapisme and Cryptopsy, the track consumes the senses before Wormhole To Gliese 556c voraciously infests the psyche with extreme metal hunger and corrosive adventure. Though it never truly deviates from its rapacious remit, the track is just as gripping as its predecessor and unafraid to follow where its instincts wander.

F.U.C.K.U.P. equally has a carnal heart but is soon wrapping its core in System Of A Down like mania and Hardcore Anal Hydrogen similar eccentricity, continually twisting and turning sound, imagination, and the listener alike. There is an early Korn like air to the carnivorous moments before primal outbreak too; adding to a tapestry of unpredictability which hits the spot relentlessly before the progressive beauty and stroll of Me And My Velociraptor invades the imagination with its compelling instrumental. Rousingly and hauntingly infectious, the piece has the body and pleasure bouncing ready for the invasive tone and touch of Conquistador and its tide of punk and metal hostility again impressively steered by the guitars and the vocal prowess of Thalmann. Tightening its grip by the second, the track flings the senses around like a rag doll yet seduces them with nuances and bold turns within its inhospitable consumption.

Through the punishing depths of Catacombs with its maze of sinister deviations and the senses stalking blackened incursion of Ausgefuchst, the album simply reinforces its dexterous invention and uncompromising extreme metal voracity though both tracks have to give way to the even more contentious siege of the senses uncaged by Rendesvouz with Cleopatra. Malevolence drips from every note and syllable here yet equally the band’s untethered imagination soaks every trespassing breath if without revealing the hungry boldness of earlier tracks.

The album ends with Pitch Black VR, a rancorous, skilfully woven and delivered savaging compounding the animosity and inventive craft of Prism with might and boisterousness not forgetting imaginative zeal. It is an unforgiving, mouth-watering conclusion to an album which certainly lit our fires and as that press release suggested it might, our excitement.

Prism is out now and available @ https://killtheunicorn.bandcamp.com/album/prism

http://www.killtheunicorn.com/ https://www.facebook.com/killtheunicornband/

Pete RingMaster 08/11/2017

Something visceral this way comes: entering the wicked clutches of Skitarg

Nov3

Like hell’s harlequins with dark intent entangled in pestilential rage and humour, Swedish extreme metallers SKITARG is an encounter which violates the senses at every turn and pleasures an appetite for “heavy, violent and evil metal” just as eagerly. The evidence is open in a live presence which devours the its audiences and four acclaim garnering albums; the fourth in Los Pulkerz released earlier this year. We grabbed the chance to brave the band’s blackened death bred clown metal trespass with vocalist Barnet, exploring its origins, that new album, and the Swedish language….

Hi, can you first introduce the band and give us some background to how it all started and how you all came together?

Sure, the band started waaaaaay back in 2005 when me (Barnet, which means “The Kid”) and the other singer Necrofilip (which means…er…”Necrophilip”) were checking out some porn on his balcony, as one is want to do. We were talking about starting a new band – we had been playing in a band called HEAD for the last six years but ended that band – and we wanted the name to sound super pissed off. And so it came to be, this year of the unlord 2005, that we named the band SKITARG (which literally translates to “shit angry”, but more idiomatically aptly translates to “pissed off”. It also translates to “free sexuality”, “social security” and “Volvo”, but then again EVERY word in Swedish means that too.).

Have you been involved in any other bands before? If so how has that impacted on what you are doing now, in maybe style or direction?

You bet, I have been in about 15-20 bands and Necrofilip about the same. The other band members (who seem to change every now and then) also play in a lot of bands.

Playing with Necrofilip in HEAD was a great learning curve since we´d come to rehearsals with a new song and that song could have a musical element that we hadn´t known yet up to that point. It could be things like playing parallel thirds to a melody, or playing triplets over straight eights or stuff like that…So we´ve definitely grown up musically together.

Was there any specific idea behind the forming of the band and also in what you wanted it and your sound to offer and do they still continue to steer the ship?

Yes, to sound pissed off. I think this might have been covered thus far.

You can only stay pissed off for so long before you need to have a laugh, and since me and Necrofilip love laughing more than we have the energy to be angry, the band soon started introducing comedic elements. I wouldn´t say we´re comedians but we definitely have a dark sense of humour and kind of need that perspective to get by in everyday life.

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

We started out pretty raw and still have that in us today, but rather than just beating the shit out of the drums and guitars, we put a little bit more finesse into it these days.

The first album was pretty direct and simple, the second album had way more harmonies and layers, the third was more melodic in the riff structure and the fourth album is a sort of return to the original simple sound with sprinkles of off-beat songs. One song sounds like Tom Waits, another like orcs raping The Prodigy and a third one is an excerpt of the tapes that Necrofilip recorded on his small tape recorder when he was nine years old. We really don´t have any kind of regard of what we put on our albums to be honest.

Has any evolving in sound and ideas been more organic movement or you deliberately wanting to try new things?

No, we´re pretty aware of what we want to do with our songs. Of course most songs start out with an inspired idea but from that we usually have a pretty clear vision of what needs to be added.

Presumably across the band there is a wide range of 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?

As you say, there´s too many, but I can tell you what bands we are NOT inspired by: Slipknot and Insane Clown Posse. We sound nothing like them! (Ok, I´ll admit we kind of look like them, but hey, doesn´t every band?)

Is there a general process to the songwriting within the band?

Yes. We start out with some cabbage, add some salt, dance under the moonlight of a disco ball, choke each other until we laugh and then send the master to pressing.

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

Mostly it´s everyday stuff that pisses us off, like people walking too slow in front of us, dealing with jealousy, seeing animals and babies in peoples Facebook feeds and stuff like that.

Would you give us some background to your latest release, Los Pulkerz?

Our fourth album is a return to the original sound…actually, it´s just songs from when we started the band. We had been playing for 10 years when we started listening to the really old stuff that didn´t make it on to the first album. Some of the songs would probably work on a new release as long as we updated the sound and some of the riffs. I think we managed pretty well and even added some things that we haven´t had on our albums so far, like the song Sverige Facking Fosterland.

How about an insight into some of its themes and the premise behind it?

The premise is basically that the first 10 songs are songs that didn´t make it to the three first albums. The rest of the 15 songs are random tracks we recorded on our own as stand-alone songs or as in Rosmarie och Idioten where we get to hear an authentic conversation between 6-year old Necrofilip and a 5-year old girl called Rosmarie that he knew when he was little. His mom recorded the conversation on his tape recorder from another phone in the house and we found the tape years later (for all you kids: back in the day, people used to have land-line phones. That means that you could have several phones connected by lines to a socket in the wall in your house and if you picked up one of them during a phone call, you could listen in on the conversation between the person making the call from outside and the person taking the call in the house. Sneaky 😉

Are you a band which goes into the studio with songs pretty much in their final state or prefer to develop them as you record?

Since we never hire a studio guy or rent a studio we´re creating up until the very end. We do everything on our own, so there´s never a cut-off on adding new stuff.

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

Oh yes. We´re dressed as black metal clowns and use dildos as our main stage prop. I think that´s a selling point as good as any.

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

We´ve done very well during these last 12 years in Sweden so I think we could do just as well abroad, if not better. Swedes are a pretty socially inept bunch and we (Swedes) don´t usually like to get too close to each other. So, since we manage to attract plenty of people to see us live in Sweden, we would probably do even better internationally. I mean, heck, if Rammstein made it with German lyrics, why can´t we with Swedish lyrics?

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?

We are very much a band that owes our thanks to Facebook…it´s been imperative for us to reach our audience so the Internet has been great like that. It has, however, sucked all the money out of the business, so there are fewer venues in Sweden and fewer companies that want to risk financial backing for their band. We didn´t want to wait around for the record labels to get their money-grubbing heads out of their asses so we just went ahead and started recording, financing and promoting our albums on our own.

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

There is no afterlife. Life is meaningless. Entropy will win, and your mom and dad probably had anal at one point. Sleep tight!

https://www.facebook.com/skitarg/ http://skitarg.tictail.com/

Pete RingMaster 03/11/2017

American Wrecking Company – Everything and Nothing

Sep28

Released less than a thick handful of weeks back, Everything and Nothing is one of year’s most voracious metal releases and in turn one of its most appetising. The new creative enmity from US outfit American Wrecking Company, the album is a ferocious tempest of sound bred across a broad spectrum of metal and expelled in a caustic roar individual to its creators. Everything from groove and death to nu and punk metal, with plenty more besides, is sucked up into the maelstrom and woven into one antagonistic furnace so easy to devour.

Since emerging in 2006, the Tacoma, Washington outfit has grown into a potent force and live presence across the West side of the US, sharing stages with bands such as Hatebreed, Fear Factory, Motorgrater, Act of Defiance, and Mushroomhead to great acclaim. Now they are ready to stir up broader attention with Everything and Nothing and it is hard to see the Pavement Entertainment supported release failing.

It launches at the listener with its title track, opening with an atmospheric coaxing as portentous as it is deceptive. The relative calm is stalked by apocalyptic threat, a danger from within which niggly riffs spring. Instantly, they carry an infectious lure; bait swiftly emulated in the sonic vines which wrap them before the track surges cantankerously across the senses. Vocalist TJ Cornelius stands across it all, his ire fuelled growls defiant as the guitars of Randy Bebich and Ben Reynard spin a trespass of sonic spite and nagging riffs around them, the latter persistence also matched by the groaning lines of Jeff Bloomfield’s bass. Still that catchy temptation infests song and ears in the ferociousness, teasing and tempting as the swings of drummer Dylan Hickey bite.

It is a great start more than matched by the groove netted From Grace, a slab of extreme virulent metal which gnaws on the senses and stirs the imagination. Like a mix of Cryptopsy and American Head Charge, the song grumbles and rumbles, every second a crotchety insurgent commanding attention as it savages the body to contagious effect though it is soon eclipsed in presence and harrying by the following I Won’t Listen. The guitars alone ensure irresistibility is bred for their grooves and sonic doggedness, their raw persuasion more than matched by the barbarous yet similarly enterprising rhythms as Cornelius raucously hollers to equal success. There is no escaping a bit of Slipknot and Fear Factory spicing within the charge but mere flavours in its infernal and seriously compelling assault.

Health for Wealth churns up the senses next with its own web of waspish grooves, surly dynamics, and choleric attitude; American Wrecking Company lacing it with a belligerence caked but open melodic dexterity which just lights up appetite and imagination while its successor, The Burning lives up to its name in touch and atmosphere. It feels like a sonic witch hunt, every note and syllable a combative infestation of psyche preying on ears and the world but entwined with a flirtation of grooves and enterprise which keeps the track on a constant evolution within its fractious pyre.

As Purge swings and taunts with its thick groove metal predation and Enemy soils the senses with its crabby enticements and instincts, band continues to stretch the album’s landscape of sound. Each song is maybe a nudge into new adventures rather than a big leap but one by one they openly reveal the expanse of the American Wrecking Company sound within the constant emotional and physical storm. Beautiful Lie is no different though it does not quite have the inventive attributes of other songs around it. Nevertheless its carnal breath and sonic tenacity leaves a want for little before Mad by Design arguably courts the widest collusion of styles and imagination within the album for its mercurial and persistently captivating feud.

The release is finished off by Day of Shame, a song which springs from a great melodic coaxing with middle-eastern promise into a rip tide of rapacious grooves splintered by scything beats. The throaty tension of the bass is icing on the toxic cake and a final track to confirm American Wrecking Company as one potent and exciting force.

Everything and Nothing is a beast of a proposition which ticks all the boxes and more yet you still feel there is so much more to come from the band such the potential equally loud within the creative ferocity. Happy days!

Everything and Nothing is out now on iTunes and other stores through Pavement Entertainment.

http://www.americanwreckingcompany.com/ https://www.facebook.com/americanwreckingcompany

Pete RingMaster 27/09/2017

Visceral examinations: getting deep into Crejuvent with founder Freddy Spera

Jul21

There are no pretensions with Crejuvent, a British project roaring out from with the Liverpool metal scene, just the “simple goal, to write some badass metal music.” Using his multi-flavoured and textured sounds as evidence, Federico ‘Freddy’ Spera is certainly on course and living up to his aim in fine style; so with thanks to our friend Andrew at Stencil PR it was about time we found out more. Throwing questions at Freddy we explored his latest project, his creative brain, his brand new EP and plenty more…

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

Heyo – no problem, thanks for giving me something entertaining to do to break my monotonous work routine!

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

My name is Freddy and I’m the brains behind the one man project Crejuvent. It all began from when I first started writing songs, and eventually I decided to release some of them on my own, having a band would just hold me back (dun dun DUUUUUN).

As for what brought me all together, you can thank a series of extremely unfortunate evolutionary chains that catalysed my parents banging and resulted in the fleshy sponge of a man that sits here before you.

Have you been involved in other projects before? If so how has that impacted on what you are doing now, maybe in thought or direction?

Oh yeah, I’ve been playing in bands for years and years. It definitely inspired the way I’m doing a lot of the behind the scenes stuff, as I’ve had the chance to see which things work for me and which don’t. I’ve studied music at university and I’m sort of now starting to apply what I learned there business wise to my various projects in some form, and this is no exception. The main advantage in running a project like this on your own is that I don’t have to answer to anybody so I can do whatever I want. I like to take risks, so I can do that with Crejuvent and see what works and what doesn’t. Whatever does end up working I’ll probably do again with my other projects at some point.

What inspired the band name?

Adolescent hormones…

Was there any specific idea behind the creation of Crejuvent and what you wanted it and your sound to offer?

I suppose initially I was more into doing a specific thing, I really wanted to sound ‘trvlly brootal’ and be ‘the most metal thing ever’. Now however it’s more like ‘eh, I’ll write whatever I think sounds good’ and the rest of the world can eat a dick. It ends up sounding a lot more genuine and the release I get from not having to confine myself to any genre rules is fantastic.

Do the same things emotionally still drive the project or have they evolved over time?

Well, I’m angrier and more existentially confused now than I ever was, so yeah I suppose it’s still driven by the same train of thought. I’m more motivated and invested in it now that I have something to release, that’s for sure.

How would you say your sound has evolved over that time too?

I’d say it used to sound like a bottle of WKD: it was sweet, naive, and only teenagers liked it. Now it has aged and matured like fine wine: it’s classier, more refined, and you’ll probably end up crying in the corner when you’re done with it.

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

A bit of column A and a bit of column B…I enjoy pushing myself and constantly try new things, and the way I write songs with Crejuvent is a bit more constructed and mediated. But I can’t write very well if I’m not naturally motivated and inspired. Especially with this upcoming Time EP, I really didn’t want to force a fart out and end up shitting everywhere, so I took my time in writing the songs and made sure that it the actual actualisation of the songs was organic and fresh. But the actual song writing process is a bit more thought out and can be somewhat methodical at times.

Tell us about that songwriting process?

Generally speaking, the songs will be driven by a main riff or melodic motif. I’ll usually dick around with my guitar and when I accidentally play a riff that I think sounds fantastic, I’ll record it and write a song around it, coming up with parts as I go along, and eventually it turns into a whole song. That’s GENERALLY how I write songs for Crejuvent, but every song is different in some way.

Presumably you embrace a wide range of inspirations; are there any in particular which have impacted not only on the music but your personal approach and ideas to creating and playing music?

Sort of…Having studied music at university, I was introduced to an awful lot of songwriters and musicians obviously, and if there’s one thing I learned is that everybody has a different way of writing and coming up with ideas. I’ve heard of every way imaginable to write songs, but ultimately it all boils down to whatever comes naturally to you. That’s what I strive for when approaching ideas; it’s finding a way to develop and process these musical ideas in the more comfortable way for me and can represent whatever it is I have to say. I remember watching Devin Townsend once do a live stream showing how he puts songs together and creates demos; he’s got tons of videos online showing his process. I’ve written a few songs here or there following a similar process to his as some sort of song writing exercise, but nothing I would use for Crejuvent.

Where do the inspirations to the lyrical side of your songs more often come from?

Whatever it is that’s bothering me the most at the time. It’ll usually be driven by some sort of complex state of confusion that I’m experiencing, some internal crisis. I enjoy singing about the things that I can’t talk about, things that I need to process internally before continuing with my day. This could be a state of depression, an awareness issue, or farts, or anything in between.

Give us some background to your latest release.

Crejuvent’s debut Time EP will be coming out on the 1st of July! It’s ultimately a culmination of everything that’s right in the world. I started writing the songs that ended up on it a while back, probably sometime around 2015. The whole writing process was very on and off, hence why it took so long. Every song is a bit different and was written with a slightly different approach. There’s no reoccurring theme or whatever, but the themes are generally quite bleak. I took care of every aspect of the release myself, from artwork to production. Recording started around late September and I finished mixing and mastering everything around March this year. That’s pretty much it!

Can you give a closer insight to those themes?

Well, generally speaking I struggle to properly articulate my thoughts verbally. I often word vomit everywhere, I stutter sometimes, and I usually can’t quite find the right ways to say what it is I think and feel. So when it when I wrote the Time EP, it was very important to me that I manage to correctly articulate my thoughts into the music. I had to feel completely uninhibited from everything and try my best to feel some sort of detachment to myself to feel like I could properly purge my thoughts into the EP. As a result, the main themes sort of revolve around the feeling of helplessness throughout day to day life. The opener, Fuck This Shit, is probably the one song I wrote with the most direct lyrics, I was just feeling pissed off and churned that bad boy out in like 10 minutes. Code Orange is a bit of a story, it’s about a man who’s forced into some sort of rehab against his will – the lyrics vaguely reflect the theme from A Clockwork Orange, it’s about how to be human and to be free consists of the freedom to screw up your life…sort of. Malicious Clouds is a bit of an anomaly, I just sort of pulled the lyrics out of my ass – the words felt right to sing so I sung them. I guess you could claim it’s about a dark cloud of depression lording over oneself and those around, I dunno. Time is feeling helpless against the never-ending and tyrannical construct that is time. Word Vomit is a bit more personal, it’s about my unwillingness to be open towards myself and others, and the vulnerabilities that come with it.

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

I usually write the songs as demos, I’ll record bits as I write them until it looks like a full song, then I write and record all the other parts until I have a complete demo. Then I properly re-record everything from scratch and those will end up being the final masters. I’ll add or remove things here or there during the actual recording process, but for the most part I head in with a demo so I know EXACTLY what I need to do. Not only does it come out sounding better in my opinion, but it saves time (and LOADS of money) in the studio.

Tell us about the live side to the band, your favourite aspect of being a musician?

I absolutely love playing live; it’s the best thing ever. It’s quite fun for this project as well because I get on stage on my own, playing bass and singing to backing tracks. With nobody to fuck with me on stage I can just do whatever the hell I want, be it chug beers on stage, fart in microphones, whatever! I hate going to shows and seeing the band just stand there like a bunch of lemons. Especially in this genre, I mean its metal, ya’ll are supposed to go nuts and shit! Unless it’s something super proggy or technical that you need to play meticulously, you have no excuse. When I go on stage, I know that I need to entertain the audience, so I like to give them something to write home about.

It is not easy for any new band to make an impact regionally let alone nationally and further afield. How have you found it your neck of the woods? Are there the opportunities to make a mark if the drive is there for new artists?

I thoroughly believe that where there’s a will there’s a way. But you REALLY gotta have an awful lot of will. A lot of musicians keep bitching about how things are different and it’s harder to make a living and all that crap, but if you REALLY want to do it then you’ll find a way. And if you can’t do it, it just means you didn’t want it badly enough AND THAT’S TOTALLY FINE! It’s definitely not easy to make it nowadays, you have to sacrifice an awful lot to get even remotely close and you gotta put in so many hours it is ridiculous, and that’s simply not for everybody. With that said, if you don’t try then you’ll never make it.

The opportunities are out there, but they are few and far between. You gotta have the right team of people working together towards the same goal for a band to get anywhere, you need to put yourself out there and meet people, you even have to kiss some asses along the way unfortunately. It’s tough, but you have to make the opportunities come to you, otherwise it’s basically impossible. New bands should also keep in mind what it means to make in impact and have success. Things are different now than they were, just because you’re making a big impact in your region, nationally, or even worldwide, you’re probably still not going to make a living off this stuff. So you have to consider what ‘making it’ means to you.

How has the internet and social media impacted on the project 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?

When I get asked this I always refer to the fact that before music was being recorded and sold as records, it was being sold as music sheets. People would go out and buy the scores so they could actually play the music themselves. Then records came along and the music sheet industry tried to fight it with no success, and records were the way people absorbed music. This is no different. I think people just need to re-evaluate how people take in music and adapt accordingly, why they already are. The entire industry is struggling because of the internet but the internet is not going anywhere, so maybe it’s time for the industry to adapt (which it already is!). The bands that struggle are probably the same ones who complain that ‘music isn’t what it used to be’ or whatever, bands whose mentality is still stuck in the 80s. I like to think that stems from a lack of knowledge, but a lot of them are just stubborn. I started Crejuvent during this whole internet and social media thing, and whilst I don’t have a perfect command of it I try my best to adapt, to change my PR campaigns accordingly, to do what I can to make it work for me…Which isn’t too hard to do because I don’t really have anything else to compare it to.

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

Yeah man thanks for featuring me! If anybody is insane enough to have read this whole thing and make it this far down then I applaud you and award you with my gratitude. And you should also know that Crejuvent’s debut TIME EP is COMING OUT ON THE 1ST OF JULY SO BUY IT FOR YOUR GIRLFRIENDS OR WHATEVER!!! Keep an eye out on Crejuvent’s Facebook page for new releases and videos and all that jazz!

Check Crejuvent out further @ https://www.facebook.com/Crejuvent/ and go buy the Time EP @ https://crejuvent.bandcamp.com/album/time-ep

Pete RingMaster 21/07/2017

The Last Ten Seconds of Life – The Violent Sound

Oct21

tltsol_RingMasterReview

Having beat up on and seduced the US metal scene, Pennsylvania hailing The Last Ten Seconds of Life are abut to do the same to a global attention with new album The Violent Sound. It is a success not too hard to imagine almost expect as the release unleashes twelve brutal alternative/nu/groove metal furies that just grip and excite ears and imagination. The band’s sound has plenty more in its arsenal of flavours and temptation but a mix of Korn, Mudvayne, and Britain’s own Anti-Clone is a fair indication to the downtuned tempest the Mansfield based quartet uncage.

Formed in 2010, The Last Ten Seconds of Life has risen through the local and national US metal scene, earning a potent reputation for their fearsomely impressive live shows and releases like debut album Know Your Exits of 2011. The past year though has seen the band evolve their sound into a whole new and striking adventure with new vocalist John Robert C. coming in, his irritable grouchy growls and impressive broader versatility seemingly, on the evidence of The Violent Sound, just bred for the band’s evolution in songwriting and imagination.

Engineered by Grant McFarland and produced by Carson Slovak (August Burns Read, Texas in July), The Violent Sound is the first offering from the new line-up and pretty much goes straight for the jugular as Little Black Line opens things up. Its initial lure though is the clean tones of John Robert, enticing within brewing discord honed tempestuousness which blossoms into a predatory stroll that as good as stalks the senses. The harsh rhythmic tenacity of drummer Christian Fisher is bound to the barbarous groove and tone of Mike Menocker’s bass, both a formidable invasion of ears as the guitar of Wyatt McLaughlin creates a sonic smog of portentous temptation.

Though the song never brutalises, its intent and weight takes no prisoners, setting the listener up for the intensive examination of The Drip. That Korn-esque texture to the band’s sound swiftly seduces ears within the encounter, interrupting a primal trespass equipped with scything grooves and vocal antagonism around rhythmic animosity. The track is glorious, another aural predator further impressing in melodically bred moments of emotive resonance before Bloodlust lives up to its name in tone and emotion. It is a savage uncompromising affair but again one with twists into unpredictable and sinister passages which even if only brief draws the imagination further into the violating tempest.

cover_RingMasterReview The following Six Feet is just as diverse in its attack and simply imperious, its volatile climate and grievous intensity skilfully contrasted by the melodic and harmonic swoops upon ears; the two colluding in bewitching espionage before the track is back devouring all before. As much death metal seeded as any of the flavours previously suggested, the track is a carnal incitement igniting an already keen appetite with the album’s title track reinforcing its increasing hold. The Violent Sound roars with sonic spittle lying upon vocal ire as rhythms pounce with animalistic predation, a vicious stalking leading to the calmer melodic and cleaner vocal enterprise of the band which is as virulently infectious as anything escaping the crushingly relentless ferocity.

A Marilyn Mansion air accompanies the flirtatious swagger of Casanova, an irresistible track with all the grooved swerves and salacious moves of a venomous pole dancer while Bag of Bones worms into the psyche with a niggling groove prone to discord fuelled expulsions of sonic unpredictability. Around it, the track brews another fury which buffets and abuses the senses, every swipe and incursion eagerly welcomed as the track swings like a hungry hound with a creative deviousness just as eagerly abound within successor Switch, a volatile fusion of metal and heavily boned rock which either licks at the psyche like a demonic lecher or presses in on the senses like a murderous vice.

That sanguine essence is even more prevalent and zealous within next up Blind Faith but equally the band’s harmonic imagination is a rich lure, so much so that you do not know whether to bow to its seduction or run for the hills, the former ultimately the only reaction to the brilliant protagonist.

It is a success and creative endeavour matched by that within Wise Blood, The Last Ten Seconds of Life again creating a concussive, sublimely seductive siege of ears and senses, trapping the imagination with exotic grooves and spicy melodies amidst vocal dexterity before Social Suicide casts a paradox of contrasting textures which simply captivates with ridiculous ease.

With the groove entangled, sinisterly shadowed Last Words completing the ferocious proposition, The Violent Sound is destined to push The Last Ten Seconds of Life firmly into the broadest metal scene. If not, there is something seriously wrong.

The Violent Sound is released by Siege Music on October 21^st.

https://www.facebook.com/thelasttensecondsoflife https://twitter.com/TLTSOL?lang=en

Pete RingMaster 20/10/2016

Skin Drone – Evocation

May10

Skin Drone - Evocation _RingMasterReview

Evocation is the eagerly awaited debut album from US duo Skin Drone, a web based project consisting of vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Erik Martin (Critical Dismemberment) and multi-instrumentalist/producer Otto Kinzel (Chemical Distance/Bluntface Records). Both have released and been part of many striking and praise luring proposals but it is as Skin Drone that the pair arguably creates their most un-conventionally inventive and imposingly experimental adventures as evidenced by Evocation.

The album is a collection of emotionally and lyrically dark tales fuelled by insanity and torment encased in a hard to pin down tapestry reaping the raw and caustic might as well as beauty of certainly extreme, industrial, and avant-garde metal. Each track is a tempestuous journey through ravenous shadows, hellacious landscapes, and emotive turmoil but songs which equally at times share melancholic beauty and intimate psychosis. All grab keen attention on the first listen, each enslaving ears and thoughts, but it is through the journey of numerous plays that their layers, depths, and full compelling characters compellingly truly come alive.

With one half of the band in Hot Springs, Arkansas and the other in Boston, Massachusetts, it is hard not to be quickly impressed by the skilful and coherent weave of almost kaleidoscopic textures and ideas, an organic unity which has blossomed through assumingly a torrent of ideas and files being passed back and forth between the duo. Admittedly though, as opener Scarlet Road consumes the senses, Evocation has thoughts swiftly engaged in other creative dramas and intrigue too. The first track envelops ears with a rousing roar of vocal squalls amidst technical and death metal animosity. It has a swagger and toxic virulence which needs little time to infest appetite and imagination, with the latter also persistently gripped by the glimmer of unpredictable incitement which rises from the track’s mellow and provocative slips into emotional dissonance. The track is pure fascination, a challenge and poetic tempting leaving a lingering imprint on the psyche whether washing solemnly over the senses or nagging them with torrential antagonistic discord.

Erik & Otto album_RingMasterReview Its emotional turbulence is matched by that of the following God Complex, another ravenous proposal of extreme and venomously grooved metal entangled with sinister disharmony and emotional dissension. The raw vocals squalls create a great rapacious texture in the tempest and the haunting ambience sharing the song’s air, adding great discord and heart bred turmoil again in an offering inflamed with raging ire or sharing sombre caresses. The track continues to envelop and involve across its ever evolving body, sharing its discordancy with its outstanding successor, Death Sentence. It is a carnivorous piece of music and invention, but equally a thrilling adventurous dive through a wealth of avant-garde/progressive experimentation amidst a toxically grooved and rabidly irritable incitement; it all colluding for one breath-taking and emotionally pestilential offering.

Shepherd of the Damned is an inharmonious crawl over the senses next, organ and vocal menace a caliginous calling aided by pained clean vocals before a ravaging expulsion of intensity and sounds spills their animosity. The track continues to weave in and out of vicious and elegant melancholy without escaping the emotional hell at its heart before making way for the nature-esque soundscape and again haunting charm of Ghost Reflection. As always though, even in its warmest melodic seducing, shadows lurk, biding their time as strings and keys skilfully serenade and seed the imagination. They are never allowed a real grip here though, instead a tribalistic rhythmic shuffle emerging to surprise and draw the listener closer as similarly bred vocals dance on their beats.

That darkness does get its moment though in the infectious rock ‘n’ roll of City Lights; a track which seems to stalk the senses even as it launches tenacious roars and bruising tides of rhythmic temptation. Even in that predacious intent, guitars create veins of sonic enticement subsequently leading to seductive noir lit physical and emotional scenery. The track is another pinnacle of Evocation, a fiercely memorable and greed sparking moment backed up just as dynamically and imaginatively by Witching Hour. Evil lines every beat and savage riff, Martin’s scarring vocal trespasses too but again the band creates infectious grooves and a raw catchiness which simply pulls you into the fire of the track. An addictive throaty bassline only adds to the irresistible bait of the track’s quarrel and creative rancor too, a lure equalled by the song’s industrial fizz and melodic oasis further in.

Classical keys coax ears and thoughts into the dark conflict within Darkness Within next; the track a heavy resonating smoulder of emotional and sonic disunity growing from a calm reflective charm into intrusive discordance. As with all tracks within Evocation, every moment is in flux and evolving into a new shade of turbulence and anguish brewed intimacy with matching character of sound to enthral and thrill.

Closing up with Salvation, a similar but individual tapestry woven from varying shades of darkness aligned to emotional greys, Skin Drone leave ears and emotions numb and enjoyment rampant. As suggested, Evocation should be embraced over numerous listens, every one bringing something new to explore while casting fresh twists on ideas already nurtured by previous ventures into its impressive depths. This often viscerally impacting album will not be for everyone but for those with bold imagination and a taste for a band pushing its and metal’s boundaries, Evocation and Skin Drone are worth a heavy slice of attention.

Evocation is released June 14^th via Bluntface Records with pre-ordering available @ http://skindrone.bandcamp.com/album/evocation