Mork (Brazit) Hybrid Heav€h (tvexico)

Epsylon (Betgium) Risen Prophecy (u K )

PLUS:Assertion (..rapan), Battery (Denmark), Death Shroud 1u.s.1,Marsh 1u.s.;, Moraines (croatia)

reviews: Cruel Force, Disease Illusiorg Dyinise, Goatsoldiers, Heaven and Hell,Helloween, Insulters, Kusoof, Lacuna Coil, Mastodon, Morbid Flesfu Napalm Deat]uObscured, Samael, Tomorrow's Demise, Vacillatioru Winter Axe

Metal Bulletin issue# { 9 May.June200e

www. myspace. com/th e m eta I b u | | eti nI

Mork (Brazil)Their cd is called Prryosterous and it is a professional-sounding cd with good, clear produc4on. The music issymphonic, big-idea, ambitious, bften blasting black metalwith sharp gultar work and tight drumming. The vocals aredefinitely black metal, but they are notsuPeT lasPy, whi-ch t1an advairtage because they appeal to both black metal anddeath meta[ In additiorU the music has the right attitude andfeel where the quality of guitar riffs and melodies c,onvergeswith blasting, symptionic-speed in a strong way^showing aserious and professional approach.

Her6 they provide -a

glimpse of what the band is allabout, as well is^informing about metal in Brasilia, thecapital of Brazil. Preposterous ts an _exciting example 9f wh3ttn6 Uana is already'delivering and promises to continue inthe future. www.myspace.com/ morkofficial

Haae uou hnd a chnnce to pIQy liae =recentl,lt?:re in Brasilia. But it's a shame that

extreme'meial its so underestimated in Brazil and there are notthnt many shows. But anyway, we always haae ! Y9?! hry7plaving libe and ute loue thi sufiport from oiur local fani. We wish*t"roild play more often, cauid thai's what ute utant to do for aIiuing.

Do magazines write abqut.you?= Doe=s radiq play y94r -myl:c?,fheri ii not eoen one radio lure that plaVs extreme metal, bfi ffiatwould be great! And, a,s to ryagazings, ye usually get somethingwritten ab"out us. But thnt's dud to the fact that, in Brazil, there isnot a qood suWort for underground mital bands and there are notirry' speciilized' magazin"es that aalue blacl</death metal.

Are uou selling cds in Brazil south or .North!\meica o! Furop?!-F'uroPean labels' We

hone to qet s6me ors,iu on that. Anil we sell most of the cds hereat' our Ytometown, because AS an independent b-and is hard todistribute our material to a couitry as big as Brazil.

AII music is written bu Samuel Borge=s (aocds Lqq.)' You haa,! tlttT

ioimi"tt signi:frcanth1 ti our musi6 writing. We wanted to chose

;;l;';;';-rofni,i'fo, thii composer of this EPi so u)e picked Samuelb;;;il;:';;; ,If tho,r, our ide'as and'Samuel is the one'who puts it all

tosether, creatinT a course for the music. Music and rdeas llrysiiiiouy to us f,nd we keep" mak-ing new songs and 1'!o",q":1.',t1',we haai now 13 new songs ready to be recorded, and by the end oJ

the 2009 we " wiII

- haae our nsw cd'

what kind . of . iobs == = do , ltou. , 4a9e?a is studY'ing

airfriiiirtiir, it are all studying aid t'ying t? g?t,our college,

delrees so we can haae better iobs in the future' !.nd,l,q\tt:,qo^o:iiii iit ,Iiavs difficult to fiid, but not-impossible' We just hope

'that somedai u:e"1nn liae-iust for our music, but !5ues: tnat,s

;;;;;;;tician dream! Brisitia"is the capital city of Brazil, so the

;;;:,i;;;';:;;;ti;" oaer here is more stable than- ii the rest of lhe;;;;hi But,.ui1iiirotrty, Brazil is sritl a counrru that hus

ptenty oJ pouerty ind social " injustice'

Are there a lot of 4fro-Brazilians into metal? o,ften Brqzilian

2

bands don't hsae Afro-Brazilian* maybe. a.few, onle in a u)hi.letWlnt do you think this is?Teq it's a shame that raCism until this dav is an existing mattu inour country. But in metal music that is a"rare thing. Tllne are lotsof afro-desiendents in shslos and weryone is treated with tlrc sameiesitect. And as to bands we reallv d6n't know why that hnppens.Mhvbe because here in brazil is siII uery hard to afford a baid, andnot" that many people get the chanile to do it.

None in the band hnae in their family afro-brazilians, but thrscountry is based on miscellaneous racis ind, because of that, isdfficult to ffirm such question. Due to what we said, racism iscitndemned in nery situation.

thinkideas Misant

reaolt and

ilians, but

Do you knsu) of any black metal bands in=Bra4il Toith wome,n.?ffis of women in metal and extreme metal isgroroing aenl fast. Its not rare to see u)omen playing anymor4lpecialfu in Biazil. There's one death metal band here in Brasiliathat is"made up of only women, the VaIhaIIa. Check them out:h t tp : / fruuw . mv sp a ce . c om/a aIhaII a de athm e t aI

, - - a

In the LI.S. often the Brazilian metql coaer-e, d is SepVltura. Ihif,iury@ell about the metal sceng w=here. Uou liae?feopli from tlwii don't knmt much cause uery few bands here haaethe'op/ortunity to expand their musicat hoiions. As we said, itsalso abry expe-nsiae to buy instruments or record anything here.T-hrc meial siene is srawink but it is small compared to the ones inother countries, on7 herc in Brasilia its wen uiorst then the yest ofBrazil. There are aery few shows and festiaals and people {ill.prefer to hear cooers ihin ns(D songs. So that's ano-ther thing that'is'uery

hard for bands, Brazilian /eople in general don.'t s.uppo.rtBrazifian bahds. W much rrither hear- coaers- Tft't .whysenerallv the bis banlds from Brazil like Krisiun and Sepultura"Xrsut oitside, thin when'they are big and recognized in-the .rest pf\he world, Brazilians start piying atlention and start admiing the.bands. And seriouslu thai iissds us off...There are lots of goodbands that don't get"the sttbntion they-deserae when-tfuy should.Mork has been aband since 2006, and the black/death metal scenehere in Brasilia is still grswing from wispy to recognizable. Weknow some uery good b"ands ti ihe blacQdeatll metal scene thatwill becomt gr\oiu than any band we hear about, and we only,need the o,iirg support t"o shsu) our music to the world!

IMat qre some cds wilh.g-ood drumming in 2008 o thot,llou!a** likes?,

XW fCryptopsy), obZen (Meshugga), Watershed (upeffi)

For faaorit album I chose Ithyphallic (Nile).

Can Brazil rnin the soccer taorld cup in 2010? !!We really hope so! And if there's one thing that can really getpeople here united is soccer. We, fro* the band, are not big soccer

fans, but lt)e always cheer fo, our country with pride.

Last comments? !We want to thank you again for this interuiew opportunity and wehope to be playing in the US oery soon! See you guys later and

!1n't forSet to check out our netp CD this year! THE END.

Epsylon (Belgium)Their album is called The Gift and it offers so many goodthings in terms of memorable, quality, well-composed,intelligent heavy/powerf prog metal songs. This cd has avery good, clear production. The band released the cd bythemselves; however, this is a professional cd in every sense,including a very cool cd booklet of 28 pages (counting frontand back) in color, with lyrics. If you demand high quality,this is something to consider in a serious way. If you don'tbelieve it, go their myspace page and hear for yourself. It isnot just onb or two songs are that good, if s the whole cd. Ifyou like finding new bands making quality metal, Epsylonshould be on your priority list.

Within the music you will find songs that emphasizedynamics and variety, from plenty of uptempo moments,lots of melodies, good midrange male vocals and goodhigher female vocals working together or alone, someelements that suggest a bit of prog metal (but not overdone)with emphasis on memorable songs.

Yves (guitars, bass, keys) and Sylvie (vocals)answered here. www.myspace.com/ epsylonmusic

Hi, how are you?Yaes: Hey Mauricio! We're doing great here! For the momentwdre rrr! busy doing promotion f6r6ur album 'The Gift'. It's ou.r

first futl "albu*, so aii our efforts"ar,e going into ma-kin! our nrusic'knorbn

to as manv people as possible. The people here close to ushaue all reacted *ry *at so far, we are reitUi pleasantly sho-ckedby all the great comments zLte'ue receiaed! We haaen't played anyIiae showi yet, because Epsylon actually started out as a two-people project and zpe'ae beei working with a feta guest musicians'to

fiIl in the gaps,but if we get an opportunity to play a.greatshotn, TDe're definitely hoping tb get them all together for a kick assshow!

How much monelt did you spendT The looklet lQ-oks so nlce -Iwould think this ii expeisiae! You released your cdby yout:-selyes.?Yaes: Yes we did, Iike most metal bqnds in Belgium (probably.inall countries), it's hord to get noticed, si especially whenproducing a debut qlbum, you ian be- pretty sure you'll be payl.ngeaery penn. yourself. But it goes without saying that we're hopingto ftni a re\ird conipany forEpsylon soon! Anyway, I can tell youthht the cost for the'priduction of this album was pretty high, butin my opinion, wort'h eaery dini:! And now that you mention thebookiet,' it's a funry thiig actually, since we wanted a greatIookinX booklet'from the slart. A lot of bands seem to pay lessaftent\on to thii, but it's alzoays aery important to haae a go2d.,eye-catching package for your produc{. But I ryi7h! haue gorte a bi,tiuerboard t-hbre as deII-:), I.was so pleased zuith the designer'swork that I kept asking for tnore, so the booklet became quite big,.snd I found oiut afteriuards that going oaer o cer-tain.number .ofpages'costs quite a bit extra, buthell,"l'm more than happy toiththe result!

Sltlaie: Like Yaes says, Metal is a hard world in Belgium, so tnetook it in our hands and yes it cost us a lot, but also gaae us aerygood control of our zttorkbeing represented our ruay, as, we wantedthe album to come together ou)er one line of idea.The album cost usaround 10.000 euros, it is indeed a big price but looking at theresult u)e nre aery happy with it and again, like Yaes says it isworth eaery penny of it! We also had the chance to work with someof the best european metal musicians and artists like lan S. Eckert

from Masterplan, leroen Simons, ex-drummer of Epica andHeather Shockley fro* Rock lgnition. And of course we had theopportunitV of recording in one of the finest studios of Belgium,Ace Studio, with a superb producer, Frank Van Bogaert.

With doronloading, myspace, etc. some do not take the time toIisten to music and want "instant gratification." Are you toocomplex? Is ltour music heard blt people who really like music, notfashions or trends?@on, I cAn't speak for others, but I knota hua Ilisten to music, and zuhether l'm relaxing, working, driuing orsleeping, I always try to absorb qll elements tpithin the music I'mhearing to get into the feel of the album. But to ansuter your firstquestion, I think there's nothing too complex for metalheads :). Imust say that you are right, we did want to create songs that areenjoyable for a quick listen, but can giue you a little extra uthenyou really try to understand the songs. Thankfully,f'rom what I'aeheard so far, our music is being listened to by a lot of musicenthousiasts and zuhen you get good resplnses fro* them, youknow it means something.Sylaie: I loae this questi-on... I think that what Yaes and I wantedto giae to the public is something real, something you can listen toIightly or heaaily depending on the mood of the moment. I think itgiaes-the opporfunity to pebple to liae through the songs and findpieces in there to identify with, to think about... Although e1terysong of the album camb-spontaneously during the writing phase,we-goae it a lot of thought while producing it, it then cametogelher as magic to our ears! One last thought, I didn't g,iae up-hope yet that eaen today in this fast, more and more uirtual worldpeoplb haue stopped to really listen to music. lf so, they would losea piece of this great art that is music!

Is beins in a band like a marriaseT ! What obstacles do uou face?ere

are only two key membersln the band." Mostly aLI deciiions aremade by Sylaid E me, so naturally there are times when wedisagree and in the beginning that could cause some marriage-likestruggles, but these dhys, tliat doesn't happen anymore, it's feelsmore and more like a utell oiled machine.Sylaie: I must say that it is hard at times, as music. equalsemotions it sometimes isn't easy to agree on aII details without aIittle struggle... But it is our riihness too, two heads together-, ftaodifferent \ackgrounds and huo dffirent worlds make a good mix,-ii ltorrtd to"oil the machine as Yues says and this for the best ofthe music! @ln my opinion, the biggest obstacle a metal band has-to face is the

fnct ihai there are so many great metal bands out there, -and you-haae to be able to eaen ge[ s[ightly noticed in that sea of loudness.

(sad thing is that a lot-of me{al bands seem to be aery competitiueabout thal, zohile zue shisuld really be standing next to each otherand promoting one and other). So I think it'.s.uery importantfq, f.band to be oliginal. During the song witing s-tage, ute didn'.treally think about it, we iust wrote what we Jelt, b.ut lootung qt 1!,o*i I think we came oit with something ricogrizable, bu[ freshand new as znell. As far as opportunities go to play liue, I knowfrom mv former baids that' it's pretfi hard heri in Belgium,'especial[y

io get some decent shows,'but i keep hoping that this will.changr, andlf u)e can help make that happen, we definitely wiII!

We do haae a few radio stations that haae metal-orientedprogr-am.s, but tha-t's mostly restricted to a particular sub genre ofmetal. (sometimes- it's too heauy, sometimes not heauy

-enough,

etc...) So it's hard to get airplaybn the right stations, ea:en gettingany airplay at aII...

{re people-_that fee lrou liae understanding your music?

Pgs; Sadly, the scene in our city, an[ eaen country is bad.p.glgium is a country that is mostly-into Dance music, s-o if you'dIike to get somewhele ouer here, you better become a dj :) nitt thepgople that are into our music do really appreciate and-enjoy whattltey're listening to. I remember from itast'shows with othei bandsthat no matter how small the audience, they ul)ere as enthusiast as astadium crowd!

Some people aQ they get older sau only metal.from the 80s or 90s.4?pendilg on the age .taas good. Are there neuibands iou lfLe?!Yaes: Of course I also loae the 70-80-90's metals cene, but Iwouldn't say the scene is dead nun. You iust haae to knotp tahereto look... Tfiere's a lot of araesome bands out there, but they're justnot being promoted ai they utould haue been in the 8"T's.'l'aeqwoyt been a fan of Gamma Ray, Hellout)een, Ayreon, Symphony4,...At far aq neu)er bands go, I didn't haae-a lot oi time {odiscoaer'new bands the last ye"ar zahen I was working on our ou)nalbum, but a fairly new band that comes to miid for me is'Stormrnarrior',

a german puaermetal band who's got Kai Hansenas.their_producer, so you'can't go zurong there lguess :) I alsoenioy 'Stream of Passion' and some older 'Epica' a Io1.9:i!ijg: My fobquite recent metal albunis are Ayreon's album'0101L001'a

lot , f ls tuel l as Aaantasia 's 'Tie ScArecrow',Helloween's 'Gambling With The Deail'. Nof new bands of course,but that's zohat I'm inlo these days.. .

which in my aiew represents childhood (r.uho neuer wanted to be acool pirate?i)qhtg; 4h!t4,.. The Pirate! Of course I enjoyed the moaies of "ThePirates Of The Caribbean," but there is dn6ther stont behiitd this"Pirate"-songlThe idea came to me last year while Liaaing a littletrip to the Keys in Florida with my fiae year old son. The place ismhgical, you ian still smell those pirate sfiirits there..;)It was extremehl inspiring and so came the words, a little "TDink"to all pirates utiihin us an"d especially my son! The rest of the lyricsare created in about the same waq, a situation appears and socomes the inspiration. "Foreuer Aigel" is actually'inspired fro*an imagined sudden death, mixed with the real pain of the recentIost of a close one, the non-acceptance of the ineaitable. Like Yaessayq aII songs are based on emotionhl parts of our liaes, mygreatest joy is that I could write as I felt, and being followed byYaes's music uthich supports eaery single part of niy roords isstrongly as needed!

Hor/t is t-he healthcare sJtstem where you liue? If you are aery sickand need s\rgery, do ltou haae to wait q long time-7Yaes: WeII, here in Belgium rr)e haue an excellent healthcaresystem. Eaeryone has the right to this, not only the rich. tNhether

iou'-re a milfionaire or youZlrrp in a carton blox, ,f 1/ou're sick or"need to go to the hospitlol, you ian aisit a doctor *\tiltn 5 minutes

and most of it is refu'nded.i'm pretty sure zoe haae some of the bestsystems in the rnorld for these kind of things. And I think it'srgally about time that- countries like the llS"do something abouttltig as well, eaeryone should haae the right to this.Sylaie: I had thi opportunity to liue iithe tlnited States for fouryea-rs and so got to knaw your medical system pretty weII... I{ taasinde-ed aery surprising to me oaer there, at first I didn'tunderstand any of the insurance policies. . . I must say it was a lotharder than here io get good medical care and aery toigh rahen youget- refuqed because you don't haae the right insurance! Aid Iinde-ed feel for the people liaing in the States being denied ofmedical attention, but in the same way, I most applaud tiecommunity netruorks that are created because of it, that issomething.that zle haae little of ouer here, perhaps because it's justnot needed, but a lot of American people haae iheir heart on iheirhands to giae and to care for others...

Who are vour fauorite sinsers? Haae uou taken lessons?dmiration

f_of Siyqye Simons'from Epica, iut I listen to qii kind of music;lrleta-I _(Virgin Steel, Masterplan, GammaRay,...) Prog, Rock,Hard Rock, French Rock and chansons, Edith-Piaf... AllernatiueRock like Heather Noua or Natalie Merchant...i yew up in aclassical ballet world and so I also listen a lot to classical mu'sic likeRauel, Daorak, Delibes,. . .Yaes: Oh, and Tsaikous, tchai, taik, well, the Russian dude!Sylaie: Tchaikoaski! Yues: Yiah,"Iknow... ;)SJblq Anyw-ay, like I said aboae, I haae been in the States for afew years and a great lady heard me singing, Luckily she wai alsoa great singing teacher, so I took the opporlunity aid so the greatadacnture began.. . ; - )

Anlrthing else? When wiII you come to Madison. Wisconsin torock out with people oaer here? !Yaes: I'd like to thank you for this interuiezn and aII the people whosupport our music1nd scene, keep going strong!!! I cai't giae youany date on a Madison gig iust ye{, haha, butlthen ute riach ihatstage,_you'll lf t4y firsl to know! See, ncna I can't wait to grabsome beers ruith all the metalheads oaer there! :)Sltlaie; I'd like to add as a final note that making this album wasone of the greatest, fun experiences I'ue had in *t lrfr... America,Here We Come!!! @ THE END.

" mnke a liainis this attitude

blcluse the musician utilT do whateaer not tohaui a-iob?Sylaie: I'm not -really in search of "success". Makiig a liai>ylorc: t'm not -rea.Uy rn search oJ "success". Making a liuing outof music..h.as..alwayl begn,hard'I think, and now ihrtt dafs roecould caII it "trtopia" ...When I utrite lyrics, rather than seaichingfor "s1.t9cess" I.tend more to pass a"message out to the publil,something t.o -relate to, something comforting-and/or confroiting, aIittle material to enjoy the listening a:nd talling it all in". of coirseIike any artist -out' there, a good"recognitioi of ou, work is thegreatest ranard! ;-)yaCS; I'm sure for some people/bands, this is the case. And I wouldbe lying if I yid I don't' drbam of making music as a full time job,

2"t y?y ?qn't lose track of realiiy here.-lf you're noi Metallica orIron Maiden, you'd best'haae a"job on th[ side. Eaery musician IIcnuy, eaen fro:m successful bands, haae a fulltime joi on the side.!nd- a tpt gI them are nou; also great pioducers "rDho'ue workedhard to build their o-wn {rydio, prdduce neu)er bands and get theirmain income from that. I think it's the most logical careerThoice if!/oy h?y9.such a passion for music. So I'm definitely trying to gitinto aII those producing {echniques as well...

'

Where do the lurics for "The Piratql' come .from? "pirates of the

Iurics haae subtle comme

an obaious theme

Moraines (CroaUa)The Perfect Pantheon of Absence is music where melancholyand melody run up against doom massiveness, meld andresult in something like spiced-up, rocking, jamming,massive headbanging heaviness. What Moraines does issomething not many bands do: keep super heavy musicinteresting and avoid monotony.

Moraines is Sabbathesque rrtfs, melancholic anddissonant melodic hooks; creative drumming with a goodfeel for the song, revving things up when necessary, verymuch at the heart of this machine; songs with a huge rhythmperfect for the live environment; and just a generally creativeway of making heavy, doomy music interesting throughdifferent time/mood/rtrythm changes; limited, but growledvocals (with sensibility; no dog barking, yelling stuff) andsome clean vocals, too. www.myspace.com/moraines

Hozn are ltou? Tell what's happeninq Tuith uour band!really fine.

lust returned from our gig in Split and already there is anotherbooked shozo in Zagreb in the beginning of April. We startedworking on some new material, there are already drafts for 4 morene(o songs and we also played our neruest song " Fiery the angelsfeII" Iiae on the last ftuo gigs. Sort of an introduction into the nextphase of Moraines' roork. We are currently looking for dates for asmall european tour roith our good friends Emphasis (check themout!) and we are qlso preparing material for a split EP with oneband fro* England, but more on that sometime later becauseeuerything is still in preparations. During this time we willcompletely focus our ffirts on creating new material for thealbum, nthich in my opinion zoill be a neTr) direction for Moraines.So the plans for 2009 and 20L0 are recording the mentioned splitEP and our first full length, and of course playing liae as much aswe can.

Can ltou salt what llfe is like.for Moraines in Zagreb Croatia?WeII, Iife in Croatia is not as bad as people roould probably think.It's definitely not easy most of the time, but people get use tocertaii way 67 tiaing, io it's difiicult to ascertain'hoilt wd are reallydoing in comparison zoith countries in the EU. But I can without adoubt say that we haae the most beautiful Taomen in Europe, so atIeast that's comforting :)

We are all different indiaiduals zL)ith different liues, someof us are in college, s6me of us are employed, bi{ zze are all tryingto make the best of opportunities rl,e qre giuen. As long as there is-money for neut omps I am not complaining. We play in rented

falloit shelter and recenthl we made some much need adjustments'to make it a comfortable p[ace for rehearsals.

The situation with places to play in Zagreb is pretty bad.There are a couple of great clubs like Mochaara and KSET but lorexample Mochaara is closed by the decision of lggre.b'sadministrntion due to some " diffelences in opinion", tahich is agreat shame because Mochaara had a really good programme andgreat bands plarled there, world famous bands qnd also plenty ofbands fro* Croatian underground scene. KSET is another greatclub, d uenl famous lne in Croatia and getting a 8i8 there was-aeryhard, but fortunately we finally got a date there and we are all ueryexcited about that sitow."Othei {han Mochaara and KSET there arecouple of smaller places to play but they rarely haue-bqnds similarto Moriines, for ixample. it ii general[y really harl to-get gigs inCroatia due to unchangeable nepotistic attitude ftont peoplerunning the music scene, but we are trying our best. ,-

There IS a metal scene in Zageb, but it really lacksaariety and it's susceptible to trends - for the last couple of years

metal-core is predominant genre in Zagreb. But there are signsthat this "post-metal" thing will become popular as well. Time roilltell, as always...

What are the htrical ideas for " Garden of his turbulence,"

Lyrics are the reflection of my thoughts. The lyrics on the EP dealwith term of perceiuing the reality and life and also focus thenarration through the eyes of a person utith a messiah complex zohois facing an upcoming end of days and dtaelling on his lastthoughts and emotions. We haae limited aocals on the EP, due tothe desire that our music wiII speak more for itself, so the lyricshaae limited role in our music - they are only echo of ideas u),e aretrying to portray with our work. ''Garden of his turbulence'' dealswith the creation of hfe and eaer-changing hierarchy of lrfr.Human is just a witness of paradise giaen to him, an electronicimpulse in the sea of information, but still roe tend to get arrogantand claim our liaes and our planet for our own. The song also dealswith coping with our linear existence and the inaisible hand whichgiaes the purpose to life. " And the waters separate the space"deals rnith symbolism of water as the most important element of lifeon Earth. In the beginning of time it harness,ed the life from whichthe human hfe is uoou)en, separating the earth and creating the landon which the life will blossom. Since history has a tendency ofrepeating itself, the waters will separate the lands once mor4proaing its power to the human ciailization. This zaill be the nextphase of the eaolution of the human as the cognitiue being, andzuaking him up to perceiae the reality horo it really is.

"Temples in chrome" deals taith problem of religion. Notin the context of already established religions, but in the context ofbelieaing in something higher and that we are not alone. Faith andhope are the most intense impulses for surciaing. The song dealswith faith in terms of belieaing in the human race, sort

"f"whateaer we do, euerything wiII be alright in the end" approach- euen I personally belieae in that. At least, we know how tosuruiae. So the song follows narrqtion of the preaiously mentionedperson facing the end of days, who is nozu the sole suruiaor. Hesays that uoe are aII " open and blank" pog, in the history booksand only nouo we are ready to be "written page" or, in otherwords, only now uoe can comprehend our purpose, and that shouldbe our only religion. " Come death" obaiously deals utith death butalso, more importantly, zoith rebirth. Most people meet deathunprepared, armed only roith ignorant familiarity. In other raords,people die simply because it is ineuitable. OnIy the ones that facedeath as they face life, can understand that death is not the end.Sometimes the destruction doesn't stand for the end, but rather forthe beginning, a new and a better beginning. So I guess we haui to" close our ftightened eyes'' first and the life itself wiII " guide usoutside".

The name of the EP - "The perfect pantheon of absence"- is actually taken fro* the book called "House of Leaues" byMark Z. Danieleruski. This quote inspired me aery much. Itreminded me how blind and ignorant we are and how absent thetruth is in our liues. Our ciailizntion is the pantheon of thatabsence.

INhat is the economic situation in Croatia like for workers and

Vesion'there will bi u,ars because of the tensions befween Russiaaid Georgia and other countries like Poland?Croatia llas plenty of problems rnith the economic situation and aquestion of

.economic integritu is a complex one. Neuertheless,

ihere are aiways jobs, the ploblbm lies in the mentality of people. Astudent in Cioaiia can work part time jobs for 4 or more dollarsper hour, which in the contexf of Croatian currency is g-ood mo-ryey'to

liae the student's life. But the frustration among the working

people is always present, especially when it comes to syndicates ofIarge corporations. Then again,

-where isn't? In comparison to

some other countries in the Balkans, hfe in Croatia is good.Worried about the tensions? Of course not, young people-heredon't yorry about anything. AII'those political"macfrn'ations seema-ery far all,ay to aaerage y-oung Croat.' Croatia is a puppet of ElJ,Jor now we are not a part of global political scheming, and the onlyu)ny the relationship between USA and Russia-can influenieCroatia is the same way that relationship will influence the'Ell. Soin that aspect, I don't think people here worry about that.

Would uou sau that vour music exqresses a mood of desaeration. of

am correct or not really?I would -say you are not correct. We are aII positiae and hopefulpeople, but with our music we play the role of a critic. indsometimes criticism can look pretty gloomish and dark. We arery.grely,a. critics of human kind, spirituality and the future.Neaertheless, u)e celebrate the life and the beiutv of it. War hasnothing to do with our musici zue do not like" tci get into thepolitic-s, and social anxiety is counterproductiae. Our music is theone that tries to transcend the queition of national identity orsocinl behaaiorism, but to ask the question of human identity-as apart of the entire race. Spirituality is the fcirce behind our inusic,not the material.

Do vou haue anvthins else aou would like to sau? !readers of Metal

Bulletin and lhopi: you stay tuned for riore fro* Moraiies. Youcan expect more interesting and complex music from us in the nearfuture. THE END.

Death Shroud (u.s.tThefirst impression of Death Shroud is raw, necro, blastingblack metal powered by blazrns chaos. However, it's not al-lspeed, as the guitar work displays the classic black metalguita_1 style of riffs that work the speed with feeling. Thereare distinctive hooks, sometimes sounds like longei guitarsolos, by keeping the riffs distinctive from each other.

The vocals are also classic black metal style,sounding painful and expressive, throat-destroying style,but are not in the raspy family, i. *y opinion. I Urintsometime,s supgl raspy vocals can sound annoying.

The self-titled recording is five songs of traditional,no nonsense black metal. One thing thaf I think DeathShroud could improve on is the use of a drum machine,since I prefer a real human player to do drums. Maybe thischanges in the future. Sterthanas answered.

:_y*. *ysp ac e. co m / deathshro u dv a

C.an you =tell 4s about the members of the band?I am the sole member in Death shrouMexcept the drums which I program first befoie l"write alt the rffi.

It seems to me that vour lvrics are of an introspectipg_nglulg,_Ug!

It is correct that I am not concerned with politics in my lyrics. Mylyrics tend to paint a picture and initially could bi Consideredpoetry. Mqst of them were written years before being used for thesesongs ruith the exception of 'I am at one" zuhich is basically asummation of my life and the duality and oneness of aII thiigs." Necro" is more primitiue, desolate and cold, being more of anarration about a corpse in a graue, forgotten and rotting for aIIeternity.

Is_ playing liae a goal? VVhy or why not?Playing liae is not a goal because in thii area and the scene ingeneral there is no renl turnout and people don't really care aboutthe music, just a place to hang out for the night or get drunk. Izaould rathbr sharb my music iuith those that ire truiy passionateabout real black metal, not just looking cool with the.ir friends.

Where do llou think that you can take your aocals in the future?

that -my.aocals, will continue to be intense and full of rage with anemphasis on deliaery and annunciation. As fo7 imfroalng I feel Ialways try to make my aocals angry, tormented and dark-witheaery song I record. In terms of musical deliaery or sound quality aprofessioial studio used properly could only"Iend to thi touird.

IMat is the U.S. Black Metal Sect? I haae noticed that the

bqnds that are starting to get their names around. is there a scene?The US Black metal sect is an organization solely for thepromotion of black metal, with no political agenda whatsoeaer.Thry do support and help promote Death Shroud. As for a scene in

formation, there are a handful of bands that "try"-to play black'metal and a few that succeeci buti wouldn't really"calt it' a iangible

s,ceng, ,maybe the same fraenty people frequeniing their fau"oritelocal bar eaerv zueekend, but real- black metal is

- in the

undercurrents, itot in a physical scene. The music " scene" aroundBlacksburg is mostly Indie rock, lam bands, Pop-punk and Dl's.There is.no place for Black metal. Black metal is more priuate andperso.nal, something listened to in your home or uehicle.. There justaren't q ton of black metallers out and about toutn, in any city Iaeseen. Black nietal is shunned bV the mainstream and I think tfiat isfrt because it is not fo, them anway.

Currcntly thgre are more than a few thrash bands getting signed.Is this thrash as a trend? Some of the bands are iaen utearing a

" genuine" . Does it appear to you that-most black metal musiciansare more serious than thrash?Yes,- I would say that this thrash resurgence is a trend, recentlymade new again-bv the success of bandslike Municiaal Wastr. itfq, ot the s/ecific style of shoes hnd clothing etc. I iould say that.the

" thrash" Iook is"a faihion and has becoite cliche. But thi samecan be said for any trend or style, eoen those who claim to be blackmetal just.becauie they bougfit spikes or a bullet bett and put oncorpse paint. I do belieae some black metal musicians are moreserious and musically ueatiae than those who play thrash, but asin a.Il types of musii there are also those in blick"metal who playb?li"S, watered down rehash and look and come across as quiieridiculous. This is zuhat giaes black metal a bad n'ame.

There _ arg bqnds promoting racism and ,r anti-Semitism, thehltrtd qf lr*.ith p6op!r. Do-lrou how orl, opinion obort thit? kthere racism by metallers who are uthite?

Death shroud. There is ignorance eaeryrwhere not" juit the metal

Hsw lon

mysteriis dom Satho-n.?I", Ifipaled Naz'arene ,,ToI co"rmpt norznorz norz", Immortal "Diabolical fuIlmoon mysticism and' Samael'.'A!orship.him"_. It was Nlayheni and Furoiymous though thatinJluenced me the most at thii time period. In tirms of sheer"feelingor.expressiaeness for me it utould haae to be lon- Noddieidt ofDissection.

scene. I don't think that metalheads who are white are all racistsand I personally don't care what someone's race is. We all inhabitand try to suruiae on the sqme planet.

Is the old black metal sound (Venom, Hellhammer, Bathoryr.Sodom, etc.\ an accident,from lack of plauing abili4t andbad studioproduction? And would you say the Death Shroud sound is onpurpose? How do you get that raw guitar sound?I think those bands sounded raw because that was the productionof the days. I wouldn't say that sound was an accident, more of aresult of the production and playing. Death Shroud's sound isintentional and I get that sound by using a Zoom 606 processorand running direct to my recording program. INhat you arehearing is ttno guitar lines with dffirent distortions and adistorted bass line. The lead melodies are recordrd by miking acabinet and playing at high aolume while recording.

INhat do ltou think about Darwin's explanation, eaolution, of lifeon the planet?

many cosmic unknowns man cannot explain. I don't reallyconsider myself religious but I do belieae there is a common leael ofunderstanding that all can achieae through rntional thought, Iogicand oneness taith nqture. We all haue a conscience qnd a sense ofright and rorong, this is more than science. There qre too manycoincidences for hfe to just be by chance. I belieae there are forcesat roork.

Do ltou haae any other news or comments?Thanks for the interuiew! I haue played in many bands butcunently I am drumming for my brother's band The Zigguratwhich plays his brand of " Mythos metal" . As for Death Shroud Iwill continue to promote the E.P. raorking tunards labeldistribution and support. Stop by the site and thanks again!THE END.

Assertion (Iapan)Brain Washing is the name of their most recent recording ofthrashing and melodic growl metal. There are plenW ofguitar melodies that make the songs a good listen. Thisrecording is only two songs but it has a good attitude andfeel. The guitars do have a certain penchant for melody sothat ifs not generic chug-chug thrashing (good, since chug-chug is so bland and faceless). The feel of the music isenergetic, so they sound excited to be playing and it shows.The band uses the world " soLrl" to describe their metal. I'mnot sure what that means, but I would say that theirhooks/thrashy/energetic riffing is probably it. Bassist

/vocalist Gomura answered the questions. He apologizesthat his English is not good, but this zine doesn't care aboutthat. www.myspace.com/heavysoulmetal

Do you hque more sonos for the .futqrq?

Brainwashi.g noTo.

Where did you record your e.P.?it into a pC o"4 tlpy4

the other musicnl instruments with a PC at home. imo of Gt,Vodoes Mix and Masterling. It is a complete indie.

Do you play showg - - - Iiae?It is not so frAquent, but does ttuo once a month. We perform yaoluntary plan eaent on MoY 1'0.

Afe metal people liking ltour music nmt in lapan?We are actiae, and there is not yet it so much for around 2 years. Iam publicizing it.

"Brain Washing" in inspired blt tphatTa certain comics

INho do you think is braintaashed?Earnest religious cult belieaers etc...

Wllat is brain washing ideas and ,for what purpose?I described the state that was brainwashed while recognizing theself zaho faded while keeping self. I haae nothing to do with music,but the mass communication thinks whether it is a kind ofbrainwashing recently, but, the person of composition is Miurd-Sanbou (guitar).

INhat about "The CrueI World"?I stock eaerv information on the earth which included a heart and asoul of the"huinan and I image an absolute secrecy project to letIoose to the new space and compose it. I describe the state filling upthe many parts of the world by a colloid in the natne of the relief ofthe soul while containing it to the house of people despairing of inmany disputes, u)ar. The person of composition is lmo(uocals/guitar).

Do you sing in lqpanese? I cqn't tell. It's growling.We sing in English, but our linguistic ability does not catch upwith it, and the publication of the English text zoill restrain itselfas of a thing of a thing deaoted to. On the other hand, TDe announce

lapanese text.

Are there a lot qf immigrants in lapan? From ruhere?Yes. I feel haae much China and Korea.

Do you think thelr should haae equol rights?Yes. But, actually, it might be dffirent, but the foreigner who wasmy friend did not suffer the disaduantage in particular.

Do you know that the U.S. goaernment put [apanese-Americans inconcentration cemps during World War lI?

of World War II, but do not haue the particularly deep knowledge.

What does Yamati (drumsl contribute to the band, musically?Continuing

Does he

beating a

utrite his OTDN

d r u m .

aarts?A demo sound source is basic, but almost arrangement entrusts it.

When did he be"in plalring drums?

around I naw.

Do you think that Koreans who haae liaed in lapan forgenerations should haae the right to be citizens? Thelt are-not citizens norn, correct?Is naturalized in lapan; of them think that is free, and think thatthere may be the citizen's right since liae in lapan. I do not haaethe particularly discriminatory opinion.

Do Imo and Miurq write the songs together?Yes. And Gomura writes songs, too.

Do theu arsue a lot or do thev like the some bands?We do hot haue trouble in a band ii particular. At the time of

which resists solo as for haaing trouble part-time assignment. Thealmost faaoite thing is the \ame aboht the Melodicdeathmrtal.

Do_ I hear some Amott influences in the guitars or not?Miura in particular

- takes influence.

Who are Qomura's aocal inspirations?! Does he play bass only?

Bethir* the feeling packing ruith a text in particular to be theinfluence. i am {he'originil that I haue begun' to take out the deathaoice recently because originally I did not hear death metal. Thereis not the musician conscious in particular. If it is easy, the guitarsplits open, but there is not the ikill as I shdw it i_n pitblic. iworkas a base and a aocalist.

Wat _ qre your plans .for 2009 and 2010?!

a-t pgrform LIVE energetically anil want to produce a full album.Thank vou!! THE END.

Battery (Denmark)Battery_ plays jazzy bluegrass country music by which Img?n that they do not and instead play dirty, rough thrashwith sick vocals. This band's music is no pretty Sundaypicnic in the p,arf unless pretty means uglt and Sundaymeans dirty and the park means a thrash zone in which cas-e4u. ygs t4iq is a picnic and the words mean somethingaltogether different from the same.

Their recording is their first demo and it has a dirty,raw uptempo thrash feel. They like 80s thrash and they closound like that. If you want to hear a young thrashers g-et towork, then this band provides the zonibies and music, fr youprovide the interest. They are working on a new recording,too, as they explain here.www. myspace. com f b aftery zombies

Andreos: well ute FINALLY made thehrst demo hehe. Ambitionsnis6een huge and_many, but the thiig'is thii ie aie aII busy withboth musicil AND noi-musical mattZrs aII the time so rue iimptycynt fiyl the time or space to rehearse that often,-that slows ihitdown. But nsu) we haae the demo tape in our hands- it's beginningto take shape and we haue a goal more than before, vou kin[da neidtlmt to stay focused and sharp in a band we think.

"

Chris: \edh, and neut material is in the making. The things thatslows tlrc process dorun, is also the geographical distance b"efweenus. But we are working lt tl,n nex{ demo) that hopefully wiII seethe light of day at the eid of the summer 09.

QoeF Battent plqy a lot=shqws in your city or town?Andreas: lrclrc rro tto Jar from it. Not dropping names-but i wouldsayTite danish scene irrtit big time. rher[ iri'o iti-io"as here andthere worth men.tioning, tilat would be(my "opinion

of course)Denial of Ggd,Victimize4Crucifix,Lipid to hame some,"sorry if iforget some(of course Mercvfiil fate' but i suppose that ddseh'tcount hehe;)- also Dennis qnd I libe in vejle- th'e'only metal we gethere are either the danish mainstream shii bands wh"o drop by oilcein a uthile- or the " Annual" Lipid shout zaich we look f6niard toe,arry year hehe.- there^is nothii-g much to do exept to iupport theIocal Record-store(Stereo Sludio-Veile FUCK ynAUtt'tC4riq: INhats keeps us from playing shozas is that we are stiilmissing a bassplgyer- wich ta_e hope wiII change soon. I agree withAndreas about the scene in Dentiark. But yoil can see tEat peopleay pe.Xlnning to reform old bands, and iignt nuo you can seedanish legends as Euil or Denmarks-finest: ,{rtitlery li6e again!

Hoq old are you? You haae no influence .from black and death.Andreas: ruell im 16, and both Chris and Dennis are L8.No ute don't bring in any Death/Black influences, though ute listento alot of other stuff than just Thrash. This is so far a Thrash, andnothin'-but thrash-band.'But we aII haae our different influencesand fauorites of course, 7r1e would be lying if toe ihid that '{ue listento nothing but" thrash metal.Chris: True.

Some people are saying that a lot bands are plaving thrash because

something happens, i dont know what, then we -will

still beplaying! As it has been seen before, other influences comes togetherin a bands music, it's not impossible that rne utould take it furtherat some point, but for naw... it's Metal Thrashin Mad hehe.'And asfar as-.the "trend" thing you said; we didn't really notice the"trend"- we thought it was a shame that the whole 80s thrashscene- had been put out. We wanted to play thrash, and also letpeople knuu that: "EY, thrash ain't dead.and long gone, it is aliaeand we are eaoking it as we play!" That many otier bands thinkthat raay and qre troing the sami to bring thrish back... weII thatsjust greatQ,-hris: leah the Main-genre in these days AIN'T Thrash, far fromit. And eaer since Abattoir, ute haae had a "bond" befween ui andreal 80s Thrash! It's really cool to be able to take a genre from the"golden ages',' and re-Iia-e it your ozun way. Persinallyi the B\smetal scene has influenced aid interressteil me a lot. But it hasbeen-that for so long that euen if it Became the new trend, itzuot4ldn't change my aiezu on it. So if you ask me, we will STILL bein 2018, and Bhttery rnill stiU be ptaying tr\}-eail-oldschool thrashhhaha!

"Toxic In?ad"e_rs" altd "Zombie Assault" talk about slimycleatures. fNith_zombies. what ideas are ltou conaeyingTfu.fuegp;Toxic Inaaders is about the way you actia\i LET drugskill you. I wrote the Zombie Assault lyricibecause i liaae a stroiginterest in... yes horror moaies. I think Zombies are cool, and tlleidea 9f the Dead rising to kiII again is awsome, so a song thatmatclies the old and clissical Zofibie mouies would iust be"cool ithought.. and it turned out quite cool i think hehe.' But its notimpossible that the lyrical themes zuill aary fro* song to song ordemo to ddmo.Chris: Blood 'n gorg is some wicked kanl stuff, so why not writentusic, based on it heh? Allthough i zpould like to aniounce thatthe nelo material holds more and-different lyrical themes, and thatzue utrite about what tpe hate, and dbout wiat we like! And as whatgoes for eaerything else; i don't really giae a fuck.

Would " success" turn you into a sell out like aII those

Andreqs: h1nmm, i agre-e that has happend, it sure has. But manygreat. bands haoe made a liaing wi'thout turning into sell-oitpussies. -As long as we get SAMEWHERE with this, that isenough Jor me to keep up the enthusiasm and ambitions for a loongtime. Howeaer if you just keep looping with rehearse, witd,rehearse, write... an-d neier get airyuhere.it can be reeeally hard tokeep up the joy of working in muiic and play... at least foi me. Butwe'do'this lieiause zue ,"iov playing loud'an"d fast thrash metal andbecause we are dedicated metalfreatrs ourselaei. I can only speakformyself but I want to get this- thing out on stage and rialiy bringchaos and mayhem a[ong when we play liaei- That is My mailngoal- to make"Battenl etien stronger liie,and play some tlhrashinmetal that wiII turn peoples brainlnto shit hehe.

Chris: lt has neaer harmed anyone to be "rewarded" for their hardwork. And many bands haue made it WITHOUT selling out. Tome , its aII about making some au)some hellthrashin metal, get it tothe masses- liae in peticular, that is rewarding enough to me.

What are your.future plansTAndreas: The plans are to make the next demo- we haae writtennew, faster, more thrashing songs which zuill be on it. We are alsoplanning a better production this time. So if you like the firstdemo, or just fast fucking furious B)s Thrash Metal - you shouldreally check out the next, it's gonnabe "rrrete' feeei" ;)Chris: Yeah mayn for sure! If the first demo meant anything toyow you tuill be thrashin along to the next release- garanteed!!THE END.

Marsh (u.s.)Life's Contradiction is the recordi.g from Marsh, who play apretfy twisted black metal that sounds bothnecro/obscure/abstruse and melancholic/spacey or(ambient/experimental) but that repeated listensdemonstrates that there is a method to the madness.However, they have real songs and the "experimental" doesnot mean long moments of stupid yelling in a cave or sfufflike thal it is more like twisted melody. Marsh is probablyinsulted that I am calling them black metal or spaceybecause they probably consider themselves as "other" andthafs fine, too. Nevertheless, on here, this is still within therealms of metal, just pretty brave and nonstandard.

I think the sound quality is ok, but it could be a bitclearer. Maybe this is too "underground"! That means youhave turn it up with this one. I do believe that this is too"necro" or too muffled, but the band does not think so. Justmy opinion. As usual, I hope in the future th"y get a realdrummer, as I do not like drum machines.www.myspace.com/ marshus

Hi! VVho is marsh?Uettot Marsh is Bvte Yenbot and KDY. Byte does aocals andproRrams drums aid XOy handles guitar. Ixiotice zue don't use abasi. We don't need it. We like to manipulate the sound of ourrecordings also and slsu) eaerything down slightly which lozoersthe notei of euerything in retirn. I{makes euerytling sound a bitunearthly.

Do rtou consider Uour music to be both black metal and to be

qualitV were clearer, would rrou sound more melodic. melancholrc,doomlt.T-ffiose at the time we considered to haae some doomy blackmethl' elements, but nowadays we just don't because there aren'tany doom influences presenl. I spriak for myself when ! to.y that Idon't like d6om meta| anymore. lMen Life's Contradictton wasrecorded we Tnere listeniig to a lot of post-black metal and somedoom bands like Warnilng and Wormphlegm. The music issupposed to sound raw Elo-fi. We aren't fans of the crisp andclirir productions of most baids these days.'Also,-we record on a

four-irack so "that aids to tfie GliShA rawness.

Are you students, raorkers, etc.? HQ_w is-.tbe torlt.lt rQhe!?Jtgt liae?

@tly l istef to-?.Wa=t=didyou li\e it!2008?M work. Richfield is q suburban town inMinnesota. It's not terrible, but it's not something I'm uery forydof. I don,t go to manv metal shocos. I don't really care about theirnur, but"a nice oie is always a perk. As always, I'ae b.eenlistening to The Smiths. I'ue alslo beei enioying Croisouer, Yellow

Magic Orchestra, Furdidurke, Bone AutI, Cartoon Drips, and somemiscellaneous Cambodian 60's pop stars like Sinn Sisamouth andMeas Samon. 2008 releases..J'm aery fond of the album thatPyramids put out on Hydra Head. It's definitely one of my faaoitealbums.

Wt is Lrte's Contradictton a cassette tape? Are ltou anti-cd? !We released "Life's Contradiction" as a cassette because we feltthat since it wai recorded on tape it should be released on tape. I'mnot anti-CD, but I do prefer uinyl and cassettes much more thanCDs.

INhere do you record? Do ltou not think the sound qualitlt is a bittoo muffIed? WilI lrou do anltthing to ,ftx this problem?We record our music in a basement with a Tascam 4-trackPortastudio. I'm sort of pleased zuith huu it sounds. I think wecould haue done better but we don't think it's muffIed or anything.I find the album boring at times. Our music has become more rqzoand noisy these days. I'm much more pleased ruith the music utehaae been making lately.

Yput ppeale qgraspy.What do you thinky

Byte distorts his aoice so he doesn't destroy his aocal chords.We'ae started to do some real singing on the new material. I guessthat's the only new addition.

What about in terms o.f improaing the guitar pla+ting? !l'ae just been experimenting with noise and effects rttith myguitars and pedals. That's the only naa thing ute're adding whenit comes to that. We're just distorting anything roe can these days.

There are bands promoting anti-Semitism. Yet, in the metalmagazines qnd websites, the reaiewers do not salt anything about

same topic as -drqgons

rainbows or zombies.IMat do ltou think?I'm not a supporter of racism and Nazism. I don't understand whypeople haae been persecuting letas for all of the years that they-haa-ebeen around. Something I'ue noticed is that most NSBM bandscome fto* countries that don't really haae any non-white peopleand they shouldn't hate a group of people they'ae probably neaer,been around! They haae neaer eaen been qround colored people andI don't see why they haue gone out and made crappy and immatureNSBM

- bands.

IMat are lrou doing in 2009? What about 201,0?We're probably going to do some shoras in the summer. Marsh isgoing to be dohe by 20t0 so nothing is going to happen that year.We haae some spiits in the worki and qfter those are released,TLte're going to calll it quits. We'oe had enoilgh of this and I'm sureeaeryone e[se has. THE END.

Hybrid HeavenHybrid Heaven (Mexico) is quite the listening experience.They just sound like they want to go beyond the normalmetal sound and want their metal to stand out, to have it beexciting, challenging even, when first hearing it. Metalpeople are often famitiar with the idea of having to hear a cdseveral times before adjusting, understanding the songs-uldfeeling the impact. Flybrid Heaven are pretty_ Syiltt of theabove: their sound is complex, tight and overwhelming.

Hybrid Heaven's songs are filled with unexpectedturns, miklng it an intereiting listen, p_rompting - thgquestion, just-how many twists and turns does f $yb.ifHearrett song have? Well, a lot. If s thrashy/death

prog/ technical with black metal vocals. The speed is fast,often blasting,_but it's creative, this is not tryingto be fast onpurpose. The Textures of Spirit is the name of their album.www.myspace.com/ hybridheavenband

Hq?_is the ci4r o! town tahere you liae,for metal? Do you llaae_ctuos wnere, , Uou , can pW

e metal but issomewhat disjointed, not all people-who listei to metal or is metalmouement, attending the shows, especially for bands local bands.brlt despite this,.- if something sh,iuis and aery goodlplaces to plyy metal there are plac& here in our small tiwnionlywhen we uisit other countries-bands will get larger. and it is ueryrare but sad that zuhil.e llaing in one of the"most important cities 6four country or eaen in Latin America, people are not drazun to seein action to the local talent, we had bett'er response in smaller citiestaithin our country -people in these cities is being deliaered,tk^:rrf9. of the metal within the country is uery lar"ge, but only30% of. the,scene you are interested or kn6ut bandl in iour countfior_national, most people inside the metal is not intdrested in tieMexican metal because they think it is not up a good metal, andthis is not the point.

the reality here is that there not many eaent organizers,booking age.nts and record company, because piople do noY think ofisking their money to- inaest in iational metal) if a band here iitthe country haae- achieued some recognition ritithin the samecountry, in. most cases is because t4ey are all finance yourpromo.tion, but ?gi"s-so.bands are not akpays good fiuality. lvletalhere is not really llaying o aery profitaile hnd ii's simethingreally sad to sei houi ta"Iented 6qidt" huge throw in the towilbecause they-are disregardedby their own p"eople nnd in some clsesare able to haae sonrc proiection abroad but unable to leaae thec.ountry..for lack of money -as the metal in the media if it istransmitted 9flen good melal, lut is aery rare rphile transmittingnational, m9tal, metal is something randlom on the radio to hear ifthere. scheduled programs, but they are night and not mqny ptopiecan hear tlrc ta'an[ not ntuch theTe just E few aery rare o1c'asi6nsand that is something metal, and in'most iases is

"more traditional

or classic metal. butbbaiouslv zoith the internet we all haae accesst.o euerything we,taant and tiie adaantage is zae can find proposals.this that has hetpeil us

Y,-our l!,rics a.re abo4t leception and=the,fear o.[,failure and haaingtlre collrage to art. what inspires the ideas of "The sores qf ourfoo!sIn the lyrics, Ttle qre.not-aery-ldentrealize we truly feel or lmui felt. in-spiration comes from the lettersoJ o.ur c.urrent situation in our locality. if rne studj English, but towrite the letters in a way that is acciraie, ute had to i6ty on somehelp.As utell Tpe succeed in putting the concept of our ideologies morel.etters of a.certain claim or ti le social his'tonj of ourcoritry as int-hg c.a.2e of t.he to-pic, "marking passqges zaiih blood,, issue{, ,,TheMask" anchored to The Blfndness" ,, The sores of our roots"prettending Fullness" is aery personal for ne (Ardoi show someanger, but the inspiratiort of-tliese issuis are thte enuironment inwlich they liae an'd the relaiionship I haue or haue had with manvpeople in .tlmt enaironment . but'l think it is good lyricks the{econcepts in the subiects that utill be the same" as simeone whoidentifies.with th.e_m qnd apar-t ftory rescuing the music, you cansaae the lyric2. -This is. sohething I caII the "attention

of the greatinteruiew and I am glad you mZntioned the issues ',pretteidingFullness" and

- " the sores tf our roots"u

Yas,,it di.fficult to.find oeople to plq, this style of technical music?k i t ,1 0

WeIl if thery is .somethi.ng dfficult to find musicians for anexperimental project totalli iniide the metal, most musicians inthis area who like the meial or are engaged to play this sfuIe ofmusic and want to play classical genrei (iuch as'dehth / methl oldschool (the heaay oi tirash of the"old schooD or otherwise want toplay some moreioday.-and is"metalcore, deathcore, or the like. Vrryfew people want q /llot project qnd less of CASE metal, becauiethey see it unprofitable a'nd'risky, we had'some members than thecurrent alignment, but for their-oun reasons as they were leauingthe band. As with purchase tools if you buy them is kfficult and i7tryany cases qnd to try to get good tools. The Tirices of theinstruments here are euen more expensiae than'in the'LLS.,euerything here goes up to a 30 to 406/o due to taxes and thereforethere is not much aarietrt of instruments, bands or musicians-thatare good tools because tite{ pose the brought fro* abroad and buycheaper ther6.

In.Lqtin Alngrica a lot people buy pirated copies o.f cds. But I thinktt ts logical thqt people bult an illegal copy because the legal cds areso experylrue_ that.it ma&eg. it irltpossible to buy the legal copies. The

Piracies here is rtthat is most coicerned to seII discs in alt genres ofmusic. \lery feru people haae the habit of buying origiital CDsbecause in the case of metal discs are more-expensi-ue beiause mostare imported and it is eaen dfficult to get a frut titles here in ourcity and more for new bands. People utho burioriginal CDs becausediscs are really appreciated that they say so realTy good disc. Euenthe younger generation no longer euen purchase pirated discs aIIthe music down fro* the netzuork and the shirts ii uery rare to seethat a shirf is sold here in any ffiiat Band

Do ltou belieae_that tlryre zuill be a reaolution in your countryb:cluse, people zp_lalk about a new Mexican reaolution is something of muchcontroaersy in-our country, but it is something that if {ou" ask anyperson oaer 40 years will giue vou o total denTal on iiis issue, tiereason for this- is that tlle re{tolution took place as does and acentury in our country, I leaae out poor people eaen poorer and therich pe-ople rich but not yet changed iheir economic turns, andinstead the onltl people taho benefited were the mercenaies andcriminals and they took oaer alt oir tax and they are still there, asthey always haa,! been, ryany aillages and smkll tupns dissaperwith these murderers and mercenarles calling itself reaolutiondry.F.oy pgoplg.roho do not knozo that it is easy tisupp:ort a reoolutioin.Admittedly t\ery.is much uncertainty inbur stie'ets and organizedcrime is much bigger than anrl gouernment institution. H"ere, thel.aw alo afraid it"tan make yiu"a criminal organization. De'spitethis.most. people can establlsh their liues herd only the quesiionitself is always a guard, neaer expect goaernment sitpport'in thesematters ,f security

How hqae people feact_e_d to your cd in your country?m a -m,atter oJ national public reaction to our album has been adryEgod,becaus.e here in our country but u)e a.re aery uery fezp banlsthat play this style. we haue bee"n well receiaed, il,e eu:ei had goodreaiews fto* people elsewhere in the world, and this record wehaue sent some 20 record labels, but only 3 of us olJerseas and werespo,nded commented that the music zoas aery good but not zpaswhat. they.sought, but a company is aery eith"usiastic with ourmusic, and actually wanted to thiow our disk across America andEuro.pe, we prefer be tter to giae another option, since in the monthoJ M.p we and our secondlecord disc with a production far betterin all respects, and this record gonna selt directlv to the nationalcom.pany .of yo! had commented and this is aicompanied by anational tour. Eaen if yoy already haue a support of d compar! toremain independent ii aII aspectls, of course' ipe'd iike to c'onciude

f irst people to hear our new materiaM!!!

Risen Prophecy (U.K.)

roith a trans-heaayroeight, it can bring benefit to our music andour shoros all oaer the rnorld! That is the dream of all Bands hehe.Yet rae loae what ute do and be independent and deaelop music 1stIeael in a Third World country like ours that we belieae giaes usextra points compared to many foreign bands that haae much moresupport in all aspects, we are aII young musicians band membersand this giues us more adaantage of being able to exploit ourpotential qnd make a really kick ass! And zue hope that this nezorecord that is on the wav to achieue this!

WeII first of all thank you for this interaiew and a lot people whoread this and hope you might be interested in our band, pleasewrite to: http://www. myspace. com/hybridheaaenband, you canlisten to some of our ep 2008 and of course we do you utill be the

was written about people who manipulate and aictimise others andour retaliation to them people. I think it depends on people'sperception and the way they interpret songs. I can understand whythe title "Possession of the Weak" might make people think wewere controlling the zaeak yet it is a statement about someone elseand not an action of our own. The lyrics throughout the rest of thesong clarifu that we are standing up for the uteak. Although I knowzohat you are saying as far as some other bands go because it isclearly euident that they do side with the strong; maybes itsbecause they feel roeak themselaes so therl haae to side with thestrong. AIio," it is clearly eaident that iome bands don't thinkabout lyrics as much as others because they don't haae much depthor reason. I think to generalise all metallers as either one of thefollowing- fantasy bullies or not thinking or just plain stupid- isinsane but there are definitely bands that apply to each of thecategories

Does ltour drummer use triggers? Do you haae an opinion?Iames (drumsl: Personally I like more of a natural sound zuith mydrums and I think triggers can make the tone sound too digital andfake. By using triggers it can substitute a drummer's endurance.Houeaer on our EP, samples were used on the snare and kicks;which the producer suggested. Some bands suit them more thanothers and it depends hmt they are used.

ln concert, can ltou reproduce eaerything .from ltour recording?Don't you hate those bands roith huge productions of computerand studio tricks but liue. they don't come close to "epic"?Yeah we can play eaerything liue that zue'ae recorded. To be honestIiae music should be better than studio because there's moreenerry, intensity and atmosphere. Yecrh there's nothing worse thana band ruho's album is 'perfect' but there liae shuu is an absoluteabomination- if you cannot do it liae don't record it. We loaed howthe backing tracks on Kreator's neu) album were all recorded liaeyet sounded tight as fuck- total proof that they aren't a band whorelies on studio tricks.

You play thrash. Some people say that bands playing thrash are abunch o.f trend jumperi playing trendy . music.In England, thrash is dying down and Deathcore is taking oaerand tliat's naw the trendy g-enre. Although it's clearly eaident thatshit bands like Triaiu* in7 Bullet for m"y Valentine"made 'thrash'

popular ngain (which is NOT thrash- it's a diluted and poor'iriitation)- they created an influx of equally shit bands taking

influence fto* them. We played thrash before it wqs trendy (foroir geneiation) and tue utill continue to utrite and play thrash-rootid music in the future. Howeuer, we zoant to expand on thesethrash roots and mike something that is our awn an.d not a repeatof what's already been done.- Fuck trends and fuck posers.

Haae you met metal "Iegends" that y-o\ qdLnire?-We receitly met Chuck BiIIy aftei a Testament and Megadgtlt SiS.

He usas really cool horueaei it was only a brief meeting" We me-t-Tim Ouert "o|te, an lced Earth gig ouer a yeqr ago. We were allsinging along and head bangin"g"during ,ihe se{ tahich got hisattdntlon bec-ause we u)ere some of the only people really _gettinginto them at gig- it was when they played with Lqmb of God andHeaaen and-IIell So he was pietty cool to come and see usafterutnrds. We met Mantas when hle was pIaVinR with his nentliand DryIt and he was down to eaith" aid really cool

If one listens to uour music. it qlmost -sounds .like death and blacknAil haae neuer existed. Is this on pl!rupt2:-

THE END.

They report that th"y have been busy recently playingshows, working on new music for their upcoming albumScreaming for Death. At the time of contact with this zine,th"y had a two-song recording of rocking thrashing/heavymetal with a feel for songs with good, catchy, thrashingrrtfs, hooks and solos, as well as vocal lines that fit well inthe songs. The band consider themselves thrash, but theyhave more going on than just thrash. They have hooks andmelodies that most thrash bands simply don't do. This, Ithink, is their strength. There is a classic heavy metalsensibility running making their music memorable, since it isnot just about speed but about songs that rock. Of course,this also does thrash, too, so no worries there.www. myspace.com / risenprophecyl

l-Iello Risen Prophecy! What has haapened since r '',r=rg, cording?n

base and riputation. We'ae also being zoorking on nsw materialand trying.to deaelop our sound. At the moment we'ae beenreheariing for our new album 'screaming

for Denth' which is dueto bi recorded in a feru zueeks time.

How good is your local sc€neT Is therg -! Iot emo =.stu.ff?The main metal-music within our town and the surroundings isDeathcore whichis NOT our taste at all and in most c&ses are emokids attempting to play death metal and not haoing the knowledgeor ability to p[ay it, so yeah there is a lot of emo in our toutn tocertain

"degree. ifoweaei, there is a small aariety of really good

bands ranging fro* black metal to thrash/death metal to southernrock. We'ue p[ayed lots of gigs in the same areas last -year andwe're trying to play fewer gigs in these same are&s so that tt wtllbecome a biggei eaent when-we pla!/. There are people 7yh9 9.anreallv appreli"ate our music liue but there are others who think thatbecailsd iue don't play a breakdown euery 5 seconds that we are shitbut to be honest'fr;k them, we play rnhat we want to play andthat's that'

Is ttPatriots or Prisonersl' about the Guantanamo prison7rs?.ffieiting concept! But no it was zuritten abouthow the working class get fucked 6uer by !119 g.ou.e-rnment.;119t ar.ethe first to defenld it. I tnink people can git blinded by patriotisru toooiitt thea shut off to what'is reaIIV happening; that's when theybrro*t p"ritorert"'to their country."In i'nutsliell it's the irony,of," democracy" and wrote addressed to the person/people in control."Ross

ttPossession of the weak'l is about what? You know hoTD some

metal bands talk about etc.IMu should metalidentifu with the nd not the underdos?

Ross (guitar\:(Laughs) It's about identifuing with the underdog. It

l l

We can understand why people would think that. The songs on theEP were obuiously injluenled by thrash but it wAsn't" done tosound B)s or because we don't like death or black metal as rDe arebig fans of both genres. The new material has more influence fro*other genres such as these but when we urite we tn1 not to think ina -labelled state of mind. We take a wide range of iifluences such asclassical, ja'zz, folk, etc. iot'

' just metal.

Whet made Dan Tyrens (aocals\ want to scream in a metal band? !Uhat _ flgdp . Iames Charlton start banging on drums? !P%W:U ! just started to listen to dffirent typtt of singers likeUlt-t Barluu (Iced Earth), Ioe Lynn tirner- (Ex-YngwieMalmsteen), lames Labrie (Dream Theater), lim Gillette (Nltro),loachim Cans (Hammerfall) and thought that it wns so powerfuland epic so I iust started to train mvse[f to be able to so hisher indhigher and more powerful. Then tafren"l ztsas able to to it it a goodenough leael I started to work it in to our songs and it just cl{ckedstraight au)aq.[ames: A friend of mine at school was starting to take lessons aidat round about the same time I was starting to get into music, so Ithought l^d giug it a go. PIus it was a griat e-xcuse to get out oflessons. Once I started I realised that I really enjoyed- it and itexpanded fro*

- there.

Iiae? !'l'he-worst thing about where we liae is the mentality of a lot people

as-fay as musiC is concerned. Don't get us wrong ihire are'peopleza.ho haae -great bands and great muiic taste bu{ there a lot' of

'the

time peopl-e.are hoppy tg follua Kerrang TVs message of "Iistbn tothis shitty band because

- they aie popular.

Yr_ou haue only ene gldtar in the band.IMen you play and do solosthere is a "hole" in_the song. Is this a problem?

r haaing one guitaro!\-it s.ounds fine duiing the solos. We fottota the exaitple ofBlackSabbath, Paniera, Venim, Manunar and Motorhead'thei don'tneed two guitarists to sound "frII" and neither Vo u)e.

our band in 2009? !Ale're.recording an 8 track CD inbarly Wplan it wiII pressed nnd released by lufy. iVe are diing a"few ofirydependent fes.tiaal! and promoting ihe"album by gigging iroundthe country. The CD will hopefulli attract somd ln{elesl so we'lls:l:llyre ihings go from therb. Thinks for the interuieru!THE END.

REVIEWS

CruelForce: lnto the Crapts" Deathstrike," " Crltel Force,"

"Victims of,Hellfirer" and the fact that they do a coaer of "MetalInquisition" of ihe 80s more-metal-than-th6u band pilediiaer, it'sno mystery,whgt.deal is: B)s metal. Cruel Force (Germany) is 80sstyle raw thrash/death/black or uptempo and midtempo ciae-style-r.ecording m9!al. .The nrcnt-ality is ight and aery c6mfortable"forthose into old school metal done in t-he raw, unpolishi:d, unfaicyway of headbanging metal.

I think this demo is a bit too garage-style. The guitars anddrums sound like thev are far awav. df coirse."all uou Faae to do isturn up the aolunrc"on tnis tninfi a [ot and it so"unds better. Themusical perspectiae is definitely iight on. They iust need to haae abetter recording next time. Sometlmes "necroil

'can be "too" necro,

y ou know. www.myspace.com/ cruelforce

D_=isease l\lusion: Reality behind the Illusions of Li,feThis -group's sound is something like death/black-style raspygrozuling, melodic thrashy rtffing constantly supported with hooki,melody,- shredding and iotoing. The bord' (Italy) considerthems"elaes "meloiic death metaF' zuhich mav or miv not meanryJrych, depending on rphat one means by that \erm. Tiis is guitar-driuen metal,

-not keyboards/electroinic-heaay stuff arld the

thrashing/shredding is kept up pretty consislently--throughout.Also, this is not a band that uses gruoling and clean aoca[s as aformula, but it's mostly grualing lhroughout, giuing it a harder-edge sound. The clean aocals are used iery brtefly trn a couple ofsongs. I kind of enjoyed the fact that they did not use the cleanaocals a lot.

In addition, the whole cd sounds like theu haae worked aIot on making a good cd and haaing good" sound quality.www.myspace.com/ diseaseillusion

Dyinise: Dainise-This recording is competent for the style of thrash/heauy metal thatthis band (Uk) playi. TheiT sound is tirash/heauy ietal, takinginfluence- fro* baids like Metallica, Megadeth ind Testamenl.Titus, tlrcy sound uptempo, but not ahything super fast orfrenzi.ed. The aocals'are ihat midrange siyle, "not iingihg, notgrornling.

The band sound uery traditional in the sense of rffing,aocals and drum*iryg They ian be criticized for that, peihafis. Atqny rat9, the sound quality is good and the instruments can beheyd clearly. For a young band, for uthat they do, they do a goodjob w,ith it,,bspeciaUy i7 you like this less aggrissiae thr:ash styTe, to-zuhich,

they h(io; some good "ideas to contiibute.www. myspace.com/ dyinise

Goatsoldiers: Goatsoldiers9-oatsoldiers (Oregon, U.S.) is leather, denim and spikesblack/thrash ushere their lean and fast speed/thrash metal iffi"Sand drumming and black metal aocals keep the old school aibe.-

The first three songs on this demo haue a good soundquality ryheie you can heil the music pretty clea/Iy and it'sobuious that this band has good songs with iome spontaneous-sounding soloing, sounding li-ke a seriius endeauor.

The last three songs are liae and so the sound quality isnot as good. For that reason, the liae songs do not come across asdistinctiae as the first three, but instead [o sound like a loud banddoing their

' thing, but not as promising.

www.myspace.com/ goatsoldiers

Heaven andHell: The Deail You KnoutL. SIun guitar yffi for far too much of the time. Very little, if anyenerry, on display here. Major problem2. Slow,^siryp.I9 drumming for too much of the time. Very littleenerry., Probably the biggeit'problem here.3.W1.ry-slow guitar woik ahd drumming the songs are boring tome. W here's the metal?! Where's the eiergy?! fdidn't listei tothis because I want to fall asleep.4. lou.may be.thinkiitg that this could not possibly as boring as Imake it sound: "It mist rock out for 60 61 70 percent of-time;maybg this reaie-zp is e_x-aggerating because it's n6t blasting blackmetal or something like-1hat".-OK, but I'm just sayiig thatuptempo/midtempo, rocking heaoy metal is missing here.

Helloween: Gsmblinq utith the Deailcds). There are fast,

thrashy potuer/heriay metal soigs with traditional metal high

t2

singing but ruith grit. There are uptempo songs with great hooksand singing. There are midtempo songs that are aery memorableand melodic.

And that's it. I do not hear any low points. Basically,Hellotpeen, on here, has kept a high leael 5f energy throughout thewhole cd, and often this appears to be a pretty thrashy ffiir, whileat the same time keeping the melody in place. Was it their goal tokeep it "pedal to the metal" this much? I guess, so.www.myspace. com/ helloween

Insulter s: Skull Krusher sThe four band members (Catalonia, Spain) aII haae names likeBlasphemic Vomitor (uocals), Bourbon Deaastator (guitars), etc.On this 4-song demo they couer Celtic Frost's "lnto the Crypts ofRays," in addition to three own songs. They call their music" Alkoholo c aus ti c F uele d Me t aI. "

This demo sounds like it was recorded in the Mighty Caaeof Classic DeathftIack/Thrash. Insulters keep it seuere, bare anduptempo, with a cool charm of ancient caae metal mentality. Theyraill probably tell you that they hate melody, etc., but the guitarsolos do haae melody Qtt, caae melody but melody neuertheless)and the rffi also haue that classic caae metal feel: a plus. I thinkthis band may be onto something. This is a demo, nothing fancy,but the songs show the attitude is good. More!rowTl) .my sp ace. com/insul ter s 6 6 6

Kusoof : ViIetAsoof (Xwarit; Bahrain) has trno basic components. One is theblasting black/death metal element. When this mode is on, itsounds pretty good, competent and basically hard to dislike, glirygaII out to biing the metal. The aocals sound black metal painfuland the blasting speed mode utorks well for Kusoof.

Then there is the other component. It is something likemelodic or somerohat spacey, but not ouerused at aII. On songnumber fotr, "Ongoing Procession of Demise" they do morg of theambient moments for a longer period of time. I guess we'll haae tosee if Kusoof go that route a lot more in the future.-

The- result is something like blasting or speedy blackmetal, with brief midtempo moments. At any rqte, this is not tooshabby and thdre are some good and eaen strong-ideas here inplacei that suggest thnt Kusoof has a specific musical direction thntis relatiaely well formed already on this demo.www.myspace.com/ kusoof

Lacuna Coil: Shallow LifeIt's pop/rock. Not metal. Next!

Mastodon: Crack the Skye,rnatiae rock and stoner rock.

Maybe heaay hardcore, too. WelI, it's not metal. Next!

Morbid Flesh: D lrin I Lap i dation

"'d be correct in thinking

inls is seaerely gltttural chqinsaw-fuitar death metal. MorbidFlesh (Barceloria,"Spain) is low-groTl),-sure, hornerser, ruhat is betterthan their gore coa'er is the factlhat their guitar wo-rk shows quite-a bit of p"romise. Along witn the buzzguitar, there^is lotg tfeuidenie Lhat the rffi haue hooks and thi soloing is fun, crispy,quick-ftnger workoilts. Then eaerything starts getting b-etterbecause ii's obuious that the buzzguitar noise has a lot going Jor t-t,.there is creatiuitry in there, nol iust a band re-arranging oldMorbid Angel i f f t . These four 'songs, plus. the .Death c laer("Scream Blloodyeore") haue the sound of an initial.,recording,byband that has inore to ffir. Actually, their song "Graues" has

sotne black metal rtffing, as well as some sections of thrashy ,ifrrg,but it's just that the low-groutl and their honor image giaes theimpression that this strictly guttural death metal. The soundquality is dirty, not fancy and shiny, tahich is probably tahy thestuff sounds charming in the first place.www.myspace.com/ morbidoflesh

NapalrnDeath: Time Waits for No SlaaeThe reason why this is such a good album is because the bandkeepsup the creatiaity in the songs: eaen though this goes at blastingspeed, the songs stand out on their own, so there's none of thatfeeling that aII the songs are too similar or the same.

Napalm Death here does rnhat they do best: good qualitygrind roith distinctiae rffing, high leael of energy, plenty tfcreatiaity, uariety within a grind framework, intelligent lyrics, etc.

This is recommended not just for listeners of grind, butmetallers that haue an open mind for quality metal of all styles.Napalm Death is great and really, that's story here. A triumph.www. myspace.com f nap almdeath

Obscur ed: When D arkne ss ComesI think Obscured (Serbia) is what "pure death metal" probablymeans. The aocals are lora and guttural, the rtfrng is classic deathmetal and so is the drumming,you knora, blasting, etc. It appearsthat Obscured wants to get mosh pits going eueryrcuhere becausethis is death metal brutality that gets the kids pushing each otheruntil they get knocked dorun, only to get up again. The band haaehere a solid production where you can hear the instruments clearlynnd the death metal brutality is upfront, someu)hat technical, oftenblasting.

This type of mosh pit is probably dangerous for those oaer30 years of age as this may result in broken bones or injures youwill notice only the morning after, when you wake up in thegarbage dumpster and rlonder why you haoe so much ketchup onyour Jace.

Oh, zuait, that is not ketchup, man!!www.myspace. com/ obscuredsound

Sarnael: AboaeThis is a fast (often blasting), symphonic black metal

album.The oaerall sound is kind of "busy" with sympho-techno, futuristicsounds, and the aocals aitually" sound a"bii too low ii the mix.This is also the case with guitirs, I feel like I haue to " squint" tohear the guitars and that's annoying because the drum machineand the sympho-techno computer sounds haae taken oaer thisthing. Therefore, is the guitar zuork good? I just don't see how onecqn make that judgmenf when you can't hear the guitars that weII.

Whai sh-ould haae Samael doneT: bring up the guitarsupfront so that they are more audible; allow more room for the-a'ocals. Reduce the aolume of the techno-ketlboard-synthesizer anddrum machine sounds or iust mix the irums beiter. AIso, thedrums do sound like a drum machine and it's not a good sound,it's plasticky.'

fiis is not a bsd album at aII. Howeuer, speaking formyself, after hauing heard this some four times, I don't feel like Iwlant"to fiear it again because of the isiues I haae pointed 6ut.

Tomorrow's Demise : Yesterdsu's D emiseand (Canada)

oftm goes af a mid and biozu pace, sometimes sounding like superdoom anrbient and more like normal grual metal, at others.

I think the main thing to nite here is that this recording isjust too garage-quality. There is a heaay rumbling noise that

13

stands out (bass guitarT) here and seems to take oaer the sound,making dfficult to hear eaerything else correctly. The musicsounds aery much like basic, learning-to-play the instruments. Orat least, that's the impression I get.- I thiik this band and theirmusic would be bettei serued bylmprouing the sound quality, asright naui it sounds too garage-type to really commenf on.www. myspace.com/ tdemise

VacillationVacillation (Texas, U.S.) has the positiae quality of sounding likethey mean business. This is not a small matter because their high-speed-rtffng, mean-thrash drumming and the energetic, truisledgrowling aocals make up for the factlhese fiae songi haoe a bare-bones sound quality.

AII this goes to shua uthat? That zahen you do thingsyight - atttitude - can carry you through, despite ob-stacles like nbthaaing the sound quality you woul[ like. The guitar utork hassome cgol, promising soloing, kind of fast aid melodic, butmemorable.'The drimmer [oes a gcioa ioU of attacking theinstrument and getting a raw, pounding thrash/speed metalquality.

It is true that this sounds like a garage recording. That'sprobably.because it is or something like it. Huneaer, ther-e is goodpotential !rcre. This is demo songs, so you knorp what to expect, butI think the aocals, drumminghnd r:ffisolos znork well'and willlikely get ! Iot better in the future, if tiiis is anything to go by.

long number 5, "Drift Away" is a fast, lhraihing/deathsong. It has uery brief moments of clean aocals. I think tiis doesnot work here because the clean uocals sound weak. Horaeuer, it isoyly. a gery brief moment (Iike one aocal line, done twice). Maybedon't do clean aocals or maybe do clean aocals, but do them betier.Right now, the all-growlin{ approach sounds just fine.www. myspace. com / v acillattonmetal

Winter Axe: E ternituy this band (New lersey, U.S.). For

e.xample,- the rlffing suggesis that there are good toigt to be madein the future. The uocals fit the style of-black mital that thisappears to be. At times this sounds more thrashrl, and sometimes itdefinitely sou-nds more black metal The fastei parts sound moreblack metg!, the uptempo or midtempo, m6re thrdsh than anything.

Haweaer, the quality of the recording is uery bisic aidmakes it dfficult to hear the- music. As it stinds right now, thisdento sourj.rts alright and there is potential here, but"the qual'ity ofthe recording u:iII haae to be impioaed for sure to judge ihe mLsiTmor e obj e c tia ely. www. mysp ace. com/ winteraxe

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May 22,2009[contact: Mauricio: theoutcastzine9uno.coml