Blood of Christ

Canada is well known for it’s death metal bands. One of the most underrated bands in my opinion is Blood of Christ. The band released 3 albums before calling it quits in 2006. A decade later, Blood of Christ marked their return with the release of a single Echoes From The 7th Dimension. Their fourth album, Unrelenting Declivity of Anguish (Anthology IV) is now out via CDN Records. The album is quite an intense listen, exploring new territory while retaining the sound of their previous releases.

I spoke to the band about starting again, their first album in 15 years and also their plans for the year.

Read my interview on The Metal Wanderlust

 

Code Error

As a grind aficionado, I am constantly on the lookout for new acts around the world. One band that has got my attention recently is, Code Error. It features members from 2 of the best grindcore acts from South East Asia, Wormrot and Tools of the Trade. The band released a self titled EP a couple months ago. The 7 track release is a grindfreaks delight. I spoke to the band about their self titled release, recent shows with Rotten Sound and more

Read my interview on Everydayhate

Coilguns interview

In the 8 years of this blog, I have only featured a couple of bands from Switzerland. Coilguns are a noise/hardcore band. Their latest release Millennials one of the most over the top releases that I have heard recently. The album is equal parts hardcore and noise with a raw sound.

I spoke to the band about Millennials, recording the album and their tour of Ireland.

You recently completed a tour across Europe. How was it?

Jona Nido – This tour was very significant for us. We hadn’t toured in four years nor released an album since five years. Surprisingly, « Commuters » had created a small following amongst the scene and we played to decent amount of people every night. We sold good merch and according to people’s talk and faces after the show, I think we delivered enough for them to notice the performance in a positive way. We’re all pumped up now and can’t wait to do more.

Your second album Millennials is mix of hardcore and noise with a raw sound. Tell us a bit more about the album.

Louis Jucker – it’s loud music loudly recorded I’d say.

Jona Nido – We wrote an album we can barely listent to ourselves in its entierty. It’s harsh and that’s what we like about it. It seems like it is moving something into people, whether it is disgust or happiness. We worked a lot on the sound aestethic. No matter if you like it or if you think it sounds like a dead vacuum cleaner, this is how we wanted the album to sound and we’re EXTREMELY happy with the outcome. Now when it comes to labels…we like to say we’re a hard-rock band playing angry music. Anything else is for people to decide in which category they want to fit us in. Though noise-hardcore with a raw sound feels pretty accurate to me.

The album was written and recorded in january 2016. Why did it take over 2 years to release it?

Louis Jucker – Louis Jucker – All four of us are hyperactive artists and human beings. We fight hard to maintain our ideal dose of projects running. I perform a lot as a solo act, write music for theater and movies, work as a music producer for other swiss artists like Emilie Zoé, The Fawn, Darius… I released five records at the same time last year (L’Altro Mondo : Music with Lovers & Friends), gathering all kinds of intimate collaborations, and toured quite a lot with my new indie band Autisti as well. Jona and I run Hummus Records, and we both invest a fair amount of passion and time into it. Jona and Luc were touring the world relentlessly with Closet Disco Queen, and started a new excellent electro project calledSombre Sabre. Luc is also drumming for many different acts such as Los Orioles, Aphteand is sometimes filling in for bands like Conan, Heads, Vuyvr, etc. We don’t really get bored, you see.

But one thing for sure is that Coilguns is our oldest and deepest project together, one strong and old link between us all, and we cherish it for what it is. So we were waiting for all stars to be correctly aligned before starting this new cycle of tours.

Millennials was recorded live in the studio. Why do you prefer this method of recording?

Louis Jucker – We didn’t record it live. luc and jona played the basic tracks together, then we added more guitars, keys and so on. we worked on a low.budget 16-tracks tape recorder, so we didn’t do edits or any complex trickery. we mixed it 100% analog.

Jona Nido – We have recorded the first album and other ep’s completely live. For « Millennials » we did record one guitar and the drums together. No click, no edits and always one shot takes. We’re lazy. We don’t like to do edits and since we did not use a computer during the whole process it would have been a pain in the ass to do so anyway. We like to record the way we play live. We won’t do more than 5-6 takes per song, then we’ll choose the one that smells the most like balls rather then the one that is well played.

The track Anchorite has a unique lyric video. What the concept and approach towards it?

Louis Jucker – Noé Cauderay’s work is a very hands on process. He takes pictures, a lot of them, put them next to each other and turns the whole thing into video with a strange rythm. it favours dark, blurry, weird looking pictures and places. Anchorite was shot in northern norway.

What are your thoughts on the current state of metal?

Jona Nido – I’m not sure I can answer that. What is considered metal or not? it feels like the more « classic »metal isn’t really appealing so much to kids nowadays and feels like an aging scene…not a problem at all, just my feeling of it. I’m not really following what’s going on to be honest. I see new bands popping up here and there, I see the same old bands releasing the same old records over and over…From what I am aware of, I have the feeling the latest kick in the nuts was Gojira 10 years ago, maybe Zeal & Ardor now for trying to bring something new to the table… When I say this, you have to understand that I don’t consider ourselves as a metal band, nor the likes of Converge, Dillinger Escape Plan,Cursed, Terra Tenebrosa, Breach etc… I see them as angry/pissed off punk bands. This is where my interest lies in terms of « heavy » music.

I really do not dig this whole wanna be « meshuggah with clean vocals and guitar boredome » scene, though I understand this appeals to a pretty large crowd. This makes me think how much I love Meshuggah. Now that’s one proper metal band that has been pushing boundaries of everything for decades.

You also run Hummus Records. How do you manage between the band and the label?

Jona Nido – Both together aren’t far from a full time job. Since they are also my passion, I don’t really see them as « work » which makes it easier to accept the amount of time invested in them. The band brings a bit of money in, the label is a complete volounteer’s job. Having full control over both really gives us the freedom to do things how we want, whenever we want. We all keep it in the family and if Coilguns reach out to a bigger crowd, this will push the label and its roaster and vice-versa. Win-win.

What have you been listening to lately (metal and non-metal)? Are there any acts that have inspired you of late?

Jona Nido – Mainly to the next releases from the label. I’m the first fan of the bands I release so I really enjoy listening to their records and they all inspire me very much. Otherwise and in no particular order my latest obsessions include :

– Aurora – All My Demons Greeting me As a Friend
– Kaelan Mikla
– Heads. – Collider
– Agnes Obel – All her discography
– Converge – The Dusk in Us

What are your plans for the rest of the year? Do you have any more shows/tour planned?

Jona Nido – We have about fifteen shows left until the summer. We will tour Ireland in May. We’re stoked to be returning there as it will be Coilguns third time over and I’m excited to see how’s the following after « Millennials » was released. We sure do have great friends like the guys in Bailer whom we will tour with. We’re playing a few festivals and off shows in Switzerland. The next big tour will happen in November and boy what a fuckin’ line-up! No more infos for now but we’re lookign forward to announce it.

Thanks for answering all our questions. Do you have any final words?

Jona Nido – discombobulated, what a FUCKED UP word. It creeps me out just reading it.

Lik

Dismember are one of my favourite death metal bands. I could not resist picking the brain of one of the bands inspired by them. Lik’s new album Carnage sounds awesome, find out more about it in my interview with the band.

Read my interview with the band on Moshpitnation

 

Kaoteon

Kaoteon are a extreme metal band from the Middle East. The band formed 20 years ago in Beirut, Lebanon and released their debut album Veni Vidi Vomui in 2011 via Osmose Productions. Last month, they self released their latest album, Damnatio Memoriae. The scathing release features Fredrik Widigs (Marduk) and Linus Klausenitzer (Obscura and Alkaloid) on on Drums and Bass respectively.

I spoke to the band about Damnatio Memoriae and being a metal band in the Middle East for the past two decades.

Read my interview on Moshpitnation

 

Now Playing – April 2018

The album technically was released in March but I have been listened to it a lot more in April. Illusive Golden Age is a stunning release from the band after a gap of 9 years. The album combines their trademark death metal sound with scientific and esoteric lyrics.

 

This album will be remembered by many as the one where Boss keloid transitioned to a psychedelic and progressive sound compared to the sludge one on their previous albums. The 6 jams on Melted on the Inch are all in excess of 5 minutes and will leave your grooving along after multiple listens.

Chepang released one of my favourite grindcore releases from last year and last month put out a split with Test from Brazil. The Brazilians kick off the release with 2 tracks of percussion led grind attack. Chepang continue the aural assault their immigrindcore sound. Just under 10 minutes of pure grind.

There has been a lot of buzz about this album in the months leading up to it’s release, one listen of Penumbra is all that is required to believe that is is true. Møl stand out among the Deafhaven clones. Jord will definitely feature as one of my favourites at the end of the year.

The third album from the veteran Bahraini band is a skull crushing release from start to end. The only respite comes in the form of some tasty guitar solos. Easily one of the best extreme metal releases from the Middle East this year.

 

Demonstealer

Sahil Makhija aka Demonstealer is a well known figure in Indian metal circles as the frontman for one of India’s oldest metal bands Demonic Resurrection. A couple years ago, he released a solo album under the moniker Demonstealer, This Burden Is Mine featuring George Kollias (Nile) on drums. This month, will see the release of a new album under the moniker, Last Reptilian Warrior. The album features guest appearances by some of the world’s best metal musicians.

I also spoke to Sahil about Last Reptilian Warrior, the stellar line up of guest musicians on the album and also the future plans of Demonic Resurrection. Check out the video premiere at the bottom of this interview.

Read my interview with Sahil on Unite Asia