Mesrine

Mesrine are a legendary Candian grindcore band. They have released 4 full length albums and innumerable splits in their career that spans  over two decades. A couple months ago, the band released their 5th full length album, Source of Hatred; after multiple listens, I can say it is one of the best grindcore releases I have heard recently. 23 tracks in just over 30 minutes, the album is another fine slab of grindcore.

Read my interview with Fred and Seb on Transcending Obscurity

Facada

Facada are one of the best grindcore bands currently. One listen of the album Nadir is all that is required to confirm it. 4 years after the release of the album the band are back with a new album titled Nenhum puto de atitude. We are thrilled to present a full stream of the album here. Described as “17 pissed as fuck tributes to underground legends”, the album features covers of bands like Unleashed, The Misfits And Bad Brains among others. The album is an intense listen under 20 minutes.

Read my interview with vocalist/bassist Carlos James on Transcending Obscurity

Bodhi interview

Bodhi is a the solo project of The Room Colored Charlatan guitarist Justin Seymour. I got his first release, Ineffable from Hold Tight PR last month and was really impressed with it being unfamiliar with his band. The 6 track EP is out today and brings to mind acts like Plini and Intervals.

I spoke to Justin about how Bodhi came about, music videos in 2017 and going live with the project.

Hi Justin, earlier this year you started your solo project, Bodhi. How did you come to the decision?

The idea to start Bodhi really came from a feeling, 2016 was a pretty tough year for me emotionally, I had lost a relationship and family and it felt like my life had kind of started over. Because of that I had feelings I couldn’t really express well, and as an artist the best way to do that was through writing music. However, I couldn’t really express my feelings into words so I didn’t think it would fit to write this for my band The Room Colored Charlatan. That is also where the title of the album comes from “Ineffable” meaning “too great or extreme to be expressed in words” which is how I felt. So after writing a piece I decided I would continue and put together 6 songs for an ep.

When did you start working on Ineffable?

I really started working on Ineffable in February 2017 and finished the writing and recording in May. So it was written very quickly. This tends to happen when the music comes from a place of inspiration.

Listening to the EP, I was reminded of Plini and also Intervals. What was the inspiration behind the album?

As you may have guessed, artists such as Plini, Intervals and David Maxim Micic were all an inspiration to the music. I really just wanted to make prog that you could get your girlfriend to listen to in the car with you without complaining…

What was the recording process for the EP?

I run Skyline Studios here in West Lafayette Indiana, so I had complete control over every aspect of the recording process. I tend to write and record simultaneously to make for a more efficient process. I think being able to record yourself is what allows you to take your musicianship to the next level because you piece a song together like a puzzle. The recording was done with surprisingly basic gear, I don’t use anything fancy to develop my sound. The process is essentially me sitting in my studio for hours at a time writing and recording. Then finalizing the mixing and mastering process.

Do you prefer writing and recording alone or as part of a band?

I prefer writing alone for things I take seriously. It is sometimes great to have external input but I find too much of that often leads to a worse song in the end.

You released a music video for the track Enamor. How relevant do you think music videos are in the age of Youtube and Vimeo?

I think these days video content is critical for any artist, as the old saying goes “50% of what you hear is what you see” it is pretty amazing how I showed people the song enamor prior to the video and people may not be too interested in giving it a listen, but then I send them the video and they almost always watch it. Video content is critical which is why I intend to make much more of it very soon!

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

David Maxim Micic’s new album is really incredible and I have been listening to the album “The Youth to Become” by Stories as well. I am also very excited for the new album from The Contortionist

What are your plans for the rest of the year? Do you plan on taking Bodhi live or remain a studio project?

This demands entirely on the demand for the project. I intend to create more video content so people can get to know me more as an independent artist and if the demand grows large enough I will absolutely consider taking it on the road this summer. However, my primary goal is to create content that people can relate to and enjoy

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

No problem! Sure, uhhh If you are having a hard time finding prog that your girlfriend will agree to listen to in the car, try jamming Ineffable see what she says…

Kunal Batra (Neon Black Prodcutions) interview

The response to the interview with Bantering Ram was great so I’ve decided to feature more gig organizers here. The next one to be featured is Kunal Batra of Neon Black Productions. I first got to know Kunal when I met him a few years ago at the Bangalore Open Air. In the past couple of years he has organised metal shows in Delhi like Domination the Deathfest and also Jeff Loomis’s tour across India.

I spoke to Kunal about the recent Domination the Deathfest show, what’s he currently listening to and also their upcoming shows.

Hi Kunal, organised the 9th edition of Domination – The Deathfest in Delhi earlier this month. How did the show go?

Hey Peter! The show went really good. This was the second DDF in Delhi and the response was as phenomenal as the first one. We had a killer lineup and people loved it. Hoping to continue this tradition yearly now.

How did you start organizing shows and Neon Black Productions ?

Neon Black Productions is a collaborative effort by me and Mayur Jalan from Hyderabad. We both were independently organizing shows from past few years and we thought of joining forces as the bands and artists we were thinking of bringing down were quite similar. So I quit my day job of being an engineer and got into this full time. And we successfully launched this effort in shape of Jeff Loomis India tour that we did last year in December.

How do you select the bands that will perform at shows?

A lot of it depends on a number of factors, really. Starting from the financial aspect and which bands would people like to see performing here to what bands are free to come down here and if we are not coinciding with any other shows that’ll be happening in the same time frame in the country. A lot of planning and effort goes behind each and every show/gig we do.

What has been the most memorable show you have organized so far?

Although each and every show I’ve done till now has given me some good memories to cherish, I’d say it was the Jeff Loomis tour in Dec ’16 that we did. It was a dream come true for us as both Mayur and I are legit fanboys of Jeff and Nevermore in particular. So seeing him play day after day on tour was just surreal.

What are 5 bands that the readers should check out?

Oh it’s a tough one haha. Well for me, currently I’m listening to a lot of Gojira, Sulphur Aeon, Converge, Immolation, Savatage etc. So yeah, definitely those.

Do you have any more shows planned for this year?

Yes! We are planning to bring down a few more international acts this year and something big is in plans for early next year. So keep an eye out!

Thanks for answering all my questions. Do you have anything else to add?

Thank you for the interview man. Really appreciate it. Just want to add for the readers that keep supporting your local shows and local promoters. That’s how we all grow.

Nervecell

Nervecell are stalwarts of the Middle East metal scene. The UAE based death metal band have released 2 full length albums, toured across Europe and performed alongside legendary metal acts like Metallica and recently Nile.

Next week the band release their third album Past, Present…Torture via Lifeforce Records (US/Europe) and Metal East Records (Middle East). The band have premiered 3 tracks from the album so far, a peek into their heaviest material yet. A few listens of the album was all it took for me to get convinced that Nervecell had topped their previous album Pscyhogencide.

I spoke to guitarist Barney Ribeiro about Past, Present…Torture, death metal in 2017 and also performing in India.

Read my interview on Transcending Obscurity

The Father of Serpents

The Father of Serpents is a doom metal band from Serbia, the first band from the country to feature on this blog. The band consists of well known figures from the Serbian metal scene and they released their debut album Age of Damnation a couple months ago via Satanath Records.

I spoke to guitarist Loncar about the album, their writing process and more.

 

Most of the band members are also part of The Hell. How and when did you’ll decide to start a new band?

TFOS: Hi, you are right, most members are from The Hell except the drummer Aleksandar Maksimović and Pavle Sovilj who plays the violin and is also a singer.

It all began when a few songs were made for our guitarist’s – Igor Loncar side project. It wasn’t meant to be a band at all, but after a few months a lot of people were very interested and excited about this project, we received the offer to play as a support band for Attic shows in Serbia and also to play on Exit festival in Novi Sad. That was the perfect moment for this project to become a band. In addition to this we were and still are very good friends, and we have similar music taste so it was natural for us to play together once again.

Your music a mix of gothic, death and doom metal. How did you develop your unique sound?

TFOS: That’s probably because of the various mix of the music genres we listen to, there are influences from Pink Floyd to Bolt Thrower in our music! It’s not really unique, or at least we do not feel it that way, we wanted the recycle the 90’s doom/death sound we all were listening at that time.

Your debut release Age of Damnation reminds me of the Peaceville era of doom metal. Tell us a bit more about the album

TFOS: Yes, it has the atmosphere just like the old (gold) era of doom metal. It has 10 songs, almost an hour of music and we are really proud on what we achieved with it. Idea was to record an album that we would listen at home. Today a lot of bands records music just to show their technical skills, or to be cool, have fun on stage (nothing wrong with that), but our main goal was to have an album that is both easy to listen and interesting enough at the same time. To some extend we believe that we managed to do that.

With 6 members in the band, how do you’ll manage the songwriting process? Is there one or two main contributors or everyone contributes equally?

TFOS: There are no rules when we talk about the songwriting. Sometimes one of us makes the whole song and brings it to the rehearsal, sometimes we make it all together, sometimes we just jam and hope it will go in some direction.

The album was recorded at Wave Studio in Belgrade. What was the recording process?

TFOS: We are lucky enough that our guitar player Igor has his own studio , mentioned Wave Studio, so we didn’t have to rush with recording and mixing. We had actually a great fun during the recording, we had the freedom to try everything we wanted. It was recorded in parts during the whole summer of 2016. The last song, for example was made and shaped during the recording process. A lot of people really like the production and so do we! We already heard from people it sounds like 90s doom with modern (good) production!

Do recommend bands from Serbia that the readers should check out.

TFOS: If we talk about doom metal, you should definitely check out ‘Tales Of Dark’ and ‘The Bloody Earth’.

What are your plans for the rest of the year? Are there any shows/tour planned in promotion of the EP?

TFOS: We will have the album promotion in our home town – Belgrade, it will be a gig in the club ‘Elektropionir’ on 2nd of September. Right after that the plan is to visit all nearby countries and cities and to promote our album and music in the best way we can. Also we hope we will record new material soon since we already have some new music for the listeners!

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

TFOS: Thank you for your interest in our music, and see you all on the road hopefully soon! Doom on!

Listen to Age of Damnation below

Psycroptic

Death metal band Psycroptic are one of the well known extreme metal acts from Australia. They have made a mark with their 6 full length albums, the latest one self titled was released in 2015. This month the band embark on their first tour of India, covered 7 cities across the country.

I spoke to drummer Dave Haley about touring in Europe and North America, their upcoming album and also what to expect from their India tour.

Read my interview on Transcending Obscurity