Revolting album premiere

I’ve been writing for The Metal Wanderlust more recently. After the Wombbath premiere, I wrote about the album premiere for that latest Revolting album The Shadow at the World’s end.

Check out the album on The Metal Wanderlust

Rogga Johansson (Paganizer)

Tower of the Morbid, the upcoming album from Swedish death metal act Paganizer is their 11th full length album. The album was highly rated by the writers on The Metal Wanderlust who reviewed it recently. One writer even wondered how Rogga Johansson managed “to churn out all that amount of Death Metal and actually live a life aside from it too?”

I caught up with the noted musician to ask him about it and a lot more.

Read the interview on The Metal Wanderlust

Primitiv

Indian death/doom metal act Primitiv are a 5 piece band consisting of members of Albatross and Hellwind. The band released their album Immortal and Vile based on tales of early man via Transcending Obscurity Distribution in February 2016.

Primitiv are releasing a live video for the track Taurus today and I premiered it on The Metal Wanderlust. The video shot to mark 5 years of the band captures their bulldozing live act.

Check it out the video and short inteview with vocalist Nitin Rajan on The Metal Wanderlust.

Towards Atlantis Lights

Towards Atlantis Lights are an international doom metal band featuring members of Pantheist and Aphonic Threnody. The band released their debut album Dust Of Aeons via Transcending Obscurity Records last month. The album combines epic and atmospheric death/doom metal and is a must listen for all doom metal fans.

I spoke to guitarist Ivan Zara and vocalist Kostas Panagiotou about how the band formed, their debut album and more.

Read my interview on Moshpitnation

Djinn & Miskatonic

Djinn & Miskatonic are a doom metal band from Bangalore, India. Their debut album Forever in the Realm was the first Indian release by Transcending Obscurity. The album received rave reviews from around the world and further strengthened Bangalore reputation as the Doom metal capital of India. Last month, the band released their  sophomore album Even Gods Must Die. The album takes forward the sonic template established on their debut album with a few surprises.

Read my interview with vocalist GK and bassist JP on Unite Asia

Gutslit

I first heard Gutslit when they started out in 2007 and they have come a long way in the past decade. The band has released 2 albums and toured Europe multiple times despite line up changes. Their second album Amputheatre via Transcending Obscurity records is out now and it sounds great. The album is huge leap ahead of their previous album Skewered in The Sewer with regards to songwriting and production.

Read my interview with bassist Gurdip Singh Narag on the Everyday hate blog

Drug Honkey

Drug Honkey are a doom quartet from Chicago. The band play a unique mix of doom and death metal and have released 4 full length albums since forming in 1999.

A couple months ago they released their latest album, Cloak of Skies via Transcending Obscurity Records. I spoke to guitarist Hobbs about the album, guest features and more.

Read the interview on Nine Circles

 

 

The Furor Interview

The metal scene in Australia is underrated. I’ve got know of more bands from the country through Transcending Obscurity who has put out releases from 3 Australian bands this year. One of the bands is The Furor, a black/thrash metal band from Australia. They have released 4 albums In the past 15 years and last month released their fifth album, ‘Cavalries of the Occult‘. The album is an intense mix of death, black and thrash metal.

I spoke to frontman Louis Rando about their latest album, writing alone and also the other bands he is involved in.

‘Cavalries of the Occult’ is your fifth album in the past 15 years. How does it feel looking back?

It feels like it’s been a long time! I’ve had a great time playing and performing metal over the last 22 years, not only with the furor, but with all my other bands, 11 of them in total. The Furor began in 2002 after the breakup of my previous band ‘Pagan’. We did 3 albums with an active lineup, performing live all around Australia, supporting some of our favorite bands and getting positive response from most people. Over time, members left for personal reasons, which inspired me to take more control of the band, writing the entirety of the last 2 albums and basically managing the band by myself, which has proven to be a difficult task. The final lineup disbanded in the last year, leaving me alone once again. I do however actively write and perform with 2 or 3 other bands, I’m always busy, so all is not lost!!!
The intention was always to go international with The Furor, touring, full promotion etc, but without a stable lineup, it’s impossible. So The Furor is now officially ‘on hold’ while I’m working with bands that have more stability.

The album is an intense mix of death, black and thrash metal. Tell us a bit more about the album.

It was written over the course of about one year, directly after the release of the last album ‘Impending Revelation’. In terms of style, it’s much like our previous albums, bombastik high speed aggressive Black/Death metal, no romantic ‘arty’ bullshit, a mish mash of my influences Morbid Angel, Mayhem, Destruction, Slayer, Angelcorpse, Immortal, Krisiun, Impiety, Nephast etc. never consciously alter the style of the music, nor do I try to get more and more brutal for the sake of it. Inevitably, things become more extreme as my playing improves. Aside from being very intense, I try to keep a good honest flow happening. There’s gotta be a good spirit to the music too. That becomes easier to achieve as I grow into myself over time.

What was the writing process for Cavalries of the Occult? Do you prefer to write alone or as part of a band?

I wrote this album, plus the 2 previous releases ‘Impending Revelation’ and ‘Sermon of Slaughter’ entirely by myself. I write the framework of the song on guitar, then I write vocals, then add drums, bass guitar and synths lastly. I started writing alone because I was the only band member left after our ‘War upon Worship’ album. I soon realised the benefits and drawbacks of writing music alone.
The upside is, I can write very quickly without compromising my ideas. The downside is, recruiting and teaching people the songs, plus expecting them to feel involved in the music is somewhat hard.

 

You also play drums for the legendary Singapore-based band Impiety. How did you become a part of the band? When can we expect a new release from the band?

I was a big fan of Impiety since I heard Asateerul Awaleen back in 1997. Their old artist (who also played in my band Pagan) introduced them to me. I eagerly followed Impiety in the years to come, and was blown away by their works. I became Facebook buddies with Shyaithan in about 2008.
I offered my drumming services to him in 2011 after I left the band Nervecell. Soon after, I flew to Singapore to prepare for our first Asian tour in Sept 2011. After that tour, we continued touring hard until 2015, doing multiple tours of Asia and Europe, plus India, Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh and China. We racked up A LOT of kilometers. I recorded drums on the Ravage and Conquer album in 2012, plus The Impious Crusade Ep in 2014.
Shyaithan has been hinting at a new Impiety release in the near future, but I’ll leave it to him to reveal the details. He doesn’t tell me anything till the week of recording anyway!! He’s quite secretive and IMPULSIVE!

You are also a part of Bloodlust, Depravity, and Mhorgl. How do you manage between all these bands? How are they stylistically different from each other?

You forgot to add Malignant Monster and Psychonaut hehe. All these bands happened across the period of about 10 years, so they don’t completely overlap and get in the way of each other. It’s a gradual process that’s quite manageable, although yes I’m quite busy and I’ve often wondered if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew… I’m not the sole writer in these other bands as I am in The Furor, so that makes it possible. Here in Perth, it’s very expensive to tour and hard to get exposure, so we pass the time by working with each other to keep occupied. I know everyone in town, so I’ve become the ‘go too’ drummer so to speak. It’s easy for me to join bands here.

When you’re not listening to, writing or playing metal, what are some of your favorite albums to listen to currently?

You mean metal albums? Nothing new, but the albums currently inhabiting my car are Suffocation- Pierced from Within, Nifilheim- Devil’s Force, Deicide-Once upon the Cross, Abramelin-Deadspeak, Absu-Abzu, the first Job for a cowboy album, Slayer-Hell Awaits, Marduk-Panzer Division Marduk. I don’t actively seek out new bands, but I do check out bands if people highly recommend them. I’m usually too busy with my own music and various obligations to keep up with newer releases.

Destroyer 666 are one of most well known extreme metal bands from Australia. Which are the bands from Australia that you think the readers should know about?

Ok here’s a list of old and new bands… Denouncement Pyre, Abominator, Bestial Warlust, Darklord, Nocturnal Graves.

You have toured around Europe and Asia. What have you been your favourite venues/cities to perform in?

All places have different things to offer, India has the best food I’ve tasted and offers the biggest culture shock, Malaysia has a diehard Black Metal scene and great landscape/beaches, Europe has big crowds, big bands and well organised shows, Dubai is an amazing modern city located in a harsh desert landscape, China was a rare treat with some great sightseeing, Australia is home so it’s great fun. I really enjoy the competitive nature of music in Europe, but I love the food and culture of Asia. That’s about as specific as I can be.
I love touring PERIOD!

Is The Furor going to perform live again? Do you have any shows planned this year? You have been active with Depravity of late. Is there anything we should know about that band?

Jarrod the guitarist from Depravity actually played in The Furor before, and I’ve played in previous bands with Depravity members for many years, so I’ve got a long working history with the members, even though the band is new. Like I said earlier, it’s hard to make a functional band out of The Furor when I’m the one writing all the material. People always want to perform music they have a hand in writing, which is fair enough.
Keep your eyes on Depravity because we intend on pushing the band really hard, staying together for a long time, and doing all the things that make a band great.
Check out our bandcamp page for info and download our EP ‘Reign of the Depraved’ for free.
https://depravityaustralia.bandcamp.com/

Thanks a lot for the interview, support the furor and download the entire 5 album discography here https://thefuror.bandcamp.com/

 

Listen/Download  ‘Cavalries of the Occult‘ below

 

Heathen Beast Interview

6 years ago, I was writing for Indianrockmp3 and got an email from a band I had never heard of before, Heathen Beast.  The band had emailed me about their debut release, ‘Ayodhya Burns’; The bold artwork and themes really surprised me . The band members used pseudonyms, no one knew who they were despite India having a relatively small metal scene.

The band returned last year after a 3 year break with a new EP ‘The Carnage of Godhra’ and their entire discography was released on CD by Transcending Obscurity. Today, the band release ‘Rise of the Saffron Empire’ their most venomous tracks yet. I spoke to the band about the EP, the themes in their music and more.

Kolkata is not a city known for it’s metal bands. How did you get into metal?

The original line up of Heathen Beast was born and brought up in Mumbai. Later some of us were transferred to Kolkata on work. Since then we expanded our band to many parts of India with our main base in Kolkata. So we are quite new to the metal scene here. We all got into metal differently, some of us through friends, some of us through discovery via the internet and some of us via older siblings. It’s a different story for each member of this collective.

What made you decide to start a black metal band? What about the style appeals to you?

The absolute purity of black metal is what drew us to the genre. It is a genre that stands for something, it stands against something and it is never afraid to draw blood. It is the most primal form of metal and the perfect vehicle for us to express our hatred. It’s an ideology, a message and one that provokes thought. Very few other metal genres do that.

How has the response to your previous releases been? Have you faced any threats or complaints?

We are too insignificant for anyone to give a shit about us. So far we have had no threats or complaints. The response for all our music till date has been incredible. The fans have been more supportive than ever.

You went on a 3 year break after your first 2 releases? What was the reason behind it?

We are not full time musicians and life gets in the way and fucks us all. We have to move cities, change a lot of things around so sometimes it takes time to make music. Most musicians these days are all trying to balance life and music so we are doing the same. We are clear that this is 100% passion for us so we will do it at our own pace and we will do it right.

Your new release ‘Rise of the Saffron Empire’ has received accolades from around the world. How does it feel now that the EP has been released?

The feeling is amazing when people get your music and understand it. We don’t want posers listening to our music, we want people who not just like the music but also follow the ideology of the band. So we are happy to hear from most fans that they not only like the music but they relate to the lyrics and the ideology of the band.

The themes behind your music are current social and political issues in India. What is the main reason behind it?

Religion is the reason, God is the reason. Even the political events are driven by these man made creations and it is the most powerful force right now in our country. It is what is destroying what we have. It’s what needs to be spoken about right now. So we could not think of anything else that made more sense to sing about. However they are assholes out there who always go, but what about this and what about that, why are you not singing about this topic or that topic? We want to tell them you bastards if that topic is important to you then you should do something about it. So yeah fuck politics!!! Fuck political cocksuckers!!!

You have incorporated more Indian sounds on your recent releases. How did that happen? Have your taken formal music lessons in Hindustani music or percussion?

We have mentioned before that Heathen Beast is a collective and there are many elements that need to come together to complete this puzzle. So there is always some member who can bring a certain element to the table. Some of us have learnt Hindustani Classical and Carnatic Music while we were growing up. So we have that knowledge and we constantly strive to learn more and soak in as much musical knowledge as we can.

The production on the EP sounds better than your previous releases? Did you do anything different during the recording?

We are a beast that keeps growing and evolving. For us we do not look at production of EPs as better or worse. We only look at what is it that the material needs. How can we create a sound. How can we make the message stand out. For us our production is all about being raw and dirty. It should be abrasive and should be like a sonic assault without sounding like those programmed metalcore and deathcore robots.

All your releases are available for free download. What is the reason behind it? Do you personally like the digital format, which is intangible compared to cds and vinyl?

For us it has nothing to do with the format. It’s about spreading the music and the message. From day one we have said our music is always going to be free. Even when we signed to Transcending Obscurity we told brother Kunal that he can release it however he wants but we will release it for free as well on our pages. We know there are fans who want to own the music and support the bands and we really appreciate that because we can make the next album with lesson tension about money. But in principle we will keep the music free. This has always been the plan.

You have only released EPs so far. Is there a plan to record a full length album in the future?

“We think the age of the album is over now. The attention span of people has fallen and we think the 3 song format is the best way to get our message across.”
“We will always be open to recording an album one day when it makes sense for us. We are also full of surprises so you might just get an album next instead of an EP. You can never tell with Heathen Beast.”

Do you have any final words?

Hailz to all the Heathen Beasts in the world. Let us destroy religion and the concept of god and free the minds of men and find true freedom. Hailz!

‘Stream/Download ‘Rise of the Saffron Empire’ below

Blackhour interview

In the past couple of years, I have discovered quite a few killer metal bands from Pakistan. I interviewed Multinational Corporations and Dionysus last year. I heard about Islamabad based heavy metal band Blackhour through my friend Kunal Choksi.  He has released their second album “Sins Remain” through the distribution arm of his label Transcending Obscurity. I was reminded of bands like Iron Maiden and Saxon listening to the album .

I spoke to the band about “Sins Remain”, being a metal band in Pakistan, performing with Bumblefoot and their plans for this year.

Hi guys, you started the band in in 2007. How did you’ll get together? Are you’ll from the same school/college?
Hashim: So Blackhour started in 2007 when I was in college and recently started playing Iron Maiden licks. At that point I had a vision to make songs that people would sing along to and me along with a few friends got to gather to form a band which had no name… Just a school band to be honest. As luck would have it, we were that one bad band which was boo-ed off stage but it wasn’t going to kill my passion for making music

One year later, me and my brother Diam (Drummer) decided to take things seriously and by late 2008 BLACKHOUR came into existence and it wasn’t until 2010 that the final line-up as our fans know it now, was formed with Tayyab Rehman as vocalist, Salman Afzal on Bass, Mashoo and myself on guitars and little baby bro on drums.

Blackhour indeed started as a bedroom project but with newer musicians from outside our college social circle joining in, Blackhour became bigger and in the early 2012 after release of Age of War album, when Manager, Hassaan Ahmed joined the band… shit just went serious Hahaha!

It is not easy being a band in Pakistan. What are the struggles you faced so far?

Tayyab Rehman: I guess to say at a broader perspective, it is not easy being a musician in any corner of the world, and being in Pakistan brings about a whole new level of challenges. With the local music scene mostly dominated by classical and pop genre, to be a musician in a heavy metal band is like playing in a hockey team with a cricket Bat.

To our surprise we had support from our loved ones but some close friends always forced us to adopt urdu as our lyrical content and make songs more “Listenable” but we knew what we wanted to achieve with our music and we took a big leap of faith. At the end of the day the biggest struggle of being a heavy metal band from Pakistan, is the exposure. The music never gets heard at the level we want it to… but we would try our best to break the boundaries and make a mark!

Your second album “Sins Remain” is out now. It takes further the sound from your debut release “Age of War”. Tell us more about your latest release.

Hashim: The second album was a challenge for the band. With Age of War, it was just me, Tayyab and Hasan Rauf (ex-member) who were involved in the writing process so it was easy to carry. But with this one we decided that each member should bring about their creative process into the songwriting and thus, each song is so much different from the other that you get to hear the versatility of each member.

The title track Sins Remain, is by far our favorite track and it is the brainchild of the most silent member of the band, Slaman Afzal, and I will let him talk about the concept and what not.

Salman Afzal: Umm… well I had this melody which I made back in college and me and Hashim used to jam to it, and it just had a nice ring to it.. When Hashim came with the idea that each member has to put in an individual song in the album, I was actually taken aback. I tried working out various licks but nothing had the “IT” factor, so one night while randomly playing my acoustic guitar the riff for Sins Remain was unleashed on the fret board and I knew it, THIS WAS GOING TO BE MY SONG! We experimented a lot on this song and perhaps spent the most time in structuring it and relating the music with the lyrical content. In fact it is the first song from Pakistan and I dare say from Asia that utilizes the Pashto folk instrument “Rubab” in a metal song which added to the progressive feel of the song.

It is the combination of the whole band’s involvement and the versatility that the song had to offer that we went with Sins Remain as the album title!

How did you go about recording “Sins Remain”? Are there many recording studios for metal music in Pakistan?

Mashoo: The Sins Remain recording process was a rather interesting fatigue because at the time we had tied up with other bands to experiment on different live concerts, and while handling concert/show organizing, our manager was up our asses to finalize the recording for Sins Remain album. We started by setting up our own recording studio, so this was a first for Blackhour to record its own music on their own. Two upbeat songs, Battle Cry and Wind of Change were produced at a good friend, Fahad Humayun from Dissbeleif’s (an alternative rock band from Islamabad) studio – Bracket Productions, who did an amazing job at handling them and the raw feel that we wanted out of these two songs.

For the remaining three songs, we recorded them through a series of ups and downs at our own studios. The writing process had been finalized during the start of 2015 and we were perfecting our songs via live performances to know the studio sound we want. Finally in late September we collaborated with Mr. Saiban Khaliq – Vocalist/Guitarist for Revolt (A death metal band from Islamabad) for the production of the three songs and I still remember the late nights Hashim and Daim used to spend at the producer’s basement to perfect the sound we wanted and I think if not a 100%, we managed to get a good 80% of the raw/live feel in our produced songs.

Hashim: As for recording studios for metal music in Pakistan, as mashoo highlighted, such studios are majorly operated by metal band members… because they understand the music and given the resources are able to extract that sound for other heavy metal bands, and these studios are usually home studios. Don’t get me wrong though, there are formal recording studios as well, but for a metal band like ourselves, affording the formal studio is through the roof so it is the community that helps each other with production, recording etc. And pretty sure there will be a Blackhour Studio to look forward as well.

“Sins Remain” is being released by Transcending Obscurity distribution. How did the deal come about?

Hassaan: Well Blackhour is all about creating a community for metal music and with this, we tied up with Tejali, a good friend from India, to act as Blackhour’s representative in India. It was her brilliant efforts while working as a full time Architect that she linked up Mr. Kunal Choksi with the band and I guess he liked our music which took further our deal. What’s interesting is that the relationship with TO Distribution is more of a very friendly and collaborative venture as opposed to a suit and tie formal business deals. Mr. Kunal understands well what the band is capable of and has helped us out reach a bigger audience.

The metal scene in Pakistan is slowly picking up in the past couple of year. I’ve really enjoyed listening to bands like Multinational Corporations and Dionysus. What are other bands from Pakistan that you recommend?

Diam: Pakistan’s metal scene though very underground is still enriched with some really amazing bands ranging from death metal, grind core to some really progressive alternative rock bands as well. Some of the amazing bands that I would recommend anyone exploring the Pakistani Metal Scene will be; Blackhour (have to tell them about my band lol), Revolt, Inferner, Tak-a-Tak, Ehl-e-Rock, Dissbelief and Qayyas.

In August last year, you performed alongside guitarist Bumblefoot at Lok Virsa Open Air Theater in Islamabad. How was the experience?

Tayyab: FUCKING AMAZING! These are the words that kept repeating in my mind, as I went around answering this question. I guess there are no words to define how out of the world it felt. Bumblefoot is indeed a legendary guitar player and to be alongside on the stage with him, well again FUCKING AMAZING. Despite being on stage, the interaction with him off stage and during jam sessions was an eye-opener for the band. We have never met a musician so down to earth and true to music as him. We really hope to share the stage with him soon. And for us it was an honor, that he flew all the way to Pakistan, despite how the country is portrayed in the media, he took the risk and performed and interacted with the musicians here! Honestly, I did not want that show to end to say the least!

What are your plans for this year?

Hashim: We are planning to go about promoting Sins Remain via performing live. In fact last year in November 2015 we did a national launch of the album by organizing Pakistan’s first ever theatrical concert, where each song of the album was complimented by live on-stage theatrical performances (directed by The Insane Production House), while the band performed live. So we are planning to take this setting and perform this show across all the major cities of the country. Along with that we are trying to perhaps play live across the borders as well.. I guess our Manager can help us with that if he moves off of his lazy butt! Other than that, we are also playing at an upcoming music festival of Pakistan (One of the biggest in the country), Music Mela, in late April.

But beyond the live shows we are also planning to start working on a new album. The Writing process has already started during the production of Sins Remain… So there is a lot more of BLACKHOUR to witness this year and the years ahead to come!

 

Stay up to date with Blackhour on their facebook page and check out their video for the track “Battle Cry” below