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Archive for the 'Interviews' Category

Interview: DARKTHRONE

Published by Josh Haun on June 3, 2010 in Interviews. Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Dear Sonic Frontiers readers, please excuse me for a moment while I gush like a complete fanboy.  DARKTHRONE is my favorite metal band.  Ever.  When the PR firm representing Peaceville Records in the USA offered me an e-mail interview with drummer/vocalist/black metal godfather/walking metal & hard rock encyclopedia FENRIZ, I could barely contain my excitement.  The following interrogation is what transpired when I was given the opportunity to pique Fenriz’s brain about the excellent new Darkthrone album CIRCLE THE WAGONS , the resurgence of “real” heavy metal in the underground and the importance of making your own breakfast.

Sonic Frontiers: Tell us about the new album, Circle the Wagons. What do you consider to be the main themes/concepts behind the album? How would you describe the album to those who have not yet heard it?

Fenriz: it’s our own kind of heavy metal, it’s Ted’s 4 songs and i never know what influences him. then there’s my 5 songs which mostly sounds like fast heavy metal (speed metal) from 1979-1985. then there’s clear and various ugly vocals and i just realized this didn’t come out very good as an advertisement for our sound – but no one really sounds like us at the moment, i think we are extremely old school and still fresh.

there are no themes, lyrics are about a plethora of subjects, ranging from street lyrics to the soulful stuff (like Black Mountain Totem song).

SF: You recorded Circle the Wagons at your own Necrohell Studios. What are the advantages of having your own recording space? What is the equipment setup at Necrohell?

Fenriz: i am not a musician, i’m a music personality, so i don’t know anything about equipment, that’s Ted’s department. it’s a portable mini studio and we rig it ourselves and Ted records and mixes it as well – so it’s VERY DIY.DIY HARD!!! haha!! Advantages is that we don’t have the presence of a “studio guy”, we are just by ourselves with the help of our friends Kjella and Mats. It’s Kjellas house, so Ted has to drive 3 hours from the north to get there and i take the bus for 3 hours from the south. Having this studio makes us get our own sound, it’s a guarantee that we don’t end up in a studio where there are modern equipment or some guy that tries to talk us into some new tricks. we keep it old. WITH US, THE OLD WAYS ARE NEAR.
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Interview: ALCEST

Published by Josh Haun on June 1, 2010 in Interviews. Tags: , , , , , .

If there is one band out there that is truly pushing the boundaries of black metal, it is France’s Alcest. The brainchild of former Peste Noire and Amesoeurs guitarist Neige, the band’s latest album Écailles de Lune is an at times ethereal, at times depressing and harsh exploration of haunting, guitar driven soundscapes, and one of the year’s most inventive metal albums. I sent this interview to Neige just before he was set to embark on Alcest’s first ever North American tour.

SF: Tell us about the new album, Écailles de Lune. How did you approach creating this album in comparison to other Alcest works?

Neige: While “Souvenirs” was a description of memories I had as a child about the luminous far away dimension I am speaking about in the previous questions, “Écailles De Lune” could be seen as a metaphor of how I manage to live with this experience now in my everyday life. As I sometimes feel that nobody really understand and grab what I am speaking about, in some moments it’s like if I was a stranger here, having the sensation a non-human part of my soul is screaming inside me to be back in the world he belongs to. This explains besides the “Écailles De Lune” lyrical theme’s melancholy. It’s a story about a man sitting front of the sea at night and thinking about his life, the fact he can’t find any interest anymore in his earthly existence, nothing and nobody that could give him joy. He falls in love with the night, being captivated by the voices of the waves and the spirits of the sea. He goes swimming in the depth, all surrounded by aquatic guardian spirits for finally having a serene sleep in the bottoms of the sea and never coming back in the real world.
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Interview: DEIPHAGO

Published by Josh Haun on May 24, 2010 in Interviews. Tags: , , , .

Had I heard Deiphago’s Filipino Antichrist just a bit sooner, it would have come in damn near the top of my “Best Albums of 2009″ list.  Blurring the line between bestial, chaotic black metal and harsh noise-ridden brutality, the album is a psycho-Satanic cyclone of obliterating distortion, possessed vocals and belligerent drums, laying waste to everything within earshot.  Indeed, this is an album that must be heard to be believed, such is the sheer ultraviolence on display throughout the recording.  I contacted bassist/vocalist V. 666 for some insight into the creation of the album, and what it means to be a Filipino Antichrist.

Sonic Frontiers: For any readers who might not be familiar, how did Deiphago get started?

V. 666: Deiphago was formed back in 1989 under the name of Satanas to continue the legacy of the 80s black metal gods Venom, Sodom, Hellhammer and Sarcofago. We changed our name to Deifago in 1990 which was due to the influence of Sarcofago and the then mighty Deicide. Our first demo was recorded and released in 1991; we were the first band to use the term Satanic Doom Death Metal. By 1992, influenced by our peers such as Beherit, Impnaz, Blasphemy, Deicide and Morbid Angel we started going into a more black death grind approach and the end result was 1993’s Hail Mary Inanna demo. The years that followed were constant live assaults throughout Manila and the recording of demo 1997 which was a return to Bathory era Blood Fire Death. The band continued to be haunted by drummer problems which started since day one and by the end of 1998 it was decided to put Deiphago in a hiatus! Not Dead but Dreaming!
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Interview: COFFINWORM

Published by Josh Haun on May 22, 2010 in Interviews. Tags: , , , , , , , .

To say that Coffinworm blew me away with the impossibly heavy, smoked-out assault of their debut album, When All Became None, is an understatement.  To say that they caved my f**king skull in might be slightly more accurate.  Imagine a doomsday obsessed bunch of corpse-painted Norwegians decided to overdose on whiskey and quaaludes and then start a crustcore band and you’re about halfway to envisioning the beyond gnarly as all hell apocalyptic death-sludge these guys are capable of delivering.  I spoke with vocalist D about the devastating debut and stripping nude for your killer.

Sonic Frontiers: Coffinworm has been around since 2007 and your debut full length is just out on Profound Lore. How did it feel to finally record a full album? Are you pleased with the result?

D: I feel relieved now that it is complete. From start to finish I am completely pleased with the album, and I would hazard that the rest of the band concur with this statement to a relatively high degree. Chris/Profound Lore has been very supportive of us since we released our demo, and we are proud to deliver our musical first-born under his blackened banner.
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Interview: WATAIN

Published by Josh Haun on May 18, 2010 in Interviews. Tags: , , , .

Over the past decade, Sweden’s Watain have usurped the throne of Scandinavian black metal. By marshaling the forces of total darkness to create a string of devastating albums and asserting their dominance through mesmeric live performances, the unholy trio have positioned themselves as the one BM act that just might be able to make good on the genre’s promise of creating the soundtrack to armageddon. Their latest album, Lawless Darkness, is the culmination of the trio’s hellbent war-march towards the unlight. I spoke with frontman Erik Danielsson via e-mail to discuss the new album and cutting through the fabric of the universe.

Sonic Frontiers: Tell us about the new album, Lawless Darkness. What did you set out to accomplish?

Erik Danielsson: A thorough musical exploration of the darkside. Lawless Darkness to us is the greatest and most well-crafted monument we have ever risen in honour of ours gods. To the listener, it will be a glimpse into a world where the illusions of this world of flesh and light are absent; the garden of unearthly delights, the abode of liberated fire and boundless becoming.
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Interview: WODENSTHRONE

Published by Josh Haun on April 24, 2010 in Interviews. Tags: , , , .

Last year, the UK’s Wodensthrone blew me away with their debut album, Loss. Rarely is modern black metal so masterfully crafted; progressive, majestic and regal, yet also raging, harsh and strangely mournful. By digging deep into their English heritage and ancestry, the band have created something that goes beyond the typical “pagan black metal”, something that truly taps into the long-dormant energies of ancient lore and spirituality. Much like their Transylvanian brethren Negura Bunget, Wodensthrone doesn’t just present the listener with a collection of songs, they take you on an enthralling, multifarious musical journey.

To say that I was eager to interrogate the band last year would be an understatement, and I immediately contacted them for an interview via e-mail. Several months later, after many trials and tribulations that involved lost e-mails, lack of internet connection and various mishaps beyond both mine and the band’s control, I am pleased and proud to at last present an in-depth discussion with the mighty Wodensthrone, answered collectively by several members of the band.  I can’t thank them enough for the time, thought and effort they put into what is arguably one of the best interviews Sonic Frontiers has had the privilege of conducting.

Sonic Frontiers: Wodensthrone has been around since 2005, yet Loss is the band’s first full length. Why the long wait before recording a proper album?

Richard: Although we have been a band since 2005, we only really emerged as a group in early 2006. Because of this, we dropped around 25 minutes of previously written material and started from scratch. We released our split 7″ with Niroth in 2006, then moved on to write and record our split with Folkvang, released in 2008. By this time, we were fast approaching the completion of Loss. All of the songs were written by the end of 2008 but it was a case of getting the funds together and getting the studio time booked before that vision could be realised. Once we had recorded the album, many technical and personal difficulties occurred in the Negura camp, which delayed Hupogrammos in mastering the record. But in the end we were very happy with the result, so any delay did not matter so much.
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Interview: IMPERIUM DEKADENZ

Published by Josh Haun on April 8, 2010 in Interviews. Tags: , , , .

After several demos and full lengths for smaller labels, Germany’s Imperium Dekadenz are poised to break into the upper echelons of black metal with Procella Vadens, their debut recording for Season of Mist.  I spoke with vocalist/guitarist Horaz to discuss the new album and the band’s plans for 2010 and beyond.

Sonic Frontiers: What were the circumstances surrounding the creation of Procella Vadens? What are your thoughts on the album as a whole?

Horaz: We had the goal to create a new epic album filled with authentic emotions. To reach that goal we walked a long and stony way. But we accomplished the mission and we are very satisfied with result.
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Interview: TRIPTYKON

Published by Josh Haun on April 5, 2010 in Interviews. Tags: , , , , , , .

Hands down, the best metal show I’ve ever seen was Celtic Frost at the House of Blues in Hollywood, CA in 2006.  The band was touring behind their masterpiece album, the monolithic Monotheist, after many years of inactivity and that night they sounded absolutely monstrous.  Having worshipped Celtic Frost for years, I couldn’t believe I was actually getting to see them live and looked forward to following the band’s (at that time) rejuvenated career.

Unfortunately, the band imploded once again in 2008, but from the ashes of Celtic Frost, the even mightier Triptykon has risen, lead by none other than Tom G. Warrior and ready to swallow up the Earth in a churning vortex of blackened, atmospheric doom.  Their debut album, Eparistera Daimones, is quite simply the most suffocatingly heavy album of 2010 and possibly the past ten years, darker, gnarlier and even more devastating than Celtic Frost at their most dense and harrowing.  I contacted guitarist V. Santura to discuss the inception of the heaviest band on the planet and the creation of Eparistera Daimones.

Sonic Frontiers: You served as a touring guitarist for Celtic Frost in 2007. Was this experience in any way a lead-in to the genesis of Triptykon?

V. Santura: Well, Tom and me got along very well during the time I played in Celtic Frost and we both really enjoyed working with each other. But the actual reason for the genesis of Triptykon was not my involvement in Celtic Frost, it was the demise of Celtic Frost.
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Interview: TYRANTS BLOOD

Published by Josh Haun on March 21, 2010 in Interviews. Tags: , , , , , , .

Vancouver, British Columbia’s Tyrants Blood is hands down the best metal band you haven’t yet heard of.  Incorporating a heady mixture of extreme influences into an all-out assault that is both highly complex and brutally savage, this quintet is more than capable of both wowing you with amazing musicianship and shattering your skull with hammering heaviness.  I contacted vocalist Brian “Messiah” Langley via e-mail to discuss the band’s impressive new album, Crushing Onward Into Oblivion, which has just be released through Invictus Productions.

Sonic Frontiers: For our readers who might not be familiar with the band, can you give us a rundown of the history of Tyrants Blood up to this point?

Brian Langley: The band formed in the Summer of 2005. In that time we have put out 2 full length albums, an EP, and appeared on several split albums with bands from all over the world. Played with many great bands and just recently got back from a successful stint in South America. We have a few big shows in the planning stages and we are halfway through writting the 3rd album as well as working on the editing for the Tyrants Blood Live in Brazil album.
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Interview: BLACK MATERIA

Published by Josh Haun on March 16, 2010 in Interviews. Tags: , , , .

Black Materia’s self-titled debut was one of the more pleasant surprises to come across my desk of late. The band plays a darkly-hued brand of post-metal with gothic undertones, reminiscent of the likes of Katatonia and Paradise Lost, but with a distinctly American spin. I got in touch with the band via e-mail to discuss the making of the album and their plans to spread a unique brand of melancholic metal over the world.

Sonic Frontiers: For our readers who might not be familiar, how and when was Black Materia formed?

Mike: The band formed and began writing somewhere around late 2006/early 2007. Forming the band was pretty simple- in the beginning, Black Materia consisted of all the members of a different, more extreme project. We had discussed doing another project, and that is where Black Materia originated.
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Interview: NEGURA BUNGET

Published by Josh Haun on March 10, 2010 in Interviews. Tags: , , , .

Over the past several years, Transylvania’s Negura Bunget have come to prominence as one of the world’s leading atmospheric black metal bands.  The band has recently endured a massive lineup shift that saw two members, Hupogrammos and Sol Faur exiting, leaving drummer/sole original member Negru to soldier on with newly recruited musicians.  Negura Bunget’s latest release is Maiestrit, a reinterpretation of their second album which represents the last recorded material from the orginal lineup.  I spoke with Negru via e-mail to discuss the recording of Maiestrit and the changing face of Negura Bunget.

Sonic Frontiers: Your latest release, Maiestrit, is a reinterpretation of your second album Maiastru Sfetnic. What made you decide to revisit this album?

Negru: We were not satisfied with the original release. We felt there was a lot more we didn’t manage to express back then, and always had in mind to do it right when the time comes. But we didn’t expect it would take 10 years for that to happen.
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Interview: ROTTING CHRIST

Published by Josh Haun on February 22, 2010 in Interviews. Tags: , , , , .

Rotting Christ is truly a band that needs no introduction.  Considered by many to be the forefathers of the Greek black metal scene, the quartet has evolved over two decades of existence from raw death/grind beginnings to pure black metal to epic, aggressive and crushing dark-hued extreme metal.  I contacted band frontman/composer/guitarist Sakis Tolis via e-mail to discuss the band’s stunning new album, AEALO and his personal journey into the darkest parts of the human soul.

Sonic Frontiers: What can you tell us about the concept behind the new album, AEALO?

Sakis Tolis: Aealo is a concept album. It is about the feelings of a warrior during a battle. Weird feelings, strange feelings, feelings like the feeling of anger, the feeling of fear the feeling of grief and so many other vibrations that a warrior can have during a battle. Listening to the album, you will feel that you are in the middle of a battlefield and you are fighting against your feelings. No, it is not a warlike album…I think the opposite. When you end up listening to it you feel relieved, you will feel like you escaped from the trials that only a war can create!
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Interview: LITURGY

Published by Josh Haun on February 17, 2010 in Interviews. Tags: , , , , , .

Liturgy’s 2009 album Renihilation was one of the more interesting takes on black metal to come across my desk in a long time. Combining an extremely harsh, abrasive audial assault with a penchant for harnessing torrents of distortion into ethereal, transcendent song-structures, the band is spearheading a burgeoning NYC-area black metal scene that also includes the likes of Krallice and Malkuth. I got in touch with band leader Hunter Hunt-Hendrix via e-mail to discuss the band’s unique aesthetic and sound within the ranks of the black metal legions.

Sonic Frontiers: For readers who might not be familiar with the band, can you talk a bit about how Liturgy got started?

Hunter Hunt-Hendrix: It began as my solo project. Bedroom black metal sounding similar to Mutiilation. I made a cassette called The Paranoiac Miracle, then a 12” EP called Immortal Life. After that Tyler, Greg and Bernard joined the band and we started playing the songs live.
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Interview: Matt Finney

Published by Josh Haun on February 6, 2010 in Interviews. Tags: , , , , , , , .

Matt Finney is one of those rare modern day renaissance men that seems to have a hand in everything. Whether creating unique and immersive ambient, experimental and noise music to stimulate your ears or crafting poetry that jumps off the printed page directly into the center of your mind, Finney is an artistic jack-of-all-trades. I first interviewed Finney as part of the ambient/spoken-word duo Finneyerkes and found him to be a highly articulate and engaging subject. Much to my surprise, he e-mailed me a few months later asking if I would be interested in another round of interrogations, an offer I couldn’t possibly pass up.

When I conducted this second interview via e-mail with Mr. Finney, Finneyerkes had recently dissolved and another project, the lo-fi acoustic Ferdinand the Bull had sadly crashed and burned before it had a chance to blossom. But, in a fortuitous turn of events as I was all set to post the piece, Finneyerkes has gotten back together and Finney also has several written projects in the can as well.
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Interview: FINNEYERKES

Published by Josh Haun on November 17, 2009 in Interviews. Tags: , , , , .

Sometimes, trying to get a band/artist nailed down for an interview can be akin to pulling teeth.  It can literally involve weeks or even months of myspace messaging and playing “e-mail tag” just to get a few basic questions answered.  Luckily, this was not the case with Alabama-based ambient/electronic/spoken-word duo Matt Finney and Randy Yerkes, aka Finneyerkes.  After receiving an e-mail from Matt, I was pleasantly surprised to check out Finneyerkes’ music and discover a sort of dark, dreamy, narcotic beat poetry, like Lustmord collaborating with the late William S. Burroughs in a smokey dive bar.  Finding that the twosome were more than eager to answer my queries, the following interrogation was conducted via e-mail.

Sonic Frontiers: For those who might not be familiar, tell our readers a little bit about how you two met and formed Finneyerkes.

Finneyerkes: we met in high school in an environmental science class. we sat next to each other and bonded over our love for growing absurd facial hair, modest mouse, and the electric six. our friendship was cemented after matt when to to randy and his brothers band, Franklin and the Neato’s, first basement show. randy moved away shortly after that but we kept in touch for a while through AIM, email, and myspace. the formation of Finneyerkes came when randy was recording his first Moosejaw album Glada. it was mostly him doing ambient/electronica with samples thrown in. matt approached randy with the idea of recording some of his poems that he had been writing and using them as vocals for the songs. we stuck with the idea and here we are.

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