22 Jul 2024 - Thorsten

Joe Clayton is a good man, with an obviously big heart. The man is a progressive thinking man as you can see by his dedication to the idea of bands as collectives. Joe is an aspiring producer, who loves to check every detail of his own records. He is a great guitar player loving to nearly overthink his songs. Why we list these things and traits? Because we are so enamored with From Low Beams of Hope, the new record of his band Pijn. The record is the first one on their newly-formed label Floodlit Recordings, has been in the making for nearly five years, has seen line-up changes and re-recordings, heck it has even seen some delay because of a prison escape! We are very happy to give you this interview with Joe and hope you enjoy it, as it is one of the last ones before our little August interview break - we got two more for you before then, so keep twiddling these dials! Now enjoy From Low Beams of Hope and our interview with Joe Clayton!

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14 Jul 2024 - Thorsten

Personal records can be pretty difficult, if they rely too much on own experience, for all of that can sometimes be difficult to comprehend in full. When one then adds telling the story that’s not your own but of a close relative or friend it may become even worse as there is always the danger of creating something only valuable to a handful of people. Thus, the basis for Clouds of War, the magical story of Yishai Sweartz’s grandfather which Mona Mur has woven into music, is a difficult terrain to say the least; added onto that is the fact that Moshe, Yishai’s grandfather witnessed the death of his family at the hands of the Nazis, had to flee his home, seek shelter in the forest, became a Partisan and then went to what became the country Israel - there are many traps in that line to fall into a too obvious admiration-mode. However, Yishai, Mona and several friends - e.g. En Esch from KMDFDM, Anja Huwe from X-mal Deutschland or Yossi Sassi from Orphaned Land - created a record that is an excellent example of how to tell personal stories without becoming neither too distant nor too cheesy. The music is a miracle brew of Post-Punk, New Wave, 80s Industrial sounds and many other elements associable to that decade. By this description it surely becomes noticeable how many things we had to talk about and we are more than proud to present you with this audio-interview as it weaves so many things we love about music into a cohesive, thrilling ride that everyone who is into this kind of music and also who wants to know more about the Shoa from a very personal point of view - Moshe’s. Enjoy our conversation with Mona Mur and Yishai Sweartz!

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07 Jul 2024 - Thorsten

Melvins. ISIS. Neurosis. Khanate. Southern Lord, HydraHead, Neurot. A miniature excerpt from Seldon Hunt’s work as a visual artist doing posters, covers and so much more. Seldon, an Aussie-native who moved to New York City decades ago, must be considered to be one of the most popular visual artists in our realms of nerds and outsiders since the mid-90s. His importance can only be compared to people like Derek Hess, Frank Kozik or Arik Roper. Seldon never established THE Seldon-Hunt-style, which might be one of the reasons, why he seems a bit less known nowadays, but on the other hand that was also one of the reasons, why he was so sought after as hew as able to cater many different needs and wishes. We were very very fortunate to continue our little irregular journey into the visual side of things which we started way back in the early days with our talk with Aaron Edge and then we had Jacob Bannon and Aaron Turner. Seldon is a really great person to talk to who can share some stories on Khanate (also watch our interviews with Tim and Stephen from Khanate), on his work for many different artists, Aussie Football and even on working with a tobacco company some time ago. Enjoy our talk with Mr Hunt.

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30 Jun 2024 - Thorsten

The Promise of Rain. The Promise of Rain! THE PROMISE OF RAIN!! If you like Progressive Death Metal with a lot of atmosphere, mighty powerful songwriting, vocals to feed your brain and an overarching red threat that can be looked at from several different angles and interpretations - then you must listen to the upcoming record by Scarcity. This is already the second interview with Scarcity we are giving you, the first one was more or less exactly two years ago (see link below) and back then this was already one of the best records of the year. This one might become the best Death Metal this year. When talking to Doug Moore (Pyrrhon, Weeping Sores, Seputus, Glorious Depravity) and Brendon Randall-Myers (Glenn Branca Ensemble), it becomes clear how much time they spent on the record and how intentionally multi-faceted the songs and themes are. We spoke about a walking thesaurus, the deserts of the western USA, the upcoming tour (dates below) and so much more. Enjoy our interview with Scarcity - and do not forget to listen to The Promise of Rain, out on July 12 via The Flenser!

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23 Jun 2024 - Thorsten

Don’t we all know some of these bands and artists which have been doing it for a long while and which have delivered time and again with multiple bands and that still have not seen the success they deserve? Thalia Zedek is one of these (for me at least), and she has been around for 40-some years. Maybe her most popular band was Come, one of these under-valued Indie Rock bands from the late 80s and 90s. However, even after the end of Come, she has been releasing music constantly (as she had also been doing before) and one of the continuous projects has been E. They have a new record out and we were fortunate enough to talk to all three members of the band about the record, which is wonderfully channeling the harsher side of Indie Rock. A few weeks ago, they released their latest full-length called Living Waters and one must admit, that it is still experimental in nature but also has a lot of punch. It is really tight, because Thalia has taken on some bass duties which she does by using two strings of her guitar to provide the accompaniment to Ernie’s drums. That of course also changed their songwriting, but that also became more necessary because the band is now spread across the US and that makes it much harder to come up with new tracks. Harder but not impossible as the new record shows, which might be their most poignant up to now. We were talking to Thalia, Ernie and Jason about the new record, the different soundscapes, Thalia’s new way of playing the guitar, the guys’ songwriting process and much more! Enjoy our interview with E! And by the way - the band is on tour right now, so if you have some time - go to one of their shows which you can find below!

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16 Jun 2024 - Thorsten

There are big bands that not enough people know of and very often these bands, in hindsight, are referred to as bands’ bands because they have a much bigger influence on the scene than their “success” really implies. McLusky or Mother Tongue would be two prime examples from the 90s for that, and a pretty good more recent example would be Insect Ark, which consists of 50% Swans and 50% Khanate, but the sound of Insect Ark is neither here nor there, when comparing it to these two mega-acts. Nonetheless, one usually cannot but listen to the IA-songs and be amazed at not having discovered this band before, for their soundscapes are capturing and mesmerizing (in the original sense of the word), inviting and pulling you in for a deep dive. When allowing this, one quickly loses track of time and that surely is a great thing for any musician to achieve, and their new record Raw Blood Singing (out via Debemur Morti Productions) does just that. Therefore we had enough reasons to catch up with Dana and Tim, talk about the record, the uselessness or usefulness of genre-descriptions, their way of writing the eight new tracks and why they never once jumped into the ocean when recording! Enjoy!

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02 Jun 2024 - Thorsten

One of the bands that do not need any words to lay out all human emotions in front of us is MONO, the band which has now been mesmerizing audiences for 25 years - in our interview he also tells us how many more years the band will continue to do so. MONO has perfected the Post-Rock formula with their own tuning and expansive sound. As soon as we heard that the band was to release their next full-length record Oath we twiddled all our knobs and we are so lucky to have spent 30 minutes with mastermind Taka on the record, on the role of instrumental music as being able to go beyond words, and also on the effect that Covid had on the record. We also dive into some humorous moments and we are happy to give you this wonderful interview with a man so in peace with himself and everything around us that it was a humbling but in no way condescending experience. Enjoy our interview with Taka and tell us which MONO record up to now has been your favorite?

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27 May 2024 - Thorsten

“Kevin Hufnagel is an American musician, based in NYC. He is known for his solo guitar works, for forming the progressive instrumental rock/metal band Dysrhythmia, and for being a member of Gorguts, Vaura, Sabbath Assembly, Veldune, and Byla. He also is a full time guitar instructor, teaching both in-person and virtually.” (source) That’s what Wikipedia has to say about our guest today and it sounds soooo boring, as if a sheer enumeration would be able to show how important Kevin is for today’s Progressive Metal scene as founding father of Dysrhythmia and as a member of so many other bands that transcend that realm by so much (also that enumeration is not even complete!). Dysrhythmia will be releasing a new record (Coffin of Conviction) in a few weeks (pre-orders are already up at their Bandcamp page, link below) and it is Dysrhythmia at its best - even though they changed their songwriting approach a bit this time, in order to keep it fresh. We talk in detail about the new record, we also talk about some of the bands mentioned above AND we have a big surprise in store for you! Enjoy!

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19 May 2024 - Thorsten

Being part of one of the bigger metal bands of our age from the old continent is not easy. Being the band’s frontman is even more difficult. But Colin H. Van Eeckhout from Belgian Blackened Post-Metal veterans Amenra does a brilliant job of it and he is still able to participate in many other collaborations or - as on May 19 - release his next solo venture as CHVE which Relapse Records will publish. Kalvarie is the name of the release which features one 15-minute long Ritualistic Drone track called “Eternit”. The track has a long history before its finishing and the upcoming release and that process is one of the topics that we talked with Colin about. However, we also had a lot to talk about concerning his recent appearance in the movie Skunk and how he got into and out of the complicated character. Other topics are touring - sorry for all the folks in the US, we thought they’d still be performing once more in the US today, May 19, which is wrong, but we do hope you enjoyed one of their shows. Furthermore we also talk about the difference between an hermit and a monk, our shared Hardcore background and much more! Enjoy!

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12 May 2024 - Thorsten

Ever wondered how that ominous Denver Sound evolved? The new kind of American Country or Folk music that exploded at the beginning of the 90s? Much of it revolved around certain clubs of the Mile High City and a number of bands, one them was The Denver Gentlemen, which was the core for two important bands - 16 Horsepower and Slim Cessna’s Auto Club. Why we are telling you this? Well, as you already have seen, we had the opportunity to talk to Slim Cessna and his fellow band-leader Munly J. Munly and we talked about a lot of things. We also talked about cars (of course), about where to place the band, the American Folk tradition and of course the new album which is the second part of the “Kinnery of Lupercalia” trilogy. The subtitle of the record is “Buell Legion” - and which role the record has in said trilogy, well, Munly gives us some hints. Which ones? Well, see for yourselves! And don’t forget to listen to their new record, which will be out May 31!

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08 May 2024 - Thorsten

One of the most enigmatic yet really friendly people on the Belgian scene is Nicolas van Meirhaeghe - but please do not make me pronounce his family name. Tongue twister. However, his music is sometimes also enigmatic. Also in the sense of - what will we be getting now? His musical range is very wide even though, when listening carefully to it, one might decipher the influences that sparked the love for music in young Nicolas. Some of these influences might come as a surprise and if you want to know more - check out our interview with the man that might be partially blind but believe me, when talking to him or listening to his music, you will soon forget about that because he has a lot to say and he does so from some pretty interesting perspectives. Enjoy this interview with Nicolas van Meirhaeghe, or if you do know him by his stage moniker Empusae!

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05 May 2024 - Thorsten

Sometimes life can be pretty hard, sarcastically hard. When preparing this little text here, I was reminded that I wasn’t able to see Inter Arma live at Roadburn this year due to personal, family reasons, which made me cancel my trip on the literally last minute before leaving for Tilburg. And even though it hurts a little to know all the stuff I knew about Inter Arma and their sets at Roadburn and not having been able to go - this interview was so much fun and their new record is so amazing that I can smile while looking at TJ and me throwing balls back and forth. Albeit we talk about a lot of difficult topics from the bombing of Israel at the hands of Iran, the damn bad state of the world and much more - we also get a lot of great intel on New Heaven (which we reviewed for you here), the new record by the Virginia-boys. How some of the songs came about, how Mr Childers is the mastermind behind the drums and behind many of the songs, how the amazing vocals of Mike hold some tracks together and much more. Enjoy the interview and if you have seen one of their sets at Roadburn - which one did you like the most?

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28 Apr 2024 - Thorsten

METZ from Canada have now been a household name for everyone who loves Indie-Rock with an emphasis on ROCK, or maybe even Punk and their latest record “Up on Gravity Hill” was released two weeks ago through their regular full-length home Sub Pop Records. The record is a bit more relaxed and chill on an initial spin, and offers some really hauntingly lovely melodies - and in that sense represents a lot of what Sub Pop stands for. METZ have become not only a residential band for the Seattle label, but also for its sound - and of course, as we got the chance to talk to guitar player/singer Alex Edkins we took it and talked to him about the new record and its development and sound, their position at Sub Pop, the differences between their original home Ottawa and their base Toronto. Enjoy the interview and maybe tell us, which other Sub Pop bands we should try to get an interview with?

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21 Apr 2024 - Thorsten

Constellation Records. Badabadoom. That name rings heavily in many people’s ears because of their awesome roster of great bands that have pushed the boundaries of modern music far beyond the known universe. By now CST is like a big family business in Montreal with diverse and famous acts like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Jessica Moss, The Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra or Joyfultalk but also some more unknown ones like Jersualem in My Heart, Siskiyou, Saltland or now FYEAR, which is a new project between Jason Sharp and Kaie Kellough together with several more members oscillating between Free Jazz, Electronica, Drone, Post-Rock, Neoclassical, Conscious Rap, Post-Hardcore and so much more. When we then consider the instruments involved in this record, it is even more amazing. We already gave you a thorough review of the record, now we are able to present you a deep dive in the form of our interview with Jason & Kaie. Enjoy the talk about setups, the Pandemic, the question of ownership of one’s future and so much more. This record should be listened, this project should be put on as many stages as possible and - for you - this interview should be enjoyed!

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14 Apr 2024 - Thorsten

There are many ways to spell Black Metal (no not in the literal sense!) - it can be done in a rather classic way, a somewhat Trve Scandinavian version, maybe a bit more Atmospheric or Folkloristic and it can also be spellt in a very Psychedelic manner. Examples? Fluisteraars, Ultha, Iskandr or, on the new record “The Mother”, Verwoed. Interestingly all four bands come from the regions along the Rhine, either in the Netherlands or Germany. Verwoed’s latest record is a prime example of how that kind of Psychedelic Black Metal can be done - mixing Post-Punk, Shoegaze and of course Black Metal with a pinch of classic Psychedelic song arches thus turning a modern song into a kind of voyage through the last 50+ years of heavy songwriting. While talking to Erik, the mastermind behind Verwoed, we learn a lot about his process of songwriting and the difference to recording. This record proves to us, that the Dutch Black Metal scene is one of the most interesting and promising ones worldwide. Enjoy our interview with Verwoed!

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07 Apr 2024 - Thorsten

There are people who accompany you musically your whole life, maybe they are even of the same or a similar age. You might lose contact to that person’s music once in a while but as you soon as you “re-connect”, there is the same kind of close-ness, of connection, yes, of intimacy. For me, one of these voices is Jonah Matranga’s, whose various projects have always resonated with me, mostly because of his voice which to me is the epitome of Emo, the good kind of Emo, not the shitty stuff that came in the late Aughts which bands who were more into mascara and stupid breakdowns than into making quality music - in his words and his songs there is always that ray of honesty. Now he has lent his skills for a new album with English Post-Stoner-Post-Hardcore veterans Sons of Alpha Centauri. Their first collaboration in 2021 was called Push and this new one is named Pull and believe me there are many pull-factors on these nine songs. Released again via Exile on Mainstream Records, this new record is a bit closer to Jonah’s former combos and therefore the comparisons are obvious. But there is much more to talk about - his collaboration with the Deftones, Star Wars, his work with Far, hair, his connection to Sons of Alpha Centauri and much more. There is even a little quiz and a chance to win something for you all out there! So sit back and enjoy our latest interview!

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31 Mar 2024 - Thorsten

Locrian is not your average band, these three guys are some of the most striking genre-hoppers I have ever encountered. So many genres are on here that many different people attach many different tags to it. Many call them Post-Metal, others label them as Avantgarde Noise but when you talk to the guys and get a grasp of their vast musical influences and tastes it becomes clear that they do not care about labels, they do not restrict their listening habits to any specific genre and thus their music should not be seen that way. There is just so much to find out on their upcoming new record End Terrain (out on Friday, April 5th, via Profound Lore Records) that if you try to find out all the elements on these songs you might have to start thinking about mindmaps and spreadsheets in order to organize your thoughts and analyses. However, talking with Andre, Steven and Terence about the record then shows a trio that is not dead serious but really easy to talk to. We hear about their love for Shoegaze, Post-Punk, Experimental sounds and so much more! Enjoy our interview!

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28 Mar 2024 - Thorsten

There is always that one guy in anyone’s circle of friends who doesn’t care about being called names or displaying vulgar signs of anything. In CNTS there are several of these guys because they are guys who care mostly about one thing - the music they make and the people they make it with. In this case, two of these guys are vocalist Matt and guitarero and mastermind Michael Crain (whom we already interviewed some time ago about his other band Dead Cross with Justin Pearson, Mike Patton and Dave Lombardo). The guys are having a new record out in less than 48 hours, so it’s about time we give you this interview with both - you will get to know a lot about the band itself, the moment, when Matt was told he’d not be able to sing again, more importantly the moment when it came back and how he and the others went about getting new songs together, get them recorded and now out via Ipecac Recordings. The interview shows two men who at first glance do not take themselves seriously (“Ay, c’mon we were panty hoses over our faces!”) but who sure as hell take their music seriously. And there is much more depth to these songs than you might think at first listen - I am sure, you will be surprised when you hear about the meaning of the title track “Thoughts And Prayers”! So, enjoy this interview and make sure to listen to the record on Friday!

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24 Mar 2024 - Thorsten

Black Metal from Quebec is a pretty relevant scene, if you ask us. There are many awesome bands from the only French-speaking region in Northern America such as Nordicwinter, Spectral Wound, Misere Luminis and many others, amongst them: Givre. Man what a band, maybe my favorite Canadian band at the moment. Nevertheless, one must admit, that we normally do not know that much about Quebec. We might know about Montreal as its biggest city, might know where it’s located and a few tidbits, but not too much. So we combined that lack of knowledge with an in-depth interview about Givre’s new record Le Cloitre, out on Friday via Eisenwald. There is so much to talk the record: The concept of talking about six famous women all connected to the Christian faith, the artwork, the roots of the lyrics but also the difference of their hometown Rouyn Noranda compared to Montreal, the importance of that village for their sound and the impact of the local scene there. As you can imagine, all of this made up for a pretty long interview with many topics to discuss and much knowledge to gather. Enjoy our 90 minutes with Givre!

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17 Mar 2024 - Thorsten

It isn’t always fun to see what people really look like behind their masks, because sometimes they simply disappoint and are not scary enough (think of many wrestling fans) or not sexy enough (Kiss) or some other things. With Tommy Meehan that’s not the case - the guy is as hilariously funny as the masks of his project Squid Pisser. And he is now a (touring) member of a certain small masked extreme metal band from Virginia that you might have heard about - GWAR? On the eve of the Super Bowl (a few hours before kick-off) our head honcho Thorsten sat down with Tommy and talked about everything related to his new project - be it artwork, the live-band and much more including the question “Why the heck release two very closely related things on the same date?!?!” Enjoy our talk!

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10 Mar 2024 - Thorsten

Wanna hear an interview that I loved and hated at the same time? The conversation with Mirza from Arms and Sleepers was awesome. Deep and personal, funny and entertaining, technical and detailed. We talked a lot about Mirza’s latest record What Tomorrow Brings (out since March 1st via Pelagic Records) and how it is a reflection of his life and all the tragic things he encountered ever since leaving his home in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He has been playing shows as Arms and Sleepers for years now and has also been to the Ukraine in war times twice, once during the first Russian attack on Crimea, ten years ago, and also after the second attack that is still going on. Of course that experience also influenced his song writing and will do so in the future. Why I hated the interview? Because my connection broke down all the time, chopped up a lot of interesting thoughts and resulted in this only being an audio-interview. Nevertheless, this conversation is one of the most interesting I was allowed to do this year, so I hope you enjoy it despite the technical difficulties.

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03 Mar 2024 - Lucia

A year ago, we started a series which, by its design, was hard to keep going so we were aware that there would be bigger gaps between the editions of this “series” but here we are now with its fourth installment - our “Bands interviewing Bands” - series. This time we have the pleasure of getting Aaron Charles and Jordan Guerette together, who play together in Falls of Rauros but who interviewed each other on their side projects - Aaron’s Psychedelic Black Metal project Rhûn and Jordan’s apocalyptic Chamber music ensemble Forêt Endormie. Of course, head honcho Thorsten also had a few questions for both guys but each came up with mighty cool questions for the FoR-bandmate. In our interview, we also talk about the importance of these projects for Falls itself, about Game of Thrones and Wheel of Time and about Stephen King, the literary icon of the guys’ homestate, Maine. Enjoy the reviews on both outfits’ recent releases as well as the interview!

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28 Feb 2024 - Thorsten

Crystal Coffin is one of these bands that many of us can automatically fall in love with. A really good punch, some gnitty-gritty crunch and (maybe most important) something to say in the form of food for thought. A few months ago we told you about their latest record The Curse of Immortality and we are still so intrigued by the record that we arranged for an interview with Lenkyn about the record, the band’s history and much more, including the modern desire for immortality.

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25 Feb 2024 - Thorsten

We usually have guys here on the show, whose music is based on riffs and guitar work. But sometimes we also feature people with a slightly different approach. Interestingly, when talking to James from Gost it becomes clear that his songs, and therefore also the songs on his forthcoming new album Prophecy (out soon via Metal Blade Records), can be based on both, either a guitar OR some electronic work. He also explains a lot about the way he composes his tracks, his patience deficit, the way the mask he is wearing on stage makes it difficult on the one, but interesting on the other side. And he also proclaims a love for a certain kind of country music, which one might not expect him to have. All in all, a mighty interesting talk which maybe can sparkle the interest of some of you metalheads out there to give Prophecy a spin! Enjoy!

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18 Feb 2024 - Thorsten

A few years ago, Chris (Heads., formerly also in The Ocean), Nic (Heads., formerly also in Eisenvater) and Felix (Hansen Band, Home of the Lame, live-keyboarder for Einstuerzende Neubauten) formed a new band which after a few days was named ZAHN and who struck us (especially Stephan and Thorsten) with their instrumental sound somewhere between Post-Punk, Krautrock (only in attitude), Noise-Rock and many highly delectable elements. Their first self-titled record already received high praise by our head-honcho, but their second record Adria even more so, both records are out via Crazysane Records. Therefore, of course we needed to get an interview with the band and Felix took an hour off (on a Saturday!!) and spoke with us about the band, the records being different stages of a love-relationship, the development of the band and the sound. If you want to know why Morricone is (again) a major influence on a band and much more, then you will enjoy this interview!

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