23 Oct 2022 - Thorsten

This upcoming Friday there will the musical equinox again - when the mainstream and the underground will sharpen their ears and both listen to the new record by Dead Cross! Believe us - it’s a really charming version of LIGHTNING in an exploding bottle! Therefore we are happy to give you some background information on the record through this interview with guitar maniac Michael Crain!

Crain, as the other band members call him, has gone through some serious stuff in the last few years and that seemingly incited his playing leading to even more furious spins and riffs, licks and shreds. II will once again be “classic” California Old-School Hardcore with loads of parts remindung us off bands like the Dead Kennedys. Michael tells us about the creation of the songs, who does what and joins when along in the process and he doesn’t spend much time on the Pacific Highway even though one might assume him to do. This interview was a hell of a lot of fun to do and we hope that comes across for all of you!

[Photo Credit: Andrea Regina]

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19 Oct 2022 - Thorsten

The Otolith is one of these bands that have a burden on their chest right from the start, because they are the Phoenix coming out of the ashes of a famous band – SubRosa. However, the Otolith is more than just a prolonging of the former band and Folium Limina turned out to be one of THE records of the year! So, we had to get this interview with them!

We are more than happy to present you with this detailed interview with 3/5 of The Otolith. Sarah, Levi and Matt took their time to sit down and answer these questions which deal with how the band got together, what else they have been doing lately, how the songs were conceived, why Andy doesn’t sing or which concoctions Sarah and Kim are brewing, or which track they would like to cover next. By the way, if you haven’t done so – check out Gene’s review of their full-length debut!

Now first, of all, the sound of the new record – it is a wonderful amalgam of what we expected and what people could not guess you would come up with. Is the band a refreshment of what you did before or is it a new-found symbiosis in a completely new line-up?

Levi Both, really. We’re a metal band that has female vocals and violins, same as SubRosa, so there will always be comparisons and similarities there, but our song writing approach is definity more different in The Otolith than it was in SubRosa.

Fans have been waiting for music by The Otolith ever since 2019 – why did you keep us waiting so long? Was it all the stupid pandemic’s fault?

Levi Supply chain issues 100%. We recorded it in April 2021 and due to issues beyond any of our control, it got pushed back until now.

You have surely done some other things since then – Sarah got Asphodel Wine, Andy did some thing with Dana in Insect Ark, did we miss anybody else’s other projects?

Levi Andy is doing things with his band, Done, and Matt and I recently started jamming with our old band, Huldra, again.

And please illuminate us – what is the Otolith? Is it really a reference to the bone in the inner ear of fish that grows each year? Or is it simply a pun on “monolith”? What is it?

Levi Yes, it is a reference to the structure in ears. Kim presented the name when we were trying to figure out a name for the band and everyone agreed that it worked.

Now, Matt is the new kid on the rock – how did you join these four wanderers in sound? What have you done before?

Levi Matt and I played in a band called Huldra for multiple years together and he also currently plays in Visigoth. Initially we were wanting to keep The Otolith just a four piece because we liked the dynamic of just us playing together, but when we started getting show offers and thinking about how we would pull off playing the album live, we realized we needed a dedicated bass player. Matt was my first choice because we have played music together for years and he’s a great bassist and person.

Matt Levi and I played in a band called Huldra together for several years. That band broke up, but Levi was playing bass in SubRosa and we kept in touch despite our musical endeavors not quite crossing paths. I had obviously been a fan of SubRosa while they were still doing their thing, so knew Kim amd Sarah from that. Andy is also a local legend that engineers tons of bands in Salt Lake and the surrounding areas, and our paths have crossed numerous times in that context. Levi reached out initially to see if I’d be available to play bass for The Otolith’s first live show and it was pretty much a no-brainer to make music with such a talented group of people. We had a few practices and played that show, then they asked me if I wanted to join in full-time – also pretty much a no-brainer. I’ve been playing in bands since I was a teenager, but as far as bands that have recorded music/played any amount of live shows, that would be Huldra, where I played bass and did vocals, and Visigoth, where I play bass.

Let’s talk about the songwriting process for your six songs – is there a democratic structure within the band or is there a clear hierarchy with someone developing the stuff and the others “just” adding tidbits?

Levi More of a democratic structure. I ended up contributing most of the music and Sarah most of the lyrics to this album as I just ended up having a lot of material laying around and Sarah has a way with words that maybe the rest of us don’t, but we all contribute ideas and feedback in the songwriting process and we keep what we all end up liking and agreeing upon.

Were you aware of the expectations connected with new music from the core four members who already were together in SubRosa? I mean, surely you know how much that band means to a lot of people?

Levi We were absolutely aware. It was a point of discussion from day one. We even discussed playing something completely different musically than SubRosa so we wouldn’t get compared to what we all did in that band because we loved that band so much and we know that our fans did too. After several practices we realized that we still wanted to play the heavy Doom style music we’ve been playing and that our writing process and playing in The Otolith was different enough to stand on its own merit even if it would be similar on paper.

Was it clear from the moment SubRosa went into hiatus, that the four of you wanted to keep on writing and making music together?

Levi No, not really. At least not for the four of us. SubRosa split in 2019 and Kim, Sarah, and Andy were talking about still playing music together in some form or another right when it happened, but I actually had already left the band back in 2017 and wasn’t playing music at all at the time. After I quit SubRosa, I sold off all of my gear except one acoustic guitar and I had not planned to ever play in a band again.

Kim and I randomly jammed at her house one day a while after SubRosa split and we decided that we liked what we were jamming on enough to hit up Sarah and Andy and see if they wanted to jam too. Spoiler alert: They did.

”Bone Dust” had already been written and recorded by those three, and is the version that ended up on the Women of Doom album, but we ended up reworking that song and started working on new material in the first several jam sessions. After that we decided to move forward as The Otolith.

Now let’s talk about the music on Folium Limina and first of all a compliment – it is one of the best I heard all year long! Is the music for you more Gothic or Doom?

Levi Thank you! I would personally label it Doom or maybe Post-Metal if I had to choose a sub-genre.

Could you define what Doom is to you? What is Gothic?

Sarah I think doom means something a little different to everyone, so I will just say what it means to me. For me, it’s a way to express deep anguish, fear, and anger I feel about the trajectory society is on, to give warning, but ultimately to shine a light on ephemeral moments of joy and beauty and a refusal to give in to despair or to give up.

Gothic also means different things to different people. For me, it is a micro-cosmos, its own universe of dark beauty made of music, film, books, visual art, architecture, fashion, interior design, and attitude. I’m a goth kid at heart.

Could you give us one or two examples for perfect Doom records? And also for some good Gothic or other records that still take your breath away to this day?

Sarah It’s so hard to choose! For doom I’d say Agalloch’s The Mantle, My Dying Bride’s Turn Loose the Swans - (which could be argued as a goth album as well), and Yob’s Clearing the Path to Ascend. Some goth records that hold up for me are Switchblade Symphony’s Serpentine Gallery, Nine Inch Nails’ Pretty Hate Machine, and of course The Cure’s Disintegration.

Who were your musical heroes growing up and do you see any influence they had on your style of music?

Levi James, Cliff, and Jason from Metallica were huge influences on me when I started playing music. It’s more of their playing technique and live energy that stick with me now rather than their music style. David Gilmour from Pink Floyd and the way he could extract emotion from every note really stuck with me as well.

Later on it changed to Aaron Turner from ISIS/Old Man Gloom, Caleb Scofield from Cave In/Old Man Gloom, and Johannes Persson from Cult of Luna when I started really getting into that style of music in the early 2000s. Their vocals, writing style, and their energy and stage presence while playing live is something that really stuck with me in the early years of me playing this style of music.

Matt Alice In Chains was the first real rock band I listened to as a kid thanks to my sister, so I’d have to say Jerry Cantrell and Layne Staley were pretty formative. Once I started getting into heavier music, I really admired folks like Caleb Scofield, Aaron Turner, Mikael Åkerfeldt, Justin Chancellor, and Dan Briggs - they’re all incredibly talented musicians that bring so much to the bands they play in, and in bands that have fundamentally shaped the way I listen to/play music since the first time I heard them.

The music of course has some very gloomy elements, naturally, as two (electric) violins are the key instruments here – but it never sounds outdated yet rather modern. Was that a clear intention?

Levi The element of the violins is not something we ever consciously think about. We just happen to have two electric violinists that love to experiment with pedals and sounds and we use that as we would any other instrument. I’ve actually written guitar parts that ended up as violins parts and Kim and Sarah wrote violin parts that ended up as guitar parts on the album. We just end up going with what works and sounds the best to us.

The sound is also a wonderful mix of images of the USA – one imagines a city like Salt Lake City (or Denver to take another example) but never a Moloch like NYC or LA; one feels the earth beneath your feet and it’s dry not humid, so basically, the record sounds like the region where it comes from. How much does your hometown and the whole state influence your songwriting?

Levi I don’t think we consciously think about that aspect. As in we don’t think “Let’s write a song that sounds like we’re in some desolate desert mountains.” Maybe subconsciously the music comes out that way at times because that’s who we are and how we grew up, perhaps, but we have some amazing bands here in Salt Lake that are as chaotic as a big city on New Year’s Eve, so I think It’s more of a personal thing for us.

How much are you part of “the SLC scene”?

Levi The Otolith plays a few local shows a year and has a great turn out whenever we play it seems like for which we are very grateful. On a personal level, we probably aren’t as much of a part of it as we used to be. Three of us are parents and we’re all busy with our jobs so we don’t get out to shows very often anymore. We would love to get out and be part of the scene more as we have some amazing friends and that play in a lot of good bands, but life happens.

Nerd – question in between: Where did you take the vocal sample for “Bone Dust” from?

Levi From the Charlie Chaplin movie The Great Dictator

If comparing the record it to movies – I think the record is more like a rougher version of Interview with the Vampire than a more modern version of Dracula – would you agree with that?

Sarah I would take both of those comparisons with relish! I think it has moments where it’s closer to Dracula, and some moments where it’s closer to Interview with a Vampire.

The record is very elegant – and yet crushingly heavy. Is it heavy darkness or elegant light for you?

Levi Both, really. We touch on a few topics on this album, but there are aspects of light and dark in both the music and lyrics throughout. A lot of the feelings and emotions we had surrounding the pandemic, the lockdown, and what was happening in our lives in general in that time period ended up working their way into the writing process.

About the vocal duties – first of all, why is Andy the only “non-vocalist” on the record? ;-) And Levi – you are interspersing some songs with some of the most earth-shattering growls heard in a long time. Have the earthquake detectors collapsed?

Levi Ha, Andy doesn’t consider himself a vocalist. I think I remember him saying he’d rather leave it to the professionals. Sarah and Kim being the professionals.

And thank you. I honestly don’t consider myself a vocalist. I consider myself a guitarist/bassist that just happens to be able to scream into a mic and wasn’t really planning on doing much vocally in this band, but after the very firm encouragement from the rest of the band after I laid down the vocals that I wrote for “Dispirit”, I ended up recording vocals wherever Sarah wanted me to for the rest of it. You can thank them for the rest of my screaming on the album.

But jokes aside, I love the combination of the many different voices on the record, is it always clear from the start who does what part, cause I read that Matt also delivered some vocals?

Levi The vocal duties are more or less defined with Sarah being the lead vocalist/lyricist and Kim and I adding vocals wherever it is appropriate. Matt joined after the album was already done, so he didn’t contribute any recorded vocals, but he has been adding vocals live and will add recorded vocals from here on out where appropriate.

Would you say that The Otolith is a result of a very deep friendship? Or did it strengthen your bond even further (after the end of SubRosa)?

Levi Again, both. After leaving SubRosa and quitting music, I wouldn’t have come back to playing music with any other group of people. I also know for a fact that us playing music together helped each of us get us through the lockdown in more ways than one and we all consider ourselves a family.

You release the new record through Blues Funeral but there will surely have been several other offers – why this wonderful label?

Levi Because Jadd with Blues Funeral is a great guy, easy to work with, and he trusted us to do whatever we wanted musically which was important for us with this being our first full release since forming the band.

I would be interested in knowing if there were any particular (musical) influences for the tracks? Maybe also influences outside the musical realm?

Levi I don’t think we had any specific musical influences when we were writing this album. Other influences would be what we were all going through in 2020 when we wrote the album. It creeps into the music and lyrics for sure. On a personal level, the only song that I wrote all the lyrics to was “Dispirit” and that was musically and lyrically influenced by my wife’s passing in 2016 and what it felt like for me to go through that in the years after.

Kim and Sarah – how much do you still practice your craft nowadays?

Sarah Kim and I share passion for a few different crafts, music chief among them. As far as crafting herbal concoctions and attempting communication with unseen forces, it will always be a part of my life.

You gave us a wonderful rendition of the Alice in Chains classic “Would?” - now if you ever did a covers record and each member gets to decide on one track – who would choose what?

Levi I would love to do more covers and I had a lot of fun recording ”Would?”. I would do ”Nights In White Satin” by The Moody Blues.
Sarah ”Long Snake Moan” by PJ Harvey

And now vice versa – you can choose one artist to cover a track by your band? Who should do which track?

Levi Author and Punisher: Whatever track he wanted to.
Matt Perturbator/Final Light: ”Sing No Coda”
Sarah – Junius: ”Andromeda’s Wing”

Now onto our infamous quickfire round:
Eagle Twin or The Iceburn Collective?
Levi Eagle Twin
Matt Eagle Twin
Sarah Eagle Twin

Neurosis or Paradise Lost?
Levi Neurosis
Matt Neurosis
Sarah Neurosis

Roadburn or Psycho Las Vegas?
Levi Both. Don’t make me choose between two amazings fest that we’ve played and loved.
Matt Roadburn.
Sarah I can’t choose either. This is impossible.

Wine or Beer?
Levi A dry red wine.
Matt wine, especially if it’s cabernet sauvignon.
Sarah A dry tempranillo red wine. Or really just any red wine, because WINE.

Touring or Writing?
Levi Writing
Matt touring
Sarah This is like dark and light, good and evil, cold and hot. You cannot have one without the other, or you’ll get all lopsided and fall over.

Edgar Allan Poe or Washington Irving?
Matt Poe
Sarah Poe

Alice in Chains or Soundgarden?
Levi Alice in Chains
Matt Alice In Chains

Candlemass or St Vitus?
Matt Candlemass

The Crow or the Raven? (and yes, I know that those are a movie vs a poem)
Matt The Raven
Sarah The Raven

Blade or From Dusk Till Dawn?
Levi Blade
Matt From Dusk Till Dawn
Sarah From Dusk Till Dawn

Prague or Paris?
Levi Prague
Matt Prague
Sarah Prague

Books – Frankenstein or Jekyll & Hyde?
Matt Frankenstein
Sarah Frankenstein

Thank you for taking the time and talking with us, all the best for the record release and we hope to see you soon on European stages again.

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12 Oct 2022 - Simon

Following on from the premiere of their latest song, we also had the priviledge to sit down with Mountainscape songwriter Dan Scrivener to talk about their new album and much more besides.

Aaaaahhhhh, Post-Metal, you wonderful monolith of the known and the unknown. Known because your shape is recognizable from afar and your peak makes it clear that the only way over is up. Unknown, because each mountain is different, some easier accessible, some less. Mountainscape’s version of Post-Metal is not an unknown one, for sure, but it’s at the same title also different from others as it tends to have a certain loftiness about it that needs some further information by tourguide, songwriter and guitarero Dan Scrivener. Our man Simon got the opportunity to talk with Dan about the band, their new record and what to expect from the Reading-based trio.

First off, could you tell us about how Mountainscape got started?

James and I are brothers and have played in bands together since we were teenagers. Mostly in the realm of Black Metal, the latest of which being Aklash. James left that band in 2018 as he’d lost interest in playing drums in a purely Black Metal project, I left in 2021 for much the same reason. We had played with Ethan in Third Horizon (which is a Post-Rock project of mine) and heard him play with Asira. He’d also mixed and mastered music I’ve created prior to Mountainscape and we’d shared many a beer! So in 2019 James and I began to discuss starting a band where there wasn’t any set musical direction other than just writing what we wanted to listen to, in the ‘post’ music scene where essentially anything goes. Ethan was an obvious choice to join us as we’d also discovered a shared love of Russian Circles. In fact the three of us attended a Russian Circles show together in London together before agreeing we’d make the band a three-piece utilising live looping.

Is there a main creative force, or is it a joint band effort?

I’m the songwriter in Mountainscape. Our process is that I’ll demo full songs and send them over to the boys, then we’ll discuss if they want to change anything. James is very good at trimming the fat! Some songs will stay in the same form as my initial demo but others will have sections chopped or rearranged by James and myself. I will include any bass parts that I want in the track, where the bass has the melody for example and then lay out skeleton ideas for Ethan to flesh out in other places. All the initial music comes from my brain but without Ethan and James adding their own personality to the tracks it wouldn’t be the band you hear. Some of the drum patterns in particular on the new album I would never have thought of! I’d also like to take this opportunity to express how grateful I am for working with two shithot musicians who’re happy to help me turn the music that loops inside my head into reality.

Tell us about the new album, is there an over-riding theme for it?

Musically it follows on from the journey we started with our debut Acceptance; creating music for the love of music rather than to fit any set theme. For me the title Atoms Unfurling is a description of how it feels when writing and listening to music, it takes me out of this world, all other thoughts drift away. It’s also a title that lends itself to inspiring some very cool artwork, I’m very happy with the album cover from Mark Erskine. I don’t think there will ever be an over-riding theme with the music of Mountainscape. That’s the beauty of writing instrumental music. Each song can take on a different meaning or purpose depending on who’s listening.

Did you limit yourselves with regards to how it should sound stylistically?

The main driving force behind starting the band was to write without having to adhere to a particular style. There’s soft ambient sections and clean guitars lathered in Shoegaze-influenced chorus and reverbs. There’s also chunky riffs, Blackgaze blasts, climactic Post-Rock build ups and lots of big drum grooves. With Mountainscape it’s all about writing the music that I want to hear. A lot of the music is driven by simple melodies and the contrast between light and heavy. I love it when songs surprise me so I try and incorporate this into the songwriting.

With regards to the new album, are you happy with how it came out?

At this moment in time I couldn’t be happier with it. Hats off to Ethan who’s handled the mixing and mastering at his new studio, ‘Elm Studios’. This was the first time recording drums there which I think came out really well! I love the fact that it sounds like you’re in the room with us. I often find that modern production detracts more than it adds, the clinical over-editing of everything just doesn’t do anything for me. I’m sure we’ll end up picking out things to do differently next time round as time passes…

Are you excited about getting everyone else to hear it, or a bit nervous?

Excited!! Maybe a tad nervous under the surface as well.

As a native of Reading, how are you finding the local music scene? Is there anyone else you think we should be made aware of?

We very rarely play in our hometown to be honest, there’s no scene for Post-Metal here. It’s so close to London which has a huge music scene. In terms of bands that I’m really into there’s Asira (progressive Post-Black Metal) and Cairiss (atmospheric Post-Black Metal), I definitely don’t just enjoy these bands because Ethan’s in them, check them out if you’ve not heard of them! There’s Morass of Molasses who play stonery bluesey Doom. Nyogtha, reverb drenched Doom from another dimension. There are also quite a few good Metalcore bands from round here. Sylosis, Arcaeon, Transients and Terakai. Although it’s not my jam they are all very good at what they do.

Do you go to see live music much? And if so, what is the next show you are looking forward to going to see?

I thoroughly enjoy watching live music. The closest place that most bands play is London so I don’t go as much as I’d like as I don’t have an endless supply of money. Public transport from Reading to London is too expensive and driving in London is less than desirable. I’ve recently seen Deafheaven and been to watch Return of the Jedi with live orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall which was just so good. Got Holy Fawn and Tycho coming up which is gonna make me a happy man.

If you could curate your own one-day festival, who would we see on the lineup

I know a couple of these don’t play live so parts of this festival would take place in an alternative universe, maybe the whole thing. I’m also not sure I’d fit all these into one day, it would be perfect though:

Din of Celestial Birds
Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster
A.A Williams
Telepathy
Slow Meadow
Holy Fawn
Caspian
Ed Tullett and Novo Amor (playing Heiress)
Russian Circles
Wolves in the Throne Room (playing Two Hunters in full)
Wardruna
Hammock
and Gunship for the after-party!

Last regular question, what can we expect next from Mountainscape?

We’ll be gigging the new album as much as we can. I’d love to sort out getting it released on vinyl. We’re currently sorting out filming a set for a live-stream event. I’ve also begun writing the next record. You can definitely expect us to keep thoroughly enjoying making music together.

Now onto our quickfire round:
Wine or Beer? Beer

Football or Rugby? Neither

Big arena or intimate club? Intimate Club

Latest blockbuster film or old school classic film? Old school film

Board game or Console game? Console

Vinyl or streaming? Vinyl

Outdoor picnic or Indoor meal? Indoor meal

Touring or Writing/Recording? Writing

You can now listen to the first two singles, one of which we premiered last week, at the band’s Bandcamp site where you can also order the record directly.

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12 Oct 2022 - Thorsten

98 minutes! Ninety-Eight-minutes! If a student of mine delivered such a long work my initial question would be “And you are sure there are no redundancies in all of that?” But, believe it or not, over the course of this interview with Ashenspire’s Alasdair Dunn we are hitting so many topics and go through so many details that I can happily say “No redundancies!” We hope you enjoy our interview as much as I enjoyed doing it!

Hostile Architecture is out for a few months now and when reviewing the record it struck me how difficult to grasp the record title is - and how multi-layered one can interpret it. Thus it was a short way for hitting up Alasdair and then arranging for an interview with him about how to see architecture and its usage as hostile for mankind. We struck a lot of diverse angles on this topic and a lot of others as well. If you think our interpretation and discussion went too far - feel free to hit us up on FB or get into contact with us otherwise! However, now is your time to sit back, take some time and enjoy the interview!

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09 Oct 2022 - Thorsten

O. is the head behind Haeresis Noviomagi. He is the guitar player in Turia. O. is the only member of Iskandr. He is in Solar Temple. He did/does lots of other bands and projects in the widespread Dutch Black Metal scene. O. is our interview partner for today and we are really glad to get to learn more about him and so will you!

Talking to such an interesting and important figure for the Black metal scene of a whole country can turn out to be a total disaster depending on whether the person is self-centered or not, as in this case. He is a very well-spoken and thoughtful person, and we talk a lot about the different sides of history and how difficult it can be if we try to see it only as positive or negative. We also learn about his love for psychedelic music and how he approaches his songwriting. Enjoy the interview with this interesting guy and enjoy the music he makes under whichever banner it is being released, be it Turia, Iskandr, Solar Temple or some of the others which we will talk about!

PS: Photo credit: @twanspierings

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25 Sep 2022 - Thorsten

NULL is upon us. It is the latest record by Noise-mongers KEN Mode, whose version of Blackened Hardcore might be the most intricate thing to grasp, when trying to unravel all the single elements of their music. Together their music is somewhere AmRep, Relapse, Black Metal, Hardcore and so much more. Therefore we are lung-explodingly proud to present you this interview with mastermind Jesse Matthewson today!

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21 Sep 2022 - Thorsten

Five months ago, Noorvik released their third record Hamartia via Tonzonen and the record is still spinning lots of heads and has been spun on numerous record players since then. “The Feast” is still a forerunner for Post-Rock-track of the year! The record has so many elements that we thought it necessary to talk with the band about it and about many other things!

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18 Sep 2022 - Thorsten

“Lifting the veil from underground music” - our slogan and our duty. And one of those underground secrets which we want to promote is certainly OAHK, the shoegaze/alternative/noise/slowcore-one-man-project by Bryan Ziolkowski. Anybody that I met along the way and whom I played OAHK’s last record immediately felt aghast by what is recorded on tape here: one of the most touching, dark yet hopeful records you might meet this year. Hauntingly personal, lovingly arranged and meticulously structured music that will not leave you. But still the guy has not enough people who know about his awesome music - that needs to change!

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15 Sep 2022 - Thorsten

Last year there were several amazing hardcore records, but one always stood out amongst the crowd - Rien Ne Suffit by Southern French-based everything-goes, everything-kills master-class-massacre-creators Plebeian Grandstand and as it was one of the favorite records of several of the VoS beatniks we thought it was about time to talk to the band about their influences, the ideas behind their music and what we can expect from then in the future. Drummer Ivo gave us and our questions some time - we hope you enjoy the interview and don’t forget to listen to their music!

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11 Sep 2022 - Thorsten

Guess who’s back, back again - VoS is back, tell your friend! Yeah, that’s right, we are back from our little summer break with another interview we are really proud of: Terence Hannum from Locrian gave us a lot of interesting and thoughful insight into how the band works, why there was such a long break and much more!

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21 Aug 2022 - Sebastian

Initially we set out to take a break from releasing all these incredible interviews for August, but when the opportunity arose for me to interview Jan Hoffmann of Long Distance Calling, I just could not resist and had to release this short but very interesting talk.

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07 Aug 2022 - Thorsten

If one asks 1,000 post-metal fans to give us five post-metal bands one of the most frequently mentioned ones would surely be Russian Circles. As the trio is soon releasing their next studio full-length named Gnosis we knew we had to get a chance to talk to the band. Luckily bass player Brian Cook had time to talk with us!

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03 Aug 2022 - Simon

In keeping with our tradition of shining a light on the smaller, less mainstream side of things, we have a fascinating interview with Charlene from Ripcord Records and Distro and the work which goes into running such an endevour.

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31 Jul 2022 - Thorsten

Jesus Lizard plus Snapcase = Unsane. One might think so, but Unsane is more than a near-indescribable mixture of Noise Rock and Punk/Hardcore. Unsane is a wqay of coping with big city life yet not leaving the city. It is a soundtrack to a city that doesn’t care. And it is the child of Chris Spencer - whom we interviewed this week for you pleasure!

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24 Jul 2022 - Thorsten

Talking to Thomas from Arizona post-rock phenom still motions is always a really rewarding thing, as he is a rather thoughtful person but never sparse in his answers. Just like the second record of his band is never sparse but really cleverly arranged and thoughtfully crafted. We were able to sit down with him for an interesting 45 minutes - hopefully you enjoy it as much as we do!

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17 Jul 2022 - Thorsten

If you need to hear one blackgaze band with female vocals, some intriguing gothic or romantic elements, a strong connection to our earthly roots and, of course, some really well-done and perfectly-written music for 2022, you might as well stop any search because Sylvaine should be it! We were lucky enough to get Kathrine Shephard onto our little show and we hope you will have as much listening to the interview as Thorsten had doing it!

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14 Jul 2022 - Daniel R. (former writer)

A few months back, E-L-R from Switzerland released their brilliant second full-length Vexier, a record full of wonderful, melancholic yet strong, doomy songs. What drove them? How was the record written? What is different between this record and their debut Maenad? And how did the collaboration with a Swiss German rapper came to be? All of these are questions we just had to ask, and our man Raniel did brilliantly! Enjoy our interview with two of their members!

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10 Jul 2022 - Thorsten

“On Floating” was the first track I heard by a (to me) back then unknown Ohio-based band called The End of The Ocean. It was the first track on their third release In Excelsis which has now seen a vinyl debut via Post.Recordings featuring a new version of that mighty opener! Reason enough for us to talk with two members of the band.

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03 Jul 2022 - Thorsten

A few years back it was still unthinkable to combine black metal (or death metal for that matter) with a typical jazz instrument like the Saxophone. Nevertheless, this is 2022 and bands like White Ward, Gold Spire, Rivers of Nihil and Imperial Triumphant have turned it into a musically completely accepted instrument within the realms of hard music. Imperial Triumphant might be the most adventurous of those aforementioned bands because their roots are definitely not metal-only but very wide-spread as is their music. Thus an interview with their singer is a really treat for us.

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29 Jun 2022 - Simon

Absent in Body is a superb group of musicians who are all more than famous for their respective main bands - let’s do a little roll-call here: Neurosis, The Cavalera Conspiracy, Amenra. Scott Kelly, Iggor Cavalera, Mathieu Vandekerckhove and Colin H. van Eeckhout. The band released their latest record, Plague God back in late March so it was just about time we did an interview with them!

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26 Jun 2022 - Thorsten

This week’s video-interview is a good symbol for our slogan “Lifting The Veil off Underground Music” - because Brendon Randall-Myers might not be the most famous artist but he for sure is a very versatile and interesting one. We were lucky to have gotten this interview with him, so enjoy him talking about his musical development, noise and metal music and how his latest collaboration album came to life!

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22 Jun 2022 - Knut

When listening to Darkher and her mysterious music, there is always that sense of closing in on a rocky mountainside in the Highlands and the stone is brimming bright red with light and sound coming from it and pulling us closer with that gentle mesmerizing touch of bewitched excitement. Not wanting to know why the stone is pulsating but still having to know. The difference between wish and urge, with the latter being the one thing you can’t control. Maybe the mastermind behind Darkher can help us clue up why we cannot keep from it?

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19 Jun 2022 - Thorsten

We have had a lot of musical “first’s” other the last couple of weeks here at VoS - just remember Dälek as our first HipHop-act. This week we presented a review of the upcoming record by Zola Jesus named Arkhon - and we were so lucky and happy to get an interview with her!

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12 Jun 2022 - Thorsten

When talking about artists with a wide array of genres they cover with their different projects, one such not forget Jay Gambit from Philadelphia as his projects go from industrial and post-punk to avantgarde and experimental. Just listen to his two maybe most famous projects: Crowhurst and Executioner’s Mask - so very different and yet there is one connecting thing: Jay and his voice from the grave. In light of the upcoming album by Executioner’s Mask we sat down with him for one of our funniest and most intimate interviews.

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05 Jun 2022 - Thorsten

A few weeks ago we already had a short video special when we were talking to Nathan Gray about the problems of marketing. As we said then, we will not do that regularly but every now and then. This week this special became a little longer so we decided to release it as a regular video-episode for you. We spoke to Nate Hall about the sometimes problematic constellation of a musician and a music journalist via the example of Matt Pike from High on Fire or Sleep.

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