14 Nov 2022 - Thorsten

On a Thursday night in late April, which was quite chilly by then, three guys from three different countries (Finland, the USA and Germany) are standing outside a tent at Holland’s Roadburn Festival listening to a Belgian band play music that sounds like from the Middle East (Syria?) mixed with a bit of Jazz and lots of Psychedelic. The band? Wyatt E. The guys? Joe, Martin and me. The experience? Mind-blowing. Veil of Sound HAD to get an interview with the guys!

Even months after the release of āl bēlūti dārû (you can find our review here), the record gets spun here a lot, because the record is mesmerizing, enchanting and haunting - and all of that in a literal sense! We were very fortunate to sit down with Sébastien and talk about the concept behind the band, the prejudices of cultural appropriation the band has to face at times, his non-knowledge of Jazz and why he loves Roadburn Festival so much! Enjoy!

[Photo Credit: John Van de Mergel https://www.brothersinraw.com/]

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06 Nov 2022 - Thorsten

Amplification is one of the most interesting things about playing an electric guitar, right? There are myriads of meandering rabbit-holes down which one can go and through which one can gather loads of knowledge about the instrument and the possibilities connected to it. One of the most interesting musicians in that sense is Mat Ball, the guitar player in Big | Brave whose drones and sometimes shorts noisey bits really make the biggest of differences between his style and that of others. We are proud to give you this interview with Mat, in which we talk about his style, amplification, sound and, of course, his latest solo record!

Sometimes we really wonder how we can forget about certain records and their creators - that was surely the case with Amplified Guitar, the latest solo album by B I G ╪ B R A V E guitarist Mat Ball, which was released this year on July 1st. Nevertheless, we must talk about this record, its creation, the person behind the record and what Godspeed’s Efrim had to do with it! Enjoy, fellow VoS-ficionados!

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31 Oct 2022 - Thorsten

It is always a pleasure to talk with Scandinavian acts, because most of them are very humble and easy to talk to, even if they are really important in their own little scene. Talking to Niklas Åström, the drummer behind ef, Sweden’s elegant powerhouse of sparkling post-rock with a lot of glittering appeal, just confirmed that, because even though he might be aware that his band is a point of reference nowadays, he never shows it. Thence, this interview was nothing but a pure pleasure!

Whenever listening to any ef-record it becomes quite clear that the guys have a knack for writing catchy melodies without sacrificing their classiness or elegance for it. That can also be said about the new one We Salute You, You and You!, coming up on Friday, November 4 via Pelagic Records. You will all be amazed by the record and its diversity. Niklas talked to us about that new record, the effect Covid had on the band (you will be surprised!), their roots in a quite different musical genre and why he prefers AC/DC over Busta Rhymes! Enjoy!

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30 Oct 2022

Joshua might be one of the newer members on our staff here, but he already contributed a lot of awesome reviews and one of those was on the self-titled debut by Veldune. So when the chance came up to interview the band, Joshua surely was happy as can be to begin his interviewing career here at VoS with this new art pop project founded by several pretty famous musicians, who fortunately have no intention of being called a “super-group” even though they’re quite a super group!

Kevin Hufnagel is the creative mind behind such famous acts as Sabbath Assembly, Gorguts, Dysrhythmia or Vaura (which Joshua also reviewed). So it might be safe to say that he is a connaisseur of Kevin’s oeuvre and therefore perfectly suited for this interview. One thing that really strikes about the interview itself is the fact that it shows how little of an autocrat Kevin is, because all band members contributed to the interview. The band is formed by musicians he already played with in other constellations - Jamie Myers and Johnny Deblase were in Sabbath Assembly and Jeff Eber was also behind Dysrhythmia’s drum kit. So we surely are talking about four musicians with quite some experience!

Hi folks! Congratulations to you all on the release of the Veldune debut.

I’m thrilled you’re taking the time to answer these questions and share more about this project, which may come as a surprise to fans familiar with your other work. But that’s exciting! Inquisitive musicians renew curiosity, innovate, help us find new meaning. The artists I most admire are often restive, refusing to stagnate or conform to certain expectations.
Kevin, I heard you describe Veldune as your “most accessible” project on The Color of Air podcast. Was that an intentional aim of your vision for this band, or just something that happened? If we call Veldune a musical departure, what are you turning toward or away from?

Kevin When we began Veldune I made a focused attempt to reign in some of the progressive tangents of my usual writing style. My aim was to leave more space for the vocals to shine and the music to breathe. It’s a different kind of challenge for me to write in a more “song-oriented” way. I feel like I’ve learned a lot musically and compositionally about this by working with great vocalists over the past 10 years or so.

Jamie We wanted to convey an array of feelings, such as ecstasy, longing, exhilaration, and fear, to name a few. We wanted to pour these emotions into a body of music that was cinematic in nature and took the listener on a journey, like some kind of psychedelic soundtrack you’d listen to while barreling down a desert road.

Can you reveal the significance of the name Veldune, or do you prefer to keep it a mystery?

Kevin I’m going to leave it a mystery for now but let’s just say it took us two years to find a good band name. Finding a simple yet evocative name that fit the atmosphere of the material and didn’t pigeonhole us to a genre was very challenging. I think we finally succeeded but it wasn’t easy. Think of Veldune as a place our music takes you to.

Jamie It’s an emotional aura experienced instinctively.

It’s interesting to me how difficult it is to describe Veldune. Well, classify it, really. It’s rock, folk, pop – I mean, it’s not what most people mean by “country” these days, but it’s also not not-country, if you get my point. I wonder if that was a result of being driven more by mood, color, or even theme when you wrote the songs, as opposed to any style or genre expectations.

Kevin I totally agree with you. I really hate to speak in terms of genres because they can mean so many wildly different things depending on the listeners own musical background or which generation they come from. For me pretty much anything with verses and choruses is “pop” in my mind, so it’s extremely broad stylistically. Moods, atmospheres, cinema, and places shaped these songs just as much, if not more so, than musical influences.

Johnny For me, it’s definitely a mood. We spent a lot of time in the studio trying to dial in the character of each song so that each one spoke in its own way alongside Jamie’s lyrics and vocals.

Jamie Ha, see above…

Copy for the album indicates you were first inspired by the music of Chris Isaak and Concrete Blonde, among others, when composing these songs. That’s a tantalizingly brief glimpse into your musical touchstones for the record. Maybe Neko Case could be another reference point. Are there further inspirations you could reveal? Were you feeling nostalgic for a bygone era or a particular time in life?

Kevin It’s strange, I’ve made records before that were sort of throwbacks to earlier inspirations (cp. Messages to the Past; Note by the editor released under his own name) but with Veldune there wasn’t really an era of time musically we were intentionally harkening back to. It did seem some of the artists we were taking inspiration from happened to be of the early 90s time frame. We joke that if we had formed this band back then we’d be huge.

Jamie I often think that this is the music Kevin and I would have loved to have played, if we had known each other during our more formative years. It’s cool that we get to do it now with some life experience behind it. It certainly adds depth.

For lack of a better way of saying it, I love the “vibe” of this record. It captures that audaciously cavalier, yet incredibly vulnerable, spirit of adolescence—maybe as seen in retrospect from a more mature vantage point. (I could just be projecting here.) Given the album’s themes of living intensely, embracing the moment, and letting go, I find myself thinking a lot about what a life lived in balance between the demands of the body and spirit might actually look like and how to realize that. Do you think people, flighty and petulant as we often are, can aspire to that? Is there an underlying philosophy that you’re bringing to this project?

Jamie We’re not expressing any specific philosophies, per se, but it’s nice that you picked up on the underlying arc of the songs. Balance of body and spirit is something we can strive for, but in this creative cycle, sonically and lyrically speaking, we were going for the opposite. The thrill of “hugging the curve” or leaning into the very thing that might destroy you was a recurring theme.

Jamie and Kevin, can you tell us more about your close songwriting relationship? Was your process for writing these songs different from your previous collaboration in Sabbath Assembly? Were there any surrounding emotional factors at play you care to discuss?

Kevin Sabbath Assembly was very collaborative with all the members contributing songs and ideas towards the last few years of our existence. A handful of those songs were ones that just Jamie and I wrote together and it always flowed so naturally. When we began Veldune we talked about taking things in a different direction musically and lyrically from what we had done previously. I would send Jamie fully finished (instrumentally) demos and she would write her vocal melodies and lyrics over them, sometimes suggesting arrangement changes, which I’m always open to.

Jamie Kevin has a way of writing that speaks to an “old soul” part of me. It’s very moving, and I’ve been fortunate to have a creative partnership with him that allows me to flourish the way I have over the last decade. It’s as if we’ve written our own code or language to speak in.

Did you always conceive of Veldune as a full-band project, or was it initially meant to be a collaborative duo? What led to the decision-making there?

Kevin I always envisioned Veldune as a full band but this first album was written basically as a duo. I wanted to mix up my songwriting process a bit and began some of these songs as drum or bass line ideas first and then added guitar. Once all the material was in place and I thought we had a strong album, I sought out Jeff and Johnny to bring these parts to life, which they certainly did. Moving forward it will be more of a full band effort since we are now officially a full band.

Johnny and Jeff, given that you came on board after the songs were written, what did you feel were your respective roles in realizing the performances?

Johnny It wasn’t so much about just “learning the part.” The four of us were collaborating as a band up to and on the actual recording on different aspects of the arrangements and individual parts for each song. Some of the songs I ended up treating more like jazz tunes where I just sketched out a chord chart and more or less improvised in a consistent feel alongside hits or other aspects of the arrangement, allowing the parts to evolve during rehearsals and the recording. Many of the bass parts I transcribed from something Kevin had written which I liked because it often led the bass melodies to places I wouldn’t have come up with on my own. One thing that keeps me going in any band is the room to stretch on parts and I think that is an important part of Veldune’s music. So maybe there are certain lines I hit every time or sometimes I just take the “written” part and use it as a guide and play over the feel of the drums. No two performances are 100% identical.

Jeff When Kevin first sent me the rough tracks with programmed drums, I loved the overall sound and vibe of the songs. All of the songs already had a clear vision by the time I started working on them, so I was really just interpreting Kevin’s ideas. It was less pressure creatively, but some songs are deceptively difficult because the drum parts were conceived by someone who doesn’t play the drums. Kevin wrote ideas that are not necessarily natural, or common, for a drummer to play, so it was fun to play parts that weren’t overly complex from a technical standpoint but more unique than a simple backbeat, with a couple interesting drum or cymbal hits in unusual spots.

In my review, I mentioned the gravity you provide to an ethereal song like “Willow Sways”, but sometimes it’s almost the opposite—as in the elasticity you give to the boundaries of the beat on ”Yearling Thunder”. I get the sense that some of these songs may have gone a very different direction were it not for the unique energy provided by the rhythm section. Were there any surprise developments in the songs—tweaking of styles or approaches—after you began performing them together as a quartet?

Kevin For sure, I was programming drum machines to demo the rhythm parts and a lot of these songs have a loose organic feel, so I couldn’t wait to hear the parts played live in a room with an actual drummer, especially with one as great as Jeff.

Johnny Agreed! The songs really came to life when we first started rehearsing as a quartet, which because of the pandemic took way longer than we wanted! This kind of music really demands a live performance environment. It would have been impossible to try to track this album in isolation.

Jeff Kevin did a great job writing parts for the drums and bass that intertwine, support each other, and add to the melody, which really comes alive when we’re playing together. All the instruments are playing off one another and contributing to the melodic idea, rather than just providing a supporting role to one melodic idea.

“Chasing Down the Sun” is a great single, the way it leans on those chords to accentuate the supreme sing-ability of the chorus. I wonder if it was the obvious choice. This is an idiosyncratic way to receive the song, but it’s helped me emotionally in trying to come to terms with the decline of our eldest cat, Glasha. We will have to say goodbye to her soon, and this song punches me right in the tender spots of those mortal impulses and painful limitations. What does the song do for you?

Kevin I’m glad that song could comfort you in some way. I love this song and knew we had something special when we were writing it. It was one of the first songs we worked on.

Jamie Oof, this hits in the feels. We humans are quite fortunate to keep the company of our animal friends. I’m also glad if the song provides some solace. The song, for me, touches on the cyclical nature of life, and the pursuit of something just beyond reach.

You all are animal lovers, yeah? How are your familiars doing?

Kevin I’ve got an 18 year old cat named Miso and she’s doing great. It’s quite amazing.

Johnny My cat Kooti just turned 13 and is doing great! :)

Jamie I serve as a humble servant to my feline overlords: the queen Chiyo, her royal advisor Buddy, and her jester Smokey.

Jeff My wife Annie and I have cared for 11 rats – just 2 or 3 at a time – over the past 10 years. They sleep in their cage most of the time, and when they get the courage to jump down to the floor they enjoy making nests in old couch cushions.

Jamie, I’m enamored of your vocal performance on this record, ranging from the vulnerability of your delivery to those gorgeous choral harmonies and interesting phrasings of lyrics—as in “A Glimpse of Being”, when you sing “Where nothing IS but a mask it seems / And we the ghostly form beneath.” What was your vocal approach for the instrumentation of Veldune? Do you have any pointers for singers out there who want to chase delicacy and presence?

Jamie My approach can be theatrical at times, at least in my head it can be. Sometimes I attach a “character” to a song, which allows me to embody an alter ego. With these songs, there were moments that needed to be tender and vulnerable, and others that needed to be more commanding. I always try to really listen and be sensitive to what the other instruments are doing and to augment them. As for those looking to get into singing or to increase their abilities, you have to practice, practice, practice. Don’t be afraid to make some weird noises along the way. Get over the need to sound or appear perfect all the time, don’t be embarrassed, just experiment. Above all else, if you want to learn how to do something, surround yourself, or join a band with people who are better at it than you. Be humble, and ready to soak up any knowledge they are willing to give.

Your lyrics have me on tenterhooks, too. They are so emotionally piercing and poetically lithe, “Willow Sways” being a particular favorite of mine. (I’m also glad you released lyrics with the album, because now I can better suss their intricacies without as many mondegreens.) What sources of inspiration did you draw from when composing lyrics for Veldune? Do you ever struggle when coaxing your lines into melodies, and how do you work through that?

Jamie The melodies are the easiest part for me to write. I often don’t get bogged down with lyrics at first. Lots of times I won’t even bother with pen and paper, I’ll just immediately start recording a non-lyrical vocal demo that allows me to capture an idea in the moment. Then I can work on specific phrasing, and theme later. I think being an avid reader helps. I also enjoy poets such as Yeats, Blake, etc.

Kevin, can you give us any guitar-nerd specs or insights into your writing or recording for this record—what guitars you used, if you had a different setup, any toys you brought into the mix?

Kevin I bought a Gretsch guitar specially for this band. It ended up being the perfect choice in the studio for the main tone as it’s sort of a nice in-between of the brightness of a Strat with the warmth of a Gibson. For amps I believe we mainly used a Fender Twin. I did use this Boss guitar synth pedal for some textures in “Yearling Thunder” and on some other tracks. On “The Final Bow” I used an Electro-Harmonix Mellotron pedal for the weepy melodies.

The inside-out transformation of the theme from guitar to organ in “The Final Bow” brings a powerful drama to the album’s closing. When I listen to the tension developed between the synth and guitar midway through, I’m astounded how much it reminds me of the classic dynamics of Tony Banks and Steve Hackett. Talk about unexpected! But the hymnal quality of the theme’s final statement is ingenious. Was this figure composed on guitar or synth first? How did this song, somewhat of a stylistic outlier, develop?

Kevin It was written on 12-string acoustic first. I didn’t write it with any particular project in mind because I wrote it so fast. I added the synths afterwards. It certainly stands out on the record. We weren’t so sure we wanted to include it even though it was one of our favorites, since it’s so different from the other tracks. That’s also why it’s the last song on the album.

The presence of synth becomes more obvious in the last three songs on the album. What role did you conceive for the synth in Veldune’s sound? Was it a thematic decision to give synth more prominence toward the end of the record?

Kevin It wasn’t intentionally structured that way. It seems the second half of the record is a little darker and more atmospheric, so the synths seemed an appropriate touch. I never planned to use synth in the beginning stages.

Johnny I’m always pressuring us to add more synths! I think especially over this music well-orchestrated pads for certain songs really drive home the vibe. Also we spent a bit of time adding extra percussion and vocal layers to many of the tracks which in some cases were spontaneous studio arrangements and I think those ended up adding even more character to the songs. It also helps that Colin is a wizard and was able to placate all of our ideas and make them sound cohesive in the mix!

It would be incredible to see this project live. Do you have any plans to stage some Veldune shows in the future, maybe schedule a tour?

Kevin For sure. Tours might be hard, but certainly some shows in the northeast next year at least.

Jamie Yes! Bring on the shows!

Is there anything else you’d like to share about Veldune, or any other shout-outs about recent or upcoming projects you have?

Kevin We already have new songs in the works. Around five songs so far. The writing process is my favorite part of being in a band.

Jeff Can’t wait to hear all of Kevin’s new ideas. He’s probably scoring a drum part where five drums and cymbals hit at the same time on the same downbeat. Kevin likes to write things that sound good, not things that are possible to play.

What’s your favorite stretch of road to drive, and what’s an album you’d be sure to bring along?

Kevin I don’t drive. I hate driving, ha.

Johnny I’ve always loved driving out in the Southwest. The drive from West Texas out to LA.

Jamie Any back road. Eat a peach.

Jeff I love driving in the Southwest desert. When we were practicing the songs for this album, images of the drive from Texas to Albuquerque kept popping into my head. It’s a drive we’ve done many times on tour – and it’s a long one – so we’re usually still driving into the evening when the sun starts setting over the desert mountains. I think the sound of Veldune invokes images of that long stretch of road at sunset. I like listening to repetitive beats on long drives in the middle of nowhere, maybe some classic Krautrock like Neu!, Can, or Kraftwerk.

It’s tradition at VoS to close interviews with a round of rapid-fire questions for everyone. Here goes:
Michael Jackson or Prince?
Kevin Tough one. I give props to MJ because the Thriller album was one of the first records that made me love music. However, I think all in all I have to go with Prince.
Johnny Yeah I’d say Prince, but that is a tough one.
Jamie Prince
Jeff Prince

Wands, Cups, Swords, or Pentacles?
Kevin Swords
Johnny One of each please…
Jamie Wands
Jeff A cup of swords. Tiny swords.

Vintage or contemporary?
Kevin Vintage
Johnny Vintage
Jamie Vintage
Jeff Contemporary. Maybe distressed contemporary? That’s like vintage, but without the musty smell.

Al pastor or carne asada?
Kevin Al pastor.
Johnny Definitely both!!
Jamie Vegetarian al pastor
Jeff One of each please…

Interstates or state highways?
Kevin the scenic route
Johnny Public Access Roads
Jamie back roads
Jeff How quick do we have to get there?

Paranormal thriller or slasher?
Kevin Slasher
Johnny Paranormal thriller
Jamie Slasher
Jeff Thriller

Winter, spring, summer, or fall?
Kevin Fall
Johnny Fall
Jamie Fall
Jeff Winter. Mountains.

Sunrise or sunset?
Kevin Sunrise
Johnny Sunrise
Jamie Sunrise
Jeff I’m not waking up early. I’ll take a beer in the evening and gaze off to the west.

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29 Oct 2022 - Simon

Damnation Festival should need no introduction to anyone interested in heavy music festivals in the UK. From its humble beginnings it has blossomed (through a lot of hard work, it must be said) to become Europe’s largest indoor metal festival catering to 6,000 music fans. The engagement to the festival goers from its creator Gavin McInally is legendary. This year it will take place next Saturday, November 5th and you can all be excited about bands like Converge, Godflesh, My Dying Bride, At The Gates, Pig Destroyer and many more! Because of all of that, we were beyond happy to sit down with Gavin to talk all things Damnation Festival.

Damnation Festival hosts a lot of awesome acts this year (as usual), with a wide variety of acts that have been featured here on Veil of Sound as well like 40 Watt Sun or Frayle, So Hideous or Wolves in The Throne Room, Bruit≤ or Aerial Ruin & Bell Witch! Damnationfestival.co.uk is the website where you might try to catch the last tickets!

This was the first video-interview I’ve ever done (and VoS first Face-to-Face-interview for that matter) and I was very nervous so it’s a bit rough around the edges but I’m hoping that you get a feel for just how much this festival means to Gavin and the effort that goes into creating such a festival. At the end of the day, it’s quite an interesting watch, even if it’s only to laugh at my fumbling technique. The whole thing was recorded this during ArcTanGent Festival in August and now – enjoy Gavin and what he has to say about the development of the festival, the problems at the beginning and this year’s edition.

And here some more information for all you festival-goers:

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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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