Updates - interviews
Interviews
An Autumn For Crippled Children
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An Autumn For Crippled Children is for me one of those strange bands where I absolutely adore one of their albums, in this case "Try Not To Destroy Everything You Love", but I don't particularly care for anything else they've done. I will gladly listen to anything they're coming out with, but I don't expect to ever be wowed as much. Now with the opportunity of interviewing the people behind it, I had to refrain myself from asking specifically about it since, after all, they're trying to promote their new album, pictured below, so maybe I could get a little bit of insight into what goes into putting emotions into music instead. Read more ›› |
Interviews
Haken
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At this point you probably know that Haken are releasing their upcoming album, one with a name that sticks out for all the wrong reasons. I always appreciated Haken, but had friends who were really into them. Like REALLY into them. So I did find myself as somewhat of an impostor having to interview Haken. Well, not "having", since I chose to do it, but I was curious for a change instead of interviewing the obvious candidate, I would go for the least obvious one. In this case, Connor Green, who not only is the newest Haken member, but is also unfortunate enough to be a bass player. Turns out it might've been the better option, but also the one with the best change of not having all its interview slots busy. Read more ›› |
Interviews
Winterfylleth
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Main article photo by Hans van Hoor] By now you probably heard the new Winterfylleth record, and if you didn't, what the hell are you doing reading a Winterfylleth interview? I was never a massive Winterfylleth fan, but 1) I love black metal; 2) I player Harold Godwinson in Crusader Kinds II to revert the Battle of Hastings; 3) I was pleasantly surprised by them doing a fully acoustic record. So the new album and this interview should keep up busy until the new Atavist comes around. This time the interview was in a short 30 minute slot, so I didn't have time to banter about David Lynch like I usually do. Read more ›› |
Interviews
Botanist
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If I had to point to one artist that changed my perspectives a lot on where black metal would ultimately go stylistically this past decade (besides Oranssi Pazuzu), it would have to be Botanist. From the first time I heard this bizarre one manner, with its environmentalist and ecological focuses and inclusion of hammered dulcimer, of all things, I knew it was something special. I latched on around 2012 or so with the release of III: Doom In Bloom, and haven't let the project off my radar since. Last year I was considerably impressed when Botanist dropped Ecosystem, which went in a noticeably different direction sound wise and came off as more expansive than ever. Eventually I got ahold of Otrebor, the mastermind behind Botanist a little farther down the line, who warmly accepted an interview request. A few months and one very long afternoon later, we entered into a pleasant discussion on Botanist's history, influences, the difficulties of translating the project to the live setting, and more. Read more ›› |
Interviews
Ulcerate
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One of the bands to push the boundaries of death metal in the past year, with their latest record (review here) pushing the sound into an even more atmospheric direction, I wanted to get a bit more insight into what lead to it sounding the way that it does. And also to see exactly how a band from New Zealand can tour that often. Stare Into Death And Be Still RP: In my review of Stare Into Death And Be Still I quoted one of my fellow reviewers who described it as "Ulcerate's The Eye Of Every Storm". I know you didn't make the album with that in mind, but how do you feel about that comparison, and about Neurosis in general? Read more ›› |
Interviews
Soliloquium
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I added Soliloquium on the database after stumbling on their then-upcoming Things We Leave Behind and deciding they were a pretty good addition, but didn't think too much of it. It was a few weeks later, that I find the album in an unexpected place: at the top of our highest rated albums of 2020. It has since been dethroned, but at the time of publishing this, it's still in the top 10. I promptly informed Stefan about it, and one thing lead to another, I found myself asking if he is interested in an interview. Hustler as he is, of course he was. Read more ›› |
Interviews
Ashtar - Kaikuja (SBS)
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Ashtar is the brainchild of Nadine and Marko Lehtinen. It is a band that, since its inception, has been steadily gaining strength and momentum with their occult-drenched blackened sludge. Formed in 2013 and hailing from the city of Basel, Switzerland, Ashtar unleashed their brilliant debut album, Ilmasaari, in 2014, which was distributed through various independent labels in Europe. The debut caused such an effect that even Tom G. Warrior of Celtic Frost/Triptykon cited Ilmasaari in his personal top 10 albums of 2015 in the German magazine Deaf Forever. Read more ›› |
Interviews
Primordial
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So here we are, amidst a global pandemic, a very strange and uncertain time in human history. As the world has ground to a somewhat painful halt, we have seen cancellation after cancellation of events across every industry, whether they be for entertainment or logistics, private or public - all industries have been greatly affected by the current quality of time. The world of live music and entertainment in particular is suffering harsh burns, as everything from local gigs to major commercial festivals has dissipated for the foreseeable future. Read more ›› |