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Tarja - Rocking Heels: Live At Hellfest
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New Releases
Nanowar Of Steel - XX Years Of Steel
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The Old Dead Tree - Second Thoughts
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News
Eluveitie - 'Premonition' Single Launched
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Switzerland's Eluveitie are unveiling "Premonition", the first preview tune from their upcoming studio album, which will be out next year through Nuclear Blast Records. Read more ›› |
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The Devil And The Almighty Blues - European Touring Confirmed
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Norway's hard/blues rockers The Devil And The Almighty Blues are excited to announce a set of headlining shows in Europe. All tour dates are booked in May, 2025. Read more ›› |
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Avantasia - Premiere 'Creepshow'
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In wake of the new full length release Here Be Dragons, due on February 28, Avantasia present a music video for the first advance single titled "Creepshow". Read more ›› |
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Tenebrae In Perpetuum - Sign With Avantgarde Music
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Italian black metallers Tenebrae In Perpetuum have inked a multi-album deal with Avantgarde Music. The band’s next new record will see the light at some point in 2025, six years after their predecessor Anorexia Obscura. Read more ›› |
Albums
Goatroach - Unified In Ash
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Albums
Goatroach - Satanic Decay
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Reviews
Veuve - Pole
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Considering the genre’s desert origins, the frozen North may make for an unusual setting for a stoner metal album. Nevertheless, the music within Veuve’s Pole will feel intimately familiar to aficionados of the modern heavy psychedelic scene. Read more ›› |
Interviews
Cosmic Putrefaction
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One of my favorite death metal projects to follow in recent years has been Italy's Cosmic Putrefaction, a project which I've covered as early as their debut, continuing with further releases and related bands. Even though I didn't personally cover it, their latest record has shown a consistency towards making boundary pushing death metal. I got to email mastermind G.G. about their process. RP: Is there anything about "Emerald Fires" compositionally that you'd like to pinpoint as something unique that you've purposefully changed this time around and that maybe not a lot of people noticed? GG: Sure. I think many people addressed the majority of the influences to Demilich for example, when - although I love Nespithe to death - I think there's much more in "Emerald..."'s sound, and especially a lot of it comes from a reinterpretation of the Ihsahn-esque approach in Emperor's "Anthems..." and "Prometheus..." and the Diabolical Masquerade / Obtained Enslavement symphonic black extravaganza-adjacent worlds. And very few noticed once again how important is the influence of a band like Castevet for my songwriting, but that's something I can understand more since they're a very underrated band overall. RP: Does "Emerald Fires" tie in any way to the story of "The Horizons" and "Crepuscular Dirge"? GG: Yes, it is the continuation of the same tale and somehow the completion of a trilogy begun in fact with "The Horizons...". A cycle born with the Man facing a planetary catastrophe, then the fallen of metaphysical realms and finally all the endless turmoils probably revealed themselves as nothing but a grand horrific yet blissful dream in preparation of true death, while the Man is climbing the farewell mountains to face it once for all. RP: Do the newest Vertebra Atlantis and Hadit also have a conceptual side to them? GG: I can only answer for Vertebra Atlantis and the answer is yes. To be honest, I’ve never composed a record which is not a concept album, because to me it’s crucial to tell a story through music and therefore I think the narrative element is important. Both Vertebra Atlantis records’ concepts have been written together with my drummer. But if I had to delve deeper into details, basically all the records I’m involved where I play an important role are somehow part of a multiverse where the story narrated is very similar, although through different perspectives and nuances. It’s the story of the human kind as a whole, often embodied by single damned souls which are trying to find their place in dark hostile yet wonderful universes while trying to deal with the nonsense of life and death. I previously said that I can’t speak for Hadit because there I’m like an additional member (from the last album onwards) that put his hands on material when it’s mostly structured. In fact I wrote my bass lines, additional synths and so on upon their structures without changing anything about the substratum (mostly main guitars plus drums, as they work basically as a duo) and the lyrical content is developed by XN and it’s cryptic and very personal, therefore I only have a superficial knowledge of it. RP: Before "The Greatest Chasm" came out, you called The Clearing Path your main project. Can you imagine an alternate reality where that remained the case? Will we ever see another The Clearing Path or Summit record? GG: Yeah, things could have done differently, I vividly remember the sliding door between the first two Cosmic Putrefaction releases that made me switch the main projects’ priorities. I think The Clearing Path was becoming quite untamed for me, I needed more precise and clear boundaries towards which channel my creativity. I think that The Clearing Path is a closed chapter and the eponymous titled track in the last CP is somehow a clear statement for this. And what about Summit…? I almost forgot that project’s existence! I don’t even have a copy of the debut album myself. I don’t have an answer for this, but I don’t know if I’ll ever have the drive to imagine a new Summit record. But yeah, I think the debut didn’t sell more than 50 copies so… I don’t think many are gonna miss it. RP: As a man with a lot of project tied to their name, what have you felt are the biggest differences between working on solo projects and working on more collaborative projects, whether in person or remotely? How collaborative are each of your projects? GG: Merely speaking about songwriting, I think the most collaborative project in that sense has been the Turris Eburnea’s EP, which was a great experience for me because I got to write music with one of my favorite bass players of the extreme metal underground. But I wish to increase that aspect even more on future endeavors, I think I’m too cooked to work on a solo record once again, at least soon, it is such a harrowing process where you feel a deep loneliness throughout all the time arch that can hardly be explained to people who never experienced it, you lose perspective, patience, rationality… It is hard even for your loved ones if you are truly putting your soul into it. But anyway, it’s a shame that Nick (McMaster of Turris Eburnea) lives beyond the ocean, and that the other core former member of Vertebra Atlantis (the drummer) moved away from my surroundings, because it would be more uplifting writing music with actual vis a vis interactions, compared to remote correspondences. Hadit instead already have their well established balance and routines that I don’t want to break. And yeah, days have 24 hours and then it’s over ahah, I have an, although flexible, daily job so by now I don’t have much room left to start anything new. Do I sound a bit adrift? Because sure as hell I am, right now ahah. RP: Are there any cases where having been classically trained made enjoying listening to music more difficult in a way where you started noticing flaws you wouldn't have otherwise? GG: Yea. It made me care about chords voicing a bit more for example, so I pay more attention when chords are badly arranged and stuff like that, or when arrangements sound empty for example. There are very few to no things that are “objectively” wrong in music, but it can be said that some choices can be worse than others. As there are no wrong notes, there are contexts where some notes will sound wrong. Say the substratum below is very tonal and a precise scale is made explicit, if you are playing a solo upon it on a different scale, it will sound like nails on a chalkboard whether you studied music theory or not. But anyway I’m a pro-positive listener and I try to leave the arrogance out of the door, if someone asks for my opinion precisely I’ll gladly respond, otherwise I’ll move on without breaking balls extensively, dedicating my already little spare time to listening to things that I find valuable. RP: What is something that you wish more people knew about composing / mixing? GG: De-esser processors can be useful for hi-hats! I listen to many records that are mixed properly but which have hi-hats that are sharper than blades. And again I wish some good records didn’t have blatantly out of scales solos. The majority of us ain’t Trey Azagthoth, so if we don’t have it or we ain’t possessed by a wild demon we either have to play it safer or write the parts down meticulously. But listen, it is necessary to point out that I acknowledge that all my records have flaws even mixing-wise, so I’m not telling you all this because I feel like I’m the supreme ruler or whatever, needless to say. I try to learn something from my own mistakes first, record after record. RP: Is playing live something that is within the realm of possibility for Cosmic Putrefaction? GG: I don’t think so to be honest. Also I’ve already forgotten how to play the majority of the last record, let alone the previous ones. Getting on stage is my chimera overall, if I analyze my past 10 years. But a part of me would love to. Or better say would love to want it. RP: What are your favorite movie and video game soundtracks? GG: Wow, this is a potentially very extended answer. See, I believe the world of soundtracks (especially the video games) is potentially the last remaining “commercial” field with some budget where it’s possible to write from good to phenomenal music without compromising the quality too much. The composition diploma I got was specialized in music for audiovisuals, so during those school years I had the privilege to delve deep into so many soundtracks scores and such. Probably my favorite and most influential composer of audio-to movie field was Bernard Hermann, especially in Vertigo. I loved so much the Nevskij one made by Sergei Prokofiev (a section of it was sampled by the great black metal band Ascension, as an intro for the track "Fire And Faith"). Angelo Badalamenti’s classic eerie works for Lost Highways and Twin Peaks but also his more emotional and intimate A Straight Story. Nino Rota in La Dolce Vita and 8 ½. The emotional sensibility of Alexandre Desplat in Birth and the quirky grotesque Grand Budapest Hotel. Ah yeah, many people know Johnny Greenwood's work with Radiohead of course, forgetting his incredible soundtracks like the experimentalism of There Will Be Blood and the utterly beautiful work in Phantom Threads (well of course Greenwood is a great composer, if you don’t believe me re-check the strings arrangement he made for Radiohead’s "Glass Eyes"). Vangelis' seminal work for the unforgettable Blade Runner. Morricone! Then in the anime field among my favorites I’d say Angel’s Egg and Ghost In The Shell (respectively composed by Yoshihiro Kanno and Kenji Kawai) done for two Mamoru Oshii classics, although the first is much less known than the second and they’re stylistically very different, in terms of music and whatnot. Ah, of course I love a lot of Joe Hisaishi’s done for many Miyazaki movies (Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away…). Talking about video games I grew up with classical uber-nostalgic Uematsu soundtracks for Final Fantasy VII, VIII and X, Paul Ruskay’s (dark) ambient works for Homeworld saga (ironically the first ambient music I’ve ever listened when I was a 7/8 kid watching my older cousins playing it), Sam Hulick, Jack Wall & Co’s iconic electronic tunes in Mass Effect Trilogy, Martin O’ Donnell’s epic anthems for Halo 1, 2, 3 and Reach, I loved that immensely evocative soundtrack Austin Wintory made for Journey… too many! RP: I haven't exactly checked where each of bands that I know are from Italy come from more regionally. Have you noticed there being any decentralization of regional scenes in Italy? GG: The majority of bands come from northern Italy, especially Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna, and Rome-related area, mainly because these are the regions where you can find the majority of relevant venues. There’s a geographical reason if it’s like this: imagine an European tour… if you come from Northern Europe it’s not very convenient to drive further towards southern Italy and then heading back north if you think about it. Rome kinda makes an exception because it’s a popular city all over the world, but like 70% of the European tours stop by Milan, and maybe Bologna or Turin in some cases. There is something in Veneto as well because it’s convenient if you come from Austria and not from Swiss, but yeah that’s pretty much it. These very practical logistical reasons can’t be ignored. That’s why Netherlands, Germany and France can have multiple tour dates very easily, being more centered in Europe. Of course, the cultural reasons help as well, I know from some touring friends that Germany and NL’s audiences are generally very receptive. RP: Having to sometimes do database duty, I noticed that a lot of the tours I add that many stop in Milan if they're stopping in Italy (and sometimes Bologna). I even attended one (The Comet Is Coming in Alcatraz). What were some standout concerts that you attended in Milan? How does Milan fare as a concert goer location compared to others you've been to? GG: I partly explained in the above question why tours majorly stops by Milan and sometimes Bologna (if they even come through Italy). But anyway… the majority of venues for underground metal aren’t located in Milan but in the province or in the near by provinces, so I’ll include all the venues that are within 50min drive from Milan. Ad Nauseam at Centrale (Erba, Como), simply unforgettable. Artificial Brain at Barrio’s (Milan), Siderean at Barrio’s (idem), Mournful Congregation at Slaughter Club (Paderno Dugnano, Milan). Immolation at Slaughter Club (idem), The Secret(2010) at SGA (Arese, Milan, the place is no more), one of the few times I’ve witnessed Converge, Mgła /Svartidauði during their “With Hearts…” tour before their boom at Blue Rose (Bresso, Milan, a tiny place that is no more). I would say that Milan itself doesn’t offer much to the underground, yes there’s Legend, a venue with around 300 capacity but there’s very little middle ground between small / mid-small venues and like Alcatraz which can offer around 3000 people capacity and also I’ve been to very few venues in the city (not the province) with like 150 people capacity, that is how the majority of underground music shows are characterized (when things go well). So, I don’t know. As I said Milan and surrounding is probably the best place in Italy for underground metal shows, but I believe other European cities are more virtuous in this sense. RP: At what point of living in Milan do you stop being in awe of the touristic highlights like the Duomo and the Arch? Are there any touristic places in Italy that you feel are underrated? GG: I gotta be honest here, as much as I dislike the current culture trajectory of this country, Italian huge historical heritage cannot be underestimated. So, for example I hate Milan, but can I deny how beauty is the dome? I’d be stupid. The ossuary of a close by cathedral called San Bernardino is pretty sick as well. The monumental cemetery is rad, and so on. But in my region the Como lake is great as well, if you climb the near by mountains, the aerial view of it would remind you of the Norwegian fjords as well, beautiful right? It’s just that tourists have this pre-packaged clichè of Italy that is even fun at traits and I joke about it as well (tarantella, c’è la luna in mezzo o’ mare and yada yada yada), the point is that all the boring (let alone the awful) parts of Italy are totally overlooked. Like for example the boundless infinite lowlands of Lombardy between Milan and Bologna and its sparse industrial sites and sheds are immensely boring, stagnant and stale. They don’t look cool on postcards, do they? To me, geographically speaking, the only good thing of Milan is that during bright days you can see the alps. Take this metaphor, Milan is good only when it allows you to visually fantasize about being somewhere else. RP: Are there still any remaining differences between the Lombard regional dialect/language and Italian following the standardization from the last 150 years? GG: Lombard dialect, compared to the other regions’, is the one that is fading away the most and this is due to the (allow me to say pathetic) tendency and arrogance of this metropolitan area, to perceive itself as the international-futurist-globalized Italian pole, therefore the dialect, now reduced to a mere accent, is tending to get the most bland, tasteless, infused by anglicisms, neutral idiom, mostly coming from the financial or modern, young, dynamic, whatever bullshit corporates will make up to appear more appealing workspaces. On the other regions my feeling is that dialects are tending to survive a bit more. But don’t misunderstand my answer as a chauvinist rant either, I think the provincial almost feudal parochial attitude surviving in the core of the Italian’s spirit from the middle age and so on (Italian peninsula have been very fragmented for centuries) can be unhealthy as well, I was just stating that the reasons why my geographical area is building its new dialect are very annoying. Other than that I’m not a linguistic doctor not an historian, these are my mostly my raw feelings and don’t take them too seriously nor as historically accurate. RP: If you could pick any living director to direct a music video for a Cosmic Putrefaction song, who would it be? GG: If we can blend David Lynch with Terence Malick it would probably be it. RP: Anything else you'd like to add to our readers? GG: To whoever had the guts to read until there, thanks for the patience ahah! And thank you Radu for having me here. Cheers! Read more ›› |
News
Elvenking - New Full Length Announced
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Italian pagan/folk metal masters Elvenking will release their new album, Reader Of The Runes - Luna, via Reaper Entertainment on April 11th, 2025. This album marks the spectacular conclusion to the 'Reader Of The Runes' trilogy. Read more ›› |
Albums
Elvenking - Reader Of The Runes - Luna
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News
Enemy Inside - Unleash New Song & Video
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On February 28, 2025, Enemy Inside will put out their third studio album entitled Venom. Produced and recorded by Evan K at Epsilon Studio in Aschaffenburg (Germany). Mixed and mastered by Christoph Wieczorek at Sawdust Recordings. Along disclosed details, you can also check out a video for the newest single called "Don't Call Me An Angel". Read more ›› |
Albums
Enemy Inside - Venom
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News
Stoned Jesus - Final 15th Anniversary European Shows Confirmed
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Stoned Jesus announce the final leg of their 'XV Anniversary European Tour', with special guests Polymoon (except in UK and Ireland). Find all confirmed dates and venues via flyers below. Read more ›› |