Nemesis - Invasion EP

Nemesis - Invasion EP

The biography I received with this promo is in Italian and my Italian is limited to types of pasta and a few swear words. Even the Latin I learnt at school, 35 years ago, is no use, so this one’s all about the music.

Nemesis are a young band, having only formed last year and that kind of shows in many aspects of this release.

It’s being marketed as Thrash/Death and while both of these elements are prominent, there’s quite a bit going on.

The vocals are split between high pitched yelps, which with the right music, could be used in Grindcore or more modern forms of Metal, and deep guttural growls, which is where the Death Metal connection is made.

Behind the dual vocal style, it’s mainly a Thrash backdrop, mixed in with a few slower moments. Oddly there’s an off kilter intro to The Face Beyond, which reminds me of the Dead Kennedys (circa Chicken Farm), but the song quickly explodes and the quirky little intro is quickly forgotten… until it returns again a minute or so later.

Maybe it’s an age thing, or maybe it’s because they have a huge melting pot of influences, but this EP is littered with a ton of styles. Admittedly they all actually work very well, but I think over time, things may get a little more focussed as Nemesis hone their style.

As it stands, it’s a very solid debut. Although personally, I think they need to up the Thrash content and makes things just a touch heavier.  

https://www.facebook.com/Nemesians

Best of 2014

Thanks to Sandy over the splendid The Killchain Blog for doing a best demo's of 2014 feature as I wasn't really aware we were getting to that time of year already

In terms of major label releases, I think it's been a shocking year, with very few new albums actually interesting me at all. And most of the bands I do like that have released albums that have been well below par.

As we head towards the ass-end of 2014, there are a few goodies at last seeing the light of day, including the new Primordial, Dani Filth's Devilment is an excellent listen, as is The German Panzer debut.

But album of the year for me is, by a mile, is Grand Magus - Triumph And Power

So heading back to the underground, here are by favourite listens of the year

Song of the Year:
Nefarious Dusk - God Is Dead





Releases of the year, in alphabetical order

Arcane North - Enter the Arcane North


Carnivorous Forest - Genital Mutilation in the Name of God


Chiral - Abisso


Hypertension - Distant Thunders Call


Korrigans - Ferocior Ad Rebellandum


Ophidian Coil - Promo 2014


Satariel - White Ink Chapter One


Tyrant’s Kall - Dagon



Unfolded - Demo 2014



Wreodan Healh - Læcig


I've deliberately not chosen any of my own releases, as that may be a bit biased
so I'd like to given special mention to two of the compilations I've released this year

I still think Helvete: Confederacy of Hatred, in terms of overall quality, is the best compilation I've done
https://sixsixsixmusic.bandcamp.com/album/helvete-confederacy-of-hatred

And the UK scene is looking very healthy, and you can judge for yourself with Deep Underground: United Kingdom
https://sixsixsixmusic.bandcamp.com/album/deep-underground-united-kingdom


Sixsixsix Music
E-mail: steve@sixsixsixmusic.com

www.sixsixsixmusic.com
http://sixsixsixmusic.bandcamp.com
http://sixsixsixmusic.bigcartel.com/ 
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sixsixsixmusic/1405099836423721

Death Sigh Ritual EP

Death Sigh Ritual EP

One of the band members (This might just be a solo project with a few small contributions from others) posted on a forum that all the blogs they read, weren’t interested in reviewing this release. That was about 15 rejections in one hit. I offered to review the EP after having a quick listen on Bandcamp, and I’m glad I found this gem.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a miserable fucking listen, but it’s also a beautiful one. The downbeat melodies are utterly captivating, especially when there’s a bit of male / female vocal interaction, as on the opener, Principals. And overall, I’m not sure where to place this. The music conjures up images of a Goth version of The Doors, playing a bit of Ministry (because of the vocals on Bones Ignite and My Friend Lucifer, which remind me of Al Jourgensen), and all manner of other styles, including Depressive Black Metal, maybe a bit of 80s Goth (again), but this time like a more caustic version of Bauhaus’ more angular moment.

Wherever you decide to place this, it’s a very dark mishmash of desperation and aggression, but one I’m drawn to the more I hear it. So this will appeal to those that like the slower, twisted forms of Black Metal, and those that like the darker side of music in general.

This is available from Bandcamp, as is the physical version, which is a very sexy looking digipack, which just might have to be purchased.

https://deathsighritual.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Death-Sigh-Ritual/549327525169122

Vihaan - Invicta

Vihaan - Invicta

Vihaan are from Detroit in the US and their music is described as a mix of Death Metal, Prog and Jazz. Alarm bells are going off in my head already, as I’m not a fan of anything of the technical variety, nor Jazz and almost immediately, that’s what I’m confronted with.

Now, I can tell you already, this isn’t my thing. When something fires off on different tangents, 9 times out of 10, it doesn’t feel natural to my lone brain cell. The flow of the music generally doesn’t work for me. But just because I don’t like, it doesn’t make it a bad album.

The playing here is faultless. I like the vocals, but not the music. To be fair, some of the music takes me back to the likes of Genesis and earlier Rush, and I’m ok with both bands. But the arrangements…. I’m just not a fan and it leaves me cold.

So for those that like a bit of noodling, a flurry of time changes, supreme/precise musicianship, and everything else that goes with the territory,  you’ll like this. For me though, it’s like trying to chop down a tree with a plastic axe, fucking hard going.

https://www.facebook.com/vihaanmusic

Metal Lucky Dip

As we head towards the end of the year, here's a round-up of the first 10 Sixsixsix Music cd releases and a chance to purchase some quality Metal at stupidly low prices

Here's the deal: You can buy 2 cds for £5 or 3 for just £7.
Titles will be selected at random - all cdr singles will be sent in plastic sleeves rather than slim jewel cases for this deal. If you buy the singles separately (@£2 each), you get the cd case

Skiddaw - Skiddaw EP (Helvete 001 CD)
UK Black Metal - 4 track EP

Baalberith - Apparition Of Skulls (Helvete 002 CD)

UK Black Metal - 7 track Album

Haate - .​.​.​. As The Moon Painted Her Grief (Helvete 003 CD)
Italian Dark Ambient - 3 track MCD

Eyes Of The Martyr (Helvete 004 CD)

Indian Groove Metal - 2 track CDR single

Nefarious Dusk (Helvete 005 CD)

UK Black Metal - 2 track CDR single

Necrocosm (Helvete 006 CD)

USA - Melodic Death 3 track CDR demo

Slaughter Throne (Helvete 007 CD)

UK Black Metal - 2 track CDR single

Born Undead - Violator Of Humanity (Helvete 008 CD)

UK/ France - Death Metal - 4 track demo in dvd case

HaatE / Chiral - Where Mountains Pierce The Nightsky (Helvete 009 CD)

Italy - Split album in dvd case - Dark Ambient/Black Metal 

Astrum Malum - Nether Knot (Helvete 010 CD)

Neo Classical / Ambient Black Metal from Finland 3 track demo in dvd case

You can buy the cds individually from my Big Cartel store http://sixsixsixmusic.bigcartel.com/

Or take pot luck and go a lucky dip

http://sixsixsixmusic.bigcartel.com/category/albums

Lucky dip prices include free postage to the UK 
Haate/Chiral split is not included in the deal as there are only 10 copies available

Digital Releases
As well as the 10 cd releases, there are also some digital only releases available in the Sixsixsix Music Bandcamp store - including some free compilations and the new Deep Underground : United Kingdom compilation, which is just £2
https://sixsixsixmusic.bandcamp.com/

HaatE / Chiral split is also available via iTunes and Amazon etc... and here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/haatechiral

Wolves of Avalon - Boudicca's Last Stand is also available via  iTunes and Amazon etc... and here http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thewolvesofavalon

So it's been a busy 7 1/2 months at Sixsixsix HQ. Expect a lot more to come in the coming months. So please support Underground Metal

Deep Underground UK - Jotnarr

Jøtnarr

We formed in Colchester a couple of years ago. Simon and I were neighbours at the time and knew each other prior to that from both being involved in other local bands. Si asked me if I wanted to do a crust/d-beat band with a guy called Oli. I asked if there was any scope for some black metal in there ’and the response was an immediate and positive yes. So Simon and Oli had one jam together and then I joined in, and I think we had two songs after one session and it just all started from there.

Where does your band name come from? I have no idea what a Jøtnarr is or what is does?

Well it comes from a word for a type of troll I think, but we added the extra ‘r’ and accented O to make it our own and because we thought it looked cooler.

“Recorded and tinkered with by Paul Rhodes in a Barn on the outskirts of Colchester, Essex using a Sure SM58 microphone and an £8 plastic microphone direct into a Stereo tape recorder.”

Considering that’s how you recorded your 1^st demo it came out ok. How have things progressed since then?

Thanks, yeah we were really pleased with the demo – we wanted it to sound pretty noisy and horrible, and to be honest we couldn’t afford to go straight into a studio. Things have progressed, we recorded our EP with Tom Donovan and that sounds much clearer and heavier. For the next release we’re recording over two days with Jason Frye at Son of Sun Studios so those tracks should sound great.

It’s hard to believe that you’re only a 3 piece and that you don’t have a bassist, because you create quite a racket (in the nicest possible sense) Does forgoing a bass player make it more difficult to write material that you can re-create in the live environment?

No not at all. We play really loud in a small room when we rehearse and that’s pretty much what happens when we play live so we don’t notice a problem going from one to the other. We’ve never had a bassist so it’s not like anything is written with a bassist in mind, and we play in drop A# so I think we’ve always felt there’s enough bottom end. Plus there’s something appealing about the sound of not having a bassist when so much of our stuff is about fast shredding chords.

You’ve made some good progress with being featured as Terrorizer’s band of the day and supported the likes of Eastern Front and Winterfylleth. How difficult is it to get your band noticed in an over-crowded scene?

We’re very fortunate that people like Stafford (ex ENT) at Colchester Arts Centre have booked us as support for more established bands. EF are local and have been very supportive of us since our first handful of gigs. I wouldn’t say we’ve been noticed really, we’ve not blown up or anything – but I think the fact that we’re sort of a mix of black metal, scream, punk, and big riffs means we stand out somewhat.

You’ve released demo’s on both tape and cd, any plans for vinyl one day? And how important is it for you to release physical formats over digital?

Well Vetala have released everything – the demo was strictly tape, and the EP got a tape and CD run. We’d love to do a vinyl release when we’ve recorded more, but its more costly than tape and CD and we’ve only done small runs so far so we’re kind of holding out for a longer release before we consider some vinyl – it’s definitely something we want to do though. Personally I still love getting music in a physical format, and I think that goes for plenty of people that are into the kind of music we make so we never even considered doing digital-only releases. All our stuff is available for streaming and download online too because we just want people to hear it, so for us it’s not a case of choosing one over the other – just embracing all means of getting our music heard. 

What’s next for Jøtnarr? More EP’s or are you ready to record your debut album yet?

Just a couple more gigs before the end of the year, and then in January we’re recording a longer release at Son of Sun Studios. Hopefully we’ll be in a position to record an album later next year too. Other than that we want to play as much as possible, and hopefully sort at least one tour so we can get over to Europe.

https://www.facebook.com/jotnarr

http://jotnarr.bandcamp.com/

Cheers for your time, man. 

https://sixsixsixmusic.bandcamp.com/album/deep-underground-united-kingdom

Circle of Indifference - Shadows Of Light

Circle of Indifference - Shadows Of Light

I love the concept of this album. It’s essentially a one man band, but with a little help from around the world.

The majority of the music is handled by the albums mastermind, Dagfinn Øvstrud. Who is from Norway, but lives in Sweden. The vocals are handled by Brandon Leigh Polaris, who is in Belgium, with a solitary offering from Nikki Monney on one track. She’s in the US. And there are smaller contributions from Tyler Teeple (Canada) and Aybars Altay (Germany).

And the bit of the concept I like, none of these people have ever met. It’s an album created via the internet.

So after that build up, the album had better be worth it…..

Musically, the core of this album is Melodic Death. And even though the majority of the vocals are handled by one singer, I’m still reminded of the type of concept album created by Arjen Lucassen. It sounds nothing like an Ayreon album, it’s just the vibe I’m picking up on. Possibly because of the futuristic feel on some of the songs and some of the vocal variations.

And if you didn’t know any different, you’d say this album was created by a bunch of hairy Scandinavians, all in the same studio. It has a natural flow about it and Brandon’s vocals fit the music perfectly. And everything is enhanced by Tyler’s wonderful lead guitar work. Everything just fits together seamlessly.

When you read about Dagfinn (on his website) there’s something refreshingly honest about him. As with most albums, there’s been a lot of work put into creating this release. And I hope that all of the hard work is rewarded, both financially and critically.

I’m going to show my appreciation by sending him some interview questions for my forthcoming Metal Legions magazine. This is an exceptionally good project that needs to be nourished.

https://circleofindifference.bandcamp.com/album/shadows-of-light

https://www.facebook.com/CircleOfIndifference

http://www.circleofindifference.com/

Tyrant’s Kall - Dagon

Tyrant’s Kall - Dagon

It’s getting to that time of year again when I start thinking about my favourite album of the past 12 months.  Tyrant’s Kall might not have stolen the top spot, but I think Dagon will just about dent my top 10.

Starting off with a deathly instrumental that speeds up towards the end, the scene is gradually set for the splendour of the Lovecraft influenced, Ia Cthulu.

Now before I played this album for the 1^st time, I hadn’t read the biog, so had no idea that Tyrant’s Kall had a female vocalist at the helm. So when Esmee Tabasco’s  growled vocals appeared, I was both shocked and pleasantly surprised. Before the songs ends, her style does change, just slightly, and this is a sign of things to come.

The whole retro Doom thing is in danger of being overdone already, but Tyrant’s Kall buck this trend by mixing up Death Metal and elements of Doom with 70s Rock. I think most of the retro female singers borrow heavily from 60s Hippy Icon, Grace Slick and the situation is pretty similar here too. With the cleaner vocals containing a mix of Hippy and Occult leanings. Sinister and groovy, and a joy to listen to.

Tyrant’s Kall remind me of Cathedral in places too, like the thick groovy guitars on Mankind’s Damnation. A “Huggy Bear, oh yeah”, would have been a nice addition, had Lee Dorrian not already done that on Utopian Blaster.

But that should give you an idea of where this album will take you. It’s heavy as hell in places, but it does possess that feelgood factor that made Cathedral such an enjoyable listen. So if you want a darker journey than Cathedral offered up, this could be the album for you.

Another quality release from the good people at Witches Brew.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tyrants-Kall/139610432722053

Temple of Void - Of Terror and the Supernatural

Temple of Void - Of Terror and the Supernatural

Temple of Void is made up by a group of (music) veterans from the Detroit scene and that experience is very much in evidence on this, their debut album.

Slice this beast down the middle and you’ll see that it’s made up of equal parts Death Metal and equal parts Doom Metal, with the Death being influenced from the US scene and the Doom, from the UK. I suppose you could say ToV sound like an American version of Paradise Lost, and a Paradise Lost that’s in its prime.

Where a lot of bands fail is in their song writing. There can be no doubting many bands talents as musicians, but so many fail to deliver the goods due to poor song writing skills. There are no such problems here, as Of Terror and the Supernatural reels you in very early on and for me, by part-way through track 2, Savage Howl, I was completely hooked. Mainly due to the majestic lead guitars, which took me right back to the mid 90s.

To temper the brutality, there are the occasional acoustic moments, with To Carry This Corpse Evermore, (almost) sounding like a Spanish flamenco ritual. And there are other nuances littered throughout the album, just to break up the onslaught and to give the album a bit more individuality, to go with the more obvious influences.

This is an absolutely crushing album, but one that’ll give you a little hug afterwards, just for liking it so much. In layman’s terms, brutal, with just a hint of gentleness.

Available on cd, tape, vinyl and digital... so go buy it

https://www.facebook.com/TempleOfVoid

Deep Underground UK - Old Corpse Road

Old Corpse Road have carved their name into the UK black metal scene by producing classic, yet unique British black metal based on the dark folklore of Britain. The Darlington based 6 piece formed in 2007 and take their name from a coffin road in the Lake District.

Dynamically their music flows from fierce black metal through to powerful melodic passages and onto serene yet haunting moments. The band incorporate a wide range of vocals from traditional black metal shrieks, guttural lows, spoken word passages and epic folk singing. Old Corpse Road bind these elements together to produce a solid yet original take on the black metal sound.

After an acclaimed demo and a split with The Meads of Asphodel they released their debut album ‘Tis Witching Hour…As Spectres We Haunt this Kingdom’ in 2012, which received critical acclaim from Metal Hammer, Zero Tolerance and Terrorizer as well as topping the Best Newcomer category in the 2012 Terrorizer Readers' Poll. After their recent split 7" with black metal band The Infernal Sea, they are currently working on the anticipated full-length follow-up to their debut album.

Throughout this time Old Corpse Road have built up a reputation with their intense and atmospheric live performances across the UK. The band have shared the stage with the likes of Shining, Alcest, Hecate Enthroned, Svartsot, Skyforger, Winterfylleth and Wodensthrone.

I know that you’re soon to appear on a Darkthrone tribute album. What sort of bands influence your sound?
Yes, December will see the release of ‘One Cold Night In Norway’ which is a digital tribute album. We will contribute the song ‘Divided We Stand’ from ‘Hate Them’, perhaps a less obvious choice of song!

A lot of the 90’s black metal bands influenced our sound. Cradle of Filth, Emperor, Bal-Sagoth and Abigor to name a few. Aside from black metal though plenty of doom (think My Dying Bride, early Paradise Lost and Celestial Season), old school UK grind/death bands Carcass and Napalm Death and then classic heavy metal such as Iron Maiden also plays a part.

Aside from the metal influences there’s folk music, dark ambient (Arcana/Raison D’etre) as well as classical and film score music too. All these things combined have in some way inspired us along the way.

And would it be fair to say that you’re more storytellers, than just a band playing regular songs? Well that’s how I think of you.
Yes absolutely. Of course the heart of the songs is the music, but we deliver that via the telling of these old tales. We use a multi vocal approach to tell the story over the different textures of the music, so we will often shift from aggressive black metal to choral folk chants and epic speech. It seems to work really well in delivering the message of the songs.

You played Bloodstock in the summer, how was it for you?
Bloodstock was incredible and was clearly our live highlight, albeit a very short one as our set was limited to 30 minutes. Regardless though we were overwhelmed by the crowd response. Not just the superb turn out but the actual involvement of the audience with our songs. It has to be said that playing the same day as one of our icons, Emperor, was a massive boost. It’s one of those days that comes somewhere close to perfect in my opinion and the memory will stay with me forever.

And you’ve recently played another special gig at Nemeton Borealis - The Blackwood Gathering. How does such an intimate setting compare to the likes of Bloodstock?
Nemeton Borealis – The Blackwood Gathering was created by myself and another chap called Joe from Bradford black metallers, Woes. It was hosted at a unique venue called Fell Foot Wood in Cumbria. The venue itself is on a hill side which overlooks Lake Windermere and is essentially a wooden barn type building. The area is such a beautiful place and of course, being in the middle of the woods, is a perfect setting for a black metal gig. We invited some of our friends bands to play and we got a good mixture of black metal styles from across the UK.

The gig was a huge contrast to Bloodstock but in a different way was just as special. The event was still very successful and there was a great turnout, but unlike a summer festival, this was hosted at the turn of autumn and the whole vibe of the evening was very different.  The whole gig was played by candlelight and the side of the venue opens up to the outdoors, and of course, by 7pm it was dark so the atmosphere of the night was amazing. We even played a short acoustic track outside in the middle of the woods between the stage acts, lit by flaming torches.

We will be hosting the event again at a similar time next year so keep an eye out for that one.

You did a 7” single earlier in the year, with The Infernal Sea. Was it a rewarding experience doing a vinyl release and would consider doing something similar again, or are albums more suited to your music?
The Infernal Sea are a superb band and we were honoured to do the split with them and to finally have our music released on vinyl. We’d definitely do similar things again. Whilst we will always focus on albums we hope to release at least some sort of EP or split in between each full length.

You’ve got to where you are by hard work and without the backing of a label (and big fancy adverts in the press), so what advice would you give to any band just starting out?
If you truly believe that your band has something to offer the scene then you just have to put absolutely everything into it. I can’t even begin to sum up the amount of time and money we’ve put into Old Corpse Road over the years, but all it takes is one nice comment from a fan, or a positive review and all of the hard work is completely worth it. Add to which we are creating the music that we as listeners enjoy so there is a lot of satisfaction in purely doing it for ourselves too.

Explore every avenue that you can for promotion, send promo material out to everyone you can find, contact all zines, radio stations, gig promoters. Also networking with other bands is key.

What’s next for Old Corpse Road? And what are your goals for 2015?
The primary goal for the band now is to complete and release our second album. I won’t go into a lot of detail now, but we are very close indeed to being complete so expect big news on that front very soon.

https://www.facebook.com/OldCorpseRoad

Deep Underground United Kingdom is available for just £2 from Bandcamp

https://sixsixsixmusic.bandcamp.com/album/deep-underground-united-kingdom

Deep Underground UK - Desolator

Desolator

When I listen to you guys, it’s like the past 30 years haven’t ever happened. Who are your main influences and who introduced you to the bands?

Our main influence is heavy metal! There are really any particular bands that directly influence us as a whole, individually we have our own influences as musicians. To name specific groups that have influenced Desolator, we’d probably say something along the lines of Megadeth, Razor, Kreator, Motorhead etc... you know the fast heavy stuff!

It’s good to see a band doing things the old ways – gigging, t-shirts, cds etc… rather than just relying on the internet to do your promotion.  How important is it for you to keep up these traditions?

We think it’s important to keep that spirit alive, to us there’s no other alternative other than playing as many shows as we can, meeting new people, writing and releasing material. We’ll never be one of those bands that release a shiny music video, play a few shows a year and watch the YouTube hits go up. That’s not heavy metal!

You’ve not long finished the Accelerating Over UK tour. How did that go for you?

 It was really cool! We saw some new places as well as revisiting some of our favourite places. We knew it was very ambitious of us to go out and do a headline tour with only a few years and and album behind us, but it was totally DIY (with some help from a few friends) and was such a cool trip. We’re already starting to plan the next one, so look out!

You self released your debut album, Total Attack in 2013. Are you going to continue doing things for yourself, or do you think you need a label to take you to the next level?

Until we get an offer that really benefits the band we will continue to be self sufficient. We’ve had some interest from labels, but unfortunately they are not offering anything we can’t do ourselves. We’ve done pretty well so far on our own, so until something really good comes up we’ll continue to speed on in our own way.

You’re off to Germany next year for the Thrash 'N' Speed Mania V festival. I’m guessing that could open a few big doors for…. Maybe someone like Nuclear Blast could notice you. What are your ambitions for the band and what’s your ultimate goal?

Yes! Playing Germany is one of our dreams, so we are really excited for that. We’re not out to get noticed by big labels – we’re realistic about it. Really, all we wanna do is play our brand of heavy metal to people all over the world, write killer songs, play our hearts out and enjoy everything that comes with it. We’re not trying to be the next big thing or reinvent the wheel, but if people enjoy our music and continue coming to our shows – that’s what our goal is really.

Apart from your jaunt to Germany, what’s next for Desolator?

We have some cool shows lined up for next year – supporting Hirax in our hometown will be very special. We’ve got some all day thrash festivals coming up in 2015 also, and plans to tour UK again and definitely want to hit Europe again. We’re writing some excellent material for the next album, so who knows, that may even surface in 2015! 

https://www.facebook.com/Desolatorthrash

Deep Underground United Kingdom is available for just £2 from Bandcamp

https://sixsixsixmusic.bandcamp.com/album/deep-underground-united-kingdom

Deep Underground UK - Reclvse

Formed in 2013, three musicians embarked upon a mission of pure DOOOM, recorded their first release in 2014 and made it available for free online as well as for sale as a CD. They continue to write and record.

I’m loving the band name. Is it because you feel adrift of the rest of the UK scene in South Wales?

Or is just a good name for a Doom band?

 J. It’s a good name for a Doom band - it is also to do with isolation and the emotions appropriate to the style, glad you like the name RECLVSE.

B. The name suits as we spend time in Ceri’s dimly lit flat listening to a lot of metal and doom.

I’ve stayed in Mumbles (Langland Bay, to be precise) the past few years and it’s such a beautiful part of the country. You’re surrounded by a lot of natural beauty, so why is your music so gloomy?

 C. This is the rainiest city in Wales, and I think Mumbles gets the worst of it. It is the music we set out to make.

J. Yes there is natural beauty in Wales which helps to keep me sane but there is also urban and social decay – the music we make offers some kind of catharsis to me and hopefully the listener. There can also be elements of black humour intended which some have picked up on, having said that the track included in this compilation is the most solemn of the three on our release.

B. We do have the Gower close providing the natural beauty. Swansea city itself though can be a dark place when the clouds gather.

You’re a relatively new band, yet your demo has received some excellent press. How pleased are you with the progress you’ve made so far? 

C. I think the progress shows in our new songs. As far as press I am very pleased, it has been both supportive and constructive.

J. We are completely DIY and just as skint, therefore have had to be innovative in our techniques – I am extremely pleased with how it has turned out and been received. We are working on new material and believe that has great potential. So yeah, chuffed, DOOOOOOM!

B. The demo has reached quite far and been compared to some great music.

Retro sounding Doom, mainly bands with female singers, have been flavour of the month recently. Does that give Doom more coverage than it normally receives and does that filter down to bands like yourselves? 

C. I don’t know. I listen to a lot of these bands so it’s good from my perspective.

J. Well I’m a man and I’ve never been the flavour of any month haha. Yes there is great female talent out there, some of which I would consider influences – all we tend to do is express ourselves and not worry about bandwagons. We’ll be doing this style for as long as we’re all getting something out of it and have ideas worthy of developing.

You mention that you were working on a split release with another Doom band. How’s that progressing and when can we expect to hear some new music? 

C. Yes, that is where we hope the new songs will appear. As for as time scales, maybe early 2015 if things go well.

J. Yeah, there’s nothing set in stone as yet but it does look promising, this is an exciting step for us – watch this abyss! Cheers Steve.

RECLVSE demo available for streaming & free download here: https://reclvse.bandcamp.com

News and photos available here: https://www.facebook.com/RECLVSE

The demo is also available to buy from these distros:

Todestrieb Records (UK) http://distro.todestrieb.co.uk

Shadow Kingdom Records (USA) http://store.shadowkingdomrecords.com

Hells Headbangers Records (USA) http://shop-hellsheadbangers.com

RECLVSE, by RECLVSE

reclvse.bandcamp.com

Deep Underground United Kingdom is available for just £2 from Bandcamp

https://sixsixsixmusic.bandcamp.com/album/deep-underground-united-kingdom

Deep Underground UK - Daniel Wax Off

Daniel Wax Off

I know most bands get asked about their name and it gets very boring after a while. But I have to ask about the name Daniel Wax Off. My interpretation is that it’s a tribute to masturbation, as in Daniel Whacks Off. Please tell me I’m wrong.

We started as a Japanese influenced thrash band .......Rose Rose, Jellyroll Rockheads, Exclaim, Crucial Section. And a band called Flash Gordon who have a song called Daniel Wax Off! So that how we got our name.

We still cover that song and it's on Puttin Oot Da Thrash.

Your music is so old school, it takes me back to the 80s when I first discovered Suicidal Tendencies. Have you any plans for a vinyl or tape release. Or have you embraced the digital world we now live in?

Yeah as well as Jap thrash we love DRI , Excel , Suicidal Tendencies and all those old crossover bands ......all the old bands did tape and vinyl releases and we are hoping to have Night Of Da Shred pressed pretty soon as well as the Flipped Up Records 7 inch comp which comes out soon. Having said that bandcamp is pretty easy to use!!!!

I noticed that you play live quite often. How popular is the Crossover scene in Scotland? And do you often play on mixed bills or do you stick to the Thrash and Skater scenes?

Crossover is pretty dead in Scotland the only bands that i know of are Genetic Mutation(rip) and Kingpin, but there are loads of good hardcore, crust, punk and metal bands so we do play mixed bills a lot which we think is the whole idea of the crossover scene. exposing punks to metal and metal heads to hardcore.......yeah and the whole band are/were skaters, so we do play a lot to skaters at parks and stuff.

You’ve had some press in places like Argentina. Do the skateboarding community stick together when it comes to music? (Unlike some other musical genres)

So many skaters are into the trendy scene these days...skateboarding is what it is but we prefer the more gnarly type, so with regards to the scene it is pretty divided style, fashion wise.  And music wise but we tend to stick together and support each other regardless!!!!!

You’re set to appear on the Let’s Thrash compilation later this year. Have you any more recording plans in the pipeline?

We are always writing new material and there is talk about recording a bit of a covers album........Spermbirds , Stupids,  Intense Degree, Suicidal, DRIi,Jailcell Recipes, Nuclear Assault are some of the bands we would like to maybe do.

https://www.facebook.com/DanielWaxOff

Deep Underground United Kingdom is available for just £2 from Bandcamp

https://sixsixsixmusic.bandcamp.com/album/deep-underground-united-kingdom

Deep Underground UK - Gods Of War

Gods of War is an extreme metal  band from Liverpool, UK. Formed in 2009, the band has consistently defied subgenre classification, as their music takes influence from many metal subgenres, including black, death, power, thrash and folk metal among others. The band has undergone various lineup changes in recent years, resulting in changes in musical direction.

You’re about to celebrate your fifth anniversary as band. How have the 1^st five years been?

 I haven’t been in the band for the full 5 years having joined in 2012, but the two years I’ve spent in it have been fantastic. I’ve been able to meet some great people, explore playing different genres of metal and forcing myself to improve at guitar both through the new stuff we’ve been writing and learning the old stuff. We’ve recorded, played in different towns all over the North of the UK, supported some awesome acts and are beginning to make a name for ourselves. Couldn’t ask for more really!

You seem to gig quite a bit, what sort of bands have you supported or played with so far?

 We supported Arnocorps back in July which was our biggest gig to date; they’re a punk/heavy metal band who sing songs about Arnold Schwarzenegger films, and we played to about 200 people at that gig, so that was a great success. We also supported Jaldaboath at Warhorns festival in Selby a couple of weeks ago; that’s a folk/black metal all dayer that we were very suited to, and other bands that played included Red Rum, who are touring with Alestorm at the moment, Forneus, as well as Iron Seawolf, which our rhythm guitarist Nick is also in. We also played Mosh Against Cancer in Liverpool which Eastern Front and Lawnmower Deth headlined, and we’re billed to support Hecate Enthroned in Lancaster at the end of this month. It’s been a pretty big year for us really!

Your music is a bugger to pin down. I hear everything from NWOBHM through to Black, Death and even Folk. Where do your main influences come from and how do you get your music to sound so diverse, yet cohesive. 

The great thing about Gods of War is that each member has a different set of influences, but each feed into and compliment each other and we have an overall vision of the way the music should sound. Personally I’m very influenced by bands like Cradle of Filth and Hecate Enthroned on guitar, as well as melodeath bands like Dark Tranquillity, while still being influenced by the standard greats like Maiden. I’ve also been listening to a lot of soundtrack and ambient music of late and I think that’s beginning to come through in the new material we’ve been writing. As for the other members, Jay’s really influenced by jazz and prog and Nick’s mental for folk metal. Danny also worships at the altar of classic black metal bands for his vocal style.

You’ve released a few EP’s over the past few years. I can see they’re available via Bandcamp. Have you not ventured into doing physical releases? 

We have done physical releases in the past but in the very DIY way of just burning cds ourselves, putting them in plastic wallets with the cover and handing them out at gigs. We’re looking into getting some jewel case copies of Tales and future releases made and setting up a professional way of selling them online, BigCartel or similar.

I know you’re working on some new material right now. What can we expect from Gods of War and when will the new material be released? 

As I’m writing this, we had a rehearsal today in which we finished a new song called ‘The Exorcist’. The song is classic Gods of War in that it mixes so many styles that I couldn’t pin it down into a single subgenre to describe it with, but I can tell you that it has parts that sound like blackened thrash, a couple of very Gorgoroth inspired riffs, some sweet solos and folky clean guitar. I also showed the guys some riffs I wrote after Bloodstock that are very Maiden inspired and they seemed to like them, so I think we’re gonna start work on them next practice.

In regards to when the next release will be, I really couldn’t say as it depends how long it’ll take us to write enough songs for another release, as we haven’t decided whether this will take the form of another EP or of a full length album yet. If all goes to plan though, hopefully we should have something out in 2015, and we will definitely release something in 2016. Before that though, we will be playing the new material live, so make sure you catch us if we’re playing near you. ;)

https://www.facebook.com/godsofwaruk/timeline

https://godsofwar.bandcamp.com/

Deep Underground United Kingdom is available for just £2 from Bandcamp

https://sixsixsixmusic.bandcamp.com/album/deep-underground-united-kingdom

Deep Underground UK - Morvidus

Morvidus

Morvidus is a one man band. Why is it that most of these kind of projects seem to be Black Metal?

That’s something I’ve wondered too. I think there’s a number of aspects to it really. The practical side is that bands require multiple people of a similar mind set and direction. Given the underground nature of black metal, finding people who enjoy the music, want to play it and actually organizing and funding rehearsals is quite difficult, with a solo band, you don’t really have these issues. Then there’s the actual creative side; in a band, you have several people contributing and the music may not always go in the direction you hope or want. With a one man band, you know and decide exactly what you want to play and so you can spend more time writing music rather than discussing what you’re playing. There’s also the influence of bands like Burzum, which was certainly an influence on me, as it makes you realize you don’t need to find a band in order to make music, something which I think encourages people more. There’s probably much more to say on the matter but I don’t want to ramble too much!

You seem to draw inspiration from pieces of painted art. How does the visual form help you to create music?

To me, good art evokes some form of response in a person, and so I find that paintings which move me in some way can offer inspiration. In a way, my music can be seen as a form of interpretation of the paintings. I tend to write music and then put lyrics to it afterwards, so the paintings more inspire the lyrics. There is a link between the instrumental side of the music and the paintings though, I try to find paintings that have a similar atmosphere to the songs I record, for instance, I wrote the music to ‘The Lonely Tower’ song and saw the painting and felt that the dark sound created by minor chords matched the quite dark atmosphere of the painting, as well as the overall feel of both pieces matching up.

You seem to be always creating something new, even if it’s just a cover version of another song. Do you need to keep yourself constantly busy to keep your creative flow going?

I would say so. I’m always coming up with ideas but often find I struggle to put them into a complete piece of music, and I find that learning other songs gives me new ideas, such as to how to compose a piece. It’s also especially helpful during those periods in which I encounter writer’s block, as it stops any feelings of stagnation, and so encourages me to continue with music. Another benefit I find is that it means I can practise recording and actually learning songs up to a standard where they can be recorded, something which helps massively when recording original material.

You’ve been working on your debut album. Is it ready for release yet? And what can we expect once it’s released? Will it differ greatly from your demo, The Lonely Tower?

I’ve got the album pretty much completely written, and I’ve got a few of the tracks recorded, but with things like uni preparations it’s sadly had to take a backseat. The uni has a proper recording studio I can use though, so I can hopefully get a better recording than I would have back at home.

Musically, the three tracks from The Lonely Tower will be on the album. Something I try and do with my music is make each song distinct- each track sounds a little different, something which I hope makes the album interesting to listen to, but in answer to your question,  I’d say that it will be in a similar vein to my demo. One thing I’ve done for the album booklet is to put the lyrics over the paintings which inspire or have a similar feel to them, something I hope gives the music that little bit more context.

Is this going to stay a one man project, or do you ever see yourself expanding it into a band to play live?

I would like to keep Morvidus as a solo project, as it’s an outlet for me, and so a lot of the stuff is personal to me. I already play in a band so that side of things is already covered for me really.

And how is Uni life? As I discovered recently, you’ve just started at the same University as my daughter, in York.

It’s still in its early days but it seems great! I’m quite fortunate in that in my college, Vanbrugh, I get free use of a rehearsal space and there’s also a recording studio which I can use for a very small price so it’ll hopefully allow me to release my music with much better quality then my demo. I’ve also met a couple of other guys who I’m going to jam with soon which should be interesting. All in all, I have a lot to look forward to!   

https://www.facebook.com/MorvidusBlackMetal

Deep Underground United Kingdom is available for just £2 from Bandcamp
https://sixsixsixmusic.bandcamp.com/album/deep-underground-united-kingdom