Diabolical

 This is an excerpt from the full interview that will be published in issue #1

Interview by Sakis

-Hails Guns. Can you give us an update about the band status.? 

Diabolical until now still planning our next major attack for our new material, but if I have to speakthe truth this year is a bit hard for Diabolical campcause there is so much delay...but of course we will never surrender.

-In 2020 you released ‘’Hooligans Regiment Of Terror’’ on Total Death Records.What feedback have you received from the underground so far?

After the released of our album, there is lot of offer from event organizer for live perform (eventhough we more picky for performing live show that we consider it worth to perform) and also we got emails from zine and media from several countries that want to do interview and review...the response from our fans and metalheads so far so good, even some those of response is negative (but we dont fucking care).

-Can  you tell us more about the 4 way split ‘’Four-Beast Resistant’’?Can you recommend some Indonesian bands?

‘’Four-Beast resistant’’ split is split from a number of bands from the same syndicate that ofter share stage and have the same idea to become one to spread terror in the form of cd (The Dagger Klan Prod.) and cassette (Throne Musikness Records) that will be release on limited editions for Indonesia only.I can give recommend severalbands from Indonesia for now that you should look out :Derage, Deklaration, Martyrdoom.

-What are some  bands that influenced you the most?

We have to much influenced to mention one by one,but if we have to mention it, is Sarcofago,Slayer, Urn,Revenge, Black Witchery, Blasphemy,Beherit, these are the band that in our major playlist.

''Bring The Elite To Obliteration'' Review

 

A highly recommended split for the fans of death/ black metal (a.k.a War Metal) is 

the ''Bring The Elite To Obliteration'' split with two bands from Brazil and another two bands from Greece.The legendary Goatpenis who open the split, move in their familiar beastly and  destructive style.The second band is Goat with their bestial black metal sound..A band that has been around since 2001 but since 2015 they have been active with an album and an ep. On the other side of the split we have the Brazilians Holocausto with their rough and sinister death/black sound.Another historical band in the war metal scene.Finally Schizoparanoic Platoon (the best Greek War Metal band in my opinion) indulge in their well-known brutal and blasphemous style.

All four tracks are exclusive for this release.Released in 7'' inch vinyl by Askio Prod. and III Damnation Productions.Limited to 200 copies.

Askio Productions

Website:http://askioproductions.limitedrun.com/

Bandcamp:https://askio-productions.bandcamp.com/

III Damnation Productions

Bandcamp:https://iii-damnation.bandcamp.com/

Delete The Mass

This is an excerpt from the full interview that will be published in issue #1

Interview by Neofytos

-Thanks Rampike for the interview. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

Hello! Thank you for reaching out. Well, the truth is that there is no special "update" regarding the band. Since we kicked out the drummer back in 2015 for his procrastination and unreliability, we've offered many other drummers the opportunity to replace him, but so far no one has been interested, which I find strange, or maybe even suspicious, because it doesn't match the reception and the hype. The remaining three members continued the various activities around the band for some time, riffs, structures, ideas and so on, and a lot of time had passed when we said the band was just on hiatus, but practically it was completely disbanded and we just didn't want to believe it. There is a Demo/EP that was recorded in 2015 but was unfortunately never released, because we were in a really fucked-up situation back then. As the years went by, the other two members Sotiris(Bass) and George V. (singer/composer) moved on with their lives abroad, so I am the only one left in Greece and in a way I have shouldered the biggest burden of memories and nostalgia around the band, which means that it’s in my hand to start it again. There’s enough music for a whole second album and all we need is a good drummer! There were many try-outs with some drummers but their abilities were not enough. Meanwhile I moved on with other bands in black metal, Serpent Noir (session), Embrace Of Thorns, Necrochakal, in which I tried to fill the void left by the unfair loss of DTM, plus the various struggles of normal life, so the DTM chapter was somehow left behind in my everyday life. There hasn't been a day since that I don't think about its resurrection. Maybe I’ll resume efforts when time and my other projects permit, who knows?...

-What are some bands  that have influenced Delete the Mass?

More than I can count. George V. was highly influenced from crust and hardcore punk bands back then. My influences were more death metal. In general we tried to mix all extreme metal genres plus crust/hardcore punk stuff. Here are some indicative names… Napalm Death, Nasum, Repulsion, Terrorizer, Morbid Angel, Brutal Truth, Discordance Axis, Anal Cunt, Agathocles. Some Crust influences were bands like Tragedy.  I never liked Crust bands but I loved the way these influences worked into DTM's music. MAZA's later period focused much more on death metal with fewer crust influences. You can check the song ''Orizontas Gegonotwn'' on Youtube.

-Is there a possibility of re-releasing MAZA? 

There have been some discussions recently, but they didn’t come to fruition. However, I would definitely like it to be re-released if the band regroups and manages to release the second album that has been left in the works.

Semper Mors (Blast From The Past)

 

Interview by Sakis

01. Hails Deviant. For those that are not familiar with your project, can you give us a brief history of the band?

Greetings Sakis! Semper Mors started with an outlook of a one-man band, experimenting with D.I.Y. recordings in 2001. The tracks were composed during 01-03 and got their final form in 2004 when Submersed joined the project and played the drums.   

02.What is the meaning behind the band name?

Semper Mors is Latin for “Always Death”.

03. What were some bands or music styles that had influenced S.M.?

I remember listening to some particular albums that I think shaped the style of sound I wanted for In Endless Despondency to be like, some of them were Under the Sign of Hell by Gorgoroth, Nattens Madrigal by Ulver, Skotos Aenaon by Naer Mataron, of course with personal idiosyncrasy towards the writing of music. 

04 Can you tell us a little bit about the lyrical content?

The theme of the lyrics was about depression, suicide and general hate and contempt towards life and society.  

05.The demo was self released on Cd-r. How had your music been received by the black metal fans?

I gave a handful of copies to some people but I really don’t remember and to tell you the truth, I didn’t care much about feedback.  

06.What are you listening to nowadays?

I listen to mostly obscure genres of the broad term “Electronic Music”, I like weird sounds and track structures. One of my favorite bands is Nový Svět an Austrian duo and a favorite label which is releasing some great music is Janushoved from Denmark.    

07. Any final words or thoughts?

Thank you Sakis for including Semper Mors to your zine.

Hoplites

       This is an excerpt from the full interview that will be published in issue #1

Interview by Sakis

-Hi J.L. and thank you for your time to answer the questions. For those that are not familiar with Hoplites, can you tell us a little bit about this project?

Hoplites is a one-man metal band that explores progressive sound by combining elements from different genres. One interesting thing about this project is that everything is written in a dead language, i.e. ancient Greek.

Hoplites released two full-length albums this year, and would probably release another one within this year.

-The band’s name and the lyrics are in ancient Greek.Can you tell us about the extensive use of the ancient Greek language in your project?

It’s like a bold linguistic experiment. There are a lot of bands that quote some Latin here and there, despite some grammar flaws. But could we actually try to bring back a dead language in a musical project? That’s one huge motif of Hoplites. I really had fun doing this experiment.

On the other hand, you can consider the extensive use of ancient Greek as a mockery of some big names in the scene. I’ve seen bands citing ancient Greek and Latin while making a ton of stupid mistakes, like what I’ve said in an interview before, “Satan can’t understand your badly written Latin”. It’s quite imbecile for a band to do serious religious stuff while writing lines that are grammatically awkward in dead languages.

-All 3 releases have amazing covers[Works of famous painters].With which criteria do you choose the album art?

Topic, expressiveness, attractiveness...

-You also have another one great project Vitriolic Sage[梦路 is my favorite V.S. album].Give us some info.

VS is my first musical project. Basically you could see how I’ve grown musically by observing this project’s works.

For the moment it doesn’t grow in an avant-garde way, though VS definitely aims at modern sounds. Compared to Hoplites, VS has a more melodic approach. You can even call it mainstream-sounding.

Otorhea

     This is an excerpt from the full interview that will be published in issue #1

Interview by Sakis

-Hi Christos. Give us an update about Otorhea status?

Hi Sakis.Thank you very much for the interview. The band has been in action for a year now. After many years when the band had stopped its activities, now I made the decision to start again and re-record some old songs and some new. A single has been released and soon a demo will be released, which is now in the mix. However, the band consists exclusively of me, this means that I record everything by myself and the entire production is excluded from me.

-What is the meaning behind the band name?

The name otorhea is from two Greek words. Which means, from the loud noise, a problem is created in the ears, resulting in an infection. The name was given by the bass player of the band at the time, Andreas Konstantinidis. We then combined it with the harsh sound we played and what can metaphorically cause all this.

-Chaos Rule My Life’’was released on 2020 by Askio Productions on cd.Tell us more about this demo.

The demo was released in 2020 by Askio Production. It was written earlier but unfortunately it had been buried for several years. I am very happy that the demo was able to be shown. And that was another reason so that I can slowly find the desire to play again to write songs for the band again and to be able to give life to the band again.

-You have another project.Give us some info.

Lately I've started another project. It's called Devastating Attack and the style is more aggressive black metal with many influences from the Swedish spectrum. Marduk and Dark funeral is the main reason they influence me. This is because I want Otorhea to be more death metal and devastating attack on black metal.

Kala

This is an excerpt from the full interview that will be published in issue #1

Interview by Sakis

-Hi Aryo and thanks for the interview.For those who don’t know your band, can you give us a brief history of Kala?

Kala was formed in 2018. At first, It was my black metal duo project with Daniel Mardhany (Darksouls/Ex Deadsquad) but then we changed the concept into a full band after we released our first album “Litany Of Dissonant Souls”in 2019. In, 2021, Daniel Mardhany left the Band, and right now Kala is consist of Aryo as Guitarist, Andrian as Bassist and Litong as Vocalist. We’ve just released our new single “Constant Hollow” last month.

-What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name ’’Kala’’?

I remembered for the first time i saw Interstellar and its magical quotes “I’m not afraid of Death, but I’m Afraid of Time.Thus, to remind me of the quotes, I took name “Kala” because it is often used to refer Time in Indonesia.

-In 2019 you released ‘’Litany of Dissonant Souls’’.What feedback have you received from the underground so far?

We’ve got some good feedback for our first album. We were lucky because because one of the best illustrator in Indonesia, Morrg of Raja Singa, made the artwork for the album. Thus, it boosted the album to be more recognizable.

-You recently released a new single.How would you describe your music progress from the album your until now?Also who did  this amazing cover of  ‘’Constant Hollow’’ single?

Our new single indeed is more complex than our previous material. We are trying to challenge ourselves to explore more music for our new material, therefore we can make our upcoming album more experimental. Yeah for the result,It took 4 years to release a new single hahahaha. Litong, our vocalist, made the artwork of “constant hollow” single. He is so good as an illustrator.

Streetwise

        This is an excerpt from the full interview that will be published in issue #1

Interview by Neofytos

-First of all, can you tell us some things about  Streetwise? 

We started in 2008 in Larisa, Greece. I had already some songs written and I was looking for guys to start a band. Our first live show was in 2009. Since then, we shared stage with some great bands like Agnostic Front, Biohazard, Backfire, Ryker’s, Lionheart, Miozan, First Blood…

-What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music?

Our style is oldschool hardcore with a 90’s touch. European hardcore bands like Ryker’s, Only Attitude Counts, Brightside, Backfire, but also American bands from the 90’s like Strife, Shutdown, No Innocent Victim, Judge.

-You are working on a new 3rd album?

We are recording our third album at the moment which I think is our best work so far. I am looking forward finishing it. You can expect great songs and amazing production.

Mysterivm Xarxes

This is an excerpt from the full interview that will be published in issue #1

Interview by Sakis

-Hails Homvnkvlvs and thanks for the interview.For those that have never heard of Mysterivm Xarxes before, can you tell us a little bit about this project?

Of course . It all started when I decided to learn the guitar as a second instrument in the summer of 2020.I've been a drummer for 25 years, so I felt it was time for a new challenge with a new instrument. I used to be active in death metal, grindcore and back metal bands as a drummer, then in 2015 I stopped being active in bands , there was a lack of time and motivation to keep the whole thing going.But now back to the actual topic, after a few months of playing the guitar, the idea of ​​making a kind of solo project came up for the first time. We were all in the middle of the pandemic right now, I had a lot of free time, practicing like a maniac on the guitar, listening mainly to black metal at the time, and then I suddenly realized that I wanted to embark on a new musical journey.At that time there were also some things happening in my environment that I had to deal with and so from the beginning this project was like therapy for me to process things and to express emotions in the form of music, which I found to be very healing.

And so Mysterivm Xarxes was born and has been an integral part of my life ever since.

-What are some of the bands that have had an influence on your music?

The influences often change depending on what I'm listening to. I often listen to 1-2 bands for a few weeks and literally absorb the songs, then there are phases where I hear everything all over the place.

But the main influences on the first album were certainly classics like Darkthrone and Burzum, but also from the early US sector, leviathan, weakling, xasthur.

I'm now more of a us Black fan, these bands often have more complex arrangements or go More their own way than, for example, in the Scandinavian region, this is just my personal opinion.

While writing the 2nd album I listened to bands like Këkht Aräkh, Mrtva vod, lamp of murmuur, trhä, so More newer modern black metal that stays true to its roots but is  also creative and complex.

But what is most important besides the influences: trying to go your own way, staying true to yourself, making your own mistakes so that you can make something better out of them.

-A new album is in the works.Can you give us some info about the musical/lyrical direction?

The new album is certainly not very far away from the material of the debut, but it goes a little different way, it's harsh, raw, sometimes faster and a bit more aggressive, in contrast to the first album where the songs were slower and more melancholic.