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David Bowes spoke to Gendo Ikari’s Gerald Chau about the band’s beginnings and the creation of their brilliant debut LP Rokobungi.
This is breakneck black metal, an adrenalised take on the second wave’s coldest, bleakest melodicism that never gives the listener time to catch their breath.
So was the first instalment of Core. Festival a success? In almost every respect, yes.
Its 25 minutes are crammed with styles, ideas and fragmented motifs. Sometime they are brought into close contact, disparate tones and melodies pressed elbow-to-elbow and forced to share an uneasy coexistence, like warring troops forced into a shared trench.
David Bowes spoke to Yakuza’s Bruce Lamont to discuss their return to power Sutra and how Chicago has influenced their sound.
With only a few weeks to go, David Bowes spoke to organisers David Weaver and Daniel Mutch about the first edition of Glasgow’s Core. Festival.
David Bowes spoke to Frank Allain from UK post-black metallers Fen to discuss their searing return to form Monuments To Absence.
David Bowes spoke to Divide And Dissolve’s Takiaya Reed to discuss the role of intuition in the steering of their sound.
It’s a lean and focused album, one that channels their early output while skilfully interweaving the diverse influences that they’ve picked up since then, but it does so in a way that feels natural and trims off any excess with brutal precision.
David Bowes spoke to Esben and the Witch’s Rachel Davies about their latest record Hold Sacred, new beginnings and hidden spaces.
As their epic Triade trilogy draws to a close, David Bowes spoke to Berg and Fluss of Swiss black metallers Aara to discuss its creation.
Chthonic isn’t the sound of a band seeking to reinvent themselves or their genre but it does show their ability to tap into what makes this music work.
There’s a perversely defiant spirit that runs through it, saturating each riff that strives to reach both heaven and hell. In seeking to explore the profundity of intoxication, Bacchus seem to have become one of the few bands around to replicate the bravado and regret that comes from any good sesh.
To celebrate 20 years of existence, David Bowes spoke to Debemur Morti Productions founder Phil to discuss the label’s lasting legacy.
There is no denying that As Light Dies are musical chameleons. They have demonstrated that throughout their career, and with The Laniakea Architecture they have pushed their ambition and skill to its very limit.
It’s a rich slice of gothic drama that just so happens to sound like a bloody great atmospheric black metal record.
They have an ability to infuse their heaviest moments with a thick, lysergic groove that makes it seem to crawl and slither out of the speakers. They create miasmas that reek of sulphur and incense, filling all available space with eldritch otherness.
There’s no elitism, just a desire to play fast and loud and to make their voices heard. If you’ve listened to Rotten Sound at all in the past 30 years, ‘Apocalypse’ will feel like an old comrade in arms dragging you back into the fray.
With nature morte, the Montreal trio have expanded the breadth of their sound and message while sacrificing none of what came before.
There’s enough variation that each of these eight cuts is able to forge its own identity while retaining a ‘last dance before doomsday’ vibe that is as authentic as it is relatable.
