Japan’s Vampillia have returned to Australia to unleash their “brutal orchestra” on the Adelaide Festival of Arts in support of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and a handful of shows on the East Coast. Well known sound engineer and current resident of Melbourne, Nao Anzai, has kindly translated Gilbert Potts’ questions and the band’s responses.

David Higgins got the chance to have a chat with bassist/vocalist Sami Hinkka from melodic folk metal band Ensiferum when they played Glasgow recently.

Following Beehoover’s triumphant return with excellent new LP ‘Primitive Powers’, Jamie Jones thought it would be a good time to catch up with them for a brief talk on the band’s evolution, influences, Claus’ nascent writing career and to try to get a few details on their rumoured upcoming UK tour…

Berns von Bernington caught up with Endless Swarm and Mind Ripper Collective. They discussed all things Endless Swarm, how it all started and where it’s heading. Viva La Powerviolence!

Sander van den Driesche asked vocalist Necrophiliac from Bangladeshi black metal band Burial Dust a few questions to find out more about their new EP ‘Oshubho Ahobaan’ and what it’s like to be a black metal band in Bangladesh. Includes an exclusive stream of ‘Oshubho Ahobaan’.

Guido Segers had a chat about with Kunuk Grønvold, a solitary metal artist from the town of Ilulissat in Greenland, who plays in The Perfect Mass and Tempel.

Steve Fallows recently caught up with Soulfly frontman Max Cavalera before a packed show at the Academy 3 in Manchester.

Following the release of their new album ‘Are You Land or Water’, Jamie Jones got in touch with Kitchie Kitchie Ki Me O’s creative leader Alexander Kloster-Jensen (aka Alex K) about where the band are at now and the journey that led them there.

Back in 2011 Killington Fall were one of our favourite bands on the London post rock scene but then abruptly called a halt to things as various ‘real life’ obligations got in the way. Five years on they are back so I took the opportunity to catch up with Max from the band and see what was going on. By Dan Salter

Steve Fallows recently caught up with Twitching Tongues vocalist Colin Young after their recent run in the UK with Terror. They had a brief chat about the new album ‘Disharmony’, signing to Metal Blade Records and more.

Patrick Thompson had a quick chat with bassist and vocalist Keenan Nathan Oakes from South African atmospheric black metal band Wildernessking.

Next month sees the release of Bear Makes Ninja’s début album, which is a bit of a surprise as by dint of their relentless touring schedule they feel like they’ve been around forever. We sent Josh Drury to catch up with Ben, Krim & Fish and get a bit of the lowdown on the record and an exclusive listen to one of the tracks from it.

With the European release of ‘Dying Surfer Meets His Maker’ coming up in February, Matt Butler asked guitarist Ben McLeod from All Them Witches some questions about the band and more.

Andy Little caught up with Arvid Jonsson and Tommi Holappa from Swedish stoner rockers Greenleaf to get the lowdown on their past and forthcoming events.

Raymond Westland caught up with Textures vocalist Daniël de Jongh to discuss the new album, losing a key member and what it takes to be a member in Textures.

How do you sum up a band like The Residents? Most famous for their eyeball masks and an almost anti-music approach to music making, the band members have insisted on staying anonymous ever since their beginning in the early 70s. I spoke with Homer Flynn of The Cryptic Corporation, spokeperson and manager for The Residents. Given that Homer has been asked countless times about the identity of band members and of eyeball masks, I leave that aside in order to talk about the band’s history and future. By Cameron Piko

Jack Chuter is the author of the recently released Storm Static Sleep, regarded as the first ‘complete’ history of post rock. As most of our regular readers will know, we cover a fair bit of what is thought of as post rock on the site so this was relevant to our interests. We sent our editor to sit down with Jack in a busy Dalston coffee shop to try and dig below the surface of the meaning of post rock. By Dan Salter

Richard concludes his Cosmic Roundup of the year by talking to our very own Editor Dan Salter about the site and what the fuck happened in music in 2015.

It’s been another great year for long time Echoes & Dust favourites Teeth Of The Sea with Highly Deadly Black Tarantula was released to great acclaim (#10 in our writers’ Record of the Year poll) and a successful UK tour completed. Richard grabbed a few minutes to chat with their intergalactic riff shredder, Jimmy Martin.

Earlier this year, Montreal’s kraut-funk quartet Avec Le Soleil released Zubberdust!. Given that they feature musicians that have also played in Panopticon Eyelids, Pas Chic Chic, Red Mass, Set Fire to Flames and Fly Pan Am we wanted to find out more about them so we sent Gareth Watkin to find out.

Mike has played Cosmic Carnage six time with Bong, Blown Out (x3), 11Paranoias and Drunk in Hell… he’s also constantly releasing albums that push your brain in all kinds of wonderful directions. Here’s his thoughts on things. By Richard Collins