Earlier this month Dutch atmospheric post-metal sludgers SiMÓN released their second album The Inner Traveller, which Gilbert Potts described as "a record that works so well as a whole, that plunges the dirty, dark depths and ascends to uplifting highs, that reaches in and grabs my emotions and paints such a beautiful portrait" in his review. He asked the band some questions to find out more. The answers were given by Ilja Traas (Guitar/Vocals), Bart Heuts (Guitar/Vocals) and Theun Sponselee (Keys/Sounds).

(((o))): What is the most beautiful sound you have ever heard?

Bart: Echoes that you can hear in the Alps in Austria.

Ilja: Waves crashing ashore at the Wadden Islands. Listening to it from my tent as a young kid at the campsite and falling asleep so peacefully. Very soothing.

Theun: The thing that comes to mind is a Fender Rhodes with just the right amount of vibrato. When used correctly it'll melt your soul away in a song.

(((o))): You talk about the uncontrollable urge to express yourself through your art. How do the individual members of the band express themselves and at the same time come up with music you are all happy with?

Bart: We all share the passion for art, any art form that matters, but mostly music in a very broad sense. That’s why we don’t feel limited to a specific genre, but rather motivate ourselves to think outside the box. Mainly to push ourselves down a certain path and see where it leads us. I think mainly because we grew up listening to and being energized by sort of the same heavy music, that’s a foundation to build on and experiment with. Push boundaries individually but also as a band and keep feeding off eachother.

Ilja: We all have our own creative outlets and luckily we are able to at least share one creative and emotional thing together; that is playing with each other in this band. Personally I try not to think too much about my urge, because it comes naturally. Hopefully it will stay that way for as long as I live

(((o))): How much of the art is in the composition, and how much in the performance?

Ilja: I see it as a total package. My view on being in a band is trying to play from the heart and be as creative as possible. If that’s art? Fine by me.

Bart: Has to be 50/50. Composition and performance go hand in hand and are an endless loop, constantly feeding into each other.

(((o))): Is it inevitable that the human race will cause its own extinction?

Ilja: It’s always an interesting subject to philosophise about. In the context of our band it always seemed a big theme, but it has and will always be a metaphor. But I don’t think it will happen anytime soon. All prophecies that have been made are just hilarious to me. One thing that really bothers me still is continuous conflicts around the world, like innocent people getting victimised by war and terrorism. Or typhoons wiping away entire pieces of civilised earth and governments that won’t do shit about these situations, because there is no priority. Or psychopaths walking through shopping malls or schools to randomly fire machine guns at people…etc, etc…

Bart: I don’t think it’s inevitable. I think there is a lot of progress being made since this last decade and awareness is growing, but will it be enough? Guess we’ll find out some day, or not…

Theun: Probably yes, but let's be optimistic and hope for the best, that the human race one day will learn its place and appreciate this planet a bit more instead of ripping it apart.  Would be nice, but I guess we'll need a cataclysmic event for that…..with the danger of extinction, so again, probably yes.

(((o))): Does making dark music help you deal with the dark side of humanity?

Bart: I don’t think we’re making dark music. Just because the majority of it is loud and we use a lot of distortion doesn’t make it dark music. I think we have a lot of euphoric, uplifting angles in our songs. Sure there are dark parts in there, but it’s all about finding balance in a wide spectrum of emotions.

Ilja: Dealing with personal humanity that is… I am not making music to change any ones opinion on things. Actually there is a lot of humour within our band; I guess I just don’t like to make happy music. I would prefer to call our album melancholic.

Theun: I think in the first place it helps you to deal with the dark side of yourself. It's an expression of emotions that people normally put away, which is the worst thing you can do. Acknowledge all the right and wrongs within yourself and once you're there you will learn that it's not all light and dark, good or evil etc, it's all those things combined together what makes you being you. And it is all those things that make humanity. And in the end, I think humour can be of great help as well….Wait, this question was about music right?

(((o))): How important was the recording environment to creating your latest album, The Inner Traveller?

Ilja: We recorded the album in De Leidseschouwburg. It is actually the oldest theatre in the Netherlands. Some people say it is haunted during the night. It wasn’t always a pleasant stay during the nights in those weeks of recording. There is over 300 years of history there, so go figure. Listening back to it, it gets me back to that place. You can really hear that majestic vibe.

Bart: When De Leidseschouwburg came up as an option to record the album, it was a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s an amazing and impressive setting with insanely beautiful acoustics, but at the same time stuff happened that can’t be explained.

Recording the drums at De Leidseschouwburg

(((o))): In the record you keep the intensity and darkness without making the whole thing doom and sludge by also using melodies, clean vocals and dynamics. I find this makes it more listenable in a wider range of moods. Sometimes too much variation can ruin an album - how do you find the right balance between two contrasting elements?

Ilja: I always like music with contrasts. I come from a 90’s music background, where you had the grunge and crossover metal type stuff, and late 90’s with a lot of interesting bands who reinterpreted hardcore and metal. That decade still appeals most to me. But there isn’t a clear thought behind our songwriting. There is no blueprint. Shit just comes out and it becomes a song within our own expectations of what a good song should have. We don’t want to be just this loud band; being aggressive all the time is kinda boring. So there are these elements of melodies, the clean vocals, the trance parts, showing a vulnerable side as well. They just give a bit more extra to a song. In a not too obvious way I hope.

Bart: I think that’s due to our past in other bands. We have a pretty good idea of how a song is supposed to work, but don’t prefer the pop format for the stuff that we want to do. So without exaggerating too much we try to push our boundaries. Stick to what we know for the most part, but try to push ourselves forward into unknown territories.

(((o))): You craft your songs well as a whole, which means you recognise the importance of bringing the songs to a conclusion. Most artists have trouble with this, especially those not using traditional song structures. Is this something you work at doing well?

Bart: In some cases we have a pretty clear image of how a song should end, even before the rest of it is written, but most of the time we let a song in progress lead us to an end that feels natural and organic. The end of a song on an album to me is just like the end of an episode of a series. It determines where you go from there, and in what state of mind. Each episode/track is a story on its own, but plays an integral part of a bigger picture.

Ilja: I think we have more trouble with the start of an idea. When finally having an idea for a new song it gets us collectively motivated to end it the right way, choosing a path to reach that ultimate climax. We all love to explode in the ending of a song, but it’s a lot of fun trying to hold back sometimes, giving that dramatic feel to our songs.

(((o))): When you play live, do you try to recreate what's on your records, or create something else?

Ilja: We recorded how we play these songs. If you’re making an album, you shouldn’t be too concerned about your live performance, that will distract you from letting your creativity get out the right way. It’s totally about making a piece of art with sound. To express yourself the right way that you actually want, you have to be very critical. Both on a technical and emotional level, that’s craftsmanship.

Bart: Live we don’t feel like replicating the record. We just want to play our songs better and put more physical energy into it.

Theun: Sometimes a song works really well just as it is when you play it live. Sometimes a song needs a work up when played live. And a song remains a living thing, so naturally when you play a song live, you start hearing other things that might work, so you'll try and it keeps evolving on stage. And sometimes a song doesn't work live at all, haha. We've tried to play 'Atmosphere Condensed' in the past, which I think is one of the better songs on the album, but live it's a total mess. We've tried that a couple of times but it didn't have that feeling in a live setting. So that one we haven't played live for a long while. On the other hand, when the urge is there we'll probably pick it up again and see what we can do with it. It remains a challenge to do something with that song, but we'll see.

(((o))): What's the most memorable thing anyone has said to you after playing a set?

Ilja: “I need a drink…”.

Bart: “I was looking at you the entire gig….I couldn’t figure out what’s written on your shirt”.

Theun: “I really like your music”. It's as simple as that. And I don't mean the just-being-nice version, because you notice when somebody really means it and is touched by your music or if somebody is just being polite. And when you see that you made somebody happy with the stuff you just did on a stage is always memorable.

(((o))): What's planned for the band in 2014?

Bart: We’re working on a vinyl release of The Inner Traveller, which is a big thing for us. We’re very excited about that.

Ilja: We’re also aiming to play more live gigs. Furthermore we keep writing new material. There are a lot of new ideas…

Theun: We've have some ideas about some 'special' projects as well, but those are things just in our heads right now and they need work.

(((o))): If you were an animal, what would you want to be?

Ilja: Wolf.

Bart: Spermwhale.

Theun: A bear, chilling in some remote part of Canada or something.

Recently Mutoid Man released their debut album Helium Head (reviewed here) that consists of seven quickfire bursts of hardcore-driven, psychedelic pop metal. Mutoid Man is Ben Koller (of Converge/All pigs Must Die fame) and Stephen Brodsky (of Cave In fame). Grayson Hale had the opportunity to ask Ben some questions about Mutoid Man and the new album.

(((o))): How did the Mutoid Man project come about? I’m aware of the so-called ‘Verge In’ sessions but I believe all of that material was later used in some form or another?

Ben: Steve and I have been playing together off and on for a while now. Verge In was a collaboration between Cave In and Converge that started off promising but then fell by the wayside due to some creative differences a.k.a. too many cooks in the kitchen. Some of the songs eventually became Converge and Cave In songs and some were left to rot. I also played with Steve in Cave In in 2005. We recorded one 2 song cassette and I toured with them in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Steve and I also jammed out an early incarnation of the song ‘Retinas See Rewind’, which ended up on the Cave In Planets of Old EP. When Steve moved to Brooklyn a couple years ago it was only natural that we would start jamming together. We had no real goals or expectations but when the songs started flowing like wine we decided to record them in our rehearsal space and Helium Head is the result of that.

(((o))): Helium Head is quite different from any of your other projects. What inspired the album’s music and imagery? Was there an intentional drive to create something that bears little resemblance to your respective other bands?

Ben: The music on Helium Head is simply what happened naturally when we started jamming together. The only real guidelines were that we wanted it to be weird. We both are inspired by multitudes of musical influnces that range anywhere from 50’s rockabilly to 90’s flannel rock and beyond. The imagery on the record is all due to our friend Santos who has done illustrations for Torche, High on Fire, etc. When Converge was touring with Torche a little while ago Santos was on the road with those guys and I commented to him about how much I liked the Torche Harmonicraft cover art. Coincidentally he then said “oh yeah I did that!” I thought his style was perfect for Mutoid Man so he drew up the Helium Head art and did an amazing job.

(((o))): Releasing a cassette version of the album was a pretty rad idea, I thought it was only super kvlt black metal bands that still did that nowadays! What made you decide to bring such a defunct format out of retirement?

Ben: Our friend Andy over at Robotic Empire offered to do a small run of cassettes and we were super stoked on the idea. I think it’s rad that cassettes and vinyl are coming back in a big way. There’s something magical about a tangible object that has the music on this tiny little strand of long tape inside of it. Some people prefer digital and some prefer old formats so it’s cool to offer up different options for everyone.

(((o))): The artwork for the album is quite brilliant; it really encapsulates the claustrophobic psychedelia of the music. What is it about the Mutoid Man ethos that made you choose Santos for the design?

Ben: Yeah like I said before I loved his work on the Torche album. It has a bit of a Salvador Dali on Peyote vibe that I thought fit the Mutoid aesthetic very well.

(((o))): I thoroughly enjoyed seeing your TV “debut” on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, haha that was priceless! Your enthusiasm is just too great for words. Anyway, that just kind of embodied the very ‘fun’ vibe I get from this album. Was that something you intentionally tried to bring to the music or did it develop naturally? Or am I missing the point completely?

Ben: I get very enthusiastic when I get to see my buddy Chris Maggio play drums. Especially when it’s for the band Sleigh Bells. And seeing it on Jimmy Kimmel, well that’s a triple whammy. We absolutely set out to have fun writing these songs. Our songwriting process revolves heavily around how psyched we get when we’re playing it. There was absolutely no outside influence of any kind telling us what to write so we did whatever the hell we wanted and had fun with it.

(((o))): Are you planning on touring in support of the release?

Ben: Me being on the west coast right now will make it a little bit more difficult but we plan on doing some shows when we can make them work. Our only plan right now is a record release show in Brooklyn at St Vitus this Friday December 13th. Having our new bassist Nick Cageao join the camp has given us even more of a boost to play more shows as well. We will definitely be doing a little bit of touring whenever we can make it work.

(((o))): What does the future hold for Mutoid Man? Is this a once-off venture or do you hope to take it further?

Ben: I’m super pumped up on how everything is going so far and the response to the record has been more than we could have hoped for. We have no plans to make this a “once-off” thing and we are already writing songs for a new album. With any luck we can get into the studio sometime next year and have a full LP to dish out to the world.

(((o))): Obviously you’re both involved in other bands, most notably Converge and Cave In. What are your plans for the rest of the year and what might be in store for 2014?

Ben: I’m not sure about Cave In but Converge has plans to start writing songs for our next record and do a little bit of touring. Mutoid Man has plans to play whenever we can and there are talks of getting out to do some West Coast shows at some point. All Pigs Must Die will also be a little bit active and we should have some stuff announced fairly soon.

(((o))): Thanks very much for your time; I’m a huge fan of pretty much everything you guys have put out with your respective projects over the years, so it means a lot! Any last words?

Ben: LOUD NOISES! Thank you very much for the interview! You can keep up with me and Steve on Twitter, Facebook and all that crap: Twitter - @benkoller, @mutoidman, @stephenbrodsky Facebook – facebook.com/mutoidman, facebook.com/benkollerofficial. 

The first time I heard Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso UFO was a mind-melting, genre-wrecking explosion of wild, shrieking, weird noise at the band’s Highbury Garage performance in May 2001. The first I heard of the band was a week or two earlier, seeing their ridiculous name next to a tiny, brightly coloured album-cover square and a short review of their album Absolutely Freak Out! Zap Your Mind!), in the Sunday Times of all places. The review described a bizarre-sounding mix of sounds to match the exotic titles and image, from gamelan to guitar solos and all sorts in between. Soon after, I saw the distinctive name pop up again, this time, excitingly, in the gig listings for the week ahead. I begged my friend to go with me on a Thursday night, and despite a raised eyebrow, the combination of loyalty and my enthusiasm convinced him. It was an exhilarating many-tentacled monster of a gig which irrevocably expanded my musical horizons… though perhaps not so much for my friend. Wild, wailing guitar noise, suddenly fragile, chiming melodies, strange but organic folk atmospheres, ethereal vocals and unpredictable assaults of feedback and odd synth eruptions were worlds away from my ordinary diet of grungey leftovers and nu metal facsimiles. The sonic chaos lit an anarchic firecracker under my expectations of rock, or any and all other music.

Together with the infinite ‘Pink Lady Lemonade’ riff, seemingly a feature of every Acid Mothers Temple show that has ever been, the centrepiece was the epic ‘La Novia’, which I heard two or three more times on subsequent tours before I managed to grab it on CD, spotting the memorable title amidst the confusing riot of the merchandise table. The CDr I excitedly came back with from the first show turned out to be an odd solo album by bass player Tsuyama Atsushi, entitled Is This a Pencil or a Sheep? While… er… interesting, it was my first initiation not into the peaks of the band’s catalogue, but into the unpredictable and often mildly underwhelming backwaters of the Acid Mothers family discography.

Amidst solo projects and side projects and unusual collaborations, as well as the flood of releases of vastly differing quality and interest, La Novia stands out as the high point in the band’s hyperactive recording career. Several of their many, many records can be riotous but incoherent collections of ideas and influences, or else slightly lacklustre transcriptions of their frenetic live energy. Even the best of the others, like the crushing self-titled first album, suffer from the occasional misfire or lapse into self-parody. But La Novia is ludicrous enough in concept to be conducted with total seriousness throughout, and it’s unified enough to make sense-- a deranged kind of sense, certainly, but somehow one that ends up approaching genius.

The album on vinyl (Eclipse, recently reissued by Prophase) features only the long title track, spread over two sides, with the CD issue by Swordfish including a couple of interesting but somewhat superfluous bonus tracks. ‘La Novia,’ the thing itself, is an epic forty-minute rendition of an Occitan song by a Japanese psychedelic noise-rock band encompassing gentle folk, kosmische riff cycles, unpredictable noise and Tuvan throat-singing. The band apparently heard a version by Occitanian singer Rosina de Peira while on tour in France and promptly incorporated it into their sets, before extending it to the elaborate, sprawling beast of its recorded form. The two lines of lyrics seem almost arbitrary, but the relentless, chanting intonation becomes hypnotic. The words (in the endangered Occitan language, obviously) are attached to a mournful, unhurried melody line which becomes a stately mantra through its repetition and re-emergence on various instruments and in various styles, throughout their cycling, circling rendition.

Beginning the track is just over five minutes of nothing but eerie combinations of vocals, kicked off by Tsuyama’s version of throat-singing style and gradually joined by the other members, first droning monotonously, then picking up the iconic melody, then in a round, then with freeform improvisations scattering in various directions. The secret of the album is in its extended sections where a seemingly slight phrase is repeated beyond monotony, patient and confident, waiting for the richness in the layers of sound to flower. And just when you’ve settled into nothing more than this continuing forever, another world is suddenly opened up by the entrance of a roaming monster bass groove, or a screaming guitar solo kicking down the door, or the unexpected sound of violin or bouzouki, recorder or “bowed peacock harp” floating in. Or that eternal riff returning once more. So while five minutes of vocals weaving around the melody have stretched out and made you forget there is any other kind of sound, they were also setting you up for the resounding impact of the first crunching, echoing guitar chord. It hangs in thick air before falling again, repeating, and then, gathering with it the delicate acoustic melody and a snaking bassline, setting off into the universe for the first electrified freak-out section. The next half-hour and more will explore the wildest variations from the farthest reaches of the sonic imagination, yet always inescapably orbiting the same now-ancient melody. Sections of driving rock freak-out spontaneously combust or decompose into swamps of hazy strangeness, hums and drones. But the pinwheeling explosions always collapse majestically into glorious wreckage which then ignites a hundred other blazes; and the marshy glades into which the sounds nosedive, desperately flail and become submerged, are always home to some unearthly lifeform that will be stirred into lurking forth to proclaim the endless, primordial riff. The final fade from acoustic reprisal of the theme into synth swirls and silence is only a departure. It will return.

By comparison, the three minutes of track two, ‘Bois-tu de la biere?’ is an ephemeral, weird garden contained in a soap bubble, its lilting otherworldly folk abruptly burst, vanished out of existence at the sound of the word “shock” at the end. Less of a shock, more of a nervous wander into darkness is the final track ‘Bon Voyage au LSD’, 20 minutes of incredibly gradual horror-movie escalation from silence, to scuttling thumps, to all-out rattling and shaking noise. An evil trick to play on listeners absorbed into the cosmic journey of the first epic track…

But this album is all about the main piece, its scenes all returning to the same haunting phrase, one that has now been echoing around the depths of my skull for more than a decade since I first heard it. Working at a pub in Luton town centre years ago, I even taught the resident parrot how to whistle the main riff. Which is perhaps fitting for La Novia: this ridiculously sublime, sublimely ridiculous glimpse into a sonic world of endless strangeness.

When asked for an album from the past that means something special to me and that has had a particularly dramatic impact on my life, there can still only be one answer, even twenty-one years after its release.

As an eleven year old I had already heard Faith No More’s previous album The Real Thing in 1989 and, despite my Metallica / Guns ‘n’ Roses friends thinking it was nothing more than “funk rock shit”, I took a shine to it and couldn’t wait to see what they did next.  What they did totally blew my tiny little mind, whilst simultaneously splitting the critics as to what alternative music really was.

After the success of said former album, it took a while for the band to return, but return they did with nothing short of a multi-genre-headed beast, with both middle fingers stuck out to everyone, including their own record label. Angel Dust, the second album featuring operatic/jazz/metal/lounge singer Mike Patton had me confused, scared, salivating, excited and everything else in between.

Tracks as heavy and disturbing such as ‘Caffeine’ and ‘Jizzlobber’ sat next to piano-led ode to redneck suicide ‘RV’ and 70s  drug-fueled detective theme ‘Crack Hitler’ like awkward cousins. Meanwhile, with ‘Midlife Crisis’, ‘A Small Victory’  and ‘Everything’s Ruined’, the band proved that they could still knock a single out of the ball park.  Add covers of John Barry’s ‘Midnight Cowboy’ & and The Commodores’ ‘Easy’ into the mix, and you have an album that to this day can still be difficult to listen to all the way through, but is oh so rewarding for doing so.

Unfortunately, this was the album that saw ‘Big’ Jim Martin leave the band due to many fall-outs over pretty much everything to do with the album, including Patton having more creative input than usual.  Martin, along with Messrs Roddy Bottum, Billy Gould & Mike ‘Puffy’ Bordin had written all of The Real Thing, with their new frontman just writing lyrics. This was something else completely.

Two albums later (King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime and Album of the Year), the band called it a day in 1997. Both these records were great follow ups in my opinion, but nothing near the beautiful ugliness of an album that led to me getting involved in bands and promoting shows from 1996 onwards.  I’m listening to this now as I write, and I can’t think of any other album that has changed the landscape of alternative music the way that Angel Dust did for me, and for that I am eternally grateful. Just don’t get me started on that ‘comeback’, that’s for another time…

Last week Rob Thompson reviewed the new release Stormcoven by German heavy metal band Mountain Throne and he was very impressed and wanted to find out more. Here is the brief chat Rob had with guitarist A.

(((o))): Thanks for this interview with Ech(((o)))es and Dust. You may not be familiar to readers so would you give us some band history?

A.: Hi! We´re a heavy metal band from the southwest of Germany, formed by me (A., guitar) and drummer J. in 2009. Plans for a band playing this kind of metal existed some time prior to this, but it was only when we hooked up with singer F., whom we knew from shared gigs with our other band (doom metal band Mirror of Deception) and F.’s then band. At that point I had already written lots of songs for this project, so from then on everything was really easy, we just worked out some arrangements and quickly recorded the Serpent´s Heathland EP in 2010. In 2011 we released a split 7” with Procession on Ireland´s Sarlacc Productions, and that´s basically our history. Oh yeah, and we played some rare gigs as well!

(((o))): What's the music scene like in your home town?

A.: Honestly I don´t really know. And I guess for the most part, I probably wouldn´t be interested anyway!  I´ll tell you something interesting about the place where I am originally from though: it´s the same village where 1980’s German metal heroes Stormwitch (R.I.P. Harald Spengler) came from. Ha!

(((o))): Let's talk influences: I detected Mercyful Fate with the attitude of Venom and a touch of early Manowar - is this fair?

A.: Why, of course! Well spotted.  All of the bands you named are no doubt important for us and our sound. For me personally though, the Dio-albums of Black Sabbath (especially Heaven and Hell) are probably the most important records. In terms of playing, singing, but also the songs as such and of course the lyrics. Other bands that need to be mentioned are Iron Maiden, Bathory, Scorpions, Pentagram (US), Rainbow, Deep Purple, Cirith Ungol, Trouble, Motörhead, Saint Vitus, Stormwitch etc. Funny you mentioned Mercyful Fate though, as I was thinking exactly about them when writing the verse-riff for ‘Spirits of Fate’. 

(((o))): I would like to congratulate you on the album, it is great! Can you tell us something about the recording process?

A.: Thanks! Glad you like the album, as every real metalhead should, haha! Recording was smooth, as usual for us. You know, we´re a really really effective working band. I ususally have finished songs that I´ll send the guys, they work out their drum patterns, vocal- and bass lines, and we take it from there and arrange them. Unfortunately we´re not in a situation (neither in terms of the time we have for recording nor financially) where we are able to record live as a complete band.  But since we enter the studio pretty well prepared, it´s usually a walk in the park!

(((o))): The songs are very retro but at the same time sounds fresh, what sort of sound were you trying to achieve?

A.: More or less that way.  The songs reflect what I like about metal and heavy rock, so they will sound old, haha! As for the sound, we were aiming for a warm sound, not too much distortion, and to have all instruments audible. You know, in contrast to many modern (especially rock and metal) productions, where you have 800 guitar tracks, a bass buried and forgotten in the mix and awfully sterile drums. Therefore there are usually only 2 guitar tracks per song, maybe some solos have double lines in a few places. On most songs we have a rhythm guitar under the solo, but of course in the live situation this is going to be different with only bass guitar to back the sound. But I like that.

(((o))): How have you found the reaction to Stormcoven so far in the press and from your fans?

A.: Very positive, we´re really happy with the reviews so far. People seem to get our sound, which is nice. People who know us a bit better welcomed the more straightforward songs, a bit less doom metal, and more energy. It seems to get quite some attention too, I’ve been answering lots of interviews like this here with your magazine over the last 2 weeks. So yeah, we´re happy!

(((o))): Does the album have any theme running through it?

A.: Hmm, not really. All songs are about quite different topics. From literary influences to age old myths of the area where I come from, from observations on the many things that are wrong with mankind to the simple and nice things in life, so quite diverse themes actually. Like the promo info sheet said: “Tales about life and death, women and men, man and beast!”

(((o))): So, what would you say was your favourite track, if any?

A.: That’s difficult! The songs work best in the entirety of the album. Although I like the drive of ‘Priestess of the Old’ as well as the joyous theme it deals with…or ’Totem’, that one is quite a heavy rocker where I´m really pleased with the lyrics as well. But really, they are most effective as a unit.

(((o))): The album cover is very distinctive, what was the idea behind that?

A.: Thanks again. The idea was to reflect the mythical mood that some of the songs carry; other than that it seemed to fit the general mood of the album as well. And of course it is just a part of the complete booklet design, where all these pictures belong together.

(((o))): What plans does the band have for touring? Any UK dates on the cards?

A.: The next gig will be on 14th of December in Erfurt, with Dawn of Winter, Atlantean Kodex and Steelclad. Looking forward a lot, especially since we don´t play a lot of shows. We´d love to play the UK, but thus far there is nothing in the making.

(((o))): Thanks for taking the time out to answer these questions. One last one: what's next for the band?

A.: Thank you for the interest. Now we´ll sit back and enjoy the success of Stormcoven, haha! No, I guess we´ll hopefully play some more shows (promoters interested get in touch please!), new songs are always in the making anyway, so further releases can be expected. I myself am very fond of 7” vinyl. So we´ll see!

American pop punk idols Green Day released the musical phenomenon American Idiot back in 2004. I hadn’t even entered my teens yet and I was already obsessed with the band. Looking back now, I believe it was this album that shaped my teenage years and, ultimately, the person I am today.

American Idiot, now a successful musical, is about uncovering the propaganda and the lies which fuel America. We meet St Jimmy, Jesus of Suburbia in the first track, a kid who wants to escape the government run America and who screams the all too famous line, “I don’t wanna be an American idiot”.

We then get to know St Jimmy, who is the “son of rage and love”, and who begins a cry for help in effort to leave his miserable life. The whole song is a transition from realisation to no longer caring about the opinions of other people, and finishes with St Jimmy leaving with nothing but feeling depressed and cheated in his life, by the power in America.

Regardless of my age, I was inspired by the music. It was enough to lead me to question what was considered normal, as well as questioning authority. I believe this has shaped me into the realist, independent person I am, or at least pushed me into that direction.

Green Day are one of the most successful bands in the history of rock music. American Idiot achieved platinum in most of the countries it was released and was a worldwide sensation. 21^st Century Breakdown, released in 2009, continued my Green Day craze but the obsession died a slow death after they released ¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tres! in 2012.

To this day, I’m grateful for the numerous posters, calendars, bed sheets and other embarrassing novelties I possessed as I entered my teens, because I feel like Green Day produced a powerful message. They didn’t produce an album about broken hearts and other clichéd themes, but I feel that they expressed the need for independence and individuality. This is why American Idiot remains so important to me after all this time.

Earlier this year Martyn Coppack reviewed the great new album Hymn To Pan by German heavy psychedelic stoner band Obelyskkh. When Martyn got the opportunity to ask the band some question he jumped on the opportunity without thinking twice. Read the interview below.

(((o))): Firstly....a bit about the history of the band, where do you come from? How did you meet? What are your influences for forming a band?

Obelyskkh: All of us are from a small town in Franconia called Fürth. The band was never planned. Woitek, Steve and I (Bootsy) started as a jam project. Suddenly we got the first gig but we had no bass player. One week before the gig happened Steve and I went to an alternative club in our hometown. I shouted drunk to the people in the club "CAN SOMEONE PLAY FUCKIN' BASS IN A DOOOOOOOM BAND???" suddenly lil Dave stands in front of me and said "yes I can"  and Obelyskkh was born, and our journey through the cosmos of un-played riffs started. the main influence of our band is freedom of creativity - well, we are knee deep into the doom/stoner swamp but we try  to avoid all the stereotypes in the genre with our music.

(((o))): I read somewhere that you never intended to release anything physical (a great idea I must add!). Why did this change? Was it pressure from fans or over zealous record companies?

Obelyskkh: We have the the gift to be on a label like Exile On Mainstream Records. The owner and mastermind behind this label is Andreas "Der Kanzler" Kohl, and he gave us no contracts, no discussions about money. It is more to be with being a part of a family. There is no pressure to release something. HEY KANZLER IF YOU READ THIS - WEEEEEEEEEE LOVE YOU!!!

(((o))): So...Hymn To Pan...what is it all about? Is it a concept album? Where did the ideas come from? Pan is noted for being a creature of the forest, do the surroundings of where you live influence such a concept?

Obelyskkh: First - there is no concept in our whole work....... we loved just the idea of the atmosphere of the wild God Pan hunting through the harsh mountains of Arcadia. the tracks are totally different with the lyrical themes and heaviness. All of  us work in a very non-intellectual way, first the riff then the lyrics. There is a very nice quote from the composer Christopher Cross who said "I'm a very non-political and non-intellectual lyricist. But people have so many demands on them already in their lives. I'm just trying to give them a little enjoyment and relaxation." This is the best quote to describe our whole concept. and yes, we have shitloads of forests, old mountains and caves in the area where we live - well but this inspiration will be perfect when we get older and moronic, then we can do some music like Ritchie Blackmore' Night ... hahahahahaha!!!

(((o))): Hymn To Pan is also notable for being one of the heaviest albums I've heard for a while. How do you approach a song to make it so heavy? There's a certain feeling which has been created which adds to the doom.

Obelyskkh: Most of the heaviness comes from dynamics - slow/fast, loud/quiet, growls/choirs. For the upcoming albums we try to add more experimental components to reach a higher atmospheric level. If our album would be a kind of food then it would be a mix between raw meat and whipped vanilla cream.

(((o))): There are more than just heavy influences on this album, one can hear folk, psychedelia and hardcore....a strange hybrid but one that works. Would you elaborate?

Obelyskkh: Yes and no!!! We have no fear to cross musical borders as there are only two kinds of music: bad and good. For us the whole picture is important and the good thing is that all of us have tons of influences from different styles and decades of music.

(((o))): How does this all transfer to the live setting? What is the reaction from the audience?

Obelyskkh: Live we are more harsh and heavy - we love it when the whole crowd starts to move in the same rhythm with a huge grin in their faces. The live sound is more the essence of our studio sound, direct and in your face!!!

(((o))): Any future plans for touring (especially the UK)?

Obelyskkh: We would love so much to come over to the UK, let's see whats happens in 2014 !!!

(((o))): What music are you currently listening to? Is the process of making music continuous and are there new influences coming into it?

Obelyskkh: I listen to shitloads of different styles. Here's a small selection of albums I really love at the moment:

Boards Of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
Umberto - From The Grave
Satyricon - Satyricon
Bölzer - Aura
Chrome Canyon - Elemental Themes

(((o))): What albums did you grow up with?

Obelyskkh: I grew up with all the good stuff of the early nineties - every Sunday night I stayed awake to see "120 minutes" a cool TV program about alternative music and "Headbangers Ball" on MTV. Then the next day I used to spend all my money on buying new records at a small record store with dark eye rings. Examples of albums I bought back then are:

Ozzy Osbourne - Bark At The Moon
Pink Floyd - Animals
Alice In Chains - Facelift
Ozric Tentacles - Jurassic Shift
Mindfunk - Dropped
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

(((o))): Do you have any amusing anecdotes of life on the road?

Obelyskkh: We have no fun when we're touring ---- hehehehehe!!!!! One day a promoter offered us to support the almighty Saint Vitus - I've told the great news to my band members and our guitar player Woitek ask me "who is Saint Vitus, and with kind of music do they play?" He only knows The Jesus Lizard and Black Flag you see!

(((o))): And lastly...anything else you would like to add for our readers here at Ech(((o)))es and Dust

Obelyskkh: Thanks so much Martyn for your support and this nice interview, we hope to see you one day in real life when we come over to tour the UK. Thanks so much to our friends/fans supporting us for many years. We would be nothing without you.

"To all our followers of the Obelyskkh Ritual, say your prayers, take your vitamins and you will never go wrong.”

Daniela Patrizi recently reviewed Omens, the last album of Atlantis. Believing that good music is one of those things that must be shared she also decided to interview the band as she had a couple of questions she wanted to ask the band. Gilson Heitinga took the time to answer.

(((o))): Hey Gilson, where are you now and what have you been up to this past weekend?

Gilson: At the moment I'm in my home, ready to watch a movie. Don't know which one yet. I had a quiet weekend, nothing fancy. All my friends are having kids, so I guess I need to get some new ones to have some new adventures with hahaha!

(((o))): Thanks for this interview with Ech(((o)))es and Dust. I’m quite sure a lot of music lovers will be familiar with Atlantis, but would you like to introduce the project to us and also how and when Atlantis became a band?

Gilson: Well I started the project back in late 2006 I believe, and as my first record was announced I got asked to play on the Incubate festival, but I didn't have a band to perform the songs live with. So I asked friends of mine to help me out with that show, and soon after that we were invited to do some shows in the UK. So we decided to keep Atlantis a project that will play live and see where it all goes… and here we are 7 years and a bunch of releases later.

(((o))): I read that you come from Utrecht. What is the music scene like in that nice city? Do you often play live there?

Gilson: I live in Utrecht now, but it all started in Tilburg. And Tilburg to me has one of the best music scenes in our country with a lot of support from festivals like Incubate and Roadburn. And there are different major music educations in the city. So there is a nice mingle of underground, pop, jazz, classical.

Utrecht is quite different. There is a lot of indie, and hiphop, but all more radiofriendly. Most acts from this city are missing some "dirt" and soul to me. We play live everywhere hahaha… but we haven't play much here. We're playing pretty soon though in Utrecht, at the Le Guess Who festival.

(((o))): How would you describe the style of your music?

Gilson: That is such a horrible question hahaha … Damn I don't know. People tell me all kinds of things. It's too easy to just put it into a little box and call it post-rock, post-metal or sludge or ambient just to give it a name. But if I should give it a description, it would be: blend of my record collection.

(((o))): I get your point! So, what are some of your musical (and other) influences?

Gilson: Hmmm… I think I'm influenced by everything that touches me musically . This can be metal, electronic music, classic rock, classical and opera. In terms of artists I always like and respect artists and bands that evolve, but know a way to keep their own sound and identity. Bands like Neurosis, Pink Floyd, SWANS, Mogwai, Deftones, Depeche Mode, and people like David Bowie, Trent Reznor, David Sylvian, Kate Bush, Trentemøller, Burial etc…

(((o))): Underneath all the technology, you really believe in the art of songwriting don’t you?

Gilson: Yeah I do. I love waiting for a certain  riff, or drum or vocal part. The right build up, stuff like that. Every song needs the right emotion and power, in any way at the right time. A band like The God Machine were champions at that.

(((o))): You have just released Omens and I was lucky enough to be able to review it. (see the review here). Can you tell us a bit more about the concept behind it?

Gilson: The concept is based on the build up of events that lead to changes, positive as negative from a viewer's point of view. The sound of the album was really inspired by us as we wanted it to sound similar to when we play live.

(((o))): I would like to congratulate you because Omens really is a great album! I noticed that you wanted to reproduce the sound of your live performances. Can you tell us something about the recording process?

Gilson: Well I wanted to limit myself timewise. So I started the writing process in september 2012, but wanted it to be finished and ready for mixing by december 2012. As I finished according to plan, me and Carlo (our drummer) decided to instead of having programmed drums on the album, to record the drums live with him behind his drumkit, so we would have a "real" drum sound. But by doing so we had to push back the mixing and mastering as we needed the time to record those drums. The recorded drums helped to create that "live" feel I really wanted to capture.

(((o))): I hear some choral elements as well as requiem vocals in your latest work, with the stunning collaboration of Sanne Mus, in songs like ‘And She Drops The 7th Veil’ or the album title track. Was there a particular concept or aesthetic that you were trying to achieve?

Gilson: Well that song has a theme of a downfall of someone's own principles and saying goodbye to their own perspective of themselves. And what Sanne did on that song is amazing. I'm very happy how that all turned out

(((o))): ‘Widowmaker' is maybe my favourite song from Omens. It’s a song easy to get lost in. What’s your favorite song if there’s any?

Gilson: I don't really have a favourite song. I'm proud of all of them and how they turned out. Songs to me are just a part of the whole story I want to bring across. The album is one big thing, the songs are just chapters.

(((o))): What is the art on the album cover?

Gilson: It's a photograph of a Solar Eclipse made by a professor from the Czech Republic who studies those events. So it's not done in Photoshop, it's an actual photo.

(((o))): I saw you playing live at Dunk!festival in 2012. If you would be able to organise your own festival, what bands would you want to play with?

Gilson: Ah damn,… that would be difficult. Mmmm… let's see. Definitely Burial, Kendrick Lamar, Danny Brown, El-P, David Douglas, Depeche Mode, SWANS, Clubroot, M.I.A., The God Machine (if they were still together), Bossk, Blut Aus Nord, Rorcal…. and Borgore for the afterparty… I think that would be a nice little festival.

(((o))): Ha! I do love Burial (my profile picture here wasn't chosen by chance!) Well, are you organizing a tour to support and promote your new album? Any chance to see you soon around Europe?

Gilson: Well we're going to tour Europe in December, and that will be the first tour for the album, we will come back in 2014 for a second tour, and some smaller tours.

(((o))): Thank you very much for this interview! Is there anything else you would like to add?

Gilson: You're welcome, and thanks for having me. Yeah check out our Facebook page for all the info and updates!

For a few days I've been thinking about the records that marked my existence or those that have had some influence on my life. Many came to my mind, and choosing only one seemed really hard, especially taking in consideration that for the past twenty-five years I´ve been listening to music almost all day, always looking for new bands. When I received the task to write about this subject I took some time to think harder and found that there was one album that changed everything, not only for me but for the way musicians started to work in México. 

In 2003 the music industry in our country started to decay. All record labels where releasing discs from the same bands as the last decade. It was boring; old musicians playing the same songs over and over again. Then a revolution started, as some musicians decided to stop looking for record labels that never gave them a chance to show their projects. They adopted the DO IT YOURSELF philosophy and started recording in their own studios, releasing albums by themselves and organising parties where they would sell records, posters, pins and other merchandise produced in their homes. It was named the Independent Movement (Movimiento Independiente). One of the most important bands in this movement was Austin TV from México City. They caught the public's attention because their music did not have lyrics, and their energetic shows saw them dressed in bunny costumes.

AUSTIN TV's first long length album, The Last Night of the World (La última noche del mundo) was released in November 2003, influenced by the punk movement in the USA and a peculiar style that was becoming famous those days and was named emo, which in a way evolved into what we now known as Post-Rock. The mix of these influences created an exciting environment full of strong guitars, deep bass lines, fast drums and clean but noisy keyboards and synths. Something that made them different to other projects was that even when they did not have lyrics in the songs they included some lines of famous films or tv series to help people to follow the story of the song.

Austin took the idea of La última noche del mundo from a short story of the same name written by Ray Bradbury in 1951, taking the line "What would you do if you knew this is the last night of the world?" as inspiration to create eight songs to express how they would feel. So, we find many feelings in the songs, starting with rage and anxiety in 'Roy Rogers' featuring dialogue from a scene in Back to the Future. In 'Ella no me conoce (She Does Not Know Me)' melancholy leads the way for soft and beautiful guitars. The third track is 'RUCCI', a song that is melancholic but also full of hope; here we can listen to a part of a dialogue featured in the mexican film Veneno para las hadas (Poison for the Fairies). 'Mr Galaxia' as fourth track brings rage again, natural rage that has decided to destroy everything and bring to an end everything around us.

'Olvidé decir adios (I Forgot to Say Goodbye)' is sadness, as we will never be able to hug our loved ones again, whilst 'Hazme setir (Make me Feel)' is the moment of losing all hope as we forget how to be human; we are about to die so this song's purpose is to help us feel. 'Ashia' is the seventh song and we only hear some noisy distorted synths, a guitar and the voice of a girl speaking in german. She tells us the story of the girl that appears in the booklet of the album, a sad and tragic story of how Ashia is about to die. The final, titular, track is a mellow song that brings us peace for over four minutes until an apocalyptic rhythm makes our heart beat faster and then, when we are about to collapse the calm returns. Some synths, sporadic guitars and a short set of piano notes accompany a beautiful bass line that rides the night and take us to the end.

This album is important because after its release Austin TV became the independent band with more influence in the music scene in México. They became the first independent artist without an official video to be featured on MTV, which led to an international recognition and long tours across México and other Latin American countries.
La última noche del mundo became the first self-recorded album of an instrumental rock band to be sold in big Mexican record stores.

Now, after ten years, this disc is a classic and everyone involved in the music business knows it as the record that gave birth to one of the most successful bands in the latest history of México. 

A record that must be listened to at least once in your life...

(((o))): So, first and foremost, who are Dune and what are your musical backgrounds?
Dune is a 4 piece from Edinburgh with two guitarists - Dan Barter and Victor Vicart, Simon Anger on the bass and Dudley Tait on the drums. The vocals are shared by Dan, Victor and Simon. As a band we've got a really wide range of influences with each member bringing something of their own. For example, whilst we are all listening to varying levels of Sludge, Hardcore or Doom, some of us are also into blues, hip-hop, death metal, or grindcore. Although were definitely a band rooted in ‘metal’, we really try to not to stick to one musical genre, something which can sometimes kill the creativity.

(((o))): How did the band come together?
It all started as a big blind date between Simon and Victor, both of them had just moved to Edinburgh and were looking at starting a sludge band, and Gumtree gave them the opportunity to meet up and start jamming together. After trying out different people Dudley came onboard and we started as a 3 piece. Jan Gardner, Atragon's singer joined for a little while but his vocal style didn’t really work out. The band kept on playing as an instrumental 3 piece but that wasn't what we were looking for. That's when Dan joined after seeing us play in Edinburgh and he immediately fitted the band perfectly.

(((o))): Please describe your sound in poetic form. (Haiku, rhyming couplets, acrostic, etc - take your pick)

A Dune Haiku:

Galactic fuzz tone

Tribal Beats and space effects

Soaring riffs, then shout

(((o))): How has your local scene impacted you as a band?

There are a lot of good bands in the Scottish scene but some of them have definitely impacted on us more than others such as - Zillah, Lords of Bastards, Bacchus Baracus & Atragon. The thing is we have all been playing in other bands in Edinburgh so obviously you get influence from them, like Lords of Bastards are crazy rhythmically. Simon plays in Zillah which is a very technical band so it has pushed him to constantly challenge himself on bass and make the basslines in Dune more interesting. Also, there are quite a lot of Doom bands in Edinburgh and our guitarist Victor used to play in Atragon. That definitely orientated Dune’s sound into more volume and bigger tone and riffs.  Dan has also been playing and gigging with Roll on Three, which after years of playing in grindcore bands, certainly got him more used to playing ‘slower’ music. The other important point is that without all going to local gigs we probably have never all met.

(((o))): You’ve just recorded your EP. What can you tell us about this?

Well it was a lot of fun as we were recording in our mate’s studio (Iain from Bacchus Baracus), and got to use an insane amount of different amps, cabinets, speakers and other cool instruments. We had been working on the songs for a while (most of the EP was written before Dan even joined) so we wanted to record the basic tracks live and overdub only guitar lead sections, vocals and other instruments/effects. We had the opportunity to use all these awesome toys, like a Hammond organ plugged into a crazy amount of pedals ran through a Sunn amp, it was great fun just to have the opportunity to work with someone who didn’t mind us ‘playing about’.

(((o))): How do you see the band’s sound developing going into future releases?

We’ve got already new tracks getting written for (hopefully!) a full-length album, which is planned for next year, so we kind of have an idea of what we want to do. Want I can say is that we’ve got more complex rhythmic structures with still keeping riffs crushing and fun to play. But we are going to keep what we do already: tone, volume, riffs and spacey effects.

(((o))): What do you think is the most difficult challenge facing new bands starting out in the music industry today?

We don’t really feel like we are part of the ‘music industry’ but more of the underground scene. Maybe it’s a pessimistic (but we’d like to say realistic) outlook, but we’re not thinking about making a living out of our music, but are more about just having fun playing together, touring, and recording. To ‘stand out’ these days (if that’s what you want to do!) you either have to be doing something really different, or amazingly well, and even then, as a UK band, that probably still isn’t going to ‘make you’.

(((o))): Every band has different aims. What would have to happen for Dune to make you feel that you’d “made it”, so to speak?

Recording the album, touring more, playing cool festivals and keep on having fun. Dune is really just some friends playing tunes they like. If other people like what we do and we get put on gigs because of that, sell a few shirts, and can afford to buy a few post-gig beers, then all the better!

(((o))): What’s the deeper meaning (if any) behind the name ‘Dune’? Or are you just huge fans of the Sci-Fi novels?

There is no deeper meaning to the name Dune but the reference to the Frank Herbert Sci-Fi books. We all really like spacey and crazy stories of monsters, astral projection, black holes and time travelling. Dan joined after the name was already chosen, but he reads a load of Sci-Fi and is a total geek so it ended up fitting him well too. It is also a really good way to focus our lyrics on a theme, and we are trying to go further in writing better story-driven Sci-Fi narrative for future material.
(((o))): We have another column called Echoes of the Past in which we get people to write about albums that have particularly influenced them. What would you choose to write about in that column?

We all have different one so I guess we’ll give you 4 of them!

Simon: Sleep – Holy Mountain. That album made me change my whole view on music. It's heavy, its catchy, bass wise it's unreal. You can almost constantly hear that album coming from my flat.

Victor: High on Fire – Death is this Communion. A perfect and unique album; heavy riffs and huge tone with great instrumentals that bring everything together.

Dudley: Meshuggah – Chaosphere - this album for me captures one of the best phases of Meshuggah's growth into the fantastic band that they are. Technical, sporadic bass lines, awesome lyrics and drums that blow your mind. This album showed me that bands can play what some bands would never have dreamed of trying if suited properly and all members are on the same page.

Dan: Discordance Axis – The Inalienable Dreamless – Properly good grindcore that I’ve ripped off more times than I can remember, fast, harsh, but also throws in some odd ideas and more melodic guitar parts which you wouldn’t think would work but fully do. 

(((o))): You’re given the opportunity to create your own festival. What would be the first five bands on your list?

High on Fire

Converge

Sleep

Death Grips

Rompeprop

(((o))): This is ostensibly a column for introducing new bands. Any suggestions as to who we ought to include in the near future?

Bacchus Baracus is an easy one. They're a Glasgow based band that are heavier than a woolly mammoth and catchy as the common cold! Also, Easy Bake Oven who are a great young band from Glasgow as well. Isak are a bunch of young guys from up in Dundee, dead nice lads who seem to travel all over the place for gigs and play some nice Kyuss type riffage. They seem to be getting some deserved recognition down this way.  And finally there is an awesome band from Ireland call Harvester. They released an EP last year which is a total killer.

(((o))): What are the band’s plans for the near future?

Once we've released our EP, we are looking to tour Ireland and record our first album. The general idea is just to keep going with the momentum we’ve built up over the past few months, and get some new material down.

Mogwai have announced Rave Tapes as their new album due out  on January 20th. Phil caught up with Barry Burns of the band, to discuss dodgy parties, bearded comedians and even some serious questions about the music.

(((o))): Mogwai have recently announced Rave Tapes as the title of the new album, with first track 'Remurdered' also being unveiled. Given the album title and danceability of said track, can we expect glow sticks, white gloves and dodgy ecstasy being sold at future shows?

Barry: Probably not, although the idea is without any doubt amusing. You really only see emotionally damaged people dancing at our shows, and that's not going to change regardless of BPM.

(((o))): Seriously though, do people still look for meaning in your song/album titles or has everyone realised they're basically made up from nothing or in-jokes?

Barry: I think it dawned on most folk (at different speeds) that album and song titles are simply for catalogue purposes and also so we know what songs are what on a concert setlist. Trying to read into titles like 'Golden Porsche' is maybe a waste of time.

(((o))): If Rave Tapes, comes from reminiscing of 90’s dance parties and that whole culture, did you consider having a release show in the kitchen of some squat surrounded by guys in kappa tracksuits trying to eat their own face off?

Barry: Every single night on the tour bus dude. Nah, I was more picturing getting one of those Cyberdelia 90's 3-D videos and playing along with it on a giant screen in Strathclyde Park on a Sunday night. Extra bongos will be hired.

(((o))): How has the response been to ‘Remurdered’ so far? Although it's hardly a total departure, was there any trepidation about doing something a bit different or what the reaction would be like?

Barry: Honestly, it feels like the biggest risk to me is to keep making the exact same music. It feels good to do different stuff as long as your brain is able to produce it. It's very easy to fall into your own clichés, and although I know we can be guilty of that sometimes, I feel like we do try hard not to do that.

(((o))): Mogwai albums generally have an element of variation throughout. Is 'Remurdered' a good indication of the style and sound of Rave Tapes overall however?

Barry: It can be something as simple as, we bought some modular synths. Different instruments often just yield different results in music. The album probably has that synth theme throughout it but there are some straight up guitar tunes on there too. I think when a band has so many writers, it's bound to have variation, possibly at the expense of cohesion but I've never been massively bothered about "the album". I just enjoy good songs by bands I like.

(((o))): There is a touch of a John Carpenter soundtrack feel to 'Remurdered'. Is there an influence on the band by his work or the likes of Fabio Frizzi, and the film work of Argento or Lucio Fulci?

Barry: We've always been fans of John Carpenter since the beginning. One of those touchstones where we all like the same band (which doesn't happen all that often).

(((o))): The Les Revenants soundtrack released earlier in the year really captured the eerie and unsettling feeling of the TV series. How differently to usual did you approach the music for it?

Barry: Not that differently. We had a rough idea of the story and characters but other than that, we just wrote music keeping broader details of the plot/characters in mind. There was no playing to a video or anything.

(((o))): There seems to be growing interest in classic film scores and soundtrack work with the likes of Death Waltz Recording Co. releasing exclusive reissues of horror soundtracks on vinyl. Is there any film or soundtrack in particular you like?

Barry: I bought The Fog and some other Death Waltz stuff recently and that's been great to listen to again. It's good quality soundtrack music which stands up pretty well on its own.

(((o))): Have you already been approached to work on the second series of Les Revenants, and have plans for any more film projects been lined up?

Barry: We will be touring for much of next year but I think we'll have some work to do on the second series. The thing is, the music will no doubt have quite a few of the same themes so I wonder how much new music they will actually require. We'll see. We also have a film that we're doing which involves Antony Crook but more details about that soon I think.

(((o))): Mogwai recently performed Zidane in full with a simultaneous screening of the film. How was it performing an album in full for the first time and would it influence any requests to do it again with some of your previous albums?

Barry: That was the most we've ever rehearsed for anything and it was quite difficult to pull it together at first but we all really enjoyed the gigs. As for the older records, none of us are so into the idea. Seems a bit retrospective…. white flag-ish. I don't know, if someone offers us free Magnum Whites forever…….

(((o))): Having the Castle of Doom studio in Glasgow must really benefit the writing/recording process. Do you tend to have stuff written well in advance of recording, and how easily did Rave Tapes come together?

Barry: It actually didn't come together very easily (which is fairly normal for us) and there were a number of factors against us but somehow we always get it done in the end. I get very panicky, though I don't actually think there's anything wrong with that, it's just the way I work and I have to deal with it. I feel sorry for the other boys but there you go. We had many ideas of songs and some were finished, others not so much but you never know what's going to work until the last days of mixing. It's a strange process, filled with good and bad things and lots of curries

(((o))): There appears a very democratic approach to decisions within the band. Is there ever a struggle however, like someone constantly bringing up "guys, what about this death metal track I've been working on" and  getting a "aye, maybe next album", or something similar?

Barry: Not really. Democracy seems to work within this band and we're fairly in tune with what we think is good (obviously not always but that's completely natural with 5 brains). There are not many demos that you can't present to the band, we'll usually have a bash at even the most outlandish stuff that you thought you'd keep for your solo project with Hugh Laurie, who never got back to me every time.

(((o))): The band seems to already have a busy schedule lined up. With upcoming appearances at ATP, Celtic Connections in Glasgow and an extensive US tour already announced. Is touring now more difficult with different personal commitments, like your own Berlin based Das Gift bar and being away from long periods of time?

Barry: Yes, it sucks being away from your families and wives etc. It is by far the worst thing about the job but it's just what has to happen. My wife runs the bar, I do very little work for that so she keeps it in order but there's are very few days when I'm on tour when I don't feel bad for her and I'm sure with there being children with other members of the band that we'd all appreciate going away less. It's certainly not ideal and I have a feeling that 7 straight weeks in the USA is really going to take its toll on us. It's a worry.

(((o))): With the label (Rock Action Records), do you personally keep an eye for emerging music talent, or new Scottish music in particular?  I've recently been impressed with a lot of upcoming acts, like Atom Tree, Machines in Heaven and  a lot of quality in general around.

Barry: I try to, though I often find my friends in Berlin or other members of Mogwai are way better at finding new music than I am. I don't have the patience to read music magazines or trawl the internet for exciting new stuff. Instead I will look at pictures of cats that look like they're in a little biker gang etc, so I certainly have the time. I've always been impressed by the amount of good stuff in Glasgow and it's really become more confident, less cringey.

(((o))): Recently I asked on twitter if people had a favourite Mogwai album. The response hugely diversified with very few people agreeing on the same album. Do you think that’s part of Mogwai’s success appealing to a wide range of music fans and appreciating different aspects of each album?

Barry: Maybe, yes. It's good that people are pretty divided on that matter but it's nothing at the front of my mind.

(((o))): On a lighter note, it’s been mentioned you pass a resemblance to comedian Frankie Boyle these days, I thought I passed him in Glasgow one day only to see a picture pop up on your twitter asking “do I look like Frankie Boyle?” from what looked like the same day. I’m still not sure if it was you or him!  Will this influence any decision to keep the beard or not?

Barry: Man, I have had hairy face of sheer reluctance to shave since the age of 19. Last shave with that cream stuff, I was around 18 years old. It horrifies me, the wee blade on the skin, the razor burn. Jesus. But yeah, I look a bit like him. Maybe he feels the same. I mean, you just wait around to get a beard, it's surely one of the easiest tasks.

(((o))): Finally, thanks for taking time out to speak with us. Is there anything you'd like to add?

Barry: You are most welcome. I'd like to add that Glasgow City Council had better not have decided to spend all that money on CONEGATE.

Rave Tapes will be released on January 20th 2014 on Rock Action Records and on Sup Pop in America. Pre-order information including exclusive box sets, can be found on the websites.

With MMXIII, Ireland's Malthusian have released one of the most ghastly, horrifying metal recordings of the year. Ahead of the release of the tape via the mighty Invictus Productions Ross Mckendrick ventured forth inquiries on everything from the origins of their name, Ireland's fertile underground scene, to their future plans for recording and touring. Read on for their answers.

(((o))): The idea of Malthusian catastrophes being a catch-all term for the destruction of vast swathes of the human race via war, famine and disease is fertile material for subject matter within extreme music, and it has obviously inspired your choice of band name. In the two centuries since it's publication, the original ideas put forth byMalthus in An Essay On The Principles Of Population have been misinterpreted, co-opted, and disparaged by many.

Are the ideas put forth in the original text something that you all have a similar viewpoint of as a collective, or does it inspire debate and dissent among the ranks? How does Malthusianism, free of any modern political agenda, inform your lyrical content, if at all?

Malthusian: We are more concerned with artistic expression than presenting any sort of formal political agenda. Malthus's theory of human population being regulated through epidemic, war, natural disasters, crop failure and such struck a chord with us and gave us a starting point in terms of lyrical inspiration. That said, we have not and will not be restricting ourselves to such matters. The name simply captured the feeling that we were developing with the music, it sounded intriguing and a little bit different to the normal Death Metal band names you see everywhere. We are not interested in toeing the line or worrying about other people's notions of what a DM band should conform to.

(((o))): Coming from diverse acts such as On Pain Of Death, Altar Of Plagues, Wreck Of The Hesperus and Mourning Beloveth, what led you all to get together to create an arguably even more sickening noise than all your other bands?

Malthusian: The constant need to express ourselves through dark, unpleasant music was all the motivation we needed. 

(((o))): With many underground acts these days operating outside of traditional genre structures, blurring the lines between death, black and doom metal, does not being so strictly defined keep things more interesting from a songwriting perspective?

Malthusian: The initial idea was to play Death Metal and that style forms the core of our sound. We all listen to a wide array of music so naturally Black and Doom elements crept in and we all felt that they helped to enrich the songs so it seemed ridiculous to not include them out of some sense of purity. We all have an instinctive understanding of what does and doesn't fit at this point but that is not to say that unforeseen elements won't be absorbed into our sound in future.

(((o))): Also, do you think that lack of definition helps garner more interest from people who wouldn't ordinarily discover your music? For instance, a black metal fan who can't stand death metal, but finds both elements within your sound, and as a result it opens his mind to a whole new spectrum of filth?

Malthusian: Possibly, but that is not our concern. Our mission is to write songs that make sense to us. We worked on the demo material quietly, without making a fuss over it with constant pointless messages about our movements. We simply knew what we wanted to do and worked hard to achieve that final sound. We didn't focus on any external factors, we concentrated on creating something we could stand behind and it seems to have paid off. We don't really care about converting people to anything, everyone can find their own path.

(((o))): The Irish scene is extremely fertile and quite close-knit, or at least it can appear so to those outside of the country. Do you find this to be the case? What other projects should those who may unfamiliar with Ireland's underground be checking out?

Malthusian: Actually the scene here often seems quite fractured. There are lots of micro scenes busily doing their own things without much regard for each other. There has been some bleeding of individuals between the Punk/Hardcore and Metal scenes in recent years yielding some really positive results, as well as some excellent bands playing exclusively in those separate styles. Slidhr, Rebirth of Nefast, Zom, Fuil na Seanchoille, Sodb, Tome and Nomadic Rituals are worth investigating.

(((o))): So many underground acts record a blistering demo full of potential, then disappear into obscurity. With your debut release already under your belt, is there a plan to eventually record more material, or is MMXIII a full statement of intent that requires no follow-up?

Malthusian: We recorded a fourth song while we were in the studio and we have that lined up for a split that will be announced in due course. The next move is to start working on an album and ideas for that are already beginning to come together, if only in a vague, abstract way.

(((o))): The band made its live debut alongside Gospel Of The Horns, Bölzer, Zom and Dread Sovereign in Dublin this year, and you're also playing a record release show in Dublin with the mighty Urfaust. Do you have any plans to spread the wretched message outside of Ireland?

Malthusian: We will also be playing with Bölzer and Zom in December. We have no plans to tour outside of Ireland but we are certainly open to interesting offers.

(((o))): Personally I'd love to see you on a bill with the likes of Dragged Into Sunlight or Coffinworm, but what bands would you love to share a lineup with? Feel free to be completely unrealistic.

Malthusian: Irkallian Oracle, Slidhr, Dead Congregation, Grave Miasma, Svartidaudi, Portal etc....'

Be sure to pick up a copy of MMXIII from Invictus while you can, as it's limited to 300 copies. Order it here.

(((o))): So, first and foremost, who are Envoys and what are your musical backgrounds?

We are a post-metal band from Leeds. We’ve been involved in various heavy bands in the city, mostly metal bands of some description. Now we’re doing something a bit different, so “post-metal” seems to fit as a tag most of the time.

(((o))): How did the band come together?

Chris (drums) and I (Stephen, guitar) went to school together and, like all the best musicians of our generation, we bonded over a shared love for nu metal. We played together in Cotheria for about five years, and then we formed Envoys in early 2011 with Tom (guitar), who I had known for years, and Dan (bass), who appeared out of the ether like some mysterious, moustachioed gift from the gods.

(((o))): Please describe your sound in poetic form. (Haiku, rhyming couplets, acrostic, etc - take your pick)

At first it’s too loud

Your ears recoil, then slowly

Pain ends: riffs emerge.

(((o))): How has your local scene impacted you as a band?

Leeds has been really good to us. We haven’t had a duff gig here, and that’s in no small part thanks to good promoters like Paulie P and Stew at Bad Owl. Some of my favourite bands of all time have come out of Leeds, so that has been big for me, and we are friends with a lot of talented producers, sound engineers, artists, luthiers – so many people who make this a great place to make music.

(((o))): You’ve just had your new album out. What can you tell us about that? How is it a progression from your previous work?

Before Violescent, all we had put out was a three-track demo. The album is a much richer, denser piece of work, bringing in a lot of new elements and sounds. Recording it ourselves allowed us to experiment tonally, and we also roped in friends to play cello, trumpet, and multiple drum ensembles!

(((o))): What would you say you are envoys of? Darkness? Doom? The forthcoming return of the saviour...?

We talk about ethical food shopping a lot. We are all particularly about not buying asparagus out of season. Perhaps that’s our key message for the world. We are Envoys of ethical asparagus.

(((o))): What do you think is the most difficult challenge facing new bands starting out in the music industry today?

We’ve all got pretty busy lives, so finding time for networking and “admin” seems to be a challenge for us. However, more important has got to be finding your own sound and not churning out something utterly derivative of other bands. Writing honestly and working hard at your music is always the most important, and most difficult, thing.

(((o))): Every band has different aims. What would have to happen for Envoys to make you feel that you’d “made it”, so to speak?

Playing the festivals I have always attended as a punter, every summer.

(((o))): You’re given the opportunity to create your own All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival. What would be the first five bands on your list?

Pelican, Radiohead, Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Sunn O)))

(((o))): Are there any upcoming bands you’d like us to feature soon?

Magnapinna have been around in Leeds for a while but don’t get talked about enough considering how good they are. The same goes for Himself. Also, False Flags are about to make a bit of a comeback and they’re well worth your time.

(((o))): What are the band’s plans for the near future?

Gigs around the UK over the next couple of months, then back out to mainland Europe in the New Year. We also got treated like royalty by our mates Eye of Daw in Belgium recently, so we’re planning a reet Yorkshire do for them when they come over in the spring!

Slayer are in actual fact the first band I ever saw live when, back in 1995, they somehow appeared on the bill opening for Bon Jovi at Wembley Stadium. Being the twelve year old nascent stadium rock/indie kid I was back then they absolutely terrified me.

Fast forward six years and I’m at college exploring nu metal (oh yes) when an interesting band logo appears in the metal press with a provocative album cover and title which appeals to my rebellious senses.

After listening to the likes of Linkin Park and Coal Chamber (I apologise for nothing) the unsettling disjointed intro of ‘Darkness of Christ’ followed by the furious thunder of ‘Disciple’ was a revelation to these ears, especially with the latter’s glorious chorus refrain of “God Hates Us All!” The album doesn’t let up. It’s forty-five minutes of pure unrelenting hatred with the groove of ‘New Faith’, The menace of Bloodlines, the ferocity of War Zone being especially noteworthy. Interestingly, this album was released on September 11^th 2001 which added an unintended depth to the anti-religious vitriol.

Although well received at the time it has since been 'lost' to the “It’s not 80's Slayer so must be rubbish” school of thought most metal heads seem to have acquired, which is completely wrong. Certainly, in my opinion God Hates Us All is the second best album (after Reign In Blood obviously) that Slayer have ever released. The production is huge, the riffs razor sharp. The lyrics are seething with hatred as Araya sounds like he means every word and Bostaph's drumming is immense. I know it’s controversial, but I rate Bostaph over Lomabado as he is far more technical rather than just purely fast.

This album changed my life, and so it was that in 2001 I would return to North London, to Wembley Arena, for a Slayer headline show which I absolutely loved. It was thus that my music destiny and gig addiction was forged.

Mind you, I still love Bon Jovi.