Ice Queen - I and II (2018)

Here's my take on the two releases of Ice Queen, the new project of Leeches of Lore's leader Steve Hammond. The debut was released back in March while the second was just unleashed earlier this week. The reviews are part of a new thematic series focused on "ice" related bands!

Ice Queen – Ice Queen (2018)

Ice Bucket Challenge I

I was saddened to hear of Leeches of Lore's recent termination but I was confident that their leader Steve Hammond would continue to produce top notch music and I wasn't wrong. Ice Queen, his new solo project, is basically a continuation of his former band with many twists and spins.

The first really noticeable element is the fact that it's pretty much a voluntarily raw project and it’s much heavier than what Leeches of Lore did on their latest albums. Hammond seems to be fine with just unleashing simple but efficient ideas with almost an approach similar to automatism. Motel of Infinitely, LoL’s swansong showed heavier tendencies but Ice Queen isn’t as eclectic and varied as its former identity. Hammond increased the noise, crust and thrash metal influences and decreased the duration of his songs. That direction made Ice Queen really intense, almost like a grindcore approach. The guitars are thick but sharp and the bass is loud and filling (check out “Burrowing”) and there’s hardly any time to rest except for the country ballad of “Black Water”, a stylistic influence much more prevalent in Leeches of Lore or Hammond’s other non-metal projects.

Ice Queen are hard to classify, really. The structures are quite simple but the coating has all kind of things to make it shiny and exciting. It’s like if you took NWOBHM heavy metal but added a bunch of iconoclastic thrash and Melvins-esque sludge to the formula. It’s just fun riffs with an identity and soaring fun vocals. Hammond can’t do no wrong as far as I’m concerned.

87%

Ice Queen – Ice Queen II (2018)

Ice Bucket Challenge II

The second release of Ice Queen expands where its predecessor left off and brings out some new things to the fold. While the debut showcased a brand new take of Hammond’s peculiar metal sound he spent a decade exploring with Leeches of Lore, II has some fun with the new sound.

Ice Queen is once again built upon a core of fast paced heavy metal with noise, hardcore and thrash elements but wait, there’s more! There’s layers of experimentation here such as the minimalistic dark ambient of “An Abandoned City” or the noise and voice effects of the closer “Quiet”. There’s also a bunch of metal experimentation such as the doom/death riffs of “The Witch King of Urbana” which are intertwined with eerie bits of electronica or the ghostly drone of “Dreams, Dreaming” and it all works. Hammond’s signature special move is that he’s able to assemble a wide array of styles together to form a solid, oozing mass capable of grasping your interest till you’ve heard the same twenty minutes album on repeat.

Regardless of the experimentation, there’s still some pretty metallic bangers like the thrashy/sludgey anthem of “Blizzard of Ants” with its harsh screams or the incisive Mastodon-esque “The Bunt”. All in all, Ice Queen II justifies its existence by exploring other themes than the debut. It would had been easy to release them as a “full length” album of forty minutes but I like that shorter format. It’s easy to focus on the different strengths of those to the point compositions and gather everything you can from them.

84%

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StarGazer - A Merging to the Boundless (2016) / 96%

Academic War Metal

This is a seriously weird but addictive album and its wide mix of elements shouldn’t work as well as it does. The Australian trio cultivates a mysterious and magical aura throughout their elusive albums. This 2014 effort was released 4 years after the excellent A Great Work of Ages and I bet it’s gonna take a while to get a new one. This is fine though since despite the short length of this album, there’s so many things to discover on every spin. The fact that the members are involved in other high caliber bands such as Mournful Congregation or Cauldron Black Ram (if you’re not familiar with both of them, check them out too) could also explain the long periods between full lengths.

While I certainly like straight death metal with no frills or gimmicks, I do prefer adventurous bands unleashing weirdness upon weirdness. That’s why I think Horrendous released one of the best recent death metal albums with  Ecdysis and it’s probably why Opeth is my favorite band (I guess they still count as death metal, right?). StarGazer are definitely one of those exploratory bands and they have an unparalleled vision. Traveling through avant-garde seas like their fellow Australians Portal, I do feel this trio made their experimental blend of extreme metal more natural by removing the obsessive Lovecraftian horror element of The Curator’s band. The most impressive component of this trio is their level of musicianship, it’s simply through the roof. They’re basically Australia’s extremely cult response to Rush, Atheist, Death but also to Incantation and Demilich, if this makes sense. Like their other compatriot Ulcerate, the trio consisting of the usual metal instruments are able to push the generic envelope of such a formula but contrary to the Everything Is Fire Tasmanians, they don’t do it by creating a massive wall of sound. They do it with a superbly smart sound full of intelligent moments like no one else.

What’s also exceptional about them is their ability to integrate an experimental approach so easily in their songs. They almost hide the fact that they’re weird by just being riff machines, a good example of this would be “Black Gammon”, the aggressive opener. The song starts in a somewhat safe way but then bludgeon you with insane bass licks.

There’s also the variations in moods and tempos that are quite interesting, “An Earth Rides Its Endless Carousel” has this smooth section incorporated with ease and it’s just unbelievable. There’s also some brief clean vocals to accentuate the transition. Speaking of vocals, I’ll admit I can really say who of either Damon Good (known as The Great Righteous Destroyer here) or Denny Blake (The Serpent Inquisitor) are singing since they share the duty but there’s a grand variety of extreme metal vocals styles. From deep, cavernous growls to the more traditional thrashy death style (opening of “Incense and Aeolian Chaos”), and I must say that every facets of this aspect of StarGazer’s personality is thoroughly enjoyable. If you add the fact that the lyrics are totally bonkers, you get an interesting album. The mix of magical, mystical and fantasy themes written with in poetical but also academical sort of way is without a doubt one of the highlights of the record for me. Let me go back to what I was saying about the “hidden” weirdness, the lyrics absolutely add this eccentric flavor.

Antiquial light shed with a wave of lichen hand
An ancient tress, a wooden pulse
Varnish reeks, shadows creak
A stale grace, old tea, old tea

The Australian trio are in fact a war metal band turned into an university professor. They went to war, killed a bunch of innocent people, came back and finished their English literature PhD and wrote about their experiences. The skilled marriage of death and black metal (war metal is often a mix of both and some added elements) is actually hard to distinguish, I do think they’re a bit more on the death metal side most of the time but there’s definite black metal elements on Merging. They play technical death without falling into the easy tropes of the genre, no overlong soloing or disastrous odd time signatures written to impress kids. It’s just unhinged drumming with mesmerizing bass lines and intricate guitars. The eleven minutes song “The Grand Equilizer” is obviously the centerpiece of this album, it has all their elements and it’s just a fantastic progressive metal track full of twists and turns. The album then ends its (relatively) brief essay with two harder and to the point tracks. I guess I’ll just replay it until I fully understand it.

The album is usually pretty cheap on Nuclear War Now! so grab it, it’s just incredible.

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Dérélection stellaire MMXVI @Saint-Jean de Matha - live review / compte-rendu

Photo by Manon Cornieux

This live review has been written in collaboration with my friend Ève-Laurence Hébert, I wrote the reviews for the first three bands, we both wrote one for thisquiet army and she wrote the review for the headliners, Basalte.

All the pictures were taken by Ève-Laurence except for those some taken by Manon Cornieux.

Useful links:
Apraxie
Besatzung
Entheos
thisquietarmy
Basalte

A French version follows the English one.


This new event created in part by Basalte, one of my favorite local bands happened in the countryside a bit less than 2 hours from Montréal and it was a blast. It was an intimate gig with about fifty fans and thirteen musicians divided within five musical projects. Beer, mosquitoes, great weather and of course, great music were all present to make this first edition a successful one. It was a relaxing event with only cool, interested and like-minded people and I’ve spent a nice time over there. Thanks to everyone involved and hopefully the festival will happen again next year.

Apraxie were the first to play at around five o’clock just before the communal dinner and considering it was only their second show ever, they were pretty damn cool. Composed of two members of Basalte (drummer and one of the guitarists), Pascal Rivard (vox, guitar) formely of Tribunal and Guillaume Pelletier (solid bassist), the quartet plays a mixture of post hardcore, screamo and post punk with some slight crust and black metal influences. They were pretty sloppy but in great way and it totally fits the juvenile aggressiveness of their sound. The four members were contributing harsh and visceral vocals reminiscent of the emoviolence movement and they were simply fun to watch. I’m excited to hear their debut studio releases scheduled for this year.











Sovannak Ké (Oppression, Putamen Insula...) played a set of Besatzung, his coldwave/ambient/synthpop/not sure how to classify this exactly project and it was pretty cool. Sovannak was alone on stage handling the occasional guitar, the wide array of pedals and effects and of course, the smoke machine. The atmosphere was cold, slow and pretty entrancing. It’s not really a genre I’m truly accustomed with but I liked it and I probably should explore the style. Songs like “Croque mon trottoir” are slow burners with a mesmerising drum machine approach and buried yet evocative vocals. Sad music for sad people.




Entheos released a really good album last year (review here) and while they played a bunch of gigs, it was my first time seeing them. The three members (they record as a quintet but now play live as a trio) were all wearing papier-mâché masks, plays some sort of dissonant yet atmospheric black metal with super tight musicianship. The new songs they played from their upcoming but still untitled new album are going in an even more audacious direction with some influences from Tool, from jazz and an overall sound that is less rooted in black metal. The musicians had a real chemistry and the interactions between the guitar and the bass were natural and impressive. You can definitely hear that those guys are listening to a lot of different styles of music in their sound, it’s rich in textures and the songwriting is intelligent and inspired.






Antoine's review of tqa:

Thisquietarmy was next and while it’s not exactly a genre of music I like, I can certainly say that for the style, it’s great. Eric Quach is alone with his guitar on stage but he’s surrounded by a lot of pedals to create an expansive and gloomy aural experience. Melting together drone, ambient, kraut rock, post rock, noise and at times even some black metal influences, thisquietarmy offered a set full of variety even if it’s an instrumental one man band. The loop effects, the drum machines and the guitar were all handled with talent and dedication but I must say that my favorite part of the performance was the collaborative improvisation at the end with three members of Basalte (guitar, drum and bass) and the guitarist of Entheos. It felt more complete, natural and interesting to me. I’m currently listening to the album Anthems For Catharsis and personally, I think I prefer listening to this while in my pyjamas at home.

Photo by Manon Cornieux 

Ève-Laurence's review of tqa:

Thisquietarmy is an imposing solo musical project formed by Eric Quach. With almost thirty solo albums (without the collobations he did with bands like Hypnodrone Emsemble, USA out of Vietnam or his own project thisquietarmy), Eric traveled the whole world to play immersive musical experiences for his fans. Based in Montréal, I never had the chance to see him despite that I really admire him. It took a special and intimate context for me to officially meet thisquietarmy

Photo by Manon Cornieux 

The artist started his set with “From Darkness Redux” taken from his latest album Anthems for Catharsis. The post rock sound from the number provided by the drum machine and the guitar gave its place to a track border-lining black metal with “Purgation/Purification” also from the same album. The intensity of thisquietarmy took shape with the different guitar effects made possible with the well executed loop and an hypnotizing array of drone sounds causing the audience to dream and enter a trance. The frenetic blast beat and the industrial drum machine on this track could almost make some black metal fans feel uncomfortable, prove the different influences of the project. The third track, “The Black Sea” from the album Rebirths, made us come back to a slower atmosphere without percussions and a melancholic finale. With the end of this track, a surprise happened when three members of Basalte and the guitarist of Entheos came on stage to join Eric Quach and played a fourteen minutes improvised track.

The track is available: here

The first moment of the improvisation was mixing drone and noise gave the time for the musicians to find the way to play together. Slowly but surely, the drums guided the song towards a more metallic direction, we were offered a doom section with slow percussion and a black metal outro with the vocals of E., one of the guitarists of Basalte giving us an appetizer of the last performance of the evening.

Basalte had the opportunity to perform several times since their inception and the release of their first album released in 2014 (review by Antoine here: here) but the last year gave us a bunch of new things like the addition of a bassist and new songs to be recorded for their second album that we’re really waiting for. The intensity of Basalte is undeniable and it’s even more apparent when the band performs as headliners. We think that this evening, an initiative of the band itself was perhaps their best performance yet. The atmosphere created by the impeccable drumming, the two guitars, the bass and the vocals mixing screamo and guttural voices are shaping a type of black metal that is distinguish itself from the classic style of black metal and really manage to captivate its audience. While we can call their genre atmospheric black, post-black metal or experimental black, the band is clearly unorthodox and are a good example of an evolving genre.






Basalte’s first song was the new song “Ce que le corps doit au sol”, a song that the fans only had the chance to see live twice. The first notes really made us realize that the bass was higher in the mix than before and that the musician really worked on his stage presence and managed to compose intersting bass lines. The soft and melodic introduction slowly let the black metal sound take its place like a crescendo. This was followed with “La sclérose coule dans ses veines”, another new song composed by Basalte. This number has a doomier and gloomier and it slowed down the set before “Acouphène”, the fastest song written by the band and its mix of d-beats, blast beats, their mix of harsh and screamed vocals and the breathless tremolos. The different mid paced sections were tied together to end with an exalted finale. To end the gig, Basalte played “Obtuse”, a song from their debut album that they never played since the arrival of their bassist (they used to perform as a trio). For the first time, the track was played with the additional bass guitar and it added a profound atmosphere confirming that this instrument adds a lot to the project. This 17 minutes track ended the performance on a great note. It was difficult not to feel the emotions transmitted by the four members all screaming together till the end of the song.

Photo by Manon Cornieux 

Photo by Manon Cornieux

For the adepts of the dark and experimental local scene, Dérélection stellaire was a memorable and unforgettable event. The location, the camaraderie between the musicians and the fans, the respect for the hosts and of course, the lineup made the event one that we will never forget. We can’t wait for the second edition.

Photo par Manon Cornieux

Critique en Français:

Ce nouvel évènement créé en partie par Basalte, un de nos groupes locaux préférés, a eu lieu en campagne, en forêt a environ deux heures de route de la métropole montréalaise. Le spectacle intime comprenant cinq projets musicaux fut réelement une belle expérience. La bière, les moustiques, la belle température et bien sur, de la bonne musique étaient tous présents pour faire de cette première édition de Dérélection stellaire un succès. Ce fut un moment relaxant avec des gens sympathiques intéressants et intéressés. Merci à l’organisation du festival et on espère qu’une deuxième édition aura lieu.

Apraxie fut le premier groupe a jouer et leur performance planifiée juste avant le souper collectif fut vraiment cool considérant que c’était seulement leur deuxième spectacle à vie. Composé de deux membres de Basalte (batterie et un des guitaristes), le beau Pascal Rivard (voix, guitare) anciennement des weirdos de Tribunal et Guillaume Pelletier (un bassiste très solide), le quatuor joue un mélange de post hardcore, de screamo, de post punk avec des touches subtiles de crust et de black metal. L’instrumentation peu soignée fonctionnait très bien avec leur son juvénile et agressif. Nous avons pu entendre les quatre jeunes hommes contribuer aux vocaux et ceux-ci pouvaient éloquemment rappeler le mouvement emoviolence. Leur premier enregistrement studio est prévu pour cette année et nous avons bien hâte.

Sovannak Ké (Opression, Putamen Insula...) a joué un set de Besatzung, son projet coldwave/ambient/synthpop/pas trop certain comment classifier cela exactement et c’était vraiment bien. Sovannak, seul sur la scène, jouait occasionallement de la guitare mais le focus était surtout sur son amalgame de pédals, machines à effets, drum machine et bien sur, la fameuse machine à fumée. L’atmosphère froide, lente et enchanteresse a su être convaincante. Ce n’est pas un genre que je connais vraiment mais j’ai vraiment aimé ce que j’ai entendu et je devrais explorer le style plus en profondeur. Une chanson comme “Croque mon trottoir” effraie par son identité flegmatique, son son hypnotique et ses vocaux enterrés mais evocateurs. De la musique triste pour des gens triste.

Entheos a sorti un excellent album l’an dernier (critique ici) et malgré qu’ils ont joué plusieurs spectacles, leur performance à la Déréliction stellaire fut ma première fois en leur compagnie. Les trois membres (ils enregistrent en tant que quintet mais joue live en tant que trio) tous masqués de masques faits de papier mâché joue une sorte de black metal atmosphérique et progressif avec une instrumentation du tonnerre. Les nouvelles chansons provenant de leur prochain album sont encore plus audacieuses et nous pouvons entendre les influences de Tool, de jazz et un son qui est définitivement moins basé sur le métal noir. Les musiciens ont une réelle chimie entre eux et les interactions entre la basse et la guitare furent impressionnantes. Nous pouvons vraiment réaliser que ces gars là écoutent un large éventail de styles musicaux différents, leur compositions sont riches en textures et c’est une musique intelligente et inspirée.

Critique d'Antoine:

Thisquietarmy fut le quatrième projet a se produire et malgré que ce n’est pas un style que j’affectionne particulièrement, je dois dire que le projet d’Eric Quach est super. Il est seul sur scène avec sa guitare mais il est entouré par de nombreuses pédales qui l’aident à créer un son sombre et vaste. Combinant drone, ambient, kraut rock, post rock, du noise et même pafois des influences black metal, le projet a offert un set varié et cohésif. Les effets loop, le drum machines et la guitare furent joués avec talent et dévouement mais je dois dire que mon moment préféré du spectacle demeure la fin du set, une chanson improvisée avec trois membres de Basalte (guitare, batterie et basse) et le guitariste d’Entheos. Selon moi ce moment était plus complet, naturel et intéressant. J’écoute présentement l’album Anthems for Catharsis et je crois que je préfère tqa dans le confort de mon foyer que live mais la performance fut fort agréable.

Critique d'Ève-Laurence:

thisquietarmy est un projet musical solo imposant mené par Eric Quach. Avec près d’une trentaine d’albums studio à son actif, sans compter nombre de collaborations (e.g. : Hypnodrone Ensemble et USA Out of Vietnam) et albums live, Eric s’est promené à travers le monde avec sa valise de pédales et sa guitare pour faire vivre à son public international des expériences musicales immersives. Basé à Montréal, je n’avais étonnement jamais eu l’occasion de voir jouer cet artiste que j’admire. C’est dans un contexte unique et intime que j’ai finalement pu faire officiellement la rencontre de thisquietarmy.

L’artiste a débuté sa prestation avec "From Darkness Redux", pièce tirée de son dernier album Anthems for Catharsis. La sonorité post-rock de la pièce, découlant du timbre du drum machine et de la guitare, a laissé place à une tonalité beaucoup plus proche du métal, voire du black métal, avec la deuxième chanson intitulée "Purgation/Purification", également tirée du dernier album. L’intensité de thisquietarmy prend forme dans les différentes strates de guitare rendues possibles grâce à des mises en boucle bien exécutées et un jeu hypnotisant d’effets drone provoquant transes et rêveries chez les spectateur-trices. Le blast beat frénétique et industriel du drum machine sur "Purgation/Purification", pouvant rendre certain-es adeptes du black métal mal à l’aise , témoigne d’une originalité dans les différentes inspirations qui animent thisquietarmy. La troisième pièce, "The Black Sea" de l’album Rebirths, a permis un retour à un style plus lent avec une longue introduction sans percussion et une accentuation vers une finale mélancolique. C’est à ce moment qu’une surprise réservée aux spectateur-trices privilégié-es de l’événement privé a débutée : une longue pièce improvisée de 14 minutes par Eric Quach, le batteur, un guitariste et le bassiste de Basalte, ainsi que le guitariste d’Entheos.

Le début de l’improvisation, croisant le drone et le noise, a laissé le temps aux musiciens de trouver une piste sur laquelle se lancer. Peu à peu, la batterie a pris le rôle de guide et a dirigé l’improvisation vers un genre plus métal, enchaînant une section doom aux percussions lentes et une dernière partie à la tonalité black métal accompagnée de la voix du guitariste de Basalte nous donnant un avant-goût du clou de la soirée : la prestation de Basalte.

La chanson est disponible pour écoute ici : Clique moi!

Basalte a eu l’occasion de performer à maintes reprises depuis ses débuts et son premier album paru en 2014 (critique ici). Toutefois, la dernière année a donné place à de nombreuses nouveautés : l’ajout d’un bassiste et la composition de nouvelles chansons pour un prochain album que l’on attend impatiemment. L’intensité de Basalte est indiscutable, d’autant plus lorsque le groupe joue en tant que tête d’affiche. Selon nous, cette soirée spéciale et fruit de l’initiative du groupe a été l’occasion pour Basalte d’offrir sa meilleure performance. L’atmosphère créée par le jeu de batterie impeccable, les deux guitares, la guitare basse et les vocales croisant le screamo et les voix gutturales façonnent un type de black métal qui s’éloigne des classiques du genre et qui ensorcèle son auditoire. Que l’on qualifie son style musical de black métal atmosphérique, de post-black métal ou de black métal expérimental, le groupe n’est clairement pas orthodoxe et dépasse les limites d’un genre qui évolue constamment.





Basalte a amorcé le spectacle avec "Ce que le corps doit au sol", une chanson que les fans ont eu l’occasion d’entendre seulement deux fois en spectacle et qui fera partie du prochain album. Les premières notes nous ont tout de suite fait sentir les vibrations de la guitare basse qui a été mise de l’avant plus que jamais auparavant et qui nous a permis de porter attention à la composition minutieusement travaillée par son compositeur et interprète dont l’expérience et l’assurance ont incontestablement évoluées. L’introduction douce et mélodique a lentement laissé place à la puissance du black métal dont l’ardeur s’accentuait à chaque minute.

C’est avec "La sclérose coule dans ses veines" que le groupe a poursuivi sa performance, autre nouvelle chanson composée par ses membres. Cette pièce à la sonorité plus doom et cafardeuse a ralenti le ton avant Acouphène, la chanson la plus rapide et agressive composée par le groupe qui nous hameçonne dès ses premières notes. Mêlant d-beat, blast beats, voix gutturales et criées, ainsi que trémolos essoufflants des guitares, les différentes sections plus ou moins rapides de la chanson se sont enchaînées naturellement jusqu’à l’atteinte d’une finale exaltante.

Pour terminer, Basalte a joué "Obtuse", une pièce de leur premier album que le groupe avait mise de côté depuis l’arrivée du nouveau bassiste. Pour la première fois, la chanson a été jouée avec une guitare basse créant une atmosphère tellement plus profonde que sur album et nous permettant de confirmer encore plus l’atout que représente pour ce projet musical la présence de la basse. Cette longue pièce de 17 minutes a terminé la prestation de Basalte sur une note estomaquante. Difficile de ne pas ressentir les émotions transmises par les quatre membres de Basalte criant à l’unisson à huit reprises la dernière ligne des paroles de la chanson.





Pour les adeptes de la scène musicale sombre et expérimentale, Déréliction stellaire fut un événement marquant, inoubliable. Le lieu, la bonne entente chez les spectateur-trices, le respect remarquable pour nos hôtes et, évidemment, la programmation ont fait de Déréliction un moment que tous et chacun souhaiteraient revivre. Vivement une deuxième édition!

Local Sounds: Volume 3.0

 

Tonight's volume is all about bands with some post hardcore elements who are mixing this with a bunch of other styles. There's 3 bands from the glorious city of Montréal and one from Drummondville, enjoy and don't be afraid to send me recommendations! Thanks to Pascalou and Étienne for some of these recommendations.

Atsuko Chiba – Jinn (2013)

One of the best bands in Montréal, Atsuko Chiba (a character in the anime series Paprika apparently) plays a visceral and super interesting blend of experimental rock, post hardcore, post rock with a mix of explosive and atmospheric guitars. It starts with a 5 minutes psychedelic introduction with some flutes and a lot of Gilmour-esque guitar explorations before. There's not a lot of vocals and there's barely a need for them but it's used sporadically and it works well. “Qvox” has this excellent At the Drive-In influence with these almost rapped, almost screamed vocals. The instrumentation is rich, ranging from acoustic guitars to keyboards, there's a lot of stuff going on here. It's mostly contained in short songs for the genre(s) except for the final track “One Big Happy Family” and its 23 minutes length reminding me of the project of Rodríguez-López and Bixler-Zavala formed when ATDI ended, the mighty The Mars Volta. While it drags a little, the instrumental song has a wide array of emotions ranging from almost metallic guitars to softer moments. I have yet to see them live and I must fix that!

Atsuko Chiba on Bandcamp

The Expectorated Sequence 

First Juice [Power] of the Shit (2014) + The Prolonged Disaster (2011)

These dudes are playing some sort of super heavy grindcore with hardcore, screamo and experimental touches. Their songs are obviously short with a devastating production and vicious vocals. First Juice, their fourth album, is more streamlined and angry than the the excellent The Prolonged Disaster which explored post hardcore, screamo and even metal at times more thorougly (listen to a track like “Scum of the Earth”). The francophone quartet (all their lyrics are in English though) has nothing to envy their American rivals, their sound is dark, brooding and has plenty of heavy riffs intertwined with soft, spacey sporadic moments. Both albums are highly recommended but I prefer The Prolonged Disaster due to its versatility. It's insane music that makes you feel good!

Expectorated Sequence on Bandcamp

Nous étions – La manière noire (2014)
Il a des trous dans le ciel!
The screamo/hardcore/post hardcore Nous Étions (we were in English) are about to start recording their debut full length after two pretty good Eps and I'm sure it will be extremely interesting. Their approach is quite lovely, melding harsh but understandable vocals (with poetic French lyrics) with heavy guitars full of feeling that are still incisive enough. There's a lot of introspective moments too like the beautiful “Le Journal De Ricardo Lopez” and while the vocals are constantly on the hardcore spectrum, La manière noire (the black way) is a surprisingly soothing release. The melting pot of genres (minus black metal) isn't quite far from what Deafheaven did with their seminal and future classic Sunbather. 
 
Nous Étions on Bandcamp

Politess – Politess (2015)

The project from Drummondville is, based on their own description, “Everything your mom doesn't like” and unless your mother is into experimental hardcore/crust/rock/grind/metal, they're probably right. Their self titled debut full length is one hell of a trip into their musical dementia. Simply by looking at the songtitles, you know you'll spend a special moment with these guys, songs like “The New Chicken”, “Everything I Touch Turns Lesbo” or “Give Me Back My Virginity” are totally bonkers. They're certainly silly but they know how to compose cool stuff with a lot of tempo changes, groovy riffs and screeching vocals. One of the best bands out of Montréal and recommended if you like a huge dose of what the fuck in your music. There's even some saxophone on “La patère” and this adds a Naked City feel to the whole thing. Politess definitely did their homework while listening to Mr. Bungle and Anal Cunt and I'm giving them an A+.

Politess on Bandcamp

Universe217 – Never (2013) / 86%

Hellenic Metal Help Fund part III: Fishing in Neverland

A series highlighting the interesting bands the Greek underground metal scene has to offer. In this time of need for the legendary country, let's show our support by listening to their rich musical endeavors.

Never, the third album of this quartet from Athens is one of the most interesting and original pieces of doom metal released recently. Blending a sort of depressive doom metal, almost reaching funeral doom levels of despair, with a soft and reflective aura. Their best component is perhaps their singer, Tanya Leontiou. Her powerful, distinctive delivery reminds me of Agnete of Norwegian progressive doomsters Madder Mortem (we're due for a new full length from these guys, it's been five years!). Her voice is as charismatic and mind-blowing as the (now finite) involvement of Uta Plotkin in Witch Mountain. She has this truly intense approach and a magnificent voice, she's the first thing you hear when you start the album with the song “Mouth”, this proves she's the spirit of Universe217's music, there's no mistake about this.

Their music is slow and atmospheric but the heaviness is still very present. It's brooding and has this overacting sense of modern, quasi-industrial feel. The sole guitar is huge and can switch to mechanical, cold bludgeoning riffs to reflective and calmer ones like the long and incredible “She” with its endearing crescendo and its soft and pop Muse-like moments, it's mixing both the lovely and the frightening. It's also a varied album even if all its parts are in harmony with each others, the song “Harm” for instance reminds me of the Oriental feeling of Loreena McKennitt or Orphaned Land.

They have elements of many genres but all in all, what they play feels pretty unique and fresh. The Metal Archives labels them as “experimental doom” and that's pretty adequate. From the use of a piano to the blues or soul influenced vocals, they're bringing a lot of nice ideas to their metal formula and should be discovered by a larger public.

Interview with Sami Hynninen (Opium Warlords, ex-Reverend Bizarre and many more)

Metantoine's Magickal Realm: I see you as a grand wizard part of the doom metal council at the top of some white towers, I know you've been kind of inactive in the purest tradition of the genre but what do you think is the state of doom in 2014? I personally think some of the innovations (see Pallbearer) are tacky.

Sami Hynninen: Yes, it is true that I am out of the scene in many ways, also as a follower of actions of other bands. I have heard some of the newer ones, but nothing really mind blowing, I am sad to say. 

Of the ones I have heard, I liked the ultra rough first demo of Doomsower a lot. Finnish band Carnutian also did an enjoyable demo, but then ceased to exist. I like Uncle Acid and the Deadbeat's “Mind Control”. I was bit puzzled with their massive following in Roadburn 2013, and did not quite get the thing, but that album turned out to be good! 

Pilgrim's debut album was delightful too. I think they are, or at least were on that debut – I have not heard the second album! – the only band that has succeeded to continue what we did with Reverend Bizarre, but even they lack, in their fantasy based themes and more coherent sounds, some lunacy and danger that was essential for our work. Good for them though, as the basis for that insanity and violence was in our bad life as a band. And I am not saying that they should sound exactly as we did, of course not –  but they almost did! Except that they can actually play their instruments.

In my ears Pallbearer is bit too soft to really attract or interest me.  I listen to many different kinds of music, but there has to be some element of roughness there. Some dirt. But I do not want to put anybody down as I am not “there” anymore. They have some echoes of Warning's magnificent second album, don't they? But then again for ME that has already been done. And even with Warning I liked the earliest material – “Revelation Looms” and  “Blessed by the Sabbath” – the best, when it comes to DOOM. That second album is something else; one of its own kind. Very emotional masterpiece! 

The state of doom in 2014 is good at least on that level that we are doing the fourth Spiritus Mortis album hah hah hah!

MMR: Taste my Sword of Understanding was pretty different for your solo project Opium Warlords (less experimental) from the first two albums mainly because it was composed while you were still in Reverend Bizarre. What will be the influences for the fourth upcoming album? Are you gonna return to a more droney/avant garde sound?

Sami: Most of the stuff that you have heard from Opium Warlords so far already existed when I was still in Reverend Bizarre, so that is not the explanation for “Sword” being as it is. It is as it is, because it has to be like that, in the larger continuation of Opium Warlords. In the bigger picture; I have not had a period of doom metal or period of black metal or noise, or what ever, when I would do only that one thing. It all comes all the time! Songs can wait, in the most extreme case, for almost twenty years before they come out to the audience. 

I started my career as an experimental musician, and for me Reverend Bizarre was all the time a “side project”. I myself saw that my main thing is this other kind of music, but I did not have time to do it, because of RB, so it was waiting there inside of my mind to finally explode out of me. Now is this time! I have music inside of me for the next ten years.

Of course I have been doing new stuff also, all of these years, so basically Opium Warlords albums consist of old material, and some new spices, but it is impossible for anyone outside of our circle to try to figure out any chronology in these albums. An album that will come out in 2017 may have older material in it than  the album that came out in 2012. 

However, you ask this question in perfect possible time as the next Opium Warlords album actually has all the material written after the times of Reverend Bizarre. And it IS a return to that droney/avantgarde style! I recorded the main bass tracks in 2007, and now in 2014 we will continue this process! 

One correction to a subject that seems to follow me where ever I go: Opium Warlords is NOT a solo project. The fact that one guy plays bit more instruments, does not, at least for me, make an album a solo album. I am the songwriter and the main producer, but I do not work alone! And even with RB and the Puritan I wrote and arranged most of the music and just showed others what I wanted them to do. When saying this I do not want to take away any thunder from the other guys though! Their souls are still there 100%!!!


MMR: What can you tell me about the next Spiritus Mortis' album? It was fun to hear your vocals in a traditional doom metal band again, it's perhaps the only remaining link to your days in RB.

Spiritus Mortis' The God Behind the God

Sami : Musically it will be everything you wish it to be!!! It really kicks some ass! Lyrically I am going to step out of the story telling style of “The God Behind the God”. I am not a big fan of this story telling in the first place – as a writer –  but with that album I wanted to go to the deepest traditions of Heavy Metal. I would not be able to do that kind of lyrics better than I did there, so it makes no sense to stick to that lyrical style either, so now I will write in the way I did with Azrael Rising; free form metal lyrics with some abstract and surreal elements. Thematically I am in the world of two obsessions: necrophilia and black magic. 

I know that many people are waiting to hear “normal” heavy metal vocals from me again, and to be honest, I am for the first time in my life bit anxious about these expectations. It is almost like how I would feel if RB would return! How can I top what I have already done? But I guess when it is about the time to record those vocals I just do as I always do; go inside the lyrical world and deliver what is needed.

By the way, talking about these links, I have one album for Opium Warlords which is like Reverend Bizarre turbo boosted with some serious progressive rock hah hah! It won't be done in the next few years, but when it comes I think some of the more traditional oriented fans, of what I have done, should be rather happy! But I do not see it as my purpose, to try to please these old timers hah hah! I just do what I want to do. And what I have to!

MMR: I thought Orne was particular since it has the whole RB trio (albeit you consider your involvement to be as a session vocalist), how was it to work with Kimi's dark proggy folky compositions?

Orne's debut album The Conjuration by the Fire

Sami : Well, that first album was done when we were still RB, so it was not so different from how things went with us. Except that, as you say, I was a session man, so basically I did what Kimi wanted me to do. I went through very dark times in my private life during that day the vocals were recorded, and I think that it can be heard there too. 

The second album was a different case. At first I was not even about to do the vocals, but then I talked with Kimi about the situation with the vocalists, and it became quite clear that with some other vocalist it would not be exactly what he wanted to have, so I thought about it for a while, and then agreed to do the vocals. In the first place it was a question of helping him out of the situation, but also about the album of course. The material he had for it, did not feel as close to me as the first one, which I liked a lot right from the beginning, but with few modifications we were able to make a good album of that second one too.

MMR: The dissolution of your old band and your will to work on more obscure genres lead me to believe that you could like this question. Do you think the life of a musician is in turmoil nowadays? The way you need to live on the road to truly succeed is as an example of being part of an industry. We see the creations of many solo projects (it's easier nowadays to work on music with all these digital tools.) I think there's many changes to come with the evolution of technology (a curse or a plus?), what do you think about that?

Sami: I feel lucky now that I was there early enough to start with analogical 4-trackers and cassettes, and when I went to the studio it was analogue too! The first RB albums and KLV stuff, were recorded and mixed with completely analogue system. Sometimes in the mixing – which was all in realtime – more than two or four hands were needed, so me and Void joined the engineer there on the board. It was a good school for us! Also for the playing. You did not get endless chances to fix something as the tape started to break down, and what was even more important: you could not edit the tape! You had to play the whole song, and if you fucked up in the end, you had to start again. It really was hard for the nerves.

Digital recording has many benefits but it has also caused me enormous stress. What ever can happen when you work with 0's and 1's.

For artist like me who do NOT do gigs these new times are harder, as it is true that only by being on the road and selling merchandise you can make any money. But I just have to try to go on.

MMR: You've worked as a graphic artist (Jex Thoth, Fall of the Idols...), I really like that work, you seem picky (nothing wrong with that, quite the contrary) with the bands you choose to work with. Is a shared vision important when you accept to design or draw something? Furthermore, what kind of vision or people you prefer?

Jex Thoth's Blood Moon Rise

Sami: With the bands I worked with it was my own vision that I followed. Of course I asked for the title and in the best case I got to hear the music, but only with Furze I strictly followed the vision of the band. In other cases I just maybe got some wishes or details that could be there in the sleeves, and of course I did my best to add them there. It is not like I put down the ideas the bands had, but usually they did not have anything special, and they knew how I worked. 

I am not one to work as a member of the group, but for example with Jex Thoth I have what might be called a spiritual connection. I somehow KNOW what she wants.

I prefer many kind of visions. There have been, and still are, many geniuses among the masses of so called ordinary people. I get mesmerized very often with some great piece of art, or film, or album. Right at the moment I am mesmerized by couple of bands, Iceage from Denmark, and Oxbow, Karp and Pyrrhon from America, as well as At the Gates' first album.

                                   Furze's Psych Minus Space Control

What kind of people I prefer? I try my best not to harass other people. I expect this from the other people too. I prefer those geniuses I just talked about. People with vision, either in mind or heart. Or both. Spiritual, but open minded people. People who do not hurt animals, or rape nature. And people who make it possible for me to continue my work; the audience!




Bonus Question!

MMR: I'm fascinated by the music and culture of Finland (I did a whole series about Jussi Lehtisalo's projects). What are your favorite things about the country as of recently? Food, hockey, movie, anything really!

Sami: Nature. Language. Some art, literature, cinema, music, and archtitecture. But for me this is not any kind of paradise really. The atmosphere is rather heavy. Still, as long as I can't live in somewhere in the aristocratic British country side or luxury regions of London, or under the sun of Florida, I rather live here, as I know the language pretty well. Not that I would use it much in conversations hah hah. So why am I here actually anymore? I like Jussi Lehtisalo! That is one reason. 

MMR: Thanks for accepting to do an interview with me, it's fun for a small blog like mine to have this opportunity. 

Sami: I often rather be in these smaller circles than in the big business, and  their big magazines. This interview verifies why it is so. Thank you! 

Useful links: 

Opium Warlords on Facebook

Opium Warlords on Tumblr
Opium Warlords on Metal Archives

Review for Opium Warlords' latest album: Taste my Sword of Understanding
Review for Reverend Bizarre's So Long Suckers

Opium Warlords' debut album Live at Colonia Dignidad

Suruni - Ikuus (2014) / 77%

Dark and lo-fi exploration

The musical child of Sakari Piisti, Suruni from central Finland is a weird project to describe but I'll attempt the task anyway since I never run away from musical adversity. “Not for everyone” can easily describe this album, it's an unorthodox mix of experimental raw black metal with noise, ambient and drone all under a voluntary lo-fi approach.

One of the things that surprised me is the bass, it's freaking loud and I really like how it's played. I often wish this instrument would be more prominent in black metal and it's the case here. It's well incorporated in the sonic chaotic mass enriched by the use of acoustic guitars and some other nontraditional instruments (is that cello???). It's pretty slow stuff and it reminds me of the avant garde nature of Sami Hynninen's Opium Warlords and Armanenschaft projects. The overbearing bass licks are definitely a big hint to that.

Suruni felt like it doesn't have a metal core since there's so many additional elements to be considered but underneath everything, there is an undying dark atmosphere possessed by raw black metal riffing and a bunch of melodic clean guitar parts. It's simplistic but there's some really beautiful moments like the ethereal guitar at the end of “Ei Se Ollut Vahinko”. The drums (unsure if they're programmed or not) are fun albeit located in a weird place in the mix, they're kind at the forefront of the sound. This really adds to the uneasy feeling this album gave me.

Piisti's vocals (when there's some) are a mix of black metal shrieks and buried clean vocals, it fits well with the music but they could have be a bit more powerful. The project is more about instrumental landscapes and it's showcasing its wide range of influences (the instrumental black metal country of “Akana” is a clear highlight.) There's also this sort of martial influence sometimes approaching Akitsa.

Ikuus is a a decent and original album but there's still a lot to improve to play in the “big leagues”. The production, raw but melodic, is actually pretty interesting but I'd like to get more meat in the songs. That's a good debut, follow this band with me if you're into adventurous music without compromises.

Thanks to Sun & Moon Records for the CD copy.
Sun & Moon Records on Facebook