Bjørn´s Top 10 list for 2011

 2011 was once again a great year for Metal in my opinion. This year was more of a epic Progressive Metal, treasure and gem finding for me there have been so many albums and new bands I have found this year than really any other so far I think I can safely say most metal heads have enjoyed this year because through other metal heads I found some other nice bands but every body was happy until Morbid Angel came along and shit on every ones hopes and dreams hmm. Well You will not find Morbid Angels new hip shit record if you want to call it that on my top 10 no.

1 Paul Wardingham - Assimilate Regenerate

There has not been a day I have not listened to this album, It is a branching out on the style of Scar Symmetry´s Holographic Universe with not stop shred. Overwhelming melodic death metal and atmosphere. When I really lose my self in this album I really do feel in some since colors on what they might feel like I mean shouldn´t epic space metal be like that?

2 Leprous -Bilateral

This was a very emotion provoking album with its different styles of music and mood changes.

One thought that came to mind when I wrote my review for this album was it made me think of if Modest Mouse did a extreme progressive metal album haha and I mean that. I think Frank Zappa were still alive to this day we would have loved this album. The band worked along side Ihsahn on this album so you know there is some extra creative genius in there some where.

3 Mournful Congregation – The Book of Kings

It came as a shock to me that Mournful Congregation put out a new album on the 1^st of November it slipped right under my radar. Thankfully through our very own Jon told me about the albums release and I gave it a listen and I was blown away It was a much better come back that their previous record The June Frost. The album is really dark and ambient.

4 Anubis Gate – Anubis Gate

I have only been into this Danish Progressive Metal act for about 6 months now This was a pretty common Melodic Progressive Rock/Metal album but it made my top ten because each songs moody segments where they kind of hit you hard in the heart if you really get into the progressive sine like I do and also Henrik Fevre´s vocals there is something powerful and magical about his vocal tone. This also being my favorite release from them by far.

5 Dystopia Na! - Syklus

I found this band while searching around on youtube just over the fall. It is a really moody Post-Black/Doom Metal album and being really one out of a small hand full of post-Black Metal bands I like there are calm moments of new age atmospheres and melodic acoustic guitars and harsh slowed down black metal this album a great gem for any post-Black Metal fan. Underground bed room Black metal at its best.

6 Andromeda - Manifest Tyranny

Another shock to see I am a big fan of these guys one of the best Progressive Metal bands to inspire me musically and lyrical and this album might be their heaviest album to date and maybe their darkest to the lyrical content which being subjects on the New World Order and all the problems that the world is facing today. One thing I loved is through parts of some of the songs they play clips of world leaders saying some really scary things that really make you think is there really some one pulling the strings in world affairs.

7 Scar Symmetry – The Unseen Empire

Ah yes another anti New World Order album makes the list. I waited day in and day for this album to come out and at first after listening I was kind of disappointed in it but after I did my review and gave it a couple of more listens and it grew on me. The two new singers had improved than the previous release Dark Matter Dimensions but I still think in some ways that album is still a little better than The Unseen Empire, The lyrics to this album when it comes to the subject matter more up front and out there to say the least.

8 Taake - Noregs Vaapen

This one album I have been waiting for this year and Taake always delivers the goods. They still remain to the true Norwegian Black Metal sound though there were some interesting influences on this album with the banjo, the album brought back memories of the old Darkthrone sound. This also was a much better improvement than the previous self titled album I thought. Also with the band only singing in Norwegian I found it interesting that there was a english sound clip of a girl saying I hope we have the coldest winter ever.

9 Shattered Skies – Reanimation

Wow a Djent band made my top 10 list strange huh ? Well to say the least this Djent band Shattered Skies is more Groove Progressive Metal even though some people say that is what Djent is any way but this does not have any break downs and less of that bright Djent tone it is more melodic and colorful and the vocal melodies are just fantastic the production is ok but the musicianship makes up for where the production fails in my opinion. This group has a lot of talent and deserves a little more notice I will be looking forward from more from this band.

10 Galleon – In The Wake Of The Moon

One of my all time favorite if not truly my favorite Progressive Rock band Galleon released this new album on the 26^th of November it caught me off guard since their last album was released in 2007 it seemed like they were running out of ideas. When I got this new album I found it to be a small come back to what they have done in the past or at least in the mid point in their carrier. I did like every song on this album Mr. Murphy and In The Wake Of The Moon are my favorite songs by far. I think a little more could have been done with this album but the album is different in its self it has a lot of progressive rock and pop melodies mixed in every but still remains moody.

Runners Up/ Almost made it on my top 10 list.

1 Abnormal Thought Patterns - Abnormal Thought Patterns EP

2 Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events

3 Devin Townsend Project – Ghost

4 Vintersorg – Jordpuls

5 Opeth – Heritage

What I hope for in 2012:

Well I hope to see some new stuff from Mirrorthrone, up coming music from Christian Älvestam, Soilwork, and I hope to God Winds puts out a new album in 2012 they are much over do for a new release. Who knows what else is in store for in 2012 when it comes to music only time will tell.

-Bjørn

Abnormal Thought Patterns – Abnormal Thought Patterns EP [CynNormal Lab Recordings] (2011)

This new up coming project was just brought up to me just yesterday I heard the teaser for this album only yesterday and I my jaw dropped to the floor ! This is the work of Troy and Jasun Tipton brothers and Mike Guy of Zero Hour. This EP is a crazy 20 minute face melting technical shred-a-thon and by far the best work out of all 3 members of the band. The EP fuses Shred, some elements of extreme metal, Instrumental music, unheard of time signatures, and colorful melodies. My first thoughts upon hearing this EP was this was like if Bottled Science and Rusty Cooley snorted a line of coke and Dream Theater being the line of coke and then Bottled Science and Rusty Cooley picked up their instruments and started playing. The bass solos on this EP are fantastic nothing but sweep picking and crazy tapping patterns the first track The Machine Within is a good example of this. The epic four part song Velocity and Acceleration is a great show case for the members to show off their talents and upon listening to each part you can get a feel each songs ways of expressing the ways of technical playing and melodic phrasing working hand and hand. Ulnar Nerve Damage is 51 seconds of bass shred and listening to it for the first time Less Claypool came to mind. The final track Electric Sun is my favorite track on this album the drummer is riding on the cymbal while he plays a slightly off tempo quarter note hit on the high hat, and while the rhythm guitars beat along with the bass drum, the solo is on this album plays mostly through out the song it is a very simple lick hearing it Steve Vai came to mind, and also through out the track while each part is played this is a light atmosphere synth pad that acts as a filler. The production of the Ep is what one might come to find in a just about every Progressive Metal band as far as mixing and mastering go. The EP was mixed by Dino Alden who also plays in Zero Hour and works with Marty Friedman and mastered by Alan Douches who has worked with Between The Buried And Me, and The Dillinger Escape Plan. These project will not disappoint ANY fellow guitar player, drummer, or bass player or really I would think any one who listens to this because these guys have so much talent and they know how to use it. These guys really do deserve some mainstream success. If you are interested here the teaser for this EP give it a listen ! -Bjørn

Leprous – Bilateral (2011) [InsideOut Music]

Avant-Garde Metal at its best, I must say! I got hooked on these guys about a year ago searching on progarchives and these guys are for sure extremely original with each album they have put out.

Bilateral is hands down their best album to date even though it is only their third release, these guys are very much unbelievable Progressive music lovers and the first thing you will hear stick out with this album is the crazy fucking amount of Frank-Zappa influence, and the epic progressive traits in the Avant-Guard style you know and love ! The opening track Bilateral, once you have listened to that track you can get a little sample of that the whole album is like in some what of a nutshell. There is also some light hearted indie rock and some post rock influences on the album as well which at times remind me of Modes Mouse right before they get into the more hard rock/metal moments when they come about. Also if you have not ever listen to this band you will soon hear the very same vocal tone of Johnathan Davis of Korn in the singers voice and also at times I.C. Vortex for instance when you listen to the first track in the first opening 8 seconds you will know what I mean or if you just listen to the album or any of their past efforts. There is some 7 string guitar parts in there but they are not the death metal temelo picking blazing around on that 7 string riffs NO the riffs they use on the 7 strings do play around on the 7^th string but they more used in the way of like something you might hear in a hard rock band except on Waste of Air they do get pretty progressive death metal like.

The overall atmosphere and feel of the album is pretty progressive but yet very kind of artsy when I listened to this band and this record alone I always kind of pictured listening to it in a caffe shop at times at least for a lot of the keyboard atmosphere parts and the post rock parts. Also I would like to point out that the key board parts remind me a lot of the late Opeth style and the other all feel of the playing of them in some of those softer songs kind of like taking acid and listening to a Pink Floyd album. Come to think of it on Bilateral this is a pretty balanced album though there is more slower parts on this album unlike the previous two records which were pretty heavy. Ihsahn did some guest vocals on this album as well and produced the album the other you get into this album you will be able to tell that this does sound like a Ihsahn produced album with production quality and other things. I would like to point out that the members of Leprous are Ihsahns fill in band for when he plays live with his solo project and upon listening there is no doubt he made a good choice in picking these guys because the musicianship very tight the flow of the band is very organic but still have has some technical characteristics there playing.

I think with this album they can reach out to people who are fans of non metal music. I do think this is their best record to date and I can´t stop listening to it ! It is pretty impressive stuff these guys are really original and their music should have no problem winning you over.

-Bjørn

Ola Englund Interview

Thank you Ola for taking time to talk to us ! How are you doing ?

I’m fine thank you! Winter is coming…


How did you first get into music ? And What made you want to start playing the guitar ?

First band I ever listened to was Twisted Sisters, I was probably around 4-5 something but it wasn’t until I was 12 or so before I REALLY discovered music, starting to buy cds, I loved Nirvana and I must admit that my first ever guitar hero was Kurt Cobain. Then shortly after that I got into Pantera, now we’re talking around 1994. It was somewhere around the middle there where I began playing guitar. My dad has been in bands and collected guitars so it was pretty easy to start off borrowing his gear.

What are your musical influences and besides Metal music what other types of music do you like and why?

I would say the main influences in my way of writing and thinking music are Pantera. I LOVE riffs and Dimebag was the master. Other styles I guess it’s getting old but I was always a fan of video game music and anime music.

You are a rising force on Youtube what drove you to start putting videos of your self playing through amps ?

By the same reason why I still put up videos. It’s loads of fun! I started of by demoing my own stuff but around a year ago(july 2010) people on forums started to lend me their amps to record for them and it just went on from there. I’m a total gear addict and a total nerd when it comes to dialing amps so all this testing is good for me, like therapy hah!

For some who do not know about your band FEARED tell us about it !

Feared is a band that I started to be able to express all my influences and everything I love about metal. Started out around 2007, formed a full 4-piece band, made a couple of shows. I continued to write songs and I ended up playing the songs in my videos. One album and one EP released, a follow up album coming this fall, as well as an instrumental album coming next year. Simple put; Everything I write and create are Feared songs. Feared is me and I AM Feared *awkward silence*


What other musical projects have you been involved in if any ?

I used to play in a band called Subcyde, the childhood friend band you started playing with at middle school and hung around with for the coming 10 years. Now I also play in metal band Scarpoint which is the first band I joined in the purpose of being a second guitarist, before that it has always been about MY band, MY riffs etc. I heard their album and I thought to myself, DAMN I need to play with them. I’m also playing in a old cult doom band called Sorcerer, album in the making there! Standard E metal, got to love it.

Tell us about all of the guitars and gear you have owned in the past and also what is the best and worst guitars and gear you have owned

First guitar I ever owned was a Fender Mustang. Great guitar for a beginner, but as I went nuts about Pantera I had to have a Washburn Dimebag guitar. So I got the black Washburn Dime loaded with a Bill Lawrence L500 pickup. Shortly after that I got sold on Ibanez guitars when I started listening to Dream Theater. I ordered the FIRST ever Ibanez RG7620 that was imported to Sweden just when they came out 1998. I was the luckiest guy ever. 7-string was the new trend going around with Korn, Dream Theater, Morbid Angel etc. Around this time this was when I was starting getting into amps and gear and I got my first Dual Rectifier. So my real first REAL metal rig was the Ibanez RG7620, a black plated Dual Rectifier and an oversized Mesa 4x12. Pure JOY! After this I’ve owned to many amps and guitars to count. My favourite guitar I had was a Ibanez Universe PWH. It was the most comfortable guitar ever. And like the gear whore I am I sold it. Biggest mistake, BUT stuff comes and goes. That has always been my moto.

You now have a signature guitar through Strictly 7 guitars how did this come about and can you tell us about the guitar its self ?

Like a love story we found each other and made sweet love in the moon light. Strictly 7s Jim Lewis is a great guy and the feeling of working together was mutual so everything felt right from the start. They built me a prototype guitar and it’s the best guitar I have ever played. It has high end specs and it just reeks quality. The idea was to create a production model with all these high end specs but for a reasonable price. The outcome was the Solar7. I’m very happy about this and I can’t wait for people to try it out. I’ll be attending Namm 2011 so you can expect my ugly face standing there by the Strictly 7 booth talking endless about frets and the perfect string height.


 


Are there any other guitarists you would like to worth in the future ?

Oh there are so many awesome guitarists out there. I like shredders but I enjoy musicality more, and some guys are just too good. Guys like Keith Merrow, Misha Mansoor, Fred Brum etc. They are top notch players but what I really enjoy is their ability to write music. I must say doing all this on Youtube and Facebook opens your eyes, there is so much talent out there that never gets out in the open. Think of all the awesome music everyone is missing out on?! Oh yeah if you get the chance check out The Omega Experiment and Red Seas Fire. Awesome bands!


What is one place in the world you would like to live at ?

I live there. It’s in Sweden. Say all you want about Sweden ,it’s cold, grey and too many hot women to handle, but it’s a WORKING country. Wouldn’t mind having a resort on Barbados or any other tropic county so I can dive with the dolphins and turtles. That would bring me one step closer to my second dream, to one day become the king of the dolphins.

What is your favorite beer and why?

You’re talking to the guy who gets drunk after one beer nowadays. I seriously don’t drink as much now when I’m a father. I love all beers (sorry America your beer sucks). Favourite right now is probably Belgian Stella Artois. Just an easy going tasty beer to drink before slapping your children to sleep.


Thank you for taking time to speak with us ! Do you have any final words you would like to say ?

Yes, I do NOT slap my children to sleep. I’m the most sarcastic guy ever, and it never turns out well on the internet. Thanks for the interview!



 -Bjørn

Paul Wardingham - Assimilate Regenerate (2011) [Enigmatic]

As a guitarist and shredder my self I have been waiting all my life for a album like this ! Being a big fan of Scar Symmetry´s Holographic Universe (as well as their other works) this is the first offering of that albums Melodic Death Metal or aka Future Metal style in shred form as some have deemed it.

It very clear that Paul´s style of guitar playing is HIGHLY influenced by Scar Symmetry and above all Per Nilsson. Assimilate Regenerate brings out and builds upon Scar Symmetry´s Holographic Universe style and with the space synths, and Swedish style Melodic Death Metal as well as some Djent riffs in there. But if you are looking for Death Metal vocals and clean vocals you will not find that stuff here because this is a all instrumental album.

Paul´s skills are out of this world when a guitar is in his hands. His guitar tones for both rhythm and leads are crystal clean the drums are very tight as well the spacey synths parts all played in areas of the song where they belong. The over all production of the album is really high quality. ONE OF MY FAVORTIE things about this album is that Paul is not playing in the Rusty Cool uber super duper shred play 3000 notes per second which is a growing trend among most guitar players these days when it comes to modern shred. There is an equal balance between the brutality and melodic solos which all together on this album just has amazing song writing.

Through super chunky Scar Symmetry, and Sybreed riffs, melodic Per Nilsson solos, and spacey solos this album has been the high light of 2011 for me. Like I said I have been waiting for an album like this to come out I can not stop listening to it, It is a 60 minute Future Metal space trip after only listening to this album 10 times and listening to my personal favorite track Ghost in the Machine it is refreshing to guitar some one play the guitar with such energy and passion, also the album has no big label meddling in the music so it is safe to say Paul did all the music him self with no help from greedy money hungry labels.

I am sure Paul is on the write road on his musical career you watch this man is going to be going places .

-Bjørn

Devin Townsend Project – Ghost [HevyDevy Records] (2011)

Devin Townsend is back at it once more and he now as much before brings us two new albums for 2011, namely Ghost and Deconstruction. These two new albums are very much in the same vein as previous albums Ki and Addicted. Ghost behaves much like Ki in the form of very laid back and ambient "chill out" music, if you will, and Deconstruction more like Addicted; very heavy and extreme while having all kinds of progressive elements.

I thought of writing a double review for both Ghost and Deconstruction, as they are companion pieces to each other, but I will save my Deconstruction review for a later date.

This album was pretty impressive. Not only do I like my Funeral doom, Black, Death, Doom, Progressive metal and other forms of extreme music but I do enjoy the more esoteric non-metal forms of music, namely progressive rock, ambient, Jazz fusion, new age music, and more. These genres, above all, emulate emotion, which is showcased in Ghost's ability to capture the childlike, nostalgic bittersweet that is wholly present in Devin Townsend's music and is representative of his own struggles with emotion.
Influence from progressive rock greats Mike Oldfield and Alan Holdsworth are highly prevalent throughout Ghost. Echoes of Oldfield's classic Tubular Bells surface in the form of soft, acoustic guitars and melancholic, folky melodies, while the Alan Holdsworth influences are much more in the progressive rock-tinged ambiance that he has claimed his own, but without the odd open chord structures. With those two influences, Devin blends in all kinds of "chill out," Zen, soothing, dreamy, flowing, electronics, acoustic music and new age types of styles. This is a very relaxing album; Townsend does do a good job of drawing upon his signature "wall of sound" style but in a more quiet, subdued manner, creating a monstrous, hour and 13 minute long album.
If you are expecting another metal album from the Devin Townsend camp, prepare to be shocked. Strict metalheads might want to stick to Deconstruction and pretend Ghost never happened but, if you need something to break away from metal for an hour or two, then this is your album. Sit back, drink some beer or something hard, and think. For the hardcore Devin Townsend fan this is a must have for you ! Because if you really do feel the way I do about this style of music then you will keep coming back to this album much like I have.

-Bjørn

Origin – Entity [Nuclear Blast Records] (2011)

Brutal Technical Death Metal Origin have released their 5^th Studio album ENTITY and well it was not to impressive BUT I do have some nice things to say about it.

Never the less this band is all pushing the limits and even going beyond break neck speeds that some think impossible. OK song writing and at the same time really technical progressive structures that is good crazy robot like drums that are not a drum machine but a human that are not triggered not that there is anything wrong with triggered drums I personally enjoy them and having that impossible sounding speed though triggers do not make you play faster the POINT is that the drums oddly enough are not all CLICK CLICK CLICK ok? One of my main problems with this album is that as many songs as there are that total out to 40 minutes is that well really when you listen to it straight through it is pretty much one song that is 40 minutes long but broken down into multiple tracks with all kinds of crazy guitar noodling going there and OH there and very near if you know what I mean ? It is like the band had practiced the music of Entity so much that they 1000000% nailed every bodies take at once ! Another problem I have is that this band plays live and I am not sure if they would agree or understand but with all of the layering and impossible stuff they do on this album manly for the guitars it needs 2 guitarists live or even 4 just to be safe. For the subject matter I find the music really unfitting I think there could have been some atmospheric parts with synth NOT to much but just enough I did like their past efforts and I think there could have been more added to enhance the atmosphere of each said album but this one I really do not find a real true reason to give it another listen. These guys have crazy talent and none of it is wasted for sure but then again I have never been really into the technical stuff to much there are quit a few I really like but this is not one of them. 

-Bjørn

LiamENGL Interview

Welcome and Thank You for taking time to do This interview with us How Are You doing ?

No problem at all! I'm doing good thanks!

Can You tell us alittle about your self ?

My name's Liam, I'm a 21 year old guitarist from the UK. And as a hobby I post guitar covers of songs I like on youtube.

How Did You become envolved in music, How Did You Find your way to the guitar ?

I first got into music (or metal music) at about 8 years old after watching bands like Slipknot and Korn on MTV2. At the age of 12 I discovered the band Soilwork who totally blew me away, I first wanted to pick up a guitar after hearing their A Predators Portrait album (even though I didn't start taking it seriously until a few years later).

 

You Are getting some notice on YouTube What drove You to post videos ?

Because I never took lessons or had any guitarist friends I first wanted to post videos to get feedback and advice on my playing as a way of improving my technique.

You cover alot of Soilwork songs and other Melodic Death Metal bands aswell as some Progressive Metal bands and a few Djent bands What Are some other bands You would like to cover in the future AND Will we ever see any music You have wrote uploaded to your channel ?

There are SO many bands I would like to cover if I had the time to learn them all, Poets of the Fall, Akira Yamaoka, Tesseract to name a few. And yes you will most definitely see both my own music and music for the bands I play for on my channel once the time is right.

What guitarists have influenced You the most and Why ?

Peter Wichers is obviously a HUUGE influence as he is the reason I first picked up a guitar. Per Nilsson for his great smooth leads and fluid phrasing. Drop (Thomas) from Sybreed for his ridiculously tight rhythms. Bulb (Misha) from Periphery for his amazing songwriting and music production skills. Ben Sharp for the emotion and atmosphere he can put through his playing. And Lee McKinney from Born of Osiris for just being a total boss!

Tell us about your rig and set up for music and as Well as your guitars.

For home use I use an Axe FX Ultra running into an Maudio Fast track pro interface to record direct into the PC, and monitor either using headphones or Alesis M1 speakers.
For live I use the Axe FX Ultra into an Atomic MB150 poweramp.
The guitars I own currently are:
Caparison Horus HGS Oiled Walnut with a Bareknuckle Nailmbomb in the bridge and a Dimarzio pro track in the neck
Caparison Horus Maplecloud (MF07 neck with a Snowcloud body) with a Dimarzio d-sonic in the bridge and chopper in the neck.
And a Peter Wichers custom 'Soilwork' Caparison Angelus with 2 x EMG 81s.
I also have some Washburn bass which I don't know anything about haha!!
 
Are You currently in any bands or projects ?

Currently I play live guitars for the death metal band Diamorphus (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Diamorphus/123888080982716)
and I have my own project called Minerva
(http://www.facebook.com/pages/Minerva/139174629450140)

And there is also another BIG project in the works which I'm keeping a bit hush hush for the moment 

What guitars and or gear Are You thinking of buying in the future and Why ?

Currently I'm very happy with my setup, but if the opportunity arises and I can get a good deal I would love to buy an EBMM BFR JP6 in trans black.

You Also Play a Ibanez Rg 7 String What Are your thoughs on 8 strings, 9 strings, other extended rang guitars and muilti-scale guitars aka the fan-fretted guitars ?

I think extended range instruments are great, they can do everything a 6 string guitar can and more, you just have to be carefull to not get sucked into the whole 'djent' thing and just end up endlessly chugging on your low strings.
That being said I am a 6 string guitarist, but this is because the thicker necks of a 7/8 string have caused problems with my wrist in the past.

Some say That Peter Wichers has a style of playing That no one Can memic I see and hear it in your fingers and How You Play have You noticed This before What Are your thoughts on That ?

Well I think it's great that you can hear that! I've never put any conscious effort into sounding like a particular guitarist, but it's nice to know their style is being shown through me regardless!
I Thank You for your time Liam ! Is there any last words You wish to share with us ?

I'm very glad there are some people who are enjoying the videos! and thanks SO much for all the kind comments/messages! I really appreciate it!!!


Check out Liam ENGL on his YOUTUBE http://www.youtube.com/user/LiamENGL
and his Musical Projects !


-Bjørn

Malevolentia - Ex Oblivion [Season Of Mis] (2011)

Evil, darkness, melodic black metal, amazing orchestration and keyboards, Lyrics based around H.P. Lovecraft ? I think we have a winner here ! Indeed this album is impressive Malevolentia is a French Melodic Black Metal. These guys indeed should have more notice than Alcest since they are from France as well. The whole album is sung in French and like I have stated based around H.P. Lovecraft stories and the song structures and production live up to the worthiness to describe the darkness that emits out from Lovecraft’s stories.




The music of this alum paints a crystal clear image in your head with each song, the album would seem as though as a song ends it continues on to the next chapter of the album. The Orchestration is pretty amazing with this album it the guitars and drums play around the keyboards in like a ritual kind of way so the keyboards are the heart of the songs, The vocals have at that Dani Filth feel to them at times but remaining more raspy and chant like. The production of the album is impressive as well it is more of a high quality mix but still aimed towards at a unground type of mix so I guess some might find it to polished I guess one might say. Generally all of the songs have in and through out them selfs straight blast beats as one will find in your typical Black Metal album and well that is the case here there is it some times feels like there is a TURN OFF TURN ON blast beat switch in this album and it happens a lot ON OFF ON OFF ECT ECT. The best way to describe the album is as if the band had the idea put you through some dark Lovecraft cult ritual with the melodic riffs and its speed plus the over all atmosphere of this album. Ex Oblivion follows more conventional song structures so one could say it is not the quote un-qoute ANTI- MUSIC style Black Metal. But when dealing with orchestration music and having a million melodies fly through your skull and 250 BMP you would want to have some kind of clarity and progressive structure in this style of music.



The bottom line I really did enjoy this album the evil atmosphere, the powerful music, and what pictures/what mental images you see in your head and what you feel from listening to this album. If you are looking for more H.P. Lovecraft based Extreme Metal then give this a listen you will more or less like, love it or even hate it who knows it is not crazy like Portal but good enough.



- Bjørn

Scar Symmetry - The Unseen Empire

Scar Symmetry seems to be pushing out albums every other year and maybe that is a good thing but it can also be a bad thing. The band released a preview of the album by releasing the song Illuminoid Dream Sequence a month before the albums release and I was pretty happy with what I heard in the song. Progressive Death Metal with killer melodies and fantastic song structures ! I thought it was going to be a ground breaking album like Holographic Universe was for them but well it was not like at all. I was a fan of Dark Matter Dimensions and I think there could have been more time spent on creativity on that album it very much did have its own style and sound to it then the last 3 albums much like this new album The Unseen Empire but more or less. The opening track to The Unseen Empire is The Anomaly I was kind of like huh ? Upon hearing this song for the first time because with each Scar Symmetry album it seems like they have always had great ideas for opening the album of there albums but this one is like a mix of hard rock and just Metal with some death metal vocals in it here and there. It took me a few listens to that song to like it..

About half of the album just seems like not much time was really put into thought and trying to getting all of the ideas out clear enough more like generic ideas really. The album is about topics on the N.W.O. (New World Order) not the wresting N.W.O. But the Conspiracy Theory as much of their albums are which I see and have found evidence to believe that it is true. This album deals with the Global Elite on what they do to humanity, how they do horrible things to humanity, use fear to control the population, and so forth. I fear as though these guys are running out of ideas for songs and well they have put out a new album every other year so.. The main clean singer Lars his vocal melodies are not has pitchshifted and power metal to fuck on this album as well and Roberth his death grunts are just brutal as ever. But as I have said this album is really just some hard rock with Metal and death grunts thrown into it I did like the first 7 tracks but the last 2 I do not like as much. So give it a shot for your self give it a listen. I really hope the next effort is much better. 

-Bjørn 

A Interview with HENRIK OHLSSON from SCAR SYMMETRY

Thank you Henrik for taking time and doing this Interview with us ! How are you doing ?

No problem, it`s my pleasure. I`m doing fine, been doing mail interview all day but that`s allright- I actually kind of enjoy it. We`ve had interview-sessions on and off over a month now and we`re kind of in the process of finishing it off with a bunch of mailers. It`s all a part of the promotion of the new album.
 
How long have you been playing the drums, Do you play any other Instruments, and What got you into music ?
 
I`m 35 years old now and I started playing when I was 13. I discovered KISS when I was 8 years old and I`ve been into metal ever since. I listened to heavy metal for some years and then I got into thrash metal and later on death metal. I went to a process of getting more and more extreme in my musical taste. What got me playing in bands was basically thrash and death metal, thrash was huge when I was 13 and when I was about 15 years old, in the beginning of the 90`s, the whole death metal boom happened and I was hooked by that and decided to form a band. Aside from playing drums I also play guitar. I wrote all the music for an album called ”Dispiritism” by my band Altered Aeon (r.i.p) released in 2004 and I recorded all the instruments (except solos) for the Altered Aeon demo in 2003. I`ve also done lead vocals for three full-length albums- Theory In Practice ”The Armageddon Theories”, Theory In Practice ”Colonizing the Sun” and Mutant ”The Aeonic Majesty”.

How do you get inspiration to write the lyrics ? You read the book Holographic Universe for the album Holographic Universe but what about the previous albums and the new album The Unseen Empire What books, People, movies/documentaries, and research or if any of that does that play a roll in the writing process for you ? If so can you please explain ?
 
Well, first of all I haven`t read the book ”Holographic Universe”, I stumbled upon the ideas presented on the ”Holographic”-album when I researched quantum physics. But I`ve seen interviews with the author of ”Holographic Universe” and I`ve seen references to that book in other works so I know what that book is about. I have a general interest in these topics and pretty much every Scar Symmetry album circulate around the same topics lyrically even though the perspective changes from album to album. The whole thing about the Illuminati etc. that is very present on the new album is actually something that has been present in the lyrics on every album, yet in a more subtle way perhaps. I have my own personal views and opinions about all this but I look to authors like David Icke, who is very extreme in his theories, for inspiration. David Icke is a perfect source of inspiration when writing lyrics for metal around these subjects because of his extreme approach. Other than that I read books on history, both official and alternative ideas about history and put the pieces together. I also read a lot about new science, alternative science that hasn`t really been accepted yet by the mainstream. And of course I`m into occult systems, I`ve been studying that for a long time. All of this fit together in a very mindblowing way and I`m writing from a point where science and magic kind of blend into one. For this album I focused a bit more on books and articles about the Federal Reserve and the supposed cults that stand in the shadows, safe from the eyes of the mainstream media. I asked myself questions like: ”Why are certain things displayed in the news and others completely ignored?”. The more you think about stuff like that the more you get fired up to write about The New World Order and related things because it`s obvious that there is a lot of manipulation going on in the world. To which degree we`re being manipulated is something that everyone has to decide for themselves but if you go into the rabbit-hole you`ll see possibilities that it might be deeper than you think.

How did you become aware//awake to the New World Order ?

When the process of globalization really started to charge forth it was impossible to ignore that some kind of New World Order was emerging. I saw the term everywhere, David Icke talks about it a lot of course but I can`t remember exactly when I heard about it the first time. It might have been in Icke`s book ”The Robot`s Rebellion”, I read that one in the late 90`s. Anyway, I find all the theories surrounding the Illuminati and the New World Order intriguing and it`s easy to write about that from different points of view. Most of the time I go with the weirdest stuff possible and sometimes, but not often, I keep it somewhat ”down to earth”. I want the lyrics to have this otherworldly vibe and that`s why I enjoy writing from extreme points of view most of all.
 
When your not fighting Global Government with the music of Scar Symmetry what do you like to do in your free time ?

I`m not actually fighting globalization, whatever you fight becomes stronger since you add energy to it an intense way. I just write about it with the intent to ”enlighten” AND, don`t forget this, to entertain. Some listeners aren`t really interested in the lyrical subjects as such and just want cool stories and that`s allright. The lyrics are just entertainment for them which is cool with me. Others are more genuinely interested in the lyrical themes and that`s even better. But I don`t want to be seen as some sort of activist or a preacher of anything since I am first and foremost just a musician and a lyricist with a special approach. I`m not a preacher and I don`t pretend like my ideas hold the ultimate truth or anything like that. Anyway, in my freetime I`m doing pretty normal things: hang out with my family, write, read, watch movies, work out (something I`ve started doing recently. Always hated it but now I found I actually enjoy it), drink alcohol every now and then and write songs for different projects that I`m involved in.

Do you guys plan on doing a long tour in support of The Unseen Empire like you did for Dark Matter Dimensions ?

Yeah, we did several tours in support of ”Dark Matter Dimensions” and eventually we`ll go on tour in support of the new album. The album will be released at the 15th of April and we`ll start the festival season right after the release party at the 30th of April. We`re booked for several festivals and events this summer plus some dates in Australia so we have to concentrate on that first and foremost. After the summer we`ll do either a European or an American tour, we haven`t decided yet. We`ll also do some dates in South America before the end of the year and then we`ll continue promoting the album through shows next year.
 
Thank You for your time and talking with us ! Do you have any final words or anything you would like to add ?

As always I would like to thank the fans, your support is immensely appreciated and we hope you like the new album! Check our facebook/myspace-sites for the latest info! 



-Bjørn

Oathean - Oathean (2010) [Jusin]

What the fuck happened here? I have long followed Oathean for some time now and for those of who, who do not know what this band. Oathean is a Korean Black Metal band with some Gothenburg riffs and melodic parts here and there. But anyway With their last release and this self titled release this is one of those album that goes to show you this is what happens when a band has run out of ideas and MUST resort to jumping on the CHEESE WANGON (aka the train of producing shitty riffs and cheesy fucking music).

Unlike their first 3 album which had killer riffs, music, ideas, originality ect ect ect. With this release there is none of that. With the intro track (Those Who Curse) it is a 33 second intro that is a cheesy//corn synth intro which is really how all of the synth is on this album it is like something cradle of filth would shit out good fucking god.
Pretty much all of the riffs and guitar work on this album are tremolo picking that has been done a million times over oh oh and the other riffs are basically shitty half assed Norwegian Black Metal riffs basically.

After some how getting passed the 2nd track (Oathean) the following track (Two Faces) HAS A FUCKING BREAK DOWN !!!!! What the fuck is that shit ? I guess these guys have been gaining influence by listening to Abigail Williams or some shit. Well I like I said this is a album that was produced in which the ideas have stopped flowing so I guess They could not think of any Black Metal ideas so something as easy and shitty as core must be a little easier to think of ideas in terms of playing.

Well I have pretty much summed up this album Core, breakdowns or no they are not even Breakdowns I am going to call them Blackdowns that is a perfect name for them, horribly ripped off Ghost Reveries riffs with some Deathcore chromatic riffs, boring ass drums, pussy cry baby sorrowful synths, cheap knock off Norwegian black metal riffs, well at least the vocalist still sings in the same style still. What a piece of shit.

-Bjørn

Septic Mind - Начало "The Beginning" (2010) [Solitude Productions]

Начало or "The Beginning" in its translation. This being their monstrous debut
album and by monstrous I mean it is so DOOM it hurts. This album features 3 atmosphere traditional like Funeral doom songs with some fast parts at least on the drums, trippy soundscapes, and some retro to melodic guitar solos.

The opening of the title track Начало or "The Beginning" has a old school doom intro with its clean guitar swimming around in the reverb, Chorus and flanger effects while the beat of the drums  pound a long for about 6 minutes.
The heavy parts have a more Doom Death Metal type of feel to them but adding these ambient soundscapes along side ambient guitar clean tones and distorted ambient guitar leads.

The second track Уводящий or "The Misleading" has a long intro of drone ambient sounds, ambient distortions, and just over all weird sounds. Upon till it reaches a more musical part with its clean guitar patterns and ambient lead over the top with the drums in a never changing pattern that follows along with the clean guitars. It is only in the last remains 5 something minutes of the track that the more metal parts come into play. At first I thought this going to be mostly a old sounding like track with its long intro and looping clean verses, But was proven wrong in the last 5 minutes of the track.

The third and final song Покинувшие Мир or "The Ones Who Left This World". Upon playing this track DOOM can only be said this is the heaviest track out of the 3 songs. Super slow verse with strange sci-fi sound effects playing through out the verse that will trick thoughts 60s, and 70s space movies. Then out of no where this is this psychedelic ambient part that is shocking brings out a lot of hopeless and negative like emotions. Only to jump right back into the crushing doom and within this heavy part there is a old school blast beat that carries on for a good couple of minutes of the song only to have the last remaining minutes of the track with millions of weird sounds and heavy breathing.

Over all this was a very good release and had many crushing parts at least on the first and final tracks. I think more could have been done and I think a lot of  creativity is lacking in the second track but over all give it a listen.


-Bjørn

Universum - Mortuus Machina (2010) [Riot Records]

With this being the second offering from Universum featuring guest work from: Christian Älvestam, Marios Liopoulos, Olof Morck, Ola Frenning, Tommy Tuovinen, Paul Wardingham. It is a better album then their first work.

The guitar work is your basic melodic death metal along the lines of Soilwork, Dark Tranquillity, ect ect but never the less with some original idea thrown in here and there. But never the less there are plenty of good groovy riffs in there that are enjoyable ! The Keyboards you almost can not hear them in the mix I mean they are there but they are like a silent atmosphere effect like of that which Soilwork and some others do which is sad because I think they should have just as much as a open part as a guitar solo ! The bass is pretty tight. The drums are impressive because they are not triggered all to hell which is not a bad thing that does fit some music. The vocals on this record are greatly improved being with the first album which was way into the hardcore style. Here they are more guttural and at some parts will remind one of Johan Axelsson the ex singer of Arch Enemy.

Christian Älvestam brings his signature vocal melodies and vocal tone as a guest on this album and he does a damn good job ! My only complaint is that his vocals on this album have to much of a recording booth reverb in the mix it is something you must hear for yourself and judge. As for Marios Liopoulos, Olof Morck, Ola Frenning, Tommy Tuovinen, Paul Wardingham their solos are amazing Universum chose well in picking their guests for this album.

This was a much better album then their first effort Give this album a try you might like it.

-Bjørn

Wanderlust - Breathing Pestilence (2011) [Self-Released]

This is a project by our own Elan ! This is a short 4 song demo and for a first time release this should not go upon deaf ears this is a killer listen !

The sound is lo-fi but with quality ! This demo packs a punch with its mixture

of Norwegian Black Metal vibes and Belgian Black Metal influence. With the lyrics being focused around Belgian history the music and atmosphere there is a lot of heart and soul put into this demo. 

A great Satyricon influence dwells within these 4 songs as well as some old school Darkthrone influence but to the point where it would make the demo sounds like another carbon copy. The riffs are pretty standard with the tremolo picking and chord progressions and the drumming I think is the most vibrant out bursting interment on this recording. 

The Opening and Closing songs "Breathing Pestilence" and "Stone White Gods" take the cake for the best songs out of the 4. Do your self a favor and give this demo a listen. 

Official MySpace

-Bjørn

A Interview With Hypnotic Dirge Records !

 

 

 

How are you? It is an honor to have you speak with us!

Hi Bjørn, It's nice to talk to you again as well.

What made you want to start this label?

I started Hypnotic Dirge out of the relatively simple idea that I wanted to be in control of my own destiny when it came to releasing my music under the moniker 'Ancient Tundra' when that project was active. Writing this now in 2011, this feels like a long time ago, as I was 18 at the time and things have changed with the label and in my own life quite a lot since then. Over time, the work with the label overtook my desire to continue writing new music for the Ancient Tundra project, and at this point I am taking a pretty long break from music to focus mainly on the record label as well as other creative mediums such as photography or video projects whenever possible. Actually the label has become much more of a full-time thing then was originally intended. Some people might be able to balance running a label and a full-time music project at the same time but I don't think I'm one of those people. Not at the moment anyway, especially with university also taking a large chunk of my time!

Can you tell us about what your label is about?

Hypnotic Dirge Records aims to release emotional music within the metal genre. That sounds like a really broad generalization, but I feel like that is the best way to put it. By emotional music, I do mean "emo", nor do I mean "depressive black metal." It's not like there is anything wrong with Depressive Black Metal and in fact I have realeased some albums in the past that could be defined as such, but as a whole, the genre is way too restricting, so I don't like to define Hypnotic Dirge as having any specialties within any particular genre. Real art is meant to break boundaries, and not fall within a "safe zone" so I just want to keep releasing music that I feel deserves an outlet for as long as possible. 

Tell us about the bands on your roster.

The active bands on Hypnotic Dirge Records at the moment are Exiled From Light, The Foetal Mind, netra, Ekove Efrits, Funeral Fornication, Astral Luminous, Neige et Noirceur, Old Forgotten Lands, and One Dark Curse

The roster has actually thinned out quite a bit lately due to the fact that there will not be any further Ancient Tundra, or Winds of Sorrow albums, and it's likely going to be quite a while before there are any new Exiled From Light, or Astral Luminous material, and also because of the fact that Immundus has moved on to Quartier23. Actually at the moment, for the first time in a while, I'm in a position where I am able to accept 1-2 new bands onto the roster so I am slowly going through demos, and listening to new ones even though I'm relunctant to make decisions since roster space is limited due to time and money restraints. (I just want to be sure I make the right decisions seeing as I'm only able to add a couple bands) I'm particularily looking for a couple of already established bands that are looking for a new label as was the case with Ekove Efrits whom I signed earlier this month. 

Going back to your original question, I think every band on the roster brings something fresh to the label as a whole. netra, and Ekove Efrits - the two latest signings on HDR are both extremely unique and interesting projects and both of them represent EXACTLY the kind of music I want on HDR. Not in the sense that I want every band to sound exactly like these two, but in the sense that they are both unique projects who convey real emotions without being restricted by genre bariers.

What do you hope to accomplish with your label?

Keep a steady release schedule for years to come, Watch and help the current bands on the roster grow and develop, slowly find new and interesting additions for the roster, contribute whenever possible with videos, photography, and maybe the odd music project, and above all NEVER make any money from the label for personal things. Always feed money from sales back into new releases and merchandise, and never comprimise artistic integrity for fancy looking pieces of paper with official looking designs on them. Asides from that, no major plans and goals, don't look too far into the future!

What are your favorite bands on your roster?

Right now, I'm really into netra. I got a demo from that project back in June this year I think and I've been listening to the album pretty steadily ever since. I have probably heard it well over 50 times by now, and I have not gotten sick of it. The project has been active since 2003 and finally the debut album was released on December 16th in 2010. It's been nice to finally get this album out and hear what the press and listeners have had to say about the album that I fell in love with when I first received the demo. Generally, it's been about 95% positive, with one person in particular calling it the album of the year. Steven (of netra) and I worked pretty closely for a while in preparing things for the release of Mélancolie Urbaine, first on creating a music video for the track 'La Page' which is online now, and also on a promo video for the release specifically which was a lot of fun to shoot and edit. It's definetely an interesting project, and netra's music gives me a lot of inspiration for videos as well so I feel pretty close to it at the moment! 

Another project that I'm really into at the moment is the latest signing to HDR, 'Ekove Efrits' which is a black metal band from Tehran, Iran. I'll be releasing his latest album 'Conceptual Horizon' this summer, and it's such a fantastic album. I've been listening to that non-stop over the past month as well. (There's also 3 songs from this album streaming on the Ekove Efrits page on the HDR website, so I encourage people to go there and have a listen for themselves)

Funeral Fornication, and Old Forgotten Lands are also projects I'm listening to a lot lately, as they both have fantastic new albums coming out this summer on HDR.

In truth though, I like all of the projects which should be pretty obvious since they are on my record label. There's also the latest album from The Foetal Mind which was released in December 2010 which has a lot of really good songs on it.

Tell us a little about yourself as a person.

What would you like to know? I'm going to university at the moment, so I'm unemployed which is nice as it gives me plenty of time to work on the label and deal with school stuff but it also has some downfalls as I know longer have extra money to throw into the label like I did a couple of years ago. I'm living off of student loans at the moment, and spending some of the government's money on printing CD's and the rest of it on food, and coffee! Usually I might have more exciting things to say, but for the past 3-4 months I have been pretty antisocial.  Not to be cliché or anything, but a lot of times, I really don't like people very much. 

My main interests lie in music, film, photography, philosophy, and (pseudo?)intellectual discussions. I fucking hate shopping malls, jersey shore, business, politics, and the fact that my personal information can now be found with a simple google search! (oops) 

(I get the feeling that I'm signing up for an online dating service with all of these I like/I hate answers. haha)

What does the future hold for HDR?

Actually, 2011 is pretty up in the air at the moment in some aspects. However, I do plan to release the new Funeral Fornication, Old Forgotten Lands, and Ekove Efrits albums in the summer of 2011, and hopefully two or three more albums in the second half of the year. I think an album by Neige et Noirceur, and/or Astral Luminous may be ready by then and if not, I'm sure there are other options. So in that sense, my plans are not concrete yet, and rightfully so as it's only February now, so there's lots of time for things to change. Also in 2011, I do plan on finally releasing some new t-shirts on my label including a Funeral Fornication T-shirt to go along with the Pandemic Transgression release, a netra T-Shirt, and also the first ever Hypnotic Dirge Records T-shirt. Hopefully I'll have enough money through sales to make all of this happen!

Also in 2011, I'd like to make some time for a trip to Quebec in the summer, as well as giving myself a bit more time for photography, and video projects while deciding what I want to take in school in the future. 

Also, I do have plans to open a blogsite for lay down my ramblings including essays and discussions on philosophical, social, and anti-economic subjects with literary, historical, and philosophical connoctations which I have written in the past year or so. While this is not really connected to HDR in any way, it's something that I have in the works which I hope to have online soon, as I've been pretty interested in such topics as of late. One of these essays was made available on the free HDR compilation album 'Melancholic Epiphany (The Trance Formation is Shattered) which was released last November and has lots of really cool stuff on it, so I encourage peopel to download it if they have not done so yet. (You can find the link on the downloads section of www.hypnoticdirgerecords.com

 Generally though, the future is in the air. We'll see what happens!

Thank you for talking with us! Do you have any final words?

Thanks for the questions Bjørn ! I'd like to encourage the random passer-by reading this interview to take a few moments to go to www.hypnoticdirgerecords.com and browse around. There is lots of additional information about the label, the releases, the bands on the roster, a moderately extensive distro section, some streaming music and videos, and free downloads!

I don't like to end this with a cliché, but I feel as if it's neccesary... Please support the music you listen to, as it is becoming extremely hard for small labels to stay afloat, and this affects artists too. I get a lot of worthy demos on a regular basis but I am unable to add any new bands due to a lack of funds. If this happens with a lot of record labels (which it does, as I have had conversations about this)  then a lot of worthy artists can not get their music printed on a physical medium. If Justin Bieber can sell millions of copies of regurgutated formula pop music, surely real artists conveying real emotions can sell 100 copies in order to break even on costs and keep physical releases alive. 

The more people buy CD's, the more I can release in 2011. 

www.hypnoticdirgerecords.com
www.myspace.com/hypnoticdirgerecords
www.youtube.com/user/hypnoticdirgerecords
www.facebook.com/pages/Hypnotic-Dirge-Records/289020060460 

-Bjørn