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Interview with Alex Nesterov from "Wine From Tears".



"Wine from tears" is a Doom Metal band from Russia.
After their 2 releases they're planning to another records soon!
I asked the guitarist/vocalist and founder of the band a few questions about their music, releases, and news!


1) Let's start by a brief history of the band.

Well, the band was founded in 2002. I was a schoolboy and my schoolmate told me there's a guy, who loves doom metal as such as I love and he wants to play it in a band. We met and that was the beginning. My schoolmate took bass and his friend took drums.
Then we found a keyboard player that was a girl.
Over the years people were replaced.
Nowadays we are what we are.

2) Tell me more about the new album and where did the recording take place?

The new CD is all about death, the feelings and thought about it.
It was recorded at "Nosorog rec" in our city by our friend Michael.

3) What do the lyrics deal with?

The lyrics deal with my inner feelings about "what is death for us?"

4) Who made the artwork and does it connect with the lyrics?

The same author as the first album. And yes, it is strongly connected with our lyrics.

5) What makes "Glad To Be Dead" different from "Through The Eyes Of A Mad"?

The first CD consists of the songs which were made from 2000 till 2009. The second album consists of new songs except "the light at the end of the world",it was made in 2001.

6) Is there any place the band hasn't toured yet that you would personally love to go to?

We'd love to play everywhere in the USA and Europe. Maybe some European festivals like OzzFest, Tuska, Rock'am'ring.
We're open for everyone.

7) Tell me more about your upcoming events and your plans for the future!

We're going to record the third CD soon. 21 September we're playing with "Saturnus" in Moscow.

8) What do you think about illegal music downloads?

It's not good..

9) Anything else you would like to add?

Thank you for attention to us. If you want to see us somewhere just invite us by emails.






Check out the band here.


Solacide - Waves Of Hate ~ EP review






Finnish metal bands are always specials and originals. In Lahti a death/ black metal band called SOLACIDE (Ex Dim Moonlight) is raised.
They are five members, Gökhan Korkmaz the Lead Vocalist, Kimmo Korhonen in the lead Guitar, Vocals & Synth, Joonas Vanhalakka in the Guitar as well, Sami Tikkanen in the Bass and last but not least, Matti Jauhola in the drums.

After their 4 demos "…To Tranquility" and "Pleasure of Existence" as Dim Moonlight, "Waves of Hate" and "Baptized in Disgust" (after changing the band's name), they are now here with their new EP "Waves of hate" which will be released on 2 September 2013.

This EP contains 5 tracks: three songs and two lives. The first song is "Waves of hate" which is the title of the EP as well; it starts with an awesome melodic intro just before entering to the world of hate, rage, revolt and revenge with the fast drums and the powerful grunt! In my opinion, it's the perfect opening song for this EP!
The second song "your worst enemy" it’s a little bit blackened. It's psychoanalysis of a person who is "blind" and lost inside his thought, the song tries to clarify that he is the enemy of HIMSELF, he’s his own enemy…It's a philosophy deep and it’s a little shocking. The riffs make us feel the atmosphere of frankness discovery.
The third one is very peculiar; it combines between the grunting of Gökhan and the clean voice of Kimmo. It deals with a subject full of philosophy, it contains a set of questions that anyone can ask in a moment of "depression", questions about the future and its link with the past and if the person is going to face another day; it's called "After the fall"! The song's lyrics end with a question and we can taste slightly this "wonder" and "worry" in the solo!
Then come two songs live "God on fire" from "Baptized in Disgust" and "Nothing Weak Survives" from "Pleasure of Existence". I think these ones need no description... The band’s Technic and ingenuity on stage say it all.

The formula of "Waves of hate" is simple and awesome at the same time; the cover is very simple too by the way!
Cause its awesomeness is in its epic riffs, solos and melodies! The lyrics contribute in that as well; there is a different topic in every song, and they're all about hate and rage. The lyrics fit well with the music, that's what makes you feel the depth of the topics.
This EP does not make you feel bored at all; you can listen to it several times without feeling weary of it.
This kind of mastering is no stranger to the Finns and Solacide proved that!

I think this band shouldn't go unnoticed. These guys deserve to be "highlighted" because they have so much to give; they are simply full of power!

Check out the band here.


                                    Rating : 7,5/10



Interview with Matt Klavins from "Ne Obliviscaris".


Ne Obliviscaris is a progressive metal band from Australia. I had the chance to make an interview with Matt Klavins the guitarist of the band about their news, tours and their path .

1-Let's start by a brief history of the band.
Haha brief… Ne Obliviscaris was founded by Xenoyr and he quickly joined up with Tim Charles after meeting on a forum. There were a few different guitarists back then and then I finally joined in early 2004. I look back now and laugh because I nearly didn't go to the audition. It just shows that you should take whatever opportunities are thrown your way! Shortly after, we recruited Corey King and Brendan Brown.
In 2005 our songs were starting to take shape and we started to talk seriously about the band, what we could achieve and what commitment was needed. On that note, our then drummer Corey Baker stepped aside. We auditioned a few drummers and then Brendan said that he had a friend who had just started to play drums and was coming along really quickly. We auditioned Dan Presland. He hadn't been playing drums for more than a year and showed real potential. We could see that if he kept up the hard work he could be a phenomenal drummer. Dan went on to claim the throne of ‘Australia’s fastest drummer in 2006’.
This was the same year we first hit the live scene after numerous set backs, line up changes and other life changing things. We got to play with some of our favorite local bands and played our first show alongside Be’lakor. In 2007 we felt we were ready to record and went into the studio with Endel Rivers to record ‘The Aurora Veil’. We were all shocked at the reviews that we were getting from it and the exposure was fantastic!
This threw us into the underground spotlight and paid off when we got to support Suffocation, then got an offer for Nevermore that then got cancelled but we got to play the last Metal for the Brain festival instead which was amazing. Just as we felt we were on a roll and ready to record our first album Corey King quit the band due to personal differences among other things. We nearly gave up but thought that we would stick it out for a bit and see how we went. We felt there was too much potential in the band to just give up. We continued writing songs such as Xenoflux and Plague during our search for another guitarist. After countless auditions we began to look offshore and in 2008, 9 months after we started auditions we found Benji Baret in France. He was amazing. Everything he played was brilliant. We arranged for him to come to Australia and went to work teaching him the songs and getting ready to hit the live scene again. We played a lot of shows all around Australia and then in 2010/11 we recorded ‘Portal of I’ with Troy McCosker at Pony Music in Melbourne.
Just as we felt everything was going to plan we were hit with another setback. While Benji was back in France visiting family his Australian Visa was cancelled. He was stuck in France and we had no lead guitarist again. We applied for another visa which was denied. This started our petition to get him back in the country which after 15 months and with the support of our fans, other bands and industry heavy weights we won our appeal! Benji came back to Australia, we released our album and toured Australia extensively. Dan had left the band briefly and did not play the initial album tour so we had Nelson Barnes from The Schoenberg Automaton for these shows. It’s definitely been nice to get Dan back and start looking ahead to our next album though.
2-How did you come up with the band name?
Xenoyr came up with the band name and the band was named before I joined.
3-How do you describe your music? Especially that Ne Obliviscaris is one of the few bands with a violinist.
Progressive metal is the best description I guess. We use so many different styles and sub genres in our music that when we try to describe our sound to people it is genuinely hard to do. Our main elements are Prog and Death but we also use Classical and Black.
4-What are your songs mainly about?
Life. Meanings are up to your interpretation of the song. One thing about Xenoyr’s lyrics is that they aren't so in your face and straight forward. They can mean different things to different people depending on how you interpret each song. We prefer you to make up your own mind.
5-Is there any other kind of music that inspires you ?
It depends on the kind of mood I am in. Recently bands in my playlists have been Animals as Leaders and Devin Townsend. Whilst bands that are different and ‘out there’ can inspire new ideas and ways of playing, sometimes just listening to music that is straight forward can be therapeutic or spark a new concept.
6-You're now recording a new album, can you tell us a bit about it and its release?
We are really looking forward to this release. We feel that we have matured as musicians this time around and can’t wait to add the new songs to our live set. We will be recording the new album at Pony studios again with Troy McCosker. Studio time has been booked in for the end of the year and will be released mid 2014 through our new label Season of Mist.
7-What makes it different from the first?
We feel we are much stronger players than when we wrote the songs on Portal of I. Benji really gets to shine on this album as well. The songs aren't finished yet though. They won’t be 100% finished until they are tracked. We are constantly changing and improvising on the basic song structure until we are fully happy and feel we have the best we can get out of the song.
9-What is the writing process?
This really differs from song to song as we don’t really have a set song writing process. Portal of I was mainly made up of expanding ideas on one riff that someone comes up with and we just go on the journey and see where we end up. This time around Benji has a lot of ideas that have been pent up since recording the last album. I don’t think anyone could ever really just bring in a full song without it being completely ripped to pieces and put back together in a Frankenstein of its original form.
10-And finally, tell us more about your upcoming events and your hopes for the near future.


We are off to Asia in August for a string of headline shows in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan & Thailand and when we return we will be knuckling down doing pre production for the new album and starting to finalize leads and solos. We will take a couple of months off in the beginning of the year once the album has been recorded during the mixing process and then once the album is out we hope to tour Australia again along with Europe, the USA & more!


Dyscordia - Twin Symbiosis ~ Album review



"Dyscordia" a newborn in the progressive/melodic world from Belgium.
They're 6 members, the lead vocalist Piet Overstijns, Stefan Sergers, Martijn Debonnet & Guy Commeece in the guitars, Wouter Nottebaert in the bass-guitar and last but not least Wouter Debonnet in the drums and that's not all, Stefan, Wouter.N and Martijn Debonnet participate in the vocals too, since the band have a very special kind!

After their first EP released in 2010 they're back with their first full album "Twin Symbiosis" that contains eleven songs.
The first things that attracted me to this album are the name and the cover.
The name is needless to explain, we can just see its depth in the artwork cover! These mysterious colors and the picture of the guy who's walking with a soul make you want to open the CD and start listening forthwith.

The album starts with an intro called "Dreamcatcher tree" that contains suave notes which send you to the dreams land and it ends with a haunting atmosphere.
Directly after it, we start tasting the progressive and melodic Metal once "The empty room" begins!
After enjoying the awesome riffs, melodies, solos and all these emotions of the 4 first songs, we start feeling the presence of heavy and power metal without overriding the progressive and melodic side of course, especially in "The loser's game", "Twin Symbiosis" which represents the concept of the album and "Locked within". The last song "My devotion", in my opinion is the best one to end this album! It ends with notes that connect with the intro. That will probably makes you want to replay it again!

This album is very peculiar it might satisfy Progressive, melodic, Heavy and power metal fans. As they have used the Growl/grunt and the clean voice and a noticeable background voice that gives a "horror" touch to the themes...
There's a story behind every song and the lyrics fit well with music and melodies and there's a connection between the songs .
It combines between the joy and sorrow, optimism and pessimism and we feel that from the sound of the drums, the depth of the riffs, the melody of the intros and the epic solos.
It's an atmospheric album full of emotions; it’s a very big mysterious river.

This is their first album, I'm sure that Dyscordia still have so much to give and so much power to expel.

Check out the band here .


                                    Rating : 7/10




Carach Angren - Where The Corpses Sink Forever ~ Album review


We can't talk about symphonic black metal without mentioning the Dutch band CARACH ANGREN.
That band who was able to dig quickly his place in the black metal scene.
But C.A is not really like all the black metal bands you know. They have a very special touch in their music, themes, lyrics, quality and even in the cover's art work!

After their 2 successful albums "Death Came Through A Phantom Ship" & "Lammendam" they released their 3rd one "Where The Corpses Sink Forever" in May 18, 2012.
Differently to the 2 previous albums, this time the theme isn't Dutch legends... This time the album touches a very interesting subject: WARS. And we start feeling and tasting this topic once we click on "play".
The album begins by a terrifying orchestral intro that talks about seven prisoners who will be executed and which we will know their stories in the next songs.

In that intro we can hear all of the seven shots. Immediately after it, we start tasting the black metal once "Lingering in an Imprint Haunting" begins.
There’s a symphonic and orchestral music in every song without exceeding black metal form with the strong growl & grunt, the riffs and the drums just go with the stories to make sense to the songs. That's what make you live with this war and massacre and feel all this tragedy during all the album to we end up discovering that these prisoners were actually ghosts who took the soldier's soul and made him suffer for eternity in the last song "These fields are lurking" (Seven pairs of demon eyes) that ends with piano and rain sound.
That atmosphere of panic, sorrow & destruction sends you back really to the century of the world wars.
And just like the 2 previous albums, the quality is high unlike all black metal albums we know. That's what attracted me in their releases. And what really raised my attention is the cover! We don't often see an awesome cover that contains the band's picture...But this one has a special touch... I don't know exactly where the specialty materializes...I think in their epic corpse paints!
"Where the Corpses Sink Forever" just like all Carach angren's albums is very exceptional, it could be admired by a non-black metal fans as it could satisfy a black metal listener!

If Carach angren rank now as one of the best Symphonic Black Metal bands... They really deserve it, because this is really an awesome album with a deep purport.


                                    Rating : 8,5/10


Throne of Heresy - Realms of Desecration ~ EP review


Throne of Heresy is a band from Linköping , Sweden formed in 2009.
It started as a thrash metal band before turning out to a death metal orchestra band...a very good one!
after recording their first album "The Stench of Deceit" that deals with the wretched human deceit
"Thomas Clifford" joined the band as a vocalist in February 2013. Two months later they began recording a new EP called "Realms of Desecration" that contains three new songs, with "Björn Ahlqvist" in the Bass-guitar, "Tomas Göransson" & "Ted Sjulmark" in the guitars and last but not least "Mathias Westman" in the drums.

First of all , let's focus on the title "Realms of Desecration" It's a very deep one, that might give you an idea about the EP and its meaning...
Desecration , that's what we really feel from the growling and the grunting of Thomas while listening to the songs, we can feel the force as we can feel the weakness. An atmosphere of panic and anger accompanied by a powerful drums that gives an effect on that atmosphere and commensurate with lyrics, adding to that a very awesome riffs and epic solos.
let's now contemplate on the cover. a huge skull made of the darkness of trees and roots with a shiny side.
All that represent the title of the EP and they all get together to give it an artistic touch.
"Realms of desecration" is an EP of only 13:44 min it's really able to change your mood!

The band are now working on songs for their upcoming fullength album which will be recorded later this year.

Check out the band here .


                                    Rating : 6,5/10


Syrebris - Aetheric Dynamics ~ EP review





Syrebris, an american Progressive death metal band formed in 2006 in LA.
When we talk about progressive death metal we automatically talk about the awesome rhythms , riffs and solos and what make Syrebris more epic is that they mix all this awesomeness with a female voice!
and what make it more special is that Jeanette Hunsberger (the former vocalist of the band) don't use the clean voice, she use the growl, grunt and pig squeal instead!
As she had to leave the band right after the release of their first EP "Aetheric Dynamics",Victoria Villarreal, the guitarist of the band just like her husband (Manuel Villarreal) decided to take on the lead vocal, adding to the members (Jesse Villalta) in the bass and (James Coppolino) in the drums.

Their music is basically progressive death metal with a touch of melody and emotion that can make a Melodeath fan appreciate their music too, just like in their first EP "AETHERIC DYNAMICS". If I had to give a short description to this album I would describe it by an epic album that can satisfy fans of different sub-genres of DEATH METAL.


"Aetheric Dynamics" contains 7 tracks (Intro + 6 songs). The first part of this EP (Eye of the Beholder, Subjective Reality & Emerald Memory) is full of energy with such an epic riffs, a powerful growling and a small touch of technical that will obviously make you headbang.
In the second part we can notice the presence of more melody , in the intros of "current" & "Spiraling Downward" for example...That's what makes the EP fantastic and could send you to an other world , especially that their lyrics usually deal with Spirituality, Enlightenment, Metaphysics, Transcendence, Science, Sacred Geometry, and much more as we can see in the cover, I think the artwork says many things it's a very atmosphere one.

Now, after releasing their first EP and the changing the vocalist they're writing new material for their album as they see that  as a part of their evolution, and they're planning to tour the US.
This band should be really highlighted!


Check out the band here .


Rating : 7/10