Slegest - Løyndom (Review)

Slegest formed in Leikanger, Norway in 2010 as the solo project of Stig Ese Eliassen who was the guitarist of Vreid from their formation until 2009 and co-produced Windir’s Likferd album.

Initial recordings were based on material that was written but never used as well as new mterial written in the same vein. The volume of content justified proffessional recording in Conclave & Earshot studios and drum recordings in Bergen with the mixing done at home. Cited influences are Early Black Sabbath, The Ramones and Ese’s own state of mind resulting in “Dark Primal Metal”.

 

Stig Ese Eliassen which formerly was a member of Vreid has released a project of his own which is a mixture of doom metal combined with more harsh metal vocals.
'Løyndom' starts of with a typical doomish track 'Ho Som Haustar Aleine' and I have to admit it's pretty good.
The riffs reminds of early Black Sabbath and traditional heavy metal but with a touch of old school black metal elements.
 

The big question here is for me if this works as a piece of music in the long run.
I have spun the album for quite some time now, since I had problems digesting it at first, not the music though which is catchy and enjoyable .
 

What I have to pint my finger is the vocals,does it do any good to this genre adding black metal vocals on top of it.
The answer is somewhat divided 'cause yes, it works for the first 3-4 tracks ,but after that the vocals gets somewhat boring and predictable.

Musically this is not bad at all ,but it does not reach to the top here.

I found this somewhat hard to write about as I have mixed emotions about it ,but if I should roll the dice and pick a fair number for this release I guess it would have landed on 3/6 and take note that the low score mainly is due to the vocals 'cause the music is as said very good and I hope he developes his style in the future as it's not a bad idea at all.

I suggest you take a listen for yourself as you might be in for a surprise!

     
     Official Site: http://www.slegest.no

 

Doom's Day - The Unholy

Release Date: 12.04.2012
Label: PRC MUSIC (www.prcmusic.com)
Format: CD, Digital & T-shirt
Promotion: Explosive PR 

Hailing from the Quebec city region in QC, Canada, this new project is taking the local scene by storm... and then some. Project leader Doom is busy putting together a solid line up for a bunch of up coming shows around the province, which are expected to be something not to be missed. The album, The Unholy, originally released as a 50 copies hand numbered CDR, is being re-pressed and officially released by PRC MUSIC (Talamyus, Beyond Creation, Negativa, Salwart) on december 4th, on CD and in digital.


This outfit is new to me and I must say they leave a very good first impression already at the first listen. 

The cover is quite similar to Black Sabbath "Born Again"

Witch gives meaning after you hear this album.

This is back to the roots heavy/doom metal in the vein of bands like Ghost,Black Sabbath,Mercyful Fate,Venom,Heaven & Hel but with a new approach to it.
This album will take you back to the golden era of dark heavy metal with it's great & very easy to like melodies.
 

At times it reminds of Ghost,especially the vocals,but this is much more up-tempo.
It's a very melodic album with brilliant guitar sound that differs a bit from each track witch is very cool.
 

Also the 70's sounding keyboard is well played and makes the melodies just perfect.
It's extremely cool to hear such a splendid release since I really enjoy the way they make the music & I can actually listen to the whole album without getting bored,cause it's not really any bad tracks on it luckily.
It's solid,well produced album and contains short but long lasting tracks that are easily memorable.
I can see this being a classic in the future.
 

I think this band will do it big in the future with such a strong debut as this they will for sure place them on the map!

Approved as fuck!!

The album is available for pre-orders at 7.99$ Canadian here:  
http://prcmusic.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=122

Gravlund - Interview (Drunken Style)

You are relatively new band to the metal scene,what got you into playing extreme music?


Well it started as an idea the drummer had when he and I was drunk,listening to some old metal vinyl.Suddenly he bursted out:"We should start a metal band!!!" And I of course agreed.
And as the evening progressed (and we became even drunker),we suddenly had a lot of plans as how the band should sound like,and most importantly how it NOT should sound like.This meant of course not as how modern metal bands sound like,but rather the stuff that we liked from the 80s.
But some years went by and nothing happened.And every time we got drunk together, the subject came up.He would ask me:"Have you made any riffs yet?"And the answer would always be:"Errr no."
But then in late 2010(while making music for some other project) I came up with something that sounded VERY metal.and playing on this stuff,i suddenly realised "Hey this sounds GOOD!"And I came up with riffs for 3 songs.
We recorded those 3 songs for our first demo in VERY late 2010,and were kind of lukewarm to the results.(Mainly myself,cause i hated how the vocals sounded)But we played the demo to some people and EVERYBODY liked it.So we decided "Ok this kind of works,lets see if we can make something better."
In mid January 2011 we recorded the tracks for "Goat Funeral Night".
So the answer to your Question would be Extreme metal lps from the 80s,and beer !!!


The tracks on "Goat Funeral Night" is very inspired by old bands,but has a new twist to it,did it just turn out that way or are you inspired by older bands?




We are of course inspired by older bands,This seems to be the whole point of Gravlund.Celtic Frost/Hellhammer.Bathory,Mercyful Fate,Iron Maiden,Slayer ,Darkthrone,Burzum ,Mayhem bla bla the standard stuff.
The way we record is based on "gut feeling".I send the riffs to the drummer,2 weeks before we record,and then we record everything as quickly as possible.There seems to be no point in rehearsing the tracks,as this makes everything sound stale and boring. (First take is almost always best)
The "twist" you mention,is probably due to the fact that we really havent played metal before,and havent got a clue what we are doing!!!HA HA HA

Did you play in other bands before Gravlund?


-Yes me and the drummer have played in several bands before.Nothing well known.
But many of them with us both in the band.So me and him have played together for rs.
Actually, the last band we played in was a kind of a "psychedelic jam band thing",
with lots of improvistion.And we learned A LOT from that band.(Mainly to trust your "gut feeling")
But that was one of the(drunken) "ground rules":NO JAMMING IN GRAVLUND!!!! ( That's the spirit! Ed.)
How has the response been on the demo so far?


-Considering the fact ,that the only goal or ambition we had , making the demo,was to make some metal we could listen to while drinking beer,the response has been overwhelming.
We had NO idea people would like it this much.
One thing that is really cool,is that we get the "thumbs up " from bands that we ourselves are fan of
Peolple in Eastern Europe and South America like Gravlund,and this is mind boggling considering "Goat Funeral Night" is our SECOND rehearsal/recording!!!!




-Have you played live yet? Or have any plans considering that?


We have not played live yet.We have to get some extra band members to play live.
There are only 2 members in GRAVLUND,so for now there will not be any live performances.
Saying this,we have to note that there have already been a couple of really good offers,but we regrettfully had to decline.
But we are thinking about getting a couple of guys helping us play live,but we dont know when.
We also have to write some more songs to flesh out a set list.The songs are usually kind of short,and we need some more to play a full gig.(Or maybe we should start doing guitar solos?) (If you want the audience to fall asleep that might be a good idea. Ed)


What does your lyrics deal with? Do you have any favourite writers yourself?


The lyrics are not stories Per se,but rather random negative thoughts put together to create a "mood" or atmosphere.(Trying to be vague here,see???)
But i have to say that i usually brainstorm like a motherfucker when doing the vocals,
cause the vocals are always improvised.
Favorite writers?As in lyrics?
Fenriz comes to mind,Especially the lyrics for the "A Blaze in the Northern sky" album.I think it has lost none of its powers over the years.(You of course have to include the other two albums from the "Black trilogy")
I still remember the feeling i got when listening to "A Blaze.." for the first time.
It felt like you where participating in something ILLEGAL or something. (Indeed,he has written lots of great lyrics throughout the years. Ed)


How's the metal scene in Tromsø,any bands worth mentioning?


Oh i dont know.I thought until recently,that it was non existent.
But then i met some guys this summer, who told me the scene is getting a little better.They actually wanted us to play some gigs here,but i dont know.
If there is a metal scene here in Tromsø we are not part of it.
What i DO know,is that we are the ONLY ONES,doing this kind of stuff.
(There are actually a couple of other Black metal bands here,but I have never met them)


You are now signed after only one demo,that's not happening every day,did you just send demo's around or?
Well,we recorded the demo 21-23 January 2011,and mixed it on the 24th.
And then we uploaded the songs "Witches Tit"and "Mark of the Beast" on February 1st on youtube,and then posted links to these songs on the Scream Magazine forum.
And a lot of people(to our surprise)liked it.And after a week ,or so, we were contacted by UNBORN PRODUCTIONS who wanted to release the demo.
We were dumbstruck cause we did not anticipate this at all.
I mean,we knew the demo was good,but had no plans to release it.
We of course said "yes",and i guess this is the reason we are doing this intrview.
(I have to note Raymond ,that you were one of the first people that was interested in the band,even before we knew we would release anything.)
Have to say that working with UNBORN PRODUCTIONS was a breeze.
That guy works FAST.
Just like us HA HA

PS:
Forgot to mention that Gravlund have a"secret" member : NEMESIS MAXIMUS. He sometimes help us write lyrics.
We would like to Thank Unborn Productions and Joakim From Devil for making the cover/artwork look so cool.
Thanx for the interview

GRAVLUND

Stian

ARVAS

The by now established band in the metal scene Arvas is now preparing their second cd.
3 years after the debut "Ad Satanas Noctum..." whitch didn't quite get the attention it deserved considering it was 
a great debut album. Even though the main musicians are experienced & have been into the music scene for years. 

V-Rex is the engine behind it all and Fordervelse does the drums.
There has been several members in and out,but it seems like the mentioned ones are the permanent members.

I decided to have a talk with the main man V-Rex about the new album & the future.

You have now recorded your 2nd album,what can we expect & is there any working title so far?

-Well the music is quite different compared to the first album, obviously because we have developed even more over these three years both as musicians and myself as composer. Like the last album all songs are made in good advance before even planning any recordings of the songs.. 

These new songs are made right after the release of  the ''Blessed'' album. I made a pre production and that was it, they are all composed within a weeks time, and I haven't really been listening to these songs since I did the pre prod. 

The main difference from the last album is that the music is more catchy and very intense and fast, there are alot of different influences from the eighties thrash era etc. 

So this time the press will have something to compare us to, on the ''Blessed' Album where they couldn't. 

At the same time this is something unique in the genre and there are no bands in Norway who plays this kind of metal today, so hopefully fans of the genre will like this. 

The Working title now is ''Upon A Throne Of Satanic Worship''

I know you've had several members during the career,who contributes on this record,is it only you and Fordervelse?

- There has been some line up changes over the years now for sure, but they were only live members and not permanently involved in Arvas in any other way. 

This time we have a new live line up, and this time they all are playing on the album. So it has been pretty exiting having the whole band feeling again. 

But as always, me and fordervelse are the only permanent fulltime members in Arvas.

Did the recording process go as planned?

- Yes, all has been going as planned, however some delays in the process and unexpected problems has occured though.

One thing I've always wondered ,does the name Arvas mean anything special,how did you come up with it?

- The name does not mean anything at all, I just came up with the name and liked the sound of it and that's it really.

Do you have any plans to promote the new album with gigs,have you found a steady line up to play live?

- We are going to do some gigs as soon as the album is released, when and where is not quite confirmed yet.

Is all the material written by you,or does the other members contribute with something?

- All the material is as usual composed by me, and me alone. Fordervelse has arranged the drum tracks.

Nowadays when arists earn less money since the internet came & all along with it, what motivates you to continue your work?

- Motivation comes from our fans and those who appreciate what we do. We are nothing without them, this is all for the fans.

What's you favorite/most memorable highlight during the career?

You also do the vocals on the excellent swedish act Dødsfall witch is soon available with their second album,
can you tell us a bit about that?

- Dødsfall is a project I do vocals for and I really like the music the main man is creating, it is fresh and inspiring to work with. 

I only write lyrics and sings. It is always interesting and positive for an artist to work with different projects beside any main band. 

Cheers V-Rex.

Thank you for the good answers & good luck with the band & projects in the future!

Arvas will play live in Drammen Norway 22.07.12 Click HERE for more info

-Gravarson-

Be sure to check out Arvas at  Facebook

                                              Myspace

Mabuse - ´Stench Of Death´ Demo2012

Press here to download or stream


Stench of Death-tape:
1. Crushing Death Strike
2. Dr. Mabuse
3. Dentist Death

Recorded and mixed in January 2012 by Andreas Hagen in The Mindmade Moonlit Passage

Pre-order the demo from jbe1988 at gmail dot com (leave full name/adress/etc). Oslo residents can pick it up personally from Jonas from around February 25th.
Price: 30 NOK / 4 EURO (+ shipping costs).
credits
released 31 January 2012
Jonas - Rhythm/lead guitar, bass & vocals
Andreas - Drums, lead guitar & vocals
Support the band & buy if you like!

A good demo well worth buying considering these guys actually printed it on tape,the sound quality is overall good & fits the music witch is death/thrash the old school way. I like the raw atmosphere of this demo.
The vocals are not the standard growling/screaming of today,but reminds more about early death/trash/speed bands.
It' nothing new here really but if you're looking for good music look no further!!..