two bands from the state of Washington: Introtyl Cadaveria Eden Weint Im Grab Einherjer

Alltheniko Draconis Infernum Primordial Smirking Revenge

old obscure metal will not die Powerlord, Incubus, Terminal Death, Mefisto, Morthra, Pentacle, Manilla Road “neo-old death metal” Ending Quest, Rude, Horrendous favorite metal sounds of 2014: by Lee Payne from Cloven Hoof (NWOBHM) The life of a metal music publicist: Dewar PR free metal: Marrow of Earth, Observer, Dismemberment Torture, Girlzeroth www.fuglymaniacs.com (issues online, concert videos, interviews, reviews) history of Metal Bulletin Zine #1-20: (2006-2009): Wisconsin #21-26: (2009-2010): Texas #27(2010)-- now; Washington state

Metal Bulletin Zine #49 Washington state, U.S.

www.metalbulletin.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/pages/The-Metal-Bulletin-paper-zine www.twitter.com/MetalBulletinZn

— -— metal on the radio/internet (Pacific Time) Sweet Nightmares (Houston, TX): Thursday night 9pm-12am KPFT 90.1 fm www.kpft.org Excuse All the Blood (Olympia, WA): Friday night 11pm-1am www.kaosradio.org Metal Shop (Seattle, WA): Saturday night 11pm-3am KISW 99.9fm www.kisw.com — Heathen Washington Heathen Washington is stoner doom sludge from Olympia, Washington. They write songs against Oregon, against Norway and against you. “Angry drone stoner doom sludge” might not be such an inaccurate description. Well, they are from Washington, so the “angry” part is more like “sarcastic.” Heathen Washington wants you to know that the trees are poisonous here and that the people have a mean scandihoovian way of being passive aggressive. Stream and download for free/name your price. www.heathenwashington.bandcamp.com www.facebook.com/heathenwa Darkness Avowed Forget about all the tree hugging, and get back to the only thing that matters in life: death. Darkness Avowed is from Olympia, Washington, according to Metal Archives. They have a self-titled EP from 2013. If you want to hear band that sounds fiendish and sick, you’ve come to the right place. www.facebook.com/DarknessAvowed Introtyl (Mexico) The origins of this death metal band go back to 2008. In 2013 they released an EP titled “Several States of Violence” and with it announced themselves to the death metal world. Cannibal Corpse-style of no-musical-

tomfoolery death is Introtyl’s style. The current members are Rose, Mayra, Kary, Morgan and Sariux. They have songs on Facebook and ReverbNation. Let’s hope the EP is just the beginning. www.facebook.com/IntrotylMx www.reverbnation.com/introtyl Cadaveria (Italy): Silence (Scarlet Records) Cadaveria the band started in 2001, after Cadaveria the vocalist and Flegias the drummer departed the gothic/melodic black metal band Opera IX (Flegias is also since 1998 the vocalist for veteran thrashers Necrodeath). “Silence” is Cadaveria’s fifth album, and this 2014 album follows 2012’s “Horror Metal,” which is also the self-assigned term that Cadaveria uses to describe its music. As to this album, the band has taken a major step towards a sound that seems more identifiable as its own. Part groove metal, part uptempo gothic metal, and part melodic metal, “Silence” coherently holds together a bit of variety of songs. The band shows a sensitivity to writing memorable songs, and a song like “Carnival of Doom” is a probably a song that this band could close concerts with. I would think that this track would be a favorite amongst followers of the band, given the catchy nature of the tune. However, it’s not just one song that is that way; the complete album flows well and it looks like the band has found its way towards establishing an atmosphere for the album and for the band’s own sound of groove-focused “horror metal.” Cadaveria the vocalist has become very capable, going from dark metal screaming snarls to melancholic/melodic gothic metal vocals, which takes the band’s sounds into various areas rather smoothly, not to mention that the musicianship itself transitions easily from one segment to the next. Overall, “Silence” is one savvy album that seems primed for success in the European market for modern, catchy “extreme metal” from Dimmu Borgir to Arch Enemy to gothic metal. www.scarletrecords.it www.facebook.com/cadaveria

3

Eden Weint Im Grab (Germany): Geysterstunde II: Ein jenseitiges Kuriositätenkabinett (Einheit Produktionen) Given that this German-language band has been active since 2000, and that this 2014 album makes it a total of six albums and one EP, it is likely that listeners into gothic/folk metal and horror metal are already aware of the excellence and elegance of Eden Weint Im Grab (“Eden Weeps In Its Grave”; also abbreviated as “EWIG”, which means “eternal”). EWIG is known for high-end elegantly mad Bohemian metal that runs the gamut of carnival, circus, folk compositions joined to violin, with components of classical music, dark metal, horror soundtracks, with themes of the night, madness, ghosts, poetry and dark romanticism.

Metal Bulletin Zine has in the past published an interview with this band’s songwriter Alexander Paul Blake’s other band Aethernaeum, a black metal band. This zine has also reviewed Aethernaeum’s forerunner, when the band was simply named Alexander Paul Blake. Therefore, it is quite a pleasure to report about the album by EWIG. Of course, the lyrics are in German and if you understand no German, really, don’t let that prejudice you against this wonderful band. This album lasts about an hour and ten minutes, which gives an idea of the mentality of the band about its own art and the work that goes into it. EWIG prides itself in high quality songwriting and creating an art that sounds

beyond the pressures of crass commercialism. To listen to the album is to embark upon a wondrous travel back to an imagined time, to imagined places where the night, madness and the spirits coexist in an album as a complete work, one that demands time, and discourages “casual” listeners with short-attention spans who are not cut out to be witnesses to EWIG. As highly recommended as possible in 2014. If you are new to the band, this will be a new, exciting experience for you. www.edenweintimgrab.de www.facebook.com/edenweintimgrab www.einheit-produktionen.de Einherjer (Norway): Av oss, for oss (Indie Recordings) Einherjer’s excellent melodic, midtempo “pagan”/“viking”/folk metal causes diametrically opposed reactions. Now, the negative views on this album, as well as past albums, focus on some recurring themes. Perhaps the biggest one is that some listeners do not like that Einherjer does no blasting; the music stays midtempo/uptempo throughout, and at no time does the band launch into fast music. Related to this issue, Einherjer is seen as not “extreme” enough because the band insists on sticking with the midtempo/uptempo style. In some ways, it is necessary to call this Einherjer MKII, the Einherjer of 2008-present. The 1993-2004 version of the band was known for changing styles from album to album, which also caused frustration for some listeners. Nowadays the band has settled into a midtempo/uptempo style with growled vocals that emphasizes big riffs and melodies. To the point: this is one of the best albums that I have heard in 2014 for its creativity and its difference. It is refreshing to hear Einherjer stay the course of their style and hear them grow as songwriters through the art of making memorable music that is rather devoid of formulaic expectations, like speed

4

to please some short-attention-span public. Einherjer is digging deeper, cultivating the post-2008 musical direction of somber-yet-memorable “viking metal,” which is folk metal with prog elements.

It is plain to see that some people cannot get it out of their heads that Einherjer is its own sound, its own band, and that to compare Einherjer to Enslaved, Bathory, Moonsorrow or some other band is asinine. It is as if some people are upset that Einherjer has not called up Moonsorrow or Enslaved on the phone and consulted with those bands. “I don’t like Einherjer because it is different from Moonsorrow” is not an observant way to assess this album, yet it is an “accusation” thrown at the band. Supposedly, there is much better “viking metal” out there. It does not enter some people’s heads that the members of Einherjer know what they want. This is what they do, and they happen to be very good at it. Einherjer has become more confident in its style and more consistent in the projection of the desired atmosphere. Nowadays the band sounds very experienced, skilled and knowledgeable about how the music should be. The band does not lean on any crutches, like playing fast, and it appears that any sense of trying to be more successful-popular through being more aware of the times-trends is gone for good, and what remains is grown, adult men with realistic expectations about the eventual popularity of their somber/prog/folk Norwegian-language music for intelligent listeners that know that some metal takes time to understand, and takes even longer for the band to make. www.facebook.com/einherjermusic www.einherjer.com www.indierecordings.no Alltheniko (Italy): Fast and Glorious (Pure Steel Records)

Alltheniko is a keep-it-true, true-as-steel, metal-on-metal metalhead’s dream come true. If you have ever thought: Are there no traditional heavy metal bands that have heard songs like “Painkiller,” “All Guns Blazing,” “Freewheel Burning” (by Judas Priest) and “Angel in Black,” “Kiss of Death,” and “Back from Hell” (by Primal Fear)—and said to themselves, “That’s the way I want my heavy metal! Fast, shredding, screaming and with no stupid time-wasting ridiculous nonsense like ballads,”—Alltheniko’s new album “Fast and Glorious” is exactly that! Name-taking, no-prisoners, no-fat, no-filler, glass-breaking, door-down-kicking heavy metal. If you like the way that Judas Priest and Primal Fear often start albums with songs that embody the definition of heavy metal, but you also kind of think that they ruin it by slowing down for a ballad, then this album is for you. Why?! Stop for nothing! Pedal to the metal; fire up the double bass, get the shredding on, and start the fire, and end it only when the album is over with silence. You might feel like saying, “Finally, a metal band that understands! Finally, a band that knows how a metalhead actually thinks!” Alltheniko takes the fast elements of Judas Priest and Primal Fear and runs away with the speed. This band has been around since 2002 and has five albums. If you want your heavy metal fast and shredding, start with this album. By the way, if you like thrash, but you don’t like the punk-like vocals of thrash bands, you should hear this fast metal band that has singing. Alltheniko is not a thrash/speed metal band per se, but they sure are fast heavy metal. www.puresteel-records.com www.facebook.com/alltheniko www.sites.google.com/site/alltheniko/ Draconis Infernum (Singapore): The Sacrilegious Eradication (Ketzer Records) In the forbidden underground sewer cities of ancient Singapura or Lion City in the year 3666 before the times of modernity there existed a

5

mighty clan of necro black metal invocators who lived apart from the masses, always suspicious of the authorities and their desire to change the ways of antiquity’s guardians, with names such as Donatello and Raphael. The authorities would send messengers to the underground sewer cities and told them: Change your music so that the people respect you! The necro black metal clan would respond: We follow the black metal ways, and not you! In time the respectable society decayed and the time was ripe for black metal to find the followers of the cult. Splinter, as was the name of the master of the black metal cult, predicted that the day would come. It did. It has.

Now, millennia later the dunes of the Lion City have for a decade been invisibly ruled by the necro black metal alliance of Draconis Infernum. In 2008 they launched “Death in My Veins,” and followed with “Rites of Desecration and Demise” in 2011. In the year 2014 the incursion is called “The Sacrilegious Eradication.” With this signal, Draconis Infernum pledges to maintain their allegiance to blasphemous, fast, tremolo, necro black metal. For 37 minutes Draconis Infernum wields the black metal calling out to the four points of horizon in search of the sibling souls of dedication to Thornspawn, Impiety, Sarcófago and the other ones that understand such language as invitations to enter this recondite world of metal. www.ketzer-records.de www.draconisinfernum.com www.draconisinfernum.com/facebook

Primordial (Ireland): Where Greater Men Have Fallen (Metal Blade Records) There are so many different eras of Primordial that it is only appropriate to ask which Primordial is the one that a person is referring to when discussing the band. The truth is that Primordial 2014 is very, very far from the black metal/pagan metal sound of the 90s, and it is

the same band in name only, given the gigantic changes in musical direction. Primordial 2014 stubbornly plays midtempo, rendering Primordial 2014 a melodic, melancholic doom band. The band leaves no room for doubt: They appear to excel at the various genre changes, and as the years go by, the band seems to receive more and more ridiculously positive acclaim, making one wonder whether the band members have enlisted their moms, dads, sisters, brothers, cousins and best friends to write outrageously positive reviews all over the internet. Here’s a challenge: Can you find a band more universally praised than Primordial?! One would think that it is the doom/sludge/“post-metal” crowds that are really enjoying the doom of Primordial. The vocals are melodic-melancholic, and the guitar works with the “less is more” philosophy of riffs, while the drummer patiently labors away. The few places where the band shows some speed, like on the song “The Seed of Tyrants,” it really sounds out of place with the slow vibe of the album as a total work. Why do it? To appease some people? The band obviously doesn’t enjoy it and it sounds forced. Many, many people seem to love the band’s current musical direction. For instance, the reviews on Metal Archives of the 2007 album “To the Nameless Dead” do not hesitate to call that album the greatest or the best and things like that. Now, this new “Where Greater Men Have Fallen” continues that course and the band’s feet are firmly planted in the slow music. The band has mastered the latter-day direction and now it’s only question of whether this album will be called a greater masterpiece than the others. On the other hand, if you are the type of listener that would love to see Primordial play less monotonously slow metal, and would like a more balanced combination, as on the

6

2000 album “Spirit the Earth Aflame,” then you will be so, so, so disappointed and truly wasting your time. This band is so far gone from that, that only if they sense a great frustration amongst the listeners, would they possibly reconsider dialing back the repetitively, monotonously slow doom direction they enjoy so much. In that sense, Primordial sounds very now, very 2014, at a time when doom/sludge/slow/post-metal seems so popular. As already mentioned, the current musical taste seems to prefer the slow Primordial by a large margin. Therefore, which Primordial do you prefer in 2014? www.primordialweb.com www.facebook.com/primordialofficial www.metalblade.com Smirking Revenge (Canada) Formed in 2012, Smirking Revenge mostly falls under the category of death metal, with a style that emphasizes heaviness in the uptempo and midtempo, with a chugging feel. You can stream their 2014 EP at Bandcamp. This band is probably new to you. It is new to this zine, too. www.smirkingrevenge.bandcamp.com/releases www.facebook.com/smirkingrevengeband

Smirking Revenge

old obscure metal will not die Powerlord (U.S.): The Awakening (1986) Powerlord was a thrash band from Oklahoma,

U.S. The album should appeal to total thrash fanatics that want thrash to sound the classic style of speed and tightness. This is not a demo-quality recording, either. If you like to go back and discover forgotten thrash this will be a good one for that old Forbidden/Testament pace of thrash. www.store.shadowkingdomrecords.com Incubus (U.S.): Incubus (1987 demo) This 1987 Incubus demo was recorded after Mike Browning and Sterling Scarborough left Morbid Angel. This is rough, early death metal, making the thrash of that time sound tame in comparison. This recording is definitely for those into old death metal demos. Expect dirty death metal. www.vicrecords.com Terminal Death (U.S.): Terminal Death (compilation of 1984 and 1985 demos) Terminal Death was a Chicago band that played early death metal. This is a compilation of a 1985 demo and a 1985 rehearsal session. This band is pretty much almost forgotten, as you will notice that it basically never gets mentioned when people talk about early death metal. These recordings are rough. It sounds like demo recordings and the quality is garage-style. As you can imagine, the songs are ferocious, raw; for demo fanatics. www.store.shadowkingdomrecords.com Mefisto (Sweden): The Megalomania Puzzle (compilation of two 1986 demos) When it comes to 80s black and death metal from Sweden people think of Bathory, but Mefisto formed in 1984 as Torment and in 1986 had two demos as Mefisto: “Megalomania” and “The Puzzle.” As someone who had never heard this band, I think these demos sound very good. I don’t know where Vic Records finds these bands, but it is nice to hear “new” bands like this one. Vic Records does a great service to people into cult metal by releasing these recordings. www.vicrecords.com

7

Morthra (Holland): Desecrated Thoughts Morthra’s “Desecrated Thoughts” is a compilation of the 1991 and 1993 demos, plus live tracks. This is prime-time early 90s death metal. Young listeners will love the genuine feel of real-deal death metal, when death metal was just death metal, and did not need subgenres. “Brutal, heavy and sick,” would be how people described this sound. It is mostly uptempo and midpaced death, along the lines of Obituary and Grave, more or less, and definitely not the Morbid Angel/Suffocation speedy death. www.vicrecords.com Pentacle (Holland): The Fifth Moon…Beyond and Back (2014 expanded edition) Personally, I don’t think that death metal gets much better than Pentacle, particularly this recording and the follow-up album “Rides the Moonstorm …” This “new, improved, and expanded” reissue will appeal to the Pentacle fanatics. Pentacle exhibits a huge early Celtic Frost/early Death vibe and it is very proud of those influences. The band started in 1989 and the original version of this recording is from 1996, and the new version is from 2014. If you live for “ancient death metal” as Pentacle calls it, don’t forget Pentacle, and as the band says, “Don’t forget the ancient feeling.” Remember that Pentacle is not a dead band. Pentacle is very much alive and has recent recordings that continue “ancient death metal” today. www.vicrecords.com Manilla Road (U.S.): Out of the Abyss (1988) Manilla Road is a cult name, of course. The band started in 1977 in Kansas, U.S. This was the band’s seventh full-length album and it is considered the band’s most “dark and thrash” album. Personally, I think that you can’t go wrong with this album, if you like 80s cult metal. Recommended for those into cult metal like Mercyful Fate, Brocas Helm, Cirith Ungol or more recently a band like Slough Feg. Manilla Road is the personification of cult

occult metal. Manilla Road is alive today and continues the path of cult heavy metal. www.store.shadowkingdomrecords.com www.facebook.com/ManillaRoadOfficial

Manilla Road

“neo-old death metal”: retro or tradition-minded? Ending Quest (Sweden): The Summoning (FDA Rekotz) Neo-Stockholm-style old time death metallers Ending Quest (name tribute to old Gorement’s “The Ending Quest”) say that the death metal from today doesn’t have the same soul. For this band it’s about that old time death metal. From the sounds of this album, if you run into these lads in Sweden, don’t even invite them to a modern metal show because you won’t even get them to the mosh floor. The cynics will say that Ending Quest is retro, but of course, the cynics will say what they will. Sure, Ending Quest loves the sounds of the past, but the band is not over the hill. They started in 2009 and the members were born in 1986 and 1984. Some might call it retro, but in metal it is called respect for tradition and playing the metal that you love and being proud of it. If your interest is peaked by the idea of a young band presenting its interpretation of golden-age death metal, give this a band a chance. I have been listening to this 2014 album, their debut, a lot and I like what I hear and am

8

curious to hear what the future brings for Ending Quest. www.fda-rekotz.com www.facebook.com/EndingQuestOfficial Rude (U.S.): Soul Recall (FDA Rekotz) It’s taken a long time for death metal Rude to have its 2014 album out and about in the world since the band started back in 2008. The music showcases how the band has studied classic death metal for years and years, and in the process the band has put together one super impressive debut that sounds like a potent mix of the classics in a particular way specific to Rude.

Rude must have come up with the idea of playing death metal the following way:

The vocals should be in the style of “Leprosy”-era Death and “Consuming Impulse”-era Pestilence. The enunciation has fundamental Schuldiner/van Drunen characteristics. The result? Sounds great! By far, one the most recognizable and beloved forms of growling in all of death metal: extended syllables and aggressive delivery, not the cupped-microphone/low-murmur, fearful-of-throat-injury style.

The guitar work should combine the memorable parts/riffs of “Leprosy,” and “Altars of Madnes”-era Morbid Angel, and leave room for other golden-era death metal sounds, like classic Pestilence and the others.

The drum sound should be like Morbid Angel’s “Covenant,” and the style/speed of the drumming should be a bit like “Covenant,” but with more segments of uptempo (non-blasting) beats, so it’s fast, but

no one should confuse Rude with the non-stop blasting style of other bands. Incidentally, the drum sound is rather attractive on this album, contrasting a lot with the clicky/plastic/soft sound so common in metal.

Impressive album by a band that is very good students of death metal, and are becoming teachers themselves. Let’s hope that they don’t begin to feel the need to be “more” than death metal. It is a-ok to be death metal, this type of death metal. Don’t change the style, Rude. You don’t have to “jazz it up” or “core it up” or “math it up” for us. Love the Rude metal. www.facebook.com/pages/Rude/391039200987363 www.fda-rekotz.com Horrendous (U.S.): Ecdysis (Dark Descent Records) Horrendous seems to get a kick out of tripping people’s expectations. Horrendous was known for playing “old school Swedish death metal” when they formed in 2009, with their demo and with the 2012 album. Now in 2014 the band’s new album has busted out with melodic guitar solos all over the place and it’s got people making all sorts of ridiculous statements. I read somewhere that Horrendous sounds like Def Leppard (and Venom, I think they said). If you say it that way people won’t want to hear this band! In all seriousness, Horrendous still sounds very much like 90s death metal from Sweden. The guitar tone, the riffs, the vocals and the overall spirit are similar to certain sounds from Sweden. It is true that the solos are very melodic, but they work within the context of the songs. Now, of course, it is also true that the album suggests that Horrendous may be getting a bit antsy about remaining within a certain style, and it’s totally possible that in the future Horrendous will sound like a totally different band. There’s a bit of that vibe that seems uncomfortable with this style as a total identity, probably because the band has read

9

that some people dismissed them a retro band from the U.S. trying to sound like a band from Sweden. However, many other people who have heard this new album like it very much and I have even read that it was listed as the top album of 2014 by some publication. I remember which one now, but I don’t think I am making that up. So, the album has been appreciated by lots of people. In summary, Horrendous seems to have made a move towards more melancholic, doomier sounds while still remaining in part death metal. The guitar solos point to melancholic doom, and now I’m sure that we don’t have a clue what will happen next. This band might turn out to be as unpredictable as Sentenced (I know, not Swedish) was from 1990 to 1996, when they finally started to settle down into a predictable style. The next Horrendous album is going to have some people running down street all confused: “What genre is this, please? Tell me! I can’t think for myself! I need to know what genre it is before I declare that I like it!” The band will just sit back and smile. “We are Horrrendous, and we like your ‘hysteria’.” www.darkdescentrecords.com www.facebook.com/HorrendousDeathMetal

top metal albums of 2014, by Lee Payne from Cloven Hoof Metal Bulletin Zine asked Lee Payne, founder of NWOBHM veterans Cloven Hoof to name his top metal albums of 2014 and this is Lee's response: Here are my favourites so far from 2014 in no particular order... Accept - Blind Rage This is the best album with Mark Tornillo on lead vocals. Accept is able to take traditional metal elements and integrate it with a somewhat updated style. I have loved this band since the 1980's and they never

disappoint, Balls to the Wall and Metal Heart were an all time classics! Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls Ignore the hype this is not one of Priest best ever albums but it still kicks ass! KK has left the fold, however his replacement Richie Faulkner does a fine job. They are still evolving and keep on delivering the goods, long may they continue to do so. Hammerfall - ( r ) Evolution Swedish metallers Hammerfall has the perfect blend of old school and the best that power metal has to offer. Great solos and vocals are throughout this release and the song arrangements are cool too. Iced Earth - Plagues of Babylon Plagues of Babylon is an excellent album that will please the fans of traditional metal, thrash and power metal. Stu Block is a great vocalist and Jon Schaffer has really dug deep to make an outstanding opus. Cloven Hoof - Resist or Serve Well excuse the bias but it is a really cool album so buy it you metal maniacs!!! Every song has it's own unique identity and style. Ace producer Patrick Engel has really brought our true dynamics out on this one. Joe's guitar playing and vocals are awesome and there are some really good individual performances from everyone. So we are really proud of it; all killers and no fillers! Take care and see you in 2015 everyone! Yours in metal Lee / Cloven Hoof www.facebook.com/clovenhoof1979

10

The life of a metal music publicist: Dewar PR Curtis Dewar is a metal music publicist whose job it is to get press coverage for bands. Curtis is always contacting publications about bands, and he’s on Facebook and Twitter a lot, too. His job is not as glamorous as being a rock star and sometimes people don’t understand what a publicist does. To explore the mysteriously secret life of that person that works to get reviews, interviews and more for metal bands, Metal Bulletin Zine sent Curtis some questions. Hi, Curtis. How long have you been a publicist for metal music? How did you get started? I've been a publicist for two and a half years. Basically, I started doing publicity by accident. I was writing for a few heavy metal sites and I ended up becoming friends with Rick Scythe (ex-Usurper). I did an interview with him about his new band Scythe and then started helping him to spread the word. Things just took off from there, to be honest.

I didn't start doing this full time until January of 2014, however. A job I was working at ended and instead of looking for full-time employment I decided I wanted to do something from home so I wouldn't be away from my kids while they were growing up. I decided to see if I could make this work and while sometimes it *can* be tough making ends meet, it is definitely worth it. How has 2014 been for you in terms of business? Do you have too many bands or would you like to have more? I don't look at this as a business. This is my job, but this is something I actually enjoy doing, so it never feels like work. In terms of number of people I've worked with this past year, things have been fantastic. Is this your full-time job? Does it pay the rent

and all the bills? Yes, this is my full-time job. Some months are better than others, but between myself and my wife, we are keeping the bills paid :) Again, choosing extreme metal as your chosen field to promote isn't exactly a lucrative field. You have to do this because you love the music. Do you work with bands whose music you do not like? Will you be branching out into more popular forms of "metal" like hardcore? I always like the bands I work with. If I did end up working with a more popular form of metal, it would have to be with a band I thought had potential. Should your company branch out into all genres, like country and rap? I don't like country or rap so I can't see myself branching out into those genres. I do like other genres however, so if there was something I liked and the band wanted to work with me, sure. Are there some things that are unethical to you, that you would not do? I never make any promises that I can't keep and I would never oversell my services. Do you reject some bands? They want to work with your company and are ready to pay and everything, but you reject the band because it's not the style that your company does? Yes, I have rejected some bands either due to the fact that I don't like their music or I don't agree with what they represent. If I remember correctly, you also write for some publications and you get paid for it. Do you write any reviews that you are not paid for? How do those publications make money, if there is no money in the metal music business, like some people say? I have written for pay and without pay. I have

11

no idea on the financial state of any publications I write for. What do you think are some common misconceptions that people have about you or your field? Do bands badmouth you if you do not get them lots of coverage? The main misconception that I've run into is that bands think they can promote themselves and the fact is most can't. There are so many bands who don't know how to use social media or how to contact a publication. The ones that do, will be fine, but many bands think that spamming their YouTube video on someone's FB page is promoting themselves!

I've never had a band badmouth me that I'm aware of. Also, most publicity people I know of in metal are good people. Do you advise young bands on how to do interviews? Some young bands seem surprised that they get asked "the same questions over and over again." What else are people supposed to ask, if not about the band? Yes, I have had to advise some bands on how to do interviews, as many will just do one word "yes" or "no" answers to all of their questions. I think as they get used to doing them they sort of get the hang of it, you know? Anything else on your mind? Thanks for doing the interview and I appreciate all of the support you've given the bands I work with :)

Also, if anyone wants to work with me or has any questions please contact me on Twitter as @dewarpr or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/cdewarpr THE END

FREE METAL MUSIC Marrow of Earth (U.S.): EP 2014 Formed in 2013 and this is their first recording.

Marrow of Earth is the new name of Divulgence (2008-2013) from South Carolina, U.S. For this reason, the recording sounds like a band that has experience, as opposed to a young band recording the first demo. Marrow of Earth is a type of mix of death/black/thrash that is most concerned not with genre, but with headbanging tunes. The EP is free/name your price below. www.marrowofearth.bandcamp.com Observer (Brazil) Observer is a black metal from Brazil whose concept revolves around the panopticon, where control and power are everywhere in society. The band plays fast black metal and uses some melodic vocals, too. This three-song EP is very impressive, and if you are looking for Michel Foucault-inspired intellect in black metal, you might enjoy this band’s take on the concept of power. Obtain their 2013 EP for free/name your price below. www.thetrueobserver.bandcamp.com www.facebook.com/observerbrasil?fref=ts Dismemberment Torture (Indonesia) Dismemberment Torture focuses on the fastest, blasting ultra death metal that you can imagine with guttural vocals and increasing the frenzy as much as possible in order to take death metal to its very limits. They have free downloads. www.reverbnation.com/dismembermenttorture Girlzeroth (Indonesia) Girlzeroth is nothing but ultra death metal of the fastest, heaviest kind. The free downloads at ReverbNation make it obvious that with this band you have to be alert to keep up with this blasting speed. www.reverbnation.com/girlzeroth www.facebook.com/GIRLZEROTH December 28, 2014