Scratch the Surface Issue 2

TEXTURES

plus THE KONSORTIUM + IRON LAMB

+ MORS SUBITA + FLESHRED + SKIRMISH

DUALITY IS THE GENESIS OF LIFE

IS

SU

E 2

/N

OV

20

11

I C SVORTEX

................................................................................................................

4 THE KONSORTIUM

6 TEXTURES

8 ICS VORTEX

10 MORS SUBITA

12 IRON LAMB

13 ENTRAILS

14 FLESHRED

15 SKIRMISH

CREW Editor: David Alexandre

Contributors: Luca Niero, Byrant Thomas, Alex Grimm, James Merrett, Ann Sulaiman, Gilberto Rui

www.scratchthesurface-webzine.com | [email protected]

Scratch the Surface | 3

HUMAN SCULPTURE

With only one year of existence, Finland’s Human Sculpture al-

ready shows a strong level of maturity in songwriting and execu-

tion on their first effort “Our World Torn Down”.

Influenced by groups like The Black Dahlia Murder, At the Gates

and Decapitated, the Finn’s sound can be enclosed in this new

wave of bands that mix of death-metal brutality and technicality

with heavy metal harmonies, along with some pummelling

breakdowns. Yet not once they sound like a cheap and mun-

dane imitation of these other acts, Human Sculpture grind along

with total command of their craft, without

having the need to resort to the same

shameless plagiarism that affects a good

percentage of similar acts. Although they

don’t offer anything new on these three

themes, Human Sculpture’s synthesis of

technical breakdowns, furious riffs, stag-

gering harmonies and throaty growls re-

ally kicks some serious ass and is

reason enough for us to keep an eye

on this promising and talented act.

EAK

If Converge and Mastodon had a bastard love child, EAK would

definitely be that ugly and wicked creature. Brilliantly savage

and scandalous vile, the band’s first full-

length release “MuzEAk” is the perfect

amalgam of Converge’s nihilistic and

crusty riffs, Mastodon’s wickedly jagged

rhythms and whole piss and vinegar atti-

tude of their early records. “MuzEAK” is

truly a pulverising experience, it’s filth, it’s

ragged and absolutely vile and when it’s

over you feel the need to take a bath in a

clean and warm water.

WE ARE KILLING OURSELVES

Portugal’s We Are Killing Ourselves are back with The Road of

Awareness, their second album and follow-up to their acclaimed

debut “Deconstructive Essence”. One of the best things about

The Road of Awareness is the band's fusion of Meshuggah tech-

nical and mind-shattering rhythms with the pounding groove of

someone like Lamb of God.

“Extispicium” smacks heavily of that Meshuggah's influence

crossed with Lamb of God’s pummelling attitude, with intricate

chord progressions, machinegun-like kick drums and a groovy

and infectious chorus.

The band has definitely written a monster record that will surely

break a bone or two wherever it spins.


KONSORTIUMTHE

“...I don’t even have a clue myself where we’ll go next. But I

don’t see any radical changes in the near future. There’s still a

lot of ways to bend metal, and we’ve only just started...”


Norway has produced some seriously innovative and

weird music over the last two decades. For every five

acts crawling out the deep and dense Norwegian

forests and resorting to cult black metal methods,

there is always a group of musicians clearly bound to

take a leftfield road, making music that not only is en-

tirely their own, but it’s also challenging and irrever-

ent. This bizarre pedigree of vanguard musicians is

vast and goes from The Third and The Mortal to In the

Woods, from Ulver to Red Harvest.

And the well hasn’t run dry yet as a young Norwegian

collective known as The Konsortium, definitely gravi-

tate toward the more irreverent end of this spectrum,

twisting a harsh black metal with some progressive

overtones and epic melodies.

There’s precious little information about the band

available, its members have deliberately made an ef-

fort to hide their identities behind masks and pseudo-

nyms. With the exception of Teloch from

Mayhem/Nidingr that plays guitar and Erlend Hjelvik

from Kvelertak that lends his voice to some songs, no

one knows who’s involved with band, although ru-

mours suggest that they’re all prominent figures of

the Norwegian metal scene.

Guitarist and founder, simply known as One dis-

cusses the genesis of the group, their self-titled debut

release and the volatile nature of their music.

Does this decision to keep your identities secret means that

you prefer the music to do all the talking or are there other

motifs?

No, that’s correct. But I have to add that there’s nothing manda-

tory about this – just look at Teloch or Ording, they have chosen

to do otherwise.

Will you ever reveal the real people behind the masks?

Well, as I said, some of the members go by their birth or artist

names, so anyone can find out who they are. As for myself, I

prefer to stay as much in the background as possible. Privacy is

an underrated thing.

How do you wish The Konsortium to be perceived, a super-

group, a side-project or a bunch of kindred spirits bound to

craft some irreverent metal music like the name suggests?

Definitely the latter! It’s more than a mere project, and we are

not a “super group” as such. Teloch has some fame to his name

of course, but what matters are his skills, not how many follow-

ers he has on Twitter.

Reviews and critics are comparing you to various artists

like Arcturus, Borknagar, Solefald and Dødheimsgard, how

does that make you feel and how would you describe your

own music?

All of the bands you mention are capable of delivering music

with serious impact, so I see no other way than to take it as a

compliment. I haven’t heard the latest albums of Arcturus, Bork-

nagar and Solefald, but I still know that all the names you came

up with are of a certain quality.

Myself, I prefer to describe the Konsortium’s music as metal,

plain and simple. We do things with a twist, but it’s still metal.

Some describe us as black metal, and if that’s what we are to

them, then fine, but in my own opinion, we stray too far off the

radar to fit that genre exclusively.

Based on the reviews you’ve read of your album what

bands do you see mentioned most frequently when trying

to draw points of comparison to your style? Have you read

any that just had you roll over the eyes and shrug in confu-

sion? I’ve seen some pretty puzzling associations with

bands like Fear Factory.

Hah, I haven’t seen that one. The usual ones are the bands

you’ve already mentioned, in addition to Satyricon and Thorns,

along with the later releases of Mayhem. I’ve seen a few reviews

from Germany, where the reviewer just doesn’t seem to under-

stand the music. If you don’t like the music, that’s fine, but at

least give the record more than one spin before you make up

your mind.

Anyways, I’ve also seen one review comparing us to “Bathory in

space”, which is fucking great, hehe. I only remember one re-

view that made me kind of pissed, stating that we were lacking

ambition and just trying to be a copy of Satyricon, Thorns and

DHG… Sure, you can hear in our riffing that there are similari-

ties, and that we come from a certain style of metal… but a

copy?? If you can’t tell us apart from those bands, you either

have no clue of what you’re talking about or you’re simply plain

deaf.

Tell us a bit more about the record. How did everything

come together, the end result can be attributed to a team ef-

fort or does any member take the role of principal song

writer?

I have written most of the material on this album, but it’s still a

team effort. Teloch did almost all of the guitar work, for example.

We don’t function as a “normal” band at all, but get together

when we have to… Anyways, I guess it’s a mix of both team and

individual effort.

Are you difficult person to work with or do you generally

tend accept other opinions when it comes to songwriting

lightly?

Well… I have been in several bands and have made music with

quite a few people over the years… and I think it’s safe to say

that I am not an easy person to work with. The conflicts are too

many to mention, and there’s no doubt that others see me as a

band dictator at times. But so be it.

I’ve read that you might invite other musicians from various

fields to collaborate with The Konsortium in the future, if

that is so, do you see the band as a volatile entity with no

bounds to a specific genre or style?

Yeah, that’s correct! In other words, I don’t even have a clue my-

self where we’ll go next. But I don’t see any radical changes in

the near future. There’s still a lot of ways to bend metal, and

we’ve only just started.

What are your realistic goals for The Konsortium in the next

few years? Where do you see your music going in the fu-

ture?

Difficult question. I am happy as long as we continue to chal-

lenge ourselves and evolve, and don’t let anything run on au-

topilot or routine, you know. There are no plans on taking over

the world or become massively popular or anything like that.

Well, perhaps taking over the world, that would be ok. Apart from

that, we’ll go where the music takes us.

The Konsortium is out now via Agonia Records

More info at: www.facebook.com/thekonsortium

Words: David Alexandre


Since the release of their debut ‘Polars’ in 2003, Hol-

land’s Textures have been gradually building a strong

reputation as one of the most challenging and skilful

acts in the metal scene, which now culminates in their

most recent release ‘Dualism’.

A record that marks a few firsts for the band, it’s the

first album featuring new vocalist Daniel De Jongh

and new keyboard player Uri Dijk, and it’s their first

effort for Nuclear Blast, following three records on

Listenable Records. Scratch the Surface communes

with drummer Stef Broks to find more about Dualism.

First of all, I want to congratulate you on the new album,

“Dualism” is an amazing record and in my opinion it’s your

best work to date. Is the band happy with the final out-

come?

“Yes definitely. It took a lot of time and effort to craft this record

into the shape that we wanted. Right in the middle of the writing

process our former singer Eric and former keyboard player

Richard decided to quit the band.

Luckily for us there was a guy available in Holland who could

match up to Eric's vocal skills.

So, for three years we worked our asses of, built a new re-

hearsal space, built a new studio and finally here it is, ‘Dualism’.

This is Textures 2011, stronger than ever.”

Have you got high hopes for this album?

“We have a new label, the big-shot Nuclear Blast and we have

the same booking agent as Devin Townsend, Meshuggah and

Dillinger Escape Plan so hell yeah we have high hopes. To-

gether with our management they’re pushing Textures to a maxi-

mum. One of the first results is this US tour with Periphery and

all the interviews we have to do over here. It's amazing.

Our new video-clip already ended up in some charts and proba-

bly in Holland and Great Britain the album will hit the charts as

well. We never could have dreamed about that.”

Do you think the band felt some kind of pressure, con-

sciously or not, when you started penning the new songs

given the high expectations surrounding the

band with the recent signing to Nuclear

Blast?

“No never, because there’s simply no reason to be worried. We

always release songs that are completely how we are ourselves.

And we only release them if we are 100% confident about them.

Just like with new record ‘Dualism’, this is Textures 2011 and

‘Silhouettes’ was Textures 2008. They are statements to those

very moments.

The art that we create is the combination of Bart, Jochem, Stef,

Daniel, Remko and Uri! We are not ashamed of being ourselves

and that's why we have no worries about releasing a record.

Simply because being ourselves is our only true way of being. If

people don't like the music, that's a pity but we have show our

true face. It's take it or leave it thing, but luckily most people stay

hahaha.”

It took you guys three years to follow up “Silhouettes”,

couldn’t you have made the new record any quicker? Was it

a difficult album to piece together?

“That was the departure of the Eric and Richard and the joining

of Daniel on vocals and Uri on keys. At first it felt like a slap in

the face, you know. We were friends for such a long time. We re-

ally needed some time to recover from that.

But I'm glad that our artistic strife survived and kept Textures

alive. Textures 2.0 haha”

This is the second time you had to look for a new singer

and that’s always a trick position to fill in. How has these re-

cent changes affected how you’ve approached this new

record? Have the new members had an impact on record's

overall sound?

“Daniel's timbre is very similar to Eric's voice. Daniel knows what

the soul of Textures is and I mean that in a couple of ways. First

of all, we knew each other already. Secondly, he was acquainted

with the Textures material. But most important of it all, Daniel

knows about singing soul. I mean, about bending a note like

soul singers do. In that way Daniel is not a 100% metal singer

who sings heroic anthems about knights or blood and death.

His vocals have this expression that touches us just like Mike

Patton, Maynard James Keenan or Phil Anselmo do. Some peo-

ple call that blues, I call it soul.

Hey, but let me be clear, for the biggest part Daniel is screaming

and grunting the hell out of himself, so it's not clean all the way

haha.”

Did it take a while to get used to the new mem-

bers Daniel De Jongh (ex-CiLiCe) and Uri Dijk

(Ethereal) style, or everything just clicked

immediately?

TEXTURES


“Socially there was a click right away. After some changes you

get very aware of what you need in a band, musically and so-

cially. Daniel is a very experienced man. With his previous band

he did loads of shows around the globe, so he knows what he

was up to when joining Textures.

On the other side, we were lucky that Daniel is from our same

small country, Holland. Most Dutch people have the same kind

of sober attitude and rough humour. I don't think Textures would

have continued with somebody from another country. Speaking

the same language is very important to us.”

When I was listening to “Dualism” for the first time I noticed

some songs are heavily drenched in progressive overtones,

it seems that your love for prog rock/metal is more preva-

lent on this new record than ever before. Is this something

that you were looking for when the band begin the process

of writing this new record or was it more or less a natural

thing?

“We write songs very impulsively, what comes out is coming out.

Sometimes that is an epic and clean song like ‘Reaching Home’,

while other times that is a freaky, polyrhythmic ‘Singularity’.

We listen to so much stuff that we have influences from all over.

Besides that, Textures always had a very big range of sounds,

ever since our debut ‘Polars’. So, we don't think Textures has a

very strict formula to work with. Of course we use a lot of special

and recognizable ingredients or tools to create a song. And of

course all band members have their own sound when they play.

That is the soul of the band.”

Do you guys plan to explore the progressive side of your

music any further?

“Well, to be progressive in when it comes to freakiness is not re-

ally an issue. For us progressive is way more important. We just

want to create something new, something fresh for our eyes. At

least for ourselves we have to make some progression in that

way. To express that in freaky rhythms or riffs is just a tool to do

that. To create interesting song structures and sounds is a more

important tool.

I don't know in which way we will head. Music is always an im-

pulsive and natural thing to us. Let's see in which direction we

will flow.”

So, how does “Dualism” compare to the band’s previous re-

leases, particularly “Silhouettes”?

“There are two big differences I guess. The first was that the

whole writing process was cut down in two pieces because the

dudes left the band. We needed some time to recover, you

know. It was a slap in the face. You need some time to think

about it before you strike back. I can assure you that we never

felt knocked down. When we talked to each other the first time

after the departure of Eric and Richard we immediately decided

to continue our crusade for modern metal music. The fourth

album is our way of striking back. So that said, everything was

like what doesn't kill us, makes us stronger!

The second difference is that unlike the other albums, the songs

were our main goal. That's the reason why the tracks are so dis-

tinctive from each other. Each song has its specific mood,

tempo, sound and vibe. But in the overall, the album is more co-

herent than our previous ones. The sound and the overall track

listing is one package with just different ingredients. Like a

heavy, long dinner in a good restaurant haha.”

The album was once again produced by guitarist Jochem

Jacobs at Split Second Sound. What’s the atmosphere in

the studio been like this time?

“Jochem is always hyped up, a real workaholic. He never stops

before the product is perfect. So every day he and the rest of us

would set a goal and everyday we had to fulfil what was on the

list. He is the owner of the studio so he can plan his own sched-

ule, and most of the days that's Textures 24/7.

For the drums we took 6 days. Everyday we’d record from 10am

till 17pm. Those were long journeys, but definitely needed to cre-

ate the result that we wanted. In total the recordings took 3

months plus a week to mix and master it.”

Even though Textures are now signed to one of the biggest

independent record labels in the music scene, it’s surpris-

ing to witness that you still have the DIY attitude that char-

acterized the band’s whole career. The production duties

were handled by guitarist Jochem, the album cover and lay-

out was designed by former singer Eric Kalsbeek and

bassist Remko Tielemans. Did the label gave you a green

card to do it all by yourself?

“They are no majors so you could say they gave us carte

blanche. The scene thrives by bands that are kind of stubborn

and create their own sound and Textures has always been like

that.

We just love to be creative with our music, the lyrics, the videos

and the merchandise. The whole Textures package really.”

Tells us about the lyrical themes explored in this new

record, what is the dualism you’re referring to?

“We are fascinated by the contrasts between man-machine, nur-

ture-nature, dark-light, physics-brains and how we deal with that.

Dualism is representative for the choices that we make, rational

or emotional. Every song tells a person struggling with finding a

state of enlightenment, of beauty or bliss. We wrote it down in a

poetical way so that every reader or listener could find their own

meaning in it. People have to invest some energy in listening to

Textures to get the highest result I guess.”

Following the upcoming North-American and European

tours, what is next for the band?

We go all the way with this record. At the moment we are on the

road in America, Portland, Oregon to be precise. After this 5-

week tour we go to UK for 10 days, then our homeland Holland

and some shows in France, Belgium and Germany. By the end

of the year, maybe we’ll hit India again and next year....Europe

and maybe USA one more time. Even Australia is an option.”

Anything else you'd like to add? Thanks for the time.

“Next week our new album Dualism is to be released. Check out

some new songs on our Facebook. Our video from new song

‘Reaching Home’ was released already last week. Check it out

guys. Hope to see you on the road!”

Dualism is out now via Nuclear Blast Records

More info at: www.texturesband.com


“...We are fascinated by the contrasts between man-machine, nurture-nature, dark-light,

physics-brains and how we deal with that. Dualism is representative for the choices that we

make, rational or emotional...”


ICS VORTEX

no rest for the wicked

Following an acrimonious split with Dimmu Borgir, ICS Vortex

aka Simen Hestnæs didn’t sit around feeling sorry for himself

and decided to roll up his sleeves and start working on a

number of projects that have been laying dormant for the last

few years like Arcturus and Lamented Souls, plus he rejoined

Borknagar and even had time to create his first solo effort.

Recently issued by Century Media, “Storm Seeker” might sur-

prise a few people as ICS Vortex probes more emotional, pro-

gressive territory and lets his creative spark get more

expansive than ever before. The progressive and hard-rock

style contrasts heavily with ICS Vortex previous endeavours,

yet the ambitious instrumentation and dazzling songcraft

proves that the musician’s name holds up pretty well on its

own. ICS Vortex discusses the making of the album and his

future plans.

Now that the Dimmu Borgir chapter is closed, Hestanes says that

the relationships between him and his former band members are

pretty much broken and there’s no chance of collaborating with

them again, ICS Vortex is determined to give a new lease of life to

some of his long lost, but highly missed projects like Arcturus and

Lamented Souls and to finally to commit to tape some ideas that

have gestating in his mind for quite some time.

“I had these songs in the back of my mind for quite some timenow. I had a lot of material laying around in minidiscs, tapes andhard discs and I started collecting the material and produce it.There’s stuff that goes back to 2001, songs that wouldn’t fit in anyof my other projects or bands. Songs like ‘Blackmobile’ had beenfinished for a long time, I think I first jammed that song withNicholas Barker and the other guys on our first tour with DimmuBorgir in 2001 I believe. I’ve just added the clean vocals and itturned out quite better that I thought it would.”

Although most of the songs featured in his first record have been

laying around, waiting to be recorded for quite some time, “Storm

Seeker” has very few ties with the symphonic black metal of

Dimmu Borgir or Borknagar, in fact it will surely surprise a few peo-

ple as ICS Vortex probes a more emotional, progressive territory

and lets his creative spark get more expansive than ever before.

The progressive and hard-rock style of some of these new songs

contrasts heavily with Hestanaes previous endeavours.

“I found it to be extremely diverse when I first listened to it in thestudio as a whole. I thought wow this is going to surprise somepeople for sure, it’s a bit more challenging. There was lot of hardwork and effort involved as I’ve tried to make it all work together, tomake all these diverse influences to sound like a complete pack-age.”

Were you ever concerned how the fans might react to this record?

I guess a lot of them were expecting a more black-metal sound.

“I don’t know, it depends on how big fans they’re, I know I havesome die hard fans, probably not that many, ah ah. But for peoplewho know about my other bands like Lamented Souls and previ-ous stuff it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. I thought it wasgoing to be more complaining about the material but it has been alot of pads in the back and I guess a lot of people just matured inthe same sort of way as I did and now we’re on the level and theycan relate to my music and my lyrics and maybe they think it’s oknot to scream all the time ah ah ah.”

As mentioned before, “Storm Seeker” displays Hestnaes’ affection

for hard-rock music, “Windward” for instance is hands down the

mellowest song he ever written and reminds me of Kiss at certain

times, while songs like the title theme evokes some influences of

artists like Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin.

Excuse me did you just say Kiss? Hestaenes interjects.

Yeah, somehow the song’s vibe reminds me of Kiss.

“Well Kiss is one of mine all time favourite bands so it’s great yousay that yeah. I can see that.”

So, could you elaborate on the effect hard-rock and acts like Kiss,

Led Zeppelin had on your sound?

“Overall, they’re all bands that I grew up listening to. I started fol-lowing Kiss even before I’ve heard of hard rock music. As a kid,like when I was four or five years old I started collecting these trad-ing Kiss cards and all the kids wanted to play in Kiss because ofthese cool cards, so you know that’s how it started and the firstKiss tape I’ve heard I was like five or six year old, it was the Hotterthan Hell record and that was an excellent start. It’s was Kiss, thenWasp, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, a lot of punk stuff and alsosome alternative things like Sonic Youth, Nick Cave and The Birth-day Party and then I evolved to more hardcore bands, Megadeth,Slayer and then some Norwegian black metal bands. It’s beenmusic, music all the time for me, that’s what my life had beenbased around you know. And I never wanted to be narrowed minded when it comes tomusic, even though there was a time in the beginning of the 90’swhere a lot of Norwegians were narrow minded including me for atime I admit.”

So Kiss was the band that touched you in a way where you knew it

would always be part of your life and wanted to be a musician and

play in a band?

“Absolutely”

What’s been most challenging aspect of your career following thesplit with Dimmu Borgir?

“Humm, I don’t know, I’ve been working hard in making new musicsince then, but I’d say working with so many creative and talentedpeople has definitely been a challenge for me.”

Indeed, Hestaenes have been extremely busy in the last few

years, not only he crafted his first solo effort, he also rejoined

Borknagar and even brought Arcturus back from limbo.

“That’s fantastic and I’m really happy that it happened really, I’mespecially optimistic for Arcturus as the album we’ve prepared isgoing to sound massive.”

And hey, let’s not forget about Lamented Souls, I thought the band

was buried considering your involvement with Dimmu Borgir and

Einar’s focus on Duplicate Records.

“Lamented Souls was never really dead, it’s just been inactive forso many years. You know we always wanted to record anotheralbum, but really haven’t had the time to put it together. We’vetrading e-mails back and forth with ideas, and we’ve the songs fin-ished, we just need to write the lyrics and find time to put it to-gether and I hope there’s a new record out in 2012.”

What about these other projects that were announced recently like

Artisan and God of Atheist?

“Well it’s interesting that you mention God of Atheist ‘cause I justmentioned it a couple of times, but that’s Asgeir Mickelson bandand he recorded all the drums of album, I’m not going to mentionthe rest of the line-up, but there’s going to be some big names onthat album. I’m set to do the vocals and it’s going more technicalmetal like Atheist and stuff like that.”“Artisan is a project that Jens has just started, but before I do that Ijust have to finish the recordings of the new Borknagar album,which I did the bass lines and some vocals. So there’s a lot of stuffgoing on.”

Storm Seeker is out now on Century Media Records


Made up of former and current members of

Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Dark Flood and Cata-

menia, Mors Subita are one of the most excit-

ing and crushing new acts coming out the

cold and grey Finland lately.

Their debut full-length release “Human Waste

Compression” recently issued by Violent

Journey Records shows that this is a band

clearly destined for bigger and better things.

We caught up with guitarist and mastermind

Mika Lammassaari to learn more about the

working methods of Mors Subita and what to

expect from them in the future.

Congratulations on “Human Waste Compression”, it’s a

great record. Are you satisfied with the final results?

Thanks you very much! We’re glad you like it! We’re fully satis-fied with the outcome and we’re proud to finally release thisalbum! And of course we could not have done it without theamazing people who collaborated and helped us! Cheers!

In your bio, it mentions that you all play in other bands such

as Eternal Tears of Sorrow and Dark Flood. Does this

means that Mors Subita is a

side-project or do you want

people to perceive it as a full

and independent band?

Mors Subita is my main band, and has always been. It’s an inde-pendent and fully loaded, ready-to-kill band 100%. It doesn’tmean I don’t focus on Eternal Tears of Sorrow though. For me, Eternal Tears of Sorrow has fed my compositionalneeds and also made me focus more clearly on the sound ofMors Subita. If I didn’t have EToS, all those song ideas would goto waste. Our new rhythm guitarist, Tero Piltonen (lead vocals/Dark Flood)is also a killer growler, so I think he truly needs a band where hecan focus on vocals.

Regarding your first album, “Human Waste Compression”

is a detailed, eclectic and richly textured effort. We can hear

several musical influences ranging from thrash, death and

black metal. What were some of the influences, either musi-

cal or otherwise, that helped shape “Human Waste Com-

pression” into such a diverse record?

Our root influences come from 90´s metal such as At the Gates,Carcass, Testament, Death, Pantera etc. bands we grew upwith. Mors Subita member’s personal musical influences varyquite a lot, so ideas flow kinda nicely within each other. Ofcourse some “too poppy or non-Mors sounding” ideas can beshot down pretty fast, haha.From a composer’s perspective, I try to keep my eyes open forall good music, regardless of the genre. That’s where the diver-sity comes from, not listening only metal, haha.

If you had to place Mors Subita in a genre, what would it

be?

Hard erectional serious Ulåbordmelodic thrash death punk pop

underground main-stream metal!


When and how was the album composed? What was your

writing/recording process like?

The material has been written mainly between 2008 and 2010except a couple older killer tunes we felt needed to be includedin the cd.I write all music pretty much from start to finish at home. Somesongs for example the opening track “The Sermon” was prettymuch ready from the first demo, lyrics and arrangements in-cluded.Sometimes ideas need more input from the band and thoseideas get tossed around at our rehearsals, usually between meand our drummer, Haapala. We just jam on some stuff thatneeds to be worked on.Me and our former rhythm guitarist, Insu, recorded the drums forthe album at a small local studio in Oulu and the rest wasrecorded by me at our rehearsal place. Pretty dark and agoniz-ing period for me as I took the responsibility of producing,recording, editing and doing all guitars and backing vocals forthe album, haha. For my fortune, the guys did just amazing workin the studio and where empathic enough put up with my Naziasshole behaviour, haha!

Now that the album is out, what's on the horizon for the

band?

Promoting the album and playing as many gigs as possible. Atthe moment we’ve got a tour going on in Finland but we hope toplay abroad soon! Our main goal is to push Mors Subita forwardwith full force as far as possible!

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Pre-order “Human Waste Compression” worldwide athttp://www.recordshopx.com/artist/mors_subita/human_waste_compression and order our new merch at http://www.northern-tribe.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=90_120&lJoin our fanpage at www.facebook.com/morssubitaThanks for the interview and keep rotting in the free world!

Human Waste Compression is out now on Violent Journey

Records

More info at: www.morssubita.com


www.mhorgl.com

A fearsome blast of blackened thrash metal, comparable to the better works of Destroyer 666

and Aura Noir.

Iron Lamb are something of a super-group featuring mem-

bers with a vast experience in the Swedish death-metal

scene with their involvement in prominent bands such as

General Surgery, Repugnant and Dismember. Yet, their first

record “The Original Sin” is so much different from what

these guys have done in the past and is deeply rooted in d-

beat and punk rock, and that to me was a bit shocking at

first.

I guess with their background in death-metal and the in-

volvement of Pulverised Records I was expecting well, more

Swedish death-metal.

We asked bassist and author of the notorious "Swedish

Death Metal" book, Daniel Ekeroth, if he gets similar reac-

tions from other people who listen to Iron Lamb for the first

time?

Well, abroad people tend to know more about our history withindeath metal bands. In Sweden, however, the majority are alsofamiliar with our work within punk and rock in bands such asDiskonto, Crash Diet, Bombstrike and Subvision. I guess youcan say that most of our previous bands have been pretty rootedwithin specific genres, whereas we are not too concerned aboutrules in Iron Lamb. We just make music we like now, be it metalor punk. If the riffs are good and the song rocks, we don’t care ifit’s labelled punk or metal. It’s only rock n roll, and that’s the waywe like it!

And how did Iron Lamb come together? What was the spark

that ignited the whole thing?

I know Grga, Johan and Tomas had been talking for years aboutstarting a rock n roll band, and I guess it finally happened inearly 2009. Soon after, they lured me into joining the band, I ac-tually turned it down at first but since I had locked myself out ofthe apartment I had nothing better to do than turn up at their re-hearsal place! When I heard the first songs I was hooked, so Ijust joined on spot. Later Jens came into the horde, and com-pleted the line-up. I guess we all feel a lot more freedom in thisband than with our former groups; we can just do what the hellwe want.

With “The Original Sin” it seems you’ve made an effort to

sound analogue and raw, is there a sense of trying to

record an album that conveys a 80’s punk rock vibe?

We certainly didn’t think like that at the moment, we just wantedthe album to sound good. I guess the rawness comes from ourworking method – just bang the shit out of the songs, preferablyin one take. Most of our favourite music was made in the 80’s,so I guess that influence was natural.

I hear a lot of comparisons to Mötorhead, but I also hear in-

fluential twists of Poison Idea and Discharge. Who are the

important musicians that influence your writing in Iron

Lamb?

All the great bands we like – Ac/Dc, Poison Idea, Venom, Motör-head, Judas Priest, Bathory, Autopsy, GG Allin, Ramones etc. Ofcourse, guys like Lemmy and Eddie Clarke sure are inspirations,but any great riff will get our blood pressure up. Basically it’s thefeeling of rock that gets us in the mood, that raw energy that justmakes you feel alive.

Why is the album called “The Original Sin”? And what does

the cover art depicting a crowned lamb have to do with

that?

We are all lambs, just waiting for the slaughter at the end of ourlife. The iron lamb is the one that breaks out of the horde, andindulges in a life of sin. Break all rules, never look back and pisson authorities as you go wild!

Do you have any plans of putting out another full-length or

release in the future or this was a one-off experience?

We will probably record some new 7” singles first, but next yearwe will surely work on another album. This autumn we will alsodo a European tour, so you better watch out if we come to yourtown. We feel great about the band, there’s no way we would

quit any time soon!

Anything else you'd like to add?

If anyone wants to get stuff from us, you can contact us at: [email protected] We still have some 7” singlesleft, along with a slew of different shirts.


Original Sin is out now on Pulverised Records

More info at: http://www.facebook.com/Iron-LambWords: David Alexandre


entrails

Evoking the dirty, pestilent atmosphere of early Dismember

and Entombed, Sweden’s Entrails are old-school death metal

way down to the bone, but they cannot be seen as another

bunch of new kids trying to emulate the crusty and infectious

sounds of old-school Swedish death-metal as Entrails’ ori-

gins go way back to the early nineties.

The band has just released their crushing sophomore album,

“The Tombs Awaits”, and we caught up with guitarist Jimmy

Lundqvist to discuss this new record, and why has taken En-

trails almost two decades to put forth their debut record.

It took almost19 years for Swedish death metallers Entrails to

put forth their debut album, yet only a year has passed since the

release of “Tales from the Morgue” and the band already issued

their sophomore record entitled “The Tomb Awaits”. Does this

mean you’re determined to recover some the lost ground?

“Yeah, it was a long time for the debut to come out but things fi-nally worked out turned and it feels great to finally have some-thing released… so to your question I would say yeah, sort of…”

I understand that most of the material featured in “Tales from the

Morgue” had been lying around for years, waiting to be

recorded. What about this new record, is it all recent stuff or you

had been digging through your old archives one again?

“That's right! The material was made in the 90´s on ‘Tales’ andlike 80% of ‘The Tomb Awaits’ is from that time as well. Since webecame a complete band for this album we also wanted to dosomething new, but still do it in the old way. And it worked outreal good so I am not afraid to let them help on every song, plusthere is more stuff in my tape collections that could fit in somesongs in future releases.”

How does “The Tomb Awaits” compare to Entrails' previous re-

lease? I noticed that some of the guitar soloing is a bit more

melodic, do you agree?

“To us it feels a lot darker and better done in everything so to

speak. The solos are in my opinion not that much more melodicand to me it’s almost the same as “Tales”.

You have a new line up for this album. How did that change the

writing and recording process?

“Nothing special, but there are more brains now and then I thinkthe songs are a bit more aggressive this time. When I write thesongs I can end up doing too long parts before some changes,but now we are working as a team and the songs got a new di-mension now.”

Just like “Tales from the Morgue” the new record was mixed and

mastered by Dan Swano, who’s an interesting fellow. He’s capa-

ble of some mellowest and wimpiest shit, yet he always revealed

a penchant for brutal and old-school death metal. Are you

pleased with his work and the final outcome?

“Totally! He's the man for our sound. He knows exactly what wewant and he brings it to us. Well invested money.”

How do you view the current metal scene when compared to

when you first started, in the early nineties? There is no tape-

trading but there’s a looot of file-sharing and that makes it diffi-

cult to sell records right?

“Today it is almost computer for everything, good or bad. Well,without it I think Entrails wouldn't exist today and would havebeen dead and buried from that day I closed it down.Back then, we didn't have this contact with this tape world sincewe lived to far outside where it all happened. But still today thereare people living for tapes, and that's really cool. Same is for thevinyl.File-sharing is a thing that have become so brutally big now soit's a yeah to your question about selling records. I won't stopmaking music because of those stupid mongoloids wants tospoil the bands by illegally uploading the bands music.

Anything else you’d like to add?

“Keep supporting the underground DM by buying our stuff.www.serpentstore.se is our web-store.”

Death Awaits You


It may be their first release ever, but Finland’s

Fleshred show on “Bloodtorn” that they have already

mastered all the essential aspects of great and ex-

treme death metal. It turns that Fleshred are actually a

group of seasoned and skilled musicians, some dou-

bling duties in acts like Ghoul Patrol, and most impor-

tantly they’re determined to separate flesh from bone

with their amazingly brutal and relentless death-

metal.

Below, Scratch the Surface asks guitarist and founder

Jani Hentila his original intentions for Fleshred and

their debut release “Bloodtorn”.

It seems that Fleshred is a band with a cause, to put forth some

straight up, ferocious death metal. That was the specific direc-

tion you wanted to go when you first started Fleshred right?

I had some thrash songs written for my ex-band Evince. First in-tention was to start new thrash metal band and use those songs.I was looking for other musicians to start up the project. At somepoint I discussed with Jussi about playing death metal. I’ve al-ways listened death metal and finally after meeting Oku we de-cided that Fleshred plays death metal. Very first song was “TheHalls of Tormented Flesh” which can be also heard on “Blood-torn”.

In that regard, how do you feel about “Bloodtorn”, the band’s

debut full-length?

It's little bit hard for me to judge the album as I've written thesongs and listen the album like 10000 times before the release. Iwas also recording drums, guitars and bass tracks. So far thefeedback has been very positive. The music is pretty straight for-ward but we have tried to make songs dynamic; very fast andvery slow and everything between, tempo changes, not so typi-cal song structures etc. Hopefully these things keep music inter-esting.

So how exactly did you all meet up and decided to form

Fleshred, did you all knew each other before this new venture?

I knew Jussi and Pave. Oku was found from Finnish metal boardcalled Imperiumi. Oku knew Pete and that’s it. Fleshred wasborn. We had many discussions earlier with Jussi to start adeath metal band. Jussi had death metal band called Tenebraein early 90’s so he really liked the idea to play death metal again.

One of the aspects of the album that I really enjoy is the

crisp and brutal production, it’s not overproduced or

glossy by any means, yet you can hear all the instru-

ments and every crushing note in perfection. Was

that a conscious decision to give the songs a

slightly modern twist but still retain all the

brutality and vile fury of death-metal?

I really like and respect Scandi-navian pioneers like Nihilist /

Entombed, Amor-phis, Nirvana2002, Xysma,Grave, etc.

They had very primitive production in late 80’s, early 90’s. Onthe other hand I like modern production like for example DanSwanö produces. I think Fleshred sound is some kind of mixtureof both words but absolutely more modern. I don’t want inten-tionally copy early death metal production because nowadaysit’s possible to produce a crushing and brutal sound without los-ing the live feeling.

What are Fleshred's main musical influences? What bands did

you guys grow up with and what are your recent favourites?

Amorphis, Xysma, Grave, Funebre, Unleashed, Pestilence,Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse…typical stuff. Like all kids backthen thrash bands like Metallica, Slayer, Testament, Sepultura,Anthrax, Overkill, Stone, Airdash etc. but also WASP and KISS. Ithink Stray Cats is one of the Jussi’s all-time favourites...greatrock band actually.Hail Of Bullets is my personal favourite at the moment; VERYbrutal and catchy music. Martin Van Drunen destroys! Vader lat-est album is maybe best album this year.

What about lyrically, are there any concepts or themes behind

this first album?

Not really. Typical death metal stuff but also more complex lyricslike can be heard on “When All Fades”.

These days playing live plays a pivotal role in getting music to

the public. Are there any plans to support the album with a tour?

Tours are expensive and hard to arrange because we all haveday jobs, some have kids and so on. But we absolutely aregoing to make live shows every now and then. Pete and Oku areplaying in Ghoul Patrol and they will be releasing album soon aswell. The schedules must be fit with Ghoul Patrol shows.

Are there any other happenings or things going on with the band

or you personally that you would like me to let people know

about?

I’d like to thank your interest towards Fleshred. Bloodtorn wasreleased on 28th September and can be ordered worldwide onLevykauppa Äx(http://www.recordshopx.com/artist/fleshred/bloodtorn/). Remem-ber to buy the albums and support the music you like.

Bloodtorn out now on Violent Journey Records

More info at: www.facebook/fleshred

fleshred


Listening to "Through the Abacinated Eyes" is akin to get-

ting caught in a bloody violent crossfire in the most danger-

ous drug cartel in South-America. Throughout 40 minutes,

Skirmish holds nothing back and punishes our eardrums

with their hyper-aggressive blend of raging riffs, crushing

rhythms and furious vocals. In short, it’s heavy as shit.

Scratch the Surface asked guitarist Mikko Kupiainen what

kind of things motivated or inspired the band to channel all

this anger into "Through the Abacinated Eyes". Read the

answers below.

Life itself, cold winters and bad hangovers. All of us have to takea certain amount of shit from somewhere each day and we, as aband, throw that into 40 minutes of aggressive music. It’s eitherbetter than buying a gun or doing something else stupid.“Through the Abacinated Eyes” became aggressive and heavyas shit, that's for sure. Mikko wrote the basics of music, Janimost of the lyrics, but the infinite hours of jamming together find-ing the best solutions for each track moulded the album into thefierce bad motherfucker it is. And that probably sums up all ofour feelings for the last winter.

Now that the album is finally out, what are your expecta-

tions for it?

Expectations are to get our name out there in the open. Wehave a strong album to promote, sales have been quite good sofar for a nameless band, and the reviews have been mostly pos-itive. Hopefully the concert promoters will recognize the namesoon from the mass-load of e-mails they get daily. Also there aresome things going on outside of Finland, let’s hope the promot-ers out there are nice too.So far we’ve got some attention in the metal medias, Finnish In-ferno magazine noted us with an interview, Metal Hammer UKincluded us on the free CD with the August issue and many we-bzines with their own community of readers have interviewed,

wrote about the album release, reviewed etc.

Tell us a little about how Skirmish got started. I believe the

band has been around since at least 2005 and had released

three EP’s prior to the release of this debut full-length

right?

That’s right. Those first EP’s were less professional in a produc-tive way, but the latest “Skirmish” 2010, which we actually madeat the same studio as debut, got some attention worldwide and lotof positive feedback.In the beginning there were no any bigger plans or whatever. Wejust started to rehearse in a dirty cellar and played gig every nowand then. Compared to today, a few of the first years weresearching right persons to the group and learning to play to-gether. Actually our line-up has changed a lot from those daystoo. Today, only Mikko (guitar) and Jani (vocals) are in from thestarters. The songs we wrote then were also not so good astoday, but the base-work was done there.

How does "Through the Abacinated Eyes" compare to those

EP’s, particularly the last one “Skirmish”?

It’s a step forward again. Skirmish-EP got attention, good reviewsand was overall received very well. But on “Through the Abaci-nated Eyes” we come yet more aggressive but more melodic too,more innovative and there is definitely more variations betweenthe tracks. It’s good to compare great past music and noticeyou’ve moved on and done something new for yourself, andmade it sound again a notch better. In conclusion; the songs arebetter, the production is better, cover art is great and the wholepackage is at least one step higher level.

If you had to describe the sound of Skirmish to someone

who had never heard the band's music, what would you say?

Mainly Skirmish is aggressive metal band with influences fromevery here and there. Someone has called us deathrash or what-ever, but we like to call it just metal.Some editor labelled us “turbocharged Sentenced” which mayhave something you can start, but it is just only reference. Musi-cally our influences are metal in almost every possible genre, butprogressive rock, classic rock and stuff like that are there tooeven it maybe can’t be heard directly. We have grown up with80’s and 90’s metal, so I guess these are the most important mu-sical influences; even there are lot of modern vibes too.

"Through the Abacinated Eyes" out now on Violent Journey

Records

Read full interview at: www.scratchthesurface-webzine.com

SKIRMISHI N F O R A K I L L

TEXTURES - DUALISM

(Nuclear Blast)

Since the release of their debut “Polars” in

2003, Holland’s Textures have been gradually

building a strong reputation as one of the

most challenging and skilful acts in the

metal scene, which now culminates in

their most recent release ‘Dualism’. A

record that marks a few firsts for the band,

it’s the first album featuring new vocalist

Daniel De Jongh and new keyboard

player Uri Dijk, and it’s their first effort for

Nuclear Blast, following three records on

Listenable Records.

“Dualism” also sees the quintet moving to-

wards a more progressive sound, yet

you’ll only start noticing that change when third theme “Reaching Home” pops in

with one of mellowest vocal melodies and most soothing chord progressions of

their entire career. New singer Daniel De Jongh does a great job assuming the

role left vacant by Eric Kalsbeek and his powerful, dynamic voice suits Textures'

sound extremely well.

This new album offers plenty of quieter, subtle moments that could sit happily

alongside someone like Marillion or Riverside, particularly “Consonant Hemi-

spheres” and “Foreclosure”. These songs reflect a more subtle and polished side

of Textures, with charming melodies that express some serious 80’s prog affec-

tion.

However, don't despair, they haven't abruptly morphed into a prog-fixated act like

Opeth did on their latest work as “Dualism” still offers plenty of powerful, assertive

and challenging moments. Songs like “Black Horses Stampede” and “Singularity”

stand out, erupting from the speakers with vigorous and forceful intent.

“Dualism” is a mighty and accomplished record, the one that will surely promote Textures to the premier league. (9/10)

David Alexandre

ALL PIGS MUST DIE - GOD IS WAR

(Southern Lord)

With a name like All Pigs Must

Die, it's clear that this Massa-

chusetts four-piece are not into

the subtlety game and their

music is not to be taken lightly.

Vile as a gangrene infection

and menacing as the great

white shark, “God is War” is

one of the fiercest, ugliest,

most threatening records is-

sued this year.

From the get go, “Death

Dealer” demonstrates what

APMD are all about, enraged and buzz saw riffs, furious and re-

lentless percussion and gut wrenching snarls amongst other de-

lights. It’s like a cross between the primitive extreme metal of acts

like Celtic Frost and Entombed with the raging d-beat/hardcore of

Cro-Mags and Discharge. “Pulverization” recaptures that vintage

Entombed sound, with the savage chainsaw guitars crushing all

in their path while vocalist Kevin Baker spews pure bile. “Sacro-

sanct” erupts with relentless fury sounding like a fucked-up col-

laboration between Discharge and 1349.

Clearly, All Pigs Must Die (which features members from Con-

verge, The Hope Conspiracy, and Bloodhorse) are not trying to

break new ground with “God is War”, instead they seem sadisti-

cally pleased to fuck up with your aural and nervous system by

tossing out a vicious amalgamation of metal, hardcore, crust and

punk with unrelenting menace, abrasion and malice.

This is top-notch material that deserves a place your record col-

lection right next to “Left Hand Path”, “The Age of Quarrel” and

“Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing”. (9/10)

David Alexandre

CONFRONT HATE - DIABOLICAL DISGUISE OF MADNESS

(Hell Xis)

For a first offering, “Diabolical Dis-

guise of Madness” is not far short

of staggering. The combination of

diverse sounds presented, from

ethereal, introspective sound-

scapes to furious and pummelling

elements is astounding and makes

it a highly good listen. Well, that,

and the expert songcraft, too.

There are nods to Meshuggah and

Gojira in the way they fuse techni-

cal and crushing riffs with dark, dissonant and progressive har-

monics, like evidenced in “New Divine Shadow” and “Conception”.

In other moments, particularly on the excellent instrumentals, “So-

kenra” and “Love Grows Cold”, Confront Hate reveals a penchant

for epic and sinister ambiences akin to someone like Tool or Nine

Inch Nails.

It’s clear that these guys are determined to create ambitious, po-

tent and accomplished tunes, and although they still have to refine

some details, perhaps eschew some of the tepid chugga-chugga

riffing that hinders the impact of some of these songs, “Diabolical

Disguise of Madness” is most certainly a memorable and crushing

debut. (7/10)

David Alexandre

DEUS OTIOSUS - MURDER

(FDA Rekotz)

If the sleeve and the title don't make it clear, then the first 30

seconds of opener “I Have Seen Him Slay” will spell it out, Den-

mark’s Deus Otiosus plays brutal death metal.

Drawing influences from groups such as Morbid Angel, Immola-

tion and Incantation, the Danes proudly wave the flag of early to

mid-90’s death metal and for the most part it works fairly well.

Fans of old-school death metal will surely appreciate the recog-

nisable traits of the style, break-neck drumming, vicious, furious

riffs, chilling, devilish solos and guttural growls. “Murderer” is not

all about early death metal homage though as songs like


AL

BU

M O

F T

HE

MO

NT

H


“Wall of Violence” introduce some death metal grooves and movie

samples that set them close to Dying Fetus standards, while “Ash

World” reveals some thrash metal leanings that reminded me of

Sepultura circa “Beneath the Remains”.

Ultimately, “Murderer” is not always the most engaging experi-

ence, as it lacks some truly riveting moments and captivating dy-

namics that most listeners require to give it repeated listens, still

it’s a record that death-metal die hard fans would want to give it a

spin or two. (6/10)

Byrant Thomas

ENTRAILS - THE TOMB AWAITS

(FDA Rekotz)

If you know Entrails fantastic

“Tales from the Morgue” debut

issued last year and the old-

school Swedish death-metal

they play, then you know ex-

actly what you're getting with

the new album “The Tomb

Awaits”.

Still evoking the dirty, pestilent

atmosphere of early Dismem-

ber and Entombed, “The

Tombs Awaits” is a crushing

slab of guttural and vicious

death-metal with a dash of groove and melody thrown in to bal-

ance out all the chaotic madness.

First proper track “Unleashed Wrath” sets the tone of the record

with crushing, dirty and chainsaw guitar riffs, thunderous drum-

ming, and Jocke Svensson's deep death growls. The buzz saw

riffs sound straight out of “Left Hand Path”, yet I’d say it’s amazing

to hear this classic sound harkening back to a time when recreat-

ing the fetid stench and brutality of death were way more important

than shredding like some Guitar World fanatic or mosh-pit break-

downs. Sure, it’s nothing overly unique, but when you’re getting

strong tunes akin to any of your favourite death albums, it really

doesn’t matter.

The production value and musicianship are not to be ignored, this

is far from sloppy underground old-school death metal as the

Swedes deliver their brutal onslaughts with amazing precision and

intent.

“The Tombs Awaits” is definitely a must-listen for fans of classic

Swedish death-metal in the vein of Dismember, Entombed and

Grave. (7.4/10)

David Alexandre

EAST OF THE WALL - THE APOLOGIST

(Translation Loss)

“The Apologist” is the follow-up

to last year’s “Ressentiment”

and it sees East Of The Wall

steering towards a slightly

more streamlined and

melodic approach, putting a

greater focus on more memo-

rable song structures.

The group still posses the

meticulous craftsman and

inventive intricacies that were

present in previous works, but

the insertion of more melody in

detriment of a dissonant harshness, as well as the choice to render

the songs with more memorable passages, makes “The Apologist”

a little bit different. Whereas in previous works, the smooth and

intricate passages would abruptly unfurl into all-out rage, it seems

that this time East Of The Wall are a bit more patient when letting

their rage unfold. As a result, “The Apologist” flows with an

increased and marvellous fluidity from start to finish, with songs

such as “Linear Failure”, the title track and “Whiskey Sipper” re-

flecting the band’s remarkable ability to smoothly transition be-

tween moodier, gentle progressive rock passages to raging metal

hardcore segments.

One thing hasn’t changed though, East Of The Wall’s music is still

rather difficult to categorize, but regardless of what it sounds like

and where it falls in the realm of heavy music, “The Apologist” is

a great, well crafted record and is worthy of the attention of anyone

into great, challenging and inventive music. (7.6/10)

Luca Niero

ICED EARTH - DYSTOPIA

(Century Media)

Iced Earth is known for

writing some epic

music, and this album

does not disappoint in

that respect. With new

vocalist Stu Block

(From Into Eternity

fame) on board replac-

ing former vocalist

Matt Barlow, the pres-

sure was on.

Featuring songs such

as the full on thrash at-

tack of the opener and

title track “Dystopia”,

the beautiful ballad that is “The End of Innocence” and the

power metal vibe of “V”, this is an album that showcases every-

thing that Iced Earth was known for, and puts a new twist on it.

Vocalist Stu has stepped into the admittedly large shoes that

were left behind when Matt left and he fills them perfectly, with

a huge vocal range creating multiple dynamics throughout the

songs, going from really clean, to growls, to a Rob Halford

esque shriek that fits the music perfectly.

Iced Earth has never been shy about releasing concept albums

and that doesn’t stop here, with another brilliantly constructed

album about a Dystopian future. The music brings this concept

to life, with songs such as “Boiling Point” and “Tragedy and Tri-

umph” giving the concept life.

This is an album that stands proud and tall next to Iced Earth’s

extensive back catalogue and ushers in the new era of Stu

Block. This is a must buy for all Iced Earth fans and it could

quite easily pick up many new fans as well. (10/10)

James Merrett

MORS SUBITA - HUMAN WASTE COMPRESSION

(Violent Journey)

Made up of former and current

members of Eternal Tears of

Sorrow, Dark Flood and Cata-

menia, Finland’s Mors Subita

show a lot of promise with their

debut full-length release

“Human Waste Compression”.

Meticulously crafted and in-

tensely delivered, this record

finds the Finns fleshing out a

fiercer and rougher sound than

what they did in the aforemen-

tioned acts by blending the no-

holds-barred and scathing thrash chugs of Darkane and

Dew-Scented with the more melodic and infectious side of Soil-

work and Carnal Forge. The band's style is a combination of death

metal and thrash but the technicality of the guitar work is definitely

what makes this album shine. The intense, rabid riffs and blistering

leads of Mika Lammassaari and Tero Piltonen deliver a furious

aural onslaught that’s only slightly diminished in the record’s softer

moments, as in the more progressive and emotionally-driven “En-

trance of Sickness”.

“One Million Flies” is one the fastest on the record and contains

some relentless blasts merged with scathing chugs, impressive

guitar solo shredding and rabid vocals that sound like someone

INSOMNIUM - ONE FOR SORROW

(Century Media)

There are very few albums

that can be classified as

both beautifully melodic

and gut crushingly heavy.

One for Sorrow is one of

these albums and it is ab-

solutely brilliant.

The melodies are constant

and flowing against the

backdrop of heavy metal

which creates a beautiful

atmospheric sound which

can lift you up and carry

you away. When the heaviness kicks back in it brings you back

to earth with a jolt into some bone crushing riffs which are fast

flowing and make you just want to jump into the pit.

There is a mix of melodic death metal, thrash metal and operatic

classical music in this album which is melded together to create

a sonic soundscape for the listener. Every track on this album is

absolutely brilliant and everything feels new and relevant to

today’s music scene. There is definitely something for everyone

in this album.

There are some dark lyrics and it feels like Niilo Sevanen is bar-

ing some open and festering wounds on this album, with lyrics

such as “And I feel tired, empty and hollow, heart-broken inside/

And I feel this life has nothing for me anymore” from Through

the Shadows showing that there isn’t any happiness on this

record.

Songs such as Through the Shadows and Every Hour Wounds

will leave the listener in no doubt that Insomnium have returned

once again with a brilliant album and it won’t let the fans down.

(10/10)

James Merrett

times it gets a bit messy and sloppy with the Swedes ending up

sounding like an obscure second-rate South-American act.

Whether that’s on purpose just to be as primitive and naive as pos-

sible or not, it sure doesn’t do Morbus Chron any favours.

Morbus Chron are definitely not for everyone, but if primitive ex-

tremity and nauseating morbidity is what you’re after, then this is

one disc to look out for. (6.4/10)

Byrant Thomas

PAIN OF SALVATION - ROAD SALT TWO

(Inside Out)

Pain of Salvation is a weird

one. It has elements of Blues,

Old school prog and Zeppelin

era Rock n Roll whilst also fea-

turing orchestration in parts

and syncopated and polyrhyth-

mic rhythms. Basically it’s an

explosion of musical styles,

and it does it well.

At first the music swaps styles

so regularly it’s quite confusing

to follow, but when you start

concentrating on the music, it’s

a beautiful journey delving into the soul. The varying musical styles

also add to this effect and the journey just feels magical. There is

no other word for it really.

This could quite literally be a soundtrack to a completely epic film,

with tracks such as To the Shoreline having quite a Celtic sound,

whereas Softly She Cries is very old school blues. There is more

variance in one song that most bands manage to get onto an en-

tire album.

The variance can be a bad thing as the music does sometimes

feel fairly schizophrenic as it sometimes seems like the music

doesn’t know where it wants to go next. Also as it has come only

a year since Pain of Salvation’s last release (Road Salt One) it

may be all too much for some people.

The band have recently been on the road with the likes of Dream

Theatre and Opeth, and this is very apparent in their writing style

that these two bands are huge influences on them, as the band

seems like a blues version of Opeth.

Overall this is a pretty amazing album, and one I would definitely

recommend to people who want a bit of everything from their

music. (7/10)

James Merrett

THE BROWNING - BURN THIS WORLD

(Earache Records)

Once at the vanguard of the ex-

treme metal, Earache Records

now tries to sell us The Browning,

a Dallas-based collective that is

described as adventurous for

pushing boundaries and pressing

buttons in a way that most metal

acts would not dare attempt.

Well, that’s plain and simple

bogus, ‘cause in fact these guys

try to pepper their generic death-

core sound with some electronic

touches in a attempt to sound different, but unfortunately they end

up on the wrong side of the equation coming across like a

mediocre blend of someone like Chelsea Grin with awful acts like

ATC and Vengaboys.

So, I definitely wouldn’t tag “Burn This World” as an adventurous

and innovative record since the only thing that distinguishes The

Browning from the hundreds of boring and predictable deathcore

acts is their affinity for cheesy electronic sounds and beats, which

also work against them really, completely ruining their respectabil-

ity with some truly cringe-inducing moments. Damn, “Standing on

the Edge” sounds like a cheap techno tune you'd hear at an

amusement park.


who’s having a really lousy, shitty day. “Glance of Fear” offers

more of the same, but reveals a bit more melody in the guitar work.

Mors Subita has really concocted something of high calibre in their

first effort and if they continue improving in the future, they will

eventually ascend into the big league with no sweet.

(8/10)

Luca Niero

MORBUS CHRON - SLEEPERS IN THE RIFT

(Pulverised Records)

Swedish quartet Morbus Chron

seek only the ugliest, grittiest

and most vicious side of death-

metal on their first release

"Sleepers In The Rift", totally

embracing the nauseating,

fetid tone of groups such as

Autopsy, Furbowl and

Grotesque. Yet don’t mistake

the Swedes for another effort-

lessly listenable old-school

Swedish death-metal dis-

charge, unlike most of their

peers, Entrails, Crucifyre and Necrovourous, Morbus Chron aren’t

merely sacking ideas from the usual suspects, Entombed and Dis-

member. Instead, they choose to plug right into the same caustic,

uncomplicated and filthy death-metal that Chris Reifert used to

write for Autopsy. Fans will surely recognise many of the riffs in

“"Sleepers in the Rift", as a few tracks like “Hymn to a Stiff” and

“Red Hook Horror”, are unreservedly influenced by works like

“Severed Survival” and “Mental Funeral”, carrying out an identical

cavernous death metal rumble.

A crisp, yet fittingly raw production further strengthens Morbus

Chron’s performance, delivering the primitive and devilish vibe

necessary to give the songs an extra dose of credibility, yet some


WHITE WIZZARD - FLYING TIGERS

(Earache Records)

Line-up shifts seem to be an

issue for LA's White Wizzard,

namely due to the constant

changes with their vocalist. Yet

while lead singer Wyatt

"Screaming Demon" Anderson

is gone, his legacy is well

marked on the band's second

album 'Flying Tigers' where he

and his cohorts come into their

own.

In opting for higher notes in the

vein of hard rock 'n' roll this

time, Anderson offers a stronger performance, as his voice hits

raw ends with each verse. It also makes White Wizzard's sound

all the more human, in the sense that his method this time around

gives more emotional leeway to be heard and felt by the audience.

Music is powerful at its most empathetic, and coupled with the

tightened strings on the songwriting, Anderson's vocals prove this

point repeatedly without ceasing to be enjoyable.

In turn, White Wizzard's worship of heavy metal's icons, typically

Judas Priest and Ronnie James Dio, is given a greater boost on

the grounds of the band's entire performance - whereas the seeds

were there on previous album 'Over The Top', 'Flying Tigers'

watches them bloom into a band that could well become a name

worthy of stepping up to being a part of the genre's history. (8/10)

Ann Sulaiman

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM - CELESTIAL LINEAGE

(Southern Lord)

Black metal is a genre of music

which is thought off as solely

coming from its bleak home-

land of Scandinavia, far in the

north and cold. Wolves in the

Throne Room have set out

from Olympia, Washington to

disprove this theory and they

do it with gusto, whilst also in-

corporating other elements into

their music.

For example, take the opening

track Thuja Magus Imperium

which has a beautiful melodic opening with some clean singing

before kicking into a ferocious attack of Black metal. The two

styles of music weave together brilliantly and create a sonic land-

scape of a bleak winter night.

There are a couple off odd little filler tracks spread throughout this

album though, such as Permanent Change in Consciousness and

Rainbow Illness which seem to break up the flow and could really

have been left off this album as there isn’t much purpose for them

to be there sonically and at 1 and a half minutes each, they just

seem to be put on to reach the requisite number of songs needed.

The majority of the songs on this album however is absolutely bril-

liant with tracks such as Woodland Cathedral and Subterranean

Initiation creating some amazing sonic landscapes that just drag

the listener into the music.

Wolves in the Throne Room are a band that have taken Black

Metal rule book that the majority of bands live by and ripped it to

shreds and then progressed onto making their own form of Black

Metal the way they want to. By doing this they have escaped the

usual limitations of the genre and managed to push through and

become something more akin to Opeth than Emperor or Immortal.

(8/10)

James Merrett

Reviewed next issue: Krisiun, Brutal Truth, Rwake, Retox,

Echidna, Black Tusk, Bastard Priest and many more.

If Earache wants to put out something truly innovative and ground-

breaking, they only need to dig through their old archives and reis-

sue the complete discography of Godflesh, Fudge Tunnel and

Pitchshifter, not this plain awful mélange of deathcore and techno.

(2.5/10)

Luca Niero

UNTIMELY DEMISE - CITY OF STEEL

(Sonic Unyon Metal)

After it’s slow and stagnant

death in the late 90’s and early

00’s Thrash music is having a

large revival across the board,

and I fear that it’s going the

same way it did before it died

last time. The scene is becom-

ing oversaturated with bands

that have leapt onto the band-

wagon, had a hit album or two,

and then fallen off the radar

completely. Untimely Demise

seems like it will be one of

these bands.

They have tried to inject some different elements into the music,

but it just sounds like Kreator and Sodom done badly. There is a

bit of melody played throughout, but it doesn’t give the music much

of a boost. I expected something much better when it’s been pro-

duced by Ex-Megadeth and king Diamond guitarist Glen Drover.

With song titles such as Virtue in Death and Bloodsoaked Mission,

it feels like they’ve gotten a thrash by numbers book on writing

lyrics and music, there is nothing new and nothing original here.

There are some redeeming points however, the music does get

better as the album progresses, but still sounds all slightly dis-

jointed, and the melody I mentioned before puts the band apart

slightly from the rest of the pack.

I was extremely disappointed with this album, as even with its few

redeeming points, the music feels like recycled riffs from bands

that did this much better at the forefront f the thrash scene back in

the 80’s. This is definitely an album I would not recommend.

(4/10)

James Merrett

ZOMBIE INC. – A DREADFUL DECEASE

(Massacre Records)

Horror Movies and Music.

These are normally things peo-

ple assume would go hand in

hand, and sometimes, they go

absolutely perfectly, like Alice

Cooper, Rob Zombie and Mur-

derdolls. Sometimes it can go

very badly like much of the en-

tire Horror Punk scene.

Thankfully, Zombie Inc. fall into

the former category and their

brand of Horror Death Metal is

a kick that a dying scene really

needs right now.

With sound-bites from old horror flicks accompanying some old

school death metal styling’s, this is one bizarre combo that is not

to be missed. With songs such as We Must Eat! And Planet Zom-

bie, we are left under no illusions where this music is going. Brutal

American Death Metal accompanied by horror lyrics.

My only problem with this album is that it is mostly a gimmick, and

that runs fast pretty quickly. There is very little variation so the

music can become very stale very quickly unless you are a huge

fan of Death Metal, then the gimmick lasts a little longer.

Overall this is a good album, which runs out of steam fast. If you’re

a fan of death metal, pick this up as it is an amusing take on death

metal, but if you only have a passing interest, you won’t get much

from this. (7/10)

James Merrett

Documents

Scratch the Surface Issue 2