Stefan Topuzov's Music Vault - English Version

FEAR FACTORY – “Mechanize”

2009-12-31T11:50:00.008+02:00

An unexpected triumph for the band’s (obviously) more important half

“Yeah, of course you’ll say it will be something like two of your best albums”, all of us thought when Burton C. Bell was telling the press how the new Fear Factory will mix the heaviness of “Soul of a New Machine” with the more mature songwriting of “Obsolete”. Turns out, for our complete amazement, that the bastard wasn’t lying at all!

“Mechanize” came with the big discussion if this is Fear Factory at all or not, as only half of the band’s original lineup is involved with the album, while the other half is looking from the sidelines, waiting to sue… Here we have Burton C. Bell and Dino Cazares along with bassist Byron Stroud and drummer Gene Hoglan.

Yet it is from the very first, and title track that is becomes clear that this is exactly Fear Factory. Not the bad copy of “Transgression” but the band the way it sounded at its zenith. “Powershifter” then brings in the catchiness of Burton’s trademark melodic chorus and the picture is complete. The songs somewhat surprise us with a little bit more thrash metal sounding riffs and more death metal sounding drums. Turns out this works out just fine with the band’s concept. And if anyone doubted if Death and Strapping Young Lad’s Holgan will cope with Harrera’s machine gun style of drumming… My God! He totally wipes the floor with him!

“Christploitation” is something I always expected to hear from Fear Factory – creepy keyboards over fading guitar riffs that lead us into an industrial metal massacre. The dark symbiosis between man and machine that is the band’s essence is supposed to sound exactly like that! The last song “Final Exit”, as it turns out quite oftenly, is probably the biggest gem here. A TV documentary type voice explaining to us what a funny experience is to hold someone’s hand as they die is rudely interrupted by machinegun drums before the song shifts back into the typical Fear Factory style ballad mode – awesome vocals by Burton, catchy melodies, 8 minutes of shifting between darkness and crushing riffs…

The ideal culmination of a surprisingly cool album! And the fact that we honestly didn’t expect anything worth listening from Fear Factory just makes this triumph bigger!

Verdict: 5.5 / 6

More info:
Official band MySpace
Band website

OVERKILL – “Ironbound”

2009-12-31T11:45:00.002+02:00

Thrash metal that my fill your small town stadium, but not an arena

While Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and to a lesser extent Anthrax are UEFA Champions League worthy, Exodus, Testament, Kreator and a few other similar bands are good enough for the Europa League, Overkill have always been like a Premier League middle of the table team – with some traditions, a legion of loyal supporters but no glamour whatsoever.

Even so, the band was one of the few that decided not to give up on thrash metal and continued putting out at least decent production through the years, and that’s why their fans will most likely consider “Ironbound” the best thing to happen all year. This time around though, Overkill have concentrated and made an effort to provide us with an album that may be interesting not only to the hordes of already hooked fans.

A few bass notes tear the silence at the album’s very beginning, becoming the center of 8-minute opener “The Green and Blak” and its epic melody. A thrash metal epic that is led by a bass line? You probably haven’t heard such a thing since “Master of Puppets”. And from here the album just picks up and delivers us crushingly heavy riffs like the ones in the title track, total olschool vibe in “Bring Me the Night”, and an atmosphere of darkness in “The Goal Is Your Soul” – superb thrash metal.

The production is one of the disc’s strongest arguments. The guitars sound powerful, yet cutting, the rhythm section crushes like a bulldozer moving at 160 mph, and then Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth’s vocals rise above the mix in the finest oldschool heavy metal fashion, stating loudly that it is not a good idea to fuck with this band.

“Ironbound” is packed with points that may help Overkill jump over the verdict I gave them at this review’s very beginning. If they are really going to succeed, pardon the cliché, but only time can tell. Still, the new CD is a damn fine reason to see them live on the tours that are bound to follow!

Verdict: 4.75 / 6

More info:
Оfficial band webpage

THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES - Pin Points and Gin Joints

2009-12-21T15:32:00.002+02:00

Sort of stripped down but still an awesome album

“We are no fuckin’ jukebox”, the angered Dicky Barrett shouted in 2002 as he got tired of fans asking the band to play “The Impression that I Get”. The weight of touring and all the insanity revolving around the music industry took their toll and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones had to take a few years off before the band could find back the drive to play music again.

And that is part of the reason “Pin Points and Gin Joints” is packed of songs that were intentionally written so they would be fun to play live for the band. No intentional hits, only totally stripped down ska, the way the band likes it.

It starts off with Dicky explaining to us that graffiti worth reading are rarely written on the right walls (unless it is the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior). And as you catch yourself singing along „Repent! Obey! The end is near!”, you know that the band definitely hasn’t lost its catchy chorus writing skills. We have pretty much the same case in “The Route That I Took” and “You Left Right?” where The Mighty Mighty Bosstones show us that their well of ideas is far from depleted. The last song, “A Pretty Sad Excuse”, lasts for over 6 minutes and is probably the best one here. Half of it is quite quiet and minimalistic reggae that calms you down before it explodes around the 3 minute mark into full blown ska fury. Just brilliant!

Sadly, there is one big “but” about this album. As I said, the band offers some really stripped down ska. That means that the hardcore, punk and even metal elements that put them aside from the pack 15 years ago are pretty much absent. Gone is the insanity of “Devil’s Night Out”, as well as the energy of the hit packed “Let’s Face It”.

But on the other hand, now that the third wave of ska is absolutely dead no one really expects something your little sister would be all over, right? The album is good enough for all the people who know what it is all about to like!

Verdict: 4.75 / 6

Extra info:
Official band MySpace
Official homepage

EVERGREEN TERRACE: Anarchy = chaos = problems

2009-12-01T12:24:00.002+02:00

One of Europe’s biggest hardcore happenings, the Persistence Tour, kicked off last Friday. What better occasion to hook up with Evergreen Terrace, who are touring all over Europe alongside Ignite, Biohazard, Agnostic Front, Walls Of Jericho, Death By Stereo and No Turning Back, and ask them a couple of questions. After all they also have a brand new and simply awesome album called “Almost Home” that came out just a few months ago. So – guitarist and cool clean vocals guy Josh James is good enough to answer:

- The main reason to do this with you guys now is the Persistence tour in Europe you’re doing with some of the most insanely big names in the genre. And this is the second time you’re a part of this tour, as far as I know. What was your previous experience like?
- Europe is always awesome to us. The last time we did Persistence was in 2007, the shows were amazing, some of the biggest club shows we have ever played. The bands were great, the crew was great and the crowds were great. We expect nothing less this time around. We have toured with Ignite, Agnostic Front and Walls of Jericho before so we are excited to be reunited with those friends of ours and are looking forward to meeting and watching the other bands.

- Are you doing the tour with Kyle on drums, or there is still a substitute filling in for him?
- After tons of surgeries and a lot of stress, Kyle is now back with us and will be playing drums on Persistence!

- One of the bands on the bill, No Turning Back, just did their own headline show in Bulgaria. Have you heard them and what do you think about them?
- Yes, I have heard of them. We have actually played with No Turning Back a few times, they seemed to be a great band and put on a great show. We are sharing a bus with them so hopefully they will have the shitty sense of humor that we do and don't get offended by too many of our pranks and games, ha.

- How does touring in the USA and Europe compare to each other?
- I think they are very different. Europe always feels like a little bit more of a vacation for us, ha. We take care of everything in the states, all organizing the tours but in Europe we have a solid crew from MAD Booking that we can trust and that takes off a lot of stress. We have a lot more down time in Europe, which is great. I usually take that time to explore the local culture of wherever we are playing. Plus the crowds in Europe really know how to set it off!!! Always stoked to play for the Euros.

- So, about the album - “Almost Home” is probably the freshest sounding metalcore album I’ve heard in quite a while. It came out over a month ago, so I figure you guys are piled with feedback already – what is the reaction to it so far? Mostly positive or mostly negative?
- Mostly positive. All the fans seemed to be pumped on the record. We just started playing some of the new songs on our last tour in the states and if the reaction in Europe is anything like the reaction in the states then these shows are going to be sick.

Dude, I'm pretty sure that ain't the microphone...
Photo taken from the band's MySpace page

- What do you think sets that record apart from the rest of your discography?
- It's a cleared record. From the sound quality to the song quality. You can listen to this record and hear where we have matured and grown as musicians.

- About the last song on the album “Not Good Enough” – was putting it there your own weird way of making sure if the record was a huge failure, you’d still be like “well, we told you so”, or something like that?
- Haha. No, we did that with the title of the B side and live record called "At Our Worst". That was title was not a joke, ha.

- As far as the pop culture references go – I myself am all about The Simpsons and Family Guy and what not, but do you think most people outside of the USA really get them?
- I've never thought about it. We really never think about if people will get the pop culture reference, we do it to make ourselves laugh.

- In this day and age when the USA and actually the whole world’s economy is crumbling, how does that affect a band. I mean record sales wise, also attendance at shows etc.?
- When you look at it from a business perspective being in a band is being a part of the entertainment business. The first thing that people cut out of their lives when they are having financial problems is entertainment. If the fans suffer, the bands suffer. It's that simple. Record sales, merch sales, show attendance, it's all affected. It sucks, but all we can do is try to keep our prices low, put on a good show and still make good music.

- Your band isn’t shy of making its views clear, judging by your one song where you kind of already made it clear what you think of nihilism. I was wondering where you stand on anarchy, though? And what about straight edge and veganism?
- Anarchy = chaos = problems.
Straight Edge = me = personal choice.
Veganism = my girlfriend's dad = main character in the "Chaney Can't Quite Riff Like Helmet's Page Hamilton" video.

- I can’t help ask you about “Writer’s Block”. See, I myself used to be in a metalcore band a few years ago and we all in the band were die-hard fans of The Offspring. But in the same time all the kids at the shows and the bands we toured with were full on hardcore and despised that band. So, I was meaning to ask – did it take balls to cover a band that is so far away musically from what you guys play? And what was the reception of that cover?
- We covered "Maniac" by Michael Sembello, that is a lot farther musically than The Offspring. When we did “Writer’s Block”, we really didn't think if people would like the songs we chose or not, we just thought of if we liked them. Originally, “Writer's Block” was going to be a 5 song EP, but about a week before we entered the studio the record label told us it had to be a full length or it wouldn't be release, so we threw 4 more songs together very quickly so we could meet the quota. The Offspring was 1 of those songs. We have never played that song live, but every once in a while someone will request it.

More info:
Official band MySpace

The photo at the very top is by Face The Show.

CLUTCH – “Strange Cousins from the West”

2009-11-25T23:28:00.002+02:00

A nice reminder that this band does exist

Yes, this album came out in the summer, but you also may have noticed how I write about things that aren’t exactly brand new, have you? And in this particular case some website’s lack of attention towards this album is borderline criminal!

Without being the most popular name in rock music Clutch are big enough for you to have at least heard about them. The story is pretty much the following – in 93 their debut album came out and they played stoner rock at punk rock ad hardcore speeds, then they started slowing things down with every following record, making some of the landmark albums in stoner rock history, standing proud alongside bands like Kyuss, ad bam – here are we now! And to put it even shorter – they rock, go listen to them!

“Strange Cousins from the West” is the band’s ninth studio album but also their first for their own label Wheatmaker Music so they definitely were calmer while recording it. And maybe because of that the album is a bit more simple and more to the roots of the music compare to their last few ones that were a bit more experimental. And the band also gave freedom to their blues influences a little bit more than previously, making things a bit less metal alongthe way, although I’m not sure if that is a good or a bad thing.

I couldn’t care less to be honest as I’m perfectly aware where all of Black Sabbath and metal come from, and songs like “Motherless Child” and “Minotaur” carry an emotion strong enough to make any listener move with Neil Fallon’s gospel like vocals (working pretty well as a simulation of complete insanity in “Whitchdoctor”). And yeah, songs like “Struck Down” may be somewhat primitive structure-wise, but if this ai9n’t the best rock song I’ve heard in quite a while I’d be damned!

The album is somewhat of a slow sinker but after the few necessary listens that you need in order to get it, you’re hooked. Yeah, maybe it is not the best Clutch album, but it is a damn good reason to remind you they do exist. And later you can get into “The Elephant Riders”, “Transnational Speedway League” and the self titled as much as you want!

Verdict: 5 / 6

More info:
Band MySpace profile
Оfficial band website

BORN FROM PAIN: Political ideas definitely have a place in the scene

2009-11-24T11:13:00.004+02:00

Having been a Born From Pain fan ever since “Reclaiming the Crown” was “the new one” I can’t help being very excited about their upcoming show here. Even though I’ve already seen the band three times. Not long before the show, we get in touch with guitarist Karl and we talk “Survival”, Zeitgeist, conspiracy theories and pretty much everything the band stands for today.

- So… this will be the band’s fourth show in Bulgaria – are you excited? What do you remember from the previous ones?
- I'm always excited about coming to Eastern Europe and particularly Bulgaria. Yeah, we've played a few times now and it's always a lot of fun. The shows are always great, lots of craziness and people seem to dig what we do and have a good time and that's really important. I also love just seeing the city and some different culture. I mean, we've only played in Sofia and Varna, but it's always been good and I'm looking forward to playing in Sofia again this time round and now there is the added bonus that we'll have our good friends The Setup with us so it's going to be a good time for sure. What I remember about previous shows is just good times. The first time I played in Sofia was in a club that I think has been shut down now and I remember it was sweaty and hot as hell. Last Hope played and destroyed the place. It was good times and that's how all shows are in Bulgaria.

- Comparing the crowds at shows in Bulgaria and western countries like your own Holland and like Germany or France – is there a difference?
- I guess there really aren't too many differences in some ways because there are enthusiastic crowds everywhere, although i do have to say, Bulgarian kids might be a bit crazier, but it can get pretty crazy in the countries you mentioned and that's just how we like it.

- At the last Born From Pain show here, Ché had already left and Rob had taken vocal duties. To be honest, Ché’s stage presence was one of Born From Pain’s trademark things. So, how do fans react to Rob singing now?
- Che did have a strong presence, but I think Rob's is stronger. He moves around a lot more and he is definitely more into the audience participation thing than Che was, which is something that I love, but that's not taking anything away from Che. I think at first it was a shock for a few fans, but now everybody loves Rob on the mic and they definitely appreciate that he has something to say as well as his vocal style. And since Rob always wrote all the lyrics, it definitely has a more personal feel to it, which is cool.

Bird hunting season in the Netherlands is open!

- “Survival” came out like a year ago and it is probably Born From Pain’s most message-heavy release to date. How did the band go from songs about perseverance like “Immortality” to this album about current global events staging the coming of a World Government?
- Well, there has been a message building ever since "In Love With The End" and a lot of that just comes from self education, from looking for truth in what's going on in the world and not just taking corporate news as the truth and looking into different explanations for certain things happening and that is something that is important for everyone to do. There are alternative news sources to get information from and concerning what the government tells you, well, that’s always mostly lies and their interest is to serve the corporations and people that put them in power, not to serve the millions of people that need help and so we felt it was important to write about these things and try and affect people as best we can. We're not saying that you should believe everything we talk about, we're saying that you should look into things for yourself and make up your own minds, but once you do, you should be aware that you might start thinking differently about certain global events and situations.

- Someone not so good intentioned towards the band might say you tried to sneak in every conspiracy theory cliché in the album cover – Ouroboros, the all seeing eye, skull and bones… Seriously though – what is the meaning behind it?
- Well, obviously there are references to all those conspiracy theories, but are they really only a theory or are they truth? That side of things represents a side of what "Surival" is about and people consider conspiracy theories to be ludicrous, until you start learning about them and the more you learn, the more your reasoning and what the so-called normal viewpoints are will be challenged.

- I had read a shitload of books about the World Government years ago, but I have the impression that most people were unaware of any info for such topics until the movie Zeitgeist came out. Did it have influence on you as well?
- I'll be honest, Zeitgeist, had a huge effect on me personally. I hadn't really looked into a lot of things like that before seeing that movie and it really hit home with some of its points, especially about 9/11 and the economy and Federal Reserve in the US. I'm not saying everything there is correct (and it is not – see here - the author), but it makes more sense to me than what explanations were offered. From seeing that movie I've gone on to research more things and look into alternative news sources and watch more documentaries etc and I don't take mainstream media as being an absolute, after all, it's self serving or there to serve others.

- When can we expect the next Born From Pain album? Any new songs that you are going to play here?
- That's a good question, ha! I'm not sure when there will be a new record, but probably somewhere near the back end of 2010. We won't be playing any new songs apart from those off of "Survival", mainly because we haven't started writing. I am in the process of gathering a few ideas here and there, but it's always a slow process writing new songs, at least for me ha-ha!

- Talking of the setlist I was thinking, because I have already seen the band play three times, why is it that I’m left with the impression that you avoid playing the biggest classics like “Day of the Scorpio” and “Immortality”? At least at the more recent shows the band tends to do so…
- The thing is, it's always hard to have a setlist of around 12 - 15 songs when you have 5 albums and 2 EPs, so some things are going to get left out. “Day of the Scorpio” is a song we bust out every now and again and maybe we'll play it this time. As for “Immortality”, well, that is an awesome song, but at the end of the day, most people just don't know that song, so we generally don't play it, unless we're playing a show where people really do know it or some kind of special show, so it gets played very rarely. When we travel and tour, people just wouldn't know that song like they know others and so it's often not a good idea to play it, although we all do love it.

Midfuck, when you see it you will shit bricks!
Photo by Face The Show OMG! the guy touching his weener in front of Rob is just adorable!
- Now with the global economic crisis and all – how do you manage to still maintain a busy touring schedule? Many bands face problems now that it is easier for their members to lose their jobs for taking too many days off…
- Well, I can't speak for the rest of the band, but I work in a call centre that allows me to be as flexible as I want and when I'm home I work and work hard. They know I'm good at my job and so no matter what time I need to take off, there is always work for me when I get back. The other guys probably have similar relationships with their employers too.

- There seen to be many hardcore bands today that have some really radical political ideas. To what extent do you think that political extremes have a place in this scene, and to what extent is this becoming a stupid race between kids who is the most extreme and most anti-the-system?
- Hmmm, I think political ideas definitely have a place in the scene, after all, the whole idea that you could discuss issues is something that attracted me to hardcore 17 years ago and I think it's become somewhat lost since 2000. I think music should be an outlet for opinions and views, because it's a great way to challenge the mainstream and discuss ideas in which we can make the world a better place. I always remember watching the band Catharsis and how half their show was Brian talking about different issues. I always thought it was great that they did that. I'm not saying I agreed with everything he said, but it's great that he put their ideas out there open for discussion in attempt to create some change. As for races between kids being the most extreme or most anti-the-system, well, I’m not too aware of that and don't much care about people trying to out-do each other.

- Like a week or two before you play here, your fellow countrymen from No Turning Back will also headline a show in Bulgaria. What do you think about them?
- Awesome band, awesome dudes, people will have a good time at their show (and so we did! – the author), I know I do when I see them.

- You have a song named “Endgame” on your last album. So Dave Mustaine obviously stole the name from you, ha-ha. But what do you think about the new Megadeth album anyway?
- Ha-ha, obviously he stole the title from us ha-ha-ha, but it's not a coincidence that more and more bands or people in general are becoming more switched on and interested in global events and looking for their own version of events rather than trusting corporate media or the government, especially given what people are told often end up being lies. As for the new Megadeth album, well, it's ok, it's nothing special to me. I've never been a big Megadeth fan to be honest, although “Countdown To Extinction” is a great album, I've always preferred Metallica, Slayer, Testament, Anthrax and Exodus when it comes to the classic thrash bands, but yeah, catchy title ha-ha-ha.

* The images are taken from the band's official MySpace page.
Born From Pain are playing in Sofia for the 4th time on December 5th in The Box club, alongside The Setup, A-Moral and B.F.D.M.

MISERATION – “The Mirroring Shadow”

2009-11-23T09:54:00.001+02:00

Uncompromising, yet quite polished brutal death metal

A Swedish death metal band each of whose members is also part of 2-3 active projects is not a rare thing to see, keeping in mind every third person in that country seems to be a musician. And while side projects and supergroups often suck, this is not the case with Miseration.

Ex Scar Symmetry vocalist Christian Älvestam who is featured here, is famous for his ability to handle both death metal growls and clean singing with the same ease – an ability he chooses not to take advantage of in “The Mirroring Shadow”. The dude sticks to oldschool guttural vocals and together with the quite technically talented guitarist Jani Stefanovic (a pure Swede, just like Zlatan Ibrahimovic; he plays in a lot of bands like Am I Blood, Sins of Omission, DivineFire...) delivers us an all-out death metal album in the vein of Immolation and Hate Eternal.

“Dreamdecipher” opens the album with no compromise, going into blast beat mode from the very start before the song goes through a few crushing double bass moments and a short, yet quite melodic solo, for about two and a half minutes. This is how it is supposed to be done! Next is “Blueprinted Aeon Collapse” which is somewhat slower and crushing and features some more varied ideas. What happens around the 1:50 mark is one of the best combinations of double bass, a stop’n go riff and an eerie melody that I have ever heard. Talking of melody – there’s plenty of that on the album, without being anywhere near the Gothenburg sound, but still, songs like the title track definitely remind us of some of Hypocrisy’s ventures into more melodic territories.

“The Mirroring Shadow” also displays high quality production-wise. All the instruments and the vocals sound clear enough to make the multi-layered musical moments work, but in the same time the sound is thick enough to create the needed crushing effect. The songs are quite varied and full of ideas, but also quite short (the longest one being a few seconds short of five minutes) which helps them avoid getting boring. And this way the album finds balance between the extremes of the genre – be they brutal or melodic, and also finds its place among the coolest metal releases this year.

Verdict: 5 / 6

More info:
Official band MySpace

THEM CROOKED VULTURES – “Them Crooked Vultures”

2009-11-20T19:06:00.004+02:00

A super album by a super group leaves us super happy

When you are 1/3 Led Zeppelin, 1/3 Nirvana and 1/3 Queens of the Stone Age, fan and media attention, a record deal and the following huge record sales come on their own without you trying too hard.

Well, coming up with music that is good doesn’t hurt too and that is the case with Them Crooked Vultures. Their self-titled creation is one of the few albums by similar super projects that live up to the super expectations coming from names such as John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl and Josh Homme.

The comparisons with their previous work are inevitable. And in this band’s case, due to Homme’s trademark high-pitched voice and all out there lyrics, and the fact that we have Grohl behind drums, Queens of the Stone Age and “Songs for the Deaf” come to mind the most. And this is a good thing because in case you don’t remember – that album kicked ass! And then Paul Johnes adds a bit of sensitivity to the preexisting chemistry.

Most of the best things in the album, just as in its opening track “No One Loves Me & Neither Do I”, come after the middle. Yeah, it starts a little bit shyly but before you start thinking “but, do they really?” some Zeppelin-ish stomping riffs come and crush you. Well, after the first 2-3 tracks and the first single “New Fang” that are somewhat more normal sounding, comes the real treat of “Elephants”, “Scumbag Blues”, “Bandoliers” and “Reptiles”, that are an adequate modern reading of the likes of Led Zeppelin, Cream and what not. Rock! Yes, your dad might like this but it isn’t a bad thing either.

Even though the album sometimes sounds like a overproduced recording of a jam session, this actually doesn’t drag it back but helps it sound more spontaneous instead. In a way – look, it’s the legends playing together. Releases like Them Crooked Vultures' debut bring back the faith that there are still good big bands who fill arenas with fans that worship them and to whom every note is like a new testament for our lod rock hungry ears.

Verdict: 5.25 / 6

More info:
Band MySpace
Оfficial website
"New Fang" preview

NO TURNING BACK: We toured the world without any help from anyone

2009-11-19T07:56:00.003+02:00

The second birthday of I Hate Mondays Radio is the occasion around which one of this fall’s most exciting hardcore shows is going to happen. Headliners of the cigarette smoke free еvent are the Netherlands’ No Turning Back, whose frontman and only remaining original member Martijn was nice enough to answer a few questions of mine.

- So what’s up with No Turning Back now? I can see you have a string of shows planned for the end of the year.
- We're very happy with the last years of No Turning Back. After another hectic year with lots of touring and playing new countries we are finishing this year off with some more shows. We will start this weekend by going back to Athens and play Sofia for the first time. A week later we are going to be part of the Persistence tour. This ten day tour is the biggest hardcore tour around and we will play with bands like Biohazard and Ignite (this year’s lineup also features Agnostic Front, Death by Stereo, Walls of Jericho and Evergreen Terrace – the author). And to finish off this crazy year we will play a birthday bash at the end of December in our home area Brabant, as always a sold out show with good bands.

- Looking at your back catalogue you seem to release a record every other year, and “Stronger” came out in 2008, so I was wondering – can we expect a new No Turning Back next year? And if the answer is yes, are you going play any new songs at the Bulgarian show?
- We are going to release a new record. At the moment we are writing the songs and we will hit the studio somewhere in March. We will not play any new songs yet since we are not ready with the album. We will have to come back to Bulgaria in 2010 to play the new songs.

- You manage to maintain a busy touring schedule in this day and age when everyone is holding on to their job like drowning man, afraid to take days off. Or at least that’s the impression I get from a few recent interviews. How do you manage to still tour that much?
- We basically just do it, we don't really care about a working career at the moment. The band is always our number one priority and it always worked out for us in some way. We all have temp jobs when we are back home and until now we all get by.

Lines in front of employment offices in the Netherlands have their frequent participants.
Photo by Niek van Hees

- You are the only remaining original Not Turning Back member and as far as I know it was exactly touring 8 months a year that led the other former members to leave the band eventually. So I was wondering how the new guys are doing?
- The reasons why the others left the band were all personal. Most were not ready to tour as much as the band could. Living their life with loved ones or a good job were more important than going on the road. I respect the choices they made. My priority and passion is No Turning Back. Today's lineup as it is for more than three years now are guys that want to be in a touring band more than anything. Those guys dreamed to tour the world with their previous bands but never really had the chance. We got together to live our dream and that’s the reason it works out excellent so far.

- When you tour now, can you say if attendance is like before or there are less people coming to shows, due to the bad economic situation or whatever other reason?
- We see more and more people at our shows. When we return to a place we have been before we see double the amount of people than the show before so I don’t see any real effect of the economic situation at all. I guess people will always want to spend a bit of money to see a good band that lets them blow off steam.

- You have never hid that you are strongly influenced by the classic NYHC bands. Was there any time for the last 12 years that the band has been active that people went like “you’re from the Netherlands, do something different, we’ve all heard that already”?
- In 12 years I have never heard this from anyone. Hardcore is a music style that is not new in general. Every band nowadays is a copy off something that has already has been done in the past. The people that listen to this music know that and there is nothing wrong with it. The way we write our songs are never meant to be a copy cat version of NYHC, we have our own sound. We grew up with this music; we just love the way NYHC sounds, the groove and the lyrics. We try to take this musical legacy and continue to keep the old NY sound alive.

"Look, mom! I can fly!"
Photo taken from the band's MySpace

- You have toured all over the globe and played with pretty much all of the biggest names in the hardcore game. So, tell me who were the coolest dudes and if you don’t mind – who were the biggest jerks?
- The coolest dudes? So far we only have had good experiences with other bands. We are easy going guys that get along with everyone, we are from Brabant. I think the tours we have done with Down To Nothing, Death Before Dishonor, Steel Nation, Terror, Born From Pain, New Morality, Uppercut, Sick Of It All and For The Glory were absolutely awesome. And who are the jerks? Tell me, I can't name a hardcore band around.

- What about the crowds – is it different in Europe compared to the USA or Latin America and Asia where you have also played? And how does Eastern Europe fit in among these?
- There are not many differences between shows here and the rest of the world. The promoters do the same job and the crowd looks the same. Maybe the reaction is at some places better then back home. I guess it's because not many international acts make the trip down there, so people are really excited and appreciate you are there. In the parts of Eastern Europe where we played the shows where good and the people were nice.

- What do you know about Bulgaria and our hardcore scene here?
- I don’t know much about Bulgaria. I know where it is on the map and the only band I know from Bulgaria is Last Hope who we played with a few years ago. They are awesome guys and a good band.

- The show you’re playing here is the second birthday of an underground radio station called I Hate Mondays, that features mostly hardcore and punk music. So – feel free to say happy birthday a lot, but I was also wondering if there are similar radios in the Netherlands and how many. And to what extent do the people and media in your home country show interest to hardcore music and No Turning Back?
- Well, consider yourself lucky with I Hate Monday radio because we have nothing like this at all. Our media is based on following trends and are more directed to dance music. Back in the days when heavy music was more popular you had video clips of hardcore and metal bands on MTV and other music channels. Nowadays none of them give hardcore any airplay. It’s not popular anymore. I guess that’s also the charm of this music style. We don’t need their attention to make things happen. We have busy, crazy shows and our own scene where we help each other and because of that we toured the world without any help from the media or government of our country in any way.

More info:
Official band MySpace

The photo at the very top is by Face The Show.

DESTRUCTION OF A ROSE – “Suspended in Time”

2009-11-18T09:52:00.006+02:00

You might as well have already heard this

You have read so many times how melodic metalcore is so big at the moment and how it suffocates everything around it. And of course when you read a review of such an album, the band is not “one of those” and “stands out with something”. And then when you hear the album you die of boredom, because it seems you’ve heard it all before, you fall asleep and never play it again…

Well, that’s not quite the case with Destruction of a Rose. The band is exactly “one of those” and the album is exactly the type of melodic American hardcore you have heard so many times before, you swear if you hear one more song like that you’re going to kick a little kid holding a balloon in the face! All the riffs, all the breakdowns, all the “unpredictable” song structures, everything the vocalist does, all the screams, all the melodic singing…You have been there before.

…But on the other hand why are these dudes from Las Vegas to blame that we have listened to more than one album in the past 10 years? The music industry and the attention of fans and media aren’t driven by common sense. See – bands like AC/DC and Motörhead have been kicking the same dead horse for decades now and no one seems to complain, do they? So Destruction of a Rose just might as well get away with “Suspended in Time”?

Songs like opener “Elixir Vitae” and its extra eerie intro riff or “Cries of the Dying” and the extra evil vocals in the verses, might be enough to do the trick. They’re cool. The band’s decision to stick mostly to screaming vocals at least for me is a good one. It is better this way, when the music is “metal as fuck and raises the dead from their graves”, in guitarist Nick Rose’s words, instead of being another pop sensation your little sister listens to. Yet for the first single they have chosen “Under Black Flags We Sail” which features mostly melodic vocals, but this is still far from the Attack Attack! levels of gayness.

And yes – an album that has the name Tim Lambesis of As I lay Dying on it as the producer sure isn’t going to be that bad. “Suspended in Time” is actually quite decent and the people who like this type of music sure are going to enjoy it a lot. But if the band really wants to outlive a trend or two, Destruction of a Rose will have to think of something new.

Verdict: 4 / 6

More info:
Official band MySpace
“Under Black Flags We Sail” video

MAXIMUM PENALTY: This record is our testament

2009-11-17T07:44:00.002+02:00

One of the New York hardcore scene’s living fossils, Maximum Penalty reminded us of its presence with an absolutely killer new album titled “Life & Times” that was released a month ago. Joseph Affe (guitars) has been in the band all along and during this time he has seen pretty much everything that went on in hardcore since its birth right up until today. And he obviously has nothing against telling me about it.

- Your new album "Life & Times" came out just recently. Personally I love it. But how do you feel about it?
- I’m not just speaking for myself but the entire band feels really good about finally getting a long road and process completed. Not just a finished record but also a body of songs that brings us full circle as Maximum Penalty. We are in a great spot with Reaper Records, there are songs that are on this record that took some time but for us was worth it. The most important point is that this is the first record we’ve done that wasn’t rushed, we actually took the time to focus on the Maximum Penalty sound. We’re really happy about it and if people dig on it as much as we do then were ahead of the game.

-What is the meaning behind the title?
- Since the last full length release from Maximum Penalty so much has gone down from the loss of immediate family to friends and family from our scene to personal battles with life in general. The inspiration for the songs on this record comes from not just our personal struggles but the struggles of those who aren’t with us anymore. It just seemed to embody what we were trying to convey.

- What has the reaction to the album been so far?
- Really positive, we released four songs less than a year ago just to jump-start the record a little bit before the full release and since then the songs have been well received. There have been some really great reviews along with some ridiculous ones. Some people’s views of hardcore music have been molded into this one-dimensional over the top scream, grunt, heavy style of vocals and anything that short that formula is not hardcore? There has been so much of the same style of music in hardcore that has become the blueprint, don’t get me wrong there is a lot of great music going on right now. But to be honest I think it’s a great time for an album like this to break it up a little bit without following what’s popular at the time. People need to be reminded of that.

Some idiot somewhere thinks this is not a real hardcore band?!
Photo by: Samma Jamma

- The sound of the album is somewhat more straightforward and heavier than previous releases like “Independent” and “Superlife” and more in the vein of the classic “Eastside Story”. Was this something you intentionally went for?
- Definitely, like I said earlier we made a conscious effort to return the original identity of the band back to Maximum Penalty. Myself and Darren Morgethaler (drums) started writing for this record and we said that it would be easy to just throw whatever out there and call it Maximum Penalty, which was a mistake we made in the past just to get back out on the road. This time we took the time and really made it a point that the songs were not only in the original Maximum Penalty style but also have something new with Jimmy Williams’s vocals. I think as a band that has been together for a long time writing and creating you sometimes find yourself trying new things. Some fly and some don’t. This time it was more about going back and rediscovering the energy that propelled the band in the beginning and sticking to that. By no means are we recreating the wheel but for Maximum Penalty at this point in time and everything we’ve gone through together this record is a real testament to who we are. We can only hope that it will reach people on a personal level as well.

- “Life & Times” is produced by a guy named Dan Korneff, who has mixed and mastered stuff for all kinds of big names from Lamb of God to Paramore. Looking at his portfolio I get the idea that this was the first album he fully produced himself? Why’d you pick him and how was working with him like?
- Well, he has done so much that isn’t posted on his site, so no - this isn’t the first record he has produced. During the late 90’s we were touring with Agnostic Front аnd Billy Milano was managing Agnostic Front and Madball at the time, from those tours we developed a strong relationship with Billy and he introduced us to Dan a couple of years later. We had finished up all pre-production and started talking to Korneff. Great guy, great experience, the time it took to get everything down on tape and mixed was a little tough because of conflicting schedules but worth it. You have to keep in mind we were doing all the work at night when everyone went home and in between other projects that Korneff was doing at the time.

- We all know why Maximum Penalty’s fist hiatus happened. I was wondering though, how did this whole experience affect the band from there on?
- We were young and going through some shit - Jimmy himself was in a dark time in his life and being that we were all so close it was hard not to feel the man’s pain not to mention everyone else’s troubles at the time. The phrase whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger definitely applies to us because after that and a couple of other bumps in the road we seemed to have gained a stronger purpose to Maximum Penalty.

Affe has a lot to scream about both under Bush and Reagan.

- You were among the first wave of bands to combine hardcore with a somewhat more metal sound. Nowadays metal-meets-hardcore seems to be the hottest thing. Do you follow this type of modern bands?
- Our mindset is nothing new. If you want to say that we were one of the first bands to bridge those gaps between metal and hardcore - cool. But in reality when we first started Maximum Penalty there was a few bands in the New York Scene doing what we were doing, I think it was the style of our combinations along with Jimmy’s vocal style that set us apart.

- Leeway is another classic NYHC band that mixed metal with hardcore back in the 80’s. Sutton kind of stated that looking back they have opened a can of worms by attracting suburban metalheads to hardcore shows. Do you think similar bands are to blame about this and is it really such a bad thing?
- I know what he’s talking about, we all saw the suburban migration to the hardcore scene. I think that was inevitable though, the hardcore movement was growing at such a rapid pace that it was only a matter of time before little Johnny from suburban bought a hardcore record and told 2 friends about it. I mean bands where branching out at the time not just Leeway although if you weren’t into the hardcore scene and you saw a band like Leeway do their thing back then, you were hooked.

- Back in the 80’s when the first and second wave of American hardcore bands emerged, much of their anger was directed to the status-quo embodied by then President Ronald Reagan and his policies. Now the eight years of a Bush presidency seem to have sparked pretty much the same vibe in music. Do you see a resemblance?
- It’s the job of the underground movement to find what’s wrong with the system. Reagan’s politics was for a clean-cut fake American image, while he taxed the shit out of the working class. So right there was enough for a whole 80’s punk – hardcore scene to rip apart. As far as Bush and his time in office, there was such “say one-thing do-another” mentality that his leadership left us holding the bag on so many levels. I see a resemblance in a way of our country being left with few options after the damage done and plenty of reasons to rebel against. For the record I feel Bush’s presidency was far worse than Reagan.

- You know the American Hardcore documentary by Paul Rachman. It kind of made the statement that the real hardcore died circa 84-85. Do you think it did? Or it was reborn into something else so many bands believe in and play today?
I think the beginning of the hardcore movement were 84-85 but by no means was that the death of it. What about the whole East Coast explosion of music right up until 1990?
If you want to be cool and say “yeah man I was there, 84-87, and then it died”, whatever. I still saw a lot of bands doing their thing in and around that time. I feel that musical movements come in waves so whatever is going on right now is not the original vibe but I feel that some of the traditional hardcore esthetic is still alive. Reborn? I would say just evolved some good, some bad. There are people that get involved in hardcore music for the same reasons we did when we were younger but not all.

*The rest of the images are taken from the band's MySpace page.

THE EMPIRE SHALL FALL – “Awaken”

2009-11-16T10:15:00.002+02:00

Lightning strikes the same place twice with Jesse Leach

Back when Killswitch Engage’s “Alive or Just Breathing” came out, it was one of those rare musical moments when a new album made everything else sound obsolete. And obviously frontman Jesse Leach who left after that album had a lot to do with that magic, as the debut album by his new project The Empire Shall Fall carries pretty much the same charge.

Jesse’s vocals are just one of the things that connect “Awaken” with the album from 2002. Here, just as back then, we have a collection of songs that each have some kind of a main idea that they revolve around and sets it apart from the rest. There are no compositional formulas in The Empire Shall Fall’s debut – all the music flows spontaneously and naturally.

The opening title track may be somewhat deceiving as it relies mostly on clean melodic vocals that step by step build up the tension that blows up in a Meshuggah-style riff towards the song’s end. The influences from the Swedish math-metal beats are easy to hear throughout the rest of the disc. A little later comes “Voices Forming Weapons” that is something like the newschool equivalent of Earth Crisis and “Firestorm” with all the mid tempo marching riffs and an angry lyrics (that is not that radical, though), and a simply brilliant melodic chorus to top it all.

The Empire Shall Fall don’t mind fucking a bit with some of metal music’s established clichés. “Choir of Angels” for example starts right off with no intro and at maximum speed and cuts off your head for a minute and a half. But instead of stopping just there (as you’d expect after hearing many fastass metal tracks) it goes on for 6 minutes during which it goes through all types of musical moments. And the band deserves a thumbs up just for turning the cliché upside down here!

And this is only a small part of the music that “Awaken” offers. As I already said, the songs are different from one another and there is no point in describing them all – the album is full of reasons to be heard anyway. Now, is this going to turn around the whole music industry like Killswitch Engage’s breakthrough did? Most likely not. But as far as the impact on the listener is concerned, we have a case of lightning striking the same place twice here.

Verdict: 5.75 / 6

More info:
Official band MySpace
Entire album live stream

HYPOCRISY – “A Taste of Extreme Divinity”

2009-11-13T10:48:00.004+02:00

Peter Tägtgren obviously can make a good album even in his sleep

There are a lot of bands that are actually the one man project of a super-active musician that also has dictatorship talents. But the number of people, who can pull off being in that position in more than one band and in the same time manage to be one of Europe’s most sought after and busy metal producers, sums up to one - Peter Tägtgren.

Now, when the cycle of albums and tours for all his side projects is complete and four years after “Virus”, Tägtgren finds time to put out a brand new Hypocrisy record. And we don’t have to fool ourselves – a band with such a long history and so many albums behind its back has the right to be predictable and not experiment that much. The last time they tried it with “Catch 22”, the result was quite controversial. Such bands release best of and b-side albums and make a triumphant tour or two.

But re-releasing a bunch of old songs in order to present yourself to a whole new generation of potential fans is too low for the great producer. Instead of this we have “A Taste of Extreme Divinity”, where we can find brand new songs, each one of whom would have been at home on this or that past album in the band’s quite varied discography, without sounding awkward next to each other.

You want fast and heavy death metal? You get “Valley Of The Damned” and the title track. You want something heavy, yet melodic? You have “Alive” and “Sky is Falling Down”. You want something mid tempo and crushing like the self-titled album? Here are “No Tomorrow” and “The Quest”. Tägtgren sure know how to write songs like that. He probably could pull it off in his sleep.

So, the case here is that we have something like a best of album that features brand new songs instead. And if you are new to this band that would be a splendid starting point for your future addiction. But if you already are a Hypocrisy fan – well, dude, one of your favorite bands just released a killer new album!

Verdict: 5.5 / 6

FREDDY MADBALL: I give respect to religion

2009-11-12T10:05:00.002+02:00

Freddy Cricien, whom we all know well as the frontman of Madball, is dropping his debut solo album as a hip hop artist. “Catholic Guilt” features appearances by Slaine, Vinnie Paz and… Rancid among others. The man in the center of all the lights, Freddy Madball, doesn’t hesitate to explain to me what is it like being one guilty Catholic that shares a love for both hardcore and hip hop at the same time.

- Hi, Freddy, Judging by the area code of your phone you should be in New York now. How is the city doing?
- Yeah, I’m there. The city is doing just fine.

- There was a mayoral election in New York last Tuesday – did you vote?
- No, I was too busy doing other stuff and unfortunately I didn’t have the time to go vote.

- I’m actually calling from Sofia, Bulgaria, and you have been here with Madball a couple of times. So, what do you remember from these shows?
- Sofia! It’s always a good time, a good show. The crowd is great!

- So, you have your debut solo hip hop album out now. Why wait until now? I mean – it’s known you have been into hip hop since forever.
- Well, it is just now that I got around doing it. It was something I wanted to do for a long time and I just never found or took the time needed to make it happen and now, finally I did. As the saying goes – better late than never. And I kind of think this is for the best. I finally reached a time in my life when I need to express myself in this way. I finally found the time and the means to do it. So – here it is.

- The title – “Catholic Guilt” is kind of controversial How are we supposed to interpret it?
- Anyone can interpret it in a different way. For me basically it applies not only to the religious aspect of things but also this feeling some of us have to live with – guilt. I refer to it as Catholic guilt which is a direct religious reference, but in the same time you do not necessarily have to be Catholic or Christian to relate to the stuff I’m talking about on the record. It is just a personal thing and experience – something I lived with. It is pretty much explained throughout the record and the different songs – making mistakes and learning from them or just going through certain experiences, living with the guilt of how certain things were handled. It is just a feeling.

- Catholicism is probably the only religion that has the practice of verbally confessing your sins to another person, a priest. And in some of the songs you do refer to some past dirt that you may have on your hands. Is the album your own way of confessing these sins?
- Yeah, that is one way you definitely can look at it. I do talk about certain situations and experiences. It could be viewed as sort of a confession in a way. But it is really just telling stories that come from experience. Some people may view it as a confession, some people may view it as an expression.

Freddy! In church! A documented fact!

- Back in 2004 I talked to your half-brother Roger Miret of Agnostic Front and I believe he said he was from Cuba.
- Yes, he is.

- So I figure you have some Cuban blood yourself?
- Yes, I do. We have the same mother with him. We have different fathers and that’s why our last names aren’t the same. My father is from Columbia, but my mother is Cuban, so – yeah that is definitely a part of what I am.

- I am asking you because that suggests a strong Catholic background. And I was wondering when was the last time you went to church?
- Ha-ha! That is a good question! I recently went to church to baptize my godson. It was for my boy Hoya (Roc, bassist in Madball) who asked me to be the godfather of his kid. That was a few months ago. We baptized him and that was probably the last time I was in church. I go to church every once in a while. I don’t go often, to be honest, because I’m at a point in my life when I don’t really feel the need to go to church every day to have some kind of connection with God. I was brought up as a Catholic and they told me “you have to go to church every Sunday” and what not. This is something I do not necessarily agree with at this stage of my life. This goes back to the whole “Catholic Guilt” thing. They kind of push this guilt on you, not just Catholics… for me it was Catholics because I was brought up in that religion, but organized religions in general make you feel guilty for not giving them money or not going to their church or whatever. But that does not necessarily make you a bad person in God’s eye. But then again I do respect some of the basic stuff in the Catholic religion. Even still to this day I do the sign of the cross when I pass by a church and some other things that have been implanted in me. It is like a cultural standpoint and it is hard to get rid of. I give respect to religion. Church is a nice relaxing place for me. It is not that I don’t like to go, I just don’t do it often.

- OK, enough with religion. Slaine is making a guest appearance on the album. He was here with Ill Bill in May. And we all know Bill is all about metal and hardcore. Madball has always been influenced by hip hop, but is there now a new wave of hip-hoppers who are in turn influenced by hardcore?
- I think there is. More so in the underground world, though. You have guys like Ill Bill who obviously respects hardcore music. You got Slaine who is a good friend of mine and has always respected hardcore and everything about it. And then you have Vinnie Paz from Jedi Mind Tricks who is an established underground hip hop figure and he grew up listening to hardcore. He is actually a hardcore kid! There is definitely a wave of people who coincidently are really talented in doing hip hop that also have the whole hardcore connection. And I’m obviously one of these people now, ha-ha! And it goes for crowds too. Some of the people that are in hardcore and metal also happen to like hip hop. That is how I am, you know. I’ve always liked hip hop and I like hardcore and also some metal – a little bit of everything. It doesn’t surprise me to see the same people at all kinds of shows. And it is cool to see people supporting two genres like that. I hope we see more of that!

- Do you plan to tour on this album?
- I definitely plan to do some touring. I do not have anything set in stone for now, but I do have some ideas. It is not an easy thing because of my schedule with Madball which is a full-time operation. But I definitely will try to make this happen.

When someone gives you that look maybe it is not such a good idea to tell that really funny joke about those lazy latinos...

- Oh, and another thing – what is your favorite track on the album?
- It is really hard to say. Every song is a different expression for me. It’s hard to pick one. I like certain songs for different songs for certain reasons. I’ll let people be the judge of that. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but if I have to, I’d go with “Y Que”, the Spanish one. Then again there’s a bunch of other songs that I think are good. I was talking to people about making a single from this album the other day. I’m definitely doing a video for the Spanish song. And “Dead Man Saloon” is probably going to be one of the featured songs from that record. The title track is also one that I’ll try to do something for. I don’t really know if there will be a single. I have a few songs that I want to do videos for and I guess that these will be the singles. But it doesn’t matter what video I do first – people could consider it a single if they want to. It is important for me that they listen to the whole thing.

- Rancid are making an appearance on the album in the song “London Calling”. How did you convince them to do a hip hop song?
- They didn’t need much convincing. I have known the guys for many years, I have a friendship with them, especially with lars, but Tim as well. They respect what I do musically. They have always been big fans of Madball which is very flattering, considering they are very iconinc in the punk world. But even for Hazen Street and other projects that I’ve done – they have always have been big supporters of the stuff I do. And when they listened to the song “London Calling” they thought it was a really honorable tribute with all The Clash samples and what not. They liked it a lot and couldn’t wait to be on it.

- And another sort of punk rock question - everyone refers to you as Freddy Madball, and this is also the name you have decided to put on the album, instead of your real name. This reminds me of course of The Ramones, who all changed their last names to “Ramone”. And I can’t help but ask you what do you think about the whole punk and hardcore culture nowadays? Is it too much penetrated by commercialism and trends, or is it doing just fine?
- It is doing just fine, ha-ha. It is definitely not being penetrated by commercialism. That is not the case. If anything, there should be more attention paid to it. I am talking more on the hardcore side of things, although punk and hardcore are like cousins. And as far as punk and hardcore going mainstream – that is one thing you don’t need to worry about. I think it is at a good place – it is growing, more territories around the world are opening up for it and I think it should continue to grow and blossom. I don’t think that we ever have to worry about it being commercial. The music is just too abrasive. And there is nothing bad with growing and people paying respect to the genre. It is the blue collar genre of the music world. It’s weird when people start complaining about a band getting too big. To me it is like that – if a band does what they do and stay true to their music and they happen to get big and get more attention, detouring from listening to that band just doesn’t make sense. If it is music that you like, you have to support it. I see nothing wrong with a band working hard and having success come from it.

THROWDOWN – “Deathless”

2009-11-11T11:07:00.000+02:00

A slower and more melodic, yet catchy as hell album

We all miss Pantera – I do, you do, Odd Crew do… The opinions on Throwdown though, vary from “Awesome! They sound like Pantera” to “They suck! They sound like Pantera. Well – this can be pretty much said about their new album too, although it is kind of different.

The band obviously has tried to vary up things a little this time around by throwing new elements into their musical mix. “Deathless” as a whole is quite slower and more melodic than its predecessors, although if there is a suitable comparison to other bands it remains the same as before. And really, if this is a hardcore band I’m a tram car!

One happy tram car that cannot get enough of this CD! The album opens up with “The Scythe” which is something like a slower Lamb of God with a clean chorus ala Killswitch Engage. And this is a combination that works out really well! The next track “This Continuum” also uses the formula of nice groove metal verses and a catchy melodic chorus. And yes, throwing a whole new set of clichés in an already clichéd music may not seem like the best idea ever, but in practice it has worked out awesome.

Towards its middle part the album kind of moves away from that direction and becomes way more sludgy and features slower, longer songs that are driven mostly by Dave Peters’ Anselmo-ish vocals. And the dude delivers a splendid performance. Songs like “The Blinding Light” and “Ouroboros Rising” crush mostly because of the singing. The songs are simply perfect – cool riffs, interesting drums, awesome vocals and well thought out melodies… And then comes “Skeleton Vanguard” that once again turns the album in a new direction with the excessive use of cowbell that makes it sound like something off “The Great Southern Trendkill”.

Yes, I miss the speed and energy of “Vendetta” and “Venom and Tears” as well. But in the end the decision whether they are going to play fast or slow is up to the band to make, and all we can do is say whether we like what we hear or not. And in this particular case things seem to have worked out great because I can’t stop spinning this.

Verdict: 5 / 6

EUFOBIA: What you can give for this music is important, not what you want to receive from it

2009-11-10T10:07:00.004+02:00

A lot of time has passed since Eufobia’s debut album, “Cup of Mud”, came out. A great deal of this time was filled by numerous concerts in Bulgaria and other places (mostly other places, though) , but lately the band lacked any activity. And as I was sitting there thinking how a good band like that most probably broke up due to the usual reasons, the duded announces the upcoming release of their second offering – “Insemination”. And Niki (vocals, guitars) is good enough to fill me up on what has been going on with the band lately…

- You have your second album on the way, tell me about it – when and where did you record it?
- We began working on our new album in the end of 2008 but unfortunately things dragged a bit. We recorded it in Stain Studio in Sofia with Deso Velchev (who has worked with Fyeld, The Revenge Project, Last Hope, Crowfish – the author). It will be out in January for sure. Probably in the middle of the month. We aren’t really sure when this will happen in Bulgaria, though. But what’s sure is that we do have a date from our tour with Negura Bunget towards the end of January here. And by then there will be an album ready for sure. I cannot guarantee that it will be available at stores at this time but people will be able to buy as many copies as they want at the show.

- Looking at the title, “Insemination”, and the names of half the songs (hmm, here’s a few – “Vibrator”, “Never Innocent Again” and in that context “Blindfold” and “Pissing Squad” also receive e different meaning – the author) I get the impression that it will be quite an erotic album…
- Eroticism is a quite old topic for Eufobia. This is basically the concept of the band. We sneak in a social lyric or two from time to time too. But sex is an important thing and should not be underestimated. And in regards of the porno themes in this album – the lyrics were quite erotic even before but apparently we hid it better. If you have time to pay attention to the metaphors you’ll see that sex was a major theme in “Cup of Mud” as well.

- You had a naked woman on the cover after all, although she was drawn.
- I’ll let it be known that there is something similar on the new cover too, although a bit stranger. It’ll have teeth.

Eufobia giving you the dark look while thinking of insemination.

- The cover has been done by some dude who has painted for some quite serious bands before (mentioning Obituary and Megadeth is enough, isn’t it? – the author). How did you get in touch with him and what is the idea behind the artwork?
- Ever since we signed with the Romanian label Axa Valaha we don’t have to get in touch with anyone. They do it for us. The dude is named Costin Chioreanu and I have been a fan of his for a while now. He has his own studio Twilight13 Media. He does some quite serious work. He heard the album and became really enthusiastic about working on its cover. We already have received a working version of the cover and it is awesome. I hope that people who buy this will like it as well. They might buy the CD for the cover alone, to be honest.

- You say that the album will be releases by Axa Valaha – who are these people and what have they done so far?
- The organized our club tour in Romania a few years ago and after that we have met at numerous shows here and there. They are more of a booking agency. They have organized shows for Sinister, Cannibal Corpse, God Dethroned, Rotting Christ, Suffocation, Misery Index, Lividity and many others. But the label also releases a lot of Romanian bands and definitely has the resources and experience, needed to put out a good release. There was this really popular band in Romania – Avatar, whose manager now works for us. And the man definitely knows what he is doing.

- Looking from the outside in it seems that you worked really well with your former management by Distributor of Pain – they organized shows fro you all over Bulgaria and they were the ones that brought you to Romania in the first place. So, why change them?
- Yes, they did take us out there but from that point on all that we have done has been organized with the aid of our Romanian friends. We could say we are really displeased with the management because next to nothing was done for us for quite some time now. Especially since the tour with Onslaught and Carnal, in Bulgaria there was nothing happening around us. And if it wasn’t for our Romanian friends who organized shows for us and invited us to play festivals, this band would have been dead. And we really thank them for that. We play a somewhat weirder type of music that isn’t that well accepted in Bulgaria for some reason. No bad feelings – we aren’t making a demonstration for in front of the fans, we don’t want to provoke anyone or say something – it is just that we found a country that is not our own and where we are very well accepted. We are really happy when we play in Bulgaria and things turn out good. But especially our present management has organized some quite serious tours for us and we have a lot of playing ahead of us in Eastern, Central and Western Europe. I hope that things work out just fine here as well. People who listen to similar music just have to be a little bit more open minded.

“Hey, look! Someone dropped 50 cents!”

- You have mentioned that the band started out as nu-metal. Is anything from that period still present in Eufobia now?
- No, absolutely none of that is left now. In the moment we are absolute death metal, although a somewhat different kind of it. What’s interesting is that we include some motives from Bulgarian folklore music that surprisingly aren’t that much liked in Bulgaria. But as much as we have some experience in other countries where people are more open minded this is something that does impress the audience. And maybe this is why we got noticed by a label abroad – because we are different. In the first album there were songs like “Believer” that featured some really crooked melodies. In the new one there’s plenty more of this. Almost every song is in some compound times common for Bulgarian folklore and there are all kinds of melodies and things that get stuck in your consciousness.

- “Pissing Squad” however is way more of a straightforward track that doesn’t really have such moments. Why did you pick it for a single and a pilot video?
- That’s just how it turned out. We simply like the song a lot. But this is actually our second video that we shot. We did a video for “Justine” – that’s another song off the new album. But we really don’t know what the fate of the video will be. The label didn’t really like it and there is a high possibility that we will be filming a brand new one for that song. Anyway – Justine is a character from a book by Marquis de Sade. The book by the same name is something that later became the ground for Eufobia’s philosophy. The b and was born at the time when I discovered the author through exactly this book, but the song was born way later in its present shape and form. It is about this chick that has a lot of things happen to her and she is really pure and innocent, but the things that do happen to her aren’t exactly that pure…

- She gets fucked a lot?
- Hard!

- And does the video happen to be something like Rammstein’s last one then?
- No. We shot it in some crypts. The reason we and the label didn’t like it that much is because it didn’t capture the essence of the song. It was just people chasing each other in shit. There were a lot of interesting things that happened and it was fun to do. But yeah, basically one of the things that we weren’t lucky enough for it to work out well were the videos. The one for “Pissing Squad” also was supposed to have some extra scenes in it but we had trouble and it was left unfinished.

- Well, again looking from the sides, and from the point of view of a lot of bands here in Bulgaria, despite saying you don’t really have many fans here, this contract you have and the upcoming tour makes you look quite successful…
- Well, the good connections we have we owe to the great reception by the Romanian audience and the fact that we did play there for some time. To some extent people over there stopped perceiving us as a foreign band, especially in some parts of Transylvania. It is the most natural thing for us to have a Romanian label release our albums after we have become a part of their scene to a certain extent. And if a Bulgarian band wants to be in our place they should not make the mistake most bands do of having too much of high requirements and pretentions at first. Especially in the beginning it is important to decide what you want to give to this music, instead of what they want to receive from it. If someone thinks that you can make a profit from this – they have got the wrong idea – everything is total rock’n roll. There are thousands of bands across the world. If a band wants to win people over in some way, especially abroad, it should have something of its own, something that makes it recognizable. Because if you make music that is exactly like the one the local bands make… people will just listen to their local bands instead.

The pics are taken from the band’s MySpace profile. The one at the top is by The Other Side.

THE DESTRO – “Harmony of Discord”

2009-11-09T09:12:00.002+02:00

Angry Texans strip down half their music to make it interesting

The Destro’s big and loud “Fuck you!” for all present trends and cloned whatever-core bands today is actually the good ole heavier groove metal with a more death metal twist. Something unheard of? No. Is it cool? Yeah!

These dudes from Dallas, Texas obviously are quite negatives as all the ways they can think of presenting their band in are by saying what they are not. Not a metalcore band, not a band that plays breakdowns, not a thrash band, either… And their first job when they were almost ready with “Harmony of Discord” was to remove all solos, half the riffs, half the songs. Only to make the entire thing more focused and more crushing.

And crushing it is. On the basic structure of groove metal with predominantly mid tempo heavy riffs and sludge moments, the band has built up with quite some death metal elements like a lot of double bass drumming, growling vocals and really a huge dose of anger. Without going into all out blast beat mode some quite fast moments can be heard in pretty much every song.

Somewhat surprisingly the album opens with its longest track – “Justifiers of Malice” which shows some really cool songwriting skills as the song goes from a crushing riff to another without getting dull. From there on the album kicks up the pace and songs like “Pestilence of Deceit” and “Anger Killer” definitely have the potential to start a pit or two. “Mouth of the Heretic” introduces some rather melodic riffing in the mix, ending up to sound like a Soulfly that doesn’t suck.

Sadly, the band may have somewhat overdone the whole stripping down the music thing, as at a certain moment the album gets quite monotone. And your desire to listen to it again is not among the strongest ever. Yes, “crushing” is the key word in regards of the guitar sound as well, and this is the driving element of The Destro’s music. But maybe they could have let some more memorable melody sneak in on the album.

Even so “Harmony of Discord” is not a release that lacks qualities and if you are into the likes of Pissing Razors and Hostility you’ll probably love this. And similar albums actually sound quite fresh when compared to the thousands of cloned bands nowadays.

Verdict: 4.75 / 6

THE RED CHORD – “Fed Through the Teeth Machine”

2009-11-06T17:37:00.003+02:00

1:0 for intelligent song writing

Now having only one guitarist, The Red Chord didn’t hesitate to announce that their new album will be more-direct sounding than “Prey for Eyes”. This might have led some people to worry that the band might end up offering something way simpler and less interesting, but there is no need for such thoughts in this case.

Yes, “Fed Through the Teeth Machine” is somewhat of a return to the more direct and brutal sound of the band’s earlier stuff and a departure from the direction taken with the more melodic songs in the previous one. The difference though, is that if back then the melodic elements were put in separate songs that kind of stood out weirdly among all the heavy songs, now this element of the music is featured in all the compositions, where its place was to begin with.

From the opening of “Demoralizer”, which is the sonic equivalent of being attacked by a pack of wolves from an ambush while all alone in the forest, the album’s energy doesn’t let go until its final note. Of course this is no mediocre attempt at extreme metal but an intelligent and multi-layered album with songs like “Hour of Rats” that show all kinds of influences joined together in one united entity. If they want to crush you, The Red Chord are able to do it with slower songs like “Embarrassment Legacy” as well.

The band takes turns using death metal brutalisms and psychedelic moments with outright progressive ideas. One moment they are cutting your head off with a brutal blast beat, the next an awesome solo pops out. And having one guitarist less this time around has not had a negative effect on the music and not made it one-dimensional. And in the mix of super-technical and fast death metal drumming, there are also some more classic sounding fills that add to the album’s signature sound.

This is not just a good deathcore album, but extreme music with a message that could hold its own in a dick measuring contest with some of today’s biggest death metal bands. And if you like brutal stuff with ideas, “Fed Through the Teeth Machine” definitely has its place on the list of things you have to hear this year.

Verdict: 5.25 / 6

SKINLAB: We always had to try harder than other bands

2009-11-05T09:07:00.001+02:00

Seven years after their last real full-length Skinlab released a new album called “The Scars between Us” this September. Right after that the band was left by its guitarist Glenny Telford, who was later replaced, but the band still had to cancel their US tour due to vocalist Steev Esquivel’s throat infection. But then again there isn’t anything more metal than standing up to challenges against all odds, and as Steev tells me, this is exactly the band’s plan.

- You cancelled a whole tour due to your lung infection, so asking you how you are doing right now is as good of a start as any.
- I had this lung infection which is a first time for me. It really kicked my ass so we had to cancel the rest of the tour and go home. We were up there on the East Coast where it is much colder than what I’m used to so t really kicked my ass. But I am doing way better now so it’s back to work.

- Is it just me or Skinlab hasn’t had the best luck lately?
- Well, it’s the fuckin’ story of Skinlab’s career. I don’t know what it is but we have to fight for everything we get. But when we get it – it’s ours. So at the end of the day it’s good. We have always been a band that had to try harder than other bands. It’s OK. We love what we do and that’s the reason why we are doing it.

- OK, let’s talk the new album – it has been out for over a month now – any idea how it is selling?
- It is selling like shit actually, thanks to downloads and everything. Probably way more people downloaded it than they bought it. But we are not in this for the short run. Things that happen, don’t happen overnight. We are prepared to work hard in order to sell more records. Our fans are buying it now and it’s cool. It is just that we expected to be in the game with the bigger dogs and it just didn’t happen. So it’s back to the drawing board. We’re not young puppies in this game, so a lot of this stuff is not taking its toll on us as it would with a younger band. We gotta figure out our next step here. But we are planning tours for the beginning of next year. We are pretty pissed off, so we are ready to throwdown for sure. And a lot of people thought I was pretending to be sick as a publicity stunt just to sell more records. No, I am truly sick and this is the first tour I am cancelling. But, yeah – not everyone can be Five Finger Death Punch or Lamb of God. You have to go out, you have to do your best – nothing is a given.

- I remember in 2002 when “reVolting Room” came out, a lot of fans were saying it sounded overproduced and that they actually liked the demos of songs like “Purify” and “Slave the Way” better. So – did you consciously go for a more direct sound this time in contrast to the previous offering?
- No. We actually always want to overproduce our records. We try to make the best record that we can. I come from the school of Whitesnake and Metallica with loud guitars and thundering drums – this is the big thing about metal and rock’n roll. It is all about bombs and explosions and making shit sound fat. We never tried to underproduce anything we do. All that we do we try to produce to the best quality of sound. And sometimes you explore somewhere where the fans don’t want you to be, but well – we cannot make everyone happy. To be honest, I don’t think we did anything different than on “reVolting Room”. I guess that it is just because of the production that people get that idea. And back then all the media wanted it to be the big commercial success that it wasn’t. Sometimes a label can hype it up to more than it actually it is and make an album seem different than what it actually is. We’re proud of that album. It is just that the scene kind of went under our feet. Everything changed and we were kind of left standing alone.

- You were just recently joined by Brian Jackson who replaced Glenny Telford on guitars. How is he doing in the band?
- He kicks ass. Brian’s doing great. He’s a big metal motherfucker and always ready to throwdown!

Steev is not happy that his hands are stuck in his dreads, but honestly - who would?
Pic by Phill Mamula

- What happened to the “Bloodclot” EP? There were a couple of covers recorded for it - a Nailbomb and a Crowbar one, as far as I know. Will we be able to hear them anytime soon?
- We started doing it but the label that we were signed with at the time had their head up their ass and lied to us when we signed the contract. We went straight to the studio and started recording it. And once they came they were like “We never said we wanted that, we never agreed to that”. So we responded – “Talks to our lawyers from now on”. We didn’t want on that label, we didn’t want people lying to us and we like to do what we tell our fans we are going to do. It was basically a label fuck-up, I am not going to say which label, but everyone knows what label we signed in 2007 (Crash Music - the author). It was a horrible move for us. And then it took some time to find the right label for us. But it is all good now. We regret that we didn’t put out “Bloodclot” but at least we made it into a song. It has this fast drumwork that I figure our fans would like to hear from us. We recorded the Crowbar and Nailbomb covers but only that. We have them here, we’re just waiting to figure out ways to put them out.

- There was a bit of a hiatus for the band before the newest one came out. Was it because “reVolting Room” failed to meet expectations of being a huge success?
- It wasn’t really that “reVolting Room” didn’t do that well. It was just that the label didn’t treat us like a band that existed back then. We basically got a tour handed down to us by Slayer and Jägermeister and our label didn’t even want to give us 200 dollars a week to support us. So at this point we decided to just stop it, stop the bullshit. For that amount of money we couldn’t even eat, let alone pay for gas and stuff. Luckily Slayer and Jägermeister took us under their wing and gave us one more show. But in reality we didn’t have the money to make it to the next show. So we decided to just stop. And this kind of hurt us. But I’d rather hurt my band than my family.

- Now that Skinlab is reformed and fully active what happens to Re:Ignition?
- We’re doing each their own thing at the moment. Mark (Hernandez) is with Forbidden now, recording an album, which is really cool. Tim (Howell) is just having fun being a dad. And Dave (Moore), the singer, is really busy being a professional tattoo artist which he has always been. So at this time we’re on halt. But never say never. Now actually, after like April and May when Skinlab is done touring, I’d like to put out my new project that is like where I wanted Re:Ignition to go, the way I wanted it to. I wanted more like a Corrosion of Confirmity, kind of “Blind” meets “Deliverance” kind of stuff, some heavier AC/DC or Motorhead style stuff – a little bit more ugly. When Re:Ignition was formed Dave was such a great singer that everything kind of conformed to him.

Contrary to what Steev says, everyone is staring right at their shoes here.

- Defiance also had a new album released not long ago. Any more serious plans for that band? Touring and stuff?
- Well, I think it is safe to say, I don’t know if they have told everyone yet, but I quit the band. I was only committed to doing some recordings because that was what Doug Harrington had wanted before he died. But then we got offered a record deal and some people in the band wanted to do more than the other. Personally, I wanted to concentrate on Skinlab. It has always been my favorite. And after taking 15 years off Defiance the guys and me had separated so much it wasn’t really a band to me. It was kind of a pure thrash era thing and that is not what I want to do. I’d rather do what I love. But I did the record anyway and I think it is a great one. They actually have a new singer now.

- Back to Skinlab – now with your health issues and everything it is probably not the best time to ask, but do you have any plans for touring Europe and the UK?
- We’re waiting. We would probably want to re-release the album for Europe, because it never really got a proper release. It did in France but not in the other countries. We’re thinking of doing a cool cover song, maybe a couple of new tracks, and re-releasing the album for Europe with them included. We’re trying to do this now. But, we do love Europe. European metal fans are great metal fans. It has been too long since we last went there.

- Uh, last question. Fans of yours I was talking to were wondering about your past drug problems, and I guess you are not really comfortable talking about that…
- It’s an open book, man.

- So, is “Excellerate” about heroin abuse?
- No. That song is about doing something extreme to get your blood pumping. It is about tattoos and the rush you get when the needles go into your skin. But we do have songs about drugs. Like “Take as Needed” which is about pill consumption and it was about how I was taking a lot of pills while writing “reVolting Room” and I didn’t care if it was killing me or destroying my shows. I was having a good time in my head, while in reality I was probably a complete asshole and I sounded like shit. But if it is up to drugs – we at Skinlab are pretty much done with that. I actually quit drinking after that Slayer tour. After 28 days I came home and had gained 32 pounds from drinking Jägermeister every night so that scared the shit out of me and made me quit drinking. Every now and then I have a beer now but it is the new Skinlab – we come out on stage sober now and take pride in it. Our performance is definitely better. Maybe less wild, because we used to do wild shit like falling all over the place, hitting each other and doing stupid shit. Now it is much more about the music but we are not a band that plays staring at their shoes too.

- Another drug related question – rumor has it that during the filming of the “Second Skin” video Snake was high out of his mind. Was it so?
- No, it wasn’t us. Someone came to our tour bus and left a sugar cube of acid. While we were doing the video Snake’s wife offered to make him some coffees. So he did want some coffee. And she went on the bus and got what she thought were sugar cubes and was lysergic acid. He was in the middle of the video and he had his glasses on the whole time, and I was like asking him to take them off because no one else was wearing glasses. He was like really freaked out so we called a doctor and everything. Now it may look like a funny story, but it was scary. Snake is a small dude. Taking this much acid could have really hurt him. Especially when he didn’t expect it, it could have been devastating. And it was just before two shows with S.O.D.. I know it seems fun in the press and all “oh, look they take acid”. But this is so not the type of band that we are. You only take acid when you plan it. Thanks for asking that question, though. We’re not drug addicts. If anything – we hate people who are drug addicts.

The photos are taken from the band's MySpace page.

KATATONIA – “Night Is the New Day”

2009-11-04T09:18:00.002+02:00

А мonotone soundtrack to autumn cuts the line of good albums

Yes. It is not a surprise that Katatonia release an album not in the summer but when the autumn has already killed all warmth and joy from life. A lot of melancholy and doom is radiated by “Night is the New Day”. And this is exactly what is expected from it!

The band had definitely been on the rise lately. Almost no one was disappointed by their last three albums and not a few of the fans actually wonder exactly which one of them is their favorite. Sadly the present release’s chances to fit in there are next to none. It is simply far from being as good as “Last Fair Deal Gone Down”, for example.

Yeah, it might me fitting for such a sad band to sound tired. No one expects energy to flow out of the disc. And that is the last thing that you could find in 80% of the songs. It is just that the band also gives you a few good songs that you hang on to like a drowning man to a straw. But then the straw breaks and the drowning man ends up with nothing but lame tunes.

The positive moments here are ones like opener “Forsaker” that to be fair wouldn’t have been out of place on a Fear Factory album. But what I said about New Model Army’s new one and not so heavy bands experimenting with a heavy sound for just one song, is in full force here as well. From there on the album is something like a nap parade of songs, briefly interrupted by moments like “Liberation” and “Idle Blood” or some more single interesting riff. But for an album with 11 tracks this is far from enough.

The good thing in “Night is the New Day” is the good quality of the production. All the instruments could be heard and Jonas Renkse’s vocals are sad and awesome as ever. So – they saved no money and made sure that the album sounds as crushing as possible. And, if you are looking for something dark, melancholic and somewhat heavy for the soundtrack of your sorrow (or goth pose) – this is your thing.

The moment the sun shines this album is fucked, though.

Verdict: 3 / 6

SUPERBUTT: We are no prophets and nobody is

2009-11-03T08:58:00.004+02:00

On November 19th the Hungarian dudes from Superbutt will play in Bulgaria once again, eight years after their memorable first coming here. During that time their sound has seriously evolved and improved, as is shown by their last album “You and Your Revolution” which is truly killer. Those who read this blog (and this is pretty much me) maybe have noticed that I write that every other album is worth the sometimes prolonged wait. Well, András Vörös isn’t lightning fast in answering too, but this actually ended up being quite a good interview… And, calm down. They are no Debercen fans.

- It has been quite a while since you last played Bulgaria, so like 8 years and 4 albums later what is the main change in Superbutt compared to back then?
- Well, those shows were the first ones that we ever played outside Hungary (before that, there was only one festival guest appearance in Germany, where we played 4 songs, but that doesn’t really count, I guess), the band was hardly more than a year old and altogether we played less than 50 concerts before we went to Bulgaria. Since then, we’re past our 500th gig and we toured practically all over Europe. Still, we have the fondest memories of Sofia (and Plovdiv too) and we keep telling stories about that trip up to this very day. I’ll never forget for example how drunk some of the dudes from the band got after the show: they were going around the block like 5 times looking for the hostel where we stayed, and they didn’t realize that they were going around in a circle until we, the sober ones arrived and directed them into the place. Speaking of which, we liked that hostel so much, that we are going to stay there this time too. So, girls, if you want to throw your panties at us and stand screaming our names outside our 5 star suites (well, not exactly), we’ll stay at the Art Hostel… Getting back to the changes since 2001, we have a different line up compared to then. I’m the only one on stage, that’s still the same, but Szabolcs, our guitar player at the time is still with us as a sound engineer and he’s coming too. He said he wouldn’t miss it for the world and he is looking forward to the fabulous gyuvetch that we are going to taste again for sure!

- And what has remained unchanged?
- Would “our love towards music” be too pathetic to say?

- Your last album – “You and Your Revolution”, came out in Hungary at least a year before it did in the rest of Europe. Why?
- It was more a practical issue than a tactical decision. Obviously, we didn’t want to sit on the record for too long once it was finished and so we released it in Hungary right away. That was in December last year and back then, we simply didn’t have enough time to prepare everything for a release in other countries too, before the end of the year. So, we scheduled it for 2009 with our German label, and they decided to do it rather in the second half of the year. Since it had already been out in our home country, and whoever was that much interested in any other part of the world, had quite surely downloaded it from the internet already in the first few weeks after the Hungarian release, we thought it really doesn’t make a difference, even if almost a year passes until it will be officially available on CD in Germany and some more countries in Europe. I mean, releasing a new record these days is not about really selling physical copies of it anyway, is it? Who buys CDs in 2009? The release of the record means merely that some promotion will be done, there will be some reviews and interviews and hopefully the information reaches some people as well, who haven’t heard about us before and who might like what we do. That’s all we really expect, and from that point of view, there’s not much to worry about whether it should have been done last year or now.

- What is the meaning behind the title and the whole album?
- I guess it’s a somewhat cynical and skeptical approach to how we all fight our own little revolutions that are probably just meaningless jokes to others. It might be a humble warning as well: always keep in mind how things may look different from a different perspective, before your enthusiasm turns you into a clown or worse, into a monster. A bit of irony always comes in handy, laugh at your own misery rather than be angry about things you can’t change anyway.

"Who the fuck stepped on my leg?!"

- What was it like working with Zak Tell (from Clawfinger, sings in the first song "Last Call" - the author)?
- Nice and easy. We know each other for years, and not only Zak but the whole bunch of Clawfinger is made of really cool guys. I guess I don’t even have to mention that they are professionals as well, and the entire recording with Zak took not more than an hour. I gave him the lyrics, showed him the music and he did it in no time, adding his own style to the song, which we are really happy with. Right now we are in the process of shooting a video for that song as well and Zak will be in that too. 15 years ago, when I was headbanging to “Do What I Say” in front of the TV, if someone had told me that one day we would work together, I wouldn’t have believed it at all. I now it happened, how cool is that?

- Not many bands put a song with a guest appearance as the album opener, but you don’t give a damn, do you?
- No, not really. Actually, I haven’t even thought of it until now, that you asked…

- I remember this song off your first album – “Ernesto c. Guevara for President” – And to be fair that guy isn’t exactly my favorite character. So, I was wondering what you meant in that song?
- Although the title may suggest differently, if you read the lyrics, you realize that it isn’t a campaign speech for the late Che Guevara or the likes. On the contrary, the lines “it’s so red that it has to be brown” in the pre-chorus refer to the colors of Communists and Nazis and both that and the line of the chorus “…you march and your faith is strong, but I was there when it all went wrong” try to say, that no matter if it’s far left or far right, it always ends the same. Similarly, the verses picture the two poles of a thing in each line: saints or hypocrites, judges or suspects, rebels or fat civilians but you know what? In the end it doesn’t matter, it’s all the same.

- The short written introduction on your band’s myspace states you don’t have political messages. Am I missing something, because I honestly thought you did?
- No, not directly at least. I wouldn’t deny that I have a strong opinion on a lot of things, including politics, but I’d hate to express those in a direct way in our lyrics. Honestly, who am I to tell people how to think or what to like? Yes, sure, if we lived in a dictatorship, I’d definitely stand up for general and eternal values, like freedom. But thanks God, we live in freedom and although there is a lot of shit going down in politics in our country too (like everywhere in the world), how petty and ridiculous would it be to go out on stage to tell people to vote for this and that party, or to yell them that the war in the Middle East is wrong? I mean, yes it may be wrong indeed, but we’re not in the position to debate that when we are on stage, because I have a microphone but the audience doesn’t. So, whatever I’d say, it couldn’t generate a discussion, it would just be a one sided revelation and that’s not right, because we are not prophets and nobody is. And if we can have a message to people, I’d rather have this (I mean that nobody is a prophet, nobody can have the ultimate truth and there is at least two sides to every story), than direct messages as to how to behave, what to think and who to vote for. I mean, come on, music is supposed to be art of some sort, which is way above the narrow-minded politicians fighting for money and power.

- It also says you are no rock stars and you drive a Ford Focus. Hell, that’s better than my car. So you’re rubbing it in my face or what? (Kidding) But seriously – you say you don’t make money from the band, so I was wondering what is the main force that drives you to continue?
- As a matter of fact, after five years I just changed my Focus to a new Honda Accord, so I hope that makes me Axl Rose now! Getting back to your question, well, how about self expression, leaving your little mark on the world and also all the experience and adventures and that come along with playing music and touring?

András has a Redrum t-shirt but doesn't sing in Bulgarian.

- Here in Bulgaria some people have the idea that singing in English instead of Bulgarian isn’t patriotic enough. You guys sing in English as well, besides the one EP in Hungarian. Do you have the same language issue over there?
- No, we don’t or at least not in that form. And let me ask back: if singing in English makes it possible for I.T.S.I. or Last Hope or any other band from Bulgaria come over to play a show in Hungary (or anywhere else in the world) and make me think that “WOW, it’s good, so Bulgaria must be a great place, because they have good bands and cool people” – isn’t that patriotic enough? Singing in English is just a functional tool, because that is the language that most people understand around the world. It’s the new Lingua Franca and although I’d love to sing mostly in Hungarian, because that’s my mother tongue and obviously I’ll always be able to express myself more sophisticatedly in my native language than a foreign one, unfortunately it’s spoken only by 15 million people or so, while English is spoken by a billion at least. On the other hand, I hate when some bands say: I sing in English because it sounds better. Bullshit, it doesn’t! You may hide the clichés of some lyrics behind English because we don’t understand that language as much as our very own, but that won’t make it sound any better. And the audience in your home country will always be able to identify a lot more with lyrics that are in your and their common mother tongue, so while I admit, that English is the practical solution and we’ll stick to it because we like to travel around the world touring, I want to come up with more Hungarian stuff too in the future.

- You always had awesome videos for your singles. Do you guys in the band have something to do with the storylines in them or not?
- No, usually not. Our secret to have good videos is to work with directors who want to realize their own ideas that they often have had for a long time but didn’t have a chance to do yet. That way they really give their best and that usually shows in the results. On the other hand we also have to admit that we are musicians and may not know too much about how to make a film or a video, so I guess it wouldn’t be wise to try to instruct people who are good at it, while we are not. I mean, we wouldn’t like to be told either, what kind of music to write, so our visual art partners have a free hand too. We are the band that can be made look anything, we will not oppose to almost any idea. The best example was, when we shot the cover photos of the “Black Soup” album, and the photographer poured a mixture of olive oil with baking powder and black paint on top of our heads from above, while we were standing naked in a photo studio where it was hardly warmer than 10 degrees in January and they didn’t even have hot water to wash it off afterwards. But seeing the result, we said, yeah it was well worth it.

- The “Figure” video in particular – what is the meaning behind it?
- Well, just like it was said above, you should ask the director about that, but to my understanding, it’s about the constant fight and the vain effort to overcome your own self. It is best if I give you all the link of the “making of” video on YouTube, which gives you some more insight.

- The Hungarian scene seems pretty strong with bands like you, Blind Myself and Subscribe that we have seen in Bulgaria a few times. What are some of the other names concert organizers in Bulgaria should write down now?
- Most importantly, I’d recommend our number one hardcore band called Bridge To Solace, whose name is probably not unfamiliar to the hardcore kids in Bulgaria either. Other than that, I’d list a few that are very young but promising, like AWS or Turn Of Mind, but for those who like a bit less hard stuff, in the vein of Mars Volta and the likes, I’d definitely suggest the bands Turbo and Shell Beach as well.

- And last - I know you’re from Budapest and this probably isn’t your club, but still, what do you think of Debercen’s entry in the UEFA Champions League?
- Generally speaking, my sport is ice hockey and I don’t give a rat’s ass about Hungarian football, which is a pity, because it’s a great sport, but they destroyed it in our country. Just like you guys are over the famous Stoichkov, Lechkov, Balakov era too, but let’s hope that we both climb up again one day. Debrecen is a sympathetic team and although they know that they could have never made it into the Champions League if it wasn’t for the new qualifying system implemented by Platini, it’s still cool to have a team in there after 15 years.

The photos are taken from the band's website.

MAXIMUM PENALTY – “Life & Times”

2009-11-02T09:07:00.004+02:00

This might as well turn out to be their best album

A lot of time passed since February 2008 when Maximum Penalty unleashed the first songs from this album in the internet. Well, the slight postponing obviously paid off because “Life & Times” turned out really great.

For a band with a history dating from the mid 80’s you’re bond not to expect big surprises. There are some, though. If Eddie Sutton from Leeway sang for Madball, the result would have sounded pretty much like that. And the band also seems to have moved away a bit from their strong Bad Brains influence, displayed during the 90’s. Also, this time the album, unlike 2002’s “Uncle Sam” which was recorded only by Jim Williams and Rich McLoughlin, has been written by all of Maximum Penalty together. The band has also been joined by bassist Jonathan Buske whom we all know from Terror and Rag Men.

Some quite hardcore and 100% New York sounding music hits you from the very first, title and somewhat auto-biographic song. Without any stops of fills the vocals flow from the verse into the chorus and gang shouting of lyrics like “There is no remorse, hate is what’s respected”. Williams’ vocals have always been one of the band’s strong sides. Songs like “Paper Bullets” are practically driven by them. The same, but with more speed is displayed in “Thereat Assessment” which at least for me is the best song here. The tempo change towards the end is absolutely killer! There are 15 tracks in the CD so there's enough for everyone to like.

The album sounds more focused than its predecessor and actually more focused than all of Maximum Penalty’s full lengths so far. The music has a lot more to do with the classic “Demo 89” and the “East Side Story” EP. The other important thing is the production, made by Dan Korneff, which is completely crisp and definitely the band’s biggest achievement in that direction.

It wouldn’t be unfair if “Life & Times” turns out to be your favorite Maximum Penalty record. And I do hope they tour for this album in Europe, not leaving a certain part of it out of course.

Verdict: 5 / 6

SLAYER - "World Painted Blood"

2009-10-30T10:00:00.000+02:00

SSSSSSSSLLLLLLLAAAAAAYYYYYYEEEEEEEERRRRRRR

The release of a new Slayer is one of those moments when grown up men turn into a bunch of complaining kids. One guy says it is not fast enough, another one finds it a disgrace to the band that delivered “Reign in Blood”, someone else finds the guitar sound to be too thin, and there is always the dude who digs up the names of bands that “play thrash metal that is way more adequate of the times” whatever this might mean…

Oh, God, he who listens to Slayer!

“World Painted Blood” is as good of a Slayer record as you’d get by this band in this day and age. The dudes have taken the skeleton of “Christ Illusion” and combined it with their not so bad idea from back in 88 that there are other playing speeds than insanely fast, that later resulted in “South of Heaven”. And the result is, at least for me, their most exiting offering since “Seasons in the Abyss”.

For example, the opening title track is not the fastest thing ever to come out of this band. But what happens around the 3:20 mark as surprising for Slayer as it is, is one of those musical moments that get stuck in your head for good. The punching slow moments come again in the middle of “Beauty through Order” when some mid-tempo riffing kicks in and you remember classics like “Ghosts of War”.

Before the album was available, Slayer had said (like every other band on the face of the Earth!) that their new album will be a combination of everything they have done so far. And so, we also have some insanely fast songs like “Public Display of Dismemberment” and the already well known “Psychopathy Red”.

The album is produced by Greg Fidelman and Rick Rubin. So – it sounds like Metallica’s “Death Magnetic” and this means a lot of people will complain about the sound. Some of the songs this time around have been finished in the studio, instead of being completely ready before the band stepped in, and this is a first for Slayer.

Spontaneity often is a good thing, but maybe it is also the reason that moments when things don’t really work out are present here. For example, “Americon” that just fails at grabbing your attention, or “Playing with Dolls” which is like an attempt to make something like “Jihad” with the only difference that it goes nowhere.

Even so this is an album that is going to be listened to quite a lot because it does offer some really cool songs. And is one hell of a Slayer album! So the almost perfect rate I put suits it perfectly!

Verdict: 5.75 / 6

BARONESS – “Blue Record”

2009-10-28T09:09:00.000+02:00

Two years after “Red Record”, the band become PFC Levski fans

The cover looks familiar? Yes. This is because Baroness’ frontman and guitarist is John Baizley, creator some quite characteristic artwork for bands like Darkest Hour and Pig Destroyer, for example. Artsy, huh?

Well, yes. And that Relapse invest themselves in a progressive-sludge metal band is no surprise either. A lot of people compare them to Mastodon who are this label’s golden egg laying goose. I’m usually not enough of pretentious artfag to write about bands like this one but I poured myself a glass of wine just to even things up…

Yes, my first association upon hearing “Blue Record” were Mastodon as well, although Baroness have a stronger punk vibe to their sound. The songs in the album aren’t the longest ones ever – they usually clock around four or five minutes, half of their length being an instrumental intro. During this time though, the band puts a lot of ideas in the songs, usually on multiple layers, so the CD is heavy to listen to. And that is the point.

The whole thing has a framework structure – opens with “Bullhead's Psalm” and closes with “Bullhead's Lament”. In between there are standout tracks like “Swollen and Halo” with its uniquely catchy intro melody that also appears as a prelude later. “A Horse Called Golgotha” features a more distortion and a metal sound, while it also has a certain electronic vibe that brings me back to Killing Joke’s last one (a place I happily spend time at). And I personally couldn’t shake off the feeling that “The Gnashing” and its beginning remind me of Bulgarian punk-rockers Kontrol and their song about growing weed in the forest “Otivam tam”. And this is totally not a bad thing either, ha-ha!

The production is what you’d expect from a similar band. And it is intentionally not the crispest one ever – it features a lot of distortion and a 70’s sound. Super! The album sounds more focused and is easier to get into than its predecessor “Red Record”, which was much more of a case of “art for art’s sake”. At least as far as I understand. I also don’t know nothing about wine, but that one bottle I just drank sure made me feel good…

Verdict: 5 / 6

New A-MORAL and CROWFISH coming next year

2009-10-27T09:48:00.001+02:00

I have the impression that bands from Varna play Sofia shows less often than before so I use this chance to catch up to events by asking the man/scene of Bulgaria’s seaside capital Joro (Crowfish/A-Moral) what I can think of. And he answers!

- What’s up with Crowfish lately?
- We gave ourselves somewhat of a break. We’re playing Sofia now for maybe the first time in like half a year. Other than that we do have some future plans – we write new songs, there is going to be a new album, but it is not exactly clear when it is going to be ready yet. Most likely it will be done sometime next year. Now, at this show, we aren’t going to play any new songs because the idea of the Way Fest is to play old songs. Probably next year when the album is out we will also make a big European tour. But for now we’re having a much needed rest. The situation for playing in cities is quite bad right now, not only in Bulgaria but everywhere.

- OK, and what about A-Moral?
- We have an absolutely ready second album. We will enter the studio to record it most likely in the next month and we expect it to be out by the beginning of the next year. It is going to be titled “Life on Credit” because everyone right now is living on a loan after all. It will include 11 tracks.

- Crowfish’s drummer Bojo also plays with G.O.T.C. – what happened with this band?
- I don’t know really. They haven’t played in a while. They do have new songs but I don’t know when they are going to record them or release anything.

- After the club Area 51 in Varna vas closed where do bands from the city play now?
- There are a few places. One of them is the so called Seaside Casino. It is somewhat contradictionary. As a position in the city it is almost perfect, but when it comes down to sound there are a lot of problems. It is this big hall and the acoustics aren’t that great. There is also this smaller club called Usmivka (smile) where we do shows as well. But as a whole the situation is really hard after they closed our club down. The city administration tried to save itself trouble and work by doing this. We had asked numerous times for a police car to be sent in front of the place when there were concerts. After all when there is police present there are no problems. But they never sent one, probably because they had better stuff to do. And there is always these people who would call the police if there is a crowd gathered in front of the club, no matter if there is actually trouble or not. And in the end it turned out that it would be easier for some people to just close down the club. And actually we are in no way responsible for what is going on the street. The police should take care of things there.

- Besides the club, there was also the label named Area 51. Does it still function?
- Yes, even though we have hardly put out anything new in quite a lot of time. We will have to think about that. I think the last thing we released was Cold Breath’s album. Now they are recording a new one so it is most likely going to be our next release.

Halfway through the set Chavdar starts wondering whether he turned off the oven before he left home or not...

- Most of the bands in Varna – Crowfish, Indignity, Outrage and the likes… have been together for quite a while now and even newer projects like A-Moral and G.O.T.C. are basically the same people with different roles. Where is the new guard?
- There are a few young bands, but for them the problem with the lack of a place to play at is very serious. After all the biggest stimulus for a young band is to perform live and present itself to people. And this is just not happening. This is the reason many of the bands gave up. There is no places to play live at, it is hard even to find a rehearsal place, and then the city authorities hardly do anything about it – it is actually the opposite by trying to silence that kind of happenings and shows. The situation is really bad. We try to do all we can but it is hard.

- To what extent is the mayor Kiril Yordanov responsible for that? After all A-Moral have a song about him – “Mayor-Idiot”, and as far as I know it is you who writes the lyrics…
- Kiril Yordanov isn’t directly responsible but after all this is the policy of the whole city. They do not tolerate such rock events and concerts. There also a lot of other things. The city is a nightmare for drivers, there are no parking spaces – everyone parks everywhere, on sidewalks… and the city authorities doesn’t do anything about it. All they do is sell municipal properties. This is not politics in favor of the people but rather in favor of some businessmen. All the construction sites in the city, all the companies ruin the streets and the leave the Municipality to take care of the situation and this is done with the mayor’s knowledge. And then it is us, the taxpayers, who pay for the repair works. I do not think he deserves to be mayor. And this is why we have pointed our anger to him. He is serving his third consecutive mandate but his election is sort of relative. I guess most people just don’t think. This is the main problem not only in Varna but in the whole country. We have had the same government for 30 years, or even 70 years. Only faces in government change but the main driving forces behind it remain. And people vote just out of habit. The mayor does some surface stuff like painting a few zebra crossings and people are like “look, he really does do something for the city”. But then problems like the lack of bike lanes remain.

Crowfish bathe in blue light. Well, it is better than chicken blood...

- Years ago the hardcore scene in Bulgaria seemed more united. I guess you remember how Vendetta used to sing “from Sofia to Varna as one we stand” and then they changed the lyrics to just “as one we stand”… now the scene doesn’t seen as united. What changed?
- Times were different. There weren’t that many shows and people weren’t that alienated back then. Not the principle of globalization is active at full force. People get alienated, everyone stays at home, they try not to go out as much, they go only to work, buy some stuff and head back home. And that is it. This makes people easy to manipulate. It is the world tendency, it is not limited only to Bulgaria. You can see less and less people going to shows. This is one of the reasons. People have become apathetic to everything. It is not like 10 years ago – people were more energetic, they travelled around. Now the young ones don’t care at all.

- You know, some might say you think so only due to nostalgia…
- No. This is not something only I think and not something limited only to music. It is the same in every other sphere. It is the so called World Government. The moment when this thing will be a reality draws near. This crisis and all the bank bankruptcies is no coincidence – all the money and property has to be concentrated within a group of a few people. This is the whole idea of the crisis. And this is it – people’s routine’s have been getting tighter and tighter and in the end they have no time to think for shows and all kinds of entertainment. This is not so clearly sensible now but it will be obvious in some ten to 15 years.

- Isn’t it the exact opposite – people becoming easier to manipulate when they waste their energy on entertainment instead of focusing on real issues?
- This is the exact idea – to make people unable to think why things end up that way. To make the apathetic. And in the end everyone will be ruled by a single corporation that would decide everything. This is the goal of this whole globalization thing and it is fully in motion as we speak.

CUT OFF – “Demo 2009”

2009-10-26T08:49:00.000+02:00

Band releases demo for free download, saves stores from long lines

I wasn’t truly enthusiastic to write a review of a demo recording in the beginning, but Cut Off convinced me by saying that the release of the actual album is put off far enough in the future so this article wouldn’t seem stupid. And the demo itself is put for free download by the band themselves so – help yourself.

If you are from Bulgaria and you follow events in the hardcore scene, you need no introduction to Cut Off. The pride of Blagoevgrad’s scene has been playing frequently at clubs and at every big summer or winter hardcore festival in Bulgaria for years now. After a few lineup changes, the last of which is new guitarist Kalo (ex-Inxile) thanks to whom or not the band sounds even tighter live now, they release their first official demo at last.

Cut Off display some quite thuggish hardcore ala 25 Ta Life in songs like opener “Fight or Suffer” or the faster “Yesterday”. Pretty much the whole thing is in that vein but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t enough variation between songs, like “Taste of Blood” and its almost death metal intro for example. The tracks clock in around the two minute mark, usually before that, and the band manages to present its ideas tightly within the given time without dragging things.

The demo has been recorded during May in President Studio during a rehearsal of the band while the separate tracks were then mixed and mastered buy someone else elsewhere. The result is actually quite decent and the recording is listenable so the person who worked on it has nothing to be ashamed of and no reason to hide (we all know who he is anyway).

This release will prove useful for all frequent concert goers who want to be familiar with the band’s songs. We all know people mosh 33% more when they know the songs. The demo also shows Cut Off’s potential and labels and promoters alike should be weary of what this band is about. Have fun downloading and listening!

Verdict: I’ll place one on the album when it is out ;)

RIVERBOAT GAMBLERS - “Underneath the Owl”

2009-10-23T10:36:00.001+03:00

A somewhat old but still awesome album by the Texas punk rockers

Yes, this album isn’t really that new. But on the other hand the Bulgarian internet is not overflowing with reviews or any kind of articles about Riverboat Gamblers, so why not? No one reads this blog anyway, he-he…

The band surprisingly isn’t that well known here, considering they are huge in the USA – they do big profile tours with Rancid, The Offspring and Rise Against, participating in Wrapped Tour, receiving press praise from the likes of Rolling Stone and what not. And we all know we’re supposed to shit ourselves when they fart over there!

Listening to the band’s fifth album “Underneath the Owl” I can figure why they are so big – well, they’re good. Songs like opener “Dissdissdisskisskisskiss” remind me of the same insane energy Green Day’s “Dookie” had and from there on the album shows even more variation and songwriting skills. Tracks like the first single “A Choppy, Yet Sincere Apology” should be played 24/7 on all self respecting rock radio stations.

Besides a sense of humor and superb skills in playing the vibraphone in songs like “Robots May Break Your Heart”, Riverboat Gamblers also demonstrate the ability to create memorable songs with melodies that get stuck in your head. The choruses of songs like “The Tearjerker” (slow and dramatic) and “Keep Me from Drinking” (full of joy and alcohol) are bound to stick in your head for days. And in the end that is the point of good rock music, isn’t it.

You aren’t going to be disappointed if you expect some cool American punk rock from this album. Actually the variation “Underneath the Owl” provides could surpass your expectations by far. Here you can find everything – from fast songs, through experimental and strange ones, to honestly ballad-like sounding tracks – a lot of different things in one place that some other bands would base their whole careers on.

Verdict: 5.5 / 6

NINE ELEVEN: We could be killed if we play in the USA

2009-10-22T23:58:00.003+03:00

Sadly we did this interview over e-mail so I didn’t have the opportunity to at least ask in a direct conversation about the few statements in it that I don’t really agree with (which would have been fair). Now it would be lame to put sarcastic remarks in brackets after every other word. But here is what Richard from Nine Eleven wrote me, probably from his job’s computer during work hours:

- OK. I understand that you have named your band after the date Pinochet took over Chille, but please could you explain the reasons behind that name further?
- Well, it has been posted on our MySpace page, but here you go: 9/11 ... 1973 in Chile. Pinochet, aided by the C.I.A. and American companies, overthrows the democratically-elected President Allende. The outcome of this coup has provoked the untimely death of 5000 victims who did not deserve the tears the Western World shed 28 years later over the ones of the World Trade Center attacks. Facts are no longer what they are but take on a whole new meaning according to the interpretation of the media.

- Many common Americans are terrified by the very mention of their words*, so I was wondering if you get many e-mails by angry USA people?
- Only messages we received from American people concerning our name are positive ones from people who think some things good about it, considering the meaning behind 9.11.1973 and 9.11.2001. Andrew from Comeback Kid also told me that the band’s name was great, even if he thinks that we could be killed by someone if we play in the USA.

- Back to your band. You are often compared to the likes of Comeback Kid and Bane. Do you think you sound like these bands?
- I think both these bands were an influence at the beginning of Nine Eleven. But I think and hope that now with our new album “City of Quartz” we have added a personal touch to our music without hesitating to incorporate some stuff from different kinds of rock like post rock and post hardcore to our melodic stuff. We like many bands from different scenes. For example, beside hardcore stuff, I like bands such as Nirvana, Portishead, Bjork, Radiohead, Muse’s early stuff and many more. But when it is up to hardcore, we’re not close minded and we’re listening to many different bands from different hardcore scenes: screamo (Amanda Woodward, Saetia, Yaphet Kotto, Envy), Post hardcore (quicksand, 108), new stuff (Verse, Have Heart, I Rise, Carpathian), oldschool bands (Minor Threat, Youth Of Today, Chain Of Strenght), melodic stuff (Satanic Surfers, Bad Religion, NOFX, A Wilhelm Scream, No Trigger), metalcore (Walls of Jericho), crust (Tragedy, Remains of The Day, From Ashes Rise), etc.

Nine Eleven don't ever leave home without a wide angle lens.

- From where do you draw your influences?
- Our influences come from the energy, passion, beautiful moments and feelings shared with people that we meet during the shows on tour. They also come from our hate for the capitalist system and the way it’s mechanizing our lives, separating people making them alone more and more, making us like a slave knelt down front of new or old idols.

- And what is it that you work really?
- I work at a high school and I’m paid to survey students there. But I am actually usually connected on the web during my job’s time and take care of things concerning Nine Eleven, my label and promotion “agency”, Free Edge Conspiracy (with Vincent, the our bass player). I’m also working on a couple of webzines – a political zine called “Squat De Casbah” and a DIY Hardcore zine called “Sedition”, as well as some others stuff. This job permits me to have many days off, or to concentrate my job’s times in only two days, so I can leave as soon as we need to go on tour switching my job’s times with people I’m working with, and spending time with teenagers who make me laugh a lot when I watch them kicking the school bureaucracy asses! Concerning the whole line up of Nine Eleven, working – slavery is only for food and nothing else! So everyone inside the band has a permanent (or not) job which permits to live our passion before the satisfaction of common and comfortable “desires” we’re feeding of.

- I spoke with Knuckledust from London the other day and they said that right now, because of the whole global economic crisis and everything, they are actually afraid to take days off from work because they might get fired and this actually prevents them from touring. Anything like this in France?
- Yes this kind of problem is concerning many bands in France too. They’re afraid to ask for many days off considering they may not have the right to do it. Even in the punk hardcore scene, people are really scarred of losing their job and prefer not to take risks, rather than not to give a fuck about the “safe” life inside it’s so easy to lose ourselves. But everyone has to make their choices and everyone may have good reasons to make them.

- There are plenty of dates for your tour with Fire at Will and a great deal of them are in Eastern Europe. Have you ever been to these places before and what do you know about the hardcore scenes there?
- It will be our 9th European tour with Nine Eleven, visiting more than 20 countries in Europe. Concerning the Eastern conference (hihi) we already visited Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Latvia, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia etc. So we already know about some of them, and we spent amazing times with sincere and passionate people met during the shows played everywhere in these places! This time, we’ll discover countries like Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia, so we’re really excited to put our feet on new places and to meet new great people. The tour’s name, “BALK to the Future”, is a reference to the Balkans and the dumb American movie.

Nine Eleven is actually not a 5-member band, but as you can see - a 10 member one. Half of them afre ghosts.

- To be honest I don’t really know many bands from France, so please tell me about the scene there and the most important bands in it.
- OK. France is not the best place to play hardcore because the musical French culture is fed by alternative rock and metal styles for many years now. So people there usually go more to pop rock, indie and metal shows than to hardcore and punk rock gigs. I think the problem is not in their musical tastes but their lack of knowledge about hardcore music and the way of show’s promotion inside this community. However, there are some cool places to play in France like Nevers, Lille and some cities around, Lorient, Rennes, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lyon etc. Concerning the most “important” bands in here : Guerilla poubelle (French punk rock), M Sixteen (the best stuff in Europe mixing the best of Strike Anywhere which would play At the Drive In and The Mars Volta), Alea Jacta Est and Providence for beatdown fans, No Guts No Glory, Fire At Will and Fake Off concerning old school – melodic punk hardcore, Birds in Row in the vein of dark and heavy stuffs from Portland scene, Thrashington Dc (fast and thrash hardcore), and more.

- What is your opinion of the hardcore scene worldwide today? There seems to be way more people than ever before but many of them think of it just as of a fashion – are they killing hardcore or real hardcore died in 85 anyway?
- Hey dude, I’m not nostalgic about the 80’s because it’s a period that I have never known. That’s why current bands and things have more meaning for me than legends from the past. Even if it’s really important to know about the bands and people which participated to the movement’s emergence! And if I thought that hardcore movement died in 85, I think that I would not play this kind of music anymore. By the way, remind you that some ugly things happened during this period considering the racism and patriotism invasion of hardcore scene, for example. It’s the same thing concerning bands like DYS that did not care about ethic and were on the right side of the public politic. So I think each period from the independent scene has its own good and wrong sides. This is what makes the movement evolve and grow up. If we talk in present tense about the hardcore scene, It’s great to see how the music inside evolved and is still evolving. It’s great to see that DIY is growing up against mainstream conquests with development of crust and screamo scenes and structures during these last years in USA and everywhere in the world. It’s really nice to see how this community is permitting to put people inside in relationship. And concerning your question about fashion’s invasion in the hardcore scene, I agree with you dude, but I think that’s a general movement, common to every kind of independent art and music. Every independent act, movement, idea, thought and more born during the XX and XXI century was swallowed by the dominant culture and was transformed like a consumption product in order to kill the original danger inside. It’s why I think what makes you hardcore and independent is not the music or wearing styles, but the way you’re living your passions and life.

* I worked in the USA for three months last summer and there really were people who were terrified by the fact that what they bought totaled at $9.11.

SYBREED – “The Pulse of Awakening”

2009-10-21T10:36:00.001+03:00

European industrial metal with all its faults

The big Larry King gives a piece of advice in his book that we should try to be honest and not pretend to be more knowing than we are. So I will admit that what led me to this album wasn’t my total knowledge of the metal scene, but rather its cool artwork combined with absolute boredom. With my luck though, I stumbled across a band that covers Killing Joke and whose own songs aren’t that bad either.

Sybreed are from Geneva, Switzerland and this is their third full length album. Their style is a combination between melodic death metal and more industrial moments with either one of those two faces takes the lead at certain times. Think Fear Factory and Mnemic with the hard hitting mechanical riffs and machinegun drums combined with the melodic stuff Soil Work did from “Natural Born Chaos” on.

Opener “Nomenklatura” pretty much shows what to expect from the band onward – heavy riffs supported by synthesizer melodies and clean sung chorus. The second song “A.E.O.N.” features completely mechanical riffing that sound like something Dino Cazares would write. The album’s most extreme song is “I Am Ultraviolence” that flows from almost black metal beats into an absolutely Nine Inch Nails moments where the music sounds like a machine that’s stuck.

All of this does sound awesome but when it is suspicious European industrial bands we’re dealing with there’s always one big “but”. The dudes just can’t help bursting out into some happy sounding dance music and make songs like “Doomsday Party”. Everyone who doesn’t like Pain should know what I am talking about. But then again if you have enough patience you’ll get to the “Love Like Blood” cover and it is something that brings back your smile.

“The Pulse of Awakening” as a whole is far from being a bad album and the band actually shows a lot of maturity managing to combine their many influences into a style of its own. This is something vocalist Ben’s (whose last name isn’t mentioned anywhere, but I’m pretty sure it is not Kenobi) singing also helps do as it is very characteristic. This is definitely a release that would help you fill the time until one of metal’s big guns releases a new album. And in the end of the year you might remember it as well.

Verdict: 4.75 / 6

KNUCKLEDUST: Our scene is very underground. And we like it that way!

2009-10-20T00:45:00.000+03:00

Hate City Fest 2009 is probably the best hardcore show to take place in Bulgaria in quite a while. A packed club, cool bands, awesome atmosphere… Obviously things can work out great with the right kind of organization and the right bands. The cherry on top of course were England’s Knuckledust who wiped the floor with the audience last. Before that their frontman Pierre finds time to talk with me as well.

- The sky has been gloomy all day and it now started to rain heavily. It is like that in England all the time, right?
- Haha, no. That seems to be everyone’s impression, although it is not like that at all. Actually there’s a ban on using hosepipes, because we do not have enough water. Everybody thinks it is constantly raining – then why don’t we have enough water?

- So… Judging by your Myspace page where your name was changed to announcing the show in Bulgaria like a month before it took place, I figure you must be pretty stoked about it.
- Yeah, man. We’re glad to be on the road playing again. To be honest this year we haven’t played many shows. I guess I can count on one hand how many shows Knuckledust has played. So it is nice to come somewhere new and catch up with some people we haven’t seen. We’re doing this “very mini” tour – only Sofia and Thessaloniki. At the moment, because of the situation in England, we’re working and it is very hard to take time off. In England all the jobs are asking people to take time off with no pay, and make a sacrifice in order for the company to survive. But so many companies are closing and some of the guys in the band have problems with work – they can’t leave for the holidays, they can’t even leave for the weekend to play a show like our bass player Nic. We do not want to play too many shows without him so give him some time. He is learning to be a black taxi driver. In England they’re like mafia – you have to study like crazy and if you are very dedicated and you spend a lot of time it may take you a year if you’re lucky. Otherwise it may take from three to five or ten years to learn all the streets, the routes. So, Nick is learning and we support him.

- And how long has he been into this?
- He’s been studying for maybe… a year now. Something like that. But until he passes he can’t be really invested in playing with Knuckledust.

- Yeah, but he’s at least close to graduating… So, you say the band’s not playing this many concerts, staying in London working. Do you find time to write new songs and maybe an album while you’re stuck there, or work also prevents you from doing that?
- For the same reason we haven’t been able to write songs. We don’t really have a plan. At the moment we’re surprised Knuckledust has lasted this long. But nothing really has changed in the essence of the band, while everything around it does change. But same as always – we don’t stress, there’s no big plan, we don’t care, there’s no rush. And no one is going to die in the next three years hopefully, fingers crossed, when the new album comes, it comes. If people like it, if they don’t like it – whatever.

Hardcore family and respect and all, but still make sure you look at the rate before you board Nic's cab.

- You guys have been in the exact same lineup since the beginning of the band. How do you manage to do that?
- A lot of people say the same thing and are very surprised that we have the same members. When I think about it – it is nothing that we made a decision to achieve or anything, but if it wasn’t the same four people it wouldn’t have been the same fun for us. We do not have any major goal to achieve through this band. I mean we play our music and it is the music we love. That’s what we started doing in the beginning and this is what we do now. We haven’t been forced to change our lifestyle and this is what we live. We don’t stress out about people asking us for albums and record deals, do this do that tour… we don’t care. Family comes first.

- You said family and you know a lot of people use the word pretty loosely in the hardcore scene - about people and bands they’re crew with. What do you mean by it?
- People use the word very loosely, they incorporate a lot of things in it. But for me family is people that wouldn’t turn their back on you, people who stand by you and people who don’t bullshit you. Many people chat bullshit – they come to your face, smiley, smiley, but at the end they only want something. True friends and true family we’re lucky to have all over the world because of this music. Without hardcore we wouldn’t probably have left London and we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet these people.

- Talking about London, it is probably the biggest city in all of Europe, yet surprisingly its hardcore scene isn’t one of the big ones. Everyone knows about the scenes from big world cities like New York or Boston… And even within the UK most of the bands are from other cities like Napalm Death who are from Birmingham. Why is it like that with London?
- The thing is in London, you see, the kids who make the real hardcore music, aren’t exactly what you would call “scene kids”. They like their music and they write it their own way. With Rucktion Records, the label that we have here, we try to promote the local bands and the local scene. This may not be the most popular style because they try not to copy everyone else in the world. There’re a million bands who sound like Terror, a million bands that sound like Hatebreed, a million bands who sound like Madball. And it is like… in London kids are a little fed up with that. We respect those bands and we take influence from their music a lot as well, but we definitely try to put more of our own influences and London attitude. There’s a scene there and it is very underground. And we like it that way. There are bands like Ninebar, Kartel, Injury Time, Bun Dem Out – these are all local bands that don’t really tour, they don’t come to Europe that much because many of the kids are too young, they don’t have a driver’s license, they don’t have jobs, they can’t afford to buy or hire a van and then you have to pay for the ferry across the Chanel.

- So they play only London or the whole island?
- Mostly London because there aren’t that many places in the UK that scream for hardcore or Rucktion bands. Maybe in the big cities things are ok, but outside of that England is very small for Hardcore. London is the hot spot – everything survives there. There may be ten types of kids that all think they are into hardcore but their hardcore is pretty different to each other. A lot of kids that don’t understand… too many rich kids, who go only to the big shows where and American band is playing. Same problem everywhere, ain’t it? When a local band plays they go like “I see them every month” but that’s not true – they play once every six months or so. That’s just excuses. What they mean is they see these people every week or every month at shows, but no one really pays attention to the bands.

I just can't think of a worthy caption for that pic, no matter how hard I try.

- You did this big tour a few years ago with Ignite, Sworn Enemy, Madball and Suicidal Tendencies, and from interviews you did back then I was left with the impression you were opening every night in front of like ten people…
- Some nights we played before the doors opened. Or at least they wanted us to but we didn’t play. It was a funny situation because originally the lineup was decided and then one of the bands was going to pull out. So they asked us to join, to open or whatever. But then the other band came back and then there were too many bands for that show. So we would open and nobody cared, we weren’t getting much money or anything. It cost us like £5,000 in the end just to hire a van. Luckily some friends of ours were deriving so we saved some money there. But other than that we lost a lot. We were playing in front of, as you say – ten people, so no one saw us, no one bought records and merchandise. Other than that it was a good experience. We played early and then we got drunk while watching all the other bands. We grew up listening to Suicidal Tendencies, Madball, we love Sworn Enemy so it was an amazing holiday. An expensive but amazing one!

- Quite the contrast with the situation now – you are going to headline the show, it is completely sold out.
- Yeah. We prefer club shows. We don’t like these big arenas – it’s not the same. Acually my eyesight is not great, so when it’s far away I can’t see people. Now when I sing I close my eyes anyway…

- Many bands who tour Europe and come to Bulgaria as well say that people at shows across the continent are really passive, just standing there, and some of them say they’re actually surprised how people here just mow through each other all the time. So, what is it like in England?
- Most often when you play England people just stand there. I guess it is what English people are like – kind of selfish and cold.

- You have been involved in the London scene for at least ten years now, and you also run a label there, so you know your local scene, and also seeing the Bulgarian bands that played and will play here tonight, do you think such a band can go to England and pull it off?
- Sure. Everyone seems to want to come to England, so many bands want to play and it is a shame there aren’t that many places for them to play in the UK. There are a lot of kids that care for their music, just not enough in certain areas. And sometimes in Europe, in the mainland they are used to big tours of big bands with their support act. In England to bring the main band and the support act on the ferry is going to cost more and the attendance in England is less, so sometimes when you draw the line it is not worth it.

- OK – last question, and I am asking you this only because we are standing in front of the headquarters of a political party here in Bulgaria that represents the country’s Muslim community. There’s news from the UK every now and then about protests that sometimes turn ugly and problems between Muslims and other people about building new mosques and what not… What do you think of this whole issue?
- England is quite unique for that situation because there are a lot of Muslims that live in the UK and to call them anything but British would be ridiculous. Like me for instance – I’m South American, my parents are from Peru. But I am a Londoner. And again there’s kids who grow with a Muslim faith and you can’t deny that they are Londoners as well – a part of the city, a part of the UK as every other thing there. It is very unique there. There can’t be too much fuss, because as many people would oppose something there would be just as many to stand up for it. Politicians don’t want that sort of turmoil especially in London and other cities because that would cause some really big problems and actually press them to express themselves more. But I don’t have a problem with the Muslim community and I have never felt that they are pushing their faith on the rest of the country or anything. They’ve always been there. Everyone in England and London especially has grown with friends who are Muslim.

EVERGREEN TERRACE – “Almost Home”

2009-10-19T12:23:00.000+03:00

Metalcore hardly could sound fresher than that

It takes some extra skill to stand out in any way from the millions of metalcore bands nowadays. But a band in that style with enough balls to cover un-orthodox bands like The Offspring and Operation Ivy stands out at least with that. Add the pop-culture references from TV shows like Family Guy and The Simpsons, and Evergreen Terrace are at least more sympathetic than most of the clones around.

After the transition to a bigger label like Metal Blade and the successful “Wolfbiker” it is normal that more eyes are turned towards the band. And Evergreen Terrace do not disappoint, but quite the opposite – they release their most balanced and complete album to date. In “Almost Home” the brutal metal riffs and screams coexist with clean punk-rock vocals and song structures better than ever.

The album starts off with “Enemy Sex” and its somewhat Deftones-ish opening riff, goes through a nice stop’n go verse with constant double bass drumming, before it explodes in the chorus that is half melodic, half a breakdown. Nothing unheard of but it sure is effective. Next is the title track that opens up with maximum punk-rock speed, flowing into the verse an evolving into the melodic chorus. A classic song structure that actually sounds fresh compared all the other bands in the genre that try to sound as scattered and chaotic as possible. In “I’m a Bulletproof Tiger” we also hear some groove metal influences and some head tearing mid-tempo heavy riffs.

Evergreen Terrace’s tendency to stick to an oldschool approach like more predictable song structures and soloing in pretty much every track helps the album become a good mix of their many influences. This shows well in the ballad-ish “We're Always Losing Blood”, where the clean vocals create a memorable melody. This is personal favorite on the album.

Just like in the previous one, the sound is quite crisp and far from the cheaper things they did with Eulogy. If there is a problem with this release is the band’s very style that has been done to death by many other bands. And this is something Evergreen Terrace are not to blame. “Almost Home” is quite good and is far from the assessment the band themselves kind of give to it with the last song “Not Good Enough”.

Verdict: 4.75 / 6

FYELD – “Not Blond Enough to Survyve the Holocaust”

2009-10-16T10:47:00.002+03:00

A good result of the long time spent searching for a way out of the desert

To be a survivor of the nu-metal wave long after its quiet death isn’t the best starting position for a band. Back in 2003 when the first Fyeld album came out we still cared what Korn and Limp Bizkit do, nowadays – we hardly do. This band however, has used the time since then well, roaming through the desert looking for a right direction. And they seem to have found one.

The first thing that leaves an impression is the heavier use of electronics and samples in “Not Blond Enough to Survyve the Holocaust”. Timo is now a completely equal member of the band and his role is more apparent than in the first album. And this element adds and extra layer to the music, making it more interesting without losing the focus and heaviness of Fyeld’s sound.

After the electronic intro, where the word “Clear!” is repeated multiple times and you picture a group of panicked doctors shocking the band with defibrillators, bringing it to life after a 6-year sleep, the first song “Suffer my Justice” follows and it is probably the heaviest on the CD. A strong start. “Rolling Spawns” features more rapping and more dynamics between heavy and mellow moments. “This Time” is somewhat different, more melodic, sung mainly by guitarist Emo, having been written mostly by him, and is also one of the faster sinking tracks on the CD.

Other than that you can hear that the melodies and vocal lines have been thought out for a long period of time invested in the process, as they are somewhat crooked, making unexpected turns that at first listen surprise and even confuse the listener. But then when they sink in, you’re instantly hooked, because they hardly sound like anything else. Songs like “Devil in these Guyse” and “Beefinger” are a fine example and this is the album’s strongest side.

The other main strength is its clear production that doesn’t prevent you from hearing all of the abovementioned things. The guitars are powerful, the drums pack enough of a punch, the vocals dominate the sound where they have to, the electronic samples fill in everything without creating chaos. Let’s add the super cool looking artwork to that.

Beauty surely takes time and this is something that applies for Fyeld because their second album not only sounds adequate for 2009 but is also completely killer!

Verdict: 5.5 / 6

REDOUND: 6 years ago there weren’t any big-mouthed know-it-alls in the scene

2009-10-15T10:27:00.000+03:00

The first official video by Envy… oops… Redound is about to come out any moment now. The shooting at a playground in Sofia’s zh.k Belite Brezi went smoothly despite one of the first Autumn rains that fell on the city that day. For this interview though, only drummer Alex appears and is good enough to give quick and straight to the point answers to my (thankfully more than usual) questions.

- You played in Athens’ club named Sin City (there is a pop-folk club by the same name in Sofia – the author). Were there rednecks, proudly tearing napkins with dollar bill images on them (something Bulgaria’s “high class” tends to do in the abovementioned club)?
- Ha-ha, no. This is actually the new name of the long-existing cult club Texas Necropolis. It would have been cool to have people with napkins, though!

- But seriously, how did it go? Where is it better to play – in Greece or at home?
- It was good. We were there with our friends form Melekh and it was a lot of fun! And this is the time to thank the Greek band Eden Demise for their invitation and the whole organization. The people in Greece are mainly static during shows and mostly shake their heads, while at home it is pure madness!!!

- The album came out in the end of May which makes it like half a year until now. How do you feel about it when you listen to it now?
- We’re kind of fed up with listening to it which is normal, taking into consideration the times we have listened to and played these songs. But on the other hand – quality-wise we think it is a decent production when it is up to recording and playing.

- The title – “Upon You” – why did you pick it?
- "Redound" means to return, to have an effect or consequence upon something… “Redound upon you” means effect on you or everyone.

- It is being released by Poland’s Spook records in Europe. How did you get in touch with those guys? Besides releasing the album what else do they do for you?
- In 2007 we released a split CD with Crawling Ground (from France) and Bloodstained (from Poland). Each of the bands released the CD in its own country by itself and in Poland it was released by Spook Records. And after that the label contacted us and proposed to help out with the album. The other thing they can do for us is organize a tour in Western Europe, but there is time for that.

Alex plays some drums in his time free from answering questions.

- What other bands that they release are worth checking out?
- There are many cool bands like 1125, Blood By Dayz, Bloodstained, Crime Lab, Danny Diablo, Down To Concrete, MTG... there’s plenty of them.

- What about a future Redound European tour?
- We would really like for something like that to happen through the label, but there haven’t been any concrete talks about it so far.

- The video for “Sam srehtu vsichki” (“Alone against Everyone”) should premiere any day now, as far as I know. Tell me how did the shooting go?
- It went really good and we thank all the people who came and helped make it. There is also a storyline to the video but it is a surprise we don’t want to give away.

- OK. A lot of time has passed since you changed your name from Envy to Redound, but still – why? Because of all the Japanese and what not bands with the same name or what?
- Well, we changed our name mainly because of the Japanese that we weren’t aware of, and in order to prevent mix ups, but also we wanted to refresh the band.

- How many people still call you Envy?
- It is mostly friends of ours.

- You’re probably the first hardcore band in Bulgaria that relies mostly on slow musical moments, and now pretty much everyone wants to play that style. How does it feel to be one of the leaders in the scene?
- We are no leaders. Everyone does what they feel like. But there a lot of people who talk shit about this style of hardcore music, saying everywhere it’s poser crap and it’s just a trend. And the exact same people cannot name even three beatdown bands if their lives depended on it. It’s pathetic.

- it has been six years since the band exists. What is the thing the was present in the scene back in 2003 but is no more that you miss the most?
- Well, back then, I think, there were none of the people with the big mouths that are competent on all issues yet. Now at the moment people look at others judging them by where they are from, what they wear and if they own a New Era. People should put things like looks aside and concentrate on the music itself. I’d like to thank everyone who support us and come to our shows, helping create insane fun!!!

AUSTRIAN DEATH MACHINE – “Double Brutal”

2009-10-14T16:07:00.001+03:00

Arnold unites heavy music and stupid laughter in one

Metal music is brutal, serious, heavy with messages that it unloads on the listener, black metallers never smile and so on. Only that there are bands like Austrian Death Machine that prove total comedy sure can coexist with brutal riffs.

A year after “Total Brutal” the one man orchestra from As I Lay Dying Tim Lambesis releases the second album of his solo tribute-project towards the current Governor of California. And this time around part of the Arnold impersonations are done by Josh Robert Thompson, who has been doing pretty much the same for the Howard Stern Show. Basically – the whole project’s level has gone a notch up as more famous show biz people get involved.

The album opens up with a skit where two Arnolds talk on the phone. The first punch is “I Need Your Clothes, Your Boots, And Your Motorcycle”, based on the classic line from Terminator 2. Quite thrashy metalcore with a memorable chorus and a killer solo. “Come On Cohaagen, Give Deez People Ehyar” is one of the CD’s more melodic songs while at other places it bursts out in a more death metal direction “Come On, Do It, Do It, Come On, Come On, Kill Me, Do It Now” and “Who Told You You Could Eat My Cookies?”. And there are also many skits and jokes in the album as well, but it would be lame to tell them now. They sure are going to make you laugh, especially if you know and like the movies themselves.

The album has a second part that opens up with the Terminator 2 theme and continues from covers of classic bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Agnostic Front and Misfits. The covers are almost identical to the originals (with downtuned guitars and screaming vocals of course), but are also put in the context of Schwarzenegger movies. In “Gotta Go” for example our friend sings about how they really must go because Skynet is going to kill everyone any moment now.

To put it shortly – the album is hilarious. If you like the movies and listen to such music, the few listens that will make you roll on the floor laughing are guaranteed. The question how much of a replay value this CD has still stands, though. But I surely doubt that Tim Lambesis intended to forge an eternal metal classic.

Verdict: 5.25 / 6

VENDETTA: We want to put out another album before retiring

2009-10-13T20:29:00.000+03:00

Vendetta’s reunion is definitely one of the coolest things to happen in the Bulgarian hardcore scene for quite some time now. And as I find out from my conversation with Dido and Shuta right before a rehearsal of the band, this reunion is going to last for quite a while.

- I was left with the impression that you are getting together for just one show at Hate City Fest 2009, but now I see you have more shows planned – Istanbul, Sthens and Skopje. Does that mean you are coming back for good?
Dido: I don’t know really. We are doing this mini tour and we’re working on new stuff.
Shuta: We’re basically waiting to see how these four dates go.
Dido: We’re all too busy with other things so we will not be pushing ourselves too much. But we really want to put out another album before retiring.

- Are there new songs ready for these four shows?
Dido: Yes. We’re playing at least two of them – “Ghost Rider” and “Vendetta” (I hear them later and they are just as crushingly brutal as you’d expect – the author).

- As far as I understood you have prepared a whole new release for the show this Saturday. All your songs so far – the ones from the two split releases and from the album itself – all in one CD.
Dido: Yes. A lot of time has passed and some of the things have gotten lost or we’ve ran out of copies. That’s why we’re doing such a release for these shows.
Shuta: The whole thing will have a new cover and will be a limited edition – only for these shows. If there is high demand and we sell all of them we might make some more copies. It is a good idea because everyone will have the opportunity to have all our stuff. Three in one!
Dido: Yeah, we’re going to apply for sponsorship from Nescafe 3 in 1 with that. (He’s joking, of course – the author.)

- Regarding the show this Saturday – a lot of people are really excited and are like “Vendetta, oooh, ahhh”. I personally cannot recall ever witnessing such excitement about a band from this scene before. Why do you think this is happening?
Dido: Apparently we have left some kind of a mark in Bulgaria. And we are doing this because a lot of people wanted it to happen. We will do some more shows as well. If there is excitement then it is all good. Everyone would want it that way.
Shuta: We’re doing this because of the people who want it.

- Well, there were similar reunion shows by BFH and Face Up for example…
Dido: Yeah, they have been done. But right now all of us in Vendetta арe here in Bulgaria and it is way easier for us to work on the new songs and everything. We were scattered all over different places. Now we are reuniting for fun. We feel the need to do this. We want to let go of some negative energy and this is the best way to do it. And people obviously like it.

Vendetta’s new wave influences have always been a characteristic standout side of their sound.

- You’re making new songs, you talk of future releases… What’s happening with A.D.I.M. in that case? Or we’re counting this as the same band?
Dido: It is pretty much the same thing. It was a side project but we have no time for it no more. Even the songs we did for A.D.I.M. will go to Vendetta’s repertoire. Hre, Shutta also had five or six projects, but Vendetta turns out to be the main thing. For all of us this turned out to be the biggest thing we have done so far. And all of our new songs, part of whom were started with A.D.I.M. but now there are some that are purely by Vendetta, are exactly in our style – there’s metal, but there’s also hardcore. This is what we listen to. We have influences from hip-hop, from punk, from new wave.

- I can’t help asking you generic crap, so – what do you think about the hardcore scene nowadays?
Dido: I don’t think.
Shuta: I also don’t think about that.
Dido: everyone should do whatever they feel like doing. If there is an audience for it – super!
Shuta: If you want to come to shows, then come. If not – don’t. The whole unity thing here died in 98. There’s no point in this now. Who likes doing concerts will do them with people, without people, if they buy his stuff, or if they don’t.We do our thing anyway.
Dido: It is important that people do something interesting and something they feel comes from within. If it goes well – it does. It always shows when it is not sincere.
Shuta: Who likes it – he does. We’re just playing and we have no quarrel with anyone. We’re at a somewhat different age now.
Dido: We have done a lot of the things in that scene that define it today here. And if someone comes and says if we’re hardcore or if we’re not… there are more important things in life. We have families, friends, jobs, life that we struggle with. The hardcore scene is simply…
Shuta: Not that we’re distanced or show some kind of neglect toward it.
Dido: It is too overplayed now and the whole issue had been discussed to death. What are we supposed to say? We have been doing this since circa 93-94. What not has passed through our heads, we have seen a lot, people have been saying everything.

- I kind of meant for you to say something positive, like – this or that band is cool…
Dido: We have nothing to say. Shuta helps half of the bands, he releases them. We have helped everyone we could and anyone we had to. There are youngsters now, there is a new scene – they are building it already. What we have done so far, we have done it. Now others must take care of the scene. This is the new scene. I personally have no time to go to shows Shuta is closer. But – a thumbs up for everyone who are involved. I hope they do it for a longer time. And I wish them all the best. It is important to do good stuff. For me the most important thing ever was to create things that represent my scene in its best light. I mean – when people outside of Bulgaria hear it, they should think: ”See, these Bulgarian dudes really get what it is all about and know their shit”. It is harder than just ripping odd a few Hatebreed riffs, copying a few lyrics and a whole visual appearance and then go on the stage where it is easy because of the whole unity thing. People must support you and you’re cool. It is important to do something that makes you stand out. Because every scene that has left a mark in hardcore history somehow managed to do that. That is why everyone knows the Poland scene, the Belgian one, the New York scene, the one in Boston. All these people have done something worthwhile and have represented their city and their scene.

NEWS MODEL ARMY – “Today is a Good Day”

2009-10-12T14:03:00.000+03:00

“Carnival III”, “High II” or just another album by these Englishmen

The euphoria that such a cult band is back together can last only for a limited amount of time. Two albums and a few tours later you are just another active band that plays shows and releases albums like everyone else.

And as awesome as it is that New Model Army are back together and release albums and make tours, passing even through Bulgaria, “Today is a Good Day” is just another recording by them and will hardly touch anyone outside their hardcore fans. Those who hungrily swallow anything the band has to offer and follow it everywhere. Luckily for New Model Army most of their fans are like that anyway.

Every time a not so heavy band decides to experiment with heavier riffs but only for a single song, it turns out so the rest of the album then sounds like a snoozefest. And the title track here is exactly the metal song Justin Sullivan promised in interviews months ago. And this is the most energetic and the freshest New Model Army have sounded in quite a while.

Awesome. But from there on everything sounds like the other two albums after the band reunited - “Carnival” (2005) and “High” (2007). And this kind of wipes the enthusiastic smile from your face. Still, of course, there are some very good pieces of music like the choirs in the end of “Autumn” that truly have a haunting effect, the fast rock-driven “Arm Yourselves & Run”, or “Bad Harvest” which reminds me of the more successful hits in the previous couple of albums. A re-recording of “Ocean Rising” from Sullivan’s solo album also found its way on this CD.

The album is once again produced by Chris Kimsey (Rolling Stones, Marillion, Duran Duran) which makes “Today is a Good Day” sound even more similar to its predecessors. Not that much of a bad thing. But if feels like the only thing growing here is the number of songs people will have to wait through before the band finally plays something off “Thunder and Consolation” for example.

Verdict: 4 / 6

STRIKE ANYWHERE – “Iron Front”

2009-10-09T13:59:00.001+03:00

A successful lean towards a more melodic side for the American punkers

I guess it is kind of an adventure to be a band with an pro-anarchy attitude in a place like Richmond, Virginia where redneck sons and daughters of former KKK members wielding guns aren’t that uncommon. So, a few of the extremes in Strike Anywhere’s views seem logical.

Their new album continues where “Dead FM” left us- it has basically the same formula of fast songs that vary between melodic vocals and screaming. And to a certain extent the melodic side gets the upper hand this time around, which is a good thing, considering it has been the band’s strong side for some time. No one expected face-melting death metal riffs anyway, right?

“Invisible Colony” opens the album quite dynamically – right from the verse, packed with fast rhythms, a melodic chorus, gang shouts and a clear message against the US government’s attempts to monitor everyone’s communications. Things continue in pretty much the same vein in “I'm Your Opposite Number”, “The Crossing”, and “Failed State”, even though the second half of the album tends to drag a bit.

The songs in “Iron Front” also aren’t the longest ones around and actually stick to the typical punk-rock length of 2-3 minutes. For that time though, Strike Anywhere manage to say a lot. Every song has some characteristic idea and a memorable moment, that prevents the album from the fault of many punk-rock releases who tend to repeat themselves.

The lyrics once again are quite angry with the whole capitalist system and globalization. I, as someone with rather conservative views, couldn’t help thinking “get a job, hippies” at certain times. To my comfort though, the German organization Iron Front from the 30’s that has the album named after it (and from where the band burrows the logo with the three arrows pointing downwards) was also an anti-communist one.

The new album by Strike Anywhere doesn’t launch the band into new horizons but is exactly what is expected from them – fast, melodic, and angry punk-rock. The production value is great and there is a possibility they will crush you by the very way this thing sounds alone. Definitely nothing stops “Iron Front” from grabbing you… and it is far from being set to fail like the organization by the same name.

Verdict: 5 / 6

O.H.: In this country justice is the missing thing

2009-10-08T10:18:00.000+03:00

It is Friday night. The promotional show for O.H.’s debut album titled “Justice” is about to begin. I, vocalist Joro and drummer Bambi go in front of the mandatory place for interviews with bands that play in The Box – the MRF headquarters. The dudes explain what they can about the band. And what I get around to asking…

- You are releasing an album. Tell me about it – how long did it take to record, where, when, how?
Joro: The album is titled “Justice” and consists of 11 songs. We recorded it in Sub Zero Studio for three or four months or something. Then we sent the recordings to Mastervargas – some dude from the USA. He did the mastering. We are quite satisfied. We did what we intended to.

- I was interested why does a band that has existed for 10 years no releases its debut just now?
Joro: The problem was purely a financial one. I will not say how much the album cost us to make but it is a four-digit number. And the first digit isn’t 1. But at a certain point things grew enough and we managed to do it.
Bambi: It was really hard to do but it worked out.
Joro: We did things in steps, one at a time. First we gathered money to organize things and make the recording. Then we gathered money for mastering, and then for CDs and lastly we gathered cash to pay for the covers. There was no way we could have come up with it at once and this did slow us down.

- And why is it named “Justice”? Just a song from it that you really like or there’s a deeper meaning?
Jore: We live in Absurdistan and this is the main thing that is missing. This is something I talked about with a friend last night. If a policeman rings my doorbell at the middle of the night I am not opening the door for him. Because it is not going to be a policeman but someone else. And it is definitely the main thing that is absent in this country. It is what we are surrounded with, no matter if we are at work, on the street, anywhere you like. Our style suggests an extra dose of aggression so this topic suits us well.

- You also shot a video for that song if I am not mistaken?
Joro: Yes we did. We shot it with this dude from Fault. Misho is his name. We did shoot the material but now someone has to master it and this costs money. So we wait. We expect it to be done in a month or so. It will not be something mind blowing but we are trying to extract the maximum from what we have.

O.H. don’t open their doors to policemen at night…

- For the nine years O.H. has been active I think only Kiki has stayed since the original lineup?
Bambi: I and Kiki stayed. In the beginning it was just fun. Quite a few people went through the band but I don’t find the point in listing them all now. It is around five or six people. We always had trouble with bass players.

- There was this moment a few years ago when the band clearly shifted its sound towards a more direct and hardcore sounding direction. This was pretty much when Joro joined – did he bring that with him?
Bambi: That was sometime in 2006-07.
Joro: When I came the vocalist was the only missing link in the band.
Bambi: We had some songs prepared back then and he just came and sung over them. Then we continued further in that direction.
Joro: They had instrumental tracks ready and I screamed over them. And from there on we got into this somewhat different direction. But it is not something I myself brought to the band.

- Do you still play some of the older songs?
Bambi: This night we will play a song from our fists demo – 2001, just to make a clear comparison for the people at the show what the band was about then and now. We will play a brand new song right after that. And there is the song “Nightmare” from that demo that we still play but after having re-worked it a bit. It was one of the best songs from that period so we didn’t want to leave it behind.

- Besides this show in Sofia now, do you have some plans for upcoming shows in other cities?
Joro: For now we are only planning. We have ideas.
Bambi: We have ideas, we are working on it, but we do not know when it is going to happen.
Joro: basically after this show e will be taking a bit of a break. Then step by step we will start organizing something. We will play like 6-7 dates in different cities. This will most likely happen when the video comes out as well, so it will work out just fine.

HATEBREED – “Hatebreed”

2009-10-07T09:34:00.000+03:00

Hardcore leaders show first signs of variation since 2002

The label “the AC/DC of hardcore” wasn’t put on Jamey Jasta and co for no reason. There are quite a few people who joke that the band has been re-recording one song for years (and it isn’t far from the truth either). So what? Isn’t the music good anyway?

Well, it seems even Hatebreed themselves got tired of this, as their new and self titled (and that fact alone is enough to make you think “new beginning”) album they try to break free from their own mould. Clearly Jasta’s work with Kirk Windstein in Kingdom of Sorrow, as well as the cover album they put out in the Spring, have left their mark – the new CD is way more metal and shows way more variation.

It is visible from opener “Become the Fuse” on – an almost melodic riff introduces us into the song that builds up under Jasta’s screams and explodes into all-out Hatebreed somewhere around the 30th second. Reminds me of… Soulfly. There are melodies snuck in some unexpected (for Hatebreed) places in all of the following songs like “Not my Master” and “Between Heaven and a Heartbeat”.

The first single “In Ashes They Shall Reap” things go from the typical upbeat “I struggle with life and punch the shit out of it” type lyrics into melodic singing ala Kingdom of Sorrow. “No Halos for the Heartless” starts off with almost heavy metal gang chants “ooo-ooo-ooooh” and then “Every Lasting Scar” comes and things take and almost oldschool metal shape. The metal vibe is strengthened by an instrumental song full of solos – “Undiminished”, as well as a guest appearance by Dame Mustaine’s new favorite guy – Chris Broderick - in one of the songs.

This of course are only shades of the album’s vibe. Its backbone for sure is a typical Hatebreed sound and songs like “Hands of a Dying Man” and “Merciless Tide” are exactly what the band’s fans would expect.

Only time and fan reaction can tell if the serious metal injection was a good idea. It is a fact though, that Hatebreed haven’t sounded that fresh since “Perseverence”. Their self-titled offering brings new things to the mix without sacrificing the focus and brutality of the band’s previous work. Which deserves a thumbs up.

Verdict: 5 / 6

FYELD’s tractor has gained momentum and cannot be stopped

2009-10-06T23:33:00.001+03:00

The waitress, probably born in a small, quiet and peaceful Bulgarian town, brins us the beers waaaay after we ordered them and in the meantime Levski are getting their asses handed to them by SS Lazio. For the dudes in Fyeld, however, the Bulgarian reality isn’t a reason to complain. According to them Bulgarian’s have been closing their eyes to their own qualities due to complexes and exactly this is one of the topics touched by their brand new album “Not Blonde Enough to Survyve the Holocaust”. Bobz (guitars, vocals), Emo (guitars) and to a lesser extent Timo (programming and… guitars) tell me about their new creation.

- OK. Lets start with the album. It has been six years since the previous one. You obviously try not to rush things. Still, tell me what took you so long?
Bobz: We have been recording the album since 2006 because we went through some personal soul searching periods and what not. From 2003 to 2006 we were trying to think of something new to come out with. We didn’t want to repeat the first album and rehash old ideas. I also had some personal stuff to take care of. There was this period of a year and a half when I must have touched my guitar like two times or something. But finally I and Dodo got around to writing songs. And so we did. The big problem was figuring the direction we wanted to head in with the new material. We compared the new stuff with the old songs all the time so we could avoid quoting ourselves.
Emo: I joined the band during the recording process. One morning Dodo called me. I had given him a call the night before and he said he had something bad to tell me. And he told me that I must play in the band. Which was no surprise.

- You had played together before in a band, as far as I know…
Emo: Yes. I and Gepi played in Mataka, while Axel and I had found our first band together when we were 15 and we played together for quite a while – four years. The band was called Total Power, then Overpower. We were some really excited Pantera fans back then. Now Odd Crew play like us, ha-ha…
Bobz: Yeah, exactly like Totál Power! Ha-ha!

- I can see the intrigues this statement will spark now… So, about your next album that is probably going to come out sometime in 2015 – do you have ideas and a concept ready?
Bobz: We’re half done! There are plenty of ideas and we’re halfway ready so to speak. But really, the whole problem with the delay between albums was that we had to invest a lot of time in things not related to music and then it took us a while to get to the level we were at before we stopped.
Emo: But now Fyeld’s tractor has gained momentum and there is no stopping it!

- The whole thing by the way looks quite professionally done and I guess a lot of money was poured into it. The videos for example look expensive…
Bobz: Actually yes. But especially about the videos – they might look impressive and like a lot of money has been invested in them, but in reality everything has been done with a lot of passion and we have found ways to make it work with a minimal investment.
(Here Gepi, the band’s Producer, joins in and explains to Bobz with a fatherly tone that the video for “Beefinger” is actually quite expensive – the author.)
Emo: He was just trying to say that we put a lot of passion into this…
Bobz: Yes. We have had enough of all the bands who complain about money and say “we need this many thousands of BGN in order to make a product the way we want it”. But this is not necessary and there are ways around it.
Emo: When you have a good concept and you know what you are doing it is not that important how much money you invest. It will work out well any way. On the other hand, if you concept is not good, no matter how much money you pour into it it would end up hollow.

Fyeld, minutes before being taken by extraterrestrials (note the lights behind).
Pic by Veselina Penkova (Agressiva)

- So, you started this quite big tour in support of the album. You played in Plovdiv and Haskovo last if I am not mistaken. How was it?
Bobz: Attendance was OK. But everyone who has seen us play knows that this is not that crucial for us. The important thing is that besides the concerts that did go very well there was also strong interest in purchasing CDs and band merch. So there is a market for CDs. Or at least there is one for good stuff. I do not want to present my music a s a product – like vegetables you’d buy in a retail store – but there is demand and the response by journalists and other musicians has been quite good.

- The tour is very big for Bulgaria. If I have to be honest there’s a few dates on it in places I had no idea there is a scene to play at…
Bobz: No, there’s plenty of places to play. We owe this mainly to our management by Double D Music because they have connections in places where we don’t. If we had organized it ourselves we’d end up playing in only 10 cities, but now we play 14 and there are places that we will skip now and play later. This is very important because when a band doesn’t play, it dies. Sometimes I feel really small when I see Lamb of God’s schedule – four consecutive shows then a days rest and then 2-3 more shows. We’ll have to work a lot to get there.

- Yeah, but they make a living out of this.
Bobz: That is right but as Timo can tell you a band like ours can quite easily organize an European tour that can last for 2-3 months. It is not so hard anymore. It is important to make an effort. And to have something to present to the people, something to tell them.

- You mentioned your management – Dragomir Draganov (guitar player for Epizod – the author). How many people think that Drago Chaya (a Bulgarian TV host, has the same name – the author) is your manager?
Bobz: Ha-ha! Of course there are such people.
Emo: Yeah, they do have the same names.

- But you guys are probably the only heavier Bulgarian band that has its own professional management.
Emo: It is not that important how many bands have or don’t have a manager. It is important that our band does.
Bobz: It was important for us to make professionals like Gepi and Stain Studio support us in releasing an album. To convince a company to find something in us and help us out. And also a management that would agree with us and help us get shows. This means that we really did create something that is worth it when you convince there is money in your music.
Emo: This is how real things happen. Everyone can concentrate on his own thing and do his job the best way he can. It is best to work with professionals.
Bobz: We also got the support of the Na Tamno street clothing stores chain and we will present their NTMN clothing line. This is cool because they invited us to play at their stage at the Spirit of Burgas festival this year (headlined by none other but Faith No More themselves! – the author), so they must have also seen potential in us.

Emo shows how to drive a tractor live.
Pic by Veselina Penkova (Agressiva)

- Now back to the album. What is the idea behind the title “Not Blond Enough to Survyve the Holocaust”?
Emo: Here Timo will have to explain because he was the one who thought of it.
Timo: Everyone asks me about that. And I have no idea about the story. Everyone says it is my idea while I have no memory of ever saying something like that. I must have been drunk or something…
Bobz: All I remember is that we were at a rehearsal or something and Timo said this. We thought it was cool but we didn’t consider having it as an album title at all. A long time after that, when we were wondering how to name the album Dodo remembered this episode and was like “do you remember what Timo said”. This is how things work with us. We have an idea, we write it down. The song “Beefinger” for example. The word means nothing. Dodo called the song like that because it sounded like Beastie Boys and Clawfinger to him. And then we created a whole meaningful concept for it. And the same thing happened to the title. And at this point we already had the picture of the hobo shooting himself with a water gun. So out of two and two we made ten.
Emo: This is what this band does – we have an idea and then we put a meaning into it. It is the same with the name of the band. Fyeld doesn’t mean anything at all. And then the band makes the name sound cool. It is the same with “Not Blond Enough to Survyve the Holocaust”. Timo has had this alcoholic moment of brilliance. And from then on the name fit right in with the concept of what we wanted to say with the album.
Bobz: We wanted to have a position on issues, but not to shove it down people’s throats. We want to say what we think and we would be happy to find people who are on the same frequency.
Emo: It is about something that has been observed for years now. People have been getting more and more the same, standatizing their way of thinking and their ideas in life. They become greyer and blonder in a way. Individual qualities are fading more and more in favor of group ones. But personal qualities are a statement for a place in life. When we become all the same our existence might lose its point. Why have 1,000 people like you when you can have one instead? This is why we call it a holocaust – an extermination of personal individual qualities. We want to say that we see this thing. And if you see it too, then we’re part of the same breed.
Bobz: Metal has always been something like that. For years now all kinds of people have been telling us not to be involved in this because they don’t like it or don’t understand it. But we don’t want to fit in with the rest of the masses. And this is our way of saying – we will do whatever the hell we feel like!

- But who is blond enough to survive?
Bobz: Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera… and Jessica Simpson. All of them, even if they color their hair it would be artificial intelligence. They love ‘em blonde the most!
Timo: And The Scorpions!
Bobz: Oh yeah! Rudolf Schenker is blonde enough to survive all kinds of holocausts!

- The last song in the CD is called “40 Years in the Desert”. Is it about the years after the fall of Communism in Bulgaria or yes?
Bobz: Absolutely! The whole idea was about the proverb of Moses who led the Jews out of Egypt and God ordered them to roam the desert for 40 years until the very last one who remembers the slavery died so the Promised Land would be inhabited by free men. Even Moses himself only saw it from a hill but never set foot in it. And for us in Bulgaria there will also take time for people to change their mindset, so we should know it and accept it. Things will take time to become, as we say, like in the Western World. I never liked this saying this much because it sounds like we have inferiority complex. But many years will have to pass before we finally get there.
Emo: The song’s other meaning is that if someone is aware enough to make the change in his way of thinking he might help speed up things here. The re might be some path of our own that is better than the western one.
Bobz: Here everyone likes to compare Bulgaria to what they see abroad without seeing their own…
Emo: …individual qualities.
Bobz: Yes, and…
Emo: …traits they have.
Bobz: And even our own sources of wisdom.
Emo: And here we are back to the concept of the album?

- In a recent interview you did you named all the types of media, press, radio, TV shows and what now that got cancelled, taken off the air or went bankrupt after interviews with you guys. This is one of my first interviews for this site. Do I sentence it to failure by getting involved with you?
Bobz: Ha-ha… This was more in the beginning of the band. I have no idea why it happened like that. It is not because we go out with upside down crosses and pentagrams, though.
Emo: Times were turbulent back then. A lot of things that were around back then are no more.
Bobz: Yeah, it is natural. The band is not to blame…

* The picture at the top is by Petar Todorinski.

RAISED FIST – “Veil of Ignorance”

2009-10-05T20:57:00.000+03:00

Scandinavian band shows a different face of fast hardcore

We all know where the cradle and the Mecca of hardcore music are and this has definitely left its mark on the sound of most bands. Well, Raised Fist also inevitably reveal where their father land is with their sound only that in this case we’re talking about… Sweden.

Every note of their new album “Veil of Ignorance” radiates a typically Swedish sound. No matter if it is the unconditional way vocalist Alexander "Alle" Hagman spits out the lyrics, or the quite fast but also melodic riffs. There is no compromise with speed, energy, aggression or the message, though.

“Friends and Traitors” opens the album without hesitation that Raised Fist haven’t moved a step back from the sound of the quite good “Sound of the Republic” (2006). “They Can't Keep Us Down” carries on things in a similar manner while here the dudes deliver their hones opinion on the hardcore scene: „We just want to play drums, bass and guitar. No make-up, nothing bizarre, vocals but no stories from a far“.

The first milder song is “Wounds”. You can notice that the melodies this time are more complex and less catchy than in the previous album. They tend to get stuck after a few listens, though, making the effect even stronger. Just hear “My Last Day”. There are also some really furious fast songs like “Afraid” and the probably most metal one – “Never Negotiate”, which would fit in the context of In Flames’ newer stuff. The album actually has a somewhat cyclic structure – a fast song, a faster song, a melodic one, repeat.

The guitar sound also smells like Sweden, being somewhat electronic and synthetic. The producer responsible for the album is Daniel Bergstrand, who has previously worked with Meshuggah and In Flames. This, combined with Hagman’s vocals (and if you have heard them before and think he sounds like a bag of cats, this album probably won’t change your mind), make Raised Fist’s sound quite a unique one from most hardcore bands. Which instantly puts “Veil of Ignorance” among the things that are at least worth checking out.

Verdict: 4.75 / 6

Welcome

2009-10-05T11:26:00.000+03:00

Everyone and their dog has a blog nowadays. I was trying to help myself until now…

It is just that a few months ago Slayer released a new song and there I was – in the middle of the office where I work, realizing there isn’t a single person around I can talk to about this. And Slayer excite me far more than all the kinds of political, criminal and what not total bullshit news that everyone around is so invested in (I work a t a big daily newspaper in Bulgaria).

So, here you will find exclusive interviews with bands and album reviews (the latter sadly being the more frequent posts at least for now). I will update this once every working day of the week. I do not have the goal of posting news here – you can find the copied and pasted press releases on thousands of other sites.

The blog’s name is Stefan Topuzov’s Music Vault because its idea is basically to be the place for things I personally find interesting and bands that I like. The other key word is “music” that is there instead of metal, hardcore, punk or whatever for a reason.

Have fun reading now!

DETHKLOK – “Dethalbum II”

2009-10-01T13:00:00.001+03:00

The cartoon band delivers an even more serious album than before

Ever since seeing Metalocalypse’s first episode some two years ago I have been left with my jaw dropped in amazement by the awesome music that was written only for the soundtrack of a cartoon show. And the following issue of an album and assembly of a real band that tours performing these songs was completely logical.

In “Dethalbum II” continues things in the spirit of its predecessor as here you can find songs from the show’s second season as well as one that were written exclusively for the album. Like the opening track, “Bloodillnes” for example, whete we can hear some tribal drumming and heavy Sepultura influence without of course missing the melodeath orientation of Dethklok.

There are awesome heavy tracks like “Dethsupport” and the somewhat more thrash oriented “The Cyborg Slayers”. In “Laser Cannon Death Sentence” we have one of the album’s more hilarious moments as vocalist Nathan Explosion (voiced by Brendon Small – the brains behind the show and the band) screams “d-d-d-d-d-d-die!” over a blast beat. And that almost made me fall of my bike laughing when I first heard it.

As a whole if you have enough of a sense of humor to find some metal clichés entertaining, this album might make you laugh you ass off (and this is pretty much the idea). Lyrics like “burn the Earth for minimum wage” have just that effect. And in “I Tamper with the Evidence at the Murder Site of Odin” it makes sense to laugh while reading the song title (headbanging as well of course). The song is also one of the best ones here.

The songs leave the impression that the songwriting process this time around has been more serious and “Dethalbum II” is much more of an album than a mere soundtrack to the show. This can be heard in “Murmaider II: The Water God” that develops the motives from the song from the previous album to a whole new level. And this, combined with the clear production, makes the album quite enjoyable. If you have a strong enough sense of humor to find some over the top stuff from the death and black metal scenes funny, this is your album. And the show as well. The third season starts in the beginning of November. As Nathan Explosion would put it - “uhhh… BRUTAL!”

Verdict: 5 / 6

ALICE IN CHAINS - "Black Gives Way to Blue"

2009-09-29T15:53:00.000+03:00

Awesome album, yet somewhat stumbled by Staley’s absence

“All Secrets Known” is the slow, dragging beginning that carries your conscience to an all new frequency as Jerry Cantrell’s vocals sound over the awesome opening riff. There is no way you could remain indifferent to this song. And I cannot imagine a more suitable start to Alice in Chains’ return than this song. Damn they were missed and we all wanted them back… and it is so far from being the same without Layne…

It is impossible to have a better introduction for Alice in Chains’ new album than its opening track. And this is why I also started the review with it. It is just one of those moments when the hammer hits the nail right on the head and the free kick goes over the wall in to the goalie’s far corner and so on.

The album is awesome. After the strong beginning with “All Secrets Known” follows ‘”Check My Brain” which is a somewhat more straightforward rock song. New singer William DuVall is given more freedom here and the guy does a splendid job. “Your Decision” is another gem here. An awesome acoustic ballad that makes you want to listen to it again and again. The CD’s heaviest track is “A Looking in View” that we all are already familiar with and it does remind you (unlike most of the other songs) why Alice in Chains were part of the same wave as Nirvana and Soundgarden.

And this is one of the album’s weaker sides, if it has any at all – too many mellow songs. It sure ain’t no “Facelift”. Neither is it “Dirt”. More like the two albums, cross-bred with “Jar of Flies” and Jerry Cantrell’s solo work. Sir Elton John’s appearance in the last song is the cherry on top for this thing. And I don’t mean it in the puritanical-offended-metalhead kind of way. It is just quite symptomatic how far the music goes. It is the best thing he has done since the Lion King soundtrack for sure.

And the bloody obvious problem is that the band decided to do this without Layne Staley. It just doesn’t work that way. No matter how good the music is he cannot be replaced and that’s it. It is obvious that it can’t be the same, but the cover says Alice in Chains. No bad feelings towards DuVall. Quite the contrary – the dude does a perfect job and so on. It’s just that maybe they should’ve “named it Marcy in Chains or something” as one of the more diehard fans told me.

But, if you put this pure prejudice aside… the album is killer and it is the rock release of the year for sure.

Verdict: 5.5 / 6

SETTLE THE SCORE: Fashion trends ruin hardcore

2009-09-28T11:54:00.002+03:00

I get around talking to Settle the Score’s vocalist and guitarist in between the other bands playing at their second Sofia show. Bud and Andre have nothing against talking about their impressions from the Bulgarian scene, how different it is from the German one, and of course – what the hell do they eat.

- First – how did the show in Athens go?
Bud: It was super.

- I was told you travelled from there to Sofia by train. How was it?
Bud: Yeah, we had to do it by train. It was somewhat of an adventure. We were in a sleeper car but it was ridiculously tight. We couldn’t move trough the whole trip. We usually don’t travel like that, but for these two dates we had no tourbus with us. We flew from Germany to Athens for the show and we are flying back after the show from Sofia. That’s why we took the train. When it is not just two separate shows we use a rented van.

We believe that the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) company’ trains are the worst in the world. What did they look like to you?
Andre: Well, trains are pretty much the same in Europe as well. We use them pretty rarely, though.

- OK. This is your second time in Bulgaria. What do you remember from the first show?
Bud: It was cool. I remember that towards the end of the show we pulled out these inflatable hammers which was really fun.

- Two bands from the current show have already played Dan Koloff and Melekh. What are your impressions from the Bulgarian scene?
Bud: I really like how people support the bands and the local scene. From the very beginning everyone was upfront and dancing.
Andre: And the bands themselves were really cool!
Bud: I was trying to say it is not always like that in Germany. Some of the shows turn out like that. But usually people just stand there in a circle around the stage watching from distance, waiting for the band from the USA to come out.

BDZ’s small and tight cars almost caused Settle the Score series of hernias.

- We’re out on the street right now and your last album is called exactly “Back to the Streets”. What is the meaning behind the title?
Andre: The basic idea was to get back to our roots. We have a contract with a record label but in reality we finance everything ourselves. We recorded our album ourselves, we promoted it, we organized our shows ourselves. Just like we did when the band was starting. And this is what hardcore means to us. This is what this scene is about. And this is the feeling we want to bring back with our music.
Bud: There were a lot of people who came to the scene because metalcore kind of turned into a fashion. When I look around here I don’t see many emo people, thank God, but in Germany this thing is really big. Absolute poser crap. We have been friends with Walls of Jericho for ten years now. Like five years ago they started getting bigger and everyone was like “oh, ah, they have a woman singing, how cool”. Well the band was there and they were awesome for years before that but no one really paid attention.

- Well, I guess that having a lot of people listen to them now is quite good for the band themselves, isn’t it?
Bud: yeah, for them – yes. But we kind of miss the hardcore side of this whole fashion. At the beginning no one came to their shows and now all of a sudden everyone realized the band is awesome.

- You said you finance the album yourselves and everything. I was wondering if you manage to make a profit from all of that?
Bud: No, we don’t. No money comes out of the band. We do tours – people cover our travelling expenses, find us a place to sleep and that is it. Sometimes we have trouble with money. Like for example in Greece where food is more expensive. More expensive than Germany. But we are in this game for fun.

- And what do you work for a living?
Andre: I work as a merchant.
Bud: I work at a social home. I help people with disabilities and old people. Besides Andre the others also work like merchants.

And last – I am making an investigation about secret government plans to breed super soldiers, so I can’t help asking you what you have been eating. All of you in the band are huge!
Bud: We eat strong German food.
Andre: Besides our drummer who is Greek. He is smaller.
Bud: I swear that he can eat amounts of food that even I can’t imagine. And he eats more frequently too.
Andre: And then he goes to the toilet quite often too…

DYING FETUS – “Descend into Depravity”

2009-09-25T00:54:00.000+03:00

The death metal leaders show no mercy once again

For the 18 years they have been together Dying Fetus really made a name as one of the leaders in their style even though their real popularity rather recently. A new album by one of the world’s best modern death metal bands could not be put aside for later. No matter how weird I feel writing for that band while my girlfriend is 9 months pregnant.

The first song “Your Treachery Will Die With You” kicks in without hesitation and gives tone to the carnage that doesn’t stop until the end of the album. It is only the musical “tools” that change – from blast beats, crushing double bass drums, killer heavy riffs, technical solos, tempo changes, incredibly low growling vocals… pretty much everything you can expect from technical death metal appears ot one point or another throughout the songs.

Dying Fetus have never been among the bands who follow conventional song structures, but their songs are once again well arranged. It is kind of hard to name songs that stand out but in this case this is more of a sign of consistency. Still, the bass intro of “At What Expense” and the killer riff in the beginning of “Ethos of Coercion” definitely deserve a mention.

The lyrics, as is expected from such a band, are for reading mostly, but in “Descend into Depravity” they are at a very high level. Guitarist/vocalist John Gallagher has been staying away from gore thematic for a while now and the man has some really good social commentaries up his sleeve. This time around the main topic is depravity and the violence people are willing to inflict on their fellow men (see the cover).

The clear production helps the album sound a clear as possible and makes people want to play it again and again. If there are any complaints it is that there isn’t any of a leap in the overall sound from “War on Attrition” (which wasn’t all that different from its predecessors as well). But it is not like anyone expects something else from Dying Fetus. When it works, don’t change it.

Verdict: 5 / 6

MEGADETH - "Endgame"

2009-09-24T00:35:00.000+03:00

Mustaine releases his best album since “Rust in Peace”

For a man who has a whole Wikipedia page dedicated with his feuds with half the metal world all the praise Mustaine voices for Megadeth’s new guitarist Chris Broderick in every interview, seems a little awkward.

All associations with some Bulgarian football clubs’ attempts to portray every questionable international player as superbly skilled player should be put aside. As we all know from the DVD “Blood in the Water: Live in San Diego” this Broderick dude really does shred. And Megadeth’s strength has always been rooted in Mustaine’s ability to surround himself with talent.

“Endgame” wins a lot from that. The album, just like the previous two, is a return to the older sound of the band, this time even more so. All starts with an instrumental intro titled “Dialectic Chaos” where shredding solos follow one another just like in “Into the Lungs of Hell”. Next is “This Day we Fight” that starts right off (kind of inevitable after a two minute intro, duh) and then continues into full on speed metal mode. All who expect a new “Rust in Peace” should wet themselves. What’s weird though is lyrics like “no turning the other cheek like a coward” that kind of don’t fit the all religious Mustaine image… after all the guy wanted to drop Rotting Christ off a tour not long ago.

“Bodies” kicks off with a nice stop’n go riff where the times emptied by the guitar are filled by the bass. In the next verse the guitars fill in the rest of the riff. A lesson in songwriting, take note! And the song itself is kind of like “Angry Again” – quite balanced, completely metal, yet catchy and melodic at the same time. “Head Crusher” you should all be already familiar with and you know it does crush heads. Especially the riff after the 2nd minute left my skull in pieces.

I didn’t start off with Chris Broderick for no reason. The album’s main point are the songs’ solos. And there is a lot of them, and they are everywhere, and they are super. Sometimes though it seems like the writing process went like this: “Hey, Dave, I wrote a hell of a solo, now let’s write a song around it”. Some of the songs seem weird in that sense. For example the title track builds, and builds up to the moment of complete awesomeness that is the solo… and then just fades out as if they had no idea how to continue the song…

Which is not that much of a deal, as if anyone had expected conventional song structures from Megadeth. The music is completely in the spirit of the band’s 80’s albums but Andy Sneap’s crystal production makes it completely adequate for the 21st century. “Endgame” pretty much wipes the floor with the otherwise very good “United Abominations” and is for sure one of the biggest metal albums to come out this year.

Verdict: 5.25 / 6

SKINLAB - “The Scars Between Us”

2009-09-23T00:31:00.002+03:00

Californian groove metallers make convincing a comeback

It would be an exaggeration to say that this is a long awaited reunion but after the few years dedicated to Re:Ignition, Steev Esquivel and Snake decided to reform Skinlab. And with “The Scars Between Us” they have all the chances to become every Machine Head fan’s second favorite band again.

Songs like opener “Face of Aggression” and “Amphetamine Gods” sure are a powerful punch. A lot of aggression, downtuned guitars, strong growling vocals… only that this is basically sped up nu-metal. And in 2009 that sounds quite marginally.

Luckily after the first few tracks things change a bit and we have the album’s first gem – “Кarma Burns”. A slow melancholic song that features Steev’s trademark Alice in Chains-ish vocals. Now this is something different and worthy of comparison with the band’s first two albums. From here on “The Scars Between Us” finds balance between its two faces described above and definitely offers a lot of songs worth listening to.

“Still Suffering” for example is quite sludge sounding and draws comparison to Crowbar and Down. “Bloodcolt” is a fast song that clocks under the 2 minute mark and doesn’t leave you a lot to think about. Now that’s something else. In the beginning of “My Vendetta” we hear some solos before the double bass drum powered verses lead us into the album’s probably most memorable chorus.

The Production of “The Scars Between Us”, without being something spectacular, doesn’t irritate the listener. As a whole the band’s desire to make a more direct sounding album, that would bring back fans who were disappointed by “reVolting Room”, is evident. And they have definitely succeeded here. Still, besides the already loyal fanbase this CD doesn’t have the biggest chances for success. No matter how much effort the otherwise charming gentlemen from Skinlab make, their style is just old. Other than that this is definitely worth listening to.

Verdict: 4.75 / 6

MERAUDER - "God Is I"

2009-09-19T00:22:00.000+03:00

New Yorkers bring back “metal” and “core” in “metalcore”

There were times when the word “metalcore” didn’t stand for a bunch of skinny kids with emo haircuts whose appearance makes even the otherwise cool Iron Maiden and In Flames rip-off riffs sound bad. Luckily, Merauder still live in these times. And their new album is full of all those moments that made “Master Killer” a classic. Heavy thrash-death riffs, guttural vocals, classic song structures and a loudly stated hardcore attitude.

Opener “Until” shows that things in this album are quite serious and not just mere nostalgia for past glory. The older stuff’s concept is combined with the groovier sound and Phil Anselmo-ish vocals that were first introduced in “Bluetality” and were later developed further by Jorge Rosado in Rag Men. We also have Hatebrred-esque breakdowns put in the mix.

“God Is I” continues with the same force onwards as well. The main riff in “Built on Blood” crushes everything in its path clearing the way for the gang chorus. After a short skit where they explain to us what is the difference between a common thug and a gangster, “Gangsta” opens up with a melodic, almost heavy metal sounding riff that evolves into a metalcore meat grinder. In “Hell Captive” the bands slows things down to a max while Rosado almost raps along the crushing bass line in the verses.

The ninth track is a recording of a speech by Pedro Albizu Campos, a Puerto Rican nationalist that fought for independence of the Carribean country from the USA. Next is “Ahora” (now) that is sung in Spanish. The sharp riffs are good enough to make you think it is time for revolution as well (because this is what is sung).

The album is quite close to being the best thing Merauder have done so far. Quite awesome songs, quality sound (something they kind of missed on previous releases) and all of this in a moment when no one else makes this kind of music. Besides fans of the band who have nothing to be unhappy about in “God Is I”, the album also has all the arguments to be liked by all kinds of metal and hardcore people. Because it is really good. It’s a shame they release stuff so rarely…

Verdict: 6 / 6