We wanted to make plain death metal with some doom influences,” says Chapel Of Disease singer Laurent Teubl matter-of-factly. “We wanted to make the sort of music that we would listen to at home and that only few still do. We missed that old Tampa sound, where death metal was still very close to aggressive thrash and it didn’t have to be clean or technical. [We wanted to] summon the ancient gods of death metal.”

It would seem that Cologne, Germany based death cult Chapel Of Disease are not only using their sound to summon the ancient gods of death metal, but also their moniker, which appears to be a mash-up of Morbid Angel’s “Chapel Of Ghouls” and “Angel Of Disease” – arguably two of the greatest death metal songs ever written.

“I think it isn’t to deny that somehow we threw those two song titles together,” Laurent laughs. “But I think it’s a good band name, since it is nothing complicated. It gets stuck in one’s head easily. ‘Altars Of Madness’ is an all-time favourite for the whole band. It’s an amazing album that easily beats the aggression and madness of many later recorded black metal albums… It simply is and … Read More

NUCLEAR WAR! NOW FESTIVAL III BERLIN POSTBAHNHOF-FRITZCLUB

So here we were, apostles at the altars of madness. And thanks to a queue snaking the building’s length, Knelt Rote are missed by most. Anatomia quickly make up for any loss and summon a good start to the festival with their deathly doom. These Japanese magicians have a great sound for so early on and put on an impressive display, knocking out last night’s pre-show cobwebs. Pseudogod’s unholy black death calls the masses once again, but dogged by sound problems from the start, they fail to recover and are plagued until the end with a high end sound, which is inaudible from certain parts of the venue, and no doubt the stage. A real shame, as they are one of the bands with high anticipation surrounding them. Onwards we march, into the shadows, as Antediluvian take us further down into hell. Their ominous sound reverberates from the walls like a swarm, surrounding everything within their dark veil. Clad all in black, their presence is akin to their sound; one of the weekend’s most crushing performances. As the day becomes more chaotic, so does the music and the Italians in Blasphemophagher deliver it by the truckload. Their frantic black/thrash … Read More

By now, it’s been three years since Tribulation’s breakout LP, ‘The Horror,’ was unleashed, and fans of their sinister death metal odes have been clamouring for more. The album dropped just on the cusp of what would become the recent old school death metal explosion, and immediately stood out from the pack with its sheer power and diabolical intent. Turns out this Swedish mob were just as impatient to record its successor, but, like any good band, were unwilling to sacrifice quality for speed.

“It’s actually been over five years since we recorded the album,” their guitarist, Adam Zaars, reveals from their studio in Arvika. “I wouldn’t say that anything kept us from doing it, it just took that long because of the way we worked on it. When you write songs in an unconventional way, as we did this time, things might take time. We waited for the album to come to us rather than sitting down forcing it out.”

Good things come to those who wait, and it already seems like we’ll be in for a treat come 2013, thanks to Ireland’s mighty Invictus Productions.

“We actually had a lot of labels hover over our heads trying to pull us into … Read More

You may not know the name but you know the faces in Necrocurse. If you’ve paid any attention to what happened to the Swedish death metal scene post-‘Storm At The Light’s Bane’ there is a fair chance you have at least one album featuring the multi-talents of one Nicklas ‘Terror’ Rudolfsson. A man of many facets, while his first weapon of choice is the drums, he also plays guitar and bass and is handy with a microphone. And while his first big break came after joining Dissection wannabes Sacramentum, in time to record their classic debut ‘Far Away From The Sun’ at Dan Swanö’s Unisound studio in July ‘95, the second half of the ’90s saw him going into hyperdrive as between 1995 and 2000 he took part in no less than 12 full-lengths and various EPs under four different banners. But fast-forward a few years and his source of inspiration seemed to show traces of exhaustion. Nicklas had become focused on his main project Runemagick, a mostly studio outlet for him and his bass playing wife Emma. Ultimately, in 2008 after an impressive outcome of no less than 11 full-lengths, a laconic message on the band’s webpage simply stated … Read More

Don’t call John McEntee a legend. A simple “true fan” will do. The man may have been onboard the Starship Death Metal since day one and has survived to tell the tale, releasing few mighty classics along the way; but despite being in his 40s he still can rave on about his favourite metal albums or bands as if he first heard them yesterday, and he can still act the fanboy, giggling like a teenager when he reveals that last July, when Incantation played with Immolation in Belo Horizonte, he went straight up to former Sarcofago leader Wagner Antichrist who “was attempting to stay incognito at the show” so he could have his picture taken with him. And even over the phone you can still sense his excitement when mentioning “life-changing shows”, such as when Voivod and Kreator toured the US for the first time. Or when, in the fall of 1988, he did two shows in New York with Immolation and Morbid Angel. “Morbid had such a strong vibe… I mean, they were out for blood! Pete Sandoval had joined two months prior and their sound guy back then was Jon DePlachett from Necrovore so being able to pick … Read More

Italian death merchants Into Darkness are a very young band, teetering on the cusp of releasing their very first demo tape via Unholy Domain Records (which Iron Bonehead will then commit to 12” vinyl) but their sound is rooted firmly in the darkest, dankest corners of the past. Vocalist and axe-slinger Giulia Doomed Warrior asserts, “Into Darkness is for fans of death/doom in the late ’80s/early ’90s vein, like Asphyx, my favourite band, Bolt Thrower, Cianide, Coffins, Thorr’s Hammer, Disembowelment, Paradise Lost, Goatlord, Crypt of Kerberos…” and the list continues, as her passion for the most pestilential of death metal’s doomed offerings is made all too apparent. She’s got the chops to back it up, as well, as Into Darkness’ eponymous demo shows with its merciless onslaught of dirty, sewer-dwelling riffs, ragged howls, and searing solos.

“To be honest my first idea was to have a 100 percent female band in the vein of Derketa, Mythic and November Grief, but to find a skilled female drummer was impossible, and we are absolutely satisfied with Anguicious, both as musician and as person,” she explains. “We started to rehearse some riffs in late 2011, but it wasn’t until Anguicious (Mefitic’s drummer) joined us … Read More

When a musical genre is defined by the era in which it was prolific is it controversial to resurrect it? For many, old school death metal should be left to rot in its hellish graves and only the gruesome forefathers are allowed to bring it back to life. As the late 2000s saw the Internet-grown death metal rear its ugly head (some for better, some for worse), it seemed old school would stay “old” with the fresh flesh going for technicality over brutality and haircuts over heavy metal. However, push the weeds away from around the crypt door and it became clear that behind the backs of the the triggered, over-produced death metal hordes there was a new generation desperate to recapture the gory days.

Century Media was one such label that went grave-digging and while they’ve been busy reissuing classics from Marduk and Krisiun of late, it was their ear for the newer bands playing creepy, raw, decrepit death that marked them out. As well as snapping up bands like Morbus Chron and Necrowretch CM brought Isreali act Sonne Adam to our ears in 2011. That year, their debut ‘Transformation’ was thrown onto many an “albums of the year” list … Read More

Let’s let Oslo’s grind youngers Gouge have the first words. “We are Gouge, we play music. We listened to Repulsion a lot and formed Gouge because we felt we had to. So Repulsion is a big influence and Dr Shrinker, Autopsy, Nihilist and the Funeral demo.” Gouge arrived on the scene recently with a cast-iron demo that is arguably one of the best ‘grind’ debuts released since the old days. Herman plays drums and Christoffer plays guitars and sings. Their first gig was actually on the mid-September day in 2012 that Iron Fist and Gouge had a chat. The two core members employed Jonas Bye of Mabuse for bass duties for the live show and they don’t plan to play many gigs but a full length album is halfway finished and likely to see the light of day in 2013. Until then they, “will just keep on working, drinking beer and playing music.” They’re a great example of the new generation bringing unshakable energy into the extreme music scene. They naturally employ a fresh approach, which is entirely unprejudiced by modern versions of our music. They only know the greats and use a similar sound to the classics to play new … Read More

When ‘Infernal Blasphemies’, the three track demo (on tape format, obviously), was released in early 2010 on the now defunct Detest Records imprint, it seemed like an elusive project for Michel Jonker, former drummer with Absorbed and Massive Assault, the d-beat war machine from Groningen, Holland. Still, even if he had left his previous band because he was “too busy with other things”, this veteran musician kept on playing music at home “just for fun”. He eventually ended up writing and performing this first raw recording by himself telling Iron Fist; “this was the music I wanted to play. It’s raw, furious, has simple songs structures and an old school vibe. As simple as that!”

But two years later, Entrapment has grown into something much bigger than a simple hobby. So besides gathering a line-up, including members from Massive Assault and God Dethroned, for live duties, Michel has put out ‘Irreligious Abominations’, a compilation of all three demos plus a bunch of live tracks through Godeater Records. He also found time to record Entrapment’s first proper full-length, ‘The Obscurity Within’, on Soulseller, assisted by live member Jeroen Vrielink who played bass and lead guitar on the album. After denying trying to … Read More

Sweden’s latest offering of death comes from the mysterious Vampire, a three-piece that recently released its debut self-titled demo tape via Ljudkassett (which sold out in a matter of days). For a band that had no presence prior to the month of September, vocalist/drummer Hand of Doom sheds some light.

“[Guitarist] Black String and I started making music around 2009 with no idea of what we wanted to achieve. After a year or two downing beers and switching instruments, [bassist] Command came along.

“We pre-loaded for the Slayer/Metallica gig at my place and listened to Necrophagia’s impossibly ugly ‘Young Burial’ off New Renaissance’s sampler, ‘Thrash Metal Attack’, which made us agree: this is it. We soon wrote the songs on the demo, which were recorded in April, and hooked up with Ljudkassett during the beginning of summer.”

On their first assault, you will find Possessed-like riffing and Celtic Frost-y grooves, but don’t discredit this three-track tape as a mere tribute.

“Death metal is another form of metal that must be aware of its origin and not strive too far away in order to keep its appeal,” explains the frontman. “However, there’s a difference between influence and inspiration.”

“During the sessions, I was heavily into this … Read More