The Portland black metal scene is famous for twisting and manipulating the blackened template into whole new forms, but MATRON THORNS, former collaborator with Bethlehem, has come up with a new nightmarish vision that he believes takes the essence of the genre right back to its pure evil roots. OLIVIER ‘ZOLTAR’ BADIN gets a sermon from the ÆVANGELIST…

How do you come up with such a strange and disturbed entity like Ævangelist? Matron Thorns: “With no particular agenda in mind, I’d say. We don’t approach music with any specific genre in mind. As the title of this album implies, it’s meant to be an experience happening to you as opposed to something you are only listening to. We wanted to take the idea of evil in music out of the realm of just hypothetical.”

It is almost as if your music was strongly seeking to install an almost masochist relationship with the listener. To many, it’ll sound much too chaotic and suffocating, yet those who’ll dare look into it will most probably end up being drawn to it, as if they were looking to be swallowed by the void it created… “When you’re saying that, I can’t help but recall the ’90s when it … Read More

US black metal has always suffered from a ‘Born Too Late’ mentality. Although Possessed undeniably had an influence on the second wave rage and bands like Judas Iscariot and Grand Belial’s Key flew the flag for Uncle Sam, the country has always been slow on the blackened uptake. Recently though Illinois has unleashed a darkened fury in the forms of bands like Nachtmystium, Avichi, Alehammer and now Black September. So, is Chicago the new Bergen?

“No,” is the sullen reply from guitarist Chris Morrow. “I don’t consider Black September a black metal band.” That angry answer is the most black metal response we’ve heard this issue, so we’ll beg to differ, but listeners can decide what genre, if any, BS have to be tethered to after spinning new album ‘Into Darkness’, which summons a dissonance of black metal, Stockholm death metal and English crust.

“We had so many ideas going into this record,” Chris admits. “We started writing soon after the last LP was released, we wanted to start this album exactly where we left off with the last one. ‘The Forbidden Gates Beyond’ had nothing to hide. It was unrefined and to the point. We wanted to add another level of depth … Read More