Hangatyr Interview
1. Can you give us an introduction to the band and also what has been going on since the recording of the new album?
Well, we are Hangatyr, consisting of vocals, 2 guitars, bass and drums. We play a sort of "paganized" Black Metal – without being too restricted in our style of music.
The recordings of our last record "Elemente" (elements) was finished in early 2013. Since then we played some live gigs, have been looking for a record label and finally decided to release it independently. Now we are looking forward to release it on February 1st this year.
2. Recently you have recorded a new album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style it has taken and also how does it differ from your past recordings?
The song writing process was nearly the same as always, the recording sessions took place in the Unholy studio like on the album before. So there are no big differences with this part. The musical style is mainly Black Metal, but as always there are a lot of influences. I think "Elemente" is far more compact in the songs, coming more straight to the point than "Helwege" back in 2010.
3. The lyrics as well as the band name are based on Norse paganism, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in Norse Paganism and also are you interested in the Paganism of other cultures?
We all are interested in Norse Mythology more or less, so that is why the lyrics are about this topic. And I know, there is a lot in interest in other mythologies or paganism of other cultures. Of course I can't tell about how well-marked this is for the other guys.
4. What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Uhm… now you've got me there.. There have been lots of shows, and every single one has its very special moments. Personally, I liked a lot our third show at all, it was on the inner yard of a castle, the atmosphere was quite impressive.
5. Do you have any touring or show plans once the album is released?
First of it all, the Release-Party of course, like said before it will happen on February 1st in Jena (Café "Wagner"), the second fixed event is our appearance on the Barther Metal Open Air in August this year, more are planned but still to be confirmed. A "tour" in the proper sense will is nearly impossible at the moment, since we all got day jobs.
6. The new album is coming out in March, what are some of your expectations once the album is released?
I don't know who informed you, but the official release date is January 31st – but still, we got no special expectations, we just hope, people will like it and it will reward us with some gigs.
7. The new album is going to be self released after releasing your previous album on Nocturnal Empire, are you open to working with another
record label again in the future?
We are open to work with a label again, no question. The decision to release the album independently had several reasons. One, the search for a label for an underground band like we are, is hard and time-consuming. In these times, labels try to get by with their already signed bands (especially for financial reasons). On the other hand, our album was finished for almost a year and we wanted to present it to the world.
8. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of pagan and black metal?
Feedbacks are always different, some people like what we do, some others not, so this is hard to say.
9. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?
Time will show… there are no exact plans to choose one direction or the other. We do what we want and what we think is fitting our band, there are no restrictions so far, as long as we are satisfied with it.
There are few bands that really "influenced" our music. At least, we hope so. One can never say, he would not be influenced by anything, your environment, your personal constitution – everything will have an effect on you more or less. The style of music we listen to is mainly death, black or pagan metal, but everyone of us has its one favourites. All in all its really widespread.
Speaking for myself, I like painting a lot (if time permits, though), for the others… don't know, nothing uncommon… just the stuff we all do like hanging around with your friends, drinking (lots of) beer…
Thank you very much for this interview, to all of you reading this: visit us in the internet (www.hangatyr-metal.de), visit us live – have fun.
Horns up!
Off the record: Interview was conducted with Tele (guitars), cheers
Source : http://occultblackmetalzine.blogspot.com/2014/01/hangatyr-interview.html
Hovf Interview
1.Can you give us an introduction to this musical project for those that will be hearing of you for the first time?
I started Hovf in 2010 when I began in "High school", at the time I already had a band (Svartkonst) where I was playing bass and managed the vocals.
But I felt that I had to do something on my own, with the material which did not fit into svartkonst.
2.You have released a lot of material in a 2 year span, in your own words how would you describe the musical sound that is present on your recordings and also how would you describe your progress as a musician over the years?
It is some kind of mixture between Black/ folk (pagan) metal.
I have also experimented with different styles, keyboards and vocals.
My opinion is that I have much more experience of recording and writing music/ lyrics then I had only 2 years back when I released Risveden.
3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects over the years with your recordings?
The Risveden EP is all about a large forest area next to where I live, and there are many stories and stuff from the medieval age that I write about.
The other demos are about various folklore and tales from Sweden.
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Hovf'?
Hovf is and old spelling of "Hov" which in English means "Court".
I found it in a book if I remember it right.
5.With this musical project you work solo, do you feel this adds a lot to the creativity of the music?
Yeah of course, I can do whatever I want to do without having people around having opinions about it!
6.There has been a lot of material released in the last couple of years, would you say music takes up most of your time?
Yeah, no not really. I record and writes songs when I am in the mood, and when I feel the creativity is right. I guess that so is the case very often haha.
7.A few months back you released a split album with Nocturnal Nightmare and Ash, what are your thoughts on the other bands that participated on this split?
I know one of the guys in Nocturnal Nightmare pretty good so he asked me if I wanted to participate on a split, and I said yes. The guys play excellent music!
The other band Ash had I never heard of but I suppose that he is good in what he does.
8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black and folk metal?
The things I have heard is only good spoken words, so I suppose I am doing well haha.
9.According to the metal archives page, you are also involved with some other musical projects, can you tell us a little bit more about them?
In late 2013 I became the vocalist for the Death metal band Isolated, and we have begun to re-record some old songs.
In early 2014 I also became the session bass player for the Black Metal act Dødsfall.
10.Where do you see 'Hovf' heading into musically on future releases?
I am recording a single just in this moment and will contain 3 tracks.
Then I am also having plans for a Full-length album.
11.Recently a lot of your demos where compiled together and released as a compilation album, where you satisfied with the way they came out out?
Yeah, but it was not a compilation and no release!
I was just packed together so I could send and spread them much easier.
Some of the bands that has influenced me is Vintersorg, burzum, angantyr, otyg, unpure, satyricon, nattsmyg, skald, arckanum and many more!
Things that are to my liking and appeals to me.
13.How would you describe your views on Paganism?
It is a interesting subject to talk, write and writing music about.
14.Do you have any non musical interests?
My girlfriend of course haha.
15.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Yeah, check out my other band Svartkonst haha
Source : http://occultblackmetalzine.blogspot.com/2014/01/hovf-interview.html
Buzruh/And They Shall Desire To Die/2014 Full Length Review
Buzruh are a 1 man band from Turkey that has been featured before in this zine with a very raw and depressive approach to black metal and this is a review of his self released 2014 album "And They Shall Desire To Die".
The album starts out very slow and dark and a few seconds later depressive and suicidal black metal screams start to kick in and after awhile melody is brought into the music and on the second song the album starts mixing in more fast and mid paced elements into the depressive black metal sound.
As time goes on by the music uses of mixture of slow and fast songs with the faster ones having an early Darkthrone feeling to them but more suicidal along with a touch of Vlad Tepes and Mutiilation while the more slower and suicidal stuff follows in the same path of the previous recording and on the 5th song synths are brought into the music and they are used mostly as a background enhancement and the following track also brings in middle eastern style acoustic guitars and on the 8th track a small amount of melodic vocals are added into the mix and the last song is a dark ambient piece.
Buzruh show a lot of growth and progress with this recording while it remains true to his depressive black metal approach that he uses on his other projects as well as this one, he makes this one more primal and also brings in faster parts at times while mostly sticking to a slower pace.
Song lyrics cover depressive and suicidal themes, while the production has a very dark, raw and primitive sound along with some of the songs being very long and epic in length.
In my opinion this is another great sounding recording from Buzruh and if you are a fan of depressive black metal, you should check out this album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Suicide Screams" "And They Shall Desire to Die" "There is No Fucking Hope" and "Warm Hands of Suicide". 8 out of 10.
Source : http://occultblackmetalzine.blogspot.com/2014/01/buzruhand-they-shall-deserve-to-die2014.html
Omnizide/Death Metal Holocaust/Carnal Records/2014 CD Review
Omnizide are a band from Sweden that plays a blackened form of old school death metal and this is a review of their 2014 album "Death Metal Holocaust" which will be released by Carnal Records.
The album starts out with dark and evil sounding effects before going into a fast and raw old school death metal direction along with solos and black metal style screams along with some blast beats and dark sounding melodies and there are also some slower sections being added onto the record.
As the album progresses the band bring a lot of black metal influences into their old school death metal sound as well as some elements of bestial and war metal and they can go from the most fast and raw sounding assaults to some slow and heavy soul crushing riffing and they also make every song stand out form one another as well as adding a lot of evil, darkness and blasphemy to the melodies.
On this album Omnizide combine some of the rawest old school black metal with the darkness and heaviness of early death metal to create a very great quality underground metal recording and this album has a classic feeling from beginning to end as well as being a very fast all out assault on the white light.
Song lyrics cover Satanism, War and blasphemous themes, while the production has a very raw, heavy and old school sound along with the bass guitars being mixed down low in the mix.
In my opinion Omnizide are a very great sounding mixture of the old school forms of black and death metal and if you are a fan of those musical genres, you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Rotting Flesh Parade" "Crystals of Death" "Nuclear Strike" and "Desecration Art". 9 out of 10.
Source : http://occultblackmetalzine.blogspot.com/2014/01/omnizidedeath-metal-holocaustcarnal.html
Hovf/Diskografi/2013 Compilation Album Review
Hovf are a 1 man band from Sweden that plays black metal with elements of folk music and this is a review of his self released 2013 compilation "Diskografi".
The first demo is "Risveden" and it starts out with some slow and raw black metal along with some grim screams and the music also brings in melodies and after awhile synths are added onto the recording as well as clean singing which leads to more pagan and folk influences being brought in as well as some guitar leads and on the second song the demo goes into a more folk direction while also retaining the black metal parts and you can also hear the bass guitars on this recording and faster riffing is used on the fourth and fifth song.
The second demo is "Det Forsta Inseglet" and it starts out with with some really slow and grim black metal as well as adding in atmospheric melodies which bring in a medieval sound and then folk music style synths are added in and on the second song melodic vocals start mixing in with grim screams and on the 3rd song raw and fast parts are added into the music and the demo starts getting more pagan and epic and the ep closes with melodic viking chanting.
The 3rd demo is "Morka Skyar" and it starts out with atmospheric sounding synths and after the intro the music goes into a more melodic black metal direction along with some solos and grim vocals and after a couple of minutes folk music elements are brought in and on the nest song it goes more into a fast, raw and old school direction as well as mixing it in with folk music and bringing in spoken word parts and on the last song the demo returns to a slower direction along with a small amount of spoken word parts as well as the returning synths which also close the demo.
The last demo is "Skuggdans" and it starts out with some fast and raw old school black metal along with grim screams and melody which also leads to more pagan and folk elements as well as a small amount of spoken words and this demo is the most black metal out of the four reviewed and you can also hear certain parts that have a depressive feeling to them and on the 3rd song synths make a return to the recording
On these 4 demos Hovf takes a very raw and old school form of black metal and adds in pagan and folk influences while also having a good sense of melody and this is some of the most primal pagan metal I have heard.
Song lyrics are written in Swedish and cover folklore, darkness, nature and war, while the production has a very dark, raw and old school sound to it.
In my opinion Hovf are a very great sounding raw black metal project with a folk edge and if you are a fan of this musical genre, you should check out this compilation. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Slaget Vid Norde Alv" "Demonfjallet" "Det Dystra Landet" and "Solted". 8/5 out of 10.
Source : http://occultblackmetalzine.blogspot.com/2014/01/hovfdiskografi2013-compilation-album.html