Exclusive Interview - Horrendous

 We have always been big fans of Horrendous, dating back to the release of The Chills. The band is now on album #4 with the 2018 release of Idol. They have become increasingly well known for their appearance on the 2017 Decibel Magazine Tour as well as having been critical darlings for quite some time. After all of this I had yet to see them live so when they announced a string of east coast album release shows I had to make my way down to Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn to see what they had in store. We talked this short tour, Horrendous in general, Idol and what the future would bring.

Interview after the jump.

Exclusive Interview: Zhrine

This past Sunday, Durf and I moseyed on down to Reggie's in Chicago's South Loop to check out a concert of the heaviest order. Boasting Ulcerate as the headliner, the show also featured Iceland's Zhrine. Being pretty big fans of the band's debut full length, Unortheta, we were determined to sit down with them for a chat about their very first tour ever.

Check out the interview after the break!

Exclusive Interview - Katherine Shepard (Sylvaine)

 If you've been looking for an alternative to Alcest on your shoe-gazey/dream-poppy/black-gazey/what-ever-the-hell-the-hip-term-is-now-ey black metal playlist, Sylvaine is the perfect cure for that itch. Masterminded by Katherine Shepard, the solo project boasts opulent soundscapes that are just as beautiful and endearing as they are introspectively morose. Through the modern marvel of our time that is "The Internet", I was able to have a chat with Katherine about everything related to the project's beginnings through her latest album, Wistful. It was a fun conversation that brings to light her musical upbringing and the evolution of her tastes.

Along with a track from her new album, listen in on the conversation we had after the break!

Gorguts - Pleiades' Dust

When Gorguts released Colored Sands in 2013, it had been over a decade since the band's last album, and Luc Lemay was the sole Gorgut remaining from that endeavor (as he ought to be).  Colored Sands was a critical smash, Lemay's new lineup - Kevin Hufnagel on guitar, Colin Marston on bass, and Patrice Hamelin on drums - crushed it both in studio and live, and almost immediately people (me) began hoping for a follow up from this edition of Gorguts (it's weird, and I can't explain it, but even though I liked Carcass' Surgical Steel a bit more than Colored Sands, I remain far more excited by the prospect of new Gorguts than new Carcass).  That follow up has been delivered in the form of Pleiades' Dust, a one song EP that spans an even thirty-three minutes.

Zhrine - Unortheta

Within the metal-sphere, the genre tag "atmospheric" is more often than not used in conjunction with "black metal". Bands as stylistically different as Alcest and Altar of Plagues have contributed to the expansion of the sub-genre's boundaries. Here to push those boundaries just a bit further, however, are Iceland's Zhrine and their debut album Unortheta. While elements of black metal are evident, Zhrine makes it clear that death metal is their calling card, making Unortheta an aural adventure that is just as devastating as it is enthralling.

Mayhem - Esoteric Warfare

Any mention of notorious black metal forerunners Mayhem, whether written or spoken, is almost immediately qualified. "Aside from the suicide and the murder…" or "I know they're a bunch of crazy assholes…" or "Euronymous was a kook, but…" are all conceivable lead-ins to any discourse on the band that spearheaded the infamous black metal scene of Bergen, Norway. While Mayhem and the Bergen scene of the early 1990's remain more steeped in folklore than the inner contents of Dave Mustaine's tangled mane, the band finds itself still relevant for the right reasons (read: actually releasing new music) over 20 years after the release of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. Despite the departure of longtime guitarist Blasphemer following the release of 2007's Ordo ad Chao, Mayhem have returned with an even stronger release in Esoteric Warfare, with a lineup that for once seems like it may be stable if wooden inverted crosses are heartily knocked.