Vermilia  is  a  solo  artist  from  Finland  that  plays  a  very  epic  and  pagan  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  the  3  singles  she  has  self  released  so  far.

  "Vedesta  Vieraantunut".

  Drum  beats  along  with  some  heavy  riffing  starts  off  the  song  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  some  90's  era  dark  metal  elements  and  after  awhile  clean  vocals  start  to  make  their   presence  known  as  well  as  utilizing  some  grim  black  metal  screams  at  times.

  The  track  is  6  minutes  in  length  while  melodies can  also  be  heard  in  the  guitar  riffing  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  be  heard  which  also  gives  the  music  more  of  a  raw  feeling  and  when  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion.

  "Poissa"

  A  very  fast  and  raw  sound  starts  off  the  song  along  with  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  along  with  the  vocals  being  mostly  grim  black  metal  screams  as  well  as  some  clean  singing  also  being  used  at  times  and  the  track  also  brings  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  amount  of  melody  in  the  riffing. 

  "Haudoille"

  A  very  fast  and  raw  sound  starts  off  the  tracks  along  with  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  as  well  as  the  vocals  being  a  mixture  of  black  metal screams  and  clean  vocals,  melodies  can  also  be  heard  in  the  guitar  riffing  and  the  track  also  brings  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts,  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion.

  Vermilia  plays  a  style  of  pagan  black  metal  on  these  tracks  that  is  very  epic  and  atmospheric  sounding,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Finish  and  cover  Paganism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Vermilia  is  a  very  great  sounding  atmospheric  pagan/black  metal  solos  artist  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  her  music.  8  out  of  10.

  https://vermiliaofficial.bandcamp.com/

 

  

  Mystic  Rites  are  a  duo  from  Poland  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  on  this  recording  goes  into  more  of  a  dark  and  modern  black  metal  direction  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2018  ep  "Threads".

  A  very  dark  yet  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  ep  while  synths  can  also  be  heard  in  the  background  at  times  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  are  utilized  and  also  gives  the  music  more  of  a  raw  feeling  along  with  the  vocals  being  grim  yet  high  pitched  black  metal  screams.

  Influences  of  death  metal  can  be  heard  in  the  guitar  riffing  can  be  heard  while  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  both  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length  as  well  as  some  of  the  riffing  also  adding  in  modern  black  metal  structures.

  Grim  spoken  words  are  also  used  briefly  while  experimental  soundscapes  are  also used  on  one  of  the  tracks  along  with  the  synths  also  adding  in  a  touch  of  dark  ambient  on  the  second  song  before  going  back  to  a  heavier  direction  and all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  powerful  sound  to  them  as  well  as  some  guitar  leads  also  being  used  briefly.

  On  this  recording  Mystic  Rites  expands  on  their  black  metal  style  by  going  into  a  more  modern  and  experimental  direction  while  still  remaining  true  to  the  more  traditional  side  of  the  genre,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark,  philosophical  and  occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Mystic  Rites  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  dark  and  modern  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "And  So  The  Silence  Dead".  8  out  of  10.   

      

1. For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Herjan were born in Turin in the autumn of 2011 from the meeting between Plague (drums) and Azoth (bass) with the guitarist and later also vocals Flagellyon (already member of Schwarz Pest).
The Band, once decided influences and compositional style to follow, immediately began to work on the composition of its tracks.
Meanwhile, since 2013 also the live activity in the Turin area begins.
At the beginning of 2015, during first Demo recordings, Azoth decided to leave the band for personal reasons and the bass was recorded by Flagellyon.
In October of the same year was released "Astral Gates of Eternity" independently and Nigredum joined the band as bass player initially as session member for live performances and later as permanent member.
So Herjan could go back to work for the first Full-Length tracks’s; in February 2017 recordings began at the Magma Studio in Turin and at the end of the year was released under the Ukrainian label Vacula Productions, in collaboration with Narcoleptic Productions, "Nightfall of Humanity".


2. So far you have released a demo and a full length, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on both of the recordings and also how they do differ from each other/
The Demo and Full-Lenght in question are respectively "Astral Gates of Eternity" released in October 2015 and "Nightfall of Humanity" released in December 2017. Composition’s style is very similar because most of the tracks have been composed and re-arranged, on the imprint of the current sound, before the recordings of both.
The basic idea is to propose a Black Metal without too many compromises or influences of other genres, so in both works the sound is mainly dominated by fast and violent atmospheres alternating, depending on the tracks, to other more melodic and introspective, sometimes even epic.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you have explored so far with your music?
Initially the songwriting was edited by Flagellyon and Azoth; but since the abandonment of the Band by the latter is entirely developed and edited by Flagellyon.
The topics covered in our songs are varied, the main themes are Misanthropy, hatred for the human race, war and death (both from a profound and spiritual point of view as well as inflicted punishment).
Other topics treated, for the moment in a minor part, are darkness, occultism, esotericism and mythology, all as introspective aspects and means of detachment and evolution of the man towards society. All these elements, are often enclosed in our texts in a more or less explicit way through metaphors or allegories, as to send a message that is in front of the eyes of all but only few have the ability to understand.

4. Some of your lyrics also cover Occultism and Mythology, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in those topics?
As already mentioned above, currently texts are written by Flagellyon.
Flagellyon: regarding Mythology from an historical point of view, I have always been fascinated by the culture of the Scandinavian peoples but this topic has never been treated in Herjan’s texts; it was, but in other way and not relevant to my interest, in the texts of the previous bassist from an esoteric point of view.
Instead with regarding with Occultis, it’s a topic that I learned to know better and to deepen with music but which was already part of my life. For personal reasons and certainly related to my character, I have always tried to estrange myself from this superficial and morally poor society creating my own world within which, thanks to the solitary approach to this subject also linked to others such as esotericism and magic, evolve my person to try to better understand what surrounds me, see beyond and search for what is hidden from the human eye.
During live performances, everything is symbolically taken on stage.

5. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Herjan'?
"Herjan" is one of the many names of Odin and was proposed to the Band by Azoth (bassist of the original formation); this name, in addition to its beauty and to underline a clear inspiration to the Scandinavian Black Metal, was chosen because it reflects our intention to evoke an idea of ​​something ancient, noble and superior to the human race.



6. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Herjan are active on the stage since 2013, in these years we have performed about ten times, not many, both for line-up problems and for personal choice.
The performances have always been of a good level, always collecting the positive opinion from the public, and we had the honor to share the stage with famous names of the scene like Imago Mortis, Mortifera, The True Endless, Adversam, Black Flame, Stigmhate, Cadaveria, Enisum and Kult.
Each show is always prepared and performed with the utmost professionalism, trying to create both on stage and outside the right atmosphere and trying to convey our message to the public exclusively through music; coherently with the group's philosophy and with the themes expressed, with the public we have an approach detached and without dialogue with the will to create distance and to outline two well separated worlds.

7. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
Soon we will try to organize some single date to promote the album just released, but at the moment there is no scheduled or planned Tour; we will evaluate the possibility of doing it on the basis of the feedback we will have from listeners and organizers of events abroad. Surely it would be a good opportunity to bring our live music beyond our borders and to crown all the work done so far.

8. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?
We have to admit that in the world it is very difficult to get ahead and have visibility among the myriad of valid underground Bands that are in circulation and certainly our non-commercial attitude doesn’t help. In any case, beyond our national borders, we found a fairly good interest in the Album in the United States and in South America, where it had already happened for the Demo, and in Eastern Europe where our labels operate.

9. What is going on with 'Schwarz Pest' these days?
Schwarz Pest is the parallel project in which Flagellyon (guitars, composer and backing vocals) and Plague (drummer) play; currently the Band is in studio where has just begun the recordings of its debut Full-Lenght that will be released in the coming months.

10. Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Surely, due to the artistic evolution of the members and new influences, sound and style of the band in the future will inevitably evolve as it has already happened in the past.
Nevertheless soon we will start working on material for the next album and our intention, both for this work and for the next, is to remain as faithful as possible to the original intent and sonorities with which this project was born.

11. What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
As you can perceive from listening to our tracks, even if we tried to create our own characteristic sound, it is evident a strong Scandinavian influence and especially from Norwegian and Finnish scenes, in particular we let ourselves to be influenced by bands like Behexen, Horna, Gorgoroth and in a minor way by Marduk and Satanic Warmaster.
Regarding the listenings are very varied and also depend on the parallel projects of the members; in addition to Black Metal in all its variants, they range from all Metal with its sub-genres up to genres like Dark Ambient, Hardcore Punk, Electronics, Sludg, Blues and much more.

13. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Before ending this interview, we would like to thank OccultBlackMetalZine for its interest in us and for giving us the opportunity to express ourselves; as well as for the beautiful and welcome review of our album in which it managed to capture the aspects and the main elements that we want to convey with our music.

  Mordgier  are  a  band  originally  from  Poland  but  now  resides  in  the  United  Kingdom  and  plays  a  very  raw  and  satanic  from  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2003  demo  "In  Deathcold  Mist"  which  was  re-issued  in  2018  by  Antitheus  Productions.

  Distorted  amp  noises  along  with  some high  pitched  black metal  screams  start  off  the  demo  being  going  into  a  heavier  direction  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  the  faster  sections  of t he  songs  also  using  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats.

  When  tremolo  picking  is  utilized  it  gives  the  music  more  of  a  raw  feeling  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  also  being  done  in  a  very  chaotic  fashion  while  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  style  as  well  as  the  songs  also  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  they  also  bring  in  covers  of  Beherit's  "The  Gate  Of  Nanna"  and  Darkthrone's  "Quintessence".

  Mordgier  played  a  style  of  black  metal  on  this  recording  that  was  very  raw  and  satanic  sounding,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  raw  while  the  lyrics  cover  Satanism  and  Darkness themes. 

  In  my  opinion  Mordigier  are  a  very  great  sounding  raw  and  satanic  black  metal band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  re-issue.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Satanik  Commando  Mordgier"  "The  Lat  Earthly  Day"  and  "Kingdom  Ov  Hell".  8/5  out  of  10.

    

1. For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

We play black metal with a lot of different influences, and try to incorporate all of our influences and ideas into our sound and we are constantly experimenting with our sound to evolve as a band and musicians.

2. So far you have released 2 albums, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on both of the recordings and also how do they differ from each other?

"Reborn" is definitely more of an abstract multi-faceted album, I feel it was us trying to find our beginning sound as a project, though it was very sporadic. With "Chariots" we were going with some of the musical ideas we thought of in our first album and took some time expanding on them. I feel the whole album kind of has a similarity to the vibe the whole way through it.

3.The band has been around since 2010 but so far has only put out 2 albums, can you tell us a little bit more about the gaps in between releases?

When we first got together it was all about writing and refining the songs and ideas we had and liked and throwing out the bad ideas. Then we had to find a way to record and then get help mastering. The gap in between the first and the second was for writing, and I spent much of the time on working on the synths and effects I did on that album. We also had to travel for Pathogen to do his parts and for his help mixing and mastering the album. We don’t want each album to sound  too familiar or too similar creatively or even on the production side of it.

4.On one of your tracks you covered 'Sumerian Mythology', can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic?

We have a fond interest in ancient cultures and ancient civilization and the ancient Sumerian culture really intrigues us.

5.What are some of the other lyrical topics and subjects you explore with your music?

We enjoy discussing supernatural subjects, ancient history, philosophy, human emotions, natural and unnatural elements (spirituality and mysticism), outerspace, higher consciousness, human existence and its futility, many different subjects. We do not prefer to be absolute or very direct with our messages, we want it to be open for interpretation.

6.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Avenge The Throne'?

We are here to avenge the throne. We have a message to send, and we want people to listen and open their mind and their eyes, but mostly their fucking ears.

7.When i was looking at the band names I have noticed you brought in the name 'Xaphan' which was a fallen angel and also the name 'Yliaster' which was a term coined by 'Paracelsus', do the band members have an interest in Western Occultism?

Western occultism is a common thread in most black metal, thus the name Yliaster (spelled Illiaster) seemed viable because it means "prime matter consisting of body and soul" which to me is a reference to all human life.

8.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Well, its great that we have a drummer now, "Mjölnir" is a fantastic percussionist and musician full of charisma and a beast on drums. Excellent addition to the small clan we are.
Santa Cruz music festival was enjoyable and cool, but we've also had some fun at a couple local house shows, getting hammered and having friends drive is great.
Stage presence I try to head bang as much as I can but between vocals, playing bass, and controlling a series of effects pedals is quite difficult, but with time maybe I'll adjust more and get more used to such things; Illiaster just gets up there and headbangs.

9.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

Currently no shows or tours. Trying to work on a good solid studio, very costly but we are near the finish line and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Also we are working on upgrading all of our gear, and freshening up our setlists for live performances and tours.


10.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

How do I shrug virtually?

11.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?

So far I believe positive but I haven't looked too hard or really shared it much around the internet . We have a very small fan base on our social media outlets.


12.When can we expect new music and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We are anticipating releasing some (if not one) single(s) by the end of this year, and hopefully a new release early next year.
This new release is going to be a long one and it is definitely a musical journey. Many different styles (ghostly and progressive even enlightening), it's a tale told through sound. Expect something great.

13.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

I've spent years listening to black metal and metal, so clearly that has been an influence. I have always liked obscure music so I really like weird metal. Lately though I've been listening to a lot of world music like DakhaBrakha or Huun-Huur-tu. Also a good bit of 70s rock from Turkey or Peru like Mazhar ve Fuat or Laghonia. Black Metal lately I've been listening to Spektr, Locus Neminis, and Batushka to name a few.

14.What are some of your non musical interests?
Philosophy, history, the paranormal, outerspace. But also...
Coffee, hiking, meditation, writing, art, reading, camping, beer, and weed.

15.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Thank you for the interview.
There is much more to come, we are just beginning.