Labyrinth  Spell  are  a  band  from  Brazil  that  plays  a  very  raw,  atmospheric  and  melodic  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Mountains  Enthroned"  which  was  released  by  Vacula  PRoductions.

  A  very  fast  and  raw  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  high  pitched  grim  screams  and  after  awhile  the  music  slows  down  a  bit and  adds  in  synths  and  melodies  while  still  keeping  around  the  more  faster  parts  and  you  can  hear  quite  a  bit  of  Norwegian  and  Swedish  black  metal  elements  in  their  musical  sound.

  Once solos  are  added  into  the  music  it  gives  the  album  more  of  a  mid  90's  melodic  black  metal  feeling  and  the songs  start  using  a  good  amount  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  the  more  fast  and  raw  sections  dominate  most  of  the  recording  and  the  band  displays  a  very  aggressive  approach  with  their  musical  style  as  well  as  having  epic  synths  mixing  in  with  the  raw  parts  and  melodies  and  one  of  the  later  tracks  also  sees  the  band  adding  in  a  few  seconds  of  clean  singing.

  Labyrinth  Spell  brings  back  the  more  melodic,  epic  and  atmospheric  side  of  90's  era  black  metal  with  their  music  having,  a  bit  of  a  Dissection  and  early  Satyricon  feeling   them  but  with  a  more raw  and  grimmer  approach,  the  production  has  a  very  raw,  powerful  and  heavy  sound  while  the  lyrics  cover   darkness  and  nature  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Labyrinth  Spell  are  a  very  great  sounding  raw,  melodic  and  atmospheric  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Forged  by  Fire  And  Blood"  "Night  Of  Eternal  Chaos"  and  "Mountains  Enthroned".  8  out  of  10.

 
   

  Gnosis  Of  The  Witch  are  a  band  from  the  United  States  that  plays  a  raw  and  dark  pagan  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  ep  "Daudr  Burdr  Prysvar"  which  was  released  by  Wohrt  Records.

  Dark,  distorted  and  evil  sound  effects  start  off  the  ep  giving  the  music  a  ritualistic  feeling  and  after  the  intro  clean  playing  makes  its  way  onto  the  recording  along  with  a  very  melodic  tone  which  leads  up  to  a  more  heavy  and  melodic  direction  before  going  into  a  very  fast  raw  black  metal  direction  along  with  blast  beats  and  grim  screams.

  The  tremolo  picking  the  band  uses  are  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  90's  black  metal  sound  and  they  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  melodic  guitar  leads  along  with  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  the  faster  parts  bring  a  lot  of  chaos  into  the  bands  musical  sound  as  well  as  having  a  war  like  feeling  to  them,  after  awhile  clean  playing  along  with  a  small  amount  of  synths  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  they  enhance  the  evil  atmosphere  this  music  creates.

  Gnosis  Of  The  Witch  have  a  very  raw  and  chaotic  approach  to  the  way  they  play  black  metal  and  they  also  bring  in  a  lot  of  the  best  elements  of  this  musical  genre,  the  production  sound s  very  dark,  raw  and  old  school  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Germanic  and  cover  Dark  Thurisan  Worship.

  In  my  opinion  Gnosis  Of  The  Witch  are  a  very  great  sounding  raw  and  old  school  dark  pagan/black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Ormar  Eitr"  and  "Daudipursar  Seidr".  8/5  out  of  10.

  Malhkebre  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  very  raw  and  orthodox  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Revelation"  which  was  released  by  I,  Voidhanger  Records.

  Evil  sound  effects  start  off  the  album  bringing  in  a  few  drones  along  with  spoken  word  ritualistic  parts  before  going  into  a  very  heavy  and  dark  direction  along  with  some  hateful  black  metal  direction  which  also  leads  up  to  faster  riffing  and  brutal  blast  beats  and  you  can  hear  a  great  amount  of  talent  and  skill  in  the  musical  instruments  and  there  is  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  throughout  the  recording  along  with  a  lot  of  raw  aggressive  and  angry  energy  in  the  true  black  metal  tradition.

     After  awhile  you  can  hear  a  decent  amount  of  melody  in their  musical  sound  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  standing  out  on  their  own  and  they  also  bring  back  the  drones  of  the  intro  along  with  the  sounds  of  human  depression  before  returning  back  to  a  heavier  direction  as  well  as  making  the  vocals  sound  more  grim  and  evil  and  a  good  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  You  can  hear  a  great  amount  of  the  2000's  era  French  black  metal  sound  in  the  bands  music  along  with  the  ability  to  mix  raw  and  technical  parts  together  along  with  a  good  amount  of  intros  before  the  tracks  which  add  a  more  chaotic  atmosphere  to  the  recording  and  the  way  the  band  approach  vocals  are  very  original   while  they  also  remain  true  to  black  metal  while  also  adding  in  new  elements  to  this  genre  and  as  the  album  progresses  deep  death  metal  growls  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording.


  Malhkebre  creates  some  very  raw,  heavy,  technical  and  hateful  music  with  their  approach  to  raw  black  metal  as  well  as  adding  in  a  good  amount  of  originality  showing  this  genre  can  still  progress  with  the  use  of  traditional  instruments  as  well  as  being  a  pure  form  of  black  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  a  mixture  of  French  and  English  and  cover  Satanism,  Suicide,  and  Self  Mutilation  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Malhkebre  are  a  very  great  sounding  raw,  technical  and  orthodox  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "In  Pulverem  Reverteris"  "To  Become  Or  Die"  and  "IHSV".  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're four 25 years old guys from paris.
The line up is drums, bass, two guitarists including a singer.
The project began there almost a year ago now!

2.Recently you have released your first album, how would you describe your musical sound?

We self-produced this album because we wanted to build it as we imagined, from the compositions to the final sound we have on tape.

We seek to recreate what we do in our rehearsals in paris.
So we recorded in the same studio where we played for a year no, without guitar overdub and without artifice
The overall sound of this demo is very raw and blurry and that's how we see our compositions because the general atmosphere gives another sense to the different melodies.

3.The band was formed early this year but have already released their first album, do you feel that you put a lot of time and effort into the band?

We took the time to choose some songs, and to keep the others depending on the future of the project.
For this demo, we chose the first 4 songs we made as a band, but in a year of work we were able to prepare other compositions for other future projects.
We expected to be ready to release this demo, but also to have enough material not to lower the pace.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with their music?

there is no fixed subject, or something that we are prohibited.
There is a lot of work on the texts. They are written so that even detached from the music, it is balanced and has a true sense.
They are written in rhyme, as a a poem or prose.
Although for the moment the lyrics are not in booklet or accessible, know that we are looking up for each piece to create more something like text on a music than song lyrics.

For the tracks of this demo, DELUGE is about changing role, depending on the situation between two people in the current society and A LA CROISEE DES AMES deals with the influence of society on the way we think but another track is talking about transformation of the sun.
It is each time different subjects, but each time they are topics that we believe timely

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Cepheide'?

Since we are french and that all texts are also written in french, we wanted to find a french word that was connected to the general atmosphere of our songs and that at the same time evoked the recurring theme of astronomy

6.Has the band done any live shows or is this strictly a studio project?

We will surely make live shows before the next album, but for the moment nothing is confirmed

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

From now on we had to work without label and we produced and recorded this demo alone. We are not really searching for a label but we'll think about it when the time comes.

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

The project comes out of the shadows and we are not looking to do a lot of promo, however we had a lot of very positive and encouraging feedback, a lot of support which was not expected, so we were pleasantly surprised that people to be receptive to our vision of black metal!

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We all have parallel projects so when we formed this band the aim was to make every effort to do our best, we will see what will be the result of this!

10.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?

We are four so there are very diverse backgrounds.
We can say that the main influential band are ASH BORER , ARS DIAVOLI , URFAUST , ELECTRIC WIZARD , DRUDKH ,GODSPEED YOU…

what are you listening to nowadays ? … hexis , the psyke projet , woods of désolation , Deathspell Omega , Solstafir , Russian Circle , Converge …

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

there is a great fascination for wine, the way that it oldens.
a great interest in cinema which sharpens our thinking in another form of art equally wide
Astronomy is also omnipresent. It has directly inspired us our cover, the title of some songs and the way to write texts



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

leave the imagination to what we listen