True  Love  are  a  solo  project  from  Reno,  Nevada  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  very  raw  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  self  released  2016  demo  "Meditating  Through  Illusion".

  Classical  guitars  start  off  the  demo  and  they  also  use  a  good  mixture  of  both  finger  picking  and  full  chords  and  after  awhile  whispers  are  added  onto  the  recording  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  to  get  a  lot  more  heavier  along  with  some  melodic  riffing  and  high  pitched  black  metal s creams  also  start  making  their  presence  known.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  it  uses  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  which  also  gives  the  songs  more  of  a  raw  black  metal  feeling  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  you  can  also  hear  a  touch  of  doom  in  some  of  the  slower  riffing  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts.

  Classical  guitars  also  make  a  return  on  some  of  the  later  tracks  and  the  music  also  mixes  in  a  great  amount  of  90's  second  wave  influences  while  also  sounding  very  modern  at  the  same  times  along  with  some  of  the  screams  also  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  depressive  elements  and  the  last  track  is  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  True  Love  creates  a  style  of  black  metal  on  this  recording  that  is  very  raw  and  harsh  sounding  in t he  true  tradition  of  the  genre,  the  production  sounds  very  raw  and  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  mysticism,  left  hand  path,  self  reliance,  and  hatred  themes. 

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  True  Love  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  raw  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  demo.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Sovereign  Warrior"  and  "Evasion".  8  out  of  10.

 1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the musical project these days?
1.- First of all, thank you a lot for this interview and talking about you asked, well, i’ve just played a couple of days ago in a city called Valparaiso here in Chile, so i’m just booking new touring dates mainly in the country, preparing the shows and enjoying what i’m living now. I have some other projects in witch i’m working on, but i will not tell much about them, cause i want that everything get in the right place at the right time.

    2.In April you had released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the demo you had released 3 years ago?
2.- I’m a very workaholic person, so i always try to fix every detail on my songs and i have to say, the sound is completely different. Back in those days i was still learning in how to mix and master the songs, so now i have improved everything in the album, i mean, guitars, bass, drums even voice is better, i would say it’s a more “mature” sound and extremely more brutal than the demo. I’m very happy with the sound, but i know it will change in my next album and in the next too, so it will be a surprise for the people.



    3.The musical project has been around since 2008 but so far has only released a demo and a full length, can you tell us a little bit more about the gap in between releases?
3.- It’s a demo called “Eradication Process” and two full lengths, one was released on january, 2015 called “Eradicate the Plague” by a chilean label called “Kuyen Prod.” And the second is “Sacro-kvltus Dementis” witch was released recently by “Symbol of Domination” (Belarus) and Base Record Production (Spain). The idea of creating the on-man band was in 2008, but i haven’t had the resources nor founds for record an album in a studio or play live with other members, so i stopped working on that for a long time and because i was studying too, then, a few years later i started again creating songs for TUT until in 2012 i could buy the things i needed to build the hom estudio, that was the momento that everything started for The Unhuman Thorn as a “real” band, not as just an idea.

    4.Your lyrics do cover a lot of Anti Christianity and Blasphemous themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your hatred for religion?
4.- Well, i wouldn’t tell that is just religious hatred, i mean, in this new album i speak about religious fanaticism more than religious hatred, i think it’s a very deep topic to speak of. There is a song called “Through The Endless Death” in witch i put my self into a fanatic mind and i try to describe what he is feeling while he is doing his “god ritual” (flagellation) and it was a very hard thing to do, by the way, cause i’m not, obviously, a religious person, so i had to do a lot of research, but, it’s still was a very interesting study, i learned a lot.



    5.You also go by the name 'Baal', do you have any interest in Occultism?
5.- I would like to keep the answer for me, if a may, but, that’s a start, isn’t it?

    6.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'The UnHuman Thorn'?
6.- I wanted to choose a name in witch people would have to think, something deep, so i started to think about what i have to live through my all life and that's where i created the name “The Unhuman Thorn”, cause everybody have problems, but there is always one problem that keeps you more worried than others, or maybe you have just one that became that thorn witch you can’t see or touch, so that’s why “Unhuman”. I put all that together and became “The Unhuman Thorn”.

    7.With this musical project you record everything by yourself, are you open to working with other musicians or do you prefer to work solo?
7.- I think “The Unhuman Thorn” will be always a one-man band, but i do have session members whom are helping me on stage, they are good friends of mine and killer musicians also, so thats why i can play live now. I will use a real drummer on my next album, but i will not say his name yet. It’s an awesome chilean drummer, all the other instruments will be me as always.

    8.Can you tell us a little bit more about 'Base Record Productions'?
8.- BRP it’s a non commercial label located in Spain, leaded by Gaspar del Valle, a great musician and person too, i know the label is more into death metal bands (grind, grindcore, death, brutal, etc..),but nowadays i have seen a lot of black metal bands in it. That’s great cause there are a lot of metal mixture, so i invite all of you to check Base Record Facebook page, it’s really awesome and it’s always on touch with the people who search for good quality underground bands.

    9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black and death metal?
9.- It has been better than in Chile, i have to say, that's a bit sad, but chileans are into another “Metal Trend”, i don’t want to sound like “TRUE” or whatever, but that's how it is. Reviews and interviews are going very good, so i enjoy a lot talking with people from abroad, there is a great fan in Czech Republic that asked me for an autographed cd, that's a huge honor for me! I’m very greatful.

    10.Are you also involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?
10.- Yes, now i’m working with a couple of musician from the city i live in, it’s different from the style of music i play in TUT, but it will remain brutal tho. I have participate in collaborations with other bands and radio podcast too, but now i’m so into TUT that i have to less time for other projects.

    11.Where do you see yourself heading into as musician in the future?
11.- For me, music is my life, so i know i will be somewhere still making music, maybe in TUT or in another project, but you will see so much more Baal, The Unhuman for a very long time!

    12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
12.- I`m really into blackened death metal and post-black metal bands nowadays, i know that they are completely different styles, but i like both of them. My big influences are Belphegor and Hate (specially Solarflesh album), it’s the sound and the brutal atmosphere they create that have influenced me a lot. There is a chilean band that i like it very much, it’s called “Sol Sistere”, great post- black metal atmospheric band and a few more. I like music in general, from jazz and blues to extreme music, i think musicians must know at list a little bit of all styles, that makes us create huge atmospheres.

    13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
13.- Thank you again, for this great interview, loved the questions and for all the people out there, thanks for hearing my music, keep supporting the underground, see you soon!!!!

  Inthyflesh  are  a  band  from  Portugal  that  plays  a  very  raw  and  nihilistic  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  double  album  "The  Flaming  Death"  which  will  be  released  in  September  as  a  joint  effort  between  Altare  Productions  and Blackseed  Productions.

  A  very  distorted  reverb  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very fast  and  raw  black  metal  direction  that  also  utilizes  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  tremolo  picking  and  the  vocals  are  mostly  high  pitched  screams  while  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  90's  second  wave  influences  along  with  a  small  amount  of  melody.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  none  of  the  songs  ever  use  any  guitar  solos  or  leads  and  the  vocals  also  get  very  hateful  at  times  while  all  of  the musical  instruments  sound  very  powerful  and  the  whole  album  remains  very  heavy  and  raw  from  the  first  to  last  second  with  no  soft  or  clean  parts  ever  being utilized.

  Inthyflesh  creates  a  double  album  that  remains  true  to  the  raw  and  nihilistic  black  metal  sound  of  previous  recordings,  the  production  sounds  very  dark,  raw  and  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  death,  nihilism,  and  selfness  themes.

  In  my opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Inthyflesh  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  raw  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  double  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Blood  Howling  Eternity"  "Forever  Insanity"  "Velvet  Burial  Shroud"  and  "Dismal  Awakening".  8  out  of  10.

  Nifrost  are  a  band  from  Norway  that  plays  an  atmospheric  form  of  viking/pagan  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Motvind"  which  was  released  by  Naturmacht  Productions.

  Acoustic  guitars  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  clean  singing  pagan  vocals  a  few  seconds  later  and  after  a couple  of  minutes  the  music  goes  into  a  heavier  direction  which  also  shows  melodic  guitar  leads  also  becoming  a  very  huge  part  of  the  recording  as  well  as  a  great  amount  of  grim  black  metal  screams.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  some  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  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  black  metal  feeling  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  as  the  album  progresses  elements  of  thrash  can  be  heard  in  the  music at  times.  

  Nifrost  plays  a  style  of  pagan/viking  black  metal  that  can  be  very  raw  at  times  in  the  Norwegian  tradition  while  also  having  its  epic,  melodic  and  atmospheric  moments,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Norwegian  and  cover  Norse  Mythology  and  Paganism.

  In  my  opinion  Nifrost  are  a  very  great  sounding  viking/pagan  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Byrdesong"  "Dei  Ville  Med  Vald"  "Ve"  and  "Motvind".  8  out  of  10.

  Old  Graves  are  a  band  from  British  Columbia,  Canada  that  has  been featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  an  atmospheric  form  of  black  metal  with  some  folk  and  doom  metal  elements  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Long  Shadows"  which  was  released  by  Naturmacht  Productions.

  Acoustic  guitars  start  off  the  album  and  they  also  give  the  music  a  progressive  and  folk  music  feeling  and  after  a  minute  the  music  goes  into  more  of  a  dark,  heavy  and  melodic  direction  and  the  vocals  are  mostly high  pitched  depressive  black  metal  screams  and  synths  are  also  brought  into  the  music  at  times.

  Throughout  the  recording  the  music  alternates  between  both  the  heavy  and  acoustic  parts  while  a  great  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  lot  of  modern  atmospheric  and  post  black  metal  elements  and  the  guitar  solos  and  leads bring  in  a  very  dark and  melodic  style. 

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast beats  can  be  heard  which  also  gives  the  songs  more  of  a  raw  black  metal  feeling  and  there  are  also  a  couple  of    instrumentals  which  also  shows  the  synths  incorporating  more ambient  elements  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  some  of  the  slower  riffs  are  influenced  by  doom  metal.

  Old  Graves  creates  a  recording  that  is  still  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  atmospheric  black  metal  style  while  also  adding  in  more  folk  music  elements  this  time  around,  the  production  sounds  very  raw  yet  powerful  at  the  same  time  while  the  lyrics  cover  melancholy,  nature  and  death  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Old  Graves  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  atmospheric  black  metal  with  elements  of  folk,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Sumas"  and  "Teeth  Pulled  From  Gnashing  Jaws".  8  out  of  10.