Katachthon  are  a  band  from  Greece  that  plays  a  very  bestial  form  of  war/black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2015  demo  which  was  released  by  Black  Sun  Cult  Productions.

  Rain  and  thunder  sounds  start  off  the  demo  along  with  some  militant  style  drumming  and  powerful  bass  guitars  a  few  seconds  later  and  after  the  intro the  music  starts  going  into  a  very  fast  and  raw  black/war  metal  direction  that  also  uses  bestial style  black/death  growls  and  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats.

  High  pitched  screams  can  be  heard  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  when  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  in a  very  dark  and  old  school  black/death  metal  direction  and  some  songs  also  mix  in  a  small  amount  of  melody  in  with  a  more  raw  and  bestial  style  and  some  of  the  alter  tracks  also  bring  in a  small  amount  of  sound  effects.

  Katachton  plays  a  very  raw  and  old  school  of  black/war  metal  that  also  mixes  in a  great  amount  of  bestial  growls  to create  some  very  dark,  heavy  and  aggressive  music,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  raw  while  the  lyrics  cover  War,  Hellenic  Mythology  and  History.

  In  my  opinion  Katachthon  are  a  very  great  sounding  black/war  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  demo.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Realm  Of  Hades"  and  "War  Against  All".  8  out  of  10. 
 

  This  is  a  review  of  another recording  from  Anti-Freeze  which  continues the  atmospheric  and raw  post  black  metal  sound  of  the  previous  recordings  with  elements of  ambient and this  album  was  self  released  in  2015  and  call  "Unloved  Sounds"  which  consists  of  rare  songs  that  have  not  been  on  any  of  the  other albums  and  compilations.

  A  very  dark  and  raw  atmospheric  black  metal  sound  starts  off  the  compilation  along  with  some  grim  yet  high  pitched  screams  a  few  seconds  alter  and  the  riffs  also  have  a  very  depressive  feeling  at  times  and  there  are  also  a  few  tracks  that  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  music  also  brings  in  more  of  a  raw  style  of  black  metal  at  times  along  with  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats.

  Throughout  the  compilation  you  can  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  some  of  the  songs  also  bring in  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing,  acoustic  guitars  which  also  bring  elements  of  folk  into  the  songs  and  melodic  post  black  metal  guitar  leads   and  some  of  the  riffs  mix  in  elements  of  punk  with  a  more  lo-fi  style  of  black  metal. 

  Synths  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  also mix  in with  both  the  clean  and  heavy  parts  along  with  a  couple  of  instrumentals and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  some  songs  also  bring  in  elements  of  ambient  and  noise  music  and  you  can  hear a  doom metal  influence  in  some  of  the  slower riffs  and  one  of  the  alter  tracks  also  adds  in  a  touch  of  neo-folk.

  Anti-Freeze  display  more  of  a  raw  style  of  black  metal  with  these  unreleased  tracks  than  what  was  presented  on the  full  length  along  with  a  more  depressive  atmosphere  while  the  music  is  also  a  bit  more  experimental  at  the same  time,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  raw  while  the  lyrics  cover  depression,  hate  and  revolution.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Anti-Freeze  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of experimental,  raw,  depressive,  atmospheric  and  post  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  compilation.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Stench  Of  Death"  "Throat  Infection"  "Eviscerated  by  Hounds"  and  "I  Woke  Up  From  My  Dream  In  Shame".  8  out  of  10.

https://weirdocan.bandcamp.com/album/unloved-sou  

  Anti-Freeze  are  a  solo  project  from  Canada  that  plays  a  very  raw  and  atmospheric  form  of  anarchist  post  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  self  released  2014  album  "Aftermath".

  A  very  dark,  melodic  and  raw  atmospheric  black  metal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  soem  grim  and  high  pitched  screams  a  few  seconds  alter  that  leads  to  the  music  speeding up  a  bit  and  also  introducing  blast  beats  onto  the  recording  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  When  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  bring  more  of  an  epic  and  melodic  feeling  to  the  songs  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  also  mixes  in  the  more  modern  post  black  metal  sound  with  the  90's  atmosphere  and  a  small  amount  of  clean  singing  can  be  heard  at  times.

   When  synths  are  brought  into  the  music  they  add  elements  of  dark  ambient  into the  music  and  some  of  the  tracks  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  acoustic  guitars  which  also  gives  the  music  more  of  a  progressive  feeling  and  some  of  the  more  fast  material  adds  in  a  touch  of  punk  to  the  raw  style  of  black  metal and  the  album  closes  with  a  bonus  instrumental  ambient  track. 

  Anti-Freeze  plays  a  musical  style  that  is  rooted  in  the  90's  style  of  raw  black  metal  but  also  adds  in  some  of  the  more  modern  and  atmospheric  post  black  metal  and  a  touch  of  ambient  and  punk  to  create  his  own  sound,  the  production  sounds  very  dark,  sloppy  and  raw  while  the  lyrics  cover  depression,  hate  and  revolution.

  In  my  opinion  Anti-Freeze  are  a  very  great  sounding  raw  and  atmospheric  post  black  metal  project  and  if  you are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Kingdom"  and  "Internal  Filth  (Fuck  You)".  8  out  of  10.

https://weirdocan.bandcamp.com/album/aftermath-lp
 

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording off the new album?

Lord Lokhraed : Recording took a bit time cause of member’s availability for recording. The album has been composed since 2009 but we toured a lot and get life changing that took for some of us priority. Also we got music side projects which for some us became more important cause its personal band.

2.You have a new album coming out in June, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

This album is special for us because for one time we didn’t wrote lyrics but this will be explained on the following question. Musically, we did something back in time by performing a more traditional Black Metal including Nocturnal Depression sound and melodies. It’s something interesting cause since 2009 you see a step back to the old metal ways. I think “Spleen Black Metal” is really more about old way of playing black metal than evolution to mix it with shoegaze, death, thrash or old school heavy metal as you may hear lot of bands actually this way.

3.Can you tell us a little bit more about the lyrical topics that are present on the new album?

It’s something we wanted since a long time with Nocturnal Depression entity. Literature has a strong importance in our band as most of lyrics are about a parallelism of feelings from the main character. Like “The one haunting my mind” is a musical interpretation of Lovecraft novel. “Spleen Black Metal” is a gathering of poetries from French authors all meeting to the depressive, sad and melancholic point of mind.

4.The album title and one of the tracks is name 'Spleen Black Metal', can you tell us a little bit more about this term?

“Spleen” is a term well used by Baudelaire which is close to Melancholy. I wanted to use this name like for band name: a mix between lyrical theme (Spleen) and music performed (Black Metal). We can’t be described as Suicidal like in past as we talk more about sorrow, sadness, depression… and not about basic propaganda “Kill yourself”. Also as we make a kind of condensate of poetries, I thought it will explain more the concept of album with this title than another one.

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

Nocturnal is an adjective for nocturne, we thought it as classic music style which is very slow and sorrowful. Depression stands for the lyrical theme like longing for death, suicidal thoughts and pessimism. With this band name, you know directly what you will hear. I don’t like bands name without meaning that when you take cd you don’t know what you will find. Of course, for some “so-called intelligent people” it sounds stupid but I fuck them. I don’t need their advice and they can blow their friend bands.

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

We performed around 100 shows worldwide but I remember each one of them with some particularities. You got great memories with shows intensity and crowd as example but also some bad with worst technic conditions or promoters doing the less possible for saving their money. Some of the bests in a personal way were Kings of Black Metal, Metaldays, Germans and Italian shows. When we go on stage, we leave our human mind away and corpse paint change or face to the hidden beast deep in us. It’s like theatre and it’s our particularity to live each note we play.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

We will headline a festival in Italy during july 2015 and later we will tour across Europe together with our brothers of Forgotten Tomb. I think we will perform some few gigs after and work on album.

8.A few months back a heard a band from Italy doing a cover of your song 'Host', do you feel you have been a huge influence on a lot of the newer depressive black metal bands?

I, as leader, have no feeling to be an influence to new band in DSBM scene. I wouldn’t have this kind of pretention. If some bands felt influenced by our music and want to cover it, it would mean that something in this song touched them deeply and it got an importance to them. Really, I wouldn’t blame a band to cover ND. When we did this music, it was (and still is) our feelings put in music. We never thought to be “important” or even signed on such important labels like Avantgarde Music or Sun & Moon Records (who made us known to whole scene) or even to be part of such important fests like Kings of Black Metal or Metaldays.

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

I won’t tell you anything particular cause as we always lead the direction of the band (and still do), we don’t get any importance to advices, reviews or critics of our albums. I think nobody should tell a band how to sound. I read an interview from Peter (Vader)on Metallian who said something like “we don’t ask ACDC to sound like Nickelback…so Vader sounds like Vader”. I totally approve. The ones who spit on us and talk about no evolution are frustrating people and I don’t give a shit about their view on our music.

10.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that the band members are a part of?

Any member of Nocturnal Depression got several musical projects in a large panel like Black, Death, Thrash, Heavy, Covers, Classic… so talking about each one would be very long and complicated. As ND is not a priority to other members cause they don’t take part in writing, their other bands became more important to their eyes. It’s this way of working when you play in several band : fixing priority.

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically doing the future?

Nowhere particularly actually. We will see how things are going during tour and if we can manage gigs but about music we will try to create something same way as we perform now but maybe including some Doom/Dark influence… future will tell…

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?

When you are 4 people, it’s hard to find a specific influence. For me it will remain on Nocturnal Depression roots : Forgotten Tomb and Nargaroth. Of course there is a masterpiece like “Filosofem” from Burzum also.

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


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