This  is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  Singapore/Malaysia's  As  Sahar  and  Indonesia's  Warkvlt  called  "Le666ion  Of  Nusantara '  which  will  be  released  on  February  28th  as  a  joint  effort  between  Vykroblast  Productions  and  Sadist  Records  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  As  Sahar  a  band  that  plays  an  eastern  style  of  black  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  the  sounds  of  horses  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  and  melodic  musical  direction.  Keyboards  can  also  be  heard  all  of  the  trackss  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  add  in  a   great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  the  vocals  are  mostly  high  pitched  black  metal  screams.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  while  the  songs  also  add  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  Spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  on  a  couple  of  tracks  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  also  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  as  well  as  the  tremolo  picking  also  giving  the  songs  more  of  a  raw  feeling  when  they  are  utilized,  female  vocals  are  also  added  on  the  closing  song.  The  production  sounds  very  dark  and  raw  and  the  lyrics  cover  Eastern  Mysticism  and  Magickal  Cult  Practices.

  In  my  opinion  As  Sahar  are  a  very  great  sounding  eastern  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Rawarontek"  and  "Manunggal  Ing  Rosso".

  Next  up  is  Warkvlt  a  band  that  plays  a  very  fast  and  aggressive  form  of  black  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  a  very  fast  and  raw  sound  which  also  utilizes  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats.  Vocals  are  mostly  grim  yet  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  along  with  some  melodies  also  being  added  into  some  of  the  guitar riffing  and  a  lot  of  the  music  is  also  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  mid  90's  era. 

 When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  along  with  the  songs  also  adding  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  also  sticking  to  a  heavier  direction.  The  production  sounds  very  dark  and  raw  while  the  lyrics  cover  the  dark  side  of  life,  darkness  and  evil  in  warfare.

  In  my  opinion  Warkvlt  are  a  very  great  sounding  fast  and  aggressive  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Hellstorm  Comradeship"  :Kvrse".

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  I  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  Asian  black  metal.  8  out  of  10.

https://youtu.be/OwMShAfPwec

https://sadistrecords.bandcamp.com/album/as-sahar-x-warkvlt-le666ion-of-nusantara

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

We're just two guys lie everyeone else in the world who like heavy metal music. We "met" each other thanks to a common "friend / knowledge" on a heavy metal forum.

We played mainly heavy, thrash and death metal for several years then we'll decide to challenge ourselves in a black metal release

after speding several months in focus mainly on study some basic background of the old school bm and honestly we're kind proud

of the result being our first extreme metal EP so far.

2.Recently you have released a new ep, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?

This is our official debut EP (not a new one); probably the hardest part of it was try to being as more "simple and powerful" as possible

with the guitar lines and found the correct "old school" drum sound in order to have a good BM on the EP.

In addiction, we addese very few piano parts in just a couple of song for not appear to "sinfonic".

The only part that could maybe sound too "loud" in the EP are the vocal equalization/edit but old school BM in

our opinion means also keep a good raw sound.  Several people reported us the DISSECTION influences and this

makes us vey happy because without DISSECTION we didn't neither start to work on this project

3.Yout lyrics cover History, Literature and Darkness themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest and research in these topics?

Thanks for the question; history is surely the main the we worked on being "Paiting Revenge" and "Medz Yeghern" the first two demo song

we publisehs on Reverbnation. There are several topics in history which in our opinion noone's talk about, and being one of us Armenian

we thought was dutiful spoke of it. Darkness we honestly retain is a theme which matches perfectly with black metal .

As for literature, we just came up with the idea of covering different lyrical themes in our song. We're honestly don't like to focus our lyrics

on satanism or similar like many other bands already did. We off course respect their approach to it  and the ability to let it match with the music

(as well as we know that this answer could open additioanl and eventually "polemic" in the extreme side of BM); but you know, we consider extreme metal

a sort of art and art cannot be channel always in the same topics.  

4.I know that the bands name comes from the native Sudan Dinka Religion, how does this name fit in with the musical style that you play?

 It does not matches at all with the music, we picked it only for the band name

becasue we retain sounded good and easy to remind.

5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?

We did the artwork ourselves; we tried to be as more "dark and sober" as possible because we didn't want

to show details of the Armenian genocide (Medz Yeghern") on the main cover. We thought this abstract

works matches great then we just add some white border frame for a bit of "elegiance" appear

6.Currently there are only 2 members in the band, are you open to expanding the line up or do you prefer to remain a duo?

We're a duo but physically we're 3 person: we think is correct from our side including in this answer also our Italian

friend Damy at UMBRA Studio who helped us in the arrangement and mixing of the entire EP. We're currently don't plan to

expand the line up beacuse once you know the working timing of each other, adding other person could means longer planing

and this sometimes could means "work with lazy people"

7.The band members live in Armenia and Sudan which are located in different parts of the world, what impact does this have on the music style that you play?

Lucky we discover to have same backgroung and musical taste in bands which helped a lot in focus both on the same direction to work on the EP.

We can say that for "correct policy of both", one member picked band name and one member picked EP title .

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

Uncorrect, being the EP released via indie label "MedievH3ll Records". We're not looking for a label

even if we already received a couple of proposal / offer to evalue

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

It's early to say, but basing on your review and as well as on the feedback we got on Twitter / Soundcloud / Reverbnation, we would say quite good

10.When can we expect a full length and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Currently no full lenght on plan. We release this EP as a "challenge" with ourselved an now we're mainly focus on promoting it.

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?

Indeed we must say Dissection, Old Man's Child and Watain; these three bands were our mainly influences for this release, but off

course we listened again and again to a lot of black metal bands during this last year (as well as famous ones as well as undergound ones).

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

Thank you for this interview. To all of you out chere, remember to check out and support metal music blogs like OCCULT METAL ZINE

because 90% of the time they're more interesting and cool/honest reading that main well known printed Magazine

  Disiplin  are  a  band  from  Norway  that  plays  a  very  extreme  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2003  album  which  was  re-issued  in  2022  by  ATMF.

  Epic  sounding  synths,  spoken  word  and  war  samples  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very  fast  and  raw  musical  direction  which  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  while  angry  shots  can  be  heard  briefly  along  with  the  vocals  being  mostly  high  pitched  black  metal  screams.

  A  couple  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length  while  melodies  are  also  added  into  some  of  the  guitar  riffing.  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  spoken  word  parts  also  returning  on  one  of  the  later  songs  as  well  as  a  later  song  also  introducing  clean  playing  onto  the  album,  semi  melodic  vocals  can  also  be  heard  briefly  and  some  of  the  riffing  also  shows  an  influence  of  death  metal.

  On  this  recording  Disiplin  played  a  style  of  black  metal  that  was  very  extreme  for  the  time  it  was  released  and  also  had  an  influence  of  the  later  Norwegian  black  metal  style.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  war,  hatred  and  misanthropy  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Disiplin  are  a  very  great  sounding  extreme  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  re-issue.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Ultimatum"  "The  One  Who  Makes  You  Crawl"  "Hate  Engine"  and  "The  Lucifer  Principle".  8  out  of  10.

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Disiplin/10327  

  Valais  are  a  band  from  Ireland  that  plays  a  very  malicious  and  oppressive  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2022  album  which  will  be  released  in March  by  Signal  Rex.

  Dark  sounding  synths  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  musical  direction  while  melodies  are  also  added  into  some  of  the  guitar  riffing.  Most  of  the  tracks  are  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length  along  with  the  vocals  being  mostly  grim  yet  high  pitched  sounding  black  metal  screams  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  tremolo  picking  can  be  heard  which  also  gives  the  songs  more  of  a  raw  feeling.  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  the  songs  also  adding  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  At  times  the  vocals  also  start  getting  very  deep  and  angry  sounding  along  with  the  music  also  having  its  atmospheric  moments.  nature  sounds  can  also  be  heard  briefly  as  well  as  the  album  also  adding  in  a  couple  of  piano  and  classical  guitar  interludes  before  returning  back  to  a  heavier  direction,  spoken  word  parts  and  throat  singing  can  also  be  heard  briefly.  The  production  sounds  very  dark  and  raw  while  the  lyrics  cover  Occultism  and  Celtic  Paganism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Valais  are  a  very  great  sounding  malicious  and  oppressive  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "I"  and  "V".  8  out  of  10.

http://signalrex.bandcamp.com/album/valais

valaisband.bandcamp.com    

-Sure! Aside from having the pleasure to do this, I consider the current album cycle as good as done and ventured on to do some writing for "III".  Other than that, I have since moved on to another band/Project of mine and did some recording and production work for an experimental project that I have with buddies of mine. Basically just letting it flow!

2.So far you have released 2 albums with this project, musically how do they both differ from each other? 

-"II" is way more focused in every aspect. Not that this would make it any better in any regard, that's just how it is.  Shorter tracks, no keyboards (synths, yes, but those are guitar-synths). "I" wasn't supposed to have a successor at first, but "II" is at least partly made up from tracks from the "I" session. That made it easy to look at what I wrote for "I" and then see where to go from there. And it made sense. If it doesn't to the listener then that's no big deal. Both records can stand on their own, even if one may not see it as a part in the same journey. Maybe it makes more sense when the third part is out. 

3.The project has been around since 2003 but you waited until 2020 to release any music, can you tell us a little bit more about the earlier years?

-I didn't wait! I wrote tons of songs over the course of the first 2-3 years before I actually started recording (back then it was a Boss BR recorder, later a PC). I couldn't make up my mind in which direction I wanted the whole thing to go at first. The first couple of demos sounded like "Paradise Lost" slowed down. The next demos like the recent "Alcest" on acid. I remember that the HDD on my PC then decided to go bye bye and took all the material with it. So I  re-recorded the guitars and they became the base for those you can hear on the first record. But before I could finish that, life happened and I was in and out of making music for a good 6 years. I didn't take it back up until 2013. From there, I  was involved in a plethora of musical projects. Albeit mostly crap, I invested a lot of imt ein them. Was a good learning process. In regards to life and making music in general. In the end, it's a hobby and supposed to be an enjoyable process. And the process is what interests me the most about making music. Not having it done. And that process can take a crapload of time. I'm glad it did. I became a better musician over the years (believe it or not, haha).

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you have explored with both of the releases and also how would you describe your progress as a songwriter over the years?

-For clarification: I = Nature/ground/earth focused, II = More ethereal, focused on the individual and personal growth. It's going "up" so to say. There's always at least one track that strays from the path. On "II", that could be several. "Ynntal" for example is simply about an area in Austria that I really like and how great it feels to be there. That song could have been on "I" too, as it is a "nature song" but I didn't write this one back when I did the "I" sessions.

As far as progress in songwriting goes; I really can't say that I made any. Since all Galv-records are mostly German, my limited English vocabulary didn't hinder my songwriting that much. Basically it's on the same level as it was when I wrote the first track for "I". If at all, then I managed to write material that's less cheesy. Lyrics change with their respective subjects. They're just different than they were before as they will be on upcoming records.

5.The know that the band name was inspired by the writings of J.R.R Tolkien, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in his work? 

-Hate me, but I didn't even read the books. Not sure if I ever will either. No disrespect to the work of the man, but I wouldn't know anything about Tolkien's work, if it wasn't for Peter Jackson's movies. Since I saw those, I indulged myself in all Lotr games and artworks I could gather. That is what I find inspiring about it. The lore he created. Fascinating. It's not the story itself, or any of its characters. I'm just totally fascinated by the world/universe of  Lotr. But that is not because of what I read from the material, but more of what came out of it. Drawings, pictures, movies. To quote Bruce Lee; "Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless...". I didn't take much, but I took what I liked about the works of Tolkien. And that was a fascinating world, which sometimes seems awfully close to ours. 

6.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover? 

-Those are prayer flags in tibetan language. I took that photo on an analogue E6 film on a mountain top near where I live. I found it transports the transition from earth/ground to the sky that will continue.  The flags usually contain prayers for prosperity, peace and so on. Something positive. That reminded me of what I wanted to express with this album. The original was in colour, but I desaturated it. That just felt right. I guess it symbolizes that one can find the positive aspects in a picture of tristesse. The original with colours is up on bandcamp though.

7.With this project you record everything by yourself but have experience working with other musicians, how would you compare the two?

-In my humble experience, working by yourself is simpler, more streamlined and faster. 

8.You also have experience working with other genres of music in your other projects, do you feel this has made you a better musician?

-Definitely! I could NEVER limit myself to one genre of music. That would be the death of all my creativity. I'm glad I had the chance to experience a multitude of different styles, even bits of jazz. That was amazing! I hope to be able to explore more. 

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

-No. I didn't bother to look. This project doesn't have any commercial potential from what I see. Besides, two albums are not a track record that can convince a label to pump any amount of cash into it. And without that it's going pretty much nowhere.

10.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of post black metal?

-I have read a couple of good comments and some reviews. Some folks seemed to enjoy it. That's more than I could ever ask for and the sole reason why I even bother to share any of it. It was worth putting in the time and effort, that's for sure!

11.What is going on with your other musical projects these days?

-I'm in the great position to be involved in more bands/projects than ever before. it's all easy-going stuff, by hobbyists like me and it doesn't eat me up. I have "Rodtgod", another solo project of mine, then there is a sludge band I co-founded in 2013 and two musical collectives I play bass in. One isn't out yet, the other just released a live record and another one of those is coming out soon. Lot's of great times with great people. I honestly never felt better than now. The world can be pretty shit at times but it is also what you make with, and out of it. It's not easy and it ain't guaranteed. But doing the work and setting your mind straight can get you places. I stoically made/make music without caring about the outcome and now I can share that in several projects of which I couldn't be more proud to be a part in. That is, among others, also one of the core beliefs you can extract from the album "II".

12.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician during the future?

-I don't care. I don't have any ambitions other than making music and releasing it if it turns out somewhat good. I don't care about looking too much into the future just as I don't care about the past. Doesn't help the present too much. I like being in the moment, seeing what comes up in my mind around me and then grabbing it by the tail. I hope we get the chance to talk about that in the future, but I can't tell for sure if the sounds I will come up with will suit you. That being said; whatever may come, I let it happen and see!

13.What are you listening to nowadays?

-I'm currently not listening to that much music. Mostly podcasts of a lot of different kinds. But one new album I liked was the latest "Wilderun" album. As fast as Black Metal goes, I only listened to the latest "Funeral Mist". Then there was the new "Wiegedood", but I'm still trying to wrap my head around that one. The new "Voivod" album seems promising. But I haven't checked that out yet. 

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

-When I try to get myself to share either of the above, I usually can't get anything out of me. Therefore, to say it in the words of Wim Hof; "Just be in the moment." 

Aside from that, thanks for taking the time and I hope it was as interesting for you, as it was for me. Thank you and take care!