Avrigus - Beauty and Pain

Avrigus, hailing fom Sydney Australia has existed for many years, and I have yet to hear of their name until now. That is not surprising however, since Beauty and Pain is their first release in nearly 10 years! The band consists of two main members, Simon Gruer (guitars/drums/keys) and Megan Robins (vocals/keys) also featured is Lee Tassaker (bass) and Vanessa Black (Violin) courtesy of Lycanthia.

Beauty and Pain features five songs, two of which are instrumental interludes that intersect the other three songs. The EP has a dark sort of goth doom tone to it combining a good mix of soft sections with heavy brutality and incorporating synth, strings and violin solos as featured in the song 'Banquet of Souls'. The guitars are nice and heavy, and the bass often uses an overdrive to add to the heaviness.

The title and opening track 'Beauty and Pain' builds itself up into a nice heavy melodic piece of music, featuring a string quartet and harps. The first instrumental song, 'Mudita', reminded me a lot of Opeth in some ways with the type of melodies and instruments used. It has a very watershed era acoustic vibe to it, which I found myself really enjoying. It added a nice happy interlude from the somewhat down-tempo gothic style of the previous track.

'Banquet of Souls' is an inspiring symphonic doom piece that leads in to a film score like instrumental before ending the EP on the mostly-acoustic song 'Reborn. As a whole this CD is excellent and a must have for any fan of Draconian, Opeth, Katatonia or general fans of this type of genre. The only disappointments I can think of regarding the release is that it is digital only.

Beauty and Pain is available now through the band's official page.

Mat N.

Review: 29/08/10 Altars of Death 2010 half dayer: Desecration, Dead Beyond Buried, Infestation + Support

The death metal scene in the UK has been working particularly hard over the past few years to reinvigorate itself and gain a bit of momentum, and happily we are now beginning to see the results of the collective effort, with many more hardworking bands from the UK finally gaining slots on the large European festival circuits and younger bands supporting some of the genres true international heavyweights. As a celebration of this, the Altars of Death festival at the Purple Turtle in Central London showcases a varied selection of those bands old and new who have been contributing to the movement, and making a name for death metal in the UK both locally and overseas.

We get into the venue just as one such new band, Decrepid, begin their set, and a super smooth, almost decibel-perfect sound balance does very well to polish what is in reality a well executed but fairly anonymous mix of thrash and old school death metal. The London based band blast through several songs with enough aggression to keep things interesting, but ultimately there isn’t enough creativity here to leave you wanting more once their set finishes. Still, though, by no means a bad start to the day.

Flayed Disciple continue very much in the same vein of thrash and death metal, although their offering feels more incendiary than Decrepid’s. The band, again, benefit from a very good sound mix, but there is a tightness and passion behind the music that drives the band’s performance (and is probably what got them their place on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock this year). The thunderous cover of ‘Angel of Death’ was a nice way to round the set off, and hopefully they will be making their way up from the South West to come and play the bars of London again soon. They will be more than welcome.

Hunger struck just before Basement Torture Killings were about to start, so after getting some food we rejoined the melee in time to catch Gorebound. Taking the stage wearing surgical gowns and covered in blood, the hopes of a tight deathgrind assault were immediately crunched against the dashboard in a complete musical car crash. For the first time, oddly, the sound is all over the place; all members of the band are on vocals, yet only two of them are properly audible (leaving us with one average and one truly terrible vocalist). Aside from the poor mixing, this was all a bit boring. At times the band only seemed half interested in what was going on, and there was very little songwriting on show, each song feeling like a rough copy of the one before it, which is not something you would expect from a band that boasts ex-Gorerotted members as part of its line up. The band needs to spend a bit more time together in the rehearsal room before trying to pull something off like this live. I need a beer…

Fleshrot have been one of the more reliable exports of brutal death metal in the UK, endlessly performing shows around the country and, most notably, being offered a slot at Neurotic Death Fest in the Netherlands last year. They have clearly benefitted from all this touring experience, blitzing through tracks from their latest album ‘Traumatic Reconfiguration’ with a real professional intensity and grit. Fleshrot’s music, although not quite technically mindblowing, contains plenty of hooks and tempo changes that prevent the material on display from feeling one dimensional, and it translates seamlessly from CD into the live arena. Thankfully we witness a very, very solid performance from the South Londoners that manages to reinstall a confidence in tonight’s event that hasn’t exactly been shaken, but has been questioned a couple of times so far during the proceedings. The final sentiment of “thanks for checking us out, we have some CDs at the back there, if you’re interested pick one up, because we need petrol money to get home” is testament to their work ethic, and it is safe to say that any money they received from tonight’s show is money well earned.

Infestation are hugely enjoyable to watch, and demonstrate why they have earned themselves a slot supporting the mighty Entombed at the up and coming Mammoth Fest this September. A thoroughly inebriated David Samuel, clutching a microphone in his right hand and a crutch in his left, proceeds to growl and bark his way through a brilliant set of old school death metal that plays by new school rules; the Morbid Angel meets Cannibal Corpse groove is a good mix of fun and musicality in equal measure, all of which is tight and efficiently played. Admittedly, there isn’t too much else that can be taken away from this set, and aside from the drunken antics at the hands of David Samuel, and Jamie Ilsley looking positively possessed as he screeches out the backing vocals, the rest of their show passes without much incident, but Infestation are responsible for cementing this entire evening firmly back in my favour.

By now, it is late and most people are fairly drunk. It’s Sunday, and we are all beginning to think about train timetables and cups of tea. What the evening definitely does not need is a slightly monotonous, sludgy set from London’s Dead Beyond Buried that doesn’t really do anything apart from delay the introduction of the evening’s headliners. It’s not that their music is inherently bad, as such, but there isn’t much here that we haven’t heard a fair few times before, and their brand of blackened death metal feels a little pedestrian in light of what has gone before them already this evening. On a smaller billing they might have stood out a little more, but if I’m being honest, Dead Beyond Buried need a bit more muscle behind their delivery to set them apart from the rest of the pack.

When in need of some reliable music, listen to Desecration. Waltzing onto the stage to Tom Jones’ “Delilah”, they blast into their brand of simple yet unassailably aggressive death metal. Genuinely pleased to be back in London, they grind through a set comprised of both older and more recent material (although the differences between the two are practically non-existent), with crowd pleasers such as “When The Heart Stops Beating” and “Bacterial Breakdown” serving as ‘the hits’ of the setlist. Some believe that watching Desecration isn’t the most varied of experiences, which is a fair criticism: it’s fast and it’s brutal, nothing else. But by the same token, the moment Desecration express a shred of progressive influence is the moment they lose their fan base; no one listens to this band for the melodic passages, and the final salvoes of ‘Aim, Fire, Kill’ should convince most of you that this is exactly how it should be.

This was an important gig for UK death metal. It was a great night out, but it also illustrated the fact that the movement right now is as successful as it is diverse, and we have a lot to be proud of in our local scenes as well as our internationally recognised acts. After a quick chat with some of the band members, I leave the venue full of optimism for the younger bands of death metal in the UK, but with plenty of faith in the old guard to pick up the baton should the youth fail to deliver.

Matt L

Review: Hellbringer - Forgery

I picked this release up at one of the bands shows when they were known as Forgery, but since then they have been signed to Iron Pegasus and as a result changed their name to Hellbringer so for the duration of this review I shall refer to the band as Hellbringer. This excellent collection of 6 classic style thrash songs was mastered by Harris Johns who is known for his previous work with Coroner, Kreator, Sodom and a bunch of other well known bands which has really worked in Hellbringer's favour. The overall sound of this record is awesome, the guitar tone is raw and powerful and really suits the style they are playing.

The record begins on an epic level with a short intro consisting of chanting and bells ringing out alongside other ambient sounds. As soon as the first riff of the title track 'Hellbringer' rings out, you know this is going be a fun ride down the old school thrash road. This record is certainly in the vein of most old thrash bands, and I'm sure if you're a fan of any or all of those bands I could mention, you would certainly enjoy this. 'The Banished' is a song I swear slayer could have conceived back in the day, particularly with the opening riff which instantly made me think of them for some reason. The vocals are very much suited to the style here too, with what you may consider to be the typical sort of thrash 'scream/growl'.

Each track is solid, fast and certainly played well by Hellbringer. The final song 'The Hammer' starts off sounding like an inversion of Unleashed's 'The Immortals' which was created well before Hellbringer were even thought to exist. Though the originality of their music is questionable, keep in mind that they are playing a genre that has endured many bands already and though they may carry a sound similar to countless other bands, they have added their own twist to the music which makes it very listenable and memorable.

Hellbringer's debut EP is a great introduction to the band, and of this is anything to go by, they are sure to get even better as they grow. Forgery is available for order from the band's Myspace page.


Album: Forgery
Year: 2009
Label: Inedependant
Country: Australia

Tracklisting:

1. Intro
2. Hellbringer
3. The Banished
4. The Rapture
5. Spawns Of The Void
6. The Hammer

www.myspace.com/hellbringeraus

This review is also on Voltage Media.
Review by Mat

The Third Degree - Redmist Destruction

This weeks "The Third Degree" is with Dawson and Ryan, guitarists with English thrashers Redmist Destruction.

T. - How long have you been playing together?

Dawson - I and Ryan have always jammed and learnt music together but it wasn’t until October 2008 we had a practise as a full band. We turned down going to see Municipal Waste and wrote a couple of songs instead. We’ve been active since Nov 2009.

T. - How did you meet?

Dawson - The local music scene and previous bands we were all in. Ryan’s known John since they were 4 years old however.

T. - What kind of gear do you use?

Dawson - We use Ltd/Esp guitars, Peavy and Engl guitar heads, Marshall Cabinets, Warwick Bass and Tama drums.

T. - Is there an album that inspired you to join a band?

Ryan - We’re not gonna make out we’re hard as f**k and say “Reign in Blood” by Slayer or “Master of Puppets” haha, despite them being influences. But the albums that made us want to be in a band were for me “The Offspring – Americana”.

Dawson - “Green Day – Dookie.” I was 10 at the time.

T. - What was the last album you bought?

Ryan - August Burns Red – Constellations.

Dawson – Make Do And Mend – Bodies Of Water

T. - What do you think of downloading music?

Dawson - I download music all the time! I don’t see a problem with it seen as half the bands I listen to encourage it. I support every band I listen to if I don’t buy their album, I’ll buy heaps of merch instead.

Ryan - I don’t mind, but I always buy albums more than download them.

T. - Who would you say was your personal biggest influence?

Dawson - Musically, my personal biggest influence is a band called As I Lay Dying, they’ve been my favourite band for as long as I’ve been into metal.

Ryan - Slayer.

T. - If you could trade places with another musician for a day, who would it be and why?

Dawson - For me, probably James Hetfield just to have that control over huge crowds, and to front the biggest metal band in the world!

Ryan - Same haha. When you can make 80,000+ people do whatever you want... I’d think that would be fun to do for the day.

T. - If you weren’t playing in a band, what do you think you’d be doing instead?

Dawson - I actually don’t know cos it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I’d probably just be wishing I was in a band.

Ryan - I would continue training to be a biomedical scientist doing a s**tty 9-5.

T. - Where do you think the best metal is coming from at the moment?

Dawson - I actually have no idea, it depends what we hear and what we like. There are too many awesome bands to say a certain place. I can only say Earth!

T. - If you could only eat one kind of food, would it be savoury or sweet?

Dawson - Savoury, I f**king love crisps way too much. Chocolate and s**t gets boring.

T. - What’s your favourite movie?

Dawson - Power Rangers the Movie or Wayne’s World 1!

Ryan - Terminator 2 – ALWAYS NUMBER 1.

T. - What was the last live show you went to (not including your own)?

Ryan - I saw our friends in While She Sleeps at the Plug in Sheffield the other day at their album launch.

Dawson - I saw my friends band Summerlin in Leeds last.

T. - What do you have lined up next?

Dawson - Tour and a show with Bonded By Blood prior to that. We’ve nearly finished our album so that should be complete soon.

T. - Why should people check out your band?

Dawson - Because we’re genuine about doing what we do and aim to be at the forefront of UK thrash in the future! We have a laugh and encourage people to come head bang and hang out with us. We’re not d**kheads either! You’ll get a free CD to prove it!

For more information on the band, and to see where you can catch them on tour in the UK, head on over to their Myspace page at:
www.myspace.com/redmistdestruction

Hannah

The Third Degree - Facehandle

This weeks "The Third Degree" is with Jam, vocalist and lead guitarist for Scottish punks Facehandle.

T. - How long have you been playing together?

Jam - About 2 years, I doubt anyone in the band can remember exactly when we started.

T. - How did you meet?

Jam - We all met through a love of punk rock and getting mashed.

T. - Is there an album that inspired you to join a band?

Jam - Nah, not really. Just love making noise eh.

T. - What was the last album you bought?

Jam - Facehandle by Facehandle

T. - What do you think of downloading music?

Jam - I think even though people download music there's still enough people out there buying the albums to make up for the loss of money. It’s not about the money anyway.

T. - Who would you say was your personal biggest influence?

Jam - Life, my mates and family......and probably Leatherface.

T. - If you could trade places with another musician for a day, who would it be and why?

Jam - Myself cause I wonder what it's like to be him.

T. - If you weren’t playing in a band, what do you think you’d be doing instead?

Jam - Flinging myself about and slavering on myself.

T. - Where do you think the best metal/alternative rock is coming from at the moment?

Jam - Edinburgh's scene is alright, Glasgow too. I know there are good things happening down south like Wales and Manchester.

T. - If you could only eat one kind of food, would it be savoury or sweet?

Jam - Savoury, I'm sweet enough.

T. - What would you do if someone gave you a dildo to sign?

Jam - Stick it up my arse and sign it in s**t.

T. - What’s your favourite movie?

Jam - Blade Runner. "TIME TO DIE!!!!!"

T. - What was the last live show you went to (not including your own)?

Jam - It'll have been a local band like SPAT or DADDY NO. Last big show I was at was GBH.

T. - What do you have lined up next?

Jam - Cramond Island of Punk on August 14th, few other gigs comin up too, check our page www.myspace.com/facehandle.

T. - Why should people check out your band?

Jam - Coz we like to have a laugh. Catchy songs and we'll make yer eyes bleed. 1 2 3 AAAAAH!

Facehandle will also be playing Sneaky Petes in Edinburgh on the 2nd of September, Banshee Labyrinth (also in Edinburgh) on the 23rd and Mucky Mulligans in Perth on the 24th. For more information on the band, head over to their Myspace page at: www.myspace.com/facehandle

Hannah

Review: Bleakwood - Blood & Faith 7" (2010)

Bleakwood is a one man black metal band from Sydney, Australia conceived by Dan Nahum (Ironwood, Sword Toward Self, Infinitum, Greed & Rapacity). Blood & Faith is Bleakwood's second release (if you count the previous demo cd) - and a very limited one at that as a 7" vinyl of only 150 hand numbered pressings. The fact that this release is on vinyl only may seem like a drawback, however with it was included a link to download the songs as MP3s - which in my opinion is awesome since as a collector I can leave the vinyl unplayed and mint!

Blood & Faith is the first of the two songs on this release followed by Disruption Hymn, and as to be expected there is no farting around here. This is straight up black metal chaos! Both songs display a great display of talent through all instruments, which for a one guy band is quite impressive. But forgetting that this is only one guy - the music itself is really quite unlike most black metal I have heard (such as Immortal, Hades, Burzum and the like). Unlike the mentioned bands, it doesn't have the (comparatively) simple structures/riffs or drum beats you'd come to expect from the genre. It is rather tense, yet aggressive, with the use of dissonance and odd counter melodies, which I find makes this so unique and interesting.

It is still heavily based on uber fast tremolo picked riffs that tend to blend into noise, though the guitar sound still allows you to hear the riff as opposed to not - and it does have some nice 'breakdowns' so to speak. Disruption Hymn features a really cool section towards the end which brings the attention to the string section; which initially blends in quite well with the guitars and bass. It's a rather tense and unsettling section - mostly void of guitar - which builds itself up to an abrupt and chaotic ending for such a short display of musical proficiency.

Though this release lacks in quantity with both songs being under 4 minutes in length; I find this is made up to the listener with the quality and intriguing aspects of these songs. Bleakwood is a band I'd highly recommend to anyone after something differently awesome in metal.

You can check it out for yourself on Bleakwood's Myspace page where there are excerpts from each track and the Bleakwood Demo in its entirety.

http://www.myspace.com/bleakwood

Mat

Interview with Oblivion's Eye

Foraging through the wilderness that is Myspace, I stumbled upon a band by the name of Oblivion’s Eye. A young Canadian band who have just released their debut album, I felt that these newcomers needed to be exposed to a greater audience, and managed to nab an interview with them!

T. - I found your page on Myspace, and I thought you had a good sound from the tracks on there. Do you find Myspace a good way to promote your music, or do you feel that Myspace has had its day?

Damian - I'd say MySpace is still pretty relevant. Personally, I don't think we would have reached as broad an audience as we have without it. It's a great tool for new bands to be heard, and for old bands to establish new fans. If someone tells me to listen to something, MySpace or YouTube are almost always the first place I'll go.

Brad - Yeah, I think Myspace is probably the best way for any band to be able to promote itself. It's just easy to reference someone to your Myspace page, or YouTube channel.

T. - You formed in January 2010, and released your debut album “Radiance” in June, that’s quite a short period of time, which is pretty impressive! Had you played together before, or was there just a good understanding of what direction you wanted to go in with your musical style?

Brad - Well, Damian and I have been playing music together since high school, trying to form bands and such. But we were fairly immature as artists, and it didn't help that the island doesn't have much in the way of musicians. After I had finished school, we got together and figured we had to get our s**t in gear or we weren't going to go anywhere, so we formed a melodic death metal band with my brother on vocals and some other guy on bass... That didn't quite work out, so we broke that up. Then one night we were playing together and we wrote Astral Projection, and the album just sorta took off from there.

T. - What kind of response have you had to the album?

Damian - Surprisingly positive to be honest. I think we both knew that we were on to something when we first started writing, but it's gone over a lot better than we ever hoped.

T. - Did you record and produce it yourselves?

Damian - The recording process was a bit of a weird one, actually. We have a friend by the name of Jess Tipton (he also plays drums and did all of the clean vocals on the album) who lives in Saskatchewan. We recorded our tracks here and then sent him the files to be mixed.

Brad - It was a royal pain in the a*s.

Damian - A royal pain in the a*s is an understatement. We probably ended up recording the album 3 times in total, haha.

T. - Three times? Ouch!

Damian - Yeah, he picked us apart, but the final product was well worth the criticism and hard work.

Brad - We've definitely evolved as musicians because of the whole experience.

T. - There are only the two of you in Oblivion’s Eye at the moment; are there plans to secure yourself a full line up in the near future? Are you wanting to play shows or is this just a recorded musical project?

Brad - Well we've definitely wanted to play shows, but out here it's very difficult to find drummers and bassists that like the same kind of music, and can play it as well. The current plan is to move out to Saskatchewan and start playing with Jess, considering he's probably the best fit for a drummer we could ever find.

T. - You note Devin Townsend, Strapping Young Lad and Jeff Loomis as influences, what else influences you as a band and as individuals?

Brad - Well musically, I think Devin Townsend has to be the biggest influence towards our style. He has a very wide variety of sounds, but the particular ambience style he created has a huge influence on a lot of the stuff we've done on “Radiance”, and the stuff we've written after. Also, the stage presence he has live is incredible, and it's definitely the sort of thing we're going to go for live as well. Also, bands such as Loomis, Mastodon, The Amenta, A Perfect Circle, etc, have a big effect on what we write. All of the different styles they have play a role in what we write. As an individual, I'd have to say death metal, and watching the comedy channel for hours on end are my influences.

Damian - I think we've managed to craft a sound that is entirely our own in spite of whatever influences we may be drawing on, and I think that's important to include. Furthermore, a lot of our content has a surreal nature to it and we're both very interested in that kind of thing. I'm personally influenced by life in general. I'm sure that's the most clichéd answer anyone could possibly give. But, if I've had a shit day at work or something, I'll come home and beat the fuck out of my guitar for a while. There again, sometimes it's just nice to go to the river and let the positive vibes flow, man...

T. - I found it quite difficult to think of questions to ask you, you don’t give much away about yourselves on your Myspace or Facebook pages; is that so we concentrate on your music, or is the mystery of who Oblivion’s Eye are a sneaky ploy to make us more intrigued?

Damian - Haha! Well, I'd like to tell you there’s something to it, but we're just not really that interesting! I did read quite a while ago that Tool likes to reveal as little of themselves as possible, so that the music is what you focus on and I find that quite admirable. Having said that, though, our pages could probably use some revamping...

Brad - I think in a lot of the stuff we do though, we try to focus on the music we have. Hell, most of the songs we write, we keep the lyrics minimal, so the song itself can come through more.

T. - Coming from Canada, do you feel that there is a good strong metal scene there, or do you feel Canadian metal bands are overshadowed by your southern neighbours in the United States?

Brad - Well, the metal scene isn't too bad here. I mean, Devin came from right here in BC so it can't be too bad for the musicians. But out here in Nanaimo/Qualicum it's pretty minimal, which is one of the reasons we're leaving. Every show I've played here I've had the same group of 10-20 metal heads come, and I've probably met all of the bands in the area. Not saying they're not good shows, but it'd be nice to have a better ratio between drunken old guys and moshing metal fans.

Damian - Yeah, I agree. There are a lot of talented bands on Vancouver Island, but there really isn't a lot of opportunity short of loading all your s**t on to a ferry and going over to the mainland.

T. - So for you it's perhaps more a location within Canada than Canada itself that might hold you back?

Damian - Yeah, for sure. There's a lot of great talent in Canada, but our location in particular is almost always neglected.

T. - What is the future for Oblivion’s Eye? I noticed that you have a “Sign Me To” page on Roadrunner Records site, is that your main goal?

Brad - Well a label is definitely a good direction to go, but that’s probably gonna be a bit down the road. We're mostly going to try and establish more of a presence around Canada and on the internet to start with.

Damian - Yeah, the Roadrunner Records thing was just a shot in the dark. I guess that's how they're seeking out bands these days, and we figured we would put ourselves up there just for the hell of it.

T. - If people want to get a hold of your album, where can they purchase it from?

Damian - You can purchase the album directly from our MySpace page for sixteen Canadian loonies ($16, in other words)

Brad - Or 16 live birds, which ever is easiest for you.

Damian - Yeah, we'll accept 16 live birds as payment. I appreciate craftiness.

Head over to their Myspace page to listen to a couple of the tracks from "Radiance" at www.myspace.com/oblivionseyeband, they're certainly a band I will be keeping an eye on (ho ho)!!!

Hannah

Interview with Ol Drake from Evile

Just when you thought thrash had seen its heyday 'Transition.' managed to get some brief words from Evile's bearded monster Ol Drake. Take heed:

(You can also play the 'drink every time you see the word “metal” or “thrash”' game)

T. - How are moods in the band concerning the up-coming set at this year's Bloodstock festival?

Ol Drake - The mood in the band is very up. We've been working hard in reigning Joel in on the bass front, and we're feeling a lot more solid and tight as a band now. We're working on playing a song we haven't played live yet, so we can't wait to do that. ("Metamorphosis")

T. - Are you more into smaller venue where you can really interact with the crowds or do you like the sheer volume and exposure of bigger gigs/festivals?

Ol Drake - I think they both have their individual charm. You can't beat being up close and intimate with a crowd in smaller venues. At the bigger shows it's an amazing experience to be playing to so many people who are enjoying what you're doing, and you're enjoying their appreciation and enjoyment. Such a great feeling. To conclude, as long as we're playing, I don't think we mind, small show or big show!

T. - This year saw your first tour of the US with Kreator. Did you feel right at home playing in the birthplace of thrash metal?

Ol Drake - At first it was very daunting. The US is such a huge place that it was quite a lot to take in at first. Touring Europe is a lot different to touring the US. The distances are huge. Other than that, it was quite a feeling to be in the places thrash was born.

T. - For newcomers to an Evile show what can audiences expect in terms of atmosphere?

Ol Drake - Simply, they can expect an honest, pure metal show put on by fans of the music. No gimmicks, no b******t, just a full-on metal atmosphere that band and audience share in.

T. - Where do you foresee thrash's future? Do you think it will make a significant return like in the days of yore with the Bay Area bands?

Ol Drake - I think because of the state of the music industry today, thrash and similar kinds of metal will struggle to make it that huge again, but I hope I'm wrong! I'd have loved to be into this music when it was that huge. Metal is such an overlooked and under-appreciated form of music, but it's charm is it doesn't mind being underground.

T. - What's next for Evile after this year's touring?

Ol Drake - We've already started writing our third album, but after (and during) all our touring, we'll be putting our efforts into writing. We didn't spend enough time on "Infected Nations" and we learnt from that, so we're going to put our all into the next one. Other than that just work on getting our music as far and wide as we can! Would love to make it to the eastern side of the earth and to all the places people wanna see us.

T. - Aside from thrash bands such as Slayer and Metallica are there are any acts that influence you that fans may not expect? Anything that may seem out of place with Evile?

Ol Drake - In the metal vein I'm very inspired by Obituary. There's something about their simplistic approach to such an extreme style of music that just amazes me. They say more with a simple 3 chord riff than some modern technical bands can say with 100 notes. Away from the metal world, I'm very inspired by Gentle Giant and Yes, Frederic Chopin and Miles Davis.

T. - How has Joel (bassist) settled into the band since joining last December? Any band habits he's had to get used to?

Ol Drake - It's taking it's time, which we expected it would, but the great thing is he's a nice guy. We get on with him and he's a great bassist. We've actually had to get used to his sleep walking. Some very entertaining stories, especially one of him walking naked in a hotel forgetting which room he's in.

T. - During your acceptance speech of the "Metal as F**k" award you mentioned that to be metal one needs a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich. What if I add crumpets into the equation?

Ol Drake - Crumpets are more rock, but that wouldn't hurt at all. I think too much is put into being "Metal", we take pride in not being typically "Metal". I'd rather be able to 100% play my instrument than only be able to slightly play it and be wasted 24/7. I've never heard stories of drugs making people immortal, it's always the opposite, so why bother?

T. - Any closing statements or last words for Transition. readers?

Ol Drake - If you like your metal very metal-y, check Evile out for some pure, honest metal from pure metal fans! Check out our latest "Infected Nations!", we have a redux version out in September with lots of extras and goodies.

Evile will be playing the Ronnie James Dio stage at this year's Bloodstock Festival on Saturday 14th August. Their current album “Infected Nations” [2009] is available through Earache Records.

By Andrew Heaton

The Third Degree - Vlad In Tears

This weeks "The Third Degree" is with Lex, guitarist for Italian rockers Vlad In Tears.

T. - How long have you been playing together?

Lex: Well, we are all brothers, and I mean REAL brothers. I do remember the first time we played together was at a family party, and we were almost 10 years old!!! Really, the first gift from our parents was a piano, so we started to learn music. So, it’s the case to say “a life spent in music”!!!

T. - How did you meet?

Lex: To be honest, we met in the same house… One day we realized we had the same parents, the same dogs, the same bedroom… Heheheh! We grew up together honey!!!

T. - Is there an album that inspired you to join a band?

Lex: The first album we had the chance to listen to was a vinyl in our father collection. It was “Led Zeppelin IV”, a great album. Since then we’ve listen every album we can… from the 50s until the modern age. It was music that inspired us to join a band and, to be honest we live in a very small city, so the best thing to do was to join a band!!!!

T. - What was the last album you bought?

Lex: Let me think about. Oh, yes, “Origin of Symmetry” by Muse! They are amazing!!! But during the last year we’ve bought just albums from the UK, your country is the best in the world!!!

T. - What do you think of downloading music?

Lex: We guess that musicians themselves don’t really need money from albums. You know, the labels really only give the bands few pence for each album sold. The problem is that they want to get richer and richer. Downloading music will be the only chance for the bands to survive in the global crisis. If you produce your music by yourself, it won’t cost you enough to say “Ok, I want to sell this album for 20€”. There is no reason to do it. Musicians have to be musicians, and they need to understand that the world is in a great crisis, so people really have no money even to buy food. So what about the future of albums? What about the future of labels? If people don’t buy music I mean. See, the main problem is there is not a great and powerful underground scene or movement. If the venues start to pay the bands again (even a hundreds pounds), if people start again to go to gigs to see unknown bands, than the bands would be able to survive with live gigs, and merchandising, and probably they would give their albums out for free; starting from the digital stores. The problem is that even the live scene is under control of strange and confused business regulations. It’s easy to say “Hey, why the hell do I have to pay your music? You are no one”, but don’t forget that music, for many people (and I don’t mean the great acts) it’s the only way to pay the rent. If people download music for free, if venues don’t pay the live performances, if people don’t go to the gigs, I guess in less than 5 years, the underground scene, at least, will be f**ked!!! The problem, at the moment, is not for the great and millionaire acts. Nope, it’s for the underground or upcoming bands. Maybe, the best thing would be to say “Yes, download our music for free, but then come to see us live” and ask the venues to PAY the bands!

T. - Who would you say was your personal biggest influence?

Lex: As I already told you, it would be hard for me to say “this one, or that one”. We listen to all kinds of music, and we are influenced by all the music we listen to!

T. - If you could trade places with another musician for a day, who would it be and why?

Lex: Well, I don’t know. The problem is that all these musicians seem to be so damn sad in the end. By the way, I’d like to trade place with Bon Jovi. He has a great mind and a great life.

T. - If you weren’t playing in a band, what do you think you’d be doing instead?

Lex: Probably producing bands, trying to help young bands to find a little place in this world. We love to produce bands. We’ve worked with many. The problem is that people find it easy to say “yes, I wanna be a rock star”, but in the end they are not ready to suffer for this dream; and yes, you have to suffer a lot!

T. - Where do you think the best metal/alternative rock is coming from at the moment?

Lex: Honestly? I guess there is an amazing underground scene from the UK. Alternative rock is coming from the US too, but you know they are used to be more concentrated on the ShowBiz side, and not on the music, which is a good thing in a commercial point of view, but instead of the English acts, who pay more attention on the music, they are all the copy of the others. I’ve listened to some people around talking about an amazing band coming from Italy… Vlad In Tears… do you know ‘em?!?!?!? Hahahahaaha!!!!!

T. - If you could only eat one kind of food, would it be savory or sweet?

Lex: As you know, we are from Italy, so, this is the reign of savory food. But hey, I could live without everything but our Real Italian Food!!!!! And wine!!!!!

T. - What would you do if someone gave you a dildo to sign?

Lex: Would be hard just to find the right way to sign it because you know, the best would be to let the sigs be visible during the “self practice”… Hahahahaaha!!! But hey, if that happened, I hope it’ll be big enough to contain all our sigs!!!!!!

T. - What’s your favourite movie?

Lex: The favourite ever? Pulp Fiction… the favourite, at the moment, is “Rec”, an amazing, low budget, horror movie!!!! It’s the best example of how to make a great thing without millions of Euros!!! You know, to write a best seller you just need a pen, and paper; not a 3000€ pen and golden copybook!!!

T. - What was the last live show you went to (not including your own)?

Lex: Green Day!!!! Amazing!!!

T. - What do you have lined up next?

Lex: So you want me to discover our secrets?!?!? Hehehe… no, sorry, I cannot say anything more about the future! But maybe, one thing, we’ll be again hitting the streets, ‘cause during the last year we dedicated too much time to the recording studio, and we miss our fans!!!

T. - Why should people check out your band?

Lex: That’s easy! ‘Cause we are one of the last TRUE bands around. We don’t act like stars (and you know, even the unknown are prone to act), we always get in touch with our fans and friends, even on MySpace, cause we love to know what the people think, how they feel, almost everyday! Being on our friend’s list, means to be in a family… Ask around, and you’ll see that I’m not lying! See? Another good reason to check us out: we never lie!!!!!!!!!

Check out Vlad In Tears Myspace for further information, a preview of their music and a couple of UK tour dates at: http://www.myspace.com/vladintears

Hannah

Review: Adyta – Rose of Melancholy EP (2009)

Adyta is the brainchild of one Joakim Severinsen and Rose of Melancholy is the band's first EP. The band plays symphonic metal with classical female vocals... no no no! Wait! Don't close your browser just yet because this band actually manages the almost impossible task of sounding a bit different to the Epica and Nightwish clones that have flooded the market in recent times.

Ok, the EP starts off in typical fashion with a symphonic intro after which the usual sounding guitars come in for the first proper track The Ophidian's Tongue. However, what is great about this album is that the guitars actually start to sound like real METAL guitars. They develop a fantastically heavy bite and have some quality riffs. In places the whole musical feel of the album actually becomes more akin to a symphonic black metal album with furious drumming over lightning riffing.

However, this is not the only way in which Adyta distinguishes itself from the crowd. The growling male vocals, courtesy of Severinsen himself, are unlike anything else I've ever heard in my experience of this female-fronted symphonic metal style. Quite honestly if you were to put these vocals into a brutal, raw black metal band they wouldn't sound out of place. They are incredibly rasping and immediately hold your attention because they are a far cry from the typical average death metal style growling heard in most 'beauty and the beast' bands. These vocals are a perfect counterpoint to the enchanting vocals of ex-Visions of Atlantis frontwoman Melissa Ferlaak, being so unspeakably brutal and horrifying it truly is like listening to Angels and Demons engaging in a singing contest!

I have to hand it to Adyta. Whilst they still fit nicely into the female-fronted symphonic metal niche they have managed to do what 99% of other bands have failed to do and actually produce a fresh sounding record which is interesting, well-produced and high quality.

Unfortunately it seems that Melissa Ferlaak was only a session member rather than a full member of the band so we will have to wait and see if her replacement is up to scratch. Fortunately, a new EP is scheduled to be released this year. Hopefully the band will continue in the direction put forward on this EP and it won't be too long before a record deal and a full album appears.

Mike T

9/10

To find out more about the band, visit their Myspace page http://www.myspace.com/adyta

Interview with Jose from Bonded By Blood

Recently, I was given the opportunity by Transition. to interview Jose Barrales, lead singer of California thrashers, Bonded By Blood, who are signed to the Earache label.

After some difficulties with the Glaswegian-American language barrier, the interview got started.

T. – So my first question is: How did you guys get started and form the band?

JB - I think it was 2005. I had just got out of a punk/crossover band I was in. I just started looking for other musicians around town. The first one I found was Alex, our guitarist. He was looking to start an old school Heavy Metal band, not necessarily thrash, and we just decided to get together and see what happened. Then it was just sort of a year or so of us writing music. Then finally we found our drummer, he had been kicked out of a Metallica cover band. All the other guys were older and told him that he was too young to be in the band being only 13 or 14 at the time. We took the chance and we asked him and he was the first guy we tried out. We talked to some other guys, but they wanted to do hardcore or deathcore and stuff like that. He actually knew our old bassist Ruben from some sort of girl band. So he said “I know this bassist, you wanna try him out”. So we said, “Yeah, sure,” and we tried him out and he was good. He was a happy guy and we got along with him, he played bass really well. So we got him into the band. We had this line-up with just one guitarist for one year until we found Juan. We had been looking for another guitarist to fill out our sound and stuff. He had been kicked out of a death metal band, basically for being too good, y’know, doing solos and stuff and they didn’t want that. That was my chance to get him and say “Come and join us, you can put in as many solos as you want”. He came in and tried out and we got him in and we’ve had that line since 2005 up until Ruben left last year. He left for family things, and joined up to the army. Now we have Jerry. Jerry was our merch guy and our roadie, and knew most of our songs anyway so it was an easy transition.

T. – I read that you guys got a record deal through winning a battle of the bands competition. Had you been handing out demos to record companies and stuff or did the battle of the bands just happen?

JB – The battle of the bands thing was something that we never thought we would have won. We entered it being a band that didn’t even have any music together or complete songs or anything. That was the point where we became a serious band; we had just been a sort of jam band up until then. So we entered it and got some songs together, and we won $3000 and a recording... not a deal, but time in a recording studio. That’s when we recorded our first demo, Four Pints of Blood, it was just a bunch of songs we made up in the studio. We didn’t get a record deal until we made our second demo. We got a message from a rep at Earache asking us all these questions and we weren’t sure about it because it wasn’t from an official Earache email or website or nothing, just a random guy on Myspace, why’s he asking so many questions. But then eventually he contacted us on the official Earache email and was being serious which was just like... wow. We had never thought about being on a record label or anything like that we were just releasing our music by ourselves. At the same time a dude from another label was emailing us too but by that time Earache had already been treating us like family rather than just business, business, business.

T. – You guys have a new album coming out soon. Is it a concept album?

JB – Mhm, yeah. It’s based 600 years in the future and a cybernetic alien race have taken over the world and there’s a few humans trying to fight to win it back. That’s basically the story and you get to hear it all on Exiled to Earth, and I think we did a pretty good job.

T. – Cool, can we expect pretty much more of the same from the first album, or are there big changes?

JB- I think it’s a little bit different from the first album. It’s a bit of a step up, we still have the same main elements from the first one but we try to be a bit better on the second I guess. Better lyrics, better musically and it’s a bit more grown up but it still has that BBB sound.

T. – Yeah, the artwork looks really good, I was looking at it earlier.

JB – Yeah, the guy hasn’t done an album cover before. He’s more of a concept artist. He does a lot of things for movies and video games and comics. But when we saw his work we decided he had to do the album artwork. He’s really into the stuff we’re into, he’s done sci fi and video games and s**t like that. So we were like, “Hell yeah, he has to do the album artwork.” And he came up with a good one.

T. – How was the recording process for this album. Was it better/worse, more serious maybe?

JB – I think it was better. We came in more prepared than with the first album. We knew exactly what we wanted and the music was obviously a little more rehearsed. Our producer Ralph made us feel really comfortable with everything and I think he brought out the best in us.

T. – I’m just looking at your touring schedule, and it’s pretty busy. When was the last time you had a break?

JB – I think this is the longest break we’ve had, right now. I actually kinda happy, when August comes it’s just gonna be tour, tour, tour and probably no breaks until 2011. We’ll have a week or two off at home, but after that week it’s going back into touring and even on that week we might have to be somewhere else in the states and not even at home. So it’s gonna be kinda mayhem. But it’s cool man, it’s part of being in the band and we love to be there. Some bands hate being on the road, but I love it.

T. – Do you prefer being on the road to recording and doing that sort of stuff, or vice versa?

JB – I think it’s a different kind of love. I love both of them, but they’re just different. Of course, when you come up with new music and new songs you always want to hear it and how it sounds in the studio, as opposed to live, cause live can sound a lot different. But I love recording the music. It’s a whole different experience from actually being on the road and playing every day. That kinda vibe is cool too, you see kids and bands happy and whatnot and once you do the recording thing it’s a whole different story. It’s more of an accomplished feeling, but they’re both cool. I love ‘em both.

T. – I was going to ask what you do on your breaks, do you spend it with the band, or apart from them?

JB – When we do have breaks it’s mostly time spent with family. When you’re on the road you see the other guys every day, so when we do have breaks we don’t see the guys till the next tour.

T. – Do you have any favourite stories from the road or favourite tours you’ve had with other bands.

JB – I think, one of our favourite tours we’ve had so far, and nobody’s topped it, and we’ve had a bunch of tours was the tour we did in Europe with Gama Bomb. Those guys are f***ing funny. They know how to drink, f***ing amazing tour, good times. Half the stuff I don’t even remember from being so drunk or just f***ing partying all night. It was just an amazing tour, and I’ll never forget that. I love those guys and I’m glad they’re coming to the US and we’re gonna do a tour with them so it’s gonna be cool.

T. – Obviously one of your big influences is Exodus. What are your other major influences?

JB – I think it’s different for every guy in the band. But for me it has to be like... I’m really into lots of hardcore punk, and I’m really into crossover so DRI, Black Flag, Cryptic Slaughter. More of the thrashy wise it’s like Vio-lence, Forbidden, a lot of the California Bay-Area bands are a big influence on me.

T. – You’re coming to Bloodstock, are you ready for it and looking forward to it?

JB – Yeah, I’m really excited, it’s our first big festival and we’re playing the main stage. Just looking at all the other bands, it’s really cool, should be a great experience for us.

T. – How’s it been in the scene of the thrash revival, Municipal Waste, Evile, and obviously you mentioned Gama Bomb too. Have you all helped each other or has there been competition between all the Earache bands?

JB – I think it’s mostly friendly competition, if any competition at all. Most of us like each other’s music or try to one up each other. It’s all fun and games. I love the guys in the other bands, from Earache and also on other labels too, like Warbringer and Merciless Death and all the other New Wave of Thrash. We’re all trying to be a big family. I know there’s always guys that don’t like other bands for personal reasons or whatever, but mostly we’re a big happy family.

T. – Are you visiting any new places on this tour that you haven’t been before?

JB – I don’t think so. When we did the European tour with Gama Bomb I think we hit like 25 countries so it’s gonna be hard to top. [laughs].

T. – Cool, coming back to the UK, seeing as this is a UK based fanzine. What do you like in the UK as opposed to other places?

JB – Oh, I love it cause every time we’ve hit the UK it’s been really great. Places like London, Leeds, we’ve done some shows in Scotland. I one day want to hit Ireland, it’d be amazing. I’ve been trying to get Bonded By Blood into Ireland for a long time now, but I don’t know what happens, we never seem to get in there. I don’t love the UK more than anywhere else, but I do love it a lot.

T. We’ve got a question from one of our readers. What would you do if someone gave you a dildo to sign?

[After much explaning of the question]

JB – [Laughs] I dunno, I’d laugh, throw it away, throw it at the fan. [Laughs] That was a funny question.

T. – OK, I think that’s me. Thanks very much for your answers, and hopefully see you on your tour.

JB – OK, thanks man. Bye.

Bonded By Blood can be found at: www.myspace.com/bondedbyblood

You can find information on the new album, Exiled to Earth, which on 10^th August in the USA and 16^th August in UK and Europe. Also, if you’re at Bloodstock this year, don’t forget to check them out opening the main stage on the Sunday.

Cheers and Beers.

Tank