THE DEADSTATION's recent E.P called "Episode 01: Like Peering Into The Deepest Ocean Abyss" is by far one of the best albums I have heard this year. The Deadstation is a 3 piece band from North Chelmsford, MA which consists of Shjon Thomas (Guitar, Bass, Backing Vocals), Ryan Mattheu (Guitar), and Greg Murphy (Lead Vocals, Drums). The album also features a guest performance from Nathaniel Rendon (Keyboards). The album in whole tells a story that I can only assume is about "Love, Choices, Hopelessness, Temptation and Morality". Vocalist Greg Murphy comes at you with a refreshing style of power and tone that suits the band extremely well. He stands out by bringing a solid back bone to the music with his drumming, by using a percussionist style of fills with thunderous blast beats. Shjon Thomas and Ryan Mattheu's guitar style compliment each other so well you forget there are two guitarist. Their riffs and speed at which they play are brilliant throughout this entire album. Nathaniel Rendon's keyboard style brings an almost serene ambiance to the album that works so well for this band.

The first track of the album is the instrumental intro, Hundred Foot Drop. It has a very slow and melo feel with Gilmour like guitar layed over a smooth keyboard sound. Subsistence Defined, the second track, is where you find out that this band means business. Greg Murphy's style of drumming is so solid and hammering it leaves me wanting to play the drums myself. His vocals are clean and strong and very pleasing to the ear, his sound is all his own making you take notice of both his talents behind the kit and on the mic. Shjon Thomas and Ryan Mattheu also show their skill with riffs and leads that will surely melt your face. Their style is just what you would want from a progressive style of metal fast and clean and impressive!

The third track is Drugs For Pain Inside. This track, as the previous, is amazing to listen to. To me it has almost a RUSH feel that is completely their own.It is also the longest song on the album and just as aggressive and powerful as the one before it. Nathaniel Rendon gives this song an eerie melody with his keyboard styling. The lead in this track is once again impressive and blistering, yet soothing all at the same time. The lyrics are moving and very deep and made me feel as though it might hold a personal meaning to the band, which I liked a lot. And as a bassist my self I enjoyed the solid bass lines and technicality of Shjon Thomas throughout this entire album.

The Fourth and fifth tracks "August 4th - 3:21 AM" and "Anything But This, Anywhere But Here" are both amazing in lyrical content, I could relate to these tracks on a personal level. The music continued to be heavy and emotional, and captivating. The final two tracks "I Cannot Explain Myself Anymore" and "Slowly, But Surely, I'm Drowning" give me a sense of satisfaction with once again impressive guitar work, solid bass lines, great drumming, and timing.The album is mastered by Jens Borgen who has worked with Devin Townsend, Symphony X, and Opeth, and in knowing that I knew that this would be a great E.P.

Overall, I am beyond impressed by the work of these three men. This band is great and they seem to be on the right track. I hope to hear more from them in the future. THE DEADSTATION "Episode 01: Like Peering Into The Deepest Ocean Abyss" is a win for any music lover!


Rating: 10/10

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Reviewed By,

Derek Gann

Thrash metal has been one of the prominent sub-genres of metal since the 80s. From the powerful double bass, the face melting shred solos to the riffs that blend heaviness with punk and snarl vocals, thrash metal was the music that anyone could mosh to. Over the years, this genre has evolved and yet stayed stagnant in its own ways. On one hand, there are bands that blend melody or more heaviness with the genre and on the other hand, there are bands that stick to old school. Yet, one wouldn’t disagree to the fact that many of the bands from this genre sound repetitive, with those stereotyped thrash metal riffs and monotonous double bass blatantly chipped in with a random shred solo. Amidst this amalgamated state of the genre, there sprouts the rise of yet another legendary band’s masterpiece! Yes, Testament, the American thrash giants have come up with yet another spell bounding album, namely, “Dark Roots Of Earth”. 

This ripper of a record starts with the first track, “Rise Up”. It is one of those thrash metal songs that make you sing along. Not only does Testament go back to their old school style in this song, but they will also make you scream, “Rise up! War!” quite literally like you’re responding to Chuck Billy himself. Just when you reach the moment of screaming your lungs out and headbanging, Alex Skolnick, the unsung hero in the world of metal presents you with his benchmark melodic, long, and yet very fast guitar solo. Sounds great already? Well fasten your seat belts, because the album gets better. Just when you feel this couldn’t get any better, in “Native Blood”, the next track, Testament treats you with an energy packed, dynamite of a song. The song is intrinsically well synchronized with Gene Hoglan’s powerful double bass drumming and Alex’s two magical solos. 

This skillfully tailored album goes on to amaze you with something that sets apart Testament from every other thrash metal band. Variety. Songs like “Cold Embrace” are slow, with Chuck sounding less harsh and cradles you into the mood of a progressive track. The song gets heavier, while maintaining its slow pace and then descends into Alex’s beautiful solo while Eric Peterson plays a beautiful acoustic passage in the background. Tracks like “Man Kills Mankind” boasts of grim, but true lyrics. Greg Christian on the bass shows his bass slapping skills with some really commendable bass lines in “Last Stand For Independence” and a great intro in “A Day In The Death”. The track also features Chris Adler (Lamb Of God) on the drums. The album boasts of four bonus tracks which includes three covers. The first one is of the great classic rock band, Queen’s track namely, “Dragon Attack”. Just the fact that the band transformed this classic rock piece to a totally heavy, thrash metal song, shows their sheer class. Right from the drum solo by Gene, to the bass solo by Greg and that triple bonanza of solos by Alex marks this, as one of the best covers ever. The next cover was of another great rock band, the Scorpions’ track, “Animal Magnetism”. In my opinion, this was the only black spot in the album. The way they covered the song doesn't really suit the band as it is awkwardly heavy, and yet tries to sound classy and soft, basically failing in all terms. Lastly, their cover of the Iron Maiden masterpiece, "Powerslave", is just mind blowing. Other than sounding heavier, Alex gives his own tiny detailed touch to the solos which serves as pretty much, an icing on the cake. 

So this was pretty much what thrash metal needed this year. Dark Roots of Earth has not only managed to excel musically but it will also please the fans of both, that prefer, “The Legacy” and also the ones that prefer, “The Ritual”. Both the albums being very different, this one bridges a way in between them and balances it quite perfectly. My top three tracks in this album would be the one that was released first, the fast and brutal “True American Hate” that boasts of Alex’s mammoth sized solo, the progressive “Throne Of Thorns” which has some overtly technical riffs with another long solo by Skolnick, eventually descending into a beautiful outro, and to end with, "Cold Embrace" is like a tad bit heavier than the other well known slow song by them, namely, "Return To Serenity". Both the songs are similar and indicates shades of sorrow in them. Did I forget to mention Alex Skolnick’s great solo? Oh well, his sheer epitome of mastery is portrayed perfectly throughout the album, so needless to say, he was the stand out gem in this record. With so much to offer, I don’t think there is a valid reason for you not to buy the album. So go ahead, and fetch this mind blowing revival of a mind blowing band!

Rating – 9.25/10

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Reviewed By,

Vishaal Gollerkeri

Today we have 5 sinners who got together in 2004 to form a band, a religion..... Pioneer of dark, aggressive, sinful, wasted metal music in Chandigarh... Yes folks we have Wasted Soul on board today.

1. Hey Wasted Soul welcome to Metal Wani.

W.S. - Thanks for having us here.

2. Who came up with this name 'Wasted Soul' and why?

W.S. - Vocalist Ashish Negi came up this name..it just happened… I mean we just had a week to register ourselves in the first rock idols back in 2004 and it very much described the state of us together and the lifestyle too ..so that’s it wasted soul

3. Your band was formed on 24 August 2004. Tell us about the formation process. How it happened? And you have released only 5 singles not an E.P or Album. Why?

W.S. - It was formed on 4th august 2004 it’s a very interesting story back than I(Ashish Negi) was a part of this band and we were preparing for rock idols 1 just a week before the event I was chucked out of the band cuz of some differences with the lead guitarist.. I was devastated but nawaz I still remember it was 4th of august I was in my college (pec) it was raining very bad..so I was going to the market fr some evening chai and cigarettes …when I heard the drums being played in c.c.a (chd college of architecture) which was close to the market…rishi was playing drums and jai negi was playing guitars and they were playing scoff by nirvana..i just went there I knew jai negi and he knew about me ..and has seen me apparently singing in some college event so that’s it I told them I am looking for a band and they didn’t have any vocalist so we started jamming ..we took part in rock idols that year with just a weeks practice and won..it s still is one of the most memorable moment of my life…cuz we practiced like crazy ..

Coming to the latter part of your question we haven’t released any single yet.. ..we will be coming up with our first single in this month only…and a video latter on this year….I know this is very strange specially in these times for a band not to come up with single or E.P for almost 7 years but we are a very underground band who enjoyed playing live ..playing for the fans and crowd and we weren’t very technical initially but now I think we have a very decent fan base so I think now we are ready for it..and I guess now you will see a lot of stuff coming from wasted soul probably an album by the end of this year ..we have lots of original stuff which we want to share with people and specially our fans…

4. Sometimes you guys play thrash and sometimes death. Are you guys experimenting with different sounds?

W.S. - On a very serious note this one question is been asked to us many times like whats your genre…to be honest we don’t know..we just play and make music which excites us regardless of any genre or ideology and cuz all 5 of us are so different musically too..i mean we all have different tastes and sensibilities so we never go about any song keeping in mind any pattern or style.. its more of live jamming ..and our songs are just byproduct of that..recent times I have heard so people telling me…. you guys have thrash sound….death metal..to progressive to doom metal …but seriously we don’t want to limit ourselves into any boundaries....

5. Tell us about your logo. Does it have any mockery moment to share?

W.S. - Hahahaha not exactly it was been done by one of your early guitarist Rahul Kanhal..he was really into arty stuff so one day he just came up with this..and we found it cool..we thought great it will piss people so that’s it..

6. In you logo there is an inverted cross that you guys have used. Are you an Antichrist/Antigod band?

W.S – Are we hahahah damn ummm we r not antichrist or antigod . we don’t believe in religion so thers no point of hating any religion or the concept of god..but we think it’s a biggest problems of our generation so we make it a point to atleast be loud about it…I mean religion ….we think it’s the biggest mindfuck …

7. From starting the band have change many guitarist like Jai Negi, Corny, Rahul Kandhall, Gaurav Jindal, Abhinav Bansal, Phunty, Isha, Atul. With every change how difficult was it to gain your exact sound?

W.S. - Yeah we had like dozens of guitarist coming and going and primarily due to the sound of the band..but I think the final line up would always be me..rishi..isha ..atul and phunty ..cuz its all 5 of us who have defined the band ..the sound and the attitude…

8. Wasted Soul mainly influenced by Slayer, pantera, , Opeth, Lamb of God. Is their any song of above bands which are a nightmare for you to cover?

W.S. - We all have different musically influences but yeah slayer….pantera…opeth..log…amon amarth…Porcupine Tree…led zeppelin would be few …but right now we r experimenting a lot with different music horizons…like blues…jazz..and Indian classical ..and lots of folk music….I think as a musician u should not constrain yourself and plus all of it have so much to offer…ummm dunno really about the toughest cover I guess.. Omerta was tough cuz of timing…

9. Any Indian band you are following?

W.S. - We think there is so much happening right now in Indian music scene ..I think finally right now the scene here is going to that next level..lots of Indian bands are doing great stuff..i guess Indian ocean has done a great job..coming up something very original …as per the sound and style….umm ryt nw we really love TAAQ(thermal and a quarter) ..AVAIL….as per the sound and originality… in metal scene I think …undying.inc…..scribe …are really doing great….

10. The band performed at Hamsadhwani Theatre, Pragati Maidan in Asian Beat '07 National Finals. How was the experience?

W.S. - It was a great experience ..playing in hamsadwani theatre along with Hard rock café Mumbai are were probably the biggest stages we have performed and specially in hamsadwani theatre given the history of that place and the atmosphere was awesome plus were sharing the stage with one the biggest and talented bands of India ..so we were really excited and happy..we have a funny cum scary incident too …we were taken to the place in the afternoon for the sound check and all…..and we were in total 6 bands that day….we were the second last band of the evening..and u know how is it in Delhi and specially rock shows the scene has been greatly delayed ..so throughout this whole time..most the band people specially Ashish negi were drinking cuz we had many friends who had accompanied us..and we hardly had any solid food ..so finally when we started performing it was already pretty late and crowd were on their toes…the atmosphere was really electrifying and we were too very excited and started out really all guns blazing on a really high tempo..in the middle of the one songs it was epitaph there is this small lead part …the vocalist literally fall down …most of people thought it must be one of his things to get involved with the crowd ..but it was funny cuz it was literally a free fall …but later on we found out that he had this black out …in the middle of the song fr few milli seconds …cuz of all that heat and energy ….but it all went well but it was scary cuz anything would have happen but luckily it went out good and everybody was safe..and we had a blast…

11. You guys were the headliners for Fuel Rocks, Chandigarh leg, 2011 and Winter Rock Festival, Shimla, 2011 (along with Nigambodh), How was the other bands performed there?

W.S. - yes we played there along with nigambodh…who we knew before also cuz of gavy …gavy and we used to perform a lot together a lot in chandigarh when he was in this band BHOOMI….we really enoyed listening to other bands there the whole new generation ..crop of bands and players coming and doing so good..i mean when we started and were of their age and experience we were really lame hahahaha I mean these guys are a lot mature and technical ….so its great to see new bands and people …carrying the flag…

12. You were the Winners of Yamaha Rox Asian Beat '07- Delhi Leg, Rockilution by DNA, from Ludhiana Zone, PEC fest '07, DAV College Rock Fest '06. What was the mantra behind these huge winnings?

W.S. - Yeah we were winners of all that..i guess there was no big secret ..behind it…I guess lot of credit goes to the band members and specially to the friends and family….and at that time finally we had like the perfect line up with atul..phunty..isha ..rishi ..and negi…..and thanx to ishas mom we had this really small and great place to jam..it was a clinic though ….we used to and still practice there in the garage of that clinic.. and that time we really practiced hard …everyday and we really enjoyed the music, the practice..it used to be just jamming …a lot of it in fact all of our compos have made like this ……

13. These days the band is more into originals. What we can expect from you? What’s coming next?

W.S. - Yeah we are doing a lot of original stuff nowadays…..i think as a band or an artist this is the only way you can grow by composing your own stuff..by finding and and experimenting with your sound …I guess we will be coming out with an album very soon ..i don’t know when ….i don’t want to speculate too..but definitely its in the pipeline…we don’t want to rush ourselves….but it is what all of us are looking forward too…

14. Wasted Soul is like a trade mark in Chandigarh. How does it feel?

W.S. - It feels good..i mean we have never looked at it like that..to us we are still 5 people who love music ..love to drink and jamm together..nothing has changed except now we are paid for the gigs and there are more kids and fans coming to our show..they know our names and remember our songs..hahahah… so yeah it feels good..but the best part is I guess is that we are still together rocking it on stage and finally people are acknowledging us…

15. Guitarist like Shanky, Kuku, Gagan and Suraj joined you for one or two gigs. Who is best for Wasted Soul and with whom you would like to work in future?

W.S. - Hey it’s been absolute pleasure to play with the likes of shanky…kuku..gagan and suraj..all these guys are brilliant and they bring so much on the table with their talent and musical knowledge….and apart from our musical association these guys are very dear friends and all of them have a unique playing style and musical understanding which is very hard to match…given a chance we would love to work with every one of them specially kuku ..and shanky as we guys have literally grown together as musicians and we understand each other as people and band very strongly…

16. So which Chandigarh bands you are to listening and supporting? Tell us about your Chandigarh metal scene.

W.S. - The scene back than when we started playing in Chandigarh was really awesome with seraphm…zero Kelvin..bhoomi…21st rebel street ..it was really the golden era ..each band was so different from each other musically yet we all had so much respect for each other..all of us specially seraphm and zero Kelvin used to be great Friends …..we were out of Chandigarh scene for some time but now we are playing again with new bands…its nice to see that they are so many young and talented bands around…recently we have played with d.o.s ..black heart …these kids are really amazing and doing really nice stuff..not only Chandigarh..but places around it like Solan ..Shimla ..we can see lots of nice bands and stuff coming out like ear split..carnage unleashed…etc its really going great..i think future is very bright and has so much to offer…..

17. It’s your place feel free to say anything the last words to our readers and your fans.

W.S. - Well …wasted soul is not really a band it’s a family of us 5 and our friends and fans..we have people who have attended every show of our if we are playing in chandigarh or near by…since from the first gig..we really want to thanks all of them…I think they are really the support and motivation behind us been playing for so long…keep on listening to us and support us..we have so much to offer in the coming future…


Check Official Facebook Page

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Interviewed By,

Vikas Khokher

Nachtmystium: a band that are notoriously well-known for projecting a Pink Floyd + Gorgoroth image in their music. So what does their opus “Silencing Machine” have to offer? Let’s see.

The band consists of Blake "Azentrius" Judd on vocals, guitars, Sanford Parker on keyboards and effects, Andrew "Aamonael" Markuszewski on guitars, Charlie Fell on drums and Will Lindsay on bass. Well this album hopefully isn’t like the Black Meddle albums, the 2 albums which saw the change in the band’s style like no other band has done. This release is more on the black metal side than on the psychedelic rock side. The listener is definitely in for an hour of some raw, crunchy, old school black metal!

Undoubtedly, within minutes of listening to the album, you’ll know this is different. With some very good tracks I’ve heard in black metal, this album for me marks the come-back of original Nachtmystium! High pitched, highly distorted guitars are the cause of whiplashes on your neck. Judd slays with his snarly and raspy vocals are utterly brutal! The bass is definitely very impressive. Lindsay has done his job on the bass and left everyone stunned. Parker’s role on the keys isn’t too big although he does play a major role in bringing out the elements of psychedelic rock on the record. The drums did not satisfy me. I was expecting something better and faster.

The 1st half of the album is what kept me into the album but unfortunately the latter half was all confusing when the band decided to go all experimental frenzy again. But not to forget the display of great song structures put up on songs like "Dawn Over The Ruins Of Jerusalem", "The Lepers Of Destitution" and "Silencing Machine". You never know what to expect from a Nachtmystium. One of the most interesting aspects of the band is the combination of melodic and heavy sounds in their songs.

The production was very raw and dark, which I did not like much as it made the songs very fuzzy and killed the sound. This was the only let-down on the album. A remarkable effort by the band, but still not their best.


Rating: 7/10

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Reviewed By,

Naman Lakhani

Today we have BLAKC, a band from Mumbai made up of five very unique, talented individuals. BLAKC has always been about two things, the music and the people. Our writer Rohan Thomas caught up with the guys from BLAKC, who were recently in the city, promoting ther second album “MOTHEREDLAND”. Here goes:

1) Hey guys, great gig in Opus..... Have you guys come to Bangalore before? How has the city treated you?

Blakc: We have played in Bangalore before, part of The Big Junction Jam last year. The city has been great, and we have honestly learnt to make best of what we have over the years. We made sure we had friends come watch the show, chill and we had a great time.

2) Is it true that you guys kick started your “MOTHEREDLAND” land tour in Hyderabad and Bangalore? If so, why did you choose the south, when you guys have Bombay?

Blakc: We launched the album officially in Bombay at Blue frog on the 3rd of June. Post that we launched at Hyderabad and Bangalore . As a band we want to find any way to get our music to as many people as possible., and we have noticed that South India is very receptive to alternative kinds of music. Being away from Bollywood is a good thing J Also as a band we will be promoting the album “MOTHEREDLAND” till we make our next so every show will be promoting the music, so south, north, east west if we can play we will be there!

3) Why the name, BLAKC?

Blakc: Years ago when we started off playing we didn’t have a name but played the song “ Black “ by Pearl Jam and that stuck and alot of people remembered us for it. When we did decide to call our self BLACK we just needed a name and it meant a lot of things to us. Black is a colour a mood and a lot of things. While launching “CHOKING ON A DREAM” we decided its time to create an identity and BLAKC did that with the easiest transition and without changing who we were at the same time. It made it very easy for people to remember us and find us. It worked :)

4) What do you feel, is the difference between your debut “CHOKING ON A DREAM” and “MOTHEREDLAND”?

Blakc: “CHOKING ON A DREAM” was a young album; we wrote simple songs and mostly spoke about things we felt and very introspective as a person. Also we didn’t know how to go about putting an album out. We learnt a lot of things and MOTHEREDLAND is a much more worked out and thought off album, we decided that there’s a lot more that we can do as a band and why not take on the more pressing topics; we grew as a band and as individuals that’s seen on the second album.

5) Why the name “MOTHEREDLAND”? Is it a metaphor for the sorry state of affairs in our country?

Blakc: YES! We believe music can change the world in some small way, as well as create a revolution; there are problems in the state of society all around the world.

6) What do you think about the current political scene in India?

Blakc: We personally would like it to change but then again maybe the concept of democracy has to evolve into something else. We have grown up looking at politicians as corrupt and quite useless, we would really like to have a leader if we need one to stand out and not be a slimy excuse for a human being.

7) If the band is looking forward to put out a statement, what would it be?

Blakc: We all have questions, if everyone believed in questioning the wrong it will really bring about change. Why must a few decide how and what life for everyone must be like.

8) Why was the title for your first single “Untitled”?And why was it your first single?It is a slow song,and generally a band goes with a heavy song for their first single

Blakc: It’s a love song about losing someone; everyone can relate to the song, It isn’t saying anything or making a statement but just a simple portrayal of what one would feel when anything precious is lost. We wanted to touch people’s hearts and an honest song like Untitled we thought would do just that.

9) Can you tell us a bit more about the song? What was the video about?It was a strange video, with all you guys dressed up in Halloween costumes, with Shawn looking a lot like Daron Malakian from System of a Down?

Blakc: Like I said the song is about being left to your own thoughts and the nightmare that can be created inside your own head, The video had to be abstract and still show the distraught state of mind, Vass from Enter Guerrilla filmsdid a great job understanding the song and we never wanted to be direct about anything but instead make people think and come up with their own interpretation for the song.

10) What do you guys think about concept albums?Will you guys ever do one?

Blakc: Why not, every album us growing up, learning new things, experimenting and trying new things. Maybe someday we will be able to write a concept album depends on when we decide to do so and what we want to talk about at the point in time.

11) What are you major influences?(Other than the obvious Pearl Jam, AudioSlave etc.,I detected a ted bit of P.O.D. in your sound,especially in the song “Agenda”

Blakc: Musical influences in the band range from Meshuggah to back street boys. We love music and understand that art is art if we can take something from it; if it’s a good song who made it, what genre they fall under never matters. But yeah, punk and grunge bands have largely influenced our DIY mentality, but musically we’re a very open band

12) Blakc is not a very technical band.You do not have blistering guitar solos or machine gun drum beats. But you guys are really good at your instruments.Do you guys feel that you are in a band that restricts you from exhibiting your proficiency? Do you feel speed is everything?

Blakc: Not necessarily. 8 year old kids around the world can play blistering solos around the world. We as a band want to make music, songs that last, touch people’s hearts, make them feel something; if we need speed to do it we’ll figure a way to do that. We have always been a feel based band and not that we don’t think technicality is important but yeah feel is so much more.

13) To Roop: Bass players are generally not very popular in the world of rock n’ roll. People look at them only after the singer, guitarist and drummer. Very few bass players have actually stood out,with the obvious examples being, Cliff Burton, Flea etc. Your bass lines are absolutely brilliant in the album.You just don’t follow the rhythm guitar and create your own stuff, which adds another dimension to the sound. What do you think of the bass guitar as an instrument, and its relevance in rock?

Blakc: The electric bass guitar is a new instrument in comparison to the other musical instruments, its history is dated to the late 1950’s there for, it is relatively very young in its development. The idols and good bass players are very limited untill the last 10 years, people never chose the bass guitar they usually ended up with it, but now a lot has changed bass players are now respected and the importance of the instrument is now well known in them Music world, be it any genre from western classical music – death metal. I have been influenced by all the top bass players even the ones you mentioned are in my list, My Idol is Victor Wooten and like him trying to do my own thing break from the steady, groovy and being the bass player in the back next to the drummer who nobody cares about. It is an instrument at the end of the day and you must be able to express yourself well through it then you will reach a place where you are noticed. For being a good bass player you must be fearless and work hard in developing skills and most of all be a good musician then you will automatically become a good bass player. I do follow the rhythm guitars at times but then i do manage to find sweet spots where i can express myself :)

14) Shawn and Anish, this band is your brainchild.Did you ever think you would get a chance to open for Metallica?How pissed were you guys, when the Gurgaon concert was cancelled?

Blakc: The Band did start off with the vision of a few of us but over the years everyone began to believe in the fact that if we try and work hard anything is possible. Metallica was supposed to be great, we were ecstatic when we saw the stage and lights and it was only then when we realised that it’s all actually happening, that we were going to share the stage with the biggest band in the world. Watching it all fall apart was strange heart breaking but over the years we have learnt to pick ourselves up and move on that’s what we did. It’s part of our history now, hopefully we have bigger and better opportunities ahead.

15) Is it true that Anish turned up for a gig, in a suit?Tell us a bit more about that?

Blakc: Yeah, it was years ago 2006 I think. He had a student conference to attend and infact left early without playing. It was a momentous show, we left that show and the next time we went back on stage things were different, We changed guitar players, and became what we are today.

16) If there is any musician you would collaborate with, who would it be?

Blakc: I'm sure this list will go on forever. Eddie Vedder, GuthrieGovan, Flea, Maynard James Keenan, Bjork etc

Official BLAKC Facebok Page

Official BandCamp Page

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Interviewed By,

Rohan Thomas

Heavy metal music is most often argued to be closest to the form of music which our ancestors used to play. It started in early 70s with songs containing some basic power chords played on distortion, moved to palm-muted riffs with weird time signatures in the 80s and classified itself into n number of sub-genres in late 80s and 90s. Some bands chose to become heavier and brutal, while some turned melodic picking up essence of classical music. 2000s was a time when metalheads saw a new alternative nuance in heavy metal, which is often termed as Metalcore. This genre has become very popular especially among adolescents today and many new bands are coming up with such kinda sound from around the world. Hailing from Sydney, Australia, As Silence Breaks is one such band. Formed back in 2005, the band released its self-produced self-titled album in 2009, which was fairly received by the music industry.

After being signed to New Justice Records two years back, ‘As Silence Breaks’ releases its second studio album, ‘The Architecture Of Truth’, with Sam Rilatt on vocals, Ben Irwin on guitars and vocals, Dan O’Brien on guitars, Kiel Stanger on bass and Reece Kirby on drums. The album was recorded at Tim Lambesis’ (As I Lay Dying) studio with Daniel Castleman, which explains the fine production of the album. The record exhibits good dynamics in sound and proficient panning of instruments. Whereas the atmosphere created by the album is pretty energetic and consists of some really heart-pounding choruses.

The album exhibits a lot of progressive riffs tailored perfectly with melodic harmonies and grooves, effortlessly soothing one’s ears. Such a pleasant blend can be heard in the songs like, ‘Litancy Of Fear’, ‘Fire Borne Chaos’ and ‘Decimate’. Whereas some songs such as ‘Instrument Of Vengeance’, ‘The Warning’, ‘Transcendance’ and ‘Redeemer’ have a heavy thrash kick-off followed by crippling verses and kinda mawkish melodic choruses.

The instrumental track, ‘Purgatory’ and the track ‘Biomechanical’ are profound pieces which display beautiful guitar harmonies accompanied by groovy bass-lines, which leaves you pondering. The work on guitars has been good throughout the album. One really gets an impulse to headbang on the heavy parts and close his eyes through the soft parts. Although the harmonized guitars in some choruses sound a bit dull and monotonous in a few tracks. The songs are accompanied by some really good bass-lines. The heavy groovy bass intro on ‘Discord’ is really impressive.

The harsh vocals on the album are fairly good and have been nicely crafted with the guitar parts. However, the clean vocals, in my opinion sound a bit tedious and unvaried and lack the desired energy level. Coming to drums, the drumming has been splendid throughout the album. We can note some fine work on double bass and some superb rolls through the transitions in each track.

Summing up, the album is quite good. Recommended for Metalcore fans who listen to the likes of As I Lay Dying, At The Gates etc.


Rating: 7.4/10


Check Out As Silence Breaks Opening for Arch Enemy Here


Official Facebook Page Here


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Reviewed By,
Varun Khatri

The Multiverse Concept, solo project of Pune-based bassist Aksheya Chandar (Insanity Quotient, ex-Upheaval), recently released an EP entitled “Conversations With The Boatman”. The Multiverse Concept plays a unique style of metal combining Experimental Metal along with Groove Metal with an echo of Ambience. This 4-track EP featured Gagan Gill on vocals. The guitars and bass guitar have been done by Aksheya himself.

Only 2 out of the 4 tracks feature vocals; the other 2 are instrumentals. Gagan has done a great job here on the vocals on “Red Skies” and “Drifting On Perilous Waters”. Those good, low end growls accompany the groovy, progressive music; only heightening the intensity of the EP! Those chuggy guitar riffs made it a lil’ hard for me to not headbang, although there were a few turndown guitar parts in the EP, making me want to skip to the next track. “Paradise In Purgatory”, the soft, mellow song in comparison to the other extreme tracks, was an unnecessary addition. Those solos in the EP, though, are great! The drumming sounds programmed, giving it an artificial feel; nevertheless, the drumming is praiseworthy. The bass can be heard in the background, following the guitar. Aksheya has done a marvelous job on the lyrics; a perfect usage of his vocabulary. Great work on the singing pattern as well. Adhiraj Singh has also been credited with producing this EP at Refractor Studios.

So in the end: a great debut effort by the band. Not something that may attract the masses, but still, something creative and innovative.

Standout Tracks: “Red Skies”, “The Winds Cease To Sail” 

Rating: 7/10

Listen To The Multiverse Concept Here

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Reviewed By,

Naman Lakhani

Iapetus is a death metal band from Long Island, New York. They are definitely a unique band with several different influences. Their name derives from Greek mythology; Iapetus is a titan who’s the son of Uranus and Gaia. Their E.P., Eviscerate Divine, even though short, conquers a lot of the new trends in metal today.

Eviscerate Divine, even though it doesn’t exceed thirty minutes, is full of power and talent. This band combines several influences, such as melodic and progressive metal. Listed in their influences are bands such as: Dark Tranquility, Iced Earth, and Opeth. They contain the technicality and speed that is popular amongst modern death metal bands but containing melodic riffs and sporadic time signature changes.

The E.P. starts out with the track “Cosmogony,” which consists of a soundclip, running a little over three minutes. The album gets stronger with the second track titled “Lachrymae Rerum.” The track is very In Flames inspired; repeating of melodic riffs and and steady drums. About four minutes into the song, it gets extremely heavy. With Benjamin Meyerson’s thrash inspired vocals, this part of the song sounds a lot like old school death metal. It eventually calms down, with serene spoken words and a soothing guitar. It builds back up in about a minute, back to the In Flames inspired part. And with our extremely short three-song E.P. we get to the final track, “Eviscerate Divine.” The song begins with a simple but beautiful guitar war between guitarists Matthew Cerami and Jordan Navarro. It gets heavier after about two minutes; Meyerson’s vocals triumph and percussion done by Justin Barone is of fast and perfect quality. After about four minutes the peaceful guitar work is back, but the sound adds a bit of a funk-vibe. That part is quickly over when the vocals kick back in and the guitars and drums get faster. The rest of the song is filled with a plethora of solos, blast beats, sweeps and rolls; a perfect way to end this work of art.

My only real complaint is the first track, “Cosmogony.” I’m a huge fan of soundclips; I feel they had intensity to the song and help the artist express himself or herself in a way that is beyond music. But I would love to hear more of what these guys write. I can definitely see them playing shows with some of the more progressive or melodic metal bands, such as Gorod or Dark Tranquility; I feel they definitely have the talent and the musicianship. But other than that, not many complaints at all.

Overall, this is a band that combines several influences and really sounds unique. This is a band several different fans of metal can enjoy. The band has a lot of talent and I feel can really get somewhere.

Rating: 7.5/10

Official Bandcamp Page Here

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Reviewed By,

Stephanie Jensen

 

The sophomore album can be the one that makes or breaks an artist. Some artists pull through with great albums that improve upon their debut while others are disappointingly bland or unspectacular. An album can’t possibly leave you disappointed if it has some quality diversity in it. Mark Tremonti’s debut solo album, “All I Was”, does exactly that. The lead guitarist of the two famous American rock bands namely, Creed and Alter Bridge has shown his heavier alter-ego through this record. The album was released on July 17, 2012, with the genre varying from speed and thrash metal to slow and hard rock, making it a drastic change from Tremonti's previous work.

Mark Tremonti has always been one of my favorite guitarists. I doubt I can equate with words, what Mark Tremonti creates with sound. All I Was, perfectly reaches the pinnacle of all-out shredding and hypnotic riffs. In essence, it's everything that a classic hard rock/heavy metal record should be. This is the heavier side of Tremonti, which has always sparked up in Alter Bridge. Now, it's unleashed and ready to reign the world of rock and heavy metal.

Indeed with Mark Tremonti getting completely involved in the writing and recording of the album, it also portrays the debut of Tremonti as a lead vocalist and features rhythm guitarist and bassist Eric Friedman (Creed, Ex-Submersed) and drummer Garrett Whitlock (Ex-Submersed). Tremonti himself promised a heavier, more melodic album with lots of soloing, and he has done exactly that. 

The album starts off with a hard rock track, “Leave It Alone” and it roars with an addictive riff, delicately garnished by pinch harmonics and unpredictable lead work. From the impressive vocals by Tremonti, to the beautiful solo, this is a steady start to the album. Just when you start wondering about how heavy this guitar virtuoso can get the second track, “So you’re Afraid” thrashes deeply into your head, and leaves headbanging to some heavy, unpredictable riffs. After descending into an emphatic vocal verse, the solo is just an epic icing on the cake!

The complete album is filled with some great soloing by the man himself, in tracks like, “So you’re Afraid”, and “New Way Out” which has some really beautiful solos that most of you would be familiar with, from Alter Bridge’s music. The thing that really stands out in the album is the fast and ultimately, just mind-blowing shredding in tracks like, “Wish You Well”, “Giving Up”, “Proof”, “Wasting Your Time” and “All I Was”. Noticeably, Garrett on the drums has done a stupendous job in, “Wish You Well”, making it a pure heavy metal track! The top three tracks, set apart from the rest of the magic would be, the heavy and mosh-tastic, "Wish you well", the slow and endearing, "Leave it alone" and the song with some commendable riffs, "So you’re Afraid”. The one fact about All I Was that stands out for me is that it truly defines its own enigmatic identity, avoiding to lend itself to artists of a similar ilk and serving as the perfect elixir for those looking for a more definitive album from the genre.

All I Was is definitely in my top five of 2012 list right now. The album is a solid blend of modern radio-friendly material and headbanging goodness. There’s not much to say about the album because Mark does not let you down in any aspect. From the face melting solos to the mad riffs, the album, all in all, builds an insanely well structured bridge between rock and metal. With All I Was, Friedman, Whitlock along with the enviable vocal and musical prowess of Mark Tremonti, have crafted an album that, front to back, is arguably one of the most finesse-savvy and prestigious rock/metal albums from last few years. This is a great start to his solo career and I’d love to hear more from him.

P.S.: Go buy the album right away!

Rating - 9.3/10

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Reviewed By,

Vishaal Gollerkeri & Owais 'Vitek' Wani

 

The music scene today is saturated with hundreds of bands, some wanting to make a name for themselves while the others just want to express themselves. In this rat race, if you want to survive, you have to stand out from the crowd. Ether is one such band which stands out from the regular breed of rock bands.

Ether is a six piece band hailing from Siliguri. Ether are –
Mallar - Vox
Pushpal - Rap, Vocals, Turntables
Amlan - Guitar
Pupun - Guitar
Tuhin - Bass 
Sayan - Drums

The lyrics of the band are in English(Raps) and Bengali. With this unique blend of a foreign and vernacular language, Ether has been the pioneer of Alternative Rock in the local scene. They released their album titled – “Mone Hoy” recently along with a impressive video of their single – Ami. Here is what to expect from the album.

The album consists of six songs, but one thing that disappoints me is the constant similarities of the songs with some popular songs of Linkin Park. For example the title song of the album “Mone Hoy” is a total rip off of Linkin Park’s song – From The Inside, the drums and the rapping style is being exactly same. The vocals have some issues with too much use of effects. In some places I would have preferred simple cleans rather than some flange-panned-phased mixture kinda effect. Two tracks that deserve my thumbs up are – “Ami” and “Shadhinotar Mantra”. Both being very original tracks. “Ami” stands out from the rest of the songs in terms of its composition. Lyrics of the album are well penned and one gets the feeling that it is based on personal experiences.

Bottomline – The album is disappointing to be frank, a little more originality would have been appreciated. Less use of effects on the vocals can bring the cleans a better dimension and may make their sound a little diverse, plus during live performances, the effects are hardly available of the same quality. Hence it can be avoided. Drums should work on a little more originality. Guitars are good and so is the bass line, though I would have preferred a little more sound on the bass part.

Wish them best of luck for the future and wish to hear more of them.

 

Rating – 5/10

Ether Official Facebook Page Here

Listen To Ether Here

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Reviewed By,

Abhiraj Das Ghosh

Alcohol! – Arguably the best thing that has happened to man! It makes you “feel stronger”, doesn’t let you “feel bad”, makes your “eyes shine” and you become “a real man”. And nobody can explain this better than the happy little Finnish boozers, Korpiklaani. Formed back in 1993, under the name ‘Shamaani Duo’ (basically an in-house restaurant band) in Lahti, Finland, these folk metal pioneers sure know how to hit ye olde forest and chill out with a beer. They are known for their renowned folk sound tinged with violin and accordion and a dose of distorted guitars and blastbeats. The frontman, Jonne Järvelä, describes the band’s music as “old people’s music with heavy metal guitars”, the lyrical themes of most of the songs being about alcohol or old Finnish folklore.

Korpiklaani has an inimitable yet very beguiling sound that simply makes your body and soul dance with its enthusiastic and lively sensation. Songs like “Beer Beer”’, “Wooden Pints”, “Tervaskanto” etc. are happy-go-lucky tracks, so perfectly crafted and so damn catchy that they grasp one’s attention instantaneously. The band’s last album, released in February 2011, Ukon Wacka, consisting of 12 tremendous tracks, was well received by fans and critics. After just a year and a half, Korpiklaani is back with a new album titled Manala.

Lyrically, Manala is based on the famous Finnish national epic, Kalevala. Most of the lyrics have been taken from this book and are in Finnish. But Korpiklaani has something more for the fans around the world. All the songs have also been recorded in English which are included in the bonus disc. Unfortunately; the album features no song about any kind of alcohol; a little sad for the drinking crowd. The album art represents the band’s mascot ‘Vaari’ portrayed as Väinämöinen, one of the main characters of the Kalevala.

Talking about the musical aspects of the record, the album has a very assorted and mature sound. It features characteristic use of fiddle, which is much more prominent in comparison to previous albums. Songs like “Synkkä” and “Dolorus” and the intro on the track “Metsälle” feature some heart-pricking melancholic melodies played beautifully on fiddle; these fragile mood pieces take you down to the memory lane with their elegant sound. While “Husky Sledge” is another slow tempo instrumental track (other being “Dolorus”) which contains ethnic display of scraping violin along with some folk percussion. The fiddle solo in “Ruumiinmultaa” tells us how simply marvelous Tuomas Rounakari is.

The record is balanced perfectly by equally splendid high-spirit sing-along tracks like “Rauta”, “Ruumiinmultaa” and “Ievan Polkka” and other fast-paced classic Korpiklaani signature style songs like “Kunnia” and “Tuonelan Tuvilla”. These songs, though not about alcohol, create the “Karkelo” feeling which gives one an urge to go partying, i.e. drink and dance and go crazy. The tracks have been founded on impeccable accordion progressions, supported by flawlessly heavy work on distorted guitars. Talking about heavy, “Petoeläimen Kuola” and “Sumussa Hämärän Aamun” are the headbangable tracks of the album. The songs contain some amazing guitar riffs accompanied by incredible bass lines and solid drumming.

One must really appreciate the variety offered by the band in the album. “Uni” and “Metsälle” are two songs which are tailored with all kinds of emotions; all stitched perfectly with sound transitions.

Manala has all sorts of emotions flowing through every bit of it. The vocals have been nicely laid on the rhythm and exhibit the sentiments perfectly. Summing up, the album is a gold medal performance and is totally worth waiting for. Highly recommended for all heavy listeners.

Rating: 9/10

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Reviewed By,

Varun Khatri

A decade has passed since symphonic black metal giants Emperor called it quits. But this has not stopped the band’s mastermind Vergard Sverre Tveitan (better known as Ihsahn) from making music. With already 3 albums credited to his solo career, Ihsahn is back again with another album “Eremita”. Now most of his followers know that Ihsahn loves experimenting with his music when it comes to his solo work, so very few people will be in for a shock when I tell you that this album isn’t just “a black metal” album; as a matter of fact it is an alloy of black metal, progressive metal, jazz music and classical music! And what’s more amazing is the star-studded line-up featured on the album.

We have Jorgen Munkeby (of Norwegian black metal band Shining) playing the saxophone on almost half the album including tracks like “The Eagle And The Snake”, “The Grave” and “Catharsis”. Tobias Andersen (from Norwegian progressive/avant-garde metal outfit Leprous) displays his mettle on the drums and of course the man himself; Ihsahn, handling the guitar, bass, vocals and song writing. A few guest appearances too are present. Devin Townsend has repaid Ihsahn (for his guest vocals on “Juular” from Devin’s latest album “Deconstruction”) and settled the score by singing on “Introspection”. Ex-Nevermore member and guitar prodigy Jeff Loomis too has done a few solos on the album in return for Ihsahn helping Jeff on his latest solo album “Plains of Oblivion”. Ihsahn’s wife, Heidi Tveitan, too has lent her voice on “Departure”. Not only this but another member of Leprous has been brought in to help out Ihsahn; Einar Solberg has contributed his voice for “Arrival”! Most of the guest appearances are not quite visible, although this surely has turned out to be a great marketing gimmick.

“Eremita” is symphonic yet quite heavy and the vast number of artists gives it a distinct and unique style. “Arrival” is very melodic yet very progressive at the same time with great clean vocals by Einar. One cannot quit headbanging to heavy tracks like “The Paranoid” and “The Grave” each heavy in their own way; the former being one of the best tracks with off-beat rhythm and the latter being quite a down-tempo song with the saxophone playing an important role in it.

The solos too are praiseworthy; the credit for some solos going to Jeff Loomis. I personally did not like the addition of the saxophone to the album overall but I’m sure that it will appeal to many people. “Catharsis” is yet another great melodic song. The bass guitar is very prominent on the entire album. Tobias adds to the assault, displaying different styles and patterns of drumming.

“Something Out There” is my personal favorite. It is a ‘blast from the past’ reviving what Emperor had achieved on their last 2 albums. Ihsahn’s wife, Heidi, adds to the greatness of the album by giving her peaceful voice on “Departure”. One huge let-down was Ihsahn’s vocals that no longer contain their former aggressiveness and have become meek and timid. Ihsahn’s music is as complex and deep as his lyrics.

This album is not one which will attract the usual mob of metalheads because of the depth of the music which can only be understood by a few. This is not an album that the listener will like after just one hear. You have to hear the album at least 3 times before the tracks can get a grasp of you. By releasing “Eremita”; some fresh and innovative material, Ihsahn has taken great risk and broken the boundaries of orthodox metal and taken the genre to a whole new level.

Rating: 7.5/10

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Reviewed By,

Naman Lakhani

 

Sometimes bands make music to earn fame. Sometimes they make music to express themselves. Sometimes they just want to explore the vastness of music itself. Deathknell hails from the quiet hilly town of Shimla, who just love their music and aren’t biased about any single genre. Describing themselves as Heavy Metal/Classical Rock (yes two totally opposite and equally mysterious genre) Deathknell are going to release their album – Still To Decide. 

The album consists of 8 songs : 7 original compositions and one cover of the cult Melodic Death Metal band from Finland – Children Of Bodom. I’ll break up the album in three different parts for three different approaches which the band experimented with.

Starting off the album with an instrumental track, the title track of the album to be precise. "Still To Decide" is a blend of Middle Eastern influenced riff along with some Black Metal. The track felt repetitive at times and hence gives one the feeling of it being stretched a little too long. Maybe a minute less would have been better.

Now, coming to the songs with growls. These songs have a Melodic Death touch to them and the fact that these guys like CoB is evident from the fry vocals Manish does, which sound strikingly similar to Alexi Laiho. Chorus of their song – "Reaper" has some similarities with CoB’s Everytime I Die, but that maybe coincidental and not done on purpose. The only standout among the four songs(barring the cover) is "Decadence Fallen", which has a really good melodic feel to it. Their cover of "Every-time I Die" is pretty below par to say the least, with mixing of vocals with the main music being the culprit.

The album also consists of two soft-progressive rock songs namely – "Lost" and "You Are The One". Both have a refreshing effect on the listener after a pretty mediocre melo-death experimentation. But there are issues with the recording quality. Unwanted noise in the vocal track of "You Are The One" being easily distinguished on careful observation.

Biggest setback to the album is the mixing and the guitar tone. Songs like "Defining Death", "Slow Destruction", "Lost" and "You Are The One" have been hit by this issue very badly. The tone of the guitar may need a little smoothening to sound right, as it has this stinging effect on the ear-drums. Drumming has been tight all throughout, couldn’t find a bad patch anywhere. Bass would need a little more volume, maybe that will help the issue with the guitar tones. Guitar solos suddenly fade away all of a sudden and then resurface out of nowhere. This can be observed during the sweep picking sections. A little tweaking during mixing will solve that.

Overall, a pretty good effort by the band to bring out their feelings in the form of music and experimenting with their sound while doing so. Wish them best of luck for the future :)

Rating – 6/10

Official Facebook Page

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Reviewed By,

Abhiraj Das Ghosh

Dark Sermon is a death metal band from Tampa, Florida, formerly known as In Reference to a Sinking Ship. This band has been doing big things and growing as a band ever since 2009. For how young these guys are, they are heavyweights in the Tampa Bay local metal scene and you’ll see their name on every local and national gig in the area. I first saw them when they opened up for Obscura and Abysmal Dawn this past November at The Brass Mug in Tampa. I never heard so much energy for an opening band! They are such nice guys and talented with a lot of drive.

I had the opportunity to talk with vocalist Johnny Crowder and guitarists Neal Minor and Austin Good. They filled me in on their recent band name change, touring, a new album, and some more big news.

1. How about we introduce you guys and what you play in the ban?

Crowder: I’m Johnny. I play the vocals.

Minor: I’m Neal and I play guitar.

Good: I’m Austin, I play guitar.

2. Right now are you just doing shows around Florida?

Crowder: Right now we’re doing a self-booked solo run around Florida. We’re playing like, twelve or thirteen shows this month. So it’s not very long, but we’re staying pretty active. And then next month and August we’re heading out.

3. Where are you going?

Crowder: Next month we’re touring out to Chicago, we’re meeting Abiotic in Chicago, and then we’re coming down and playing Summer Slaughter. In August we’re going up to New York with The World We Knew and Sirens and Sailors.

4. I actually wanted to ask you about Summer Slaughter and Warped Tour.

Crowder: Warped Tour was actually in 2010. I wish we were opening this year. After the Burial is playing, and they rule! It was insane. We opened Summer Slaughter and Warped Tour within a couple of days of each other in 2010. The best week ever.

5. And you’re opening up for Summer Slaughter again this year?

Crowder: That’s right.

6. What show are you going to be at?

Crowder: We’re playing at The Ritz Ybor in Tampa.

7. How did you guys get that show?

Crowder: Summer Slaughter worked out because we played a local show here in St. Petersburg for someone named J-Rock [Staffieri] and then I guess he liked us so he put us on the show with, who was on that show? Impending Doom, Stick to Your Guns, Norma Jean…

Minor: Legends.

Crowder: Oh yeah Legends. And he put us on that show and he liked us from that show and told us he’ll put us on another show later. And then he just chose Summer Slaughter tour. We lucked out.

8. And you’re doing some more touring. What’s your favorite part about touring?

Crowder: I think it’s probably different for each of us. See if we could go down the line. For me, it’s meeting new people and… it’s literally everything. I wouldn’t trade any part of tour. Even the worst part of tour is better than the best day at home. Even setting up equipment, setting up merch and driving at nine in the morning and staying up all night is all the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.

9. Are there any particular moment you want to share?

Crowder: Oh GPS mishaps. (All laugh) what state were we in, New Jersey?

Minor: We were in [New] Jersey.

Crowder: We were in New Jersey, and our GPS told us to go down this back road to get to a Wal-Mart. And the road, it looked like a bunch of grenades on the road and we had to idle through like, 0.8 miles.

Minor: It was so bumpy.

Crowder: And we get to the end of the road and it’s a dead end. So we had to make a U-turn and go 0.8 miles back idling. We were just screaming, it was insane.

10. That sounds absolutely brutal. So I read on your Facebook you released an EP in 2010 and are working on a new album.

Crowder: That’s right.

11. Would you like to tell us about that?

Crowder: The new album is a lot more straightforward metal. Our EP had a couple of metalcore aspects, but our new album is a lot more pure, unadulterated, fast, heavy, dark. I like it a lot more, a lot better. I still like our EP, but our full-length definitely represents where we’re trying to go sound-wise.

12. Do you have any bands that you can use as reference?

Minor: I would say Black Dahlia Murder, Job for a Cowboy. It’s a lot more metal and a lot less –core.

Crowder: My tagline which isn’t official is, “ninety percent metal, ten percent –core.”

13. Are you planning on trying to get on to a record label?

Crowder: That’s the goal, but it’s a lot harder than it looks. We’re working hard, though.

14. So you recently changed your name from In Reference to a Sinking Ship to Dark Sermon, and you said mainly the reason is because the band you took that name from, you don’t really listen to that music much anymore. Would you like to say anymore in detail about that?

Crowder: There are a lot of reasons why we changed our name. Six words are way too many for a band name, it’s hard to remember, and I feel people weren’t taking us as seriously as they should. Like our music and our name didn’t match. People would see our name and scoff, but then we’ll play and then they’ll be like, oh why is that band called that? I feel like our new name represents our sound much better.

15. Do you have any particular thing about performing that you love more than anything; that really stands out to you?

Good: Just the audience interaction. The whole thing, I don’t know [we] just live for it.

Minor: Seeing new things every day, traveling on tour, meeting new people.

Crowder: I always play, even if the crowd isn’t going crazy, I just play harder to make them go crazy. I’m always pushing myself further to make them go nuts.

16. And I imagine as a vocalist you have to draw up the front since you’re the frontman.

Crowder: Yeah.

17. You put that extra effort to make the crowd go nuts.

Crowder: We always do a hundred and ten percent.

Minor: We always pretend there are twice as many people there. Like if there are fifty people we try and pretend there are a hundred.

18. Another thing about your new album is that Nick Arthur from Molotov Solution will be doing guest vocals. How did that happen?

Crowder: We played with them in 2009, very shortly after we formed. It had been about eight months after we formed. And I was on stage and I was singing, and I looked at the back of the room and Nick was bobbing his head and I was thinking, is that the dude from Molotov Solution banging his head to my band? And I went and talked to him after and said, “hey I saw you that’s awesome.” And he said, “yeah you guys were great.” I ended up giving him a shirt that night. Since then we just kept in touch, and every time Molotov came back he requested we open the show, and we just built on that relationship. And then last year I asked if he would be willing to do guest vocals and he said yes. I was blown away.

19. That’s incredible how little things like that happen.

Crowder: It just started. I didn’t realize that it would turn into that one day but it did.

20. After this album do you have anything planned or any goals?

Crowder: We’re working on a music video right now that we’re planning on releasing before the album. And upon release we’d really like to get to the west coast. We want to get to California so bad.

21. Would you want to share what song it is you’re doing the music video for?

Crowder: I think we’ll wait.

22. Well thank you so much for talking

Crowder: Thank you so much for having us.


Official Dark Sermon Facebook Page

Official Dark Sermon Youtube Channel

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Interviewed By,

Stephanie Jensen