Exclusive interview with WITCHGÖAT

1- Hello and welcome to Metal Music Midwest, first off, thanks for taking the time to do the interview, could you give our readers a brief description of the group? Where is the band from?

  Thanks for the interest, Witchgöat is a band formed with the idea of retaking the old-school brutality of early Latin American and European thrash metal, adding a bit of the melodic aspect of the school of blackened death metal bands of the nineties. Witchgöat is formed by Salvadoran musicians with some experience in this musical genre.

2- Egregors of the Black Faith is the band's debut full album, how long did it take to write?

 I started writing the songs for the project at the beginning of 2016, with the idea of awakening the interest of some musician friends in the Salvadoran scene who soon joined the project, and the composition of the music for this album was finished at the beginning of 2017. There is a song "Putrefaction of Souls" (that was composed in 1991 for my first band called Funeral), this song was never recorded before so I decided to retake it and made arrangements to incorporate it to the album.

Although the album was composed since the beginning of 2017, there were some setbacks to coordinate with the rest of the band and to prepare the songs. It took us just over a year to be ready to record all the instruments, time in which M. Miasma composed the majority of lyrics for the album.

 3- What musical influence inspires the bands compositions?

 Some of us are not so young anymore, we have been listening to metal music since the eighties and we played our instruments since the early nineties, I would say that our influence comes from those days, from music like the early Sepultura, Sarcofago, Bathory, the melodic lead guitar of Coroner, the old sound of Mercyful Fate, the speed metal of Running Wild and Motorhead. Much of the music that was played in those days was quite melodic and catchy, bands like Exorcist, the early sound of Possessed and Death. There is also something of the sound of minor third harmonies developed extensively by the Swedish and Norwegian bands of the nineties ... we try to incorporate a bit of all the music we love and have been fans of all of our lives.

 4- The group started in 2016, can you tell us what inspired your ambition to begin the project?

 El Salvador is a very small country, underdeveloped and not much known, but we want to show that here we also share the spirit of primitive brutality that made great metal music from South America and the whole world. We spit our version of the metal music from the third world trying to collaborate with our effort to the development of this kind of music in the Central American region. Many of the current bands in El Salvador do a good job, bands like Conceived by Hate have set precedents coming up on European tours, bands like Invocation of Death, Morbid Stench, Conflicto just show very good potential, we hope to be part of that family of bands that put El Salvador on the metal scene map.

5- Can you give us details about the content and more in depth meaning to this new album?

In terms of the lyrics we touched topics related to SLM, war and psychotic illness.

6- In the beginning was it difficult to find musicians to collaborate with? did the band start out with one or two members? or did everyone come together at the same time?

After composing the first two songs, drummer E.Driller joined the band, he takes part of other projects in which I had the opportunity to participate. He showed interest in the new music and accepted to play for the new band. A few months later I asked M. Miasma for help, besides his talent as a great musician, he had the right voice for the project and, above all, he shares with me the same philosophical vision about what a band of this kind of metal should be. He accepted to be the vocalist and immediately recruited bassist C.Fog who is also a musician of great experience in the local bands of El Salvador. This is how by the end of 2016 the band was all complete, and in early 2017 we began to work on developing the compound themes.

7- The demo Umbra Regit originally recorded July 2018, how well was it received by the metal fans from your area?

Umbra Regit was the pilot demo that we recorded in parallel while preparing the debut album. Its sound is quite different from the album, it has a precarious production since it was totally produced by the members of the band in home studios. However, I think it has an honest sound and by listening to this demo you can already appreciate all the elements of the music of Witchgöat. Being a pilot test, a very limited edition was produced on tape , which was sold out in preorder, which was quite surprising. The review of the demo was generally positive and this encouraged us to continue working and improving the elements of the sound of the debut album.

8- Are there any upcoming shows or tours you can tell us about?

At the moment we don’t rule out performing concerts locally organizing with other Morbid Skull Records bands. El Salvador is a small country and it is easy to cover the entire territory in a few shows. Later on, if there is an opportunity to promote the album and organize concerts outside of our territory, we would be very interested.

9- Thanks for your participation, finally, what is the best way to get a hold of the band, in case someone wants to book or promote the band? Any final words?

Thanks to you for the invitation, it's a pleasure to participate in Metal Music Midwest. To communicate with the band you can do it through the Facebook site: www.facebook.com/witchgoatsv  or directly to the email: morbidskullsv@gmail.com

Our album can be pre-ordered at

Bandcamp:
morbidskull.bandcamp-egregors-of-the-black-faith

USA MSR Webshop:
morbidskullrecords-egregorsoftheblack

CENTRAL AMERICA MSR Webshop:
morbidskullrecords-egregors_of_the_black

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Chicago Domination Fest 4 Interview Full transcription

Welcome, Miguel Goregrinder of Chicago Domination Fest. Give us a

short summary of where CDF began? 

It began just a couple of short years ago but, its origins go back to another festival I use to run called Chicago Metal Devastation that ran from 2005 to 2007. It was more of a local, smaller festival that had bigger plans and just never really got traction. I stepped away for a couple years from the fest scene to think things over and figure out what you really wanted to do with this whole thing. Then, I was sitting around working out a festival flyer that was meant to be a complete joke, I put on all these ridiculous bands, kind of a dream line up if you will and from there I put it up on Facebook and it got ridiculous reaction to the whole thing which blew me away. I seriously considered giving fest thing another try, so the first year, I wanted to put together something small, but still going to make a big impact. That's how CDF one began. I went out and found myself really bad ass bands and that's been the whole mythos behind this thing, all about quality over quantity.

What is the biggest challenge of putting on a fest of this magnitude?

There's crazy amount of planning that goes into this whole thing, usually a process

that can take literally a whole year. There's a lot of things to consider, financially, you know you have a certain budget that you have to stay within to ensure that you don't get yourself into any unnecessary issues, one of them is not being able to cover the festival end of things with ticket sales, that's the concern obviously as much as I want to take this to the next level and really grow it out and just make it as big as it possibly can be, there are certain limitations that I have to work within to really keep it grounded and still make it fun for everybody.

What was the highlight of last year's event? 

Well for me, personally the biggest highlight was not necessarily the show itself but more the metal family atmosphere that really came together at that show, I mean there were people from all over the world that came up to see this festival and to me that was the biggest gratitude that I can ask for is to have hundreds of people there that I

knew in some way, shape or form and everybody's just having a great time.

Named some of the colleagues, sponsors or vendors for this year's festivities?

My main partner in the festival his name is Jesse Denton. He has been working with me since last year and he is bringing different flavor to the table as far a bands. When it comes to the amount of work that the gets put up by me, so he helps out a lot with the day-to-day stuff and getting us out to a wider audience. As far as the actual sponsors and things like

that, we have Two Brothers Brewing coming back to this year, (nice! I remember them from last year) yeah you know that I'm not really sure to what extent they're going to be involved to be honest but, last year they provided a whole bunch of free beer for

the bands (so, the beer will be flowing for sure, haha!) sure and then of course we got the

cruelty cabinets going to be one of our main sponsors once again they're going

to be providing all the basic guitar cabinets for all bands to use throughout the festival. 

We are looking forward to getting some more sponsors on board eventually, you but it's going to be a step-by-step process to eventually get there. 

How have the fans responded to this venue, (The Wire) compared to the previous locations?

Nothing but great things, everybody that got a chance to talk to, during

the fest last year was blown away by the professionalism of The Wire, everything

ran smooth. The staff that was there handled it with their A game.

They were just on top of it. When it comes to festivals like this, you usually you don't get that kind of treatment that this place provides.They're just really open and receptive

to everything which is really cool and I look forward to continue working with them.

To help some of the people out and people are traveling from many parts of the world do you know what kind of hotels and accommodations are around the area for these folks in case you're looking for places to stay?

Not many unfortunately, there's really not a whole lot in the way of hotels right in front of the venue but, about 10 minutes away from the venue,  there's a Best Western which  kind of became more or less the unofficial hotel for the festival last year, that's were all the parties were happening. I expect that to be the same thing this year. I'm going to try to work out some sort of deal with the hotel to see if we can get some discount rates for

festival attendees and band members. We will release information that as we get closer to

the actual show date. Definitely pay attention to the Chicago Domination Fest facebook page and event-page. As soon as we have the information available, will definitely put that out there for the fans.

What are the advantages of booking bands a year in advance? 

The advantages are that it literally takes a whole year to plan this whole thing out. As I mentioned before, it is just impossible to think that you would be able to book a festival of this level with only a couple months time. It would be something that

would probably end in disaster, if you get it too soon so, especially

when you're dealing with international bands, you have to really plan things far in advance

to make sure that it works out the way that you hoped. Even then hickups are normal bands wlll cancel and other mishaps will happen, but that's just part of the effort involved.

I noticed you decided to expand the fest to three days instead of the usual two days, is there reason for that?

Its just all about growth, realistically at the end of the day I want to take this festival to

the biggest and baddest point and I can take it within my limitations. Will I ever consider going four days? probably not and that's just ridiculous. I think three day format is probably where it's at and where it will stay for the future if we decide to continue to do them from here forward. 

Now at this time, where can people purchase tickets for the event?

Tickets aren't available yet, we plan to have them available probably in about a

month or so. Right around February. Once we have all that information, our Facebook page is the most up-to-date source of information for tickets. We also sell tickets through

our Chicago Domination Fest big cartel page. You can also order tickets by going to the venue's website as well.

What will the price of the tickets be? is there going to be a special? 

There's a couple price points. There are single day tickets, for $35 per

day,  if for whatever reason you're coming out only on Thursday that's just a twenty-dollar ticket.  We're going to have two day passes available for sixty dollars and then on

the standard three day pass is going to run $80 and then we're going to have a VIP

package which was really popular last year and sold out. That will be $110 but it includes all three days of the festival, plus you get a gigantic poster flag, regular size poster

and the official first t-shirt and the laminate that allows you to go anywhere you want in the venue, so it's a really cool deal, a lot of people have been really receptive towards that package and I'm sure it's going to sell out again real quick this year. 

One last question for the interview for you? are there plans for Chicago Domination Fest Five? 

We will see, it's just one of those things that I can only take a year at a time you know, I mean, in my mind I'm going to say that I have plans, I got bands in mind for the next one because it's getting crazy. When you're working on this level, bands from all over the globe just want to come out and play because they hear all these great things about the fest. There's plans for the future, whether they actually ended up happening or not depends on the success of this year.

Thanks for taking time for the interview. 

Official site chicagodominationfest.bigcartel

FB site facebook-chicagodominationfest

Event page facebook-events CDF4

Eternal Eclipse Productions in association with Two Brothers Brewing Co. and Cruelty Cabinets PRESENTS:

CHICAGO DOMINATION FEST #4 

Nader Sadek : In the Flesh (Egypt)

Mortal Decay (New Jersey)

Guttural Secrete (OFFICIAL) (Nevada)

Indecent Excision (Italy)

Goratory (Massachusetts)

Cephalotripsy (OFFICIAL)

Embalmer (Ohio)

Incinerate (Minnesota)

PaRtY-CaNnOn (Scotland)

CREPITATION (United Kingdom)

Parasitic Ejaculation (California) 

Torturous Inception (New York)

Sarcophagy (Indiana)

Necrotic Disgorgement (Ohio)

MAGGOT TWAT (Illinois) + An Epic Metal Wedding!

Desecrate the Faith (Texas)

Sexual Atrocities (Wisconsin)

Coathanger Abortion (Tennessee)

Human Infection (Virginia)

Asphyxiator (Illinois)

Splattered (California)

Fetal Disgorge (Official) (Arizona)

Cordyceps (Nevada)

Rotting Obscene (Virginia)

Engutturalment Cephaloslamectomy (Indiana)

CONFIRMED VENDORS:

New Standard Elite

GUTTER CHRIST PRODUCTIONS

Transcending Records

Death Dealer Distro

Gruesome Graphx (Live Artist)

Cruelty Cabs site facebook-Cruelty-Cabinets

Wire venue wireismusic.com

Chicago Domination Fest 1 footage of Delusional Parasitosis

Created To Kill CDF2 footage

Gorgasm Corpsefiend CDF 3 footage

Chicago Domination Fest 4 Interview with Miguel Goregrinder Medina

Chicago Domination Fest 4 Exclusive interview with Miguel Goregrinder Medina. A first look into what it takes to put on a brutal death metal festival for the fourth time. We get a detail explanation as to where the idea of the festival began. Some highlights from Chicago Domination Fest 1, 2 and 3. Hear how CDF-1 took shape. The challenge of planning and bringing together bands from all over the globe. Miguel provides some details about the sponsors and colleagues involved helping put together this event. For the people traveling from far away, there is information in the interview as to hotels around the area. Information on this years event, tickets, location, bands and more can be view by visiting the links below.

Official site chicagodominationfest.bigcartel
FB site facebook-chicagodominationfest
Event page facebook-events CDF4

Eternal Eclipse Productions in association with Two Brothers Brewing Co. and Cruelty Cabinets PRESENTS:
CHICAGO DOMINATION FEST #4 

Nader Sadek : In the Flesh (Egypt)
Mortal Decay (New Jersey)
Guttural Secrete (OFFICIAL) (Nevada)
Indecent Excision (Italy)
Goratory (Massachusetts)
Cephalotripsy (OFFICIAL)
Embalmer (Ohio)
Incinerate (Minnesota)
PaRtY-CaNnOn (Scotland)
CREPITATION (United Kingdom)
Parasitic Ejaculation (California) 
Torturous Inception (New York)
Sarcophagy (Indiana)
Necrotic Disgorgement (Ohio)
MAGGOT TWAT (Illinois) + An Epic Metal Wedding!
Desecrate the Faith (Texas)
Sexual Atrocities (Wisconsin)
Coathanger Abortion (Tennessee)
Human Infection (Virginia)
Asphyxiator (Illinois)
Splattered (California)
Fetal Disgorge (Official) (Arizona)
Cordyceps (Nevada)
Rotting Obscene (Virginia)
Engutturalment Cephaloslamectomy (Indiana)

CONFIRMED VENDORS:
New Standard Elite
GUTTER CHRIST PRODUCTIONS
Transcending Records
Death Dealer Distro
Gruesome Graphx (Live Artist)
Cruelty Cabs site facebook-Cruelty-Cabinets
Wire venue wireismusic.com

Moonroot art feature artist interview

1) Hello and welcome, please tell our readers a little about yourself? Where are you from? What is your current occupation?

Hey bro! First of all, thank you really much for contacting me with this interview, I'll gladly answer all your following questions! Well, I come from Hýskov, small village in the middle of the forests in Czech Republic, bud have moved to Brno few years ago because of university of musicology and music composition theory where I was studying in. Now I'm living in the edge of Brno, more in the forest than in the town. Beautiful landscapes around and a dam where Hell Fast Attack black metal festival starts every year, so I'm happy with where I'm living now. Nature means the biggest inspiration for me and it was what I've missed the most in the center of the town few months later.

2) When did your interest in drawing begin?

Really hard to reply this exactly. I used to draw from my childhood. When I was in pre-school as a child I've spend a time by drawing microscopic marine organisms which I found in my moms encyclopedias. I can say I started to draw creatures every time in my life. Then at the school I've been drawing comics about dreamy planets of apes where I was escaping to from my real life. But, I started to draw and paint motives for groups much more later in Brno when I've joined the university of musicology and live there with my friend and band-mate from Sternum, Marek in one of the student privates. It was great period of my life, we've been talking about black metal philosophy and music all the time, compose new riffs for the first album and going to one evil garage in the place where no one was living in where we've had our first rehearsal room. (Now the album should be finally done in 2015, I think you might be looking forward, we spend lot of time to make it as strong as possible!) In that time I was drawing few motives for some groups just for fun and have contacted Christophe Szpajdel just because I was interrested in what pens did he use for his awesome logos. I've send him also some of my logos which I've done with the message. Than he wrote me that he really like what I do and would like to help me with our band logo and cooperate with me in the future on some logo ideas. It kicked me incredibly! And from this moment I draw as much as possible and contact many, many groups and labels with offering my drawings in that beginning just for try and for fun. I really spend more time on email than with the pen in my hands what was debilitating. But seems like it finally pays off now. And I'm still cooperating with Christophe on many ideas. Many thanks to him for what I do.

3) Your style of art feature dark and atmospheric themes, is there a point in time when that became your dominant form of art? If so, what band or artist inspired you first?

I don't think so. It all comes from me clearly. I always loved dreamy landscapes, little bit kitschy beauty of the nature painted in the era of romanticism, atmospheric, dirty and dark music... And that's where it's coming from. Nature is my biggest inspiration. I draw all of it in the forests when I have a chance and when the weather plays for me. Music inspires me especially in logo designing where I need to know the band exactly, its philosophy, lyrics, the way how they're thinking about music composition - than I can express it in the logo. But in the case of paintings and drawings I'm more inspired by nature, books what I'm reading in the time when I'm creating the artwork (most of this inspiration belongs to H.P.Lovecraft, Robert Jordan, Steven Erikson and R.E.Feist) and my own fantasy and dreams. Not least, I love creating new worlds and that's how I call the creating process, I always think about the place or scenery what I'm drawing with all the contex around like it was a new world or part of existent story.

4) When exactly was the creation of your Moonroot Art page, how has it helped by promoting your work?

It's better for linking the page and my work than personal profile where're also things unrelated to the artworks. It's also good contact place for groups. I can also spam this page more with photos from creating process. But it lost its importance in last year because of facebook policy of economic. Fb naturally assumes that every page in it is there just like a presentation of some corporation or business, so they limited the views of the pages maximally. Now only small percent of the followers can see your posts. You have to pay if you want people who have liked your page to see your posts - how insane.

5) How many bands have you done t-shirt/cd cover art for?

I really don't know man. It's hard to say, many drawings never reborn on the real product or it takes long time period for the group to record the album and use it. I also draw and paint stage design, sketches for tattoos and other illustrations and now I'm not able to say how much I've done. And it's not so important I think.

6) Are you a self thought artist or did you have any teachers? since your early drawing stage have you notice a steady progression in your work? how has your art progressed since that time?

I never had a teacher, only artists I really like theirs art and inspires by them when I want to learn something more about new technique or so. I'm self thought artist in this way of meaning. But I always try to learn more about composition, colour combination and new techniques. Last two or three years I draw or paint almost every day and there's still a lot of what I want and need improve and learn. When I was starting with the motives for bands I did all of it just by inks and improve in lot of ink techniques and combinations. than I tried bigger and more colorful pastels and coals drawings and learn about oils and acrylics than. I think I have a long way behind and I learn something new with every new motive. Here I have to thank all the groups I've cooperated with in the past - for theirs ideas and visions which I've made real on papers or canvas. For inspiration and for the motives which I probably never paint without their initiative.


7) Name some of  your most notable accomplishments? Any big bands that have used your work?

Yeah, there're few of this kind of interresting name milestones in my way I'm really proud on. I have done new logo for Nokturnal Mortum,T-shirts for <Code>, Fanttasma t-shirts, logo for Winterlore, (Theese two are still not so known, but spend few minutes with their music, you'll be surprised!) t-shirt for Baptism, cooperation on few logos with Dave Rotten from Avulsed. Now I've done an artwork for Old Nick from Ceremonial Castings for his new solo piano album - it's my first experience with creating something for classic music album in some way of meaning, hehe, I'm really honored for this opportunity, the music which've been shared by Nick since now sounds awesome. I also cooperate on lot of things with Naturmacht Production what belongs to my friend, Robert Brockmann, many thanks to him for all the opportunities to work with the bands under his wings - like Agael,  Lebensnacht or Stoic Dissention. I'm also really proud on cooperation with czech pagan group Panychida on their last album and Phantoms of Pilsen festival I did the posters for in 2014 organized by my friends from Panychida - Honza Vaněk and Sinneral.

8) Name some of the Zines or E-zines that have featured your artwork?

there're not so much Zines and E-zines I cooperate with on the artworks. Only Mortem zine (www.mortemzine.net) where I'm like a reviewer and interviewer primarily. But I'm also something like a designer of this zine, you'll see more of my share in graphics on the new page what we're preparing now. I did also Shub-Niggurath inspired t-shirts for Mortems ten years celebration.


9) What are your aspiration and goals 2015? What are your current projects?

I'm planning extensive cooperation with Somnus Aeternus, czech doom metal group on its new concept album with concept artwork as well. I'm also preparing on two exhibitions with Christophe Szpajdel and Moga Alexandru from Kogaion art. I plan more interresting cooperations but let me surprise you, I'm not supposed to talk about all of it since it´ ll be done and official. Anyway, the most of all interresting cooperations are never planned and interresting doesnt have to means only big name or sth like that. I'm really looking forward to all visions which I can make real!

10) If any bands/labels/zines etc.. want to get in contact with you, what is the best way to reach you?

There're many ways for contacting me, I'm really open to talk with the band members about theirs vision closely, so I dont mind if the bands contacts me via Moonroot art page or fb personal profile. But the base is the email - moonrootart@gmail.com

11) Thanks so much for participating in my zine, the last lines are for you, any final thoughts?

Thank you really much for your questions and support! All Hails brothers in arms, I'll be waiting for your visions which let me build new worlds!

Cetacean - exclusive interview

1- Hello and welcome, first off, thanks for taking the time to do the interview, could you give our readers a brief description of the group?

David: My pleasure, thank you for taking the time to interview me. Cetacean is a six piece metal band from Los Angeles, California. The members consist of me, David, on guitar, Swansong on guitar, vocals, saxophone and other assorted instruments, Daniel on drums, Ben on guitar/vocals, Stephen on bass guitar and vocals, and Trae on main vocals.

2- This is the band's debut EP, how long did it take to write and was this a collaborative work or did one person write all the music?

David: It took about six years to write the music and record it. The music started with just me writing some riffs and passages...At first I was trying to do everything myself, and had no expectations of forming a band, but after a while I realized I couldn't get away from my love of collaborating with others. The foundations of the songs were written by me, and then the other guys helped complete them by integrating their own influences and ideas. Ben, Steve, Swan, Dan and Trae became involved at different stages, and it took some time to recruit them.The next round of music will definitely be more collaborative now that we have a solidified group.

3- What musical influence inspires the Eps compositions?

David: The band Cult of Luna was the initial inspiration. Their music has had a profound effect on me, Ben and Daniel in particular. But I also wanted to meld all of the things I liked about metal while injecting some influences outside of the genre, like some of the jazz-like parts, and classic rock/prog parts. Everyone in the band has such a wide range of influences ranging from death metal to hip-hop to hardcore/punk to pop. Other important inflences are Opeth, Metallica, Emperor, King Crimson, Yob etc...the list goes on and on.

4- As far as live performances, how receptive are audiences to the music?

David: So far we've only played one show, but the reception was great at that show. Our goal is to give the audience an experience worthy of their attendance. 

5- The title of this Ep is Breach/Submerge, can you give us details about the content and more in depth meaning to this title?

David: The idea of the title has to do with man's desire to explore realms that cannot sustain his existence, from the depths of the ocean to the outreaches of space. These environments host their own alluring and equally dangerous properties that, when taken for granted, can cause the destruction of the explorer. As man was once a more integrated organism of the earth, having evolved from the first creatures to breach the security of the ocean and crawl on land, he has since grown past a point of return to submerge into the waters from which he came, yet cannot breach the limits of gravity and oxygen, and exist in the ocean of space, and is thus bound to the earth he is slowly destroying. 

6- The band started in 2015, Was it difficult to find musicians to collaborate with? did the band start out with one or two members? or did everyone come together at the same time?

David: The band actually started with just me wanting to write some heavy material, and I quickly recruited Ben back in 2009. After that it took a while to assemble the right combination of players. Ben, Swan and I played with a couple of different people between 2010-2013, but then we were able to hook up with Steve and Dan. Trae was the last member to join; he joined Spring of 2015.


7- What are the band's future plans? is there going to be a full length in the future?

David: We have started the process of writing new music, but aren't sure if it's going to be a full length or another e.p. Once we have a couple of songs completed we'll decide which direction we want to go, but we want to have something completed sooner than later. 

8- Are there any upcoming shows or tours you can tell us about?

David: We are supporting Un and Hissing in LA March 29th at Complex. We are looking to book more shows locally and regionally. A short run up to the bay area is in the works.

9- Thanks for your participation, finally, what is the best way to get a hold of the band? in case someone wants to book or promote the band? Any final words?

David: No problem! The best way to get a hold of the band is either through our facebook page: facebook.com/cetaceanband, email: cetaceanband@gmail.com, or bandcamp: Thecetacean.bandcamp.com. Thanks to everyone who is taking the time to read this and/or check out our music. We appreciate it!

Neuronia - Exclusive interview

Very happy to introduce our readers to metal band Neuronia from Warszawa. This is their exclusive interview with us.

1- Hello, first off, thanks so much for participating in this interview. What are you guys currently up to?

Tektur (vocals): Hello, thanks for taking your time to do the interview! Currently, we're about to release our third full-length album "Under the Same Sky" on December 14th. It took us three years of hard work to prepare and record this album, so we're hoping that it will make some waves with metal fans. We're also planning some local shows for next year to promote the album.

2- Could you tell our readers a short history of the band?

Long story short, the band started in December 2013 as a jam-duo of Misiek (guitars) and Chief (drums). In the beginning, they were playing simple rock music. Some time later, Radek joined on bass and vocals and the band started playing live. In 2006, the band issued two demos: "Neuronia" and "Wedding Day", before parting ways with Radek, taking on two new members, Acid (vocals) and Domo (bass). In this line-up, Neuronia started to play straightforward metal music with a doom/death sound intertwined with thrash and hard rock. The EP "First Blood" (2007) and debut album "The Winter of My Heart" (2008) are a testimony to that era. In 2009, Thor became the new drummer, replacing Chief and adding a more edgy, thrashy feel to the music. The band started to play bigger shows, including the festival circuit. I joined in the fall of 2009 and played the first two gigs as a guitarist/singer, but stuck to vocals from then on.

In 2010, we've released our sophomore album "Follow the White Mouse", which marked a more melodic and eclectic sound. We've played a lot of gigs in the next two years and had some line-up changes: in January 2011, Thor and Domo left the band. We've recruited Beton on bass and played the most of 2011 with Deviant on drums, but switched to Lukass at the end of the year. In this line-up, we've recorded the "Insanity Relapse" EP, where we added even more melody to our sound and put the main impact on thrash metal. We have spent the most of the last three years working on our third album and we were gigging sporadically. Now, the new album is coming and we can't wait to play and promote it!

3- How could you describe your sound?

It's really hard. Thrash metal is surely the main element of our music, but it's intertwined with influences from heavy & melodic death metal, sludge and of course also classic rock. We're trying to keep it as eclectic as we can - in most of the cases, playing in one straightforward style can be a bit boring.

4- What are the band’s main musical influences?

We have very diverse musical backgrounds. Misiek loves classic thrash in the vein of Metallica, Megadeth & Sepultura. Lewy is a very accomplished solo guitarist with a penchant for progressive playing, but he also likes thrash metal. Beton's main interest is in death metal and grindcore, but he also adores Pink Floyd. Lukass is also a death metal freak, but he really likes all kinds of good metal. I was a punk rocker in my teens and I still like to listen to this kind of music, but I'm really into all kinds of music from classical to black metal, putting the main accent on thrash/crossover though.

5- I have listened to the promo for the new album, sounds melodic and captivating, has the writing process become easier since the first release,"The Winter of My Heart" back in 2008?

I haven't been there when the debut was recorded, but from what I know the process was for Misiek and Chief to write the most of the music back then and Acid to add the lyrics and vocal parts. Now, it's a more collective process, where we discuss the arrangements together and everyone has an influence on the final outcome. I write all the lyrics though.

6- Does your band have a strong fan base in your town?

It would be a huge exaggeration to say that we have a cult following or a very strong fanbase here. We're one of tens - if not hundreds - bands in Warsaw. The people have a wide choice and they prefer to listen to many bands than just follow one very strongly. But yes, we do have quite a few big fans who have supported us for years - thanks guys!

7- How could you describe this upcoming album in just 3 words?

Anger, force, melody.

8- How was the production process for your new release?

It's been quite a long one, as we've recorded the drums in December 2014 (in JNS Studio, Warsaw) and closed up the final take on the vocals in the end of April this year. Apart from the drums, all the instrumentals have been recorded in Heinrich House, the studio of our producer and friend Filip "Heinrich" Hałucha of Vesania, Rootwater and Decapitated fame. The vocals were the hardest bit - we've recorded them in a span of a few weeks at Sonic Strike and Sound Division studios. Then, Heinrich took to mixing and mastering and in May we received the final master recording.

9- Is the band planning on doing any touring in support of the new music?

Yes! We're very keen to promote the new album and plan on touring in the summer and spring here around Poland. We don't have any details yet, but we're starting to work on next year's options.

10 – Finally, what are you near-future plans?

Promoting the record and touring as much as we can. The last album was a huge piece of work for us and we're not planning on recording anything new soon for sure. We also hope that the new album fares good abroad, maybe we can also do a few shows outside of Poland - that would be exciting.

11- Thanks so much for taking time to do this interview, any final thoughts?

Thanks to you! To all the readers - support your local scene, you're the ones keeping it alive!

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Conceived By Hate exclusive interview

Its is a pleasure to introduce our readers to death metal band Conceived By Hate

1) Hello and welcome, please tell our readers a little about band? Where are you from? How did this group come to be? 

Hello, thanks for doing this interview. We are a death/thrash metal band from HELLSALVADOR in Central America, I started this band back in late 2002 when my other band DISORDER came to on hold situation. We have 6 official releases, first demo in 2005, 1 EP in 2009, first full-lenght in 2012 and then 3 splits per year since then with the bands NUCLEAR (Chile), DECEASED (United States) and AKHERON (Colombia).


2) How was the writing process conceived for this new material? Is it easier to compose music with the current line up? Who writes the material? 

Well, on this split release with AKHERON there are 3 original songs and a cover. The first one was composed by the bass player and I arranged the lyrics with the concept he wanted. The other 2 original songs were written by me (music and lyrics) and regarding those 2 songs process was the same as always for me, I usually compose music and lyrics at night or very early morning.

3) The previous music was also released in a split format, Inner Hate, Deceased and now Akheron, using this approach, is it better to reach people by collaborating with these bands? 

That was my vision in a way but also all these songs I just did not think were get along good in a full-lenght, so that is why also doing the splits was also a good idea for me. It is always easy and better to promote releases and the band with help of other bands involved in another countries.

4) Pestilence Reborn was released independently in 2012, was it harder to promote that album without label support? 

It has been always hard specially because of the country we are located, high shipping rates and not so known internationally as a strong metal scene. That record was released independently, but it was the same procedure, I mean I started my own label like 2 or 3 years ago but the difficulties are always the same, very hard.

5) How is the audience reception to your live performances? Any memorable experiences on the show circuit? 

Locally we have been playing more these couple of years and the reception is getting better as I see it but it would not change anything of my vision if it would be different but it helps of course to get budget for new releases because people purchase more stuff. Our scene is small and also the country is small so there are not many places on which you can play. I have been trying to setup a tour in Europe, but it has been difficult because of schedules and other stuff from some members, but I am still hunting this situation.

6) How is the death metal scene in your area? has it grown since your band became established back in 2005?  

No, this band was founded in 2002 but I have been present in the scene since 90s and as I stated before the scene is small since our country is small, also economical situation does not help neither for bands nor fans but we are standing playing this music no matter what. Yes I think today there are more metalheads than back in the 90s but I always say that I feel less passion and a lot of metal if you know what I mean, I cannot say it is good or bad but it is just how I see it and feel it.

7) Name some of  your most notable accomplishments? Any big bands that have shared the stage with you? 

For me the notable accomplishments are to be able to put out my music on vinyl, CD or any other format, this is fucking difficult in our country and just doing that is a big accomplishment. Also having our own recording studio is something I have always be investing since many years.

8) How difficult was it to get the band's music noticed in the beginning? 

Always that you start a band or a project it is very difficult that people get interested, I remember selling our first demo for $1 USD and still people was not willing to purchase they wanted it for free, this is what I said before I think in a way also in the 2000s there was not passion for purchasing local bands merch or releases but that was useful for me and the band since we focused in our thing and vision and not thinking about if people will like or not our coming songs or if people will purchase it or not.

9) With the release of the new split are there any tours or major shows in the works for 2015? 

Most of shows are locally, maybe Guatemala and there is something I am working for south america but it is difficult because of the budget and schedules but will continue working on that with or without the current line-up.

10) Are there any plans to play shows in USA?  

Unfortunately not yet, I have had a couple of offers but since most of us do not have USA VISA we cannot go there by now.

11) If  booking agents/news/press want to get in contact with you, what is the best way to reach the band? 

You can write me to morbidskullsv@gmail.com and I will get you in touch with our Manager.

12) Thanks so much for participating in my zine, the last lines are for you, any final thoughts? 

Thanks to you for the interest in doing this interview, thanks also to the people that read it and I hope you can reach our merch or material somewhere, support your local scene, cheerz from HELLSALVADOR!!!


facebook.com/conceivedbyhate/
conceivedbyhate.bandcamp.com/

Lectern - Exclusive interview

It is a pleasure to introduce our readers to the band Lectern.

Hello and welcome, please tell our readers a little about the band? Where are you from? How did this group come to be?

Fabio- "Rome, Italy and active since 1999".

How was the writing process conceived for this new material? Is it easier to compose music with the current line up?  Who writes the material?

Fabio- "Enrico our guitarist. We spent more than two years, even the lyrics were ready, and a sketch for the artwork".

The previous ep's, Salvific Of Perhaps Lambent and Lectern were released independently, did these two releases gain much attention without label support?

Fabio- "No and yes. We did everything on our own, as promotion and live shows. It's difficult if you're not famous, if you haven't a manager, a label or an agency which make your interests on the market. For many reasons, bands failed. We're still here, after all this time, as the demonstration that even with all the troubles you can have, you
have to carry on!".

Fratricidal Concelebration is the bands' first full album, what is the meaning of the title?

Fabio- "The demon on the cover, has four arms and hands. Those represent the band, in a brotherish affection, in a blood tie. Horns are the omnipotence, fire eyes the ambition, claws and the demon stand for evil and the easy prey we're gonna chase!".

How is the audience reception to your live performances? Any memorable experiences on the show circuit?

Fabio- "In Finland we kicked some asses! Great experience, in Italy is different, outside, we'll see and I will tell you next time!".

How is the death metal scene in your area? Has it grown since your band became established back in 1999?

Fabio- "Yes. Now is full of bands. Everything is faster now, if you pay you could have the best sounds in great studios, the best instruments and promotion. If you have a computer you can record and print an album, doing a sort of promotion by yourself. At the end of the 90's you had to be a skilled musician, playing in awful rehearsal rooms and at the cheapest fares. We were behind more than the other countries and bands. Always United States, England and Germany were leading".

Name some of  your most notable accomplishments? Any big bands that have shared the stage with you?

Fabio- "Not so much!".

How difficult was it to get the band's music noticed in the beginning?

Fabio- "A lot, especially for the growing Internet approach. We used a lot demo-trades, and fanzines, we got used in a primitive way, if we think to that times today! Writing letters to the bands: who does this now? But it was the only way, and if you were lucky you could become someone!".

With the release of the new full length, are there any tours or major shows in the works for 2015?

Fabio- "We're booking something, there are many offers to be evaluated".

Are there any plans to play shows in USA?

Fabio- "I hope so, as my brother-in-law lives in California, Union City we are waiting for his invitation! Hey John, we're still there! Don't forget to mention us on your next book, sucker!".

If booking agents/news/press want to get in contact with you, what is the best way to reach the band?

Fabio- "With an e-mail at lectern@mail.com please".

Thanks so much for participating in my 'zine, the last lines are for you, any final thoughts?

Fabio- "Go, reverse the cross!".

Band members:
Fabio Bava: vocals, bass
Pietro Sabato: guitar
Enrico Romano: guitar
Marco Valentine: drums

Discography:
Bisbetical (1999)
Salvific Of Perhaps Lambent (2010)
Lectern (2013)
Fratricidal Concelebration (2015)

www.lectern.in
www.facebook.com/lectern666
www.reverbnation.com/lectern
www.myspace.com/lecternband
www.metal-archives.com/bands/lectern
www.twitter.com/lectern666

Be sure to read the interview exclusive to this blog at this link Lectern-fratricidal-concelebration review