I have to admit, that this record struck me as a little odd at first. The cover artwork and title were a bit strange, but the music didn’t need any of that to be convincing anyway. Krolok is a project by HV from Malokarpatan and Remmirath, that has been stewing for a good 6 years. This is the first record, titled ‘Flying Above Ancient Ruins’.
The title embodies themes that Krolok seems to revolve around. Mysticism, vampires, nature and the night create a particular sound, with a certain tangible aspect to it. Peter and Miroslav from Malokarpatan assist HV in this project and it’s well enjoyable if you like your black metal to be down to earth, but also filled with a folkloric wonder.
Interesting enough, this reminds me instantly of early Mayhem and Darkthrone. The rhythms are jagged, raw and sound pretty much the way they must have come out in the rehearsal space. The vocals on massive reverb sound cavernous and ghoulish, slightly detached from the music, not even trying to find a melodic click there. Then there are quiet parts, where you can just bask for a moment in the creepy atmosphere the band throws about.
Krolok is not so much into the hyperspeed blast beats, but sticks to a formula that has worked since the early days in Norway. That’s also pretty much the vibe they’re sticking with. Static guitars create this feeling of solid waves of sound assaulting the listener, while you always feel slighlyuncomfortable due to the unpredictable vocals. What I do like, is how they put in these short breaks here and there. Nothing is as boring as hearing the steady guitar riff for 40 minutes consecutively and those albums are around too. This is a fierce and exciting record, the way I like them.
Metal’s final frontier lies in Africa and Uganda is one of the unlikely places where something is brewing. Although the scene is extremely tiny and unknown, the passions run deep with artists like VictorRosewrath. Victor was kind enough to tell a bit more about his band Vale of Amonition.
Most will know Uganda because of General Idi Amin, who was the topic of wide speculation and even the film ‘The Last King of Scotland’. Though that lies in the past, Uganda has troubles of its own like high corruption, severe limitations of LGBT rights and Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army. Still, metal music flourishes here and together with Threatening the Vale of Amonition is paving the way for other artists.
VictorRosewrath is a man of words and he has plenty to offer for people interested in his work. He’s been playing with poetry and various music styles to express what is inside of his mind. Victor has a romantic soul, clouded with dark visions as you will read here below. Thanks to Victor for his time and words.
The Vale of Amonition is very real…
So first off, thanks for your time. Can you kindly introduce Vale of Amonition to the readers? How did your band get started?
Hello Guido, this is Victor Rosewrath. Thank you for this opportunity. Vale of Amonition is very old…thematically at least. I have been conscious of the Vale since I was a child and I have the sense it existed way before I did. But as for its incarnation into a doom metal band; it started in May 2009 in Uganda where I was living at the time. I needed to tell stories about the Vale and music seemed a good medium for that at the time.
How did you guys get in touch with this music, what bands inspired you to start making music yourself?
The band Queen was my first love and my introduction to heavy music. Now you may argue that they weren’t heavy but I’m familiar with their discography well enough to prove you wrong. They were really the first band I ever truly loved when I was young and just understanding music. All other things came later. Black Sabbath came later. MercyfulFate came later. CelticFrost came later, and when I heard Candlemass and Type O Negative, I knew I wanted to create a similar kind of music. Solitude Aeturnus is my biggest influence. Solomon Dust likes Insomnium, Katatonia, Swallow The Sun and My Dying Bride.
Uganda has very little metal bands, but you guys have been around for a while and you are also surprisingly productive, releasing quite a bit of music. How do you guys go about writing your music, who is responsible for what and can you describe how you get new material out so often (particularly in the starting period of the band)?
The metal scene in Uganda is indeed quite poor…we are simply driven by the need to express ourselves as artists. We have never really cared for the absence or presence of a metal scene where we’re from as long as we could create and just be ourselves. I wrote most of the music in the early days. I was progressively inclined. Listening to a lot of bands that could be described as innovative and progressive.
I felt weird as a songwriter because nothing I could come up with could be considered a “song” in the conventional sense. ‘Black Cathedral’ for instance was initially a 23 minute song. We get out material so often because there’s a need for it. I think of the metal scene here as the African metal scene, it makes sense that way…and more and more people are interested in hearing metal from Africa. But we’ve had a bit of time off since our last major release.
I understood that your name refers to a valley of warmakers, but there’s also a lot of occult titles. I’m very curious to learn about the themes and topics you put in your music. Can you describe those and explain your choices? How real is this place to you?
Vale of Amonition is a very real place. I go to sleep there and I wake up there. I can’t escape it so I’ve given up trying. It is both a frame of mind and a real place that I take with me wherever I go or that follows me around until I tell its stories and get them right. There’s no point wrestling with demons; you just have to open the door and let them in. My relationship with demons has been very fruitful so far. The lyrics I write have to do with that relationship; with the general relationship with the darkness that most people find themselves cultivating.
So Victor has just worked on the project Doomcast and in general, you guys seem to have some following abroad, but what is it like in Uganda itself? Is there actually more of a scene than outsiders know or are you sort of a lonely band in your own country (together with Threatening)?
We are a lonely band and we are very lonely people. Also, we haven’t heard from Threatening in ages.
So can you tell a bit how the collaboration with Doomcast came together? Doomcast came from a conversation between me and Tim Salter, Doomcast’s main composer and guitarist. I have known Tim for years and he really is a fan not just of Vale but of the whole African metal scene. He was working on a black metal project with a friend from Angola that was going nowhere and nothing I was doing with Vale of Amonition and AfricanDoomhammer was going anywhere either so out of mutual frustration, we decided to work together. But Tim is a fan of my style, my whole weirdness and I am an absolute fan of his guitar playing so really we just had to work together. Paulo Bucho who Tim knew joined later on drums and we became fast friends.
Can you tell a bit more about African Doomhammer, I didn’t hear about that?
African Doomhammer is a Namibian project I have been involved with since its inception. I have written music and co-written lyrics for African Doomhammer. They released one E.P. in 2014 and are working on some new music. I have a few ideas that I feel fit more with AD than VoA and I look forward to future collaborations.
I understood that you also started a progressive rock project named Otheorem. You’ve read poetry on video (Poe). Do you feel a strong need to express yourself in many ways and what other things would you still like to do?
Thank you. Yes. I need to express myself in a lot of ways and really I haven’t even done half as much as I know I am capable of. One night I read poetry for a bunch of stoners and they liked it. I was a classic literature scholar so I knew a lot of the old stuff and how to relate it to people and make it interesting. I ended up writing a bunch of poetry with respect to the old rules of meter and precision and a lot of stuff later that didn’t care for any rules. I always want to be able to express myself in both a traditional manner and in an iconoclastic format that shits on the rule-book. But Otheorem was the brainchild of Jon Xarg, Vale ‘s old drummer. He was the one who was tired of all the doom and gloom and wanted me to play with him in a more exuberant band so we did that song and then we argued about music and a lot of other things and we never picked it up again.
Listening to your music, I can’t help but hear a connection between heavy, theatric doom and poetry, how did you develop this unique style of music?
I’m into poetry and I love the theatrical bit of artistic expression so it has always been bound to happen as far as how I write and perform with Vale of Amonition.
Do you feel there’s something that you put in your music that is typical for the place you are from; Uganda? Any sort of music writing, topics, words…? Could your music be from anywhere else?
I don’t think at this point Vale can go into a strictly Folk direction but we’ve always had that as part of our identity. There’s still time enough to find out though. But no, I don’t think this band could easily be from anywhere else.
What does it mean for you as a musician to be where you are and how do you feel that shapes your art in the broadest sense?
I have felt frustrated and limited as an artist in Uganda. I feel the scope of what I can do on a day to day basis is constricted by my environment but long-term projection allows me to view this as meaningful and essential to the creative process…and the fact that I am reaching way beyond my location continues to be a great motivation.
Uganda has been in the news for restrictive policies in the past. Regardless of those, I was wondering how free you are as an artist to express yourself. Can you sing whatever you want? Is there any form of censorship?
I can sing about whatever I want. We wrote a song called “Don’t Tread On Me (In Our Darkness Defiant)” particularly about our president signed into law the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. It was my big FUCK YOU! to him. I’ve really never worried about censorship and I’ll never censor myself. We are not a political band by any stretch and even that song had a lot of other themes running through it but we’ve never shied away from controversy either. If we want to say something, we’ll yell it. I’m very fond of Wolves In The Throne Room. How they maintain their mystique while being conscious about the things that matter to them as well.
Seeing you guys are very prolific in creating music, do you have everything available like recording equipment, instruments, rehearsal places and venues or is it a lot of DIY?
Yes, we have instruments. Rehearsal space is also actually easy to find, you’d be surprised. Uganda and Kenya are not some holes where you can’t access things. Good equipment is definitely accessible and studios and producers who actually know what they’re doing can be found. It is not really DIY, I’m afraid. We actually work with producers but we play our own material and write it and perform it but we don’t own a studio. We’ve recorded both in Uganda and Kenya.
I understand that you have a lot of facilities. Does that mean you share those with rock and pop groups and do you take any influence from different music styles?
Yeah, we do share space and facilities with all kinds of artists and performers. Do they influence my art? Not at all. I am not easily influenced. I am very specific about what moves me but most of it can’t adequately be defined by words… but when something connects with me, it just does.
So, this question might be a really simple one, but is there a metal scene in Uganda. If so, how did it get started, are there and were there other bands active?
There’s a metal scene in Uganda. Absolutely. It is mostly made up of fans more than bands. Threatening who you mentioned earlier were probably the first band on the scene. They used to be known as Perfect Strangers. The scene developed out of the larger rock scene that was a culmination of expatriates opening radio stations and bars that strictly played rock music and Touch FM becoming a pioneering everyday man’s rock station and then from the woodwork came the metalheads who had always been silent and waiting, I guess for some sort of union to happen. I’ve never really cared for the scene enough to explore its origins but that’s about it.
I notice that there are a few centers for metal on the African continent, but for people from outlying places, like yourselves, it seems that you might have to travel a lot to play or meet like-minded souls. How do you deal with that?
We travel when the opportunity presents itself. Thanks to the internet, there’s so many ways you can connect that don’t need your actual physical presence. It’s all good.
Are there any bands from your part of the world that you’d like to recommend? (and why are they cool) I like CrystalAxis. They’re really cool. They are a punkish/alternative band based in Nairobi and they write some really cool songs. I have a friend, Peter Larson who is American but really spends a lot of time in Kenya and he’s doing this fusion thing with a local instrument, the Nyatiti on which he plays all manner of things. He has a band called NdioSasa. You should absolutely check them out. My friends The Seeds of Datura are also amazing performers. They’re doing some kind of extreme progressive metal type thing.
What future plans do you have with Vale of Amonition and other projects?
Vale of Amonition plans on having some music out soon, I’ve been told. Right now Solomon Dust holds the reins. I am working on my own stuff for Victor’s Death. More poetry and madness.
Isn’t it hard to hand over the reigns for you?
I’ve not handed the reins over. I think we are co-creators, really. That is more apt. It’s just that Dust writes a bulk of the music now. In a certain sense, our current sound has been shaped by his guitar playing and modified by my personality.
If you had to describe your band as a dish, a type of food. What would it be and why?
It would be Mushroom soup with a lot of indefinable, alien ingredients. It would be thick but it would disappear easily in your mouth. I think that is apt because Vale of Amonition music is rather astounding to get into (so I’ve been told), but when you do listen, it connects with some primal darkness within you and yet it never loses its strangeness.
Label: Redefining Darkness Records Band: Khandra Origin: Belarus
It’s not a huge offering of music, but ‘All is of No Avail’ leaves you fulfilled anyways. The Belarussian duo Khandra drops this first EP, but apart from that, there’s virtually no information available about this band from Minsk. This is a bit of a shame because these 2 songs are one of the most powerful declarations I’ve heard in a while.
In a sense, this record is Khandra saying that they’re here, but not who they are and why. Well, you can’t have it all and this sort of music thrives on mystery.
We start with ‘Where Death Has Settled In Life’, which comes on with the big, echoing sound that I always appreciate so much in a band like Primordial. The bold statement of the grand gesture to announce starting the rites. That’s just before the band completely unleashes a barrage of sound. Like the heavens opening, the sound falls onto the listener. There’s a sense of vibrancy, of writhing guitars that almost feel alive and impossible to grasp. The sound is densely atmospheric at other moments and very easy to digest.
The melody line grabs you by the throat on ‘Presence is no longer relevant’, while you bask in the warm bath of sound. Again, there’s a certain grandeur to the way the sound unfolds. The mix and recording of this record are of an amazing quality, yielding a crisp and polished sound. That’s even more charming actually because the grim necrosound would wreck all the subtleties in the music. This song has a lot of these clean melody parts, which makes it almost catchy. Music to embrace in the colder days, when will there be more?
Originally this project by Alessio Antoni was started in 2009 under the name NHART. NHART became NERATERRÆ and after a long period of time the music made in those early days is available to the listener. ‘The NHART Demo[n]s’ offer haunting creations from the past that need to be set free. That is what this release is all about.
Antoni also plays in Alma Flua, a band playing pretty straight forward rock and roll. The beast unleashes in this project though, which is a mixture of ambient, death industrial, power electronics, noise and drone. Te record consists of three demo’s from those early NHART days with truly intriguing sounds and sonic experiences to bask in.
The record feels a lot like being way to close to machines and devices in factories. Trains coming through tunnels and engines rattling. Fluid, mechanized and continuous are terms that describe the way the sound moves. There’s little to no song structure present, you simply get the cold, blaring sounds of an industrialized world presented in 4 minute formats. It chops up bits of that reality and freezes them in time. Some tunes follow a more industrial orchestration, but it remains an unpleasant experience.
If you imagine this music as part of our daily surroundings, isolated and ripped from the daily noise, the oddness sinks in. Otherworldly effects are part of what we hear on a daily basis and yet we hardly manage to distinguish them. The sounds NERATERRÆ captures on this record are testament to our alienated world. It captures a radical disonnect from the many aspects and layers of our daily experience I might read to much into it, but the almost David Lynch-like (check the Eraserhead soundtrack) quality of this record feels particularly confrontational. Dark and full of despair, a record of clarity.
Label: Transylvanian Tapes Band: Battle Hag Origin: United States
BattleHag seems like a D&D players fantasy, but don’t be mislead by the peculiar artwork. This band from Sacramento crushes on their debut album. After a demo in 2015, the ‘Tongue of the Earth’ album is their tectonic offering to the world of heavy doom metal. A worthy effort indeed. It’s only out on tape, so that’s quite an interesting thing as well.
The music of the group seems to be inspired by the big, lurching sound of modern doom. Thematically there’s a Lovecraftian eschatological abyss lurking in their sound and words. The record was recorded in Earth Tone Studios in Sacramento by Patrick Hills.
The sound progresses slowly, with minute shifts and heavy, cumbersome movements. Ginormous riffs create a monolithical heaviness to the sound, but the crushing effects are minimal, as the band chooses for a more languid flow in their sound on ‘Necronomichron’. A twelve minute lasting behemoth of a track, it is completely impossible to resist its flow. More force is on the next track, ‘The Book of Thoth’ with gurgling vocals and abyssal riffs that reach for the heavens in despair.
Battle Hag sounds odly melodic at times, not simply relying on being heavy to create their maximum impact sound. The flow of the sound feels weary and haggard at times, The drums take on odd, almost shamanic rhythms at times, like on ‘The Tower of Silence’. As if they form a summoning rite for a foreboding storm or a dark ritual. The band likes to add subtle things to the music, to enhance its impact. The cavernous vocal effects on the aforementioned song for example, while riffs seem to evoke a torrentous feeling at the same time really work.
Battle Hag offers a great debut full of little surprises. You’ll find something every time you spin this one.
When we think of the Caribbean region, our first thoughts are not about metal music. We imagine golden beaches, azure blue seas and so forth. In recent years a metal scene has started to really step out of the shadows. At Wacken Open Air, the band Lynchpin made the world aware of their scene.
Lynchpin hails from Trinidad and Tobago, an Island in the Caribbean region that is known for its music culture. Metal may not often be mentioned, but there’s a thriving scene. Lynchpin caught the international eye thanks to their participation in the Caribbean Wacken Metal Battle. Not only did it bring the small scenes in various nations together, Lynchpin became the emissary for the region after that.
A chat with Lynchpin about playing metal in Trinidad and Tobago, but also the hardships of going abroad and the lack of words to describe their Wacken experience (hint: there’s actually a lot of words).
Lynchpin: Heralds of Caricore
How did Lynchpin get started?
In 2009, Sievan realized that there was a drop in the local rock scene in Trinidad. It felt like the rock scene had no bands pushing and fighting for a voice. He met with Aaron, who was previously in local death metal pioneers Necropollis along with him and Overdose (Nu Metal), to discuss the creation of a new Band… a band with an attitude…. something to be in the face and forefront of local media and lead the local rock scene to new heights.
This was the Genesis of LYNCHPiN. Gerard was recruited soon after, coming of guitar duties for Vox Deus (another local mega band) and Jiggy, from Abbadon, for their technical abilities and unique personalities. All members have known each other for multiple years, in their other bands, and now combined their talents to make this new entity. LYNCHPiN was born in 2009… a new era… a new direction. A band and an attitude.
Last year you guys played Wacken Open Air. Can you tell us what the road to Wacken was like since it all started with the Wacken Metal Battle in the Carribbean, didn’t it?
Well, we played Wacken in 2016 actually, and yes it all started in the 1st ever Caribbean Metal Battle, Suriname. Wow, the road to Wacken…. phew… written words honestly cannot express how it all was.
A clear memory was the submission of the documents required for Wacken Caribbean Metal Battle, and then the wait. A wait without knowing when the announcement would be made for the 5 finalists. Thinking that there are 100s of bands in the whole Caribbean and we are one of only 5 to be selected?!? That was a feeling that I can’t express, helpless maybe? Since we had no control of selection process, it was quite amazing. It was Christmas season, very close to Christmas eve (I think) when we got the news that we were one of the 5 finalists!! We were in utter shock and glee, imagine, a CHANCE to perform in Wacken, but before that, in Suriname as one of 5 TOP bands?!!?! Surreal!
If people know us well, they would tell you that LYNCHPiN is a planning machine, LOL! We planned a whole lot for the Suriname competition, even getting 15 fans to move across with us, like carrying our home advantage with us! Well, cliche time: the rest was history.
We destroyed the Caribbean Metal Battle, but it made us realize how great the other bands in the Caribbean are. We made lots of new friends. But that feeling of being the first Caribbean Metal Battle Winners is something we still cannot fully wrap our heads around….
The key for us is that we came in first and history will always have us there as the first winners!!
So now, we had 3 months (max) to figure out how to reach Wacken. We staged a huge fundraiser called “LYNCHPiN vs the World” as local bands all came together to assist us on this journey. But not just local bands, also other bands from the Caribbean and metal battle supported us.
Particularly This Will Be No More (Aruba), who have become very close to us in LYNCHPiN.
With fundraiser money and personal money combined, we embarked on the long, historical journey to Wacken Open Air. It still feels amazing to be able to say this. We traveled from Trinidad, to Tobago, then to Germany (Frankfurt I think) via airplane and then on train to Itzehoe (upper Germany) and then via Car to Wacken grounds. Trust us, that it is a lot of movement with a lot of baggage. We camped there for 5 days (yes, in tents), walked on stage on the 2nd day and that was indescribable. Just a whole experience. Jeff Waters (Annihilator) introduced us on stage (which was incredible) to over 10,000 new fans.
And that my friends was the sound of Caricore being born to the world…
What does it mean for you guys to play at Wacken? Not just as a band, but also as metalheads from Trinidad & Tobago?
It was significant for all of us. It meant breaking the stereotype of Caribbean bands and what people perceive us to sound like. It also gave the whole region a new outlook on what we as people in the Caribbean can do.
I think it literally changed the rock scene in one step… now every serious rock band is planning to play outside and bring back experience and help upgrade here.
After that, you’ve done some more touring. How did that go? Got any mad touring stories apart from the insane amounts of traveling you guys have to do?
I think the mad tour stories and tied with the insane amount of traveling. Man, luggage and many people make traveling always hard… I think we remember running a lot… to trains… out of trains…. to busses… out of busses… it was a lot!
So, your last EP was from 2014. Are you working on anything new currently?
Yes! Our new album/ EP will be out in Summer 2018!!! It is to be a concept album of sorts. We are really excited about it. It seems like a mature step for us musically and content-wise.
How do you guys go about creating new music? Who does what in the process and how do you get started on a new song?
Honestly, all of us write. Sievan is mainly lyrics whereas the band is music. We always work on the theme of the song and what it is about first, so we have the atmosphere to build on. Well, that’s what we normally do…
What can people expect from a Lynchpin show? What kind of experience do you guys deliver?
It is an overall experience, graphically to performance to content. We try to push the fans to want to be a part of the show! That is really what we are good at, getting the crowd to die for the performance.
So metal in the Caribbean is something that was pretty unknown for a long time. Now, having played at Wacken, that might change. What is the scene like in Trinidad & Tobago?
It is small, but maybe the biggest in the Caribbean scene! Suriname has a lovely growing one also. Still, in Trinidad, we have Soca and other local musical genres that are most dominant in this country. Our rock/ metal scene has always had its ups and downs in terms of size, so it’s on the up for now. We always think that this is the plateau of the rock scene here in terms of numbers. We want more, but we’re unsure of its possibilities.
Is everything readily available for you guys (like record stores, music equipment, rehearsal spaces, and venues to play at) or is it a big DIY thing?
DIY aways!!! Equipment is best shipped! There are no record stores who sell metal exclusively (except maybe the rare in-house merchant). Rehearsal spaces are also always a situation; as one comes, one goes!
How did metal music come to your country and what bands were instrumental in its development? Can you sketch out some of its history?
We’ve always had western influences here, from music to dress to culture (we unofficially celebrate Halloween here, for e.g.) because of our historical involvement with England and the United States, so I suppose it’s only natural that rock and metal appeared here. With the international popularity of Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles (The Beatles actually came to Trinidad once!) and The RollingStones etc. people here started getting into it – however these genres were (and still are) seen as foreign, so there wasn’t a very big movement around it. There were no more than about 10 bands in the 70s and 80s, and most were cover bands. The band Touchdown then debuted in the 80s and, with their connection to a successful soca/pop band – Fireflight, achieved great popularity both within and outside of the traditional rock community. The combination of Touchdown’s success and record shops beginning to supply rock records, due to their demand, lead to a surge in rock interest and the formation of bands between the late 80s and mid-90s. Bands like SmithTuttle and Big Eyed Grieve had more of a grunge sound, while Orange Sky, Jaundis-I and Jointpop began blending rock with regional sounds like calypso and reggae.
The heavier side of rock and metal also started showing up in this period, through cover bands like ‘Infernal Death’ and ‘Tribal Darkness’ and original bands like ‘Bleed’ and ‘Lucifix’ (which actually contained members of Orange Sky!). Later on, in the late 90s/early 00s, the Black/Death Metal bangers Necropolis and heavy hitters Face of Death carried the torch. Nu-Metal also came on the scene with BrownFox and local legends Incert Coin who, with OrangeSky, are perhaps the two most popular local bands to date. The mid-90s to early 00s really saw a boom in original bands performing heavier music, that many see as the highlight of the scene, with the aforementioned bands being joined by the likes of Tamper Evident, Alexes Machine, Cobolized, Vox Deus, Spectral Vibes, Anti-Everything, Krucifix, Overdose and many more. These bands all paved the way for the scene today, and a few are seen as icons in our rock and metal history. Because of our small population, you rarely see more than two or three bands playing the same or similar genres of metal, but it also means that we have a very diverse range of rock and metal sub-genres, from pop-punk and punk to death and djent.
Apart from bands and record stores, 3 milestones were instrumental in the development of our rock scene: 1) EmmetHennessy having listening parties and jams at people’s homes in the 70s 2) The launch of the radio programme ‘TotalLocal‘ and the ‘Mike Ross Underground/MRU‘ on 95.1fm almost 20 years ago, which had a huge impact on the modern popularity of rock and metal, with Mike Ross bringing these genres over the radio for 2-3 hours every Thursday, when no other station would, and 3) The launch and development of the website ‘TheBandfield‘ by DexterBanfield, which catered specifically to local rock & metal bands, events and supporters, with its messaging board helping to bring the scene closer than ever before
I would like to thank MaartenManmohan for my knowledge of the history of metal here. Maarten actually did a study on it and he’s one of the main reasons I have so much info on the topic!
Which bands from your part of the world should people really check out (and why)?
There are so many relatively unknown bands in our region – Trinidad may have the largest number of bands but the other Caribbean islands are producing some great bands and music also.
The main reason I would tell anyone to check out these bands is the same I’d give for checking out any ‘big, international’ band: depending on your taste in metal, I think you’d enjoy them because they make great music and have recordings that you can access. These are only a handful of bands, as I don’t want to overwhelm you lol, but please let this be an introduction that will hopefully lead you to many more of the great bands we have around the Caribbean.
Mindscape Laboratory – Trinidad – djent
Bound to Oblivion – Trinidad – djent/modern heavy metal
Incert Coin – Trinidad – heavy rock/nu-metal
Feed the Flames – Guyana – Heavy Metal
Aeons of Disorder – French Guiana – Groove/Death Metal
The Supernormal Band – Trinidad – Rock with ‘Trini’ flavour
This Will Be No More – Aruba – djent
Asylum – Suriname – Heavy Metal/Metalcore
Do you feel that bands take something from Trinidad & Tobago in their metal music? Some sound, feeling or themes?
When we were in Wacken, we were told that we are definitely not death metal or deathcore. They said it’s more of a Caribbean groove with death/ black vocals, so we coined it Caricore! So, yes we do!!! Themes… maybe in terms of our realities here with crime etc.
What future plans does Lynchpin have at this moment? What can we expect in the future?
Working on recording and releasing the new EP and heavy touring over the next years. Breaking new ground and barriers for the Caribbean
If you had to compare your band to a type of food or dish, what would it be and why?
Actually thats easy… Pelau! We are a mixture of everything that influences us and is great together! The band kindly linked some recipes if you’re interested in tasting some Pelau.
Apart from the fact that these guys are named Мрамор, which translates as ‘Marble’, I know little about them. They were formed in 2015 in Ulan-Ude. This is in the far east of Russia, in the republic of Buryatia. A place far removed from Moscow and probably much different to what you think you know as Russia.
The music of the group is definitely different and is described as post-black metal or depressive rock, which immediately draws comparison to German experimentalists Bethlehem. It makes for a fascinating bit of listening though.
Ok, I’m going to give you the description of the wild sound that Мрамор produces as I hear it. It has a major tone in general, it feels just super upbeat and joyous in the weirdest way. Their vocalist shrieks with the same maddening style as Yvonne Wilczynska of Bethlehem and sometimes the songs simply have hooks that remind you of the feel-good punkrock of the late nineties. Though after ‘Пробуждение’ that soon fades and we get into the more post-black metal spheres that this band is aiming for.
The tremolo guitar play creates a vibrant tapestry full of color. That continuous stream is definitely taken from black metal, but the pounding drum and groovy bass line say something completely different. This actually rocks on ‘Оттепель’ and that explains why the band likes to call their sound ‘depressed rock’. The songs are rich with samples but go from swooping, majestic pieces to pretty firm rocking tunes and gentle ballads like ‘Навсегда’ in the best Russian tradition. That stunning variety alone makes these guys extremely good and interesting.
Documentaries about heavy metal have started popping up ever since the global success of Sam Dunn’s Metal: A Headbangers Journey in 2005. These films show metal in the far corners of the world. It shows us what we have in common, but also what is different. A documentary film about metal in the Indian sub-continent and its various nations, therefore, seemed like a great idea and Roy Dipankar is trying to realize it.
Much like Sam Dunn, Roy has been scouring the continent for its most extreme and fascinating bands, live shows and lifestyles. His project is now hanging by a thread because it all depends on the success of his crowdfunding. The journey Roy wants to show to the world is one that finds that field of tension between ethnographic experience, journalistic interest and simple love and curiosity about a scene that remains largely hidden from the public eye. I thought it’d be nice to learn a bit more.
Extreme Nation’s Roy Dipankar
Hey Roy, How are you doing? All good. Hoping to feel better.
So tell me about Extreme Nation, how did this idea start out?
I had always felt the need to have quality documentation of a show, an interview or a music video in metal music. I am talking in terms of Indian and Asian countries. Most of the information or coverage has been scattered.
It all started at the Trendslaughter gig in Bangalore around Feb 2014. What I had in mind was a docudrama of sorts that would be part documentary, part fiction. This was the initial seed. However, as my horizons expanded from city to city, town to town, country to country – I believe there was enough of amazing already happening with real people and characters and events. Hence since late 2013 to now – Extreme Nation has developed to be quite a unique story!
What do you find is the big appeal of the metal scene? Why would a film about it be interesting?
Roy: Metal music is outrageous, boisterous, it defies authority, questions rules, speaks of all and most things forbidden. And the followers, fans, and talented musicians go far beyond in proving that. The film is not just about the music alone but also about the people of the subcontinent and inter-relationship. That makes an interesting premise.
You’ve been exploring the unique identity of extreme metal in the Indian subcontinent. What makes it so different to the rest of the world?
Roy: Indian subcontinental metal has its own flavor. Though the seed was laid in the West, metal music has gradually metamorphosed into a monster of its own kind. Metal music from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal through its various sub-genres, avenues and initiators carry their own story that is akin to the region. We are telling our tales through the eyes and tongue of a leviathan spawned out of your own backyard!
What can people expect from Extreme Nation?
Conflicting viewpoints, shock, mainstream bashing, our problems, our moments of joy here in South Asia and a lot of socio-political opinions. There are also fun moments and a travelogue involved.
What are some of your favourite encounters with the film? Without spoiling too much of its contents…
My visit to Sri Lanka to some really inaccessible places, and Kohima in Nagaland (far North East India). I have struggled for visas to Pakistan. And if the Wishberry campaign is successful, hopefully, I can travel to Lahore.
I’ve found that exploring is an activity that can change the way an audience sees something. Did you have any goals like that in mind and in what way has your journey changed you and your perspectives?
Exploratory travel is one of the best kinds for cognitive development and free thinking. Travel brings out the inner person and flourishes the soul with adventure in spite of risks and overwhelms you completely. Fear of the unknown and unexplored, uncharted realms entice me the most! One becomes a more inclusive person as well as sets priorities right.
Can you name some bands that will be featured in your film and that people should definitely check out as well?
To name a few – Anton Dhar from Nafarmaan (Bangladesh), Sandesh Shenoy from Cyclopean Eye Productions (India), Hassan Amin from Multinational Corporations/ Dead Bhuttos (Pakistan), Genocide Shrines, Serpent’s Athirst and Konflict from Sri Lanka.
Apart from all of them, there are also many more individuals and bands from Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ladakh, Guwahati, Shillong, Nagaland, Lahore, Dhaka and Colombo.
What future ideas and plans do you have for film projects?
I am working on the pre-production of a short film, it will be hybrid cinema with mix-media involved. This will lay the foundation for a feature film in the making. All I can say about that film now is that of “a psychedelic experience from the underbelly laced with vitriol laden social comment.
Extreme Nation is in the last 15 days of the crowdfunding. Have one less beer next weekend and support this!
Nepal has had a turbulent history and through those years, one band stood in defiance of the situation. Seriously, rarely will you find a band that has lived through so much. X-Mantra started playing thrash metal in 2000 and immediately was faced with realities that other bands in this genre merely fantasized about. Their album Crying For Peace stands as a testament to that era.
A little history of Nepal, which was already in the throes of a civil war around the time X-Mantra started out. More than 12,000 people were killed in this war that lasted from 1996 to 2006. This is the theme for the first album of the band. In 2001 the monarchy of Nepal started to go down in blood, after a massacre in the royal palace (an inner-family feud), which only heightened the tensions up to 2008. Since then the country has been struggling to become a republic, but that is easier said than done obviously.
Now, a little footnote to this interview. Unfortunately, in this project I get in touch with bands from various places in the world and sometimes language forms a barrier. I’m pretty sure in the e-mails sent between Eindhoven and the United States (the current abode of Rojesh Shrestha, founder of the band) some things got lost in translation. X-Mantra is currently on hiatus, but they’ll be back and are looking to spread their music outside of the mountainous nation of Nepal.
X-Mantra: Nepalese Thrash Gods
First of, can you introduce yourselves?
We X-Mantra and we are a Heavy Metal Band from Nepal..We play THRASH Metal. I, Rojesh Shrestha, am the founder of the band and I’m answering these questions.
The current line-up:
Current line-up: guitar: Rohitaj Hiring Guitar: Ram K. Century Drums: Bikram Shrestha, Bass/Vocal: Rojesh Shrestha
Do you guys play in any other bands or are you starting new projects now X-Mantra is on hiatus?
No, some of our members are out living in US and Australia so for time management we are on hiatus.
How did X-Mantra get started back in 2000? What made you guys get together and decide to make this kind of music?
We were in different bands. We all were sick and tired playing cover songs. As our musical taste wore the same we decided to form a new band and started playing original Nepali Metal songs in 2000. Actually we as a band were form to participate in national music contest.
Where you inspired by Nepalese bands to make metal music or did it come from foreign bands?
No, we all were inspired by foreign Metal bands then.
Can you tell a bit about the start of metal in Nepal and what that scene was like back in the days when you guys started playing? How did metal music come to Nepal in the first place?
For a decade there used to be metal scene here in Nepal. There used to be good bands like DeadSoul and other bands whom we adored. As I mentioned before we wore in different bands some glam rock, some rock and some from metal itself, we decided to come up with our original album so we gathered and started playing original songs.
Metal in Nepal started as by covering the greatest bands like Slayer, Metallica etc.
You guys started playing metal music in what probably is the most turbulent time in recent History for your country. Can you tell a bit about that for people who are not familiar with it? And how did that impact you guys as a band?
We did Political lyrics then starting from our 1st album till the 3rd (2000-2005) As we had our own official legal advisor. The lyrics were too hardcore for that time being, which brought a revolution in Nepali Music Industry in 2000. The literature and the deep meaning took us to the place we are in still.
You guy’s have probably seen it all. The transition from a kingdom to republic, civil war… I think it’s reflected particularly in your early work that seems to be highly political. What was it you were trying to say with for example debut album ‘Crying For Peace’?
Our first album Crying For Peace represents the situation Nepal was in. That was something that no other musician tried to express at that time. We had our offensive lyrics and I think our music was too new for the Nepalese music industry. The album’s motto was to wake up people before it’s too late and kick some fucking ass of the politicians.
Since then, back in 2000, it was political crisis going on. There were no other bands or musicians who sang against the way things were going or dealt with politics and the suffering of people. We hired an advocate and started writing songs about that. But now things have changed, we can now hear many genres artists (from folk/rock/pop/hip-hop) are rebelling against the politics. We thought that it would be the same if we used such lyrics, we wanted to be different…. that’s all. Everyone is using the same words these days, but no voices are heard. So, it’s useless to repeat the same thing again and again.
How has the metal scene grown and developed since you guys started out?
We used to organize some underground gigs called Metal Mania which we continued till part-III. There used to be 50-60 people for our show, which was awesome at the time, but now it’s a different story. We have many shows, more than a pop or other musical shows… and it’s too good. Now, we have more than 5.000 people visiting an outdoor show. The new upcoming bands are growing day to day, and we are very satisfied with that!
Nepal is in a way an extreme country, with its mighty mountains, high located cities and such. Do you think there’s a connection between these extreme conditions and the booming extreme metal scene?
No I dont think it does, but it doesn’t harm the Metal Culture in Nepal either. Music has nothing to do with politics or a county’s conditions I think. Doesn’t make any connections within both. We did music in our location in even worst situations of the nation.
I’m intrigued by that history your band went through. In that tumultuous past, did you guys have to deal with controversies and censorship and the like? I imagine not everyone was appreciative of a band trying to get involved in the politics of the time.
Yes, our songs were not played in any radio and television stations then, they used to say “we don’t have the perfect show to play your songs”. But it’s the same problem even now, except 2-3 media houses. Censorship was one of main issues then. As I said, we even got together with an official legal advisor when we released our debut album….. as we were also prepared for all those circumstances. We were also ready in case we’d be send to jail, haha!
At some point you guys really got big in Nepal. I’ve seen footage where you’re working with a rapper and a singer. What was the mainstream appeal that you think X-Mantra holds?
Yes, we did some collaboration at a time that was due to our producers and record label. We were not allowed to release the music we liked and that really SUCKS. We used to be in no 1. charts for months then. We thought to do something new and secondly, those days, the record label used to decide which songs were to be finalized in that moment.
So, after 17 years of playing excellent music, you’re going on hiatus. Why did you guys make this choice and how long do you think the hiatus might last?
Overseas migration problems are the mean reason. Me, being frontman of the band, I continued the band for 17 years without any breaks. Due to my family problems I had to to move to the United States, so we are taking a break for maybe 2 or 3 years from now.
I just moved to here in America and most of our members are in Australia. The current members are in Nepal though. Since I am the founding member I am thinking to continue my band while staying in the US.
Having seen all these youngsters come up in the Nepali metal scene, which bands should people definitely check out and why?
Now every new bands are equally good in both their gear and they are musically strong. Everyone should check Nepali Bands these days without any doubts. All are freaking awesome in their own way.
What future plans do you guys have? Will there be an anthology of sorts of X-Mantra?
Yes we will be COMING with new videos yet to be released. And after 2-3 years we will be COMING out with our New album DEFINITELY.
If you had to compare X-Mantra to a dish (a type of food), what would it be and why?
We are the crab….. haha….. because we never decided to move on the fast track….let the time roll in its own pace and we’ll catch up with time again. That’s how we define ourselves.
Label: Pest Productions Band: Myrkgrav Origin: Norway
I really try to cover the more recent releases, but coming across Myrkgrav, I have to share this. Myrkgrav is the project of
Lars “Leiðólfr” Jensen, who played in Quadrivium and Storm. The project started out in Norway, but it seems that Jensen has relocated to Turku in Finland now. ‘Takk og farvel; tida er blitt ei annen’ was released in 2016 and after that, the band was put on hold.
With Myrkgrav, Jensen tries to preserve stories and myths from his part of the world, the region of Ringerike. To prevent those from fading into oblivion, he puts those to music. The artist is still working on new material, but it’s not clear if that will come out under the banner of Myrkgrav. To create the music, Jensen uses guest musicians like Olav Mjelva of Wardruna and various others. The artwork immediately sets the mood with its depiction of the beautiful, wild nature.
Musically Myrkgrav sticks somewhere between catchy folk punk and folk metal. It lacks the rigorous sound of full-on metal, but comes closest to Glittertind for me on some parts. Even when the vocals are grunted, the overall sound remains very accessible. Tunes like ‘Skjøn jomfru’ stick close to the folky traditionals, with clean, warm vocals that are easily enjoyable. ‘Vonde auer’ with its fiddle by Mjelva immediately takes you to the valleys and mountains in all their overwhelming beauty. The guitar play is remarkably catchy on tracks like ‘Bekom Gyrihaugen’, with swooping parts carrying you away. It’s one of the multiple instrumentals on this record.
A track like ‘Soterudsvarten’ shows the more heavy side of the band, but the folklore and the playful sound is still a heavy part of it. Sometimes the galloping rhythms feel a bit too repetitive for my tastes, It makes some songs feel a bit unnecessary, but then again on this record, some older work has been added from past periods of Myrkvar. When we return to the folky tunes, that’s where Myrkvar is exceptionally pleasant. The singing voice is calm and sonorous and manages to tell stories. The opening song even comes back towards the end in an English version, which is pretty sweet.
This album is quite a treat, clocking over an hour in total time. Check this out, it’s stilll available to listen to.
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