Episodes
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There are people who accompany you musically your whole life, maybe they are even of the same or a similar age. You might lose contact to that person's music once in a while but as you soon as you "re-connect", there is the same kind of close-ness, of connection, yes, of intimacy. For me, one of these voices is Jonah Matranga's, whose various projects have always resonated with me, mostly because of his voice which to me is the epitome of Emo, the good kind of Emo, not the shitty stuff that came in the late Aughts which bands who were more into mascara and stupid breakdowns than into making quality music - in his words and his songs there is always that ray of honesty. Now he has lent his skills for a new album with English Post-Stoner-Post-Hardcore veterans Sons of Alpha Centauri. Their first collaboration in 2021 was called "Push" and this new one is named "Pull" and believe me there are many pull-factors on these nine songs. Released again via Exile on Mainstream Records, this new record is a bit closer to Jonah's former combos and therefore the comparisons are obvious. But there is much more to talk about - his collaboration with the Deftones, Star Wars, his work with Far, hair, his connection to Sons of Alpha Centauri and much more. There is even a little quiz and a chance to win something for you all out there! So sit back and enjoy our latest interview!
Band links
Sons of Alpha Centauri
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sonsofalphacentauri
Bandcamp: https://sonsofalphacentauri.bandcamp.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5N9S58a1trUvMiavf5vwFl
Website: https://www.sonsofalphacentauri.co.uk/
Exile on Mainstream Records:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcsZM_AT6d84jePpfRnygog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andreas.kohl.399
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exileonmainstreamofficial/
Website: https://www.mainstreamrecords.de/
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Locrian is not your average band, these three guys are some of the most striking genre-hoppers I have ever encountered. So many genres are on here that many different people attach many different tags to it. Many call them Post-Metal, others label them as Avantgarde Noise but when you talk to the guys and get a grasp of their vast musical influences and tastes it becomes clear that they do not care about labels, they do not restrict their listening habits to any specific genre and thus their music should not be seen that way. There is just so much to find out on their upcoming new record "End Terrain" (out on Friday, April 5th, via Profound Lore Records) that if you try to find out all the elements on these songs you might have to start thinking about mindmaps and spreadsheets in order to organize your thoughts and analyses. However, talking with Andre, Steven and Terence about the record then shows a trio that is not dead serious but really easy to talk to. We hear about their love for Shoegaze, Post-Punk, Experimental sounds and so much more! Enjoy our interview!
Band links
Locrian
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LocrianOfficial
Bandcamp: https://locrian.bandcamp.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/locrianofficial/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/3qg85LFImCJ1zIefm6urwC?si=tdEGlaRvThOi45xAfbwgvQ
Profound Lore:
Bandcamp: http://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profoundlorerecords
Instagram: https://instagram.com/profoundlorerecords/
Website: https://profoundlorerecords.com/products-page/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_JwJlkjw7aeCSoYb3okn2w
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Episodes manquant?
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Black Metal from Quebec is a pretty relevant scene, if you ask us. There are many awesome bands from the only French-speaking region in Northern America such as Nordicwinter, Spectral Wound, Misere Luminis and many others, amongst them: Givre. Man what a band, maybe my favorite Canadian band at the moment. Nevertheless, one must admit, that we normally do not know that much about Quebec. We might know about Montreal as its biggest city, might know where it’s located and a few tidbits, but not too much. So we combined that lack of knowledge with an in-depth interview about Givre’s new record Le Cloitre, out on Friday via Eisenwald. There is so much to talk the record: The concept of talking about six famous women all connected to the Christian faith, the artwork, the roots of the lyrics but also the difference of their hometown Rouyn Noranda compared to Montreal, the importance of that village for their sound and the impact of the local scene there. As you can imagine, all of this made up for a pretty long interview with many topics to discuss and much knowledge to gather. Enjoy our 90 minutes with Givre!
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It isn’t always fun to see what people really look like behind their masks, because sometimes they simply disappoint and are not scary enough (think of many wrestling fans) or not sexy enough (Kiss) or some other things. With Tommy Meehan that’s not the case - the guy is as hilariously funny as the masks of his project Squid Pisser. And he is now a (touring) member of a certain small masked extreme metal band from Virginia that you might have heard about - GWAR? On the eve of the Super Bowl (a few hours before kick-off) our head honcho Thorsten sat down with Tommy and talked about everything related to his new project - be it artwork, the live-band and much more including the question “Why the heck release two very closely related things on the same date?!?!” Enjoy our talk!
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Wanna hear an interview that I loved and hated at the same time? The conversation with Mirza from Arms and Sleepers was awesome. Deep and personal, funny and entertaining, technical and detailed. We talked a lot about Mirza’s latest record What Tomorrow Brings (out since March 1st via Pelagic Records) and how it is a reflection of his life and all the tragic things he encountered ever since leaving his home in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He has been playing shows as Arms and Sleepers for years now and has also been to the Ukraine in war times twice, once during the first Russian attack on Crimea, ten years ago, and also after the second attack that is still going on. Of course that experience also influenced his song writing and will do so in the future. Why I hated the interview? Because my connection broke down all the time, chopped up a lot of interesting thoughts and resulted in this only being an audio-interview. Nevertheless, this conversation is one of the most interesting I was allowed to do this year, so I hope you enjoy it despite the technical difficulties.
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A year ago, we started a series which, by its design, was hard to keep going so we were aware that there would be bigger gaps between the editions of this “series” but here we are now with its fourth installment - our “Bands interviewing Bands” - series. This time we have the pleasure of getting Aaron Charles and Jordan Guerette together, who play together in Falls of Rauros but who interviewed each other on their side projects - Aaron’s Psychedelic Black Metal project Rhûn and Jordan’s apocalyptic Chamber music ensemble Forêt Endormie. Of course, head honcho Thorsten also had a few questions for both guys but each came up with mighty cool questions for the FoR-bandmate. In our interview, we also talk about the importance of these projects for Falls itself, about Game of Thrones and Wheel of Time and about Stephen King, the literary icon of the guys’ homestate, Maine. Enjoy the reviews on both outfits’ recent releases as well as the interview!
Many great albums take time to take shape and to see the light of day, and such is the case of Rhûn’s Conveyance in Death. Not only does great music take time, but this album takes inspiration from things that are very relatable to the human condition: self-determination, solitude and ephemerality. It has many layers, blending of Black Metal with Death Metal and Psychedelia elements, that make this a great listen.
Rhûn was born back in 2021 and was formed by Aaron Charles, one of the founding member of Falls of Rauros. The album came out after three years and also features Ray Capizzo on session drums. Conveyance in Death is a self-released album with six tracks and the physical copies are available by House of Inkantation. This album is very different from the Atmospheric Black Metal elements that can be found in Falls of Rauros, but has its own unique sound, making this a different entity that takes various elements that give this album very distinctive and unique layers.
The opening track “Morningstar” has an eerie start, giving the listener goosebumps before the drums and the voice, which sounds like a call from the grave, breaks that slow groovy start. The raw sound will be something that will be constant throughout this album. The guitar playing on this track almost sounds like a wailing that resonates deep within one’s soul. “Tomb of Andesite” has a fast, bone shattering start and keeps that relentless sound until the end. Two tracks deep into this album and you know it will have no respite, it will keep the listener engaged, will keep one peeling off all of those mesmerising and heavy layers. My favourite track of Conveyance in Death is “Bone Ornament”, which sums up the essence of this album: amazing drumming, spine-chilling voice, and the beautiful guitar parts that make Rhûn’s album exceptional. There are moments during this track that almost feel like it allows the listener to breathe and take in all of the slow moments, only to grip you back into its fierce hold. “Howl of Gleaming Swords” and “Citadel in Ruin” keep that beautiful groove and heaviness in Conveyance in Death, that can definitely move you and discover a different element within the album’s sound. “Night’s Glacial Passing” brings the record to a magnificent finish, like a triumphant farewell. It gives this album a great conclusion. From start to finish, Conveyance in Death provides a beautifully crafted heavy sound that only makes you feel grateful that, after this album was dormant for some years, it got released and we got to fully experience it.
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We usually have guys here on the show, whose music is based on riffs and guitar work. But sometimes we also feature people with a slightly different approach. Interestingly, when talking to James from Gost it becomes clear that his songs, and therefore also the songs on his forthcoming new album Prophecy (out soon via Metal Blade Records), can be based on both, either a guitar OR some electronic work. He also explains a lot about the way he composes his tracks, his patience deficit, the way the mask he is wearing on stage makes it difficult on the one, but interesting on the other side. And he also proclaims a love for a certain kind of country music, which one might not expect him to have. All in all, a mighty interesting talk which maybe can sparkle the interest of some of you metalheads out there to give Prophecy a spin! Enjoy!
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A few years ago, Chris (Heads., formerly also in The Ocean), Nic (Heads., formerly also in Eisenvater) and Felix (Hansen Band, Home of the Lame, live-keyboarder for Einstuerzende Neubauten) formed a new band which after a few days was named ZAHN and who struck us (especially Stephan and Thorsten) with their instrumental sound somewhere between Post-Punk, Krautrock (only in attitude), Noise-Rock and many highly delectable elements. Their first self-titled record already received high praise by our head-honcho, but their second record Adria even more so, both records are out via Crazysane Records. Therefore, of course we needed to get an interview with the band and Felix took an hour off (on a Saturday!!) and spoke with us about the band, the records being different stages of a love-relationship, the development of the band and the sound. If you want to know why Morricone is (again) a major influence on a band and much more, then you will enjoy this interview!
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This week we somewhat go full cycle as we talk with the first person to give us an interview (a written one that is, or was back in 2021) - Josh Graham. The focus of our conversation is his new band Guitless with Sasha from Intronaut, Billy from Generation of Vipers and his bandmate from A Storm of Light, Dan. Interestingly, one of these guys was willing and keen to switch instruments and even funnier is the fact that the four guys haven’t been in one room at the same time. That again, naturally, has implications for their songwriting process. Their debut EP Thorns will be released via Neurot Recordings on February 23. We also talk about the name of the band and the question whether people are guiltless or not, so you see there is also some really deep talk going on here, which is a result of Josh being such an easy person to talk with and him giving such well-versed answers. We also talk about ideas for a tour which at first glance seems unlikely given the schedule of these guys, but as the first full-length is already in preparation nothing seems unlikely for Guiltless! Enjoy!
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Our 150th video of course demanded for something special, something broadening our horizons and so we were happy to broaden our knowledge of the scene in Singapore and Malaysia by talking to Singaporean heroes Paint the Sky Red whose new record Tamat (out via Moment of Collapse Records), and the title means “finished” in English. It is also to be their last record. Why? Well, the guys have a very good reason for that and we can be happy, because it does not imply the end of the band. How can that be, you ask? Well, you only have to listen to this short but really good interview with the guys! You will witness a band that is serious about their band but that also likes to laugh and give us a good impression on the Post-scene in (Southeastern) Asia. Enjoy the interview!
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Welcome to Part II of our Vægtløs - week! We promised you a lot for this week and we will keep our promise. We were very happy to talk with lyricist and vocalist of the band and admittedly this might not have been the happiest of conversations that we have had here on our VoS channel, this honestly ranks very high on our head honcho’s list because of the depth of this talk. “Enjoy” while you get to know a lot more about the depth of this record!
Aftryk might be a record of only a handful songs, but these songs hold so much content and most of it is looking at the darker side of life, aka death and we cope with it. In that sense it is very close to a record, Troels and Thorsten refer to quite a lot, Touché Amoré and their cancer-trauma record Stage Four! We have to say that the Danes might not be as well known as Jeremy Bolm, but believe us, when we say - they are to be reckoned with! Enjoy our interview and tell us, which record got you through some rough times?
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There are some bands that take pride in playing 100 shows a year. Some 150. And there are bands like Hexis, who usually play somewhere around 200 shows a year. On more or less every continent. With tours that seem to take forever, their last one took them across the Americas, with only a few off-days here and there. We talked to Filip and got to learn a lot about their touring ethos and their general DIY attitude. How difficult it is to let go of control and some help from people outside the band. Who to trust and what these persons have to bring to the table. Enjoy this highly interesting interview!
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We always try to give you something different here on the VoS, so we are very happy to have this interview with Thomas Alkärr for you. Thomas who? Thomas is a scholar who has curated a very important exhibition in Oslo called “Bad Vibes” which focused on the Norwegian Black Metal scene of the early 90s and how it affected Norwegian society and how it was affected by it vice versa. In this interview we talk about the exhibition, the surprises Thomas encountered and also how the exhibition was laid out. Of course we also talk about the music, its sources, influences but also the effects it had on the global (Black Metal) scene. To make it clear, we also talk about the artist formerly known as Kristian and the crimes connected to the scene back at the beginning of the 90s, so if you do not want to listen us talk about those topics, you might want to skip this interview and enjoy one of our many other ones. At the end Thomas also has to through our infamous quickfire round which is centered around Norway and its bands, projects etc.
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Well, well, well - didn’t we tell all you American Post-Rock aficionados to check back soon with us? Anyway, we are incredibly proud to have Shipwreck Karpathos here on the show for our first regular interview of the year. The guys have released a miraculous release called Being Human a few weeks ago through A Thousand Arms and dunk!records one couldn’t be happier about it. It is one of these records which provides a lot of things to talk about and talk we sure did.
The record is the second installment in a trilogy that started a few years back with Bring Down the Sky and which is now furthened with Scenes 8 to 14. The so-called “Pilot Trilogy” is of course one of the things we talked to with the handsome fellows, bandleader David and the latest bandmember Hank. We also talk recording specs, the influence of Emocore and Pop-Punk and also when you can hear only Jason Sissoyev from Coastlands on this record. We’re sure that you are going to like this interview and maybe give us a like here or on any of our other channels.
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Well, haven’t we told you we wanted to start 2024 with a bang?! What could be a bigger bang than an interview with one of the reasons why all of this here started? A shared love for the music of Aaron Turner brought together some nerds a few years ago and this is like the core of VoS - so it was about time for this interview. However, we like to do things a little differently here and therefore we did not talk in too much detail about with musician Aaron Turner but much more with the (visual) artist Aaron Turner, whose work did not only grace many of the HydraHead releases but also many other artists’ records. His work is so influential, that by now you can find cover artworks that are clearly inspired by his work!Enjoy this interview and have a great 2024!
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Yes, you are seeing correctly, Toby Driver! We go out of 2023 with a bang! Toby Driver is one of these few artists who can connect Black Metal fans, Jazzers, Avantgardists and people from various other far-apart genres because he has that understanding of music that reaches beyond genres, sounds and structures. Something that some people might call avantgarde in the sense of “letting the song dictate where it goes” but for Toby that is not what the term stands for. And therefore we focused on that notion, that term - “Avantgarde”. In what turned out to be a totally improvised interview we found out a lot about it, in my opinion. Check out this in-depth interview with Toby and remember - we go out with a bang, we go in with a bang, so be sure to check back tomorrow!
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As we said before, we want to give you something special in this run of interviews and this interview with Steve von Till is really something special, because Steve sat down and thought for himself which ten records could define Neurot Recordings best for him. And he came up with a really mighty list: Great Falls, Deafkids, UFOMAMMUT, YOB, Amenra, Kowloon Walled City, Grails, Justin K. Broadrick’s FINAL, Vágtázó Halottkémek and Zeni Geva! What a list! We talked about these records and also used these as starting points to talk about other Neurot releases and artists! Enjoy this interview and make sure to come back tomorrow for another amazing interview!
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There are people and bands that everybody within a certain scene knows. Everybody knows ISIS when it comes to Post-Metal, just like you know the Neurosis guys when you are into Dark Folk, as well as Toby Driver when you like Black Metal with an Avantgarde Twist. When you are into American Black Metal with a lot of history you will surely have come across the name Neill Jameson because he is one of these key figures of USBM as he is the mind behind Krieg, one of the seminal bands in the genre. Sometimes controversial but never delivering records of a bad quality and that is also true of Krieg’s latest record Ruiner, which came out a few months ago and which is a certain tabula rasa record. So, obviously we had a lot of reasons to sit down with Neill (and his cat) to talk about all these things and of course also Black Metal in general. Enjoy this one and make sure to check back tomorrow for another legend!
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Talking to Einar Guðmundsson from Fortið is quite different from what one would expect when talking to a guy from the Big White North aka Iceland. Einar is surely not one of these quite Norsemen, who barely open their mouths. No he is quite open about many things, for example about the fact that Fortið’s latest record Narkissos is based in quarrels with one person he and his family encountered in the last few years. Or to what extent he is a political person and which side he would take. The epic nature of his songwriting and how the latter might change because of a band member taking one more responsibilities. We also spoke about soundtracking, what Einar would love to do at some point. That and much more can be found out, when listening to this interview! Enjoy this one and be sure to check out tomorrow for another Black Metal hero!
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Brefjære by Spurv. A record like a mammoth-like mountainous superb soundscape. Most people who have listened to the record are gently overwhelmed by it because its sound is wonderfully melancholic and still sparkling like an icey diamond from beyond the Arctic circle hewn out of the mountains and then frozen in the waters surrounding Tromsø. Many people have placed this record on their lists for 2023 and well, righteously so: There is a lot of luminiscence in the tracks on the record and that surely has to do with the concept behind the record which is a communication between “participants” that usually cannot speak. We spoke with Gustav about the influence of the nature around him on the music, the concept behind the songs, the staging aspect of it all and much more. Enjoy the interview and do not forget to check out our first three interviews of this marathon and to check back tomorrow!
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