Standing Up And Fighting In A Broadway Theater- An Interview with Mathias Nygård of Turisas

Mathias Nygård of Turisas

I think many of us, in this generation of Metal are unaware of how lucky we are. Right now, there’s an affluence of Metal gigs, a small renaissance or so of Metal in Israel, there’s a selection and the matter of choice. It is not too far ago I hear of the days everyone use to go to every gig because that’s “what there was.” This year alone, 2013, we’re already growing steadily a very respectable amount of concerts in Israel, and the ones that will kick it off are the Turisas and Salem double pack. Headliners Turisas are one of the foremost and strongest powers in the Folk Metal uprising. A band priding itself on the basis of it’s brand of Folk Metal entitled Battle Metal, characterized by it’s epic grandiose and war themed music and lyrics, Turisas are definitely one of the more unique leaders of this movement. Instantly recognizable by Mattias “Warlord Nygård” D.G Nygård’s unique vocals and the menacing demeanor of this face paint laden warriors , this is not one of your run of mil bands that repeats itself 9000 times. Straight outta Hämeenlinna, I was fortunate enough to get the chance to speak with Warlord Nygård about Turisas, Folk Metal and the upcoming.


M.N- Hello it’s Mattias on the phone

Benek- Hello Mattias, heard I cut out quite a conversation…

m-N Don’t worry about it…I mean I was talking to Yishai, he was doing an interview as well.

Benek- Well more bang for your buck, how are you? How’s the tour?

M.N- It’s good so far, we have one more week to go here in the USA, we have 4 or 5 weeks behind us already. After were done here we’re heading to SA for a couple of weeks. It’s been a long tour it’s two months back to back on the road. Of course it’ll be nice to go back home, but the shows have been great as well.

So, lets go back to front, how did Turisas form? What was the main concept behind the band?

Well we formed the band, Jussi (Wickström) the guitar player, and myself. Mainly we were really bored, didn’t have really anything to do, and we were very much into Metal at the time, and listening to music together. Then we just decided, “hey, lets start a band” and we both had some background playing in some smaller bands. But we didn’t really have any ambitions or anything, we started from a total 0, and we didn’t know how to play that well or anything so it was kind of natural growth and from there step by step we have gone from having nothing to do to it becoming a hobby to a serious hobby to a profession. So the development has been good, it hasn’t always been easy but it has paid off I guess. As for the band’s name, a lot of influences in our early days came from Finnish folklore and mythology so we wanted a name that suited that, so we picked a name that is sort of the Finnish god of war in early references and it sounded cool. We also liked that it wasn’t an English word that anyone could interpret but it’s just “Turisas “ and we stuck with it since.


What is the meaning of the red and black paint?
It sounds a bit funny right now but when we started out, the second wave of Black Metal was becoming very popular and all the bands were still doing all the corpse paint and stuff at that time and now it feels a bit funny, because we’ve drifted so far apart. But at the time we felt we were coming from that background and that scene. We wanted to keep the visual element that those BM bands had. We felt our music is still so different from their dark image and it wouldn’t suit us that well, so we decided to change it around a bit and we went away from black leather to more earthly tones and furs. The actual face painting just came from us wanting to have splatters of blood on our face and some dirt, which we did. On Battle Metal and even on The Varangian Way we didn’t do face painting as we do it today. Only when we started touring it got out of hand, when we played shows there was someone putting a bit more blood or dirt on their face than everyone else, and we mauled it into the face paint we have today, it’s not that we had a production meeting, sitting down, seeing what we have to do.

what was the Finnish scene back in 1997 like in comparison with now? How did things change?

We were kind of influenced by the whole , the whole scene was so small that it was nothing like it is today. Anything like a Folk Metal scene didn’t exist at all, we were kind of influenced by the early stages of Viking Metal like Enslaved or Einherjer from Norway and some Symphonic Metal stuff like Bal-Sagoth from the U.K which was a really big influence with a lot of keyboard stuff and a lot of melodies but from the very start we felt that our music didn’t sound like anything that was out there yet. Also, we’re not from Helsinki so we weren’t from that scene either. It wasn’t till a little bit later that we’ve learned about the other bands. We came across demo cd/ cassettes from Ensiferum and Moonsorrow from Finland we realized there are others bands that are doing sort of the same thing we are, sounding kind of similar. But everything was super small and there was nothing like Pagan fest and big festivals booking Folk or Battle Metal bands. Back then there was nothing, we started out playing some really tiny shows and everything was sort of very small scale and nobody from any of those bands imagined that 10-15 years the whole thing could grow as big as it had today.

Also, Turisas is one of the few bands to have a truly strong following both in the places where Metal is popular and even in small countries like Israel since the days of the first album, how did it feels to get so famous so fast

Well of course it was, from starting out, when releasing the debut I think it was of course exciting because going from being a demo band nobody’s heard of except for the local juice house. Then you have a record label who released the record in all of Europe and even globally. By the way, I think that when you are in the middle of it you don’t really notice it kind of growing, only now we can look back and say “ah at that point we had some success.” Even now, here we are in Dallas, Texas, it just feels very normal in a way. All of a sudden we realize, it just feels natural getting here. I never felt it getting out of hand or exploding. The first album was already successful, but then the Varangian Way came out in 2007 and that got us even more attention and kind of everything built up very naturally, and we never felt like we’re on any rocket ride to success.

B- So were not gonna see Turisas sneakers any time soon, or you dating super models?

M.N- Not yet not…if anyone is interesting you can give em my phone number!

B- What inspired you go in this direction? Both musically and thematically?

M.N-I think we first of, we never considered ourselves or really thought of “Lets do a Viking image as such” it was more that we wanted a visual thing for the band and I think the Viking tag was added by record labels and marketing. We never really considered Viking themes to be the essence of the band in that way, the first album has a song about the 30 years war in Europe which was in the 17^th century, so it’s far out from any Viking era. The Varangian Way was a concept album dealing with that historical time period, but on the other hand it also dealt with the more Eastern regions, not only the normal pop culture Viking scenes you normally get. We never looked at ourselves as “a band about Vikings” it just how it sort of ended up in the end. I think that like, on the new album we just finished working on before leaving for this tour. It’s not a concept album like the Varangian Way, it’s not really tied to any time or place.

What inspires you personally so deeply about this type of history, about travel the Varingians,t he Vikings and other types of nomads?

I never actually looked at that, but when you point it out that journey or journey approach, or the theme of traveling is a theme that repeats itself in our music and in our songs quite a lot. I don’t know, maybe it’s something to do with that feeling of being on the way, going somewhere all the time. Because that’s basically what we do all the time, we tour, and on a more philosophical level, it’s all about trying finding your place in the world. Even when we’re not on the road travelling is something I love a lot , and going to new places and meeting new people, and learning about different cultures. That’s super exciting, that’s the most important thing I can think of , to spend my money on, is to see the world, and luckily , in my profession, being a band, I can do that.


I see Metal as very historically inspired, much more so than most other musical geners, what do you think is there to be learned from history? Why do you think the bond is so deep?
ummmm Good question by the way, in 80% of the time, it’s actually more of a connection with history at best, a lot of times its about the romantic idea of a time in the past, but it’s something that’s been coming and going in trends and popular culture for centuries. Starting out with Wagner and the mid 19^th century with the rise of romantic themes, poets and Operas and everything. In the 30’s, people were super fascinated with Egypt, and the 70’s you got fantasy and stuff like that with Tolkein and LOTR, it goes in waves. In the 70’s you had Rock bands and Pop bands dealing with these themes. And in the 80s and 90s you’ve got Punk which was a total anti reaction to that again. Maybe in the 2000s, this decade, something that not only in Metal music but pop culture in general is coming back to that again, you see all these historical based movies and things coming out all the time. I think it’s more of a global trend. But you’re right there, in Metal music there’s a heavy dealing with those kind of themes. If you’re not singing about Satan or your love story gone bad…that’s kind of the third obvious choice.

If it’s not Satan, or your love story gone bad I guess it’s history or NSBM (laughs.) What else inspires other than history? For example, what bands or media really inspire you?

Because I’m working with music everyday and all the time, I am not the biggest consumer of music. I don’t collect CDs and records, and I don’t follow it that actively to be honest. When I do listen to music , it’s not even Metal a lot of the time, it’s been kind of rare that I’ve come across any Metal that feels inspiring and new and fresh to me, maybe Gojira from France being one of those Metal bands I’ve been listening to lately. But really it’s been anything from Electronic to Folk bands. It’s anything from going to the art gallery to sometimes just following other forms of art it can all inspire, it’s so far away you can pick up ideas that aren’t obviously connected to rock and Metal music and come up with more interesting fusions.

what’s your writing process like for Turisas lyrics and music? Who is the main contributor?

That’s pretty much me, I feel like most of the songs and the lyrics are mine, usually I’m the one who sets the directions. But on the new album, the new guys or Ollie (Vänskä) or Jussi (Wickström) wrote or we cowrote stuff together. There are a couple of songs we ripped out together, but on the end it falls to my desk but the other guys from the band slap me with ideas and I pick what I like and whether to use it or not.


Fair enough fair enough, it’s your baby.. So now lets jump ahead, how do you feel about Stand up and Fight (most frustrating name for the handicapped Turisas fan) in contrast to your older albums? How did you arrive at the point from The Varingian Way and Battle Metal?

Ummm, I think with every album we’ve done we tried to reinvent ourselves to some extent , and we only released material when we felt we have something new to give. In many ways the more successful route would be that once you came up with a thing, would be to keep nailing the same style, coming out with an album every year, and keep yourself in the press all the time. For us it’s been important that it’ll be stuff that stands for ourselves and feels interesting to ourselves. Music that honors the band, the shows our sounds but now looking back to Battle Metal, although we still play a lot of songs from it live, it can be a bit painful for me personally. Though it can be heart warming as it has a lot of that first album excitement.


What makes it unique and different than the rest of your albums?


I think, kind of instead of making an album that sounds like a cinematic score to a movie we were flirting quite a bit with musicals and the Broadway approach. To some people that can be a bit much to handle, but I think in Stand Up & Fight we had 80’s stadium rock , musicals, and the songwriting style in that field that we incorporated with stuff we’ve done in the past. It’s a very orchestrated album, the orchestra plays a huge part in it, thematically it continues from the Varangian Way but it’s set up in a different way so it’s not as chronological or as straight forward. I think the sound is pretty much dominated by the orchestral sound, I think it’s very uplifting. It’s not very dark at all, it’s more of a, sort of a, motivational album (laughs)

Being one of the elders of the scene, who are some of your favorite contemporaries?

Well of course all of the bands are bands that we have spend a lot of time meeting up with, and do a lot of the same tours, like last year we toured with Arkona in NA and we toured with Finntroll a while ago. Every time we meet it’s like a family get together, but musically, Moonsorrow has been one of the bands that done their own thing. They’ve just done what they feel like doing and that’s it, I like that approach in what they do. I have to admit, before we toured with Finntroll, two years ago I hadn’t really listened to their music that closely at all, but I understood it better after I heard and saw them live night after night. Henri “Trollhorn” Sorvali who’s the main songwriter, he’s very talented, you have a guy who has so many projects who does Moonsorrow and Finntroll. He has a lot of crazy ideas and he’s not afraid to execute them either. I appreciate him being true to himself.

B- About Finn, their new EP is coming out soon…

M.N- Yeah I think Ollie our violin player played on some of their new tracks.

Considering it has already been out for two years, is there any talk of a new album? Or what’s up next in Turisas future?

Well the album is pretty much done; I mean our aim was to finish it completely before heading out leaving for this tour in the end of January. We were working most of last year in the studio, working on the new album and recording it, when we get back from SA we still need to work out some final things for about a week. Then its going right away to be mixed in London. Then in Spring there’s going to be a single or a video, or something coming out of the album already. And it’s gonna be out in summer, it’s more or less done already, it’s in final touches,

Any word as to themes or a title for the album? Anything really you can tell us?

Well we haven’t decided a title for the album yet, but once again it takes a different approach than the previous albums. This time around we wanted to avoid that whole lot of metal that is completely computerized and done entirely in Protools and tis riggered to the bone. It can be ,in extreme music, very effective, but it also kills so much out of the music itself. So We rented this big house in the middle of nowhere in Finland and set up our recording gear out there. we recorded most of it ourselves and have a sort of very organic approach to the whole production, so it’s gonna be a bit different than what we’ve done in the past. It’s also gonna have a couple of faster songs. A lot of Stand up and Fight was almost entirely mid tempo. And this new album is going to have a couple of faster, even punky songs, so I’m kind of excited, that it’s a very varied album. There are songs on it that remind you of the albums and music we’ve done in the past , the basic Turisas sound is still definitely there, there’s a lot of choirs and stuff like that but there’s a lot of new interesting influences in there, it’s going to be a very varied patch.

As to avoid sounding computerized, Are you working with a real choir? And orchestras?

Yeah, on Stand up and Fight we had strings and brass sections and we’ve done that on this album too, but instead of pushing that larger than life sound that everyone seems to be doing now a days we wanted to make it more organic, our refrences were listening to old Beatles albums with the French horns here and there , and that sounded like a wise studio sound. We arranged it very differently than what bands like DImmu Borgir do. Normally we do our choirs ourselves, this time we use ourselves plus a couple of guys from other bands in Finalnd and we have a good couple of days singing. Guys from Finnish bands Kiuas and Wintersun, a group of people we put together and did choirs.


much thanks, anything special planned for Turisas’ raid in Israel?!

Well its gonna be a special show to us, it’s gonna be our first show there obviously and also none of us have visited Israel or is Jewish , so it’s our first time there ever. We’rel ooking forward to it a lot. Normally we are on tour for two months and play shows every night, but this time we fly out to play one club show and come back. It’s more special in that way so we don’t have that weeks and weeks of touring behind us, it’s kind of cool and I’m sure we’re gonna do a very full setlist. We also don’t have that whole thing of “we played so many times here before” so it’s gonna be out of all albums and new stuff.

any last words to the crowds in Israel?

Come see us! April 4^th at Reading 3, even if you hate our band, if you’ll see us live you’ll love us

Wrong- Pessimistic Outcomes Review

Wrong - Pessimistic Outcomes 

Band- Wrong
Album- Pessimistic Outcomes
Score- 8/10
Origin- Madrid, Spain
Label- Xtreem Music


Anyone in my close circle of friends in the last few months has probably heard of the Black Metal band named Wrong. Ever since i've heard the bands debut album, Memories of Sorrow a few weeks ago on Terrorizer's website, i've been absolutely hooked. Ever since I got my mittens on it, i've been craving to write a piece about it for Metalist. Their brand of depressive Black Metal which is not so much DSBM, as a depressing glimpse onto Black Metal is unique not only on its own merit, but on the merit of its make.

You see, the two bands members, J.L “Phlegeton” Rey and David “DP” (yes, make the porno jokes) Perez are both very far removed from the world of traditional Black Metal. First and foremost, they come from the very small and under-appreciated Black Metal scene in Madrid, Spain. But that's not even it, they are actually both more famous for their main projects which are far removed from the world of Black Metal. Phlegeton for example, is much more well known as the vocalist of Brutal DM band Wormed (fun fact, who played alongside Viscera Trail) and DP was involved with a few important Thrash bands of the Madrid scene , namely Neverdie and The YTriple Corporation.

So, as luck would have it, on the eve of my discovery they were edging on the release of their new album, Pessimistic Outcomes. Now, to write a review of this is both a fan's dread and a reviewers greatest joy. From a fan's prospective, i'd be honestly pissed if they were to muck up the second album. I mean how many bands do you know which had a great debut and then everything went to shits? (The Gathering comes to mind) It's not called the second album block for nothing. Meanwhile as a reviewer it gives me an intersection which is nothing if not interesting to write about. It's the band making their intermediary steps into establishing their band's personality, or, burning the bridge to their first creation to take a turn.

With Pessimistic Outcomes, Wrong took further steps into darkness rather than change direction all together, and I believed it paid off quite well. For those who have made their haj complete by hearing Memories of Sorrow as well, could tell that Wrong´s style is not exactly oldschool Black Metal, nor is it DSBM though. It kind of walks the middle, with a strong leaning towards an organic mix but with very strong depressive elements that kind of remind one of early Shining. Also lyrically, they resemble Shining quite a lot. Though a note I appreciate about Wrong is, that while far from spotless, the lyrics describe depression and darkness in a way that is not overly saturated, but rather relateable. Although the occasional grammar mistake, (and there are some spicy ones mind you,) the lyrics themselves pass a feeling of murky, fogged darkness that is unique to the band.

Anyway, the product itself. How does Pessimistic Outcomes fair against Memories of Sorrow? Or hell, in general in a year where it's hard to be a Black Metaller ( I know I wouldn't like to drop my album the same year Mayhem, Kampfar, and Nocturnal Breed do theirs?) After small sounds of a man grasping for air, you get treated to one of , in my opinion, cool aspets of Wrong's music- the piano. While never intrusive, the piano parts are almost always done to rather annotate and accentuate movements in the music rather than move it forwards. Thru The Grey Path To Nowhere then begins with riffs that kind of show the typicality of Wrong's music. Somewhere between melancholic beauty and absolute suicidal fog to choke on. The tortured cries that suprisingly stem from Phlegeton (if you've ever heard Wormed, you'd honestly not believe it was the same guy. Hell I talked to him and I still don't) befit the music greatly. They're not the most varied of growls, but his vocal style that is somewhere between Abbath, Attila Csihar and Nocturno Culto actually sounds great with the music. I much rather this than most DSBM's supremely high pitched shrieks ala Lifelover and others.

I guess a part of what I love about Wrong is that oldschool mentality of having many influences and kind of putting it in a cooking pot together. There are parts that wouldn't shame a much more by the book Black Metal band, especially in the drumming, but the style of the guitar work and the piano inlays recall to mind a Shining spin on Lifelover (second time mentioning both, yeah sue me.) The second track “His Hatred Breathes” to me encapsulates the beauty the depressive side of Black Metal. The nitty, depressing gritty of digging your nails through life, music to those depressing hours you lay in your bed and pass thought by thought in agony.

Meanwhile, the rest of the album continues largely along the same lines. I guess that this would be a negative for some people. Like, the songs, although not musically, tend to reflect the same types of emotions going through. Yet, what did strike me is that it didn't get boring at all. All through the title track, I was thinking about the music I was listening to, and it hit me that the emotional part speaks to you so well that you don't notice the limited color palette. Between the music and the lyrics, the shades of black are so diverse that you never really find a reason to look for other colors. This is especially clear (the opposite of black, ba dum tishhh) on my favorite track, Dragging My Soul Until The Sunset. While usually I tend to discourage bands from doing a ten plus minutes track unless they really have strong material to fill it all up, Wrong clearly did. They made a piece that really transfers the feeling of a lethargic soul, passing onto the afterlife. The many different parts of the song kind of come together as a journey to the end. 11 minutes of a slow goodbye.

Overall, the opinion thickens around the last track. This album, while not perfect, is an absolute joy for a fan of Black Metal. Is it an instant classic? No, is it a 5/5 top of the year's list release? Also no, but it's definitely a glimmering new release from a wonderful band, that seems to have their feet and nose in the right direction. I for one, would definitely keep an eye on these ruffians, with 2 great albums in 2 years, they show no signs of stopping.

Constructing Darkness- An Interview with Mikael Stanne of Dark Tranquility

Mikael Stanne of Dark Tranquility 

It seems almost so trivial right now that it's hard to imagine how new the Swedish Melodic Death Metal scene is. While the Death Metal scene is say, edging on its 30's. Meanwhile the Thrash and Heavy are hitting their 40's, the first albums of the wildly popular and wildly emulated Goteborg scene are only turning 20 now. In 20 years, these albums have had an impact which is almost unrivaled in other scenes. Bands like Dark Tranquility, At The Gates and In Flames began a revolution which sparked hundreds upon hundreds of bands worldwide who could come close, but never quite capture their spirit. Well, 20 or so years after Skydancer, I caught up with one of the most important figures of the Goteborg scene, leader and singer of Dark Tranquility, a true character of the international Metal scene, Mikael Stanne. Results ensue


B- Hallo Mikael! How are you?


M- I'm good , i'm good, i'm in Melbourne Australia right, heading to Adelaide. We're at the airport, it's very early morning here (I guess he means in the camp, as it's 2 pm over there...) and we had a fantastic show in Melbourne. Was super cool.

B- So, Dark Tranquillity is such a hard working band and something is always happening...I don't know where to start! How do you feel about your latest EP A Memory Construct?

M- I feel really strongly about it, it is a cool thing to do, something special for the second part of the tour. So we figured, we wanted to give something special to the fans who waited to see us, and it's only on vinyl, it's really cool. Totally a collectors item, and totally for the die hard fans and the collectors out there. It just seemed like something fun and special to do, and something I look forward to when I go to shows. To find something unique, something you can't get anywhere else. I actually met some guys last night who bought it on Ebay.

B- It seems almost parallel to Zero Distance, why do you feel the necessity to release it separately rather than with the whole package?

M- For sure, but it's just good to have something in between albums. Something that in itself promotes the tours. That's definitely what we did with Zero Distance, one year touring, then we released that song and continued for another. Maybe it's not something we plan on doing in advance, but it does the trick. If we have some extra songs, left over but good from the recording, that don't fit the album, then we think ah we should do something with it. So yeah, first it kind of makes sense, and it is a cool thing to do.


B- On a side note, how do you maintain such a grand amount of energy and enthusiasm 20 years into the band?

M- I donno, I think every night something gets you going. Something about the audience gets you inspired and you pull energy from it. The energy the crowd brings effects us, we're on tour, we play every night, pretty exhausting to be on the tour bus and not sleep enough. So we're traveling every day, but you spend 23 hours doing noting, waiting around, standing in line, and those 1-2 hours onstage, that's all the matters. Till that I have to make sure that we can provide the best experience for the audience that paid to see us. But I do tend to have a ton of fun on stage and I also think Melbourne last night was one of the highlights of this tour, without a doubt. Sometimes I feel the need to be a part of the crowd and just jump in (laughs.) Because it's fun, and I love, for my favorite bands, I always got front row, and feel the energy of being in the crowd. I love that feeling so. I choose to come and join them.

B- How do you feel the band life has effected your personal life?

M- It's tough but i'm used to it of course. Touring life is crazy, but at home it's sane and great. But I like it like that, my whole life together is nice, calm, and fantastic the way it is. I try to separate work and family, I mean I work from home occasionally for paperwork and stuff but try to just hang out with my family when i'm home. It's a big difference but I like the fact it keeps me balanced. You get pampered and get treated like a kid on tour sometimes, to make everything work. But at home you get to meet reality and be an adult again, do everything yourself. It's a good balance, sometimes we're all away from home for longer than we'd like. But at the same time that means that we can be home more once we finally arrive. Sometimes I hate it, being away, but at the same time I know that in 2 weeks from now i'll be home for 2 months and it'll be awesome.

B- Well! We touched on a big note, Construct, it's been out for a while now, how do you feel about it?

M- I'm really, really, really happy with it. We struggled with it for a long long time , and it took a long time for us to get into the right way and just do it. But once we finished it we were really happy with the outcome. We had a blast finishing it actually, and we play a lot of these new songs on this tour. The crowd also seems to only want more, and what better review can we possibly get?

B- You said in an interview for Terrorizer that unlike We Are The Void, that the ideas when you started writing for Construct just flowed through naturally. Why do you feel that happened? How did that effect the album?

M- I think we just, we focused on songs and melodies. It wasn't as much of a collaborative effort as We Are The Void was. We sat in the rehearsal room for a year and bounced ideas on and off, it came to the point of just being super frustrating, a lot of good things came from it. But 3 days out of 5 we did nothing. This time we though “screw it, we'll just go into the studio directly” and bounce ideas off each other there. So 3 of us started writing, splinters of songs, and we started building from there, all the sudden we had great songs and I started writing the lyrics, so we had finally new material! We've never done that before, and it made me want to write in a different way as well. As I wanted it to be very honest, very true, as the music called for it in a way. So, it's just the way of writing, and it inspired me to write lyrically differently. But the process itself for writing lyrics didn't really change, I either stay up late at night or until the morning with coffee and anxiety.

B- How is it different from previous Dark Tranquility albums?

M- The way we wrote it, made it change a lot. It wasn't just about the cool riffs or different leads. It was about the song, the power of chord progression and emotion.
What are some of the themes of the album? What would you say the lyrics and general idea are?
Basically, trust issues and skepticism i'd say. It's about personal relationships, how that effects you, about the people you trust and don't, and how you fail each other in many ways. Looking at it from a more “scientific” standpoint and less of an emotional one. It's kind of dissecting relationships, or friendships, or romance, in a cold, “scientific” viewpoint. That basically talks of issues, some of the stuff I was going through at the time, and it helped me get through the hardships I had. It's more focused, it's more honest, and because we chose * to mix it, it sounds better than everything we've ever done. You know sound is half the name of the game, as it will determine what people can hear of your work and how. I really like listening to it from a good stereo system really loud.


B- What's the idea behind the name “Construct”?

M- Construct is a construction you make up in your mind and that becomes reality. A bigger way of looking at it is also related to religion. Which is one of the things that frustrate me the most,when it comes to....everything. That people would rather believe than know, and I guess that's a part of the lyrics too. How when there are things we don't understand we like to substitute truth and substitute reality. Because we choose to believe in something imaginary, which is something you can make up in your mind, that is a construct.


B- Also, Construct has shown a major comeback in the way of the clean vocals, why do you think that they came in so strongly on here?


M- It just made sense, the songs called for it. The songs are more melodic, and focused onmelody, and it made me want to try some stuff. Because we wrote in the studio we got to experiment a lot and try out different things, so we we're like lets try more clean material. We saw how it worked, and usually , when we're in the cutting room, we're like “fuck it, it doesn't work” but with the new writing way, we had to be confident and more spontaneous. Experimental in a way. I really enjoyed it, loved it.



B- I also know Niklas (Sundin,guitars) all the artwork, how did that come about?

M- He was pretty damn hesitant at first as he was super busy with the writing of the album, and I start looking for other artists. I found a few I was drawn to colaborate with, but I didn't have a title yet. So I didn't really know what to tell the artists. Once I did, I told Niklas “what do you think about Construct?” and he was like “I love it.” Then the next morning he sent over the album cover. He was just up all night, painting it, completing it. I was really happy , as I always want Niklas to do the cover but he feels sometimes that he doesn't have the time or hes busy doing other stuff. We use it as a backdrop in our live show as well and everything.


B- In addition, for the 20 years anniversary of Skydancer, lets go a bit back. How would you describe the early days of DT? Those times were probably very different from what the band is like now?

M- Oh wow, we were just kids you know. 19 when we wrote Skydancer. We had all these grand ideas, we were like “holy shit, we gotta record an album, lets make the most out of it.” We wanted everything, you know, we wanted orchestra, keyboards, female vocals, and we wanted it to sound epic and majestic. We had all these grand ideas that now seem pretentious looking back. Recording it was kind of a reality check, and for me, it was an experience. We found early on, “oh yeah , it doesn't work” and not everything sounds great in the studio, it depends on how you play! So we took our time, practiced a lot. Hours, days, weeks to record album. We don't have much to show for it (laughs) but it was a ton of fun and I remember it fondly. I just remember being frustrated not being able to put in all the stuff we wanted.




B- Are there any plans of including more Skydancer materials in the set-list now?

M- Yeah, we used to do one Skydancer song with a guest vocalist, which we haven't done since. Which is really sad, we tried some songs out to see if it works, but it didn't work out. When we did preform A Bolt of Blazing Gold, it was with Mariangela Demurtas of Tristania, who joined us every night onstage for that song. But she probably won't do it again.

B- First and foremost, one of the few factual questions in this interview, how did you come in contact with the band?

M- It was Niklas and I sitting in our living rooms. We rented guitars and talked to friends from our same street, like “hey man, you wanna be in a band? You can play drums, you can play bass,s you can sing.” We formed the band out of boredom, at the time we just sat around and tried to figure out how to play music based on our favorite albums. Just try to sound as cool as them, we pretty much grew up together. Niklas and I are for example friends since we were 6 years old.

B- Why did you transition from guitars to vocals?

M- Oh I don't know. I wanted to be a singer I guess, I didn't feel comfortable playing guitar. Every rehearsal I was singing when Anders wasn't around, and it was just what I wanted to do. So when, after we recorded Skydancer, I told Anders that I wanted to be the singer, and he said fine, but he can't play the guitar parts. So he took over my old position in In Flames and I did the opposite. It just fit me better, as DT was my main band, and I just love screaming, I love making noise, expressing myself in a way. Of course it had its ups and downs, sometimes you feel really shitty about what you do, and sometimes you feel really great about what you do. But now, 25 years later I can see I made the right choice.

B- How do you feel you've developed as a musician/artist since the early days of Dark Tranquility?



M- I mean in the beginning it was all about trying to sound as good as my favorite vocalists. Like Mille Petrozza, David Vincent and stuff like that, now a days I am looking for emotions rather than a pure sound. I want to convey the lyrics in a way, I want people to really get what the song is about and how I feel about that. It's something you learn along the way, it's a different form of expression than just screaming your lungs out. But this is how it becomes nuanced and interesting. That's the biggest challenge,but it's the one I enjoy the most.

B- And perhaps most importantly, how do you feel the Metal scene around you has changed since those days? How do you feel the Swedish Metal scene has changed since the days DT ATG and IF were neighbors

M- There's a lot more bands now, of course when we started it was super tiny. A couple of bands popped up in the early 90's, but it was still like a “secret society” type thing. There were a couple of bands in Stockholm and a couple of bands in Gothenburg, and the number was increasing. But now, it's a fantastic music scene. I meet people all the time who show me there stuff and I listen to new bands, I still go to shows pretty much every week. It's really exciting, especially now as people have stopped comparing themselves to us, or At The Gates, or for the matter, Entombed. A lot of bands find their own identity, and the weekly shows have helped bands get nicer venues to preform in.

B- How do you feel about the explosion in popularity of Melodic Death Metal or Gothenburg Death Metal since the early days?

M- I remember being frustrated around 96' or 97' , that all the sudden we were lumped together as one sound, or one style of music. Because we were definitely trying to sound original, but now I just don't care. As long as people appreciate what we do, and what our friends do, I don't mind. It even became like a seal of quality, the “Gothenburg sound.” Ofcourse I remember when we did Skydancer, and people didn't get what we did at all. We were too melodic to be Death Metal and too angry to be Power Metal or whatever, nobody really understood. We thought “you'll get it eventually.” We just kept doing what we were doing, and sure enough, people got it. Powerful, emotional, and inventive music. We never had to compromise outside of the band. We're still doing it, and it's a great accomplishment.

B- Speaking of which, ATG working on a new album, any comments about that?

M- Really really excited, I spoke to Anders yesterday a little bit, and he's just been writing and writing and writing. It'ss really cool, I know it's an enormous amount of pressure on them, but i'm glad they've finally decided to do it. There's been talk for years and years, and years but they've always been like ahhhhh we don't know, we'll see, but now it's finally here. I'm super excited, and i've heard a few demos, couldn't be happier.


B- So Israel for the second time in what, two years! How do you feel?

M- I feel really good, we had such a fantastic time last time. We've been talking to Yishai, the promoter, who's a really cool guy, and he told us “we want you guys to come back.” So we said fuck yeah we'll come! So, really really nice.

B- Any special plans for your trip here?

M- Not that I know of, unfortunately. We're only gonna be there for the day as afterwards we're headed straight to Greece. Last time we went sight seeing and to Jerusalem, but this time it's get in, play, scream, get drunk, and leave!

B- What's after? What's in Dark Tranquility's nearby future after the excursion here?

M- We do two more shows, and then we get a month off. Which is nice, as we've been touring pretty constantly since November. Then we have a week in Russia in May I think, then we take the summer off. Only festivals. For the fall there'll be some more touring, probably one more in Europe and one more in the USA.

B- And last but not least, a word to the crowd?
M- We're just super happy to get the chance to come back. We'll have a cool night, a cool show, and we're looking forward to it.

Satyricon Self Titled Review

Satyricon-Satyricon

Band- Satyricon
Album- (self titled) Satyricon
Score- 2/10
Origin- Oslo, Norway
Label- Roadrunner



If you harken back to Metalist Editor's Alon Miasnikov's word in the 2013 end-of-the-year compilation, he called 2013 the year of comebacks. While many of the bigger comebacks did manage to make great releases, which came to great accolades, such as Carcass' Surgical Steel and Black Sabbath's 13, but there was an unsung comeback album. While the band didn't break up, and did tour, it has been 5 whole years since Satyricon has released any studio material.

Once Black Metal heroes with such timeless classics akin to Dark Medieval Times, The Shadowthrone and Nemesis Divina, Satyricon's reputation has been all but decimated in their last few years of existence. Weak album after weak album, alongside Satyr's many less than “kvlt” endeavors had landed the band more status as the pretty boys of Black Metal rather than the stalwarts they once were. But, after a 5 year break, many thought that perhaps this would be it, that this would be Satyricon's chance to return triumphant and make an album to smack across the face all naysayers. In comes Satyricon's eigth and self titled album, with much hope and anticipation stand on its back.

Yet, unlike many of the other comeback albums of this year, this album falls flat and simply does not manage to impress, regardless of how hard it tries. The first thing you can notice is that, at least to me, the guitar production is, “parve.” (the Hebrew word.) It sounds very plastic and doesn't have that edge that even super polished music has, it just literally sounds like it was played through a very shitty amp. Especially on the heavy parts, you can notice it doesn't have that bite that many other “cleanly produced” Black Metal albums have. Frost also sounds just as dull as on any other recent Satyricon album, forced to maintain much of the same types of drumming he had to do for years now.

The album opens up with Tro Og Kraft, and to be honest, it does the album justice, as it is just as mediocre and lame as the rest of it. There are some parts that would merit a headbang or two, and sometimes Satyr's snarling vocals do get to you, but it all sounds so contained and weak that it has no soul. The album then proceeds with, Our World, It Rumbles Tonight and Nocturnal Flare. As I said before, this album really doesn't change much, and is largely very consistent in its tirades of boredom all along its tiring 52 minutes. Though, Nocturnal Flare had the potential to be interesting if it wasn't preformed so... heartlessly and if it wasn't so fucking long! Jesus, they took a 3 or 4 minutes idea, that would even then not be spectacular, and stretched it to 6 and a half minutes.

The next point of what-the-fuckery came to me with the song Phoenix. Now, some bands take the whole melodic aspects of Black Metal and manage to throw a quality curve ball that spices up the album (key in Shining or Watain) without sacrificing anything, not Satyricon. Oh no, not Satyricon. They took 6 and a half minutes as well, because fuck me right? To make a mid-tempo song which I can only classify as grade Z Katatonia Alternative Rock rip off with guest singer Sivert Hayem. I really have to say that at this point, in my first listening session, I considered giving the album a 1.This song is just an audacious insult tot he intellect of their fan base.

Yet, on the next song, Satyricon show the potential of what this album could have been with Walker Upon The Wind. Brutal, fast, ballsy as all hell, where was this Satyricon in the first 5 tracks?! This song sparked a little bit of hope in me as far as the rest of the album, and hell, even Satyricon's future. If this album was 8 songs of this quality, i'd be singing a whole different tune. Yet the wind under my sails was quickly swayed away by the next song, Nekrohaven. Just again, not interesting, not special, and at this point annoying mid-tempo Black Metal that seems to copy off of itself. I'd be honestly be hard pressed to find such a one note album in recent memory. The vocals on Nekrohaven are also recorded on several different parts a bit differently to give it kind of a robotic sound. This does nothing, and if anything, makes you wonder why they even bothered.

The last two songs again bore you to tears, before letting you go with a 3 minute instrumental part, which by no means is any more innovative than the rest of the album. Just, ugh, really. I can't stress enough how boring this album is, I literally tried to listen to it's entirety at least 2 or 3 times before I managed to finally get through it all in one sitting. I can tell you now that I managed to, i'm not anymore musically complete than I was before succeeding to.



Overall, I do urge you with all sincerity to buy one of the many other great Black Metal releases of 2013, or, if you're just getting into Satyricon, one of the early Satyricon albums instead of this one. Really, in a world where the rising guard of Black Metal is so strong with bands like Watain and Taake, and that there are bands in the old guard which are still releasing balls to the wall material like Gorgoroth and Immortal, there is no place for a band that rides solely on its legacy so vehemently and vulgarly. If you're still in a horrible need of a fix of Satyricon, just go on youtube or on iTunes, get yourself Walker Upon The Wind and listen to it over and over again, it is really far more enjoyable than hearing the entirety of Satyricon's new album. I legitimately gave it only a .5 up from one for Walker.

Masacre- Requiem (Classic Feature)

Masacre- Reqviem (Requiem) 

Band- Masacre
Album – Requiem (written Reqviem, like in Latin)
Release Date- October 1, 1991
Stars- /classic review
Origin- Medellin, Colombia
Label- Osmose Productions originally/ Raven Metal for the rerelease

Ladies and gents, Metalheads of all demeanor and standing, take a seat. We are here today to discuss a musical plague many of you might've not heard of (yet you should've, isn't it always a bigger pity to know you're missing something than actually missing it?) But to begin, lets go into a bit of context and history. Many people think of the early Norwegian and Finnish Black Metal acts as troubled. Hell, many would go as far as to even call Norway's Mayhem as the most troubled and infamous band in Extreme Metal's short history. Yet, oddly enough, Mayhem's luck seems to carry over into who their amicable with it seems. Enter Masacre (pronounced Ma-sa-kre, Spanish for massacre.) Masacre are one of the earliest grandaddies of the Colombian Black/Death scene. You know all that “Bestial Death Metal” stuff that goes around now a days? That Blackened Death Metal which is dirtier than the cats Dabush kill for their schwarma? Heavy as all hell, furious and gives about as much dues as you see unicorns walking around? Stuff like Bestial Mockery and Teitanblood? Well Masacre wrote the playbook for it. Without money, without means, and at the time, a country with a small Metal scene, Masacre made do with what they had. And now a days, you have guys all over the globe, from Singapore to Poland to Sweden trying to recapture that brutish o' natural ugliness.

But where were we? Oh yes, their history. Well, Masacre came through around the time where the tape trade was strong. When bands like Salem (fun fact, vocalist Alex “Trapeator” Oquendo still remember being in contact with the Israeli scene's very own, Ze'ev Tenenbaum,while drummer at the time, Mauricio “Bull Metal” Montoya was in contact with both him and Yishai Sweartz) Sodom, Mayhem, Sepultura and others were sending their tapes, the Colombians were just starting to make a name for themselves. One fateful day, Masacre came into contact with none other than the infamous Oystien “Euronymous” Aarseth of the aforementioned legendary Mayhem. Such a meeting must have thrilled the Masacre guys quite a bit, as they themselves are big fans of the band (even going as far as dedicating the album we talk about today, Requiem, to Dead.) Considering the blaspheme and lo-fi nature of their music, the guys from Mayhem were pretty thrilled as well, and that resulted in quite a back and forth . Eventually, Oystien seized the opportunity and offered the band a spot in his up and coming label, Deathlike Silence. Excited the band wanted to release their follow up album, Sacro through Euronymous' label, feeling that their dream of worldwide recognition was neigh. Yet such was not the case, as due to Euronymou's murder at the hands of one, nice, lovely dude named Varg Vikernes, nothing came to fruition. But alas when things seemed grim for our Colombian travelers, they got into a slot which was as interesting as the first release (EVER) by giant French Black Metal label, Osmose productions (who housed everyone from Immortal and Enslaved to Absu and Vital Remains to James Hetfield's twice removed three times added cousin's grandmother for a while.)

The album itself, Requiem, starts off pretty nonchalantly. The small intro in the beginning has a sound of fires in the background while an acoustic guitar plays a tune which could be mistaken as Guitar Pro's newest intro. I guess this was done to fuck with the listener to the point of him knocking his head into the wall while the next track kicked in. Cortejo Funebre ( Funeral Procession) is a fitting opener to the chaos. Starting in slowly, while paving the way for the deathly feast itself. Needless to say, around midway the celebrations kick into full swing and the foot which was dancing around the pedal, now has it, fully to the metal. Yet oddly enough, instead of keeping it full speed, it goes back down to this dark and ominous Death Metal part that represents a bit of more refined version of South American Death Metal than one would be used to. The stigma that South American Death Metal is just visceral, mindless blasting is all but gone. While it is lo fi, and obviously was not made with a million dollar sound like is available today, or even the more produced record of back then, the riffs are clever , well written and beautifully integrated.

Of course, one of the most obvious points about the band is that it is in Spanish. Now, don't let that be a deal breaker for you, as it actually sounds pretty damn awesome with the music. Even for me, as a person who speaks the language, it was hard to get used to with Thrash, but in Death Metal where the pronunciations are anywhere between fully understandable and fucking gibberish (looking right at you John Tardy,) it's much easier to get used to. Also, an added bonus is that it's much easier to translate to English, and actually, considering that while, the band's name might mislead you to think otherwise, their lyrics are not very gore based. The lyrics are just as politically motivated , at least on Requiem, as Sepultura's were around their Beneath The Remains time. Well, “reality goes far beyond any dream” I guess.

Also, right off from the two openers , Cortejo Funebre and Justicia Ramera (pronounced חוסטיסיה רמרה and means, colloquially Prostituted Justice,) you can notice the Black Metal influence on the music. Some of the dark passages between riffs really sound like something taken out of the 90's Norwegian scene. Wellll, you sleep with dogs you wake up with fleas, you know? But it actually fits the music very well, as it does really fall into the middle line between those two genres, somewhere between Deicide and old Marduk. Also, the band's history is a bit more of a sadder one than the usual Death Metal fare. Their first drummer, the one you will be listening to on this record, Mauricio “Bull Metal” Montoya who by the way, was also the guy who release Mayhem's controversial bootleg “Dawn of the Black Hearts” on his label Warmaster Records, ended up committing suicide in the December 2002 (R.I.P.) Following such a heavy misfortune, although not for the band's music as he moved on by then. was the loss of esteemed and long time member of the band Victor Gallego in October 2005 to cancer (R.I.P.) But before and after these difficulties, the band members have kept the band going strong, both in the memory and hopefully posthumous pride of their departed members. w

Yet, this album is one for them to be proud of, and take fond memories of their time together with Mauricio, as is exemplified with the next song, Brutales Masacres (Brutal Massacres). My favorite track on the album, it actually manages to break through with this super catchy riff, which follows Trapeator's hollowed screams in the beginning. That's one of the things I find most beautiful about the early Colombian scene, they had absolutely no means, no support and yet, they still managed to do things that people now all across the world with all the means in the universe can't. Also, the music is very inclusive, the riffs on the verses are very Thrashy, while you have Black parts here and there, and Death all over the plate. This is what “Extreme” Metal should be, not a definition thrown around by musicians who don't want to say what type of elements they might have used to concoct with. Not that I have an issue with more far removed elements, but when it really takes from all version of extreme Metal in it's many colors, its at that point where it needs a broader rather than more specific definition.

As we jump from Brutales Masacres to Sepulcros En Ruinas (Sepulchers In Ruins,) we see that while musically the tracks kind of sit together on line that can be defined as Extreme Metal, the band isn't afraid to go into many different lyrical topics. Brutales Masacres and Escoria discuss openly about the dismal situation of Colombia at the time, and the...well “Brutales Masacres” happening in the streets. You see, Colombia has had an on and off problem with internal conflicts, led by Guerillas over around 50 years now. Violence, much like an Israel, was a taste of the ordinary for them. While now it is much safer than it was, say, 20/10 years ago, since around the album's release (the album was released in 1991, the statistic is from 1990) Colombia has experienced around 1,300 casualties from mines alone every year (http://www.the-monitor.org/index.php/cp/display/region_profiles/theme/2523.)

But the album also moves onto other lyrical topics with songs like Sepulcros En Ruinas. Also a socially conscience song, is about the situation of the Church in their home state. Much like in other countries in South America (with Brazil probably being the most extreme,) Catholicism is embraced much more deeply than say, in Western and Northern Europe and there's a strong hostility to nonbelievers (such as, in Brazil, it's very common to see Atheists or Atheist organization members being openly attacked and the police refusing to do much about it.) So the album, while deeply connected in sound and style to many other Death Metal album, is a bit more rooted in reality than many other popular works.

Following Escoria, the album goes into a track which was first premiered on Masacre's debut EP, the eponymous Ola De Violencia (Smell of Violence.) A bit of a Morbid Angel sounding track, at least in its first parts, this was a part of Masacre's first formidable outing into the global Metal scene. The track itself showed a lot of things to come, representing a mix of many of the elements. It is also one of the last three tracks which all together are, much like Brutales Masacres related to politics. But they all show a different side to the conflict. While Ola De Violencia is solely about violent occurances, and is a very graphic song in it's nature, kind of a Cannibal Corpse view on real warfare, the last two tracks take a step back.

The first of which, Tiempos De Guerra (Times of War) is kind of a predicted escalation of the situation. If I may harken back to Megadeth and the quote, “the end is near, it's crystal clear, part of the master plan?” so imagine that on a much more personal scale. The tracks rage, and a show of obvious discontent towards their situation,, is actually touching on an emotional level. A scream of people who were in a situation they had no control over, yelling over such troubled times that the future seemed wholly uncertain. While many bands sing about war, from every view point imaginable, Masacre give it a realistic edge that, if you go into the lyrics, does make for an interesting read. Especially if you compare it with the situation of Colombia at the time (i'll include some wikipedia articles on the bottom. They might not be perfect, data wise, , but they're a start rather than thinking “Mhmm! Colombia cartels and violence right?!)



But here we are, 42 minutes later, and we're at the end into this peep hole into the troubled Colombia of 20 years ago. While it is obviously pessimistic (well, yeah, Death Metal in the end of the day) it is refreshing and harrowing to hear a view into a war and a reality that we don't hear much about in the news and aren't very knowledgeable about, yet on the other hand, can compare with our own to some degree. The album closes with Conflicto De Paz (Conflict of Peace) which is to me at least, a great closing track title for the album, and lyrically the perfect seal. It goes into the problem of the country in kind of an over view, a general walk through all the many topics discussed on the album, and brings to an end. Those are the conflicts with peace. As a person who lives in Israel for 9 years now, I believe every one in Israel knows some version the “Conflicto De Paz” too well.

Links to delve a bit deeper into the Situation in Colombia, perhaps before hearing the album to get in the mood - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombian_conflict_(1964%E2%80%93present)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramilitarism_in_Colombia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Armed_Forces_of_Colombia (the largest faction involved excep the Colombian government itself, still 7-10 thousand members to this day!)

Dim Aura - The Negation Of All Existence Review

The Negation of All Existence 

Band- Dim Aura
Album- The Negation of All Existence
Origin-  Tel Aviv, Israel
Score- 7.8/10 (Please note that on my personal blog, I will use a 0-10 system with  incremental decimals so the number will reflect my opinion straight of the bat for those in a hurry)

I'm usually very skeptical whenever I get to review a CD from the local scene in Israel. Fact is, what was once a very strong ground for the various forms of extreme Metal has slowly dwindled to a few strong acts and many ultimately forgettable flavor-of-the-moment bands. I see a name that catches my eye, or something that excites, and ultimately sigh as I find out it's nothing more than a Pantera knock off or another run of the mil core band of one sort or another. But every once in a while, a band on their debut release manages to catch that spark to become really interesting. A band manages to make way around all the pitfalls and shitty cliches of the Israeli Metal scene as to surmount the mountain and show that they defied odds by releasing something unique, not only here, but on a global scale.

Dim Aura, the new-ish Israeli Metal maestros have done just that. Without trepidation from Israel's large and powerful Black Metal legacy (early Salem, Tangorodrim and Azazel to name a few...) Dim Aura went on to create something special. Now what do I mean by special? I mean that it goes through a lot of boundaries and mashes a lot of different kinds of Black Metal, at least by the way I look at it. The influences are wide and varied, and this can be heard all throughout the 8 tracks of this album.



The first section of the album is marked by its diversity as well as by its quality. Right off the bat you can notice the organic recording style they went for with this album. This is by no stretch of the imagination early Norwegian Black Metal style recording, but it's also far from other much more polished productions in Black Metal, which marks as a big plus. Right off from Gods of the Undying Darkness and the Golden Tombs you can sense the sense of raw forcefulness the band has. This band is very far away from Magor and Winterhorde's symphonic and melodic Black Metal, this is very grim, gritty, kick you in the face Black Metal that you should show your ID for and get your ears checked before listening to and after.

What I appreciate also it the sense of Punk that is married with some of the tracks of the album. The tortured vocals of Haim "H." Guseinov alongside the midtempo riffery of one Niv "Ferum" Mazkereth come together for a package that is reminiscent of Sweden's Shining or Carpathian Forest , especially on tracks such as Scarred Flesh Supremacy and Black Metal Genocide. This sense of rage is very nicely evened out by the deep sense of grandeur and melancholy on Thus Negating All Existence and Black Aeon.

But again, if Slayer makes a Jazz album, it would still sound like Slayer. Same here, there's hints of Punk, hints of DSBM, and hints of many other genres and sub genres of Black Metal, but in reality what you're getting all together is an uncompromising Black Metal trip. Dim Aura aren't here to play games, and thus, if your familiar with the grim opuses of Horna, early Behexen, Gorgoroth and Taake, you'll know where these guys are coming from.

And in short, there you have it. Dim Aura didn't try to reinvent the wheel, by the sure as hell gave it a bit of a polish, and some nice new rims. It's not revolutionary, and it's none of that new-age "pretty" Black Metal bullshit that is all the rage now. It's fucking honest, it's fucking brutal, and will bleed all the negativity out of you, so make sure to put a pillow on the other side of your head before you pull the trigger.