One On One With The GRIM 1

Melodic Death metal is a delicate balance. The intertwined guitar melodies are alluring at first, but their musings often become too saccharine for my tastes. It's like the musical version of cotton candy. The first few bits might be a sweet novelty, but then I'm stuck massive wad of sugar the size of my head, and a stomach ache. Here we have a Connecticut-based band of riff wielders, the curiously spelled SVN SEEKER , with a debut EP that proudly boasts of the melodic death metal moniker. And guess what? It's not terrible! It's not terribly original, either, but for now we'll focus on its strengths.  This five-song rager begins with an instrumental piano piece, "The Plot," which sets the expectation that this is death metal from the minds of thinkers, not cavemen with HM-2 pedals. The band blasts in with "Pilfered," and waste no time showcasing their powerful drumming and shredding abilities. Vocalist and guitarist Nikita Khrenev switches betwee...

War is coming! Pan-Amerikan Native Front is among the fierce bands who lead the charge of in digenous black metal in the Americas. This group is fronted by its enigmatic chief, Kurator of War. Their 2016 full length Tecumseh's War  beats like a war club through the life and conflict of its namesake. Earlier this year, Pan-Amerikan Native Front released the Native Amerikan Black Metal split w ith the Ifernach, which is already sold out of of vinyls their bandcamp . Behold this interview I conducted with Kurator Of War.  Tecumseh's War was inspired by the life of Tecumseh, and it's a blistering musical journey. What was your inspiration for the Native Amerikan Black Metal split, lyrically, thematically and musically? The split album continued to retain a conceptual and storytelling approach, much like Tecumseh's War, and with a similar range of songwriting styles I implemented with the previous album. When Ifernach and I began focusing on themes we naturally landed on ...

Old school death metal stalwarts Benediction returned with a bang in 2020. Their new album, Scriptures , is their first record since 2008, but they haven't missed a single step. Scriptures is an instant classic. A slab of death metal rife for headbanging, that sounds like it was transported straight out of 1993 in all the most brutal ways. Central to this album's aggressive perfection is their longtime vocalist, the reverend Dave Ingram, whose coarse bellows add that extra bite to the menacing guitar hooks. I interviewed Dave about all things death metal, his various side projects and his Metal Breakfast Podcast. Read on, all ye heathen!  HELL-O Dave. Congratulations on the monstrous new album Scriptures . It is a rager from start to finish. What were your motivations heading back into the studio for the first Benediction album in over a decade? Thank you, and thanks for the interview! Well it was really about  time to get a new album out. Prior to my return, the band had...

Fall to your knees before the virtuosic guitar violence of the Great Kat. This prolific shred goddess has mesmerized the world since her 1987 debut album Worship Me Or Die!  Since then, she has rocked hard in the style of Beethoven On Speed , with dazzling guitar and violin renditions of classical pieces by the masters like Ludwig Van, Vivaldi and Rossini.  December 16, 2020, will be Beethoven's 250th birthday. The Great Kat, the self-proclaimed reincarnation of the composer, is busy recreating his songs note for note on guitar and violin, available to the world on her web site and youtube channel leading up to that momentous anniversary.  Always the consummate professional and a hell of a self promoter, The Great Kat took a short break from shredding to answer this Q and A. With Beethoven's 250th birthday coming up, what is your favorite piece by the composer? What was it about Beethoven's music that captivated you to shred? Happy Beethoven's 250th Birthday (De...

"It's time to die!"  Nearly 40 years since their formation, Sodom proves their metal attack gets nastier with each year. Their upcoming album Genesis XIX is a thoroughly headbanging affair. It marks the return of guitarist Frank Blackfire, who shredded on their landmark albums Persecution Mania (1987) and 89's  Agent Orange, as well as the addition of second guitarist Yorck Segatz, for Sodom's first run as a quartet.  Genesis XIX delivers the heavy artillery one expects from Sodom. It's got the punk influence on it's catchy single "Sodom and Gomorrah", reminiscent of their original, dearly departed drummer Chris Witchhunter (RIP). Songs like "Dehumanized" and "Nicht Meir Mein Land" feature blast beats from their new drummer Toni Merkel, with the latter sinking into an infectiously groovy mid-tempo swagger. Vocalist and bassist Tom Angelripper is the driving force of Sodom. His raspy vocals and distorted bass are the centerpiec...

ESCAPING AGHARTHA is a North Carolina-based black metal project, themed around deep sea biology. Musically, they capture the vastness and biodiversity of the oceanic depths with an eclectic array of instrumentations. Crushing distortion that weighs like extreme atmospheric pressure at the ocean's floor. Cold guitar tones and searing blast beats that illustrate the hostility of such an unforgiving natural environment. But also, ethereal passages that sing to the beauty this blue world. The prime mover of this project is Avery Dartman, who recorded the majority of their instruments and vocal parts for their 2020 full length album,  Oceanic Womb, along with session drummer CJ Yacoub. I conducted this email interview with Avery about the inspiration behind his aquatic art. What gave you the idea of an oceanic themed band? I'm a biology/ecology major, so the idea came to me when I was finishing my bachelor degree. I thought that if I could combine my love of making music with my pas...

Australia's Hinterkaifeck are named after the site of grisly, unsolved murders that occurred in Germany in 1922. Their spastic black metal is true to their namesake. Prepare to get your head bashed in by their bombastic assault. Hinterkaifeck's Kak  demo is a raw slab of black metal, the way it's meant to sound - like a rambunctious gang of hellions blasting through their set list in a basements, pissed out of their minds as they spew caustic noise, between gulps of booze and smoke clouds. This scrappy, four-song cassette showcases their range between blistering speeds, punk shuffling and doom-paced headbanging sections, despite its short run time.  Kak by Hinterkaifeck My favorite song is "Revenge Of Oedipus," because anything related to a dude who fucks his mom and kills his dad is totally BRUTAL. It leads off like a torpedo, followed by a war-like march, then descends into a sinister crawl to the finish. midsection. The closing track, "Kak" leans into...