Tides Of Sulfur Interview

 1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?

We've played a few gigs, most notably with Vision Of Disorder on a Temples festival replacement gig, we did a weekender with our friends in Greenhorn and Victorian Whore Dogs in April and we played with Hang The Bastard on one of their final runs as a band. We've been jamming loads and have 2 new songs written, we're hoping to play at least one at Red Sun festival! We've always got band stuff happening, getting tshirts made and looking into other gigging opportunities and the like. Other than that, I'm getting married in July so I've been busy with that.

2. In July you have a new album coming out, how would you describe the musical sound that is present on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

It's a good, diverse album. We try not to play the same riff or style too many times. It's heavier than an anvil sandwich and the album dynamics are a lot more...dynamic I guess! I wouldn't say it differs much from other stuff we've put out, the only real change is that Ant and Tom are chipping in vocally. Our philosophy has always been that nothing is really off limits, every riff, every idea is explored and only the heaviest remain!

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

We tend to write about the grim prospects of reality, whether that be relating to organised religion, political views, the dangers of solitude, disassociation and depression. It's all the usual nihilistic misanthropy.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Tides Of Sulfur'?

I found the word 'Sulfur' in an old encyclopedia I think. It said something about Brimstone now being called Sulfur had one of those F's that looks like and elongated S and it just stood out for me. We equated Brimstone/Sulfur/Sulphur being inherently evil and the tides are an unstoppable force so it's like being enveloped in a negative energy.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Now that's a difficult question! I wouldn't be able to judge any of our performances as I'm always playing...and personally, I'm always thinking about how we could do better on the next one so am always reflecting in a constructive matter. Our stage performance, I'd say, is usually described as 'fucking heavy' by people who've seen us and that's the only encouragement we need! I always tend to glare menacingly at whoever I see in the crowd; this has made a number of people a little uncomfortable at times but it's all love!

6. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

We're playing the 2nd anuual Red Sun festival in our home town in July next, after that, there'll be the occasional show here and there. We've got a weekender with Battalions coming up in November and we'll be playing some places we've never played before and we've also been booked for Hibernation Fest in December thanks to our friends at Hibernacula Records. We're hoping to do a few more weekends next year when we can; 2 of us are family men so we have to honour those responsibilities first and foremost7.A year back you where a part of a split with 'The Air turned To Acid', what are your thoughts on the other band that had participated on the recording?

We met The Air Turned To Acid at Doomfest in 2014. We had just finished our set and we're a little exhausted. As soon as they started their set, we all looked at each other with a look of 'what the hell is this?' and we all had to investigate. They absolutely blew us away. I approached them with the idea of doing a split release with them about a week later. They're all great guys and we love sharing a stage with them.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of extreme metal?

We've always played what we wanted to play, regardless of the opinions of anyone but the other band members, so if  people are enjoying aspects of what we do then that's great, no matter what part of the globe they're from.

9.Are any of the band members currently involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?

We stole Tom from H O M O H who were fucking awesome, but they sadly don't play anymore. I'm involved in a harsh noise project with Dicky from The Drowning/Gorgantuan/etc called Wraiths and Omens. That's pretty much it.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

The honest answer would be 'who knows?' Every song we write gets heavier and further away, stylistically, from some of our earliest stuff. We'll keep coming up with riffs as long as we have strings and fingers.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Sorry to give you the same, tired clichés that every band gives, but we all listen to a wide variety of musical styles and genres which has a baring on what influences we bring to the table. Mainly it's bands like Crowbar, Neurosis, High On Fire, Unearthly Trance, Acid Bath, Converge and Today Is The Day that have influenced us in one way or another.  Currently, I'm enjoying some heavy stuff but it's getting warm again so I might have to break out something a little bit more accessible. I'll go back to all the gnarly black metal once it gets cold again!

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

We've all got other interests but music is something that's never far from our thoughts. Tom is an avid gig attendee,  I'm always looking to write and perfect riffs, coming up with lyrics, thinking of interesting samples to put into songs, sourcing artists for future design needs...I also do some reviews and interviews for the Sludgelord so I listen to a lot of music.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Support your scene, kill your ego.

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Mhonos Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?



The situation is special, Frater Stéphane left Mhönos about one year ago to focus on his solo project, and the band decided to keep on playing without him, so we chose to answer the questions separately.



Frater Stéphane :

I left Mhönos. Now I live through another project called N.K.R.T located in a rather special register described by some as « Black Metal purely organic, without almost anything electrical, halfway between Dark Ambient and ritual ». I play alone in concert and a first album almost fully recorded will be released by the Russian label Nomos Dei productions on the day of winter solstice in 2016



Mhönos :

Mhönos has been very active and productive these last months and is about to record the next album called « LXXXVII ».

The LP version will be released by Dead Seed Productions.

After a year writing, we started playing gigs with the new line up in the middle of 2015.





2.How would you describe the musical sound of the current music?



Mhönos :

Mhönos is first of all the gathering of 6 very different individualities. Each of us has his own background and all of these aggregate to create something unique beyond any well conceived directed line.

The result is not easy listening or comfortable as it doesn’t follow any existing musical scheme.

In a few words, Mhönos’ music is dark, harsh and obsessive.



Frater Stéphane :

About Miserere Nostri, I think we could speak of a liturgical construction based on the use of the bass and vocals, accompanied by keyboard. The sound is influenced by black metal of the early 1990s, particularly regarding the keyboard, but also the music of the Tibetan monks and some Asian shamanic traditions. Bands like Sunn O))) and Earth have been great inspirations for the textures of bass guitars.

The dominant idea was to build a minimal genre, around minimal human and instrumental formula, leading to destitution, introspection and organized around a symetry between darkness and light.





3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?



Mhönos :

The lyrics of the new Mhönos album are our masochist interpretation of psalm 87 of the Ancient Testament.



Frater Stéphane :

A part of Miserere Nostri and Humiliati lyrical topics was based on existentialist reflexions, influenced by the readings of authors such as Emil Cioran, Yukio Mishima or Albert Camus, except Alveus Terra piece which deals with more esoteric themes.







4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Mhonos'?



Frater Stéphane :

The name comes from ancient Greek Mhönos "μόνος" which means "single, unique". Mhönos was then completely conceived as a solo project on the recording. The meaning behind the name was an invocation of the psychological isolation and introspection, to meet a quest for spirituality in a world where everything is competition and ego masturbation .



5.Originally the band was a solo project, what was the decision behind hiring a full time line up?



Frater Stéphane :

After the first issue of Miserere Nostri in 2009, I was invited to play Miserere Nostri on concert and I was interested by feeling high volume trance between multiple layers of voices, drones and bass and martial percussions and - I admit - attracted by the temptation of a need of recognition, completely opposed to the subjects advocated in lyrics. I've contacted some friends who brilliantly joined the project to turn it into a real band.





6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?



Mhönos :

The music of Mhönos is a collective experience, so each musician represents a small part of this whole thing. That means our music drives each of us into many moods from introspection to catharsis. Mhönos is a live experience, from rehearsals to recordings. We don’t aim at delivering any particular feeling, every one faces his personal reaction during our shows.

Each concert has its own atmosphere due to the venues, the bands we play with, the reactions our music generates to the audience which are often very different.







7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?



Mhönos :

Our next show will take place in our home town where we haven’t played for almost 2 years now. This will be the last step before recording our new album this Summer.

Some gigs are planned for next Fall.





8.Recently ZANJEER ZANI Productions re-issued your 'Misere Nostri' album, what are your thoughts on the final product?



Frater Stéphane :

Zanjeer Zani is a serious and irreproachable label, aesthetically demanding. The re-release of Miserere Nostri home is excellent. The new artwork created by Samuel Antonin is beautiful and the disc that was sold out is reborn in the best conditions.





9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your recordings by fans of dark and underground music?



Mhönos :

Feedbacks are mostly positive and come from different musical underground scenes.

Devoted and passionate people from different labels came to us to release our works, which seems to be the best feedback we could expect.





10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?



Mhönos :

Currently, we’re focused on the next album. Once it will be recorded, we will watch it dying on stage.

When this cycle is achieved, we’ll congregate and see what may happen.





11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?



Frater Stéphane :

About Miserere Nostri, the main « band » influence was clearly Burzum. About Humiliati, tibetan ritual music played a big role.



Mhönos :

As we said before, we’re 6 individualities with too many influences, naming all of them would be endless.





12.How would you describe your views on Occultism?



Mhönos :

Occultism is what remains when human nature is facing the fear of the void.





13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?



Mhönos :

Ad Majorem Dolorum Gloriam

https://mhonos.bandcamp.com/

Picture Ann/Blaspheme/Floodgate Moods Productions/2016 CD Re-issue Review

  This  is  a  review  of  an  older  album  from Denmark's  Picture  Ann  which  brought  in  a  dungeon  synth  style  with some  black  metal  elements  and  the  album  was  originally  released  in  2009  and  called  "Blaspheme"  which  will  be  re-issued  later  this  month  by  Floodgate  Moods  Productions.

  A  very  distorted  guitar  sound  along  with  some  ambient  style  synths  start  off  the  album  and  a  good  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  some  songs  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing  and  drones  and  all  of  the  tracks  sound  different  from  each  other.

  A  decent  amount of  black  metal  elements  can  be  heard  in  some  of  the  guitar  riffing  while  some  tracks  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of grim  vocals  while  a  great  portion  of  the  songs  are  also  instrumental  and  when  guitar  leads  are  utilized they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  and  they  also  bring  in  a  couple of  bonus  instrumental tracks  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  slow  musical  direction.

  On  this  recording  picture  Ann  played  more  of a  guitar  orientated  form  of  dungeon  synth  and  dark  ambient  while  also  mixing  in  a  decent  amount  of  black  metal  elements,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  yet  powerful  while  lyrics  when  they  are  utilized  focus  more  on  dark  themes..

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another great  sounding  recording  from  Picture  Ann  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  dark  ambient,  dungeon  synth  and  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  re-issue.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Hide  And  Seek  My  Dear"  "Fucking  Black  Again"  and  "No  One  X  Nothing".  8  out  of  10.

http://floodgatemoodsproductions.bandcamp.com/

Tides Of Sulfur/Extinction Curse/Black Bow Records/2016 CD Review

  Tides  Of  Sulfur  are  a  band  from  the  South  Wales  of  the  United  Kingdom  that  plays   a  mixture  of  sludge,  doom  and  death  metal  with  elements  of  grindcore  and  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Extinction  Curse"  which  will  be  released  in  July  by  Black  Bow  Records.

  A  very  dark  and  distorted  amp  sound  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  more  heavy  sludge  metal  direction that  is  also  very  heavily  influenced  by  doom  metal  and  after  a  couple  of  minutes  high  pitched  screams  are  added  onto  the  recording  and  they  also  bring  in  a  touch  of  black  metal.

  At  times  the  vocals  start  to  get  deeper  while  the  solos  and  leads  bring  in  a  dark  style  of  death  metal  as  well  as  mixing  in  other  genres  as  the  album progresses  while  some  of  the  riffing  brings  in  a  small  amount  of  melody  and  a  great  portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length,  clean  guitars  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  off  the  recording.

    A  brief  use  of  melodic  yet  spoken  vocals  can  be  heard  on  on  of  the  tracks  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking and  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  they  add  in  even  more  of  a  black  metal  edge  to  the  bands  musical  style  while  some  of  the  fast  riffs  also bring  in  a  touch  of  grindcore  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to them.

  Tides  Of  Sulfur  plays  a  musical  style  that  is  mostly  rooted  in  sludge  and  doom  metal  while  also  mixing  in  elements  of  death,  black  metal  and  grindcore  to  create  a  style  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  nihilistic  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Tides  Of  Sulfur  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  with some  death,  black  metal  and  grindcore  elements  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Eternal  bleeding"  "Maltheist"  and  "Year  Of  Pigs".  8  out  of  10. 

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Tonttu/Fahl/P. Emerson Williams/The Decline And Fall Of The Gnomen Empire/Panicmachine/2016 3 Way CD Split Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  Finland's  Tonttu,  Russia's  Fahl  and  United  Kingdom's  P.   Emerson  Williams  called  "The  Decline  And  Fall  Of  The  Gnomen  Empire"  which  was  released  by  PANICMACHINE  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  TONTTU  a  band  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  neo-folk,  avant  garde  and  industrial  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  militant  folk  music  sounds  along  with  a  touch  of  neo classical  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts  a  few  seconds  later  and  after  awhile  programmed  beats  are  added  onto  the  recording  along  with  some  heavy  yet  melodic  guitar  riffing  and  the  vocals  start  throwing  in  aggressive  screams  and  shouts.

    They  also  mix  the  folk  and  classical  elements  with  metal  and  after  awhile  traces  of  industrial  can  be  heard  along  with  the  first  song  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length and  there  is  also  a  brief  use  of  guitar  leads  and  acoustic  guitars  along  pianos  and  saxophones  are  added  onto  the  second  song, the  production  sounds  very  powerful  while  the  lyrics  cover  anti  gnome  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Tonttu  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  industrial,  neo  folk  and  avant  garde  metal,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of t he  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Gnostradamus  Ja  Tonttuteknologian".

  Next  up  is  Fahl  a  band  that  plays  dark  ambient.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  a  very  dark  ambient  soundscape  and  atmospheric  synths  and  after  a  few  seconds  spoken  word  parts  are  added  on  their  side  of  the  recording  which  also  gives  the  music  more  of  a  ritualistic  feeling  before  mixing  them  in  with  whispers  and  the  music  can  also  be  very  avant  garde  and  experimental  at  times  and  some  songs  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  demonic  and  gnome  voices,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  raw  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark and  ocult  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Fahl  are  a  very  great  sounding  experimental,  dark  ambient  project  and  if  you a re  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "They  Are  Everywhere.  And  Sneaky"  and  "We  Are  Done  For.  And  They  Have  A  Plan".

  Next  up  is  P.  Emerson  Williams  a  solo  project  that  plays  experimental  music.

  His  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  hospital  sounds  and  spoken  word  samples  and  after  a  few  seconds  sinister  sounding  synths  are  added  into t he  song  which  is  over  20  minutes  in  length  and  the  song  also  mixes  in  elements  of  avant  garde  classical  and  psychedelic  music  and  after  awhile the  sounds  of  gnomes  make  their  presence  known  in the  track  along  with  some  acoustic  guitars,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and r aw  while  the  lyrics  mix  anti  gnome  philosophy  with the  Goetia  and  writings  of  Colin  DePlancy.

  In  my  opinion  P.  Emerson  Williams  is  a very  great  sounding  experimental  solo  artist  and  if  you a re  a  fan  of  this  musical genre,  you  should  check  out  his  side  of  the  split.

  In  conclusion  i  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  avant  garde,  experimental,  dark  ambient  and  metal.  8  out  of  10.

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H.P Lovecraft/The Lurking Fear/Cadabra Records/2016 12 Inch Review

  This  is  a  review  of  another  reading  from  H.P  Lovecraft  with  his  story  'The  Lurking  Fear"  being  read  this  time  with  the  story  being  read  by  Andrew  Lemen  and   the  musical  soundtrack  being  done  by Theologian  which  adds  an  ambient/industrial  style  to  the  story  and  the  album  will  be  released  in  July  on  vinyl  by Cadabra  Records.

  Ambient  sounds  and  spoken  word  parts  starts  off  the  album  and  the  music  in  the  background  makes  the  story  sound  more  haunting  and  the  narrator  has  a  feeling  of  fear  in  his  voice  the  way  he  explains  the  story  and  he  explains  the  history  of  the  haunted  town  that  he  is  in  and  a  lot  of  people  in the  town  seem  like  they  live  in  poverty.

  After  awhile  the  townspeople  start  talking  about  the  demons  that  surround  their  environment  and  the  story  also  brings  in  a  gothic  horror  atmosphere  and  the  story  gets  more  gory  as  the  album  progresses  and  when  thunder  is  added  onto t he  recording  the  story  starts  getting  even  more  haunting  and  starts  bringing  in  more  of  an  occult  theme  once  the  demon  starts  making  his  presence  known  and  the  story  always  remains  true  to  a  very  dark  and  terrifying  concept.

  Andrew  Leman  brings  in  a  very  haunting  narrative  to t he  Lovecraft  story  while  the  music  in  the  background  from  Theologian  and  the  background  with  their  ambient/industrial style  gives  the  story  more  of  an  avant  garde  atmosphere.   

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  narrative  of t he  H.P  Lovecraft  story  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  author  and  ambient/industrial,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  8  out  of  10.

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The Unknown Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the album?
For sure we really happy about our very first album releasing and think about the  feedbacks, that's the very first full length album from our band  and we have this hope deep in our hearts that the listeners of our  album that gives us this pleasure  to take their times to listen to will enjoy and like the album. And right now we are in our recording season for our second album "All About Nothing" too


2.Recently you have released your first album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
We really like to try presentation something new with more atmospheric, dark and musical sense with deep and thoughtful lyrics, bcz we really focused on the lyrics of this album, the lyrics are the most important part of our album for us, and we would like to found a way to share it well with a musical atmosphere, so we started thinking about a music genre that can show it well, and hope we could find that, we like the classic and atmospheric music well too, bcz we thought that genre can gives you wings to fly, then we think to add some new stuffs to classical instruments for this genre, and we had that hope we will mix the lyrics and the music well together. bcz all that we thought it's, share the words with a very good coordinated music. we would like to make something dose not give you way but gives you all your way and drop you deeply in thought.


3.What are some of the themes and concepts the band brings out into their music?
Ah we would like to have our own  style on music. right now we are working on our second album too, and that's in recording season, called "All About Nothing" that album will be more heavier and metal, we really like to find out ourselves in our music, and have our own style and theme , that's the thing we working very hard on that, present that The Unknown has show  they have something new to present in their own music's style. i thought that's the very great aim and we really working hard about that too.


4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'The Unknown'?
The Unknown, so as you know, THE, denoting one or more  things already mentioned or assumed to be common knowledge. or using for something that we know about that, but Unknown, not known or familiar. together it's mean, We Know we don't know about that or better to say The one thing we know that we don't know,  it can be about anything, can be about our lifes, universe, cosmic  and our human race and anything are around


5.Has the band done any live shows yet or has this been strictly a studio project?
So we have many thoughts for gigs and live shows for sure, but before do any gigs we must to complete our second album "All About Nothing" bcz we like to show our both styles on our shows and gigs in future, and we like to have a good set list for our shows and start it the best way we can.


6.I have read that they have imprisoned a metal band in Iran recently, how dangerous is it to admit to liking metal in your home country?
It was a very bad situation, but I prefer to say nothing about this epidode. Sorry bro.
As you know we have problem for Metal music in Iran yes, but we try to do our best and follow our passion in the music we like to listen to and to play.


7.On the album you had some quests, can you tell us a little bit more about who they are and their contributions to the recording?
We have that pleasure and honour to have very talented and nice guy, Kevin Pribulsky and his band "in Search Of" beside ourselves, Kevin is a very awesome guy, i believe in his music logic, and he gives us the best that he can do about this album, that was a very nice time and project that we have worked with him, and for sure we thought about the more future plans with him too and feel proud about that.
And about sir Thomas Helm, Hm, honestly i can not put it on the words, His great artistic soul and his great personality and character, we are the fans of Empyrium from our childhood till now and well be, that's a great pleasure and honor for us to have his icon name beside our album and ourselves in this album, he learns us who is a true artist and how we can be too, with his amazing kindness and his high prestige character. i feel proud and honor about that forever, and that's amazing his name carved to our very fist album.


8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of doom metal?
Very great, honestly very great, we just release 3 single tracks as yet and our very first album right now, but we received very great feedback about that, and we must say a very great thanks to all of our fans and friends one by one, that's the most amazing feeling for us, means a world to us, and it would be nothing without them for sure, I am eternally thankful and grateful about that.


9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
So we really trying everyday harder about a very good future for our band, that's our dream and aim for sure, we would like to make ourselves everyday better and better in the art concept, and honestly we living for art, so we really try to find out how is a true artist must be and living for that.


10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
We are all have many bands from our childhood, likewise to me too, I have listening to many bands and loves them very well but some bands dose not only music bands to you at all  and you living with them. you have a million memories with their songs, and have so many many beyond , for me,  My Dying Bride & Anathema & Empyrium  & Antimatter and Hamferd  and Clouds ... I living with them for many years now. I do listening to all genres but so, Metal is an other thing to me.


11.What are some of your non musical interests?
I do like to follow other arts, reading books more philosophical, science and poems and Sports for sure, Football the most


12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
At the first let me say Thanks for this nice interview that's a nice one honestly, and hope you will enjoy the album and that album can present something  nice to you all and you enjoy that and have this pleasure and honor to share more news about The Unknown with you all in future  and you will enjoy about that.

http://www.facebook.com/TheUnknownOnline