Friday, September 14, 2012

Spylown Interview


1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
We are now working on the promo of the second album. We are also looking for a new singer because Josué will not anymore sing with us. He will anyway perform the next shows, so there will be no break in the shows.

2. How would you describe the musical sound of the new album?
We wanted something different as all the actual “metal” production. We didn’t use drums triggers, a just a few of editing. In the end it sounds almost like a good old death metal album! All has been as far as possible in one take recorded, in our bandroom. So the sound is maybe not so clean and precise but in our way, more natural.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the new release?
I’m the drummer, so I have no idea about the lyrics...! Seriously, one remaining theme is the media mass manipulation.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?
Spylown comes from “c’pylône”, what means “the long haired otter swims in a giant lake of beer” in latin from the north hungary.

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
The released party from “Depth”, was one of our best last concert. Lots of friends, very good feelings and we played not so bad too. Except the first song, damn we failed the first song... but then everything was alright and we came safely home.

6. Do you have any touring plans for the new release?
Yes. We will continue playing very small places and concert, with a few people, with free beer.

7. On  a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of extreme metal and hardcore?
We have now doubled the amount of fans around the world, from 1 to 2. I think that the world promotion of the new album is not so good... maybe we need a contract with Universal.

8. Are there any other musical projects besides this band or is this a full time line up?
I have now started to play with Blind Slavery. Greg plays also with Pars Ici since a year. Soli is planning a new band with old members of Lee Harvey Oswald and Josué has way too many project and band (Macadam Dive, Remove The Paper Before To Fix On The Floor) to talk about.

9. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?
We are working on including melodic parts to our music, to reach something a bit more rock’n’roll. We will continue writing with special time signatures and chaotic structures, but not so extreme like on this album. Maybe something more spontaneous, like when you meet in the band room, start playing what comes in you head and compose a 5 minutes song in less than 2 minutes. It will be a real change I think, regarding to the first and second album. But we have really lot of fun playing together and the goal is to keep this fun at any price. We’re getting old...!

10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
A good old influence is Meshuggah, and bands like Gojira, The Dillinger Escape Plan. I’m still listening to all these bands, and I’m also a big fan of classical music. Soli is always a big fan of stoner, bands like Color Haze, Kyuss... Greg and Josué listen to a lot of different music style, I’m too bored to talk about that.

11. Outside of music what are some of your interests?
Beer. Movies. Games. Eat.

12. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
Long live the otters!

Monday, September 10, 2012

The Gathering/Disclosure/Psychonaut Records/2012 CD Review


  The  Gathering  are  a b and  from  the  Netherlands  that  has  a  history  that  goes  back  more  than  20 years  with  their  music  starting  out  as  being  death/doom  metal  but  then  evolved  into  a  gothic  metal  band  then  changing  their  style  to  atmospheric  rock  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2012  album  "Disclosure"  which  was  released  by  Psychonaut  Records.

  Drums  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  drumming  with  no  fast  playing  or  blast  beats,  while  the  keyboards  bring  a  very  dark  and  atmospheric  sound  to the  music  with  some  influences  from  electronica,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  with  riffs  that  dominate  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow  to  mid  paced  atmospheric rock  riffs  that  also  utilize  some  shoegaze,  gothic,  dream  pop  and  indie  rock  influences  in  the  riffing  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  clean  and  soft  playing and  there  are  no  guitar  solos  or  leads  present  on  this  recording.

  Vocals  are  mostly  clean  singing  female  vocals  with  some  male  vocals  being  utilized  at  times,  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording,  in  addition  some  of  the  songs  are  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  album  from  The  Gathering  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Paper  Waves"  "Heroes  For  Ghosts"  and  "I  Can  See  Four   Miles".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Spylown/Depth/ Heimathome Records/2012 CD Review


  Spylown  are  a  band  from  Switzerland  that  plays  a  music  style  they  describe  as  being  chaoscore  which  mixes  elements  of  crust,  grind,  hardcore  and  metal  together  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2012  album  "Depth"  which  was  released  by  Heimathone.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  a  good  amount  of  brutal sounding  blast  beats  being  thrown  into  the  music,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  with  heavy  riffing  that  dominates  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  riffs  that  combine  hardcore,  grind,  crust  and  metal  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own  with  a  good  amount  of  technical  parts  being  thrown into  the  riffing  and  there  are  no  guitar  solos  or  leads  present  on  the  recording.

  Vocals  are  mostly  crust  and  hardcore  style  yells,  growls  and  screams  with  some  spoken  word  parts  being  utilized  on  the  last  song,  while  the  lyrics  cover  hateful  and  everyday  themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  to  it  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Spylown  are  a  very  great  sounding  hybrid  of  hardcore,  crust,  grind  and  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fanm   of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Pentagrammic  Antiprism"  "A  Place  To  be  Taken"  "Give  Me  The  Truth"  and  "Dead  Pigs".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.