The Chapter/Angels & Demons/2017 Full Length Review

  The  Chapter  are  a  band  from  Portugal  that  plays  a  mixture  of  doom.  death  and  gothic  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2017  album  "Angels  &  Demons".

 
  Death  metal  growls  start  off  the  album  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  as  well  as  the  music  being  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  early  90's  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  When  melodic  male  and  female  vocals  are  utilized  they  give  the  music  more  of  a  goth  metal  feeling  along  with  some  clean  playing  and  whispers  also  being  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  while  a  couple  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length as well  as  the  solos  and  leads  also  using  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  spoken  word  parts  are  also  utilized  at  times  and  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  are  very  heavily  rooted  in  doom  metal  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  small  amount  of  acoustic  guitars  can  also  be  heard.

  The  Chapter  plays   a  musical  style  that  takes  doom,  death  and  goth  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark and  depressive  themes. 

  In  my  opinion  The  Chapter  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  doom,  death  and  goth  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Angels  &  Demons"  "For  A  Ghost"  and  "The  Past  Is  Dead".  8  out  of  10.  

Eleine Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
Madeleine: Since the recording we went out on tour with W.A.S.P during the fall of 2017, played some headline shows and we had the great honor to play at Loud ’n Metal Festival in Tokyo, Japan. It was our first time ever in Japan and it was amazing. We can’t wait to come back. Besides that, we put all our focus in music videos and promotion our new album.

Now we have some shows in Sweden and we are booking our tour for 2018. We are very happy to say that we’re going on a small tour with Arch Enemy. It’s huge for us. 



2.You have a new album coming out during the end of February, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

Madeleine: The sound of ”Until The End” is very monumental, heavy and melodic. Comparing it to our debut album this album is heavier, more metal and the quality of our symphonic arrangements are much better. We teamed up with Daniel Beijbom who is awesome at symphonic arrangements and we are very proud of the result. It feels great to have produced an album ourselves this time around.


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

Rikard: The topics are all connected within ”Until The End”. Topics such as: Living your life to the fullest, opening your eyes and realizing that there are people in great pain although you yourself are safe, that there are bad people in the world but far from every one is a bad person, breaking free from what is holding you down and that together we are strong.


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

Madeleine: I started the band just knowing that it was going to be some kind of symphonic metal band, so I cut off the Mad-part of my name and left was ELEINE. I wanted to keep it simple and easy to remember.


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?

Madeleine: We have had so many amazing shows so it’s hard to just pick a few, but I remember we had a magical evening in Athens, Greece during our tour with Moonspell, and Tokyo is something we will never forget.

Regarding my stage performance, I only know it from my kind of view, hehe. But I know that I express a lot of emotions on stage, and that I like to combine it with both headbang and more smooth movements.
Eleine in its entierty aims to give the audience a theatrical show that is very majestic both musically and visually.


6.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

Madeleine: Yes we have! We book 2018/2019 now, and this far we have a lot of fun shows coming up. As we mentioned we have the honor to go with Arch Enemy on a small tour, and we are really looking forward to Sabaton Open Air this august. It will be epic. We always tell our fans and followers to make sure they follow us on Facebook and Bandsintown. There you’ll get notifications every time we release a new showdate! J


7.Can you tell us a little bit more about the album being released by 2 different labels?

Madeleine: Ah yes, the tale of two labels haha. When we parted with our old label we knew what we wanted. We started our own record label named Algoth Records during 2017, and when we got in touch with Black Lodge we all decided that we should collaborate. They also have the well-known distribution company Sound Pollution that we work with and distribute through.


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

Madeleine: It’s been amazing. I feel very humble about it. You know that.. when creating music, we create the music that we like. What feels natural. We never think about what some certain listeners might like, we don’t try to adjust to trends. We want to give our fans OUR music, that’s why they follow us – right? So when making new music you never know what people will think about it, I never know what to expect. So I must say that the feedback from both fans and critics has been overwhelming. I’m very flattered, happy and so grateful for all this great feedback.


9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?

Madeleine: Not that I know of. But a collaboration with other bands would be fun to do some day! I mean, to sing on a track with Alissa from Arch Enemy or for someone in Eleine to do a guest appearence with…I don’t know….Metallica would be out of this world haha. But I’m getting way ahead of myself there. A girl can dream can’t she?




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

Rikard: It’s hard to say where we’ll end up. The progression from our debut album ”Eleine” to our second album ”Until The End” has been natural although there is major growth both within writing and performance. We’ve had a vision from the very beginning, so I’m sure that creating our 3rd album will be challenging, interesting and a pleasaure.




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

Rikard: Well, we don’t look towards styles and other artist when it comes to sound. We draw inspiration from how music feels and aim for our music too feel a certain way as well. With that said, there are so many bands and artists that we enjoy listening to.
Madeleine: Yes, and I personally listen to bands like Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir, Rammstein and so on. But we also gather inspiration from experiences, both others and our own.




12.What are some of your non musical interests?

Madeleine: I enjoy a lot of things! But let me make a short list for you here. I like: Working out, hanging out with friends and family, show love towards animals and engaging myself in aminal rights, planing and doing photo shoots with Rikard.. and Netflix-ing. I enjoy movies, but that is directly connected to my musical interests since it inspires me so much! J 




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

Madeleine: First of all want to say thank you for this interview, it’s been great. Everyone in Eleine also want to thank all our beautiful fans, for listening, buying and spreading our music. You support this industry with a big heart and we are so grateful to every one of you. Thank you! J

Ruined Nation/Restart/WOOAAARGH/2018 CD Review

  Ruined  Nation  are  a  band  from  Austria  that  plays  a mixture  of  grind  and  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "Restart"  which  will  be  released  on  March  23rd  by  WOOAAARGH.

  A  very  distorted  sound  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  hardcore  direction  while  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  and  after  awhile  the  music  speeds  up  and  also  introduces  d  beats  onto  the  recording  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  grindcore  elements  can  be  heard  along  with  the  vocals  being  a  mixture  of  death  metal  growls  and  screams  while  the  music  also  brings  in  a  great  amount  of  crust  punk  elements  as  well  as  the  songs  also  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  small  amount  of  melodic  guitar  leads  are  added  onto  the  recording.

  Ruined  Nation  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  hardcore  and  grindcore  and  mixes  them  together  to create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  angry  and  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Ruined  Nation  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  hardcore  and  grind  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Suffer"  "Heinz-Christian"  "Pathetic"  and  "Borderline".  8  out  of  10.  

Agathocles/Psychoneurosis/Selfmadegod Records/2018 Split CD Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  Belgium's  Agathocles  and  Poland's  Psychoneurosis  which  was  released  by  Selfmadegod  Records  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Agathocles  who  return  with  their  style  of  mincecore.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts out  with  angry  voices  before  going  into  a  heavier  musical  direction  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  bring  in a   great  amount  of  blast  beats  along  with  the  vocals  being  a  mixture  of  growls and  screams  as  well  as  the  music  bringing  in  elements  of  crust  punk.

  Throughout  their  side  of  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  most  of  their  tracks  are  very  short  in  length  and  the  music always  remains  heavy  and  brutal,  the  production  sounds  very  raw  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  anti  racism,  political  and  anarchy  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Agathocles  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "ergos  thanatos"  and  "war  fetisjists  kill".

  Next  up  is  Psychoneurosis  a  band  that  plays  a  mixture  of  crust  and  grindcore.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  a  dark  sounding  intro  before  going  into  a  very  fast  and  brutal  grindcore  direction  which  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  while  the  vocals  also  bring  in a  mixture  of  screams  and  crust  style  growls  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to them.

  All  of  their  tracks  are  very  short  in  length  while  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  melody  as  well  as  the  songs  also  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent  and  angry  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Psychoneurosis  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  crust  and  grindcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Indoctrination"  and  "The  Grindcore  Family'.

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  I  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  crust,  mince  and  grindcore.  8  out  of  10.

 

  

Afgrund/THe Dystopian/Selfmadegod Records/2018 CD Review

  Afgrund  are  an  international  band  with  members  from  Sweden  and  Finland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  metal,  grindcore  and  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "THe  Dystopian"  which  was  released  by  Selfmadegod  Records.

  Spoken  word  samples  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very  fast  and  brutal  grindcore  direction  which  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  and  screams  while  the  music  also  mixes  in  elements  of  crust  punk  as  well  as  a  small  amount  of  melodic  riffing.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  short  in  length  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  as  the  album  progresses  spoken  word  parts  also  make  a  brief  return  on  a  couple  of  tracks  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  also  give  the  music  more  of  an  old  school  punk  feeling and  one  track  also  introduces  avant  garde  and  experimental  elements  onto  the  recording.

  Afgrund  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to t heir  mixture  of  death  metal,  grindcore  and  crust  punk,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  political  and  dystopian  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Afgrund  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  death  metal,  grindcore  and  crust  punk,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Ruttna"  "Royalty  Of  Crust"  "The  Great  Rift"  and  "Smasher  Of  Skulls".  8  out  of  10.

Slumlord/Preview Of Hell/2018 Full Length Review

  Slumlord  are  a  band  from  Edmonton,  Alberta.  Canada  that  plays  a mixture  of  noise,  grind  and  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2018  album  "Preview  Of  Hell".

  Drum  beats  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  heavy  riffs  and  screams  a  few  seconds  alter  which  also  takes  the  music  into  more  of  a  hardcore  direction  along  with  the  riffs  also  bringing  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  as  well  as  some  death  metal  growls  also  being  utilized  at  times.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  grindcore  elements  can  be  heard  while  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  most  of  the  tracks  being  very  short  in  length  and  some  songs  also  mix  in  touches  of  d  beat,  thrash  and  harsh  noise  and  they  also  bring  in  a  couple  of  instrumentals  as  the  album  progresses  before  returning  back  to  vocal  tracks.

  Slumlord  plays  a  musical  style  that  is  mostly  rooted  in  hardcore  while  also  mixing  in  elements  of  thrash,  noise  and  grindcore  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent  and  angry  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Slumlord  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  thrash,  noise,  grind  and  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Committed  Soul"  "Test  My  Power"  "Total  Nothing"  and  "Patiently  Waiting".  8  out  of  10.

Levania/The Day I Left Apart/Sliptrick Records/2018 EP Review

  Levania  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  gothic  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  ep  "The  Day  I  Left Apart"  which  was  released  by  Sliptrick  Records.

  Goth  rock  style  keyboards  start  off  the  ep  along  with  some  elements  of  industrial  while  the  vocals are  mostly  clean  female  vocals  and  death  metal  growls  are  also  used  at  times  as  well  as  the  music  mixing  the  heavy  and  gothic  parts  together.

  Elements  of  metalcore  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  guitar  riffing  while  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  briefly  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  when guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  as  well  as  one  track  also  bringing  in  a  brief  use  of  blast  beats.

  Levania  plays  a  musical  style  that  is  mostly  rooted  in  goth  metal  while  also  mixing  in  elements  of  metalcore  and  death  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  desperation  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Levania  are  a  very  great  sounding  goth  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Rising"  and  "Your  Eyes  And  My  Fear".  8  out  of  10. 

MatraK AttakK/Cura/2018 Full Length Review

  MatraK  AttakK  are  a  band  from  a  band  from  Belgium  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  crust  and  anarcho  grind  and  this  is  a  review  of t heir  self  released  2018  album  "Cura".

  Spoken  word  parts,  acoustic  guitars  and  keyboards  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  musical  direction  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  grindcore  elements  can  also  be  heard  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  angry  crust  style,  shouts,  screams  and  growls.

  A  great  amount  of  d  beat  elements  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the recording  while  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  short  in  length  along  with  the  songs  also  bringing  in  a  great  amount  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.and  the  riffs  also  bring  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody.

  MatraK  AttakK  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  their  mixture  of  crust  and  grindcore,  the  production  sounds  very  raw  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  anarchist  and  political  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  MatraK  AttakK  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  crust  and  grindcore,  you  should c heck  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Useless  Wars"  "Squatting  2017'  and  "Mostly  Sorrow".  8  out  of  10.     

Neolithic/Cult Of Ignorance/Deep Six Records/2018 EP Review

  Neolithic  are  a  band  from  Baltimore,  Maryland  that  has  had  music  reviewed  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  death  metal,  hardcore,  crust  and  d  beat  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  ep  "Cult  Of  Ignorance"  which  will  be  released  on  March  15th  by  Deep  Six  Records.

  A  very  fast  and  brutal  grindcore  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  the  vocals  being  mostly  death  metal  growls  along  with  the  music  also  mixing  in  elements  of  crust  and  d  beat  as  well  as  some  high  pitched  screams  also  being  used  at  times  and  the  music  is  also  heavily  influenced  by  hardcore.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also h ear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  raw  fashion  along  with  the  riffs  also  bringing  in  a  great  melody  of  melody  and  the  music  also  remains  very  heavy  and  brutal  from  beginning  to  ending  of  the  recording.

  Neolithic  creates another  recording  that  remains  true  to  their  mixture  of  death  metal,  crust  and  d  beat,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  hateful  and  angry  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording f rom  Neolithic  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  death  metal,  hardcore  and  crust,  you  should  check  out t his  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Cult  Of  ignorance".  8  out  of  10.

  

Forty Shades/Blackstar Diamond/2018 Full length Review

  Forty  Shades  are  a  band  from  Switzerland  that  plays  a  very  atmospheric,  progressive  and  symphonic  form  of  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2018  album  "Blackstar  Diamond"  which  will  be  released  in  April.

  Drum  beats  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  heavy  and  melodic  riffing  a  few  seconds  later  while  the  music  also  mixes  the  heavy  and  symphonic  parts  together  and  after  awhile  clean  vocals  are  added  onto  the  recording  as  well  as  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to them.

  At  times  the  music  brings  in  elements  of  power, heavy  and  doom  metal  while  the  keyboards and  riffs  also  add  in  touches  of  prog  metal  along  with  one  track  also  introducing  spoken  word  parts  onto  the  recording  as  well  as  some  death  metal  growls  also  being  used  briefly and  when  the  music  finally  speeds  up  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard.

  Forty  Shades  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  prog,  heavy,  doom,  symphonic  and  a  touch  of  death  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  philosophical  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Forty  Shades  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  atmospheric,  progressive,  symphonic  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "God  And  The  Idol"  "Dichotomie"  "Idol  Worship"  and  "Snowball".  8  out  of  10.

Japanische Kampfhorspiele Interview

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


Christof: We played some shows. The rest of the time we tried to cope with everyday life which is very hard when you've started drinking beer and smoking grass in the morning already. But it´s getting better and better.

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


Christof: The songs on the forthcoming album are about 18 to 20 years old, stuff from the very beginning of JAKA. These songs are more punk than most of the material we've written after that. Most of them became every greens over the years, so it had been kind of necessary to record them in a more proper sound. At least for the fans that were born after JAKA.

3.Over the years you have referred to your music as 'grindpunk' or 'popgrind', can you tell us a little bit more about these terms?


Christof: The early and now rerecorded stuff was more grindpunk. Since 2007 the sound has become more popgrind. Today we describe our style as lebensbejahender death metal which means life-affirming death metal. We are very optimistic guys despite all the devastating information you get through all the devastating mass media.

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


Christof: The latest lyrics are about the ordinary grindcore topics like naturkatastrophen and krieg. Former lyrics deal with more interesting stuff like kneipe and ficken. If you are further interested, you can buy the song book JAPANISCHE KAMPFLEKTUERE. But in that case your German should be better than my English! Or you need a very good translating program.

5.I know that the bands name means 'Japanese combat audio drams', how does this name fit in with the musical style you play?


Christof: Totally.

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


Christof: One of the best shows we ever played was in a basement bar in New York in front of ten or eleven guests who had only been there for a drink or to kill time. The room had been cleaned half an hour before we arrived and the chlorine burned our lungs. But as always we delivered very well. Our performance is very energetic with a lot of jumping and running around and destroying instruments and other things. On the other hand we are known as the band that tidies up backstage rooms, doing the dishes, making the beds, you name it. We never threw a TV set out of a window. Only once a remote control.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?


Christof: We are going to do another FLEISCHMARSCH at the end of the year together with our friends of EXCREMENTORY GRINDFUCKERS which is a comedy grind band you might know. The first two FLEISCHMARSCHs in 2005 and 2008 had been great successes. People seem to enjoy the mixture of pure fun and absolute seriousness.

8.A couple of the band members also run 'Unundeux' what is going on with that label these days?


Christof: It´s not a label anymore but a store where you can buy T-shirts and stuff. Just take a look at www.unundeux.de. Running a label needs a lot of discipline and mercantile ability -skills none of us really has.

9The band has also been a part of a great amount of splits, can you tell us a little bit more about the bands you have shared these recordings with?


Christof: We did splits with DAS KRILL from Germany, BATHTUBSHITTER from Japan, ARE YOU GOD from Brazil, EISENVATER from Hamburg and KILLER which is a side project of Junge from EA80. There are some more for sure ... Oh! We just did a 4-way-split called "Grind Cuts" with NERVOUS IMPULSE from Canada, BRUD from Ukraine and MEAT CUTTING FLOOR from Russia! So as you can see JAKA is kind of a global band.

10.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of grindcore?


Christof: I really don´t know why but most of the world´s population seems to like us. I´m sure that if we opened ourselves more for social media, even housewives from Bangladesh would give us a like or a click or a view. I can´t say how many of our fans are fans of grindcore at the same time. But are genres that important anymore? Doesn´t anybody consume everything at once nowadays?

11.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?


Christof: All that was recorded and released for a very small group of connaisseurs. People who still find the leisure to get obsessed by things in a world which has become distracted more and more. Neither MADCHENDRECK nor DAS OLDSCHOOLFORMAT DER ZUKUNFT nor TITI NITI nor FAKE IDYLL were founded to enter stages. We just recorded these tunes for fun and for to avoid boredom. Only Robert´s band PHOBIATIC plays live shows. But I guess PHOBIATIC is his real band while JAKA is just a project to him.

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


Christof: I don´t know. To me JAKA is still just a project anyway. From the start we've just let everything come. Personally I´m convinced that if you don´t bother, you´ll make it and vice versa - when you try too hard you better don´t even start. I´m a big fan of taking the line of the least resistance. That´s not very German, I know.

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


Christof: Lyrically it´s the first album of EXTRABREIT, musically FRANK ZAPPA. Of course JAKA´s music is not half as ingenious as the music of FRANK ZAPPA, but the lyrics are better than the ones by EXTRABREIT. However, EXTRABREIT showed me that German lyrics work. That was in 1980, I think. As for ZAPPA, I like the synthesis of the arts. I don´t see myself as just a drummer or a lyricist. I´m interested in the entire thing. Of course, we all listened to thrash metal, death metal, black metal and metal metal when we were younger. That´s why we still play metal - we never learned anything else! But we don´t consume metal all day. When we are on the road, we listen to softer tunes like YUNG HURN or HGICHT.

14.What are some of your non musical interests?


Christof: Reading, cooking, talking shit.

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


Christof: No. As an optimistic lebensbejahender death metal dandy I´m hoping that the world will not perish too soon.

Abjured/Absolutist/Defying Danger Records/2018 CD Review

  Abjured  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  mixture  of  grindcore  and  d  beat  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "Absolutist"  which  was  released by  Defying  Danger  Records.

  Distorted  amp  feedback  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  clean  playing  a  few  seconds  later  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  bring  in  a  great  amount  of  grindcore  and  d  beat  elements  along  with  the  vocals  being  mostly  high  pitched  screams.

  Death  metal  growls  are  also  used  at  times  while  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  as  well  as  some  of  the  tracks  being  very  short  in  length  and  when  guitar  leads  are used  briefly  they  are  done  in  a  very  technical  fashion  and  as  the  album  progresses  some  of  the  riffs  also b ring  in  a  small  amount  of  melody and  the  last  track  is  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  also  introduces  slide  guitars  onto  the  recording.

  Abjured  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  grindcore  and  d  beat  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  angry  and  violent  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Abjured  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  grindcore  and  d  beat  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Into  The  Truth -IsItWorth"  "Awakening"  "Exist"  and   "Absolutist".  8  out  of  10.