Ommatadia 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?

Gilles - Well, first of all we've been busy planning some gigs to play through France. We also try to keep daily updates on the band's Facebook page, with the album reviews and the whole promotional things you do when you have an album coming out ! We're also rehearsing every week the setlist we'll play on stage, and that's pretty fun to mix songs from our both records.


2.Recently you had released a new album, 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?

 Gilles - The new album is definitely more "Rock" than our first record "In This Life Or The Next". The songs are shorter but they get straight to the point. We tried to reach the listener quicker and the choruses are aimed to that. I think that the fact that we now know each other better expanded our creativity. It was easier to bring along ideas or exposing influences to each other. That's for the genre, I would say :) The sound is really heavier. The people we worked with were getting completely what we had in mind. The instrument takes were well-done and then the mixing kept on enhancing the whole sound we were looking for. It's more "Metal", the drums, the bass and guitars are wider and punchier than they were on the first record.


3.This is the first album to be released in 4 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time span?

Gilles - Quickly after the release of "In This Life Or The Next", we decided to write new songs to get back in the studio as fast as we could. But we had plans with our other projects and also parted ways with our former bass player Vincent. We then tried to hire a new guy on short notice to pursue the work on the new songs. Unfortunaltely we weren't able to find a decent guy so I stood up for the bass part on the recording sessions. After the recording and mixing, we went back on researching a new bass player and we met Guillaume Sence who was perfect for the job. So it was now time to work with him in order to get ready for the gigs. Afterwards we decided to look for a cool way to release the album, that's why we ended up working with Dooweet. They amazed us by the work they did with bands of their roster. And by the time the record came out, four years had already passed.

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

Gilles - The album is constructed around a concept, which has been thought by our lead singer Guillaume Richard. It deals with a man who discovers that his fate is sealed. Then he has to choose how to end his life, either with burning both ends of the candle or trying to get his stuff together in order to achieve his existence in a decent way. Suicide is also a dwelling theme throughout the record. The choice of ending life as you know you're doomed and eventually you'll die.
Guillaume - Besides, I've tried to use as much as possible in my lyrics the light/sun lexical field, even in song titles where white became black.

5.Originally the band was called 'Pretence', what was the decision behind the name change and also the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Ommatida'?

Gilles - Well, we figured out that this name sucked :) The meaning was cool, but in France, you couldn't name a band after that (it could refer to "pretentious" ) And Ommatidia was way cooler anyway :)
Guillaume - Ommatidia came to my mind after reading a book back from Costa Rica.
Ommatidias are the compound eyes of insect such as dragonflies, bees...
With this name I wanted to express all kind of inspirations coming to us in all our little facet (as human beings) to a single unique creation (as musician or artist).

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?

Gilles - The band was originally a studio band so we did only one gig after the release of our first record. We toured with our fomer projects so Ommatidia wasn't meant to be a touring band at first. When the new songs started to emerge, we decided to bring them on stage 'cause they had energy and they had to be played live. We now have many gigs planned for the support of the new album, so, i guess what you can expect is an Ommatidia backdrop, stacks of amps, double-drum kit and five guys headbanging to these new songs :)

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

Gilles - For the moment, only gigs through France with our friends LODZ from Lyon. We'll try to be cast on some festival by next year.

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

Gilles - I think that the doom fans were pleased with our first record. Even though the song on the new album are a little faster, i think everyone will recognize the style of Ommatidia and the doomers won't be left apart, we still have very loooooooow tempos here and there on the record. As for the gothic fans, we wear black clothes on every photo shoot, so they couldn't get happier :)

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 off?

Gilles - The Old Dead Tree are releasing a free EP of old material, recorded last year. But no live plans. Jarell is dead and gone. Dustbowl called it quits and Olivier (drums) left Far From the Sun. So we're all yours :)


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

Gilles - I think we'll try to expand the band's versatility a little further. We'll probably keep it melodic but i think we'll also try different textures. I've been personally influenced by a lot of non-metal bands that i think you might perceive elements in the next songs you'll hear from us. Who knows ? It might go to extremes in both ways, with thrashier parts and eerie atmospheres. We'll try to keep it interesting anyway. And it has to be fun to play above all.

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?

Gilles - I think that we let our roots talk for this one. Some people say it has a 90's vibe at times, i can't disagree. We've all grown with the likes of Alice In Chains, Paradise Lost, Moonspell... What influences us today could be in many things. The guys in the band listen to different stuffs from 60's Rock to nowadays Death-Metal so... How wide-minded is that ? :)

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

Gilles - Movies ! Isn't that the ultimate form of art ? :)
Guillaume - Reading comic books and drawing ;) Playing video games; traveling.

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

 Gilles -  I hope you'll like the new record. Then relax and have a beer with your friends. And keep on supporting metal !!!




http://www.ommatidia.net
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ommatidia/173165282702769?ref=ts

Witch Of The Waste/Made Of Teeth/2015 EP Review

  Witch  Of  the  Waste  are  a  band  from  Vancouver,  British  Columbia,  Canada  that  plays  a  very  technical  and  progressive  mixture  of  hardcore,  grind  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2015  ep  "Made  Of  Teeth".

  A  very  dark  and  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  ep  and  after  the  ep  high  pitched  screams  are  added into  the  music  and  they  add  a  grindcore  influence  to  the  songs  along  with  some  elements  of  post  hardcore  and  they  also  add  in  blast  beats  and  melodic  guitar  leads  at  times  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  Death  metal  growls  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  they  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  technical  riffs  and  leads  and  the  whole  ep  is  very  diverse  and  progressive  and  the  musicians  also  demonstrate  a  great  amount  of  talent  and  skill  throughout  all  of  the  songs.

  Witch  Of  the  Waste  takes  a  very  melodic  and  progressive  style  of  death  metal  and  mixes  it  with  grind  and  post  hardcore  to  create  a  very  original  sound,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  real  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Witch  of  The  Water  are  a  very  great  sounding  progressive  and  technical  mixture  of  death  metal,  grind  and  post  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Door  Cannot  be  Opened"  and  "It  Was  Always  3:00  AM".  8  out  of  10.
  

Ommatida/Let's Face It/Dooweet Records/2015 CD Review

 

   Ommatida  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  very  dark  and  melodic  form  of  gothic  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Let's  Face  it"  which  was  released  by  Dooweet  Records.

  A  very  dark,  hard,  heavy  and  melodic  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  elements  of  goth  rock  and  guitar  leads  that  use  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  dominate  throughout  the  recording  and  when  vocals  are  added  into  into  the  music  they  are  all  in  a  clean  singing  gothic  metal  direction  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  You  can  hear  a  lot  of  modern metal  elements  in  the  bands  musical  style  along  with  a  touch  of  thrash  as  well  as  a  slight  alternative  feeling  being  used  at  times  and  some  of  the  songs  also  bring  clean  playing  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with  a  few  power  ballads  and  when  acoustic  guitars  are  utilized  they  give  the  album  more  of  a  70's  rock  feeling  and  when  growls  are utilized  they  bring  in  a  touch  of  early  90's  doom/death  metal.and  some  of  the  later  tracks  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  whispers  and  the  last  3  tracks  have  a  concept  to  them.

  Ommatida  plays  a  style  of  gothic  metal  that  also  brings  in elements  of  melodic,  modern  and  alternative  metal  along  with  a  touch  of  death/doom  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  death  and  existence  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Ommatida  are  a  very  great  sounding  dark  and  melodic  gothic  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Immaculate"  "Soiled"  "A  Lack  Of  Contrast  In  Life"  and  "Coming  Full  Circle  Pt.3".  8  out  of  10.

Subjugation Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Hey! We are a 3-piece grindcore outfit from Ankara, Turkey. We started in 2013, released a demo tape in 2014 and recently had a split 7" out with Italian death/grind maniacs HAEMOPHAGUS and have just recorded one new track for an upcoming compilation.

2.So far you have released a demo and have also been a part of a split, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
All 6 songs we released are from the same recording session. We tried to capture the spirit of early 90's death metal infused and brutal grindcore, while still retaining the chainsaw guitar sound and d-beats.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Modern forms of slavery and how people are turning into lifeless shells of themselves, just like a dystopian Philip Dick story, but for real.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Subjugation'?
Just like the lexical meaning, the shit people have to endure in our "modern" societies. It was quite fitting to our lyrical content and also was the last free word with the suffix -ation, haha!

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We played with Dutch crust/grinders KRU$H at the end of last year and it was a hell lot of fun, and just a few weeks ago we played at a mini DIY festival in Istanbul with some touring bands like PARAZITOZIS, CHAPPA'AI, SxOxTxE and DIRTY WOMBS, the atmosphere was just awesome and the crowd went nuts during the entire festival.
To be honest, I wouldn't really know how to describe the performance, we just try to play the best we can and hope the audience enjoys it!

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
We'll play some local gigs in the next months and we have some plans to tour after the new recording, nothing's set in concrete yet though.

7.Recently you where a part of a split with 'Haemophagus', what are your thoughts on the other band that have participated on this recording?
They're the nicest guys around and they play some great rotten tunes! Anybody slightly interested in AUTOPSY and REPULSION should check out their latest full length Atrocious.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal and grindcore?
While we're still a relatively new band, the response from people have been terrific so far!

9.Are any of the band members also involved with any other musical projects or bands these days?
I also do vocals for BURIAL INVOCATION. Our drummer Kaya used to play in SAKATAT until they called it quits in 2012.

10.When can we expect a full length album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We're frantically (de)composing new tunes for the full length and planning to record this summer. I can say it's more of the same brutal and rigid grindcore, just with more intensity and rawness.

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?
Aside from our main influences ASSÜCK, BRUTAL TRUTH, TERRORIZER and Harmony Corruption-era NAPALM DEATH, we're also influenced by some bands from other genres to a degree I guess, like WARCOLLAPSE, GRAVE, ASPHYX, SKITSYSTEM...
Lately I've been listening to ICON OF EVIL's Syfilis Mentalis, SUFFERING MIND's self titled Formatography 11" and CANCER SPREADING's The Age of Desolation a lot.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
Eating vegetarian pizza, drinking unhealthy amounts of beer and getting shitfaced... All the usual stuff!

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thanks a lot for interviewing us, cheers!

Haemophagus/Subjugation/EveryDayHate/2015 Split 7 Inch Review

  This  a  review  of  a  split  ep  between  Italy's  Haemophagus  and  Turkey's  Subjugation  which  was  released  by  EveryDayHate  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  of  Haemophagus  a  band  that plays  an  old  school  mixture  of  death  metal  and  grindcore.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  off  with  a  very  heavy  and  old  school  death  metal  sound  along  with  some  guitar  leads  being  utilized  at  times  and  a  few  seconds  later  death  metal  growls  are  added  into  the  music  along  with  some  screams  and  the  music  starts  adding  in  elements  of  early  90;s  gore/grind  and  you  can  also  hear  a  great  amount  of  groove  in  their  musical  style  and  on  the  second  track  the  music  starts  to  speed  up  a  bit  and  add  in  blast  beats  along  with  some  Swedish  death  metal  influences  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound to them,  the  production  sounds  very  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  horror  and  gore  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Haemophagus  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  mixture  of  death  metal  and  grindcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Monsters  In  The  Park".

  Next  up  is  Subjugation  a  band  that  plays  a  mixture  of  grindcore  and  death  metal  with  a  touch  of  punk.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  off  with  a  very  dark  and  old  school  death/grind  sound  and  a  few  seconds  later  growls  are  added  into  the  music  before  speeding  up  and  adding  in  blast  beats  that  also  takes  the  music  play  into  a  grindcore  direction  as  well  as  introducing  high  pitched  screams  into  their  musical  style  and  they  use  this  direction  on  all  3  tracks,  the  production  on  their  side  of  the  recording  sounds  very  powerful  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Subjugation  are a  very  great  sounding  old  school  mixture  of  death  metal  and  grindcore  with  a  touch  of  punk  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band  and  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Trembling  On  Broken  Glass".

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

Mindflair/Scourge Of Mankind/EveryDayHate/Wooaaargh/2015 CD Review

  Mindflair  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  very  fast  and  aggressive  form  of  grindcore  along  with  some  elements  of  crust,  power  violence  and  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their 2015  album  "Scourge  Of  Mankind"  which  was  released  as  a  joint  effort  between  EveryDayHate  and  Wooaaargh.

  A  very  hard  and  heavy  grindcore  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  high  pitched  screams  and  brutal  blast  beats  and  the  music  brings  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  at  times  you  can  also  hear  angry  crust  style  shouts  in  come  sections  of  the  tracks  and  all  of  the  songs  are  very  short  in  length  with  the  longest  one  being  2  1/2  minutes.

  Most  of  the  songs  are  heavily  rooted  in  a  90's  style  of  crust  and  grindcore  while  the  production  gives  the  music  more  of  a  modern  day  feeling  and  in  the  slower  sections  the  power  violence  and  hardcore  elements  have  more  of  a  powerful  sounding  presence  and  the  music  also  brings  in  death  metal  growls  and  as  the  album  progresses  melodies  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  heavy  and  brutal  musical  direction.  

  Mindflair  plays  a  style  of  grindcore  that  is  very  aggressive  and  old  school  sounding  and  also  adds  in  a  heavy  crust  influence,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  politics  and  rebellion  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Mindflair  are  a  very  great  sounding  grindcore  band  with  elements  of  crust  and  power  violence  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Black  Frost"  "Uncontrolled"  "Exploitation"  and  "Theatre  of  the  Absurd".  8  out  of  10.   

Multinational Corporations/Jamat-al-Maut/Transcending Obscurity India/2015 CD Review

  Multinational  Corporations  are  a  band  from  Pakistan  that  plays  a  very  brutal  form  of  grindcore  with  some  elements  of  crust  and  this is  a  review  of  their  2015  album  "Jamat-al-Maut"  which  will  be  released  on  March  30th  by  Transcending  Obscurity  India.

  A  very  fast  and  raw  grindcore  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  death  metal  growls  and  high  pitched  screams  and  you  can  also  hear  a  lot  of  crustcore  influences  in  the  bands  musical  style  along  with  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  short  in  length  with  the  longest  being  3  minutes.

  Throughout  the  recording  there  is  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  some  of  the  tracks  also  use  a  small  amount  of  melody  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  as  the  album  progresses  spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  a  couple  of  the  tracks  also  bring  in  a  brief  use  of  guitar  leads.

  Multinational  Corporations  plays  a  style  of  grindcore  that  is  very  brutal  and  old  school  sounding  and  also  adds  in  a  touch  of  crust,  the  production  sound s very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent  and  political  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Multinational  Corporations  are a  very  great  sounding  grindcore  band  and  if  you  are a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Fuck  Your  Patriotism"  "Advertisement  Overdose"  "Salaab"  and  "Ehsas-e-Jurm".  8  out  of  10.