Atomck Interview

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• 1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band these days?
  We have continued to play gigs and write/record/release music the same as in the past. It's very underground by the nature of who we are, the aim is to play with friends and work in the community.
  This year we released a 7” and have another one already recorded and good to put out as soon as the finance is in place. After that we will record a new full album which is about half written.
• 2.A few months back you had put out a new release, how would you describe the musical sound of the newer music and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
  The main difference that I think people would notice is the drumming style- our old drummer Marzena returned home to the Czech Rep. Shortly after we recorded our album 'Never Work'. Karl then joined and he just has a slightly different approach and overall feel. It's still mostly blasting though. I think we are a bit more confident as a band and go for a rawer sound that is closer to our live sound nowadays.
  
  
• 3.Over the years what have been some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored with their music?
  We tend to make comments about what is going on around us, both in the music scene and politically. 'Never Work' was all about how badly the City of Newport had been effected by the financial collapse, and how the government made matters much worse.
  One of the main themes for our recent ep 'Whitewashed' was bands covering up their questionable politics in order to court with popularity- we see a lot of musicians coming from the heavy metal scene who have racist or sexist lyrics. Usually it is intended for humour but just not acceptable as far as we are concerned.
  
  
• 4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Atomck'/

Linus heard the name on a cartoon and liked the sound of it. I like that nobody pronounces it correctly.

• 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?

We have been going a long time (nearly 10 years) so have played with a lot of great bands in that time. Stand out gigs for me have been playing with INSECT WARFARE and several gigs with WORMROT. Next year we will do CHIMPYFEST in London alongside GRIDE who are a long-term influence and one of the best. A while ago we got to perform at OEF which was amazing, DROPDEAD and BRUTAL TRUTH!

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

We are going to do a small tour at the end of November, some punk gigs with our friends FETUS CHRIST, just playing with friends around the UK. We'd like to return to Europe soon as well, everybody treated us very well last time.

• 7.Over the years you have worked with plenty of many different record labels, out off all  the labels you have worked with, which one do you feel did the best to support the band and get the music out there heard?

In terms of pure numbers it has to be J. Randall's GRINDCORE KARAOKE netlabel, the amount of people that downloaded our stuff from him is way beyond anything else. Having said that, for physical releases we like to work with small underground labels- usually people we trust – and I'm 100% grateful for every single one that has helped us release music over the years. Recently WOOAAARGH and RIP ROARING SHIT STORM have been especially good to us.

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

I don't think we have had a massive amount of attention or feedback, but what we have got has been very positive and is always appreciated. We have always chosen to make the music we want to hear which means sometimes not supplying what everybody wants. I'm fine with that.

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

I have no idea! We write music in a very democratic way and everybody gets a say and has input which means things can change rapidly and we often produce quite experimental songs. I imagine we will always be a DIY band trying to play fast and heavy.

• 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?

Well firstly there are the obvious ones: great grind, punk, hardcore and metal from the past. It just goes without saying haha. Our individual music tastes are very diverse and probably little elements of all those influences creep in- we recently recorded an outro for a song using an old synthesiser and it gave a psychedelic sort of 70s vibe to the end of it.

• 11.What are some of your non musical interests?

I'm an artist so I like painting and drawing. Linus is really into films and Karl likes to read. Of course those are just snippets ;)

• 12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
  Thanks very much for contacting us!, anyone can do so at atomck@googlemail.com

Piss Vortex Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Simon: The band started out as just a side project for Rasmus and Niclas, and then Christian just sorta invited himself, I think. I don’t really know the details, since I joined the band later on. Christian wrote me, and asked me if I’d like to try out some vocals for their grindcore band, and when I heard the word grindcore I pretty much just said yes right away. The band started out trying to play more straight up grindcore, but that all changed fast, and now we play this weird mixture of grind, noise, hardcore, and general weirdness – I personally had a really hard time ‘getting’ the riffs at first, they confused the shit out of me! I finally think I got it now, though!

Niclas: Well basically, Rasmus and I started hanging out back in early 2011, going to concerts and getting wasted together. We quickly found out that we had a shared taste for fucked up music and morbid humour. So fast-forward a few months and we are about to have our very first lets-just-get-drunk-and-jam-out-session - and then Christian (whom Rasmus previously had been in a band called 'The Full Nelson' with) show up, with a bag full of 'King' beer, from the local kiosk. I don't remember much more from that night, other than listening to Metallica and sweating a lot. And would you know it; by the end of the night, we had demoed 3 or 4 tracks. So naturally, we decided to meet up again - and I haven't been completely sober for longer periods of time ever since.

2.You have your first album coming out in November, how would you describe the musical sound that is present on the recording?

Simon: The sound on this record is very organic, and we really wanted it to sound like a band playing the music almost live into your ears. The music is chaotic and aggressive in its own way, and the vocals almost clean it up a little bit, making it more accessible in some weird way. We are all heavily inspired by chaotic hardcore and grindcore, but we bring a lot of different stuff to the table. I guess the music is that – grind inspired by a shit load of different bands and music styles.

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

Niclas: In broad terms, it's about how shitty we as humans are to each other and ourselves. The lyrical themes has a number of times been inspired conversations where the initial response have been 'HAHAHAHAHAH! .....okay, thats actually kindda really horrible when you think about it.'. Like teen-pregnancy terminated with a chair, for example. Yep, that somehow happened once.

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

Simon: The name is Christian’s idea, I think. The bands was already called Piss Vortex when I joined. I think it’s just something the guys found cool and funny – a vortex of piss sounds very disgusting and somewhat weirdly aggressive. The name has gotten quite the attention from a lot of people, but I don’t think the guys really thought that much about it. It sounds cool, though, rolls right off your tongue!

Niclas: I dunno, I just thought it sounded kindda sexy..

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

Niclas: One of the best shows as of yet for me personally, would be the time we played Pumpehusets Byhave (the outside stage at one of my favorite venues in Copenhagen) with our buddies in Ajuna and Anti Ritual (who are now also our labelmates). We had just finished the recording of the album a week before - so we were doing better than ever perfomance-wise. The stage-sound were amazing and all the right people were there. The place was just vibrating with great energy.

Our stage perfomance is still a bit of a development in progress i think. For the most part throughout a show, we are just trying to hold on and keep our individual instrumental parts going without messing up - and are often having a really hard time doing so. Shit does get real though, when the breakdown finally drops (usually on a weird offbeat) or the blast-beating inferno hell finally unleashes.

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

Simon: We’re planning on going on a small tour in Denmark in the spring, and then we are making plans for going around Europe in the summer. Nothing is 100% planned at the moment. The US might have to wait a bit, mostly because of money – we’re all broke most of the time. We really want to go there, though!

7.The album will be released on Indisciplinarian, how did you get in contact with this label?

Niclas: Good question, really! haha. I think it was Jacob (from Indiciplinarian) that approached us after the show in Pumpehuset. Christian had known him for some time, and he (Jacob) and Nikolaj who runs the label, both play in Anti Ritual - so it ended up being a quiet natural process for us to work together. Jacob and Nikolaj have both done an astonishing job with this record, taking insane amounts of work off our shoulders. So dudes, if you are reading this - thanks a bunch!

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

Simon: Well, since most people don’t consider it grindcore, but more of a mixture between a lot of different shit, the response has been very diverse. Some true-to-the-bone grindcore fans don’t find us interesting at all, but I’d say most of the response has been very positive. We’ve already gotten a couple of good reviews, which is always nice, and the reactions from the sites that have been writing about us have been overall positive.

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

Niclas: It's hard to say. It will definitely get weirder, thats for sure. More extreme both in terms of noisiness and technicality as well. We are already working on new material and its more fucked up than ever, haha!

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?

Simon: Some of the bands that we all share as inspiration in the band are early Mastodon, Botch, early Dillinger Escape Plan, and stuff like that. But we all have very different tastes in music.

Personally, I think that Nasum, Gadget, Gridlink, Discordance Axis, Napalm Death, and Crowpath have inspired me a lot for this band. Not necessarily because I want to sound like any of them, but more the whole sound and feeling of the music. Very aggressive and insane, but held together in some way – for me the vocals do that a lot. I guess it’s the controlled chaos that a lot of the more extreme bands bring to the table that inspires me personally. I listen to a lot of death metal too, so that genre must also have had some influence on my approach to music. The other guys listen to so many different bands, it would be impossible to list it all here!
Currently I’m listening to Helium Head by Mutoid Man a lot. Such a fucking great little piece! And Omega Massif from Germany – just everything they ever made.

Niclas: Some of my all-time heroes are Daughters, Khanate, Deathspell Omega, Iron Lung and Gorguts.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Niclas: I spend a lot of my time practicing Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It's great fun! Christan and Rasmus both work out a lot at the moment, getting their guns all swollen and shit. Simon swims and studies a lot as well. We are all very social.... and thirsty people. So we party hard a few times a week, either in the rehearsal space, at shows or at bar somewhere in Copenhagen.

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

Simon: Thanks for the attention, I guess! Look forward to the album and hurry up and pre-order the Piss Yellow edition before it’s sold out!
Oh, and also check out some of the great Danish underground bands that exist right now. If you ever need some new and great music to listen to, there’s Märsvin, Klusterfuck, Ajuna, Whorls, No Fealty, and Arakk. Enjoy the daily grind of life!

Homewrecker/Circle Of Death/A389 Recordings/2014 CD Review

  Homewrecker  are  a  band  from  Ohio  that  plays  a  very  brutal  mixture  of  crust  and  grindcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Circle  of  Death"  which  will  be  released  on  Halloween  by  A389  Recordings.

  Dark  and  distorted  sounds  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  clean  playing  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction  and  adding  in  solos  and  leads  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  going  for  a  more  fast  and  raw  thrash  orientated  style  grindcore  sound.

  When  vocals  are  added  into t he  music  they  are  old  school  sounding  crust/grind/death  metal  growls  and  the  band  also  brings  in  a  good  amount  of  blast  beats  which  also  adds  more  brutality  to  the  recording  and  as  the  album  progresses  the  band  starts  bringing  in  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  Homewrecker  goes  back  to  the  mid  80's  and  early  90's  era  of  crust  and  grindcore  and  creates  and  album  that  is  very  raw,  aggressive  and  heavy  sounding,  the  production  sounds  very  powerful  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent  and  political  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Homewrecker  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  crust  and  grindcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Forced  under"  "Illusions  Of  Peace"  "Skin  The  Pig"  and  "Silence  the  Weak".  8  out  of  10.    

    

Keitzer/Das Krill/7 Degrees Records/2008 Split 7 inch Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  ep  between  Germany's  Keitzer  and  Das  Krill  which  was  released  in  2008  by  7  Degrees  Records  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Keitzer  which  plays  a  mixture  of  death  metal,  crust  and  grindcore.

  A  very  heavy,  fast  and  brutal  sound  starts  off  their  side  of  the  split  along  with  some  high  pitched  grindcore  screams  and  the  band  also  brings  in  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  adding  in  a  good  amount  of  blast  beats  and  they  manage  to  make  both  songs  very  brutal  along  with  a  professional  sounding  production  and  violent  lyrics  and  on  the  second  track  you  can  also  hear  a  small  amount  of  black  metal  influences.

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

  Their  side  of t he  split  starts  off  with  some  spoken  word  samples  being  going  into  a  more  heavy  and  brutal  musical  direction  along  with  a  good  mixture  of  growls  and  screams  and  you  can  also  hear  a  small  amount  of  sound  effects  and  samples  throughout  their  side  of  the  split  along  with  a  great  amount  of  punk  influences,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  humorous  themes.

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

    

Keitzer/As The World Burns/7 Degrees Records/2008 LP Review

  Keitzer  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  has  been featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  death  metal,  grind,  crust  and  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2008  album  "As  The  World  Burns"  which  was  released  by  7  Degrees  Records.

  A  very  fast  and  brutal  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  death/grind  style  growls  and  the  band  also  brings  in  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  as  well  as  the  band  utilizing  a  great  amount  of  melody.

  The  bands  musical  style  on  this  album  is  a  lot  more  closer  to  brutal  death  metal  than  the  newer  material  while  also  having  a  great  amount  of  crust  and  grind  being  mixed  in  with  their  style  and  there  are  no  guitar  solos  or  leads  present  anywhere  on  the  recording  with  the  band  focusing  more  on  a  very  heavy  and  brutal  musical  sound  and  there  is  never  a  soft  moment  to  be  found  anywhere  on  any  of  the  tracks.

  With  this  recording  Keitzer  played  more  of  a  brutal  style  of  death/grind  which  was  still  heavily  influenced  by  crust  and  hardcore  and  this  album  is  brutal  from  beginning  to  end  while  also  having  its  melodic  moments  at  times,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark,  violent  and  hateful  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  was  a  very  great  sounding  recording  from  Keitzer  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  their  newer  material  and  want  to  hear  their  past  material,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Corporation'  "Doom  Shall  Rise"  "This  Life"  and  "No  Justice,  No  Peace".  8  out  of  10.

Sandokhan/Krupskaya/7 Degrees Records/2010 Split 12 Inch Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  Germany's  Sandokhan  and  the  united  Kingdom's  Krupskaya  which  was  released  in  the  year  of  2010  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Sandokhan  a  band  that  plays  a  very  brutal  form  of  crust/grind.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  a  very  fast  and  brutal  grindcore  sound  that  utilizes  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  as  well  as  a good  mixture  of  screams  and  growls  and  all  of  their  songs  are  very  short  in  length  with  the  longest  one  only  being  a  little  over  the  minute  and  they  also  keep  every  minute  and  second  of  their  music  heavy  and  brutal  along  with  a  very  professional  sounding  production  and  lyrics  that  cover  Egyptian,  Sumerian  mythology  and  occultism.

  Next  up  is  Krupskaya  another  band  that  plays  a  very  brutal  style  of  crust/grind.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  off  with  Spoken  word  samples  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  going  into  more  of  a  heavy  musical  direction  as  well  as  adding  in  some  melodies  and  high  pitched  screams  along  with  some  deep  growls  and  blast  beats  a  few  seconds  later  and  the  band  also  brings  in  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  a  very  powerful  sounding  production  and  lyrics  that  cover  war  themes.

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

Morser/1st Class Suicide/7 Degrees Records/2010 LP Review

  Morser  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  mixture  of  death  metal,  grindcore  and  power  violence  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2010  album  "1st  Class  Suicide"  which  was  released  by  7  Degrees  Records.

  A  very  fast,  heavy  and  brutal  death/grind  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  a  good  mixture  of  both  growls  and  screams  and  you  can  hear  a  lot  of  old  school  death  metal  in  the  bands  musical  sound  which  they  also  mix  in  with  a  good  amount  of  melody  and  hardcore  influences.

  Spoken  word  samples  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  the  band  also  remains  true  to  a  very  heavy  and  brutal  sound  from  beginning  to  end  of  the  recording  and  there  is  never  a  soft  moment  present  in  any  of  the  tracks  that  are  present  on  the  album  and  as  time  goes  on  by  the  music  starts  bringing  in  elements  of  technical  death  metal  into  their  musical  style  and  after  awhile  a  small  amount  of  guitar  leads  can  be  heard  briefly  in  some  of  the  tracks.

  Morser  takes  the  old  school,  melodic  and  brutal  styles  of  death  metal  and  mixes  in  elements  of  grind,  hardcore  and  power  violence  to  create  an  album  that  is  very  heavy  as  well  as  having  a  sound  of  its  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  violent  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Morser  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death  metal,  grind  and  power  violence  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Small  Weak  Virus"  "Synthetics  For  the  Devil"  "NnM"  and  "The  Legend  Of  Dunnhill".  8  out  of  10.