Q&A with us #1

We were thinking about a way to interact more with our followers. After thinking about it for quite a while, we came up with the idea of a Q&A. We came up with a couple questions and let our members answer them. Here’s what they said:

What is your favourite style of mixed genres? (for example thrash/black metal, doom/death metal etc.)

Gideon Nikos Liquid: My favorite mixed genre is Progressive/Power. It’s a combination that can (mostly) give me mysticism, technique, shredding, “optimistic angst”, cheese and basically overrides most of the cons that the other has.

Hannes: I would have to go with death/doom. Mixing the furiousity of death metal with the darkness of doom metal is the best mix since jack and coke. Weather it’s the classic “Brave Murder Day” by Katatonia, Paradise Lost’s “Gothic” and Autopsy’s first albums or Swallow the Sun and Draconian nowadays, I enjoy all of them quite a lot. It’s not a very big genre, but it seems like most bands in are great.

JazzDB: By far folk/ black metal. These two genres can be blent together perfectly. However, it’s important to me that a band never overdoes the folk elements. Graveland for example tends to do so (anyone heard that recent split with Nokturnal Mortum?…). Great black/ folk albums are Kentucky, Blood In Our Wells, To The Nameless Dead, Cry To Me River, Metal Noir Quebecois etc. All radically different in the way they incorporate different folk elements, but all of them superb albums in their own right.

Darryl Mouzone: I love all genres of Metal but my favorites are Thrash/Death Metal.

Shawn Spagna: I don’t think I have a favorite mixed genre in particular. There are hundreds and hundreds. I do tend to enjoy most variations of Thrash and Sludge though.

Name the most terrible album by one of your favourite bands!

Gideon Nikos Liquid: I was supposed to say Risk by Megadeth but in reality, the poppy tunes there were really good songs that should’ve been under a different name or band. My answer would be Dominion by Kamelot. It’s a borefest and my ears never touched it again. It probably has something to do with listening to Khan’s voice and Casey’s drumming first than that one.

Hannes: I think that might be “Host” by Paradise Lost. I really enjoyed all of their albums, even “One Second” and “Believe in Nothing”. I don’t have anything against synthie pop á la Depeche Mode. But to me this record lacks direction, focus and an edge. To me it is bad elevator music. Yes, I think there’s better elevator music than this. They should have continued doing what they started on “One Second”, but instead they seemed to get lost within the electro genre.

JazzDB: Tough one, but I’d have to say Par Hauts Bois Et Vastes Plaines by Forteresse. By no means a “terrible” album, but a big disappointment compared to the rest of their discography. They nailed their sound right off the bat on their first album ‘Metal Noir Quebecois’, then added some more ambient on their second ‘Les Hivers De Notre Epoque’. And I loved both releases equally. However, their third, ‘Par Hauts Bois Et Vastes Plaines’ was just all out ambient. And I like ambient (BM) when it’s done right (Check out Nychts – Und So Gehen Wir… or Hermodr – vinter), but this album is just not very interesting. Good to fall asleep to, but that’s really it. Luckily they went back to their roots on their forth release, revisiting the sound they created on Metal Noir Quebecois.

Darryl Mouzone: I love Morbid Angel but Illud Divinium Insanus was terrible. It astonished me that a legendary band like Morbid Angel could release an album so bad.

Shawn Spagna: Metallica is the band that got me into metal so naturally they have a special place in my heart but they’re not without flaws. Although most say St. Anger is their worst, I think Load is even worse. Let’s just say “Load” was an appropriate title.

What band makes you feel uncomfortable or depressed and what band makes you feel the opposite?

Gideon Nikos Liquid: Satyricon makes me feel a bit edgy, especially the first two albums. It has something to do with listening to them during my extreme introvert days back in college. Exact opposite would be Rhapsody of Fire, anything from the Emerald Sword saga. The Italian guys know how to make me jump out of my bed, sing under the shower and shove reality over fantasy. They make me play lots of videogames too, haha.

Hannes: I don’t think there’s any music that makes me feel depressed, but I definitely feel like Silencer’s music touches you on a deep emotional level. There’s something about it that makes you feel a bit uneasy and sad at the same time. Another sad, melancholic song would be In Flames’ Chosen Pessimist. What makes me feel the opposite?  I’d say Alestorm. The party pirate metalers from Scotland. Makes you wanna party and have a good time.

JazzDB: 1. Lurker Of Chalice. The best material Wrest has ever released in my opinion, better than any Leviathan album. Lurker Of Chalice’s self titled album is just pure depression. Wrest’s vocals are the center point of this album. He mumbles his lyrics as if he’s at the edge of insanity. Makes me feel very uneasy.
2. Gloryhammer is my go-to band for some good fun. So when I’m really happy, I’ll listen to their second album “1992: Rise Of The Chaos Wizards” on repeat. But occasionally I’ll also listen to other power metal bands such as Sabaton or Powerwolf. They make me feel epic or euphoric in their own way. But apart from those, I don’t really listen to power metal.

Darryl Mouzone: Burzum makes me uncomfortable, but not because of the music; because of Varg Vikernes’ extreme views. Freedom Call makes me feel the opposite because they’re the happiest band in Metal.

Shawn Spagna: Leviathan tends to make me a little uneasy but I think that’s kind of the purpose of extreme metal. As far as making me feel depressed goes, metal music only does that to me when I listen to it exclusively. If I have to name names, Swallow the Sun, and Giles Corey tend to do the job.

Does the weather/season affect the music you listen to?

Gideon Nikos Liquid: Not at all. I never really thought about it but since we only have two seasons here in our abyss, I tend to play more Thrash stuff when it’s hot.

Hannes: I never thought about that, so I can’t really tell. But I think, if anything I try to counteract the weather and season. So when the sun is shining in the summer I think I tend to listen to more melancholic, doomy stuff, whereas in the winter when there’s snow I listen to energetic, powerful music.

JazzDB: Not really, no. I’ll listen to black metal any time of the year. Doesn’t necessarily have to snow outside…

Darryl Mouzone: I listen to Black Metal more in the fall and winter because it just fits the cold and snow that comes with the weather.

Shawn Spagna: Season does affect my choice in music to a certain degree. The winter lends itself to slower, more depressing music and summer means fast, hard hitting music.

Name an album that’s been completely overlooked, but should be considered a classic according to you.

Gideon Nikos Liquid: Spiral Architect’s “A Sceptic’s Universe”. Avant Garde fans didn’t really like it, Prog fans didn’t dig it, I think it’s a masterpiece and wasn’t that much appreciated and listened to.

Hannes: I think Obscurity’s “Vintar” is an absolute masterpiece. Obscurity is a German Pagan/Melodic Death Metal band. Their album “Vintar” was released in 2014 and is their 7th studio album. To me it represents the best of both melodic death metal and folky Pagan sounds. The lyrics are in German but hey, Rammstein sings in German, too.

JazzDB: Solstice – Solstice (a.k.a. ‘Pray For The Sentencing’). The best death/ thrash metal album I’ve ever heard (and I’m very picky whenever it comes to thrash). It’s one of the most underrated metal albums of the 90’s, and yet it’s nothing less than the brainchild of different members that would later join bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Malevolent Creation and Monstrosity. They absolutely nailed the death/ thrash sound on this album. The bass is prominent, the vocals are vicious, the guitar tones are punchy and the drums are fast! Every track on here is pure gold. They even did a Carnivore cover of the song ‘SMD’ and it’s twice as good as the original. You can clearly hear the influences of bands such as Slayer, Death, Possessed, Sepultura and so on. So what are you waiting for?

Darryl Mouzone: “Impact” by Dew Scented is an album should be considered a classic album because it’s Thrash/Death Metal at its finest and is relentless and brutal. Dew Scented is great at mixing the two Metal genres together in their music.

Shawn Spagna: I’m a huge fan of Have a Nice Life and consider Deathconsciousness to be a modern day classic. Its Lo-Fi recording and seamless bonding of genres made it an instant favorite of mine. I highly recommend it to fans of Sludge, Doom, Drone, Shoegaze and Electronic music as well.

Name the best album you discovered in the last six months. Doesn’t have to be a recent release.

Gideon Nikos Liquid: Light Bringer’s “Scenes Of Infinity”. I’m a sucker for Japan’s melodies and this band quickly matured from a jumping toddler to a classic, power metal contender with this album.

Hannes: I’m not sure if it was within the last six months, but I’ll mention it anyway. I made quite a huge discovery. It might not be a “trve” metal album, but it definitely is some of the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard: Lake of Tear’s “Forever Autumn”. I had never heard of this band before and I was overwhelmed by their songwriting skills. Lake of Tears is a Swedish Progressive/Doom/Gothic Metal band that changed their style often in their career. The album contains great instrumentation and was released in 1999.

JazzDB: Caladan Brood – Echoes Of Battle. I heard this album approximately 5 weeks ago for the very first time and I have been listening to it every day since. This album is just epic black metal perfection. Do yourself a favour if you haven’t heard this yet and go listen to it. Then give Caladan Brood all of your hard earned money, because they deserve it (the purple vinyl is still available on Northern Silence and only a mere 90 euro’s!). No, but seriously… buy this album, buy their merch, support this band, because I want to hear more of them. A lot more.

Darryl Mouzone: The best album I’ve discovered in the last six months has to be “Art of Loss” by Redemption.

Shawn Spagna: I’ve discovered a lot of great albums on the past six months but a standout would be Mgla- Exercises in Futility. What a great black metal record.

What’s your opinion? Let us  know in the  comments below!