You may remember that some time ago CroOZza wrote a little piece on a Canadian formation named Karkaos. They delivered this immensely intense piece of Melodic Death Metal, with elements of darkness, Folk and pirate atmospheres, as well as a bunch of other stuff. Stuff’s definitely cool!

Anyway, one thing led to another and before we knew it we got into contact with Veronica Rodriguez, lead singer in the band, who got some of her band mates to agree to do an interview with us. That’ll follow in a bit, but first let’s present you with a brief overview of the band’s history, to give you some perspective.

After we reviewed Krokmitën’s 46-minute one-shot of Experimental Death Metal, Alpha-Beta, last week, it seemed like a good idea to shoot some questions over to the band and get some clarification on this very conceptual and freaky-as-fuck album from them. Turns out that when we hooked up with Simlev, guitarist, vocalist, main writer and main man, it wasn’t a good idea, but a great idea. To understand Alpha Beta you need to get back into the band’s history. And that’s precisely what we’ve extensively done. Though we haven’t forgotten the future either.

Honestly, this was one of the most pleasant and insightful interviews I’ve undertaken to date. Thanks to Simlev for spilling his guts and giving us an awesome interview!

After our review of their upcoming album Alternate World, we’ve decided to give them another knock on their door. Vocalist/guitarist Rafael Ortiz came out and was prepared to answer some questions for us.

In short, The Right Wing Conspiracy is this politically outspoken Grindcore band from South Carolina, the States. Their songs are short, intense and always contain a little twist that keeps the listener awake. They have been around for about 5 years now, and they have released three full-lengths and one split-album. After the jump, Rafael’s going to tell us a bit more about the background of The Right Wing Conspiracy, the songwriting process and their influences. So get ready!

[A short while ago, DMB writer Angel did an interview with Finnish Pagan Metallers Moonsorrow when he attended their gig. The original transcription of this was published on Angel’s own weblog, In Angel’s Head [Phones]. We’re publishing a slightly adapted version of the article today.]

When you talk about Folk / Pagan Metal, Moonsorrow is one of the bands that’s often named first. They’re from the Finnish echelons of the genre and have been active since 1995. Their name stems from a Celtic Frost song, called Sorrows of the Moon, however, they didn’t immediately start out as a Folk Metal band, but as a Black Metal outfit. An influence still heard in their stuff today.

Recently, I checked in with Ville (bass) and Mitja (guitars) from Moonsorrow, while in the midst of the Dead Tyrants Tour with Tyr and Crimfall, supporting the latest album release, Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa. They took some time out before preparing for the gig (drinking tea and vodka, in good Finnish fashion) to answer some questions about the tour, the album and a few surprises along the way.

[In early November we published an article written by contributor Havik Incarnate. It was about an unsigned Swedish band called Mudpusher, a band that has been rocking his boat for a while now. Today Havik returns with a full-blown interview with the band. This is going to be a hell of a long read, but it’s definitely worth your time! You might want to play the music at the end of the article while you read though.]

Mudpusher is as Metal as Metal can get. It’s been 3 years since its inception, and the 3/4^th Swedish machine has kept turning. In a clichéd and decaying Metal scene, few bands have provided the sledgehammer impact that this band has, making them a breath of fresh air. They have successfully continued to draw a distinct line between evolution and straight up rip-off, in terms of sound. After all, who else can match the sacred element of groove?

The plethora of ‘screamo’ bands these days? Please, their priorities are about what side they should don a fringe on every morning. The cavalry of mindless ‘Black Metal’ warriors? That sub-genre is a perpetual popularity contest to see who’s more evil, and nothing else. Mudpusher emanate more conviction on a plain ol’ bad day, than all those bands do when all combined on their best.

I recently had the pleasure to sit down with the band to talk about what exactly fuels their drive.

The questions from this interview date back to the time that I reviewed Loch Vostok’s Dystopian, which is a few months ago. It was lying around somewhere and still needed some answers so I contacted Lars from Intromental Europe. Within five hours I had it returned, answered by the one and only Teddy Möller.

So, today is the day I discovered that my favourite Loch Vostok song Navigator is about a GPS in stead of about God and that Teddy Möller is a very “metal” guy.

[Important note: If you think you're having a deja-vu, you're right. We already published this before. However, Joris has agreed to answer an additional batch of questions, following on his earlier answers. We've just updated the interview with this additional content, in which we talked about Batavi, the band's upcoming album. So, if you've already read it, read it again! And yes, what Joris says about trains going to 'the Achterhoek' is true. As a native 'Achterhoeker' I know this from experience.]

You may remember from a while ago that we discussed Heidevolk, a Folk Metal band from my homeland. Specifically we introduced you to the song Nehalennia, found on Uit Oude Grond, the band’s March 2010 released album and their latest to date.

Smart fucker that I am it gave me the idea to contact the band and shoot them some questions. One of two vocalists, Joris Boghtdrincker (Joris “Drinker of Plunk”) replied with some mighty elaborate and interesting answers. We spoke about their roots and motivation, why they sing in Dutch and as a thick juicy cherry on top Joris mentioned the recording stage of their upcoming record, Batavi, is coming to a close.

You may remember how we reviewed Arkan’s 2011 Salam album in late June. It induced a comment by Kilik2049, who knows singer Sarah of the band personally. A couple of emails back and forth and it was arranged: a short interview with her about the band and about the last album. Took a while before we actually had the interview though, but we’re happy to report about our findings now! Many thanks to Sarah for answering our questions!

Blood Covenant are an Armenian Symphonic Black Metal band who are on the scene for quite a while now. The band was conceived by Segor and Garegin in 2001, which means they’re around for a decade now.

I became a fan when they had just released their single At the Cross, and we’re well into working on their third album Sign of Time, which came out at the beginning of this year. So having downloaded their second album The Blood of the New Covenant for free from their website, I set of my journey into the magical land of Black Metal. I was thrilled at hearing the album for the first time and was fascinated by the dynamic combination of classical and heavy music.
Now, a good two years later I was able to secure a short interview with the “team leader” of Blood Covenant.

About a month ago we reviewed the self-titled debut of a brutal American Death Metal band with the not-so-brutal name Super Happy Story Time Land. Their album was a surprise, in the positive sense of the word. We got into contact with Travis, who’s sorta like the band’s manager and were given the opportunity to interview the band. Given the band’s rep, we didn’t even take the trouble of coming up with serious questions. And guess what, this interview was a revelation!

For those who haven’t yet read our review of SHSTL, you can find it here.