Some metal is created in corners of the world that seem much more surreal than hell. Akvan is one of those acts. Though Iran apparently has a certain tolerance when it comes to metal (read this article for example), Akvan remains an oddity in the strict country, particularly due to the content of his music, which is strongly anti-Islam. Contrary to the Norwegian teenagers, the price for iconoclasm is a lot higher in his home country.
Akvan started his quest of provocative musicianship in 2015 under the moniker Dominus Vizaresa (as artist name). He’s been extremely prolific in his output and that eventually led to his signing with ShaytanProductions, where the music is released right next to Al-Namrood. A fitting label for an artist that defies normal definitions with music that really makes for something special on ‘Forgotten Glory’.
The intro of ‘Path to Chaos’ instantly takes you to a different place. As the odd radio-samples come in, the pace picks up and the intensity really makes your heart beat faster as the drums rattle and the rambling instruments clang. The vocals cut right down to your bone marrow with a jagged, piercing quality. It’s the use of the setar and tar, that really creates the otherworldly spirit of Akvan. Its primitive fury is evident on ‘King Ov Kings’, with the vocals that must be derived from the ghastly and cruel djinn’s that roam in these realms.
I love how there are these samples and folkish parts interwoven in the structure of the album. It helps to create that magnificent atmosphere of the Orient, while never becoming gimmicky. Akvan pulls of what most artists fearfully steer clear of in that sense on tracks like ‘Realm ov Fire’, not shirking to really ride the mood and implement it into the black metal parts of the songs too.
I could go through this album track by track, but it would be better if you give it a spin yourself. Akvan truly opens the gates to a different world with black metal that embraces a raw and unpolished sound, while completely giving a very own flavor to it. It works through in the bareness of the sound, the rough distortion, and color in the atmospheric elements in the sound. Just let a song like ‘Legacy’ truly drag you along for a moment. Experience how the rooftops look different and even the sky has an aura of elsewhere. To a forgotten past, but not that of a Viking boat and northern gods, but a land which past has been clouded by recent history and wrong perceptions. I would love to learn more from Akvan.
Label: Black Mara Records Band: Astral & Shit Origin: Russia
Astral & Shit is not a band name I recommend if you want to make it big, but for an underground ambient project, it works to get the interest peaked and look a bit odd in the big mass of releases. This is their latest release on one of my favorite ambient labels, titled ‘Divo’.
The act in fact only contains one member, namely Ivan Gomzikov, who hails from Nevyansk, a town north of Yekaterinenburg deep into mother Russia. Astral & Shit is extremely productive and releases records by the month it almost seems.
The record opens with ‘Riphean Mountains’, which opens up like the sun going under over a rocky facade. First gently cresting the edges, before becoming fully removed from your vision. Then every sound intensifies, with the nightly sounds and rumblings of the earth around you. Repetitive chirps accompany the droning sounds produced by Gomzikov, enhancing the nightly aura. But the drones keep swelling. The concept of the album revolves around an alien entity, that once came out of the earth. That is Divo, dangerous, but mostly not understood by us.
The drones turn very heavy at times, almost taking up the whole of what you hear, for example on ‘Polota Crossing’, where it simply seems to surge and pulsate as crackling or breaking sounds fill up the sonic gaps. It’s powerful, looming, but most of all fully submerging the listener. It’s the sound of nature, the silent droning you only hear when you are really, really quiet yourself for a moment. That’s the beauty of it.
Label: Devoted Art Propaganda Band: Koniec Pola Origin: Poland
Something is stirring in our urbanized habitats. She’s calling us again, mother nature. The mountains, the oceans and the fields, we feel that disconnect deeply and profoundly. In black metal and spirits akin, this movement has been visible for a while. From the nature-inspired dark ambient to the regal black metal and the farmer metal from the countryside. And that… is exactly where KoniecPola hails from.
The name Koniec Pola translates as ‘the end of the field’. Their music is a clash of postmodernist rock and countryside tools, trying to capture the sound of the imaginary farm village. Their setting, though consciously vague, is the area of the Polish village Zalesie, near Kozienice forest. The title of this second endeavour, after their 2017 ‘Mrzyglód’ is simply ‘Cy’.
From the chiming of bells to the beating of tools, the bustling of the village is evident on the first song instantly. Titled ‘I’, it offers a gloomy sound with a warm voice offering what feels more like a voice-over than singing, relating the story in a story teller’s voice. Musically the band seems to linger somewhere in the realm of Furia, with the provincial brashness of certain French black metal bands. It’s music with the spade, not with the genteel pencil. At times a bit quirky, but when the music unleashes it’s dirty and gritty, dissonant and filled with muck. This is not the ball anymore, Cinderella.
There’s a simplicity to the sound, a lack of complication and subterfuge. Words are spoken plainly and the music casually frames the rural life. The mellow pace of the record and earthy gloom is somehow comforting. An odd folk instrument here and there put a different spell on the narrative, which is, unfortunately, all in Polish.
It’s a particular bit of music, hard to qualify as any specific genre. Often more leaning to ambient experience meeting postrockish liberties. It’s well worth a spin though.
Label:Percht Records/ ANTIq Records Band:Tannöd / Rauhnåcht / Hanternoz Origin: Germany / Austria / France
‘Spukgeschichten – Anciennes Légendes Des Alpes’ is a very peculiar release. Four sides, but a 3-way split release from the bands Tannöd, Rauhnåcht, and Hanternoz. Every band gets a side, and Rauhnåcht filled side D with field recordings from the Alps and a joint rehearsal.
Let’s start introductions with Rauhnåcht, which is a one-man enterprise by excessively productive Stefan Traunmüller(Golden Dawn, The Negative Bias, Wallachia), who focusses on Alpine legends and heathenism. Tannöd is a mysterious collective that plays Alpine black metal. This is actually their first release. Hanternoz from Angers expresses Breton and French legends in their Celtic black metal.
After the gentle intro ‘Höhlenzauber’, Tannöd really bursts loose with an almost Burzum-like screech on ‘Die Schwarze Wolke’, accompanied by the screeching, eerie guitar play that almost feels like it cracks and breaks at the edges. The thin sound grabs you by the throat, with its unrelenting battering, particularly on ‘Schicksalsschlacht’, where Tannöd really excels with their cold and anguished sound, truly taking cues from some of the best aspects the genre has to offer in my humble opinion. Their sound can also be a bit more polished, edging more towards the sound of Equilibrium. Definitely, a band that impresses here on side A.
Rauhnåcht comes in on side B with ambient nature sounds and a slowly progressing guitar and drum intro, on ‘Der Einsiedler’. Chanting accompanies the gentle intro, which immediately sets the calm, majestic mood of the Alpine peaks. The atmospheric black metal progresses slowly, with a particular melancholy and humility among the rising peaks. The chanting and booming drums evoke imagery of ancient inhabitants of these regions. The sound whips around you, like the eternal gale. Full of mystery, the music of Rauhnåcht is a spectacle in itself.
‘Le Baron Des Adrets, 1513-1587 : La Légende Noire Du Dauphiné’ is the first track on the C-side by Hanternoz, a story of a notorious character during the reformation. The track is notable, because it contains a lot of spoken word, together with rich sounding folk metal. The tormented vocals hit you even harder when delivered through a blast-beat induced fog. What I find peculiar about their sound, is how open it is. It feels a lot like Enslaved, but then clashing in mid-air with Peste Noire thanks to the raw, barked vocals. Smooth production, big stories, it makes Haternoz a pretty exciting band to listen to. Tracks like ‘Diables Des Cloîtres Dans Les Monts Du Matin’, show a band that really fits in with the rural French rebellious sound.
The D-side is utilized by Rauhnåcht, with a collaborative rehearsal of the title track. It’s a jagged endeavor, full of fury and rage. The sound batters you like an alpine hailstorm, while the vocalist barks at you a demon of the night. Sharp, snappy words snap like a whip. This is some other side of the band, which completely turns around again with ‘La Voix Des Alpes’. For a bit over 11 minutes, simply field recordings from the alps, offer you a peaceful outro.
This record is peculiar, to say the least. The bands are vastly different. Tannöd has a very classic, eerie feel, while Rauhnåcht excels in the atmospheric and essentialist sound. Hanternoz is where the French farmland meets the soaring peaks, captured in notes. The exceptional material on this record, is well worth adding to your collection!
Label: Heavy Gloom Productions Band: Eternal Valley Origin: United States
A band like EternalValley, manages to clash two things together into successful pulp. Take a big barrel of dungeon synth and simply drop some pitch black metal in the middle. That’s what Orszar, the sole member of the group, must have thought. The weird contrast between tranquility and violence is peculiar to ‘The Falling Light’.
Orszar has been steadily making music under this moniker, next to Right To Die and Grimfvck. Since 2012 he has managed to spew forth a stunning amount of 6 albums, next to some other releases. That makes the project quite prolific.
The storm rages at the center of tranquility on the track ‘The Passing of Golden Skies’. Eerie ambient trickles calmly as heavily compressed black metal drums emerge in the middle of the musical fog to pound relentlessly and creep onwards. The sound never gains full force and keeps feeling like blackness at the core, with typical tormented vocals howling defiance in unearthly grunts and barks.The droning synths always seem to embrace the sound, similarly on the more sober and melancholic ‘The Awakening of Autumn Storms’.
Things appear to intensify later on the album, with the violent ‘Remnants…’ for example. The vocals are a furious roar here, while the whole battering and ramming just plough onward, with catchy, venomous riffs. When ‘The Wandering Winds’ comes around, we fall back into atmospheric parts, which pluck the old heartstrings. It’s a bit schizophrenic almost, how this band offers atmospheric black metal with that brisk undercurrent of something barely contained. From the lengthy ‘Adrift…’ onto the title track, both are there. ‘The Last Sunset’ then forms a sad and forlorn outro to an exceptional record.
Label: Pulverem Mortis Productions Band: Qayin Regis Origin: Spain
No one expects the dark inquisition! On first sight, the Spanish black metallers might evoke the idea of Batushka, but QayinRegis is something else. This debut EP ‘Blackthorn’ is their first offering to the realm of dark music and little information is available about this band.
‘Blackthorn’ kicks off with ‘Niantel’, which offers much what you’d be expecting to hear from this band. This grim and dark record explores vast crypts and impressive, vast castle walls made of cold stone. An ominous gloom is represented in the cold riffing and ghostly vocals, while the rhythm simply batters on in merciless bashes.
The band sticks with the classic black metal sound, enriched with some ecclesiastic chanting here and there. The catchy heavy metally riff on ‘Sceptre of the Shadow of Death’ also catches on in a big way. I particularly like how within the construct of the music, the vocals consistently evoke the feeling of shady halls in an abandoned mountain castle. Dark, looming shadows fill the rooms, where the unearthly denizens dwell. That’s the thing with a vampire’s abode.
The vocals are guttural, like an evil priest muttering incantations over repetitive blast beats. There’s a constant surge of atmospheric effects, over what in essence stays close to an almost death metal-esque rigidity. Pounding drums hammer ever onwards, while the guitars add minor feeling to the sound. The progression is steady on both tracks, while ‘Prunus Spinosa Litourgiya’ functions as an outro for Qayin Regis. What a trip.
Metal music, like any cultural expression, is shaped by its surroundings. TheStone hails from Serbia and started out in 1996, in the wake of the black metal boom. Not much later the Yugoslavian civil war broke out, turns out this is actually audible on their debut record.
This did not put any breaks on the band though. The Stone has been going steady for more than 20 years, creating a steady output of records with classic black metal. Their sound is powerful, without trying to sail along with any trends or movements, simply black metal.
The band has recently released a new album, titled ‘Teatar Apsurda’. That and seeing them live was reason enough for me to get in touch and ask some questions to singer Nefas and guitar player Kozeljnik.
Serbian black metal kings
How are you guys doing? Nefas: Not bad. Kozeljnik: Doing fine so far. Busy with promoting the new album we’ve recently put out.
For people who are not familiar with The Stone, can you tell a bit about how the band got together originally?
Nefas: Classic story…that begins in 1996. We were just kids who wanted to play music they like. The Stone is some kind of artistic pact between Kozeljnik, as the composer, and me, as the lyric writer. It works last 22 years…and it works fine so far. Kozeljnik: Back in time of our gathering the initial idea was to form the band, the entity of Black Metal which defines the art within uncompromised line of musical and lyrical expression.
Many black metal bands go through periods of lesser inspiration, sometimes years, before releasing new albums. The Stone has consistently been delivering new music at regular intervals over the last 2 decades. What is the drive or motivation behind the band that makes you keep on delivering top class music?
Nefas: Simply, we really enjoy creating the music. Some kind of artistic madness drives us…
Kozeljnik: A sort of creative appeal madness which takes us every time when the art leads the way to the upper states of creativity. It’s not a cliché when saying you are dealing with a certain kind of ritualization of your art. It’s the rite of your subconscious which delivers magic.
In line with that, you also all have plenty of side-projects. Can you say a bit about those and how do you keep those going at the same time?
Nefas: Actually, I never had a side-project. Kozeljnik always had a surplus of ideas he presented through his other bands/projects like Kozeljnik, Murder, MayResult, Occulus…
Kozeljnik: Sometimes the creativity extends the defined lines, so there’s a need of having other artistic sources, like different bands and projects where you can execute your ideas, is a natural step for the artist.
Your latest release is Teatar Apsurda, which is your eight full length. What can you tell about this album, it’s creative process and it’s message/expression? To me, the title itself might be a good reflection of the world at large in at this time, is that something that you took along in creating this album.
Nefas: Yes, Teatar Apsurda is a view of the world through the eyes of pessimist, satiric review of human grotesqueness. It’s fast, aggressive, intensive black metal, yet chaotic and epic in the same time. We are very satisfied with this album. Definitely, our best shot so far.
Kozeljnik: We’re about to say that after many years we finally recorded the album the exact way we wanted to sound. It’s not that we are displeased with previous works, but this new one simply transcends our expectations.
How do you guys go about creating an album? Is it a similar process for every record? Since there’s definitely a continuity in your sound and the overall feel of music from The Stone through the years. What does the process look like?
Nefas: First and the most important step would be making a vision, the common vision that will be driven with no compromise. Everything else would be just a routine after all these years. It just got out of us.
Kozeljnik: On the other side every new record has a different perspective of creating, a dimension which goes beyond the borders we’ve delivered for the previous ones. It’s a challenge, to express your inner state within the new, refreshing ideas and forms which are, at the same time, carrying the mark of your own identity. We decided not to walk the familiar footsteps, but still keeping the same path.
Your record is out on Mizantropean Records, is that your own label? What prompted you to release through Mizantropean instead of Folter records, which you’ve released the previous albums?
Nefas: We wanted to have an absolute control and freedom to do whatever we want, whenever we want. MizantropeonRecords is our own label formed primarily to provide better work conditions for The Stone. And for the beginning, we are very satisfied indeed.
Kozeljnik: It’s not a secret if we say that bands and labels are natural enemies since the creation of music business, especially when it comes to controlling the freedom of creativity. After many years of dealing with other labels, we have decided to be enemies to ourselves, trying to control something which hardly can be controlled. So far, we do not regret our moves.
In your early days you used Slavic paganism as inspiration, later it was more nihilism, misanthropy… In an earlier interview, I read that you expressed that these were never meant literally, but more a starting point for your expression. Can you explain how that looks for both the paganism and the more recent themes? What is the idea you try to put into your music and what do you hope listeners take from it?
Kozeljnik: The Stone’s lyrical side was most of the time misinterpreted in the past, especially by the non-speaking Serbian media circles which declared our band as pagan just because our 2nd and 3rd albums deal with times before monotheism took its role. Judging from that point of view they can easily proclaim Mayhem as a pagan metal band, just because they have a song called Pagan Fears. Not so professional way of giving a conclusion. Anyway, we’ve never considered our band as pagan oriented, despite the fact that in the past we used heathen inspired lyrics which were based on Nefas’s individual approach strictly. His quill has the most significant poetic role in expressing The Stone’s message and definitely, it’s a powerful tool in the band’s arsenal.
The Stone started out as Stone To Flesh during the time when your part of the world was in a total uproar due to the civil war. As I’ve understood from previous interviews and other articles, the scene in Yugoslavia was just beginning to appear at that time. I’d like to ask you how that scene started out and which bands were instrumental in it and how the civil war influenced it and you as a band in your ability to create music. Can you tell about that?
Nefas: The civil war has changed many things in our lives, but I’m not sure it had any influence on our music in a creative way, maybe on our subconscious. Technically speaking, everything was harder to do in war surrounded country, isolated…, but we survived. On our first album, we included the intro, the true sound of NATO bombs falling on Belgrade heating a plant. That’s the exact piece of the warlike atmosphere in which we worked on our debut album.
What’s happening in the current Serbian metal scene? And is it in any way connected to the neighboring countries of former Yugoslavia or are you drawn more towards other countries? Which bands should people really check out from the current scene (and why)?
Nefas: We never had a massive scene, but we have some quality bands to mention. My personal favorite is deathrash legion Infest. As for black metal, try with Kolac, Zloslut, Wolf’sHunger, Samrt…
What does it mean for The Stone to be a band from Serbia? Is there something typical and unique that you take from your culture, history or even nature in your country that to your view, colors or impacts the way you and/or other bands from Serbia make this sort of music?
Nefas: We took the pillar of our culture, Serbian language. Native language gives you the opportunity to express yourself better.
Kozeljnik: Serbian language, with its strong accent, gives us more radical, yet aggressive audible approach to the art we create. During the years we’ve created our own style and usage of our native tongue definitely has a strong impact on that.
Black metal has been gradually changing and taking new forms in recent years. I’m interested to know, what to you defines black metal? Is it something ritualistic, does it need to be ugly or can it be beautiful… How would you define this music now, after having played it for so long?
Nefas: For me, Black Metal is the art of controlling sonic madness in order to make the obscure atmosphere suitable for expressing the negativity and narrating the inner gloom. It’s the darkest corner of musical art.
What future plans does The Stone have at the moment? What are you aiming for in 2018 or will this be a time for the side projects (if so, what are you focussing on)?
Nefas: We have tour plans with Inferno and IXXI settled for March and after that we will enter the studio to record 2 new songs for the upcoming 7”ep. That’s the plan for next six months.
If you had to compare The Stone to a dish or type of food, what would it be and why?
Nefas: A piece of bread and a glass of water, if you are hungry, you will enjoy it.
Is there anything you’d like to add? Please add it below.
Nefas: Nothing more, the point is said. Just to thank you for the support.
