Friday, September 27, 2013

... Autumn DOOM Quiz pt II : BEVAR SEA, SHROUD EATER, OCEAN CHIEF, STONED JESUS, OPIUM WARLORDS...

Autumn Doom Quiz – pt.II

I have a greed for doom and so our quiz goes on! Part II is even bigger than first one. Just let me remind you the questions of this quiz and I introduce you our honorable guests. Here are our questions:

1. What is the band’s state at the moment? What kind of sinister affairs do band plans to perform for autumn and following months?
2. How did listeners and critics meet band’s last album?

Two next questions are just for fun… Or so I did think:
3. "Paranoid" of Black Sabbath is an iconic song, what in this Earth can turn you paranoid?
4. Who was your childhood hero? What kind of dude did you want to become?

5. Last TV-news reminds me about it – this question is about "War Pigs". What is your opinion about conflict around Syria? Do you see any reasons to justify military intervention of one country in affairs of another country?

And here come our guests! Squally Bevar Sea strikes with riffs and sonic waves, as mystic Kimaera reveals secrets from times of yore. Bulky Ocean Chief meets with frenetic Opium Warlords in the shadow of Monolithe. Shakhtyor have left their mines and minerals as Shroud Eater once again cast away their cerements. And look… Stoned Jesus waits before dark Tombstone invite us to follow The Sullen Route.

Bevar Sea (India, stoner doom)
Srikanth Panaman (guitars)

1. Hails! We're busy writing for our next album and we're halfway there already. We've been making some demos, and been playing a song or two live as well. We want to finish writing by the end of the year and start recording it early next year. We have some festival appearances lined up for the rest of the year, and we're also in early stages of planning a Europe tour next year.

2. Way better than I expected - especially in India which didn't have any audience for this kind of music when we got srarted. We're getting asked to play mainstream festivals because they realize we have a very loyal fanbase. We hope to continue building on this with the second album as well!

3. I've been de-sensitivized extremely thanks to being an internet nerd for so many years and having been to the dark twisted corners of it, and also being a pessimist who never buys into anything. The only thing that makes me go paranoid and fucks me up are my fear of height, and fear of water.

4. I wanted to be an astronomer, the terminator, or be a ninja. I had the Rambo kit as well, so that was a big deal. I also had the spiderman suit that I wore to bed at some point. I don't think I had heroes until a lot later. Tony Iommi, Jeff Beck, Uli Roth, Michael Schenker, Phil Lynott, and Rory Gallagher are some of my musical heroes.

5. I don't particularly have an opinion. It's a very messy political situation indeed which, if I remember right, has seen over a hundred thousand casualties in two years, but it's the story we've heard from so many places before. The civil war in Sri Lanka took 25 years to get over, and it resulted in the complete annihilation of the rebels, and a mindblowing number of civilians were lost on both sides as well. There's a hideous civil war that's been going on for over 22 years in Somalia and the country is totally fucked. Myanmar has been at it for as long as the country has existed. We humans won't rest till we're all dead, looks like. 

Yes, it makes sense to have a global Justice League type thing to help restore peace anywhere there's trouble in the free world, because face it, the last 50 years have somehow been the most peaceful in human history. That's why the UN was formed, but looks like America is running the show and wants in or everything, instead cleaning up their own backyard first.



Kimaera (Lebanon, death doom)
Jean-Pierre Haddad (vocals, guitars, keyboards) 

1. We just had our new and third album "The Harbinger of doom" released few weeks ago through German label "Eternal Sound Records", and we just finished our "Doom upon Russia" tour in Russia and Ukraine...
As for future plans, we will definitely start working on the new album and plan some more tours and fests for next year!

2.  For now all the reviews of the album are excellent. It is very well received.

3.  "Paranoid" was the first song I ever played with the band back in 2000 btw! ;)
I think one's mind and self is the main issue of paranoia!

4.  I have always been amazed by the talent of shaolin monks and the greatness of Roman generals and still am.. So I have always wanted to be a mixture of both somehow... and still do actually!

5. No I don’t see any but It is the same story all over again, happened before, happening now and will happen in the future. The big trying to eat to small, hunger for power, benefits, nothing new. We have lived that and still do for years, nothing will change. Now it is Syria's turn.
Stupid leaders and warmongers with their media propaganda met with ignorance can take people to the unknown. This world is simply full of shit.



Monolithe (France, funeral doom)
Sylvain Begot (guitars, bass, keyboards)

1. Well, we're on a roll. Our first album MONOLITHE I has been reissued in August. Now we're about to release our new album titled MONOLITHE IV. It will be out on October 18th. Then, some months later I guess, comes the next wave of our back catalogue reissue, consisting of the album MONOLITHE II and a compilation including our two EPs and some other tracks titled MONOLITHE ZERO.

2. Our last album was called MONOLITHE III and was acclaimed with a lot of praise. The promotion of the new album MONOLITHE IV has actually just started and the few feedback we got so far was amazing.

3. What can turn me paranoid is the food industry. I'm just disgusted of how it's done and how bad is the manufactured food. People who want to eat natural, unprocessed food don't have a lot of choice anymore and I think it's unacceptable. Well, I guess I already am paranoid ^^

4. My childhood heroes were the dudes from Saint Seiya. I wanted to become a Saint myself or a stunt performer or an astronaut/cosmonaut. I became none of those. Instead, I ended up in music, which is cool too and less tiring.

5. I'm totally against any military intervention in Syria or anywhere else, unless the country is directly asking for it. Which is obviously not the case here. There's too much geopolitical tension in that area of the world to fool around.
I'd be on the side of Mr Vladimir Poutine on this matter, as he's the one in my opinion who comes around with the wisest vision of the state of the world.




Ocean Chief 
(Sweden, stoner sludge doom)
Tobias Larsson (vocals, drums)

1. We are currently playing new stuff for next recording in February 2014.

2. Most were positive. Those who were negative don´t appreciate slow hard doom and should continue to listen to fast metal.

3. Watching the news. Which I don´t anymore. Highly recommended!

4. Bamse. I can´t remember what I wanted to be. A rockstar I guess.

5. Its like this: Media has one picture of it all. Both sides has their opinion. The truth is none of them.




Opium Warlords (Finland, drone doom avant-garde)
Sami Albert Hynninen (all instruments, vocals also member of Azrael Rising, March 15, Tähtiportti, Spiritus Mortis, The Puritan)

1. We continue to mix the next Opium Warlords album, ”Taste My Sword of Understanding”. It was recorded already in 2010, but because of other projects and things in life, it took us until 2013 to return to it. We hope to find some time to be able to finish the work in couple of sessions in coming three months, but you can never tell how these things will go, when working without money. The album to follow ”Taste My Sword...” is also under a slow production. At the moment the skeletal basic tracks are ready, and next move will be to do the vocals, and after that add some other sonic layers.
Albums from Azrael Rising and March 15, and two 7”s from Tähtiportti, are also coming in late 2013/early 2014, and bit later in 2014 the fourth album of Spiritus Mortis will be released. I guess this answer came closer to “boring” than “sinister”.

2. It has got even more these ”pretentious art shit” and ”unlistenable” comments/accusations than the debut, but same time there have been few people who have really loved it. Record sales have been similar to the first one, which means almost unexisting.

3. Being a “diagnosed case”, VERY many things. It would be harder to think about things that are paranoia-free elements to me. Everything that has a human connection can stimulate these states of mind, and sometimes I even feel paranoia alone in the woods – I sense this dark presence – but usually nature is a sanctuary to me.

4. I remember three above the others; Blackie Lawless, Clint Eastwood, and Conan the Barbarian (of the comics and Arnold Schwarzenegger films – especially the first one directed by John Milius; I never really got into the original stories of R.E. Howard).
I also have to mention that even before these, around 1982, I fell in love with British popstar Kim Wilde, one kind of a hero(ine) as well, who's strange emotionless and cold and tired looks mesmerized me – she was very different from all the smiling airheads! It may sound surreal, but she probably has also had an influence to what kind of “performer” I much later became myself; nonchalant, almost hostile towards the audience – not that she ever was like that, though. I am sure she is a very sweet person.
I wanted to be a rock musician since I was 7 years old, but my main interest there, right from the start, was to be a a rebel against “ordinary world”; engaged to black magic and necrophilia and the true artistic vision, instead of what all of these hedonistic heavy metal DUDES of fun loving bands like Mötley Crüe, Van Halen, Whitesnake, and even unmasked Kiss, surrounded by big-titted bimbos, seemed to be. 
Mine was the way of Venom, Witchfinder General and Black Sabbath and especially early Alice Cooper, but I believe it all really started for me in 1984 with that first W.A.S.P. album. In their actions even the obvious and overwhelming 80's sexual content was something else: dark and evil, instead of cheesy pussy-begging shit.
Later I of course found out that most of these heavy metal people were quite ordinary and easy-going common (business)men, but I myself  became an outsider and adversary; just like I as a young boy imagined these people to be, so I guess I became what I wanted to be, but NOW I would not mind bit lighter life, living in some mansion on a hill, without having to worry about everything all the time.

5. To be honest, I have been so busy with my work and health issues that I have not had time to follow the news, so I am not too aware about how the situation there is right now. These are always very complicated  and delicate things, and I am not educated enough about this particular case to really give any comments, and I wish the other people would also stick to commenting only the things they truly know about, instead of chewing shit.

I do not even know who all are now part of this; UK, U.S.A., Russia, France...???, but at least when it comes to the interventions U.S.A. have had to the world affairs, we all know how the results have been, and what the motives have been, but it is not U.S.A. alone who has fucked things up, and probably many other countries would have done the same if they just had that power, but in reality only Russia and China could have such a possibility. 
In WWII certain interventions were necessary, but the world has become so interwoven on the economical level and same time so fragile,  that if some of these interventions now would lead us close to another global war, it probably would be the last one; and very brief and apocalyptic. Then again if the whole human race would be wiped out from this globe there could be some hope for animals and plants, and water and air, but of course all of this non-human world always suffers under a war as well.




Shakhtyor (Germany, sludge post doom)
Christian Herzog (guitars)

1. We are currently writing new material for the next album which we will hopefully release some time next year. Actually, we did not play any shows during the summertime because we wanted to finish the new stuff over the summer and enter the studio by the beginning of next year. Unfortunately it seems, we spent more time at the beach than in the mine... But as we have already recorded almost half of the album during the sessions for our vinyl bonus track, it should not take that long before things are done. We are also experimenting with some ideas to spice up our live shows, hopefully we will be able to show some of this in the near future. For now, we have a couple of shows coming up, bringing us to places we haven't been before with SHAKHTYOR which is always great. Next year shall finally take us abroad, we have some plans and are in fact talking to people, let's see. Chances are good for a trip to the UK, also Austria and the Netherlands seem to be possible destinations.

2. As you know, we had initially released the album on our own in 2012 and reactions were very good at that time, several blogs gave us good to very good reviews, there was no negative feedback. This changed to some extent after the re-release through Cyclone Empire. We still received a large number of good reviews but by now, there were also people absolutely disliking what we are doing. In the beginning, this was a bit tough but then again we were pretty satisfied with the situation. To us it shows, that we are doing something special not everybody understands and this is what we want. And actually, when we started the band, we did not expect anybody to even care about what we are doing, so what!

3. Actually, not so many things, I guess, but I can only speak for myself here. I love mushrooms and although I am very familiar with the kinds I am collecting, I am ALWAYS feeling sick once I have eaten them and I start investigating, which one I might have mixed up...but actually, I have never been wrong yet...   

4. Haha, this question seems to be much more difficult and embarassing to answer than the next one. But anyhow, it turned out, that despite the Berlin wall, kids in both parts of Germany had the same idols. So both my own and our bass player Chrischan's childhood heroes were from a german series of novels about an Apache called Winnetou. He is a very popular character and the stories are very much about friendship, justice, pride, adventure etc. So Chrischan, who was born in GDR, wanted to be Winnetou himself and I, born in FRG, wanted to be his - actually German - friend and blood brother (YES!) Old Shatterhand. Both were noble and brave, fighting evil and showing that all men are equal. Isn't that great?

5. This is a very sad story. The whole region has such a long history of culture and civilization and it is hard to understand, that still people see no other way to settle conflicts but killing each other. In my opinion the current war is not anymore only a war against the repressive regime of Assad but also a war between different branches of islam and the countries supporting one or the other of them. Therefore in particular, it is very tough to judge whether a military intervention can be justified, this is no good vs. evil conflict, who's side should be fought on? The assault with chemical weapons appeared to be a reason for an intervention initially but then again - who did it? Was it Assad, his Commanders without his knowledge, the rebels to provoke an international intervention? Anyhow, in our opinion there is so much suffering, so many refugees mainly fleeing to the countries around Syria, it seems there has to be an intervention of some kind to stop this killing. But this can only be justified by a United Nations Security Council decision which does not appear to be very likely at the moment. In general, military interventions are a very delicate topic, especially if it is not about ending a war but about overthrowing a regime for whatever reason and who really knows if it is right or wrong in every single case?




Shroud Eater (USA, sludge doom)
Jean Saiz (guitars, vocals)

1. The band's state at the moment is that we are taking October to focus on writing new material and so we haven't booked many shows. We will be recording in early November for an upcoming split, and we have a couple of out-of-town shows booked in November as well. We're really gearing up to hit the road for a West Coast tour in February of 2014, so we'll be very busy leading up until then!

2. Listeners and critics seem to really be digging the last album! We've gotten a lot of praise for "Dead Ends" and that's been great. People have responded well to it and that's cool. We put a lot of work into those songs and it seems like that work is paying off!

3. I don't think much can make me very paranoid, except problematic amplifiers and effects!!! Shitty gear in general makes me paranoid.

4. As a young lady, I'd have to say my childhood heroes were probably Indiana Jones or maybe the Terminator... As far as what kind of dude I wanted to become, well I've always wanted to be a werewolf.

5. I don't like to proselytize any kind of political agenda via Shroud Eater, so my opinion is only my own and not representative of the band. HOWEVER, I personally feel that it is unjustifiable for the U.S. to take any military action in Syria, for an abundance of reasons that may or may not be as evident in the news. That's all I can say about that!




Stoned Jesus (Ukraine, stoner doom)
Igor Sidorenko (vocals, guitars)

1. We're kicking off for the fourth European tour in our short career, playing in Germany, Austria and Czech this time. Sooo many requests to come and play are coming from from France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Greece, Scandinavia and of course USA, we would LOVE to visit all these countries, but you know the way it is nowadays. We have full-time jobs here in Kiev, local shows, preparations for the upcoming 2014 LP's recording sessions, so let's hope next year we'll be playing in the places we've never been before. For now we got literally every day filled with certain activities, till the very end of 2013.

2. Funny enough, most people start digging "Seven Thunders Roar" just now, though it was released 18 months ago on CD and more than a year ago on vinyl. We hit some Top-25 Albums of 2012 polls with this record (on stonerrock.eu, for example), which is flattering, but still I think it deserves more attention than it received. Anyway, the upcoming 2014 LP is gonna be even better, so we're really happy people enjoyed "Seven Thunders Roar", it leaves them waiting for more!

3. What can turn us paranoid? Practically anything, I'm afraid. Some freaky things related to our personal life, probably, is the most disturbing stuff. Like I don't care much for the Top Albums lists and Pitchfork reviews if my family is endangered, you know.

4. For me it was definitely Kurt Cobain. Now don't ask me how come I've smashed that guitar!)))

5. The whole Syria situation is pretty fucked-up, but there's nothing quite shocking if you understand the amount of greed in the root of it all. Nothing is sacred for politicians when it comes to things like power and money. You can't have all the money in the world, you can't have all the power in the world, you can't take it with you to your grave, you can only cause suffering to the thousands of others. This is the world we live in, but anyone can make a little change by just being a better person. Who knows, maybe we could pave the better future for us and our children then.





Tombstone (France, stoner doom)
Alex and Clement


1. We just recorded our new single "Evil Seed" and we're looking for some label to release it as a 7" or a split. So at the moment we're rehearsing our set and composing new stuff. We're trying different things. We have so much different influences that it is difficult to create something of its own sometimes. So yeah, the plan for this autumn is composing new songs ,for an EP probably, and making concerts.  

2. Our first album,"Where the Dead Belong", was quite well received. We had a lot of good reviews but the truth is that we were not completely satisfied with it for a lot of reasons.  The 2 songs we just recorded are much better. We're really proud of what we achieved as it is the sound and atmosphere that truly represent the band's direction. But it's a bit early to have a real opinion about how it has been appreciated as we've just dropped it on bandcamp. Only good appreciations so far...

3. A lot of weed mixed with a lot of strong alcohol.

4. Clement: Axl Rose and Slash.
Alex: Jenna Jameson and Han Solo.

5. We're not informed enough to have an opinion about what's going on in Syria, but War Pigs is a great song .

                       


The Sullen Route (Russia, death doom)
Elijah (vocals, guitars)


1. Now we change our location from Stalingrad to Rostov. We already write third album and prepare little shows here in Rostov and certainly in Moscow on Shadows Doom Festival V. This will be our first show after two longer years.

2. It passed two years since we presented second album. We saw many reviews but really don't know what listeners think about Apocalyclinic. But I know after third album will be released many people said - Yeahh, good stuff, I want hear more of their music.

3. Probably that we start losing a thread, connecting  us with those fine times, spirit of last days when such bands Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin really were "paranoid".

4. Everyone in our band probably want to be his own hero. Someone saw itself in certain roles depending on a situation started from literary heroes and any politicians and ended to action movies heroes from 80's/90's, but I will tell precisely, any of us didn't dream to become Sponge Bob etc.

5. It is a shame on all our world and society, there are no justifications to actions of the countries  which try to interfere in any way with affairs of others country. We really regret the peace population of Syria to which it was necessary to take the weapon in hand and to protect the relatives. Someone increases the authority because turns human lives into a nightmare, it is true "War Pigs".





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