Tag: Atlantean Kodex

SEPTAGON To Release ‘Apocalyptic Rhymes’ In November

Enrico

SEPTAGON (who are rounded out by vocalist Markus Becker, bassist Alexander Palma and drummer Jürgen “General” Schrank) are arguably neither a true thrash nor power metal band, rather, a seamless blend of the two, whereupon punchy, but anthemic songs are born. With the powerful throat of Becker (also of ATLANTEAN KODEX) out front, SEPTAGON presents a fresh take on two of metal’s most familiar genres. According to Ullrich, SEPTAGON thrives off of this balance.

 

German power-thrash hybrid SEPTAGON will release their sophomore album, “Apocalyptic Rhymes” on November 9 via Cruz Del Sur Music. The follow-up to 2016’s “Deadhead Syndicate” was recorded across a variety of studios with the band opting to produce the album themselves.

Songwriting for “Apocalyptic Rhymes” began shortly after SEPTAGON started playing shows in support of “Deadhead Syndicate”. The result, as guitarist Markus “Ulle” Ullrich (also of LANFEAR and THEM) tells it, is a more focused and catchier album: “When the music for the debut was written, there was no band at all. This time, it was more of a collective work. Except for one track, I wrote all the music for the last album while our second guitarist Stef [Binnig-Gollub] now also brought in some ideas and songs. The production for the album took a bit longer than we expected, otherwise we would have released it sooner. But, we are very pleased with the results.”

SEPTAGON (who are rounded out by vocalist Markus Becker, bassist Alexander Palma and drummer Jürgen “General” Schrank) are arguably neither a true thrash nor power metal band, rather, a seamless blend of the two, whereupon punchy, but anthemic songs are born. With the powerful throat of Becker (also of ATLANTEAN KODEX) out front, SEPTAGON presents a fresh take on two of metal’s most familiar genres. According to Ullrich, SEPTAGON thrives off of this balance.
“When SEPTAGON started, I really wanted to keep it old-school with a nice mixture of speed and thrash and some U.S. vibes in the riffing,” he says. “Markus is a singer with a very melodic voice and I always thought that this is a nice combination. Some songs musically are pure thrash, but since we listen to all kinds of music, it happens from time to time that we come up with some ideas that lead us into a different direction. On the one hand we want to keep our roots, but there’s always room for some experiments.”

Conceptually, “Apocalyptic Rhymes” presents a wide variety of topics, including literature (John Knittel’s “Via Mala” on lead single “Home, Sweet Hell”) while venturing into social commentary on “Make A Stand”, “Cosmic Outrage” and “The Weight Of The World”. However, given the current perilous nature of politics on an international scale, “P.O.T.U.S.A” is sure to raise some eyebrows.

Comments Ullrich: “It’s obvious what ‘P.O.T.U.S.A.’ is about and simply because Markus lived in the U.S. for more than five years, it was something he just had to do. Some people will agree, some will probably say ‘Shut your mouth and mind your own business, you fuckin’ Germans.’ I don’t really care since it more and more became also ‘our’ business.”

Armed with a fresh batch of vertical, melodic and biting melodic metal, Ullrich and SEPTAGON are gearing up for another round of shows with an eye toward the future. “We’re going to take this step-by-step,” he concludes. “We want to play more shows, sell some albums and honestly, I can’t wait to write more songs for album number three.”

“Apocalyptic Rhymes” track listing:

The End
The Weight Of The World
Home, Sweet Hell
Apocalyptic Rhymes
Make A Stand
The Unfathomable Evil
P.O.T.U.S.A.
Cosmic Outrage
Nothingness Awaits
Sunset Blood

 

Legendary Artist Duncan Storr Illuminates GATEKEEPER’s ‘East Of Sun’ Album Cover

EnricoLeave a comment

Soon, the metal world will get to absorb the sounds of GATEKEEPER’s first full-length album, “East Of Sun”, an epic metal tour-de-force that will see the light of day this April via Cruz Del Sur Music.

Soon, the metal world will get to absorb the sounds of GATEKEEPER’s first full-length album, “East Of Sun”, an epic metal tour-de-force that will see the light of day this April via Cruz Del Sur Music.

Rewind back to the early months of 2017, though, and it was legendary British artist Duncan Storr (DARK FOREST, EDGE OF SANITY, RAGE, SKYCLAD) who became one of the first people to hear the demos that would ultimately become “East Of Sun”. Well before they were signed to Cruz Del Sur, GATEKEEPER leader Geoff Blackwell mustered up the courage to email Storr a demo to see if he’d be willing to work on the project. Luckily for Blackwell and co., Storr took an immediate liking to GATEKEEPER and got down to business.

 

“I liked the demo and asked to hear a few more songs if they had more,” says Storr. “Geoff sent me over another two demos to listen to so I could get a good feel for their sound. The titles of the tracks ‘Warrior Without Fear’, ‘Oncoming Ice’, and ‘East Of Sun West of Moon’, sparked something and I got a few ideas from listening to the tracks.”

Storr proceed to reach into his vault and selected an unfinished piece he thought would be suit GATEKEEPER. “I sent Geoff a few of these images and relayed how I would like to incorporate some of the song ideas and embellish the atmosphere in the painting,” he says. “He got back to me after showing the rest of the band. The band have been great to work with and have kept me informed and added more demos for me to work with as I paint. I find this always helps.”

“We had a short list of people that we wanted to work with on this album and Duncan Storr was on it,” adds Blackwell. “He is a real gentleman and a master behind the paintbrush. The piece he showed us instantly clicked with our vision for the record and in a way, it drove us to work even harder on the music in order to match the quality of his art. GATEKEEPER would like to thank Duncan for his hard work, dedication to his craft and for being a loyal fan of rock and roll.”

 

OLD MOTHER HELL: Compact Disc / Vinyl pre-order available!

EnricoLeave a comment

 

There is nowhere to hide as a power trio. Musical shortcomings are easily exposed. Chinks in the sonic armor are painfully evident. The common utterance that “A band is only strong as its weakest member” couldn’t ring truer. Bands with a high number of members can easily mask its deficiencies – not power trios. Some of metal’s best three-man outfits —Destruction, Motörhead and Sodom — have the commonality that there is no weak links. The same applies for one of metal’s most exciting new power trios, Germany’s Old Mother Hell.

“Every single one of us is standing like a rock behind the band,” says guitarist/vocalist Bernd Wener. “I guess this is what makes us cohesive. No one is active in additional bands, everyone is a fan of the kind of music we play and there is nothing like a concept or otherwise ‘artificial’ thing about Old Mother Hell. In some ways, we are like three 16-year-olds meeting regularly in the rehearsal room and living for playing live. In addition to that, we have the advantage of years of experience being in bands. This all adds up to Old Mother Hell.”

Old Mother Hell was formed in 2015 from the ashes of another local thrash act, Hatchery, by Wener, bassist Ronald Senft and drummer Ruben André. The band recorded their self-titled debut album in May 2017 at Rama Studio Mannheim with producer/engineer Jens Siefert at the helm. The album’s six songs are smoldering, anthemic bodies of work, as Wener’s impassioned vocals and simple, yet powerful riffs work in perfect tandem with the Senft/André rhythm section. The end result is a striking balance between mountainous epic metal and a straightforward attack, with doom influences present, even as the band is playing pure, take-no-prisoners metal.

And to top it all off, Old Mother Hell did things the old-fashioned way: Hammering the songs out in their rehearsal room, then recording them at Rama Studio Mannheim with little overdubs.

“What really turned out to work best for us—and most of the debut songs were created this way— is to just jam in our rehearsal room and work on the songs from scratch, together as a band,” notes Wener. “I guess this will also be our way to go from now on. When we do that, I sometimes use imaginary vocals. Other times, we first write an instrumental basis from which we refine and add lyrics afterwards. There is no single songwriter in Old Mother Hell. Everyone gives input and is participating in the writing process.”

The band’s self-titled debut has already caught fire across Europe, with the album receiving “Demo Of The Month” and “Self-Produced Album Of The Month” in Rock Hard and Deaf Forever magazines, respectively. The positive reception couldn’t have come at a better time now that Italy’s Cruz Del Sur Music is handling the album’s exclusive digital and vinyl release. But alas, the journey has just begun for Old Mother Hell, who, in their brief existence, has already exceeded their own expectations.

“We are more than thrilled and would not have believed to get all this positive feedback – even in our wildest dreams,” concludes Wener. “I said that a lot in the last months, but it still holds true: we are absolutely thankful for everyone involved in the album and for every piece of feedback we get from the metal fans out there. It really is a special time and we value it a lot.”

Old Mother Hell‘s debut album will be available on compact disc (jewel case), vinyl and digital on Feb 23, 2018.

CD PRE-ORDER:

VINYL PRE-ORDER: