Death Metal Round Up: Cast The Stone, Stillbirth, Siege Of Power, Monstrosity And More


It may have taken thirteen years to follow-up their sole release, but with a cast that includes Misery Index, Cattle Decapitation and Scour alumni, the trials of time can be forgiven with Cast The Stone, and new EP release Empyrean Atrophy (Agonia) shows that this band has a lot more worth than simply being a side dabbling for them.Continue reading


Eindhoven Metal Meeting 2016 – Part II


Part II Saturday

Starting even earlier today, we managed to be just in time to catch Der Weg Einer Freiheit. The German atmospheric black metal trio might be one of the biggest surprises of the entire festival. From their small, fragile dreamscapes to the frenzied, loud black metal riffing, their show journeyed the entire spectrum and made it beautiful. The compositions were so convincing that the lacking bass player was hardly noticeable. A very, very good show to start off the day.Continue reading


Eindhoven Metal Meeting 2016 – Part I


Mayhem, by Susanne A. Maathuis Photography

As the world was setting up for Christmas, De Effenaar Eindhoven hosted the European metal scene’s unofficial office Christmas party known as Eindhoven Metal Meeting. With some heavy hitters on the bill, 2016’s edition of EMM was shaping up to be one for the ages. Continue reading


Eindhoven Metal Meeting Adds Hail Of Bullets, Archgoat, Memoriam, And More


EMM 2016 poster ghostcultmag

The storied Eindhoven Metal Meeting will take place for the 8th time this December 16th -17th at the Effennar in Eindhoven, NL. The fest has added new bands to the bill such as Hail Of Bullets, Archgoat, Memoriam, Illdisposed, Valkyrja, Insanity Reigns Supreme & Burning Hatred. They join a lineup that already includes Mayhem performing all of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Tiamat, Moonspell, Destruction, and more. More bands will be announced soon. Tickets are on sale at the festival’s website:

 

Previously announced bands for EMM 2016:

Aura Noir (NO)

Archgoat (FI)

Batushka (PL)

Benighted (FR)

Bleeding God (NL)

Burning Hatred (NL)

Caronte (IT)

Cirith Gorgor (NL)

Destruction (DE)

Emptiness (BE)

Endstille (DE)

Enthroned (BE)

General Surgery (SE)

Gutalax (CZ)

Hail Of Bullets (GB – David Ingram (ex-Benediction, Bolt Thrower) on vocals)

Harakiri For The Sky (AT)

Hell (UK)

Insanity Reigns Supreme (BE)

Illdisposed (DK)

Mantar (DE)

Mayhem (NO – legendary debut album ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas “is played in full!)

Memoriam (UK – with band Bolt Thrower, Cerebral Fix and Benediction)

Moonspell (PT – special setlist based on “Wolfheart” and “Irreligious!)

Necrophagia (USA)

Protector (SE)

Schammasch (CH)

Seth (FR)

Tiamat (SE)

Toxic Waltz (DE)

Valkyrja (SE)

Re Ganger (NL)


Audio: Entrails – Midnight Coffin


entrails
Swedish death metallers Entrails (Birdflesh, General Surgery) is streaming “Midnight Coffin” off of their new album Obliteration, out May 19, 2015 via Metal Blade Records here.

The album was tracked by Jimmy Lundqvist at Bloodshed Studios and mixed and mastered by Dan Swanö (Edge Of Sanity, Bloodbath, Aeon, Hail Of Bullets etc.) at Unisound.


Video: The Gentle Storm – The Storm (Live at Hedon Zwolle)


the gentle storm live

The Gentle Storm is streaming a live video for “The Storm,” filmed at their Hedon Zwolle show at April 3, 2015, which is streaming below. The project features Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One, Guilt Machine) and Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering, Devin Townsend Project) and released their debut album The Diary at the end of March via InsideOutMusic.

The tour dates and live band line-up are as follows:
Apr 22: Divan Du Monde – Paris (FR)
Apr 23: The Garage – London (UK)
Apr 24: The Musician – Leicester (UK)
Apr 25: The Roadhouse – Manchester (UK)
Apr 26: Prog-résiste Convention – Soignies (BE)
Jun 19: Dokk’em Open Air – Dokkum (NL)
Jun 20: Steengoed Festival – Willemsoord (NL)
Jun 21: Plaatpop – Bergen op Zoom (NL)
Jul 09: Masters of Rock – Vizovice (CZ)
Jul 10: Rockharz Open Air – Ballenstedt (DE)
Jul 12: Bospop – Weert (NL)
Jul 17: Night of the Prog Festival – Loreley (DE)
Jul 30 – Aug 01: Wacken Open Air – Wacken (DE)
Oct 17: FemME Festival – Eindhoven (NL)

The Gentle Storm live:
Anneke van Giersbergen (ex-The Gathering) – vocals
Merel Bechtold (Purest of Pain, MaYaN) – guitars
Ferry Duijsens (Anneke van Giersbergen, ex-Dreadlock Pussy) – guitars
Ed Warby (Hail of Bullets, Ayreon, ex-Gorefest) – drums
Johan van Stratum (Stream of Passion) – bass
Joost van den Broek (producer, ex-After Forever) – keyboards
Marcela Bovio (Stream of Passion) – background vocals

The Gentle Storm on Twitter
INSIDEOUTMUSIC on YouTube
INSIDEOUTMUSIC on Facebook


Eindhoven Metal Meeting- Part II


emm2013-banner980-980x300

Saturday 14th: After a fitful night of sleep and a late brunch we’re back in Eindhoven at two in the afternoon. Today’s program is a little more light hearted, mixing folk metal, some more experimental death metal, and symphonic metal. We start the day with The Monolith Deathcult, who gets to wake up the sparse and bleary eyed crowd with their a little more highbrow and complex death metal. The music and the show feel bigger than their slot suggests. The intros get a bit cheesy after the first few songs but the sound mix is excellent, though a little heavy on the double bass drums.

 Monolith Deathcult06

After a short respite we get treated to the old school trash-metallers of Destroyer 666. Sadly, their playing is a little sloppy and messy, possibly due to the inhumanly fast pace they keep it. The vocals seem pretty decent, but drown a little in the pummeling heavy base mix that plagues the venue yesterday as well. They do give a good an energetic show and the room quickly fills up with happy metal heads finally woken up.

 

 

We travel shortly to the cold regions of Russia with Arkona taking the stage. Their folk infused metal is less happy and energetic than most folk metal, Arkona01and a little more somber. The whole music feels Russian, even if the singing wasn’t in Russian. Sound-wise, the guitars are very, very low in the mix and the vocals very high, which means the drums and bass overpower the vocals quite often. Interestingly enough the folky whistles and the bagpipes are very well audible in the mix, while usually they’re the first things to die. The folk influences are a little more subtle and apparently with their newer music the band is moving more towards the back metal side, though their folk roots stay important to them.

 

 

We return to death metal with Hail of Bullets. Normally death metal isn’t my cup of tea, but these guys are great and I find myself nodding along to the beat. With a great songs and a nice little party vibe going on throughout, even for the non-death crowd that’s was there was into it. That it’s a great show however shouldn’t be surprising as this band shares a front man, Martin van Drunen, with the incredible Asphyx, and the rest of the all star line-up of the band. This may also be the reason the sound mix is very well balanced and crisp. All in all a great show.

Hail of bulets01

In metal it’s not rare for a band to form a completely new band simply by addition of a different, usually more prominent, vocalist. The best known example probably is Ihsahn with Leprous. Elvenking and Martin Walkyier’s Skyclad are a similar story. Elvenking played for forty minutes before being joined by Walkyier, and turning into Skyclad and playing another forty minutes. The music doesn’t change much between the vocalist addition (Elvenking’s somewhat emo styled vocalist stays on for the full eighty minutes, running around the stage behind Walkyier). It stays a sort of emo-folk inspired metal. They have a pretty good sound mix and a good performance, but Davide “Damna” Moras’s vocals get on my nerves a little. The switch in the feeling of the music when Walkyier joins the band is amazing. The music, feeling a little more emo oriented at first suddenly gets a darker and more power metal feel when Walkyier’s vocals join in. Sadly, Walkyier’s grand entrance fell a little flat with the crowd, where he clearly expected a grand recognition only confusion shone on the crowds faces when Walkyier walked up, arms spread like a messiah.

Martin Walkyier's Skyclad01

 

It’s now time for one of my personal highlights of the day, Arcturus. I had no idea what to expect but the avant-garde metal troupe of masked entertainers is incredibly good. Their music has so many influences it’s hard to really describe, but the vocals have a certain power metal/prog type feel and the music contains traces of black metal, but also power and symphonic. Simen Hestnæs’ vocals often drowned in the drum and bass parts, unless he belted, and the guitars ate the, quite atmospheric, keyboard additions. Still the show was incredibly good, and I hope to see them sometime with a better mix.

 

Coroner is described as the Rush of thrash metal. Now I like thrash, especially the hyperactive, aggressive party vibe it seems to share with punk. The more progressive and technical approach coroner has, while they do what they do very well, somehow just doesn’t connect with me. I have the feeling I’m not the only one, since the room is surprisingly empty for what basically is a headlining band. The feeling that if they were programmed in Tiamat’s slot yesterday and Tiamat switched to this slot, both bands would have been in front of a better crowd crept up on me. Again, in the back of the room, Coroners music got lost in the thundering low regions. The band does an energetic attempt to move the crowd, but people seem paralyzed in the sheer amount of sound coming their way. A real pity.

Coroner 01

Finally we get to Therion, the proper headliner of the day. Being the symphonic-metal giant that they are, the stage feels a little small for them. With three vocalists (who are also the main crowd entertainers) guitars, bass, drums, keys and a huge amount of razzle dazzle (including a belly dance act.) Very nice. This show cannot disappoint. It’s magnificent to watch and, while softer than certain bands on today’s line-up, they certainly pack a pretty metal punch. The sound-mix is really well balanced, which is needed when you have such subtle vocal harmonies to balance against raging guitars. The soprano vocalist sometimes sound a little harsh and sharp in her high notes, but this is forgiven for the sheer amount of show this band puts out. Even is symphonic metal isn’t your thing remotely, you have to admire the enormity of the show. This was definitely the best band of the day, and rightful headliner.

Therion01 Therion02

Since this show cannot be topped by Gothminister and last train needed to be caught, we left Eindhoven Metal Meeting’s party awestruck, exhausted and satisfied. Though the venue was plagued by less than supreme sound, certain bands shone through, and especially the ambiance was magnificent. Eindhoven, thank you for the party! Until next year.

 

 

Eindhoven Metal Meeting on Facebook

Official Festival Website: http://www.eindhovenmetalmeeting.com  

 

Written and photographed by Susanne A. Maathuis


Ghost Cult Issue #14 is out now!


 

GC 14 front cover large
Issue #14 of Ghost Cult Magazine is out now! Created especially for your smartphone or tablet device! Read it now: http://ow.ly/r2lcG
Issue #14 features Corrections House, as well as interviews with Monster Magnet, Pelican, Trivium, Ephel Duath, Watain, Testament, Finnr’s Cane, Rosetta, Alter Bridge, Hail of Bullets, and Avatarium. Festival reports include Mudfest, the Southwest Terror Festival, Amplifest, other live reviews of  Baroness, Wadruna, Morbid Angel, High on Fire, with album reviews, and much more!

 

 


Hail of Bullets – III: The Rommel Chronicles


hail of bullets album coverWith Bolt Thrower on-hold since 2005 (Those Once Loyal), at least in the full-length department, the super-group Hail of Bullets (with members that have experience in acts like the already mentioned Bolt Thrower, Pestilence, Asphyx, Thanatos, etc.)  have been dominating the spectrum of old-school death metal bands that are portraying war-themes. III: The Rommel Chronicles (Metal Blade) is not a left turn in the themes that have been used by the Dutch band, but we can say that’s a left turn in the way things are approach. This time around the quintet of Amersfoort decided to focus his lyrical attention in one person and tell the story of that person’s life: the good moments, the bad moments, the glory and the death. That person? The German Field Marshall, Erwin Rommel. Decorated on World War I with the Pour le Mérite (a described moment in the song with the same name), he was also regarded as being a very humane person and a extreme professional officer, even though he was serving Adolf Hitler on World War II, where he has linked to the attempt of assassination of Hitler himself. That’s the big “game-changing” for Hail of Bullets. Having an approach that can be considerate more “human”, they manage to create a piece that’s a true rollercoaster of feelings and that puts the listener thinking about how life it’s not black and white and sometimes there’s an enormous lack of coherence.

Musically speaking it is Hail of Bullets, like always. They are not reinventing the wheel, changing the game but I think that’s not their intention anyway. They are just focused on creating great songs, great death metal songs with an obvious and rather delicious old-school death metal vibe and took the listener to various changeling and compelling moments. III: The Rommel Chroniceles is another irrefutable proof of the quality of Hail of Bullets and a record that must be present in every death metal fan’s playlist.

8.0/10

 

Hail of Bullets on Facebook

 

Tiago Moreira


Eindhoven Metal Meeting Preview


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This coming weekend thousands will descend on one of the metal capitals of the world for the Eindhoven Metal Meeting! Ghost Cult Magazine is proud to be a media partner with the festival for 2013. Centrally located and accessible to many major cities, this festival seems poised to biggest edition of the fest, going back to the hallowed beginnings in Arnhem a decade ago. In what promises to be a memorable festival lineup worthy of closing out this year of stellar gigs and productions throughout the EU, the promoters have assembled a trove of amazing headliners and support bands for hungry metal fans to feast on. The main set up of the fest is two stages. The Large Stage is sponsored by Large PopMerchandising is where the main action will take place. Not to be outdone, the Jagermeister Stage, also features many well known, killer acts that will likely have fans splitting their skulls and ear drums, going back and forth between the two. On the plus side the running order for the entire fest has been posted and in a genius stroke, the bands will all be alternating sets, so theoretically very few bands will overlap each other. That’s a class move right there, one to be appreciated by today’s discerning metal fan.

 

The-Dream-Calls-For-Blood-Death-AngelThe lineup is amazing on each day. Kicking things off on December 12th will be a very thrash feeling experience with headline caliber sets likely due from Dew Scented , Death Angel, and Sabbaton on the The Large Stage. The Jager stage will have the likes of Downfall of Empires, Extrema, Zetro Souza’s (Testament, Exodus) new band Hatriot, and Accuser. The headline band for Thursday is the always fun in a live setting Accept.

 

 

 

watain band

Day two might be the most evil and well-balanced lineup on both stages. The Large Stage is notable for a proverbial murders’ row of names such as Fleshgod Apocalypse, Morgoth, Belphegor, Napalm Death, Carpathian Forest (!), Tiamat, and Watain. In addition to the very strong In Solitude, the Jager stage has a lot of grindcore for a good change of pace such as the anticipated reunion from the Church of Pungent Stench, Vomitory, and good old Brutal Truth among others.

 

 

 

To grow a fest like this into a three-day affair, you need to be able come to the table with a strong final act and they have certainly done it here with this collection of bands: The Monolith Deathcult, Destroyer 666, Arkona, Hail Of Bullets, Elvenking, Arcturus, Coroner, and Therion among others. The Jager stage has no slouches either with names such as the recently added Heavenshine, Bodyfarm, Centurion, Hooded Menace, Impaled Nazarene, Nargaroth and Aborym to name a few. This promises to be a great time for all. Ghost Cult will be there to capture all the action and bring you a review soon after. Take care of each other out there and have a good time in the name of metal!
 

Eindhoven Metal Meeting on Facebook

Buy single day tickets and find info on accomodations here.

 

EMM 2013 final line up webflyer V2